Netflix Feels the Pain of Angry Subscribers - They Lost 800,000 Members

Netflix has proof of the consequences of giving customers price hikes and attempting to spin off DVD services. Monday, the company reported losing 800,000 subscribers in their third quarter. The report sparked a drop in their shares and yesterday, the drop continued. “Netflix plummets on weak outlook, downgrades” by reuters.com reports shares “plunged 34% in heavy trading on Tuesday”. Overall, since July, the shares are “73% lower than their high of just under $300” and “its market value has shrunk by about $9.76 billion”.

After receiving backlash, Netflix has announced they will no longer spin off the DVD service into another company. So, what does losing 800,000 subscribers after a price hike and attempt to split services mean?

It means that Netflix is still held to their subscribers. Despite being the darling of Wall Street and many people, like myself, who enjoyed their underdog success story, the reality is the company is not untouchable. Pissing off subscribers means losing them and thus losing the means of the business.

One of the greatest defenses of the reasons behind the price hike and spin-off attempt is that Netflix wants to move away from the DVD-by-mail service and focus on streaming. CEO Reed Hastings made it clear that the company could not have sustained the DVD service under the lower price structure. Thus, Netflix needs an exit strategy from DVDs but the strategy has to include a way to ease transition for subscribers and better ways to communicate with investors and subscribers.

Where Netflix went wrong was trying to do everything at once. I’ve said it before that it would have been better to do gradual price hikes. And after claiming they were not phasing out the DVD service, Netflix tried to spin it off thus proving they had lied to the public. The company’s response to the angry backlash was to claim it “unfortunate” as if no one at the company had the sense to expect such anger. Now, the company understands its action were stupid. Losing 800,000 members is a clear message that anger can be turned into action. In the future, the company is going to have to think of their subscribers when making plans, which is how a company is supposed to think when their business is subscription-dependant.

Microsoft to Introduce Mango phones

Microsoft plans to launch a line of phones called Mango. According to “Microsoft to launch Mango smartphones with Nokia, Samsung soon” by Lee Chyen Yee and Jonathan Gordon, Mango handsets could include Nokia, Samsung, and HTC phones. Andrew Lees, president of Microsoft’s Windows phone division alludes to the fact that Google’s purchase of Motorola has many worried about Google’s plans to enter the phone manufacturing market. With that in mind, Microsoft wants to try again before the next competitor enters the game.

The targets for the Mango phones are the U.S., Europe and China. According to Lees, “As the price comes down, emerging markets do become a huge opportunity, but also the existing markets in western Europe and the U.S., because as the price point comes down, more people will get into the smartphone market”. Mango phones are expected in China next year and in the U.S. and Europe next week. There is currently a Mango phone in Japan.  Unfortunately, the article doesn’t say anything about the features of the Mango line or the ways in which Microsoft plans to compete effectively with Apple or Android phones

Meditation can help with control and focus

Yesterday, my job held a health “fair”. It included flu shots, health screening, and stress tests. Well, the stress tests were actually mood stickers. But the point is that my employer was sharing their concern that stress is a hinder to health. On the back of a mood test strip were tips to de-stress and quite frankly they seemed somewhat similar to the beginning stages of meditation. Coincidently, I came across “Sit. Breathe. Be a Better Leader.” by Tatiana Serafin of Inc.com.

The article is about meditation. It defines meditation as “an increasingly popular seated practice that encourages alertness in the present moment, a pause to relax and focus, and, ultimately, a recentering to lead better”. The facts from the article are that many employers are investing in wellness programs dedicated to making employees healthier as a means to make them more productive and less dependent on their healthcare.

Another fact from the article is a study from last year found that “brain activity changed in a group of 16 participants who had not previously meditated. Among the enhancements: learning and memory processes, emotional regulation, and perspective taking.” And a study from 2009 found college students had the same response to meditation. Meditation helps with focus: “meditation can help leaders pay attention to what really matters” and control: “meditation enables leaders to stay in the present moment…. By dealing with what you can control and letting go of what you cannot, you can make better decisions.”

Plenty of leaders and executives use meditation to find calm when there seems none and to help them focus. It’s free and the only thing you have to lose is a few minutes of your time. The article gives tips on how to meditate. Take a look and maybe meditate. 

Dealing with an Unprofessional Co-worker, part 1

Most of us have dealt with the issue of the unprofessional co-worker at some point in our current and/or previous jobs. Unprofessional can be defined as consistently miserable, filled with attitude, never willing to help, slacks off at tasks, and other problems in between. This is not to say that people who have harsh personalities are therefore unprofessional – it becomes unprofessional when that personality gets in the way of doing the job.

Currently, I’m dealing with such a person. I’ve had to deal with many people I didn’t find pleasing to work with. But this particular person is someone who always has an attitude with many other co-workers, consistently starts fights, and the other day when this person was supposed to work with me, they did absolutely nothing. I found myself in a position where I wanted to tell this person that they needed to work and help me. But I kept myself quiet out of fear that my frustration would turn simple words into fighting words. My boyfriend is also dealing with such a co-worker.

What I have found from my experience, observing the ways other people have dealt with problematic co-workers, and reading various articles on problems in the workplace is that the best way to deal with such a person without risking your job is just to restrain yourself. Naturally, the human reaction to such people is fight or flight; either tell them off or get away from them. Truthfully, neither is a good option when planning to stay employed. Let’s take a look at both options.

Fight.

You could address this co-worker. Let them know they are unprofessional and need to change. In your head, you might reason that “addressing” this person is okay because they have caused so many problems that this is necessary. Or maybe you respond to your co-worker as a reaction to them starting an issue with you. The problem with this is in the work environment two wrongs will not make it right. Even if an issue was not your fault, you can be penalized for responding and if you stoop to the level of also becoming unprofessional with the unprofessional co-worker while at work, you will also be penalized. There is also the chance that your co-worker will complain about you (although they may be signing their own pink slip) and you could be in trouble for engaging in an argument. Another point to consider is that maybe this co-worker is a “favorite”.

Regardless of the ways your job can tout it’s fair environment, there are bound to be some supervisors/managers who favor certain employees. You might see your co-worker act a fool and assume you could “put them in their place” and not get in trouble. But you could find yourself in trouble while your co-worker remains untouched.

The last point to address with the “fight” option is when you decide to consciously risk your job and approach the co-worker. You don’t care if you get fired because the satisfaction of “setting the co-worker straight” is greater than working with such a person. But you didn’t consider the fact that losing your job because of an altercation can seriously damage your job history. When you go looking for another job, human resources will probably have you tagged under “would not hire again”, “problematic”, and “hostile”. Unfortunately, I know someone who has experienced this. That person regrets the moment they decided to address someone at their previous job.

Part 2 will be a discussion on flight as in attempting to separate yourself from the co-worker and/or attempting to have your boss get rid of the co-worker for you and the options you might have in dealing with the unprofessional co-worker.

International Blackberry Outage Could Kill RIM [Updated]

There is a blackberry outage. First, it started this Monday “in Europe, the Middle East and Africa”. By yesterday, the outage spread to the South America, the U.S., and Canada. According to “BlackBerry outage is another black eye for RIM” by Julianne Pepitone of CNNMoney.com, “the outage appears primarily to affect text messaging and Internet access, not voice calling”.

The response from RIM (Research In Motion) has been the usual “we’re working on it” response most companies give with major product malfunctions. But that hasn’t stopped the #DearBlackberry trends from sweeping across the net with tweets and blog posts from angry Blackberry users. The biggest problem with this outage is it’s not the first.  With the count given in the article, this outage is #6 (or five if two in a week count as one).

At this moment, many customers are asking, “why should I stay?”  This outage is very hurtful to businesses, solo, big and small, that depend on communication to operate. Those businesses and entrepreneurs can do without outages that cost them money and waste their time.

As far as technology, RIM may have had sophisticated phones with above-the-line software, especially attractive to on-the-go busy bodies and business professionals. But other smartphones have competitive features, updated software and enough memory to store plenty of apps to help organize almost any busy lifestyle.

RIM is already suffering from fleeing customers and delayed software updates. In this moment, when millions around the world are upset, RIM’s two CEOs need to work on fixing the crisis of this consistent outage. What is the point of having two CEOs when not one can give a valid answer as to why this happened and when it can be fixed? Customers want answers and investors want action. The whole world is watching to see if RIM can pull itself out of this.

update 10/13 12:39pm:

"RIM CEO says Blackberry service restored, apologizes for outage" by Jim Puzzanghera of LAtimes.com reports, "a top Research in Motion executive" stated the outage is over. The article reports Lazaridis stated, in a conference call, that any other problems is "caused by the lengthy backlog of messages". His suggestions to customers is for them to remove their battery in order to reset their phone.

Yet, the video posted by Blackberry (which is in the article) with Lazaridis giving his statement on the outage tells a different story. He states in the video that full normal service has not been restored internationally and it's too soon to state the "issue" has been fully resolved. He also states he cannot give an estimated time for full recovery. 

Sounds like RIM is not on the same page as their CEO. 

Amazon Fire Causes Feud Between B&N and DC Comics

The yet-to-be-released Amazon Fire is causing a spat between Barnes & Noble and DC Comics. “Barnes & Noble yanks Kindle exclusive comics from its shelves” by Matt Stuart and Stacy Cowley reports that DC comics recently announced that 100 of their titles would be digitally available exclusively through Amazon. The titles will be digitally released November 15, the release date of Amazon Fire, the Amazon tablet. Barnes & Nobles decided they would ban those 100 titles from their stores.

Jaime Carey, chief merchant of B&N is quoted in the article saying:

“Regardless of the publisher, we will not stock physical books in our stores if we are not offered the available digital format… To sell and promote the physical book in our store showrooms and not have the e-book available for sale would undermine our promise to Barnes & Noble customers to make available any book, anywhere, anytime.”

Biggest Steve Jobs' Lesson: Perseverance

Wednesday, Steve Jobs passed away. He is the co-founder and former CEO of Apple, which he resigned from on August 24. He is the innovator behind some of the most revolutionary products of our time. There is a lot that can be said about Jobs; his history vast and filled with many lessons about business and ambition. But I’m not going to write about his entire life because many journalists have done a great job of doing this so far. Instead, I would like to reflect on the biggest lesson Steve Jobs experience has taught me: perseverance.

I was a freshman in high school when the iPod came out. At that time, I didn’t quite know who Steve Jobs was and lately, within the past few years, I have reveled in his presentations and the pieces of his past that I discovered. The most surprising part of his past is to learn he was ousted from the company he co-founded, Apple.  Apple was created in 1976. After some success, in 1983, Jobs hired John Sculley as CEO, an executive from Pepsico, hoping for a more refined managerial contribution.  In 1985, Sculley led the board to fire Jobs.

The college-dropout who started his dream was now shut out from that dream. There is no doubt that Jobs felt humiliated. In his 2005 commencement address to Stanford he stated:

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me… I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley.

What did he do? Well, he placed one foot in front of the other and moved forward. Steve Jobs created NeXT Inc. The company introduced a computer with great software and as WSJ.com notes “its operating system would eventually become the foundation for OS X, the software backbone of today’s Macs, after Apple purchased NeXT for $400 million in December 1996.” At that time, Apple was suffering with “nearly $2 billion in losses in two years”. Thus, Jobs was brought back in 1997 as CEO with a $1 a year salary.

When he returned back to Apple, he restructured the company to focus on software and innovative products with great aesthetics. The iMac came out in 1998, the iPod in 2001, the iTunes Music Store in 2003 and the iPhone in 2007. The rest as we should all know is successful history and profitable present.

After years to reflect on his on past, this is what Jobs had to say about learning to deal with a very public firing:

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life…

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.

As a 25-year-old woman faced with pressure to be everything the world often stereotypical defines as success, I already feel like I have moments of regret regarding my education and career. But then, I read about Steve Jobs and it lets me know that the best way to deal with failure, embarrassment, and dark moments is to move forward. Tap into the part of you that refuses to let others see you fall. I’m not saying that all of us will get fired and then rehired to start multi-billion dollar companies - there is only one Steve Jobs. The lesson is that whatever life has for you, you can still find as long as you don’t let bad experiences stop you. The best revenge is success from perseverance. The best legacy is picking yourself up.

If I could only thank Steve Jobs for one thing, it would be for teaching us a great lesson on perseverance. He will be missed immensely and never forgotten.