It was January 1984. Madonna introduced herself to the nation on American Bandstand. Dallas and Dynasty were the top shows on TV. Hulk Hogan just won the WWE Championship. And a computer revolution was born.
On January 24 that year, we sat down to watch the Washington Redskins take on the LA Raiders in Super Bowl 18. A commercial came on that spoofed the George Orwell novel (I think a prophetic novel) 1984. We were told the Apple Macintosh would make 1984 not look like 1984. They were onto something. Computers before the Mac seemed unfriendly, robotic and had a scary big brother component to it. Apple Mac changed that. It was portable. It was easy to use. You could do work play games on it (who remembers The Oregon Trail?). If I’m not mistaken, that commercial only ran once, but that’s all it took. Though it cost nearly $2,500 (in 1984 dollars), it was wildly successful. Most home computers cost you $10,000 or more back then.
But look at what it did for the Apple company. The company was in trouble. Steve Jobs and company were just hoping for a profit. What they got was a $10 billion company. What they also got was notoriety to a new generation. Despite this success, Apple did slide into trouble in the 1990s. But then came the iMac. Then came the iPod. Then came the iPhone. Now they’re a trillion dollar company. I mention these gadgets because none of these would be possible without the original Apple Macintosh. So happy birthday Mac, and many more?
By the way, who won that Super Bowl between the Redskins and Raiders?
In June 2008, Bill Gates stepped down?as CEO from?Microsoft. Steve Ballmer took his place. Last year, Ballmer, much less known than his predecessor, announced he was stepping down as soon as his replacement was named. Now what?
For months now, there has been a rumor carousel going on about who that replacement will be. Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg’s name has been thrown in the hat. So have names like Satya Nadella, Tony Bates, and Stephen Elop. Some say Bill Gates should come back as CEO. But he’s so busy with his philanthropy, especially with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.?This foundation, not only has helped millions of people, but has?helped his reputation. It’s definitely made him?look like a kinder more outgoing man, and less like a introverted out-of-touch?computer geek.
Hey Microsoft, do you really want to?shake things up? I have two ways you can do that. First, hire a woman?or minority as?Microsoft?CEO. Look at?how Yahoo is making a comeback?with Marissa Meyer as the leader. Or you can persuade Bill Gates himself to come back as?CEO. Most people don’t know who these other guys are, but Gates and Microsoft are synonymous. Plus, with all the great work he and his wife are doing worldwide, people will be more than happy to have him back, if he’s willing to come back. So I ask again: where does Microsoft leadership go from here?
In the mid 2Triple ’00s, a Harvard student named Mark Zuckerburg founded a website called Facebook out of a dormitory. It revolutionized what is today called social media. By the early 2010s, he was faced with another challenge.
He just took Facebook public on the New York Stock Exchange. But their stocks were sluggish at best. So he calls on top Facebook engineer and college mentor Andrew ‘Boz” Bosworth. They come up with ways to improve their woeful mobile ads, and other ways to generate revenue. One spreadsheet turned into 80 pages. This 80 page document made clear the only way to grow Facebook was to invest in mobile phone ads. Since then, their shares have about doubled. By August 2012, their stock was back at $38 a share (earlier that year, that number was in the teens and early 20s). As of Friday, January 3, 2014, Facebook’s stock was around $55 a share.
There are quite a few lessons here. First, a good CEO has to be able to listen to his mentors and his employees, and his consumers. I don’t care how big CEOs get, they should never get too prideful and swell-headed to think they know everything. Had Zuckerberg not listened to Bosworth and others on the FB corporate campus, their stocks would still probably be in the teens. Zuckerburg had a willingness to change. While you’ll rarely ever see him in a suit and tie, he was willing, and did change, the way his company advertised. And everyone benefited. He has good relations with his staff. So many CEOs segregate themselves in limos, executive suites, private jets, mansions and exotic vacation homes they don’t want to be bothered until all hades breaks loose. It’s probably too late then. But Zuckerberg keeps the communication lines open and friendly that when the team saw a need, they found a successful solution…together. What are some other lessons learned from this ad lesson?
New revelations are out about the already embattled NSA. According to documents revealed by whistle blower Edward Snowden, the NSA infected approx. 50,000 computer networks with malware in order to obtain information.
The document says there’s a presentation out from 2012 detailing how they use Computer Network Exploitation (secret infiltration of computer services by installing malware). This malware was installed in over 50,000 locations. Apparently the NSA aren’t the only ones. Belgacom, a Belgian telecommunication technology, was hit by CNE in order to get info on their consumers. Who was behind the CNE? It was the British intelligence service!
Back to the NSA. They use TAO, Tailored Access Operations, to do the hacking. The company employees around a thousand professional hackers. In 2008, they got into 20,000 networks. Now, it’s estimated at 50,000. And that’s just the ones we know about. Of course, the NSA declined to comment. But they said Snowden would release more condemning evidence against this agency. And they held up to that promise. When this scandals broke out last June, it was a big shock to me. In the five months since, so much have come out that nothing shocks me anymore about the NSA. My question is: When is it ever going to end? Or will it ever end?
Apple is developing yet another brand of iPhone. This brand will include bigger screens, curved glass, and enhanced senors.
The screens will be 4..7 and 5.5 inches. It’s said these would be the largest iPhones yet, approximately 5.7 inches. It’s so early in the development plans we’ve heard nothing about the handsets. Screen sizes are a big issue for Apple. Android seems to have their number. Remember earlier this year, when Apple released two iPhones 5s and 5c on the same day? The cheaper and less advanced 5S is far outselling the 5C. But Apple is bracing for perhaps their worst holiday shopping season since 2008. Maybe that’s part of the drive to come up with the new phone. The plan is to this release this device is late 2014.
I have no problem with Apple trying to better their project. As an Apple consumer, I’m glad they are. But why are they telling us about this project months before their released? Okay, I’m not naive; I know why. But why talk about it this early in the planning? Don’t they know how quickly plans can change or go wrong? That’s especially true in the technology field. With the shopping season around two weeks away, shouldn’t they be focused on advertising the Apple devices they have in stores now?
For many years, Blockbuster has led the video rental world. We all know those days are waning. In a few months, those days will be officially over.
Announced Wed., November 6, Blockbuster announced it will shut down it’s remaining 300 US stores. In 2004, Blockbuster had 9,000 stores. Don’t look to it’s DVD mailing service either: By New Years Day 2014, that service will be gone too. The only thing that will exist of Blockbuster will be about 450 franchises, but most of those are overseas. In 2011, DISH Network bought Blockbuster out of bankruptcy. Apparently, that couldn’t even matters.
Is this the end of the video rental industry? Let’s not go there yet. The video industry is estimated at $18 billion. In fact, 2013 could be the first year movie rentals do better, or at least as good as, movie sales since 2001. The new leading movie rental change in the US is Family Video. What are they doing right? They’re offering something other than videos. Some Family Videos stores have pizza parlors adjacent to these stores. Other video stores are adding yogurt shops and gyms. There’s one store in Brooklyn that’s located in a basement. This video store in a basement also has a video screen and bar; some of the employees are learning to mix cocktails.
So in order for a video store to even survive, they can’t follow Blockbuster’s light. They can’t just sell mainstream videos and offer candy bars and popcorn at the clerk stand. In the 2010s, you can’t do that. One local store specializes in videos that are extremely hard to find, like foreign films and silent movies and all out flops. They’re still thriving today. So offer an alternative. And I think they’ll have a shot. If a video store opened up in your neighborhood, would you support it?
