Today, Apple (APPL) announced that its iTunes Store has sold 3 billion songs, the last 2 billion of which were sold in half the time it took to sell the first billion. That’s great news for Apple, but they’re still missing out.

Consider the numbers:

6 years since the iPod’s release (November, 2001) 4 years of iTunes Store (April 2003) 3 billion downloads 5 million songs available (as of today) 100k iPods sold (as of April) 12 songs per album Just over 2…

...continue to read "iTunes Sells 3 Billionth Song, Stops Innovating, Gets Sued"

Talk to any European who’s ever paid for mobile or data coverage in the US and — once they’ve stopped laughing — it becomes painfully obvious how badly we’re getting ripped-off. “I can’t believe how slow it is over here,” they say. “We had these phones, like, three years ago,” they add. “Why do Americans allow themselves to pay $100 per month for third-world phone service?”

[Cue laughter and eye-rolling.]

Enter Google’s deal with Sprint, and its promise to bid at least…

...continue to read "Google’s WiMax Bid Makes Sense — Dollars Too?"

Every piece of jewelry tells a story. Ask any woman about a piece of jewelry she’s wearing and you’ll hear a tale of romance, travel, adventure, friendship, celebration or personal epiphany.

I got this in St. Martin. I looked at it in the store and I loved it. My husband snuck back the next day and bought it as a surprise.

Jack bought this for me when he was in Asia. It’s Burmese jade. It’s a really powerful stone. The ancient Chinese…

...continue to read "Marketing Jewelry to Women"

Google announced a new ad performance tool called Campaign Optimizer that you can find once you log into your Google AdWords account. Google’s Campaign Optimizer tool analyzes your campaign budget, keywords, and landing page to see what settings have or haven’t worked well for you recently. It then generates a customized proposal of ideas for your campaign aimed at improving your advertising return on investment. You can then select which of the ideas you want to implement by clicking on a check box.…

...continue to read "Google AdWords Optimizer: Consulting In a Box"

One of the key elements of becoming a great web analyst is knowing how to best present your data.

Take a crack at the Graph Design IQ test and let us know how you did in the comments. What other resources like these have you used to learn about presenting data?

(By the way, anyone who has this responsibility should take Edward Tufte’s Presenting Data and Information course.)

Update: Anil asks are Pixels the new Pie Charts?

...continue to read "Do You Know How to Showcase Your Data?"

When they started out, Amazon.com (AMZN) promised us “Everything from A to Z.” A decade later, that’s almost true. Unless you’re looking for enriched uranium at a discount price, they’ve likely got you covered.

Thanks to the vision of founder/CEO Jeff Bezos, Amazon showed early on that they distribution, fulfillment, and an amazing customer experience — online and offline — were the way to win.

That hasn’t changed.

While the likes of eBay (EBAY) and Best Buy (BBY) suffer, USA Today writes that…

...continue to read "Amazon Still Dominates e-Commerce for a Reason"

Perspective #5* really isn’t an “either/or” proposition so much as it is a continuum; not a question of one-or-the-other but of which one will dominate, and to what degree.

Here are some things to consider:

1) Persuasive copy should always have style.

Remember how even intellectual ads should affect emotions? Well, regardless of how substantive the message, you need to use drama as an essential part of the copy.

The question isn’t whether to use stylistic elements to make your points persuasive — you…

...continue to read "Copy Perspective Monday: #5, Style vs. Substance"

For Sale! Prices Slashed!! Marked Down!!!

People have used many of the same tactics for centuries to focus potential customers on the value they’d receive if they were to buy now. But here is a question for you:

Would your customers rather a product be marked down from $203 to $192, or would they prefer a markdown from $199 to $188?

Either way you slice it, they get an $11 price reduction. For you, it changes your final price from $188 to $192.…

...continue to read "Discounting Your Discounts in Customers’ Minds"

Michael Eisenberg (no relation), a partner and blogger at Benchmark Capital, is in need of a new name for his blog, Six Kids and a Full Time Job, now that a 7th has arrived — talk about a full-time job! — shares his experiences with FaceBook and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is valuable and connects me to many entrepreneurs and potential recruits but, anecdotally, the “senior staff” is hanging out on Facebook and searching for contacts!

Jeffrey and I have been doing some similar experimentation.…

...continue to read "Facebook Follies and LinkedIn Lure"

On his Publishing 2.o blog, Scott Karp reckons that “Online Publishers Need to Stop Selling Space“. According to Karp, the old media mindset is clouding publishers’ ability to sell advertising.

It’s a simple question with infinite answers: Why sell “space” on a “page” when both are illusions, and the “worldwide” Web is really a universe?

Scarcity creates value, and that won’t change anytime soon. Karp’s advice to advertisers? Refine and focus on geographic locations rather than virtual ones. It’s a great point,…

...continue to read "Online Advertising is Floating in “Space”"