Bad ads

Credit: http://dognpony.wordpress.com/

 

Disclaimer: I’m not from the ad world. I am a just a curious observer.

Well, for the past 2 to 3 weeks, I’ve been watching this really dumb ad from TVS for its product Wego. Apparently, it’s something to do with body balance. It’s here:

I want to go through the ad in a bit detail to explain my (and I doubt, unique) thought process:

I swear to God…for the first half of the ad, I didn’t know what the fuck was going on….it took me my second time watching it (Yeah,apparently, there is big media buying purchase for this shit!) to realize that there was a specific pattern of contrast between the music played for the two chicks – one was a Tamil score and the other, a Hindi music score….so the ad was supposed to show a North vs. South thing ? Ok….then, for those who don’t know Tamil, the lyrics mean “Put it like this, put it like that”. So North Indians and South Indians “do things” differently ? Ok….except that both those dumb chicks start sexually assaulting the guys driving the bikes with their dirty dancing…..so this is an ad for condoms ? Oh, and then they get all hyper standing on the seats and start dancing…now, by this time, I’m expecting either 1) One of the chicks will fall off the bike and die a sorry, bloody death in which case, the other gal says “XX chappals, now with super grip” or 2) A voice over cuts talking about the smooth, beautiful roads of Bangalore built by a private construction company.

But, then both bikes stop at the signal and the two “chauffeurs” stand and smile at each other like they remembered their experiences in their own, private “Brokeback Mountain”. And then, cut to a buddha and buddhi (who covers the face of a toy) who are afraid one the chicks would fall. And aforementioned “buddha” says something to the tune of “TVS Vega with body balance” and said buddhi says “oh!” and they all drive away!

OK so seriously, how many products could this ad have been for ? Any and all of the products I mentioned above? What does it say about the bikes ? For guys with idiotic women? For women who apparently can’t dance at home? For the women who have better physical balance and less mental balance? Even the tires of the bike? Or both chicks dying  and the ads say “Do not try this ” by the Mumbai police? Doesn’t it look like the ad can be interpreted in way too many ways?

The reason? People try too hard….they try to incorporate too many signals into a single 30-sec spot. For example, the two guys, the buddha and the buddhi were frankly, unnecessary. They did nothing but add too much information into an ad which, by its own, was quite vague. Same with the North and South Indian thing. The contrast was not required unless you want to say “North Indian dancing or South Indian dancing, sab chalta hai Wega pe!” Then, add the buddhi admiring the bikes in the end. Why ? She wants to do a Street Hawk with them, now that she discovers they have body balance? Why two bikes ? To show that they have both black and white color bikes ? Does that have anything to do with the body balance feature? Or were they just trying to say “Since we already spent 50 lakhs on this spot, why don’t we get value for money?”  Except that, in this case, it was volume for money (too many signals) instead of value for money (specific focus on one feature). And it’s that  specific aspect that this post is about.

Have you ever seen a fashion show? I don’t mean the college ones. I mean the actual Ralph Lauren, Valentino kinda Fashion Week shows. Take a look at the models on the catwalk. They refuse to smile, they refuse to look at anybody in the crowd (they look absolutely straight ahead). Their gait is one that doesn’t serve to really endear them to the crowd. In fact, some of the models are butt ugly. Why? To take the focus off them and onto the clothes. Their blank expressions dampens any kind of signals that may arise from their facial expressions otherwise. Their gait serves only one purpose and that is to demonstrate the flow of the clothes around the body as a person is moving. Its rigidity and predictability cannot be translated to any kind of emotional expression of the self. The models look absolutely stone cold. They are all for all practical purposes, walking mannequins. The make-up and the hairstyles are built to complement the clothes not the body of the model. The body of the model is, in fact, chosen to complement the clothing. Basically, all other signals that may take away attention from the “pure” signal of clothing is dampened (to use an engineering expression). The only time, the models smile and clap is at the end when the designer walks the ramp to receive the accolades from the crowd. Even then, the choreography is so brilliantly executed that it is extremely easy to locate who the focus on the catwalk is.

Similarly, noticed the ambiance every time you enter a movie theater to watch a film? They cut off any ambient lights the moment the film starts. The main reason, of course, is that it reduces the effect of this light on the projection of the film. However, the side-effect is that it blocks out any signals that may distort the experience of watching the film – the people around you in the theater (Where’s that damn hot chick!), the shape of the walls and the pillars, the color of the seats, the color of the walls, the make of the speaker system (OK, that’s my peculiar nosiness!). Hence, your attention is directed on the only thing visible. The screen. Hell, if you want to make out in the dark, the only thing that distracts you is the shining film! And if its distracting you too much, you’re probably not really into it…..you’re probably wondering where that other hot chick is….so here again, there is an instance of blotting out unnecessary signals to divert your focus to what really is important.

There’s a similar expression of this focus in the Apple iPod ads:

Credit: www.ipodhistory.com

So first, lock out the background in a solid single tone colour. That removes basically any redundant signal about where the person is: in  a garden, road, skyscraper, tunnel, train, etc. Then block out the person, leaving only a silhouette. That blots out anything perceivable about the person: race, color, religion, hair color, clothing (to a large extent, it merges into the silhouette). That leaves you with two things: the motion of their body and something that’s white. If you notice, the iPod has been actually better detailed than some of the bigger items (the screen is grayed to provide contrast and if you look really really closely, the faint outline of the scroll wheel can also be seen). So the first focal point is the motion of the body: the person is grooving. Obviously, this raises the question: Why? And then that feeds into the second focal point and that’s the iPod. And that completes the picture. It shows people enjoying the product as it was meant to be. In fact, even if your attention is directly attracted to the iPod, it’s a shortcut to the same focus of the ad. There is also an interesting subliminal message if you think about it: no matter who you are, what you wear and where you are, you WILL enjoy grooving to an iPod (Frankly, I don’t think iPod’s marketing people must have thought so much about it. I truly am jobless!)

Honestly, if you look at the other amazing ads, Nike’s brand ads (rather than actual product ads) or Apple’s “Think Different” commercial, unnecessary signals are drastically compressed (Nike’s video removes unnecessary video – it only shows Jordan walking around the stadium and the gym, hence the focus is completely on the voice over which in itself, is completely unhurried and clear. In the Think Different ad, there is only one instantly recognizable person in each frame. It also mutes out any sound associated with the video to remove that signal. The story or the focus lies, once again in the voiceover.). Among Indian ads, the one I really really love was an Airtel ad of the yore:

No matter how many other ads Airtel makes, no matter, how good they are, I don’t they will ever be able to recreate an ad like this again. Now think about the ad. Each frame has just two words. Each clip is only a second or two to enhance THOSE SPECIFIC WORDS in almost poetic fashion. The clips are black and white to blot out any color signals that “corrupt” the purity of the focus. There is no ambient noise, once again, in any of the clips. Even better, you don’t even notice the bloody music, it’s actually “background” music as compared to the Wega one. So you just focus on the text. It displays long enough to register but short enough that you don’t get bored. Then each of these texts weave through long enough for you to understand that it’s an emotion-based thing. And finally, this wreath of emotions culminates into to a single line: “Express yourself”. Perfect. Can you imagine what would happen if they ended up adding a Sachin Tendulkar’s “Nothing official about it” kinda thing or SRK’s overactive jumping around to it? I’m not saying that they suck at acting (They do, though!) But the point is that their star power pulls away attention from the focus of the ad. And if your focus is on the celebrity, you’ve lost the message.

In fact, a poor execution of a celebrity endorsement especially ends up corrupting the signals. For example, if you look at the Nike and the Apple ads, the celebrity don’t talk about the product. They reflect it. In one of Steve Jobs’ speech (when he launched the “Think Different” campaign), he talks about honoring people in the ads. That’s perfect. Nike uses Michael Jordan since MJ is the person who NEEDS a high-quality shoe to further his craft. To further his passion and everything he seeks to achieve. He endorses something that’s a very critical thing for him. SRK can’t do without Dish TV? or a Hyundai i10? Atleast Aamir Khan plays a role of someone else in his endorsements. In all these cases, once again, the message is about the star saying “use this” rather than ” I need it” or “This is me”. I can’t imagine that the former brings the focus to the product/brand/service as much as the latter does. But it’s all in the “Oh! But we paid him! Let’s get our money back by splattering his mug wherever we can!” panic. I’m not saying using celebrity endorsements are bad. God knows there must be some serious correlation between using celebrities for endorsements else they wouldn’t be spending so much money on it! But, there is a difference between rationalization of using a celebrity endorsement and the execution of said endorsement.

Somehow, there seems to be this incredible mixup between quality and quantity. A picture may be equal to a thousand words but is redundant when all you need to say can be done in a hundred. Quality comes through focus not per-display-of-product-per-rupee-spent. It doesn’t come by filling the screen with extras. It come from creating the equivalent of  a cat-and-mouse cartoon series where two characters chase around the house for 10 minutes at a time. (That allows people to establish the “what” of the plot beforehand and lets them focus on the “how”). It comes saying “No”.

P.S. - Sometimes, I wish I could do that with my posts. Cut the meandering route to achieve a conclusion. Give me some time

P.S.2 - Obviously, the assumption is once you bring in focus on the right things, you still have to have an amazing story ! Else, you’re better off with this B.S.

What Apple really did with the iPhone

Caveat: A large part of the latter part of this post on monopoly of telecom service providers has been discussed and dissected to death. Am adding it only from a completeness perspective. I am also using Apple as an example of a different business model rather than as the only company that works on this principle

A large part of my work as a consultant in the telecom domain related to VAS or value added services. This included services and products ranging from dialer tones, missed call alerts to multimedia applications like wallpaper downloads, MMS and the like. These really were the dominant applications during the time (I’m assuming it’s still the same). And for each of these services, the vendor system needed to understand and interact with various telecom systems such as the prepaid billing platform, the switches, the mediation or the SGSN. The main reason being that all this telecom elements were essential for one of two aspects: Service / content delivery and billing. So you always needed to understand the format in which data would be accepted by these systems to process billing (usually as a CDR or a call data record), understand in what scenarios could billing or service delivery fail, etc. Basically, you needed to have extensive domain knowledge in telecom as well.

What Apple done with its iPhone and iTunes products is, basically, is reduce the importance of understanding the telecom infrastructure( the service delivery and billing systems) and focusing more on building the product. Not only has Apple built an eco-system that transferred power from the service providers to the handset manufacturers, it has also transferred power from the telecom domain experts to the IT product developers. Basically, it has brought the control back into the vast IT community of developers. This was something I realized when building my prototype for an LBS-based product (let’s say severe re-working is going on right now). Even though, I already knew how geo-positioning is done, how GPS or triangulation works or what accuracy ranges are allowed, it is all immaterial. Why? Because the iPhone has already all this in-built with its GPS and allows you to extract the location coordinates using a simple API. An API that works just like any other product API. Something which is extremely familiar to all programmers. Even if you’re not designing for the iPhone, other third-party vendors have built similar APIs for Blackberry, Nokia and J2ME devices. This severely reduces the dependence on the network operators. Product developers no longer have to worry whether the service is provisioned on an HLR to deliver the service. Or whether an incorrect configuration on the network side is going to wreck havoc on their revenues. One product that already slipped from the grasp of the telecom operators was ring tones whose revenues fell when handsets started working on standardized formats such as MP3 which could be downloaded from any site on the web.

Further, ITunes allows you to use credit cards to purchase the application. Using a payment gateway. The same way all online transactions are processed. Another familiar platform for any one who has built e-commerce sites. No more worrying about whether the subscriber has been disconnected at the billing system and has, hence not been charged, or incorrect configurations at the mediation, or that a service has not been charged because well, the SMS short code and the rate was not configured in the billing system. Basically, no revenue loss because the telecom operator messed up. Remember: All operators have contracts with the VAS vendors saying that the operators will pay an X% of what they bill. Not X% of what is billable but what is actually billed. So if an incorrect configuration in the telecom operator’s system allows the subscriber to use the service free of charge, even the vendor does not get paid for the same.

However, the pain is not only on the side of the telecom operators alone. Till now in this post, I have not distinguished between the VAS content creator (who makes the content/ owns the copyright of the content) and the VAS content aggregator (who licenses the content from the creator and sells the content to the customer through the telecom service provider. But in the new scenario, aggregators are the online app stores. No longer do the aggregators control the service delivery to subscribers of a specific telecom operator. An Airtel subscriber, need not only extract content from aggregators that Airtel has a tie-up with. He can go to any store online and get the content. This allows content creators to sell their wares on numerous online sites. Hence, the content aggregator has also lost his own somewhat-cushy monopoly over the content creators because of his tie-up with the operator. Even stores owned by handset manufacturers such as Nokia Ovi has to compete with all the other app stores that sells Symbian (the operating system for Nokia handsets ) applications and products. Unless you are Apple of course.

One last way Apple is blowing up this eco-system is basically solving one of the most oft-lamented problems faced by VAS vendors in India. That of service providers have this incredible choke-hold on the entire service delivery mechanism that they pretty much dictate the revenue share % and the other terms and conditions. After all, what’s  the point of building an application if you can’t charge the customer or allow him to use it? Some of the apps were available for download on the Internet even before but Apple and iTunes brought it together at such phenomenal scale, that it cut off the legs of the telecom operator monopoly in the USA.

But make no mistake. Service providers do have a few cards up their sleeve as well.

1. There are still some services like Dialer tunes or Missed Call alerts which are still the dominant VAS services.  And these are completely network-dependent. However, other services in the ABC categories (Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket which dominate Value Added Services) such as downloads and periodic updates can soon break out of this monopoly only if there is the requisite proliferation of credit cards and in the future, mobile money products happens.
2. Service providers still control GPRS Mobile browsing – as per InMobi’s KK at the Mobile Monday Mumbai summit the day before, the Mobile Web is still providing it with its largest ad inventory yet. However, even in the mobile browsing business, the service providers are paid only for the volume of the content and not the value of the content. For example, irrespective of whether you are accessing the scores of the hottest cricket match or you’re visiting an old, dilapated blog that no one ever updates (hint: Z, Alpana, Charsi), the service providers get paid the same amount. They don’t get more money for the cricket website. And obviously, services like ZIP Dial are going to take their pound of flesh by destroying their other premium SMS services (KBC anyone? )
3. Further, the telecom service providers also have their own stores for downloading content. But these are no longer exclusive. You can’t lock-in a customer to your store. You have to still be price-competitive against the rest of the stores out there. You are just another store.

This is getting to be incredibly interesting given that one of the ways that telecom service providers were planning to shore up their falling ARPUs was through Value added Services. Wonder how the battle will turn in India given our incredible ability to turn every challenge into an opportunity.

Note1: When I say what Apple did, I mean what Apple started and what the general trend of service delivery is. Obviously, there are hundreds of app stores available today, including the Ovi store (Nokia), the Samsung app store (Samsung), Android Market (for Android phones

Note2: Obviously, given Apple’s limited success in India and India’s relatively lower wireless data usage/ Internet usage, this model will take a bit more time to mature before it spreads to the smaller towns. But I think it’s a matter of time

Note3: I am very interested in the rumors around Apple’s next phones which will have an embedded SIM and allow you to choose the carrier long after you have purchased the handset. What happens is that the operator does not provide the SIM but Apple does. The configuration of the network carrier is done through iTunes and is essentially software !

Why is India missing in everyone’s plans?

Groupon has moved out of the USA to acquire companies in Japan, Europe and are targetting China in the near future

Apple had launched the iPhone in almost all countries including Euro nations, China and Japan before their half-hearted attempts in India (Rs. 30K for a phone, pulleeease ! ). The iPad’s yet to be launched in India

Google’s Android-based phones are barely in India (At last count I don’t know of any major handsets launched except the HTC Touch

ITunes – India version doesn’t allow you to download podcasts.

So really, are we that difficult a market to crack ? It’s obviously a good thing for entrepreneurs setting up shop here! But is it that our understanding of value-for-money is so different from the rest of the world’s or is it just that we are steeped in the culture of jugaad that given time, we would be able to build up one of these products on our own? Or is it just that we are more producer (R&D, product development, engineering, etc.) than consumers of high-end products? I really don’t get it.

Users prefer apps to the Mobile Web – GigaOm report

Yep….that’s two out of three latest posts that have a link to a GigaOm post. Anyways, this one is about the GoWalla‘s CEO Josh Williams stating that customers prefer to access the popular LBS service through the iPhone or Android app rather than using the Mobile Web (using the WWW or mobile-accessible website through a browser).

Off-topic but brilliant quote from the post:

Many people perceive the web as source for content rather than a source of services. An app puts the illusion of packaging around a web-delivered service so people feel like they are buying functionality, not merely visiting a site to perform a function or access content. This subtle perception not only explains why apps are popular, but it might also be a clue as to why folks can charge for apps while still unable to monetize their web-based services.

But what really interests me is this: Is this an example of people building their own filters around the world wide web? For example, till now if you wanted to find information around a particular topic, you would initiate that search in Google. But, now, for stories around an area we are passionate about or would like to be constantly updated on, another way of accessing content is to download apps pertaining to the information that you seek. For example, if you are generally interested in telecom issues, you would have downloaded a GigaOm “app” which would constantly update you on all telecom updates around the world. So you’re first point of awareness on the net-neutrality debate would be from the GigaOm article on the same. Further, all hyperlinks from that article would take you to other articles on the topic without necessarily having to go to Google. So in this perspective, have apps become your “homepage” to the www outside instead of Google? What does this do to RSS feeds? And Google News?

In a way, have users started filtering their content without using the same gateways to information that they utilized when they accessed information through the web? So is my Apple/ Android OS my portal to the web? What exactly am I missing here?

Note: As mentioned, this does not pertain to one-off searches. For that there is no other place than Google

Updates: Additional Reading

The App State of Mind

Mobile Apps: The Ultimate Threat to Search Engines?

Cloud vs. Handsets/ Carriers….the debate continues

Cloud Computing. Credit: News and Reviews

While I’ve talked about apps distributed through handset vs. apps through carriers, never really got into cloud vs. proprietary. Basically, it means that should there even be a more distributor channel for apps which means downloading applications only available through one handset provider or only through one carrier. For the uninitiated, simply put, cloud computing is where the handset sits as an input-output/ communication device while the processing parts are managed by a central server. This would be equivalent to saying that you want to add the numbers 2 and 3. You type “2″, then “3″ and then “Add”. If it’s a cloud infrastructure, all these inputs are sent to a central server (Somewhere in what is called the “cloud”. It doesn’t matter where or what type of server it is. What matters is that it can be accessed and it can perform the required function) through a connection established between the handset and the server. The server looks at the “2″, “3″ and the “add” and then performs a summing operation and returns on the same connection a “5″. The handset receives this and displays it to you. If you think, this is riduculous, you’re right. But only for this level of computation. However, if you wanted to perform some statistical analysis on your handset like a mean, or a variance analysis which your handset can’t support, then this architecture comes to your aid. Leave Math. What about hard core gaming which requires an operating system to talk to? This can’t be done on a plain vanilla handset. But if the only function of the handset required was to receive you input to “jump” or “shoot” on the input side and redraw the pixels on the output side, this can lead to a credible albeit slightly shaky experience.

Where I’m coming from is that migrating to a cloud-type of architecture basically allows you to be carrier and handset agnostic. The only thing that matters is the mode of communication between the handset and the cloud. In my opinion, this is the only significant strategy of adoption of services in India. With handsets like the Nokia 1100 as one of the faster selling phones, applications for the rural market cannot depend on any functionality on the phone itself except for voice and SMS.

The Indian market has already given a thumbs-down to the iPhone frankly, the reason being value for money. Even some of the people I thought to be relatively hip have no reason to have one. And those who do have one invariably have a hacked-out one which basically negates the whole exclusivity thing with Voda and Airtel.

Developer’s point of view:

In the urban areas, the handset market is littered with Nokia, Sony, Motorola and HTC as well. And while, Nokia is the dominant market leader, it doesn’t dominate it enough to ignore all the other manufacturers while developing apps.
From the brilliant App is Crap post by Mark Suster:

- Let’s start with Google’s Android. You’ve just hired your iPhone development team for you app. They’re super busy developing a new version of your product because, guess what, Apple changed it’s terms of service to allow in-app purchasing. So you rush to develop a new monetization strategy which means rebuilding your app. It’s taking time to finish the product because you’re super expensive iPhone developers (they’re in high demand) are not as good as you like (they’re super high in demand). Should you now hire Android developers? Can your iPhone developers be good at both? Do you have enough resource to cover both?
- And that Palm Pre. I heard it’s pretty slick and Sprint seems to be pushing it really hard. I heard they have an App Store. Let’s look into it. Maybe we could ship our app and see how it does?
- Oh, wait. There’s that RIM company with the Blackberry. Should we have an app for that? They have a super relevant and high-end installed base including people like Mark Suster who never gave up his Blackberry since Apple only offers itself on a super sucky network for which their is ZERO bars of coverage at his house in Brentwood. But their browser sucks, their app environment sucks, the developer community isn’t strong. But we need device coverage, right?
- Oh, wait. I need some Microsoft OS coverage. I know Windows CE is dead despite having like a 100-year head start on Google. But Windows is now making a push with Windows 7 Mobile. Maybe we could get an application out early for that before everybody else does?
- And how about Symbian? We’re going to want to develop for all those Europeans, right? And Nokia has the Ovi Store thing, right?

And this is only the developer’s headaches. How do you manage a team making the same product? You can’t re-use classes, you can’t re-use objects and hell, you’re rebuilding the same product from ground-up. I used to fantasize about some kind of universal compiler where you right the code once for one platform and then this universal compiler would actually re-compile this code for all other platforms. But wait a minute? Isn’t that exactly what a cloud architecture does? Keeping the processing of the data, the classes, objects, methods, databases and all that jargon away from the handset? Making it a kind of a black box for the handset so that the OS on the handset (Hell, even the absence of an OS) does not affect the functionality of the application)

Customer’s point of view:
Forget compiling code, using a basic SMS delivery platform a basic handset like a Nokia 1100 could access some pretty advanced functionality since the entire the thing would be processed in the “cloud” of powerful servers. It would be in some sense a “black box” for the handset and hence, the application was handset-independent.

Second is the freedom of choice. Jason has put it so succinctly put it in his post The Case Against Apple–in Five Parts:

Apple will face a user revolt in the coming years based upon Microsoft, Google and other yet-to-be-formed companies, undercutting their core markets with cheap, stable and open devices. Apple’s legendary comeback ability will be for naught if they don’t deeply examine their anti-competitive nature.

Making great products does not absolve you from technology’s cardinal rule: Don’t be evil.

It also doesn’t save you from Scarface’s cardinal rule: Never get high on your own supply.

Interesting times. While VAS in India has been dominated by ring-back tones and Missed call alert services, the VAS market has not seen the real relevant services being pushed. The real useful ones haven’t yet reached critical mass partially in terms of usability issues and partly in terms of the revenue model. Now, that voice and SMS are really going the commodity way, and data hasn’t picked up fast enough to replace the voice and SMS revenues, now there should a push towards maturing this service/ business model.

Let’s play !

Link: Innovative products by independent designers

Credit: PC World

Interesting Link: 16 Apple Products We Can Only Dream About

or maybe Apple will find one or some of these products interesting enough to turn into a viable product with all the design and engineering goodness that makes a product an Apple product

Apple executing a DRM?(dirty, rotten maneuvers)

Credit: Esarcasm

Well, I’m not exactly an Apple fanboy (yet) but I can imagine a lot of people being pissed off over this report by the New York Times: Apple Wouldn’t Risk Its Cool Over a Gimmick, Would It?. It all concerns a patent application filed by Apple to control the freezing or the un-freezing of an operating system based on the response over an advertisement. From the patent filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office:

1. A computer-implemented method for operating a device, the method comprising:disabling a function of an operating system in a device;presenting an advertisement in the device while the function is disabled; andenabling the function in response to the advertisement ending.

Interesting? I could infer that:

1. Apple or the developer could reserve the right to display ads against a product or service.

2.These ads cannot be skipped a.k.a. Tivo-style

3. And this is the key point. Based on the response to the advertisement by the user, the product or service could be launched or frozen from use.

Well, LOL ! I can’t imagine Apple would really try one of these on its customers. It’s one thing to push your ability to control your user’s experience. This is just crossing the line ! So what could be the other reasons?

1. Prevent anyone else from patenting such an absurd concept. Apple and Steve Jobs then become the knight in shining armor.
2. Let the developer decide if he wants to use it. If he does, then Apple takes a higher revenue share.
3. Apple gets selective over which products it has the right to use this technology on. Given, it’s harsh stand on Google products, this could be a way of pushing back.
4. Maybe, delivery of free content or an extended period of use if you purchase something through an ad. Basically, buy this product and you could get the demo version for another 45 days or get the complete version free !
5. All theories or maybe something like “Watch ads for 30 days and get this software free !”
6. Or demo for 30 days after that, you have to watch ads and answer Q’s to use the software. Else you could just buy it.

Man, really if this is launched, it’s going to create one more point of battle between Apple and the hackers who constantly subvert Apple’s software.

Further reading:
Apple patents anti-user attention-complianceware
Re: our patent application for an evil advertising scheme

The App(le) Economy

Warning: This may be a post that's heard across blogs too many times before but I just feel that it needs to be said again

No matter how many times I think about it and no matter how many times I read about it, the apps economy still blows my mind. The Apple Telecom Group (The iPhone + iTunes + App store) is a gift that just keeps on giving.
The statistics are mind boggling by themselves: 7 million handsets in Q3 of 2009 giving it a 17.1% share of the net adds in the quarter.

More importantly, Apple has used its experience in the personal computer industry + selling songs through the iTunes store in a very unique way:

• First it created an extremely cool product – the iPhone (the equivalent of a Mac). People flocked to it and called it the Jesus Phone.
• Then they used its brilliant user interface, sexy looks and the lure of a REAL operating system to attract developers to build for the iPhone, albeit only after a lot of protests (the equivalent of getting Adobe and Microsoft to develop content for the Mac)
• Set up the iTunes store such that they get a piece of the pie for every app sold (unheard of the PC industry but definitely heard of the in the iPod-iTunes world)
• Let developers spread the word about the applications oh which is available for the iPhone
• And finally, using this very same plethora of apps to attract customers to its iPhone thus completing the vicious (or positive enforcement) cycle

It’s kinda like how Gillette sells the razors relatively cheap in order to sell many units of the more expensive blades. Except that in the Apple world, both are expensive

When you read articles like these on the Web, it gives you an idea of the phenomenal advantage that Apple has juiced out from its App Store. These are the statistics from Brad Kellett for the App store. A 165% growth rate between June 11, 2008 and May 25, 2009. See graph below:

Daily new apps released in 11 months

Break up of downloads for each price point

It’s easy to see why Dwyan Tweney says he’s not shifting to Droid despite all its amazing features. Beyond the hardware keyboard and the weight (really, are they even reasons?), the main reasons is losing out on two apps he usually uses. TWO APPS ! And there are 57,000 apps out there.
Now, Apple has obviously lost out on India and Africa (where the main telecom action lies) with a relatively lukewarm reception in China (highest population). Nokia dominates India. Now is the only time that Nokia has to lick its wounds and really really build up its Ovi store. Too bad they shut down their N-Gage store. They could really exploit its potential with 3G looming in the (distant?) horizon. Now is the time to really build applications that these developing nations can use to their advantage.  And people in these countries don’t want a iFart app. They just want extreme (and man, I mean extreme) value for money. Nokia has already invested $70 million in Obopay. Products and investments like these need to be really pushed to customers.

Secondly, there are some significant dischordant noises made by the developer community about Apple’s seemingly random procedures for approving or rejecting apps. There is only one company that stands to gain from all this. If Google is able to launch its Android OS on a much larger range of handsets (including displacing Nokia’s old and tired Symbian OS) and build a much more developer-friendly store, it can stop Apple dead in its tracks. I still feel, however, that Google ads may not really work in a mobile environment. Will justify this statement in another post. However, it all depends on how Google can migrate the simplicity of its Internet products onto its Android platform and tie-up with Nokia.

Can profiles be used to control stealing of media?

Image Credit: The Telegraph

Let’s talk copyright: One of the main bones of contention between the RIAA and the “pirates” is the ability to move music from one player to another. While the “pirates” claim that as long as a person purchases the music, he is free to move the content between any of his own devices. (Obviously, moving to another’s device is stealing). The practical problem is that there is no way to determine one person’s device from another. Apple tried this initially by allowing one iPod to connect to only one PC/ Apple computer and no more. However, this was not a satisfactory option for people with more than one PC (work, home). It didn’t take long for software like Ephpod, ImToo and my personal favorite Floola to crack this restriction open. Then came Sony with its DRM-based CDs and we all know how that went. So the key question is: How do we distinguish between two players owned by two different people? A Profile, perhaps? Are you getting where I’m coming from?

The ideal scenario would be the creation of a global, universal profile. So when I purchase some item, the purchase is not made by a person but by a profile. Similarly, any device (music players, DVD downloads, etc.) are mapped to a profile. So let’s say both I have three PCs, one Apple PC, one iPod and one iPhone (Don’t I wish!). Now, each of these devices will contain my profile. Hence, any song I download from iTunes (under that profile) can be played on any other device that is mapped to my profile. However, if someone else logs in using his profile, he will no longer be able to play songs that I downloaded. So simply put, all devices carrying my profile can play songs / videos / movies that my profile has purchased. However, if another profile on the same device is activated, I will not be in a position to share those files. Similarly, if my profile is deleted from one device, those songs will no longer be playable (or playable if I create another profile with the same login, I’m not sure of the risks in that). One device can have multiple profiles stored and one profile can be stored on multiple devices.

Now, I’m going to slightly divert a bit to the description of Bill Gates’ home as he has in his book: The Road Ahead. While the Gates’ home is not just spacious, it is quite electronically advanced. One point of interest was the electronic pin he provides for each of his guests. The electronic pin is worn by the person and the data in the pin helps the home identify that particular person’s needs and interests.

From the book:

”As you walk down a hallway, you might not notice the lights ahead of you gradually coming up to full brightness and the lights behind you fading. Music will move with you…. A movie or the news will be able to follow you around the house, too. If you get a phone call, only the handset nearest you will ring.”

He goes on to explain how different music would be played at any point in the house would be played based on the profile in the electronic pin.

Now, back to the future. What about a similar scenario in today’s home? We have Pandora (free internet radio) which can be played by a multitude of players. Couple that with a Sonos player (multi-room player) and we have a similar scenario. Except that the profile would be stored only on Pandora or Sonos. Further, music played would only be based on purchases / subscriptions by one profile only. So while I can’t play songs between two different profiles, I could play songs on two different systems across two different countries on the same profile. Similarly, let’s say by mistake I delete a particular song in my list. If iTunes permits, I should able to download the same song free for a given time-period (again only on my profile).

Cons of the this:

1. Unless the profiles contain some serious confidential information such as credit card details or something like a social security number, people will happily share profiles.

2. Profiles can be hacked: Strong controls and security around profiles is a must.

3. What if the same person has multiple profiles: Obviously, the current model does not allow him to transfer songs between profiles. Will this cause customer dissatisfaction

4. Who will the key to the authentication mechanism? I know I keep coming to this but can a mobile have a password safe where for each site, it stores the account details in an encrypted fashion? Can this be integrated with Pandora, Sonos, Ebay, Amazon, ITunes and what have you or would it slip back to the customer having to login each time he wants to play songs.

5. All devices will have to make accomodations to allow for subscriber profiles. For a fact, I know that iPod doesn’t have such a feature but can the iTunes allow for it?

This could really be something amazing on the same profiling platform that I’ve talked about earlier

The problems with open source

He may be fake that doesn’t make him less brilliant:

So here is the issue with Android

The Trouble with Android – II

Another one: A chink in Android’s armor

Will weigh in soon