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We have been talking about SharePoint and Web Parts for quite a while now, but here are some new areas for development products and tools aimed at software developers (not at end users) that are worth looking at right now - apologies if you are already working on them!
iPhone - sounds obvious, but have you noticed what /n Software has already done in this area for iPhone app developers with their Objective-C libraries for iPhone? Don't panic - this does not mean that any app developed with these libraries is automatically banned from the AppStore, as the C source code libraries provided can be compiled directly into the app. /n Software has also provided demo apps in Cocoa, plus they have products that support Mac OS X. And I guess there is yet another market and platform for you to consider - the Mac! Can you follow this lead and make your class libraries, components and controls available as an Objective-C library for the iPhone & Mac app developer market?
What has /n Software done already for the Mac & iPhone market?
http://www.nsoftware.com/portal/macos/
Other mobile device areas are also worth investigating like Android, as the number of device manufacturers signed up to use it to create Droid smart phones is already very high. As all these devices come onto the market the demand for Android apps will rise - so can you also turn your existing products or existing skills into a developer tool or library that will help Android app developers create more apps faster? Or do you need to make your existing product compatible to correctly display data and information on a Droid smart phone?
What is Android?
http://developer.android.com/guide/basics/what-is-android.html
Not forgetting Windows Mobile...Windows Phone 7 has been announced and will be available in time for the "Holiday Season" at the end of 2010. So if you have components, controls and libraries that work on other platforms, have you ever looked into re-developing these products to work on Windows Phones? Do you support the .NET Compact Framework already? If so - what are your plans to move your products forward?
Microsoft Windows Phone & Windows Phone 7:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-gb/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-gb/cmpn/windowsphone7series/default.mspx
HTML5 - another emerging area for new products?
It is arguably early days in the HTML5 market, but things are moving fast and you will need to understand how this standard will impact your existing products and make sure you can support the future needs of your customers in this area. There is also the possibility that HTML5 component frameworks may emerge as a future platform, not just for mobile apps, but for any Web based app. If you are not looking at HTML5 already you may wish to take a look at using your existing product knowledge or expertise to provide products that work with HTML5 or tools that help developers create HTML5 based solutions. I am fairly sure that people using HTML5 for their UI will have similar needs for: datagrids, charts & dashboards and that these datagrids, charts and dashboards will need to hook into databases and data sources reliably. So I believe there is a future opportunity for HTML5 products. See also the Sencha funding article below in the Technology News section.
Wikipedia HTML 5 & Canvas element:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canvas_element
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Just a short note about pricing, relevant to you if you have SRP price lists in Euros, UK Pounds and other currencies. Some of you publish SRPs in Euros (EUR) for the European marketplace and also in Great British Pounds (GBP) for the UK marketplace. If you have pricing that is usually set in USD and then converted into EUR and GBP to create your SRPs for mainland Europe and the UK, then you may wish to go and check your current pricing and send us new price lists now in EUR & GBP. In general, if you have EUR & GBP prices they should be higher now in June, than they were when you originally set them back at the start of the year in January or when you revised them for Q2 in April.
The USD/EUR and USD/GBP rates have moved significantly in the last 3-6 months and you will find that as you convert this money back into USD you will be taking in fewer and fewer US Dollars. If you do not raise your prices in EUR & GBP to follow the exchange rates, you will see a decline in sales in Europe in USD of over 17% in Europe and of 7% in the UK.
If you have pricing in USD only - then this does not impact you and you do not need to take any action - as you are already protected from this sales fall.
Price Change Examples:
EUR prices need to rise by 17.4% - here's why!
$1,000 USD = 698.03 EUR as at Dec 31st, 2009 (1.000 EUR = $1.4326)
$1,000 USD = 819.70 EUR as at Jun 29th, 2010 (1.000 EUR = $1.2199)
So if you have left your EUR price list unchanged since Jan 1st, 2010, you need to raise your EUR prices by 17.4% just to standstill...
GBP prices need to rise by 7.3%
$1,000 USD = 619.23 GBP as at Dec 31st, 2009 (1.000 GBP = $1.6149)
$1,000 USD = 664.30 GBP as at Jun 29th, 2010 (1.000 GBP = $1.5053)
The same is true in GBP, but it is not as dramatic a change as the EUR example above, you only need to raise your prices by 7% in GBP.
Again, if you have pricing in USD only - then this does not impact you at all and you do not need to take any action, as you will already be getting the correct USD value for all your sales in the UK & Europe, as the customers will be paying more in GBP & EUR.
If you have price lists in other currencies you may also wish to check them, as the exchange rates have been highly volatile over the last 6 months.
If you need help with this, please use our Pricing Advice Service:
https://www.componentsource.com/services/publisher/pricing-advice-service.html |
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Technology News
HTML5 Investment News: Sequoia Capital Leads $14 Million Round For Sencha’s HTML5 Frameworks:
http://www.worldtech24.com/business/sequoia-capital-leads-14-million-round-sencha-s-html5-frameworks
Microsoft is paying developers to port iPhone games to Windows Phone 7:
http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/Windows+Phone+7/news.asp?c=21387
ComponentSource US News
US Government product sales grow...make sure you don't miss out!
Thanks to everyone who has already sent back the signed Letter of Supply to Chris Brooke in our US office. This will enable you to continue selling your products to our US government customers under our renewed GSA Schedule. Without a signed Letter of Supply from you, your products will not be on our GSA Schedule product listings as of Mar 9th, 2010, when our contract was renewed for a further 5 years. So please remember to print this Letter of Supply on your official corporate letterhead, sign and fax it back to us at: (770) 250-6198. If you need to get the text for your GSA Letter of Supply - please contact Chris Brooke now: chrisb@componentsource.com
European, Middle East & Africa News
Don't forget print marketing! We have been carrying out bonus distributions of the European Editions of our paper catalog inside several different magazines in Europe. Recently we have poly-bagged our catalog in the UK with Computer Weekly magazine in April and we plan to do this again in July and October. If you would like to advertise your product in our catalog in the UK then please email Harry Kelly on: harryk@componentsource.com
Asia/Pac News
Sales in Japan have taken off following the Golden Week holiday in early May, it looks like the Japanese marketplace has again started to spend money on new software projects or on projects that had been put on hold over the last 12 months. Do your products work on Japanese editions of Windows? Have you tested your product with the Japanese editions of Visual Studio? Remember - Japan is our 2nd largest country for sales after the US! If you need help in testing your product compatibility or marketing and customer service assistance to help unlock the Japanese marketplace for you, please email Scott Sata now: scotts@componentsource.co.jp |
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Did you know that we now have 50 Toll Free numbers for customers to call us on, in 47 countries?
We just added a new Toll Free number in the US for our Spanish speaking customers in North America.
That takes us up to 50 Toll Free numbers now worldwide, servicing 47 countries, 5x24 in 9 languages!
No other distributor, reseller or dealer for your products has a global customer service network like this working for you and it is our 100% commitment to our international customers that helps us reach customers you may not have been able to reach before! |
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