2011 January

“Big technology companies down to, ah, Microsoft”

January 20, 2011 By Steve Borsch 2 Comments

With people like veteran analyst Mary-Jo Foley questioning Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s vision and ability to execute and others that the company has run out of ideas, there is obvious and growing concern about the company’s long-term viability. Coupled with that is my own overwhelming realization that there seems to be virtually zero buzz about the company among leading mobile or hosted web application developers (two of the hottest technology categories in the marketplace).

So should we be surprised that U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke likely just ‘dissed’ Microsoft on national television without realizing it?

This week CEOs from Microsoft Corp. and Goldman Sachs were part of a group of corporate leaders which the Obama administration brought together for a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The intent was to discuss U.S. business interests in China and to be frank about intellectual property (I.P.) concerns. American companies have had I.P. pirated (especially in software) or had physical goods knocked off instantly by counterfeiting Chinese companies while that government has historically looked the other way.

Watching CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, I was listening to this segment where the show’s main anchor, Becky Quick, was interviewing Commerce Secretary Locke. While paying half attention to what was being said, I did a double-take when Locke said at the end of his talking point that the CEOs had met with President Hu Jintao and President Obama and had “reinforced the message” about I.P. protection and stopping counterfeiting but then added these CEOs included those from…

“…our big technology companies down to, ah, Microsoft.”

Ouch. Here is the 40 second snippet from that segment:

USCommSec_MSFT.mp3

Filed Under: Current Affairs, Innovation, Technology

Mac App Store Makes Buying Easy

January 6, 2011 By Steve Borsch Leave a Comment

Analysts and tech pundits have been buzzing about Apple’s App Store ever since its introduction, and with Citibank’s projection that Apple will rake in $2 billion in 2011 from sales within it, logic would dictate building an app store for Macintosh applications would be another great way to make a ton of money.

Apple’s Mac App Store is now open for business (press release; Mac App Store web page). I submit it’s instead part of an overall strategy to make the Apple experience just as seamless, integrated, rock-solid and, most importantly, easy…as it is for the iOS powered devices: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch (and even iPod to a certain extent).

Why do I think this Mac App Store will be wildly successful? Three reasons:

1) Discovery: In the past most of us read one of a handful of magazines to find new applications, used a website that offered reviews, had a friend or colleague recommend one, or shopped for one in a retail store (yikes…remember buying shrink-wrapped software!?!). Though there are still far too many apps on the iOS App Store—and will certainly be too many to browse all of them on the Mac App Store—at least the wisdom of the crowd will help hot ones bubble up to the surface for simple and quick discovery. I’m hoping Apple will use the “Genius” capability in the Mac App Store at some point to look at what we have installed on our Macs and make recommendations on other complimentary apps we might like to own

2) Easy Downloads with “No Baggage”: The Mac App Store removes several steps to obtain a Mac application. Before, we’d have to find the app; download the Zip or DMG (disk image); do the install; if DMG, eject it; then open Downloads folder and move the Zip or DMG to the trash; empty the trash. THAT ‘OLD WAY’ EQUALS SEVEN STEPS!

Now with the Mac App Store, THE ‘NEW WAY’ IS ONLY THREE STEPS: Discover the app; click “Install”; enter your Apple ID to buy one or download a free one. Even I, someone who can do this sort of stuff in my sleep, smiled in delight at how easy this would make it for me, a self-described “power user,” let alone someone new to the Macintosh. This is especially true if someone has come to the Mac due to their experiences with an iOS device and using the iOS App Store

3) One-stop-shop: Over the last three years as my firm has done work implementing numerous ecommerce sites for clients, not only are ecommerce experiences completely different on nearly every website, but I’ve been increasingly stunned as to how many sophisticated consumers I know and meet do very little or no ecommerce transactions! They’re afraid of an insecure site, are reluctant to buy an app and download it, and so on. I’m convinced that this Mac App Store will extend the accounts people already have on iTunes and the overall experience will remove all sorts of barriers to even newbies buying Mac apps online.

Nicely done Apple.

Filed Under: Computing, Technology

A Perspective on iPad’s Impact on Your Mind

January 2, 2011 By Steve Borsch 6 Comments

With a potential 8.5M iPad’s sold in 2010 and projections of as many as 43.7M units sold in 2011, there is no question that this device has created quite an impact and will going forward. Some are even heralding the death of the netbook (the under $400 tiny laptops) but what I’ve not seen is any discussion about how the use of these devices is changing the way we interact with our computers and, most importantly, its impact on our minds.

The problem with using current desktop or laptop computers is that far too often we have multiple web browser windows open, each with multiple tabs for email, calendar, your blog, Facebook, Twitter and who knows what else. You’ll also have applications open (e.g., Word, Excel, Photoshop, iTunes) and be interacting with all sorts of these applications, most of which are connected to the internet.

Not only is the visual noise of all this stuff running on your screen a disruption, but when an email comes in, someone connects with you via chat, you see a tweet come in from one of your Twitter follows, or you hear a “ping” that someone has begun a Facebook chat with you, it’s a disruption that can knock you off track and off task for quite awhile.

In the scientific community there is significant research that has gone in regarding what happens in our minds when we multitask. What happens when we’re interrupted and then resume our work. How long it takes to resume our cognitive processes after being interrupted and what this does to our ability to get stuff done.

But what does this have to do with the iPad and its impact on your mind? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Computing, Web/Tech