Seniors and Mobile- Make It Easy To Use And They Will Come

I was pretty elated when I saw her eyes lit up on how easy it was for her to send emails, initiate video chats, and, of course, advance through the early stages of Angry Birds.

All this was done on the iPhone. And yeah, the iPhone is legendary for its ease of use. The simplistic UI just works.

I think the folks, like my mom, aunts and uncles, are an unserved population in the mobile market. I would like to see Google and HP examine their OS and products and honestly see how they fit in for the boomers.

And despite the global economy in the pits, this group have quite a bit of money.

My mom had even using her iPhone for years and iPad for almost a year now. She used it for just about everything she previously needed a PC for. And she never goes anywhere without one or more of her iOS devices.

And more and more, I see folks with smart phones. No, let me correct that. I see more of them with iPhones and anyone else who want to get in on it, they need to go back to the drawing board and rethink their whole strategy.

Right now, Blackberry OS is not even close to being user friendly in general. Android is subject to carrier and developer changes and I don't see anything on the market that is good for seniors. Nor is Windows Phone 7 or Web OS. The iOS's icon based UI and sliding menus work.


Note: Once the new iPhone 5 is out on other networks, I will be moving my mom and her friends away from ATT. They are just not consumer friendly.


-- Post From My iPad

AT&T: You Suck And You're Gonna Get Hit So Hard When iPhone 5 Comes Out

For years, we suffered at the hands of ATT's draconian rule because they were the only one we can get the iPhone from.  But it was not just the bad signals, dropped calls, and lies but it was also the stupid charges here and there.

My credit card was compromised back in December.  It was also used for auto-pay for our iPhone accounts as well as our T-Mobile plans.  After reporting suspicious activities on there, all charges to the card were stopped.

Now, maybe it was my bad that I didn't update the information with all the companies I use that card to make payments with but all of them were understandable about one missed payment that was quickly rectified once I received e-mail notifications.  

Except one.  You got it.  Our iPhone overlord, ATT.  Not only that, they proceeded to charge me $40 for some kind of penalty.  Seriously, WTF?!

All I know is that we're moving away from ATT for all things.  I'm happy with my WiMax access and my security company can use other means to contact my home security system.  Adios, ATT for home use.  And certainly, ATT can say good bye to our business lines.  I am just itching to call them up and rid my life of this horrible company.

And I am sure a lot of my fellow mobile users are the same boat.  And you know what, we might just see some preview of the mass exodus when Apple releases the iPad 2 next week.  We'll see how many people sign up with Verizon instead of ATT.  It's too bad because I really like T-Mobile and I would certainly move our iPad plan over to T-Mobile and cancel my ATT access. 

Because ATT sought fit to screw me over $40 for a late charge that no one else is, they stand to lose over $55K in combined services over 12 months I've gotten rid of and and will soon be.  In the grand scheme of things, it's not much to a multi-billion dollar company but the thing is, I'm not the only one. 

No matter what Wall Street is saying about ATT's stock, I, for one, will not be buying into it in the coming months.

SSD Coming Along But Still Expensive

It's taken a while but solid state drives, SSD, are coming nicely. What I mean is that I see them more and more as an option from the major PC makers.

Everyone from Dell to HP to Apple, its MacBook Air being very popular over the Holidays and demand has not let up, are using them as a premium add-on.

Now we are seeing SSD sizes at more affordable prices. Not only that, the drives are bigger. Still, I am not quite ready to pluck down $1,500 to $2,000 for a 480GB drive.

For that kind of money, it would be more economical to get a whole new laptop. Say a MacBook Air with 256 GB or storage.

So what is in your laptop or MacBook? Have you moved onto a SSD or consider making the move in the near future?




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

Mobile Payment Is Coming In A Big Way

The mainstream media has not caught on to it yet and I've talked about it here from time to time. But be prepared to be bombarded with tons of media reports, blogs, tweets, and e-mails about it in the coming weeks or months.

At week at the Mobile World Congress, near field communication, NFC, was being talked about as if it is the next holy grail of mobile. And to a follower of mobile happenings like myself, this is a big thing. In as few words as possible, NFC allows payments be made through mobile devices.

Think of this as what you can already do at Starbucks. You can order and pay through the app. Well, this will happen in a much much better way. There are a couple of devices on the market with NFC capability, specifically, Google's Nexus S. But as with some technology, being first doesn't mean much.

However, it is largely expected that Apple's next iOS hardware updates, including the next iPhone, will support mobile payment. And I expect an explosion of next generation Android devices to support this as well.

I really recommend reading up on it because just about everyone from your bank, credit card, wireless providers, and hardware companies will be getting in on this lucrative new business. Oh, and retailers would love this as well.

Also, there are also security concerns you'll need to be aware of.

So get ready media and ad blitz coming our way. I'll be devoting much much more attention than I have in the past. I started talking about almost two years ago, pointing the ease that the Japanese users have been able to enjoy with paying through their cell phones for years.

It'll be our turn soon.

It's Official: iPad 2 Announcement Coming on March 2nd

Here it is folks. The moment you've been waiting for. Apple is due to officially unveil iPad 2 next week, March 2nd.




Here is one bit of speculation on my part. There has been talk that Apple has already shipped some crates of new merchandise to its stores and retailers. The speculation is that they are new updated MacBooks.

But what if they're not? Could they be iPad 2 units instead?

More at World of Apple.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

Bloggers Just Refuse To Face Facts About Apple's Subscription Plans - Trashing Apple Better For Business

This is my comment response to another uninformed post with a click-bait headline.  This time, it's from one of my favorite site about ebook and publishing, Teleread. Their headline is "Steve Jobs muddies Apple subscription waters further with 'clarification'". 

I've been reading a lot about the Apple subscription issue so I can gain a better understanding of what Apple is trying to do and where the grievances are.  After all, isn't that the best way to go about getting a handle on things?  

When I first read that Apple would take 30% of all subscriptions, I was flabbergasted.  30%!  Piracy!  As it turned out, this is way below Amazon's 70% cut on Kindle subscriptions.  Publishers are not concerned about that.  What they are not happy about is that Apple still will not share with them the vast and rich treasure trove that is the iTunes ecosystem that Apple spent the better part of the last decade creating.

Here goes:

How did Steve Jobs' e-mail muddying things up?  I thought it was exceptionally clear.  This is especially tru ewith respect to Readability.

Readability became a publisher of sort when it decided to become an aggregator of published media, posts, columns, articles and it sells them as a subscription.  If instapaper, Evernote, or anyone else tries to become active participants in distribution of content, their apps will be coming publishing apps.  Dropbox can eventually enter in their service as well and the Dropbox app will too become a publishing app.

And yes, if Twitter or Facebook starts to charge for tweets/posts/articles, they'll need to fork over 30% of their subscription revenues and it would be a pretty good biz for them and gladly give Apple its cut because they're not even doing it now.  As a matter of fact, all the above mentioned companies with apps should maybe think about getting into this business because it's a revenue stream they currently do not have.  

And there will not be any antitrust issues beyond preliminary probes - Readability needs to get a lawyer and he or she will tell them they've got no case.  Basically, Readability tried to game the system and failed

Bottomline: Publishers aren't complaining about the 30% cut (Amazon takes/took 70% cut from publishers - where's the outrage?).  Bloggers are (see note below for why that is).  What publishers are not happy about is the opt-in part about subscribers sharing personal information so they can sell that information and spam their subscribers. Readability came up with a biz plan that doesn't not work within the framework and going public in this manner is their last resort.

What's not clear is what this means for Netflix, Hulu, and other music subscriptions.  But I hope they are exempted.  I'm sure Best Buy, Amazon, and the few other smart service providers who aren't going around trying to trash Apple in public are trying to work things out with Apple.  

Here is the original Macrumors about the Steve Jobs e-mail.

Note:  Here's the thing, my fellow mobile warriors.  Trashing Apple is a good way for bloggers to get folks to click onto their sites.  It gets people fired up on both sides of the issue.  Writing about the facts doesn't bring in the clicks but it doesn't require leaving the moral compass at home.  So if and when Apple screws over Netflix or the music apps, I'll be back to vilify Steve and company.  Now, that would help me gain readers!

iPad As My Newspaper and Novel - Sunday Morning Experience

I went to a Sunday brunch at Souplantation. It was the first relaxing Sunday I've had in months. Left any mean for others to get in touch with me, I decided Sunday morning was fine.

But I needed something to read why I had my breakfast. Instead, of the Sunday papers, I decided to take the iPad. Okay, so it was a device for someone to get in touch with me But it was Sunday morning. I know fees people who wakes up before noon.

How did the iPad work as a replacement for the papers?

Are you playing games. That was what some bratty kid, who sat in the next booth, wanted to know. No I answered. I was reading the newspaper.

I got a weird look and she never bothered me after that.

And I was. I started with The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's new news venture for the iPad. It was okay. I started reading an article from the day before while it downloaded the day's "papers". After a while, it just crashed. I was not able to working after that.

So I moved onto The Project. It was okay in that the app worked better than The Daily. But I was not able to download the latest issue because it would not let me download the latest issue through 3G. So I read over some old stuff.

At that point, I could have moved onto the browser for news but I decided it was time to move into a book. I fired up the Nook app and continued reading the zombie book that I left off of on the iPod touch. Muy impressivo, I though to myself. The app synced and automatically bookmarked my previous spot. Nice.
At that point, I was ready for some more OJ and eggs. Unlike a book or newspaper, I could not just leave my iPad on table. There wasn't all that many people around but I didn't want to tempt fate. So I took it with me.

I read a couple more chapters. It felt really natural. This was not the first time I read a novel on a mobile device. I have been reading on a mobile device since Palm was owned by US Robotics. But the 9.7" screen was a much better read. And it was indoor so there was no issue with glares.

Over all, I am very impressed and happy with the experience.

And if millions of users are just as content as I was using the iPad for reading news and books, publishers, beware. Whether it's Apple, Google, or someone else's subscription plans, the old days are finished. Embrace the future, guys. Innovate.

More and more folks will be continue to read Sunday papers but it won't be on papers. It will be on the iPad and other tablets.


-- Post From My iPad