The Carnival of Mobilists, week no. 60 is at Mobbu. Some interesting writings from the mobile blogonauts.
If you only have time to read one post this week, take time for Mobile Opportunity’s “The Shape of the Smartphone and Mobile Data Markets”. Michael Mace pinpoints what he calls 2 myths in the market for mobile data services. First is the assumption that mobile data is for everyone (maybe obvious) and not nearly so obvious is his challenge of the notion that there is a single smartphone market. He creates a compelling rundown of three distinct data markets (entertainment, communication and information) and then maps out the corresponding handsets that serve them. Very thorough.
Dean Bubley’s post, “Motion sensors - the next big thing in mobile phones?” has some interesting speculation and highlights an increasing trend. The trend is punctuated in a timely way by the new Samsung i7, a 7 mega pixel camera slash portable media player (MP3 and video player) whos multiple modes are selected by orienting the screen for the function you want. (Full review at my fave camera site, dpreview and a good synopsis at Mobiface).
These are just a couple that caught my eye and I’m eager to read more. Head over to Mobbu for the rest.
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This is a real text message from Cingular. (I’m sure my phone is in their database from last season when my daughters voted for Ms. McPhee.)
But, I couldn’t believe this jumble of text. I have no doubt 16 year olds could probably understand it… but I question whether that still makes it smart marketing. Does bad language and incoherent punctuation add street cred? Do they do it because they believe users won’t scroll?
The haphazard punctuation — sometimes a comma, sometimes a period, sometimes nothing — is the icing on the cupcake. Why push the boundaries of language this far into the downright ludicrous? Are they trying to cut character count to save on data transfers? I don’t get it.
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The best mobile news and discussions for the week ending 26 January, 2007.
User Experience
1// An interesting video Q & A session with Marissa Mayer, VP, Search Products & User Experience at Google shares her thoughts about Google as a “swiss army knife that is closed.” She suggests that all the tools are there, but they don’t throw it all at you at once. There’s a nugget of simplicity there that mobile “portals” could benefit from.
She also suggests that Google engineers, sales people and even lawywers are user focused. She pontificates on the dangers of overdoing Web 2.0 to the detriment of usability.
2// On the voice search front, Midomi has announced a music recognition service (alas not yet for mobile). Users can sing or hum a song and get results. Pretty impressive results, according to ZDNet. What the news sites failed to mention is how much more natural it will be to do a voice search on a voice-centric platform like mobile.
3// On the mobile voice search front, I have to suggest those of you heading to Barcelona in a couple weeks to make sure and check out Promptu’s voice search, nominated for 3GSM’s Global Mobile award.
Mobile news
4// In the clamor of the Apple Keynote, Nokia and Visa’s announcement of mobile Visa payments in the US snuck under the radar.
Mainstream media digs at the iPhone
5// Colbert is a voice of finger-wagging, syrupy, in your face, um, reason and he is on a roll this week. If you missed the episodes, here are a couple of clips featuring commentary on the Cingular and AT&T merger and he pans the iPhone release.
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The Carnival of Mobilists, week no. 59 is at Xellular Identity. Enjoy some post-Apple blogging.
Three quick highlights (but be sure to read the other synopses): Wapreview discusses Mobitopia, a (del.icio.us-style link sharing site for mobile that I’m personally keen to try). And, Darla Mack gives a thumbs up to threaded SMS. Ooh, and I can’t resist another: Mobile Opportunity speculates about why Jobs won’t allow 3rd party developers in on the iPhone fun.
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iPods sold at a brisk pace over the 2006 holiday season, which would seem to end the recent iPod sales slump. However, Tomi Ahonen aims to blow away any speculation that the iPod is still holding on to the music player throne. The barrage of evidence from Asian, European and UK studies he presents is pretty compelling. In a nutshell, he says that while iPod sales grew 45% that music phone growth has boomed to 243%, which means that though iPod sales are growing, the iPod market share has been long overtaken by music phones and is shrinking by comparison. (SonyEricsson alone shipped 60 million musicphones compared to Apple’s 46 million iPods).
Now, you’re thinking, “but just because people own a music-capable phone, a so called music phone, do people actually use them for listening/buying music?” Well, Ahonen says yes, and backs it up with some interesting European and Asian studies. The UK study he sites says that 80% of musicphone owners are satisfied or very satisfied with them. Thus Ahonen’s argument goes: the iPod is so totally over.
He’s quick to dismiss the iPod and usher in the music phone era, but I don’t think he’s really discussing the US side of the picture…
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The best mobile news and discussions for the week of 19 January, 2007.
Culture of Mobility
1// Mayor Bloomberg announced that New York will soon allow 911 (and 311) to accept digital photos and videos.
“If you see a crime in progress or a dangerous building condition, you’ll be able to transmit images to 911, or online to nyc.gov,�? the mayor said in his annual State of the City address. “And we’ll start extending the same technology to 311 to allow New Yorkers to step forward and document nonemergency quality of life concerns, holding city agencies accountable for correcting them quickly and efficiently.�?
2// Book, I hot mod balk. (a.k.a - Cool, I got one call.)
Kottke.org has a mention of kids in the UK using “book” as a synonym for “cool.” It’s rooted in a T9onym where the word cool and the word book both come up when you enter 2665 on a T9 keypad.
3// In the clamor of the Apple Keynote, Nokia and Visa’s announcement of mobile Visa payments in the US snuck under the radar.
Mobile technology news
4// Mainstream press picks up on Qualcomm: BusinessWeek has a feature on emerging mobile technologies primarily mentioning Qualcomm’s mobile TV offering, MediaFLO.
5// Mobileburn has a review of Samsung + Cingular’s latest sleek little smartphone — the BlackJack, a Windows Mobile handset that is slightly smaller than Motorola’s popular Q. Being skeptical about Samsung handsets doesn’t mean I don’t want one. Did I mention it’s black?
Mobile UI
6// Looks like Alltel is doing the widgets thing.
7// Mike Krisher has an interesting piece on FlashLite.
8// Mike Rowehl on Rails Dev for the Mobile web: Rails and Mobile Content
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There has been a lot of press and commentary on Apple’s iPhone. Deservedly so. From what has been presented thus far the iPhone is a sleek piece of hardware and software engineering as only Apple can produce it. Whether the iPhone is revolutionary, expected or somewhere in between, the discussion has focused primarily on the device’s features and interface. Much less has been said about the implications of Apple’s iPhone business strategy. Since the iPhone was announced on January 9, my thoughts have turned to the decisions that Apple has had to make in order to enter the wireless market and what may come in the wake of the iPhone’s June 2007 launch.
Why iPhone?
Apple’s decision to get into the wireless device business is not surprising. Since the launch of the iPod 5 years ago, Steve Jobs has touted the connected experience where all Apple devices and services work and play seamlessly with one another in one glorious digital ecosystem. Since the mobile phone has become the one device that no one is ever without, despite the fact that nothing about the wireless experience is very good, it was only a matter of time before Apple got into the game. “Everybody hates their phone,” Time magazine quotes Jobs as saying, “and that’s not a good thing. And there’s an opportunity there.”
Uncharted Territory
Having decided to get in the game, Apple’s most significant decision is to be a manufacturer only rather than a manufacturer + MVNO. This is curious since Apple’s brand is largely based on its control of the end-to-end consumer experience. The MVNO route would have allowed Apple to maintain the most control over the end-to-end iPhone experience, clearly important after the ROKR fiasco. However, it would also have taken Apple into uncharted territory as a wireless operator. With iPhone v.1 Steve Jobs has decided to take the path with the fewest risks and stick with what he knows Apple does best.
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Ripped from the headlines, here’s a collection from media sources around the web. Apparently when Apple made its announcement, editors and bloggers around the world sharpened their lucky pencils and exclaimed, “Now here’s a piece just begging for a snappy headline.”
Apple’s iPhone is pretty ordinary at its core
Andrew Kantor, USAToday
Cisco Bites Into Apple Fame (video)
Forbes.com Video Network
Why it’s the Apple of everyone’s eye
Phyllis Furman, New York Daily News
Apple’s new fruit forbidden for now
Jim Rossman, The Dallas Morning News
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“Cool, no hard hard keys!” versus “Are you kidding? No keyboard?”
First, I’m not deluded enough to think the iPhone is the holy grail of devices. They have a lot in their favor in the US, but they don’t have a smooth ride like they did with the iPod.
If you read the US blogs and tech papers, the iPhone is best thing since the personal modem. Glowing headlines like Apple Waves its Wand at the Phone, where David Pogue equates Apple to a fairy godmother, to “It’s Expected, but it’s Stunning” from the SF Chronicle.
But if you read what the Europeans and Asians are saying, this is cool, but not worth all the hype. Russell Buckley even says it’s just a music phone. Then there’s the LA Times story: “In Japan, Barely a Ripple”, which is saying that all these features (plus mobile payments) have been available in Japan for 2+ years already. (But come on, they haven’t thrown out cumbersome soft keys in exchange for full-face, multi-touch screens, have they?)
So, what is it? Is it just a music phone?
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The web is blowing up today with content on the new iPhone. It seems everyone has a perspective, and I’m no different.
Revolutionary or not, Apple did a few things right with this iPhone debut, which I’m convinced will resonate with today’s mobile users.
Portrait-landscape orientation: As media enjoyment and management grows on the mobile platform, mobile users have had to accommodate that awkward moment when you have to physically pivot the handset in your hands in order to view an image or watch mobile TV. In those instances, there is often a sense of disorientation while the user remaps expectations for the D-Pad, and explores how to interact with softkeys, etc. By creating a device that orients itself and keeps tactile interactions consistent, they’ve created a device that feels native to both orientations.
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