Dear Apple - Now Please Build this..........

I haven't blogged for a while - but last time I asked Apple to build this and they obligingly came up with this.

So I'm hoping another request to Steve Jobs comes good ;-)

I now need Apple to sell a package based around the iPad, which until Jonathan Ive comes up with a better name I will call "The Wife Satisfier III".  It looks a bit like this:

What is this and why do I need it?

My desktop computer is now largely irrelevant, apart from when I want access to a real keyboard and the dusty old printer.  My desktop computer is really only ever used by my wife these days. I get phone calls at work from my wife saying: There is a virus.  The computer has crashed (really crappy Microsoft operating system). I can't print. I want to buy something on-line but you told me not to buy anything on-line until the security problem was cleared.

I sometimes use the desktop computer to print or scan documents.  Basically the desktop PC no longer meets the needs of our family.

My on-line relationship has now moved away from my PC to my iPhone and I'm going to buy an iPad, except it will only ever get used by me.  However, wouldn't it be great if the iPad could be sold as an integrated centre to connect wirelessly to a printer, large monitor, keyboard and maybe disk drive?

Imagine how the pain my wife generates over a PC that barely works (despite me spending £2,000 only 2 years ago) would disappear over night.  Imagine if she could print things without having to phone me at work, so that I can tell her once again that Google Chrome doesn't print on our printer and that she should open Internet Explorer instead.

A seamless integrated, easy to use world all connected by an iPad - our mobile desktop PC that we can take everywhere.  Now that would be great.

OK - I'm waiting.  You solved the iPad request within 6 months of me asking.  Which means that "The Wife Satisfier III" should be in the shops by April next year............

Apple's New and Fantastic Bed-Side-Fat-Boy-iPhone-Thingy

Hopefully people at Apple are using  Radian6 in order to hear what people are saying about their brand.

Last month Kerry Bridge gave a presentation outlining that Dell listen into what people are saying about their brand on social media sites.  The interesting news is that Dell have already implemented 400 customer suggestions within their product set - all inspired from listening and engaging with ordinary people who have mentioned the brand on their Blogs, Twitter or wherever.....

So back to Apple - I woke up this morning and realised I wanted to buy one of these (I've saved Jonathan Ive a couple of days and mocked it up on PowerPoint below):

No - this isn't a fat iPhone.  OK - it is. However, this is the alarm clock that I would like sat next to me on my bedside table.

Of course I need something functional to wake me up on a work day.  It would also be great if I could immediately hook in to my favourite apps and see what is happening.  I'd feel connected and up to speed with the world.

Why else do I need this new product? Every Saturday morning I get up early in order to make substitutions on my Fantasy Football team and then once I've done that, I spend ages looking at the news.  Given by this point I'm in a separate room to my wife, she gets the hump that I'm on the "computer again".  If I was in the same room all would be fine.

Of course I could do this all on an iPhone, but if my wife found me fiddling around squinting my eyes in the half-light on a mobile phone, she would rip the piss out of me for being a spotty nerd.  So that is not an option.

There is another surprise.  I could also see both my wife and son using (sharing) my bed-side-fat-boy-iPhone-thingy.  They are both Facebook fiends.  She also chats for hours on the phone to her friends from bed.  If she could chat to her friends from bed and also have Facebook available and laugh about some photos at the same time as well..........  it would cost me a fortune on the phone bill... but what the heck. * 

Anyway Apple, if you could build this, then it would bring harmony to my life because my wife wouldn't hate a gadget that she actually used herself and I wouldn't be sat in a different room on the weekend changing my virtual football team around.

* This reminds me of the phrase "Female Handbrake".  I first heard this phrase when listening to the strategy director from Sky.  They find it difficult to sell a lot of their TV packages, because women at home block the purchase decision because they want to keep the family together doing more social activities.  Sky, however, would prefer to sell a more expensive and comprehensive package where everyone is able to watch different Sky channels of their choice in separate rooms.

Social Media and Radian6: I Am The Case Study

I ran a Social Media race between Radian6 and Sysomos which Radian6 won hands down.

To be honest I didn't expect much in the way of results, but the outcome has genuinely surprised me.  Radian6 won the race.  They were listening*, they found me and then replied to me in only 13 minutes.  Nice trick?  Yes, but when I look at my experience the power of this tool is apparent.

Firstly the CTO from Radian6 commented on my blog and then within minutes the CEO was following me on Twitter, closely followed by their Community Co-Ordinator:

I have nothing against Sysomos, in fact I was going to wait a bit longer to see if they responded, but I realised that misses the point.  Firstly, Radian6 have shown that they practice what they preach, which is quite a powerful demonstration in it's own right.

Secondly my opinion of Radian6 is now sky high whereas Sysomos would have a lot of catching up to do - but only because I suddenly have a fair amount of brand loyalty to Radian6 which has been built from nothing in a matter of hours - and this is only because Radian6 have pro-actively engaged in conversation with me.

Think about your own businesses and the loyalty you could build with your customers?  As a customer, think about how your opinion would change if a brand manager interacted with you proactively and helpfully?

So congratulations to Radian6.  I count the experiement as a resounding success.  The race was fun too.

Night all.  Over and out.

*Listening:  During my excellent sales training all those years back, the one thing they drummed into me was what they called the salesman's most important skill.  Listening.

Sysomos Versus Radian6 Social Media Race

Radian6 and Sysomos both have tools that allow marketing people to listen to Social Media sites and this gives marketeers the opportunity to engage with people and maybe respond to comments concerning their brand.  The  benefit is the ability to manage brand territory across social media channels.

Which company is best, Radian6 or Sysomos?  Who knows.  So I thought I'd run a completely unscientific Top Gear style race and see which company picks up that I have mentioned their company first.  The winner, of my crass but fun race will be the company that writes a comment against this blog post first.

Race Notes: I have mentioned both companies here on Blogger and will also Tweet what I am up to.

"Start your engines gentlemen"

Pearltrees - Nice Idea - But Usability Sucks

Pearltrees is an interesting concept.  You collect the "pearls" of information that you value on the web and connect them in subject categories like the branches of a tree.  Together all the branches of "pearls" represent your range on interests.

You can also drag in other peoples branches - and hence benefit from their collected pearls of wisdom.

This could be a very interesting Social Media Marketing Platform - yet, I found the usability of the site awful - not intuitive in the slightest.  Also very slow.

However, the platform is in Beta though and thus maybe this is something to keep an eye on for the future.

Marketing People Need To Understand "Lean" Concepts

These days every man his dog and even the cat too will tell you about the benefits of adopting Agile.

The company I work for has been working with these Agile methods for much longer than most.  5 years ago when I spoke to our customers I had to bang the drum even to persuade them of the merits of considering changing their software development processes.

Nowadays all blue chip companies are using or have tried Agile - yet if they are doing this well, then why is there still such a huge disconnect between marketing / business owners and software development teams?

Rather than bore you with a detailed answer to this question, I will point you in the direction of the key issues which I see time and time again (and which this blog will seek to explore further in later posts):

• People go on Agile training courses.  They get tied up in certain practices they have been taught - yet forget the core of what they were trying to achieve.

• Agile is not a silver bullet.  It needs to be adapted to suit an organisation. 

• The English language is powerful because it is continually evolving.  Whereas people seem content to implement the Agile practices they were taught and then sit still.  Agile is "silent" on so many aspects.  I suggest you look at what works and what doesn't on projects and instil continuous improvement.  i.e. "Inspect and Adapt" - don't forget it!

• Finally - and most importantly - Agile describes software project processes well, yet says almost nothing regarding the phase of the software development lifecycle where marketing and business people operate.  Perhaps this diagram will help:

In order to catch up with the 6.54% of marketing people who thought that their companies were able to deliver new concepts sufficiently quickly, then a good and simple place to start is to begin to think about applying some basic "Lean Development" concepts across the organisation.  More of which later...........

The Breakdown Between Marketing and Software Delivery

Econsultancy are a fantastic outfit and an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Digital Marketing and Software Innovation.  Their new "Managing Digital Channels" report is well worth the membership fee alone.

This chart from the report shows respondents capability to deploy new software applications rapidly - and the findings don't surprise me in the slightest:

Given so much business is transacted on-line these days, how on earth do marketing people put up with such slow time to market from having the initial concept to getting software delivered?!

Companies are moving towards Agile Methods to help overcome these difficulties, but time and time again I see people have only been able to make small steps forward in terms of productivity. All too often there is a disconnect between Marketing and Software Development teams.

On this blog I'm going to be touching on topics which should be of interest to anyone who wants to get better software out there sooner.