Hotel Puts an iMac in Every Room

Springwise Newsletter, November 18, 2008 — Located in the Saint Blaise neighbourhood of Paris's 20th arrondissement, Mama Shelter has equipped each of its 172 rooms with a 24-inch Apple iMac multimedia center. Created by the Trigano family—founders of Club Med—along with Parisian philosopher Cyril Aouizerate and designer Philippe Starck, Mama Shelter combines modern, technology-enabled accommodation with a friendly, communal vibe. By replacing the ubiquitous in-room TV with the multimedia iMac, Mama Shelter not only mimics the same type of shift going on in many homes, it also ups the ante for hotels in urban centers around the world.

Qualcomm Pushes Beyond Cellphones†

Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2008 — Qualcomm Inc. is joining a race to deliver Internet access to people in emerging countries, with a plan that takes the chip maker beyond cellphones into desktop hardware.

The San Diego company, which is holding a meeting with analysts Thursday in New York, has developed a design for a home computing device that uses its cellphone chips rather than the components found in most personal computers. The goal is to bring Web access to places that have cellular data networks, but wired connections are unavailable or unaffordable.

Dell Lags in New Products†

Dell isn't launching a digital music player for the holidays, adding to concerns that it is lagging behind rivals in fresh offerings.

Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2008 — Michael Dell last year promised innovative new consumer products to generate "product lust" and spark his company's turnaround effort. But in the runup to the holiday sales season, Dell Inc. has been slow to deliver on that promise.

You Call That Innovation?†

New Survey Shows Consumers Value Unique Products -- Not Just Line Extensions

Advertising Age, November 10, 2008 — As everyone struggles just to stay above water, now is exactly the time to redistribute your resources to develop unique products that deliver a new consumer experience and create a franchise capable of long-term, significant growth. Try offering new benefits or delivery systems through real innovation.

Dell Bets Splashy Design Will Sell Its New Laptops

Dell Design Chief Ed Boyd is transforming those once-stodgy PCs with art and color. Can made-to-order laptops revitalize the computer maker?

BusinessWeek, October 30, 2008 — Ed Boyd, one of Dell's most unusual hires in recent years, is an industrial designer who used to dream up new sunglasses and shoes for Nike (NKE). Now the 43-year-old is trying to make design an integral part of Dell, the personal computer maker long known for cranking out boring gray boxes. "

Flush with Cash, Drugmakers Go on the Prowl

It's a time of huge opportunity and risk for drugmakers. Some with big cash hoards will start snatching smaller players, while others will try to bulk up fast to avoid becoming prey

BusinessWeek, October 30, 2008 — Andrew Witty, the new chief executive of giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), surveys the wreckage of the global financial meltdown and sees an upside. With pharmaceutical stocks at record lows, it's a good time to acquire biotech companies and other assets that could drive Glaxo's growth for years. Its midsize rival Wyeth (WYE) is also on the prowl—but there's a difference. Faced with a shrinking market valuation, new CEO Bernard Poussot may have to bulk up to ward off larger predators.

Witty and Poussot are two of seven new faces who have taken over at major pharmaceutical companies since 2006. It's a massive changing of the guard, and it comes at a time of both huge risks and irresistible opportunities.

Can the Chevy Volt Save GM?

Take a closer look at the plug-in electric vehicle GM hopes will kick-start a much-needed turnaround

BusinessWeek, October 29, 2008 — Far away from the complex merger negotiations and dicey political maneuvering (BusinessWeek.com, 10/28/08) that promise to reshape America's largest automaker, General Motors (GM), design director Bob Boniface is coolly contemplating the company's future.

The Volt is probably GM's last, best hope for the future and certainly its most significant upcoming vehicle. A plug-in electric car with an onboard gas-burning engine that can recharge the vehicle's batteries, the Volt has to affirm the company's ability to innovate and, eventually, create a financial foothold from which the battered automaker can begin to turn itself around.

Hotel Helps Guests Connect Online

Springwise Newsletter, October 7, 2008 — Most hotels today give guests a way to connect with them online before their stay, whether for making simple room requests or to shop ahead for items from the hotel's retail offerings. New York City's Pod Hotel, however, is now using an online forum to let guests make advance connections with each other as well.

The hotel's PodCulture forum is designed to let visitors swap stories, trade itineraries and ideas, and get to know their fellow guests before they arrive. Once they've booked their reservations, guests are sent an email that includes a link to the PodCulture blog and a unique user ID code. That code allows them to create a profile for the blog and begin communicating with other guests.

Owned and operated by BD Hotels, the Pod Hotel provides... continue reading

Staring You in the Face†

The path to new products might start with the customer data you've already collected. You just don't realize it.

Wall Street Journal, September 22, 2008 — In the quest for innovation, companies continuously collect and analyze ever-increasing amounts of customer data. But what if a company has already collected the most valuable information and doesn't realize it?

Sometimes the answer to the innovation challenge lies not in collecting new customer data but rather in finding creative ways to share and repurpose customer information that's already in-house.

Schultz Announces 1,000 More Job Cuts at Starbucks†

Senior VP-Global Strategy Michelle Gass Shifts Back to Marketing Role as Part of Reorganization

Advertising Age, July 29, 2008 — Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said the coffee retailer will cut 1,000 jobs in addition to those resulting from the 600 store closures announced earlier this month. It's unclear how many marketing personnel will be affected, but those familiar with the matter said some groups are facing double-digit cuts in what's being described internally as a "bloodbath."

In another organizational move, Michelle Gass is back in the marketing department, as senior VP-marketing and category. Ms. Gass, a 12-year Starbucks veteran, is credited with much of the Frappuccino's success. She was elevated to senior VP-global strategy in January, and has been overseeing Mr. Schultz's much-discussed (and debated) turnaround plan. Her move is viewed as a need for her expertise in... continue reading