What’s Your Snow Leopard?
This week, Apple released the latest version of their operating system, Snow Leopard. I urge you to go look at Apple’s site and take in their marketing message — even if you don’t own a Mac. You’ll notice it’s all about “refinements.” They’ve basically admitted that Snow Leopard is nothing new; rather, a refined version of Leopard. There are some advantages to the new version: performance, built-in support for Microsoft Exchange and several other minor enhancements. The price tag is reflective of a “refinement” release — only $29. (Hint: This is not necessarily about Snow Leopard. It’s really about how you can beat the recession.)
So, what’s the lesson? Apple simply created a whole new stream of easy revenue for themselves. The economy is probably affecting some people’s ability to justify springing for an entirely new operating system. So, they released some minor tweaks, including a couple that are pretty cool, and they stuck a low price tag on it. Very little effort on their part. Very easy to swallow for the consumer.
Ask yourself, “What products or services do I have that I can ‘refine’ and offer at an affordable price?“ The key here is to follow Apple’s model and offer something that requires little effort out of you, provides decent value to your customer and has a price that’s easy to swallow.
I’d love to hear your stories of what your “Snow Leopard” is and how you used it to produce an extra revenue stream during the downturn in the economy. Post your comments below.
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- Small Business & The ‘Cloud’
- Our Latest Software Updates
Microsoft Backs Down After Apple Legal Threats, Changes Ad
After so brazenly bragging about Apple’s legal department’s request that one of Microsoft’s ads be pulled last week, Redmond has quietly made changes to the ad in question to make sure that it accurately reflects reality, which is what Apple wanted in the first place. Kind of puts a damper on Microsoft COO Kevin Turner’s bubbly enthusiasm, I’d imagine.
Last week, he basically did a little dance for joy when he received the call from Apple legal, and trumpeted the news to the masses to make sure everyone knew that Microsoft had indeed scored a direct hit, even going so far as to call it “the greatest single phone call” he’s ever taken. The ads in question are the Laptop Hunter series, in which Microsoft gives random people a sum of money and challenges them to find their perfect laptop, at which point they get it for free. The ads were created by Crispin Porter & Bogusky.
The specific ad Apple took issue with is the “Lauren” ad (not that “Lauren” ad, the other one), in which Lauren and her mother are shopping for a computer under $1,700. At one point, they comment on the MacBook Pro’s $2,000 price tag, asking “Why would you pay twice the price?” As of the latest notebook lineup refresh, Apple’s top-of-the-line MacBook Pro no longer costs $2,000, coming in instead at a much easier to swallow $1,700. Which, coincidentally, is actually within Lauren and mom’s budget.
Microsoft, for its part, is saying the minor change doesn’t change “the focus of the campaign,” according to AdAge.com, so it’s clearly still counting this as a win. I’m willing to bet Microsoft’s legal department has been in contact with Apple on quite a few occasions, yet COO Tim Cook doesn’t break out the noisemakers and party hat every time that goes down.
Kyte’s iPhone App Now Supports Video Record and Upload
Now that the new iPhone does video, we’re likely to see a smattering of apps push out updates to support video upload to the web.
Twitterlator Pro (iTunes link) was the first Twitter app to support video record and upload to Twitter, via yFrog, and just yesterday we learned that Posterous will process 3GS videos via email (regardless of whether they’re shot in landscape mode or not) and post them to your favorite social sites. Now, Kyte is announcing that their mobile app can publish video to the web too.
Kyte’s Mobile Producer (iTunes link), which was previously free, now comes with a $4.99 price tag — the same price as Twitterlator Pro — and supports video recording and upload to your Kyte Channel from the iPhone 3GS. It’s important to note, however, that the app doesn’t support live streaming to the web.
To use Mobile Producer, simply open the app and select to take a video or choose one from your library. If you record video from inside the app, you can also trim or retake as needed. As usual, you can add a show name and append photos and links to the episode. Once you’re done, you can click to broadcast, and the app will upload the video to your Kyte channel. Plus, if you have Twitter enabled in your account settings, the mobile upload will be automatically tweeted to your Twitter network.
On the issue of live streaming to the web, Kyte’s CMO Gannon Hall says that there are currently no plans to support that feature in the iPhone app. According to him, Apple’s SDK has yet to make that feature available, so it’s technically impossible. And unlike Qik, they’re not open to creating a video streaming app that requires an iPhone jailbreak.
Even though live streaming isn’t supported, we do think this is an important development for iPhone video producers already using Kyte, or ones in search of a mobile video provider with support for the iPhone. We’re not sure if it’s going to lure people away from the competition, but it certainly does give Kyte a slight advantage over the other video broadcast services who have yet to create apps that support easy mobile upload.
Reviews: Twitter
Tags: iphone 3g s, iphone app, kyte, video, video recorder
