What to Buy When

In the world of Consumernomics, it's not only important to know the best products to buy, but when to buy them, which is a key part of the smart consumer buying process that most people overlook. Here's a link to an interesting and useful article from Time Magazine that makes the dilemma of what to buy when much more simple:

http://money.blogs.time.com/2011/03/24/what-should-you-be-buying-right-now/

I hope you find its advice as useful as I did!

iPad 2 Release A Logical Step

Apple, Inc. has finally released the long-anticipated iPad 2. Ever since the release of its revolutionary predecessor, there has been constant speculation by Apple fans and techies alike about what new features and capabilities the iPad's next generation would have. Many people expected the addition of the camera and other obvious improvements, but some naysayers were hoping for another giant-leap forward in technology, or at least for the iPad 2 to address more of the complaints about the original, like compatibility with AppleTV.

I agree with Leigh Gallagher on Fortune's "Fortune Tech" blog, many people don't "have the iPad 2, [they] have the iPad 1... [they're] not going to spend $500 for a new one" so soon. However, I feel that people have come to expect so much from Apple that they forget how hard and truly unrealistic it is for a company to make every product release revolutionary. Most companies are lucky to come out with a wholly new and innovative product in a decade, it is completely normal for subsequent product releases after the initial technology introduction to be gradual improvements. Incremental change is perhaps the most effective way to reach near-perfection with any product since it takes time to explore its potential and a lot of people to use it over time to discover glitches. 


The Huffington Post has a good roundup of iPad 2 reviews so you can decide for yourself if the improvements were a logical step or not enough. 

DTLA NFL Stadium: Time to Break Ground

AEG, Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz’s sports and entertainment company, has won the bid for a $1.35 billion proposal for a new NFL stadium in downtown LA, beating out real-estate mogul Ed Roski’s proposal for a new stadium in the City of Industry. Farmers’ Insurance paid $700million for the naming rights, yet the stadium is far from a reality; the City of Los Angeles must first approve the massive endeavor and LA must convince a team to move here.

The biggest hang-up about giving the project a green light is the worry that the stadium will cost taxpayers and the city money when the city is in the midst of a financial crisis. AEG claims that it will not use any public money for the stadium, but in order to develop it AEG wants to issue $350 million in municipal bonds to cover the cost of replacing the West Hall of the Convention Center that would be torn down to make space. The company plans to cover the cost of the bonds with ticket fees, increased parking revenues, and other tax revenue streams from the stadium. Additionally, since the city is in such financial trouble, its first concern, according to councilman Bill Rosendahl, is to maintain day-to-day operations like “[fixing] potholes, [keeping] parks open, [and keeping] police on the beat,” and not assume any of the financial risk a new stadium would entail, meaning that approving the stadium by AEG’s March deadline is not a top priority.

I certainly understand that the city is in a financial crisis and that the thought of breaking ground on $1 billion stadium is a lot to swallow. AEG is notoriously private about how it makes money from its other sports facilities, like the Staples Center, which is disconcerting to any city official who needs reassurance in order to approve such a massive project. Additionally, the March deadline AEG is shooting for is unrealistic, especially considering the current NFL-player labor dispute negotiations that could last into summer that need to be settled before the NFL is willing to consider any teams moving. AEG even admits that all the measures it plans to use to pay back the $350 million in municipal bonds will still come out about $6 or $7 million short. The company says it plans to cover the difference; however, this is still a bold enough statement that requires a lot of faith from city officials that the project won’t dive deeper into the city’s already empty pockets.

Despite these qualms, I believe that a new NFL stadium in downtown LA will ultimately economically benefit the city and reinforce downtown’s transformation into a sports and entertainment hub. The new stadium will create 20,000-30,000 new jobs, which is an economic ray of hope in itself!  The stadium will have 64,000 seats with a retractable roof allowing an expansion up to 78,000 seats, meaning that LA would easily be a contender for future Super Bowls, World Cups, conventions, and so on. In 2010, LA Live drew 13 million visitors, proving that downtown can be an attractive one-stop entertainment and sports destination for Angelinos and tourists alike, which will only be bolstered by the addition of a world-class stadium.

The timing for this stadium is also favorable. In addition to capitalizing on downtown’s urban renewal that includes the developing Figueroa Corridor, there are a few NFL teams that will likely need or want to relocate in the near future. The Minnesota Vikings’ stadium famously collapsed in a snow storm this winter, the San Diego Chargers are facing numerous stalls in plans for a new stadium, the St. Lois Rams have a stadium that is getting old and fading in quality, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are suffering from waning fan interest.  So clearly, the pool for teams potentially willing to relocate is not empty. Additionally, LA is currently ranked 15^th for cities in terms of attracting conventions, which is pretty dismal considering the wealth of business and entertainment options (not to mention that LA is one of the largest cities in the world), so the convention center needs a face lift to draw more conventions and the accompanying tourism.

Some skeptics are complaining about potential traffic problems and that a more thorough traffic study needs to be conducted, but they should take a step back and remember that football games are on Sundays and, as AEG put it, “you could land a helicopter on the highway” at the times fans would be heading to the stadium. LA is the second largest media market in the country, and while I certainly love Trojan football, there are enough sports fans in the city to support two NFL teams if the city was so inclined, sort of like our two professional basketball teams…

In my view, the funding, timing, and desire for a downtown LA NFL stadium are all coming together at the right time; let’s break ground!