My love

Yoasis - Fro Yo - Spoon Me - Red Mango

Image sells. In other words, non-ice cream frozen desserts can charge a premium over ice cream because they are "healthier." Frozen yogurt and gelato, although not much lower in calories, are considered healthier because they can be lower in fat. Thankfully for those "ice cream alternative" shops, they are in business because they are hip and "healthy." If they weren't so creative in their styling and appeal, these dessert places would probably go the way of Leatherby's and the old-fashioned ice cream "shoppe." Way to go for figuring out how to charge more money for less of the same thing!

Daybreak - Kennecott's cash cow

So, if you are one of the biggest mining companies in Utah, and you just happen to own a lot of land (think square miles upon square miles), and environmental restrictions and economic crises limit your mining usage of all this prepurchased land, what do you do?

Build Utah's largest housing development - Daybreak.

Beginning in 2004, Kennecott Land, owned by Rio Tinto, decided to plan out a community that spans 4,000 acres, includes 20,000 homes, and includes a man-made lake. Not only that, but there are business parks, and the first temple possibly built due to massive housing development. The UTA is expanding Trax out to Daybreak, and even though prices are a little higher than average in the area, the convenience and small yards are attracting plenty of new buyers - possibly even yours truly! What a great way to make money, and a way that most mining companies probably never explored in order to diversify their business to make the best of their resources.


Wikipedia's article on Daybreak

Oil investment

Speculation and buying futures of oil. You think people would have learned from Enron that you shouldn't make bets on something that is so unpredictable. Also, supply and demand need to meet eventually - massive shifts upward in price without a match in upward demand or massive drop in supply doesn't make sense and the markets balance out. Not that futures should necessarily be stopped - but not too long after there are tons of reserves available, the market should be allowed to adjust so as not to cause the huge shock and drop in gas prices over just a few months - from over $4/gallon, down to $1.25/gallon. Now that prices are low again, should consumers be required to endure the shock based on speculation? Transparency in the market is essential.

Crazy person buys first barrel of oil at $100/barrel

Southwest Airlines enters NYC!

Southwest has really pushed some limits, but one is trying to take advantage of the highly competitive and highly demanded New York City airline market. I have been quite impressed with their abilities to make money off of expensive or less competitive markets but am surprised to see their move into an established market. The only thing I can figure is that they must be moving to help people they already serve in obscure areas access New York for cheaper than their competitors, or perhaps to help New Yorkers travel to more obscure places for cheaper.

I know that they are great at helping establish their brand in the mind of consumers, and to be able to use Southwest no matter where you go in the country really establishes their presence as an all-around great airline. Due to their success in Boston, if New York works out as well, Southwest won't be relegated to simply a well-known airline in the western part of the country.

BusinessWeek's take on the matter

Wii stockpile... time for a price change?

Lately walking by the shelves at Wal-Mart, the Nintendo Wii is stocked full to the back of the case. Sure, Microsoft and Sony are laughing at the fate that has finally hit Nintendo with their overstock on shelves, but is it time to lower prices?

Not right now, according to Nintendo. The Wii, although selling less than previous months, is still far outselling the Xbox 360 or PS3. The current price of $250 for the console, one controller and an included game, is still cheaper than the PS3 by $150 and $50 cheaper compared to an Xbox 360 with a hard drive. In a down economy, people are choosing to cut back costs, and the entertainment industry is no exception. People are already choosing the Wii because of its price point. To lower the purchase price would only suggest that the Wii is an inferior console or that the company is having trouble moving its products. So for the time being or until a new generation of video game consoles is announced and all manufacturers shift prices downward to clear out inventory, $250 Wii consoles will be the norm. And why should Nintendo change its strategy? They are the most profitable video game console producer - Sony still loses money on every PS3, and Microsoft just recently started turning a profit on its consoles. Not to mention that Microsoft and Sony often compete head-to-head targeting typical video gamers and Nintendo goes for non-competitive family gamers these days - their differentiation makes them successful.

http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200915/3416/Nintendo-president-won-t-rule-out-Wii-price-drop

Dell Adamo

Dell just dealt the lightweight laptop market a new entry. Not only is it lightweight and much more powerful compared to cheaper netbooks, but it is much more useful to business users than a restricted MacBook Air which also has high repair costs not covered under warranty. The only problem with the Adamo is the cost is much higher than a laptop that weighs only a few pounds more and comes with a DVD drive, so finding the right user who can afford to have their company pay for it or a technophile who has money out of pocket in the down economy could be very interesting.

On the other hand the profit margins on a product like this must be immense, and Dell has a good reputation for quality and service, so hopefully this will take off compared to the Macbook Air.