Kids and Gadgets (by gins, 23 Feb 2014)

A recent CNET article hit close to home in articulating just how much kids have changed in only the last five years.  We have two daughters, ages 9 and 11, and they had just passed preschool when the first iPads were released.  Nevertheless, it took no time at all for each to adopt their own (or was it the other way around?).  Applications consisted of both casual games and those that included logic and learning.  And yes, I place 'The Room' in this latter category.  Fast forward to this past year, and they each have iPhones, and both live parts of their lives (and those of their friends) via Instagram and messaging.  Not necessarily a bad thing, though my oldest daughter had upwards of 1500 texts last month.  The flip-side of this... despite what seems to be an engineered after-school experience, they definitely interact more (in person) with their classmates and have plenty of opportunity to burn off excess energy as part of their dance activities.  More than I had at times.  Weekends are for cocooning, but that could be the tradeoff.  So is it bad or good?   Just different, and the new reality in the valley.

If an Apple falls in the forest.... - Friday, 10 Sep 2010 - by gins

This morning, Gartner published its latest predictions on Smartphone OS penetration, showing Symbian and Android each with about 30% of the market by 2014, followed by Apple (14.9%) and RIM (11.7%). The Windows Phone is relegated to an also-ran and webOS and MeeGo are nowhere to be found. The bloggers are in a frenzy, pointing out Apple's compromised position. These numbers confirm what I wrote earlier in the week, and I think it is RIM (and Microsoft) that are in trouble.

However, the analyst community is doing itself a dis-service by highlighting absolute percentages in a growing market without deeper analysis on market impact. And what seems to be missing in translation by cnet, the Boy Genius Report, and others is that Apple's 15% translates to 130 million smartphones, not counting other iOS devices. Here, Apple has an advantage over Symbian and RIM. I bet that they also maintain profitability leadership, and when running a company, that is worth more than absolute marketshare. Apple will have also avoided the fragmentation that impacts both the user experience and the developer community. That last comment is addressed to both Android and going forward, I suspect Symbian as well. More on this topic next week, but overall, not a bad position for Apple to be in.

The current approach by most analysts - a failure to synergize the various facts and market drivers - calls into question their continued relevancy. Just last week I was speaking with someone influential at a large software company, and he described how their customers are moving away from 'classical' analyst engagements and turning more to vendors, the financial community, and university-driven research groups.

The Runaround: Smartphone Support - 3 Sep 2010 - by gins

While at my previous employer, InnoPath, I occasionally wrote about difficulties customers had with support.... the inability of the mobile operators to resolve customer smartphone usability issues on the first call, and the finger-pointing between the operator, the handset vendor, and the OS platform provider such as Microsoft or Google (Android). Well, it seems as if the problem has not gone away, and in fact may be getting worse as a new, less clueful generation of smartphone users encounter Android, Blackberry, or even the iPhone for the first time.

This morning, Maggie over at CNET reported on an issue at Sprint, with some functionality lost or no longer operating as stated after upgrading an HTC Android phone. The response by Sprint was unsympathetic and probably not in the interest of future customer loyalty. I'm sure these issues are not limited to Sprint or HTC, but there has got to be room for at least one mobile operator (T-Mobile?) that champions the customer... that engenders a loyalty experience more along the lines of Nordstrom (known to take returns, no questions asked) than the airlines.

In fact, mobile operators should hope that history doesn't repeat itself leading to a 'smartphone customer bill of rights' echoing that which has been enforced for the airlines and the credit card issuers. It would be ironic if their hands were tied in the same way that they currently tie the hands of their most loyal customers.