Design, Design, Design

Well we've completed our review of Virgins new Project.app e-zine reader for the iPad. Overall not a bad app but lacking in some design considerations that would make it stand out in the crowd. As magazine and newspaper publishers deepen their investments in the digital medium (ahem it's about time) app design appears to have it's priorities a bit askew. Yes, beautiful text and animated page turns are important, so is the overall UI. Elegance is important, however along with that so is simplicity. What the Project.app and it's somewhat competitors have overlooked is this need to hide from the consumer the technical working of what's going on behind the scenes. Sure some of us old-timers love to see download status bars and bytes per second in transfer rates but the market as a whole has little interest in this as a design feature.


As a design component this is akin to adding an abrasive seam where your consumer will use the product the most (and reminding them your making them wait)? Not smart in our opinion and something that should be considered in the app design process. Project.app isn't the only app of it's kind to do this so it's hard to call it out just on that component. The industry as a whole will have to grapple with the concept if mass consumer adoption rate is important to them.

That's it for now, we'll be back with more in the coming months in the reader app space. We have high hopes for the reported "The Daily" app that sounds like the next big reader to be coming to the market

- ZuCom

Dickens On Habits

I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.


- Charles Dickens

Creativity and Sir Ken

Great video on our capacity for creativity.

Are we educating people out of their creative capacity?

http://www.sirkenrobinson.com/skrintro.swf

Full TED Talk here


"All children are born artists" - Picasso

Errors and Omissions - JFK

"an error doesn't become a mistake, until you refuse to correct it"


-JFK

Where you find Mobility and Content you find success

The saying "life goes by within the blink of an eye" is a reference to how time passes in our lives. Mobile devices today enable communications and delivery of content in places that have never before been available. Having this "feasibility of venue" opens up new experiences and challenges for business and consumers. While consumers struggle with how to manage time, businesses struggle with how to deliver content to the varying platforms that are available. Whether its iPhone, iPad, Droid, or anyone of the other numerous platforms out there the impact of not having usable content in this medium is palpable, and it is constantly shifting.

APP vs. WEB
While many businesses have been started solely as a result of the mobile revolution, there are many (even Fortune 500's) who have waited to get into the game. In 2006 when Apple and AT&T introduced the iPhone the game changed, but even that event was clouded with options. Having been at that WWDC, it was clear that the future would include some mixture of local App and Mobile Web solutions, but which one would win was far from certain. Four years later App based solutions have clearly taken the lead, but the battle is far from over and many are realizing it may not end anytime soon. With the Android, Windows Mobile (grin), and now Palm(double grin) splintering the app market, and mobile networks improving at a steady pace is their trouble ahead for investments in app solutions?

CONTENT
If your looking for an answer to that last rhetorical (albeit positional) question it lies in content. In the mobile space there are some amazing applications that solve business problems, provide a competitive edge, and still more that simply deliver a new more desirable mobile experience. On the other hand there are some stinkers out there the world would be better off without. The difference between most of the stinkers and the must haves lies in the content that is delivered. Think about this, if you had the option to download Thunderbird or Eudora for the iPad, iPhone, or Droid would your really (quiet Gruber). The answer is most likely, you would not, and that's because it's e-mail and as a piece of content, it's value in these new mobile venues really hasn't changed much over the years. Conversely, if you have an app that can capture audio, send its wave form to the web, returning a song title and artist, now you have a solution that delivers content in a new way to a new venue. As the app market starts to get competitive, "what" you deliver will be as important as how you deliver it.

ADVICE
As a business, not addressing the mobile world at this point is a mistake and even a poor attempt is better than nothing at all. Think of mobile like the drive-thru window for your business, without it those in a hurry probably won't stop. Mobility has moved what was once on our desks to something that is in our pockets and usually at the end of our arm and given this paradigm shift, the market must react. For the mobile consumer it's s little easier. As this evolution continues the richness of content and experiences will continue. Your choices of which device, carrier or app to go with will undoubtedly continue to get harder. Expect to be challenged by those overarching levers of content and experience that companies can provide. Apple somewhat redefined this model and it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon. The true challenge in a mobile world for the consumer will be how best to use these capabilities to slow down life, enjoy it a bit more and use that increased productivity and rich media experiences to make more free time.


Robert Zullo
ZuCom
Twitter @ZuCom_Com

Calvin Coolidge Quote

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The phrase "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.


- Calvin Coolidge

Positional vs Relational Authority (Key Leadership Principle)

Knowing when not to lead is key principle in leadership. Ron shares and experience that illustrates this perfectly.

Excerpt from ronedmonson.com

I was sitting with a staff member recently who presented me an idea. I had reservations about the idea instantly. It was actually a “red flag” idea and I knew it. I love ideas, however, and I’m consistently encouraging our staff to dream, take risks, and improve upon what we are doing. So I listened intently and we discussed the pros and cons of the idea. The next day this staff member came back to tell me and he had thought about our discussion, had changed his mind and was going a different direction. I was thrilled with “his” decision.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

Quote of the week

Care deeply about your employees, but accept nothing less than their very best.

Reputation

A reputation is not built upon the restful domain of one's comfort zone; it is made out of stalwart exposition of your core beliefs, for all challenges to disprove them as irrelevant hubris.


- Berp AI 2010

Stock clerks make history

Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk.


- J.C. Penney

Undocumented 3G iPhone reset?

Not sure if this is a legitimate fix or not but several techs have posted that a dead 3G iPhone can be revived by holding the power button (top) down and rocking the volume button (side) back and forth.

Normally this isn't something I'd post about but I just used this tip to get a non-functioning 3G back to the Apple screen. Quick restore after that and it's purring like a kitten.

Share the info!!

-ZuCom

What if your wallet was a device

With so many predicting the next wave of financial payment options going mobile, this story is hardly surprising. Paypal is not a typical bank but it's position in the merchant market is very unique. If banks were to position there capital investments around mobile merchant products and work to deliver new options, Paypal would have likely not even be player.

Interesting read: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Google-Apple-Joust-for-Mobile-Payments-Via-Android-iPhone-507837/


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Calmness and Tranquility

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.


- James Allen

Are you being bothered enough?

Are You Being Bothered Enough?


Leadership should not
be a solitary act. Leaders need to surround themselves with people who will challenge their ideas, point out their shortcomings, and tell it to them like it is. To be an effective manager, it's critical that honest opinions and information reach you. Get your people to bother you by bothering them. Open-door policies are well-intentioned but you need to go farther and develop a culture of trust and openness. Show your people that candor is rewarded and that the more they bother you, the better.

Luck and Discipline

One half of life is luck, the other half is discipline and that's the important half. For without discipline you wouldn't know what to do with the luck.


- Carl Zuckmeyter


- Posted from the iPhone

Can't get no Satisfaction?

Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing. It's when you've had everything to do and you've done it.


- Margaret Thatcher

Success / Envy and the laws Of attraction

"If you envy successful people, you create a negative force field of attraction that repels you from ever doing the things that you need to do to be successful. If you admire successful people, you create a positive force field of attraction that draws you toward becoming more and more like the kinds of people that you want to be like."


- Brian Tracy

GpGMAIL for Snow Leopard-Fix (AGAIN) 6/2010

Snow Leopard Mail update will break GPGMail plugin.

Download the update

Ross Lombardi Perot

Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touchdown.


- Ross Perot

Ron Wayne - AAPL

"I've never been rich," "But I've never been hungry, either."

-Ron Wayne, Apple Employee #3

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