A Wider Net

Two gadgets launched this this week that are worth mentioning here. The first is very well-known - the iPhone 3G. The second launched the day after to considerably less fanfare, but has big potential: The new HP TouchSmart2.

The iPhone is the easiest to talk about. The stories of it’s runaway success are second only to the stories of how it has completely changed the cell phone industry in the United States. Now the iPhone 3G is poised for a worldwide distribution at a price point that may very well keep it sold out for the rest of the year. Adding a support for the high speed 3G networks, better battery life, true GPS, and a host of software improvements that will be shared with it’s older brother and the iTouch line of media players, the iPhone 3G is a significant evolutionary improvement to the iPhone. At $199 and $299 for the 8 Gigabyte and 16 Gigabyte versions it is now cheaper than the Motorola Razor (at launch) and more functional than any handheld gaming system, all mobile phones, and many, if not most, laptop computers currently in use today. Some of us were a little disappointed at the lack of Flash support, lack of streaming video from the onboard camera, and lack of a 32 Gigabyte version, but this is still the coolest smartphone on the planet right now.

The HP TouchSmart 2 greatly improves on the previous model in form factor, functionality, and price. At $1300, it’s a pretty easy way to add touch and gesture control to a trade show demonstration kiosk. Take a look at the video on this link, but make sure you have the sound OFF first. You have been warned.

Perhaps you have heard of the OLPC campaign - Nicholas Negroponte’s vision of outfitting the children of the world with tools that allow them to access a larger world and experiment with creative expression. It is a noble idea, funded through a buy two, give one program at a very low price point. His initial program has run into fatal competitive pressure due to ultra cheap options from mainstream manufacturers. But now, apparently, a new vision has risen from the OLPC ashes that has many of us standing up saying “wait a minute - that’s not half bad, and I want one now!”

Here we have the OLPC 2.0, or, XOXO concept- a hybrid dual touchscreen, laptop, ebook thingy. It looks amazingly flexible and futuristic, but it doesn’t seem remotely possible to produce these cheap enough to sell at $75 as reported. I’m also not sure if this type of thing will inspire a child, especially one that is worried about his next meal or how to find clean water, but I can tell you - the conceptual design has inspired me.

Note to Steve Jobs: get your touch OS on this thing and sell it for $500 as an internet/media browser and e-book reader and I’m sold.

Seen also on Gizmodo.

Nintendo’s creative master wizard, Shigeru Miyamoto, has blessed the gaming and pop culture world with Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Nintendogs, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. He is often called the “father of modern gaming” and is largely responsible for the runaway success of the Wii console. It is safe to say that when Shiggy talks, people listen. And that point has been clarified, solidified, and immortalized by a recent Time readers poll that places Miyamoto clearly at the top of the list of “most influential people in the world”.

I don’t have a big idea around this announcement other than to offer some digital applause to an industry maverick and creative genius. But since we’re talking about him as a top “influencer”, we should really pay attention to his latest prophecy.

Wii Fit, Nintendo’s latest phenomenon, hits the United States this month after a rather stunning bit of success in Japan. I would have thought that a fitness game would have about as much chance of succeeding in the gaming world as George Bush does of properly pronouncing “Nuclear”. Apparently the “new” gaming world whole-heartedly disagrees. Wii Fit, which comes with a unique accessory called the Balance Board, compels gamers to get off the beanbags and participate in body-rocking aerobics, yoga, and sports games. It’s well-designed, fun, and addictive. It is also selling like crazy - there have been about 2 million copies of Wii Fit sold in Japan - nearly matching the sales of the Sony Playstation 3 - a console that is supposed to compete with the Wii itself, not one of it’s game/accessories. In the UK, stores have reported selling Wii Fit at a rate of one every 4 seconds. Will it catch fire in the US, especially so shortly after the release of the highest-rated, fastest-selling, highest-grossing media title of all time, the ultra-ridiculously-violent Grand Theft Auto IV? Almost certainly, since the Wii audience, which is the largest segment if the US gamer population, can’t buy GTA for their console.

But other than giving you a shopping tip (pre-order it), and wondering why it didn’t come out in time for Mothers Day or the critical New Year’s Resolution day, I mention Wii Fit so you can start planning it as an incentive gift, as an interactive audience attraction at trade shows and mobile exhibits, and as an investment in your employees work/life “balance”. “Wii Fit won’t make you fit”, says the most influential person in the world, but it will make you aware of your body. Let’s see how we can use it to make people aware of you.

Yesterday Apple held a town hall press conference to announce the release of their software development kit (SDK) that provides third party developers the opportunity to create and publish their own applications for the iPhone and iTouch devices. This conference turned out to be another major game-changer in the mobile phone industry and there were lots of big surprises. Since many of these announcements will greatly affect the business community, especially sales and marketing professionals, I felt it was worth reviewing the highlights for our readers.

At the top of the conference Steve Jobs announced enterprise support for the iPhone, enabling synchronization between iPhones and Microsoft Exchange. In fact, they appear to have integrated with Exchange more directly and fluidly than any other smart phone platform. Email, contacts, tasks, calendar will be very easy to handle on your iPhone, and all of the data can be remotely wiped for security protection. This makes the iPhone, with all of it’s multimedia presentation capabilities and it’s chic design prestige arguably the most desirable and most productive mobile work tool that you can fit in your shirt pocket.

And for sales professionals it gets even better: They demonstrated a Salesforce.com SFA application for iPhone. It apparently also links to the phone’s GPS-like mapping capabilities.

What exactly is the SDK? The SDK is a set of tools that allows developers to make applications for the iPhone. It costs $99 and if the examples in the press conference were any indicator, then they have made developing on this platform crazy simple. They demonstrated examples of what could be done in 2 hours, 2 days, and 2 weeks. None of the examples were ready-to-market apps, but they showed two very important things: First, the platform is powerful - more powerful than developers anticipated. It seemed to have no trouble rendering 3D games and animations. Second, the development kit is robust, making it possible to make the iPhone do just about anything.

Making it easy to develop applications is only part of their strategy. They also made it easy to publish those applications, easy to make money with them, and they even made it possible to obtain funding for their development. A new feature called the App Store allows iPhone users to download applications through their phone directly over wireless or sideways through iTunes. They share revenue with developers 70/30 - 30% goes to Apple and there are no additional fees. Developers set their own prices including, if they want, free, and if they choose to distribute free software, Apple won’t charge them or the end user a dime. What was not clear is what the developer will have to go through to get their content certified and on the store for users to download. Many people will be critical of this distribution method because it is far less open than the Windows Mobile platform which allows you to download applications from any mobile website. This is a mixed blessing - while Apple can control the applications this way, keeping buggy and malicious code from their platform, end users really want more control over where and how they buy content and applications for computing platforms. Regardless, they have made developing for the platform even more appealing by announcing a $100 million developer fund that should stimulate the creation of a good amount of quality software for the platform.

It didn’t take long for other software announcements for the iPhone to make waves, such as this one from Epocrates that provides doctors ready access to drug information.

Apple is clearly betting that mobiles phones represent the next generation computing platform (a common belief) and they want to own it. Decades ago computers evolved from room-filling monstrosities into desktop personal computers and for around 25 years we have watched them infiltrate every desk and home in the industrialized world. Apple may have had a chance to own that massive market 25 years ago, but many believe they handed it to Microsoft. Now Apple has stepped in with an absolutely stunning solution to the smart phone space. If they are correct, and if mobile phones are, in fact, the next mass market computing platform, then we may see their technology trickle down to the average consumer, much the way PC’s started in business and education and gradually made their way into homes. Then we, as marketers, will have a consistent small screen to work with instead of the wildly fragmented and closed systems currently offered to consumers through carriers like Verizon Wireless.

When you look at these announcements and compare them to their competition, they have suddenly made most of the major smartphone players irrelevant including Microsoft who watched their Windows Mobile platform drop behind the iPhone in the US market. Fake Steve Jobs said it well when he basically ranted that this announcement has killed, or re-killed, the rest of the smartphone players. While I disagree that this has killed Nokia, the rest should consider new day jobs. Seriously - who wants Windows Mobile now?

Is it enough for me to put up with the questionable AT&T network and the lousy track record they have for customer service dating back to Cellular One? No… But when the new iPhone comes out in the June time frame with 3G network support (fast data) and more storage space (32GB), then I may be sold, price depending. I fear the price will be astronomical. For the record - I still think the iPhone needs a keyboard like almost every other smart phone in the world including the probably-too-late Sony Xperia. It also needs more memory, a memory expansion slot, voice dialing, and 3G support. Let’s see how many of these things Apple addresses in June. I can live without physical buttons if they add decent voice control - an area into which Microsoft is clearly investing heavily. Sigh… I guess I have to admit that I really really really want one of these now.

Credit: Top image is from Engadget’s live blog post from the conference.

Motion Computing, maker of the impressive C5 medical tablet computer, has released a new rugged mobile tablet PC, the F5, an impressive field sales device. We have been fans of tablet computers for field sales and exhibit applications for many years. We find them to be excellent for one-to-one or one-to-few presentations and they make great tools to put in the hands of customers for impromptu interactive experiences.

The F5 is even better than your typical tablet because it was designed with this application in mind. For starters, they ruggedized it and made it fairly light (actually, it weights the same as the MacBook Air.) They added a handle to make it easier to carry and to hold. And they added extra features such as wireless internet connectivity, a camera, RFID and barcode readers, speech recognition, and even theft prevention to make it an outstanding device for the field.

Some applications for this are somewhat obvious: field presentations, data gathering, site surveys, and real time estimates with access to full CRM data. But I also see this as a great exhibit gadget.

Let’s imagine that you have a large trade show exhibit with many product groups. You can hand one of these devices to everyone who registers at the reception desk. They bring it with them as they tour the booth. After filling out some basic information, the device plots a tour through the booth and guides the visitor along. As they tour the booth, the tablet senses RFID tags and displays information about nearby products and how they relate to the specific needs of the visitor, based on the information they provided. Interactive activities may include video demos, 3D pen-based walk-through experiences of products or solutions, games, scavenger hunts, and augmented reality visuals (more on that on one of my next posts). At any point the visitor can opt to have product information sent to their office email or downloaded to a memory stick on their way out. The custom guided tour would provide great value to the visitor by tailoring the presentations to meet their needs, while providing tremendous measurement data for the exhibitor. Also, exhibitors may gather feedback and even content from visitors such as comments, ratings, photos, and videos, then share them on the show floor and online.

I will be writing more about this device as soon as we put it through its paces. In the meantime, you can get a chuckle at Engadget, where they compare the handle-held device to that other bit of hardware brilliance, the infamous Speak N’ Spell.

Twofer tuesday (which is not a tradition at A Wider Net) continues with a wonderfully clickable snapable mighty morphing memory stick. Compatible with real Lego® bricks, these USB drives can take whatever shape and form factor you desire, provided you have the bricks, the patience, the free time, and the space next to your computer’s USB “inny”.

Put your logo on it. Wrap them in a biodegradable box labeled “Building The Future”, “Connecting With Your Audience”, or “We Make Your ____ a Snap” so they can dispose of the disposable slogan and keep the chummy tchotchke.

From Engadget. Manufacturer: Solid Alliance. Still looking for US resellers.

Steve Jobs’ 2008 Macworld keynote came and went the other day, as did my carefully written post about it. So upset was I, at accidentally overwriting half of it, that I shelved it until today. Ever been there?

Anyhow, I felt that having just written a retrospective comment about last year’s big Macworld revelation, the iPhone, it would seem logical to follow it up with something about this year’s keynote. This year’s keynote had it’s share of major announcements, although none of them quite as significant as the iPhone and none of them were strong enough to keep the stock market from plummeting that day on bad retail news.

Here were the major points from the keynote:

- iPhone and iTouch will get new software. The iPhone gets a free firmware update including a Google-driven mapping system that creates GPS-like functionality without actual GPS hardware in the phone. It works by triangulating the position of the phone from three nearby cell towers. Run out of nearby cell towers, and you run out of functionality for this service. Presumably you will also run out of roads to choose from anyway. The iTouch gets a suite of applications that should have been on the device to begin with including mail. The early adopters get to pay $20 for the update while new buyers get it for free. That’s two slaps in the face to early adopters in a year. Goodness, this brand is teflon.

- Apple TV Take 2 - A new, cheaper version of Apple’s set top movie and TV download-and-player is now able to operate without a Mac. So the price drop from $299 to $229 is actually a price drop from $2299 to $229 - if you count the previously necessary Mac. It also can download podcasts, designed for a 2″ screen, and feed them to your HDTV, maybe a 40-60″ screen. That will be a bit like looking at dust mites under an electron microscope - really nasty when magnified. Kudos to Apple, however - this service has a chance for success with every major studio already on board.

The significance of this product is amplified by the fact that Apple also announced a new laptop (See below) and neither the laptop nor the Apple TV box contain any support for Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Apple has quietly yet profoundly declared the high definition optical disc format war, recently claimed over and won by the Blu-Ray camp, totally irrelevant. Downloads are the future. Microsoft was thinking the same thing, as their XBOX movie and TV download service had managed to grow to twice the size of their nearest competitor. This will certainly impact our video production and media authoring plans in the near future. I am very interested to know what the cable TV industry has to say about this product. I suspect they have something cooking.

I am also a little surprised that Apple TV has no user-rating functionality (at least, I don’t think it does). This is a big part of YouTube, and even Blockbuster and Netflix allow users to rate their content. The lack of community and peer recommendation within Apple TV and, for the most part, iTunes continues to disappoint. In fact, it doesn’t even appear to have preference-based recommendation engine like Blockbuster or Amazon. They seem to be completely blind to the process of media discovery by users.

- New Laptop. Easily the biggest news from Steve Jobs was the unveiling of the MacBook Air. An impossibly thin yet technically superior machine, the MacBook Air is as beautiful as it is respectable. It is a green machine (mostly biodegradable or biorenewable), and it is a pricey machine ($1,800-$3,200 ish). While the trend in notebooks has been toward the cheap, Apple and, to a certain extent Sony, have opted to maintain premium models to keep up their brand image.

You can check all this stuff out, and more, at Apple.

The keynote seemed to drain the life out of the whole internet. Everything ran slower. It worried me that all these new iTunes movie rentals are coming through Akamai, the same delivery network we were using to produce a live webcast at the same time as the keynote.

Footnote: The coverage of the keynote was extraordinary. Apple refuses to webcast the event, which is beyond belief. Instead, a legion of live bloggers, twitterers, and phonecam streamers delivered us the news guerilla-style. And it looked bad. Apple should really control the way it looks, and if they can’t keep a lid on it, they may as well broadcast it or allow it to be done right. This blog even listed all the top coverage and updated it in real time with the status, since many went down under pressure. QIK - a beta live phone webcasting system had a few brave souls trying to webcast it live, with very poor results. I still think they’re onto something BIG.

Last January, Apple deflated the giant CES press juggernaut by launching the iPhone a few hundreds of miles away at Macworld Expo. This year, a year after it’s unveiling, CES suffered the same scene-stealing effect, and Macworld hasn’t even happened yet! Dozens, and it felt like hundreds, of new cell phones were unveiled at CES and almost everyone one of them was compared to the iPhone. Surprisingly, the general consensus seems to indicate that not one of them beat, or even matched, the iPhone.

You have to admire Apple’s brand strength and the game-changing ability to shake up an industry that Apple had no prior experience in, and according to some technical analysts, no business being in at all. If you perform a Google search for “compared to iphone CES” you will find pages of search results showing a sample of the comparisons being made between the products at CES 2008 and the iPhone from Macworld 2007 (which, I seem to recall, had more features than the version that ultimately hit the streets).

Perhaps the most astonishing thing is how crappy the phone really is as a phone. Similar to the iPod, it falls short compared to its competitors in many ways. No support for Exhange or Lotus Notes makes it terrible for enterprise users. The browser can’t play flash movies so they conned YouTube into making special versions of their most popular videos just for iPhone users. The memory is very limited and it has no expansion capability. It has zero physical buttons - a mistake that pretty much every wanna-be at CES was not willing to make. And most importantly, it’s stuck on AT&T which, according to most users and Consumer Reports, is in a dead heat with Sprint for the bottom of the barrel for quality and service. Not to mislead - it’s a marvelous product in many ways, too. Its combination of small combined with easily the most intuitive user interface and robust media capabilities make it a delight to play with.

I am particularly grateful that Apple entered this market, even though I will never get one as long as they are stuck with AT&T. The changes in the phones that have already resulted form their entry are remarkable, even though a little short of being truly competitive from a gadget sexiness perspective.

What can we, as marketers, learn from this? Two rather obvious things:
1. Customer loyalty can too easily be undervalued. Oddly, Apple built that loyalty with great products and great marketing but to my knowledge, they didn’t do it by publicly listening to them. You may find it easier and better to do it in plain sight.
2. Recognizing a market that is completely saturated with second-rate products like the previous generation of cell phones is good business. It’s easier to stand out when everyone else is wearing the same shade of gray.

Photo from All About Symbian

UMPC Portal published a nice roundup of the Ultra Mobile PC and Mobile Internet Devices at CES 2008.

You may be asking “what do I do with these little things?”. Most people ask that question. That’s why you can’t find them in stores. At least… not in this country.

The rest of the world gets it. They’re great because they’re small, light, easy, and cool. They run familiar things like Vista and Word and Firefox and PowerPoint. And because they can’t quite squeeze all that into your phone. Yet…

What do these devices have in common?

via multiple sources including Engadget and Ubergizmo