I really like Instagram, so I'm excited to see that they've made it easy for users to embed photos from the site on other sites. It will be interesting to see what this does to spread Instagram photos and engagement across the web. Here are a few of my own favorite Instagram photos (follow me! Like elsewhere on the web, I'm ParkerNow on Instagram:
Android and the Challenges of Choice
I like my Android phone. It was the first phone on the market to use Android, and might be a bit outdated, but so far it always served my needs—at a fraction of the price of an iPhone. And I'm not the only one; in May, Android's first quarter US sales surpassed that of Apple's platform.
However, Testfreaks argues an excess of choice could cripple Android's future potential: a variety of phones with an increasingly fast product cycle is causing "hardware envy". Moreover, all these different devices run several Android versions (from 1.5 to 2.2) which makes it difficult for developers to create apps which fit them all.
As the article points out, given that all manufactures have access to the same Android OS, in order to stand out in a crowded market place, they must tweak it, with either hardware refinements, operating system supplements, or both. This leads to increased competition, even within some companies; can you actually name all of HTC's Android phones?
On top of that, this already confusing competition is made even more complicated by the phone carrier ecosystem it is tied to. Once you buy a phone, you're locked into a contract and have to keep it, at the same time new devices are coming out that you can't have (unless you break the contract).
The smartphone maker, if they do want to update their device lineup, has to work with the carriers to determine who gets which device. The drive for each manufacturer to shine in the market creates a short device turnover period, and this is in contrast to wireless carrier contracts. The end result is that each new Android phone “style”, if you will, needs to be tweaked for each carrier.
The result is even more confusion on the customers' part and a watered down brand. The Nexus One for example was not "the" Google phone but just another Android device. Moreover, developers find it increasingly difficult to develop apps, because each tweaked phone potentially means an incompatibility issue.
Google is aware of this. They ask developers to accurately list their apps' requirements, and then try to make sure that the app won’t be accessible to a device on which it won’t run properly.
That certainly makes things easier; however, as the Testfreaks piece continues, a lot of apps rely on taking advantage of new features to achieve popularity (e.g., a higher screen resolution). Games are a good example, and so far the choice of games for Android phones has been pretty slim.
The iPhone, on the other hand, managed to establish itself as a major player in the mobile game sector. It is, more or less, like a console, offering standardized hardware and software. Of course there were changes, but compared to the multitude of Android devices, they were rather minuscule.
Apple's phone is just one flagship product, which in a lot of countries was only available with one carrier. There is the AppStore and its near-infinite offerings over which Apple rules with an iron fist.
Yet consumers love it.
It is a smartphone that is successful because it breaks with the technicity of a smartphone. It reduces choice to a point where it can't even multitask. I've used the comparison before with the iPad, but the iPhone is the Wii of the smartphone world. Your two-year-old kid can use it, not because she's so smart but because of a break with a technicity that previously made smartphones appeal mainly to competent males.
To stretch the comparison a bit further, the PC used to be a successful game platform, but lost most of its momentum to consoles. Games on PCs are cheaper, they can easily be modified, etc., yet consumers stuck to consoles. Why? Because on the dedicated platforms, the games just work, there's less choice, less hassle, less confusion.
However, the PC also offers a very good counter-argument to the claim that a plethora of hardware can cause problems in the marketplace. Microsoft was able to establish Windows as the market leader despite it being available on a variety of devices with a variety of processors, RAM choices and peripherals.
Steven Johnson quotes New York Times writer Robert Wright:
The more models of Windows computers, competitively priced, the more people would buy Windows computers. And the more Windows computers people bought, the more programmers would write their software for Windows, not Apple. And the more Windows software there was, the more attractive Windows computers would be. And so on.
And even though the changes in variations of the operating system are faster with Android, Google ensures that it works by adding forward compatibility (apps written properly for older versions also run on the newest versions) and asking developers to list their app's requirements.
At the same time you also have to ask yourself what choice Google has. This is a company that, within the constraints of a corporation, is committed to democratic conduct and, as such, fuels innovation. This innovation is furthered by Android's self-competition and a less esoteric app policy.
I believe that this is a model that can work. As a more "classic" tech consumer, I feel at home with Android; I appreciate the choice, the fact that (potentially) there's something on offer for all sorts of consumers, and the chance to use a physical keyboard. I'm also pretty confident that if I bought a premier Android handset today, like the HTC Incredible, I won't really need another device for the next two years.
What do you think? Where is the phone market heading? And what will Microsoft's role be with their new Windows 7 phone platform? (Which handset manufacturers won't be able to personalize to suit themselves or their customers.)
The Least I Could Do To Prevent Theft
Least I Could Do is a web comic by Lar Desouza and Ryan Sohmer that I really enjoy reading. They post very regularly—at least a couple of times a week—and they make their income from selling print books of the comics and through ads on the site. From what I can tell, Least I Could Do seems to have a pretty big following and has let the duo live comfortably. Earlier this week, Sohmer wrote a blog post called "Thanks for Stealing" in which he expresses his displeasure for the fact that someone has created an iPhone application that allows people to easily view the comics that Sohmer writes. The maker of this app earns money from the sale of the app ($0.99) and from ads within the app. Sohmer's displeasure stems from the fact that he isn't seeing any of this money, and that someone is essentially profiting off of his hard work.
At first, I completely agreed with him. Then I read the rebuttal posted in the comments section by AsmodeusLore (clearly a student of the Masnickian school of economics) in which he constructs and airtight argument as to why Sohmer should not be concerned about this iPhone app.
The essence of his comment is that the comics haven't been "stolen" but rather "copied" (something quite different), and even though this app isn't driving any traffic back to Sohmer's website, it is still serving as a promotional tool for the comic. Existing fans are able to enjoy it in another way, and at least some of the new fans will want to know more and will eventually end up at Sohmer's site or buy one his books.
Read the post from Sohmer, then read at least one of AsmodeusLore's comments below it and see how you feel.
I think there is a huge opportunity for Sohmer to partner with the creator of this app. For example, offering to promote the app on his site if the developer changes the app so it links back to the site, or share revenue with him. Not everything needs to end up with a lawsuit or take-down notice.
So what do you think? Is it still stealing? What does this make you think about the "piracy problem" facing the entertainment industries?
-Parker
Could game play at work actually improve engagement?
"Button" is a nice example of how games can be used to mentally stimulate people in order to keep them engaged in their mundane jobs. The game is as simple as it gets: there is a button on the screen and when it lights you push it.
Explains Techcrunch:
Blank Software will choose random times to light the button up, and it will light up for every user around the world. And occasionally, they will randomly select one of the Button players and replace their regular button with a prize button. If they see and hit it, they’ll get the prize.
At first, there will be things like $20 gift cards, but eventually they may include larger prizes.
When the makers were testing the game out:
they began to notice feedback from testers mentioning that playing the game helped them with their normally mundane tasks at their jobs. The thought is that the effort required to open up and play Button on the iPhone was just enough brain stimulation to keep people engaged in whatever boring tasks they may be doing. Also, knowing a reward was possibly coming for pushing the button made it interesting to users.
Could this be the beginning of a trend of gaming at the workplace?
A game like Button would certainly enliven some dull cubicle jobs, especially if you connected it to something meaningful—not necessarily to the winning of prizes. But if you turned this game or something based on an equally simple premise into a contest between different parties within the same company you could spice things up a little.
Say playing is about keeping the company afloat or the game is tied to some fictional empire and by your actions you determine its future—against the guys from accounting or some branch office. I'm sure the distraction would be appreciated.
A company would just have to handle it in a way that doesn't result in the whole thing getting too distracting. Keeping it as simple as possible is certainly a good idea in this regard—something Button surely excels in…
What do you think? Will games be used one day to enhance people's engagement in their work?
-Jens
The Convergence of Phones and Computers
In what I would say is a very smart and practical move, it looks like Nokia is considering entering the laptop industry. Why does this move make sense? Because as Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasuvo says "we don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging."
From that same interview with Finnish media, he adds that "hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone."
Similarly, Taiwanese manufacturer Acer, traditionally known for making computers, has unveiled its new line of mobile phones. Unsurprisingly, the phones are Wi-Fi enabled smart phones that will be running a Windows operating system.
Echoing the Nokia CEO's remarks, Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci said that "for a large part of the world population the first opportunity to connect to the Internet will be via mobile computing, either through smartphones or netbooks."
In a few years from now, I think that you will be hard pressed to make a distinction between a personal computer and a mobile phone, as they will essentially be the same device.
A few years ago (even a year ago), people were rushing to develop websites specifically for mobile phones. These plans seem to have fallen by the wayside as now mobile phones are capable of handling rich content just as easily as computer-based web browsers.
Similarly, it should come as no surprise that mobile banking is expected to explode over the next few years. As TMC.net reports, mobile phones are expected to be used for more than $860 billion worth of transactions by 2013, creating revenues of over $10 billion for banks and other service providers. I couldn't find any information about the growth of the online banking industry over the next few years, but I imagine that it was pretty similar to what is expected for the mobile banking industry.
(thanks to Textually for pointing some of these stories out!)
-Parker
iPhone Unpopular in Japan? I'm Not Surprised.
The first time I ever owned a cell phone was when I moved to Japan to teach English in August of 2004. With the help of some friends, I picked out a phone that cost one yen (about one cent Canadian) with a fairly reasonable month plan.
It was a flip phone with one large, very bright color screen on the inside and another smaller screen on the outside. The phone was capable of taking photos and video. Similar to a Blackberry, the phone could also send and recieve emails.
The web browsing capabilities were limited only in that I don't think there was much mobile content out there at that time, most of that which was there was in Japanese too complicated for my limited vocabulary and was otherwise difficult to navigate on such a small screen.
The phone was capable of playing mp3 ringtones. I never investigated whether or not it would work as a music player because I had just upgraded my Panasonic Shockwave Discman (!) for a buggy, Toshiba Gigabeat mp3 player.
The point is that this was one of the cheapest, least complicated phones available in Japan in 2004.
Five years later, it doesn't really surprise me that the iPhone isn't very popular in Japan and that carrying one around would be considered "lame."
-Parker