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After the Amazing Success of Nexus One (Not), Google to Acquire Motorola

posted on August 15, 2011

This time last year, Google was licking its wounds after the dismal failure of its Nexus One phone.

You know, the one designed and sold by Google. A complete Android package from the search giant.

So what better way to celebrate the one year anniversary of that failed experiment than by coughing up $12.5 billion, in CASH, for Motorola and jumping feet first into the handset manufacturing business?

I know, you’re checking to make sure it’s not April 1st, but this is hot off the wire:

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Google will acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of about $12.5 billion, a premium of 63% to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares on Friday, August 12, 2011. The transaction was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

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Fear the Panda! Google Adds Extra Kung Fu to Non-English Search Results

posted on August 12, 2011

If your regular Google routine includes searches that are not in English, you’ll now find your results have extra Kung Fu.

OK, so maybe not, but they will now have extra Panda, after Google announced the rollout of its controversial update to all languages:

Earlier this year, we rolled out our “Panda” change for searches in English around theworld. Today we’re continuing that effort by rolling out our algorithmic search improvements in different languages…

…For most languages, this change impacts typically 6-9% of queries to a degree that a user might notice. This is distinctly lower than the initial launch of Panda, which affected almost 12% of English queries to a noticeable amount.

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Are You Prepared for Government Control of Twitter, Facebook et al?

posted on August 11, 2011

It’s been almost two years since I warned of a potential scenario that involved the US government taking over Twitter.

I portrayed one scenario where things would escalate enough that the POTUS would have to take action….take over Twitter. Well, it appears the UK government is pondering something similar, in light of the riots in England.

According to TNW, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement:

“Mr Speaker, everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media.  Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”

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Airbnb Takes Steps to Prevent the Deflation of its Reputation

posted on August 2, 2011

I had never heard of Airbnb until yesterday. Chances are you’d never heard of the “rent a room in my house” service either.

However, sitting in Chicago’s airport–returning from an extended vacation–I couldn’t help but learn all about Airbnb. At least, the part about the vandalism and theft suffered by one of its members.

Now, it’s unlikely that I would ever have cared about Airbnb–or that one of its members”EJ” had suffered such a horrible event. After all, who in their right mind rents out their house to a complete stranger and expects never to face theft or vandalism? Apparently 60,000+ people do exactly that and, up until this point, have never had any major issues. As far as Airbnb was concerned, it had cornered a small, but growing market that relied on the honesty and decency of those looking for a bed for the night.

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Trashing Your Competition is NEVER a Good Reputation Tactic

posted on July 15, 2011

Hopefully it goes without saying that trashing your competitors is simply never a good idea. Still, that didn’t stop one of Carbonite’s competitors from doing just that.

In addition to insulting Carbonite, he managed to insult the intelligence of his prospective client in the same email!

“Hey XXX,

I just wanted to touch base with you to see what you thought of the Carbonite reviews I sent you and if it makes you feel safe and secure.    No one in their right mind would, but I wanted to check just in case.

Actually, the one who should be the most concerned is XXX since he is the owner.  If the above email address is not his correct one, could you please forward him these?

Thanks.”

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The Busy Marketer’s Guide to Google’s Quarterly Financials [Word Cloud]

posted on July 15, 2011

A record breaking $9 billion in revenue is all you need to know about the success of Google’s most recent financial quarter.

Of course, if you’d like to dive deeper into the numbers, you can check out the financial results here, or even read CEO Larry Page’s investor call transcript.

Then again, you’re Pilgrims. You have things to do, people to see, clients to please! So, here’s the word cloud of the transcript:

Looks to me like “Google’s” “quarter” was filled with “new” “amazing” “products” that “people” will “like.” ;-)

(Word cloud courtesy of Wordle)

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TechCrunch Trail Blazes With New Logo; We Dare to Follow!

posted on July 12, 2011

Here at Marketing Pilgrim, we’re big fans of TechCrunch. You’ll notice we link to a lot of their stories.

Still, like others, we’re not quite sure whether we like or hate their new design–and new logo. Of course, no one likes their favorite web sites when they change–just ask Facebook or Twitter!

So, instead of adding to the many critics, we thought we’d pay homage to TechCrunch the best way we know how. With our tongue in our cheek, but sincere admiration in our hearts, we present the new Marketing Pilgrim logo:

What do you think?

Update: We switched the logo back, but here’s a reminder of how awesome it looked on our site:

MarketingPilgrim.com With Our New Logo