iPad, iPad Battery, IGN Entertainment, EndStream Communications, Hall Automotive

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David Sims
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iPad, iPad Battery, IGN Entertainment, EndStream Communications, Hall Automotive

No we don't have an iPad, they don't hit New Zealand for a few weeks yet. But some of you do. And those of us whose iron-clad policy is to never buy any first-generation Apple anything would like to thank all you bleeding-edge first adopters, without whom the wonderfully bug-free Apple products we buy wouldn't be possible.
Ben Patterson is just such a guy, willing to deal with first-generation Apple technology so we don't have to. His report from the front lines?
It's fast. "Applications literally fly open, and browsing the Web on Safari is way faster than on the iPhone," he says.
Read more here.
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... Casting around desperately for a somewhat mildly original angle on the iPad... hey did you know that you can rearrange the letters of "iPad" to spell "Paid?"
Okay, still looking... hey how about that battery, huh?
Gizmodo's impressed with the typically thorough dissection iFixit did on their teardown of the iPad. Evidently iFixit found that "the iPad power source is made up of two batteries that are each roughly the same size as that found in the iPhone. The kicker? Each has 2.5x the capacity."
Yes the iPad needs a lot more power - "Overall, the iPad has 5x the power capacity of the iPhone.," Gizmodo says - but this matters to you iPhoners and iPod Touchers who are either never going to get an iPad or who follow the cardinal rule of tech: Never, ever buy the first generation Apple anything: Imagine your iPod Touch or iPhone's battery life increased two and a half times.
Read more here.
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U.S. alone, computer and videogame software sales topped $11.7 billion in 2008. Millions of gaming fans, online looking for content, news and tips, and lots go to IGN Entertainment sites.
A unit of Fox Interactive Media, IGN is an Internet media and services provider with news, reviews, videos, previews and forums. Not shockingly, IGN sites attract one of the largest concentrated - and licitly-counted - audiences of young males online.
In a given month, tens of millions of unique users visit one of IGN's targeted sites, which include IGN.com, GameSpy.com, Direct2Drive.com and AskMen.com. Across all sites, the company's customer service department fields 12,000 support inquiries every month.
Read more here.
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A few years back, Virginia Beach's Hall Automotive, one of the fifty largest new car dealerships in America, centralized its sales- and marketing-related customer contact activity within a single corporate call center.
And it's not your run-of-the-mill auto dealership contact center - it handles an estimated 300 toll free numbers, many of which are associated with a specific dealership location and its specific marketing campaigns, promotional programs or functional groups.
During the first five months of operation, the group was handling about 1,700 inbound calls and placed about 11,000 outbound calls per month on behalf of nine of their 16 stores.
"We spend over $10 million annually on advertising and 60 percent of our business is repeat business. We dominate in our market," said Randy Brobston, business development director for Hall Automotive and senior manager in charge of the call center.
Read more here.
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EndStream Communications is a carrier focusing on VoIP and telecommunications for "the wholesale, enterprise and middle markets," company officials say.
TMC's Erik Linask sat down for an interview at ITEXPO West in Los Angeles with Erik Levitt, CEO of EndStream and asked Levitt what was driving the significant growth in the wholesale market.
Noting that "there are a lot of drivers," Levitt pointed specifically to growth in the international markets "as prices come down, and changes in pricing plans" as allowing pretty much anybody to call places like "India, Brazil, Poland or Thailand" on a regular basis with rates "at the subpenny level."
Read more here


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