Let's change people's minds!

"Everybody" is still very few

The most geekish about the high tech industry is the preference for calling the race over long before it is. And even more often, start a new race before the prior one haven't even started yet.

When 3G telephony was on everybody's lips, but far from being in anybody's hands, the press shouted "it's now the time for 4G". Perhaps it is, but what is the likeliness that a technology that's described as being the fourth generation is to become a standard when carriers are struggling to convince their customers to use handsets based on the 2.5 generation (GPRS). Where is the respect for all innovators that will come up with fantastic ideas about how to deal with the technology that's available. Or, where is the common sence?

Now blogging seems to be out of date already, according to the press. Just when it all started. Computer Sweden put it on their "down"-list today, stating "more and more people are doing it and it raises the question of how many that actually cares anymore"

Well, some guys have been doing this for years, since the early days of WWW. But many of us have been blogging one or two years. And the vast blogging population have started only months ago. According to Technorati there were 8.7 million bloggers worldwide in April 2005, an increase of 400 per cent compared to March 2004. That's quite an increase. But it's still not that many. In fact it's less than 1 per cent of all Internet users world wide.

Blogging, mob-logging and behaviors alike all have great possibilities to grow to a much higher penetration rate than the web sites of today. In fact I believe blogs and blogging software is the future web site for most of us. Because of its user friendliness and simplicity. And it doesn't only compete with mainstream media. It's competion is to found among web consultants, photo print shops, project management tools, hospitality facilities and so on.

Perhaps the "cool" in blogging is running out. But the behavior has only started and if you want to make business on blogs, go ahead. Write books, add better features making it even easier, create better income opportunities for bloggers, create aggregators, arrange blog training, writing courses,  prize competitions, what ever.

But please, don't say "the race is over, let's find another". If you're not a researcher or geek, that is.

The modem sequel

I am sorry to bother you with my broadband trouble. But I have to.

I received my new broadband modem last week. A week after I broke my previous one. This time I read the instructions at least three times. I've never been more cautious.

Guess what. It didn't work. I spent two hours on a sunny Sunday on the phone with my carrier Bredbandsbolaget only to get the message: our technical staff will call you. And I who thought I was talking to them already!?

Why do I have to talk to a computer engineer to install my new broadband? And why can't my mobile carrier staff help me connect my 3G phone to my computer? 

So many questions, not a single answer. On the other hand. Those questions are the answers on these two questions:

Why are still so few people using extended broadband services?
Why are still so few people using 3G services?

Can somebody please hand over "Crossing the chasm" to those guys!

Groundbreaking technology can be simple

If IBM gave us the personal computer, chipmaker AMD placed it in everybody's hands.

Actually I think that's not a too unrealistic version on how historicians will describe the computerization of the world in the late twentieth century and the early 21th.

I am talking about the PIC from AMD, a $200 neat device that comes with Windows CE, basic word processing, e-mail program and an Internet browser. The small computer that could be connected to any monitor and a dial-up or broadband connection targets the third world market fo people earning between $5,000 to $10,000 a year.

The PIC is offered to Internet providers for $185 and they can then either sell it with a mark-up or for break-even, with the revenues coming from the Internet subscriptions.

There are two things I just love with this product:

1. It's great a company like AMD have the courage to target the third world, and to do it on a commercial basis. They see greens coming here, but in the same time they may change the world.

2. I think this product may not only revolutionize the third world but the whole world. There are a lot of people in the industrialized world who don't need more features than what the PIC is offering. And they will either discover this specific product, or other followers who realise this is what the future is about.

But obviously You're not mine

My wife just got UPS delivery from shopbop.com (standard delivery). She ordered a Juicy Couture track suite on the Internet late Sunday. It was shipped Monday from Wisconsin. Wednesday morning the package was delivered to our door in Gothenburg, Sweden.

I am still waiting for my modem. From Stockholm.

Signed, sealed, delivered - I'm yours!

Activate "Bridge"

Does somebody know what that means?

If you do, please tell me. If you don't, don't touch it!

That is, if it's the text on a button on your computer screen. I was obviously stupid enough to do that last week when I tried to install my new high speed Internet modem allowing me to download with speeds up to 24 Mbits/s. I followed the instructions carefully. When then nothing happens I am the type of guy who look for solutions. Unfortunately before I reach for the phone. Now the modem is broken.

My carrier (to be) will send me a new modem, which I still haven't received and then I'll start over again.

The event has made me think:

1. Why was it a button there, that if you press it, your modem gets useless?
2. Why was I asked in the first place to enter some kind of computer geek environment (which I guess was inside the modem) to add numbers that could have been installed from the beginning?
3. How many other customers have pressed this button?

The craziest thing with carriers, no matter if they offer mobile services or broadband, is that it seems they haven't realised they are in the service industry. And I am not talking about the importance of good customer relations. I am talking about the essence of "time".

Since I received the modem now more than a week has passed. Still I haven't received the new one. That means one week with no revenues from subscription fees, and no revenues from all the extra services they want me to buy, like video-on-demand, IP telephony etc. And I am obviously not alone.

Same thing with my mobile phone carrier. I haven't manged to hook up on the Internet with my 3G phone in more than six months. Since I rarely exceed my voice minutes the only way they could pick some more bucks from me is to make me use the data connection. But they haven't. They can see it on my bill, that I am not using their services. And even easier, they could have helped me when I was standing in their store with my computer and my phone asking for help. But they didn't. Because they didn't know how to.

All I hear in the telecom industry is the importance of acquiring more customers. But what about getting more money from the customers you already have!

Here's a brief strategy:

• be user friendly
• offer good equipment that works
• fire all your geeks or put them somewhere they can't do any harm
• call me sometime, ask me how I am doing

Stupid foresights - lousy customer care

There are some moments in time you feel: I actually experienced this while it happened.

I am not talking about the installation of the new pope. I am talking about the recent stupid comments from the Verizon CEO.

I have always wondered whether comments from the past such as: "There will only be a need for three computers in the world" are real. They are somehow too good to be true. But after SF Chronicle's interview with Ivan Seidenberg I see no reason to doubt.

For instance the telco chief comments on Wimax (or specifically that SF are planning to build a municipal network for everybody to hook up on, just like in West Hollywood) saying: "That could be one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard. It sounds like a good thing, but the trouble is someone will have to design it, someone will have to upgrade it, someone will have to maintain it and someone will have to run it."

That's the sound of a man who doesn't want anybody to disturb him with new business.

Or even better. His opinion on customer demands:

"Why in the world would you think your (cell) phone would work in your house?" he asked. "The customer has come to expect so much. They want it to work in the elevator, they want it to work in the basement."

I agree with The Community Guy. Don't let those CEOs out of the building. If it wasn't for the need of making a phone call that is.

The innovation killer

The standard.

Just when you thought it was over. They came up with a new. That's an effective way to let no other then the true innovators adapt the technology while leaving the rest of us in doubt.

Take the WAP cellulars. Before the first version hit the stores the press told us we should better wait for version 1.2. Why was it a version 1.2 before anybody knew what people would use the phones for?  Would we seen another turn in the development without the hype and with a more user-centric strategy?

Although it has started well I am getting a little worried about what happens with Wi-Fi. From one standard that has made it extremely easy to share Internet access in your home network and to hook up to the broadband at Starbucks it now gets complicated. One standard has become at least four and suddenly the customer has to make more complicated decisisions. Just when the technology is about to cross the chasm, going from the early adopters to an early majority.

Read about the different standards in this handy CNet Article.

Reality computing

If you'd buy a new computer today, what qualities would you first look for?

• Faster and larger capacity?
• Cool design?
• Secure and reliable?

I would definately go for the latter. After a year with coffee spillage, virus infections and bad back-up routines I am ready for a computer that adapts to my behavior instead of the other way around.

Oddly enogh, this has not been an option. Even though the debate about the importance of IT security is an everlasting story in IT as well as business press nothing really seems to happen.

Until now.

This week Toshiba launched their new Easy Guard concept. With Easy Guard the Portégé computers come with spill-resistant keyboard, shock protection design and a high level of pre-installed security. Above that the wireless features are better than ever, and easier than ever.

I think they have made a great move that I just hope they will be able to communicate that to their potential customers. Because already today I think we will see a shift in what qualities peple will look for next time they buy a computer. And it's not speed.

Everybody isn't that many - so far

Now everybody's podcasting. Isn't that right?

No it's not.

Not everybody, but still very few, know about podcasting and even less people are practicing it.

For those of you who missed it, Podcasting basically means you post audio files on your website so people can download them to their Ipod. The behavior has of course already been around for a while, but suddenly (a relative term) three things happened:

1. The behavior got a name
2. Software such as Itunes made the file transfer between the computer and your player convenient
3. Software to easily create downloadable audio files and distribute them in a RSS-like way (like a subscription service) became available

This means:

1. Industry people and the press got a phenomena to talk and write about.
2. People can listen to web based sound wherever they are
3. Similar to blogging the publishing got in the hands of those who have something to say, not only those who could afford it or were technically savvy.

After a post by Bruce deBoer at Synthesis we had an e-mail conversation stating that the hype is partly due to the name, partly due to the loyal crowd of Apple people who now have the stuff for doing it and also a will to confirm their community. And the hype is more "about" podcasting than the podcasting in itself. Bloggers, journalists and PR-people are all talking about it, but even in these groups not so many are actually doing it.

That's what coloured my mind, when I read this article by Robert MacMillan of Washington Post arguing that podcasting is a fad that's now peaking, and with an rather predictable future:

What hopefully will happen with podcasting is what's happening with blogs, Web sites, bands and writers -- millions exist and some survive. Hopefully, the ones that make it will do so because they're fresh and good, and the rest of us will try our best not to bore you.

I agree a lot with MacMillan and really like his own "law": The faster the rate of the innovation,  the more quickly the innovation grows stale.

But there is two fundamental errors in MacMellans arguments:

1. Podcasting is no fad. It may be in the future but today it's nothing but industry buzz
2. Even if it would be a fad, a trend, or a real common practice, we don't really know if it will go the same way as other technologies, because the characteristics aren't the same as for blogging, web surfing or any other commonly known Internet behavior.

The relative advantage of Podcasting goes down to the easy transfer from the computer to the Ipod. Because that's what makes the whole difference - the ability to consume this kind of information on previously impossible or inconvenient occasions. While driving your car, training in the gym, doing typical blue collar tasks, or doing garderning at home.

If people then will listen to Rush Limbaugh, The Gilmor Gang or bedroom couples  is something for the future to decide. But if I was an executive on Sirius Satelite Radio I would certainly follow the development carefully. Because, I am sure we have some interesting Howard Sterns out there.

Wifi got there first

The great American WIFI penetration rate has expanded over the Atlantic. Not to Europe, the old continent is still seriously lagging, but on the way to Europe - in the air.

SAS is the first airline to implement the WIFI technology of Connexion by Boeing, enabling all passengers to hook up on the Internet with their laptops. And with the connection not only comes the opportunity to surf the web and stay online in the chat rooms. You actually now can make phone calls from the plane via Skype without paying a fortune. Nikolaj Nyholm has tested and is more than satisfied.

This means, WIFI won the race in the air (if there ever was any) over the cell phone. This time time the battle was defined by technology. But next time it may well be cost that make people on the ground choosing to download essentials in coffee shops or using city sponsored WIMAX connections instead of using far to expensive cell phones.

3G operators really have something to be worried about (which doesn't mean they will fail, but they have to have their ears very close to track).

Paris power

Well, we knew it, didn't we? The Heiress has made the sales of the Sidekick II soar. In New York they are sold out.

"Paris has said numerous times that she loves her Sidekick," said T-Mobile's Peter Dobrow. "We believe that she will continue to love her Sidekick."

Of course she will. What better tool for publicity can you find?

And we, the customers have got some tips on what to do with our camera phones.

We are all the winners.

Here's the "I was so lucky"!

I was so lucky I had my Motorola video phone with me. To prove that I popped into the Prince of Wales and Ms Parker Bowles last week. At least I am pretty confy that some CSI expert could confirm its him on the movie clip .

Where's the "if I've only..."?

By adding the classic brand Walkman to its latest cell phone SonyEricsson today announced the company is kick-starting its entry to mobile entertainment. With the new W800 "it will now be possible to listen to music, handle phone calls and take great pictures and video, all with one device and with no compromise on quality. The Sony Ericsson W800 is the first product to combine a mobile phone, a high quality digital music player with up to 30 hours’ battery life, and a 2 Megapixel camera"

”We looked carefully at what people want from a mobile digital music player and have designed a product that fits the bill,” says Rikko Sakaguchi, Senior Vice President, Product and Application Planning of Sony Ericsson. “The W800 has great sound quality, is easy to use, has superb battery life and can store a large amount of music..."

I am questioning how carefully they have looked. Why?

1. It's not superb battery life, it's disastrous! The 30 hours battery life is actually only 15, if the phone is switched on while listening to music. And it's still a phone isn't it.

2. 150 songs is not a large amount of music, it's below minimum. I have more than 5 000 on my Ipod - and I listen to all of them, or at least from all of the albums I have downloaded. I never have to think before going somewhere, what kind of music I want to bring, it's there. Running, reading, active listening. When I need it I have it.

3. Most importantly. I don't see the "If I've only" here. I guess all of you have sometimes experienced the feeling that you should have brought your camera. On the party, on the unexpected occasion, when needing to document that weird thing. But when did you feel that for a mp3-player. If you will go running, commuting, studying.... whatever. Don't you really actually remember to bring your Ipod? I think you do. Because a Walkman actually is the first mobile device we ever used.

Just because cameras seems to work fine on the phone doesn't prove that everything does. And what about the turn-off when your phone dies, just because you have been listening to some 100 songs. If I've only had a phone that worked.....

Will Triple play pay?

PCB released on the Southern hemisphere will eventually get into the blood of people in Greenland and Alaska. The people in the Arctic regions have the highest levels of PCB in the world. Why do I know? Because my TV set is on and broadcasts a Danish documentary on the subject. It followed a fashion show I watched. If I would select from TV Guide I probably would have ended up watching something else. Or nothing.

So, what's the point? The point is the fact that the broadcasting of television is more important than the content being broadcasted. And that's something I hope the telecom directors, now partying on La Croisette, keep in mind the coming years.

Triple Play (voice, data and video over IP) is the prime buzz word in the reports from Cannes this week. And it sure sounds great to be able not only to Tivo broadcasted television shows and watch it later but to eventually be able to order what ever I would like to watch. And to be able to do it on your mobile devices sounds even better.

If content is what's important that is.

TV series are important content wise. That's pretty obvious as a lot of them sell extremely well on DVD. Even those who didn't make it on the networks.

The content in the reality shows probably isn't. Instead it's about the social context, discussing the series the day after, or while it runs, with your friends. It's treated as a mutual point of reference to discuss what ever subject you can think of. Then it must be broadcasted, making sure everybody watched the same episode.

The news and sports should be consumed as they are produced. If not only the "wardrobe malfunctions" could take place so easily. But broadcasting is the key here. Who want to watch a game you know already has ended.

I think new technology can create a lot of new behaviors and needs. Myself I have become addicted to services such as IT Conversations and Audible where you can download speeches of your gurus and your favorite books or magazines direct to your Ipod. It's great in the car! Other people will discover other uses, as we have done with our mobile phones.

But the telco people also should have in mind that for many of us media consumption isn't about wathching what we want, whenever, wherever but to sit down in the sofa, with our feets on the table and our right hand on a can. Watching whatever they are showing.

The smart get dumber

John Yunker writes about devices getting not smarter but dumber. And it's the future he writes about, I am sure. He uses the Orb from Ambient devices as a great example of products that are doing less but do it better. The Orb, a beatiful lamp and a beatiful idea lets you keeping track of your favorite stock portfolio, the pollen level in the air or the traffic intensity by glowing in different colours. But, you can just only choose one piece of information to cover. The information is distributed at no extra cost wirelessly over a pager network.

The opposite of the Orb must be the N-gage game consol from Nokia. A device packed with functionality including a phone, gaming, browser, calender, mp3 player and you name it. Projected sales until this spring was 6 million devices. Only 1.4 million have left the stores.

Please, we have had multiple devices before. Because different devices are performing tasks differently. I hope we start to realise that again. Or to be clear. Let's keep it simple stupid!