Tag Archives: product differentiation

by | Friday, August 20, 2021 · 10:39 am

The Future of Parking Garages

When is the last time you left your car in a public parking garage? It may sound a little crazy to ask this, but what was your experience? Most likely, it just was parking and nothing else. Nothing special. Boring. Repetitive. Unattractive. Expensive. Time consuming.

Now, think of the potential business opportunity to give those car owners something else to enjoy – and spend money on – in addition to keeping their cars safely tended. The parking garage could actually become a ‘mobility hub’ or a ‘silo’ that could provide restful parking for delivery drivers who might need restrooms and food. After all, those large concrete buildings are usually in valuable real estate located next to destinations such as entertainment, shopping, and events venues.

Innovation is now coming to parking garages. In Chicago, an underground parking garage downtown is being converted to an e-commerce delivery center. Los Angeles parking garages house shared commercial kitchens. Denver and Seattle parking garage roofs are being used as urban greenhouses and farms. San Francisco is redeveloping a garage into a mixed-use complex with affordable housing. Other garages are using parking spots for autonomous vehicles and EV charging stations, adding integrated access controls, kiosks, valet parking, and more, all synced through mobile devices.

Technology plays a large role in the future of parking garages. High-tech cameras can read license plates, enabling drivers to buy passes online and bypass ticket taking and payments, reserving a parking spot in advance. Some garages work with car-sharing companies, bikes, food trucks, and scooters to help patrons quickly access transportation. Others are considering how to combine workspace, retail, fitness centers, and housing using pre-fabricated modules.

What would you like to see in a parking garage?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: What has been their experiences with parking garages? What is negative? What could be done to improve parking garages?
  2. View FlashPark website: https://www.flashparking.com/products/
  3. Show video – why parking lots will disappear: https://youtu.be/XMt4zEEHxv4
  4. Discuss the impact of ride-sharing services and autonomous vehicles on parking garages.
  5. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a parking garage in the area.
  6. Research the garage, number of spots, footprint, revenue, usage.
  7. Have each team redesign the garage to be more innovative and useful.
  8. Debrief the exercise and select a winning design.

Source:  Axios; New York Times; Wall Street Journal; other news sources

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by | Tuesday, June 15, 2021 · 3:49 pm

Apple Advertises its Privacy Strength

Data privacy is undoubtedly an important issue of the times. With the proliferation of mobile devices, website tracking, location enabling, and the pervasiveness of social media, one can be pretty sure that one way or another we are being tracked on our devices.

Apple states “Privacy is a fundamental human right. At Apple, it’s also one of our core values.” Hmm… Even with that statement, it makes one wonder just what is happening with our activities and data. Who know what about us? What do they do with this information?

Enter powerful new advertisements from Apple that illustrates how we are being tracked. The videos show how crowded it gets when companies are tracking our movements and purchases. Great ads.

Apple’s new advertisements, “Tracked,” highlight how its app tracking transparency tool lets users opt out of letting apps track interactions. The company also has the support of privacy watchdog groups such as Privacy International. Users should get to choose for themselves which companies they will share information with about their actions.

The new tool is part of iOS 14.5. It’s simple to choose. When an app wants to follow our activities to share information with third parties, a window shows up on our device to ask for permission. If the answer is “No” the sharing stops. Good for consumers. Not so good for companies (such as Facebook and Google) that rely on tracking to see what we are shopping for in order to target its ads.

Privacy. Simple, powerful, and needed.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the topic of privacy and data tracking with students.
  2. What is their opinion? What is their level of concern?
  3. Show Apple’s website statements about privacy: https://www.apple.com/privacy/
  4. Show advertisements: https://youtu.be/8w4qPUSG17Y
  5. Another ad: https://youtu.be/rEWeA7qDV4k
  6. Divide students into teams. Have teams research competing phone manufacturers to see what those privacy policies state.

Source: Advertising Age; Apple; New York Times; other news sources

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by | Tuesday, October 13, 2020 · 7:07 am

Google’s new Pixel 5

Ready for a new phone? Just the thought of researching new phones and then paying hundreds of dollars more can give consumers a headache. Google seems to be paying attention this fatigue and is making its phones a little simpler and a little less expensive.

It seems like Google is responding to pandemic economic concerns and is pricing its phones in a comfortable middle ground. These products seem made for watching TV or listening to music at home, all without needing to shell out a thousand dollars for a new device. [A Google executive stated that “The world doesn’t need another $1,000 phone right now.”]

The new Pixel phones are priced a bit differently than the past. For example, last year’s Pixel 4 pricing started at $800, but the new Pixel 5 starts at $700. There is even a lower-priced model called the Pixel 4a5G that is priced from $500 – $600.

The Pixel 5 eliminated facial recognition to unlock the phone (good for mask-wearing users!), as well as radar technology that recognized a user waving a hand over the phone, and telephoto and zoom lenses. But on the other hand, it added a larger battery and ultralow-power mode that lets the phone run 48 hour on a charge. The screen is larger and users can wirelessly charge other devices by laying them on the back of the phone.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: What phone do they have? How long have they had it? Are they going to buy a new phone in the next few months? Why or why not?
  2. Video of Pixel 5 phone: https://youtu.be/twNDke-cfv4
  3. Show Google’s new phones: https://store.google.com/product/pixel_5
  4. Discuss competition: Who are the direct competitors for this product?
  5. Divide students into teams. Have each team do a chart of a different brand of phone, including features and pricing.
  6. What are the points of difference between the various phones?
  7. How much does pricing matter?
  8. How much do features matter?

Sources: Associated Press; New York Times; Washington Post; The Verge; other news sources

 

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