Yahoo wins on the sticky factor. Yahoo visitors linger around longer. And so the Yahoo properties are better suited for ads that are dedicated to building brand names rather than pay per click text ads. Image ads are the answer for Yahoo. It might even have an edge for video ads. And video ads will be big money.
Yahoo is not anywhere near to beating Google on search. Google's search is an invention. Yahoo should keep at it, but it might be wiser to augment its strengths, and it does have those.
Semel is and has been an old media guy. He had a wonderful career during the pre dot com era. The guy is outstanding. But he did dampen innovation. He just did not "get it."
Jerry Yang might not be an MBA, but he has the instincts of a pioneer. He knows what it means to keep sniffing at the cutting edge.
Yahoo was hot property when Google was a non entity. Yahoo was so big and Google so small, Yahoo actually invested in a startup called Google. Yahoo back then did not foresee the Google potential, or they would not have passed on the opportunity to buy Google. That was years before Google offered text ads that have been minting gobbles of money.
In short, Yahoo is better suited for image and video ads. Google will continue with its edge on text ads.
And Yahoo Mail, that needs a major facelift. Make it easier to fight spam, danggoneit.
Google
Google needs to do two things fast it can.
One, figure out a way to add a two second ad at the end of the video clips on YouTube. It is like when you blog at Google's Blogger, placing text ads on the property is so easy. It should be that easy for users to monetize their original videos. But the ads should not distract. They should not be a 30 second video in the middle. Rather an image ad at the end.
Marry Blogger to mathematics. Make it possible to put down equations easily. Do calculations. The property will go up in value for that.
In The News
How Yahoo can catch GoogleSan Jose Mercury News Compared with most companies, Yahoo is in good shape. But Yahoo's problem is that it's compared with Google, one of the fastest-growing and most profitable companies in the world. ..... more popular products that keep people on its site longer than any other property on the Web ....... Yahoo shouldn't try to out-Google Google ..... collection of highly popular Web sites and services ..... his company's uncanny ability to identify Internet services that resonate with ordinary Americans ..... Google has been earning 12 cents a search, compared with 8 cents for Yahoo. ..... uses math to figure out which ads are likely to get clicked on by Internet users, and it places them in the most prominent positions ....... Yahoo grew revenue a respectable 22 percent from 2005 to 2006, from $5.3 billion to $6.4 billion. But Google grew 73 percent from $6.1 billion to $10.6 billion. ..... he said Yahoo could still be No. 1 in search. "We need to figure out how to differentiate, and the way the current search game is being defined is not being defined by us." ...... average Internet users spend more than 11 minutes each time they visit Yahoo, compared with less than six minutes for Google and less than four minutes for Microsoft. ..... "They have the strongest reach and engagement on the Internet" ...... Yahoo's data on users could bring success during the next phase of the Internet, which he believes will include highly targeted, individualized advertising. ...... "Just like any other company, Google is going to mature and decline," Rafer said. "What comes after search advertising? You can beat your head against the wall. Or you can plan for the future for when Google is a one-trick pony." Google's Iowa arrival should bring investment, jobsUI The Daily Iowan (subscription) create 200 jobs ..... an average salary of $50,000 each .... will pay the state an estimated $65 million in property taxes over the next 15 years. ..... combat Iowa's brain drain issue.
This is nothing less than Michael Dell trying to reinvent his company. It is as if he were launching another startup. Making the Titanic do a 180 degree turn is not easy. And there will be plenty to watch.
If you are going to ditch the idea of direct selling, and if you are going to no longer try to keep inventory low, then that is Dell 2.0.
Dell is now going to be more like the other PC companies. That perhaps should have been coming, because other companies have become more like Dell and have brought the prices down substantially.
There is this synergistic competition going on. PC companies are busy eating into each others' turfs. But the new move is still for Dell to prove.
The real news might be the mention of the four BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and the mention of the phrase "next billion." Those countries have much less in terms of internet penetration, and so ordering computers online is not exactly a concept. And if you are going to stock up stores with your machines, it is not exactly build to sell. The direct way has been to take the order and then build. Now you build and then go sell.
Michael Dell is a legendary entrepreneur. The CEO Rollins before him could not have made a move like this one. This is too unorthodox. He would have felt like he were undoing Dell. Can you imagine a Microsoft that is about to ditch Windows? In the late 90s, some Microsoft engineers actually did suggest to Gates that the browser instead of the operating system should be made the gateway to the computing experience. Gates suggested those engineers quit Microsoft and go join the Peace Corps.
Michael Dell's memorandum to Dell staff:
To: Dell Employees Worldwide
From: Michael & the Executive Leadership Team
Dell Confidential -- For Internal Use Only
One Dell, One Focus -- Simplifying IT for Our Customers
We met as a complete Executive Leadership Team for most of last week to discuss Dell's future. We left the week with a great deal of confidence about our plans for the next generation of Dell customers. Throughout our history we have worked as a team -- as One Dell -- and we have made quality PCs affordable. Now Dell plans to make information technology affordable for millions of customers around the world. We will do this by simplifying IT where others perpetuate complexity and innovating beyond hardware into solutions. This is one of the most exciting periods in our history but it requires all of us to stand together as One Dell to make profound changes and take well thought-out risks.
Here are some of the steps we will take to get there:
• Fix our Core Business to be competitive. The Direct Model has been a revolution, but is not a religion. We will continue to improve our businessmodel, and go beyond it, to give our customers what they need. We will simplify our organization to make it easier to hear customers and respond to them. We've already streamlined our executive leadership structure. We need to streamline our management structure to speed decisions and remove bureaucracy. We're making improvements in pricing, product development and fulfillment, and customer experience. We reorganized the product group to more effectively listen to our customers and develop end-to-end customer solutions. We are now revisiting our entire design process to improve our speed-to-market and focus on what customers truly value. Our new Global Operations organization, led by Mike Cannon, is working to take our supply chain and manufacturing to the next level of efficiency and quality. This group is also partnering with the regions and the product group to pursue new manufacturing and distribution models to address the unique needs of our customers in all markets. More broadly, we plan to eliminate overlaps in our organization and activities to enable us to deliver even more value to our customers. We also need to improve sales productivity. These won't be merely exercises in cost-cutting. We will re-invest those resources in the customer solutions that will build Dell for the future.
• Re-ignite Growth in our Core Business to reach more customers. We are taking some concrete steps to get growth back into our core business. We released the EC280 in March for first-time computer users in China. We will open a new factory in Brazil in May and a new factory in India in July to be closer to those huge customer bases. In June, we'll launch our new Inspiron models with personalized color options and improved mobile broadband. We will launch products and services for small and medium business customers later this summer. And our new Dell Data Center Solutions Division is addressing the unique needs of hyper-scale data centers for customers whose business relies on enterprise computing solutions. We plan to take our improved cost structure to acquire new customers and sell existing customers more products and services. We are accelerating down the path to be a truly global company giving customers around the world the best products, the easiest solutions and most choices.
• Build For the Long term to provide more customer solutions. Ron Garriques' Global Consumer team is re-inventing how we address the evolving needs of our consumers around the world and the unique needs of the next billion consumers in the large and emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). With strong share position in markets such as Japan, the U.K. and Canada, now we are going to make a mark in the rest of the world. Ron and team are also tackling how Dell's consumer business should evolve in the long term in mature markets. Stay tuned for more here.
We are also embarking on a bold, long term initiative to radically simplify IT for our commercial customers. Simply put, the philosophy comes down to a set of core beliefs:
• You should spend less on maintaining I/T and more on innovation.
• Every IT project should not require an army of consultants.
• Computing should have minimal environmental impact.
• Superior information drives efficiency in your IT environment.
We are already taking steps to fulfill this vision, but we have a long way to go. For those of us who have worked for a while in this industry, we know our competitors drive complexity and needless cost into customers' environments. These so-called "service divisions" create a never-ending cycle of activity with unclear return on investment. We intend to break this cycle. We will build different kinds of services and offer key technologies that will help customers escape this complexity trap and unlock the true potential of technology. And, as we re-invent Dell to deliver on this promise for our customers, we will rely on Mark Jarvis, our new chief marketing officer, to ensure we properly position our new systems and solutions capabilities in the global marketplace.
We won't hesitate to use our company's assets to build or buy the capabilities and technologies we need to deliver on our initiatives. Our transformation will take time to accomplish. We need your help to identify how we can become more efficient and effective for our customers across all areas of our business. We want you to take action with your team and bring your ideas forward. On June 20, we'll launch the internal version of IdeaStorm called "Inside IdeaStorm" for employees so that you can tell us where you think we have opportunities to improve as a company and how we can streamline our work to eliminate low value activities. We will listen and we will respond.
This is a defining moment in our history and in our relationships with our customers. Just as we re-invented the way consumers and organizations buy hardware, we are going to re-invent the way the world gets access to IT. We are excited about what we will achieve for our customers as we make information technology more affordable for them and what that will enable them to do.
The future looks great for Dell and we are up to the challenges that we'll face on our journey -- challenges that will test, teach and ultimately strengthen us as a company and as a team -- as One Dell.
Thank you for transforming Dell with the customer in mind every day. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on this on One Dell Way.
In The News Dell Losing Its Religion, But The Devil Is In The Details iT News The last time Dell entered the retail space, it was a move made out of "panic" that bombed because the company strayed from its core strength: so explained Dell in his book, Direct From Dell, which he wrote eight years ago as a guide to good business strategy. ....... Dell's three Golden Rules, "Never sell indirect." (The other two Dell Golden Rules are "disdain inventory" and "always listen to the customer.") ..... To make its way into the retail channel or commercial reseller channel this time, the company may need to re-think its second golden rule of disdaining inventory. As of last 3 November, Dell reported that it had five days of inventory. ...... To make a go of an indirect sales strategy, Dell may need to ensure that its pipeline has enough PCs, notebooks, peripherals and parts in stock so channel partners can keep their customers happy. To build that inventory may take an investment so large it could eat into the company's already-declining profits. ..... the difference between Dell and other companies is that while all companies make mistakes, Dell never makes the same mistake twice HP on the riseAustin American-Statesman (subscription) Hewlett-Packard comes back fightingFinancial Times (subscription) Strictly PC – the new king of IT Times Online Hewlett-Packard – the archetypal Silicon Valley company that recently overtook IBM to become the world’s biggest-selling technology company. ..... HP employs more than 150,000 people in 179 countries, and last year generated $94 billion (£47 billion) from selling computers, printers, cameras, consul-tancy, IT services and much else besides. ....... One of the central themes of Tough Choices is HP’s “dysfunc-tional” board, and the infighting among directors that went on for years before Fiorina’s sacking in February 2005......... HP – famously founded in a Palo Alto garage ...... the board was made up of people who were individually very good. As a group they struggled ....... HP has more than doubled in value, its shares rising from about $20 to $42. ...... HP almost doubled its operating profits last year, to $6.6 billion. ...... the $30-billion-a-year PC business. ..... Dell has stumbled, exposing the limitations of its direct-selling model ........ continuing fall in computer prices, which causes more damage to the manufacturers of cheaper, unbranded PCs. ...... HP invests about $4 billion in research and development. An old joke has it that most of the group’s investment in innovation is in creating expensive new printer cartridges ........ the continuing increase in the number of documents and photos people are printing, increasingly from the internet. ...... Hurd has spent more than $5 billion on acquisitions, the biggest of which was last year’s $4.5 billion purchase of Mercury Interactive, a company that sells quality-assurance and monitoring software. ....... The company estimates its technology is used by 1 billion people and claims it is addressing markets worth a total of $1,100 billion. ...... He tends to talk in broad generalisations. “We’ve got to develop innovative products,” he said at one point, “products that are well-designed and strongly featured, and get them to market with speed at the right price.”
There are some entrepreneurs who end up super duper rich. There are many who end up doing quite well. There are numerous whose businesses do not see the light of day. These spikes are necessary. Entrepreneurs are indispensable to the market system. And markets are fundamental to democracy. No market, no democracy.
Over the long run, it is a progression for society at large. Society overall gets richer and richer over time, unless you are Zimbabwe under Mugabe. That genius has actually managed to create an ever shrinking economy. (Wash Mugabe Away With A Revolution)
It is for the democratic process to decide on the rules of the game. But within those rules, entrepreneurs are free, the best ones end up looking reckless. Much creativity is involved. Much risk taking is involved. Often much is at stake. But in the end, it is about creation. It is a progression.
In a well-oiled, functioning political system, the politicians are background noise to the entrepreneurs. There is strategic lobbying, sure. If you are leading the pack in your industry, maybe you know things. And the public servants need to hear. But other than that, the world of business is a galaxy all its own.
Entrepreneurs are almost a different species. The entrepreneur's worldview is different than that of the jobholder. Early stage entrepreneurship can also have some interesting stories to it.
A few hours back I registered my company: JyotiConnect Inc. I want to be a Spike. Godspeed.
We are still mostly Web 1.0. And Web 2.0 has been the in thing. I imagined a Web 3.0: A Web 3.0 Manifesto. Web 3.0 is when the web becomes a utility. How often do you get excited about electricity? I have left Web 4.0 to mean things I can't imagine, let alone deliver. And I am thinking Web 5.0 is going to be face time.
Already social networking is all the rage online. The web is about people. But the technology is still largely clumsy. It will get better. But what if it keeps getting better and better until it is at its absolutely best and there is little room for improvement. At that point you realize that all along what you had really been looking for was face time. Even screen time was about face time.
That face time is what Web 5.0 will be about. And I am talking about face time as technology, almost. As in there will be a scientific approach to it. Assault is illegal right now. Racist comments will be put in the same category as assault in a Web 5.0 world.
In a Web 5.0 world, we will have achieved levels of mental and emotional health that we have achieved today in terms of physical health, in terms of what we know. We will have found a cure for depression and suicide the way we have found cures for polio. Happiness can be imagined as something always-on, like always-on broadband, because sources of unhappiness can be so precisely pinpointed.
It is ridiculous to me to watch people really really struggle with some of their painful past experiences. All they have to do is to relive it, be able to articulate it, and the pain goes away, the puss comes out, and the wound is soon gone.
That Web 5.0 imagination has implications for business practices in a Web 2.0, Web 3.0 world. It is possible to try and create Web 5.0 style group dynamics in a corporation of today. Such a corporation can be invented. That corporation would be 100% meritocratic, and it would be the workplace of the post-ISMs individual. That corporation would think in terms of pure work that is delightful to those who participate in it.
Levels of that Web 5.0 style face time can be achieved in loving relationships today. That perhaps has always been possible.
Yahoo's Next Search: A New CEO? BusinessWeek Panama's patina has officially worn off. .....attributed the decline to the phaseout of Microsoft's search ad business and rising costs of driving traffic to Yahoo sites. ..... "The writing is on the wall," wrote Jackson Securities analyst Brian Bolan, speculating that CFO Decker could soon take the helm. "Another quarter with a bottom-line miss will be the last one for Semel." ...... Yahoo expected double-digit improvements in the amount of money it generates per search by the second half of the year. .... Google garnered more than 64% of searches in March. It had slightly more than 58% of searches for the same month last year. ... Yahoo's search share dipped slightly from 22.3% in March, 2006, to 21.3% this year...... Google's brand name and constant innovations in search have proven difficult for competitors to overcome. ...... Yang boasted that Yahoo was the Internet's largest display advertising network Sprint: Say Bon Voyage to Vonage Vonage, now locked in a patent dispute with Verizon ..... Sprint, which also alleges patent infringement by Vonage. ...... its customer base of 2.2 million is expected to shrink at a rate of more than 27% a year ...... Sprint Nextel has been trying to transform itself into a wireless-only company. ...... In 2006, Sprint spun off its local calling business into a company now called Embarq (EQ). Today, 85% of Sprint sales come from wireless services....... in 2010, 44 million Americans will use Web-calling services, up from 10.3 million last year. The Marshal of MySpace BlackBerry service being restored Google: The Ad Dominator? Google already controls about two-thirds of the roughly $7.7 billion expected to be spent on online search advertising this year ..... the $3.75 billion market for online display advertising—the multimedia ads found in a fixed spot on a Web page ....... "FOG"—"Fear of Google." Executives Remain Wary of Web 2.0 Instead, they're putting their resources behind technologies that enable automation and networking ..... Web services, including software that enables systems to communicate with each other ...... Collective intelligence, which attempts to tap the wisdom of crowds to make decisions ..... Peer-to-peer networking, a technique for efficiently sharing music, video, or text files ..... social networking .. MySpace and Facebook .... RSS .... podcasts .... wikis ..... blogs .... mash-ups ..... in a knowledge economy where companies remain hierarchical in structure, knowledge is power ..... people with heavy knowledge tend to keep that for themselves ...... companies serious about embracing these collaborative technologies will need to find a new incentive system for employees. ...... Baby boomers, who still make up the majority of the workforce, are used to picking up the phone. iPhone: Harder to Build than Apple Thought The cell phone "contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device" Toshiba's Flashy New Look at Chips The plunge in global chip prices over the past year is enough to make any semiconductor executive nervous. .... He's betting that laptop PC makers will shift to a hybrid of hard disk drives and flash memory. .... consumers are likely to snap up the next-generation HD-DVD recorders and players, further fueling chip demand. ..... The demand for nuclear reactors in China, India, and even the U.S. seems real and lasting....... hoping for a resurgence in demand later this year, due to Apple's iPhone....... The High-Tech Home of Tomorrow "There is no doubt that the way we live will be different in the future," Gates said at the time. "The advances in PC technology and low-cost communications are bringing a revolution." VCs Aim to Out-Angel the Angels Khosla investments range from $100,000 to $25 million, in areas including Internet technology and clean energy. The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business Kongo Gumi's case suggests that it's a good idea to operate in a stable industry. ..... cited the company's flexibility in selecting leaders as a key factor in its longevity ...... the practice of sons-in-law taking the family name when they joined the family firm. ...... mingle elements of conservatism and flexibility ...... switched temporarily to crafting coffins during World War II. ..... Despite its incredible history, it was a set of ordinary circumstances that brought Kongo Gumi down at last. ...... during the 1980s bubble economy in Japan, the company borrowed heavily to invest in real estate ...... social changes in Japan brought about declining contributions to temples ....... in 2006, the end arrived. The company's borrowings had ballooned to $343 million and it was no longer possible to service the debt. ....... evolve as business conditions require, but don't get carried away with temporary enthusiasms and sacrifice financial stability for what looks like an opportunity The 10 Worst Corporate Practices The World's Most Livable Cities Asia's Most Livable Cities The Coming Virtual Webmore realistic, interactive, and social ..... Neal Stephenson published Snow Crash in 1992 ..... The metaverse, as Stephenson called it, was essentially the Internet. .... the popular online role-playing game World of Warcraft, which is revolutionizing online games with sophisticated graphics and complex team strategy. ..... There, Entropia Universe, and Second Life ..... online games and virtual economies. ..... virtual worlds are inherently social settings. "You go up to an avatar and you know there's a real person on the other end" ...... social activity dominates what people want to do online. ...... the 3D Internet ..... many people don't even have personal computers that can handle the often heavy processing demands of virtual worlds. The amount of data required by 3D environments also can tax even high-speed Internet connections. ...... 3D excels for a number of applications, such as medical scans, architecture, and chemical modeling, most information is best accessed and analyzed in more mundane, 2D fashion. ....... Dozens of universities are conducting classes and other activities inside Second Life. At Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., for instance, some freshmen are taking the English 104 composition course partly inside the world, writing about field trips they take inside Second Life. A sign of how compelling the notion is: The first class drew 300 applicants for 18 slots. ........ inject real-world richness into online business negotiations and collaboration ...... people are more influential when they look directly at their counterpart ..... PCs need the benefit of a few more rounds of graphics-chip improvements, as well as faster broadband speeds.
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