Now this is how to respond to your competition:
(Doesn’t change the fact that I think iPhone is going to rock, but it’s funny, well-done, and … it’s got me listening.)
[tags] iphone, ophone, microsoft, apple, marketing, youtube, john koetsier, pr [/tags]It’s a great story to be the underdog … but it’s nicer to be the top dog.
Unfortunately, being top dog means being treated like one. Apple is now being hit with intellectual property and patent lawsuits almost weekly. The latest one, from Individual Networks, hits Apple where it hurts: the iTunes/iPod empire.
Individual Network’s complaint accuses Apple’s entire music ecosystem of profiteering from iTunes sales and points to anything which can download copies of that content, including the iPod, as contributing to the reported damage. If won under ideal circumstances, the suit would grant the plaintiff not just royalties for every iTunes song or video sold but also a “reasonable” percentage of the revenue from associated devices such as all iPods. The Apple TV and iPhone may also be subject to a future ruling.
While it’s incredibly annoying that companies that do nothing but dream up squiggles on paper and then get them patented could potentially make billions off of others’ hard work of actually building a real product and a real business, that’s the business/legal world of the USA today.
Welcome to Microsoft’s world, Apple.
[tags] apple, legal, IP, patents, microsoft, john koetsier [/tags]I just received this in my mailbox:
That really, really looks like a virus infiltration attempt. Which is amazing, because although I’ve seen many of those, they always end in a .exe or some such Windows extension. This is the first I’ve seen targeted for Mac.
A quick google reveals that Flip4Mac, which is an actual legit Mac application for viewing Windows Media files, has a vulnerability … but nothing that suggests that there is a virus out there masquerading as Flip4Mac, or Flip4Mac components.
Sounds new. Anyone else seen it yet?
[tags] virus, mac, flip4mac, security, apple, windows, john koetsier [/tags]Yesterday I bought a new camcorder – the Sony DCR-SR82 with a 60 GB hard drive. Today I shot some video, and tonight I tried to hook it up to my Mac and play in iMovie HD.
No such luck.
This is just wrong. OK, there’s only one course of action:
To be completely frank, being on a Mac should mean that I never have to think of or even hear something so esoteric as “muxed video.” That’s what Apple engineers are paid for.
To be completely george, Sony is smoking something powerful if they think I’m going to change my computer to work with their camera. Not bloody likely.
They just lost a customer.
[tags] apple, mac os x, mac, sony, DCR-SR82, incompatible, muxed, iMovie, john koetsier [/tags]Just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s new media. I’m declaring war on all old-school media that just happens to be online. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
What am I talking about? Articles like this one on Apple and music by Joshua Chaffin of the Financial Times. Here’s the paragraph that has me frosted:
The record industry, in particular, has long been frustrated that Apple has reaped most of the profits of the burgeoning online music market through sales of its iPod player. By contrast, they have earned only modest royalties from digital music sales because most of the songs on iPods and other devices result from illegal download.
The problem with the above paragraph is obvious to anyone with half a brain and a reasonable background in technology. Chaffin has uncritically accepted a music industry lie and printed it as fact. He’s participating in propaganda. He’s a lousy, lousy journalist.
Worse, he’s calling me a thief … along with tens of millions of other iPod owners. That burns me up, since I’m very careful to only put music on my iPod that I’ve obtained legally. Some of it is from the iTunes Music Store, most of it is from my CD collection. So in effect, Chaffin is slandering me.
But that’s not why I’m declaring an old-skewl media boycott.
Every piece of writing has things others will disagree with. That’s OK. But online, in new media, it’s now a reasonable expectation that readers can comment on a story. Not on the Financial Times site.
I’m declaring the boycott because Chaffin and the Financial Post don’t allow comments. In other words, I can’t post a comment disputing his facts and assertions. In the new media web 2.0 online world, this is simply unacceptable. It’s outrageous and we need to start recognizing that fact.
Having comments ability ought to be a minimum standard requirement on any website in 2007.
Frankly, this would be a major positive step for FP and writers like Chaffin – purely from their perspective. Why? They’d get a lot smarter, a lot quicker. None of us is as smart as all of us … and comments, properly implemented, can unleash some of that collective intelligence. Errors get pointed out and fixed quickly – which really is in the media organization’s best long-term interests.
So: no more old-skewl media.
And any site that doesn’t blur the traditional publisher/audience role is old-skewl.
Goodbye and good riddance.
[tags] media, ugc, ugm, audience, publisher, web2.0, comments, discussion, financial post, joshua chaffin, apple, music, user-generated content, john koetsier [/tags]Love it, love it, love it:
I tell you, there’s pure genius in simplicity, if you have the guts to totally sell out and pursue it.
[tags] apple, iphone, ad, tv, john koetsier [/tags]
OK, so I finally watched Snakes on a Plane … on an airplane.
The guy next to me saw that I had a laptop and pulled out a stack of movies. Since he offered the DVD, I could hardly refuse and keep my geek cred.
The movie did pretty much suck, unfortunately. But it did allow me to learn one very cool thing: you can hot-swap the battery on an Apple laptop.
I knew I was running out of juice about 3 hours into the flight and 90 minutes into Snakes … so I closed the lid to go to sleep, flipped the ‘Book over, took the battery out, stuck my spare in … and voila: another 3 hours of electrical goodness.
Cool!
[tags] soap, snakes on a plane, airplane, powerbook, hot swap, movie, john koetsier [/tags]This is absolutely classic. Wonderful:
Saw something funny while using Mac OS X Mail the other day:
Notice how many attachments are in the email at the top. I guess I’ve never had enough before to see this particular uncounted count.
[tags] mac, os x, mail, attachments, funny, john koetsier [/tags]
Errr, that great idea? Just came back.
I’m thinking/working/dealing with branding lately. Traditional branding sucks … isn’t that where some guy throws you to the ground and jams red-hot poker and right up against your ribs? Ouch! Who wants that?
Here’s a thought (it’s not really an idea) about modern branding:
Great companies don’t brand their products. They allow you to brand yourself by choosing to buy their products.
(In case you’re wondering, I had to boldface that because it’s so mindblowingly significant. Just so you know. You know?)
Think: do people buy a BMW because it has more X than the competition? Put whatever you want in X: power, style, leather, agility, rubber, buttons – whatever. The answer is: of course not.
People buy a Beamer to brand themselves.
Now they’re Beamer people. Someone to be taken seriously. Maybe not Trump, but Trump-ettes. (OK, that came out wrong.) Seriously on their way, dude. Going somewhere, even if they’re on the wrong side of the freeway.
If you can get that that stage as a company where people buy your products to brand themselves, wow you have it made.
Whether branding is still painful when you D-I-Y, I have no idea. I’m just an Apple-using iPod-sporting mac-addict.
What do I know?
[tags] brand, branding, bmw, john koetsier [/tags]It would really be horrible to treat adults as responsible human beings who can make their own choices and live with their own consequences, wouldn’t it?
A New York state senator has announced his plan to introduce legislation that would ban the use of electronic devices such as iPods, BlackBerrys and cell phones while crossing streets in major cities.
(From C|Net.)
[tags] ipod, apple, new york, ny, john koetsier [/tags]Steve Jobs is famous for his reality distortion field … the way that his presentations or presence seems to exert an almost uncanny degree of influence of people.
Here’s an overview of how to do that in presentation form. A brief overview:
There’s much more meat at the actual post – go check it out.
[tags] steve jobs, rdf, reality distortion field, john koetsier, presentation, presenting [/tags]Skype rocks and making group podcasts together could be so easy … if only you could record easily. Here are two apps I’m looking at that will fit the bill.
(Why Skype doesn’t include this option as an extra I’ll have no clue.)
[tags] skype, podcast, mac, record, john koetsier [/tags]
When I read this post on Cisco’s blog explaining what’s going on with the iPhone name from their perspective, it’s completely obvious why Apple didn’t do the deal: Cisco wanted not just a licensing agreement or the sale of a trademark but a business relationship … in a sense, Cisco wanted in:
Fundamentally we wanted an open approach. We hoped our products could interoperate in the future. In our view, the network provides the basis to make this happen—it provides the foundation of innovation that allows converged devices to deliver the services that consumers want. Our goal was to take that to the next level by facilitating collaboration with Apple.
(I’ve bolded the most revealing sentence in Cisco’s blog post.)
Interoperability is something Apple is very reluctant to do unless there are extreme benefits (e.g., RIM-style push email via Yahoo, world’s-best search/maps via Google) to the end user (and Apple).
And it’s hard to see how a mobile phone relationship with Cisco could have realistically provided any substantive business benefits for Apple.
[tags] apple, iphone, cisco, trademark, IP, john koetsier [/tags]
Apple launched the iPhone without first clearing the intellectual property rights. That’s hubris of the first order. But there’s still two ways they can avoid paying legal fees in Cisco’s ensuing lawsuit.
But pay Apple will, of that there is no doubt. Either in licensing fees or legal.
[tags] iphone, trademark, apple, cisco, john koetsier [/tags]Not only is iPhone the most popular search term today at Technorati, the number of posts tagged iphone is exploding:
I guess that’s what a Jobs keynote and a revolutionary tech device will bring you …
[tags] iphone, technorati, blogging, john koetsier [/tags]Just finished watching the Apple iPhone keynote. What a masterful Jobsian performance.
Random thoughts as I slowly exit the reality distortion field:
Oh, and one more thing. It probably won’t get to Canada for months and months after it launches in the US. Bleh.
[tags] apple, iphone, steve jobs, keynote, john koetsier [/tags]Wow. Wow. Wow.
If you ever, like me, need a way to get all your contacts’ information out of the OS X Address Book strongbox, look no further than Export Address Book.
Does exactly what it says, freely, with minimum fuss and maximum flexibility.
Thank you Dibomedia!
[tags] address book, mac, os x, mail, contacts, john koetsier, Export Address Book [/tags]Thomas Hawk just bought a Mac after 18 years of wandering about in the valley of the shadow of Windows.
Here’s what he has to say:
I never in a million years would have thought that the design of a laptop would ever matter to me at all. It’s not about the aesthetics of a machine. It’s what it does for you right? Well, maybe. But this machine is damn sexy. I love the way that the keyboard is lit at night so that I can work in the dark. I love that glassy screen. There is something about the feel of the polished aluminum as I hold, no caress, the thing in my hands. It types perfectly. I love how I can use two fingers on the touch pad to move my screen down. I love how it has a hidden built in microphone and a small little video camera in the screen so that I can do video phone stuff through Skype super easily. I love how the little power supply has a magnet built into it and just kind of plugs itself in. And yes, I even love that glowing little Apple logo on the back of the case that I’ve scoffed at in the past at the various conferences and tech meetups that I’ve gone to.
(Every time I see some crappy Dell laptop or an IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad I look at all the sharp angles, notches, odd bulges, and unsimple lids and just shake my head.)
That aside, however, here’s the point: how extravagantly wonderful is it when people rave like this about a product, service, or tool that you’ve create? I passionately want people who use the stuff I build or contribute to to passionately love them.
(And yes, I am building something. Still pre-alpha, though.)
As I saw recently on a design site: design like you give a damn.
[tags] design, mac, thomas hawk, john koetsier [/tags]
If you want to tell somebody something, you have to speak their language. And it helps to be in the same room.
That’s my response to nonsense like this: Why Apple doesn’t have a blogging policy.
IT AIN’T ABOUT BLOGGING. It’s about communication. it’s about sharing information. It’s about solving problems. And while Scoble loves to babble about blogs (because he is, ultimately, a blogger, not a communicator), Apple employees have been out there working with the customer base.
Wander through any of the lists.apple.com mailing lists, one of Apple’s core communication tools with their developers. On EVERY list, you’ll come to realize there are Apple engineers on them, answering questions, helping people, doing things. Same with the online forums (Apple’s and others). There are people out there, doing ad-hoc tech support on a regular basis. Some of them actually have it as part of their job description, some of them do it because they feel they should. I’d guess there are 100 Apple employees active on lists.apple.com alone, and likely that many on the Apple support boards.
Email lists and forums are for existing clients with technical problems. You’re forgetting people who have not yet exchanged money in their pockets with products on your shelves.
What about the people who want to enlist? What about the people who want to get on the bus? What about the people who want to stop and have a coffee? What about the people who want to join a community? What about the people who want to stop for a minute at the water cooler?
Attitudes like this …
And THAT is why Apple has no blogging policy. Because, frankly, it’d just get in the way of what is already going on: working with and communicating with Apple’s customers.
… are insular. Inward-focused. Limited and limiting.
Not that anything that you’re talking about currently doing is bad. Not at all. But, as always, good is the incessant evil enemy of best.
And best is communicating with all your clients by engaging them where they are, in the language that they speak, with the media that they use.
[tags] apple, blogging, communicating, marketing, web2.0, pr, john koetsier [/tags]What can you say? Steve is an explosive guy:
Hilarious.
Credit where credit is due: I saw it on TUAW and Daring Fireball.
[tags] steve jobs, apple, boom, stevenote, john koetsier [/tags]I swear, Apple Legal does its level best every single day to do whatever it can in every way to do the maximum possible damage to Apple Computers Inc.
How can ostensibly smart people – I mean, they passed the bar, right – be so absolutely, abysmally, galactically stupid?
Now they want to take over “podcasting.” Find the details at Calacanis’ blog, the Wired blog, Scobleizer, ZDnet, and MacNewsWorld .
“Podcasting” as a term for personal audio publishing online is a term that does nothing but good for Apple, the iPod, and the whole iPod economy. Conversely, coming down with the legal fireworks ticks off potential clients, alienates Apple Computer Inc., and provides fodder for rivers of bad press.
Imagine the alternative: Zunecasting.
Perhaps Apple would prefer that?
[tags] podcasting, apple, legal, lawyers, IP, trademarks, zunecasting, john koetsier [/tags]Blogged with Flock
Marshall Kirkpatrick on TechCrunch is reporting an Engadget story that Apple and Google may be snuggling up with a movie. (Apple, of course, had just pre-announced it’s iTV streaming-media-from-the-web-to-your-TV product.)
OK, I think I just found a reason to buy one.
Add to this all the other video aggregators and purveyors – or at least a significant chunk of them – and you have something very interesting. Very interesting indeed.
All that user-generated content and all that “DRM-optional” content on:
can now stream easily, beautifully, and cheaply into living rooms all over the world. Out of the home office/kitchen/bedroom ghetto at last.
I smell a monetization opportunity – an amateur hour monetization opportunity. Don’t you?
I’ll bring the popcorn.
[tags] youtube, apple, itv, google, ifilm, metacafe, john koetsier [/tags]I’ve had Apimac Timer on my computer for probably over a year.
I downloaded it as shareware months and months ago to handle a tiny, almost incidental need I had for timing software on my Mac. I used it and forgot it.
Fastforward 13 months.
I’m doing some major business process re-engineering. Need timing software. Don’t wear a watch. What am I going to do? A lightbulb appears over my head: Apimac Timer.
So today I bought it. It’s only $15, but it solves a need I have in the right way, right now.
Moral of the story? Never give up on your customers.
Sometimes they just spend an awful long time in your funnel before dropping out the bottom.
[tags] business, leads, shareware, mac, apimac, timer, sales, funnel, john koetsier [/tags]I’ve been reading Applepeels lately, and it’s not pleasant. Not, at least, if you care about Apple and its success.
Applepeels is David Sobotta’s recollections of a 20-year career with Apple Computer culminating in Director of Federal Sales. He paints a portrait of an organization that is seriously flawed, at times unethical, and unbalanced – at least, the sales arm of Apple. He doesn’t sensationalize, however; he seems to be simply telling it like it is.
Apple, of course, is currently embroiled in stock options irregularities. The good news is the company reported the problems itself. The bad news is that the rot seems to go deeper than just a few bad decisions.
While I wouldn’t be surprised if the options mess blows over with not-too-severe results, the fact that it’s delaying Apple’s Nasdaq filing is certainly not a good sign.
The real problem, though, might be Apple’s corporate culture:
Anyone who has worked at Apple, if they are honest and can detach themselves from the situation knows that Apple has accorded their vice presidents a special status to do pretty much what they please as long as they tell Steve what he wants to hear and the numbers don’t look especially bleak.
That’s obviously a very dangerous tradition.
[tags] apple, stock, options, steve jobs, nasdaq, john koetsier [/tags]It’s always interesting to see how the media react to news. Case in point: Apple’s recent China labor issues.
If you didn’t hear, a report titled iPod City was released in early June, alleging that there were significant violations of acceptable labor conditions in the Chinese plant that produces iPods. Apple promised to investigate, and yesterday released a report on the findings.
What I find fascinating is the reporting spin that news organizations put on this story. Here, from Macsurfer, are a selection of the relevant headlines. Suffice it to say that people will have significantly different opinions of what’s going on depending on where they read about it.
News around the web
You’d almost think they’re talking about a different story. Or at least, that the facts are different. I guess it depends what you want to focus on: mostly good, or the few violations that they did find.
Of course, “mostly good” in a Chinese factory is probably enough to make most of us soft, coddled North Americans and Europeans running screaming home to mommy.
. . .
. . .
One critical difference
The Ars Technical and AppleInsider stories link right to Apple’s report. Not so at the NY Times, the AP, the Beeb, or Reuters. You get news from us, they seem to be saying. I wonder if they do a good soup Nazi?
That’s one key reason I get my news from the blogosphere.
[tags] apple, china, sweatshop, ipod, news, PR, public relations, coverage, bias, headlines, john koetsier [/tags]Not too shabby:
What do you look for in a design?
A design of anything: website, hair dryer, car … you name it.
Yesterday I had to think of Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos attending an early unveiling of the Segway as I read that Jeff Bezos was investing in 37signals.
I posted a comment about it, and today, oddly enough, they posted an excerpt from the notes of that meeting.
But back to the design principles: what do they mean?
Innovative
Innovative is unlike anything else. Different. New. The function of an innovative design is to make you sit up and take notice in an overcrowded world of unremarkable designs.
Elegant
Many things could be innovative but not, unfortunately, elegant. You could design a pen in the shape of a cup and it would be innovative, but hardly elegant. Elegance has to do with grace, “fittingness,” and usability. It’s form and function.
Anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphic designs are human designs. They’re extremely intentionally made for people, with people in mind, for people to use. They don’t make you do something that feels wrong; they encourage you to act and operate in ways that make sense, are simple, are natural … that are the holy grail of software applications: intuitive.
Put the three together, and it’s likely you’ll have a winner. It’s new, it’s beautiful, and it is easy to use.
I wonder what, if any, other design principles Steve Jobs follows. I’m guessing simplicity is one of them, although that might be embodied in elegance.
Any others?
[tags] design, segway, innovative, elegant, anthropomorphic, jeff bezos, steve jobs, 37signals, john koetsier [/tags]
