apple Archives - The Connected World

Google is the Most Exciting Company in the World

May 17 0

I read a great article breaking down the recent Google I/O developers conference and what it means to the larger computing world and to Google itself. The article contends, and I agree, that Google has hit another gear this year and is doing some of the most exciting things in technology.

Google+

It’s still the red headed stepchild of social networks, but I love what Google is doing with Google+. The new layout is fresh and exciting and the additional functionality behind it all is powerful and helpful. Google+ is a long play for Google and as they continue to wrap it around their other products, it will be hard for many people to avoid. Google’s new music service, for example, will gain social features powered by Google+. You also can’t write off the value your Google+ content will have in Google search. They’re not supposed to play favorites, but really, you want to take that risk?

Search

Google continues to be the king of search but they are not resting on their laurels either. The big announcement in search this year is what they are calling conversational search in which you use voice to literally talk to Google. This has been working on mobile phones for awhile, but now it is coming to the desktop as well. It’s very much like what Apple is doing with Siri, but far better. With Siri, Apple is tapping into a very limited data set, while with conversational search, Google is tapping into the largest, most sophisticated search engine in the world. Apple really had the lead here but squandered it by not continuing to innovate. Kudos to Google for taking the one market they have complete domination in and pushing forward.

Maps

Again, Google has a fairly dominant position in maps as well although not as complete as search. Despite this, Google is innovating on maps, taking most of the interface and moving it right on top of the map itself. This makes the whole thing much cleaner and intuitive. The new Google maps is incredible and also nicely incorporates Zagat ratings for businesses. The Zagat ratings, by the way, are tied to your Google+ profile. Watch as Google+ becomes the social layer that goes on top of as many Google products as possible. Apple famously created their own map application in the latest iOS and failed terribly. Since then, I haven’t seen a great deal of visible improvement and many people have gone back and installed Google Maps in their iOS devices.

It’s hard not to see how much Apple has stagnated since Steve Jobs died. It’s been a very long time since Apple did anything really exciting. I think the last thing, for me, was Siri. At the time, Siri was amazing and cool. There was nothing like it on the market and it seemed magical. But since it’s introduction, Siri has stagnated, not improving or doing much else of what it originally did. In the meantime, as we saw at Google I/O, Google voice search is already vastly superior to Siri.

For my money, at this moment in history, Google is the most exciting big tech company. Apple is loosing it’s shine and by the way, what the hell happened to Microsoft?

photo by: infomatique

Amazon and the Decline of the E-Reader

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

May 14 0

It’s no surprise traditional black and white eReaders like the Amazon Kindle are starting to take a serious hit as the popularity of full function tablets rise. Amazon’s Kindle application runs on all these tables and the price gap between a full tablet and eReader is now minimal. Even Amazon themselves have realized this shift and have been producing the Kindle Fire which is closer to a full function tablet, although itself still slightly more limited than say a Nexus 7 from Google. The Fire gets better with each revision, but Amazon will still survive the eventual death of their original Kindle mostly because of their dominating position in content.

Amazon is by far the leader in sales of electronic books and they have a strong positon in other digital content like TV shows and movies. Amazon makes their own hardware now because they want to create a customized, controlled Amazon experience. The Kindle Fire is designed to be the ultimate Amazon digital consumption machine. I get it, but Amazon is not going to be able to make a better tablet than Apple, Google or Samsung. I think Amazon would be better served creating a better experience on these other tablet leaders and focusing on content. Of course Apple and Google have their own digital stores, so again, I understand the conflicts, but Amazon has been at the digital goods business longer than anyone and they have a very dedicated customers base.

The latest rumor is of Amazon producing a cell phone which I think is insane. Why in the world would anyone be motivated to buy a phone from Amazon? It’s as crazy as the talk of a Facebook phone. For both Amazon and Facebook, the strength is in running their software on multiple platforms, not creating hardware which neither is truly equipped to do. Facebook finally realized this and created Facebook Home, a software layer on top of the Android OS instead of an actual phone. The reason the Kindle worked in the first place was because there was no such device and Amazon wanted to push the eBook concept which they did brilliantly. They then smartly moved quickly to put the Kindle reader on every platform they could find which gave Kindle books the highest utility. The leverage and power for Amazon is in the store and the Kindle application. The hardware is fairly meaningless at this point.

Welcome to the Next Big Thing – Wearable Computing

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Jan 15

In technology we are often looking for the “next big thing” and I am ready to make a prediction on what that is. I think it’s wearable computing. This is not a brand new concept and variations of it have been around for awhile. You could argue all the various health monitors that have recently come out are wearable computing. I think in 2013 and into 2014 wearable computing that is affordable and practical will break through and start to be used by regular people.

Two major reasons driving this are Google and Apple. Google has been experimenting with it’s Google Glass project for the past several years and will ship the initial product to developers this year. Shipment to customers could follow a year after that. The Google project centers around a pair of eye glasses that project images into it’s lense and appears to be controlled by head and/or eye movements. The big drawback to Project Glass, of course, is the glasses make you look like a robot. Geeks might not mind but they are not fashionable enough to more common customers.

Apple, on the other hand, has a great history of taking new concepts and making them completely palatable to real customers. Because of their outstanding design and style, Apple is able to take things like a phone with no physical keyboard and a tablet computer and make them commonplace. Apple is the only technology company I know of that can drive style in popular culture. This is why I think Apple has the best chance of taking wearable computing mainstream. It look like they will use the iPod as the first product to be wearable. For a few years people have been taking the previous generation iPod nano and putting it inside a custom watch band. With the latest generation iPod nano, Apple has taken the design in a completely new direction, one that is not compatible with wearing the device. Speculation is Apple will make the next generation of iPod Nano truly wearable and wants to clear the field before it does. The iPod has been a bit lackluster in sales and innovation lately in site of the more glamorous iPhone and this could re-energize the iPod all over again. Of course, it the wearable iPod is successful it won’t be too long until the iPhone follows and who knows what other wearable devices will be created we haven’t even imagined yet.

Apple’s Big Mea Culpa On Maps

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Sep 28

Now that the initial hoopla of the iPhone 5 introduction has died down, we can settle in and take a good look at how things are going for the platform. All things considered, it looks like another strong release from Apple. There is one major hiccup though regarding the maps application. Since the iPhone’s introduction, the maps application has been provided by Google. For reasons not entirely known and not important for this discussion Apple replaced Google maps with a custom map application of their own. The Apple map application has some distinct advantages over the Google map, however, the Apple app has been riddled with problems as well. General map accuracy is less than perfect and locating points of interest on the map is particularly frustrating. This is Apple’s first try at a map application while Google has been perfecting things for years so you can see where Apple is going to have a growing period. But there is no forgiveness among customers who just want thing to work well and Apple customers are not happy. Complaints about the map application have been ramped since the introduction last week.

Today, Apple CEO Tim Cook release a letter to Apple customers officially recognizing the problems and apologizing He even suggests several alternatives customers can use while Apple improves their maps. Among the alternatives are Apple rivals Microsoft with Bing maps and Google itself with a version of Google maps that can run in the iPhone web browser. Location based services and mapping are going to become very important core technologies in the near future which is why I think Apple created their own map application. Even Amazon is racing to add their own maps to the Kindle platform.

But here is the takeaway I want you to think about. Apple has a serious problem with one of the most popular and important functions of the iPhone. Rather than hide, deny, or deflect as so many companies will do, Apple came out front and center to acknowledge the problem and apologize. This is what customers want. They will often forgive you your problems so long as you let customers know you are aware of the problems and you care about fixing them. Social media is an open opportunity to get hammered by customers and I’ve seen company Facebook pages with a litany of complaints. You can see this as something bad and wonder why you opened yourself to this kind of abuse, or you can see it as an opportunity to talk to your customers about their issues. Explain more clearly certain things and maybe even solve some actual problems in your company. Either way, just talking to customers and letting them know you even care at all makes a huge difference and will often calm down the most agitated complainer. I have seen direct evidence of this and will feature it in a future post.

Managing Expectations And The Apple Syndrome

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Sep 13

We would all be so lucky to have Apple’s problem. That our products are so outrageously popular, expectations for the next product reaches impossible heights. Apple released the iPhone 5 yesterday and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It’s faster, thinner, lighter, and has a bigger screen. But it’s been popular of late to call Apple’s new products boring. The iPhone 4S was called just that and went on to be the best selling iPhone ever. It’s unreasonable to expect a world changing product every time Apple announces something, yet people do. For whatever reason, Apple has chosen to not manage expectations about their products at all. Maybe they feel managing expectations would break the iron clad secrecy that surrounds every new Apple product. But even that is a fallacy as virtually all of the iPhone 5 specs were known well beforehand. By not managing expectations, Apple creates a wildfire of speculation which gives rise to unrealistic expectations. When these expectations are not met, it’s natural to think the announcement was lackluster. When it came to the iPhone 4S sales it didn’t matter, but I do wonder what the long term effects are going to be.

To be fair, Apple has, in fact, wowed us with incredible products that went beyond what anyone could imagine so they have set the bar high themselves. Wired has a great article that explores this phenomenon. The other thing to remember is much of this consternation is from the fan boys and hopelessly devoted. These are people who live and die based on what Apple does on a day to day basis. Most of us are just looking for a device that works really well and if Apple comes out with a new device next year that works a little better, wonderful. Regular people are not looking to have their world shaken every time Apple speaks.

Screens Continue To Invade Our Lives

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Aug 23

Screen, screen, everywhere a screen. The first screen was our traditional television. Then, we got one on our desktop via the desktop computer. Now, we have additional screens in our lap and in our hands. With this new product release of what they are calling a “large screen mobile smart cloud product”, I think we’re going to see an expansion of the number of screens we are exposed to.

Some are looking at this as a “smart tv” product, but I don’t think that’s really what we’re looking at. Apple will reveal their television soon and that will define the market as many past apple products have done. But this product, which is Android powered could be just the thing to hang on the wall of your bedroom or a teenagers bedroom. This is a more casual, at-a-glance screen. With voice control, you could ask it to play the days weather forecast video, show your schedule for the day or entertain you with the latest video on YouTube while you get ready in the morning. When you are trying to get through your morning routine, it’s hard to do all that and hold a device, so this makes perfect sense. You might even want one in the kitchen. Play me some music while I prepare dinner or show me that video on cooking that special lunch sandwich I was interested in. Yes, an iPad could do all that, but the difference here is that it hangs on the wall so it’s neat and out of the way.

If this this the future of television as we know it, it also points up some other interesting facts. For the first time, when you turn on your smart tv, it may not go directly to the last channel you were on but to an information screen and will have plenty of other choices as to what to do that are NOT watching traditional television. Television producers an networks will have to think radically differently in this new world. In fact, we should stop even thinking of these devices as televisions at all. These are flat screen computers mounted on your wall. One of their many functions is to play video, or television. Think about the mobile phone. It’s not a mobile phone at all. It’s a handheld computer that can make and receive phone calls. How much disruption has the smart phone caused in the industry? Television is about to get disrupted in much the same way. I hope the industry is ready.

PayPal Hooks Up With McDonalds For Mobile Payments

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Aug 21

The mobile payment space is starting to really heat up. As the percentage of smart phones increases among the total population of cell phones, more vendors are experimenting with allowing customers to pay with their phone. Square has been an early and big innovator in the field, starting with their iPhone/Ipad add-on that allows small businesses to swipe credit cards right on the device. Now Square is moving into the next generation of payments with their Pay by Square app that does not require the square device.

PayPal is the grandfather of online payments and is trying to stay relevant as well. They already have capability with Home Depot, allowing customers to pay via PayPal when checking out. Now comes word they are working with McDonalds on mobile payments via a cell phone. But with this app, it’s not just payment. McDonalds allows you to place your entire order, pay, and then pickup from a separate window. This is end to end service via cell phone and you don’t have to try to interpret what the order taking is saying on the other end of a scratchy speaker.

Think now about the localization possibilities of such an app. You are driving near a McDonalds and it’s getting close to noon. The app could pop a discount and suggest lunch at McDonalds, even firing up your gps on the phone to route you to the location. Since you have ordered before, the app knows your favorites and could pre-populate an order.

You see, this goes beyond just mobile payments. It’s about the entire business ecosystem gone mobile. You have a todo on your phone that you need to get to the hardware store. Again, driving around, you come within two miles of a Home Depot and the app lets you know you are close and that you had that todo. I am always putting things on a todo list and them not remembering them. I would love such a feature, especially if it came with coupons and discounts. Your business always needs to be where the customers are, and increasingly they are mobile and with smart phones.

The other two big players to watch are Google and Apple. Both are competing with digital wallet apps. Right now it’s more about loyalty card storage and use, but if the big boys of payment Visa and Mastercard get involved, they could eat everybody else’s lunch.

What is clear are two things. Business is going mobile in a big way and millions of people will be ordering and paying for goods and services with their smart phones in just a few years.

Using The Power Of OS X Dictation

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Aug 18

Because of surgery my left hand is out of commission but I want to blog so what do I do? I’m using the power of Apple’s dictation features in its new Mountain Lion operating system to literally dictate a blog post. It works amazingly well.

I wondered when I would ever eally ever want to use a dictation feature but this obviously is the perfect opportunity. It gives me hope for the future of vocal interfaces to computers. Maybe someday we will finally be able to get beyond the keyboard. Of course it’s not perfect but it works well enough.

It will be another seven days until I’m back to full speed and my hand is fully healed but I’ll try to do what I can until then. Now you might ask how did you get the image in with dictation? Okay, I’m cheating a little bit. There are some things I can do with one hand.

With regard to the previous post where I talk about post-dating blog posts, yes I could’ve scheduled a number of posts to cover this period but I didn’t. Do as I say not as I do.

Connected World Radio: Podcasting

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Aug 5

News: The Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit is producing some amazing insight into the inner working of Apple.

Main Topoic: Podcasting. Should you podcast? Do you have to have a great voice? What makes a good podcast, and more.

Tip: When it comes to budgets and podcasting, the one piece of equipment you don’t want to skimp on is the microphone.

Listen To The Show!

Social Business Report – July 9

By David JacobsLeave a Comment

Jul 10

On this weeks show:

Tablet Wars: The new battle at 7 inches is on
Cloud Dependency - Amazon cloud goes down taking several prominent websites with it.
Twitter cracks down on their API. Will they kill the goose that lays the golden eggs?
British Airways tries to improve personal service by Googleing their passengers. Some cry foul.
Lady GaGa opens her own social network to the world.