December 2011
3 posts
3 tags
Here's to the Developers. →
Inspired by Apple, “Here’s to the Developers”  is a nice video by New Relic. I think they just sold me on their services. Nice one.
Dec 19th
3 tags
Cobone.com: Not quite adding up
Just had a listen to Paul Kenny’s interview on yesterday’s Business Breakfast on Dubai Eye 103.8 (Available here: http://jdp.do/tYyheB). Interesting Numbers: 1 million user signed up 80K to 100K visitors daily 55% of the audience is Arabic speaking 90% of merchants are repeat merchants Electronics - Month 1 - USD 300K revenue Fashion - Week 1 - 1000 units sold Approximately 10%...
Dec 15th
3 tags
Dec 13th
8 notes
November 2011
1 post
3 tags
“If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it...”
– ‘if’ by Rudyard Kipling
Nov 21st
29 notes
October 2011
4 posts
5 tags
MarkaVIP: Fastest Growing E-Commerce Firm in the... →
An interesting press release released by MarkaVIP a few days ago, that I just stumbled across. The claim is a bold one. The release going out via MarketWire, the strategic office in San Francisco, the growth trajectory and the an inkling of market rumours all point towards a classic play for additional funding or squaring up to be bought out. See: Gonabit. My view on the numbers: Seven digits...
Oct 29th
9 notes
2 tags
Oct 12th
4 notes
3 tags
“Market research is what you do when your product isn’t any good”
– The Man Who Inspired Steve Jobs, New York Times
Oct 7th
29 notes
3 tags
Steve Jobs. 1955-2011. →
Incredibly Sad. Visionary. Genius. Inventor. Human.
Oct 5th
4 notes
September 2011
9 posts
1 tag
Strange Apple Store UAE Policy
2.8 Please note that you may not order more than one product of each product line per transaction. For the avoidance of doubt, please note that you may order several Products in a single transaction as long as these Products don’t belong to the same Product line. For instance, you may order an iPod shuffle and an iPod touch, but you may not order 2 iPod touch.  Why am I allowed to purchase...
Sep 25th
2 tags
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are...”
– Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love
Sep 23rd
2 notes
2 tags
Apple Store UAE Sales Policies →
Interesting. Really interesting move by Apple. From what I can see on the Sales Policies it looks like Apple has cut out their regional distributor Arab Business Machines and is selling directly to consumers via Apple Sales International. Shipment takes place directly from China and can take up to 10 days according to their 8000 number. A little more digging in the Sales Policies reveals an...
Sep 19th
4 tags
Dubizzle Numbers
I may be totally off base on this, but from what I have heard, Dubizzle currently does USD 10 million in annual revenue. The recent investment into the firm by South African media conglomerate Naspers’ wholly owned subsidiary MIH Internet is estimated to be USD 10 million for an undisclosed stake. Great numbers. Let’s hope it is an indicator of good things to come for the regional...
Sep 18th
22 notes
2 tags
Six Months of JadoPado (And Some Stats) →
Sep 18th
Tim Horton's Dubai. Day One. Packed.
Tried again to get my French Vanilla fix. There’s a line of 25 people or so at the moment. Crazy. They close at 2am. I think.
Sep 17th
1 note
Sep 11th
“Just 55.4 percent of working-age Californians, defined as those 16 or older, had...”
– California Budget Project via Bloomberg
Sep 4th
1 tag
“If the US Government was a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, yet they...”
– Dave Ramsey
Sep 2nd
4 notes
August 2011
2 posts
Aug 26th
3 tags
Groupon Doomed →
A great article by Rob Wheeler at HBR on why Groupon looks destined to fail. Insightful and well written.
Aug 17th
July 2011
3 posts
2 tags
A visualisation of US debt →
Worth looking at.
Jul 26th
8 notes
2 tags
“If you don’t trust gold, do you trust the logic of taking a pine tree,...”
– Kenneth J. Gerbino (Taken from: Special Report Gold July 2011, In Gold We Trust, Erste Group)
Jul 23rd
3 tags
Covert Affairs, Auggie's Headphones Season 2
In case anyone is wondering which headphones Auggie is using in Episode 7, Season 2 of Covert Affairs, I’ve tracked them down. I spent a bit of time going back and forth over the scene and finally matched them to Bowers & Wilkins P5. Absolutely stunning. I’m up for a pair soon! Product placement really does work!
Jul 22nd
2 notes
June 2011
1 post
6 tags
Jun 8th
May 2011
3 posts
3 tags
May 30th
6 notes
2 tags
May 14th
3 tags
How to have personality: Lessons from Trader Joe’s... →
Great little read on getting your business some personality. 
May 12th
April 2011
5 posts
2 tags
Gold Ascendant.
Sign of our troubled times, gold crosses USD 50K a kilo. Currently quoting at USD 1564 an ounce. Perhaps it’s the Royal Wedding affect.
Apr 29th
Apr 25th
Apr 25th
Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies →
Very interesting insight into algorithmic pricing by Amazon Markeplace sellers.
Apr 23rd
Apple vs. Samsung: a complete lawsuit analysis →
Nilay Patel the infamous ex-Endgadget(er) breaks down the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit. Interesting stuff!
Apr 19th
March 2011
6 posts
4 tags
One Game Away from the World Cup
Sri Lanka are one great game away from hoisting the World Cup. April 2nd can’t come any sooner.
Mar 29th
1 note
3 tags
Apple to open first Middle East Store in Dubai on... →
Great if it’s true. I doubt that Apple will open a store within Virgin Megastore directly and then staff it with their own staff.
Mar 9th
1 note
3 tags
Delete Button. Yammer, take a hint.
Update: Interesting discussion on this over at Hacker News. We’ve been a paying Yammer customer for a while now, with generally good results. I recently discovered HipChat and after a short internal trial we found that it works better for our needs than Yammer does. So I thought, let’s leave Yammer and move over to HipChat. Easier said than done. Signing up for HipChat and adding...
Mar 4th
4 notes
4 tags
Coupon / Deal Sites in Dubai
With coupons being the hottest “me-too” area at the moment, there seems to be a new player starting up every week. Here’s my list of current players in Dubai. I’ll try to update it as and when players arrive and leave the market. In no particular order: Gonabit - Local, backed by Bayt.com Cobone, Local, backed by Jabber Internet Group & external partners. Groupon -...
Mar 4th
1 tag
Magrudy's CEO steps down
Following on from their recent branch closures at Dubai Mall and Deira City Centre, I was told today that their CEO Jeremy Brinton stepped down last month. A successor is yet to be named and assumedly Isobel Abulhol is back in charge for the time being. I hope that there isn’t anything major going on with what has grown to become a UAE institution.
Mar 2nd
2 tags
Lalit Modi: The Confidence Man →
A great insight into the man who built the Indian Premier League. Credit to @tomgara from FT Tilt.
Mar 1st
7 notes
February 2011
10 posts
3 tags
My V8 Vantage is up for Sale. →
If you may be in the market for a Fire Red Aston, give me a shout :)
Feb 28th
Cricket at it's best →
A great little article by Osman Samiuddin on last night’s game - cricket at it’s very best. While Sri Lanka may have lost, it really was a magnificent game.
Feb 26th
2 tags
“You know you’re no longer CEO when you get in the back seat of your car and it...”
– Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway, Annual Letter to Shareholders, 2011 http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2010ltr.pdf
Feb 26th
2 tags
“At Berkshire we face no institutional restraints when we deploy capital. Charlie...”
– Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway, Annual Letter to Shareholders, 2011 http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2010ltr.pdf
Feb 26th
4 tags
Emotion
That twinge of hope that you’re team may just make it is what makes cricket a special sport. Each ball brings a moment of fear, of panic, of joy, of exuberance. And sometimes the smell of victory. Here’s to cricket. And to Sri Lanka. May the Lions always roar.
Feb 26th
1 note
7 tags
Feb 25th
1 note
“As Steve Jobs famously put it one day, “Apple is the last company in our...”
– Why Nobody Can Match the iPad’s Price | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
Feb 19th
Wash the Dishes When Nobody Else Will - Sash! →
This is what a lot of days feel like when you’re running a business. Do the dishes and hope that you can inspire those around you will do them from time to time too!
Feb 8th
5 tags
Magrudy's Shuts 2 Branches
Just heard from a contact at UAE based bookstore, Magrudy’s that they’ve their branch at Deira City Centre last week and are in process of shutting their Dubai Mall branch as we speak. While he didn’t go into too many details, it would seem that the issue is around the landlords at both properties requesting for rent escalations and Magrudy’s not being able to agree to...
Feb 6th
Chrome Updated to v9 →
Google’s Chrome browser has been updated to version nine (9). Amongst other things it brings Google Instant to the search bar - enable it manually from Preferences and your off. Really nice feature. Do yourself a favour and chuck out IE.
Feb 4th
January 2011
14 posts
2 tags
Nahel.com / Aramex
I just did a DNS look up on Nahel.com and found that their MX records point to “mail1.aramex.com” and “mail2.aramex.com”. There was a strong rumour that Fadi Ghandour, the CEO of Aramex had made an investment in Nahel.com, I guess this puts it beyond a doubt. The Aramex / Nahel.com partnership extends further than I first thought.
Jan 30th
1 note
1 tag
Jan 30th
2 tags
Wildpeeta Moves On. →
This is what we need more of locally. Guts. Wildpeeta, you guys have pioneered a thinking, emotional and opinionated business (remember the banks :)). Hat’s off, may we all follow in your stead. I wish you well with your new outlets and new adventures.
Jan 29th
1 note