RIM’s BlackBerry Storm: Why the Fuss?
Why is Research In Motion being lambasted for its BlackBerry Storm communications device?
The smartphone maker’s latest gadget, which is designed to run on CDMA networks run by operators such as Verizon and Telus, isn’t half as bad as the critics have portrayed it.
Well-regarded tech reviewers, such as David Pogue of the New York Times, (and other reviewers) you’ll recall have slapped the ‘dud’ label and other nastiness on the Storm in recent months.
The Storm, of course, is a touchscreen smartphone device created by RIM for business users primarily. It is the company’s answer to Apple’s uber popular iPhone.
It is this very touchscreen that seems to have engendered the most hostility from critics to date. To control the device, you need to flick your fingers up and down the screen to control it. This is a different take on the keyboard as there are no keys for users to plunk their fingers down onto. Instead, users must click the letters on the screen to help create messages. This is unlike the iPhone, which has a touchscreen that users need only touch to input letters.
Having played with it casually over the past week, I can say the Storm is a worthy competitor to the iPhone if not a superior device.
The device, contrary to the opinion of early naysayers is well designed for the most part and is easier to use in many cases than the iPhone (horror of horrors!).
The Storm’s keyboard is relatively easy to use, has a big, bright screen and seems to be as reliable as any other BlackBerry I’ve used in past though admittedly I haven’t tested its limits.
The keyboard is hardly a chore to use, as some say. This point will become salient for anyone who’s ever struggled to input more than 30 words a minute on an iPhone keyboard. (Talk about a laborious experience!) In fact, I’d say the Storm is almost more fun to use because it’s a more tactile experience though a marginal amount more effort is required to input characters into the device.
Oddly, Pogue has also criticized the company for its desire to "go there," to create a device with a touchscreen in other words.
Bollocks.
If more business people thought the way Pogue did, we’d still be using pushmowers, instead of gas-powered or electric lawnmowers. We’d also be using candles to light up rooms, not light bulbs.
I suppose RIM should’ve stuck to its famous scroll wheel and the tactile QWERTY keyboard, not create a touchscreen device. Pogue has also likened the Storm’s keyboard to a manual typewriter. That’s one major strike, according to Pogue, against the Storm and its very existence.
The point is innovation, even if it’s practically a cliche, is a necessity especially for tech companies. Companies should try to diversify, especially in the hypercompetitive smartphone market. RIM shouldn’t be knocked for creating such a device, should it?
But I digress.
There are issues with the Storm, Pogue for one has said the Storm’s design is "inconsistent" and "confusing." He is right to some degree.
One major design flaw on the part of RIM is the fact two different touchscreen keyboards have been created for the Storm. Hold the device in a sideways fashion and you’ll be able to type on a QWERTY keyboard. Hold it upright and the keyboard looks more like a dialpad for an old touchtone phone. To type a message when the device is held in an upright fashion means users are wholly dependent on the company’s unreliable SureType technology. Not cool.
Keep it on its side and its fine as is the device overall. It’s not going to blow you away but it’s good, solid in fact. I’d even use it as a music player.
I’m not a RIM booster or apologist. At varying points in time, I’ve owned a Nokia e62, Apple’s iPhone and the BlackBerry Curve, among other devices that I have run on the Fido/Rogers network.
But RIM’s Storm doesn’t warrant half the criticism it has received to date. Perhaps RIM has come of age. Reviewers don’t just want to put their hands around a BlackBerry anymore. They want a piece of the company’s hide too.
Technorati Tags: BlackBerry Storm, Apple, iPhone, David Pogue
i don’t want to blog for you aspiring Web entrepreneurs
Message to all aspiring entrepreneurs looking for free or cheap blog writers: I’m not interested.
In recent months, the number of offers to write or blog for Web wannabes sent my way has increased exponentially.
While I like to consider myself a competent writer, I don’t consider the increased number of offers sent my way to be a reflection of my abilities. (I wouldn’t be interested even if the offers were worth consideration.)
Instead, it’s a sign of the ease with which wanna be Web entrepreneurs can set up a fledgling e-business and of course the need for content to increase the relevancy of the sites.
I don’t begrudge or call down anyone’s entrepreneurial spirit – quite the opposite. The world, Canada specifically, needs more of it. But there’s gotta be something in it for me or anyone else that’s given the opportunity to write or contribute for one of these glibly constructed businesses.
However, the offers are clouded with vague promises of gadgets to review or great things to come though for the site for example. In other words, the offers aren’t worth the HTML (or CSS) used to produce (and display) the content.
“Just send me your blog post and we’ll work out the details later,” is too often the pitch received.
It’s a leap of faith to say the least to take such a promise at face value considering the world doesn’t need another cell phone review site. The chances for success of such a site are slim to none.
The “pay for play” offer is another favorite tactic used to lure in bloggers. It’s a ruse for anyone that wants to eat because the CPM offers are embarrassingly low.
Good luck with your ventures Web entrepreneurs. Let me know how it goes. In the meantime, I’ll stick to my day job.
Technorati Tags: blogs, web 2.0, entrepreneurship
tech news story of 2008 – Apple iPhone App store
There’s no shortage of competition for the top tech news story of 2008, that much is for sure.
There’s the obvious (the explosive growth of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook) to the stories that didn’t happen (Microsoft Corp.’s proposed US$44-billion takeover of Yahoo Inc.) to the fascinating but ultimately underwhelming product releases (Google’s Chrome browser).
I am no Apple fan boy even though I’ve written multiple blog posts on the company this past year. Too often, the company gets a free ride from media and users.
But in the case of the App Store, its impact cannot be denied despite the fact it was announced six short months ago. Currently there are more than 140 new apps being released every day, over 9,000 available for download, and a ratio of paid to free apps of 7:2. The average price is roughly US$4.15.
It has helped reinforce and drive the success of the iPhone, which was already one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile devices. Its success comes despite the fact most of the applications offered to date range from the inane (the iPhone Fart apps) to the only somewhat useful (the Flashlight).
More importantly, Apple has single-handedly managed to pry open the application download process from the hands of the wireless carriers. No longer must users take what is given to them the applications optimized from by carriers.
Its immediate success has also inspired competitors, such as Research In Motion and and Google with its Android Market, to create application development stores as well. Others application development stores are likely to be announced in 2009 (Microsoft SkyMarket anyone?)
Oddly, the App Store was a secondary item of note at best in June when Apple announced the store at its annual worldwide developer conference. Now it’s seen as the driver of what is a fast-growing mobile development platform.
This all spells good news for consumers, developers and yes, even the carriers for years to come as interest in the mobile platform is on the rise.
Technorati Tags: iPhone, Apple, mobile application development
Top 5 Apple Macworld Pullout Theories
Apple’s announcement this week that it will cease participation at Macworld next year and Steve Jobs’ decision not to speak at the Jan. 2009 event has been well documented to say the least. There have been hundreds of stories published on the topic. Nonetheless, I feel compelled to weigh in on the matter as it is just too rich of a topic to ignore considering the abundance of conspiracy theories that would probably make movie director Oliver Stone blush.
Theories on the amount of days Steve Jobs has to live, rumours of internecine executive struggles, an orderly leadership handoff and general teeth gnashing over the company’s future have all been hot Apple-related topics of discussion this week.
Anyway, here’s a smattering of the more popular theories and my personal take on them.
- Steve Jobs is on his deathbed again. This is the elephant in the room given his bout with pancreatic cancer in 2004. As a result, it has been easily the most circulated and discussed theory this week. It should be a concern for investors going forward. And yes, Apple has been criticized in past for its poor disclosure or lack there of it and its corporate governance so the speculation is easily understood. But it’s too easy and/or early to say that the company’s guiding light is in any way, shape or form going to his resting place in the near future. One Wall St. analyst says his sources claim Steve Jobs is cancer free. Nonetheless, Apple could do itself a favour by showing interested parties that Steve Jobs is indeed alive and that there’s no reason to believe the company is going to have to wheel him around to maintain investor confidence like a scene out of the movie Weekend At Bernie’s. Probability = 50%.
- Apple is set to change leaders in the near future. This theory seems to have been sparked by a research note from Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray published this week. He seems to think the fact Phil Schiller, the company’s vice-president of marketing, is going to speak at this year’s Macworld signals some sort of impending leadership change. That’s a lot of reading of tea leaves but Mr. Munster’s opinion should be taken seriously as he is one of the more respected authorities on the topic of Apple. I’m still giving this theory a thumbs down. Jobs is alive and probably well, which means he’ll be the leader for the foreseeable future. Probability = less than 20%.
- Apple wants to release products on its own schedule. This is one of the most plausible theories or reasons for the Apple pullout. It is next to impossible to release a market-changing product every January as Apple did with the iPhone in 2007 at Macworld. Yet that’s the expectation Apple has set for itself because it keeps upping the ante on itself with products of greater importance each year at Macworld; it has traditionally been the major product launching pad. It has been Apple’s Super Bowl. Apple likely doesn’t want to have to pull a "rabbit out of a hat" (e.g. an iPhone type release) every year at the trade show. How Apple will create the anticipation or buzz for products in future is anyone’s guess. One thing’s for sure. The fact Steve Jobs won’t speak at the show next month means the company definitely won’t announce a product anywhere near the impact of, oh say, the iPhone. Probability = 100%
- Apple wanted greater control over the show. Apple, like many companies of its ilk, probably doesn’t like it when others set the agenda, directly or indirectly. Macworld is run by IDG, a conference organizer, publisher and owner of research firm IDC (full disclosure: I am an employee of IDC, which is a unit of IDG). By virtue of this fact, Apple probably had less control over the show than it would’ve liked. But I think Apple’s Macworld pullout has more to do with the company’s growing dislike for trade shows as opposed to a control issue. Probability = 40%.
- Apple is ditching Macworld for the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. It’s boring and unlikely but not an entirely implausible theory forwarded by BusinessWeek writer Arik Hasseldahl. CES may very well have thrown, or will throw some sweeteners, at Apple to make it the headliner at the annual gadget fest. As Hasseldahl points out, Bill Gates is no longer the annual keynote speaker so perhaps that leaves a void for Jobs to fill. As for Apple’s actual participation at the most excellent show, which I’ve attended twice? I say not a chance. Remember, Apple likes to "be different." This means the end of almost all participation in trade shows for Apple. Probability = less than 10%.
Technorati Tags: Apple, Steve Jobs, Macworld
Apple & The Age of Peer Influence
Once revered as a must-attend event, tech industry shows are on the decline.
The latest evidence is Apple Inc.’s decision to cease attendance at Macworld come 2010.
The Web, of course, has made it easier, some might even say a necessity, for consumer-oriented companies such as Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple to advertise and sell its wares.
This is a trend that’s been a long time in the making. It has made the “one to many” trade show, where people gather to see the latest wares of companies such as Apple, a relic of yesteryear.
The truth of the matter is recommendations from other users have always been the most effective way to influence prospective buyers. Trade shows are a limited way to reach the 100-million users Apple considers its market. The Web’s a far cheaper and more effective sales and marketing channel.
Social networks and blogs, for example, are more effective channels for Apple when trying to influence peers. Apple can fan the product flames to more people at a lower cost to the company which helps Apple and Steve Jobs generate a better top line for the Street.
“Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers,” the company said in a statement posted to its Web site.
Nonetheless, Macworld will be remembered by many a gadget geek as it has been the venue where the company launched some of its most popular products (the iPhone launch in January 2007 comes to mind).
Now I’d expect to see the company amp up its Web 2.0 efforts (e.g. social networks, e-commerce engines and peer-to-peer technology).
The return on investment argument for a show like Macworld was probably never a solid one. It’s just not worth people’s time and money to travel thousands of kilometres to obtain the same information that could otherwise be obtained in a myriad other ways. Nor is the networking argument in support of trade shows a strong enough one anymore.
UPDATE: Macworld organizer IDG said the annual show will be held as per usual: “While we are obviously disappointed by Apple’s decision not to participate in Macworld 2010, we are on track for a terrific show this year, with strong attendance numbers and nearly 500 exhibitors showcasing their products at the January event. Macworld Conference & Expo has thrived for 25 years due to the strong support of tens of thousands of members of the Mac community worldwide who use Macworld as way to find great products, partake in professional development training, and cultivate their personal and professional networks. We are committed to continuing to serve their interests at Moscone Center, January 4 - 8, 2010.”
Technorati Tags: Apple, social networks, trade shows, e-commerce
HoHoTO - the many uses of Twitter
By now, Torontonian Twitterers, if not the world, knows what a geekfest of a good time the HoHoTO bash was last night (Monday). For those elsewhere that don’t, the party/fundraiser was held at the Mod Club, in the west end of Toronto’s hip College St. area.
A more fascinating topic is Twitter and the numerous ways which it was used to facilitate communications last night between party goers and and in the lead up to the event. Here’s a list of four ways - I’m sure there are more.
- Twitter as a music request aggregator. No more screaming in the DJ’s ear. Well, you could have had ya wanted to last night. But why bother? If you had your mobile by your side, all you had to do was send a song request to #hohotodj via Twitterberry for example. Voila - music over the Mod Club speakers.
- Twitter as a marketing communications mechanism. Lovebirds take note. The Big Day needn’t be planned over an 18-month period. As most people know by now, it took all of two weeks for the #hohoto organizers (still love that tagline btw) to fan the virtual flames and bring the 600+ attendees together in drinks and harmony. And of course, the organizers raised $20,000 for A Good Cause - come to think of it, that’d cover off the cost of a lot of weddings!
- Twitter As An After-Hours Party Invitation tool. Judging by some of the Tweets I read this morning and by the direct messages I received, it seemed the revelry continued on into the wee hours of the morning.
- Twitter as a Party Post-mortem Mechanism. Lastly, Twitter was used in its more traditional form Tuesday morning, which is to say Twitterers described their gratitude for last night and their various physical states in no uncertain terms.
- Check out some of the scenes from last night’s revelry here.
Technorati Tags: Twitter, #HoHoTo, Web 2.0, microblogging
Social networking lockdown
Are you a social media enthusiast who’s about to start a new job?
First off, congratulations especially to my friends in the United States, where far too many of them are dropping like flies these days. You’re employed.
Second, talk to your network administrator if you don’t want to end up in hot water soon after joining the company. Why? It seems large companies are increasingly wary of social networks \or the rich internet apps (e.g. Twhirl, Tweetdeck) that help facilitate people’s addiction to social media.
You’re likely to end up hitting a big ol’ firewall when trying to download the application or view the site anyway but it’s probably worth the chat anyway as admins are increasingly worried that social networks pose a grave security threat to companies.
This is especially true if you’re starting with a large company, many of whom have caught on to the whole social media phenomenon recently.
Larger companies, which typically have far greater resources to draw upon, are locking down desktops for fear people will bring in some form of malware written by a bitter, unemployed programmer in Russia (where a lot of malware is written apparently).
That means no way are you going to be able to download even a lightweight app like Twhirl or Feedalizr without your admin’s permission.
It’s easy to see why administrators are wary. First, it’s their job to be overly cautious. More to the point, social networks and the cottage industry of applications created for network users are new, growing fast in terms of popularity which makes them potential security threats.
Social network sites are great business tools, but caution and common sense and probably a stamp of approval are needed.
Technorati Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Twhirl, Twitter, microblogging, Feedalizr
A Few Other Ways Twitter Can Generate Revenue
Now that a Facebook takeover of Twitter for a reported US$500-million is apparently off the table, the microblogging service can resume its pursuit of a business model.
At least, I hope that’s what Biz Stone and co. are doing now that a deep and probably recession has cast an ugly shadow over the world.
In any case, CNet writer Rafe Needleman posted a decent list of revenue-generating ideas Twitter may want to consider.
He started with the obvious (e.g. sell advertising) and came up with a few fairly original ideas too including one that’d see popular Tweeters charge others to follow them. (A novel concept but i’m not sure it’d fly).
Another business brainwave, which is apparently the leading Twitter revenue generation candidate according to chief executive Evan Williams, is to sell enterprise-grade services such as security and logging services. This has some legs in my mind.
I have at least three other ways Twitter could generate revenue which build off Needleman’s ideas to some degree. They are as follows:
1) Web 2.0 consulting services. Yes people are expensive and the recession is upon us. But Web 2.0 is still a hot topic and it’s a mystery to most business types. These factors make consulting services a potential first revenue stream or lead generation tool for the folks at Twitter. There’s a need that’s currently unfilled by the cottage industry of social media experts and consultants right now. Try talking to someone at a big Canadian bank about social networks or Web 2.0 applications some time. The responses will surprise you. Why can’t the fine folks at Twitter take their show on the road? Who’s a more credible as a web 2.0 expert? In other words, train interested parties at various companies how to use and potentially exploit the service for their own means. There’s a potential upsell opportunity over time. Anyway, it’ll get the ball rolling for Twitter with enterprises and give the company a target list of sorts once it actually has a service or product to sell.
2) Hosted microblogging platforms. This isn’t so much an original idea given comments by Twitter about possible ideas to actually generate a top line. Having said that, it may behoove Twitter to develop some sort of enterprise-grade service if it’s going to wring money out of a line of business or a corporate IT department. It’ll be veering into shark-infested waters at this point as the collaboration software seas are full of players ready to feast on any deal possible. But I digress. Twitter does have a new take on things and will be welcomed by many a company given that it has quickly established itself as the authority on microblogging, the practice most of us many of us know as a message in 140 characters or less.
3) Skype-like telephony. Why can’t I connect with other users via voice when using Twitter? It wouldn’t be huge revenue stream but I’d love to be able to connect to merchants or other users on impulse. Perhaps Twitter could charge people on a per call or subscription basis. It could be in effect, a second or third line for a person.
4) E-commerce fulfillment. Help people buy on impulse. In other word, take advantage of human nature. Tens of thousands are joining Twitter monthly. Among the new Twitterers are celebrities and others who want to tell the world about the products they’re using. Have a ‘buy it now’ option beside each tweet for those that want to take advantage of someone’s product recommendation.
These are of course rough ideas and much harder to implement but still worth considering. But I don’t believe the platform is inherently unmonetizable (is that even a word?)
Any other Twitter revenue generation ideas out there? What do you think of my ideas?
Technorati Tags: Facebook, Twitter, microblogging, Web 2.0
RIM introduces the Kickstart, uh, Blackberry Pearl Flip
RIM announced its first "flip" open device this morning, a widely-expected product the company will use to outflank Apple and other emerging smartphone competitors.
With the fall release of the Pearl Flip 8220rent a car bulgaria, RIM hopes to sell more smartphones, which allow users to trade e-mails and take photos among other functions, to the 18 to 35 year old set.
The BlackBerry maker released the Bold model earlier this year to help maintain its dominant position in the fast-growing North American smartphone market. Widespread speculation is that RIM will release a touchscreen device codenamed Thunder, sometime this quarter.
With faster cell phone networks and better handsets available, it is now a more attractive option for consumers and business people to buy all-in-one devices.
Not coincidentally, the competition in the smartphone field has heated up - RIM, Nokia, Apple and Microsoft’s cell phone partners, such as Sony Ericsson, are all vying for a larger part of the pie.
Apple (presumably) has made the greatest gains in the market with its white-hot iPhone.
The Pearl Flip, which has been widely discussed for months now, looks pretty much as advertised. It is a clamshell device that has the infamous BlackBerry trackball in the middle. The keyboard looks very much like a Pearl while the start and end call buttons are strategically positioned around the trackball as are the menu and reverse buttons. And of course, it flips open.
Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM announced the phone at the annual CTIA trade show, said T-Mobile will be the first to carry the phone in the United States. Rogers will probably carry it first in Canada.
Technorati Tags: RIM, BlackBerry, Apple, iPhone, Pearl
The utility of Google’s Chrome
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Super Google! You’d think the search engine king had just found the cure for cancer today with the Chrome Web browser/application announcement.
Most immediately, it will rival Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and the Mozilla Foundation’s Firefox browser of course. It’s long-term impact is very much a subject of debate despite the hyperbole and HTML code spilled onto the Web over Google’s shiny new Web toy.
What’s more fun was to sift through the bevy of theories as to what Google’s end game is with the Web app.
The most popular reason for Chrome’s creation? Naturally, that it’s going to meant to slay the mighty Microsoft or at least undercut the value of the company’s ubiquitous Windows operating system, leaving Linux or some other variant to do the grunt work on the desktop.
Here are a few other popular theories being bandied about on the Web:
Chrome is designed so that Google to SPY on you! Yes, that’s right. Sergey Brin and Larry Page want to monitor your every Web movement.
Google, naturally, has refuted the charges in its own inimitable way - via a blog post. Queries and an interesting discussion about the purpose of the browser and how it will solve world peace can be found on the Google blog as well.
Then, there’s of course the mobile arena. Chrome, according to Dow Jones, is supposed to help Google control the mobile phone like Microsoft has been able to with the desktop computer.
Finally, leave it to TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington to declare Chrome as reason enough not to use Microsoft products even though he’s never used Google’s latest creation.
Technorati Tags: Google, Chrome, Microsoft, Windows, Firefox, Internet Explorer, browser
-
KR In Your Reader
-
My LinkedIn Profile
