Vicky Lalwani

Modu Mobile comes across as the next generation for the mobile users.

It’s a small little device (smaller and lighter than an ipod nano) and will be made to fit into ‘jackets’ that would exist in mobile phones, pda’s, and laptop – the ad even shows that it goes into cars and MP3 players!

In essence then, Nokia and other mobile phone makers would make cheap mobile jackets, which allow people to change the look for their phone more often while still maintaining the data on the modu.

Essentially it means for the mobile carriers that people will come in more often to change the ‘skin’ of their mobile handset instead of turning up after their contract expiry.

Soon this will be used in GPS systems for up to date traffic info, in home speaker systems as your music player, in your laptop for wirelss internet and so on. It uses GPRS but future versions could be 3G compliant.

Check out the ad at http://www.modumobile.com/

I read this morning, an article talking about the Big Four (Fairfax Media, News Limited, Ninemsn and Yahoo!).
 
Harold Mitchell wrote about the influence that the Big Four has played to the Australia public and the growth of advertising for all portal owners.
 
This year alone, Australia expects to make just under 40 per cent growth in online Advertising. Now, there’s a 5th wheel trying to join the Big Four - AOL, part of Time Warner!
 
Failing to make its impressions in the previous two launches, AOL needs to come up with some way to lure the audience from the Big Four. Competition here is tough no doubt, and I like how Mitchell put it, in saying that Vanessa Brown, boss of AOL can only wing this if she “has arranged for the US 7th Fleet to sit in Sydney Harbour with all guns aimed at the net guys”

Out here at Fairfax – we’ve got the Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood look a like – Jack Matthews. Jack is one of those CEOs that knows just how to get it done. His team is well established and well structured under his cowboy hat that they deliver exactly what Fairfax needed. Pippa Leary, from the News and Information of Fairfax Digital, supports Jack’s model and simply knows what it takes to meet the numbers.

News Limited has Ed Smith and Richard Freudenstein, both supporting the boss of News – John Hartigan. Internally there, I’m sure they are more being looked up to, but these are some smart players to be mentioned.

Yahoo!7 has its innovations back on track with Rohan Lund, coupled by the support of David Leckie. Then you have their paid TV salesman, James Warburton - who is apparently one of the countries highest paid salesmen, but it’s through him that you see Yahoo! and 7 moulding together.

Ninemsn has its quiet people like Tony Faure and Jason Scott, but with the backing of PBL and MSN, I’m not sure if there is much that you can do wrong.

As most you have read there are talks about Microsoft looking to buy out Yahoo! for a sum of approx $50 billion – will this affect the Big Four? Does it then become the Big Three? Where does Google fit into all of this?

2008 is an exciting year for all of the above mentioned companies. Only time will tell what each company has planned and rolled out, in order to get the bigger piece of the pie.

Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23171236-17061,00.html

On the 22nd January 2008, my best friend, Chris Elson, got one of his birthday presents a day late. The present cannot be simply bought from a gift shop and nor can it be exchanged for an iPod. Instead it’s a newspaper article worthy of exposure and influence in the Mobile industry and future growth of consumer mobile.

The Australian IT has written about Chris in the Ambition section, where people appointed in market influencing businesses are talked about. In this case, the article described his recent position at Dialogue Communications where Chris was appointed as the New-Media Sales Head in the Sydney office.

Chris and I met in 2006, where he was a client at the company I used to work for (Wiliam). A few months after our initial meet, he was offered a role at Wiliam and at half past 6 on his first day you would have seen the two of us and the MD crack open a bottle of wine on the boardroom table. Next thing I knew, I was hypnotised by the magic of cocktails through Chris’ recommendation and suave taste for the combination of fruit and alcohol. Several bars near our office in the city were experimented with, and only a select few made a lasting impression.

Chris and I played fairly strong roles at Wiliam where his strong skill in sales and my technical jargon helped bringing in business and growing existing clients. Together we worked well, and of course generated revenue – but more importantly introduced most if not all of the people at Wiliam experience the ruthless force of the Miami Fist (a cocktail co-founded by Chris Elson and Miles Sowden). “Lead by example” - as we sometimes say.

In 2007, Chris and I departed Wiliam but the friendship never wore off. Today we cross paths when walking to work every morning. Though on most Tuesday evenings you can catch us at our mid way point from work for a cocktail evening at Pier26 - where I’m sure Chris won’t hesitate to sign your copy of the Austrlaian IT!

Read the Australian IT article by clicking here

1. The first rule of meeting is we don’t talk about meeting.

2. The second rule of meetings is we don’t talk about meetings.
We’re there to do something not to schedule more meetings.  State the purpose of the meeting up front. Decide what you want to get done and get to it.

3. If someone says STOP, or goes limp, taps out the meeting is over. 
Everyone who’s at the meeting needs to want to be there. If you don’t want to be there you’re not going to contribute and it’s going to waste everyones time.

4. Only five people to a meeting.
Three contributors, two stakeholders. Any more and it’s a presentation (very different.) Meetings with 8, 10 or more people tend not to be as productive, less gets decided and more time is wasted.

5. One meeting at a time. 
No dashing off to another meeting or double booking.

6. No cell phones, no email.

7. A meeting goes 45 minutes, no longer.
You get diminishing returns for more. Leave the extra 15 min just in case.

8. If you’re in the meeting you have to talk.