Tag Archives: apps
After a year of patience and a failed launch-day trek to the Apple Store on March 2, I’m finally the owner of a new Apple iPad 2.
The iPad is Apple’s flagship “post PC era” device, but I’m not sure we’re ready to ditch our laptop shackles just yet. The magical aura surrounding my unboxing of the product was cut short when I pressed the power button for the very first time. As the screen began to glow for the very first time, I was quickly met with the “must connect to iTunes” screen- no cosmic intro video or helpful setup assistant here. This might one day become a post-PC device, but not without a digital tether to the machines of today. I hope that future versions of iOS will allow some onboard functionality without the need to first connect to iTunes.
Once the iPad synced all my stuff- photos, podcasts and apps, it was time to see if this tablet could really fit in my digital life, or if it would live as the evil middle child between my Macbook and iPhone.
SXSWi – it’s the birth of a proto-city: a hive of integrated people experimenting with the tools in the market that, without mass local adoption, would not have any poignancy. It’s where the early adopters can temporarily form a society of mutually founded infrastructure.
Obviously I like to consider myself a fairly early adopter. I am generally picking up the newest thing in beta and giving it a try. The proto-city certainly is a unique experience where these services just work and I’m not at the mercy of my family and friends to adopt the numerous new things I throw at them every week.
This week’s post is all about these services and how they work, a kind of preview to how they would work if a mainstream audience were to pick them up. There are some old and some new, but all based around the ever growing social–mobile & desktop–sector.
The prevailing theme this year was group messaging and location based services. Typically when you look back at SXSW there is one clear launch that will take hold and change the landscape of digital: Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. I would say that this year there was no clear winner. This may be perhaps due to development becoming easier and faster than it was a couple years ago, which would correlate to SXSW being fettered with startup after startup, creating so much noise that no single one stood out.
There’s four services that I looked at primarily while down in Austin: Convore, Beluga, Hashable, & Yobongo.
Three quick news items this week.
iPad 2
This is the obvious post – I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Cameras, faster processors, and 33% thinner. And white! Amazing. Check it out.
What do these features mean for marketing? There are the obvious uses of these new features on the consumer end. But how will the relate to things like customer service? Could companies start utilizing FaceTime for customer service, or product support? There is plenty of room for more innovation in this space, and it may help the adoption of FaceTime – something I seldom, if ever, use.
The feature that I am excited about is the bump in processing speed – something Apple needed to add so it would keep up with the onslaught of competitors ramping up to launch. The experience I have working with developers on projects is that the iPad has a limited ability to run deeper experiences, so more processing speed means bigger ideas, and better execution.
Lastly, the addition of HDMI capabilities means more ipad to TV relationships leading to an even bigger experience.
The App vs. Web Dilemma
An interesting article this week on the trends of how people are using their smartphones – and the consensus is that the browser based experience is being left behind. Sure there seem to be uses called out for browser based experiences, like news, search and commerce, but web use on mobile devices is now 37% lower than app use.
Welcome to issue three of this weekly post. I’m hoping to develop the format a little further in the next couple posts.
The rise of Near Field Communication (NFC)
Some of the more exciting tech that was shown at the Mobile World Congress this year was in the vein of near field communication (NFC). The prospects of near field communication are quite profound – essentially the ability to use your phone to transfer data through near contact. Like RFID, NFC would allow you to pay at a point of sale, or transfer contact information for example. One of the large differences between RFID and NFC is security: NFC was built specifically to be more secure. Read more on CNET.
The new subscription model
Over the past week or so both Apple and Google released subscription models for their app stores, drawing a straight line from publisher and consumer. There are some key differences between the two:
Apple’s model allows publishers to set the price and recurrence, and all payment is handled by the iTunes store limiting those purchases to strictly Apple devices (surprise). The Google One Pass is a lot less limited – not only do they only take 10%, but they also allow their One Pass system to work across various platforms such as web, tablet, and smartphones. Google’s subscription system is smarter too allowing for metered billing and single content billings.
HP WEBOS
Introducing the Pre 3
What chances does yet another OS have in the evermore saturated world of mobile? Apple, Google, and RIM in the forefront, Microsoft training to win ground, and now HP rekindling the WebOS software it acquired with Palm. Is it worth it? I know one person in the CM Calgary building that might say yes. Anything can happen, there is no clear winner yet.
Palm may be dead, but their Pre is back, and so is WebOS. Personally I like the simplicity of WebOS. The ‘card’ based system makes it easy to multitask, and a simple flick will close an app. It’s clean and easy to understand. The obvious downside to WebOS are the apps available: a whopping 8000.
The hardware itself is said to be massive. The 3.6″ screen AND slide out keyboard make it a handfull, but for some they’ll be glad to still have the physical keyboard. Have a look at this hands-on video for a walkthrough.
Read More
If you’re anything like me, you enjoy a smart solution that keeps your data syncronized across everthings you own. I wish more was like this, but unforunately, it’s not. I like to sleep soundly knowing that if anything where to happen to my physical machines the important part would not be lost – the data.
I’m currently a heavy user of Evernote, I use it for everything, and with the premium account I know my data is encrypted both in transit and at rest. I even have it set so if I recieve a document via email, it is automatically stripped and moved to evernote for immediate cloud storage. The thing that has always bugged me about Evernote is it isn’t terribly smart. It stores everything how you like it and will perform full text searches within images – which is rad; however there is a whole internet out there you could potentially augment the data with.
Molly Hop & Anna Mer | Critical Mass Chicago
It’s clear consumers are hungry for mobile applications, having downloaded more than 3 billion apps from the Apple app store as of March 2010, according to eMarketer. The growing popularity of this channel has led to an increased desire to find a way to market to our mobile consumers. In response to this, Apple has recently acquired Quattro Wireless (after having AdMob snatched up by Google) to create the iAd advertising platform that will launch with the iPhone 4G this summer. Now the question is, how will iAd change how brands approach marketing within mobile applications?
A common debate among the Critical Mass Experience Distribution team is whether there is a “correct approach” to mobile applications.
When do you recommend creating one?
What value will the mobile application serve vs. that of the mobile website?
How should we market this application?
How much money, time and effort should be put into it?
One might argue that building an application but not putting a marketing effort behind it is similar to the “if a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it” concept. If we determine that we don’t have the money, resources or rationale to build and market our own application, do we sponsor a relevant existing app that another brand hasn’t gotten to first?
The launch of the iAd offers a new option. We will soon have the ability to build an experience as robust as an application and be able to syndicate it out as an ad within the application environment.
Let’s take a deeper look at what makes the iAd platform unique compared to other mobile platforms:
1. Dual Interaction
iAd allows users to interact with the rich media ad without losing the application that they had opened prior to engaging with the ad. This dual action was not possible before the launch of the iPhone 4G. Now consumers can click on ads with the reassurance that they will not lose what they were previously engaging with. This dual involvement will certainly lead to more mobile ad interaction.
2. More Robust
The ads that Apple is building for the mobile platform act more like applications or microsites than standard mobile advertisements. The ads are able to contain videos, games, content, images, etc. Users are able to expand the ads over any application, allowing the ad to take full screen. (Check out Jobs’ demo.)
