Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
iPad Nano
A look into the new iPad mini TV Ads show where Apple is heading. Is Apple becoming too obvious. What’s next for the iPad, iPad Mini, then iPad Nano?
In the past Apple used the software approach to its device upgrades. Just add one or two big changes each year with minor tweaks (bug fixes), call it 2.0 or 3.0 and charge its customers full price for the new product. Technology advances over the past decade made it easy as computer chips got smaller, hard drive memory grew and both got cheaper. It was an easy sell. The iPod evolution explains this concept well. It also provided a hint of where Apple was heading. First came iPod, then the iPod Mini, and finally the iPod Nano.
It may have worked for the iPod, but can you really call a smaller version of the iPad, innovative? It hasn’t introduced any mind-blowing products or upgrades in a year. Which was a regular occurrence in the past. So, has the well run dry? Or is the Apple TV its saving grace?
Facebook Drama
It’s not enough that Facebook is the epitome of a giant, never-ending high school reunion. Now that it’s publicly traded, the company can’t seem to avoid its own teenage drama. Some of it was on full display earlier this week, when none other than Mark Cuban went public about why the Mavericks are leaving Facebook.
Last time I checked, driving advertisers away is still bad business. Now, if this was just a one-off incident it wouldn’t be a problem. But apparently it isn’t. Other brands have the same issue.
So why is this important? Facebook’s current business model is based on advertising revenue. It’s absolutely a work in progress. The question is how long? And will the company drive all the advertisers away before it’s figured out? Which is something every shareholder should be asking.
Last Call
- Cash as Trash, Cash as King, and Cash as a Weapon – A great article on how cash should play a role in your asset allocation, but rarely does.
- How Would the Fiscal Cliff Affect Typical Families in Each State? – A state by state breakdown of how much the cliff would cost the average family.
- Storms and Stocks: Dealing with Disruptive Shocks – interesting read about lessons from Sandy when applied to financial markets.