Google is Having a Pretty Bad Day

Nitasha Tiku's list of Google woes ...

Google's [considered to be] selling out on net neutrality (in particular the idea that it wants to create a tiered, private Internet and leave the Internet on mobile devices a laissez-faire, corporate free-for-all).

Google is being sued by Oracle ... infringed on patents and copyrights related to Java in Google's development of its Android mobile operating system software.

Eric Schmidt ... supports the [not so popular] idea of a verified name service for governments to keep track of anonymous activity

Five left-wing groups ... will lead a rally at Google's Moutainview headquarters today to protest Google's backdoor deal with Verizon

 Well ... it is Friday the 13th.

Enter the Enterprise Tablet

3.3 million iPads have been sold since the product launch in April.  Even for Apple -- a company whose new products are always fanatically anticipated -- that's a huge success!  It's clear that the general consumer thinks a highly-portable content-consumption device is a good idea.  

I agree -- it's a great idea!  It's actually quite liberating to be able to kick back on the couch, surf the web, check email, etc., all while feeling as comfortable as reading a magazine.  The content consumption tablet has arrived and it's here to stay.

But what about all the hopes for an 'enterprise tablet' -- a tablet that someone may actually want to take to the office and use it for -- well, work.  While that idea is yet to be proven successful, companies are refusing to give up.

Cisco has recently announced the Cius (pronounced See-Us), a Android-OS powered tablet for the business-person on the go.  As the name suggests, the primary use of this tablet is as an extension of Cisco's tele-presence system.

As the modern workplace continues to expand beyond the confines of office buildings and meeting rooms; keeping workers 'connected' via instant messaging, video conferencing, etc becomes increasingly important.  The Cius delivers this functionality in a low-cost package that's also highly portable.  I can't imagine why any organization who has invested in Cisco's tele-presence (it's expensive) would chose to not further expand their remote-productivity capabilities with the Cius.

And now it looks like Cisco is not alone.  The HP Slate (previously considered dead) seems to have been re-branded as a Windows powered enterprise tablet. At this point these are just rumors, so little is know about the features or the target audience HP is after.  However, given HP's own tele-presence system (called Halo), one can guess that they are shooting for something at least somewhat similar to the Cius.

It's been very exciting to witness (and participate in) the iPad success.  I'm now very curious if the tablet form-factor will be received with equal enthusiasm by the enterprise.

Nokia Reacts to Apple Press Conference : 'We Make Antennas, Too'

Shortly after Apple's Antennagate press conference, Nokia issued the following public statement. (Interesting parts in bold)

"Antenna design is a complex subject and has been a core competence at Nokia for decades, across hundreds of phone models. Nokia was the pioneer in internal antennas; the Nokia 8810, launched in 1998, was the first commercial phone with this feature.

Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying human behavior, including how people hold their phones for calls, music playing, web browsing and so on. As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.

In general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That's why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand. Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design."

The typical reaction to the statement: "Hey, my first cell phone was a Nokia. They make smartphones, now?"

Apple's Stand on the iPhone 4 's Antenna: We Love You, Here's a Bumper Case

Apple held a press conference this morning to respond to the perceived outrage over the iPhone 4's new antenna design.  Unless you've been vacationing on a remote island for the past 22 days, you're already well aware of the fact that some people have been experiencing dropped calls if they held the phone a certain way.  Some have gone as far as to call Apple's new product unusable.

The press conference wasn't a recall announcement, the declaration of an upcoming fix, or even an apology.  Instead, Apple used it as an opportunity to put the entire situation in perspective.  I think they achieved that.

Reception Always Degrades When a Phone is Held

Apple showed several slides displaying how phones from other vendors also 'lose bars' when held in the palm of a hand.  According to Apple, the Blackberry Bold 9700, Droid Eris, and Samsung Ominia II  (each using a different type of operating system) have the same antenna problem as the iPhone 4.


 

 

Apple's stand is that it's not the antenna design that's to be blamed, but rather the laws of physics.  The logical question that follows is - why hasn't an antenna problem been the focus of so much (or any) attention before?  

Steve Jobs' answer, while not verifiable, was interesting.   He believes the reason is the 'bull's eye' Apple placed in the lower left corner of the phone.

By having the dual antennas be external and leaving a visible seam where they meet, the phone begged people to hold it where it wasn't suppose to be held.  The fingers are just naturally drawn to the difference in surface texture.  As a result, iPhone 4 owners were more likely to disrupt the antenna reception than those owning other phones. 

Also, since the iPhone 4 shape is radically different in comparison to the 3G or 3GS, only a limited number of case have been available.  Customers are therefore walking out of stores (and using) 'naked' iPhone 4s.  Had more people been able to purchase cases, the weak spot would have been less noticeable. 

What Apple wanted people to take away from this is:

• iPhone 4's antenna problems are not unique
• The antenna issue is a an industry-wide problem
• Despite the flaw, the iPhone 4 is still an amazing device.

Undoubtedly, some would have a hard time classifying the phone as amazing given the above arguments alone. So Apple brought out some data.

Data Shows Users Think the iPhone 4 is Great 

To counter the claims that the phone is 'unusable', Apple shared some interesting data points.

• 0.55% - percentage of iPhone 4 owners who have called Apple Care complaining about receptions issues.  This suggests that you have to go out of your way to experience the antenna problem.  That's pretty convincing.  While the antenna problem is real, it's not a 'practical' one.
• 1.7% - percentage of iPhone 4s returned.  Over 98% of people who bought an iPhone 4 don't want to part with it.  This is even more impressive if you consider that the return rate for the 3GS was 6%
• < 1 - number of additional dropped calls per 100 when compared to previous generation iPhones.  AT&T provided the data here.  Dropped calls are happening, but it's in line with what's always happened. This suggest no new flaw in networks or phones

In my opinion, it's hard to argue with such data.  Despite the you-tube videos and late-night talk show skits, the people who are actually using these phones aren't complaining.

We Love You -- We Mean It

I'm not sure how many times Steve Jobs said 'we love our customers', but it's up there.  Given the popularity of their products -- I think it's true.  Whereas Microsoft loves the enterprise, Apple loves the everyday man and woman.  They understand their needs -- simplicity, usability-- and cater to them.  To prove this declaration of love, everyone with an iPhone 4 can now receive a free bumper case.  If you've already purchased a bumper case, they will refund the cost.  While the presented data shows that this may not really be necessary, it's a nice gesture to further enhance what Apple is all about -- great customer service.

So Why All The Hoopla

The 'bull's-eye' and limited availability of cases may have have contributed to people discovering the problem, and that 'discovery' did drive up negative commentary.  But, according to Steve Jobs, the real reason why people made such a big stink about this had actually nothing to do with phones. It's simple human nature.  We love to see someone on top, shove them hard, and watch them fall.  

If there is one thing from this event that stuck with me the most, it's a question Steve Jobs posed during the Q&A portion of the event. To all the people trying to tear down Apple, he asked:

"... what would you prefer? That we were a Korean company? Or that we, here in America, are leading the world with these products ..." 

In a world where America is under constant attack from others trying to become as influential, whey aren't we more supportive and proud of a U.S. company doing so well?  Why are so many fueled by the desire to watch this company crumble?   It's Apple -- the inventor of the computer as we know it -- and it's our Apple.

Keep up the good work, Apple -- Everyone else, enough with the antenna, already.


 

Apple Announces iPhone 4 Press Conference This Friday

The iPhone 4 antenna madness continues.  Consumer Reports says the problems are real and can't recommend the phone ...  An RF expert says Consumer Report's testing was flawed ... People who can pay $600 for a phone refuse to part with $29.99 for a bumper case ...

I was starting to think that we'd have to wait for the Singularity weirdos to bring back Einstein before we got to the bottom of this.  Maybe we'll get some answers sooner --  Apple is holding a press conference to explain things this Friday.  The ever cautious Android guys have already started shaping their tin-foil hats.  

Opportunities in Emerging Platforms - You're Too Late To Be First

Thoughts on how developers should view new and emerging platforms such as Android and (more appropriately) Windows Phone 7.

Oh if only all of us could have ridden the Fart-App Wave.  In 2008, fart apps were selling to the tune of $10,000 a day.  You read that correctly.  Recording and playing back a medley of fart noises was making someone $10,000 every day!  Had I'd been so lucky, today I'd be dictating this blog to my assistant while trying not to spill my Mai-Tai.

I'm happy for those titans of flatulence. Honestly, more power to them! The rest of us, however, need to move on.  We need to move on and fully acknowledge the fact that those days are long gone.

It's tempting to look at a new emerging platform and think 'Hey, I bet that new doo-hickey doesn't have a truck-stop inspired fart collection yet'.  Maybe it doesn't, but that doesn't change the fact that there is an army of 'entrepreneurs' thinking the same thing.  The fart app was a hit because since Alexander Graham Bell, no phone in the history of phones has ever farted before. As stupid as it was, it was novel, and you can't recreate novelty simply by porting it to a new platform. 

In the last three years, hundreds of thousands of apps have been deployed.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that all the simple novel ideas have been bled dry.  While the evolution of our devices can trigger a new surge of next-generation fart apps (for example, iPhone 4's new gyroscope or LED light), those opportunities are very rare.  Your best bet, then, is to take an existing, non-trivial, proven-successful application and add some form of new value.  And you do that by rethinking feature sets, improving quality, and crafting superior user-experiences.

If you're thinking that this contradicts conventional thinking, you're right, it contradicts conventional thinking.  How can someone re-create something that already exists, slap on 5-10% new value on top and expect people to jump ship and swim their way? The answer is that app purchases are made with virtually zero commitment in mind.

If you purchase a new TV only to later find that same TV, at the same exact price, but with a much nicer remote-control, you will more than likely not be buying another new TV that day.  A TV purchase -- given it's cost and the thought you put into deciding which TV to buy -- is a commitment that you won't quickly abandon.  The same hold true for smaller purchases as well -- say, anti-virus software going for $50.  Apps, on the other hand, are 'expensive' at $9.99.  The typical one runs $0.99.  There's no commitment there.  If you're not 100% satisfied with an app you own and something somewhat better comes along, you'll give it a whirl.  So, as a developer, it makes sense to find something with a large user base and build something that is (at the very least) somewhat better.

So in the world of mobile device platforms -- new, emerging, busting at the seams with buzz -- none of that matters.  In my opinion, appropriate considerations are

1. Which platform best enables developers to create an app with new or improved value and superior user experiences.
2. Which platform best enables consumers to discover and acquire those applications. 

Perhaps you think Android is that platform or maybe you think Windows Phone 7 will outshine the others. Maybe iOS, the reigning champion, will remain the reigning champion.  I have my opinions on which platform makes the most sense, but none of them have anything to do with NEW.  

Windows Phone 7 - A Real Threat

The ever changing world of technology surprises no one by -- well -- changing.

The amazingly-absent-from-mobile folks at Microsoft have just announced that Windows Phone 7 Beta development tools are now available for download, along with some supporting material and promises to help get people going.  So why should someone like me -- knee deep in iOS and big fan of the Apple techno-culture -- care?

Because I'm not some care-free 21-year-old college grad who loves Apple because they make cool stuff. Technology is my career, not my hobby. I have a mortgage.  I have a son I'd like to put through college.  I want to take my wife on a nice and well-deserved vacation.  Naturally, I worry about the decisions I make and the sustainability of the direction those decisions take me.  And while I've written Android off as an annoying garbage dump (and I'm not quite ready to change my mind on that -- yet),  Windows Phone 7 may very well be a real threat. Here's why:

Ever wonder why when you step onto an airplane, everyone in a suit has their head buried in a Blackberry.  Where iPhone got it right for the general consumer, Blackberry got it right for the businessman (and woman -- no offense ladies).  On a recent trip to California I sat next to two guys traveling for business, one a Hoover vacuum cleaner salesman (he was almost embarrassed to say that, and I don't blame him) and the other one did something in the world of food-chain supply.  I annoyed the hell out of these two poor guys trying to understand why they had -- and liked -- their Blackberries.

The reasons were simple enough.  Carrier cost was a big one.  Carrier costs for a traveling business person are not the same as data-plan costs for the rest of us.  We're actually talking about roaming charges in this case. The wider the network, the less you pay when on a conference call while driving through a population 1,019 town.  Which brings us to the second reason: Verizon has a more widely available network, hence these guys could get more out of their Blackberries, in more places, cheaper.  They also brought up use outside of the US.  Have to fly to Prague for the week? -- buy a SIM card when you land and pop it in.  You can do that with a Blackberry.

Now, I'm trying to think long-term, here.  So the above aren't that big a deal once the AT&T and Apple exclusivity contract runs out (the latest rumor, which is more credible than previous rumors, is that this will happen in January of next year).  So from my perspective, the most important reason these guys gave me was something that I don't see Apple doing anything about -- relatively seamless synchronization with Windows (Contacts, Outlook, Exchange Server, SharePoint, etc).

As much as I enjoy the I'm A Mac ads, the enterprise runs on Windows. They are so deeply entangled in Microsoft technology that, even today, 74% of businesses still use Windows XP.  So forget about switching, they can't even upgrade out of fear of breaking something.

Now if you think RIM did a good job of sync-ing with Windows, image how easily you'll be able to sync Windows with Windows.  Add to that the fact the Windows Phone 7 has a slick user interface -- it looks nice -- and has a different take on advertising than Apple or Google -- which I don't have time to get into -- Windows Phone 7 devices may very well become the new hot toys.  A phone that's ten time better for work and just as good for work-avoidance.

I don't know -- maybe I'll start watching those training courses.  If your phone is as much a tool as it is a toy, I'd love some feedback.  Comment below.

Google Fires Shot At Apple. Hits Own Foot

Why Google's Inventor is a big mistake and the Apple response I hope is around the corner.

Write A Dumb-App for a Smart-Phone

Today, Google unveiled a new tool for building Android apps -- Google Inventor. In a nut shell, it's a tool that allows someone with no programming experience to construct an Android app by fitting together little puzzle pieces, each representing some type of interface element or action.  You can watch this little gem in action below.

Wow, Google, thank you for making me feel better about developing for the iPhone.   I can see the good intentions behind this tool, but the path to a failed platform is paved with good intentions (ask Palm).

1989 Called, They Want Their Technology Back

First of all, this is nothing new.  The technology graveyard has a special section for CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) tools.  The last failure was buried there in the early 90s.  They all failed for the same reason -- its impossible to create sophisticated software graphically, and our software is only getting more complex.

Google guys are smart (as in book-smart, not street-smart), they know all this.  So one can only assume that they are comfortable with people creating apps having very limited functionality. In fact, Harold Ableson, the lead on this project, was quoted as saying

“These aren’t the slickest applications in the world. But they are ones ordinary people can make, often in a matter of minutes"

And that's exactly where the problem lies.  In a short period of time, the Android Marketplace will be like a sewage treatment plant the evening of Cinco de Mayo.  Regardless of how many people claim to be excited about Inventor only for personal use, a ton of people will upload their little experiments.  Android's Marketplace will soon be flooded with crap-ware.

Apple has a crap-ware problem, too.  But at least they recognize it as a problem and are actually trying to prevent crap-ware, not encourage it.    

In the long run, this is very bad for consumers.  A successful platform consists of several fundamental aspects. One of them is easy discovery and acquisition of content.  In my opinion, Android's 'you make it, we'll take it' policy was already a step in the wrong direction.  Inventor just made it a sprint.

Let's Add Some More Junk to the Internet

In the short-term (as in -- while we wait for Android to collapse under its own weight), Apple may choose to respond with something similar.  I very highly doubt they'd open up the App Store to allow an iOS version of Purring Kittens (watch the video -- it's ridiculous), but why not give people the tools to create an HTML 5 version.  

Apple is pushing HTML 5, and they are pushing hard.  Creating an HTML 5 authoring tools is in Apple's interest.  Having a piece of it be grandma-friendly wouldn't be too much extra work.  Overall, it would help get the Flash monkey off their back and, by having it run only on OS X, they'd sell a mac mini or two.  And once you buy an Apple product, there's a good chance you'll buy other Apple products (don't believe me, ask my mac mini, or macbook pro, or two iphones, or ipad ... hell, there's probably even an Apple TV somewhere in China with my name on it). 

I would actually be surprised to find out that an HTML 5 authoring tool is not already in the works.

We'll see.

Consumer Reports: Yep, the iPhone 4 Has An Antena Problem

I guess Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field has me in its sights. I really didn't want to believe that the design of the iPhone 4 could be in any way, shape, or form flawed. The thing is a beauty, as far as gizmos go. But, according to some iPhone 4 owners, if you covered a small lower-left section of the phone with your hand you lost reception. Calls got dropped, Apple devotees (now $600 poorer) broke out in hives, mass-hysteria followed, etc.

Steve Jobs (in a way that really makes we want to have a beer with him) told people "just don't hold the phone that way". Then it became a software problem with how the signal bars were being displayed. My iPhone 4 doesn't come in until later this week, so I had no way of knowing if this was real or some Andriod propaganda-conspiracy lead by commandant Sergey (Mikhaylovich) Brin himself.

Turns out it's real. Consumer Reports engineers were able to confirm that this is in fact a problem. (not wanting to be outdone by CSI:Detroit ... the testers whipped out their RF isolation chambers, cell tower emulators, white lab coats ... the works)

Oddly enough, the second half of the report praises the 300+ great things about the iPhone 4. So I guess I'll just Not hold the phone that way.

The Tablet and Me

A brief history of the events that brought me to the iOS platform.

A Glimpse At the Future

I first saw the movie Minority Report in 2002. Overall, just an OK movie. What struck me as absolutely amazing, however, was the manner in which all these 'people of the future' used their computers. They didn't sit at their desks pounding away at keyboards while moving a little cursor around their screen. Instead, they manipulated what the computer threw their way as if these digital creations were physically present. It's as if their computers could on-the-fly construct something with real volume and mass ... then you reach out and touch it.

If you haven't seen the movie or don't recall what I'm describing, watch the clip below.

I walked away from the movie thinking Why in the world doesn't this technology exist?. Up to that point in time there had been no significant change to a computer's form-factor since Steve Jobs and his buddies whipped up the Apple I in 1976. Sure, our computers have gotten faster, flat screens made them look sexier, laptops made them (somewhat) portable and the internet gave us amazing new ways to use them. But at each iteration you always used the computer the same way: typing on a keyboard and pointing with a mouse.

Change Is-A Commin' ... At the Speed of Flowing Lava

I felt that change is just around the corner and that these 'futuristic' computers are bound to start popping up soon. Not wanting to miss the next wave of innovation, I monitored all related developments closely.

That proved to be as exciting as watching grass grow. There looked to be no real advancements in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) models with any potential commercial success. The keyboard and mouse just would not budge.

Dethroning the keyboard and mouse proved to be an ultra-marathon instead of a sprint, but I definitely wasn't alone in cheering on the effort. The computers depicted in Minority Report were influenced by active research being done at Microsoft. Over time, the whole concept even got a name: NUI - Natural User Interface (as oppose to the traditional GUI - Graphical User Interface). Communities sprung up on the internet (such the NUI group started in 2006), people with Fry's tabs and ample supply of duct-tape started building their own next-generation computers. 

As interesting as these developments were, they weren't exactly something you could easily explore in hopes of creating the next exciting commercial offering. These were things better left to ultra-geek hobbyists and PhDs with corporate and academic R&D budgets.

2007 - First Signs of Life

In 2007 things started to heat up a bit. While computer interaction using 3D gestures was still far, far away; computer interaction using 2D gestures started making its way out of the labs. Microsoft announced their Surface Computer with no mouse or keyboard in sight (see it in action in the video blow). At ~$10K, though, Surface did not target your average gadget-obsessed consumer. It started out and remains to this day a 'pie-the-sky' device for most (all sane) people. I'm actually yet to see one in the wild.

Then there was the iPhone.
With hind-sight being 20/20, the iPhone is, in my opinion, the most significant step towards changing how we interact with computers to date. Oddly enough, I didn't see it that way at first. I wasn't looking for a change in how we interact with cell-phones, I was looking for a change in how interact with our PCs. Turns out they are one and the same. Cell-phones and PDAs became smart-phones and smart-phones became super-smart-phones and now I can do 80% of what I did on my laptop on my iPhone. The iPhone brought the first step towards those Minority Report computers to the masses - Multi-Touch.

2009 - I Make My Move

Being too short-sighted to start developing iPhone apps in 2007 (after all they, they were just phones. Right? Wrong!) ... I waited ... and waited. I finally stopped waiting in the second quarter of 2009 after sensing what I thought was the series of events that would lead to this much anticipated paradigm shift: Windows 7 Beta and .NET 4.0 Beta became available for download.

If your a casual Windows users; Windows 7 has native OS support for multi-touch input and .NET 4.0 offers an API for developing applications capable of responding to multi-touch input (both borrowing technology from Microsoft's Surface efforts). With native multi-touch support enabled in an OS with such a huge market share, I figured it was just a matter of time (2 years max) before everybody and their mother had a multi-touch monitor. I dumped two grand on a prototype multi-touch monitor, a library of books on .NET and WPF, and started cranking out code.

Throughout 2009, everyone was talking about an Apple tablet. With Window 7 on the horizon, other computer vendors (Dell, HP, Asus, Lenovo, etc) started promising tablets as well. MS was leaking info about their own tablet computer, the Courier. For God's sake, even Michael Arrington (blogger extraordinaire) was going to build one! 2010 was branded as The Year of the Tablet and I was feeling pretty good. I had a well thought-out product concept and progress on the prototype was moving along well. All I needed was to have the software ready when multi-touch monitors feeding Windows 7 PCs were on everyone's desks.

The iPad Changes Everything

January 2010 came. Apple announced the iPad. Everything changed.

All this talk about tablets in 2009, yet no one really figured out what the hell a tablet really is. I certainly didn't pretend to know exactly what a tablet would look like or how it would function. I just knew one was coming and had a product in mind that leveraged multi-touch to help remote knowledge workers communicate more effectively.

No one knew except for Apple. With the iPad, Apple told everyone what a tablet is: A highly portable, relatively affordable device whose primary purpose is personal content consumption and (according to a new study) gaming. A tablet is something you leave on your coffee table, not something you take to work. Consumers agreed and Apple sold an iPad every three seconds. When all the other would-be tableteers got the memo, they went back to the drawing board.

The first thing they cut out was Windows. Such a bloated, general-purpose OS had no place on a light-weight device expected to have a 10+ hour battery life (I can go days without charging my iPad). As for usability, no matter how many muti-touch bells and whistles MS adds, Windows 7 is still busting at the seams with a 'click-me' interface. Windows 7 (in my opinion a very good keyboard/mouse PC OS) can't even begin to compete with the tight iOS/hardware integration necessary in a mobile device and available in the iPhone and iPad. Even MS hopped on the band-wagon by pulling the plug on the Courier. 2010 did not end up being The Year of the Tablet, rather The Year of the iPad.

After seeing the iPad, it's all blindingly obvious. I wish it would have been so obvious when the iPad was just a rumor ...

Back to the Drawing Board

Once multi-touch application on Windows stopped making sense, I found myself staring at eight months worth of work that I could only label as a 'learning experience'. Two days after the iPad announcement, I drove to the nearest Apple store and started acquiring the tools of a new trade: iPhone OS development. I jumped on Amazon and order a new library of books on the iPhone SDK, Objective-C, and the App store ecosystem and started climbing what would prove to be a surprisingly steep learning curve. It's now been 7 months and there's still much to learn.

Coming to an iOS Device Near You

I'm a handful of weeks away from submitting my first iPhone app to the App Store. If you own an iPhone and enjoy playing golf, you're gonna love it. I'll then take all the bumps and bruises from this effort and start working on an iPad app that I'm very excited about. If the iPhone app gets enough traction, who knows, maybe I can even make this a day-job rather than my 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM shift.

All I know for sure is that tablets are here to stay and if you allow yourself to daydream a bit you can start to see some pretty amazing new ways to use and play with all that silicon based horse-power.

Stay tuned.