Saturday, May 19, 2007

The Mobility Dilemma

Everywhere I go, it seems that I can't access everything that I want for one reason or another. Whether it is my corporate Instant Messaging, my personal Instant Messaging, or watching the videos and music that I want, it just doesn't seem that easy.
The first problems are around what content I'm allowed to copy. All I know is that at some point, I've paid for content (mostly), and that I want to get it off my laptop or PC onto my MP3 player or even better, my phone.
I want to take the single device to the office, park, gym, use it at home or in the car, and be an example for seamless mobility. I just don't think the experience and the platforms are there yet.
So what can we do? Most importantly, we can develop common platforms so that it isn't so hard to create the applications that will allow us to achieve seamless mobility. Then, we might actually make some progress and be able to carry around nothing more than a drive and log in from anywhere to whatever we as consumers might want to do on the web....

Monday, May 14, 2007

The evolution of what?

Consumers are faced with enough choice. Product managers are forcing themselves to innovate along unnatural curves created by the Web 2.0 craze, an influx of fresh capital, and an incredible amount of talent that is willing to push the edge.
I have spent a lot of time looking at the evolution, but what are we trying to evolve here? The evolution is simple - product and technology companies are now moving from their own closed door policies to one of open innovation.
In the model of closed innovation, focus groups and studies are created before a product manager goes to develop their product specification. This model relies heavily on product managers as the "super user" and does not show much to the consumer.
In the model of open innovation, many insights are pulled together from the real world and product managers must factor all of these in while defining feature sets. This model relies heavily on communities talking to one another and a product manager advocating ther requirements.
Technology moves at a blinding pace, but it is clear that snap decision making is becoming more autonomous with better information and collaboration happening in the marketplace.
I can't wait to see what products and services are in store for us in the next few years. Already, our devices are starting to think for us, telling us what we need to do and when we need to do it. The question of the day is - is this what people really want?

Labels: , , , ,

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Networked Innovation

I spend a lot of time with the electronics industry and the people who improve our lives everyday with innovative products.
What I have come to realize is that the greatest ideas are simple ones with a single goal - to make people's lives better. Whether you are talking about Web 2.0 services, the latest home electronics products, or the ultimate mobile device, it rings true.
The concept of Networked Innovation is nothing new. As networks around us get faster and the services that are carried on it begin to increase, life is supposed to be getting easier by having these devices connect directly to network services.
Let's test the logic here. A digital camera lets you take and store pictures until you can get back to a computer, where you can email, upload, and print your pictures over a network. An iPod lets you listen to music and organize your music collection when you are on the go from a PC connected to a network. A TiVo lets you store programs to watch later, without living your life by the electronic program guide, scheduling recordings from a PC connected to the Internet. And the PC seems to be the hub of everything.
Innovation for the consumer is headed back towards the PC because it is the single thing that is connected to a network, easy to program, and can interact with a number of devices.
A new trend is emerging, allowing products to stand on their own two feet. Every device is connected to a number of networks, but each of these networks has their own set of rules.
Each set of rules is set by the people who use it, and this is the heart of the Web 2.0 trend, and will remain with us through Consumer 3.0.

Labels: , , ,