The scenario has changed now.Our latest cellphone boasts of 600Mhz processor,384 MB RAM,upto 32 GB memory card and many more things….
Google Nexus One has a 1 Ghz processor.A speed i thought was just restricted to PC.
Why is the mobile becoming so smart ?
Mobile is no longer a phone its a companion and the mobile companies are ensuring that they provide you with the required features.
The buzz word these days is the ‘App’,short for applications.
After the integeration of a PDA and a phone,the ‘smartphone’ required nothing less than a revolution.

I remember that in 2005 these Apps started to come up with the symbian operating system where people around the world shared apps through the internet.
Games,basic applications,calculators etc were the favourites those days.We had a Nokia 3230 at that time and we really enjoyed putting a lot of softwares in it and that was the plus point of Nokia.No other brand was offering a similar experience.
Then came something which changed everything.The iPhone(or the iPod Touch to be precise) which changed the way world looked at smart phones.

A concept called App Store where you can download free or paid apps.Apps to do anything.From your social media to your monthly budget,there is an app for anything.Games to die for and softwares to make your life easier.
There are currently about 200000 apps for the iphone and the number is growing as this post is being written.
These apps are not just time pass stuff but has serios uses too.You can be online from anywhere,mail from anywhere.SMS might soon become a thing of past.You can browse internet through high end browsers or watch videos on YouTube.All through Apps.
Now even Google has jumped into the so called App Revolution with the new OS called Android.

Android is a very powerful OS .

Android too has a Android market (similar to Apple App Store).The total number of Apps on the market are just rising by the day.There are about 70K apps right now.
A person can mange everything through phone.Gmail,Gtalk,WordPress,FTP,Yahoo,Facebook,Twitter,Songs,Push Mail etc etc are just few apps.One can navigate through GPS and Google Maps from anywhere in the world with pin point precision.You can find information about any logo or picture in the world through Google Goggles or sail through constellations or galaxies using Google Sky Map.
There is an App for almost anything these days.On a show on Discovery Channel, a person demonstrated an App for driving a Car by just tilting your iPhone(using a Hardware interface in your car) .
Nokia as a company is facing a lot of heat for ignoring the App World.Even they have an App world of their own known as Ovi but freelance developers(the backbone of the Apps) are ignoring them due to old Symbian OS.
Nokia is a perfect example of how Apps can affect your bottom lines.
Still there is a long way to go before these Apps along with a good smartphone totally replace the need(or want) of a good laptop.TMSbee was still much comfortable writing this post on a PC rather than a ‘Smart Phone’ !

© 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

We all have heard/studied/read about the Product Lifecycle(PLC).The concept says that Product like a human being has a finite life.It grows, matures and then dies.

Lets take an example.Floppy Disk is no longer available now but it was a hot cake at one time.Even till 2001-02 floppies existed in market.The product just died.

Brands on the other hand don’t exactly follow a life cycle.Brands can be immortal unless they commit suicide.Brand and product are closely related.A brand is nothing without a product or service but brand can evolve over the time.

Continuing with our floppy example,Sony,Seagate all had their floppy disks,but the brands didn’t die after the death of floppies.

Sony today is preparing market for BluRay.Seagate is a market leader in hard disks.

The brands lived.Coca Cola is a brand that is immortal.Brands who realized that they need to evolve survived, rest have died.

There were brands in India like Campa Cola,Gold Spot etc,today they have died and are no more.

Either they were killed by the bigger brands or customers rejected them.If Campa Cola could have gone into a slightly different beverage market,they could have survived.Parle did survive as a brand.Today its a big brand.

Thums Up as a brand could not be killed even after Coca Cola tried its best because the consumer demanded the drink.

Some years back,there was a series of TV commercials in India for a brand called Home Trade.The ads featured Sachin Tendulkar,Shah Rukh Khan,Hritik Roshan but the brand was never heard of after the ads.The brand died instantly.

So do brands die ?

Yes and No,Brands are not created by TV commercials or campaigns,they are for the consumer/customer to test and trust.Once a name is in customer’s mind,its a brand.But the life of the brand would be decided by the fact whether customer sees the brand as a friend or a foe.

e.g. Whenever Maruti comes out with any new car,people accept it and trust it because Maruti as a brand is a friend to many target customers.Same is the case for Apple as brand.

Many would argue that once a brand is established,its immortal.But its not the case.Luna was a brand which was highly valued and popular, today the moped is no longer in production nor any other vehicle is produced with a Luna logo or brand.

So Luna is alive in history and not in reality.

Brand unlike a product can live for ever,if managed properly.Here comes the role of Brand Management.

Brand can undergo a physical change too.Like many brands keep changing their color,the look,the identity or image.This ensures freshness and long life.

Coca Cola,Nike,Adidas,Google,Microsoft are kind of brands which will ‘never’ die(hopefully) because they have evolved over the time,adding more products to their arsenal.

If a brand keeps evolving,it will never die,It can’t.

But it can commit a suicide.

What Say ?

Note: You can also request/suggest a post to me using the button on the left.I will certainly try to write a blog post on it with acknowledgement of your name.

© 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

So whats the offering ? Is it just another ‘me-too’ touch phone in the market or is it THE phone we had been waiting for ?
If it has Google’s name attached to it,it ought to be good.The initial reviews are good.



Analysts say the phone(to be sold directly to consumers) is not expected to dramatically alter the carrier-hardware vendor relationship the industry relies on, nor is it likely to yield a revenue windfall in the short term, though executives said it could be profitable.

Google plans to use what it calls a “superphone” (the first of many types of smartphones that it will make) to expand its reach from the PC to the mobile world and ensure its online products and ads get prominent placement on a new breed of wireless Internet devices.

The highly anticipated Nexus One, which marks the first time the 11-year-old Internet search titan has designed and sold its own consumer hardware device, could provide Google with a viable challenge to the iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry.

After iPhone came into the market,it witnessed many of its touch clones(not cousins) bombard the market.Each and every cell phone manufacturer(even Nokia) came up with their own ‘iPhone’.

All phones without keypads,rectangular in shape,with normally one (or max 2-3) button were common in the market.

Now the next question is Whats the price and Where is it available ?

The Nexus One is available “in large quantities”  at Google.com/phone. An unlocked GSM version of the phone that will work in most countries is $529.

Google is also offering a subsidized version of the phone – also unlocked – through T-Mobile for $179. The service plan offered by Google is 500 minutes/unlimited SMS/unlimited data for $80/month. T-Mobile’s termination fee is $200, and some users might be tempted to buy the T-Mobile version and terminate immediately, paying just $379 for the unlocked phone. Google says that users terminating too soon will be charged the full price of the phone, however. But even the T-Mobile version of the phone can be used overseas on trips by slipping in a different SIM.

Google will ship the unlocked version of the phone to customers in the U.S., U.K., Hong Kong and Singapore. In the Spring they say they’ll add a CDMA version of the phone through Verizon, and set up a European store with a carrier plan via Vodafone.

U.S. users can also use the unlocked phone with AT&T, although the phone’s radio isn’t able to use AT&T’s 3G network.

The bad news for India right now is that its not available in India.

The Nexus One is an important milestone in the smartphone market. This is a software company, frustrated with making compromises with hardware manufacturers, that has taken the product bull by the horns. HTC makes the phone, but the branding is mostly Google and it’s clear that they directed every aspect of the development of this phone. It’s Google’s vision of the perfect Android device, from the huge and beautiful screen and massively fast Snapdragon processor to the software elegance of Google Navigation, Live Wallpaper and the Voice Keyboard. When combined with Google Voice there is no phone on the market today that can touch the Nexus One.(Source : TechCrunch)

After reading and researching about Nexus,it seems to come up as the biggest competitor for iPhone.The “smartphone” market which was witnessing a battle of sorts between iPhone and Blackberry is set for a War now.

So how would Nexus One fair in the market ? Would it bite Apple or RIM where it would hurt them the most ? Is Microsoft observing from the flanks ?

Lets wait and watch.

What Say ?

© 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

In the search engine market,google sits supreme with 65% market share.Yahoo and MS (bing) currently share 28% of market share.Rest of the search engines like askjeeves.com,dogpile,AOL etc etc take whats left.

Bing arrived on the scene with a bang.All tried Bing atleast once or twice then came back to good old Google.

I was watching a show on CNN yesterday in which they were asking a lot of people on roads, in malls and offices about bing,other engines and GOOGLE as well.Nearly all  replied in affirmative to Google usage.

Google means search and Search means Google.Even the title of this post conforms to that.in other words Google has become our second nature in the big online world.

Googled,googling are all used verbs now.Google itself  is a verb(Google is a word in Oxford dictionary) .The sentence like ‘Please search this topic on Google’ has become ‘Please google this topic’.

Even Xerox can’t match the brand recall Google has acheived.

Microsoft has been trying a lot to beat Google.They tried hard with MSN but failed and now Bing.They have left no stone unturned to take Google on in this search engine market.Bing has made a good start.

But what Microsoft has to realize that their fight is not against Google or in other way they are not fighting google in a boardroom but the war is inside a 6 inch battleground,the user’s mind.(a famous line by Al Ries and Jack Trout goes something like this Marketing wars are fought in the 6 inch battlegrounds).

Can they remove the word google from the minds of millions and replace it with a Bing or a yahoo or a bingahoo?

A question that only time will answer.

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.

When you blog on a free blog,many things dont matter, but shifting to your own blog changes a lot of things.

Its like your own thing.Its just like your product which you want to show to the world.You want to reach out to as many people as possible.Same is the case with me.

During past month,a good chunk of my time has gone doing the same.There are a lot of tools available on net,free of cost,which can be used in your blog to make it up and running,rather much more than that.

I have spent lot of time on  many sites and blogs to get and learn a lot new things.I will summarize many things whcih i learnt over the course.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR BLOG NOTICED THE STEPS :

1) First and foremost,write good and relevant content : This is the main requirement.Write original articles.Write your own views,dont copy past from some sites(RSS feeds would work better in that).

Try to write on new and relevant topics.Think about targetting people before writing the blog.Think whom are you writing this blog or article for.Remeber your blog can be your online personaliy similar to a brand personality in Marketing.So try to be keep it clean and good.

Sometimes excellent blogs dont get hits and simple blogs get a lot of hits.

e.g. I wrote some blogs which pleased me ,i got normal hits,then one night i wrote a simple blog about my college.The admission season is on and i expected lot of juniors to read it.I wrote the blog and made a reference in admission forums.I got a lot of hits much more than when i wanted hits.

But once you start getting hits and people know you ,your other blogs will also get their due.So The content of your blog or website is the soul,all other tools,plugins themes and other tantrums are just auxilary(but important) tools.So focus the most on content.

2) Give a good Look and Feel:Your blog(or site) should have a pleasing look.So when you design(or apply a theme)  always remember that many people have to see it (just not you).So make it clean,crsip in which your content gets a lot of attention and focus.Think about pleaseing colors and combinations

3) Inform all Search Engines that you have arrived : There is a way to inform all search engines that your blog has arrived and also whenever you update it ,they would be informed.

The method is that you make Sitemap of your site.Almost all blogging engines have their XML-Sitemap plugin.If you are using WordPress based blog,use the Plugin XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress 3.1.2 ,for other engines like Blogger,TypePad etc plugins are available.The plugin informs Google,Live!,Ask.com and all other search engines when you update your blog.

If you dont use it,Just create a file in your root directory named Sitemap.xml and goto Google Webmasters and submit your sitemap after creating it through any of the free sites available on net which create your Sitemap from your url for free.This will enable Google Searchbots to crawl through your blog easily and your blog would be indexed and you will feature in google searches faster and quicker.

4) Regularly monitor your Site(or Blog) traffic : Monitoring the site traffic is very important.If you are using a wordpress hosted free blog(or Blogger etc) use inbuilt blog stats plugins.If you have a self hosted blog or site.I have used two tools for it.Either can be used.

a) Google Analytics : Use Analytics for monitoring traffic to your site.Google Analytics not only tells you the number of visitors,its a complete marketing tool.It can give you any stat about your site.Traffic,Visitor,Loyalty,location etc.

You just need to make a google analytics account and paste the unique code they give you in your site.In case of wordpress,paste it in footer.php file.For more options and info about google analytics visit their site.

b) StatCounter : StatCounter.com gives you similar reports as google analytics.Its little more simpler and good for starting.It gives more simpler and direct reports.You can also install StatCounter Plugin for WordPress.You just need to create a project for your URL on statcounter.com and then just paste the code in your site for monitoring to begin.

5) Integrate all your Social networking profiles to your site :

a) Facebook: You can make a badge of your Facebook Account and paste it on the site.Follow the link to create one if you have facebook account.You will get code from facebook,just paste it in sidebar through text widget in WordPress.In other blogs also paste it on your sidebar.

e.g.

b) Twitter: If you use twitter,there are many plugins available on net which integerate twitter to your blogs.You can follow updates(tweets) or post a tweet.One such plugin is TwitterTools , You can embed the code in your sidebar(or whereever you want) and twitter comes on your site.

c) LinkedIn: Give a link to your LinkedIn profile.Use this simple code

CODE: <a href=”Your_Public_URL_Here“TARGET=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.linkedin.com/img/webpromo/btn_viewmy_160x33.gif” width=”160″ height=”33″ border=”0″ alt=”View YOUR_NAME_HERE‘s profile on LinkedIn”></a>

e.g.

By integerating all these into your site,people can easily access you and remeber you for coming back next time.It will also help in networking.All will come back as quality hits for your blog(site).

6) Create RSS feeds for Your Blog : Many Blogs give RSS feeds url for your blog in advance.If you see   or similar icon in your blog hopefull it has a RSS feed in place.If you dont have it(or even if you have it) go to Feedburner(Google) and create a feed URL for your Site and enjoy.Visit the Feedburner site for all the details.

You can also add feeds of famous sites and blogs in your webpage using installed RSS readers(or install it).On my blog there are two feeds running one for Irrational Ayush ‘s Blog and other for Marketing Practice. You can add news,sports and waht not through feeds right into your page.

Also add a Google Reader Button(trust me it helps).

7) Market your blog well :Dont hesitate in telling about your blog to your friends and other people.Keep your google talk as status as the link for your blog(trust me it helps).

Update your twitter and Facebook accounts with the feeds from your blog.But again remember DOnt overdo it.It can lead to people getting irritated from you.

As i wrote before before writing a new Post think about the Target Group in advance,A little thought process can lead to difference of 100′s of hits.Thats the beauty of Marketing.

Think innovative ways to market your blog.

8 ) Give a way to people to share your blog and articles : Give a way to the visitors to share your story to the world(the cascading effect).The visitors should be able to share your blog through Digg , StumbleUpon ,Twitter and Delicious etc.

The easiest way to do it is to add a AddThis button .

A simple Digg Button with number of Diggs can also be added through this simple code placed in your site

CODE : <script src=”http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>

Also for wordpress user a plugin named Sociable is available.You can use it.I am using it currently.

9 ) Comments are very important Dont Ignore them:If Possible Explicitely ask for comments.Whenever you visit other blogs,leave comments with your reference and your website’s URL for sure(dont forget it,all this fuss is for getting hits dude!).Its a fact that if more people comment on your blogs,more better rank it reaches in indexing.

10) Ads : Here comes the point which many have in their mind when they even think of buying a URL,How do i earn money?I have kept it right in the end of my blog because Money has to come as a byproduct of the blog .If your blog is good and popular money would automatically flow.

There are many websites which offer ads on your blog free of cost.You get money for clicks on ads placed on your site.

a) Google Adsense : Google Adsense is the most popular and well known Ad Engine.I need explain its importance for a blogger.Google Adsense is the best advertising platform on web.It can take time for a new blogger to get approved by Google.But if you are a legitimate blogger,you will easily get through in max 5 6 months.

b) Adbrite : This is the second best Ad system.This is one stop solution.It gives you text ads,banner ads,full page ads and inline ads.You can earn some good money through it.Go to Adbrite.com and get going.For results check out Ads on my sidebar and top of the page.

c ) Kontera In Line Ads: This is the Ad Engine only for inline ads.Kontera offers in line word Ads.I cant tell more details about the ads(against my commitments to Kontera).Visit the site to know more.Its simple to implement.Just insert code in your site and its done.You will start recieving ads within 24 Hrs.

d) Infolinks Text Ads : This is very similar to Kontera.

There are many other plugins and ways to make yourself known and popular as Bloggist and for networking.I have covered what all i know and have implemented my self on my blog.

If anyone needs a domain and hosting space just give your reference in Comments below.

Any Query or help just mail me or talk to me on the Chat window on the sidebar.

Comments Please

© 2009 – 2010, TMSBee. All rights reserved.