Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Category: Apple (Page 4 of 4)

Waiting for a Better Price Before Purchasing at Best Buy? Now You Don’t Have to – There’s an App for That

(Note: This post first appeared earlier today at Minnov8.com.)

Ever been burned buying a consumer electronics product right before a price reduction and wished you’d have waited?  Or, how many times have you been burned and not even known it?  Now there’s a solution for both these problems: it’s called Gazaro ProtectGazaroLogo-PriceAdj-forBBY Gazaro is a company that’s been developing a cloud-based, realtime retail pricing platform for several years, using artificial intelligence technology, and is focused initially on consumer electronics. Today, it announced its new pricing protection service, including an iPhone app.  Gazaro-iPhoneGrouping

Maybe you’re thinking you missed out on the best prices on Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Well, get this: Gazaro’s research shows average pricing on featured products at Best Buy during the 2009 Holiday Season was actually lower in the week before December 25 than it was on Black Friday or Cyber Monday (see chart).  One in three products dropped in price during the holiday season, with an average price drop of about 15%.  Gazaro says its new service helps you take advantage of these price drops.  BBY-HolidayPriceIndex-700w

 

 

How does it work?  Using either Gazaro’s web site or its new iPhone app, Gazaro Protect lets consumer electronics shoppers lock in the lowest prices by letting them know when a price drops after they buy, so they can then go get money back. It’s a free web service and mobile app that automatically notifies you of these money-saving price adjustments after you buy. The net advantage, Gazaro says, is you get last-minute holiday prices without having to fight the crowds, or risk a product being sold out if you wait too long.

It’s common for retailers to have policies to refund money to shoppers when products they purchase subsequently drop in price.  However, here’s the key: most shoppers don’t collect their price adjustments because of the manual effort to track prices. Of the shoppers surveyed by Gazaro in October 2010, fully 68% did not claim a single price adjustment in the last 12 months. 

The patent-pending Gazaro Protect service saves shoppers money by automatically notifying them of eligible price adjustments on the products they purchase.  In an analysis of 2009 Holiday Season pricing on 120,000 consumer electronics products, including computers, 15% dropped in price by an average of $25.61.  And if you doubt just how many products have price drops, check out this following chart showing just how high the percentages are, at several retailers (Best Buy included). 

As the company points out, saving money is at the top of most shoppers’ minds in our uncertain economy. Check these stats Gazaro provides: 98% of shoppers surveyed stated they’re willing to claim a price adjustment if they’re notified of it, and 94% are willing to claim price adjustments of anything over $10 in value. Prob_PriceDrop_Retailers

Gazaro Protect is free for shoppers, and is available by email, website, and as an iPhone app.  It is initially featuring only Best Buy products, made available through the BBYOpen platform (an open API), with Gazaro promising “increased functionality for shoppers in the near future.”

Here are three sample use-case scenarios the company provided:

Mobile: Randy buys a digital camera, and scans the product’s bar code or enters the product’s UPC using the Protect iPhone app.  Gazaro registers the product, and automatically tracks the price drops against the store’s price match policy.  Randy returns to the store to get his price adjustment when Gazaro notifies him of a price drop. Notification can be by text message or email.

Email: David buys a printer at the store’s website, and forwards the receipt to protect@gazaro.com. Gazaro automatically parses the receipt information to register the product, and automatically tracks price drops against the store’s price match policy.  David calls the store to get his price adjustment when Gazaro notifies him of a price drop.

Web: Jane buys a flat-screen television in the store or online at the store’s website. She copies and pastes the URL or SKU of the product from the store’s website into the Gazaro Protect website. Gazaro registers the product, and automatically tracks price drops against the store’s price match policy.  Jane returns to the store to get her price adjustment when Gazaro notifies her of a price drop.

I spoke with Alexander Rink, Gazaro’s CEO, who said, “Gazaro Protect enables shoppers to buy with peace of mind, locking in low prices by getting money back if prices drop. And it helps retailers by removing shopper doubt at the point of sale, and by creating a positive experience that encourages customer loyalty.”  Rink sees his company’s technology as a natural evolution for retail. “It’s a clear win for shoppers — they will increasingly demand this type of service. They want to know they got a good deal. Traditionally, that’s meant looking for a good deal before they buy — which Gazaro also helps shoppers do at our web site — but Protect extends that to after they buy.”

Rink said that smart retailers are increasingly thinking ahead about converting transactions into relationships, “where they take care of the customer before, during, and after the purchase, and make it easy for them to return for their next purchase. Gazaro is the leading the way in thinking of the whole ‘customer lifecycle’ in this way.”

The Gazaro Protect iPhone app is now available in the App Store, and the company plans an Android app “in the near future.”  GazaroProtectApp The Gazaro Protect web site is free to use for all online and offline shoppers, and online shoppers can also get protected by simply forwarding their store email receipts to protect@gazaro.com — as noted above, for purchases made on BestBuy.com.

“Gazaro stands for honest recommendations to help shoppers get the best value for their money,” said Sam Zaid, Founder and CTO in the company’s news announcement. “Gazaro Protect leverages Gazaro’s cloud-based, real-time Retail Pricing Platform to provide a compelling free service for shoppers, and a customer care differentiator for retailers.”

For more about Gazaro, hit the company’s media page and its blog.  The company says it “enables shoppers to buy with peace of mind by certifying great deals in real-time, and protecting them after the purchase.”  It says it analyzes hundreds of thousands of price points on thousands of computers and electronics products every day, identifying great deals. Its intent is to guide shoppers to smart purchase decisions, and provide retailers with real-time pricing data and analytics.

I requested an interview directly with a manager at BBYopen about Gazaro Protect, but got a curt reply back from the company’s PR department saying it did not want to comment at this time.

Here’s a code for the first 100 people reading this post to get 50% off the price of the “Pro” version of the Gazaro Protect iPhone app: gazaroTSB50. The normal price for an in-app upgrade to Pro is $1.99, so the 50% discount will take that to $0.99. The Pro version unlocks the barcode scanner and gives you unlimited “protects,” while the free version of the app only allows you to protect one product.

(UPDATE 12/3/10: I broke this story when I posted it on Minnov8 yesterday, then several other sites covered it, including CNet, GigaOM, and Lifehacker.  Gazaro now tells me they’ve decided to get more generous. They’re allowing our next 250 readers to upgrade to the Pro version of the Gazaro Protect iPhone app for FREE. Just first download the free version of the app, then upgrade in-app using this code: FREEMONEYTSM.)

Exclusive: Robert Stephens Talks About His New Role as CTO of Best Buy

Earlier this week, I sat down for coffee with Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad, to chat about a number of things, and we decided to do an impromptu audio interview.  I realized later it was almost three years to the day when I'd first met Robert, at an event where he was honored as Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2007 Minnesota Cup reception at the University of Minnesota — and I blogged about that, quoting from his great talk. RobertStephens-BestBuyCTO I'd also heard him speak before at other local events, where he's always a favorite. I have much admiration for the man, not just because he's the spiritual leader of 25,000 geeks and has a real passion for technology, but because he's a marketing genius. What's more, he's really funny and entertaining. GeekSquad-logo I also find it fascinating that he began college as an art student, then switched to computer science (coming to the U of M for that, from his native Chicago). I've since seen Robert at many of our local tech "barcamp" events, MInneBar and MinneDemo, for which he and his employer of the last eight years, Best Buy, have provided much support. Hats off to them for that. (As Robert likes to tell it, "Geek Squad acquired Best Buy in 2002.")  

But, this day, I thought it would be a great opportunity to let Robert tell us about the new role I knew he'd recently been promoted to — that of Chief Technology Officer, reporting the CEO of Best Buy.  I knew something was coming, because he hinted so in a meeting with me and my colleague Steve Borsch during the summer.  BestBuy-logo-onstore_300w There was no Best Buy press release announcing his appointment, which I guess is common for them, but I actually confirmed it a few weeks ago when I hit Robert's LinkedIn page. (He told me he didn't want any hoopla around being named to his new role, that he'll be happy to get recognition when he has some results to talk about.)

We recorded a 21-minute interview, where Robert touched on an array of topics.  He talked about technology trends, and how his job is translating those into actionable intelligence for Best Buy.  He spoke about his developing relationships and partnerships with companies like Google and Facebook, and how he really finds Best Buy a dynamic place to work, giving him a "palette, and a canvas." He also tells the inside story about how was first asked to be CTO, involving a trip to New York with CEO Brian Dunn on the company jet to meet with Eric Schmidt of Google. Robert also talks about what motivates him, how he thinks more like a startup guy, but has the unique advantage of such big resources at Best Buy — and the abilily to open doors anywhere. "I have the best job," he says. "I get to travel the world and visit all these companies." He said over the next five to ten years, "we'll be exploiting the four screens." In that regard, he talks in particular about how one of those, TV, is coming into an new exciting phase. "I like sitting on the main chess board," he said.

But let's get to it… 

Download or listen to my complete, unedited interview of Robert Stephens, CTO of Best Buy… (MP3)"

 

How to Run Windows Apps on a Mac – the Easy Way

They say the best blogging is about story-telling. So, let me tell you one of mine — how I came to write this post. First, some background: I run a Windows-free environment, and have for a long time. I put in my time with "Windoz" many years ago, and quickly left it behind. I can't even remember what version of the Mac OS I was using when that happened, but it was several iterations ago, and I upgraded through all those OS upgrades, loving the enhancements every step of the way.  Apple.pngndows_dropshadow There are many reasons I became an Apple fanboy, and have happily stayed that way — but the biggest of them all was simply ease of use, across the whole Mac experience, and the much lower hassle factor all around. I value my time. I don't want to be a computer geek. I just want to get stuff done. Mac fits the bill.

Today, thanks to the amazing advances of the Apple OS over the years and other Apple software offerings, I don't have a single need to run a Windows app on my Mac. However, I realize many people do — they have a work reason, perhaps, to run Outlook, one of the Windows versions of Microsoft Office, or Internet Explorer, or other apps that just don't (for some crazy reason) yet have a Mac version. I've been running the same Mac version of MS Office now for more than a decade; it works fine. (So, I can't say I run a completely Microsoft-free environment; just a Windows-free one.) I also realize there's another big universe of Mac users out there who want to run Windows on their machines: gamers. We're not talking a work reason here (I don't think!), but this is a big market. There are many more games available for the Windows platform than for Mac — though that is changing somewhat, since so many game apps are continually being introduced for the Mac iOS — that is, for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. (And the new "GameCenter" in Mac iOS 4.1, due next week, moves Apple even further into the games market.)

But why I am writing about running Windows on a Mac when I don't have a need myself, and I'm certainly not a gamer? Well, before I tell you about "CrossOver Mac," here's why: I had a personal experience recently helping my daughter.  She's also a longtime Mac user, but she needed to run a single Windows app for her business, which was required by a government agency she had to deal with. So, I told her, sure, I'd help her figure out how she could do that. I of course knew about two programs designed to do that, called "Parallels" and "VMware Fusion," either of which we could buy (for about $80, I think).  And I told her I could help her get one of those installed on her Macbook. But we really didn't like the idea of spending even that much money to run one little Windows app, maybe once a month — plus a friend told me Windows doesn't really run all that snappy with those programs, anyway.

But I was starting to think about buying one of those programs when another friend said, "Wait, what about Boot Camp? That won't cost you anything." Apple started bundling that program with OS 10.5 and now 10.6, and you just need the original install disk to fire that up. Yes, plus a bonafide version of Windows, with an install disk — and we would have had to buy that. Cheapest I could find: an OEM version of 32-bit Windows 7 for $110 at our local Micro Center (closest thing we have to Fry's here in MN). You can't even buy Windows XP anymore, I learned, so that was not a cheaper option. That, combined with an onerous 14-page manual that Apple said you must print out and have by your side as you go through the detailed Boot Camp installation and configuration process, was making me start to think, screw this. Then I learned my daughter's Macbook only has a half a gig of RAM, and would need at least 1 Gig to run OS 10.6, which I wanted to upgrade her to, and preferably 2 Gig. That would have cost me at least another $60, even if I installed the memory myself, which I really didn't want to do. I thought, wait a minute, we're getting close to $200 here — for something we really don't want to do! Plus untold hours of my time screwing around to get it running.

Long story short: I found a brand-new HP Mini netbook on sale for $269 at OfficeMax (thanks to a friend's tip), and I had a $30 off coupon! I told her I'd gladly pay for half of that. I figured I was coming out way ahead, considering I wouldn't have to invest any time at all if we went with this option.  Plus, she wanted a second computer anyway, just for email and web use on another floor of her house, and the HP Mini came with built-in wifi capability, so it was a pretty cheap option for that. Now, we're both happy.

CrossOver-logo Which brings me to the subject of my post: there's a much simpler way to run Windows on an Intel Mac — and it might just work for you.  I wish I'd have known about it a week or two earlier, and I could have saved even more time (and money).  It's a product called CrossOver Mac, from the playfully named CodeWeavers, based in St. Paul, MN.

CrossOver Mac integrates seamlessly with Mac OSX. There's no need to boot a separate Windows partition, or move files back and forth between two separate environments. It lets you work natively in Mac OSX — you run your Windows apps directly in OSX and save all your work files there as well. And here's a key point: running just one operating system means faster performance as well. (Yes, that means better than Parallels and VMware Fusion.) Running on OSX also means that even if you're running virus-prone applications like Outlook and Internet Explorer, you're completely protected. But here's the best thing of all, you need no Windows OS license!  That's right: you don't need spend that additional money; you just pay for the very reasonably priced CrossOver program.

It comes in two versions: Standard at $39.95 and Pro at $69.95, and both are of course downloadable. And, yes, there's a free trial. The system requirements to run CrossOver are really pretty simple.  And check out the list of supported Windows apps near the bottom of the product page — all the major ones you would expect.  But what if you want to use a Windows app that isn't listed in their database? Does that mean that it won't run under CrossOver? Here's what CodeWeavers says: "Not necessarily. Many applications work perfectly under CrossOver without any modification whatsoever. However, we may simply not be aware of them. So, just because an application isn't in our database doesn't mean that your application won't run. You might consider downloading the trial version of CrossOver to see if your application works. And if it does, please consider submitting it so that it makes it into the database." 

For more resources and links on CrossOver Mac, check out this nice video, and the company's online  Support Forums are quite active.  You can also follow CodeWeavers on Facebook or on Twitter.

CodeWeavers-logo I learned at a recent business seminar at my local Apple Store that CrossOver Mac is available in pretty much every one of Apple's stores. You may have to ask a staff member for it, since they may store it in the back room, but it's there, according to James Ramey, the company's head of sales, who gave a talk at the seminar. The title on his business card:  "Minister of Greed"… 🙂 You have to admire a company with some seriously good products, but also a sense of humor — and not afraid to put it out there. Check out this news release they put out a few weeks ago:

CodeWeavers CEO Names Himself "Employee of the Month" for 175th Consecutive Month
Software Developer CodeWeavers Leader Calls Feat "Jack Welchian" as He Awards Himself Honorary Plaque

The only Codeweavers press release funnier than this one was from July of 2009:

Codeweavers to Overtake Microsoft by 2018
Current Sales Trend Indicates Gadfly Open Source Developers Will Be Nation's Largest Provider of Windows Technology; Microsoft Imperiled CodeWeavers Offers to Buy Microsoft Campus "On Credit"

The company manages this unique approach to publicity under the guidance of Minneapolis PR firm Haberman & Associates, one of the best (and most unsung) here in the Twin Cities. As a marketing advisor to tech firms, I take my hat off to them.

And I thank CodeWeavers for helping massive numbers of people (me included) to avoid buying Windows.

(Update:  I neglected to mention that CrossOver Mac is based on the Wine Project. Thank your local Linux geek for that!  Also note that CodeWeavers has two other very popular products: "CrossOver Games" and "CrossOver Linux.")

 

 

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