Catching Up On Readings: Life Before Apps Stores

Guest author Saad Fazil offers his take on Life Before Apps Stores; click on the full article for a summary of the posts from this past week, in case you missed them. >>>

The Art of Making (and Learning From) Mistakes

By Guest Author Bibby Gignilliat

I make a lot of mistakes! It’s inevitable: new entrepreneurs starting a business are bound to make a mistake or two along the way. If you let them, mistakes can hamper your goals and make you less confident in the task you set out to do. >>>

Life Before Apps Stores

By Guest Author Saad Fazil

While the iPhone and Android platforms and their ilk have certainly opened up the playing field to a long tail of developers, they are by no means cash machines. In fact, if you had planned on quitting your job to get rich developing apps for these platforms, you might want to reconsider — the chances of your making enough money to build a sustainable business or even survive are slim (see my earlier article on iPhone apps). >>>

The Long Road to Edutainment: Tabula Digita CEO Ntiedo Etuk (Part 3)

SM: Did you talk with venture capitalists? What was your funding strategy?

NE: When I spoke with venture capitalists, they were not sure that there was a niche for educational software. They did know that people spent a tremendous amount of money on test preparation. They thought it would be interesting if we tied our ideas to test preparation. >>>

Media Industry: The Economist

Please read this article from The Atlantic: “The Newsweekly’s Last Stand”. It analyzes why The Economist can grow amidst this global implosion in media, and reinforces what I have been saying all along: quality is the answer. But in this article, Michael Hirschorn offers an excellent analysis, comparing The Economist to other magazines. >>>

Forbes Column 2009: China’s Innovation Advantage

This week’s Zero In explains why China may outshine the US in some domains. Read China’s Innovation Advantage.

The Long Road to Edutainment: Tabula Digita CEO Ntiedo Etuk (Part 2)

SM: Where did you go to work after Columbia?

NE: Citigroup, which is where my H-1B [visa] was from. I worked in an R&D group they set up called the Payment Innovation Group. It was challenged to come up with $100- million profit opportunities. I did that for about a year as part of their executive rotation program. >>>

Murdoch Wants To Charge For Quality Content

Earlier this week, I wrote Media Industry: The Answer is Quality. Today, Murdoch is saying essentially the same thing: “Quality journalism is not cheap and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting. … We can be platform-neutral but never free.” And Chase Carey chimed in on his first call as vice chairman and COO: “We believe customers value quality journalism. We need to get paid for our product as it shifts to the digital world.” >>>