Peter Zmijewski

Microsoft Corp unveils the first widely available test version of Windows 8 on Wednesday, giving the public the first chance to try out the slick, new-look operating system it hopes will restore the company’s fading tech supremacy.

Windows 8, as the first Microsoft operating system compatible with low-power microprocessors designed by ARM Holdings Plc, will run on tablets as well as desktops and laptops.

“The operating system has begun to be seen as largely irrelevant,” said Sid Parakh, an analyst at fund firm Mc Adams Wright Ragen, which holds Microsoft shares. “This is the release that will have to prove its relevance all over again.”

Tablets and smart phones and cloud computing have made Bill Gates’ vision of “a computer on every desk and in every home” seem quaint, and Apple Inc and Google Inc and Amazon.com now set the agenda for the computing industry.

Still, all of those companies’ fancy new hardware devices need basic operating software, and Microsoft is betting there is still more than a little room for Windows.

“The big increment here is that it’ll be viable on the ARM platform, that there’ll be a tablet form factor that kind of makes it a big deal,” said Dan Hanson, a portfolio manager at BlackRock, which holds 5 percent of Microsoft’s shares through various funds. “Microsoft correctly identified the relevance of the tablet form factor over a decade ago. This operating system may allow them to finally execute.”

THE PRODUCT

Windows 8 will come in two main flavors one that works on the traditional x86 chips made by Intel Corp for desktops and laptops, and a new version for the ARM microprocessors that have become the standard for tablets, smart phones and other portable devices.

Microsoft says it is aiming to get machines running on both the ARM and Intel platforms into the market at the same time but has not set a target date.

In both versions, Windows 8 features a completely new interface, borrowed from what Microsoft calls the “Metro” style of the current Windows Phone software. It features blocks or ’tiles’ that can be moved around the screen or tapped to go straight into an application.

The tiles update in real time, so you can see if you have emails, voice messages or Facebook notifications at a glance. If PC and laptop users do not like the new format, they can revert to the old style with a click of the mouse.

The key for any operating software — be it Apple’s iOS for iPhones and iPods, Google’s Android software for smart phones, or Windows is to attract the support of the software developers who build applications, and on that score Windows 8 is off to a decent start.

“The biggest hurdle our designers have had is trying to get inside the mood of a Metro user, where less is more,” said Paul Murphy, business development manager at Aviary, which makes a photo editing tool that can be integrated into iOS and Android apps. “That was and still is a challenge, but I think now that they’ve been at it for a couple of months, they actually really like it. They appreciate the simplicity of the design.”

Developers who have already created apps for Microsoft’s Windows Phone are finding it easier to adapt to Windows 8, said Ryan Lowdermilk, who hosts a popular podcast for apps builders.

“Porting your code over, people is finding that to be pretty straightforward. But as far as finishing that last mile where some of this newer technology for Windows 8 comes into play, they are finding little hiccups and bugs here and there.”

Peter Zmijewski is the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Through Internet Marketing he places his name on great search
engine like-GOOGLE who is also called as Innovator, Investor, Internet Marketing Guru and Entrepreneur. For more
updates don’t go away, please stay with us.

Compared to B2B companies, businesses that serve consumer audiences are typically focused on a much shorter sales cycle due to the cost and nature of the purchase.  They are searching for a one stop sale.  B2C companies typically target a single decision maker or customer segment instead of multiple decision makers and influencers.  As a result, the approach and internet marketing tactics mix needs to be more relevant to the consumer vs. the business buying experience.

The Holiday season gives B2C marketers plenty of reasons to improve their focus on best practices in internet marketing. Competition is tough for online buyers, so what should B2C marketers keep in mind with their Internet marketing strategy? Here are 5 essential tips for B2C marketers to get more sales online:

Understand Your Audience

Social media serves as a great focus group because you can see in real time how they interact and share.  By engaging with your target market via social media you will continue to learn things about them that you may have not been privy to before.  This will continue to allow you to target consumers in a personalized way to increase brand awareness and encourage engagement.

Own Your Brand

When a Minnesota based international restaurant chain had an interest in creating a Facebook and social media presence they discovered that there were already hundreds of pages created by fans on behalf of their brand.  The organization was able to analyze what their fans were already doing and strategically establish their corporate Facebook presence alongside the fan pages.  The page currently has 3.7 million fans and quickly became a major hub for the brand.  They continue to have a very high user interaction rate and have created customized landing pages to drawn additional fans into their page.

Capitalize on User Generated Content

According to SEO specialist Michael Dehaven 80-90% of total content on many major e-commerce sites is user generated.  This statistic alone should encourage B2C marketers to research what consumers are currently saying about their brand as well as their competitors.  This research will lay the foundation for strong keyword and social media strategies.  Often times as marketers we can get caught up in creating a catchy or attractive way to describe our offering instead of finding out how our consumers would describe the product or services.

React Appropriately To Negative Feedback

ChapStick has been in the media over the past few months due to their strange advertisements that generated a lot of negative feedback.  More important and detrimental to the brand was the way that ChapStick poorly handled the feedback.   Instead of listening and responding to feedback from consumers ChapStick decided to simply delete negative comments and refused to respond to the feedback. This only added fuel to the fire.  On top of this ChapStick began defending their choice for the advertising campaign instead of listening to what consumers were saying.  While I believe ChapStick did eventually release an apology it was too little too late.  If you would like to read more about the campaign and ChapStick’s response be sure to check out this article released by AdWeek.

How do you think ChapStick could have handled this situation better?  Perhaps some real time research and crowdsourcing could have helped create a more consumer friendly campaign in the first place.  If ChapStick had run a promotion or campaign for consumers to help put together the campaign they would have not only had a better product but consumers would have been more excited to share the information with their networks therefore increasing ChapSticks visibility even more.  However, a realistic solution would have been very simple.  Listening and responding to negative press will help manage the relationship with the consumers that are unhappy as well as anyone else they share information with.

Build Brand Loyalty

If you have effectively researched and interacted with your audience then you will have a better understanding of what sort of information they like to consume and share.  Providing top notch customer service  via social media and other web properties can also be a great means of building brand awareness and encouraging loyalty.  Some other tactics might include creating number of promotions or discounts to encourage repeat businesses, or providing your consumers with “insider information” that has not been made available to the general public.

 
Peter Zmijewski is the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Through Internet Marketing he places his name on great search engine like-GOOGLE who is also called as Innovator, Investor, Internet Marketing Guru and Entrepreneur. For more updates don’t go away, please stay with us.