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Madness = Apples’ Flagship Store in Manhattan

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod 4 Comments Tags: , ,

For whatever reason, I figured a trip to New York should include a visit to Apple’s flagship store at 5th and 59th.

One word: mistake.

I’m not what I expected on a glorious Saturday afternoon but the store was utter madness. There were people everywhere, and the line-up to pay involved extreme patience for anyone who actually wanted to buy something as opposed to worship at the Apple shrine.

Personally, I walked in, and then quickly left. If there was anything I wanted to purchase, it would happen later in the comfort of my own home or a more sane store such as Carbon Computing.

As I left the store, the person walking up the stairs in front of me said it best:

“From a consumer perspective, it was a disappointing experience but from it was a great experience from a shareholder perspective.”

Granted, we’re are talking Apple’s flagship store on a day when the streets of New York were heaving with tourists. But for anyone looking for first-hand evidence of Apple’s sales mojo, it was an awesome display of rapid consumerism.

 

 

Crashing Hard Drives & the Goodness of the Cloud

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod No Comments Tags: , , ,

How’s this for having a bad week: First, the spinning beachball of death starts to get even worse on my MacBook Pro. Then, I boot up my relatively new iMac, and rather than a beautiful blue screen, I get the white screen of death with a file folder blinking back at me, which is never a good sign.

First reaction: “Crap”.

Second reaction: “I hope my AppleCare hasn’t expired”.

Third reaction: “Great, another trip to Carbon Computing”.

If there is a silver lining to a double shot of computer woes, it is that an increasing amount of my computing has migrated to the cloud. I’m a big user of Google Docs to handle word documents and spreadsheets. I made the move to Google Apps and GMail a few months ago. And DropBox has become a “virtual” harddrive/storage depot for lots of personal and professional documents.

It means that having hard drives go crash and burn isn’t a catastrophe as much as an aggravation. When I was told the hard drive on the MacBook Pro would likely have to be replaced, I just cut and paste a bunch of data into DropBox, which was a snap because I happily pay $99/year for 50GB of storage.

Putting your computing world into the cloud can be a leap of faith but it’s a no-brainer for people like myself who are mobile and use different devices to access data and services. At the end of the day, hard drive problems are still a pain in the rear end but rather than being a disaster, they’re bumps in the road.

And, of course, I had everything backed up on an external hard drive just in case because it’s always good to have a backup plan!

To 4S or Not 4S, That is the Problem

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod No Comments Tags: , , ,

Apple, Apple, Apple. So brilliant, seductive and alluring.

The hits keep coming and the new products keep on getting released, even if they are just minor upgrades to the previous product such as the iPhone 4S.

Even though there was disappointment, the 4S wasn’t a iPhone5, it’s still something new from Apple, which is always a good thing for the growing Apple Nation.

The question is whether we’re strong enough to resist the temptation to upgrade. Is getting the new thing irresistible, or should we live with what we’ve got.

The iPhone4S called out to me yesterday when, coincidentally, my battered and bruised 3GS fell on the floor. The glass panel shattered, bringing on agony but, at the same time, the ecstatic realization that it had created a window of opportunity to get a 4S. It was like a spiritual Steve Jobs had lightly pushed my 3GS off the shelf.

So what to do, what to do? Spend $300 or $400 on a 4S, or hold onto the 3GS given saving money seems to a good thing these days. Or should I buy an iPhone4 that the carriers have slashed prices on to move out excess inventory?

The back and forth when considering Apple products is agonizing. One minute, a 4S is a slam-dunk; the next minute you decide not to jump on the bandwagon.

In the end, I got the 3GS fixed. For now, I have a functional iPhone again, which will suit my needs and, as important, provide some more time to decide whether to get the 4S.

Steve Jobs Picks Perfect Time to Leave

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod 2 Comments Tags: , ,

Steve jobsAn adage that I’ve tried to live by is “always leave a good time” based on the idea that exiting on a positive note is better than skulking out the door. It’s like leaving a party when it’s still raging as opposed to leaving when there’s only a few people sticking around, the music has been turned off and there’s no beer left in the fridge.

In many respects, Steve Jobs has picked the perfect time to leave Apple. The company has become a cultural, technological and business monster with an aura hand-crafted by Jobs over the past decade. Apple is firing on all cylinders, seemingly unable to do anything wrong. The iMac, MacBook, iPad and iPad have established Apple as the world’s coolest brand and a design titan.

But where does Apple go from here?

When you’re at the top of your game, it can be a huge challenge to keep getting better. Arguably, the only place for Apple to go may be down given the competition over the horizon from players such as Google and Samsung.

On one hand, it would be probably be pretty cool to be Tim Cook, who is replacing Jobs as Apple’s CEO. On the other hand, Cook may have the world’s toughest job. Every move he makes, every new product and every quarterly result will be scrutinized and compared against the Steve-o-Meter. No matter how well Cook performs, it may never be good enough.

But that’s the reality of replacing an icon. There is no way you can compete so Cook needs to put his head down and let Apple continue to be Apple.

One thing that will be interesting is whether Apple employees, including Cook, will be allowed to enjoy the spotlight. During Jobs’ reign, he was the centre of attention, and it was rare to read about some of the other uber-talented people who were driving the company’s product development and marketing. Maybe Jobs’ departure will give them a chance to shine.

Jobs will be missed, although it doesn’t look like he’s disappearing. That said, no one is irreplaceable, even Steve Jobs. Apple will continue to roll along but it may never enjoy the same kind of amazing momentum it has seen over the past five – with or without Jobs as CEO.

For some more thoughts on what Apple means without Steve Jobs, check out this good piece of analysis by Econsultancy. Wired has a story on why Cook is the best choice to lead Apple.

Is The Half-Baked PlayBook DOA?

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod, Wireless 11 Comments Tags: , , ,

Would you buy car with no brakes or doors? Would you buy a pair of hockey skates with no blades? What about a laptop with no keyboard?

In what can only be a riddle wrapped up in an enigma, Research in Motion will be launching the much-anticipated PlayBook next week that is, at best, work in progress. From Walter Mossberg’s review, the PlayBook lacks many of the key features that would make a reasonable consumer consider purchasing one, let alone make the PlayBook a viable rival to the iPhone.

For one, the PlayBook lacks cellular connectivity, as well as built-in apps such as e-mail, a calendar, contacts and BlackBerry Messenger. To use these bread-and-butter apps, you need a BlackBerry, which then synchs using software called Bridge. For non-BlackBerry users, they have no choice but to use Web-based applications.

To be frank, the PlayBook’s shortcomings are stunning given RIM announced the PlayBook’s launch months ago. With so much lead time, it’s a complete head-scratcher as to why it would launch something that isn’t ready for prime-time.

RIM says the PlayBook will see many upgrades and improvements in a few months but the biggest danger is it may be too little, too late. High-tech consumers are fickle and not terribly patient so the PlayBook’s half-baked finish will likely see it dissed and dismissed long before RIM can push out newer, better versions.

RIM is clearly hoping consumers will give it the benefit of the doubt for putting out a product prematurely. RIM must believe it needs to move now, otherwise it will give the iPad even more time to dominate the market, and provide Android-powered tablets with the opportunity to stake out more ground.

As someone who has sat on the tablet sidelines to see if an alternative to iPad could emerge, the PlayBook’s launch is disappointing. There is no chance I would buy one, particularly at $499. In fact, the PlayBook’s launch may be the final push for me to finally purchase an iPad.

RIM has never been a terrific marketing company but if this will have to change dramatically if there is any hope for the PlayBook to recover from what appears to an inauspicious debut.

For more, check out Matt Hartley’s story in the Financial Post.

Do the Number of Mobile Apps Matter?

By Mark Evans in Apple/iPod, Wireless 5 Comments Tags: , , , , ,

If you listen to Apple, size matters when it comes to the number of mobile apps offered to iPhone users. It’s seen as a strategic strength compared with rivals such as Android, BlackBerry and Microsoft, which have smaller but growing portfolios.

But in the scheme of things does size really matter? Does it really offer a distinct competitive advantage? Here’s where I’m coming from: On my iPhone, there are about 50 apps – many of them downloaded on a whim because they’re free. Of these apps, you know how many I use on a regular basis? Less than five, and I suspect that most people fall into the same camp.

It means if every mobile platform offers the same small group of must-have apps (let’s aggressively assume 250 apps will account for more than 80% of total usage), then having more than 100,000 or even 50,000 apps doesn’t matter.

Yes, I accept the argument that having more apps offers the opportunity to serve the needs of many niche markets. And I recognize there’s marketing mojo in having a large app collection. But if push comes to shove, size doesn’t matter at all as long as consumers have their “basic” needs covered.

I’ve been thinking about this thesis for awhile but it was thrust into the spotlight after reading Randall Stross’ column in the New York Times yesterday on Nokia’s use of Windows Phone 7. One of the people quoted was Thomas R. Eisenmann, a professor at the Harvard Business School, who said:

“What is often missed is the diminishing returns after 1,000 applications. If a platform attracts the thousand-most-popular apps, then it provides almost anything a reasonable person would want to do with a smartphone.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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