iPhone Envy

Llike any good tech rat, I went to my local Apple Store to stand in line, in the vain hope of scoring a new iPhone on its first day of availability. I tried to pre-order, as I did for my iPad, but the problems with the Apple store and AT&T interface got in the way, and they were sold out by the time I finally got through.

So I made my way to the Apple Store at Christiana Mall in Delaware, excited and hopeful. The mall had a jammed parking lot, like a big weekend sale was going on, yet it was 7 am on a weekday morning, where no one else than a few construction or delivery trucks would typically be present. People had been lined up for many hours before the store opened at 7, and clearly, I should have been there earlier, but I’m still unwilling to stand around alone in the dark at the mall without big burly security, so I took my chances.

The line reminded me of the days when I used to stand in line for concert tickets. People were in a good and festive mood, talking and comparing notes. It was a community building experience, and I met a lot of interesting people, including a nursing student, wanting one before heading to Ghana this summer. One couple had their new, 8 day old baby with them, making him the official youngest Apple fanboy I have met to date. Doctors, residents and nurses started showing up in their scrubs, clearly getting off a shift at the local hospital. Apple employees delivered smart water and snacks out to people waiting in line. It was largely a happy group, even for those of us who were skeptical at our place in line and probability of securing a new phone that day.

After about an hour and a half in line, Apple employees informed us that they had handed out slips to everyone ahead of us, counting down the number of phones they had in stock, the reservations, and the number of people in line. While they said they could not grantee those of us towards the back, they did let us know that there was a possibility some of the people in front may not be able to activate their phones, might decide not to purchase, or not want to pay the upgrade fee, so there was a slim possibility we could still get one. Looking at the people ahead of me, I knew that the 50 or more ahead would easily buy up any of the “unqualified” buyer’s phones, and my best bet was to head home.

I headed home and placed my order online for delivery in mid-July, which will be just fine.  (I just found out it should be here in a few days). But I’m really glad I had the “line” experience anyway. I met some interesting people, and we bonded, even if it was in a kind of “sour grapes” way, as we began to despair about our ability to score a phone, and kvetched about the bottlenecks of the online pre-order process.

While I didn’t manage to score a new iPhone as of yet, I have been able to play with some of the features on the new OS upgrade on my 3GS. The best feature by far has got to be the folder features for the apps- all you have to do is drag one app on top of the other and create a folder, letting me finally put all my fitness apps and news apps in a smaller space, allowing for additional apps on the phone while increasing organization at the same time. Secondarily, syncing my iBooks content with my phone and iPad is equally terrific, and I’m thrilled by that alone.

Mostly, the upgrade to the iPhone 4 will be about better photos and longer battery life for me, over and above the OS upgrade. I’m excited to see the front facing camera and try the video chat on the fly, but I’m still basically in love with the iPhone as a mobile computing device.  Despite the tech issues that have been coming out, I still hold out hope that this purchase was a wise one, and the iPhone will deliver an even better mobile experience that I already enjoy.

Now if AT&T could just really improve reception out here in the suburbs, I would be completely happy. But that’s a continual issue that any and all mobile providers will continue to wrestle with- as more people demand mobile access and get used to having information and connectivity on the fly, the more bandwidth they will suck up, and the more challenging it will be to maintain pipes big enough to satisfy demand. The iPhone and its smartphone brethren have changed the way we looked at mobile access to the web- putting it in our pockets instead of in our briefcases. Now that we have it, it’s hard to imagine not having this level of connectivity at all times, and that will continue to stress networks.

And this is why Apple continues to succeed and thrill people- they give us stuff we couldn’t imagine needing. It drives people from all walks of life to line up for a new electronic toy like they used to line up for Cabbage Patch dolls or concert tickets- and some how, even when we go away empty handed, we can still feel like we’re part of the experience and part of a larger community. Even those of us who were disappointed about not being able to get the phone that day were still happy to have had an experience with others, and share a bit of excitement that can’t be equaled by the Fedex guy in the driveway. The sense of the club isn’t there.

And by giving the line a try, I still ended up with a great experience, a few new friends and a good story for a blog post. I just consider it a really early morning tweet up.

Sometimes virtual just can’t replace the joy of community, even in times of frustration.  Even if I have iPhone envy, perhaps the anticipation will make the ultimate item worth the wait.  Delayed gratification just might be worth it.  We’ll see.

Tags: apple, consumers, customers, iphone, iphone4, mobile

Finding Your Social Media Voice

I started talking to a friend the other day about this idea of “finding your voice”.  To many, it sounds like a fortune cookie, and doesn’t seem to make very much sense at all, and to others, there’s an instant resonance.  So to bridge this gap, let me explain what i mean by Finding Your Voice.

When I first started to write a book, I wrote episodically.  I’d write in long spurts, put the piece down, and come back days later, maybe adding some, maybe starting over.  When I reread the pieces to edit them together, it became apparent I had a problem with tone or voice. The mood I was in when I first sat down, or what was exciting to me at the moment colored the tone and the “voice” of what I had written, and it sounded like two different people had written sections of the chapter.  This change made the piece harder to read and pay attention to, because it felt choppy, like too many people were talking to me at the same time.

What’s interesting about this, is that if you look at some of the work of Vygotsky and other developmental psychologists, they talk about our development of our “inner voice” as a dialogue between us and the outside world.  For example, as you read this blog post, you “hear” the words in your head, as if I were sitting beside you, talking.  Our “voices” go from being external when we’re children to gradually becoming internal, although in moments of stress or difficult problem solving, we may still find that we start talking to ourselves, trying to work things out.  (This is why you can often find me asking out loud, “Where did I put those stupid car keys?” even if no one is around to answer me.)  This inner voice is real- it’s our narrator, so to speak, and this carries over to all of our modes of expression, even writing.

So back to editing-  When my writing got disjointed, it was like several different internal voices were speaking at the same time, and the flow of the work became harder to follow.  The internal voice, the narrator in our heads, was no longer one person, but several.  In order to make the piece flow and make sense, it becomes incredibly important to find that voice- that one person, so to speak, so the writing feels like a whole, not like different sentences in various typefaces, stapled together like a ransom note.

If you think of writing like music, there’s a big difference between playing the notes on a page and “making music” which requires both a flow of the notes, but an emotion as well behind the playing.  It’s why we can hear the same piece of music played by different people, but get something new out of every variation.  There’s a fluency that develops, like a child going from reading one   word   at   a   time  to reading whole sentences, to then reading with expression.  It’s the difference between reading a play and seeing it come to life with a performance of the same work.  The fluency and flow of the expression, the voice that develops, makes all the difference in whether  your writing works or whether it seems like a collection of disparate ideas with no common thread.

Now, if we apply this same concept to social media, I think companies and individuals are most successful when they find their voice.  Different people can contribute to the whole, but the common purpose needs to feel like it aligns together.  This is why when companies not known for cheeky ads try to pull one off, sometimes it succeeds, because it seems in line with the personification of the brand, and other times it fails miserably, because it runs counter to what people expect as an authentic voice of the company.

For example, Apple can get away with the “PC v Mac” ads because the personifications seem to ring true- it lines up with people’s experience and it matches what Apple has positioned itself as- an outsider.  It’s also why the whole controversy about the new iPhone is causing a stir, because it makes Apple look more like the mean establishment guys, and betrays the cool dude factor.  In contrast,  the “Im a PC and Windows 7 was my idea” while it seems very Microsoft, makes no sense to me whatsoever.  I do not believe for one second that that girl in the french cafe had anything to do with Windows 7, so the ad leaves me puzzling over what message I’m supposed to be getting here, because it seems disjointed and the meaning is lost for me.

In writing, in music, on Facebook, on Twitter, or in marketing in general, you need to find a comfortable voice that the company can use and emulate.  People have to be able to have a sense of who the company is, a personification they can identify with.  This is what makes each company unique, and why mimicry is so hard- even in real life, few people can pull off pitch perfect imitation of others.  By being ourself and finding your voice, you find why your are special and what you have to contribute.  Without this voice, you’re still like a confused teenager, trying on different personalities until they find one that seems to fit.

Don’t be that kid.

Tags: "Windows 7 was my idea", apple, children, flow, fluency, Microsoft, music, social media, voice, vygotsky, writing

Apple as a Monopolist?

This morning, I heard a report that anti-trust enforcers might be considering an investigation against Apple.  So I started to do a little research.  Business Week reported the story as follows:

U.S. antitrust enforcers are considering an investigation of Apple Inc. following a complaint from Adobe Systems Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

Adobe says Apple is stifling competition by barring developers from using Adobe’s products to create applications for iPhones and iPads, said the people who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to discuss the case.

I’ll admit right off the bat that anti-trust is not one of my areas of expertise.  But this intrigued me, so I started doing a little reading up on The Sherman Anti-trust Act and there is a great overview of Anti-Trust law here, courtesy of West’s Encyclopedia of American Law.

The general definition of a monopoly is:

An economic advantage held by one or more persons or companies deriving from the exclusive power to carry on a particular business or trade or to manufacture and sell a particular item, thereby suppressing competition and allowing such persons or companies to raise the price of a product or service substantially above the price that would be established by a free market.

And the general legal definition of a cartel is:

cartel n. 1) an arrangement among supposedly independent corporations or national monopolies in the same industrial or resource development field organized to control distribution, to set prices, to reduce competition, and sometimes to share technical expertise. Often the participants are multi-national corporations which operate across numerous borders and have little or no loyalty to any home country, and great loyalty to profits. The most prominent cartel is OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), which represents all of the oil producing countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Venezuela. Many cartels operate behind a veil of secrecy, particularly since under American anti-trust laws (the Sherman and Clayton Acts) they are illegal. 2) criminal syndicates like the international drug cartel headquartered in Colombia. (See: antitrust laws)

Ok, so let’s look at the Apple case more closely.  Apple, which up until the past three years, only controlled a tiny fraction of the computer industry, has been getting bigger.  Its iPods,  iPhones and now iPads, along with the iTunes store, created a new market for digital information, from music, movies and entertainment, to mobile productivity applications, audio books and now digital books as well.  They provide an opportunity for just about anyone to access this market, as long as you obey their admittedly somewhat vague standards or program in the languages that are compatible with their platform.

As a podcast producer, I have used iTunes to distribute my podcasts for free, and have been able to develop an audience and a business as a result.   While my podcast is also available directly from my website, and that of sub-projects like OB-GYN To Go, and from the Zune Marketplace, it’s clear the bulk of my audience gets the shows directly through iTunes.

I don’t see this as very different from setting up a shop at the mall.  The mall creates a “platform” or marketplace, which, for compliance (ie. paying rent) I can sell my wares.  It’s unlikely they’ll rent to me if I am selling illegal drugs or other “inappropriate” merchandise, and I choose to be there and comply with their rules.  If I tried to sue the mall for being anti-competitive, people would laugh and say there are plenty of other places where I could set up shop and if I have a bad business model, that’s my problem.

Let’s move into computers.  Microsoft got into trouble by not allowing other internet browsers on its systems- in essence limiting someone’s access to the internet to Internet Explorer. And Microsoft certainly benefits directly and indirectly from people using its operating systems on PC’s which still dominate the market of computers.  Yet because Microsoft does not manufacture the hardware, they don’t really control, top to bottom, everything about PC’s- you can install LINUX or other operating systems onto PC’s.  There’s even a whole community that’s figured out how to install the Mac OS onto netbooks.

So, even though Apple makes what can be a bottom to top integrated experience, the Mac OS can be used on non-apple systems as well.    And people have figured out how to “jailbreak” iphones to do all sorts of things not controlled by Apple or iTunes, including act as a 3G modem for your new iPad.  In this way, it’s hard to see Apple’s computer business as being a monopoly or cartel.  Let’s take a look at it’s ever-growing share of the mobility market, in comparison.

Apple was late to the cell phone/netbook game.  But the platform it created with the iphone, ipod touch, and now iPad have blossomed, because it allows people to take digital data and information in just about any form with you, essentially putting a computer in your pocket.  This means music artists rush to put their music on itunes, TV and movie producers, despite their concerns about the demise of DVD’s and other established delivery systems and ecosystems are largely playing along and reaping the benefit. Even Amazon is selling digital books for the Kindle to iPad users like me. (More on Amazon in a minute.)

Software developers, who used to concentrate on the PC market because of the volume of users out there, are now developing applications for the mac and mobile platforms ranging from Google’s Android, RIM’s Blackberry and of course, Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.  They have built stuff for Palm and other platforms as well- even Windows Mobile, (here’s a good write up of mobile platforms) although Windows 7 mobile seems to be delayed with phones from HTC not shipping until the end of the year.

If I’m a developer, I build stuff for where the customers are.  If I build for the iphone, I get access to iPod Touch and iPad users, and while Apple takes a cut, they are acting as an agent, and I still make 70%, which is more than most authors make on books, regardless of the distribution channel.  I can also build apps across platforms, if I choose- I am not “limited” to one mall or marketplace, and I can choose where to go.  I could still build things in BASIC if I wanted to- (but I might not find any customers)- and that’s not Microsoft’s or Apple’s problem, is it?

This does not sound anti-competitive to me.

Adobe is annoyed because flash crashes with a lot of Apple devices.  Apple contends there are better coding platforms out there, more robust and stable.  And they’re probably right.  Adobe has a choice to make flash more compatible with mac products and access their customers, or decide to work with other platforms- that is their choice.  Apple may be the current 500 lb. gorilla, but they do not have a lock or even 50% of the PC or mobile marketplace, so I have a very hard time understanding how they could be meeting the definition of Monopoly or Cartel under the law.

It’s possible that the attractiveness and quality of Apple’s offerings may push it into a place and time where it does have to content with allegations of monopoly.  I also wonder why Amazon does not face these same allegations because of their impact on the book market from publishers or even other book sellers like Barnes & Noble or Borders, if an appearance on a convenient, winning ecosystem that people seeking distribution can’t do without.

Now Amazon does do some price setting on books and takes a cut of the price, like Apple.  Apple controls its ecosystem, but there are plenty of apps, songs, podcasts, books and other information that are free of charge.  If you want the popular stuff, you have to pay, just like in real life- no different than going down to the mall, except buying things on the fly or from your home is generally more convenient.

Adobe is annoyed that its Flash cash cow is on the downswing, with even Microsoft talking about HTML5 and H.264 and robust industry standards for video, which is essentially Apple’s position.  Flash is known to have security issues, performance issues, and it’s more of  “a monopoly” , in that requires Adobe software to use.  Adobe’s Creative Suite starts at $1,899, where joining the iPhone developer’s program costs only $99 a year in comparison.

I think this anti-trust allegation is silly, and is not going to go very far for Adobe.

The future is going to be developing web applications and even mobile applications that are, as far as possible, platform agnostic.  Your app and the “idea” or reason behind it should work as well on a PC, mobile phone of any platform, and Apple device equally.  That’s like selling your product online, at a bricks and mortar store, and through friends and neighbors- you take advantage of where your customers are, simple and easy.

Yes, you have to pay rent and meet standards to be admitted to Apple’s mall and customers, but the same is true everywhere else.  And Adobe should be concentrating on making flash better so it wins based on excellence, not whining about its decline.

What do you think?  Am I wrong here?  How did Apple go from last place and dying to an industry leader, if not by creating things people want, and creating an infrastructure/sandbox where people want to play and profit?  When does this become a monopoly?

Tags: adobe, amazon, antitrust, apple, developers, marketshare, Microsoft, monopoly

Why I Hate PC’s and Symantec in Particular

I had a copy of Norton/Symantec Aintvirus and their security software running on my HP media center PC m7680n- about three years old, running XP, but it is a “VISTA” ready computer.  The subscription was about to expire.  Norton warned me multiple times a day for over a month to renew, and I didn’t, just because they were bugging me so much.

(For the record, I also object strenuously to the fact that Norton and other virus protection software hold you hostage and make you pay a yearly user fee to keep your PC from blowing up- it’s like a computer tax to a private company, but I’ll save that part of this rant for another day.)

So I renewed on the last day.  Downloaded Internet Security Package 2009- an upgrade from a regular renewal.  It downloaded, but would not install.  I then had to uninstall everything, and it still won’t install.  I have to wait now to chat with someone online, number 11 in their queue for support, down from 15.  This has chewed up way too much of my time, required way too many restarts and reinstalls and uninstalls to try to make this hunk of junk work properly.  Oh, and you can’t use Firefox or Chrome, you can only use Explorer to use the chat feature.  Joy.

I have been considering a new Mac anyway- I love my mac book pro laptop, and the fact that everything just works.  All the time.  But I have most of my podcasting stuff set up on the PC, and didn’t want to go through the hassle of switching stuff over if the system was still working ok.

I now have a call into my accountant to find out whether there are any tax advantages to buying a new machine this year or next.  And trust me, as soon as I find out, I may be marching myself down to the Apple Store and making a purchase- because the time and frustration this thing is causing me, the loss in productivity, is killing me.

Now I am still waiting, number 6 in queue, and still no solutions for this problem.

While the cult of Mac is strong, the real power is that everything works seemlessly together, unlike the haphazard quilt of Windows, the crashes, slow downs, and frustration that eats my time and steals joy and soul in the process.

What do you think of Norton, Symantec and what I like to call the annual PC User’s tax?  Worth it or not?  What would you advise?

Tags: apple, computer customer service, mac, norton, PC, queue, symantec, windows

The Cafe versus Mass Market

Chris Brogan had an interesting post up today about “Cafe-shaped conversations” that got me thinking. The big versus the small, the mass versus the individual touch- this is a classic dichotomy we all struggle with in our lives. Are we part of a group (safety in numbers) or are we individuals, acknowledged for what makes us special and unique? And if you are trying to sell stuff to LOTS of people, how do you deal with this fundamental seesaw of mass versus customization?

In a typical day, in a typical store, my choices seem infinite. There may be plenty of options, but sometimes, none of them fit what I need, want, or imagine in my mind. Because there are so many choices, rather than just one carton of one flavor of orange juice, you can spend ridiculous amounts of time trying to figure out the price/quality/flavor differential for everything you buy- and that’s just the grocery store.

If you walk into a clothing store, or a “junior department store” like TJ Maxx or Marshall’s, the selections and choices are many, often jarring to the senses, and leave me with more questions about what I truly want, and whether any of this is truly worth while, than an ease of making a selection and beating tracks. The mere fact that the choice and selection is so wide, makes me speculate whether or not the “perfect” something is out there, just waiting for me to fnd it- there’s an illusion created that “good enough” need not be good enough any more. Ideal and perfection may be just around the corner, after all, the selection is already so wide…

One Attempt to Scale the Conversation- Education

Taking this out of the marketplace, let’s look at education. Schools are based on delivering information on the one-to-many scale, but tends to do so in smaller “cafe-sized” classrooms.  It works best when the groups are even smaller, even one to one.  But to administer and deliver the information to the maximum number of people, the institution, just like a company, has a heavy administrative burden.  It can deal most easily when everyone gets the same stuff, in standard format.  We’ve built in exceptions for students that learn differently than the middle of the curve, through special education or gifted education.  This customization of the mass information delivery model works okay, but perhaps not optimally in all cases.  This causes many consumers (ie parents) to see if they can game the system to fit their individual needs, to supplement outside the system, or to opt out altogether and send their kids to private schools or even home school them.

I’d argue that these options for education are equivalent to people taking their jeans and modifying them to suit individual taste, with embroidery, paint, “bedazzling” , rolling up cuffs, creative wear, wash and rips, etc.  We’re taking what the mass market does offer, and customizing it to meet individual needs- the one on one conversation where the mass market left off.

Customization versus The Right Neighborhood- Good Enough

When I started writing this piece, I thought it would be about the overwhelming nature of the selection currently offered in the mass market, and how small things, like better customer service, provides that one-on-one, cafe-class attention that makes all the difference.  It’s certainly one of the things that differentiates quality in my mind and makes a difference where I decide to spend my dollars.  If the people care and are engaged, that is huge to me.  But that is the retail end of things.

From the company production end, I really don’t need Prego or Progresso to have an all-hands on deck customer service team, because I don’t have or need a one on one relationship with my soup or sauce provider.  If I need something slightly different, I can customize the “good enough” product with items at home and make it m own, better than they ever can.  They can get me in the neighborhood of good enough, and my customization will make it perfect for me.

Companies who have a significant investment in service products, like banks, utilities, retail stores- these are the people that should take social media conversations and opportunities to provide great customer service to heart.  They are the people who should look for ways to better serve customer needs, rotate stock, get a better “neighborhood” of customer needs they fill every day.  Customer service and relationships matter here much more than they do for strict manufacturing of items.

From a manufacturer’s point of view, they will never be able to fill every need for customization out there, and I think they should probably stop trying.  Apple, for example, does well enough with a few models, and a few colors-they leave the etching and customization through cases and accessories to others, and have spawned additional support industries because of it.  Cafe conversations with Apple happen through their retail store- Steve Jobs doesn’t feel compelled to hug every ipod owner, and we still love him.

I think social media is a great place to engage consumers, figure out what seems to work and what doesn’t.  It’s a great way to problem solve and to generate and keep loyalty.  But it won’t work equally well for everyone, so seriously consider with whom you need to be having a conversation before you try to wrestle people into one.  No one wants to be the person who talks too loudly and won’t shut up in a cafe.  We all want those meaningful conversations that generate new ideas and make us feel engaged and enriched by the experience, and that should be enough.

Tags: apple, cafe conversations, chrisbrogan, customer service, customizatin, education, mass market