Pets

Hemangiosarcoma: a (usually) silent and deadly canine cancer

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November is Pet Cancer Awareness Month. Among the deadliest canine cancers is hemangiosarcoma, or cancer of the blood vessels. Hemangiosarcoma can present as skin cancer, which can be treated successfully if caught early, or as cancer of the internal organs, particularly the spleen or heart. The prognosis for splenic or cardiac hemangiosarcoma is extremely poor, even with aggressive treatment, as often the first sign of any problem is when the tumor ruptures and causes massive internal bleeding. An additional complication arises from the fact that since it is a cancer of the blood vessels, the cancer cells have generally spread to other areas of the body at the time of diagnosis. As a result, the median survival time for internal tumors after diagnosis is measured in weeks or months, even with surgery and chemotherapy. Hemangiosarcoma can occur in any breed, but there is an identified predisposition in German Shepherd Dogs, Labradors, and Golden Retrievers. Within my own circle of pet parent friends, last year we lost a Siberian husky, an Australian shepherd, a golden retriever, and my own miniature poodle, Tiny, to hemangiosarcoma.

What are the signs and symptoms to look out for? In the case of skin tumors, your veterinarian should evaluate any unusual growths on the skin and perform a biopsy if there is any suspicion of cancer. It’s a good idea to check your pet’s fur frequently, especially as he ages, for abnormal lumps or bumps. Many are benign, but only your vet and a pathologist can identify cancerous skin growths.

In the case of internal organ cancer, the signs can be much more subtle and sometimes non-existent. In the cardiac form of hemangiosarcoma, you may notice weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, or difficulty recovering from any kind of exertion. These can all be signs of simple aging, other heart or lung problems, or tumor growth. Again, a visit to your vet is for possible X-rays, ultrasound, CT scan, or other diagnostic scans to determine the cause of the problem. If not diagnosed, the heart tumor will eventually rupture and cause massive internal bleeding.

In the splenic form of hemangiosarcoma, unless the tumor is extremely large and can be felt on abdominal examination, the first warning sign could be a total collapse when the tumor ruptures. In Tiny’s case, he exhibited greater than usual “old man’s weakness” at home one night and was unable to stand up. He was seventeen at the time and initially had a bulging abdomen due to loss of muscle tone associated with aging. I quickly took him to the vet emergency clinic (he never had his emergencies during regular vet clinic hours), where the doctor quickly touched his abdomen and removed bloody fluid. He told me about his suspicions that a splenic tumor had ruptured and recommended an ultrasound to confirm his diagnosis. The ultrasound showed a very large spleen, as well as some suspicious spots on the liver. We discussed the two options: surgery to remove the spleen and suspicious parts of its liver or euthanasia. Given his age and all the possible complications, we made the difficult decision to say goodbye.

But, when Tiny was brought into the room for that final procedure, he had miraculously recovered from his breakdown, was very excited to see us, and started asking us to play with him. The vet suspected that the internal bleeding had stopped and that it had been re-transfused. After further discussing the other alternatives and based on the fact that he seemed to be telling us that he was not ready to go yet, we took him home and scheduled a visit to the specialist early the next morning.

Tiny underwent a splenectomy and partial lobectomy of the liver, and came out of surgery with great success, especially given his age. We opted for a shortened, low-dose chemotherapy cycle, and for the rest of his life he took various mild medications like doxycycline and Deramaxx to help keep the cancer at bay. He also received acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulations in addition to Western medicine. Despite the six months or less that most hemangiosarcoma patients survive, Tiny lived another two and a half years until the cancer spread to his brain and mouth. When he started having trouble eating and started having seizures, it was time to help him cross the “Rainbow Bridge.” His outcome and length of survival with a good quality of life were unusually positive, but he was a fighter with a strong will to live.

Survival in hemangiosarcoma largely depends on how early it is detected and whether it is a superficial / skin lesion rather than an internal tumor. Treatment options can be limited, especially if a tumor ruptures, and diagnosis, surgery, and chemotherapy can be expensive. You know your dog better than anyone else and are in the best position to make informed decisions (with the help of your vet) about the best course of action if this deadly cancer strikes your dog.

Real Estate

Crawlspace supports

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When a home has sagging floors, the signs can be obvious or they can be quite subtle. Here are some questions a homeowner can ask themselves to find out if sagging floors are a real problem for their home.

  • Do the floors of the house seem to sink towards the center of the room?
  • Does the furniture slide away from the walls and creep into the center of the room?
  • Are there gaps between the floor of the house and the baseboards?
  • Do the cabinets in the house ring when someone walks through a room?

Many homeowners ask what causes the floors to sag. Sunken soils can be due to several factors:

  • A changing base under the house
  • Floor joists in the home that have been weakened by excessive moisture
  • Spans between floor joists are excessively large without sufficient support
  • Excessive or heavy loads (furniture, gym equipment, granite) in the room (s) over the access space of a house
  • The use of temporary shims to fill the voids in the floor; leggings settle and move out of place over time

The solution is simpler than it sounds! Adjustable crawl space steel brackets are a quick and inexpensive solution that can stand the test of time. These adjustable posts are a permanent solution that works by transferring the weight of the house’s floor structure to more competent floors under the house. Many homeowners will try a DIY solution for sagging floors by inserting wooden shims to prop up the floor again. This is only a temporary band-aid and does not address fundamental issues with the floor structure. Shims made of wood, which are often a homeowner’s first repair solution, can slip, shift, and rot over time.

In contrast, adjustable steel brackets can be installed quickly (in less than a day), with little to no alteration to property. Plus, they can provide the right support exactly where it’s needed most. As the name implies, the brackets can be adjusted to provide the exact amount of support needed, and are fully compatible with a crawl space encapsulation system, should a home need it as well.

Crawling space repair is a common procedure performed in many homes throughout the United States. Unfortunately, many homeowners are unknowingly choosing insufficient temporary means to maintain their homes, thinking that the professional and permanent solution will be too expensive, disruptive and time consuming. Adjustable steel crawl space brackets can fix sagging floors in a home permanently without disrupting family, garden, or wallet too much.

Shopping Product Reviews

The history of Capitol Air

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Driven by the deregulation of American airlines, Capitol Air was one of several airlines catapulted to temporary success after transitioning from charter flights to scheduled operations.

Founded on June 11, 1946 as Capitol Airways by Army Air Corps pilots Jesse F. Stallings, Richmond McGinnes and Francis Roach, it was incorporated in Delaware, but headquartered in Smyrna, Tennessee, initially operating twin-engine Douglas DC-3 and Commandos Curtiss C-46. Military service was an important part of his early history.

In 1954, for example, it was transporting priority cargo for the United States Air Force and two years later it was contracted to transport passengers for the Logistics Air Support Program (LOGAIR).

The Douglas DC-4 and Lockheed L-749A Constellation, its first four-engine pistonliners, facilitated the international expansion of charter flights.

“One (of BOAC’s 749As) had served Capitol Airways, which had three other 749As, the first having been purchased from Avianca in 1957,” according to MJ Hardy in “The Lockheed Constellation” (Arco Publishing Company, 1973, p. 51 ). “The capital then built a fleet of a dozen superconstellations.”

At the end of the decade, its US operations shifted from Tennessee to Wilmington, Delaware’s New Castle Airport.

Constellation’s fleet continued to grow with the acquisition of the first Super, or stretched fuselage, L-1049G in January 1960, which had been produced for Howard Hughes and was delivered to him for the first time four years earlier, on February 24. beginning of a significant number of them.

“In the summer of 1962, Seaboard World Airways leased seven of its Super Constellations (three L-1049Ds and four L-1049Hs) to Capitol Airways, which, exercising a purchase option, eventually purchased two L-1049Ds and one L-1049H. , “according to Hardy (ibid, p. 73).

The Caribbean / Mexican and transatlantic operating authorizations, received respectively on September 30, 1965 and April 5, 1966, allowed it to expand its charter service, whose lower rates were favored by lower operating costs, high daily use of aircraft 12-15 hours, lower overhead, high-density accommodation in a single class, and guaranteed load factors, primarily provided by tour operator bookings.

However, it still provided this service for the military, one of its main contracts involving a transatlantic route from Frankfurt’s Rhein-Main Air Force Base to Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina, with an intermediate stop at the Base. of the Bradley Air National Guard at Windsor Locks. , Connecticut.

Although its fleet of 17 standard and stretched fuselage constellations had been its long-range workhorse over the 14-year period from 1955 to 1968, they began to be replaced in the 1960s with the first powered Douglas DC-8-33s. By JT4A turbojets. The N900CL aircraft, one of these, was initially operated by Pan Am. These were complemented by the JT8D turbofan powered DC-8-54JT Jet Traders, which featured forward, left and upward opening cargo doors, lo that allowed airlines to transport all types of cargo. , all passengers, or mixes of the two on the main deck.

“The introduction of the convertible aircraft led to a new type of customer, the supplemental carrier,” according to Terry Waddington in “Douglas DC-8” (World Transport Press, 1996, p. 52). “The first to place an order was Trans International Airlines (TIA), a specialist in military charter flights …”

1967 turned out to be an important year in the history of the Capitol. On March 21 it went public and the next day it added “international” to its name, thus becoming Capitol International Airways.

The stretched-body DC-8-61s, configured for 252 single-class passengers in a three-to-three arrangement with a single aisle and purchased from Eastern Airlines, soon supplemented the standard-length DC-8-33 and -54, facilitating low seat- mile cost military and civilian charter operations.

In the early 1970s, he moved to Smyrna, Tennessee.

Deregulation served as a threshold for scheduled service. Granted that authority in September 1978, it inaugurated passenger operations to Brussels from New York the following year, on May 5, and from Chicago and Boston on June 19.

Like other international supplementary airlines, such as Trans International (later Transamerica) and World Airways, it applied the formula of low-cost, low-fare, single-class charter flights to the scheduled arena, achieving a low cost per seat per mile and a high profitability of the load factor. and challenge incumbents.

With the “Sky Saver Service” brand, it consistently attracted demand in excess of capacity and sparked explosive growth. Annual passenger totals increased progressively, from 611,400 in 1980 to 1,150,000 in 1981 and 1,824,000 in 1982.

Passengers, unaware of deregulation-shaped carriers whose low fares could only achieve profitability with used planes, high-density seats, and lower-paid non-union employees, often voiced criticism of the no-interline policy of Capitol Air and its refusal to provide meals and hotel rooms during delays and compensation for missed connections with other airlines. However, their rates in the New York-Los Angeles market ranged from $ 149 with no restrictions based on a round-trip purchase to $ 189 one-way, while the unrestricted rates of the major ones in the market remained at the same. $ 450 mark. As a result, Capitol Air’s load factors exceeded 90 percent.

Their JFK ground operations, initially located at the Delta-Northwest Terminal, were mostly manual, with stamped boarding passes, old-fashioned peel-and-stick seating charts, with the selection itself moved from the main check-in counter to an intermediate point. terminal service center and finally to the departure gate: baggage destination tags, handwritten tickets, completed weight and balance sheets, and baggage loading and uncontained cargo. However, the reservation system was computerized (Gabriel I), its call center was located in Garden City, Long Island, and air and hotel packages were offered through its Sky Saver Tour department.

A major change in the carrier’s image occurred in 1981 when Capitol International acquired its first two registered widebody DC-10-10s, N904WA and N905WA, from Western. Configured for 345 single-class passengers in a cabin layout of two-five-two forward and three-four-three, mid and aft, they were deployed transcontinental and in the Caribbean, offering audiovisual entertainment during the flight.

Subsequent acquisitions of the DC-10, seating 360, offered a consistent ten-a-day configuration at all times.

1982 marked several improvements: a name change to the more simplified “Capitol Air”, a relocation to the British Airways Terminal at JFK, an expanded system schedule with flight connections from other airlines, and an update to the Cowboy computerized reservation system from Braniff with extended automated system. functions.

Two other types of aircraft broke the Douglas / McDonnell-Douglas DC-8-61, DC-8-63 and DC-10-10 monopoly: a single Boeing 727-200 registered as N590CA and a single 315-passenger Airbus A300B4-103 . registered D-AHLZ.

Capitol Air advertised itself as “Capitol Air, the lowest fare,” according to its system schedule from December 1, 1982 to March 15, 1983. “Serving the public for 36 years,” he emphasized.

He explained his “Capito Ideas” as follows: “The best possible service with the lowest possible rates: fleet of Super DC-8 and DC-10 widebody aircraft; complimentary meals, snacks and beverages; full bar service ; movies and stereo on all DC-10 and some DC-8 flights (specifically to Zurich to compete with Swissair), duty-free shopping on international flights, modern airport terminals and optimized baggage service. “

He regarded its reach as “the star-studded skies of Capitol Air,” stating that “there are now 13 world capitals, and more to come”: Aguadilla, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Miami. , New York, Philadelphia, Puerto Plata, San Francisco, San Juan and Zurich. “Best of all,” he noted, “Capitol’s Star-Spangled service includes heavenly prices wherever we go.”

It offered daily nonstop flights from JFK to Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in the US, with two roundtrip frequencies to Los Angeles (flights Cl 211 and CL 209) and one stopover via Chicago (flight CL 219); Aguadilla and San Juan, Puerto Rico and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, in the Caribbean, with the San Juan departure sectors operating as Flight CL 215 and CL 217); and Brussels, Frankfurt and Zurich in Europe. Other segments that bypassed the JFK included Chicago-Miami-San Juan, Chicago-Los Angeles, Chicago-San Francisco, and Boston-Philadelphia-San Juan.

He explained his rates as follows: “We were the ones who started it all. Capitol originated the concept of one-class flights, low fares and no restrictions. No advance purchase, no minimum stay, no hassle. And we refuse to be undervalued for this kind of service.

“So we monitor the competition to make sure our fares are always the lowest. And we keep fares low without cutting back on our Star-Spangled service, the kind you always expect on the most expensive airlines.

“How low are the Capitol fees?” I ask. “Our unrestricted daily fares often save you up to 50% compared to economy class on other airlines. That’s right, we said economy, not first class. No wonder Capitol is the best buy in heaven where! whether we fly! that. “

Capitol’s successful low-cost, full-service challenge to major airlines such as American, TWA and United in the US, as well as Lufthansa, Sabena and Swissair across the Atlantic, was brief, as they temporarily went down yours. rates to retain or regain market share, forcing it to serve niche routes without competition, such as Aguadilla and Puerto Plata. But incumbents eventually made inroads into these markets.

George Batchelor, the last owner of Capitol Air, progressively transferred assets to Arrow Air, an airline that had in turn moved from charter service to scheduled service and was also under his financial control, leaving Capitol Air employees without paychecks. payment for several weeks.

Finally, now dismantled and in debt, he was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and on November 23, 1984 ceased operations, ending a 38-year career as a charter and regular passenger carrier.

Article sources

Capitol Air System schedule, December 1, 1982 – March 15, 1983.

Hardy, MJ “The Lockheed Constellation”. New York: Arco Publishing Company, Inc., 1973.

Waddington, Terry. “Douglas DC-8”. Miami: World Transport Press, 1996.

Sports

College Football 2007: There are poll hopefuls, 9 of the top 25 teams get a reality check

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(Editor’s note: All rankings used in this article are from the AP Top 25 survey and all equipment rankings used are from Sagarin, the gold standard among ranking services.)

In the world of college football there are hopefuls and hopefuls. Nine of the top 25 AP teams and 3 of the top 5 received a reality check over the weekend.

Was I surprised by this annual occurrence? Hardly. When you start to analyze how some of the teams started the week 4-0 and ended it 4-1, it’s as easy to see as your face in a mirror. Reality has a way of revealing all wrinkles and weaknesses.

For the former, there are the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners who lost a Big 12 Conference game 27-24 by a last-second field goal in Colorado to the Buffalos. Oklahoma fell to No. 10 in the Top 25.

The Sooners rose to their lofty No. 3 spot by beating No. 170 in North Texas, 145 in Utah, 58 in Tulsa and 44 in Miami, FL. His offense scored great for everyone, but his schedule strength was only the 100th best in the country.

Urban Meyer and his defending national champion Florida Gators did not fare better. They lost 20-17 by a home field goal to Auburn in an SEC Conference game. Florida was behind 17-3 entering the fourth quarter.

The loss snapped an 11-game winning streak for the Gators who suffered their first loss at home to Urban Meyer. Meyer’s team had won 18 straight home games, 17 since Meyer took office in 2005.

The Gators reached their No. 4 ranking by getting the best of No. 110 Western Kentucky, No. 85 Mississippi, No. 77 Troy and No. 32 Tennessee, an SEC opponent. Beating Tennessee is what lifted Florida up the rankings. Florida fell to No. 9 in the rankings.

No. 5 West Virginia collided with No. 18 South Florida in a Big East matchup in South Florida and lost 21-13. Coach Jim Leavitt and his South Florida Bulls are fast becoming the team no one wants to face and the history of college football season.

West Virginia fell from No. 5 to No. 13 in the rankings, while South Florida climbed from No. 18 to No. 6.

West Virginia rose to its No. 5 spot by defeating No. 129 Marshall, No. 94 in West Michigan, No. 74 in East Carolina and No. 51 in Maryland. Mountaineer fans who hoped West Virginia would remain undefeated this year and win the national title must regroup.

No. 7 Texas really got caught and embarrassed at home against Kansas State in another Big 12 game when the Wildcats dropped the Longhorns, 41-21. I have been questioning the stature of Texas since the beginning of the year and now my suspicions have been validated.

Texas went 4-0 by defeating Rice No. 162, Arkansas State No. 100, Central Florida No. 73 and TCU No. 54. Particularly revealing was Central Florida, which Texas beat by a field goal while yielding 32 points. Texas, which is ranked 25th by Sagarin, fell to 19th, a much more realistic place for the Longhorns to relax.

No. 10 Rutgers, the Big East favorites, were upset at home by Maryland 34-24, and fell to No. 21. I think Rutgers will soon come out of the Top 25 as two 5-0 teams in the Big East. -No. 20 Cincinnati and Connecticut not ranked – are being overlooked.

Rutgers rose to No. 10 by beating No. 208 AA Norfolk State, No. 142 Buffalo and No. 68 Navy. Good grief, talk about an unconvincing schedule. They have what they deserve.

Sagarin ranks Rutgers 38th; even that seems high to me right now.

No. 11 Oregon played host to No. 6 California in a Pac 10 showdown and led 14-10 going into the 4th quarter, but the Bears scored three touchdowns in the final 15 minutes to knock them out, 31-24.

Worse still, the Ducks’ Cameron Colvin scored what appeared to be the tying touchdown in the closing seconds, but fumbled and the ball went out of the end zone, giving California a touchback and a win when reviewed. the play. Duck fans at Autzen Stadium realized that the errant play could have cost them a national championship down the road.

Oregon fell to No. 14 in the Top 25 and California climbed from No. 6 to No. 3.

No. 13 Clemson traveled to Georgia Tech and watched his dream season begin to unravel as the Yellow Jacket defense held the Tigers on a field goal to win, 13-3. Clemson fell to number 22.

The Tigers broke into the Top 25 by managing No. 154 AA Furman, No. 133 Louisiana-Monroe, No. 87 from North Carolina State and No. 21 from Florida State. Clemson rose through the ranks by beating No. 21 Florida State 24-18 in his first game.

Sagarin ranks Clemson 34th, nowhere near the Top 25. Clemson could break out of the Top 25 in no time.

Joe Paterno’s No. 21 Penn State Nittany Lions started the season 3-0 before losing to a rejuvenated Michigan at the Big House, 14-9, and now loses his second Big 10 game to Illinois 27-20 in Illinois.

Going on the road in the Big 10 Conference games has suddenly become difficult for Penn State as it came out of the Top 25.

Again, Penn State began its season by racking up scores in the Division 1-A worst school in college football, No. 171 Florida International, the seventh worst team in Division 1-A, No. 142 Buffalo and the seemingly hapless No. 95 and Winless Notre Dame. What were those Happy Valley fans thinking? A national championship? Think again.

No. 22 Alabama was the ninth of the top 25 teams to lose when first-year coach Nick Saban and his Crimson Tide visited Florida State and lost 21-14. Alabama dropped out of the Top 25 after arriving just a week earlier. Sagarin now ranks Alabama at 39th.

I thought Saban could have kept Alabama on the rise; Now I have to readjust my expectations for Crimson Tide.

And so the nasty 9s (Oklahoma, Florida, West Virginia, Texas, Rutgers, Oregon, Clemson, Penn State, and Alabama) all fell, but the USC No. 1 Trojans managed to escape by just defeating Washington at Husky Stadium. with a field goal 27. -24.

USC committed 16 penalties, threw 2 interceptions, fumbled and suffered a blocked punt, yet prevailed to retain their perfect 5-0 record. The 2-3 Washington Huskies aren’t exactly a powerhouse, however they are ranked No. 27 by Sagarin, not bad at all.

Being so unimpressive, USC slipped to No. 2 when the LSU Tigers took first place.

LSU edged out Tulane, their No. 144 state rival, 34-9, after smashing No. 57 Mississippi State 45-0, No. 28 Virginia Tech 48-7 and No. 125 Middle Tennessee 44-0. LSU’s best win came at home against No. 17 from South Carolina 28-16. Sagarin ranks LSU No. 1 in the country.

Only one other game really caught my eye and that was Wisconsin No. 9, which saw Michigan State 34 points and then won by a field goal at home. The Badgers rose to No. 5 in the top 25.

I still think Wisconsin is not that great. Sagarin ranks Wisconsin 24th. The Badgers still have road games at Illinois, Penn State and Ohio State, and then host Michigan. After those 4 games, I doubt Wisconsin is 11-0 in their last game in Minnesota.

Teams in the Top 25 start to lose at this point in the season because they deliberately schedule weak teams early on to give their players confidence, climb the Top 25 rankings, give their boosters hope, and draw attention to their programs.

Once the conference game starts, the mess is over, as the nasty 9 discovered over the weekend.

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Tours Travel

How to tell if Native American pottery is authentic

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If you are a collector or interested in specific types of art, then you know how important it is to get authentic pieces. You don’t want to pay a ton of money for something that isn’t even genuine. For Native American pottery, there are specific things you can look for to make sure you get a piece that was created by an actual Native American. Before buying anything, you should check if there is a signature on the piece.

If there is a signature on the piece, you can be sure that it is not authentic Native American pottery. American Indians did not sign their artwork, and people who really collect art know it. That is the easiest to detect. The next thing to keep in mind is perfection. If the part looks very new and has no flaws, it is probably not real. The pieces that have survived may be in good shape, but if there are no scratches or chips in the paint, you probably don’t have an actual piece.

Beyond the two aforementioned signs that these are Native American ceramic replicas, what else can you look for? The only other way to determine if you have a genuine piece unless you take it to someone for an appraisal is to have a decent understanding of the tribe that supposedly created the piece. If you are dealing with the Navajo Indians, for example, you won’t expect to see the same horse motifs that were common with the Cherokee Indians.

So while you can really enjoy Native American pottery and art regardless of whether it’s real or authentic, it definitely helps to be able to know if you should invest a lot of money in a piece. These simple steps will make it easy to select the right types of art for your home, and you never have to worry about buying something scam if you’re careful.

Arts Entertainments

Apple’s smartphone market strategy is key to its continued success

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In the second quarter of 2020, Apple It was the third largest smartphone supplier in the world, with 13.5% of the global smartphone market, slightly above the first quarter. Today, Apple is a follower, not a leader in that market. The company follows a strategy of anticipating customer needs and wants and producing high-quality products to satisfy them. Stay close to customers and provide useful and fun products and services for customers.

Apple’s smartphone strategy

Steve Jobs’ Apple produced the Macintosh computer in 1984 for use by ordinary people, not experts. Later, Apple ousted Jobs and developed the Newton in 1993, an outstanding PDA ahead of its time. I have two working Newtons, which could have announced the iPad years earlier if they continued.

When Jobs returned to Apple, he removed many irrelevant products, focused on Apple, and began Apple’s revival with the iPod in 2001. And in one of the biggest product launches ever, Steve Jobs launched the iPhone at Macworld on January 9, 2007.

Then came the iPad in 2010, and perhaps the biggest addition to the healthcare device market, the Apple Watch in 2014. Meanwhile, Apple continues to introduce laptops, desktops, and is working on a self-driving car.

Apple was undoubtedly a leader in the smartphone market before. So effective were the early days of the iPhone, Blackberry (To form Research in motion) did not recognize the power of the iPhone and later Blackberry went bankrupt after dominating the smartphone business market.

Where we are today Apple is a follower in the smartphone market, a strategy it seems to have adopted. This approach seems to be working. Although you are making big profits from your services, smart watch, and other products, the iPhone will be a centerpiece of your business for some time to come. So what should you do to stay competitive in the highly competitive smartphone market?

Differentiate yourself in the smartphone market

  1. Stay close to customers and don’t follow Samsung or other leaders. Apple must foresee needs and wants of customers and provide products to satisfy them. Following Samsung or other smartphone leaders means that Apple would use their assumptions and market intelligence, which may or may not be good in the long run. Strategy is about options: what to do and what not to do. Apple must choose the markets it will enter and the markets it will exist in, always with a long-term vision.
  2. Provide superior customer service, but put employees ahead of customers. Empower employees, empower them, avoid bureaucracy, treat them well and fairly. Adopt South west and FedEx ‘ Getting closer: Employees first, customers second, shareholders third. When we treat employees well, employees will provide exemplary service to customers. It’s about customers!
  3. Stay within core competencies and focus the company’s resources in those areas of competence. Is the adventure in the autonomous vehicle market a distraction? Before the return of Steve Jobs in 1997, Apple diversified in many areas and was on the verge of bankruptcy. Steve refocused the companies to a few products in their areas of expertise. With so much cash at its disposal, it could tempt Apple to shy away from its powers. Money should never lead decisions! Money is the source of funding for decisions, nothing more. This is a crucial consideration for companies like Apple, with excess cash. Apple should not diversify because it “can” and distract from its competencies. It must diversify because it “should”.

The smartphone has become a commodity and it will be difficult to create a niche market. Chasing a The product differentiation strategy is the only viable approach to remain competitive.. Having a faster iPhone that takes better photos will not be enough. Apple must transform the iPhone to perform functions that we cannot imagine today, otherwise a commodified iPhone will become a lower-margin product, diminishing market share with other smartphones.