Posts tagged iphone

Why I Would Buy an iPad

I work in the creative economy, bringing new concepts, ideas and patterns to clients and consumers. That makes my brain and my social network my workspace. 

I’m dependent on effective and connected tools and techniques to extract, package and communicate value from concept, ideas and patterns. Value is being created when my brain is plugged into contexts of problems, insights and conversations.

My brain is pre-wired to look for new tools and techniques that create value faster and smarter. That is neither unique or common as people both embrace and resist change. But my requirements are personal.

Until I got to spend extensive time with the iPad the other day I was in the skeptics camp (actually still is). Not as an innovation but as a professional utility tool. I need it to both simplify and to expand my professional life. Here are a few requirements:

• I need both portable and mobile capabilities, i.e. WiFi and 3G (A+)
• I need speed, performance and endurance (A+)
• I need online and offline capabilities and seamless sync of data (B-)
• I need to be able to create, edit and share data online and offline (B-)
• I need local data storage for offline usage when traveling (A+)
• I need text and voice communication tools across WiFi and 3G (B-)
• I need a browsing experience that enables interaction with travel services while on the road (B+)
• I need a much better user experience than the iPhone and the PowerBook Air (A+)

The upcoming iPad Wi-Fi + 3G model almost meets all these criteria. Most of the shortcomings are really third party issues, like Google Docs lacking editing in document mode, Skype not yet offering 3G calling and certain experiences not optimized for the iPad.

The common critique of not having USB ports, lacking camera and therefore video recording and multi-tasking is fine by me. As a product guy I think those were the right prioritization, just as iPhone lacked cut, copy and paste in the first software versions (which I never use).

Entertainment is nice but productivity is a necessity. I need to be able to interact with data cross-platform, cross-team and cross-time zones. The iPad also needs to be good enough to replace my Air and my current iPhone setup. That said, I’m not looking for the iPad to replace my iPhone as one is an in-room device and the other is an on- the-move device. But certain basic capabilities must overlap, as they do.

I’m off to Europe on one of my 5-day take-no-prisoners business trips in a few days and as that coincides with the release of the 3G version I might buy one to put it to the test. The experience doesn’t need to be perfect but good enough to enable work-around solutions. If it meets my requirements I’ll sell my Air as simplicity has to be part of how we prioritize our time, attention and energy.

1,000 Days That Changed The World

Few knew that when the iPhone was released 1,000 days ago it would change the world. It became the catalyst for everything mobile and location-based that we had been envisioning since the early days. The rest is history.

Before the iPhone we had badly designed, hard to use and ugly cell phones that were limited to a few things: make and receive calls and text messages. The iPhone changed all this and made us all truly mobile. I can do everything today via my iPhone: pay bills, update docs, listen to music, watch music, trade stocks, interact with my network, read emails and news, check-in to locations et cetera. The list is almost endless and yet we are only in the beginning of this revolution.

I still sport the 1st generation iPhone that I bought on June 29, 2007 for $599 (less $100 gift certificate). Most people thought I was insane and this was a clear case of hubris and failure on Job’s part. But the iPhone was what I had been waiting for for the past 10 years. Something more than a stupid calling device, a real virtual office and interface towards the world. A ridiculously simple device that made us rethink work, life, interaction and getting things done.

What can I say. Today is a historic day! Hip-hip hurray!

Getting excited about the iPad

I’m critical by nature. When I first saw the iPad I was no better than Bill Gates (“this thing will bomb”). But as I’m pushing my iMac, Air and iPhone to their limits I realize that there is a nice little need for something in-between. It’s more vision than routine which makes it hard to get your head around this new thang.

One of my buddies - ex-technical Yahoo! - painted a sweet picture today during lunch. It’s not the e-reader I’m excited about, it’s the doc reader, he said. Which is so true. It’s Byline for PDF’s with Diigo. Cached during flights to digest, highlight, annotate and share. Accelerated thinking and collaboration.

It’s both business and digital living room. It’s realtime on the cheap ($15 for 250MB). It’s cloud + apps + entrepreneurialism. It’s not just what it can do but what you’ll use it for.

I wouldn’t have realized this if I hadn’t kicked the shit out of my old iPhone with Travels with iPhone. And it’s ironic that it’s called an iPhone as the phone is what I never use. And I wouldn’t have realized it if I wasn’t working independently, defining how and when I work.

Sure, you can use these new gadgets in the old context and they will deliver incremental value or you could let it free and see where it takes you. New hardware and software is not just about what it can do for you but what you can do that you couldn’t before in your quest for world domination.

I’m more and more certain that the driver behind this technology evolution is our desire for friends, freedom and thought (a little Seneca there for ya). It’s meritocratic marxism. It’s lifestyle design.

“What if I all my media could be digital?”

My thought in the end of 1999 as I had entered my second year working for Yahoo!. I created this long wish-list of things that I wanted to do with all my media, and low and behold, 10 years later it has all come true:

• One central repository for all my music and movies (via iTunes Library)
• Accessible via desktop, mobile and the Internet (WiFi, iPhone and WAN)
• Streaming music and movies on-demand  (Spotify and Hulu)
• Downloadable rentals movies (iTunes)

There are still a number of flaws such as lack of real real-time streaming, using proxy server to use Spotify and only being able to have one iTunes app open at a time (if not using Home Sharing).

Since this wishing thing seem to be working here are a few more for the upcoming years:

• Having all the music I *own* in the cloud - for free
• Having access to streaming music and movies from around the world (getting tired of the blockbusters)

Apple will most likely introduce music streaming thanks to their acquisition of lulu. Legally getting access to *foreign* news, shows and movies is much harder as the world is already divided into regions, strongly guarded by old media.

I’m getting ready to give away my DVD and CD collection!

When Transparency Makes Hiding Impossible

The outrage over the rejection of Google’s iPhone Voice App has hit Apple and AT&T right in the face. Who was the clever dude at either of these companies that thought that they could fly under the radar with declining Google one of their most sought after apps?

The spin is now in full effect as AT&T is denying any involvement and Apple coming up with a very lame excuse: “GV is hurting iPhone’s distinct user experience”. Apple is in quite a pickle: they need to play nice with their business partner AT&T (who is known for having the worst customer service in the galaxy) while not making their *fans* turn on them. Speed is of essence here (as always) as there is a global tidal wave building up not see since the days of Gil Amelio.

When the news about this story hit the tape I smiled. It illustrates so well one of the reasons I love the web: transparency. Dirty deeds done dirt cheap will be hard to get away with in a meritocratic, transperant and authentic world.

Any startup understand these three things. Your brand is who you are, how you act and what you do. It’s very clear to people / customers / users if a company / brand is authentic or not.

We are far away from being in a world where transparency, authenticity and merits rule. Food processing companies are still refusing to let their customer know if the food they are selling is genetically engineered. Telecom companies have monopoly and overcharges on SMS that are virtual free. The banking industry refuses to come clean about how much toxic assets they have on their balance sheets.

It would be cool to enter a world where business is actually creating value w/o hiding, spinning or cheating customers. It’s great to see FCC finally doing their job (SEC, take a note) and I hope we’ll see the Google Voice app in the iTunes store really soon. It’s a great service, good for competition and the right thing to do.