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Palm (re) launches their app store

palm app store

The Palm Software Store is open again though this time as a mobile download for both Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices. I say again because Palm was actually the original mobile application and services platform … The original being accessible from the Palm VII.  The real news this time is the shared revenue with developers …

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It’s amazing just how poorly Palm handled their initial lead in converged mobile devices … Let’s see if something real (and interesting) arrives for CES.

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Disney Digital Copy

Disney Digital Copy - Wall-E

I just activated my first Disney Digital Copy for Wall-E
and I was very pleasantly surprised by the relative ease of the process. I could see my parents easily navigating this process without questions and that’s a definite win on the consumer tech front.

You just insert the DVD (Disc 3 for Wall-E) and run the app which pops up on start. Once you do that, iTunes pops up and ask you for the code to unlock the “download.” Once confirmed, the digital copy copies into your iTunes library and you are good to go. You can copy or stream this version to AppleTV and of course take it with you on a laptop or iPhone / iPod.

Convenience is good!

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Where’s my Federated Presence?

It’s easy to maintain a single status line across services which lets you report the same update across your social services.  I tend to use Ping.Fm mainly which lets me deliver cross-service updates via email, IM and web including mobile.  What’s missing in this age of unified communications though is the ability to share a richer level of presence.  

By presence of course I mean my actual presence – am I in a meeting, on the phone, on the go or even in a different timezone from you.  All of this information can be relative input for deciding how to best get in touch with someone and there is still no way to do this effectively outside of the expensive enterprise route from companies like Cisco, Avaya, and Microsoft which also require that you use their solution exclusively without taking inputs from other sources.  Of course these inputs should be definable so I don’t share random personal bits with business contacts or important business information across to my Facebookfriends but I realize that’s a degree of complexity that might be more challenging.  Still even the “basic” federation for presence seems to be missing …  

The key thing here is that I don’t want anyone else to have to install or use a particular service for this to work.  I just want this solution to deliver the right level of detail to the right service so my various contacts are informed appropriately.  Not too hard right?

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What would Facebook hope to get from Twitter?

Techcrunch is reporting on Twitter’s decision to pass on an acquisition by Facebook and a lot of people are tracking this like a major news story.  I think it’s just the continuation of the hype machine.

I’m not the biggest fan of Twitter … I consider it interesting, yet frustrating given their sheer lack of concern for actual conversation.  While it’s been able to attract a core early adopter set and the blogger “A-List” it’s way too challenging for a mass market audience to use.  In the time since it’s launch we’ve seen the release of an API which has certainly made posting and tracking simpler, but since there’s neither threading nor notification alerts it’s quite easy to just miss a reply if you happen to look away. 

Facebook on the other hand recently redesigned their service with a focus on status updates and seems to have eclipsed the intent of Twitter with a far richer experience.  I’ve found the facebook threading and alerts to be excellent and as a result have actually found myself in Facebook far more often than I was previously.  Granted there is no public timeline in Facebook and discovering new people of interest is much harder since it tends to happen through the friend of a friend mechanism.  

Facebook has a considerably greater audience globally, an excellent mobile experience and a foundation based on sharing between friends.  Twitter has remained a glorified IRC chat room where everyone shouts and you are out of the flow if you stop paying direct attention for a few minutes.  

 

The Facebook userbase almost certainly includes most of the Twitter base so what’s really to acquire here?  The brand perhaps … I suppose there’s credibility there and the alleged offer of $500 Million even as Facebook stock has to be quite flattering.  That said, it is stock not cash and there’s certainly no certainty playing that game these days.

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iPhone opening new market opportunities

One of the things most people assume is that the iPhone is a luxury device and while that was true initially based on both the cost of the hardware and the data plan you are required to add, things appear to be evolving. According to a recent Comscore study:

“These data indicate that lower-income mobile subscribers are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to access the Internet, e-mail and their music collections,” said comScore’s Mark Donovan. “Smartphones, and the iPhone in particular, are appealing to a new demographic and satisfying demand for a single device for communication and entertainment, even as consumers weather the economy by cutting back on gadgets.” Comscore via Moconews.net

While in markets like India and China people tend to have fewer options for connectivity and digital entertainment, in this case people are proactively cutting back to cut costs as the mobile / portable experience is quite good. Apple continues to show that the user experience is THE key factor over just features and specs. A great deal can be achieved within their toolbox that suits a very mass audience. I hope others are paying attention …

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Nokia Legends

08052008127 - Share on Ovi

In the beginning of August, Nokia invited me along with Alec Saunders, Jim Courtney and Jason Harris to Toronto for a behind the scenes look at a new project called Nokia Legends which launches today.

From our briefing doc:

Nokia legends are engaging stories of future innovations and technologies, which may sound far-fetched today but will be reality in the future like urban legends. The technologies are the source of tomorrow’s legends – the unprecedented stories, events and opportunities that will become true when people get the new technologies in their hands.

 

What I like the most about this campaign is that it highlights Nokia’s tech leadership and future forward perspective on how technology is infused with our lives. This is not about a particular device or a service, but thinking that’s starting to find it’s way into various products and will certainly be something we’ll experience near term.

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09/16/2008 - Share on Ovi

Setting up a shot

The technology innovations on which the stories are based include: Traffic Works Research, Indoor Positioning, Connected Home, NFC, Multiscanner, Personalized Widgets, Mobile Journalism, and Sense your Location. Each is told in the first person by actor and writer Ron McLarty who was really great to watch in action. Ron is a skilled pro and was able to offer many different options for each story he shared.  You’ll only be able to see the final selects, but we were there from the start and can better appreciate the process. I’m fortunate to be involved in the creative process through my day job and while this was not my first time on-set, it was still a very unique experience.

I had a great time on this trip and enjoyed the time with my fellow bloggers, Nokia and Bob Helsinki the agency behind the creative idea.

09/16/2008 - Share on Ovi

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Are they watching?

Sometimes things happen online that are simply too close to who you are not to believe that your data is being collected, collated and used for marketing (or observation) purposes.  

For my recent  trip to Dubai, I spent quite a bit of time researching things via google and even spent some time on the local google site for Saudi Arabia (possible client there).  My ticket was purchased only a few days prior to my departure and when I arrived at the airport I was pre-flagged for security with the triple-S.  The guy at the Emirates check-in counter said it was a DHS thing which means either they simply chose me randomly (and not either of my other colleagues) or they are checking with the big G.

About 10 minutes ago, I clicked a webclip link from within GMail through to the IHT and see an ad for Emirates Air and the Airbus A380 – the very plane and airline I flew home.  What an interesting coincidence…  I’m not feeling too paranoid or anything, but that’s seems more than just random selection to me.

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Facebook is finally drawing me in …

I’ve actively updated my status on Facebook for a long time, but really only casually participated even though I’ve added applications, pages and have several hundred friends. I’ve looked at Facebook more like AOL 2.0 than a place I really look to spend time, but recently a few things have happened that have gotten me to pay much more attention.

Many of the people I interact with are people I have known in person for a long time either from high school or college and more recently, work. In other social spaces, my friends tend to be virtual first though I’ve met quite a few people in person as well. The number of recent connections from old friends has greatly enhanced my desire to participate on Facebook. I know that’s the point, but I’ve had an account for so long yet really not had much discussion with long time friends until the past 6 months or so.

What really got my attention though was when I posted some pictures this week from my recent business trip to Dubai. As a long time Flickr user I have resisted Facebook photos. The people tagging is very cool, but there are many more features in Flickr and the focus in much more pure.

The recent pictures I posted received more comments on Facebook than I’ve ever gotten on Flickr and the fact that the people talking to me are mainly (some virtual buddies too) people I know adds more value to the conversation. Not to take anything away from my virtual friends of course, but sharing the experience with people I’ve known for a long time really does create a richer personal experience.

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Ralph Lauren Mobile – live but needs a lot of work!

As noted earlier this week, Ralph Lauren has started to launch a mobile marketing campaign and site.

Ralph Lauren Mobile - RL-QR

Unfortunately my experience with the site is still not good. In theory, RL wants to push a mobile lifestyle site with content and shopping. In experience, this you get:

RL Mobile

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I have a similar screenshot for the Quicktime file as well. Neither will also play on the iPhone (I only expected the Quicktime to work but tested both). As you can see the site is also poorly optimized for various screens:

The best looking of the bunch is the Intro / About page:

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The main navigation could be much better if the images expanded based on browser detection:

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There are also way too many clicks to do most things with reliance on the back button or a click on the home link which forces you to re-load the main page rather than presenting a simplified navigation in the footer to let someone just get to another section of the site with minimal fuss. To begin shopping I had to select RL Classics, then the RL Classics Shop, then choose a selection of options from either Men or Women (which could have easily been a level higher). Once I choose Polos I was presented with this:

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I thought the iPhone would be an easy fit for RL Mobile as they are both essentially luxury goods, but the sheer lack of attention to details like auto-fitting the page makes browsing and shopping quite tedious. I honestly just expected the iPhone to work well given all the attention and likely overlap with the RL target audience …

I did like that (as you would also expect) you can choose colors appropriately for shirts and then was pleasantly surprised to see the photo change and the model wearing the color shirt I’d just selected. The close-up pictures of the color swatches make it easy to see what you’re getting as well. Why do I have to keep zooming each page though to make this work! every click and subsequent page load requires this adjustment!!

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The only section of the site which is optimized is the shopping cart, though that is handled by Usablenet directly. I’m not sure why the rest of site can’t be as optimized in the same way as these pages and unfortunately I can’t see too many people making it this far.

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08/14/2008

I can’t imagine too many people wanting to spend time here with the experience I’ve just had. Sorry, but that’s my honest opinion. It’s not fun or informative. The multimedia features are seem like they are broken, yet work fine on the desktop side and there are far too many page loads with too little payoff.

Unfortunately with mobile, you need strong content and design to maintain someone’s attention in such a small space.I’d like to see this succeed actually as mobile should really be a strong consideration for a brand. The RL Mobile experience seems like it has good intentions but a very poor execution.

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Mobile Multitasking

I know this is not the mainstream pattern by any stretch but just a sample of how I tend to use mobile technology.

On my walk to the train tonight I fired up Sportstracker and captured my speed and distance, while listening to some tunes over A2DP which logged up to Last.fm via Mobbler. I maintained an active chat with my friend Serko via Nokia Chat and also cleared a few emails. I even stopped into Jaiku to reply to a thread. Serko was able to see my status live update as I passed through Bryant Park (love the Location broadcasting) in Nokia Chat.

This morning I had a pretty similar walk to the office though instead of chat, I snapped a few pics which synced to my walking map in Sportstracker.

Now on the Train home, I’ve added the Nokia N810 on which I am typing this post … Music, chat and email all rocking.

The E71 is my current workhorse of a mobile and it easily handles the multitude of simultaneous requests I make. Devices like the iPhone restrict multitasking because only email and music work when not serving as the active applications. I realize my uses are not the usual case but how long with the growing base of power iPhone users stand to be limited. Background notices are not solving the challenges the power user will need to have resolved. The mobile experience has evolved into far more than a simple communications platform. We are computing, creating, collaborating as well.

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Ralph Lauren almost makes it mobile

08/12/2008

This ad on the back of New York Magazine caught my eye as it’s carrying a QR Code not quite the same size as the Polo logo. A quick snap and I was at the Ralph Lauren mobile site which as you can see here is not yet ready for visitors. Good effort, poor execution.

08/12/2008

Update – Just got an IM from someone working for Raplh Lauren and was told the magazine ran a bit earlier than expected. The site should be up tomorrow and will apparently be the first time a retailer has done such a substantial mobile promotion. I look forward to checking it out!

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Why a Nokia Zune phone makes sense

The rumor has been floating around for a week or so now via Zunescene, here’s my take. I think everyone wins in this deal.

  • There’s been no mention of any kind that Nokia will launch Music in the US or Canada and Zune could instantly fill that as that’s where they currently play. Nokia is already cutting deals in other countries (think we are up to 8 now) and Zune could get instant access to listeners there.
  • Nokia would instantly get a social network built around music via the Zune Social, which is compelling yet under utilized by Microsoft. There’s a great sharing and discovery aspect to the Social when you have a subscription which would only be enhanced by adding a real time connected device like a mobile phone.
  • Nokia handsets already support Windows DRM. I can’t imagine it would take very much to update the software to go from Plays for Sure to Zune since they are really based on the same technology.
  • Subscription music rocks! I’ve had a Zune subscription for about 6 months and it’s been an excellent tool in my musical discovery process. I love that I get any album as they are released on Tuesday and regularly use the meta-data they offer to discover more music. I could easily live without Comes With Music (again there’s no mention of this coming to the US yet) and would love to use my handsets as additional Zune’s in my plan.

I actually can’t think of anything bad here. Sign me up!

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Cablevision prepping a Wireless cloud

While NYC won’t be getting a wireless network anytime soon, it looks like I’ll be able to tap into something in Westchester relatively soon. I’ve actually seen a few optimum (the Cablevision brand) hot spots pop up on my commute and there’s one in Katonah where I live, but I don’t currently have access. Not sure if it’s just someone’s wireless home broadband connection or what…

Over the next two years, Cablevision said it will spend in excess of $300 million to make wireless Internet available across its entire operating region, which in addition to Long Island, also includes parts of New Jersey, Connecticut, New York City and Westchester.

Cablevision, the new owner of Newsday, hasn’t yet outlined which region of Long Island would be first to receive service, which it said would be free to Optimum Online subscribers.

On a conference call with Wall Street analysts yesterday, Cablevision chief operating officer Tom Rutledge said the company spent $20 million between May and the end of June to begin building the so-called Wi-Fi network, which he said the company will unveil soon.

The service eventually will allow people with mobile computers to access the Internet anywhere Cablevision service is available, but there are plans for more services, involving voice, video and data, officials said. [Newsday.com]

A free network thanks to my cable provider would be actually very cool. AT&T does not exactly seem to be racing along with plans to update their HSDPA coverage in Northern Westchester.

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Adventures in Customer Data!

What a week for customer data …

  • Apparently a woman in the Uk signed up for Lovefilm, but was connected to one of my email addresses. This is an obvious mistake, but concerning as I’ve never signed up for Lovefilm directly to the best of my recollection and am wondering how my address was harvested in the first place.

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  • Next, I received a car rental confirmation from Thrifty for a trip I’m not taking. Perhaps I might have been motivated to visit Jackson Hole next week, if they’ve thrown in some airfare as well.

Thrifty

  • Finally, Sirius sent an email saying there was an issue with my billing information yet after calling there was not only no issue, but I am pre-paid on our radios for the foreseeable future and set to rebill as needed. More disturbing here though is that the operator read my password to me over the phone unprompted to make sure I knew I could use it for online streaming. This is a big WTF! Why for starters can they actually see my password in their system and who thought it would be a good idea (and not totally creepy) to have them read it proactively to me?

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Verizon offers FiOS TV in NYC… but where?

Verizon is making some noise today with the apparent release of FiOS TV, though when I checked their site for two different addresses (Grammery / Union Square and Hell’s Kitchen) I only see coming soon. So, who can actually get this?

The packages and services they will be carrying actually look great with 100HD channels and a networked DVR … I just don’t believe it’s actually available yet.

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AT&T really likes Sprint + Clearwire

I love this …

It’s the Larry David rule of life – you just want things to work for you, regardless of how much something contradicts your stated opinions. AT&T is not opposed to the Sprint / Clearwire merger, they just want everyone to have fun dealing with their lawyers and the FCC.

In this case, AT&T claims that it isn’t really opposed to the merger, but it’s filing opposition papers because it feels that Sprint and Clearwire aren’t receiving the same level of scrutiny that AT&T received in its mergers, specifically with regards to it spectrum holdings. This seems like grasping at straws by AT&T just to throw some sort of extra paperwork roadblock in the path of the new Clearwire, which is an obvious competitor.[Techdirt]

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Cartier’s Love Campaign on Myspace

Just caught this via AdAge and I’m having a hard time getting past this quote:

“There’s this misperception in the market about MySpace being a youth site, a site for teens,” said Travis Katz, managing director-international operations for MySpace. “But 85% of our audience in the U.S. is over 18, and 40% of all moms in U.S. are on MySpace.” He claims that MySpace reaches more people making $100,000-plus than other social-network competitors, such as Facebook and Yahoo 360.

The site is certainly well designed for MySpace, but I can’t help but cringe thinking that people playing on MySpace are just waiting to be engaged by a marquee luxury brand like Cartier. While 85% of the audience is over 18, what’s the the actual range? Is it 18 to 60 or more like 18-24? I’m reluctant to believe that MySpace is the winner in the Household earnings stat as well… just not buying it.

I guess this is one to watch … not sure how long the terms of the deal are, but let’s see if it gets renewed.

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Not linking with Bravia Internet Link

As exciting as the possibility for Day and Date releases are within the current test by Sony is incredibly frustrating. We have a number of Bravia LCD sets in our house yet none currently have the $299 Bravia Internet link accessory and I have no reason to believe buying this will offer anything beyond this for the time being.

I already have a few ways to get internet content to my television (AppleTV and a Wii) and thus far watching YouTube has remained a rare, because I can experience. Of course downloading or streaming movies is great and currently I enjoy that via AppleTV though nothing in the available selection is currently playing in the theater.

The main cause of my frustration is Sony’s standard view that they need to control the end to end experience. There are plenty of ways to distribute high bandwidth content online and a few options on the DRM front as well. The NYT piece makes no mention of the PS3 as a receiver in the system, so for now I will assume it is not an enabled component. The PS3 represents the greatest distribution point for Sony and could cover a few bases for marketing the experience as well. Bravia’s Internet Link is yet another thing a consumer has to purchase and fiddle with and adds complexity to an already crowded space by the TV. I get that everyone wants to control the full deal here, but if you make it complicated and difficult or worse proprietary – the consumer will just continue to work around the system.

I look forward to the day when I can enjoy a high quality currently in-theater production from the comfort of my couch. Who wouldn’t want day and date feature (not DVD release) in their home theater? I am even willing to pay a premium for the pleasure over the theater ticket price to make up for the lack of concession sales. $300 is a bit more than I am willing to gamble on Hancock. If instead Sony offered videos through AppleTV, PS3 or even (gasp) the XBox, people would be more than happy to download and watch. Actually I would buy a PS3 if that was the conduit here … it would enable multiple experiences for the family and actually deliver some value.

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