To a luck few Apple will give a sneak preview of the iPhone OS 4.0 on April 8th, while the update is only slated for release later this year, the rumor mills are already churning on the possible features this update will carry.

Multi-tasking being the heavily bet upon feature, but we’ll just have to wait and see if apples fan’s lucky this time round. Apple has been avoiding the multi-tasking feature since the launch of the iPhone, citing concerns on decrease in performance  with multiple apps running in the background, the major issue that has bugged windows mobile version for years . If you have been following the timeline of the iPhone, the company avoided the copy-paste feature for more than a year before rolling it out, and has showed absolutely no interest in integrating Flash, apart from the initial talk with Adobe.

For now, it’s just wait and see

If you are among the few that actually use the option of using Linux on your Play Station 3, here’s some bad news for you, Don’t update the PS3 firmware!

Thursday, Sony will release it is latest firmware for the PS3 console – version 3.21. However, the company has decided to remove the option of allowing it’s users to install third-party operating systems.

According to sources the update will also remove existing operating systems and related data, so make sure that you backup any data that you might have save before you update (that is, if you have actually used the system after installing it)

The company states that this decision was taken due to security threats (is it security threat or threat that some hackers have finally managed to mod the PS3, we wonder!)

Though Sony says that it is not necessary to update the firmware. But not upgrading your PS3 would mean that you loose access to PlayStation Network and playback of games and Blu-ray movies that require the new software. The console will also stop playing copy-protected content from media servers. (How’s that for choice )

We have all had our tryst with Internet Explorer and we have all been bugged, the downfall of the dominant browser was evident with rise of more efficient and supposedly secure browsers (read Firefox).

The statistics haven’t been to kind on Internet Explorer with the browser loosing about 49% market share (according to StatCounter) in a country like India (where new technology adoption is relatively slow), this despite the fact that the country does not have regulations unlike European Union! (If you remember the, it is mandatory for Microsoft to allow users choose their web browser during installation of it’s new operating system).

Internet Explorer’s share worldwide is now only about 55%. While Firefox is steady gaining at 31% and Chrome is growing at 7%. Apple still needs to learn something from it’s rivals, where browsers are concerned with it capturing only 4% of the market share.

Interestingly, one of the reason cited for the change is slow speed, other than the know security issue with Internet Explorer.

Should you be making a big hole in your bank account over search engine marketing (SEM), or should you invest more in editorial for quality content (or in R&D, usability and interface design for a quality product)

There will always be room for debate, and no doubt each side will bring out valid points. But at the end of the day, you would want to look at a strategy that will work. So what will be the best strategy to get your website the kind of traffic that will bring in conversions, stickiness, and eventually and burgeoning community. Honestly, you don’t have to be an internet guru to achieve this, the formula to getting your site to succeed is simple.

1. Search Engine Marketing in plain and simple words is, advertising.

You could create a great advertisement, get a lot of people interested and create a great spike in your traffic, of course you’ll end up spending money, but you really can get people to keep using your product if isn’t good, eventually, the real success of a product is dependent on the quality of the product. You could do SEM in several ways i.e. paid ads, paid linking, link exchange etc.., but the whole effort will be futile if people come to your site and don’t use it, or worst go away within a few seconds and never come back, cause if they don’t like your site/product and decide never to come back, even if you make changes later it’s going to be a uphill task to get these users to come back to your site.

2. Search Engine Marketers will tell you otherwise

Let’s be honest, salespeople work on smart strategies to sell to you something that you really don’t need but they will create a scenario to make you feel like you cannot succeed without their services. And not-surprisingly you will see results, yes things will work, but the truth is that SEM is not a permanent solution, cause even though it will give you instant spike, without quality content/quality product, it’s only going to be temporary and you will have to keep spending regularly to keep your visitor trend constant, or even more if you want to see the graph go upward.

3. Content is king (for content related portals/websites)

Don’t believe anyone who tells you it is not. Ideally don’t even hire that person (because that person will end up burning a deeper hole in your pocket than you want). Search engines work on algorithms that aim to bring up related (quality) content on the top, and search engine developers are constantly working to better their algo’s to make sure unrelated(pseudo) link-building schemes are not honored and worst penalized. Rest assured, if you have quality content, and people like what they see, they themselves will keep coming back, many will be generous to link back to you and with social networking on its high, many will be generous to share that link or tweet it. Eventually you will see a rise in traffic and that rise does not fall that easily.

4. Product Quality Matters

If yours is a service related website, a product or an e-commerce website, pay more attention on spending on research and development, usability and interface design. Having a good product, will ensure word-of-mouth marketing (which is any day better than paid marketing, I am sure you know that). For example, facebook or twitter, how much did they really spend on marketing? Maybe, you will need to initially invest in SEM but be caution and strategize to ensure that the spending is restricted and there’s a kill plan (downward spending on SEM). Good product have the ability to sell them-selves, yes they initially need a push.

5. Pay attention to Search Engine Optimization but please don’t get trapped in hiring an Agency, hire a good SEO (search engine optimizer) or a consultant instead.

SEO/SEM agencies love companies that don’t have geeks (every programmer is not a geek, nor is every self proclaimed techy or every engineer or IIT pass-out or every SEO/SEM manager), because geeks understand how things ‘tech’ work. And it’s easy for agencies to sell to such companies. It would help to hire somebody who understands technology from code-level to SEO and SEM and new technologies, it will be indeed a worth-while investment, or hiring a consultant for limited time, from time to time would work, But don’t fall for agencies.

6. Effective Strategy may not show result overnight but they will withstand against all odds

Any good leader will agree with this, unlike magical methods with overnight results (and long term losses), an effective strategy with focus on quality content/quality product will take time to reach the top, but once it’s there, it’s very hard for competition to shake it’s position, yes it requires patience and perseverance, but the result are outstanding and so is the ROI.

Do leave in your comment, contact me if you need consultation (yes, I will charge you, but not atrocious sums like the agencies).

It’s interesting, Apple claims to have served billion application’s to it’s iPod Touch/iPhone customers, in just 9 months. That’s huge! and surely a successful business concept. Considering that several Apps on the Store are for sales, ranging from $0.99 to $9.99. And of course there are the expensive ones selling around $14 – $20+.  That’s definitely a lot of Revenue, both for Apple and the developers. So what is it that makes Apple so successful? Why is it, that this one company does so well doing, what they are doing, while others just keep fumbling  – even after trying to imitate the same idea?

Apple definitely has the edge when it comes down to innovation (Disclaimer: I personally use the iPhone, and just can’t get over the possibilities of the product. I am sure even Apple, might have surprised itself, with the possibilities of it’s own product).

These are a few things , In my opinion. where Apple has got the equation correct. And what other business can do a little bit of learning from.

1. Innovation - Allow innovation within the organization, you will be shocked to discover the creative pool  within your own company.

2. Encourage Creativity – following up on the above point, Creativity will give you the edge over competition.

3. Research and Development – While several businesses shy away from R&D, there is a great ROI hidden from Research and Development, you just have to know how to get it right.

4. Invest in Usability – Again several companies don’t invest in usability testing of their products, which render’s a probably ‘great’ idea to just another ‘good’ idea.

5. Invest in your EMPLOYEE - while this might seem absurd to some, but it’s as important as coming out with a successful product. When an employee is looked after well (I mean monetarily and Emotionally), they will stretch to the extremes of their talents to develop your business. And I think that is the most simplest but most powerful formula for any successful business.

6. Marketing – There are the marketing gurus (MBA’s and IIM) who think no end of themselves, but none of that helps when it comes down to the reality of the market, and surely there isn’t ‘One’ formula that will get it right for you all the time (which you probably used in the last organization and got you lot of compliments).

7. Know your product well – If Apple didn’t know what their iPhone/iPod well, they probably would have never been able to dig into this goldmine. And make sure each and every employee understands your products.

8. Know your Target audience And then target it well – If your a mobile company and think everybody using a mobile is your target audience, you probably should go burn your B-school degrees right now. Apple, understands this well, they know what group of the market will appreciate their product  (and in turn be employed for them for free! talking about and showing-off the product everywhere they go) and won’t mind paying a premium for it. This in turn will inspire the other market groups to have a desire to ‘want’, which will ensure that they convert their ‘want’ to a ‘need’ and when they finally buy this product, while they don’t feel bad about the huge hole in the pocket they just created! (A very nice way of working through the psyche of a ‘save money’ customer), eventually the target audience doesn’t seem so niche as they initially had projected it. Either, it’s pure ‘Luck’ (which, I really doubt) or it’s a ‘master piece’ strategy. And it’s simple. (Also, not to forget they have a really great product there – but that’s isn’t all you need to have a successful business – you need a good plan).

9. Price your product correctly - Based on the above point, it’s important to price your product correctly. While, you might wonder, was it a  smart thing for Apple to set the price of the iPhone at a premium. Had they set the set the price lower, they would have had a large customer base. Think again, if you had to choose between short term growth or long term dominance, what would you choose? Also, when you create a product that the owners will be proud of, you can be assured of a  loyal customer base. And, if you see every other individual showing of the same phone, your sure to get turned off. So probably you will cut down a few million customers with the high price, but then these guys will spend on accessories – be it hardware or software – There you have another successful business venture – The Apple Store.

10. Lastly, Involve your (potential & current) Customers & Communities – Several companies are realizing, how important it is to involve the customer in further developing, improving and extending the product. They are the ones who will use your product and decide it’s fate, so why not let them have a say in the product life cycle and the direction it should go, the Internet is full of examples. Bottom-line, let your customers help your business to grow.

If your worried that you are infected with spyware and would like to do a bit of R&D, open up you ‘Task Manager’ and check the processes going on there. The below link will be useful in differentiating between valid and invalid (spyware/malware) process. The list contains a fairly decent number of process names, informing you what they do and if they are spyware or malware Computer Task Database and Spyware Directory. Using the above table find the containing folder of the spyware / malware, then kill (End) the process in Task Manager and delete the spyware / malware file (usually with exe or dll extention). What is spyware? Spyware is a computer software that installed on the computer without the knowledge of the user. It’s steal data of the user, computer habits (like browsing) and sends it to the creator. Malware is similar to spyware with possibly more destructive powers.

I am PC campaign

Looks like Microsoft doesn’t believe too much on it’s own technology! well at least that’s what this news imposes. According to AppleInsider, a little bit of digging by LuisDS revealed that the meta-data on Microsoft’s creative copy used in Microsoft’s ‘I am PC’ ad was actually created on a Macintosh (using Adobe CS3 of course) !…. well well, now would you trust your cook, if he refuses to eat the what he’s cooked!

Read the complete story here

iPhone Cupcakes

I really like this iPhone cup cake, Nick and Danielle Bilton were the grand champions the winner of The Cupcake Decorating Championship. I am sure the cakes were a delicious as the photos.

Makers of iPhone Cup-cakes

you can read the complete story here