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Close the Sale app? Seems like there is an app for everything and now businesses can download an app to their phones, computers, ipads and ipods to assist their sales team in handling customer objections, sales problems, difficulties, and even help with negotiating.

Technology is starting to find very practical applications and not just used for mindless games. Now sales organizations are getting a phone application that will assist them in the sales process? With companies cutting back on budgets, it’s not uncommon to find people lacking the skills to handle real customers, in the real world. Today organizations are seeking new and cost effective training solutions like virtual online training and now apps placed on smart phones to assist their sales teams in being more productive.

This comes at a good time – with customers becoming more sophisticated and the economy increasingly difficult, sales tools like Close the Sale app and virtual sales training may be quite timely. Today, sales people are having to work three times harder for the same money as a year ago.

Tougher economy, plus better educated buyers plus no change in sales ability = serious problem!

Close the Sale App is provides the sales person exactly what to do in any selling situation 24/7. Close the Sale App at Itunes hit top 100 and out of 50,000 available apps and demonstrates the demand for real solutions.

Professional sales people have already called in saying Close the Sale App assisted them in handing a customer objections and difficulties resulting in a sale!

While most business apps have only provided theory this sales tool allows the sales person to scan any of hundreds of selling situations and provides the sales person with a multitude of solutions. This business app is perfect for sales people, sales managers, business owners, entrepreneurs, fund raisers, call centers, advertisement sales, insurance brokers, real estate agents and even job seekers.

Close the Sale offers a free version available now and works on iPhones, iPod Touch and iPads. It comes with 12 different closing scenarios, lots of motivational and instructional video and very current and relevant information on handling today’s better informed customers and tips for closing the sale.

Grant Cardone, NY Times Best Selling Author and International Sales Consultant

Read more: Sales Tools, Iphone, Sales Apps, Grant Cardone, iPhone Apps, Close the Sale, Ipad, Business News

Having an iPad on your nightstand, not such a good idea, if you think about customer service at four am.

On the other hand, got a lot done, also including public service for veterans.

Save me from myself…

Read more: Obsession, Ipad, Technology News

• News Corporation boasts $2.5bn full-year profits
• Tycoon predicts ‘tablets’ will rejuvenate industry

Rupert Murdoch has lavished praise on Apple’s iPad, describing the device as a “game changer” for news media and predicting that “hundreds and hundreds of millions” of similar tablet computers will eventually be sold around the world.

Speaking as a global advertising surge and box office takings from the movie Avatar helped his News Corporation empire deliver a $2.5bn full-year profit, Murdoch predicted the iPad’s convenient style could reinvigorate journalism: “We’ll have young people reading newspapers.”

The Australian-born billionaire, whose businesses range from the Times, the Sun and the Wall Street Journal to Fox television and the Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox, believes the iPad is the ideal device to encourage consumers to pay for digital journalism.

“I think we’re going to see, around the world, hundreds and hundreds of millions of these devices,” said Murdoch on a conference call with Wall Street analysts. “There will be all sorts of things we can do with them. As they develop technologically, we’ve got to develop our methods of presentation of news.”

News Corp’s profit for the year to June was a turnaround from last year’s $3.4bn loss, when the company was hit by huge accounting write-downs in the value of businesses such as the WSJ’s publisher, Dow Jones.

A big driver of its reinvigorated performance was James Cameron’s smash hit futuristic 3D film Avatar, which helped 20th Century Fox deliver a 59% surge in operating profits to $1.35bn.

The group’s Fox television network in the US reaped rewards from hit shows such as Glee and Modern Family, while publishing division HarperCollins attributed higher earnings to sales of Sarah Palin’s political memoir, Going Rogue.

Murdoch’s newspapers, too, had a better year with profits up by 13% to $530m. In Britain, the News International stable of papers enjoyed lower newsprint costs and improved advertising income – fourth quarter advertising revenue at the Sun was up by 22%.

But with analysts still concerned about a weak recovery from the recession on both sides of the Atlantic, Murdoch added: “There is sufficient fragility for us not to be over-confident about the long term, or the medium term.”

Despite “fragile” economic conditions, Murdoch said promotional spending had been surprisingly strong: “We’ve had almost inexplicably good advertising and great confidence there.”

He declined to comment on readership figures at the Times and the Sunday Times since the newspapers’ websites went behind a paywall, except to say that the initiative was going well. And he dismissed reports that News Corp might buy the Texas Rangers baseball team, saying the company was “in the business of buying sports rights for our television networks, not buying teams”.

News Corp, which owns 39% of satellite broadcaster BSkyB, recently made a bid approach to take full control of the television company, although BSkyB’s directors rebuffed the offer’s £12bn valuation of the business as too low.

The potential tie-up is being examined by regulators. News Corp’s chief operating officer, Chase Carey, made it clear there was no guarantee of any extra money on the table, pledging the company would take a “disciplined approach”.

The weakest spot in News Corp’s finances continued to be its digital media division, where losses at the social networking website MySpace continue to pile up. Murdoch said he had confidence in a new management team charged with changing the direction of MySpace, which has been eclipsed in popularity by rival Facebook. He indicated that News Corp would keep trying to turn it around: “We’ll see it through for some time yet.”

The pricing of digital books by Amazon has finally caught the attention of two U.S. Attorneys, one in Connecticut and the other in Texas.

This may have ramifications around the world in publishing and, to a lesser extent, may affect the prices paid for other intellectual property available online from writing to film or music and even journalism.

For those unaware of the issue, Amazon in fall 2007 began offering bestsellers as e-books on its Kindle for a price of $9.99 each. This was below the cost it paid to book publishers for these works which averaged between $12.99 or $14.99 and vastly beneath that charged by traditional book stores who usually charge customers double what they pay the publishers.
As a temporary loss leader marketing exercise, undercutting rival prices is just another form of healthy competition that’s good for markets.

But when a company like Amazon is in a dominant or monopoly position and sells below its own costs for goods or services the market is destroyed by driving rivals out of business or keeping new entrants at bay. So the U.. Attorneys are looking at whether Amazon’s pricing behavior constitutes a form of market abuse under anti-trust laws called “predatory pricing”.

Amazon has argued that it has helped publishers with its cheap pricing by expanding the e-market.

But the same could have been said by the Robber Barons of old whose predatory pricing ushered in a host of antitrust laws designed to protect markets from monopolism.
Most famous was the price war between gigantic New York Central Railway and the Erie Railroad. The giant began charging only $1 per car for cattle transportation, less than cost, to drive others away from that business so they could eventually jack up prices. Erie did not back off then sued and won its case against NYCR.

Before that, there had been incidents involving other types of rail business where giants sold services below cost, thus driving smaller players into near-bankruptcy, at which time they were snapped up for bargains, a monopoly created and excessive prices were imposed.
A more recent case involved Microsoft’s inclusion of a free web-browser, Internet Explorer, which forced its browser competitor, Netscape, to give away its product and eventually go out of business. Courts ruled in Microsoft’s anti-trust trial that the “bundling” of Internet Explorer with its software was a monopolistic and illegal business practice.

In the case of Amazon, these low digital prices went on for two years until last fall when a handful of big book publishers balked at Amazon’s behavior and responded by delaying sales to Amazon amid evidence these deals severely damaged their book store customers.
Fortunately, they were rescued somewhat when Apple rolled out its iPad early this year and made deals with some of the biggest publishers to sell their books online but at the price Apple or a book store would pay publishers, or $12.99 to $14.99.

This levels the playing field, consumers get choices and writers can get published.
Now Amazon may be headed down the antitrust path like Microsoft or the railways even though Apple has entered the market fearlessly by refusing to play the loss leader game.
But the book business must be examined under an antitrust microscope to protect markets themselves. This will now happen south of the border but also in Canada and Europe where such laws were strengthened in the 1980s.

Read more: Predatory Pricing Investigation; Internet; Amazon; Book Publishing; Music, Technology News

Statement warns iPhone and iPad users to visit only trustworthy websites and avoid PDFs until Apple releases fix

Several Apple devices including the iPhone and iPad have two critical security weaknesses for which no patch exists, the German government warned last night.

Users of Apple mobile devices should only use websites they deem trustworthy and refrain from opening PDF files until Apple releases a fix, Germany’s federal office for information security said.

“This allows potential attackers access to the complete system, including administrator rights,” the statement warned. “It has to be expected that hackers will soon use the weak spots for attacks.”

Apple said it is investigating reports of vulnerabilities affecting the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone.

The potential security flaw concerns the mobile internet browser Safari, and the way it opens PDF files in Apple’s iOS software. The vulnerability arose over the weekend when US-based hackers launched JailbreakMe, a browser-based service that can unlock Apple devices from restrictions imposed by the manufacturer.

Early reports suggest this system – last week ruled legal in the US, despite opposition from Apple – exploits the same shortcomings highlighted by the German government. The launch of JailbreakMe brought extensive attention to the vulnerability which security experts warn could be exploited for crime.

The warning relates to iPhones using iOS versions 3.1.2-4.0.1, iPads using iOS 3.2-3.2.1 and the iPod Touch using iOS 3.1.2-4.0, though the German federal office said older versions of the mobile operating system could possibly be affected.

Analysts at research firm Gartner said these fresh security worries point to more fundamental problems with the way Apple operates. Ken Dulaney, a vice president, said: “This security hole will likely be repaired by Apple in due course, but … there is a crying need for Apple to move from a reactive mode of fixing security issues to a proactive one.

“I think [Apple's chief executive Steve] Jobs needs to copy what Bill Gates did when Windows was exposed in similar ways years back – he told everyone to stop what they were doing and address the issue.

“Since then Windows has had a much better security profile. Until then we advise our clients to be wary of using the browser until patches are applied.”

John Girard, analyst at Gartner, warned: “iPhone users should be cautious about browsing unknown websites until this problem is resolved. The takeaway from this situation is to remember that all devices may contain flaws that will make them vulnerable to attack. It is wise to expect that more vulnerabilities will be found in the future on phone and PC platforms.”

The German government warning came on the day the European Union Commission revealed it opted to supply employees with Apple iPhone devices due, in large part, to the security assurances it delivered in tests against other devices.

Apple’s iPhone retains a respectable 28% share of the US smartphone market, figures released by analysts Nielsen show. Apple is second only to Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, which has a 35% market share.

UK representatives for Apple were unable to be contacted before publication.

VoIP company Vonage launches app that lets Facebook friends call each other for free

Heaven forbid, you forget your phone. You need to make a urgent call, but all you have with you is an iPod Touch. Well, now you can use your iPod to call your Facebook friends.

A new mobile application enabling Facebook friends to call each other for free is being released today, and an app for the iPad is thought to be only weeks away.

The app – produced by internet telephony company Vonage and available for iPhone, Android devices, and the iPod Touch (the latter only allowing outbound calls) – lets users call Facebook friends using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), providing both parties have downloaded the app. Users will eventually be able to make calls (both incoming and outgoing) through the iPad.

Vonage Mobile for Facebook is free to download, free to use and works on Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G connections. Later versions of the app are expected to include premium functions and cater for the iPad, as well as encompassing instant messaging, SMS and the ability to make calls to mobile numbers directly from the application.

But the release of this new app provokes an unavoidable question: how many of your Facebook friends would you feel comfortable being able to call your mobile phone?

Facebook friends: an app to make you reimagine your “friendships”?

At launch, there is no way to block selected Facebook friends from calling your mobile – so, theoretically, anyone you’ve decided to accept as a friend on Facebook can call your phone. As we know, plenty of people accept Facebook friend requests from relative strangers, or people to whom they wouldn’t necessarily divulge their phone number.

Michael Tempora, senior vice president of programme management and strategic initiatives at Vonage, said: “I expect that’s the case [that people don't want every one of their Facebook friends being able to call their mobile phone]. Certainly you always have ability to decline a call. Incoming calls will ring your phone and users still have the option to decline or accept.

“Future releases will also add a call block capability. A consumer can always choose not to download the application or de-friend someone on Facebook. This app adheres to all Facebook’s rights and responsibilities.”

In other words, your downloading of the app and accepting of Facebook friend requests are taken as double confirmation that the people you befriend online are the people you’d be happy calling your phone. Online social networking, however, isn’t as straightforward. That is, of course, unless you’ve adopted a personal Facebook policy readying for the day when your friends would be able to call your phone. Or preparing for a day when your child’s Facebook friends can call their mobile phone.

I suspect we’ve not heard the last of this, though VoIP telephony companies moving towards social networks is not a new thing.

Usurping mobile networks?

And what of the mobile networks we largely rely on to make calls to our friends? Is Vonage expecting a backlash? “It’s hard for me to speculate,” Tempora said. “Our customers will be delighted, Facebook users and iPhone users and Android users will be delighted.

“It’s a paradigm changer for the consumer, and one that takes advantage of broadband networks. It’s exciting for consumers and another step for us in using VoIP technology to deliver great value for consumers.”

Vonage advises users who don’t have an unlimited data tariff to contact their provider to see what charges apply. Making a call using the app uses approximately 250kb a minute, a Vonage spokesman said, adding that the number of minutes sold on contract mobiles is going down while the amount of data sold and used is on the rise – this new app potentially warranting a data upgrade depending on usage.

It’s all about timing: a good day to bury bad news?

The importance of this product for a company with a history of financial losses can be inferred from the launch date: the same date it will announce second quarter financial results.

That said, Vonage posted a sharp increase in net income in its first quarter results, recording a jump of $8.7m (£5.4m) year-on-year to $14m. Though the short-term forecast underlying these headline figures would no doubt prove disconcerting to company bosses, recruitment of new subscribers to the Vonage World plan was expected to continue dropping, and loss of existing subscribers was also expected to continue.

“It’s certainly very important to us,” Tempora said. “But it’s absolutely consistent with our vision that people should be able to call from anywhere they are using any broadband device that’s convenient. This is an important first step for us but it’s just the start, we expect in future to provide a wide range of apps.

“Going forward, we will expand on the launch to add additional communities – some already existing online – or social communities like family. We will also add device platforms – other mobile devices, PCs, Macs and premium services like the ability to call from Facebook to phone numbers as well as instant messaging components.”

Chinese superstar classical music pianist Lang Lang is a man on a classical music mission.

Already a legend for his Flight of the Bumblebee on an iPad with the San Francisco Symphony, and emerging finally from what seemed like months in the recording studios for his soon-to-be-released Live in Vienna multi-formatted release, Lang Lang is announcing the release of Version 2.0 of his best-selling iPad-only app, Magic Piano.

I’ve had Magic Piano for a few weeks. It’s like playing a piano set up like a video game. Whether you play against others, through the app’s “warp hole,” or alone, using the seductive spiral keyboard, it’s a highly addicting experience. After five minutes, my wife wouldn’t give the iPad back to me!

“The new version has been musically changed,” Lang told me on the phone. “The sound has a more convincing artistic feel to it.” Equally important, the music that’s hot wired into the app is now performed by Lang Lang himself. “A Chopin waltz, Clair de lune by Debussy, a lot of pieces.”

Lang always wanted to create a piano app, but had to wait for the technology to be ready. When he met the people from Smule, developers of Sonic Lighter, Ocarina and Glee, he liked their “cool, creative, very connective apps.” The important thing for Lang was “to create software so that kids could get a taste of what music will be like before they learn the real piano.” And Smule has delivered.

He is not worried by the simplicity and pop culture aspects of the Magic Piano concept. “After all, most kids play with toy cars, but eventually they need a real car. It’s really fun to play with friends, or play alone. There’s even mode that plays automatically. As technology has changed life, so music will improve people’s lives.” And sell a lot of product. Building on sales of 100,000-plus copies of Version 1, the outlook for 2.0 is looking very positive.

No matter how many copies he sells, however, Lang says unequivocally: “I will not give up the real piano.”

So all Lang Lang fans can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Read more: Chopin, Lang Lang, Music Education, iPad Apps, Magic Piano, Debussy, Best Ipad Apps, Ipad, Piano, Arts News