Montreux Grand Prix 2014. A Successful 80th anniversary

Sebastien Eich
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0
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Montreux, in the heart of the Swiss Riviera and on the shores Lake Geneva, hosted from the 4th to the 7th September the 80th Montreux Grand Prix.

Around 150 extraordinary cars dating from the pre-wars years to the 80’s were exposed and admired by 30.000 crowd.

They rode on the mountains during the historic Montreux Rally in Gruyere and raced the famous “Revival Montreux Caux”.
An incredible circuit was reproduced on the streets of the city, very similar to the one of 1934.
Many families were here to hear motors sounds, sit in exhibition runs and elegance contest.

MontreuxGrandPrix_2014_2

French pilot Sebastien Loeb, 9 times World Rally Champion, was invited with Guy Frequelin, vice world champion with Jean Todt and owner of Citroen Sport.
They enjoy spectators making many “Doughnuts” with the Citroen DS3 WRC.

MontreuxGrandPrix_2014_3

Most remarkables cars were:
– Alfa Romeo 1924 that belonged to Enzo Ferrari
– Alfa Romeo owned by Fangio
– March 712M 1971 owned by the Frank Williams Team
– 5 F1 Ferraris including those of Michel Schumacher (2005), Nikki Lauda, Jacky Ickx and Alain Prost…

MontreuxGrandPrix_2014_4

This event was greatly organized by Ezio Vialmin and its committee. Luxury cars brands like Ferrari, Maserati and also by the Swiss watch Brand Hublot (LVMH Group) were associated for the success of this edition.

MontreuxGrandPrix_2014

Sebastien Eich

Info sourced by the author for Luxuryactivist.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Apple Watch, who is going to lose the battle?

Sebastien Eich
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0
Reading Time: 4 minutes

This week Apple is boosting the buzz around the iWatch. Switzerland is looking into this launch with a very close eye. The entire Swiss watch-making industry wonders what and how Apple is tackling the wearable market. When the Timepiece industry lost 2/3 of its employees after the “Quartz crisis” end of the 70’s, it is a nightmare that nobody wants to revive again.
The smart-watch segment is not new, but the speed in which several high-tech brands are moving forward now, let Swiss Watch-makers a little concerned. For the moment, Samsung, Peeble, Motorola and others Nike or Suunto, never succeeded to build a convenient watch. All of them were just an electronic device you would use on your wrist during certain occasions in certain contexts. Now, all eyes are turned to Apple. Will they succeed where everybody failed?

The Apple Watch will not replace your beautiful watch

Why do we wear a wrist-watch? Of course the obvious answer is: “to know what time is it”. But in this case, if the only motivation to wear a wrist-watch was to see time, probably we would be missing a big percentage of people. The online hightech website lifehacker.com did an online survey, asking people if they still wear a wrist-watch. Over a sample of 8’000 people, 62% of them answered: all the time. 24% answered that they use their
Phones to see time and 15% declared they use wrist-watches only when they dress-up.
These results are interesting. The first one, shows that many people (among a digital audience) is still wearing a wrist watch. Very often because it is easier to check the wrist rather than pulling the phone from your pocket. And if you have no batteries left on your phone, you have at least the time and sometimes the date on your wrist.
Nevertheless almost a quarter of people use their mobile phone. And this figure increased year by year, especially with the smartphone’s democratization. According to another online survey this time done by mashable.com, a smartphone user checks his phone up to 250 times during the day. This is 15 times in one hour (more than your wrist watch). People check their emails, news, social networks, weather forecast, transport timetables, etc. you are fine to forget wearing deodorant during that day but you would dye 3 hours without your smartphone. Modern times.
Last but not least, 14% would wear a watch when they dress-up. Indeed watches are often used as jewelry. It will finish your formal look with a touch of elegance. Nobody would attend to a gala diner with a Peeble watch on the wrist, unless you work at Peeble and it is a gala diner at Peeble ;-). You would probably wear your nice elegant non-digital watch. There is also a matter of social status in which your wrist-watch will be the ambassador. This is true for everybody and especially men. When you graduates from university, your grand-parents will not offer you a smart-watch to celebrate that.
When you finally made it with your start-up and that you became a respectful businessman, you will not buy to yourself a smart-watch. When you get married or you have your first baby born, you will not mark that day on the back of a smart-watch. For all these reasons and many others, brands like Omega, Tag Heuer or Longines will last for ever. Of course we are talking here about watches above $6’000.
Would you replace your Digital and/or quartz watch that costed you less than $1’000 for a iWatch? Probably.

The Apple Watch might make people love wearing a wrist-watch again

Some CEOs of most reputable companies in the Swiss Watch-making industry might see the iWatch as a good thing. In deed, remember that lifehacker.com discovery that 24% of people asked would not wear a wrist-watch? Well, what if the iWatch would bring time back to wrists? All those people who would not care wearing a wrist-watch, would then get used to wear one. And potentially, would buy a proper wrist-watch for special occasions, sports or for work afterwards. In a way, the iWatch could recruit people or to rescue people from bare wrists. Is there any parallel to make between the Quartz revolution and the smart-watches? Not really. The first one was and still is a watch-maker story. The second one is a story about high-tech. The foundation is different and the main actors of these 2 segments are completely different.

Watch out then.
LA

APPLE-WATCH

Info sourced at lifehacker.com, mashable, the New York times and wikipedia. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Christian Fischbacher, winter is warm-hearted.

LuxuryActivist
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Reading Time: 5 minutes

Switzerland will always surprise you with the outstanding quality of their companies and know-how. A while ago we spoke about CHRISTIAN FISCHBACHER textiles and fine linens. They are probably one of the best companies in all Switzerland to provide you with high quality of home and bed fabrics since 1819.  For next fall-winter season, the St. Gallen luxury house presents a very elegant and original collection. 3 main themes which structures the new bed collection. Once again, Christian Fischbacher explored the endless universe of graphic design, color and illustration. Under the Artistic Direction of Camilla Fischbacher, this new collection would almost make you wish Summer should be over!

CONTEMPORARY OPULENCE – MODERNE OPULENZ

This theme gathers an interesting contrast of rich and extravagant floral prints with modern essentiality. Shades of Gold, Silver and cream shine in new soft tonalities. Nature expresses itself with colors, from discrete to intense and luxurious.

Contemporary-Opulence

Ornament_A32.305_BF_300

 

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 PAPERWORK – PAPIERKUNST

Folded paper in various structures, graphical designs and elements of the architecture were the inspiration sources for the trend PAPER WORK. Delicate gradients in beige and gray with accents in pastel give a creative mix of poetry and casual urbanity. In combination with the Uni-designs of SATIN SELECTION PREMIUM SATIN SATIN and UNI themselves offer versatility in modern and classical interior. Here below some of the collection variants. Other existing references are available as well.

Paperwork

Collage_A28.301_BF_300

Plic_A25.217_Buegelfoto_300

Plic_A25.305_Buegelfoto_300

RAY OF LIGHT – SPIEL DES LICHTS

Unique color games, the magic of light and shadow, floral prints as floral artwork. RAY OF LIGHT domestic flower designs as poetic watercolor and photographic interpretation. The coloring of PREMIUM SATIN SATIN UNI and achieve a discreet quiet or exciting-pulsating mood depending on color choice.

Ray-of-Light

Breeze_A27.841_BF_L_300

Glyzinie_A31.010_BF_L_300

Christian Fischbacher brings a very contemporary vision of home fabrics. While many others would keep things as they are, every new collection of the St Gallen company is a new discovery. They also launched their new collection of Pillow cases called PILLOW TALK. This is what the brand says about the new collection: “Who is not familiar with the amusing comedy with Doris Day and Rock Hudson that share a phone line in the New York of the 1950s? Charming pillow talk is omnipresent. The designs of the line PILLOW TALK are made ​​from our cotton qualities “Easy Satin” and “Jacquard Tumbled”. All designs are available in natural color and in gray and blue and can be perfectly combined with each other. TOY BOY, PERFECT LOVER and WHISPER are used on both sides. The quality of “Tumbled Jacquard” by BET WEEN THE SHEETS and GOODNIGHT KISS, iron and transforms any bed into a cozy retreat.”

Christian-Fischbacher-mood-collection

Several themes are proposed: Toy Boy, Perfect Lover, Whisper, Between the sheets and Goodnight kiss. Each theme has its own universe. Here some of the highlights of this very sensual and classy collection under the name “Pillow Talk”.

Christian-Fischbacher-Good-night-kiss

Christian-Fischbacher-Perfect-Lover

TOY BOY – Classic with bright details

A classic pinstripe suit provided the inspiration for Reversible duvet TOY BOY. Our quality “Easy Satin” can be used on both sides and presents the one hand, bright shiny or matt dark. Just as it pleases one. Choose from seven natural colors such. B. Fresh Milk (ecru), Oatmeal (beige), Coffee to Go (brown) or Winter Fog (dark gray). Color stitching and button holes act as surprising accents and give the classically inspired design its sporty character.

Perfect.Lover_P03.095_pillow_300

Toy.Boy_P02.075_pillow_300

Whisper – discretion and cosy elegance

Without stripes and checks is the reversible bed linen in our “Easy Satin” quality to WHISPER. The restrained discrete Uni confident in all seven natural colors such. B. Fresh Milk (ecru), Oatmeal (beige), Coffee to Go (brown) or Winter Fog (dark gray). The contrasting topstitching and buttonholes are a sporty design language. WHISPER is also available as a fitted sheet in Fresh Milk (ecru) and is suitable for all styles of line PILLOW TALK.

Whisper_P01.005_pillow_300

Between the sheets – Jacquard is a must

The design of the casual structured Unis BETWEEN THE SHEETS reminiscent of a patinated surface. The quality of “Tumbled Jacquard” is yarn dyed and washed by the equipment receives the cotton its distinctive look, which is the hallmark of this young line. BET WEEN THE SHEETS color is in Oatmeal (beige) and Sky Blue (light blue) available. Playground fun is inevitable: All designs the line PILLOW TALK are combinable.

Between.The.Sheets_P05.056_pillow_300

One season again, Christian Fischbacher amazes us with an incredible blend of elegance, sensuality and comfort. Every detail is as important as the major elements of this amazing Autumn-Winter collection. If you wish to read more about Christian Fischbacher and the new incoming collection, you can visit the official website:
http://www.fischbacher.com

When Winter is calling, a good dressed bed is the best thing you can dream of.

LA

 

Info sourced at Christian Fischbacher official communication release. All images from Christian Fischbacher. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. 

Friday Chronicle #8: Mona Lisa Smile – WTF!

LuxuryActivist
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1
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Politicians will always surprise us in how creative they can be to solve economic crisis. Some of them tried to raise taxes. It works up to a certain stage. Others tried to make taxes lower. Again, it has its own restrictions. And others, well, decided to sell their treasures in terms of Art collection. Like the French government who dares thinking ti sell Leonardo Da Vinci Mona Lisa. Really??? What would Katherine Watson think about it?

Art should not be for sale, like the human spirit

The on going increase of private art collections are bringing a game change in the art museums landscape. This year, art donation from private owners to public museums dropped by almost 6% while art auctions are amazingly increasing. Today, museums cannot fight anymore against private collectors. The Fine art auction market is not new. It all started in the 17th century and for centuries it was a small and very secret market made of passionate people and museums.

It was in the 1980’s where the explosion of the market started. Industrial and financial fortunes started investing in art as inflation and banks bankruptcy would not represent good news for those billionaires money. In 2007, the fine art auction market crossed the line of US$1 billion and since then there is no limit anymore. When a Francis Bacon triptych reached US$ 142 million, then we started realizing the problem. The art market is populated with billionaires from all over the world who are looking desperately to invest their money. Amazing art pieces that will probably never see the light of an exhibition hall, so it will be lost for generations of people.

Public museums are struggling while Private museums are shining

For Katherine Watson in the movie Mona Lisa smile, nothing is more precious than freedom. By letting the art collections going private, it is a big blockage in terms of human heritage. Several art private collectors are even thinking to open their own private museums rather than donate or rent their art pieces to public museums. That’s the case of Alice Walton, heiress of the Wall-mart fortune. Don Fischer, founder of GAP is also working in a private museum project. Do not see in this only a philanthropic motivation. In certain countries like the USA, there are laws about tax exonerations if a donation to a museum is accomplished. According to philanthropynewsdigest.org there would be even cases of art private collectors who would cut deals with certain museums. They would “donate” certain art pieces while the objects would remain at their own private homes.

Selling art to pay the bills

For ages, rich families with money problems would solve their issues by selling family jewelry and art pieces. It is a common thing. By the way that was how several public museums would acquire beautiful pieces of artwork. Now the new trend is for Governments to do it as well. This is not new but recently the news fired up the fact French Government would sell Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa. Sacrilege! In 1962, Mona Lisa was evaluated at US$ 100 million. This was before a art tour in the USA. As insurance companies needed to evaluate the value of Da Vinci’s work, this estimation was ordered.

52 years later, some experts say the painting is priceless!!! Others would evaluate Mona Lisa around US$ 1 Billion. Impossible to sell? Not really. When you think that all Billionaires around the world accumulate US$ 1 Trillion, what is one billion today? Peanuts. When you see the American high-tech company Facebook spend US$ 17 billion to buy the App company What’s up, it would not be a problem to pay just one billion. Why France would sell such a valuable piece or art? Even if the sale price would reach US$ 1 billion, the entire French debt reaches today 2’000 billion. So it would be a drop in the Ocean.

monalisa-for-sale

Other governments and states have used this strategy to pay their debts. In 2013, the city of Detroit in the USA was on the limits of bankruptcy and decided to sell the main collections of the Detroit Institute of arts. From Van Gogh to Picasso, they raised US$ 11 billion, which allowed to pay the city debt. Portugal is about to sell 85 art pieces from the famous Spanish painter Joan Miró. For a total of € 36 million it would be the largest auction for the painter. In this case, we are not sure it would help the Portuguese state as their debt is around € 210 billion.

So everybody is now waiting for the French decision. For centuries, France was the protector of arts. It is also why Leonardo da Vinci went to live in France. After being blocked in many ways by the Medici family, thr artist decided to be under the protection of the French king François 1er. He crossed the Alps on a donkey in 1516 and he carried with him the Mona Lisa painting. Now, almost 500 years after, France would sell the precious treasure of Leonardo da Vinci? Rude. We hope that France will give the example and be truthful to its engagements even 5 centuries later.

LA

mona-lisa-smile

Info sourced at France24 and Wikipedia. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Blancpain Villeret Ultraplate, essential luxury in 3.37mm.

Sebastien Eich
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0
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Blancpain is one of the golden names of Swiss Watch-making. Over the years, their complete mastery of the creation and production control provided to the brand a comfortable freedom of creation. One of the fruits of this freedom was the creation of an ultra-slim mechanism, 3.37mm only. You can find it in the Villeret Ultra-plate.
Blancpain Villeret ultraplate

Villeret, a piece of history and a great watch collection

Villeret is the name of Blancpain home-town. Placed in the middle of Joux valley, the watchmakers valley, Villeret developed partially thanks to Blancpain and the complementary activities.
Founded in 1735 by Jean-Jacques Blancpain, Blancpain is the oldest Swiss Watch brand. Several generations of the Blancpain family successfully established the brand throught time until 1932, where the Blancpain lignee stopped with Frédéric-Emile Blancpain death. Employees of the company proudly took over until they sold the brand to
Jean-Claude Biever and Jacques Piguet in 1983. It is also the time in which the brand moved from Villeret to Le Brassus. At this point the brand is dedicated to high-end luxury watches with mechanical movements. Blancpain never manufactured Quartz movements and kept the prestige positioning. In 1992, Blancpain is acquired by The Swatch group and represents the top brand, together with Jacquet Droz. Today it is Marc Alexander Hayek who is the CEO of Blancpain.

Marc-Hayek

Here is what he says about the brand today: “Over the last six years, our Manufacture has launched eighteen new calibres, testimony to the remarkable creative spirit of our workers. Whether destined for a Carrousel Répétition Minutes, a Quantième Annuel GMT or a tourbillon with its power reserve incorporated into the oscillating weight, every component of our movements, even if hidden, is hand-decorated by our artist engravers employing traditional skills.”

blancpain-manufacture
Blancpain does not let randomness to its work. Every single detail is treated as a main item of the watch. And this mastery and hard work make Blancpain watches one of the best in the world.

Villeret Ultraplate, slim is a luxury

Blancpain is constantly innovating. By mastering the art of watch-making, the Swiss brand became an icon of elegance, performance and luxury. With the Villeret Ultraplate, Blancpain created one of the slimmest mechanical movement in the world with 3.37mm. It is the Blancpain caliber 1151. With 210 components, a silicon balance spring and 28 jewels, this slim self-winding mechanism offer an amazing 100 hours power reserve. It is shelted in a 40mm steel case with a water resistance of 3 bar (20meters). Its Alligator strap will dress this watch with a touch of refined elegance.

Blancpain-villeret-ultraplat

Blancpain wrote its history with golden letters and stay true to the spirit of 1735. Their philosophy of manufacturing the best timepieces they can produce is still there and makes this brand an unique jewel of Swiss watch-making.

LA

Info sourced at Blancpain website and Dictionnaire du Jura. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available

Add a Touch of Class and Sophistication with these Respected Luxury Appliance Brands

LuxuryActivist
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Reading Time: 3 minutes

When looking to add a touch of sophistication to your home, ‘quintessence’ is the word and great luxury appliances the way to go. However, if you are wondering where to start, the following list of popular luxury brands should help set you in the right direction:

AGA

AGA is an abbreviation for Aktiebolaget Gas Accumulator. The company is mostly known for producing magnificent cookers and heat storage stoves, although it also makes ventilation hoods, refrigeration products and dishwashers. That said, the inventor of the Aga cooker was a Swedish by the name, Gustaf Dalen. He was a physicist by profession and the founder of the Aga company. The brand’s products are not only made and designed to last, but also to add that classic ambiance to your kitchen.

Miele

miele

Miele is a German home and commercial appliance company with an outstanding reputation that is as old as the brand itself. Founded in 1899 by Reinhard Zinkann and Car Miele, its first products were a butter churn, cream separator and tub washing machine, with the range having grown over the years to include cooktops, vacuums, ovens, dryers and coffee makers. In addition, the family-run company is a winner of numerous internationally coveted home appliance awards, with the brand being recognised worldwide for the quality, performance and longevity of its products. If you wish to combine style and durability, the Miele brand won’t disappoint.

Gaggenau

Gaggenau is a German company that manufactures high end domestic appliances. It is a subsidiary of BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte, which is based in Munich. The brand was founded back in 1683, highlighting over three hundred years of experience in the business. It initially manufactured gas, coal and electric stoves and later on incorporated industrial installations for the commercial sector in the 20th century. Gaggenau makes classy dishwashers, cooktops, wine cabinets, wall-mounted combi ovens, warming drawers, and more. The company’s values are passion, leadership ambition, creative excellence and professionalism. On what to expect, its products combine innovative technology, bold lines, durability, ease of use and uncompromising performance, making the brand a great choice for upscale kitchens.

Thermador

Thermador12

Thermador is a subsidiary of Bosch and has grown in popularity over the years, especially in the luxury segment. It has been in the forefront of revolutionary cooking technology for a period of over seventy years, fusing both classic finishes and great performance. Having produced the first built-in wall oven in the world about fifty years ago, it makes some serious kitchen appliances such as the patented Star® Burner.

Dacor

Daco-appliances

Dacor is an American family-run company that designs and manufactures amazing kitchen and home appliances, including humidifiers. It has been in the business for three generations and has products available in over 1,400 retail locations. One of the most notable of its appliances was the 30″ PureConvection™ a self-cleaning built-in wall oven introduced into the market in 1987. The product was instrumental in the transformation of the company’s oven business and is today an industry standard. As a design-oriented brand, it is the visual beauty that sets it apart from others. However, this does not mean that the company veers away from its core principles which are performance, style, innovation, service and craftsmanship; making its products a sensible choice for a lavish yet fully functional contemporary kitchen.

Roderick Billanes

Appliances

Info sourced by the author for Luxuryactivist.com. Images sourced at iet.ch, cnet.com, applianceworldny.com. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. 

Victorinox Delemont collection, a Swiss Army knife story.

LuxuryActivist
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Reading Time: 4 minutes

When Victorinox bought Wenger in 2005, the main goal was to protect and to guarantee the Swiss Army knife heritage in Switzerland. Since the 19th century, Switzerland developed an amazing know-how in the production of Swiss Army knives and 2 main companies were proudly representing what Switzerland had to offer at its best: Victorinox and Wenger. Two parallel stories, two companies family owned, Victorinox established in Schwyz since 1884 and Wenger in Delemont since 1893.
After some unfortunate business developments, Wenger sales drastically dropped in the beginning of the years 2000. In 4 years it went from CHF 40M to CHF 23M. This leaded to 29 jobs suppression. Victorinox decided then to buy Wenger and the deal was concluded in 2005.
Wenger factory in Delemont
The communication and how Victorinox would handle the deal were crucial as the Swiss Army knife business is a very passionate one. The aim for Victorinox and the Elsener family was to protect Wenger, its business and its people. From the beginning of this new story, Carl Elsener Jr., Victorinox CEO and owner, saw the tremendous opportunity for both companies to join forces.
From 2005 and 2013, the 2 companies remained operationally independent. Victorinox over 8 years invested consistently in the Wenger Delemont factory in order to secure all jobs and to improve productivity yet with uncompromised quality and respect of the people working there.
Of course at one point some decisions would need to be made as by maintaining 2 Swiss Army knives catalogs in parallel, Victorinox was finally competing with itself. So the idea was to keep the best of each company by integrating the Wenger knife catalog into Victorinox once and for all. The news happened in 2013. Most of the fans of Wenger and Victorinox said “finally” and others of course had some concerns by being afraid of not finding the knife reference they used to love.
Victorinox worked in a clever proposition that would please both companies fans and that is how the Victorinox Delemont collection was born. This settles the aim of Victorinox to keep investing in the Delemont factory and secures all jobs. They have chosen the best of the best at Wenger and created a very interesting collection. Fans will recognize their Wenger knives that were slightly revamped with some interesting features, mainly the replacement of certain tools shape by Victorinox ones. One example to highlight would be the replacement of the Wenger can opener by the one from Victorinox .
Victorinox can opener
Another point of detail is the addition of the T&T in the knives scales. T&T stands for Tooth-pic and Tweezers. Of course the logo also changed yet the anatomic overall design remains. A very beautiful detail is the inscription on the main blade with the reference to Delemont. The Victorinox Delemont collection represents 50 Swiss Army knives presented for some of them in different colors. Most of the great iconic innovations created by Wenger are part of the collection like the famous nail-clipper knife called Nail Clip 580.
Victorinox delemont inscription
Victorinox Delemont collection
Some of the highlights in the collection are the Rangergrip and the Evo lines which are a big thing for all Wenger fans.
The clarity of Victorinox strategy is very interesting as by finally integrating the Wenger catalog into the Victorinox one, it will allow to better secure the company interests and positions, especially worldwide. Foreigner competition is always looking for a way to get a piece of the market and China was always seen as a threat. Now with an unified catalog, Victorinox will be able to keep moving into the future of the Swiss Army knife business. The Elsener family commitment to the Wenger story is coherent since 2005.
If you want to see more about the Victorinox Delemont collection, please visit the official Victorinox website, the Swiss Army knife category: http://www.victorinox.com.
The Swiss Army knife is part of Switzerland heritage and it is an iconic symbol in the world for Switzerland. In many ways it describes perfectly Swiss ingenuity and taste for perfection. It is important to maintain this legacy like an important piece of history.

LA

Info sourced at Victorinox and Wenger communication releases, Victorinoxblog, RTS and 20minutes. Images from Victorinox and Bladeforums. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Mobile Apps segmentation, 2 apps are better than 1… Really?

LuxuryActivist
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0
Reading Time: 6 minutes

There is a trend in which several smartphone apps are splitting into 2 distinctive apps. Facebook with messanger and Foursquare with Swarm. Why are they segmenting the offer and why now users need to swift from one app to another in order to use the platforms?

It is all about apps

The world is evolving around apps. There is an app for almost everything. In average each smartphone user has 30 apps installed. And they use between 3 to 6 of them everyday. Rom your favorite news to weather forecast, social media, email or preferred chat app, our lives are shaped on thr usage of apps. And we can see the exponential usage of apps by looking into the number of downloads from the different app stores. According to statista.com, Apple’s App store got in 2013 40 billion downloads. This means that every second, the IOS app store gets 1’200 downloads. End of June 2014 they are already at 60 billion. So in one year they will more than double.
Techcrunch reports that Google Play store has 45% more downloads than Apple’s app store. Nevertheless Apple has a comfortable higher level of income from the apps download than Google. In deed, we know Apple users are more premium and business than Google Android.

25-billion-apps

Apps segmentation, a strategic reality

Why should app developers segment their offer? Why should they propose several apps rather than one? There are several reasons for that and most of them are about strategy and ROI. By segmenting their offer, apps developers are able to distinguish which functionalities performs the best and they are able to bring much more focus on them. So rather than having an average app with different features, developers focus more into Customer experience by bringing segmentation. When we know that 52% of total digital time spent per user in the USA is spent in apps, we can see the importance.
So rather than providing one global app that would make everything, like a Swiss Army Knife, users will have a few apps, each one specialized in one main functionality. This also allows developers to stop creating apps that nobody would download and use, and focus on the ones which ROI is higher.

Facebook, 3 apps and nothing less

facebook-applications

One first interesting example is Facebook. At the beginning, there was only one app called Facebook. It was a simple copy of the mobile version of the website. The app would allow you to manage most of the functionalities in one place. Of course because of simplicity matters, the app would not propose too many features per each function.
The more people would get experts in Facebook, the more the need increased. So Facebook started doing customer segmentation in order to optimize the tools. They realized they could split the initial app in 3 different main apps. The first one that would more or less be the evolution of the initial app. It is for people who mostly check their newsfeed, likes and comments. Then there was a strategic move to Messenger. It was supposed to be the what’s up killer by providing and extended experience via our Facebook profile. Facebook also wished to make sure that the “messenger user” would get the best experience.
Final but not least: Pages. This is a completely different approach towards a different type of users. Pages will help you manage your Facebook fan pages and definitely it is not for everyone. Instead of complexifying the “normal user” app with professional page features like promotion or moderation, Facebook decided to split. This is a great move as you can keep things separated.

Foursquare, split in 2 is better for the strategy

Foursquare-Swarm

The second interesting example is Foursquare. It is a completely different approach and everything was planed since day one. After having one single app during the first years, now Foursquare has 2 apps, one redesigned Foursquare app without the check-in function and a new app called Swarm for the checkins.
As you might imagine, the goal of Foursquare was not to have a great Check-in button. Not at all. Their aim is to have an extraordinary worldwide database of places curated by people. So Foursquare secret plan was to compete against Yelp! But in order to gather the database, they needed to find a great way to allow people to fill in the information. And that’s when the check-in button enters the story. By allowing and motivating people to check-in everywhere, Foursquare has gathered a huge database of places. So now they do not need you anymore to check-in. First they have already a lot of data and second, technology evolution allows now Foursquare to see where you are and when without asking you. It is the magic of Geo-localization.
So now that they do not need the check-in button anymore, they can focus on the places guide. That’s why they redesigned their app. In the main app you can see places around you, in which you have beed and that others have been. So they are definitely competing with Yelp.
They created a second app called Swarm. It has all the check-in functionalities and allows to keep feeding the database with updates. We are not sure how long it will last.

The New York Times, an ecosystem of apps

INYT_Apps

An amazing example of apps segmentation would be the New York times. In order to provide the best experience to the end user, the New York times developed a series of apps related to different themes and topics. We would note:
– The National and International breaking news: this is the digital app of the newspaper.
– The Scoop: a clever guide to New York by the editorial team of the New York times.
– The New York Times Crosswords: as the name says, this app features the crosswords from the daily newspaper.
– The New York Times Real Estate: a specialized and dedicated app about the real estate market with very interactive features.
– NYT Now!: features the picks of the day, so you get the essentiality of daily news picked up by the New York Times.
– NYT Opinions: this app shows the most important opinions of the New York Times most influential columnists. It also curates opinions from columnists around the world.
So as you can see, app segmentation is the new deal. A recent study done by Comscore showed that app downloads tend to decrease among established smartphone users. In deed, once you have your apps, you tend to use always the same one. Once you have your preferred weather app, why should you download 10 others? So the fight is won by one champion out of thousands.
For the publishers it also allow them to generate more advertising revenue as they multiply opportunities for advertisers. So at the end we do not really know if the advantage of app segmentation is on the user side or on the publisher. Only the future will tell.
LA

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Info sourced at Apple app store, Google Play, Comscore, Techcrunch, Mashable and Foursquare blog. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.

Gourmet Brothers, a brunch you will forget asap!

LuxuryActivist
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Reading Time: 5 minutes

Do you know the sentence: “never judges a book by its cover”? Well here is exactly the perfect example. A great website with nice pictures and texts does not necessary means the place is great or even the food is nice. The Gourmet brothers, a bistronomy ambassador in Geneva will let you with this bitter flavor on your throat after trying their sunday brunch. It looks awesome but actually is far away from being half-great. Check it out.

Gourmet-Brothers-Geneve-brunch

The reservation: make it counts!

The first impression is key, especially if it is the first time you are going to a place. Very often, it starts over the phone. So when you book a sunday brunch for 11:00 am, you get already the information that you will have less than 2 hours to eat, talk to your friends or read the newspaper and basically to enjoy your sunday. Why? Well, because Gourmet Brothers have a second service at 13:00 and they need the table. My experience shows that when this happen, something is not working well. Either the place is too small, or the prices too cheap (rentability) or Lady Gaga tweeted something about. At least if you go there, you will be warned about it.

A buffet style formula but always missing something

The menu is pretty clever. You have a “base” (CHF30.) that represents everything you can eat from the Buffet. Then, you can add extras like pancakes (total CHF34.) or eggs&bacon (total CHF32.).
The first point to highlight is that all beverages are extras. If you want a fruit juice or a hot beverage you need to pay for it in addition. Several restaurants include at least an orange juice and a hot beverage. When you see they only proposed orange or lemon as fresh juice and the size of the glass was half of what you would imagine… Then you start wonder.

Gourmet-Brothers-Geneve-restaurant

The buffet was beautifully presented. Each ingredient or dish were presented with their names written on small chalk dashboards. Unfortunately there was always something missing. From 11:30 to 13:00 there was no Foie-Gras whereas it was written at the buffet.
Only at 13:00 that the new Foie-Gras arrived. So we did not get the taste of it as we needed to leave before 13:00. Naturally during the entire session there was always something missing, from bread to Ham… Very unpleasant as everybody was spying the arrival of the waiter in order to be lucky enough to get what he would propose.
As it is a “bistronomy restaurant” we could see the kitchen from a transperent door. Not very original even though it is always reassuring. Well in this case we could see alot of agitation in the kitchen for not much output as the more they would spin around the pans, the less food would come out. Strange this feeling of professional-over-activism.

A macchiatto and a renversé. No difference a part the price?

One of the customers asked to the waiter about the difference between a Latte Machiatto and a Renversé. The person was really incappable to give the difference while everybody knows that the Latte Macchiato has much more milk and the renversé is the Swiss version of coffee with milk in which the milk and the coffee do not blend. The Latte Macchiato was invented in Italy to facilitate children to drink coffee by adding much more milk. As the waiter was not really helpful the customer concluded there was no difference a part the price. She took the cheapest one.

Not family friendly environment, stand up little darling!

While sunday’s brunches are a great moment to spend with friends and families, probably Gourmet Brothers does not think it is important. That is why they only had 1 child chair and no special menus to children. In total we could count 4 small children in the restaurant. Only one, the one who got first to the restaurant, could get one. When one of the freshly arrived mothers asked for a child chair, the waiter needed to ask in the kitchen if there were any children chairs. After 5 minutes, the mother got the information that there was only one chair. That is why all 3 children were running around in the restaurant like flyes. They could not really sit somewhere. As the place was not very big, you can imagine how peaceful it was.

In conclusion, we can say that unfortunately the concept was more interesting in the website rather than in-situe. The Gourmet Brothers missed one essential aspect of bistronomy trend: the service. At one point, Gourmet Brothers need to review their exercice and start putting themselves in the shoes and the bellies of their customers.

LA

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Info sourced in a live experience in the Geneva restaurant. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available

La Prairie cellular eye essence platinum rare

LuxuryActivist
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Reading Time: 6 minutes

La Prairie is the ultimate luxury skincare brand. The Swiss brand is one of the worldwide leaders in selective skincare,
renowned for the scientific integrity of its products and its unparalleled commitment to perfection. This fall La Prairie is launching a new extraordinary product called Cellular eye essence platinum rare.  It will complete the Platinum collection. La Prairie is a top Skincare brand and each of its products is worth the price you would pay for them.

La Prairie, a story of cutting edge luxury and perfection

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La Prairie has an amazing heritage to the famous Clinique La Prairie at Montreux in Switzerland. This heritage consists by being pioneer  in terms of  Cellular research and anti-aging therapy. In 1978, La Prairie skincare story starts with the launch of the Eye contour cream, the brand first “it” cream.

La-Prairie-1978

Thanks to the tremendous success, the skincare laboratories were created in 1982 and its independent scientists discovered amazing ingredients since then. Some of them were very rare and beneficial so they integrated them into La Prairie formulas. This is what La Prairie says about its prestigious history: “La Prairie’s unique combination of advanced science, sumptuous formulas and the fastidious attention to the details of luxury have created a prestige brand that is often imitated but never surpassed. It constantly pushes the limits of anti-aging possibilities with never-before seen benefits.”

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During decades, La Prairie developed continuously different product ranges and discovered amazing ingredients that would blow your mind in terms of efficiency and luxury. Never a brand invested so much to find the perfect balance between pure luxury, exclusivity and skincare efficiency.  One great example would be the Skin Caviar collection that became a benchmark in terms of prestige.

The-Skin-Caviar-Collection-La-Prairie

The Platinum Collection, rare and precious

Among different collections in the Swiss brand portfolio, there is the Platinum collection. It is supposed to be the ultimate rejuvenating skincare collection. The main key ingredient is Platinum from the earth’s molten crust. one of earth’s rarest resources recharges skin’s electrical balance and safeguards skin to intercept ageing at its source. Here is a short video illustrating the philosophy of this skincare collection.

Platinum is one of the rarest material in the world. It is a very high valued precious-metal and it gives the inspiration for the creation of this La Prairie collection.  According to La Prairie: “driven by its mission to provide age-defying benefits to the skin, scientists at La Prairie discovered that Platinum helps the skin maintain perfect electrical balance in order to improve hydration, protection, and receptivity to nutrients, transforming the skin to a remarkably ageless state.”

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The interesting thing about Platinum is that it tends to work in synergy with peptides, vitamins, antioxidants or firming agents. This makes Platinum a great ingredient for a cosmetic product.  The current range is composed with:

the-platinum-collection-collection-range

Moisturizers
Cellular Cream Platinum Rare, 30 ml
Cellular Cream Platinum Rare, 50 ml

Serum
Cellular Serum Platinum Rare, 30 ml

Eye
Cellular Eye Cream Platinum Rare, 20 ml

With a price range from CHF 432 (US$ 477) to CHF 1380  (US$ 1524), the Platinum collection is definitely one of the top luxury ranges currently in the market.

Cellular Eye Essence Platinum Rare, eternal youth for your eyes

Cellular-eye-essence-platinum-rare-packshot Cellular-eye-essence-platinum-rare

The new Eye treatment is a state of the art in terms of skincare formulation. It contains a series of hand picked elements bringing to your skin the best that nature and science can offer.  The key element is a powerful Platinum peptide. It is a compound based on platinum particles bonded with an age-fighting Tetrapeptide to help enhance firmness, reduce the appearance of wrinkles in the eye area and improve skin elasticity and hydration.  la prairie scientists discovered that this binding of platinum particles to Acetyl Tetrapeptide-17, an anti-wrinkle and firming peptide not only enhances protective benefits but allows the formed Platinum Peptide to be protected from peptide-destroying enzymes that exist naturally in the epidermis, allowing it to work more effectively and longer.

Other interesting ingredients and properties you will find in this incredible product are the following:

  • Colloidal Platinum Water – for skin balance
  • Black tea ferment – to dicrease glycation
  • White Bird of Paradise plant Extract – to restore luminosity and fight dark circles
  • Green Microalgae Oligopeptide  to reduce redness

La Prairie recommends to use is as here. You can simply dispense a drop into the palm of your hands. Then, using the fingertips, you can smoothly and gently apply around the contour  of the eyes. Do not forget to also massage the frown lines between eyebrows. You can use it in the morning and in the evening. Its intelligent formula will completely melt in your skin and you can easily wear it with your day and night cream. The first feeling is the sight. as soon as you delicately place a single drop of Cellular eye essence platinum rare on your skin, you can see the different platinum particles as they give a sort of pale gold iridescent effect. The formulation is very new, between a cream and serum. When you apply it on your skin, you can feel how quickly the formula penetrates. It lifts your skin and let you with a baby skin pretty much immediately. After almost a week of testing, the results are really promising. The use of this new face care product is really simple, no matter if it is in the morning or in the evening. Well done La Prairie.

The packaging is quite interesting as it has a drop-count integrated in the cap. With some little pressures you can free a single drop of essence and apply it on your face as above.  The new Cellular eye essence platinum rare is already available in all official La Prairie point of sales. The product is a 15ml/0.5 FL oz. cylindrical acrylic flacon and the suggested retail price is CHF 432 (US$ 477).

To learn more about this unique collection, please visit the brand website here:
http://www.laprairieswitzerland.com/int/platinum-collection

Rare and eternal, it is a true promise of rejuvenation that La Prairie proposes. The New Cellular eye essence platinum rare is a must and you should have this unique piece in your beauty collection. Do not forget, the eyes are the mirror in which we could see your soul. You deserve the best then.

LA

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Info sourced at La Prairie official communication release. Product tested by Luxuryactivist. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available. 

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