Steve Jobs has my praise. In an industry known to be almost close to commoditization, he tries another trick to sell something at a premium ….  The selling of iMAC as a high end platform which is the same strategy he has taken iPOD and iPhone successfully.

He may or may not succeed, but this is something we all have to try, because at the end, you succeed in the market more likely by differentiating yourself properly.

The Utility Belt: Apple’s next trick: Resurrecting the desktop PC

The Apple (AAPL) CEO today showed that he’s determined to make a nice profit selling iMacs to consumers. If Jobs succeeds – and the real test will come this holiday season – he will have successfully bucked recent industry trends.

I would not blame Google.  After all, when you run a business used by millions, and facing thousands of competitors, you cannot afford to be altruistic — you have to negotiate and look after the interests of your shareholders.

And that sometimes, or more oftentimes means you have to be mean and aggressive in your negotiations.

Google’s motto should be ‘don’t be arrogant’ - Aug. 7, 2007

Seriously, when a company attains extreme market domination, hubris and a sense of infallibility can’t be far behind. It’s only a matter of time before said market dominator tries to tell everyone else how to run their businesses.

Some business statistics on ASEAN ( Association of SouthEast Asian Nations).

Based on EIU statistics, India may be getting most of the attention in terms of outsourcing, but in 2007, India is slated to attract roughly $10 billion in investments. HOwever, Vietnam in contrast is slated to attract over $20 billion in investments for 2007.

ASEAN countries has a population of 600 million and is said to have 136 mobile subscribers and 46 million internet users in 2007 Based on its growth, it is actually growing faster than China, and its number of subscriber is slated to be potentially larger than China by 2009 with a mobile penetration rate of over 40%, which means about 250 million people.

The positioning for ASEAN countries are as follows:

Thailand - Detroit of Asia
Philippines - Alternative Outsourcing hub
Vietname - New flexbile manufacturing Center
Indonesia - abundant natural resources
Malaysia - Cyber Hub of Asia.