Etc.

The ‘MVNO’ model

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Mobile Virtual Network Operator

Here’s how an MVNO works: Instead of investing in its own licensed spectrum and cell towers, an MVNO leases service from one of the big four mobile carriers and then sells handsets and services under its own brand name. Mobile ESPN, for instance, used Sprint Nextel’s network.

Analysts say the MVNO model is perfect for target customers, such as kids, tech geeks, or specific ethnic groups, that are underserved by the Verizons of the world. The big MVNO players include Virgin Mobile, Amp’d, Voce, and Helio.

More at Business2.0   

Related links
  Helio
  Virgin Mobile
  Amp’d
  Voce

Etc., Strategy

Tata-Corus: A game theory analysis

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Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus shows how coordinated strategies can yield greater benefits even in a competitive marketplace. The strategic fit of Corus’s range of high-end products and know-how, and its access to developed markets, combined with Tata’s low-cost access to ore, efficient basic steel production, and its own market access certainly provide a solid starting point. What they have done is breaking out of the self-limiting constraints of non-cooperative reasoning that actually ends up being suboptimal. Instead, a coordinated solution through collaboration has led to the potential for greater gains for both.

Here is Shyam Ponappa’s detailed article in Business Standard

Related links
  Roger McCain on Game theory
  Wikipedia on Game theory
  On Hamada diagram (.pdf file)

Gaming, Strategy

Nintendo DS:Changing the rules of the game?

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Video gaming is a cyclical industry in which new consoles are launched every five or six years. In the last cycle, which began in 2000, Sony’s PlayStation 2 emerged as the clear victor, far outselling Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s GameCube. The next cycle will pitch Microsoft’s Xbox 360, launched last year, against the PS3 and the Wii. With each cycle the power of the hardware increases, making possible better graphics and more complex games. But Mr Iwata believes the industry has reached a crossroads: by designing products for existing gamers and neglecting non-gamers, it undermines the prospects for future growth. There have even been signs in Japan that the market was starting to shrink. “We need something radical to change the situation,” says Mr Iwata.

More on Nintendo’s radical change at Economist

ET, IT…and the rest