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August 28, 2006

Who Will Win the Race for Mobile Content?

The next big broadband frontier is clearly the mobile broadband market. The transformation of cell phones into complete consumer electronic devices, coupled with the rapid raise of high-speed wireless data networks, is opening up a wide array of new services that create value for consumers.

Globally, the mobile broadband market is already well advanced. Japan has about 89 million telephone subscribers, 77 million of which have data service accounts, and Europe is only slightly behind. North America, however, lags way behind, with only 12 percent of subscribers downloading content. And most of that is ring tones and simple graphics.

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June 15, 2006

Do Wholesale Changes Foretell a New Brand at Intel?

I’ve always considered Intel to be one of the world’s best-managed technology brands. Last year, Interbrand ranked Intel as the fifth most valuable brand in the world. And it consistently stays in the top ten because management works hard to make sure the brand remains relevant in the fast-moving semiconductor market.

Of late, Intel has garnered a lot of press regarding the sweeping changes management intends to make in the company’s brand and product line. In many ways, these changes will send the world’s largest chipmaker into uncharted territory. Some analysts are saying that Intel’s new direction will necessitate creating a new brand. However, at its core, I believe Intel will very much remain the same company, mainly because the deeply established core values that drive the Intel brand are alive and well and working exactly as designed.

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April 1, 2006

Ten New Ways to Create Value Using Technology

While scanning my regular reading material this month, I came across an excellent special report in the August 8th edition of BusinessWeek Online. Called the “CEO Guide to Technology,” the report identifies 10 new technologies that I believe should be on the radar screen of every CEO and senior executive. Why? Because they represent new ways to create value and solve problems.

Let’s get real for a minute. Far too often, those of us in technology industries get caught up in the glitz and glamour of the products themselves without regard for whether a market for those products really exists. For most “techies,” the thrill of the race lies in seeing who can produce the next new gadget or add the most innovative gizmos to existing ones. But when you get down to it, business -- in any industry -- is all about solving problems and creating value. If a product doesn’t do one or the other, it doesn’t matter how many bells and whistles you attach to it. The buying public will turn a cold shoulder and the product will die a lonely death in the graveyard of “great” ideas.

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