In a Tech Crunch interview, HP executive, Todd Bradley,estimates that tablets will be a $40 B market that is now in its infancy, within the next few years. Ironically, most major electronics manufactures missed the 2011 holiday season of tablet deployment expect Apple’s IPad that just entered into Walmart distribution hubs for national deployment.
Apple announced that it was ramping up its iPad production with aspirations to produce over 2M iPads per month. This could be seen as a defensive posture for Apple in an attempt to saturate the market in anticipation of Google’s android approach, but in the absence of any competition, I believe there will be the demand. The social rumor mill is a buzz about the Walmart – Apple partnership to include Walmart's “strong recommending” to their electronic's vendors NOT produce tablet computing platforms that would compete against the iPad, thus greatly decreasing the potential for other thin clients in entering the market prior to the holiday rush according to one consumer electronics importer wishing not to be identified.
What is gold for tablet manufactures is poison for any manufacture in the PC space as thin clients may soon replace the laptop, or even desktop. But given processing speed, battery life, applications, and even limitations in conductivity I wouldn’t throw away your desktops until next year.
My predictions for this Christmas season expect to see a lot of independents push into the marketplace. Distribution channels are key for a competitive lockdown in the market place. Those that have product, marketing, and distribution in place prior to the November 15th holiday rush stand to do very well this holiday season.
Post mortem of “dot com bomb”, I raised almost $1,000,000 using Social Media With a staff of 2, we spent our days and nights on bulletin boards, dating sites, directories, and even ICQ (old school chat). The end result, we received investment dollars as close as Atlanta and as far away as the Netherlands. It was an experience that I will never forget, and will hopefully attempt to repeat, just not in my living room, and at a larger dollar amount.
Being a little older now, and a veteran within the social space, with over 16 years of internet media, with 6 of those years engaged in social media, I have a new vision, revenues, and an operating organization that I plan to take to the next level. Moreover, the archaic nature of yesteryear’s socialscape has greatly changed, as have the proliferation of more affluent users and ways to communicate. With that said I just completed my private placement (legal documentation to raise capital), filed my corporate taxes, and I am about to charge to the world of angel capital.
The project will perfect the art of automated social listening, consumer individualistic engagement, and social mobilization, on an unprecedented scale.
The practical applications such a technology are endless from putting butts in seats at a baseball game, generating political activism, real time polling, and even fund raising.
Considering that my corporate strategy involves the identification, create engagement, and socially mobilize consumers, targeting angel investors should be easy.. or at least I will keep telling myself that until I believe it to be true… LOL.
I will add a social funding widget to my blog, so you and I can keep track of my progress over the next 90 days. So raising a few million dollars in angel capital, doubling last years revenues, and doing it on a shoe string budget… yea, it sounds like an idea that could only come together on a Friday as I stare into the devilish eyes of Q4.
I was experimenting with twitter’s tweet to mobile platform, and what started out as a great user experience, quickly turned into a reenactment of Laurel and Hardy famous 1927, Who’s on First. Like ICQ, Apple, Friendster, YouTube, and even Google, started with a simple user experience and heavy beta testing prior to releasing their “non-beta” version of their products.
In a world so socially connected, incredibly impatient, and highly competitive, there is rarely a second change for those that perform poorly of a better alternative. Luckily for twitter, very few companies are in the position to compete well, with the exception of the notables in the social space, Facebook, Google Buzz, etc.
So, this was my great Tweet to Short Message Service (SMS) experience…..
Me (John Cataldi): I texted “JohnCataldi to 40404”
Twitter: Johncataldi Welcome to Twitter! Reply with SIGNUP to begin. Already on Twitter? Reply with your USERNAME. (Std msg rates apply. Reply with HELP for more)
Me: SignUp
Twitter: Great! You just need a username. This is how you’ll be known on Twitter. Reply w/ the username you want to use. (max 15 characters, no spaces, like Tweetie113)
Me: Johncataldi
Twitter: Johncataldi is taken ( Is it yours? Reply w/ ITS MINE How about Johncataldi1? Reply w/ YES if that works, or a different username you want to use.
Me: It’s mine
(This is where my personal Twitter/ SMS train wreck was about to begin…. my Iphone, Iscrewed the text by auto correcting the spelling, and added the ‘s to “it’s”, instead if “Its”)
Twitter: It’s mine is taken ( Is it yours? Reply w/ ITS MINE How about Mine327? Reply w/ YES if that works, or a different username you want to use.
Twitter: Hi, @Mine. Reply w/ your password to register this phone to your Twitter account. (Password is case sensitive! Phone may capitalize the 1st letter)
Me: Ahhhhhhhh no
Twitter: Oops! That password is not correct, try again. Reply w/ your password. Forgot your password? Go to twitter.com to recover it.
Me: No not mine… JohnCataldi
Twitter: Oops! That password is not correct, try again. Reply w/ your password. Forgot your password? Go to twitter.com to recover it.
Me: JohnCataldi
Twitter: Oops! That password is not correct, try again. Reply w/ your password. Forgot your password? Go to twitter.com to recover it.
Me: JohnCataldi
Me: JohnCataldi
Twitter: (And then the Twitter Whale Grew Silent, never to txt me again)
In a perfect world the application would have worked flawlessly! However in my world, I am guilty of texting while driving, during on a conference, with sticky thumbs from my latte, in the midst of changing lanes, and pondering if I can reach my notebook in the back seat. So I am sure, a tiny bit of the error may have been with me….. BUT, “The Twitter”… LOL, should have given me a reset button… a newbie mobile mistake… which bring me to John’s 10 rules of mobile development.
John’s 10 Rules for Mobile Marketing and Application Development
1) Most phone platforms have specific testing tools included in the (System Developer’s Kits), which makes it easy to install, run, and TEST your applications.
2) Always test your application on top carriers and mobile platforms. Does that mean you have to go out and by a crap ton of phones on multiple carriers, No! You can use mobile emulators to get you 99% of the way there, though I would highly suggest heavy beta testing using the android, iphone, and blackberry devices. The auto text correcting MAY cause a large % or your users to curse your name, but this would have been missed by an emulator.
3) AVOID ANY SYSTEM RESPONSES THAT IS MORE THAN ONE WORD <<<OR>>> THAT TRIGGERS MY FREAKEN AUTO-SPELLER TO ADD IN AN APOSTROPHE!
4) Never go over 160 characters, at least not in 2010. First, if you have more to say, use the phone…. Hmmm, I don’t know…AS A PHONE! Secondly, some phones can do extended text but this is achieved by stringing 3 normal messages together giving you a total of 480 charcters, what you may not know is that the recipients carrier (your customer) and your mobile gateway (your mobile service provider) will charge both of you as if they were 3 messages, which is good for AT&T, bad for anyone not on a unlimited texting plan. Moreover, If you push your client over their mobile limit, your customer could be charges $0.20 per text message, which may not seem like much… but it adds up quick.
5) Everyone needs a “GET OUT OF APPLICATION HELL CARD”, so as part of the system auto-response, I would have said…
Twitter: Oops! That password not correct, try again. Reply w/your password. Forgot your password? Go to twitter.com to recover it. Reply w/RESTART to restart the session”
As exampled above, we are still at the standard SMS is 160 characters, and it gives your consumer the coveted out.
6) Don’t do MMS (multimedia messages), as a mass marketing tool, at least not yet. Yes, MMS is cute, and I love getting them… ok, not really, but I love sending them by the tens of thousands, so no MMS’s please, but unlike SMS, there is no standard for MMS cross carrier, which means that a majority of your MMS messages may not be delivered, cut off, distorted, or sent to the user as a downloadable link. This means if they do not have a smart phone, with web browsing capabilities, they may have to wait until they get home to download via the carrier’s website. But if you’re set on MMSing the masses, do it by carrier, and in this case, purchase a phone from each carrier for testing.
7) Always make it EASY to opt-out of the database. PLEASE PAY ATTENTION KGB.com, once I opt-out of your database your dead to me, there is no reason to be a clingy, creepy, text stalking, ex-girl friend.
8 ) NEVER, EVER SELL YOUR DATABASE! I don’t care what your terms of conditions say, your consumer will always agree with them, because they NEVER read them. Anyway with that said, the mobile phone is sacred, if you upset your consumer and they find out it’s you, it does not take a rocket scientist to know regardless if your legally right, you’re going to kill your brand name and most likely your revenues from your consumer base virally spreading your bad reputation via their mobile device. Moreover, it’s going to harm those that do mobile marketing illegitimately.
9) Have at least 5 people read your test message before you send it out. Depending on age, gender, and a few other factors, your message could get a giggle at your expense.
“OMG, M8 u 1, a drwing 2mro 4, 4 tix 2 Ldy Gaga, b 10th 2 call…..”
Did someone go to the wiki SMS short code directory and attempt to text SMSease? The scary thing is that this message was actually sent to over 3,500 listeners!
10) Lastly, less is more. There is no need to text your customer base 3x a day, not only will they get upset, but your message loses its effectiveness and sincerity.
There are many other things that can be done to grow your mobile database exponentially, but we’ll leave that for another day. If you liked the article, please feel free to comment, use, and share the knowledge.
Apple IPhone 4.1 OS May Cause Mass Data Loss… Oops they did it again
First, before your yell at me for being hater of Apple, I own a MAC and an Iphone (several of them), but I just can’t take once more instance of my IPhone turning into an IBrick!
According to Apple’s website, the iOS 4.1 Software Update brings Game Center, new iTunes features, high dynamic range photography, and more to iPhone, what they don’t tell you is that it could also lead to the loss of your contacts!
Apple known for user intuitiveness has lost ground once again with its latest 4.1 OS upgrade of the Iphone / Ipad, which in many instances has overwritten / deleted the contact files of the iphone.
Moreover, it has been reported that then syncing the phone to your Mac or PC, will then overwrite your back up. Over one thousand consumer iPhone rants were found in the socialscape throughout North America, which the number of instances seems to be building momentum since the release date.
When Apple was asked to comment on the matter, they stated that “there does exist the possibility that if you don’t upgrade from your computer all your contacts are located could be lost!” Moreover, the Apple spokesperson began reflecting on how many times she lost data on the coveted Apple device. Geeze, do you think that should be a BIG RED FREAKEN WARNING SOMEPLACE!
My advice, WAIT BEFORE ANY MAJOR APPLE UPGRADE, until 4.1.1 comes out. Apple is aware of the oppsy, but in their attempts to gain ground prior to the Christmas season in the battle of the cell phones, they are throwing consumers under the bus, for the potential gain of mass profit. As a result, several active IPhone influencers & social evangelists are switching sides. Good for Google, bad for Apple, especially in this latest issue goes mainstream.
What happened to the Apple we once knew that created outstanding products without cutting corners?
Please leave a comment, subscribe, and syndicate – Cheers, John
PS – My blog is under construction… so please pardon this ugly mess… but I really wanted to get this out!
Can the application of perfectly targeted advertising go as far as predictable behavior modification?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In the year 2015 people have access to a breath and depth of information, unmanageable in an earlier era. Everyone contributes in some way, participating to create a living breathing media scape,“ is the opening of one of the most compelling media presentations who’s plot consists of a series of real life events from 1989 to 2005, and continues through a series of hypothetical events to 2015 AD.
As an connoisseur of all things adverting, I am compelled to believe the more relevant and individualized content is package and delivered the more meaningful it would be to the end user. Though in 2008, most media is fairly generalized. Advertisers do their best to put their media messages where they believe it will best convert into potential customers, but I can assure your well over 50% of most media campaigns are wasted regardless of medium.
But the winds of change are upon us. People are becoming more free with their personalized data, whether they know it or not. Reminiscent of Minority Report, which depicted John Anderson, played by actor Tom Cruise, walking through a Subway where all of the advertisements were specifically targeted to his character that identified him by rental scan that seemly accessed a database of his consumption habits, lifestyle, demographic, and geographic, and served his advertising which was most relevant to him through a series of holographic billboards. Precursors of this technology exist today, though not at the point that would make it cost advantageous for agencies to spend the dollars to create the infrastructure to track, store, and disseminate the data feeds to external devices. To fast track a similar ad platform would require an advertising organization (Eg. Google, Yahoo, Interpublic, Omnicom, WPP) to joint partner with both a GPS / blue tooth enabled mobile network(s), and a physical media network that has locations in densely populated areas that could provide close proximity to their target customer (Eg Clear Channel, Lamar, CBS Outdoor).
So how would such a system work you make ask? Initially, GPS tracking via your mobile device would be the most likely choice. Current estimates reportedly suggest that “nearly 84-percent of the US population will have mobile phones by the end of 2008, which is projected 99% percent within the next 5 years,”according to SNL Kagen Mobile Research. GPS tracking would not only tell you where you are, but your continual geographic data feed overlapped with information on venues, business, and time is various locations would begin would build a fairly accurate depiction of your life and consumption habits. Moreover, through the utilization of blue tooth technology, RFID product tagging, could allow a secondary data concerning products of interest. Whereas, RFID tags could transmit every product you hold in proximity to your cell phone, as a suspect product of interest. Thus, a cumulative and combined database of geographic, demographic, travel habits, and interests are tabulated through an algorithm which then finds the most relevant advertisement given your current situation through a media device that is in proximity to your personal “blue tooth” envelope.
The end result of the proper application of timely media could go as far as predictable behavior modification. John always goes to Starbucks Coffee in the morning, but he was running late. Taking the subway to work. John notices the video panel playing a Starbucks commercial that says, “Did you miss your Vanilla Latte this morning (which happens to be the drink John always buys), there is a Starbucks location 1 block from your next stop across from the exit”. What luck John exclaims, I’m getting off at the next stop, its almost like they knew… or did they?!
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