President Barack Obama launches fuel-efficiency innovations

President Barack Obama unveiled history making innovations program to make America's cars more fuel efficient, to reduce USA dependence on foreign oil, cut carbon dioxide pollution, and most importantly, bring down costs for drivers. Stakeholders from auto workers and union representatives to manufacturers and environmental leaders provided inputs, agreed upon this new program, and the new set of MPG standards.

This announcement follows up on an aggressive plan that the administration put in place back in 2009, setting ambitious fuel-efficiency and greenhouse-gas standards for 2012-2016 model cars and trucks. That plan alone is estimated to save 1.8 billion barrels of oil -- and save families up to $3,000 at the pump -- over these vehicles' lifetimes. And this new program, covering model years 2017-2025, takes real, tangible steps to raise the bar even higher, nearly doubling the current fuel efficiency of the average car.

Here's what this program will mean in the short term: Rollout of new electric and hybrid vehicles from manufacturers, and more clean-diesel, efficient SUVs and sedans. Automakers will have new incentives to make smart, innovative cars and trucks -- from the materials they choose down to the design of their engines and transmissions. They'll be turning to start-up companies in the clean-energy sector and in advanced battery manufacturing, helping to create jobs across the country.

What will be the program impact? The numbers are huge:

    -- By model year 2025, the average American car or truck will get 54.5 miles a gallon (the average car currently gets 23.8 mpg).
    -- America would have saved 12 billion barrels of oil and eliminated 6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution.
    -- American family that purchases a new car in 2025 will save $8,200 in fuel costs, compared with what they'd pay for gas for a similar vehicle bought in 2010.
    -- All told, American drivers will save nearly $2 trillion over the life of the program.

This program is a really big deal. Everyone from truck drivers to farmers to teachers to business owners feel the burden of transportation costs -- and will feel the positive effects of these improvements over the next dozen years.

The program and agencies will consider:
* Incentives for electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel cells vehicles;
* Incentives for advanced technology packages for large pickups, such as hybridization and other performance-based strategies;
* Credits for technologies with potential to achieve real-world CO2 reductions and fuel economy improvements that are not captured by the standards test procedures. 

Bottomline: The new fuel-efficiency standards will jump start unprecedented design and manufacturing changes in American automobiles, fueling new startup suppliers and manufacturers, and creating countless new opportunities. Call it the Get Fit program for American cars and trucks, Save Money program that ushers in tremendous annual savings for the American family, New Jobs program that results in hiring of auto engineers and designers, or New Startups program that will create new auto entrepreneurs and auto suppliers - this unprecedented fuel-efficiency innovations program is a win-win. Congratulations President Obama and the 54.5 MPG program team!

Small Business Social Network

Sanjay Dalal, CEO & Founder, Ogoing, introduces the exclusive small business social network Ogoing! Ogoing revolutionizes social media marketing for the small business.

In this video, Sanjay talks about:

1. What is the latest social media buzz?
2. What are the social media challenges for a small business, entrepreneur or startup?
3. What are the key benefits of joining the Small Business Social Network?
4. How Ogoing will help grow your business?

Join Ogoing today for FREE, promote your products, find new customers, jump start sales, and grow your business with social media!

7 reasons to join Ogoing Small Business Social Network:

1. VERY easy to use, and FREE to join!
2. FOR your business! Find and Connect with customers and businesses instantly
3. MARKET your business! Promote your products and services with best social media
4. DO more! Find new referrals for your business, and post your business needs now
5. TALK more! Share real-time updates about your business deals, news and events
6. POWER your brand! Promote your brand on Twitter and Facebook, and cell phones
7. GROW your business! Expand your local contacts, brand and sales

Who should join? 
Small businesses, startups, emerging business, entrepreneurs, SMB and businesses doing business with small business 

DRIVE your small business forward with Ogoing! Go BIG with Ogoing!

Join Now: http://www.ogoing.com

The Incredible Apple

Yesterday, Apple did the unthinkable, yet again! Apple blew away the revenue and earnings by a long shot. Apple announced record quarterly sales of over $28.57 billion, and profits of $7.31 billion ( Apple, what are you planning to do with all that cash? Perhaps you can buy out a country or two! )

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.25 million iPads during the quarter, a 183 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 3.95 million Macs during the quarter, a 14 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 7.54 million iPods, a 20 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

“We’re thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82 percent and profits up 125 percent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Right now, we’re very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall.”  (This means, iPhone 5 is coming this Fall as well!)

Apple Destroys Estimates AND the Stock Is Still Cheap!  Here's what stood out:
* Apple's Cash on Hand grew by 16% to $76.2 billion. The number works out to roughly $81 per share. Were they so inclined, Apple could write checks for Netflix (NFLX) and Ebay (EBAY) combined and still remain liquid.
* Apple's revenue growth is actually accelerating.
* The company beat EPS estimates by over 30% and revenue forecasts by 15%. These numbers speak ill of the people analyzing Apple but are jaw-dropping nonetheless.
* The stock continues to perform yet somehow gets cheaper; trading at over 18x earnings yesterday and in the vicinity of a 15 P/E today.

Cramer on Wednesday raised his price target on Apple from $400 to $500 a share. Yet at the $500 level, the technology stock will be selling at just 11.5 times his estimates for next fiscal year's earnings, only three quarters of what the average company in the S&P 500 index sells for.
To Cramer, Apple is a great example of why capitalism is worth cheering for. Unfortunately, Apple also puts U.S. leaders to shame because all they can do is bicker. "The United States of Apple?" Cramer said, "Now that's a place Cramericans can call home."

Apple Earnings Call: "We are very excited to be launching Mac OS X Lion tomorrow. The Lion includes more than 250 new features such as a multi-touch gestures, system wide support for full screen apps, Mission Control, which is an innovative view of everything running on your Mac and much more."
"iPhone continues to be adopted as the standard across the enterprise with 91% of the Fortune 500 deployed or testing the device, up from 88% last quarter. We're also seeing great growth in scale worldwide. Today, 57% of Global 500 companies are testing or deploying iPhone, fueled by strong employee demand and opportunities for custom App development. Some examples of Global 500 companies supporting iPhones on their corporate networks, include AXA, Credit Agricole, Nestlé, Dow Chemical, GlaxoSmithKline, SUPERVALU and Comcast."
"We are also seeing strong adoption internationally with 47% of Global 500 companies testing or deploying iPad. In the 15 months since iPad has shipped, we've seen iPads used in the enterprise in ways we could have never imagined. Companies like Boston Scientific, Xerox and Salesforce.com are deploying thousands of iPads and revolutionize in how their sales teams engage their customers. iPad is being used inside the country's top hospitals like HCA and Cedars-Sinai and in retail at Nordstrom and at Esteé Lauder's Clinique counters. General Electric, SAP and Standard Charter have developed internal Apps for training, currency tracking and business process management to help make employees even more productive. And Alaska Airlines and American Airlines are using the iPad in cockpit to replace paper-based navigational and reference information pilots carry with him on every flight."
 - Peter Oppenheimer, Apple CFO
"China was very key to our results. As a reminder, we define Greater China as Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Year-over-year, it was up over 6x and the revenue was approximately $3.8 billion during the quarter and that makes the year-to-date numbers through the 3 quarters that we've had thus far around $8.8 billion. And so this has been a substantial opportunity for Apple and I firmly believe that we're just scratching the surface right now. I think there is an incredible opportunity for Apple there." - Timothy Cook, Apple COO

Bottomline:
Apple dropped a huge sales bomb again! Apple's quarterly revenue and earnings explosion is just the beginning! Expect Apple to deliver successive quarters of record sales and earnings in the foreseeable future. About the only thing that can bring Apple down is supplier constraints. But Apple has planned well in this department as well; Apple's inventory is healthy, and current generation products are getting rolled out without any delays. As schools resume in Fall, and as we get closer to the holiday season, Apple revenue machine will accelerate faster! A $40 billion holiday quarter is indeed a possibility...  Apple makes more money internationally than in the U.S.; 62% of sales came from international operations in the latest quarter.  This means that Apple has become a true global company, and has even less dependency on local market going forward. It also means that the world has more buying power and buys more Apple products than U.S. does. This is both a challenge and opportunity for Apple going forward. Apple now has to design products that cater to international buyers. And assuming that the world is still warming up to Apple, the global demand for future Apple products will be very high. As the U.S. economy improves, Apple will derive even more sales locally, giving its quarterly revenue numbers bigger boost! Apple is a winner no matter what! 
When a billion cell phones are sold every year worldwide, if Apple is able to increase its marketshare to 10%, this would translate to 100 million iPhone annual sales. Apple just sold over 20 million iPhones. Expect a 25 million iPhone quarter in the near future. As for the iPad, there are many choice tablets available. However, at $499, iPad 2 offers an amazing mix of features and functionality in one incredible machine. Can Apple sell 15 million iPads next quarter? Quite possibly. Apple just announced the latest MacBook Air at starting price of $999. It's faster, ships with Mac OS X Lion, has Flash storage, backlit keyboard, camera and most everything you need as your entry notebook. This will help accelerate the sales of MacBooks in the coming quarters. Finally, the all important iOS 5 and iCloud are coming this year... along with the launch of iPhone 5. Apple has the whole world in awe with its product wizardry! The Incredible Magic of Apple! 

Google is innovating and growing big

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) shares were sky-rocketing more than 12% in after-hours trading Thursday, after reporting its first round of quarterly earnings with new CEO Larry Page at the helm.

The search giant posted adjusted earnings per share of $8.54 on revenue of $6.92 billion, beating analyst estimates of $7.86 a share on sales of $6.5 billion.

CEO Larry Page kicked off the call by saying Google has signed up over 10 million users for its “Google+” social networking service, and now has over 160 million users of its “Chrome” Web browser.

The company is seeing 550,000 activations per day of smartphones based on its “Android” operating system, hesaid.

Regarding how to make money on all of that, Page remarked, “Now people rightly ask, how will we monetize these businesses?”

“Of course, I understand the need to balance the short-term with the longer-term needs, because our revenues and growth serve as the engine that funds our innovation,” he continued. “But our emerging high usage products can generate huge new businesses for Google in the long run, just like search.”

"Well-run technology businesses with tremendous consumer usage make a lot of money over the long term. Now I think about our products in three separate categories. First, there is search and our ads products, the core driver of revenue for the Company. Next, we have products that are employing high consumer success — YouTube, Android and Chrome. We are investing in these in order to optimize their long-term success. Then we have our new products — Google+ and Commerce and Local. We are investing in them to drive innovation and adoption. Overall, we are focused on long-term, absolute profit and growth, as we have always been."

Bottomline:

Google killed the quarterly earnings. Google's core search business is rock solid for now. Google has great mid-term prospects with Android, YouTube, and Chrome - the worldwide mobile and web marketshare gains owing to these three products are nothing short of phenomenal (Google has multiple wars ahead - in Mobile with Apple, in Videos with Facebook, and Browsers with Microsoft)! Finally, hot innovations such as Google+, Commerce, Offers and Pages are on the rise, and at least one of these has the potential to hit 100M users. Google has shown that it has the staying power with Search, and able to gain marketshare with new products. New CEO Page has done very well, and appears to be turning around the Search Giant. 

Google is one of the top 20 innovators of the original Innovation Index.

In April 2011, I had posted this blog: Buy Google when market sells Did you buy?

1,000 New Businesses Joined Ogoing Business Social Network

1,000 New Businesses Have Joined Ogoing Small Business Social Network during our launch. Small Businesses, Entrepreneurs, Startups, Emerging Businesses and SMBs Are Invited to Join.

Ogoing invites you to get started on the exclusive Small Business Social Network today, and attract new customers. Just go here to get started:

http://www.ogoing.com

Ogoing launched the exclusive small business social network for small businesses, entrepreneurs, startups, emerging businesses, and SMBs in June 2011.

A business is able to instantly set up a powerful social media profile, promote their products, build online visibility, attract new customers and jump start sales on Ogoing.

"Small Businesses do not have time, resources and expertise to build their social media presence. Ogoing Business Social Network provides immediate online boost to a business using the latest social media. Best of all, Ogoing is free to join and very easy to use," Sanjay Dalal, CEO & Founder of Ogoing Inc.

Businesses share their latest deals, product briefs, company news and events, business services, sourcing needs and referrals in real-time, live on the Ogoing Small Business Social Network.

Why should businesses join Ogoing?

1. Ogoing is very easy to use, and free to join. A business can get started on Ogoing with a complete profile in less than five minutes.
2. Ogoing is built for the business. Small Businesses can find and connect with local businesses and customers instantly on Ogoing.
3. Ogoing markets the business. Companies can promote products and services to local markets using innovative social media on Ogoing.
4. Ogoing helps businesses do more. Organizations get new referrals for their business, and are able to post business needs on Ogoing.
5, Ogoing boosts online visibility and search engine rankings. Ogoing enables sharing of real-time updates about business deals, services, news and events.
6. Ogoing helps power the social brand. SMBs can promote their brand on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, and cell phones using Ogoing.
7. Ogoing helps businesses grow their sales. Using Ogoing, a business is able to expand local contacts, brand and sales.

There are over 25 million small businesses, startups, SMBs and entrepreneurs in the USA alone who need help with their social media presence. Ogoing invites these businesses to get started on the exclusive Small Business Social Network today, and attract new customers. Just go here to get started:

http://www.ogoing.com

Ogoing Inc. is an Irvine Chamber of Commerce member. Ogoing is head quartered in Irvine, California.

Get Your Business Going on Ogoing.

###

Innovation Factory - Business Model, Process and Product Innovation

Building an Innovation Factory
Product Management, Product Marketing and Product Launch -

Do you have what it takes to create the best innovation process towards consistently producing, launching and marketing game changing products, solutions and services? Are you a one-hit wonder, or a company with sustainable batting average that creates repeatable innovations? What happened to your last product launch? Did it achieve the anticipated success? How do you define business success for new innovations? Where do you generate ideas for new products? Who generates these ideas?  How many ideas do you generate? How do you filter these ideas?  How do you quickly test the idea?  Who follows up on the ideas? Which idea will convert into successful innovation?

How did your customers adapt and adopt your products? Who is your first customer? Sales, Business Development, Partner, Channel or End Customer? What product gaps do all your customers see and perceive? Do you see these same gaps? How do you fill these gaps?  Did you achieve real market penetration and market leadership?  How did you launch your last product? 

Leadership and great teams drive innovation. Do you have institutional memory?  Do you preserve institutional memory?  Do you avoid innovation blunders, innovation blockers, creativity busters?  What systems and processes do you have that block or unblock creativity and innovation? Where is your business positioned on the Innovation Quadrant? 

Is your business growing or stalling?  What is causing the business growth?  Existing products or new products, old markets or new markets, old boundaries or new geographies, old customers or new customers, old partners or new partners, old teams or new teams, old processes or new processes, old business models or new business models? How do you accelerate your business growth?

Our value proposition is simple: We help you build a sustainable Innovation Factory! 

We ask you questions - lots of questions - to learn everything about your business, products, markets, customers, competition, partners and more

We establish an innovation baseline, and innovation benchmark

We articulate and propose an innovation strategy and plan

We help you implement the innovation program

Together, we build the sustainable Innovation Factory

We help you create and build Innovation Factory that will:

Establish a company vision and mission about innovation.

Generate ideas using real customer research and creativity.

Identify hot areas of new growth using market patterns.

Evaluate ideas to determine the best course of action.

Take ideas to market with creativity and proven strategies.

Balance and implement innovation portfolios.

Contact InnovationMain.com to get the necessary help toward building your innovation factory.

The mission of Creativity and Innovation Driving Business is to provide uncommon insights, strategy and solutions with proven processes that drive Creativity and Innovation at your business, create real market growth and success for your products and services, and achieve market leadership.  We make innovation a sustainable competitive advantage, inspire you to build an innovation factory, effect and manage change, and accelerate your business. We have considerable experience and expertise in working with small, growing and established companies, product and marketing departments, and innovation teams. InnovationMain - Creativity and Innovation Driving Business is an Irvine Chamber of Commerce Member in Orange County, California.

Contact InnovationMain.com to get the necessary help toward building your innovation factory.