To iPhone or NOT to iPhone, that is the question
Not. I had the chance today while at the Apple store. I debated. I passed. Here’s why.
- Not sold on the “full” browser experience. Safari doesn’t resize the page for a small screen. I have to zoom every page and finger around. Consuming content needs to be best for the screen. A web page optimized for 1024 x 768 just doesn’t work on a small screen. I think I like browsers that “resize” content to match the device.
- Browser is slow. I tested my BlackBerry Pearl compared to Amy’s iPhone. My BlackBerry loaded Techmeme and Scoblizer faster, much faster.
- No copy and paste.
- No attachments in email.
- No “local” application support from 3rd party developers (e.g., expense tracker). No “real” support for 3rd party developers.
- iTunes as a sync client. No automatic Bluetooth sync with my Mac (I’ve limped along to make my phones sync with my Mac — why can’t Apple make the experience awesome for Mac users).
I think I’m so picky because I’ve been using various converged devices / smartphones for over seven (7) years now. I’ve tried lots of devices (Treo, Nokia, RIM). IMHO, nothing is perfect yet, including the iPhone. But being an Apple Fan Boy, I’m having a hard time NOT buying an iPhone.
Wireless Evolving: New Spectrum and VoIP
Two cool stories of interest.
First, USA Today reported on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin’s interest in changes the control wireless carriers have over devices, bandwidth use, and wireless applications. This is a great thing for consumers. Those of us in the USA can finally catch up with the Europeans.
Second, Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that Nokia is bundling Skype on a device — in this case, the N800 Table. Instead of using a traditional “GSM” device to make calls over the GSM network, a device with built in WiFi offers alternative ways to connect. VoIP on mobile devices is going to make a big impact on the how telecoms generate revenue.
Quote in WSJ:
“Our users are no longer just using Skype on their computer desktops,” said Eric Lagier, Skype’s head of business development for mobile. “With the growth of mobile devices and Wi-Fi, consumers expect to be connected wherever they are, at the office, at home or on the move,” he said.
iPhone is in the House
Amy’s iPhone arrived today. She’s bemoaning that she’s the only one that hasn’t had a chance to play with it. I did let her go through the activation process. But between Dallen and me, we’ve tried out every function on the phone. I did get a text message from Amy.
My impressions:
- Simple setup process — worked fine for Amy
- Very cool industrial design — heavier than I expected
- Very cool browser experience
- Love the gyroscope portrait / landscape
- Mixed emotions about using iTunes
- Would like more Config options in iTunes (email accounts)
- Where’s the bluetooth sync?
- Not convinced on email usability / functionality — I’m a long time smartphone user and have a lot of personal issues with how email should work (I’ve never been able to use Apple’s Mail application on my computer since it’s so limited).
- Keyboard is cool implementation of technology — I think I could get used to it
Blendtec featured in WSJ
Last fall, I met George Wright at Blendtec when they launched their “Will it Blend” campaign. We highlighted Blendtec on Rocky Mountain Voices.
Well George’s efforts have brought him coverage in today’s Wall Street Journal (July 2, 2007 : page B4 : subscription required). They also posted a video with behind the scenes clips.
Congratulations George! Great job.
Not at Apple store waiting for an iPhone
Phil Windley’s been giving updates from The Gateway in Salt Lake City. Scoble and son have been in Palo Alto since yesterday morning. I’m a bit bummed that I’m not at an Apple store.
Amy wants an iPhone. I’m sure she’ll get one. This is a rare time when I’ll let Amy be the guinea pig. Amy’s a faithful iCal and Address Book and iPhoto user on her Mac. She’s been syncing and using her iPod for contacts and calendar and photo items for some time now. She’s got an old, old Nokia. She has told me for 6 months she’s gonna get an iPhone.
Just went to Apple’s online store. Here’s what’s shown. Guess I better have my finger on the trigger at 6:00 PM PST.
Also got the update notice for iTunes 7.3 which includes a preference for an iPhone.
UPDATE:
Purchased Amy’s phone online at 7:15 PM PST. Should be here within two weeks.
A Brand Impersonator
Like most other western states, it seems like Utah is also one of the distant 10-hour suburbs of Southern California. Despite all the transplants from Southern Cal, we still don’t have have our own In-N-Out Burger. And it’s not that there isn’t demand for it. Tonight I took the family to a new burger joint called Chadder’s. In short, it is an In-N-Out impersonator, all the way down to the red and yellow colors.
The place was hoping busy. The buzz in the air was it was “just like” In-N-Out. The menu was simple. The fries were fresh cut and made on the premises today. You could see all the BYU students from California who’d made the trip.
This got me thinking about branding. Was it an In-N-Out brand experience? No. The So-Cal casual feel wasn’t there–and since we we were in American Fork, Utah, that may be expected. The service was slower. The air was greasy. The burger was over cooked and not quite there. The minimalist decor was not as convenient and organized for the customers. And there wasn’t a local-design-flare T-shirt.
Can this business survive? It’s likely the Chadder’s can live off the hard work and brand building done by In-N-Out, at least in the short run. But as I told my son on the way out, I doubt people would visit the store if a “real” In-N-Out was across the street (or even in the same town). Every business needs to be built on their own brand and incorporate experiences that give the brand strength to stand on its own in the face of market change, competition, price wars, and even impersonators.
Emotional Roller Coaster
My youngest is about to turn 3 years old. She’s an emotional machine with the able to switch from happy to tears back to all smiles all within a few seconds. The past week has been interesting with all her older siblings at home from school. Each night she’s overly tired and just needs to go to bed. The drama has been Academy Award winning.
Some say that the way a little girl acts at 3 is a foreshadowing of what to expect at 13. Oh my — only 10 more years to prepare for this.
An example from a recent collection of shots taken at the Cable Car Museum in San Francisco.
Connect Magazine Column / Article
I am writing the Social Media Standouts article in Connect Magazine on new media publishing and social networking–with some help from Cydni Tetro and/or Tim Kapp. The first article is out in the May issue. I have added the article below. You can also read the article online at Connect-Utah.com.
Next month’s article is on RSS.
Converse With Your Customers Through Social Media Tools
Over the last few years, the ability to easily engage in conversations with your customers has become a reality through the use of new mediums including blogs, podcasts, video blogs, community building tools, online product configurators and rating systems.Facilitating conversations with customers and prospects allows companies to build sustainable relationships, gather immediate feedback and strengthen their brand perception.
Like traditional mediums, each of these new mediums provides a way for you to share information about your company, product or service. But these new mediums go much further. The tools enable relationships, interaction and conversations through interactive tools including comments, ranking, notification, linking, subscription and even republishing.
Conversations In Application
Microsoft uses these tools effectively to get personal with customers. Corporate Records Manager Tina Torres and her team use a blog attracting tens of thousands of visitors a day to interact, share ideas and gather comments about how compliance managers use Microsoft Office 2007.Draper-based home-automation provider Control4 uses podcasts as a way to build credibility, drive awareness and offer new sales tools to its distributor sales channel. In one example, CTO Eric Smith spent 15 minutes talking with Bob Metcalfe, the father of Ethernet and cofounder of 3Com, about the new ZigBee standard. Listeners of the podcast got a sense of Control4’s leadership and technology position through Smith’€™s interaction with a true industry expert and influencer.
Orem-based Blendtec, maker of high-end consumer and commercial blenders, successfully uses video blogs to drive sales. Last November it launched the Will It Blend campaign by posting clever and adventurous one-minute product demonstration videos to a blog and YouTube. Within two weeks Blendtec experienced 6 million views and 10,000 comments on its videos. Prior to the campaign, Blendtec couldn’t get anyone in the mainstream media to return its phone calls. Now Blendtec has been featured on many national television shows and in a variety of well-known magazines, newspapers and Web sites in addition to being ranked as one of YouTube’€™s top series. According to CEO Tom Dixon, sales have increased in the, “thousands of percents.”
Marketers Host Geek Show…
Loved Chris Knudsen’s blog post today. Funny. Linus would be high on the list. But I’m also pretty tight with some bioscientist’s and feel “software” engineers are a bit “overated”. Maybe Niroshan Ramachandran who worked on the Human Genome project and is now leading the charge on Proteomics. He’d show these geeks some really amazing stuff about delving into DNA to find cures to cancer.
Happy to work with w/ Bruce or Cyd to pull off a geek event any day. Of course I’m the only one geeky enough to have a blog (that’s also setup on my own domain…with a self install of WordPress).
Cheers. Here’s to all the geeks that helped bring Godin to SLC! 😉
P.S. While I’m at it, if the geeks are looking to bring other marketing experts to town, I’d love to hear from Al Ries or Laura his daughter (my favorite book on marketing is still “Positioning“). He used to visit us at SalesLogix every year for a “review and tune-up” on our marketing strategy. It was like being in the room with the marketing god.
TaylorMade Golf’s Product & Brand Man, Sean Toulon
I just finished my podcast interview with Sean Toulon. Sean is the EVP, Product & Brand Creation at TaylorMade. Talk about a cool marketing job. Working with tour players like Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Darren Clark, John Daly, Paula Creamer, and on and on. Working with an engineering team that pushes the limits of aerospace materials and design strategies to create 460cc marvels of art and function. As Sean said, “golfers are a pretty passionate group.”
I learned that Sean was the guy behind the product, business, and marketing plans to create and launch the R7 driver. As he said in the podcast, he arrived at a European tour event on a Monday night with drivers in hand for testing. By the end of the next day, 32 tour players changed to the R7. Many of these players broke contracts to play the R7 because it worked.
He also talks about the “triangle of influence,” the strategy that was created by Gary Adams, the creator of the first metal wood. He also told me, “there’s 25-30 more yards [distance] that we [TaylorMade] know about today.”
Enjoy the show. One of my favorites.
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