The App Bubble

May 28, 2011 By

bubble burstI well remember the first Internet Bubble. Companies were being formed right and left. You could get millions of dollars of funding for quite literally an idea scratched out on the back of the napkin. It did not matter how silly the idea seamed and few questions as to any actual business model. If it was cool, that was enough and everyone was sure they would figure out a way to make money eventually. Of course that’s why they call it a bubble. Bubbles are temporary and unstable. The Internet Bubble popped  and all of Silicon Valley imploded with it. I was there and it was ugly.

I can’t help but feeling we are inflating a new bubble, an app bubble. Cell phones are now smart phones, handheld computers really and a vast wave of applications are being developed for them. There are  getting to be too many apps and they are getting a little silly. Witness Dryer Bro, an application that tells you when your dryer load is done. You have to put your iphone down on the dryer and the accelerometer determines when the shaking has stopped and sends a text message to, well, your iphone which is sitting on the dryer. Actually the app says it sends a text to a group of “bros” you determine so I guess they can go get your laundry…or tell you that it’s done. You can see, this is where apps have jumped the shark. In the coming Internet of Things you don’t think dryers and washers will notify us of their status themselves? Seriously, where is the business model? The core killer technology? There’s just no there there. TechCrunch reviewed this app and gave it a rave review. Remember when we all bought into that Pets.com and Webvan were surely going to be the next great thing?

Apps are all the rage but many of them are just dumb or terrible. There will be another popping of this app bubble soon and it will be a good and cleansing thing. As the popping of the Internet Bubble shook the industry back into the reality of serious ideas and real business models so will the app bubble pop clear out the apps based on, dare I say, nothing but air? Hopefully we will be left with fewer apps that are more valuable and backed by solid technology.

Filed Under: Blog, New Media, Technology, Web 2.0 Tagged With: , , , , ,

Connected World Radio: The Connected Explosion

January 13, 2011 By

Connected World Radio

Topics include:

New Android tablets debut at CES

The new Apple Macbook Air and what it means for the future of mobile computing

The coming flood of Internet connected devices or cloud based computing

App stores in the connected world. Apple vs Google

What do businesses need to do to capitalize on all that’s been discussed on todays show

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Filed Under: Audio, Marketing, Mobile Computing, New Media, Podcast, Social Networks Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Data is King in the Connected World

October 26, 2010 By

DevicesI love my Amazon Kindle and so do a lot of other people. Amazon just announced for their top 10 books, Kindle versions are outselling print editions by more than 2 to 1. One of  the reasons I love the Kindle so much turns out to be one of the best business decisions Amazon has made; Kindle software is available on a variety of platforms, including iPhones, Android phones, iPads, PC’s and Macs. Amazon has not forgotten they are first and foremost a reseller of books, and they have all the bases covered. Best yet, though, is the Kindle software keeps your books and most importantly your place in those books in sync across all your devices. Start reading a book on your Kindle and pick right up on your iPhone.

The key point here is that we are not only living in a Connected World but a device world. The world is littered with millions of devices of all kinds and more people are finding themselves with more than one. When you have multiple devices, the critical factor becomes keeping your data in sync with all of them. The Kindle happens to be one of the best examples of keeping data and state beautifully in sync. We are going to need to see this more with the other applications we use regularly.

This is why we are seeing such a push toward using the cloud, a fancy term meaning the Internet, for these kinds of services. When applications run on the Net, it’s much easier to maintain state and data across devices. Google’s Gmail is another great example of this. You can easily connect to and maintain all the read statuses wether you’re using an iPad or an Android phone.

In the Connected World it’s just as important to be connected to your data as with other people.

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Connected World TV: 2010 Trends

January 27, 2010 By

Sorry, I’m a little late posting this one, but here are the 2010 technology trends as I see them.

Quicktime Version

Filed Under: Blog, Connected World Podcast, Marketing, New Media, Podcast, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

Google Android is Coming

April 23, 2008 By

According to reports T-Mobile will be first out of the gate with mobile phones based on the new Google Android specification. I am excited to see what becomes of this and I hope Android phones are sucessful. We need more competition in the mobile market when it comes to software. Palm has been left for dead and Nokia is not a player outside of Europe. The iphone has been the only real breath of fresh air in the market in years.

Although many will play it off as such, I don’t see Android as competition as much for the iPhone as it is for Microsoft and Windows Mobile. Google is taking the Microsoft approach, not focusing on hardware at all, but providing a software platform upon which many phones can be built. Apple’s iPhone is a unique experience unto itself and I think it will continue to stand apart. The pressure is really going to be on for Microsoft to make Windows Mobile more compelling.

What all this means in general is that the mobile market will continue to accelerate and companies had better start thinking about how mobile fits into their plans. Already I am disappointed that my bank Washington Mutual has no mobile access to their online banking. Customers will soon factor mobile access into their buying decisions when looking at things like online banking and bill payment.

Synchronization features will also be an important part of any new product or service. Ideally I want my data synced between my desktop, mobile and Internet. Evernote is a new note taking program that I am loving and it does a masterful job of synchronization. All they need now is a better iPhone client.

Filed Under: Blog, Mobile Computing, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,