╠ Iphone. Explosion or Trickle? ╣

As most of you connected types would know Apple launched the iphone 3gs late last night and everything has basically exploded with discussion.

An interesting thing I would like to point out is that Apple blurted everything out all at once. No bit by bit, in one night everything got posted.

This raises the curious question about why didn't they save some, let it out as more of a trickle to build anticipation. What I perceive to be the reason for this is the haste in which they are trying to work. No matter what some may say the iPhone 3g will probably still be the main contender and as such will face cannibalism issues.

So they've saved everything until now to give you ten days total until release to contemplate the information and make sure it is prominent in your mind at launch

╠ Apple isn't a fruit ╣

I had a thought the other day and wondered, 'When was the last time I said Apple and meant the fruit?'

The potential of an individual brand seems almost limitless. Fruit is such a big thing and is something that is encouraged to be eaten on a daily basis with apples at the forefront of that.

Yet one brand can come in and overpower that. This makes me wonder whether unbranded names for products and possibly even their category may be fading until only those without positive connotations remain unbranded. It's not something that everyone does but there are a few examples of brands taking over their category. You grab a kleenex when you have a runny nose, you use glad wrap to cover food. it all makes me wonder if we're actually headed towards a purely branded world.

╠ The Grim yet sad future for graduates ╣

The more time that I look into the generalizations of generations, the more I think I may fit some of them. Mainly the I want my path laid out in front of me simply for me to take. That being said I don't believe it should be easy, however I would like it to simply be like a quest where you must complete this, then this, then one last thing and then boom success.

However what is looking more and more likely as Uni draws to an end is what appears to be a complete dead end thankyou to Mr. Economic Crisis.

Now the problem that I face is basically I go and ask people who I like 'Do you have any graduate opportunities. Their answer so far without fail has included these two elements, laughter and a mention of the economic crisis as if I as a commerce student had no idea of all that such a thing existed. Overall I'm left not actually with a conclusive answer which is what I was after. I understand the situation, myself and many other people who have put themself through about 16 years of education often inclusive of putting themself into debt now no longer have opportunities to use any knowledge that they tried to specialize in.

Needless to say we understand the gravity of the situation. I think businesses are ignoring the potential opportunities going to waste here. With everyone cutting back there will be above average people who will create great worth for a business out of work so perhaps it is worth offering the odd spot here and there. Also by completely palming off prospective grads you're going to discourage them from turning to you when you do actually open your doors years down the track when they have realized great proportions of their potential.

I think businesses shouldn't just jump straight to cutting programs. They should be trying to find different ways around things. We will understand that you can't afford the spots now and also that we will probably face the issue of being a job not suited to our skills. If they say not now but try to hold onto us for when times are better it could value add to both parties.

Personally I don't know the best way to do this because it's obviously hard to lock someone in without yourself being bound to some requirement but for an example this would be how I would do it for Apple.

Apple have online training modules, I would give grads access to this as well as maintaining a blog for the so that they know whenever even a single spot is coming up. Because of the competition to get into a job you want people would keep up to date on the modules. So basically you have a trained group of university educated graduates knowing what you want them to know and ready to jump into the fray at quick access without actually locking yourself into actually providing them any reimbursement for their dedication to your brand.

Much better than a laugh in the face if you ask me.

╠ The Brand Popularity Contest ╣

In 2008 Virtue tracked the social popularity of certain brands and from it created a list of the top 100 for the year. One thing to note though is that they were quite particular with what they tracked. Movie's, video games and other things such as Obama's campaign's that while were probably more successful than some of these names weren't included since most of them simply hype up around a release or event and then die off a bit while the brands here while sometimes with a similar setup still face differences. It's a riviting read to look through so I suggest you check it out. For those of you uneager to steer away from the page though here's the top ten.

1. iPhone
2. CNN
3. Apple
4. Disney
5. Xbox
6. Starbucks
7. iPod
8. MTV
9. Sony
10. Dell

Some of these names may surprise you but you have to remember that being talked about doesn't mean you're being talked about positively which is why I suspect Starbucks is so high. Xbox is probably the biggest surprise for me though. It beat Nintendo and Sony as well as it's encompassing brand of Microsoft which came in number 11. This may be because of the same thing as Starbucks as the Xbox has had a lot of issues with faulty units.

One of the highlights for me though is Apple who came in third but with their products the iPhone and iPod coming in 1st and 7th. It just shows the power of one company when it can have three of ten top brands in one yar over the entire world. Personally I'm starting to think my dream may actually be becoming to be a part of Apple. From all my interractions with their workers they really seem to take care of their own and from a marketing perspective they're brilliant so I think come graduation they'll be my first stop for applying for a job.