Finally the Carriers Begin to Understand

August 4th, 2008 § View Comments § permalink

New York Times reports today that the carriers are finally starting to understand why everyone hates them so much. Talk is that the carriers are making moves to open their networks for software developers in order to make themselves more attractive to consumers, or something like that. As mentioned in the article, a key factor in the decision making process for the carriers is obviously a product of the early success of Apple’s App Store, not to mention the pre-App Store buzz surrounding jail-broken iPhones.

Personally, I think this is barely news-worthy (as in too little too late), and most likely misses the point all together. My take is that the success of iPhone applications has been in spite of the carriers (even AT&T), and that merely opening up the networks for application development is only the first step. As anyone who has worked on designing, developing and marketing mobile applications can attest, the problem Apple solves is much bigger than whether or not software can be developed for phones. Apple’s centralized and extremely consumer oriented approach to mobile software distribution is revolutionary, and I don’t see it’s success being repeated anytime soon. Let’s analyze the current problem:

  • There are too many phones and too many platforms in the hands of consumers, and many are difficult to develop on (Apple’s Solution: the iPhone)
  • Phone manufacturers (Nokia, Motorola, etc.) pretty much suck, at least as compared to Apple, when it comes to design and development of consumer friendly software (Apple’s Solution: amazing software design and developer tools)
  • In most cases software is extremely difficult to install on phones (Apple’s Solution: iTunes already installed on millions of computers Mac and PC alike and the App Store)
  • Distribution of applications is either centralized under the carriers themselves or completely decentralized in the hands of the developers. Neither of which is good at it. (Apple’s Solution: take the carriers out of the picture and give the developers a low cost or zero cost distribution channel)

Apple has made significant efforts to solve just about all of these issues and more by providing an end-to-end solution (from developer to consumer). I won’t argue that it’s perfect or that it’s impossible for someone else in the mobile space to reproduce (MS has a good shot). My argument is that it’s revolutionary in the same way the iPod and iTunes were revolutionary. Basically, the formula is similar to why Apple succeeded w/ the iPod and iTunes despite competition from manufacturers like Sony, ancient models for music distribution, and technology inept publishers. My gut feeling is that the mobile phone carriers will succeed in overcoming these hurdles just about as well as their counterparts in the music space – not at all.

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Cheap and Can’t Add

August 3rd, 2008 § View Comments § permalink

From looking at Apple’s App Store you’d think calculating a tip is the most difficult thing in the world. Seriously, here’s a list of the applications I could find. I didn’t even bother to read the details of each because this is just freaking ridiculous.

Combine this list with the list of calculator apps (SalesCalc – $4.99) available and the fact that there are at least three applications that let you keep track of how much people owe when splitting dinners (DutchTab – $2.99, Meal Splitter, and Meal Splitter v2) and there are only three possible conclusions:

  1. People are cheap
  2. People can’t add
  3. Developers have absolutely no imagination

Look people it’s simple 10% (for crappy but still tip worthy service) take the total and just move the decimal point to the left one. 20% do the aforementioned then multiply by 2. Or if you like to keep your credit card bills nice and neat, do what I do – do the math above depending on the service then round up to a friendly number with a 0 or 5 at the end of it. I know what you’re going to say – What about the old multiply the tax by 2 trick? Um if you know that one, then you don’t need my help or the help of 26 different applications now do you?

My question is – what the hell am I supposed to tip the folks at Starbucks for pouring a $2.60 grande unsweetened iced coffee? Hell if they get 20%.

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