Below the line

According to a study performed by Parks Associates earlier this year, women were more likely than men to buy tablets, laptops, and smartphones.  In 2010, women purchased an average of 4.7 devices, while men purchased 4.2 products. And when they do purchase an item, women tend to use it more heavily because they tend to be more engaged with digital media (videos, music, and pictures).

As an electronics manufacturer armed with this data, it probably makes sense to either target your marketing to this demographic or start making products specifically for this group.  Right?

A few years ago, Dell introduced a site called “Della” to market notebooks to women. Rather than selling the computers based on their technical specs, Dell tried a different tactic – touting how cute the computers were, showing off great accessories, and explaining how a notebook could change your life by helping you cook, shop, and count calories.  Instant backlash forced the company to change the site within its first week, and today, Della is no more.

But recently, Japanese computer maker Fujitsu assigned a team of female engineers to develop a more feminine machine. It’s introducing a new Ultrabook that will be marketed under the “Floral Kiss” brand. The laptops will initially be available in three colors: Elegant White, Feminine Pink, and Luxury Brown. Coming soon is a purple version, created in conjunction with Japanese jewelry brand agete. If the colors alone weren’t girly enough, the laptop will have pearl, gold, and “zirconia adornments.” Also, an easy-to-open clasp that won’t damage your manicure.  Whew!

It doesn’t stop there. The computer will also come preloaded with apps: scrapbooking software, a diary, and horoscopes.  (Hey Fujitsu – you forgot a cookbook and a calorie-counting app.  Maybe those are coming soon.)

An important fact that these manufacturers missed in the study is that the number one reason women purchased a product was ease of use. Not because of the color or preloaded apps that will help them with their scrapbooking or counting calories. I have no doubt there’s a market for these things. You can still get your Dell laptops in any color and pattern you can imagine. And I’m sure there are thousands of scrapbooking and horoscope apps to choose from in iTunes.  It’s the packaging of all of these things together that gets tricky.  

Eh, it could be that I’m just a little over-sensitive to this.  There could be a large market out there that appreciates this approach.  Maybe I’ll just shut down my plain grey computer now, put it in my rocking pink laptop bag, and go scrapbooking (or code stuff, whatever).

Crowdfunding has always been a fascinating concept to me.  Prove you have a great idea and, thanks to sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, people (complete strangers!) will hand over money.   Brilliant!  I’ve seen fundraisers for everything from web TV shows to purses that will charge your iPhone.  But here are some of my favorites:

• Philadelphia has Rocky Balboa; Metropolis, IL has Superman; Milwaukee has the Fonz. Detroit needed a symbol of inspiration, so what better than a statue of…RoboCop? A random tweet to Detroit’s mayor in 2011 suggesting the idea went viral, and when the mayor politely declined, a group of citizens took charge and started their own Kickstarter campaign.  $67,436 and 2,178 backers later, the project was a go and construction began.  But don’t make your pilgramage to Detroit just yet.  According to the website detroitneedsrobocop.com, the statue still has a ways to go.
• Last summer, a 68-year-old bus monitor named Karen Klein from Greece, NY was bullied by a number of middle school students on the way home from school.  When news outlets throughout the country picked up the story, a Toronto man by the name of Max Sidorov decided to do something about it.  He thought she wasn’t paid enough to deal with situations like this and turned to Indiegogo to raise money to send Karen on the vacation of a lifetime.  Word of Max’s efforts spread like wildfire, and he soon raised over $700,000. As a result, Karen was not only able to take that vacation, she retired and started the Karen Klein Anti-Bullying Foundation.     
• Web cartoonist Matthew Inman (more commonly known as The Oatmeal) has a short, but extraordinarily successful, background in crowdfunding.  His first attempt to raise money for the National Wildlife Foundation and the American Cancer Society netted over $220,000 in less than two weeks.  (His original goal was a mere $20,000.)  Not too shabby. But that was a drop in the bucket compared to his most recent campaign.
  
  You see, Inman is a big fan of early 20^th century scientist Nikola Tesla and a firm believer that Tesla just hasn’t received enough credit for his work. (Credit that went instead to Edison, who, according to Inman, was simply a better salesman.) So when he found out that Tesla’s old lab in Wardenclyffe, NY was for sale and about to be turned into a retail establishment, he rallied his followers for another fundraising campaign through Indiegogo. The goal this time was aggressive.  The property was listed at $1.6 million, and the state of New York had pledged to match any funds raised up to $850,000.  Within a week, Indiegogo reported, contributions totaling over $873,000 smashed through the original goal.  By the end of the campaign, over 33,000 people had donated $1,370,511 for a grand total (including the grant) of $2.1 million.  According to Ars Technica, the group Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe purchased the property at the beginning of October.

It’s not unusual to read about apple shortages at least once a year.  But usually, it’s referring to a phone or tablet (or this year, an adapter) – not fruit. 

On my first of many trips to pumpkin patches and orchards this year, we noticed that we didn’t see any fruit on the trees.  And when the farmers pulled out bushels of apples for us to eat, the apples just didn’t look quite right.  That’s because they had been shipped in from another region (the Kickapoo Valley if I remember correctly) due to the lack of apples locally.

It turns out the beautiful weather experienced in the midwest and east early this spring had a drawback.  The apple trees blossomed during the warm weather in March, but once a late frost hit a month later, many crops were destroyed, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  

So your annual stop at the apple orchard?  Good luck finding one where you can pick your own.  Want some apple cider?  Good luck finding any, period.  But places that are selling it are asking top dollar – upwards of $8 a gallon in some areas of the country.  And if you’re looking forward to picking up your favorite variety of apple, make sure you get there early.  Rumor has it around here that some orchards were posting dates when certain types of apples (honeycrisp, in particular) would be available, and if you didn’t show up prior to the store opening, you were out of luck, because lines of people had already formed.

Now out west, it’s a slightly different story, according to NPR.  In Washington, there’s a bumper crop of apples and growers are afraid that they’ll actually leave fruit on the trees.  This year, they’re having a difficult time getting enough workers to pick apples.  It’s a physically demanding job – climbing ladders and carrying 40-pound bags of apples all day long. (I’ll admit – not my ideal job.) 

If only we could meet somewhere in the middle…  So many people out east are looking to pick apples and so many farmers out west are looking to have their apples harvested.  First world problems, I suppose.  How has the crazy weather impacted your fall activities?  Or are you more concerned about when you’ll get your Apple phone rather than the fruit?