SM: Even the kids are very connected these days. JK: I was fond of saying that for whatever reasons the memo of the Internet did not make it to the company in 1999. They had that failed effort and the management team was disenchanted. We had to get our products connected so that notion of [...]
SM: What happened after 9/11? I remember, I bought the Polycom stock and it did very well for me. BH: We were ramping very, very fast through 1999 and 2000. Cumulative average growth rates in the 30’s and 40’s. After 9/11 it exploded even more for us, but for really horrible reasons. Then the financial [...]
Vertical Strategy & Web 3.0 Framework discussion eBay being an auction site operates in various verticals. Some of the key verticals in which eBay operates are Auto, Real Estate, Apparel, Jewelry, Art, Books, CDs, Consumer Electronics, Photography, etc. eBay has some very good community and e-commerce features, but also lacks some rather vital ones. It’s [...]
In my earlier posts, I have written on the exclusive carrier of iPhone, AT&T and its rivals Verizon, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile. This post will look at these companies wrt each other and the impact of iPhone on their business after a full quarter of iPhone sales.
SM: What is the strategy you arrived at? And what is the process you used to get there? JK: It is pretty simple looking back. The process started simply by getting the various constituencies lined up. There was a board constituency, a senior management constituency, and you had key movers and shakers; people who, once [...]
SM: When you mapped out the acquisitions, were companies like PlaceWare and WebEx on your radar? BH: We considered it. SM: Was it too expensive? BH: No, we did buy one actually. We bought MeetYou. It did not resonate with our company. It did not fit our go to market, although we were technically in [...]
Vertical Strategy eBay is the most popular auction site in the world. It also operates the hugely popular online payment software PayPal and VoIP tool Skype. We will take a look at the Company’s various businesses below. Marketplace eBay.com is still #1 in auctions, after years of competition trying to chip away at its game. [...]
In this post, I will look at recent developments in Nokia and Motorola. Earlier posts were featured in the iPhone series are available here and here. For the record, I own Nokia in my portfolio, as part of my convergence device bet along with RIMM, which I just bought as well.
