I love stupid corporations...I really do...I shouldn't be amazed at this point, but I continue to admire the single minded folly of whomever runs HMV.
One of the bigger HMV locations just closed down here in Toronto and the only question anybody asked was "why did it last so long" or "the HMV was still there?"...and the reasons are obvious to anyone with an IQ over six.
HMV is a bastion if a dead world.
In the beginning the tech types were the first to abandon physical media. The rise if Limewire and Napster and finally Bittorrent meant that consumers were finally free to escape DRM hell...region codes and anti-piracy ads that couldn't be skipped became a thing of the past...the media world responded with ridiculous lawsuits, more DRM and making the consumer experience even worse for those who actually bought the stuff.
In the middle came everyone else...who bought ipods and downloaded from Itunes or realized that paying $27 for a movie that was available for $16 on Amazon was just throwing $10 in the garbage.
In the end, if you're wondering, an entire category of retail no longer exists in physical stores and isn't even an option.
HMV sat and watched the train coming...and sat...and sat...and sat...oh and did I mention they were sitting in the middle of the tracks?
Right now...Rango is $27 in store at HMV (they no longer have an online store)...Rango is $17 on Amazon...unless you need Rango NOW, what possible reason could there ever be to step foot in an HMV?
Consumers aren't what they used to be. Ten years ago you'd go to HMV because that's who sold DVD's. Today savvy consumers browse online to find the best deal and once they find that online is better, they will never ever return to your store. Ever.
HMV still has locations...but not for long...and nobody will miss it once they, too, disappear.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
Sad state of RIM
The other day an anonymous source claiming to be a high level executive wrote an open letter to RIM's top management detailing what he/she feels are the major problems with the company.
Predictably, RIM responded with a classic bit of PR that showcases pretty much exactly why RIM is a dying company.
It seems that modern PR is all about plugging holes versus making positive headway. Read the statement and tell me it's anything other than a "let's not make this controversy worse so we'll respond with completely generic PR blather that will certainly not impress anybody but won't offend anybody either".
Suffice to say, job well done!
RIM's response shows that a) they are somehow unable to respond to a detailed letter because the author is anonymous (hunh?) and b) don't have a single thing of substance to say in regards to any of the accusations (shocker).
Or put another way, RIM's stock has gone from $140 a share to under $30 in three years due to a very specific reason. RIM's products have no consumer traction and RIM is utterly unprepared to deal with the reality of Google, Microsoft and Apple in a consumer smartphone world.
Sure the blackberry dominates the business market (for now) but the consumer market? Who on earth would pick a blackberry over Android or Apple?
RIM's response is classic of a dying company. Employees afraid to speak, teams led by morons by virtue of company loyalty, clutching to existing product lines for a long as possible, utterly resistant to change.
I suspect RIM will cease to exist as a separate entity within 5 years...as the stock price plunges (and there is no product on the horizon that would change that fact)...the company will be bought out by somebody who wants to milk the blackberry business line to squeeze whatever value is left out of the system.
RIM is done.
Predictably, RIM responded with a classic bit of PR that showcases pretty much exactly why RIM is a dying company.
It seems that modern PR is all about plugging holes versus making positive headway. Read the statement and tell me it's anything other than a "let's not make this controversy worse so we'll respond with completely generic PR blather that will certainly not impress anybody but won't offend anybody either".
Suffice to say, job well done!
RIM's response shows that a) they are somehow unable to respond to a detailed letter because the author is anonymous (hunh?) and b) don't have a single thing of substance to say in regards to any of the accusations (shocker).
Or put another way, RIM's stock has gone from $140 a share to under $30 in three years due to a very specific reason. RIM's products have no consumer traction and RIM is utterly unprepared to deal with the reality of Google, Microsoft and Apple in a consumer smartphone world.
Sure the blackberry dominates the business market (for now) but the consumer market? Who on earth would pick a blackberry over Android or Apple?
RIM's response is classic of a dying company. Employees afraid to speak, teams led by morons by virtue of company loyalty, clutching to existing product lines for a long as possible, utterly resistant to change.
I suspect RIM will cease to exist as a separate entity within 5 years...as the stock price plunges (and there is no product on the horizon that would change that fact)...the company will be bought out by somebody who wants to milk the blackberry business line to squeeze whatever value is left out of the system.
RIM is done.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Canada Post: Winners and Losers
Canada Post's strike/lockout is about to end...who won? who lost?
Losers
NDP
The NDP come off looking like a fringe party who will support big labor to the death...except when they cave for no apparent reason.
I'd love to be in on the strategy meeting where the NDP said "let's stall the legislation as long as we can...up until the amendment phase when we'll let everything pass in quick votes and show that the filibustering we just did had no real impact other than to delay the mail that the public wants...and show we are more concerned with supporting a massively unpopular position than being a mainstream political party" (in my head they said that in a run on sentence)
I am calling it right now. The NDP will lose big next election. The gains in Quebec will largely disappear and they will win 40-65 seats.
The simple reality is that the filibuster accomplished nothing other than pissing off voters who overwhelmingly wanted the strike to end. While I am not saying that government should simply kow tow to the majority, I am not sure what the NDP thought they would accomplish by a 58 hour filibuster followed by a quick cave in.
Canada Post (workers)
"You have to know when to hold them...."...MASSIVE tactical error on the part of the CUPW...mix one part 20% fewer parcels/letters over five years...a long recession...public sick and tired of public sector unions with gold plated pensions and benefits that don't exist in the private sector...an anti-labor conservative majority government fresh into a new term...and you decide to go on rotating strikes?
This was the time to deal. It was the time to say "hey, we get it's a rough economic time and we'll do a deal for the benefit of the country"...instead they, much like George Pickett, decided to fight a stupid and un-winnable battle...and they lost big.
Canada Post (the business)
Management will get the deal they wanted...but the reality is that Canada Post can only slide further into irrelevancy as a result of the work stoppage...it wouldn't surprise me if Canada Post is privatized within five years and becomes much smaller/leaner.
How many people signed up for online billing last week?
Winners
Conservative party
A brilliant master stroke of maneuvering. On one hand they managed to take the side of the populist opinion (which is anti-union at the moment) and on the other they managed to deftly push the NDP into a corner.
The NDP had a choice. Back the conservatives and betray the party's traditional political base OR filibuster and piss of the majority of Canadians who just want their mail.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Harper put in the (controversial) lower than previously offered wage deal just to put the NDP in a can't win proposition.
There was no way for the NDP to come out of this with a win...the liberals, bloc and Greens don't matter (at the moment)...huge win for the Tories
The public
They get their mail back and likely with a cheaper deal
Losers
NDP
The NDP come off looking like a fringe party who will support big labor to the death...except when they cave for no apparent reason.
I'd love to be in on the strategy meeting where the NDP said "let's stall the legislation as long as we can...up until the amendment phase when we'll let everything pass in quick votes and show that the filibustering we just did had no real impact other than to delay the mail that the public wants...and show we are more concerned with supporting a massively unpopular position than being a mainstream political party" (in my head they said that in a run on sentence)
I am calling it right now. The NDP will lose big next election. The gains in Quebec will largely disappear and they will win 40-65 seats.
The simple reality is that the filibuster accomplished nothing other than pissing off voters who overwhelmingly wanted the strike to end. While I am not saying that government should simply kow tow to the majority, I am not sure what the NDP thought they would accomplish by a 58 hour filibuster followed by a quick cave in.
Canada Post (workers)
"You have to know when to hold them...."...MASSIVE tactical error on the part of the CUPW...mix one part 20% fewer parcels/letters over five years...a long recession...public sick and tired of public sector unions with gold plated pensions and benefits that don't exist in the private sector...an anti-labor conservative majority government fresh into a new term...and you decide to go on rotating strikes?
This was the time to deal. It was the time to say "hey, we get it's a rough economic time and we'll do a deal for the benefit of the country"...instead they, much like George Pickett, decided to fight a stupid and un-winnable battle...and they lost big.
Canada Post (the business)
Management will get the deal they wanted...but the reality is that Canada Post can only slide further into irrelevancy as a result of the work stoppage...it wouldn't surprise me if Canada Post is privatized within five years and becomes much smaller/leaner.
How many people signed up for online billing last week?
Winners
Conservative party
A brilliant master stroke of maneuvering. On one hand they managed to take the side of the populist opinion (which is anti-union at the moment) and on the other they managed to deftly push the NDP into a corner.
The NDP had a choice. Back the conservatives and betray the party's traditional political base OR filibuster and piss of the majority of Canadians who just want their mail.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Harper put in the (controversial) lower than previously offered wage deal just to put the NDP in a can't win proposition.
There was no way for the NDP to come out of this with a win...the liberals, bloc and Greens don't matter (at the moment)...huge win for the Tories
The public
They get their mail back and likely with a cheaper deal
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Canada Post Digs Own Grave
Ten years ago here was the regular mail I cared about:
Visa bill
Power bill
AMEX bill
Bank statement
Line of credit statement
Investment account statement
Christmas cards
Cable/internet bill
Cell phone bill
Today:
Power Bill
That's right...the only bill I get in the mail any more is my quarterly power bill and the only reason I still get that is because I refuse to allow anybody to automatically deduct funds from a credit card or bank account. Everything else I pay online monthly.
So, of course, Canada Post's union has decided that it's 1950 and that we are in boom times and should be paying postal employees like we're rich and drunk.
The problem with unions, the the public's negative opinion thereof, is that they seem to fight to the death in every situation regardless of reality.
In 2011 you simply cannot tell the public that uneducated employees deserve $23 an hour to start, banked sick days and up to 7 weeks vacation...I have two degrees and can't find that in the private sector and you expect me to pay higher taxes or postal rates so that they can make a fortune?
Canada Post has seen an almost 20% decline in mail in 5 years. 5 years! It has some of the highest postal rates in the world and generally lousy service and standards.
It is time to privatize the post office into a UPS model. No more 3rd class mail (which nobody wants) with packages making up the vast bulk of their service. Canada simply does not need 48,000 overpaid workers wandering the country delivering "mail" of which 90% goes in the trash.
Visa bill
Power bill
AMEX bill
Bank statement
Line of credit statement
Investment account statement
Christmas cards
Cable/internet bill
Cell phone bill
Today:
Power Bill
That's right...the only bill I get in the mail any more is my quarterly power bill and the only reason I still get that is because I refuse to allow anybody to automatically deduct funds from a credit card or bank account. Everything else I pay online monthly.
So, of course, Canada Post's union has decided that it's 1950 and that we are in boom times and should be paying postal employees like we're rich and drunk.
The problem with unions, the the public's negative opinion thereof, is that they seem to fight to the death in every situation regardless of reality.
In 2011 you simply cannot tell the public that uneducated employees deserve $23 an hour to start, banked sick days and up to 7 weeks vacation...I have two degrees and can't find that in the private sector and you expect me to pay higher taxes or postal rates so that they can make a fortune?
Canada Post has seen an almost 20% decline in mail in 5 years. 5 years! It has some of the highest postal rates in the world and generally lousy service and standards.
It is time to privatize the post office into a UPS model. No more 3rd class mail (which nobody wants) with packages making up the vast bulk of their service. Canada simply does not need 48,000 overpaid workers wandering the country delivering "mail" of which 90% goes in the trash.
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