My Internet Notebook

By Jeff Thull, author of “The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap, Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale”.

Value truly is in the eye of the beholder. If your customer can’t perceive the value you provide, it doesn’t exist. Period.

The value gap can often be traced back to cross-functional dysfunction, a term that basically means your departments are not working together—or, even worse, they may be in conflict with each other. For example, R&D creates new products that have little connection with the customer’s real problems. Marketing generates leads but is not held accountable for the results. Salespeople merely “present” solutions instead of seeking out relevant information on what the customer’s real requirements are.

Full article over at MarketingProfs.com

The latest Mobile OS from Microsoft, unveiled at 2005 Mobile and Embedded DevCon:

Windows Mobile 5.0, code-named Magneto, offers enhanced support for third-generation wireless, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections, one-handed device navigation and other services like push-to-talk.

On My Yahoo front page, the alphabet ‘e’ has been hijacked by BMW’s ‘3’, ostensibly referring to its 3-series. See for yourself below. Was it ‘smart’ advertising? Or was it a bug?

Finally ending a painful three-year decline, worldwide PDA (personal digital assistant) shipment grew in the first three month of 2005 to 3.4 million, a 25 percent from the same period last year. Research firm Gartner said in a report tracking PDA sales.

This is certainly good news for us as there will be more customers we can sell our mobile solutions to.

Another highlight in the report is that RIM became the No.1 PDA vendor as BlackBerry shipments grew 75.6 percent in the first quarter. This is a great news for our upcoming Mobile Sales for BlackBerry product.

Do This, Get Rich! Try to met these unmet software needs, you may get rich in the process, that is according to Business 2.o editors: Michael V Copeland, Om Malik and Erick Schonfeld. They proposed the following ideas and got actual feedback from veteran Venture Capitalists. Pretty cool!

Web Services:

PeoplesChoice – extracts data from online retailers like Amazon.com, eBay and others to create a virtual map of what’s selling on the Web …
NurseSwap – online service connects freelance nurses with short-staffed health care facilities.
CelebrityDigs – sells hotels web-based software that lets visitors tailor their stay online and takes a cut of in-room luxury goods sales.
Let’s Make a Deal – web service aimed at reducing your subscription and monthly service bills.

Software

SpotCaster – software to insert ads in podcast and other audio files.
MedTrack – RFID software system to track drugs and supplies in hospital to reduce medical errors.
EnMiser – software to enable energy savings
G Mob – a special MVNO just for video gamers thru a fast 3G network.
HeavyCE Systems – boat control software and hardware