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I was delighted to discover that I have a deceased relative called Gerald Tucker, albeit he sadly passed away it seems! But what’s this? He has an estate? wowser! Well, I didn’t know him, and, well, have never heard of him, but sure, why not? I may be his rightful heir! But he did contact me via Facebook, so it’s pucker for sure.

Please don’t suggest this might be a Nigerian scam, non! The gentlemen handling the estate is in Hong Kong, a Mister Shang Lee Esq.! I happen to know that HK is a long way from Abuja. May be worth pursuing after all, could be bucks in it for me! Even if I do have to shell out a small admin fee, say, a few hundred dollars.

Here’s the email:

Bastards.

New name, new “location”, new channel. Same old crap.

If you get this. Ignore it. 419 in disguise.

Some time back I blogged about GroupOn, the Chicago-based Group Buying phenomenon. Since then they have continued their astonishing pace of growth and are now available in over 100 cities including 10’s of locations outside of the US (all in 15 or so months from launch!). GroupOn’s growth is somewhat propelled by their early mover advantage which has afforded them a large amount of mainstream consumer press in the US, driving awareness of the segment and brand (all that’s required to acquire users) while they gathered cash to drive acquisitions that further accelerate their growth cycle and defend the space. The simplicity of the Group Buying model helps too, as does GroupOn’s excellence in execution. Much like Google the segment they dominate has now become synonymous with their brand in the US at least – something GroupOn’s competitors’ may find is impossibly hard to shake.

Ironically, Group Buying is a very easy segment to enter, it’s a a strong cash business that you can start with a basic transactional website and a couple of sales people, in Australia this has played out and there are already ten or more GroupOn pretenders live and running in only 5 or 6 months. Today’s winners in Australia started with a reasonably large base of consumers they could send offers to from sister businesses (www.scoopon.com.au from www.catchoftheday.com.au ) or smart Facebook  feeder strategies (www.jumponit.com.au from www.facebook.com/sydneydeals ) offering them clear differentiation from the smaller competitors.

Another similarity to Search and a challenge the also-ran Group Buying businesses face is the lack of Switching Cost, meaning that Consumers are able to jump between providers with little or no personal cost, switching “loyalty” at the click of an Unsubscribe link. Chances are a number of poorly funded Group Buying pretenders will come and go over the coming months, it will no doubt be fascinating to watch!

Ok, so I shouldn’t be ecstatic, but iPhone (at 21% share) being dethroned to 3rd spot behind Blackberry (36%) and Android (28%) in the US (Q1) means three things:

• Switching cost is lower than originally thought

Given Apple’s mastery of the iPhone Ap Store, and the resulting average investment made by each user there was an incorrect assumption that iPhone customers would be highly resistant to switching platforms and losing access to their aps, not so.

• OEM strategy still makes a ton of sense

Google have done an amazing job with the Android OS, moreover the Open Alliance is little different to Microsoft’s own approach to partnering with OEMs, great reinforcement of the potential of Windows Phone 7

• iPhone is not infallible

Apple’s ascent has seemed unstoppable in the recent months, with Apple TV ranking as their principal failure, but Blackberry’s continued dominance of Business Mobility and Android’s performance in Consumer have served to remind us of the fragility of the market, something Apple could easily have forgotten.

Still, the iPhone 4G is just around the corner so the Wizards of Cupertino will rise again very soon; happy to enjoy the moment though!

Roll on Windows Phone 7, the fight is absolutely on.