I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
Is the iPhone a significant device? After a couple of days in Silicon Valley - I think so.
Firstly, they are everywhere. The table next to us at breakfast in the hotel, at Buck’s, in the car, at the beach, at dinner. In a large country they are a personal information tool. If you want to find a shop, a gas station, parking, what band is playing whatever - the iPhone comes out. And it works.
But what really hit me was how the iPhone plays a part in conversations. When you look around the cafe’s the iPhones are out. Initially the iPhone was the subject of conversation, how to use it, what doesn’t work well, what they could do better but then it changes to ‘have you seen …’, ‘what do you think of ..’, ‘here are some photos …’
The iPhone extends the conversation and what amazed me was - it is social. You pass it around, show video, email links between each other. It creates an immediacy of sharing information and tips.
I also noticed that iPhone behavior changes once you move from the carrier network to wifi. Almost everywhere we stopped there was free wifi. As soon as the iPhone user had free wifi then the iPhone was out and being used in conversation.
Many companies have fully embraced the iPhone. Facebook have developed an iPhone specific interface. I’m not a Facebook user but some of the younger guys were right into it and surfing new photos from friends and just catching up whenever they got a connection.
The YouTube videos are excellent quality and a great way to see information. We spent a lot of downtime passing videos around.
It is a great consumer device, but the lack of enterprise email means that it’s not there for me yet. I still want the BlackBerry Curve. The iPod Touch, however makes a lot of sense. They are quite a bit thinner than the iPhone. They are for sale now but the shops run out as soon as they come in. I’ll try again tomorrow to get one.
The iPod Touch is not so much an iPod but a wireless, palm sized, personal information tool.
For this to work in New Zealand we need wifi ubiquity. Cafes will be choosen for wifi availability. Networks will be choosen for price and ease of authentication. I hope CafeNet get into it as if it becomes easy to connect then I think we’ll see a big change in usage.
The iPhone/Touch really feels like a breakthrough device that puts the internet in your pocket.
There are so many opportunities. If you have an online strategy, I think you need to think about the iPhone/Touch.
I think it’s a game changer.
blog
A little evangelical Rod ;-)
Lets agree that the iPhone is the first step in creating a game changer
Maybe?
I don’t want an iPhone, I want an iTouch.
I’m reporting my observation on iPhone usage in it’s home turf. I’ve seen a lot of technology over the years and am convinced that the ‘iPhone/Touch as a personal information device’ is a fundmental breakthrough.
It’s small enough, fast enough and easy to use enough to be a device that breaks into non technology social interaction.
That creates opportunity. That is exciting.
If we don’t put the infrastructure in place (low cost wifi, easy authentication) and layer services over the top - we’ll miss that opportunity in New Zealand.
Well Rod I have to bend to your more experienced and connected viewpoint (not to mention that you’ve actually witnessed iDevice’s in theri home environment (actually they’re probably made in China but you get my drift.
I still reckon that it’s volution rather than revolution but we’ll know in a decade or two
Have a safe return journey!
I knew that iPhones were becoming ubiquitous when at BurningMan this year I saw them being used to drive people’s sound systems at our neighborhood bar out on the dusty/dirty playa - not something you’d do with some precious toy but something you’d do with a tool you can’t do without ….
The kids want Touches for xmas this year (we’ll see how they do in their exams this year - positive reinforcements are always a good thing) …. however it’s going to depend …. Apple have frozen out those of us who don’t/can’t use iTunes - changed the on-disk format so that other apps can’t write the database - we’re a linux-only household so without a native iTunes or support for the apps like Amarok that we use today an iTouch is basically a rock
Rod, before we get the Wi-Fi cafes and infrastructure we need Vodafone to drop the prices for accessing online services.
I use a BB8700 and wonder why you think the Curve is so good. Other than the obvious camera and gps enhancements.
I saw an article in a UK magazine which says Apple encrypts the persons name on each iTune you download so they can potentially link the tune back to who bought it.
Well took a few days but they cracked the new iPod database checksum - looks like the kids are getting iTouches - modulo exam results ….
I have the iphone unlocked to work on the Vodafone 021 network. currently i reside in Auckland New Zealand and everywhere i go i seem to get free internet on my iphone. This is amazing. No other phone/palm has done this before.
And i’m surfing the net for free on my iphone ( Right now ):-)
25mins seems to be a repeatable time for the iPhone software hack. Be interesting to see if the 1.1 update overrides it.
Rod
I’ve got a Nokia N95 which also has wifi on it and it’s fantastic ! In saying that as soon as the Iphone is launched in NZ I’ll be the first in the queue. I also want to be able to join these conversations you talk about :)
For those downtime moments … iTouch and Xero, reconciling those bank transactions …
Rod said…
I also noticed that iPhone behavior changes once you move from the carrier network to wifi.
Yes, that is mobile Context Awareness (CA), the device is aware of its environment (location-wise or content-wise context) where its behavior changes according to its context. Researches and publications for context awareness in mobile computing that uses machine learning have increased over recent years. I have come across publications (machine learning), where they described that mobile device awareness capability is going to be the norm over coming years.
Some of those publication in context & location awareness techniques are available here, and I am surprised to see the use of LSI (latent semantic indexing) that is described here, (a popular content search engine technique in todays commercial environment) being applied in the domain of mobile awareness. They are now being used in RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) item tracking.
Is this revolutionary?
Algorithmic-wise? No, since most algorithms are existing ones (apart from some tweaks or improvements over existing ones), except that they are being applied in this domain for the first time. There is no doubt that there will be new algorithms emerging from R&D in the future, but currently, I haven’t seen anything completely new.
Technological-wise? IMO, I say yes, because this sort of capability (commercial implementation) is new and we’re going to see more of this in the future. Imagine at day in the future, that you walk into a restaurant (provided they adopt this technology or subscribe to such service), and a message pops up in your mobile device showing what today’s special available in the menu , or you walk-in to your local super-market and a message pops up that list all the items you might like that are currently on sales or discount? The device just being aware of where you are. Sounds like a futuristic plot from a scifi movie Minority Report, but I think it will come, sooner or later .
“what amazed me was - it is social. You pass it around, show video, email links between each other. It creates an immediacy of sharing information and tips.”
that’s a keen observation. I had friends over the other night and our conversation revolved around the iphone. Covering such things as photos and interesting youtube flicks.
I’ve written a short review that has a similar observation as yours.
http://www.manageability.org/blog/stuff/iphone-social-do-matter
Thanks Carlos, you nail it with this
Iphone is now on sale here locally through this website http://www.nziphone.co.nz
I got mine from them, the price is amazingly cheaper comparing with other local seller.