The future of mobile gaming

Written by Charles March


Nokia recently released their long awaited N-Gage, putting it head to head with existing devices such as Nintendo's GameBoy Advance, a product that has sold over one hunderd million units and has a huge stock of available games.

In contrastrepparttar N-Gage launches with a handful of games, none of which are original, most of which are based on formats that are several years old.

Whenrepparttar 133536 GameBoy was originally launched it game with a 'killer application' - Tetris. People boughtrepparttar 133537 device because they wanted to play Tetris. When Sega launched their Mega Drive it came with Sonic. There is no such game bundled with, or available for,repparttar 133538 N-Gage.

So does it have a 'Killer Application'; a reason why you and I will buy this device over a GameBoy, orrepparttar 133539 mobile PlayStation in development by Sony?

We see two possibilities; Firstly Nokia are counting onrepparttar 133540 fact that users will not want to carry a phone and a games machine. There is a lot of logic in this argument. We like playing games on our phones and to date these have been lacking. Compared to other mobile phones,repparttar 133541 N-Gage is streets ahead ofrepparttar 133542 competition.

Information Technology Professionals: How to Charge Higher Fees

Written by Andrew Neitlich


I feel sorry for IT professionals who compete on price. I hope you are not one of them, because this is what you will face:

- A reputation as a cut-rate consultant or, if you own a firm, a reputation as a "body shop." Clients assume they get what they pay for, and will therefore assume that you must not be very good.

- Projects that are of marginal importance to your clients. If they were important, they would pay more forrepparttar right consulting professional.

- Clients that care about price, and not relationships. Every time I have cut my fees for a new client, I have regretted it. Clients that focus on price end up being more demanding, less grateful, and much less loyal than clients that understandrepparttar 133535 value ofrepparttar 133536 services I offer.

- Difficulty attracting enough clients to generaterepparttar 133537 revenue you want to make. Attracting a few clients at higher fees saves you time and hassle compared to chasing many price-sensitive clients at lower fees.

- Employees (if you have or want any) that are dissatisfied and look for opportunities at firms where clients valuerepparttar 133538 quality of their work. The psychology of pricing consulting services is not so different fromrepparttar 133539 psychology of pricing Vodka: The higherrepparttar 133540 price,repparttar 133541 better quality people think they are getting. Inrepparttar 133542 case of consulting services,repparttar 133543 price-quality relationship is often true.

Here is a strategy to raise your fees while attracting better clients:

1. Becomerepparttar 133544 authority in your target market in order to establish your credibility and value. Do this through a variety of strategies:

- Develop valuable educational and informational messages that help your prospects associate you with solutions.

- Compile a mailing list of prospects in your target market, and follow up in ways that are valuable and important to them.

- Be visible to your target market through a variety of media: speaking, articles, audio CD's, videos, fact kits, your web site, etc.

- Collect and post testimonials, case studies, and articles about you and collect references.

2. Talk less about what you do and what you know, and more aboutrepparttar 133545 specific business and personal results you get for your clients. How much money or time do you save them? How much do you increase profit? How do you help improve quality, reduce employee turnover, and provide peace of mind? Where have you done this before? The more results you can show,repparttar 133546 more you can demonstrate that your high fees are still very inexpensive compared to what their problem is costing. You should still provide excellent information about your service offerings, but focus first on solving your prospect's pressing problems.

3. Demonstrate that you have a consistent, proprietary, unique approach to get results, and that this approach goes far beyond whatrepparttar 133547 competition does. Describe your methodology. Tell them aboutrepparttar 133548 services you offer that competitors do not.

4. Explain why your experience and qualifications set you above others. Talk about your education, years inrepparttar 133549 field, certifications, and past clients and employers.

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