iPhone Color, While Important to Apple, Is Only One Part of Apple's Greater Mobile Strategy and Ecosystem

ZDNet has hits and misses with their posts, particularly about Apple.  In this post, I generally consider it a good post because, while I don't agree with most of it, it's a good analysis of why Apple would release a high end iPhone as well as a mid-range one with different colors.

It's worth a read to get at what Apple is planning.

For the most part, Apple doesn't play defense.  It play offense whether it releases a new revolutionary product and moves into a new market, improves on existing ones, or when it allow one of its products to cannibalize another as the iPad is doing to Macs - just as long as it is taking up PC share as well.

Even with the iTunes ecosystem, Apple continues to add new contents while it works on improving its hobby, the Apple TV.

The thing is you cannot take each product unto itself and focus on it.  You have to sit back and see the various pieces within Apple's mobile strategy and how to work to expand Apple's size of the market.

There is one segment in the post regarding dumb phones and how Apple will try to capture that big part of the cell phone market with the iPhone Colors.  I just want to expand on that a bit.  Apple is not just after anyone else who have not bought a smartphone just yet.  In fact, I wager that while Apple would like anyone who has never own a modern mobile device like the iPhone or an Android device, Apple's color iPhones are also meant to be an assault on the rest of the smartphone market as well - those who bought into the cheaper lower spec Android or Windows Phone segments of the market, those who are looking to the iPhone.

As far as momentum of the iPhone, I'm not worried about that at all.  Apple continues to expand iPhone sales and chip away at the rest of the mobile market a few percentage at a time.  The color iPhones will only serve to hasten Apple's expanding market share.

Then again, it's not so much that that market share is important to Apple as it gains the right customer base who can appreciate its ecosystem and capture as much of the mobile profits as it can.  So, while iPhone Color will be the newest Apple mobile device, it will still be only one of the many moving parts of Apple's mobile philosophy.

"Steve Jobs" Schools - Dutch Innovation or What? Worth Keeping Close Eyes On

Apparently, Steve Jobs' attitude towards schools and the rigidity of the educational systems has not only be captured in history but now also in practice. O4NT, or Onderwijs voor een nieuwe tijd (Education for a new era), is looking to put an iPad into the hands of a young student and provide them with a virtual school that allows them the flexibility to new skills - communication, collaboration, problem solving and creativity, and, of course, school subjects as well.

This is their Website - I'll let you click through to see more of what they offer.  Recommended.

Just recently, the Los Angeles Unified School District, signed a deal, the biggest of its kind, to provide its students with iPads.  And I just hope that someone at LAUSD is watching this as well.  The concept that I love about O4NT is that with the iPad, it's possible to have school all year round as they'll likely be carried around by the students.

Even during summer months when students go off and do summery stuff, they also tend to forget things they learned the previous school months.  And the iPad offers an opportunity for the child to embrace learning that's fun and keeps them engaged.

The idea is ingenious.  It makes learning less of a chore and more like projects and that isn't teachers lecturing at the students and putting them to sleep.

This is one of those Think Different ideas that Steve Jobs and Apple has inspired that could well change the world of education as well know it.  For too long, our educational system has been a drag on the students despite the great amount of resources that have been poured into failing schools.

I look forward to see how O4NT works out and whether iPad-based learning at the LAUSD makes any difference or not.

Candy Colored iPhones To Be Apple's Mobile Drug Into Its Ecosystem - It Worked with the iMac

Steve Jobs once said that Apple made the icons in OS X look so good that you want to lick them.  He wasn't joking.  Okay, he was but you totally get what he means if you've been in Apple's sphere of influence for any number of years.  The thing is, Apple paid great amount of attention to designs of its hardware and software that is unmatched by anyone else in the industry.

I'm sure there are a few who wanted to lick their colorful iMacs and iPods.  Now, it looks like Apple wants you to lick the next iPhone as well.  There is a model that Apple will introduce on September 10th that will sport a variety of colors, maybe around five, no one know for sure how many and which colors.

The point is, these colorful iPhones will be Apple's gateway drug into its ecosystem.  That's not all.  Apple will price them low enough to entice some mid-market users but not so low that it dilutes the iPhone brand.  And that's in 2013.

In 2014, Apple will likely to continue this trend with additional color changes as it tweaks the colors by adding or getting rid of some to give what the market wants.  And furthermore, even possibility of lowering the prices as well while also adding new features held over from 2013's top of the line iPhone also to be introduced on September 10th.

Apple has always maintained that the market-share isn't what it wants to go after.  It wants to make the best damn product it can and let the market settle things.  Well, it looks like Apple does want a bigger piece of the piece.  Have a mid-range iPhone with different colors would further differentiate itself from its competitors while taking customers away and locking them within the fine walls of the app store system.

It'll be interesting to see how Apple will try to position these iPhones, market them to the users, and what type of mobile users they'll attract.

Privacy: Forget Your Password and ID. Gov-Issued ID Will Take Care of All That (Good and Maybe Bad Too)

Source:  Forbes (thanks to Dave the Mobile Sage for the Link)

Yeah, 1984, by George Orwell, is probably going to happen.  The issue is whether we remain a happy society somehow or one that falls into darkness like in the book or lives behind the Iron Curtain during the dark days of the Cold War.  Either way, we are controlled - every aspect of our lives, self-censorship, probably under constant threat to give powerful gov groups more and more power, etc.

Well, we're not quite there yet but given the lack of privacy these days because of government data collection, such as PRISM operated by the NSA, it's no surprise that the government, not the US as I'm sure other powers are moving closer towards this, is trying to make it easier to collect more information about us and maintain massive databases from which powerful computers can mine information and connections about us that we might not even know.

The United States Postal Services has a contract with a Toronto-based company, SecureKey, to provide a cloud-based authentication system for individuals to access personal information maintained by various government agencies.

Sounds good?  Sure, very convenient.  In fact, I'm for convenience.  Just like my Apple ID or Google account, they've made my life easier.  Canadians already do it.  And with National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace and Identity, Credential and Access Management, Americans like myself will soon get this convenience.

 And it's important. Right now, our social and medical benefits or information scattered across a wide range of database.  It's hard to keep track and downright confusing.  So, this could arguably help Americans get a better handle on their personal information relating to government programs.

Having said that, what if the US government eventually mandates that we tie in all our banking, online trading, and credit card accounts to it as well - all in the name of convenience.  Maybe even say that it'll help secure our borders.

Then also our e-mails and phone accounts.  One account, the one that the government issued, to rule them all.  Tie it into your Google account or whatever you use.  Convenience.  And reduce viruses, spams, malware, etc.

Our water, gas, and electric bills.  To increase conservation.  Convenience and save money.

The idea behind Securekey, who proclaims to follow federal privacy guidelines what for what's worth, allows information to be transmitted without knowing who the third-parties or their identities.  Also, when using this new ID for government services, it makes sure that one agency doesn't track what the individual is doing on another.  On one hand, that beats the purpose of convenience and relevant exchange of information but it's unlikely that at some point, these artificial walls won't be broken down later.

How does this impact us from a privacy/surveillance standpoint?  As an idea, this is good on many levels.  However, the spirit of such a program or any other government or even private ones are not always observed and respected in practice.  Furthermore, once the new ID becomes indispensable, changes to how the ID is used and what can be done with the information collected will be made.

And whatever the public outcry may be at that time, the government will back down a bit, we'll think we've won.  Then some dumbass congressman, who just had his coffers replenished by lobbyists, will try again and we'll repeat this whole dance again.

Massive government databases or ID programs are not the problem. The real problem is society and our tolerance or willingness to trade certain freedoms and privacy for security and convenience and the price we are willing to pay for it.

Mobile: Some Coffee Shops No Longer Welcome Mobile Warriors

When independent coffee shops were fighting a losing battle against Starbucks and other coffee chains, they did what they could to drive in business and foot traffic.  Wi-Fi was a powerful lure - free Wi-Fi that is.  It hooked me into some coffee shops that I would otherwise not frequent too frequently.  However, some now are beginning to change their attitudes towards mobile warriors and their laptop carrying ways.

The reason is simply.  The experience that Starbucks created to get people to use their stores as a hangout place or mobile office has now permeated through society and has permanently been etched our social psyche.

As a patron, I'm a bit ticked off about this but I also understand the business aspect of this.  And this is the subject of this NBC post.  One thing mentioned in the post is the wasted space where one guy has a laptop on a small table while the other seat is open but no one will sit there because who wants to sit with a stranger?

Well, I would and I have.  I can understand if I go into a cafe with a friend and there are only a bunch of single seats left.  Perhaps, a new social norm could be created.  

If I go into a Starbucks or a coffee shop to do work and I see open tables, I should not immediately thank my lucky stars but instead go with with someone else who has a laptop occupying a table.  But the best answer is probably a time-limited access to the Wi-Fi.  Order something, it gets you an hour of use.  The post mentioned three hours but I think that might be pushing it.

Okay, maybe two hours.  Or maybe the more you spend, the more Wi-Fi time you're allotted.  

The bottom-line is let's be courteous of others and business operators, right?  

Star Trek Into Darkness Out on iTunes - Before DVD/Blu-Ray

Didn't realize this when I downloaded my copy last night but apparently, my copy of the latest Star Trek movie, Into Darkness, was released on iTunes even before it went on sales as a DVD copy. Blu-Ray even. Weeks before release on physical media.




This was both a surprise and a sign of things to come. And it makes sense the more I've had time to think about it.

Digital distribution is the future whether retailers and consumers like it or not. In fact, I have not bought any movies on DVDs for years now.

More than that, we may also see a realignment of the whole movie making and viewing experience as companies, especially Apple, continue to push the bounds of the whole viewing experience.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

(My Idea For A Star Trek TV Show) What Mobile, And Worf Have In Common With Outer Limits

Here's a good post regarding Star Trek and what the likelihood of Star Trek returning to the small screen is (what post about Star Trek isn't good?). Via Huffington Post and Blastr, Michael Dorn, aka Worf, talked about his Captain Worf idea and how it'll fit into the Star Trek reboot from J.J. Abrams.

Dorn had been working and pitching his Star Trek idea to anyone who will listen. And apparently, because of the star power of Abrams, folks are afraid any Trek show could step on his toes.  Now with the second movie out of the way, perhaps, there is an opening for Dorn.

However, as interesting as a series about Worf captaining a Bird of Prey or Starfleet vessel, I don't know how much Klingon honor and traditions viewers are willing to take.  Throughout Worf's development on The Next Generation and DS-9, I have seen him grow as an individual who walked a delicate line between the blood lust of his people, trying to stay true to honor, and uphold Federation ideals.  At times, they come into conflict.  I would think Captain Worf would have conquered that but I don't know which direction Dorn would take it.

My thinking is that instead of just one particular series, do an Outer Limits series where each week would have different stories or arcs.  Not focusing on a set of characters but revolving number of actors examining the various aspects of the Trek world and issues of our day.  And if there are characters viewers like, bring them back for an arc.

And what would this have anything to do with mobile? Duh.  Tricorders, badges, and PADDs.  More importantly, an Outer Limits-like series would be able to allow writers to focus on a wider range of scientific fields.  All this will benefit tech and inspire more folks into science.

More than that, such a Trek series can also explore other eras of the Federation as well as other alien races as well.  I would love to see the development of the Klingon empire or how the Romulans play their galactic chess game against the Federation.  Or even how the Borg came to be.

The possibilities are endless.

Only two days about, I discussed how Star Trek works better on TV to explore the world Gene Roddenberry created.  And a series and movies can co-exist.  Let the movies focus on the big explosions and big-budget effects.  And even Captain Kirk agrees.  Trek needs to be on TV.

Note:  One thing about developing series these days is the cost.  With technologies what they are today and computer animations, I think it's very possible for a science fiction show to be created without huge stages like they were in the old days.