Motorola Cheaps out with Moto x $500 million advertising budget

Motorola (GOOG) new phone, Moto-X, has as good a chance as any other on the market to succeed (or not). After having some time with the phone, I tell you, when a product has all that is necessary and no objections.

But building a very good device is not how you win in the Smartphone wars. For this, you need marketing and advertising. That is why Motorola as much as $500 million to the word on his latest phone is reportedly ready to spend . Now $500 million is a lot of money, but let us, in perspective.

In the year 2012, Apple (AAPL) for advertising spent $1 billion .

In the same year, Samsung (005930: KS) for advertising issued $4 billion .

According to Asymcos Horace Dediu, Samsung spent even $5.3 billion on "Promotion," which is French for commissions and in-store displays, training and other expenses. Roll together all Samsung is marketing, advertising and promotion costs and you're on a budget of $11 billion.

Advertising gets much attention, but are arguably more important marketing, sales and advertising. In most cases, the decision is carried out, a certain phone to buy in a shop. And this decision is based on the quality of the display, which know condition showroom mobile phones, and it and the enthusiasm for the sales staff recommendations. It's not like splashy Super Bowl Ad, but it is what makes mobile phones.

Not every dollar (euros or won) in Samsung's marketing budget devoted to smartphones, but many of them are. A: the Samsung display at every wireless retailer show. You will see that all the telephones are switched on, all of them work and have any demo mode to show what they can do. That is far away from some of the other devices you there - don't - those who have turned off or function at all, and that is no coincidence. Samsung spends money to ensure that its equipment in retail stores look chic.

Earlier this year, Samsung mobile marketing chief said DJ Lee me, that the company takes very seriously in-store sales. "We have teams monitoring branches in various countries", he said. "The best way for us to sell our equipment is in storage."

Motorola knows that it must pay the same attention to detail. Last week CEO Dennis Woodside explained how Moto-X would be prominently displayed at points of sale. Based on Samsungs Lee, he said that Motorola "has teams in-store employee on the phone functions, to train especially the new non-contact control functions." AT & T (T) stores appear the full range of colours and options so people can see how much you can customize your cell phone online. To personalize, for those who like to get their account number in a business up but still go home and their equipment also "X cards" containing a code with which a customer to add the account that you set up in the memory on the phone, the online build it, can have AT & T.

If Motorola ready, $500 million for advertising spend, then harass for them. The company itself got better prepare on an amount equal to large (or larger) on the harder work, that Verizon Wireless employees to drop the Moto-X instead of a Galaxy S4.

View the original article here

JPMorgan's $410 million FERC settlement: Dimon waved the white flag is?

There are several ways to read by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) $410 million-trade manipulation settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

First, the background: the largest U.S. Bank agreed to pay a penalty of $285 million and $125 millions a secret profits to current taxpayers in California and returning to the FERC in the Midwest. The deal by a foreign federal investigation of efforts to the electricity markets raises game a component. JPMorgan also agreed waiver on $200 million in claims against the California e network operators, so you could say that the settlement costs totaling more than $600 million, leading him to one of the largest of its kind. As is the practice with such schemes, the Bank does not admit any wrongdoing. JPMorgan spokesman Brian Marchiony offered the standard comment: "We are pleased to have this matter behind us."

What does that mean? A plausible interpretation emphasizes JPMorgans undeniable black eye. Finally to the hundreds of millions of dollars, Federal accusations ribs MOM power customers solve numbers? Our cousins at Bloomberg News take this view:

The case is another setback for JPMorgan, which sailed through the financial crisis of 2008 without a single quarterly loss. Last year JPMorgan lost more than 6.2 billion $ from wrong derivatives bets by traders in London. The incident prompted an investigation of the U.S. Senate, the departure of two senior executives and a debate over whether CEO Jamie Dimon, 57, its role should be Chairman. Re-elected by shareholders as Chairman in May.

Something else, if not contradictory are one, take the settlement news underlines this last set of Bloomberg: survives - handy, as it happens - Dimon and JPMorgan is methodically working its way through a thicket of legal issues. The Bank in this interpretation is on the whole to the Federal Government signaled that it wants peace, not war, and is willing to withdraw, to achieve his goal. Evidence for this analysis appeared on July 26 at the JPMorgan have let it be known that she was considering, sale or spin-off of business were real, including energy trading. This announcement came after only three days looked a congressional hearing whether big banks, owned by metals and other commodities to manipulate markets with the effect of drive the prices on items how to use soda and beer cans. In this view Dimon tried tried, regulators, their multi-front offensive blow off to convince a classic white-flag strategy.

Regardless of which read you would prefer, a big question remains as regards lead JPMorgan: the Bank's operations and one of the highest profile women on Wall Street were what happens with Blythe masters, head of global? They monitored the unit in the FERC settlement involved. They monitored the agricultural products and metals operations that JPMorgan has said that it is clear. The Bank proposes to masters as well as outsource?

To be clear: while FERC holds responsible investigators initially named "Master", and several from your dealer as personally not them individually guilty for a variety of fraudulent power scheme, the settlement itself. All individuals have denied wrongdoing. JP Morgan decided 44 stand behind champion. She worked for the Bank in London in 1987, before even the University, she attended. She rose quickly: 1990s lived in the them a hand in the development and marketing of credit derivatives, which some critics blamed for helping cause the Wall Street crash of 2008. Over the years served as a public face of JPMorgan and the industry at large. She has forged close ties with Dimon.

Yet intense controversy has swirled lately around them. That makes it logical to questions whether the resolution of the FERC investigation opportunity Dimon a conciliatory signal to Washington in the form of the exit its commodities Chief send created.

Barrett, an Assistant Managing Editor and senior writer at Bloomberg BusinessWeek, is working on a book about the Chevron oil pollution case in Ecuador, which is scheduled for publication by Crown in 2014. His latest book is called GLOCK: the rise of America's gun.

View the original article here