It hasn’t been a good week for HP. In just a couple of weeks it’s seen the TouchPad device decline from being a potential competitor to the iPad, to a mere bargain-bin device.
While some analysts predicted that HP would have the clout to challenge Apple, it seems now the tech giant will be able to hold on to its dominance in the market for a lot longer.
But at least the company recognises its own problems. Phil McKinney, the president and chief technology officer of the personal systems group at HP, has written a blog post describing the “seven immutable laws of innovation – follow them or risk the consequences”.
The laws – regarding leadership, culture and even patience – describe how a business can foster an environment that produces quality products.
“To succeed at innovation, organisations need an innovation process that fits and works within their organisation and culture.”
“The process should cover the full innovation chain from idea capture through the last steps of execution. This includes establishing and tracking a set of metrics that measures the success and areas of improvement within the innovation program.”
McKinney also says businesses need to set a “big hairy audacious goal” in order to set a long-term vision, saying this sets “a clear and compelling target”.
“It has a clear finish line, so the organisation will know when it has achieved the goal. It does not prescribe the how.”
The post is a good reminder about how businesses should go about developing large-scale projects, and also highlights how successful HP could have been had it done a few things differently.
And while the HP topic is still hot, you should also read this story on All Things Digital about just how much money HP could lose during the whole debacle.
Another story on TechCrunch highlights just how significant this change is – that HP, once the biggest computer maker in the world, is now looking at spinning off its business. It shows Apple is dominating not only the tablet space, but the computer space as well.
It’s been said for several years that the main purpose for the internet is downloading pornography. But now it seems that stereotype is coming to a brutal and sobering end – producers of pornography are now suing those who download their products via torrents.
Torrents, a type of downloading technology that has largely taken over from peer to peer sharing, is the most popular downloading tool for pirates. It allows users to download large files, including television shows, films and games, by connecting to different users and downloading pieces of the file from each.
The more users that “seed” the torrent, the faster the download. And according to this new story in the Seattle Weekly, 20-40% of all internet traffic is taken up by torrents – and producers of pornography aren’t happy.
“To make their sprawling cases against thousands of John Does, the attorneys who represent the scorned movie producers connect to a tracker and identify as many IP addresses as possible, along with the date and time they joined the swarm. Then comes the tricky part: convincing a federal judge that all those BitTorrent users are in cahoots.”
The story has resonance for Australian users – a group of production companies are suing iiNet for copyright infringements that occurred on its networks, saying the company itself is responsible.
Some analysts say the industry is attempting to make up for lost revenues. “Porn studios are the ones who have sued the majority of John Does. They too have been hit hard by piracy: One industry expert estimates that adult-entertainment revenues shrank 40% between 2004 and 2009,” the story suggests.
The story highlights one particular user who was sued for allegedly downloading a pornographic film, and eventually settled. It highlights the new approach of media companies, who are now fed up with the vast amount of piracy that has been rampant for over a decade now.
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding online reviews over the past few years. Businesses have even tried to sue individuals that have given them a less-then-stellar rating.
This piece on the New York Times examines the newest problem – entrepreneurs that are actually selling good reviews for a price. With so many businesses now relying on the quality of their online reviews, businesses like these can definitely influence sales.
Linchi Kwok, an assistant professor at Syracuse University who is researching social media and the hospitality industry, explained that as Internet shopping has become more ‘social’, with customer reviews an essential part of the sales pitch, marketers are realising they must watch over those opinions as much as they manage any other marketing campaign.
“Everyone’s trying to do something to make themselves look better,” he says. “Some of them, if they cannot generate authentic reviews, may hire somebody to do it.””
This is a fascinating look at where the nature of online reviews is heading, and the future of how businesses will come to rely on user-generated referrals.
There’s a big question mark over a lot of the billion-dollar valuations occurring in Silicon Valley lately, and that’s over whether these companies will ever be able to actually make significant amounts of money.
Twitter and Facebook are just a few of the companies that, while enjoying huge user bases, don’t actually have as much revenue as some would expect at this point in their lifecycle.
But this new slideshow on The Atlantic takes a look at 11 start-ups with billion dollar valuations and how they’re making money. For instance, it reminds readers that DropBox actually charges users for accounts, and so does Spotify, the streaming music service that recently launched in the US.
“Here are the answers: The business models of 10 tech companies who haven’t yet filed to go public but are reportedly valued over $1 billion – along with one company, Foursquare, that’s getting close to that number.”
“It’s a mix of straight eCommerce, transaction brokering and advertising.”
This is a good reminder that many of these businesses aren’t just relying on hype – they do actually have ways to make money.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
