Month: August 2008

First off, I really like my iphone 3g. I’m glad I upgraded and haven’t touched my blackberry since my purchase.

But there are three things bugging me abou the iphone 3g (I can live with shortcomings that Thomas Hawk listed in his post today).

1. I use the browser all the time. But the browser has this limit of 8 open “pages” or tabs. If you click on a link in email and happen to have 8 pages open you will see this error message:

The workaround? Click OK, then you then have to launch the browser, close a page, go back to the email and then click on the link. Blech.

2. Can’t search email. This really hurts.

3. Software is slow. There seems to be a delay switching between apps. The 2.0.1 update helped out a lot especially with the address book but it’s still sluggish at times.

Companies have a choice when they decide to open up their network/product or keep it closed.

For a long time many companies were giving us the false choice, namely:

“Do you want an open system that may be prone to bugs, security risks, lack of incentives or a closed system that is polished and works reliably.”

We heard that false choice again and agin. Mainframes vs PC, walled garden vs open web, carriers and set top box manufacturers.

That is what Apple first asked when they shipped the first version of the iphone. Their answer at the time was basically “We are keeping this phone closed and that is for your own good”.

With the arrival of the Apple App Store it’s now clear that open beats closed. All day long.

And that is true when it comes to networks, consumer electronics, and web services.

I was reading Techdirt earlier today and this quote from Prof Felton at Princeton struck a chord with me:

Generally, the closer a system is to being open, the more practical autonomy end users will have to control it, and the more easily unauthorized third-party apps can be built for it. An almost-open system must necessarily be built by starting with an open technical infrastructure and then trying to lock it down; but given the limits of real-world lockdown technologies, this means that customers will be able to jailbreak the system.

In short, nature abhors a functionality vacuum. Design your system to remove functionality, and users will find a way to restore that functionality. Like Apple, appliance vendors are better off leading this parade than trying to stop it.

That’s one reason that I’ve put my money where my mouth is….

:)

“Market windows don’t move.”

A wise friend of mine told me this years ago and I will never forget it.

The idea is that if your product release slips in a meaningful way, you will need to think about whether that release (functionalty, updates) is still compelling at the time of release given the market window & opportunity.

It may be better to ship with something sooner that isn’t as great and add the features or functionality later. Sometimes companies will try to solve the product delay by adding a ton features and pushing the delivery date out even later.

That usually doesn’t work out well and usually there is another delay which compounds the situation. Why?

Because market windows don’t move :)

The exception to this rule is if you are creating a new market from whole cloth.

Then you are making the rules.