Bombing the bejeebers out of Baghdad worries me a bit. It was the cradle of civilization, as we knew it, at one time. And they did do a lot of astrology. But I’m avoiding all that for a day. I don’t want to think about it. It hurts. There’s a business model that I’ve been meaning to examine, in detail.
A couple of weeks ago, I needed to puchase a RAM chip. On an Apple notebook, it’s real simple, I pop out the keyboard, and the chip fits in a slot right there. Easiest installation possible – good industrial design.
I grabbed a magazine and flipped to the ads in the back, but most of the chip prices were “call for latest pricing.” When I was finally getting around to ordering, it was late in the evening. Probably easier to do it on the web. The computer chip market is such a volatile place with prices shifting every two or three minutes.
Instead of hitting the sites listed in the magazine, though, there’s a computer news site I frequent, and I’m guessing, about four times a week. Industry updates, software patches, news, rumors, recent releases, bugs and so forth.
The design of that site has influenced some of my aesthetic decisions, over the last two or three years. The layout is simple, straightforward. Just news and links. So when I want to the latest price schedule for RAM, I just turned there.
I shuffled through the credit cards, found one that was close to its limit, and then selected a merchant, based on the ad on that site. I clicked through, and made a purchase, getting the right module to fit the notebook.
I don’t shop for computer gear often. But when I do, I generally start at that one site. For a reason: see, there’s no dues, no subscription, and I like the data presented. The miniscule commission helps pay for the site’s upkeep, I hope.
Some marketing type can do a whole analysis about branding, marketing, and targets with this sort of information, pointing out loyalty and so forth. But what it really amounts to, and I know my one, insignificant purchase isn’t going to do that much, but every little bit helps.
