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How Not To Do Business By AT&T

June 2, 2010 By David Jacobs

ATT Death StarThey’re one of the worlds largest and richest companies, and they have no idea about the most fundamental principles of business. Oh they think they know; it’s on their wall somewhere, buried in some mission statement or company goals. Plenty of lip service is given to it as it usual in large companies, but AT&T continues to treat their customers like dirt.

The latest and perhaps most shocking example is the story of Giorgio Galante, an AT&T customer who wrote emails to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in part to complain about several aspects of his AT&T experience. After the second email in as many weeks, Giorgio received a phone call from AT&T’s “Executive Response Team” thanking him for his feedback and at the same time warning Giorgio if he continued to email the CEO he would be served with a cease and disist letter. Threatening your customer with legal action because he tries to communicate with an officer of the company is so shockingly dumb I am at a loss for words. Is that what they teach you at B School?

It’s not the first time, however, AT&T has acted in such a way. As they were being barraged by complaints about the poor network service AT&T said it was the customers who were using too much data and they would have to look into doing something about that. Yes, our service stinks and it’s your fault mr. customer, so I will have to find a way to penalize you for that. And in fact, AT&T has now found that way, this week announcing dramatic changes to their data plans for smart phones like the iPhone. Unlimited access is gone and customers now much choose between two data plans, both with data limits and charges for going over the limits.

How does AT&T get away with this nonsense? Because they have the iPhone, the most popular cell phone in the world and you cannot buy it from anyone else. Apple may have signed a pact with the devil on this one and like it or not, there is some blowback that Apple suffers from all this as well.

I believe something needs to change drastically in the mobile world. We can no longer allow companies to sign us up for long term (2 year) contracts and then treat us so poorly. Since all the mobile companies seem to be in league with each other on most of these egregious practices, it’s going to take some kind of government action to step in and fight for the American consumer.

In the end, I don’t know what AT&T is thinking on this one. Is Giorgio Galante a pest? Unnecessarily filling up an important CEO’s email with trivial complaints? I don’t care if he is a nusense . He’s a customer, he has a right to be a nusense. He deserves to be treated with respect. He deserves an answer to his questions, not a threat of legal action.

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Kids and Ease of Use in Technology

April 4, 2010 By David Jacobs

Any parent with kids probably realizes this, but kids are incredibly savvy with technology. They have no fear or preconceptions about anything, so they are willing to jump in and try anything. It’s one of the things that’s so beautiful about kids, before they get tarnished by the world.

I learn so much from watching my kids work with technology. I learn about the future. Having kids is like living with your own personal crystal ball. I also learn a great deal about user interface and ease of use in tech products. My daughter, when she was just nine, picked up my iPhone and knew just what to do with it, no instruction needed. That’s when I knew it was a most amazingly built device. I think every technology company should have kids employed in their labs to do their user testing. If the 5 year old can master it, you’re ready to ship.

Tyler Gray realized the same thing and put it further to test with his iPad and his 5 year old son Cash. I’ve included the video in this post, and here also is a link to the original Fast Company article.

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Comic Books and the iPad

February 5, 2010 By David Jacobs

iPadI’ve been saying this for awhile now, comic books on the Apple iPad are a massive opportunity. The large color screen is perfect for this kind of content. I would even argue that it’s a big strategic advantage the iPad has over the Amazon Kindle. The Kindle is the perfect device for black and white books with it’s superior e-ink display but when it comes to content like comics or color magazines, the iPad can do things the Kindle can only dream of. As a comic book lover, I’m pretty excited about the possibility of comics on the iPad and I would seriously consider getting one if for no other reason than to read comics.

There are indications now that Amazon may try to make a new Kindle with color and multi-touch technology, bringing it much closer to an iPad. I think it’s very dangerous for Amazon to rush headlong into a competition with Apple on their own turf. Maybe the smart play is to remain the dominant player in black and white e-ink technology and let Apple have the rest. Amazon’s strength has always been traditional black and white books, not magazines or comics. Here’s an even smarter play, make a full iPad version of the Kindle reader. Amazon needs to remember their focus, they are a bookstore not a hardware manufacturer. By making a great Kindle reader for the iPad, they stand to sell more books from their online bookstore, even possibly cutting into Apple’s store.

2010 will be THE year of the tablet computer as Sony has also said they want to enter this market. No doubt there will be others. 2010 could also be THE year traditional publishing makes the turn to digital distribution. People have been predicting the death of traditional publishing for years now. These new tablet machines go a long way to bringing that prediction to pass.

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Apple, Verizon, LTE and the iPhone

October 2, 2009 By David Jacobs

File part of this story firmly in the rumor category, but it does give us an interesting look at the future of mobile communications. Currently the world is split between two main wireless cellular technologies; GSM, used by AT&T and T-Mobile among others and CDMA, primarily used by Sprint and Verizon. It looks like the next generation of technology beyond the current 3G, the so-called 4G technology will be LTE or Long Term Evolution. LTE is being rolled out currently by Verizon and has acceptance from AT&T, T-Mobile and most other vendors. For the first time ever, we may be on a single standard.

Part of the problem with the iPhone is that it is a GSM technology phone, so it will not currently work with Verizon or Sprint. Apple would have to develop a new handset altogether. If the new generation iPhone is LTE, however, this would open up a world of possibilities as it would be technologically compatible with most vendors. I think at this point we may see the ending of the long standing exclusive arrangement with Apple and AT&T. And if Apple ships the phone before AT&T can roll out it’s LTE network, AT&T stands to loose a great deal of customers. AT&T has been running at least a year behind Verizon technologically for the past several years, so I see a dark future for AT&T. AT&T’s customer satisfaction has also been plummeting lately due to their inability to handle the iPhone as it is today.

Bottom line: Apple and its’s customers stand to be big winners and AT&T stands to be a big looser unless AT&T can latch onto another phone that knocks the iPhone out of the box.

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YouTube and Apple: Together We'll Take Over The World

July 1, 2009 By David Jacobs

Well the online video world at least. The latest statistics on the new iPhone 3GS and YouTube are staggering. The iPhone has a history of taking something that has been around for awhile on other mobile phones and blasting it into the mainstream. Browsing the web was nothing new on a mobile phone when the iPhone was launched, but Apple took it to such a level and made it so easy and fun to do, mobile web traffic has exploded since. Now it’s happening with video. Nokia phones especially have always been great for taking video, but it has taken the new iPhone 3GS with it’s built in video capabilities to make it massively popular. Again, Apple takes mobile video to the next level by allowing simple on phone editing and super simple distribution to YouTube. I’ve always thought mobile video was going to be the next big thing and it looks like the new iPhone is going to confirm that thought.

What does it mean for your business? All this new video is going to drive more people to YouTube to watch. It will solidify YouTube’s dominance in the online video world. If you are doing any kind of video for your company and you do not have a YouTube channel yet, you are passing up a massive opportunity. You simply cannot afford not to be on YouTube. You should also be watching and monitoring YouYube for videos about your company or your industry. What are people saying, what are they thinking? This is the best market research/customer opinion lab you have ever had. You may not like all the content, but you had better pay attention and be ready to respond and engage.

What kind of opportunities are you giving your customers, your raving fans to share their videos? Maybe you should share the best YouTube videos on your main website. What other ways can you encourage people to create good video content about your company? These are the kinds of things you should be brainstorming with your social media consultant. Don’t have one? You might want to give me a call, I’m happy to help.

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Big Step for Amazon – Kindle on iPhone

March 4, 2009 By David Jacobs

When Amazon introduced the new Kindle 2 ebook reader, somewhat overlooked was what may end up being the most important announcement of all, that Amazon was looking to put the Kindle technology on other devices. It came much faster than I expected when last  night I discovered the Kindle iPhone application was available.

The app itself is very well done and after purchasing my first Kindle book, opening the app synced my purchase right over to the iPhone, easy as can be. The reading experience on the iPhone is surprisingly good. Of course it’s no match for a real Kindle with the larger screen and eInk technology, but I was perfectly happy with the experience. You can control font sizes, create book marks and the software remembers where you left off.

It’s a significant development because it effectively drives the price for a Kindle reader down to $199 from a regular Kindle price of $359. For people who already own the iPhone, which is far more people than the Kindle device, the app to add Kindle functionality is free. This is going to put Kindle books into far more hands far quicker than Amazon could do on it’s own. It will also likely sell more Kindle hardware as well as people want to upgrade to a better reading experience. As I said in the last podcast, Amazon is in the book sales business not the hardware business. This is a great first step and I can’t wait to see where else Kindle technology shows up.

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Steve Jobs: Mortal

January 18, 2009 By David Jacobs

No sooner do I blog about Steve Jobs and Apple than the other show drops and Jobs himself announces a leave of absence until June. If speculation wasn’t already running wild, it’s gone completely gonzo now. What it tells me is that Steve is mortal and he hasn’t found a way to clone himself yet. Seriously, here is a short term and long term plan for Steve Jobs and Apple.

Short Term

Jobs should return to Apple as a “chief architect”. This is very similar to what Bill Gates did at Microsoft during his last few years. Basically, someone else is running the show but you are there daily to oversee critical strategy. Lessen the load of daily grinding management may extend your years at the company. In addition, it is a more easy and graceful exit without the jarring effects of just leaving when you get too sick.

Long Term

Also, while serving as chief architect, you are installing the long term solution. Take a look at Disney and you could say as well that Walt Disney was everything to Disney. Where would Disney ever be without his singular vision and passion? How could Disney ever survive without him? But it has. Disney is one of the premiere companies in the world and is as great today as it was is Walts time. But how?

I think the answer is that Walt Disney was able to inject his dna into the company in such a fundamental way that it has stuck all this time. I think people at Disney think to themselves, what would Walt do? Would this make Walt proud? Continuing to honer and stick to Walt’s principals and ideals has kept Disney strong. So it will be Steve Jobs task to inject his dna into Apple in the same way. If he can do this, I think Apple will be a strong company for years to come.

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Connected World Radio: Generational Tech

January 15, 2009 By David Jacobs

Technology is very generational and different generations take different things for granted. I ruminate about my own technology firsts and those of my daughters. My youngest will be of the Connected Generation or a Digital Native.

Books Referenced:

Born Digital
Grown Up Digital

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Steve Jobs Comes Clean

January 5, 2009 By David Jacobs

Speculation about the health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been swirling for over a year. People are taking more notice of his physical appearane than the products he announces at his famous presentations. Apple has been characteristicly mum on the topic, giving no indication of Steve’s real condition.

Finally, this Sunday, Steve Jobs published a letter to the Apple community talking about the real reason for his obvious weight loss over the year. It’s obvious from the end of the letter it’s something he did not want to do. Steve Jobs has never liked talking about personal matters. The problem is Steve Jobs is no ordinary individual. He isn’t even an ordinary CEO. Jobs is a personality, a rock star if you will. When you are one of the most watched and popular CEO’s in corporate America, and when so much of the health and future of your company appears to rest on your shoulders, you’re going to get the increased scrutiny.

In the new social media world of increased transparency and openness, Apple is one of the worst companies. They do not play in this world. As innovative as their producs are, Apple marketing is as traditional as ever. The Apple community is amazingly strong and creates plenty of it’s own user generated content, but Apple almost never talks directly with the community. Apple gets away with it, though, because Jobs “reality distortion field” is so strong and their producs are so strong. But this may not last forever

Until Jobs finds a way to clone himself, Apple remains a cult of personality and when someday Jobs is forced to retire, Apple will have to find it’s way without him. If you want a good profile of Steve Jobs and his personality, I recommened reading The Second Coming of Steve Jobs. The book gives you a good idea of why Apple is the way it is. With Jobs gone, I think Apple will have to change. They will have to start using more social media tactics of transparancy and engadement with customers. My goodness, they might even have to start an actual blog.

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Social Media Morning Show 8-22-08

August 22, 2008 By David Jacobs

Audi publishes an iPhone application for their A4 car and it’s a complete failure.

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