Archive for the ‘New Zealand’ Category

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Lack of online presence for New Zealand businesses means opportunity is ripe

Thursday, August 1st, 2013

With so few New Zealand businesses having a true online presence, or extremely limited online presence, the opportunity is there for savvy online entrepreneurs to make a big impact.

Aaron Schiff, an economist and blogger, says internet usage by businesses in New Zealand “sucks” and anyone who has a good idea for an internet business has an almost wide open field in the nation.

Schiff cites numbers from the Statistics New Zealand Business Operations Survey that say nearly a third of businesses don’t have a website of any kind; less than one in five businesses supports ordering on its website, and only around one in ten allow customers to make payments online. These numbers haven’t changed much in two years.

While the current numbers are dire, Schiff says, that does mean that huge opportunities await people willing to take the plunge to create an online business or get their bricks and mortar business online.

To read more on this story, click here.

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Posted in blogs, E-mail & the internet, New Zealand, new zealand business, Online Sales | No Comments »

Business set to cruise to online success

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013

Two New Zealand women have tapped into the the country’s tourist trade to create a burgeoning online business.

Wendy London from Hawera and Deborah DeNard of Wellington are set to launch CruiseBubble.com, New Zealand’s first online guide specifically for visiting cruise passengers, in October.

Currently, the two women are accepting registrations from businesses that want to be featured on the site.

“Our target is 1500 for this season and anything above that is really cool,” London said.

The idea was born in 2005 out of Tourism New Zealand’s desire to use the internet more to promote the island nation.

“Tourism New Zealand released the 2005-2015 strategy and one of the key issues there was to ensure tourism businesses could utilise broadband,” London said.

CruiseBubble.com does just that, telling cruise passengers where to shop, what attractions to visit and who to call for anything they might need, all in one handy internet location.

In 2012, 130 cruise ships visited New Zealand with 755 port calls and a total of 209,000 visitors – compared to 17,000 in 1996. Contribution to GDP was $410m with 5633 jobs created.

To read more on this story, click here.

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Posted in broadband, New Zealand, new zealand business, New Zealand government, online marketing, social networking, Success story | No Comments »

New computer system costly for Tower

Friday, February 4th, 2011

Stuff reports that Tower‘s new computer system has resulted in a costs blowout of around $1 million NZD for every month of delay.

The $30 million project (or so it was initially priced) faces software development issues and also a delay in commissioning of around five months, meaning the final project price will probably run to millions more.

Tower investors were told that the total project cost will probably run to the $36 million mark.

Brian Gaynor of Milford Asset Management, owner of about 4.5 per cent of Tower, hit back at claims that the group is ‘over-capitalised’, saying, “Yes, I agree we’ve got a lot of money, a lot of cash, and that’s not all a bad thing.”But having said that, the board is addressing our whole capital structure in the next two months and we’ll be looking at what and where we need it and what we’re planning on doing with it and, if appropriate, there might be a return of capital to shareholders but I’m not promising that here and now.”

Perhaps the funds need to go towards the computer system…..

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Posted in computer, New Zealand, Tower | No Comments »

Telecom fights the inevitable?

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Stuff reports that Telecom has apparently ‘run out of time’ to split into two separate companies, but the company’s shareholders will be asked to vote on the company division if it gets to play a part in building the UFB network (the government’s ultrafast broadband initiative).

Previous indications were that it could be split by June, but that isn’t the case anymore as the UFB network vote would have to have happened by the end of 2010.

Telecom faces some competition in its bid for the UFB network from the alliance of electricity lines and fibre companies, RFG.

Another announcement from Telecom is due next month.

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Posted in New Zealand, Telecom | No Comments »

PC market slows

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Stuff.co.nz reports today that sales of the PC worldwide have considerably slowed due to the emergence of tablet devices such as the iPad and technology developments in game consoles. Especially mini notebooks, which seem to have been hit the hardest with competition from the tablets.

Growth in PC sales worldwide was forecast at 4.8 percent but instead grew by only 3.1 percent.

Winners in the stats are Lenovo and Toshiba, which posted the most improved growth in the fourth quarter of 2010. Lenovo’s worldwide market share grew 21.4 per cent while Toshiba’s was up 12.1 per cent.

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Posted in New Zealand, PC, social networking, tablet | No Comments »

Kiwis want cold cash for Xmas

Friday, December 17th, 2010

Forget the feel-good love of home-made pressies, or the thought and effort behind picking a gift for a loved one,  the Great Kiwi Christmas survey shows that 44 percent of recipients want cold hard cash for christmas, or vouchers.  Only 12 percent want home-made gifts.

On a more environmentally friendly note, only 22 percent of those surveyed will buy a real tree, with the rest buying a fake one.  Perhaps good news for the environment?

Also, keeping the faith alive, one in three New Zealand households will still be leaving milk and cookies out for Santa.

The full article is available here.

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Posted in New Zealand | No Comments »

Top Google searches in New Zealand

Friday, December 10th, 2010

As the end of the year nears, Google releases its lists of most-searched phrases, places and people.

Some highlights:

  • Are Kiwis increasingly becoming cheaper? Perhaps so, with website Grab One being popular in the searches for its online deals.
  • Paul Henry’s antics also got him high on the list of people to be Googled.
  • TradeMe increases in popularity, being the third most searched for social website after Facebook and Twitter.

But just to show that USA is always on the mind, Kim Kardashian was the most searched for celebrity, by New Zealanders.

View the full list of popular searches published on Stuff.

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Posted in New Zealand, top Google searches | No Comments »

Is Apple TV right for NZ families?

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Stuff’s review of Apple TV reports today that this device has been lagging badly behind its competitors from the launch of Apple TV three years ago.

Now, however, a revamped and cheaper Apple TV is available at $170 NZD.  What does it do? Its a black box which connects with your TV either directly to the set, or through a receiver.  The interface allows you to connect to the Internet, and start watching TV shows and movies through Apple or Netfix (with an account).

The new Apple TV is apparently easier to set up and use than the older model.  It also allows streaming of the videos so that your hard drive is not filled up.

The greatest problem is though, that renting a movie means you have to watch it in one go, or pay another $5.99 NZD to finish it. This is not a family-friendly solution, or even a cheaper alternative to the DVD store.

Perhaps another ‘bug’ for Apple to fix? Time will tell.

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Posted in Apple Mac, Apple TV, consumers, New Zealand | No Comments »

Beat the GST rise!

Monday, September 6th, 2010

On 1 October 2010, GST in New Zealand will go up to 15%.  Beat the tax man by purchasing your IronKey products now, for business and personal use.

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Posted in GST, Ironkey, New Zealand, Online Sales | No Comments »

Is Google evil? Or not evil? That is the question

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

So Google did not commit any security breaches when it collected users’ data in New Zealand, however Luke Appleby writes on Stuff today that he is unclear why Google admits that information breaches are committed in countries such as Ireland and Denmark, but not so in Australia.

Its a valuable question – why is the data collection from some countries considered a ‘mistake’ worth apologising for, but not from New Zealand? It seems that when a country does not specifically request that the data be deleted, Google does not consider it to be a mistake.

Mr Appleby states that “…it was the lack of transparency, and the global attitude of Google which led many to question their “don’t be evil” motto”.

The debate continues….

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Posted in consumers, E-mail & the internet, Google, New Zealand | No Comments »

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