UsableMarkets

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Entries Tagged as 'Product Markets'

appbackr is cool, but ….

May 23rd, 2011 · 5 Comments · Product Markets

I love hearing about new online markets and trying to understand them better. So when a friend told me about appbackr I was excited. It’s a seemingly simple idea: match people who want to invest in cool new apps for iOS with developers of those apps. But at appbackr this seemingly simple idea gets muddied [...]

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Google vs. Apple

October 18th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Product Markets

The NYTimes has a nice run down, and also nicely puts to rest, the idea that Google vs. Apple is really Apple vs. Microsoft Part Deux. In addition to the reasons mentioned in the story, one also has to acknowledge that Apple now has a very robust brand (and stock price to go with it), [...]

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Google struggles

August 11th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Information Markets, Product Development, Product Markets

Google has been much in the news of late, and not for all the good reasons. Net neutrality and privacy advocates now have (even more?) reason to question where the company stands on these important issues. Crucially, it appears the company is shifting from previously stated positions. Before they were for net neutrality. Now they’re [...]

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Recession is a time for reinvention

June 23rd, 2009 · Comments Off · Economics, Product Markets

The NYTimes does a nice job of outlining how major retail chains are reinventing their business models during this recession. For example, at Macy’s …. Under the new system it will not be unusual for a local Macy’s to stock the merchandise customers request, be it wide-width shoes or Sean John suits, and for those [...]

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Amazon’s Float

June 18th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Product Development, Product Markets, Usability

Jared Spool has this nice little presentation about Design Treasures from Amazon (there are four of them, or at least four that he’s willing to talk about). The presentation is worth a listen, particularly for anyone who manages a large website and wonders how to keep making it better. The quickest answer I can give [...]

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Inconsistent language is confusing and erodes trust

April 23rd, 2009 · Comments Off · Product Markets, Usability

Take this unsubscribe page. I got here by clicking on the “click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter” link at the bottom of a spam/bacon email: By “unsubscribe button” do you mean the submit button …? Will I actually be unsubscribed, or surreptitiously be added to another spam list? And while we’re at is, what [...]

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User centered design cooks

December 9th, 2008 · Comments Off · Product Markets, Usability

From The Economist: Fresher cookers: The humble cooking stove is being overhauled around the world with the help of “user focused” design The tasty bit: As well as being efficient, stoves must also meet the conflicting objectives of being transportable and being rugged enough to withstand the rigours of daily cooking. Combustion chambers therefore present [...]

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Headline of the Day: Web 2.0 fails to produce cash

May 27th, 2008 · 5 Comments · Information Markets, Product Markets

This article from the FT, and its sister article, also in today’s FT — Web 2.0 euphoria tempered by social problems — are perhaps not news, but a confirmation of what many of us already knew. It’s hard to make money with “Web 2.0″ aps. The article defines Web 2.0 sites and applications as ones [...]

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“Customer Centricity”

May 13th, 2008 · Comments Off · Prediction Markets, Product Markets, Usability

If you don’t know about the Best Buy story, you should. They changed their approach to how they understand their customers, and have seen nothing but success since. A recent story in the FT neatly captures their approach. Best Buy launched the “customer-centricity” concept in its US stores four years ago, gradually remodelling each of [...]

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Amazon, the Networker

March 14th, 2008 · Comments Off · Product Markets

Recent news that Amazon is creating two aps for Facebook (from TC here, and FT here) may seem a bit strange — after all, wouldn’t Amazon want more traffic and activity on their site — but a moments reflection should help explain. Amazon is probably not only the world’s large search engine (er, product search [...]

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