Crawdaddys offers free WiFi - Provided by the notebook company

The Notebook Company has rolled out free WiFi connections at Crawdaddys in Centurion, Menlyn (Pretoria) and Rustenburg.

The company will also be installing WiFi at Tzaneen and at Silver Lakes, which will be opening next year. 

This comes on the back of the initial installation at Crawdaddys in Brooklyn, Pretoria.

Christopher Riley, CEO of The Notebook Company, says the WiFi hotspot at Crawdaddys Brooklyn outlet has been running since 2011. 

“It has definitely been good for business. 

Customers come in to use the WiFi and end up ordering drinks, or food and drinks, as well. 

A lot of these users are travelling businessmen, or business women.”

Patrons do not need a username or a password to connect to the network. 

This is because it can be a “real hassle” to log in with usernames and passwords.

“We have created a hassle-free WiFi environment where a user can be online within seconds. ”

SA to buck global tablet sales trend

While tablet sales were roaring during 2013, there are some market analysts, including IDC Corporation, which expect sales to drop significantly during 2014. South Africa could buck the trend, however.
At least one local notebook and tablet retailer, The Notebook Company, has said that local sales should improve “slightly”.

Christopher Riley, CEO of The Notebook Company, comments: “In a recent announcement, the IDC has stated that tablet sales will halve during 2014. Personally I just don’t see this happening – certainly not in South Africa, and certainly not at The Notebook Company.”
Riley says he expected his company’s tablet sales to increase by high single digits, “or possibly by double digits”.

‘We are fairly bullish about sales for this year. We are starting to leave the fumes of the global financial meltdown behind us – and I believe that, in itself, will play a part in more buoyant sales figures. Even if, globally, we see an increase in tablet sales during 2014, we are still seeing a growing market. It might be that it is just hard to emulate the sales during 2013, which were pretty good.”

According to the IDC, tablet sales reached 221-million units in 2013, up 54% on the previous year. But it said that this year’s sales will drop by as much as 22%, taking sales to 271-million units.

IDC also said that, by 2017, tablet sales would have slowed to single digit growth.
One of the reasons given for this decline is that consumers are opting for smartphones over smaller tablets.

Tom Mainelli, research director: tablets at IDC, says: “In the US, where tablets have been shipping in large volumes since 2010 – and are already well established -we’re less concerned about big phones cannibalising shipments and more worried about market saturation.”
It is further felt that, while consumer preferences have tended towards small tablets over the past 24 months, the rise of large phones could push consumers back towards larger tablets.

“The difference between a 6 inch smartphone and a 7-inch tablet isn’t great enough to warrant purchasing both,” Mainelli says.

But Riley insists that tablet sales will increase in South Africa during 2014 – and might even breach the double-digit mark. “We saw an increase in tablet and notebook sales in the last two quarters and we are expecting further sales growth during the next two quarters … we certainly see room for continued growth.”

I had the honour of interviewing George Ross (right hand man to Donald Trump ) who is also know for his role in the television program The Apprentice

I had the honour of interviewing George Ross  (right hand man to Donald Trump  ) who is also know for his role in  the television program The Apprentice.

Discussing:
1. If you are not technically up to date; you are living in the middle ages.
2. The importance of face to face personal relationships.
3. 80/20 Principle.
4. How important it is to prioritize your emails and actions within your business and life.

Saying all that: It is still not easy, but at least we know what MUST be done!

For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._Ross
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apprentice

Allow us (the notebook company) help you with getting your emails prioritized, your data safe, your computing hassle free, sharing of your data streamlined - We have the same problems and understand the problems associated.

The interview can bee see here:

BEAM ME UP SCOTTY

Picture courtesy of Google

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BEAM ME UP SCOTTY

PC companies like Dell  need to do some serious morphing and think of the PC as more of a hybrid, because the PC of 2030 –and beyond – will be a computer, a personal assistant, microphone, and  an ear piece, which will talk to a “virtual computer  in the cloud”.

This is according to Christopher Riley,CEO of The Notebook Company, the Pretoria-based notebook and accessories retailer. “Ultimately, “he said, “is that users will have access their own virtual PC in the cloud.”

He said the user would access, and store, everything in the cloud – including diary schedules. “Right now the PC already equates to a PC, a laptop and a smartphone. The blurring of the lines will get more and more blurred- and increasingly rapidly,” he said.

If a user wants to access his diary to check his meeting schedule for the day he will verbally engage with his “PC” and ask:”Susan, what is my diary schedule for the day?”. Then Susan, or Sue, or whatever the user wants to use as a nickname,  the virtual PC in the cloud will reply.

“Susan,  Sue, or Siri, will be like an artificial intelligent assistant (AIA)- and this is looking more and more like the future PC.  This scenario,”said Riley, “is also not that far off”.

“Maybe we should call our AIA Scotty, like Scotty from that iconic science fiction movie from the 1970s, STAR TREK? And say: ‘beam me up Scotty’ ’’Riley quipped.

Large increase in the prices of laptops and tablets threatening as Rand dives to its weakest level against the dollar in four years

The Rand is at its weakest level against the dollar in four years - and while this might be good news for South Africa’s export and manufacturing industries - this could well play havoc with prices in the computer industry, with at least one laptop retailer, The Notebook Company, saying that prices of laptops and tablets are likely to rise by 10%.

The Rand has pressed through the physiological R10 to the dollar exchange rate for the first time in four years, sparking fears that technology companies sourcing their products in dollars would have to institute increases.

“With the weakness of the Rand, we can no longer absorb our higher dollar-based costs. We will have to start increasing prices, immediately, and the price increases could be as much as 10%,” said Christopher Riley, CEO of  Pretoria-based laptop and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company.

“We have been trying to absorb the currency hits, but this is no longer possible,” he said.

He said Apple iPads account for a high percentage of sales at The Notebook Company, so the need to increase prices by as much as 10% was “not a decision taken lightly”.

It is expected that many technology companies – certainly those who deal  in dollars – are going to have to increase prices, across the board, said Riley.

“Few companies will be able to absorb the weakness of the Rand – and this, too, might not be an overnight thing.”

The Notebook Company puts its blood where its mouth is, and not its money

The Notebook Company, the Pretoria-based notebook and accessories retailer – which recently announced the opening of a consumables division -  has promised its clients the cheapest ink, toner and paper costs in the industry.

This was confirmed by Christopher Riley, CEO of The Notebook Company, who said: “People talk about putting your money where your mouth is, but what about putting blood where you mouth is?”

“The rationale behind this standpoint”, added Riley “is that if we don’t save our clients money then I will personally donate a unit of blood for every case brought to my attention”.

Riley said the cost of consumables has become “exorbitant”. “I believe we can save our clients thousands of Rands a year in the costs of ink, toner and paper.

“It’s crazy to acknowledge, but printer ink costs more than human blood.”

He said the investment in the new consumer division has not been significant as it will be piggy-backing off the company’s existing infrastructure.

“Besides this expedient factor, because the new consumables business is not our core focus, it enables us to come into the market on a competitive footing – and offer our clients really pencil-sharpened prices. We don’t have to make big profits from this division. It is a value added offering – which, in itself – will bring its own business benefits. We are not hunting for market-winning margins,” he said. “But If I do not save my clients money – and there are complaints – I will stick to my promise of donating a unit of blood for each complaint.”

The Notebook Company opens new consumables division

see www.notebook.co.za/blood

The Notebook Company, the Pretoria-based notebook and accessories retailer – and one of the biggest sellers of Apple iPads in the country (which manages the online sites www.notebook.co.za and www.laptop.co.za) – has announced the opening of a consumables division.

Said Christopher Riley, CEO of The Notebook Company: “We are always looking at value added services to offer our clients and we believe this is a good move for us - by expanding into the cartridge and toner business.  There is a big demand from our client base for this service and we therefore  made a decision to diversify our market focus. The consumables divisions is already up and running,” said Riley.

Commenting further, Riley said that, besides “satisfying current clients”, the company hopes to attract new clients via its consumables division – and hopes that they will become “notebook and tablet buyers as well”.

“This will definitely generate a new revenue stream for us. The investment has not been huge as we already have the infrastructure in place. Besides this positive factor, because this is not our core focus, it enables us to come into the market on a competitive footing – and offer our clients really pencil-sharpened prices. We don’t have to make big profits from this division. It is a value added offering – which, in itself – will bring its own business benefits. We are not hunting for market-winning margins,” he said.