You see, my birthday is coming up later this month.

And my lovely wife Veena wanted to gift me an iPad2 (she’s a darling, isn’t she?)

But here’s the other part of this story: She already has an iPad1.

And she really puts it to great use too (see picture below of Veena relaxing at the beach in San Diego, with her iPad, hidden from view below her gigantic purse that has lots of cash – I think! – some of which she might use to buy me a gift with!)

I get this feeling that she’s up to something sneaky here – which is, to get me an iPad2 for my birthday, then since she thinks I won’t be using it much, she plans on emotionally blackmailing me into exchanging my shiny new iPad2 with her “old” iPad1.

“Not so fast!”, is what me thinks.

So here’s my plan.

Brendan Burchard, a marketer I highly trust, respect and admire, is currently doing a launch of his newest product.

And he’s giving away some insanely high quality, “knock your socks off” free videos to generate buzz for his launch.

And he’s promised his marketing partners, that if we get enough (real) people to simply watch his free videos, he will give us a shiny new iPad (I’m guessing it’s an iPad2!!).

So, go to this link, simply sign up for free to watch his incredibly awesome, free video training series.

You get some extremely powerful content for free, and I *might* get an iPad2 in the process.

You win, I win [who cares if Brendon wins... heheh <sound of evil laughter at the thought of stealing an iPad from him legally!>]

And if I win an iPad, then I might emotionally blackmail Veena right back, to give me cash instead, which I could then use for buying really cool stuff on Amazon (psst: there’s this awesome zoom lens that I’ve been eyeing for a while, which…. oh well, I digress).

Deal?

Click here to watch the first of the free videos.

Here’s what you’ll learn…

* The ‘Create Anything’ outline and script for creating your products

* 12 simple-to-create products and programs that bring in recurring revenue

* The MATH for how you can make $100,000 in 12 months with EACH of these products

* How you can win $1,200 just for posting a video of your story and advice

All free. Nothing to buy to watch these videos.

So don’t hesitate to forward the link to this post to your friends [nope, I will get only one iPad no matter how many people sign up   ]

Here’s the link again: http://RavisRants.com/blueprint.html

Wish me luck!

- Ravi Jayagopal
PS: Sure, I could run out and buy one in the next hour. It’s not like I can’t afford it. But where’s the fun in that? Nothing like “winning” a toy, is there?
PPS: BTW, I’ve never won anything in my life. Never won any kind of business contest. So not a bad way to get my feet wet, eh?

Smartphones are evolving at such breakneck speed, thanks to Apple and Google, that they’re killing a whole range of gadgets…

The demise of the legendary Flip camcorder says it all.

Is your product (or company) geared to deal with such an incredible onslaught of change?

I believe it is critically important to have role models, teachers, mentors, gurus, leaders, spiritual guides – from whom we can draw courage, inspiration, enlightenment, guidance – in times of need at various stages of our life.

So here’s a short list of my role models, who have all tremendously inspired me, taught me, and given me courage in difficult/tough/desperate/sad/challenging times.

Times when I ask myself…

What would Nick Vujicic do?

What would Seth Godin do?

What would Steve Jobs do?

And of course, I never stop thinking this….

What would my beloved Father do? (And what is he doing now?)

- Ravi

Awesome story.

Just goes to show that if you have the will, and the skill, and some creativity, you can make money pretty much doing anything at all!

Meet the iPod Doctor

It’s not really purple in color. But I did mean that it is Purple.

Why?

It’s because of the way it was successful in creating an entirely new industry of “athlete marketing” like never before. Because of how it created a frenzy among consumers. Because of the innovative ways Nike marketed it [for instance, they paid $5,000 in fine for every match that Michael Jordan wore these banned (then) shoes on court].

Not even Apple – to this date – has been able to match the hysteria that these shoes created (have you ever heard anyone getting mugged or killed for an iPod or iPhone?)

And yes, I was a teenager when I read and watched news about people getting mugged and killed for Air Jordan shoes.

Now go make your own Purple shoes.

The iPhone launched at $599 (8GB) and $499 (4GB).

About two months later, Apple deprecates the latter, and slashes $200 off the former.

The early adopters get mad.

Should Apple care? They didn’t have to. But they did (Steve Jobs letter).

Great strategy (in-store credit). Great PR. Gotta love Apple.

“Steve Jobs said: “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”

Did you know that you have big things to accomplish in life? And did you know that those big things are getting rather dusty while you pour yourself another cup of coffee, and decide to mull things over rather than do them? We were all born with a gift to give in life, one which informs all of our desires, interests, passions and curiosities. This gift is, in fact, our purpose. And you don’t need permission to decide your own purpose. No boss, teacher, parent, priest or other authority can decide this for you. Just find that unique purpose.”

Beautifully written.

Here’s the entire post: 10 Golden Lessons From Steve Jobs

So is this the start of yet another monopoly?

Why hasn’t anyone else gotten into this? It’s not like there are major infrastructure setup pains involved – just buy a darn satellite and start broadcasting – it’s not like it’s hard to do for someone with a lot of cash and people – something that matches all media companies!

Content is the big challenge of course. So any of the big guys with content, could easily started a satellite radio service. So why hasn’t anyone done it?

When are they going to make it easy for you and me to start our own radio stations? Oh wait, we can do that already ….

Ok, now I get it. It is because On-broadcast (push) radio cannot compete with On-demand (pull) radio.

The consumer wins, after all.

As a follow-up to my original lusty iPhone rant, I decided to scour the web for a closer look at the iPhone.

The hype is dying. Real people have used it, some have heard about real people using it, but everyone definitely has something to say about it. So go on and see if you can cut through the hype yourself.

Here come the critics:
Between Scoble and Kidrosky, they’ve got a few valid points:

From Paul Kidrosky:

1) The touchpad. How do you operate a touchphone in your pocket, or under a table by feel at a meeting? You scoff, but you’d be amazed how often that is how business emailing happens. …
2) The closed system. Is Apple serious that it won’t let third-party developers build software for the thing? If so, and put simply, the device will fail. A closed-box consumer electronics mentality will work in music players, but the future of mobile devices is as a platform, and that requires…
3) The Cingular relationship. While every wireless carrier has its haters, Cingular has more than most (both for its service and for its Edge network). Tying up exclusively to Cingular forces some of the loudest among the digerati to wait for an unlocked iPhone before they can begin touting …
….

From Robert Scoble

6) Battery is only up to five hours and is not replaceable (if you play video). …. Watch a video and your battery is dead. Now your cell phone is dead too. So, you won’t want to watch a video on a plane flight with this thing like you would with your iPod.
7) It’s Cingular only and GSM. That automatically keeps more than half of Americans from considering this and for the rest of the world? They are laughing about the iPhone now.
The camera sucks. It’s a 2megapixel device without flash, without zoom. Nokia’s newest cameras…
9) No GPS. …

From Seth Godin: Inventing a new cell phone

Here’s a few things a reinvented cellphone might be able to do:

* Let me leave voice mail for groups of people all at once.
* Let me initiate conference calls with groups of people with just one directory entry.
* Let me call friends based on where they are at a given moment.

iPhone trashed by Robert Scoble and others:

Comedy: iPhone being used as a universal device – for doing, er, everything!

Two nerds:

iPhone quick demo:

Steve Jobs presenting a closer look at iPhone:

More links:

Pogue’s Posts: The Ultimate iPhone Frequently Asked Questions

From Engadget

The Uber Geeks: iPhone misconceptions corrected

- Ravi Jayagopal

What would happen if Microsoft were to design the iPod packaging?

Really witty, self-deprecating video, apparently made by ….. Microsoft employees!

- Ravi Jayagopal