Is Apple’s new 3G iPhone worth waiting for?
3G smart phone options abound, as Apple gets set to unveil its 3G solution at its Worldwide Developers Conference June 9, according to analysts. But with all the pub the iPhone gets, you’d think it was the only game in town. Not so.
There are some excellent alternatives to the iPhone, led by mobile phone giant Nokia. After considerable deliberation, I went with the Nokia N95 8GB, which has been available for some time. It doesn’t match the 16 GB of space the next iPhone will have, but if you want 3G and you want it now, this is a viable option. The N95 was first with built-in GPS navigation, and the 5 megapixel digital camera is a major advantage over the iPhone’s 2 megapixels . My digital camera hasn’t left the house since I bought this phone. I also love the option of listening to the built-in FM radio, a feature Apple – widely known for its musical prowess – inexplicably left out. And when my battery eventually goes bad, I can simply get a new one. Not so with the sleeker iPhone… as you may already know, the fact that its lithium ion battery is built in and not removable has caused quite a stir with consumers. Continue reading “Is Apple’s new 3G iPhone worth waiting for?” »
China Needs Good PR, Badly
Let's face it; China needs to bolster its reputation before the Summer Olympics begin. Otherwise, the several countries that are already considering boycotting may, in fact, do so. In my opinion, it would be a shame if a past representation of political and economical unity were to be halted. After all, if this one year is a bust, future Olympic games may follow in failure.
PRWeek recently ran an article in their online resource that the Chinese government was interviewing potential US and UK-based PR firms in the hopes to gain some positive pre-game press, prior to the events. However, no PR firm has admitted to being in the bid war for this lucrative account.
The Twitter Disconnect
At the New Communications Forum conference I attended last week, Twitter was the topic of a great deal of discussion. During panels and hallway chats, three things became really clear to me:
(1) There are a lot of smart people who have no idea what Twitter is, or who only know about it in the vaguest sense.
(2) Hard core Twitter users assume that everyone knows about it in the same way that everyone knows about YouTube or Facebook. They don’t. Twitter hasn’t hit the mainstream yet, although it is knocking on the door. Check out this Compete graph:
(3) Twitter is really hard to explain to people. You pretty much have to just break out the laptop and show the thing.
We’ve been writing a great deal about Twitter here on our blog, and I fear that we have done so in a way that is inaccessible to folks that haven’t checked out the tool yet. So below is some background info that hopefully helps out newbies and also Twitter vets trying to explain it to folks.
iTunes Will Rule in 2012
Recently, I was considering trading in my broken iPod for another type of MP3 player…that is; until I ran across an article from Wired stating that I'd better hold on to at least one Apple product.
According to InStat, by 2012, 40% of all music purchased is going to come from digital music downloads. Most impressively, the vast majority of those downloads come from Apple iTunes. Almost 30% of the computers in the world have the download software, according to Digital Music News.
I personally buy nearly all of my music through iTunes. For me, it seems easy, safe, and quick. I like the fact that I can purchase a single song from an album, and the fact that an entire album on iTunes is typically less expensive than a CD. Do I hate the fact that Apple controls yet another aspect of the computer market? Yes. Will that hatred stop me from downloading the latest free single of the week? No.
It will be interesting to see if these predictions from InStat and Wired are correct. I would like to also predict that by 2012, Apple will have released another five ‘upgrades' to the design of the iPod.
The Internet and Old Media
I gave a presentation earlier today at the New Communications Forum conference in Santa Rosa, CA on how well traditional media (newspapers and magazines) are adapting their Internet programs based on the challenges presented by the web and social media.
During my talk, I reviewed the results of our newspaper and magazine studies that examined the Web 2.0 features these media properties include on their websites. I also reviewed examples of some of the cooler things media organizations are doing on the web.
When giving these presentations, you try to force yourself to reach some sort of coherent conclusion. In the case of my presentation, I have to try to answer this question: “What will newspaper and magazine websites look like in five years?” The truth is that I don’t know and I don’t really think anyone does.
Our studies tell the story of an industry in transition.
Some bigger properties, like the Washington Post and New York Times, have the budgets and commitment from management to experiment. They launch new web programs and cut the ones that don’t work and keep the ones that do. Some smaller papers, presumably unencumbered by layers of bureaucracy, are also experimenting and doing great things. Other publications are suffering from institutional inertia and not doing much of anything. Web-based companies like Digg and Techmeme are breaking their own ground.
What newspapers websites look like in five years will be the story of these various experiments.
For those of you that are gluttons for punishment, my presentation is embedded below. As you’ll see, in the future I should probably take help from our design team. Notes regarding some of the slides are embedded beneath the slide deck.