Why the iPhone will fail

I've had a bit of a laugh today reading some of the posts about the breathlessly awaited iSlate or whatever the Apple Tablet will be named. I've noticed the tone eerily similar to the tidal wave of nah-sayers who dismissed the iPhone as a novelty.

Some of the common criticisms were –

1. What no keyboard?
2. Geared for consumers not business
3. Limited features – yes for 1G but now that we are at 3.5G, definitely not
4. It's a toy
5. No track record in this business
6. Too expensive
7. Battery life stinks

It's funny how most if not all of these objections/snarks were either invalidated, overcome or remarkably similar to deficits faced by other smartphones – e.g. battery life.

I recommend you do a search for 'why the iphone will fail' and check out any article in 2007. I'm sure many of these guys are eating their words. Delicious, huh?

insomnia

I didn't sleep that well last night. So annoying. New mattress and everything. Sometimes it's hard to just shut down. It was one of those nigts. Fortunately I only have them once a month.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Tablet fever

OMG I have never seen anything like it. Tablet fever is consuming the technology world. Everyone is looking for any sign – real or imagined – that indicates that Apple is going to unleash the legendary tablet/slate computer that will sell like hotcakes.

At least I think it will. I will buy one for sure.

AT&T **cked in San Francisco

The network is down. To be more specific, data and SMS is down for what could be two to three days, basically my time here before heading to Phoenix.

I love my iPhone but without a solid network, the thing is useless. I can barely talk for more than a few minutes before calls drop. Sometimes I can't even make calls at all.

Right now, I think my next step will be to get a cheap-o phone on Verizon and use the iPhone as a supped up Touch.

It's tragic that AT&T has basically ruined what is an amazing product. To say I'm angry is an understatement.

App Store blues

I've been really frustrated by the number of news stories focused on iPhone developers complaining about how they aren't making money and how their applications get lost on the App Store.

Newsflash: presence on the App store does not mean you no longer need to market your products

The App Store is like Amazon. No one complains that 'their products get lost' on Amazon. It's ridiculous to assume that a presence on Amazon means the seller is set for life. Amazon simply provides an efficient standardized distribution platform, just like the App Store.

What the store provides is a potential market of millions of people around the world. So if you do hit it, you'll hit it big, as we have seen. It's up to YOU to build applications with an audience in mind and market to that audience. If you don't, your app is doomed to failure because competition is fierce.

Stop complaining and start marketing. And if you don't know how to market your products, get help.

A plea for data detectors on the iPhone

It's one of those features that every iPhone user now uses, I'm sure of it.

It's the ability to recognize and use the email addresses, addresses and phone numbers that appear in the content you interact with you on phone. It's a feature that has saved my butt on many occasions. But I want it to recognize dates and certain action words to automate making appointments and other to-dos.

It's a function I'm familiar with as a Mac user. Right now such functionality is only available in Mail.app. I use data detectors and can chose things to create a 'to-do' within an email or note. It was something I used to really enjoy doing to keep me on target before the iPhone came out because – believe it or not – I had better task management on other phones but the small screen made it difficult to enter tasks on the go.

In the past, I chose phones that could iSync'd and tasks were part of the package. Why Apple has not implemented simple iSync task syncing is beyond me. I'm stuck using programs that are not really integrated into my workflow and crap falls through the cracks.

I hit one of those moments a short while ago when interacting with email on my iPhone. Having to leave a program to capture a task messes up the flow because you are constantly flipping in and out of programs and that's really annoying.

I want to be able to highlight a portion of text and have one of the options be /To Do/. Then I could add due dates, alarms, notes etc. Then move on to the next email.

Given the infrastructure exists, it's just a matter of implementing it. I hope they do so soon. Task management is the biggest weakness of the iPhone right now.

I've said so before. It's causing my eye to wander, Apple.

Marketing as a political campaign

I just finished watching the CEO of Vail Resorts talk about the impact social media marketing has had on the marketing cycle.

The talk – available for a limited time here at AdAge - highlighted that they have changed their marketing mix and reduced the number and frequency of magazines and other more expensive media. He articulated something quite different as to the reasons why. It's not simply that social media has more impact, which can be argued, but rather the lead time for traditional media is too long.

Committing to running a print ad is more than just running it in a publication. Space needs to be purchased, strategies agreed upon, and creative brainstormed and produced. This cycle can happen quickly but most of the time takes months.

By rotating the marketing spend to social media, Vail Resorts can change the marketing message at the drop of a hat. Do they need to juice up occupancy for a week? Run a special using search engine marketing or links to one's Facebook friends. Create an event out of coincidences.

He likened his marketing strategies akin to a political campaign. What's the message of the week? How do we support this message? What are the forces we need to fight?

Who would have thought that politics and business would be aligned so closely now?