International Business Meanderings

Contrary to popular belief, tax rates are not extortionate in France. A bit high, maybe, but nothing to howl at too much.

No, what really hurts the entrepreneur, the businessperson or the self employed are the dreaded cotisations. They do exist elsewhere, of course: social security, health insurance, state pension, etc. [Read more →]

The great British b&b is alive and well in Normandy. Within easy reach of Mont Saint Michel, the WWII landing beaches and even Le Mans if you like auto racing, La Rieudière is a charming English b&b, run by a charming lady, Judy.

All the rooms are en-suite and the house features free broadband connexion and UK satellite TV. Check out La Rieudière!

I am getting lots of contact these days from Offshore development companies - mostly from China and India - who want “business partnerships” to enter European markets.

Fair enough, that’s what I do.

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northen Ireland is a great place to do business in, certainly the finest in western Europe. But when, as a citizen of that great world and sea-faring country you need your passport renewed, it costs you 176 Euros! That is an amazing amount of money to pay to prove you are a citizen of your very own country!

I’ve had my Palm Treo 680 smartphone for over 3 months now. Used it every day for business and pleasure.

It’s no good. I can’t recommend it. My first Treo (a 270) was an amazing machine and its flip lid made me fel like captain Kirk. This one, doesn’t. No doubt it is more powerful, sleeker, but it simply doesn’t work as well. Add to that the fact that the free software that made Palm OS great is all but replaced by rubbish pay-ware and you have a huge disappointment.

Specifics? sure.

Positive point, it got drowned and woke up again. (So did a 5+ year old Nokia basicphone).

Less positive?

• Reception is not great;
• it hangs and has to be rebooted fairly often… and ALWAYS at the wrong time
• Maybe I’m getting hard of hearing in my old age, but why doesn’t that affect any of my other phones?
• And worst of all.. it makes me miss my Windows-mobile-based phone! Nice one Palm!

I don’t like it. I am looking for a new phone just as soon as decently I can.

This is not a new discussion, but I am faced with this question. Can a real world presence help your online sales. When the item you are selling is aimed at “real people”, not gadget heads like me.

Does it help to see the product on a shelf, to get people to buy? In a strange twist, I am considering having an in-store purchase leading to on-line fulfilment. It is not new, prepaid phone cards and French ISP’s use this model.

There is no purpose in having our own stores, but placing the items on a specialised stores’ shelf might well be a way to drive more people to completion.

If you have any comments on this… Let me know, I’d be glad to have your thoughts.

It’s always an exciting moment when the work we’ve been doing for a client starts to pay off. It’s a special day.

The trouble with doing international business via internet is that you can’t say to your client… I’m taking you out to lunch, or turn up with a cold bottle of Champagne.

Today is a big day for one of my clients, a real turning point. Way to go, John!

I had to go to England the day after I got my new Treo smartphone, and I got caught in a heavy downpour. A REALLY heavy downpour. Fortunately… or maybe not, I was wearing good waterproof raingear.

On getting back to the hotel, I found that my wonderfully waterproof pocket had filled up with water and that my Treo was also full of water, and looking really dead. Fortunately I had once rescued a laptop from a drenching, so here is the method I use. Try this before panicking:

• Do not try to switch the device on
• Unplug it, take out the battery, drain and wipe as much of the water as you can… do not try to open the device though, in case of later warranty claims.
• Leave it all to dry out, take your time. Now this can take several days, unassisted, so I place a towel on a radiator and the device on that (of course, this doesn’t work in summer).
• Leave it for at least 12 hours… Overnight or something. The next day, plug it in without the battery (some devices won’t work off the mains), you may find that it all restarts nicely.
• Next, switch it off, put in the battery and leave it to charge for several hours.

If you are lucky, your machine will be back online, looking and feeling none the worse for wear.

For a week afterwards, there was a damp patch on the screen of my Treo, each day getting smaller, but it did not affect operations, and now, it’s fine. No trace of the problem.

Phew! I hope it works for you too.

I do like my toys. I have just purchased a new Palm Treo 680.

I’ve had several smartphones starting years ago with a Treo 270 (I think). I was quite sad when the backlight went but, true to form, rather than getting it mended, I got myself a new phone, a Windows mobile powered one. I liked that phone but as time went on, I got more frustrated with it and two things in particular: one was the inability to change a diary entry on the device… Now what is the point of a mobile device aimed at business people where you can’t change the time of a meeting until you are back at your PC?

The other thing was the perennial problem with Windows devices. When the thing crashed (not very often actually) or when you have to reboot it, it takes forever to restart. 4 1/2 minutes! Now that does not sound like a lot, until you are expecting a phone call, or trying to get through to someone, not to mention checking your diary in front of a client.

I’m rather happy with my Treo. I do wish it had wifi capability, but it’s OK without and the PIM is considerably better than that on the Windows device and of course you have a real keyboard… Amazing for us fossils for whom T9 is a real pain.

I’ll write more about the Treo 680 as I find useful things to do with it.

Briefly joining Rugby Fever to congratulate England on a deserved victory over France in Paris last night.

England played well, France didn’t. End of story.