It was in the news – Bank of America will charge their customers a $5 monthly fee to use their debit cards. According to the bank, the fees are required to recoup revenue it will lose because of new government regulations taking effect that cap what they can charge merchants for debit-card transactions. 

Some other banks like J.P.Morgan Chase (didn’t they get enough bailout money?) and Wells Fargo & Co. plan to follow suit. Have we gotten to a stage where a bank can change the rules just like that and charge us for essentially, what’s been a free service for years. It didn’t stop them from increasing credit card interest rates. Here’s what I think… » Read more: Why Bank of America’s $5 Debit Card Charge Stinks

Technology analysts  started their analyses on the Kindle Fire tablet which the company unveiled at a Wednesday (September 27th) event in New York during and right after the event.The overall consensus was that the Kindle Fire would do well in the tablet space, and could emerge as the leading Android tablet.

“The pricing of $199 is critical to gain traction in the tablet market,” said Adam Leach, an analyst for Ovum. He also said that while the Fire is built off Android, Amazon is clearly prizing its own services above Google’s when it comes to pushing content to the devices. » Read more: Amazon’s Kindle Fire Strategy – My Take

According to a bill of materials (BOM) analysis by Brian Marshall, an analyst with BroadPoint AmTech, the cost of goods inside Apple‘s 16GB Wi-Fi-only iPad totals $270.50.

That figure includes a $10 line item dedicated to manufacturing, but doesn’t include another $20 set aside for under-warranty service costs. Adding the latter makes Marshall’s bottom-line total $290.50. Let’s explore this further. » Read more: How Apple makes >$200 on each iPad

Mobile transactions are becoming more and more prevalent as smartphone penetration keeps increasing worldwide. According to a study by mobilyouth.org, 1.2 billion youth globally own 1.8 billion mobile cell phones. According to them, the big 5 mobile youth economies are – USA, Japan, Brazil, India and China.

The key trends that drive the youth mobile subscriber rate are

• Smart phone adoption
• Dual handset markets
• Rural emergent markets

What can marketers do to get their products in front of this audience, and even better, prompt them to take a ‘conversion’ action? » Read more: Why Youth Marketers should get Mobile Savvy Pronto

We’ve all heard the news with some interest. Borders, the second largest chain bookstore in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to buy time to revamp its business. The company blamed sluggish sales and the poor state of the economy for its present state of affairs. Interestingly, Borders had placed itself for sale in March 2008, but failed to find an interested buyer.

Analysts claim that growing competition from Barnes & Noble, Costco, Wal-Mart and Amazon.com had led to declining market share. Also, all and sundry are also claiming that that Borders’ low online penetration led to its decline.

What’s really happened? » Read more: Why Borders is such a mess

Everyone’s enthralled with Apple and their offerings today and its rare to see someone using anything other than an iPod touch for music or even an iPhone (at least that’s AT&T’s largest revenue driver for the past few years). But, what’s the magic formula – how does Apple do it?

Here are some “real” insights gleaned from an interview with John Sculley, former CEO of Apple who details how Steve Jobs thinks and how he transforms that thinking into products that have changed our lives. » Read more: The Steve Jobs Guide to Creating Successful Products