Intel’s Stronger Outlook Fuels Tech-Sector Cheer

On August 28, 2009

Intel’s Stronger Outlook Fuels Tech-Sector Cheer

Intel has boosted its sales forecast for Q3, providing an injection of confidence to the tech sector, where it's viewed as an industry bellwether. Intel now expects revenue for the third quarter to be $9 billion, plus or minus $200 million, compared with the previous range of $8.5 billion, plus or minus $400 million. Wall Street had been expecting revenue to clock in at $8.6 billion.


On August 28, 2009

Luxury Hotels Fighting to Stay Relevant

With luxury hotels bearing the brunt of the hotel industry's troubles, some are downgrading their ratings so they can offer lower rates with fewer amenities -- just until the recession is over, they say. Hilton, InterContinental and Starwood are some of the companies that have recently lowered the ratings on some of their five-star and five-diamond hotels.


On August 28, 2009

The Care and Feeding of Clueless Experts

If you're selling a complex product, you sometimes need an engineer or expert to help you explain the technical aspects to your customers.  That can cause big problems if the expert doesn't have a clue about how to behave in front of customers. A reader writes: My client wanted to know who'd be implementing their system so I brought one of top engineers in to meet with them.  Every time I was about to close the sale, the engineer, trying to be helpful, would pipe in with: ‘or, we could also do it this other way,' thereby reopening the discussion. By the time the sale was reopened for the third time, I could see that the client was getting annoyed,...


On August 28, 2009

iPhone’s Slow Boat to China Finally Arrives

After at least two years of trying, Apple has finally cracked the China market. China Unicom, the second largest wireless carrier in China, announced on Friday that it will begin carrying iPhones in the third quarter. The terms of the deal seem to be more favorable to the carrier than those of other carrier deals Apple has managed to strike in the past.


On August 28, 2009

10 Things I Hate About Branding

ONE: Frankly it takes a lot of work to stay on top of my brand. If only I could just push a button like the Staples “Easy Button” ( which I have on my desk). I hate that I can’t! TWO: I hate having to remind businesses that their brand is more than their logo. I [...]


On August 28, 2009

The 10 Weirdest Ad Stories of the Month

Horrible gay real estate advertising! Brazilians urinating in the shower! The longest running ad in history! It all happened in August 2009, (much of it at JWT, for some reason).
On August 28, 2009

Web Ads, Recession Pummel Newspapers in Q2

Newspapers' financial woes worsened in the second quarter as advertising sales shrank by 29 percent, leaving publishers with US$2.8 billion less revenue than they had at the same time last year. It's the deepest downturn yet during a three-year free fall in advertising revenue -- newspapers' main source of income.
On August 28, 2009

DirecTV to Bring a Dozen Cable Networks Online

DirecTV Group is in talks with the TBS and TNT cable networks to offer their shows online, according to two people familiar with the discussions. If a deal is reached, DirecTV subscribers would be able to watch shows from those cable networks on the Internet, the people said on condition of anonymity because the talks still are ongoing.
On August 28, 2009

Can State Farm Stop Riling Up Insurance Commissioners?

Blame it on hurricanes if you want, but State Farm can't seem to stop riling up southern insurance commissioners. In the latest duel, Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney turned down a State Farm filing that would have raised rates for this gulf state's three coastal counties by a whopping 45 percent. The increase seems a bit excessive when people's incomes, at least according to the federal government, haven't risen at all. Of course those same Mississippi counties were whacked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which caused more than $40 billion of damage in Florida and Mississippi, and devastated New Orleans as well. Still, the specter of raising rates by almost half caused Chaney to go into anger management mode. "I...
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