Cloud/Product Rollout: Beta Or Staggarded Roll Out Versus US Government

It's safe to say that the federal government's rollout of the health insurance exchange has not gone well.  In fact, it's pretty dismal.  At the same time, they're hardly to be blamed for this.  Remember all those cloud services that Apple tried to unveil that didn't work? MobileMe, the early days of iCloud?

I'm sure you can think of a few other examples of how things didn't work out well for private companies. And the health exchange is probably many times more complex.  This is why I don't get why Washington thought it could make it work from day one.

Where was the beta testing with real people participation?  Google's Gmail has been in beta for years and I'm sure there are a few other apps that are still in beta?

The health insurance exchange debacle is a very valuable lesson for government officials and entrepreneurs.  This reminds me of Google+ unveiling.  You needed an invitation to sign up.  And it was done over time probably to give Google time to scale properly.

In fact, a few mobile apps that I've signed up for had this system where you can sign up for service you had to wait until the app developers had scaled enough to accommodate more users.  One app in particular was Mailbox from Orchestra.  It took about a week between me signing up for service and when I could actually use the app but it was worth it because it worked seamlessly.

President Obama spoke today about the frustration regarding the ACA roll out.  I think he should have added that the exchange was a beta process and it could be a while before it's up and running properly.  Word is that Google engineers have been tasked to help out.  I think that helps but should have done that from day one.

Zune I Get But Windows Phone 7: This Blows. Microsoft Ends Support for Video

Source: The Verge.

If you bought Xbox video, and you use Windows Phone 7 or Zune, you're going to be able to continue using it until Feb of 2014.  After that, nada.

Microsoft gave some crap about how they improved on the video and offerings.  Translation:  if you wanna keep using Xbox content, get a new Windows Phone device, preferrably the Lumia which Microsoft effectively own.

Zune?  I get that.  But Windows Phone 7.  Not so much.  It's still pretty new.  It's the OS that has been delayed over and over until Microsoft managed to ship it against some already entrenched smartphone heavyweights.  It, along with Blackberry, had owned the mobile market.  One theory I've got on why Microsoft is chucking WP7 now.  There were not many takers to begin with.  Kinda like Zune I guess.

Apple Promises More Advanced Features for iWork

Source:  TC.

Apple got some blow-back from some quarters regarding the new iWork, you know, the office suite that they made free to everyone (almost everyone).  And while it was not surprising that in order to make iWork seem seamlessly across the two plaetforms, iOS and OS X, Apple would have to strip out some of the more advanced features in the previous versions.

However, it did hit a nerve for some folks.

This reminded me of when Apple released the new Final Cut Pro a couple of years ago that not only stripped out a lot of features pro users came to rely on but also made the projects incompatible between the new and older versions of the professional video editing app.  Eventually, many of the features did come back.

So, I expected the same thing to happen with iWork as well.  And Apple pre-announced what they would be (Apple).  Here are the key updates that will be coming in the next 6 months:


Pages

• Customize toolbar 
• Vertical ruler Improved alignment guides 
• Improved object placement Import of cells with images 
• Improved word counts 
• Keyboard shortcuts for styles 
• Manage pages and sections from the thumbnail view 

Numbers

• Customize toolbar 
• Improvements to zoom and window placement 
• Multi-column and range sort 
• Auto-complete text in cells 
• Page headers and footers 
• Improvements to AppleScript support 

Keynote

• Customize toolbar 
• Restoring old transitions and builds 
• Improvements to presenter display 
• mprovements to AppleScript support

The biggest outcry I've read is the loss of Applescript support.  It'll be interesting to see how this is implemented on iOS devices.  As far as I'm aware of, Applescript isn't supported on the iPhone or iPad.  

There are two things about this debacle.  First, it's manufactured.  By Apple screwing up and not communicating to the public about it and the media picking over something that that 90% of iWork users don't care about.  Second, it's been a while now with Tim Cook at the helm and Apple is just as bad at communicating this type of changes to users as they were under Steve Jobs.

That's gotta improve.

Blackberry: No Takers, Relegated To App Maker Role But Small Chance Of Keeping Hardware Future

Black Monday for Blackberry today. For both the company and its fans.  Apparently, things are so bad there that there are no real takers who believe the company can be turned around and reclaim even part of its former glory.  And that is sad.

And apparently, the patents that Blackberry own do not have the value which many believe should have.  It's surprising because Blackberry is a pioneer in messaging and a trailblazer in smartphones as far as most are concerned.

Today, the CEO of Blackberry, Thorsten Heins, was forced out and it received an injection of $1 billion in investment.  The details aren't that important here.  It's how the investors perceive today's announcement.  Blackberry has apparently taken itself off the market.  And it's uncertain what its turnaround plan is if there is one.  That's the scary part for investors. And this development certain does not inspire confidence among developers and consumers.

There is a possibly a sliver of hope for mobile fans who want Blackberry to stay in the mobile hardware game.  It's new interim CEO, John Chen, believes Blackberry has enough ingredients to continue innovating on the hardware front (http://crackberry.com/blackberry-has-no-plans-shut-down-handset-business).  While that could just be PR talk, I'm also very confident that Blackberry with the right guy at the top could mount some sort of a comeback.  While I don't know if Chen is the right guy or not, certainly the old regime has not produce the results the mobile market had hoped for despite its best efforts.

I think that Blackberry has to change the narrative and get people talk about the future in ways that isn't about its products fighting an uphill battle against mobile juggernauts.  When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he changed the narrative immediately by declaring the PC war over and it's on to the next phase.  Blackberry has to do the same.  It cannot possibly go up against Apple, Google, and Microsoft with a combined cash of around $250 billion.

State of Mobile Stores: Google Leads In Downloads And Apple In Revenue

Source:  Game Industry.

There's a lot of competition between Apple and Google over the mobile war.  In some limited respect, they're also partners - they're partners in that Google pays Apple for being the default search engine in Safari.  Google has a set of very good apps on the iOS platform - some of the best and innovative apps I might add.  Still, Apple likes to brag about the many billions they've already paid developers.

Right now, Google has surpassed Apple in the number of downloads.  It's to be expected as Google's Android platform owns a greater portion of the mobile market.  It's unclear if this include the non-Google variants.  Google has 1.25 times more downloads than Apple

However, Apple still leads when it comes to monetizing the app market.  The GI post is a very interesting read if you're a mobile developer or a mobile enthusiast keeping scores.  The iOS platform generates 50% more revenue than Google Play.

What's interesting is the placement of China.  We know that the US market will lead in terms of download and monetization for the seeable future.  China has jumped to number two in the US downloads.  Given the size of the market, well, that's expected.  And it should get bigger for Apple when it includes China Mobile as one of its iPhone partners.  What's surprise is the monetization in China.  China jumped two spots to land on number 3.

What's surprise is where Google Play is the biggest.  Japan then followed by South Korea because Samsung and LG are among two of Google's biggest Android partners.  One thing is missing for Play, which is China as Google has no ground game there for its Android devices.

15" Macbook Pro (Late-2013): Gotta Love The Battery Life

This is the battery life from my new 15" Macbook Pro, less than a week old.  I finally decided to pull the trigger on this awesome work of computing wonder and retire my 11.6" Macbook Air from late-2010 which I bought in 2011.  The battery life was decent still but with the new Haswell chip and the increased in battery life to 8 hours of normal use, I think it was time for something new.

Plus, I had been spoiled with Retina displays on my iPhone and iPads, not to mention the Nexus 7 as well.

Even as I am writing this post, my batter life is still at 58% with about six hours to go.  I do a lot of writing so I find this to be pretty adequate right now.  Who knows what'll happen in three to four years where tech on the Macbook Pro will take us and how far.

I'll have more to say about the Macbook Pro, my Mac, when I get more time with it.

What Would Former Blackberry Execs Use When Their Company No Longer Make Phones

We already know that Google CEO Eric Schmitz uses a Blackberry.  It's not really a scandal or anything because he seems likes the type on physical keypads and there are no Android device with physical keys that can compare to what Blackberry makes.  And we also know that in the Gates household, there are no iDevices.  I think for the Gates kids, its probably just Lumias and Surfaces.  The executives for these two respective companies, Google and Microsoft, have choices.

But what happens when Blackberry, in the midst of its bleakest of nights, gets sold off as it is currently trying hard to do, gets broken up and sold off as parts, and stops making Blackberry hardwares?  Right now, with the Playbook really going nowhere, and let's be honest, hardly anyone buying it even with a steep discount, it's dead.

So, what are Blackberry executives, current and former, and employees using as tablets?  Android?  Probably.  iPads?  Yeah, I think it's right up there.  Surface?  Sure, why not?  But maybe they're sticking with their laptops.

But you can pretty much be sure that most of them have smartphones - probably everyone is outfitted with a Blackberry device.  That will remain the case until Blackberry stops making hardware - which could really be any day now.

So, what will the executives and employees lucky or unlucky enough to be around with what's will be left of Blackberry use?  Android devices and iPhones are the top choices.  Heck, maybe even some Windows Phone devices from the Microsoft/Windows BYOD fifth column in Blacbkerry.

Even now, I wonder what the Blackberry founders, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, are using.  Have they defected?  And what will they use post-Blackberry?  Interesting to think about.