Jason Stamper's Blog: June 2009 Archives

Is Apple becoming complacent?
June 12, 2009

It’s hardly surprising that there is a great deal of hype around the launch of the Apple iPhone 3G S. After all, it ushers in a brave new ingredient to the tried-and-tested iPhone recipe: the ability to cut and paste. Seriously. The S in 3G S apparently stands for ‘speed’. Presumably that’s because you can cut and paste, fast.

But if Apple made no discernible improvements to an iPhone or iPod, it would still have its army of loyal fans singing their praises from the rooftops, such is the blind loyalty that they feel for the Apple brand.

To call them, as many do, ‘Apple fanboys’ might be something of a generalisation (and rather sexist) but there is no doubt that when it comes to Apple, buyers of its products are often more than mere customers. They are usually brand ambassadors too: talking passionately about their latest gadget or gizmo to anyone who will listen, or flooding the Internet with positive blogs and comments about Apple and its products. Such is the success of Apple’s marketing.

Continue reading "Is Apple becoming complacent?"

  Email this entry to a friend

Posted by Jason Stamper on 03:32 PM | Comments (2)

Open Text CEO podcast: on Vignette, overlaps and Autonomy
June 05, 2009

I met up with John Shackleton, the CEO of Open Text on Wednesday. I was keen to understand a bit more about the firm's acquisition of beleaguered Vignette.

In the below podcast, I asked him about that deal, about the potential overlaps between the content management portfolios of Open Text and Vignette, and also why he believes Vignette was having a tough time finding consistent financial performance.

I also asked him whether Autonomy's acquisition of Interwoven earlier this year presents a greater threat to Open Text and its Vignette business.

Here's Part 1, and here's Part 2. They're both MP3s.

John Shackleton, Open Text CEO.

Please follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jasonstamper

Digg this

  Email this entry to a friend

Posted by Jason Stamper on 12:18 PM | Comments (0)

CBR podcast: IBM's UK CEO
June 03, 2009

I interviewed Brendon Riley, chief executive of IBM UK and Ireland last week, and recorded a short segment of our chat as a podcast. In it he talks about his transformation plans for IBM UK, the challenges of communicating with over 20,000 staff, and IBM's Smarter Planet initiative.

We also touch on the role of social networking -- Twitter, LinkedIn and so forth -- in the enteprise today, and whether it is right for some companies to be banning the use of such tools.

You can listen to it here. It's in Windows Media format.

IBM's UK and Ireland CEO Brendon Riley: head of one of IBM's largest business units.

Previously, based in Vienna, Riley served as Managing Director of IBM in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia/CIS, Middle East, Africa, Austria and Switzerland, where he was responsible for one of the corporation’s fastest-growing portfolios worldwide.

Prior to this position, Brendon was based in Sydney, in his native Australia, where he was the Managing Director & Chief Executive of IBM Global Services Australia (GSA), an IBM, Telstra and Lend Lease joint venture company.

Please follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jasonstamper

  Email this entry to a friend

Posted by Jason Stamper on 10:39 PM | Comments (0)

As Hazel Blears resigns...

Hazel Blears was quick to realise that if she hired more than one taxi to take her home, she could designate one as her primary taxi and claim expenses on the others.

Thanks to Rodrigo Galindez on Flickr for the pic (CC licence).

Digg this

  Email this entry to a friend

Posted by Jason Stamper on 03:28 PM | Comments (0)

Rackable VP explains name swap to SGI
June 01, 2009

George Skaff, VP of marketing, explained the surprise decision for his company to change its name from Rackable Systems to SGI after its acquisition of beleaguered Silicon Graphics' assets out of administration.

Rackable bought SGI for $25m in cash in April this year. A month later as it completed the acquisition, Rackable announced that it is changing its own name to Silicon Graphics International Corp, or SGI.

[click continue reading for more]

Continue reading "Rackable VP explains name swap to SGI"

  Email this entry to a friend

Posted by Jason Stamper on 04:51 PM | Comments (0)

That's all, tweets, as Birdsong Radio sings its last

Birds join queues of jobless as unemployment hits animal kingdom

If you've flicked through the digital radio channels in the UK you may well have come across Birdsong Radio, a rather bizarre channel featuring birds singing in someone's back garden, and nothing else. No chat, no bands, no adverts: just some little feathered friends tweeting their hearts out.

The recording of birdsong, which was made 20 years ago by radio station chief exec Quentin Howard in his back garden in Wiltshire, was designed as a temporary filler after the DAB OneWord station closed. But in the 18 months it has been broadcasting it attracted millions of listeners.

The Birdsong channel will be replaced by a new radio station -- Amazing Radio -- which will play a mix of indie, urban, rock and jazz music by unsigned artists. To get airplay on the new channel bands need to upload their tracks to amazingtunes.co.uk.

All tweeted out: birds must seek new vocations as Birdsong Radio closes its doors.

  Email this entry to a friend

Posted by Jason Stamper on 10:18 AM | Comments (0)