I’ve wanted to do a post on the slow motion car wreck that is the Toyota story, but I just haven’t had the time. This is a subject that satisfies several of my interests, from automobiles to politics to organizational dynamics, and I’ve followed it closely. So instead, here’s a collection of links…
I love me some Redbox. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m probably a good 5-years behind on movies I want to see. Buying any DVD (with the exception of kids’ movies) is a waste of money, in my opinion. I contemplated signing up for Netflix, but I doubt I would utilize the service enough to justify the expense. Redbox neatly fills that void by allowing me to pick up new releases at my convenience, all for the low price of $1 plus tax.
This is really a stretch of bad news for Toyota. Like I’ve said before, bigger (or biggest) isn’t necessarily better. You know it’s bad when Chrysler is kicking you when you’re down.
As Toyota has gained market share, they’ve also been letting things slip at the periphery. In recent memory, there were the problems with the full-size Tundra at launch, threatened legal action over roof-crush strength, the fiery floor mats of death, and now the Prius’ braking problem, plus others that you’ve likely never seen reported.
I’m just not seeing the win.
Sure, the fanboy who has iEverything will grab one. I likewise suppose that the person who would buy one of Apple’s other fine products but were deterred by the relative high price may also consider one. Like others have mentioned, the iPad (horrible name, BTW. iSlate, iBook, and iTablet would have been much better IMHO) has a series of shortcomings that are inexcusable:
I’m watching all the speculation over Apple soon-to-be unveiled Tablet product, due to be revealed on 1/26/2010. Steve Job’s had questioned the wisdom of a tablet (NYTimes via John Gruber):
Another former Apple executive who was there at the time said the tablets kept getting shelved at Apple because Mr. Jobs, whose incisive critiques are often memorable, asked, in essence, what they were good for besides surfing the Web in the bathroom.
This is kind of a big deal, and may be one of the first mass market attempts of strategic use of Social Media by a major brand. Pepsi appears to be running a textbook engagement campaign instead of a traditional mass market television campaign for the 2010 Superbowl (via Springwise):
Yes, Virginia, today – 12/17/2009 is Free Shipping Day!
As first reported by Consumer Reports, many online merchants – including Amazon – are offering free shipping today. Free Shipping Day also has a table listing the cutoff dates for delivery by Christmas.
I’m not really that concerned about Fast Food Content. If you are not familiar with the term, here’s an explanation:
But for every link there are dozens of sites that outright steal our content with no attribution. Not just spam blogs, even the NYTimes does it. This isn’t a copyright issue – the stories are rewritten by actual people. But it’s far cheaper to simply take the news and rewrite it – if you can get away with it – than to hire people who do actual journalism. Over time, it becomes a competitive tax that is difficult to bear.
