Mercedes Vito – Going for the Trendy Van Market

Mercedes are well known for building vehicles that suit specific niches – take a look at their car division – everything from tiny urban Smart Cars up to the Maybach that carry Presidents and drug dealers alike. Want a saloon that is also a coupe? Go for the CLS, need a 4×4? Not a problem.

When it comes to vans, however, Mercedes only have a range of two. The Mercedes Sprinter and the Mercedes Vito. The Sprinter is top of the class. Most serious van users will specify the Sprinter over and above the competition – even the Ford Transit in the UK which is usually bought as the safe option or because that’s what’s always been bought.

It is the Mercedes Vito that operates in a more competitive area of the market. Going head to head with the might of the VW’ Transporter – full of heritage and delivered by the automotive genius from Wolfsburg. The Transporter has been the ‘cool’ van for decades. Being loved by the surfing community and other cool groups that need a van for transport has given the van a certain kudos that no other van has at present.

Mercedes are setting out to change all that. The company has already worked a niche with the van into the London Taxi market. Long since the sole domain of the Lti black cab, Mercedes engineered their Vito to meet the stringent requirements for manoeuvrability that usually precludes a van/minibus from entering this market.

The Vito has cornered about a third of this market in just a few years.

The company has now turned its attention to making the van ‘trendy’. The problem with this is if you are seen to be trying too hard to make something cool and trendy, it could totally backfire and make it untrendy, as ‘cool’ people do not want to be seen ‘falling for’ marketing gimmicks.

So what have they done?

They have launched a campaign called ‘made for the people’ which is supported by a dedicated website. The website is designed with the Vito as the main star and the backgrounds being a series of household and working tools that have been transformed into an urban landscape. Cool? I’m no real judge (married with two kids is not usually cool) – but I’d be surprised.

There are going to be a series of roadshows around the UK – at Travis Perkins branches, so maybe the target isn’t surfer-dudes after all. Just your average Bob the Builder!

Analyst Says the Apple iPhone 4S Is Heading for Sprint, T-Mobile

 The next smartphone from Apple will be called the iPhone 4S, according to one industry analyst. This model will supposedly be offered by not just AT&T and Verizon, but also Sprint and T-Mobile.

 This information comes from Peter Misek, a telecommunications analyst from Jefferies & Company, who says he got it from "industry checks". Apple itself has not yet said anything about its next-generation handset, which up to now many have been calling the iPhone 5.

For many years, AT&T was the exclusive provider of Apple's smartphones. Earlier this year, though, Verizon was allowed to introduce the iPhone 4. So adding two more carriers to this list would be a departure from Apple's current strategy, but not a huge one.

According to Misek, some versions of the iPhone 4S will support HSPA+, a 4G wireless networking standard used by AT&T and T-Mobile. It won't, however, have LTE or WiMAX, the 4G standards used by Verizon and Sprint, respectively. AT&T is also building an LTE network, and Apple supposedly wanted to add LTE support but the necessary chips won't be ready in time.

The analyst from Jefferies went on to predict that this model will have better cameras, though he didn't specify what the new resolutions for the front- and rear-facing camera will be. Previous reports have said the rear-facing one is going to jump from 5 megapixels to 8 megapixels.

He also said that it is going run the Apple A5 1 GHz dual-core processor. This same processor is used in the Apple iPad 2, and there's a general consensus that this company's next-generation smartphone will be built around it too.

Misek's sources said the smartphone will include unspecified "minor cosmetic changes". However, they apparently made no mention of the next iPhone having a larger screen, a feature of many previous reports about this handset. According to those earlier sources, this bigger display will not increase the overall size of the device. A few images and renderings supposedly showing this new configuration have appeared on the Web.

Coming this Fall?

This analyst said nothing about when the iPhone 4S is going to be released, just that it's headed for all four of the top U.S. wireless carriers. However, there's growing evidence from other sources that it's not going to hit store shelves until months after many had previously expected.

For several years now, Apple has released a new smartphone near the beginning of each summer. This year many be different. There are reports from an array of sources such as analysts and even an AT&T employee that the fifth-generation iPhone isn't going to debut until late summer or early fall.