Google v/s Microsoft v/s Apple

Here is an excellent analysis of Google's lessons from Apple. Some dissection of the same follows:

• Google realizes that typing in search terms is so last century. When there are dedicated apps for recipes (epicurious), restaurants (yelp), news (nytimes) why will I go to Safari's google search box and search? Clearly how we look at information access is changing and the iPhone (and the iTunes ecosystem) is surely a huge paradigm shifter.
  
• Taking a few pages from Apple's strategy cheat-sheet, Google is now attempting to control the user experience (by working on the phone's software). This is very similar to Apple's attempt with hardware to control user experience directly (the PC-MAC debate).
• While I understand the PC-MAC debate well, the numbers tell a different story. PC's reign supreme in offices, factories and even homes. I think where this story becomes different is in the consumer market, where it's all about the user experience. It's obvious that if my app. on my iPhone looked like a mid-90's Windows client with dreary grays and solid black lines, I would not even glance at that app.
• And finally, for people with short-term memory loss, another pre-iPhone world scenario to set you thinking some more. While on this subject, I'm still not convinced that the Nexus is doing great. But then again, I might just have to eat my words up, just like the iPhone naysayers.
  

Future of Media

Watching this and other wonderful videos on the future of media, and how transformative this experience is going to be gives me the goose-bumps. I've been thinking about this subject for a long time now, no doubt fueled by the secrecy and rumors around the iPad. Its release in April is going to invite many such discussions, and the future ahead is so exciting.

• How does Adobe fit into this media? No doubt - with a huge push from the Intel AppStore.
• Traditional print-media advertisers will need to switch/employ many more techies. After all, it would be a shame to just view a picture of a product and see a nice blurb about it, when what the consumer really wants is to flip the product 360 degrees and view it at all angles.
• Developers/advertising gurus would love to see a user-friendly SDK to make this happen - I know programming on the iPhone is not exactly a cake-walk - but building in Flex is quite easy. Will the tool-builders define who "wins"?
  
• Is the book really dead? I refuse to believe it is; it will again depend on how compelling the subscription model is.
• Interesting as always, how Google will picture into all this? Is it already an also-ran? (I say - not quite so fast).
  

What Matters Now!

Very insightful and inspiring ideas to jumpstart your day.

My favorite: "Don’t worry too much about getting things done. Make things happen."

Black Ink - Unexpected Necessities

While on the subject of Japanese products, there is a small store in Harvard Square called "Black Ink". This store has a fascinating range of beautifully designed products ranging from stylish tea pots to drinking straw kits (where you can connect drinking straws with bright-orange connectors) to fragrant color pencils (these pencils are the real deal - cinnamon does smell like cinnamon and not a toxic). Needless to say, most of these products are Japanese and make for excellent gift ideas. I mean which kid doesn't want to scribble with watermelon flavored pencils? (On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to encourage my baby to eat all her stationery).

The tiny store is also very dog-friendly, and there seems to be a resident beagle for all you dog-lovers out there. No points for guessing that there are quite a few innovative pet products as well. If you happen to be in the area, do check out the store. You won't leave empty-handed!

Maximizing Space

Barcodes grace almost every product for sale. Given how much package real estate they command, why shouldn't they look cool? Click here for the fascinating article. Go Japan!

Lego marries Kirigami

This link needs no translation. Absolutely love the way the Lego blocks are used with paper cut-outs to make 3D models of crocodiles, Christmas cards and caterpillars. Nicely packaged too. I think I can by-pass the product, and make these products - all I need is a good ol' punch, some Lego pieces and some colorful card paper.

G1 : iPhone :: PC : Mac :: ugly : pretty

The NY Times had a lot of articles related to the G-1 yesterday. [link here]. This is my 2cents on the debate: most end-users (unless you hail from geekdom) do not care about a lot of features. The iPod convinced everyone that an MP3 player need not have treble and bass adjustments, cataloging features. The mantra I'm trying to stick to these days in product management is:

"More Features = More Clutter = More Features that you will not use"

The "G1 : iPhone :: PC : Mac" analogy seems to hold well, with one major flaw - that a PC (reduced to an appliance these days) did not have to be cool...but it's imperative to have a mobile device that is, especially in the smart-phone world where people are willing to actually spend for a phone and pay a hefty monthly Internet fee.

Apple, with the iPhone has got everything right and all that it will take to keeping the winnings from this round is another $50 price cut right in time for either this holiday season, or the next summer.

Coming soon in an Apple store near you: iPhone in 3 different metallic colors - green, blue and pink!

P.S: Google founders should stop trying so hard to be cool. They made an entry on the stage on roller-blades. Seriously, unless the roller-blades had GPS tracking balls that accepted directions, who cares!