Marco.org – A smartphone retrospective:
Great analogy between the iPhone vis-a-vis the smartphone market and the iPad today.
(Via Daring Fireball.)
Mobile Flash #Fail: Weak Android Player Proves Jobs Right
Mobile Flash Fail: Weak Android Player Proves Jobs Right:
“I was pleasantly surprised at how well Flash episodes of South Park streamed over 3G, until I realized that the site had detected that I was on my phone and was serving me a specially optimized non-Flash video player (like the YouTube app) instead.”
(Via Daring Fireball.)
That’s when you know the party is over. It’s just the music hasn’t stopped playing.
Jaundiced Journalism?
iPhone 4, Windows Vista Share 10 Remarkable Similarities – IT Infrastructure from eWeek:
“At Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference July 11 to 15, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told attendees he believes Apple’s iPhone 4, with its antenna problems, could be that company’s Windows Vista. Turner was referring, of course, to the issues faced by Microsoft after its Vista operating system failed to deliver an experience that customers had hoped for. Turner’s comments were certainly interesting, and they undoubtedly will make some wonder if he’s right. After all, there are parallels that can be drawn between the two releases. Depending on what Apple does to address the iPhone 4 antenna issue beyond offering a free case, the iPhone 4 could turn out to be just as big of a problem for Apple as Vista was for Microsoft. Let’s examine some of the similarities between Windows Vista and Apple’s iPhone 4.”
(Via eWeek.)
I was a tad incensed at this article because it made a good case if one was selective with the facts. Structurally, the Vista rollout is very different from the iPhone. The majority of Vista licenses are sold in bundles. iPhones are outright retail purchases. It’s a lot harder to return Vista when it’s included with your PC. Customers did have an option to downgrade but that was prior to purchase. Returns are practically impossible when the OS is bundled. Returning an iPhone is easy. Just walk into a store and get your money back.
As of right now, Apple is reporting a 1.7% return rate over this “issue” which is less than 1/3 the 6% return rate of the iPhone 3GS. People were reporting antenna problems the day the phone went on sale. So it’s not like customers haven’t had plenty of opportunity to return their phones. It’s always possible we could see more returns in the future, but as of now people are keeping their phones. That’s a win for Apple.
To imply that “Anntennagate” is going to turn into a Vista-esque failure for Apple feels like yellow journalism to me and it’s disappointing to see so much of it these last few weeks.
Miller-esque caveat alert: ‘Course that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.
A Social Engagement with Small Business
Companies marketing to small businesses should also establish a presence on top social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook before pursuing more IT resource-intensive initiatives (such as creating a company-managed online community).
The main strategic reason this is good advice is because of what are called network effects. Chief among them is the desire of network participants to go where everyone else is. This gives you great bang for your marketing buck in terms of both time and money.
Coincidentally, I looked into creating my first Facebook company “Page” today for just this reason this evening. What I’m deciding is not just to have the Page but how to best spread the word on such sites as Facebook, control content, etc. It is not a no-brainer, you need to carefully consider how such a presence affects your image and brand as well as the impression it leaves with your target market. For example, what kinds of comments will be on your Facebook Page? “Hi babe! Long time no see!” is not exactly professional and would probably be counterproductive to what the Page is trying to accomplish.
So by all means get your company out there and be social! Just remember to wear a suit when you do.
Don’t Hold It Wrong
One of the reasons I think Apple’s “Antennagate” saga with iPhone 4 reception is fueled more by the news cycle (and perhaps some schadenfreude) than an actual story.
FactCheck.org: Unspinning the FairTax
AFT’s Burton agreed that those earning more than $200,000 would see their share of the overall tax burden decrease, admitting that “probably those earning between $40[thousand] and $100,000” would see their percentage of the tax burden rise.
via FactCheck.org: Unspinning the FairTax.
It still looks like the same old game to me.
BMW, Mini to use iOS 4’s new iPod Out for music | iPodNN
BMW and its connected Mini label have taken advantage of updates in Apple’s iOS 4 to provide an easier way to navigate music on an iPhone or iPod touch. When attached, any iOS 4 device will put out an iPod-like menu on a car’s center dash display; anyone in the front cabin can steer playback from the car’s own controls rather than distract themselves with the touchscreen.
via BMW, Mini to use iOS 4’s new iPod Out for music | iPodNN.
Apple has a killer “lock-in” scheme. Making it’s UI universal and using users themselves as lock-in devices.
Conservatives for Higher Taxes – Economix Blog – NYTimes.com
“I am not, in general, in favor of tax increases,” [Kevin D. Williamson] wrote on Tuesday, “but I think that … conservatives would do better to support a budget plan that combines real spending cuts with tax increases than to support a budget that does nothing to reduce spending but leaves taxes where they are or reduces them.”
via Conservatives for Higher Taxes – Economix Blog – NYTimes.com.
At some point ideology must yield to reality.
Goldman Takes Shorts
UPDATE: I accidentally overwrote this post with an earlier draft so this version will necessarily be different from a previous posted one. I regret the error.
Recently, as you’ve no doubt heard by now, Goldman Sachs has found itself in a bit of hot water over it’s role in the financial crisis that sparked off The Great Recession. I firmly believe that this is due to, in no small part, the story Michael Lewis tells in his book, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. People upon hearing it are generally shocked and dismayed, including some hardcore free market Republicans.
I had the good fortune to hear a really great interview of him by NPR’s Terry Gross on her program Fresh Air. In it, Lewis lays out the basic chain of event of on how the subprime crisis started, led to financial collapse and how a few non-Wall Street professionals saw things coming months, even years in advance, by using basic investing common sense. Lewis claimed, “If everybody had thought the way they thought and behaved the way they behaved, the crisis never would’ve happened.”
The Limits of Laissez Faire Capitalism
But there’s a pattern here to which we should pay heed, and it involves power. Too often, regulations are discussed in the abstract as a “burden” on companies that expend substantial sums to resist them.
Only after disasters such as this one do we remember that regulations exist for a reason, that their enforcement can, literally, be a matter of life and death. We will eventually learn what went wrong at Upper Big Branch and whether the safety violations were part of the problem. But then what will we do?
via E.J. Dionne Jr. – An old, sad story at a West Virginia mine.
The market signal that saves lives often costs them.