Posted By paulmayson / 19th January 2010
There’s a ton of speculation on what the Apple tablet will be. A Kindle Killer? A new hope to the magazine industry? The end of netbooks? The end of laptops?
Apple does have a tendency to not only redefine things, but also create brand new categories. Who knew we needed an app store with over 100,000 apps that run on a tiny phone screen? Not me, but try to take it away now and there’s gonna be trouble. 5,000 songs in my pocket? Couldn’t leave the house without them.
But with the speculation of total industry annihilation, I don’t think it has to be a zero sum game. Maybe the Kindle will co-exist with this mystery device just fine. Maybe the mystery tablet will be a perfect extension to your laptop. The win/lose scenario is too easy to devise. The low hanging fruit. Hopefully in the end, the remarkable products rise to the top, and the average sink to the bottom.
Well, maybe it is over for netbooks. We’ll see on the 27th.
Posted By paulmayson / 13th January 2010
Companies used to take months (sometimes years) to discuss, spec, design, build, test, and launch a website. Often, piles of money backed up these future failures, as they were often done by committee and thought of as critical to the success of a department or organization. Then, after months and months of toiling with ridiculous details (how about we try cornflower blue?) the site launches and it’s all hands on deck. Weeks (sometimes days) later, the group figures the site is live and it’s mission accomplished. The effort plunges across the board, and the site falls into obscurity.
If somebody took a Sharpie and an index card, it might look like this:
Today, using open source tools, we can keep costs low and develop fast. We put together sites that are easy to manage and update so the focus is on “post launch.” What’s the effort the group or individual takes everyday to serve the audience?
If you look at those two graphs, the frequency shift is clear. What frequency are you operating on?
Posted By paulmayson / 12th January 2010
Saw this come across my Twitter feed tonight from tech journalist/commentator/podcast mogul Leo Laporte:
Sony and ad.ly offered me $2000 for one ad tweet last week. I didn’t do it – but what do you think? Should I have taken the money?
The old way of thinking is to grab the money. You’ve built the audience and you’ve earned it. But, when you do the math…
@leolaporte that works out to $.0129 per subscriber? Sounds like a good deal for Sony. Glad you valued your followers more than that!
How quick would you sell out your fans? The ones that searched you out and clicked “follow”, signed up for an email newsletter, or bought from your store?
Also, this is where you see the difference between a company like Apple and Sony. Apple has rabid fan customers that are chomping at the bit for any morsel of new product info, while Sony has to try and buy random lists and push news to people that aren’t interested. The shift continues…
Posted By paulmayson / 7th January 2010
Thicksole released it’s first iPhone app last month. Not only is it a new platform for us, but it was very exciting to work with a client that moved fast and understood the importance of “shipping”. It’s an app that is meant to support their market-leading textbook, BOONE & KURTZ CONTEMPORARY BUSINESS. Simulating a deck of flashcards, the app lets students review key terms and definitions from the 18 chapters of the book.
You can take it for a test spin here.
Exciting times around here, plus we have a couple more apps in the works.
