Can Apple Live Up To The Hype?

About 4 hours from now the technology world will turn their attention to an Apple event in San Francisco. Like others over the past 30 years, Steve Jobs will take the stage and announce some new products. But today’s announcement seems as game changing as the iPhone three years ago; perhaps more so. And like that announcement, the hype leading up to the event tells us that Apple will unveil a new type of personal computer based on a tablet design.

Tablet computers have been made for over a decade in one form or another in the PC industry, usually relegated to vertical, form-heavy applications. I’ve seen them used in hospitals and car dealer service centers. They are only mildly interesting since Windows has not been changed much to accommodate the required pen input device. These tablet PC’s are also quite expensive which makes them a niche item with consumers.

By all accounts, the Apple tablet (rumored to be called the iSlate) will be a full-on consumer device. A fusion of iPhone, ebook reader, personal video player and MacBook. It will run on some sort of tweaked iPhone OS ensuring it will have tens of thousands of apps on launch later this spring. Connectivity will be provided by standard wifi and optional 3G from multiple carriers. Content subscriptions will be available via iTunes for movies, TV shows, newspapers, magazines, ebooks and, of course, music. The iSlate will change the computing paradigm forever just like the iPhone, Mac and Apple // did.

The only problem is all of this is rumor and speculation. Mr. Jobs has a history of canceling announcements at the last minute due to leaks. And I expect there will be a slew of other announcments today. Things like the 4th gen iPhone (probably available on all U.S. carriers), rethought Apple TV, updated iWork and iLife, speed-bumped MacBook Pros. These alone would count as “new creations” and cover the announced theme of the event.

As I write this post, the top half of Techmeme is all about this mythical Apple tablet. Clearly the hype machine is preparing us for something big today. If this device is an overgrown iPod Touch or iPhone, many will be disappointed (not me, that’s exactly what I would like to see; $399, please). But if anyone can meet and even exceed pre-launch hype it’s Steve Jobs. I know I’ll be watching at noon for what he’s got in store for us.


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Links for December 13th through December 23rd

Shared links for December 13th through December 23rd:


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Books Need To Change



This weekend I got to play with the Barnes & Noble Nook ebook reader at their Mall of America store. The design and feel of the device is superior to Amazon’s Kindle 2 and the Android-based bottom color LCD screen makes browsing and buying books as intuitive as the iPhone. The problem is the user experience for doing anything else which is more confusing than what’s on the Kindle right now which itself is not great. By the time I got my hands on the new Sony ebook reader at Best Buy I was convinced that the problem is not the idea of ebook readers but the E Ink technology they are based upon that emulates a paper book.

The book form factor has had a nice run over the past 1,500 years with the last major technology boost in 1450 with the invention of the printing press (or 1230 if you are from China). Since then it’s been continuously improved but has remained about the same from a user experience perspective for hundreds of years. Why digital books have to emulate the established print model doesn’t make sense to me when a color LCD reader can include video and other interactive features that would change the medium as much as the printing press did. In the future, books might look more like podcasts than printed words on a white background.

So I think the book needs to be changed in order to thrive in the digital era. All the existing E Ink readers of today will look very dated in just a few years when interactive digital book readers arrive. Or it could come a lot sooner if Apple decides to launch a 6-inch iPod Touch.

Posted via email from Marketing Technopologist


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In The Future, Everyone Will Have An iPhone App



While watching football this afternoon I read that noted PR and social marketing pro Brian Solis had his own iPhone app. After initially thinking how ridiculous this was I fired up the App Store on my iPod Touch and downloaded the app. After all, the price is right (free).

And what I found surprised me. Not only was the app well designed but the RSS aggregation was as good or better than the best for-pay RSS aggregators for the iPhone (I use Byline but there are several others out there). Of course all you get is Brian’s stuff but this idea is the next logical extension of making your website mobile and your content more sticky. Built with Mobile Roadie, one of the growing online app builders for the iPhone tuned for musicians, the result is a very professional extension of Brian’s considerable personal brand.

So I think that in the future everyone will have their own iPhone app. Or at least they could if they wanted to build one.

Update, 12/14/09: Via Jeremiah Owyang is another batch of personal brand iphone apps from Guy Kawasaki, Tim Ferris and Jeremiah himself. Built with MotherApp, these look very similar to Brian’s app. I expect to see all A and B-list bloggers to have their own apps before the end of January.

Posted via email from Marketing Technopologist



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I Don’t Want To Read eBooks on My Laptop, But…



In my reading this morning I noticed that Barnes & Noble launched an eBook store so I checked it out. The most interesting part of their service is their device strategy which is to support computers and mobile phones including Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone. While I would probably read books on an iPhone if I had one, it’s a bit on the small side, not to mention the battery issues one would have to deal with on such a device.

To test it out I downloaded the Mac version of their reader software and went into the store to check out the selection. I immediately saw the book samples like you get for free like in Amazon’s Kindle store and clicked on the button. Nothing happened. So I clicked on it again and it said I already owned that sample and to open the eReader software to download. When you go to the reader, there is no menu option to download. And if I go to my eBook library online I don’t see the book sample listed. So I’m stuck without a book sample to check out except their not-so-helpful documentation.

If an advanced computer user like me can’t figure out how to use this software, there is no way the mainstream will figure this out. I hope Barnes & Noble succeeds here as competition with keep Amazon and Sony honest and prices will be lower for consumers. But I’m not impressed by my first look at the eReader software on my laptop. I guess I should get that iPhone to see if it works better there.

Posted via email from Tim’s posterous

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G1: Openness Takes On Cool

Earlier this week Google and T-Moblie announced the first phone to run Google’s new Android OS, the G1 (a.k.a. HTC Dream). What I find most interesting about this device is the totally open source approach Google and, for their part, T-Mobile have taken with the G1. In stark contrast to the closed system of Apple’s iPhone, the G1 and Android platform will be an technology to watch in 2009.

But it’s not yet clear if Android will become the Chumby of smartphones or an open source alternative to iPhone. There are quite a few good signs that it might be the latter as the G1 seems to be a solid product. In addition to the on-screen keyboard they provide a slide out hardware keyboard. This was one of my own problems with the iPhone (along with price, which has recently been addressed). And since the G1 is on my current mobile carrier, upgrading is much less of a hassle than moving to the Apple/AT&T world.

So I’m going to keep watching this space and see what develops in coming months. My T-Moblie subsidy runs out next May, so we should have our answer by then. And I do believe openness can overtake cool if enough developers embrace Android. Let’s hope they do.