Sony Walkman Vs. Apple iPod

I find it very interesting that it took Sony thirty years to sell 385 million Walkmans, but Apple has sold more than 210 million iPods worldwide in only eight years.

Not only does that mean that Apple will surpass Sony's peak in another year or so, but it also means that Sony didn't maximize on their potential. At this rate, in thirty years, Apple will have sold nearly one billion iPods.

In my opinion, the Walkman of the 80's and 90's only appealed to younger people. I think that Sony made the mistake of assuming that only teenagers would be interested, and marketing mostly to that group.

Apple, however, figured out early to make the iPod appeal to many generations. It appeals to teenagers and adults, including many seniors. This is why Apple has been able to gain so much market share in so little time.

Even more, Apple figured out how to take a consumer group and expand it. In other words, they managed to get people to buy iPods who didn't previously buy portable music players.

Now, Sony who dominated that market for 20+ years, is struggling to catch up as they attempt to introduce new lines of MP3 players.

Sadly, they will probably end up retiring the "Walkman" brand. I believe that one day they will regain a market share, but I think it will take a new brand and a new marketing strategy.

Did You Get Your Facebook Username?

I'm not a big fan of using Facebook for business purposes, but a lot of people do this and I've heard some pretty good success stories. If you do use Facebook to grow your business, you may as well maximize on it.

They have a new feature that allows you to personalize your Facebook URL (web address) by selecting a unique username. It will appear in the location bar of your browser after "http://www.facebook.com/" when you view your profile.

For instance, my personalized URL is www.Facebook.com/DanteLee

Since so many people use Facebook, this is a really neat feature because it makes it very easy for people to find you. In addition, over time your page will start to show up in search engine results whenever people "google" you.

Don't procrastinate though because if someone takes the username you wanted, there's nothing you can do about it. If this happens though, consider other options. For instance, I could have also registered Facebook.com/LeeDante or Facebook.com/Dante.Lee or even Facebook.com/DanteMLee. Which ever one you go with, just remember that you can not change it later - so get it right the first time around.

Also, don't even think about name squatting - that is, trying to capitalize on someone else's name. Facebook reserves the right to remove and/or reclaim any username at any time for any reason.

To choose and activate your username, visit: www.facebook.com/username

Are You Twellowing and TweetBeeping?

I blogged several months ago about why all entrepreneurs should be using Twitter.com - an extremely popular web-based micro-blogging tool. Hopefully, you listened because Twitter has been growing exponentially and still remains to be a very useful way of getting and retaining new clients. It's also a great way to stay in-the-know.

To enhance your Twitter experience, there's a site called Twellow.com that helps you easily find relevant people to follow on Twitter. Essentially, it's a Yellow Book directory for Twitter profiles and it's much more extensive than the search feature on Twitter's web site.

I use this site all the time to find people who are connected to the industry that I work in. For instance, relevant keywords for me are "supplier diversity", "minority business", "diversity recruiting", etc. When I find people, I start following them and interacting with them - and eventually, they'll inquire about my services.

I also recommend that you use another site called TweetBeep.com that allows you to get email alerts when ever someone twitters about you or your company. You can also specify other keywords that may be of interest to you.

Bill Gates Vs. Nintendo Wii

Microsoft is planning to release a camera accessory for the XBox 360 that will create an experience similar to that of the Nintendo Wii. It's called "Project Everyone" and it lets players use a wider range of movements, as well as voice commands, while they play games. According to BusinessWeek, users will be able to play games without even having to touch a controller.

In demos, Microsoft showed the camera using face recognition software to detect individual players and voice commands to launch programs. In one game, players could use any part of their body to smack a ball into a wall of collapsible blocks.

This is their attempt to compete with Nintendo, who to-date has sold more than 50 million Wii units - almost double the amount of XBox 360 units sold.

Ironically, Nintendo must have already been on to this type of technology because they too are planning to release Wii Motion Plus technology, which it says more accurately captures complex motion such as the twirling of a wrist during a tennis match.

Whether or not Microsoft can compete, only time will tell - but they do have a lot of catching up to do. Nintendo practically owns the motion-detecting video game industry, much like Apple owns the MP3 industry.

Interesting though, how our country is in a recession with thousands of jobs being lost every week - but the video game industry is alive and kicking.

Be Careful About Online Travel Agencies

Online travel agencies like Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity can be twofold - helpful and troublesome. Yes, they allow you to see multiple rates at once and may even offer you a discounted price - but be careful because they can also screw up your travel arrangements.

Just recently I bought a one-way ticket for United Airlines from Washington Dulles to Columbus Ohio. The ticket was only $100 bucks on Orbitz.com, but was $380 on United.com. Naturally, I bought the cheaper ticket.

Here's where the problem came: The day I was supposed to leave, I received a text message from Orbitz saying that my flight had been delayed by 2 hours. When I arrived to the airport later that day, it turned out that my flight had never been delayed. Not only did I miss the last flight of the day, I had to pay to stay in a hotel another night - and they couldn't even get me on the first flight the following day. Eventually, I got home on the 2nd flight out.

Of course, I called Orbitz to tell them about what happened. They denied sending me a text message, but did agree to give me a $50 credit. They said they would do more if I faxed them the original text message that I received.

Once I finally figured out how to do that (yes, there is a way to fax a text message - at least from the iPhone), I called them to plead my case for at least a $200 credit. Of course, they denied it.

Their excuse was that United Airlines originally delayed the flight, but change it back to an on-time status. I'm thinking: "Why didn't you idiots send me another text message?"

Moral of the story: Use online travel agencies to find the best deals, but don't buy from them. Buy directly from the airline. However, if you do insist on buying from the agency and you get a text message from them about your flight status, call the actual airline to double-check.

Radio One Looking To Hire An Online Editor

Radio One, Inc., one of the nation's largest radio broadcasting companies and the largest radio broadcasting company that primarily targets African-American and urban listeners, is looking to hire an online editor for www.Radio-One.com

It looks like a pretty good gig for freelancers and entrepreneurs who specialize in writing and content management.

Here is the job description:

The Online Editor is responsible for all aspects of programming (i.e. developing and managing content) for Radio One’s radio station websites in the Washington, DC market, WKYS, WMMJ, WPRS, WOL and WYCB. The position is responsible for increasing the sites’ online traffic and engagement through the maintained programming of celebrity news, entertainment and local events, and by linking the stations’ on-air and off-line marketing and promotional activities.

Job Responsibilities:

* Writing, editing, and assigning posts about news, celebrity, entertainment, and gossip on both a national and local level

* Constant aggregation of material from around the web and the stations’ other network partners including, but not limited to, other Radio One station sites, BlackPlanet.com, TV One, and the content verticals of the BlackPlanet Universe.

* Reporting on, and engaging with, local Washington, DC and surrounding area events and activity

* Working with radio personalities to assist in the creation and maintenance of daily blogs

*Working with the stations’ Program Director, Operations Manager, and/or Marketing/Promotions leads to maintain the vision, voice and brand direction of the stations online

* Working with the National Director Of Online Content for Radio to leverage national programming opportunities, tools and services

For more details and/or to apply, visit:
http://blackjobs.com/cgi-bin/jobs/searchJobs.cgi?job_id=904164

Why Fly Without Wi-Fi?

More and more airlines are offering passengers the ability to connect to the Internet while in-flight. Its a concept that's long overdue, but it has finally arrived.

Southwest and Delta were the first to do so - but Wi-Fi is only installed on some of their planes. Just recently, however, AirTran announced that by the end of July, all of their planes will be Wi-Fi enabled. Virgin America too announced that by May 25th, all of their planes will enabled.

The price to connect via a handheld device or laptop will be $7.95 to $12.95 a flight, depending on the device and the length of the flight.

Jack Blumenstein, CEO of Aircell - the Chicago-based provider of the wireless service of more than 1,000 jets, says that "a typical narrow-body jet can be equipped with the 125 pounds of necessary equipment and fiber-optic cable during an overnight stay at an airport for about $100,000."

$100,000 per plane is a hefty investment, but remember that millions of people fly every day. Imagine an airline getting 50,000 people a day to buy into a $12 internet fee. That's $600,000 a day.

The only catch is that Virgin America is the online domestic airline that provides an electrical outlet to plug your laptop into while in-flight. For other airlines, you just gotta make sure your battery will last long enough.

Those 5 hour coast-to-coast flights will be tough.

NAACP, Urban League Get Into Social Media

By Lesly Simmons of BlackWeb20.com

Major civil rights and social justice organizations are popping up on Twitter and Facebook. Now celebrating its 100th year, the NAACP is expanding on Facebook, while Urban League chapters are building presence on Twitter.

The National Urban League’s Twitter account has been all business–just a few tweets with specific info on events, media appearances, and the like. It would be great to see more of the inner workings of the organization, but its not a bad start. The Milwaukee Urban League Young Professionals account, on the other hand, is much chattier, interspersing updates on chapter activities with some personal updates. The difference between the two accounts seems typical of what happens in large organizations: the national office is the information source, and the local office has the closer connection with day to day members and constituents. The tweets from the MULYP group feel really relevant to both local and national issues and news of interest to members in that community.

Right now there is an NAACP account on Twitter, with no updates. However, that should change soon with the hiring of their new media relations manager (you may have seen the job pop up on this site recently). The first line of the job description says “Provide regular web content,” so its probably safe to assume this job will be the NAACP’s official Twitterer, blogger, Facebooker, etc.

The Urban League’s upcoming Annual Conference in Chicago is being promoted on Facebook via the Thursday Network, the Urban League’s Young Professionals group in the DC-area, which boasts hundreds of members and regularly sends updates of interest to professionals in the region. Otherwise, there isn’t a national presence on Facebook yet, but until then, the Thursday Network is doing a good job of maintaining a successful and informative group.

On the other hand, the NAACP has a large presence on Facebook. The youth section of the organization has created a robust Facebook group that has more than 4,000 members and features regular video updates and conversations (not surprisingly many are posts about race) on its wall. There are also several groups for specific NAACP chapters around the country, all seemingly run by local NAACP members. But then, in one of the downsides of social media marketing, there are a bunch of groups that have a few members, but its not really clear who runs them. They could be affiliated with the national office or not–a search for NAACP on Facebook shows multiple groups under the name, so if someone was quickly looking for a group, they could end up in one of the many that has one (or no) updates. Not a good thing for people who want to be engaged with a brand online. But for organizations, that’s the joy and the pain of social networking–anyone can do it, and unless you’re Coke, Pepsi, or some other huge brand, its hard to keep other people’s hands off your name, even when they are trying to help.

The NAACP is moving in the right direction with its plans for a new media manager, because the best way to manage that brand online is to be present, but also active. I recently attended a panel discussion of PR professionals who work with multicultural audiences, and the moderator gave what I thought was really bad advice–he told everyone to make sure their cause, client, or whatever started a Facebook group immediately, because of the number of minorities using the service. I choked on my coffee at the shortsightedness of that comment, and luckily some of the panelists also disagreed. (Apparently he didn’t read the Washington Post article on Facebook groups). Its not about just being online, its about being a regular part of the community you’re joining, and starting a group without the plan and the resources to manage could potentially be more damaging than anything in the long run. Right now, the Thursday Network, MULYP and the NAACP’s youth are getting it right. If their fellow chapters and national offices follow suit, both organizations can become major presences among social media causes.

Source: www.BlackWeb20.com

What is RSS?

You've likely heard the term RSS being used. It's an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. All it means is that you can subscribe free to content from various web sites and blogs, and have it delivered to one single page - commonly known as an RSS reader.

It sounds pointless, but it really is very helpful. For instance, suppose you regularly frequent WashingtonPost.com, BusinessWeek.com, WSJ.com, BlackEnterprise.com, and other news sites. Well, instead of visiting each web site every day - you can create your own customized home page to see the stories (or feeds) all at once.

My favorite RSS reader is iGoogle (www.google.com/ig) because its very simple and fast to use. Google also has another one called Google Reader (www.google.com/reader) - which is a little more sophisticated.

Using RSS benefits entrepreneurs because it enables you to better keep up with your business publications. Many times, it can be a huge task to frequent 5-10 different news web sites every day. RSS is the solution to that, and it even helps you better identify the articles that appeal most to you.

To subscribe to an RSS feed, simple scan your favorite web site for a link that says "Subscribe Via RSS" or look for the commonly used orange logo (pictured above).

Many cell phones such as the Blackberry or the iPhone have mobile applications that also enable you to subscribe to and/or access your RSS feeds. The actual mobile application may have a fee, but subscribing to the feed itself will always be free.

$20,000 In Capital For Startups?

I discovered this by clicking on an ad on Facebook, so I don't know if its 100% valid. However, it does look very interesting and may be worth taking a look at.

It's called Capital Factory, and they are a seed stage mentoring program for startups that provides a small amount of seed capital and weekly mentoring sessions by entrepreneurs who have founded successful companies.

Startup companies apply to participate in their 10 week summer program intended to get a startup pointed in the right direction with a clear path to profitability and growth. This year the program runs from May 22nd to August 7th. At the end of the program, they'll host Demo Day and stream it live over the Internet.

Each company receives up to $20,000 in cash, and they provide you with all of the basic infrastructure that you're not spending that money on office space or legal fees. That's meant to be enough to cover your living expenses, hire an employee or contractor, and do some test marketing.

The deadline to apply is April 3, 2009.

For more details, visit:
www.capitalfactory.com

Black Public Relations Conference Canceled; Shifts To Free Webinars

In a bold step reflective of its commitment to provide meaningful information to its membership in a difficult economic environment, the National Black Public Relations Society (NBPRS) is converting its Annual Conference & Career Fair to a series of free online, interactive webinars. The online events will be held on April 23-24.

NBPRS, the largest organization of African Americans in the field of public relations, was co-founded by Pat Tobin - a well-respected PR veteran who passed away in 2008.

This year's conference was originally to be held in Atlanta, Georgia. It was to be their 10th anniversary. However, the conference was apparently canceled due to the current U.S. economic crisis that has affected so many other events and companies.

I personally attend every year, and am a huge advocate and supporter. In fact, last year my company sponsored the conference in part, and we were planning to be a major sponsor this year as well.

I was a bit disappointed to hear about the cancellation, but am glad to hear that they are scheduling a series of local conference and opportunity fairs in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. between March and December 2009. These one-day events will focus on communication strategies, professional development, career and business opportunities.

For more details, visit www.NBPRS.org

Online Shopping By Black Consumers is Up 50%

Target Market News reports:

Online shopping by African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and other minorities has increased dramatically during the past five years, according to a new report from The Media Audit.

"The 88 markets surveyed for this report have an aggregate adult population of approximately 145 million and 58 million of those adults are members of a minority," says Bob Jordan, president of International Demographics, Inc. "As a result of their numbers, their increasing tendency to shop online is very significant to most marketers," adds Jordan. International Demographics, Inc. is a 37-year-old market research firm which produces The Media Audit.

Among African-Americans, 40.6 percent now shop online, compared to 27.1 percent five years ago. More than 20 percent now make five or more purchases in a year and 10.9 percent make more than twelve purchases. The total adult African-American population in the 88 markets surveyed is approximately 17.6 million.

Among all minority adults surveyed, 55.8 percent now shop online, compared to 44.1 percent in 2002. In addition, 35.7 percent made five or more purchases and 19.8 percent made 12 or more purchases.

The Data Source The Media Audit, a syndicated media ratings service currently covering more than 80 metropolitan markets, provides qualitative data for media websites as well as for traditional media. Traditional media -- print, broadcast and outdoor -- have used The Media Audit data in sales, marketing and management for more than 37 years. In 1998, the survey started providing data on local media websites. The surveys now contain more than 400 fields of qualitative information in addition to quantitative measurements of local web audiences.

Source: www.TargetMarketNews.com

2009 African American Magazine and Internet Summits Come To Chicago, March 16th - 17th

For the first time, Target Market News will hold two of its highly anticipated Summits on back-to-back dates. The Sixth Annual African-American Magazine Summit will be held on March 16th in Chicago, and will be followed by The Second African-American Internet Summit on March 17th. The combined Summits are expected to attract 400 marketing, advertising, media and research professionals.

The African-American Magazine Summit will offer an entire day of presentations and panel discussions examining the latest research and trends in advertising, acquisitions and start-ups; circulation strategies; Internet strategies; untapped business opportunities and more. Specific topics and participants will be announced shortly. The most recent Magazine Summit was held in New York at Time Inc. and featured participation from Carol H. Williams Advertising, Essence Communications, Footsteps Group, Johnson Publishing Co., Media Economic Group, NV Magazine, On Wheels Inc., Uptown Magazine, Vigilante Advertising, and ESPN Magazine among others.

The African-American Internet Summit follows a highly successful debut event held last October in Chicago. The gathering featured presentations from AOL BlackVoices, BET.com, BlackWeb 2.0, Burrell Communications, Google, GlobalHue, Lee Moss Media, Interactive One, Nia Enterprises, RushmoreDrive.com, Synovate, The Media Audit, TUVOnline, The Axis Ad Agency, and UniWorld Group, among others. The last Internet Summit had a sold-out capacity of 200 attendees.

Both events will take place at the Wyndham hotel in downtown Chicago. Pre-registration is required. Attendees can register online by visiting www.targetmarketnews.com.

I, personally, will be attending both events - and encourage you to do the same. These conferences are one-of-a-kind, and offer excellent networking opportunities.

DHL Falls Victim To Recession

January 2009 was the last month that DHL offered shipping services domestically within the United States. I heard about it then, but it didn't register with me until today when I tried to ship a package and could not find our country listed in their selection box on their web site.

For those of you who aren't familiar with DHL - they are a global shipping and logistics company just like UPS, FedEx, and USPS. In my opinion, they were the most affordable option when shipping packages and boxes - although they weren't necessarily the fastest.

Their reason for shutting down U.S. operations: The recession.

"This is the right move for our U.S. Express operations given the current economic climate and for the long run," said John Mullen, CEO of DHL.

Despite having to let go of thousands of employees, they are not going out of business. They're just re-focusing their efforts to international shipping. They ship to over 225 countries and 120,000 destinations.

You can still ship from the United States to another country, and from another country to the United States - but not from state to state.

I am personally very upset about this because now I have to go back to getting ripped off by FedEx.

Cell Phone Wars

Get ready for the Boost Mobile sneak attack. Next week, they are launching a huge campaign to promote their new plan. For just $50 a month, customers can get unlimited minutes, unlimited text messaging, unlimited internet, and unlimited walkie-talkie.

The plan comes with no hidden fees, no convenience fees, no roaming charges, and no additional telecom taxes. This means that, no matter what, your cell phone bill will only always be $50 total. Even more, there is no contract involved - so there is no need for a credit check.

Did I really just say "no contract"?

This is going to kill the current deals offered by Verizon, AT&T Wireless, and T-Mobile who all charge over a $100-$150 a month for the same exact plan.

For those that don't know: Boost Mobile is the prepaid division of Sprint, and they offer their customers nationwide coverage through the Sprint/Nextel network.

Sprint/Nextel has been in a lot of financial trouble lately, and this may just pull them out of the fire. Either way, the cell phone wars have begun.

Use FareCast To Find Best Travel Deals

For those of you like me who travel a lot for business, there's a fairly new web site powered by Microsoft called FareCast.com.

The site allows you to search for airplane tickets from all the major airlines, and find hotel rooms at all the major hotels. No big deal right? You can do this on Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, and others.

FareCast, however, has a feature called "Low Fare Prediction" that will predict whether or not the ticket prices shown will rise or drop. For instance, you may get a message saying: "Wait: There's an 80% chance that the price for this ticket will drop" or "Buy Now: This ticket price will rise soon."

The web site also indicates whether or not today's rate for a specific hotel is a deal. It compares an individual hotel's current rate found to its observed historical rates. For instance, you may get a message saying "No deal" or "Deal".

Apparently, Farecast is the 2008 Webby Award winner in the travel category and is recognized as one of Web 2.0's "Best Travel Sites" - amongst other notable accolades.

I just started using it, and it's a really neat tool. Give it a try.

5 Reasons To Create Your Own Social Network

My business partner, Will Moss, has built a unique tool that allows people to create their own social network for free. It's called Connect Platform (www.connectplatform.com), and the same technology is being used to power some of our sites including HBCUconnect.com, BlackHistory.com, BlackWomenConnect.com, and others.

The service is designed for individuals, businesses, groups and organizations who want to create their own interactive online communities. The concept is perfect for celebrities, authors, speakers, etc. It also works great for organizations like the NAACP or the Urban League, or even church groups and family reunions.

You may wonder why its a good idea to create your own social network, when sites like Facebook and LinkedIn already exist. Here are 5 goods reasons:

1) It's Your Own Community - Creating your very own social network allows you to build your own online community. It's good to be a part of other social networks, but it's also a plus to have one that is completely positioned around your brand.

2) It Creates Brand Loyalty - Having your own social network will heavily engage your customers or supporters. Social networks are interactive, encouraging people to visit your site more than just once.

3) You're In Control - Having a page on Facebook is great, but you are not really in control. Creating your own social network allows you to change the colors, add your logo, control the content, and more.

4) It Leaves An Impression - If you create an online community with powerful resources and relevant people to interact with, people will be impressed with you and will be more inclined to buy your products and services. Not only that, you'll be well-respected as the person who brought everybody together.

5) It's Free - Creating your own social network can be done within minutes, and it's 100% free. The only catch is that banner ads will appear on your site. For a modest fee, however, they can be removed.

For more details about how to create your own social network, visit www.connectplatform.com

The Future of Sirius XM Radio

Commercial-free satellite radio may be coming to an end. The New York Times is reporting that Sirius XM Radio is preparing for a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

That would make the company one of the largest casualties of the credit squeeze. With over $5 billion in assets, it would be the second-largest Chapter 11 filing so far this year, according to Capital IQ.

Sirius XM, which never turned a profit when both companies were independent, is laden with $3.25 billion in debt. In the month of February alone, they owe $175 million in debt payments that they are unlikely to be able to pay.

What's to blame for this? Apparently, satellite radio is failing to win over many younger listeners, and competition from other sources (such as Internet radio stations and iPod/iPhone radio stations) have slowed their subscriber growth.

In my opinion, Sirius XM offers a service that is too easy to duplicate and provide for free. Nowadays, anyone can launch a radio show. Even worse, I think they overestimated how many people would pay a monthly fee to not hear commercials. It never bothered me all that bad.

iPhone Vs. Blackberry

Don't worry. This won't be a long blog. I'll get right to the point. Blackberry sucks. iPhone rules. Hands down.

Before you react, please understand that I have had both phones. I'm not speculating, and I'm not just repeating what I've heard. I am speaking first-hand.

Blackberry is like having an Atari (if you know what that is), and iPhone is like having a Playstation 3.

Blackberry is like having a go-kart, and iPhone is like having a Lamborghini.

Blackberry is like having a small black and white TV with three channels, and iPhone is like having a 60 inch flat screen HD plasma with 1,000 satellite channels.

Put simple, Blackberry sucks. I don't know what the big hype about it is, but there is nothing about the Blackberry that is worth any hype. I'm thinking maybe it was the best phone around, until the iPhone was released. I don't know; I can't say for sure.

But I can say this for sure: If you try the iPhone, you will never go back.

Oh and yes, it is well worth switching to AT&T Wireless. If your network doesn't work with the iPhone, you're with the wrong network.

The Power of Wii

Despite a struggling economy, the video game industry is alive and booming. According to USA Today, Nintendo is the undisputed leader.

During the month of December 2008, Nintendo sold 2.1 million units of their Wii console - 40% more units than the combined total of all the other devices on the market. This brought its 2008 total to over 10 million units sold in the U.S.

In comparison, Microsoft sold only 4.7 million Xbox 360 units and Sony sold only 3.5 million Play Station 3 units.

In addition, the four best selling video game titles for 2008 were for the Wii. Those included "Wii Play," "Wii Fit," "Mario Kart" and "Super Smash Bros: Brawl."

"Wii Play" was the top-selling video game of the year, selling more than 5.3 million copies.

You don't have to be in to video games to care about this information. All entrepreneurs can take note of this to see that even during a recession, there are consumers out there who are spending money.

Despite a record amount of jobs lost in 2008, U.S. consumers spent more than $5 billion on video games.