Ampers & Dot

A year back I wrote a post about my 2009 Tech Resolutions. Well what’s the point of resolutions if I’m not accountable for them? So today I want to look back and see how well I did. Then, assuming I don’t get too depressed from my ‘09 performance, I’ll make a few new resolutions for the upcoming year. Let’s dive right in:

2009 Resolutions:

• Keep better control over my RSS feeds. This is a big win for me. Over 2009 I was much more flexible with my RSS feeds, in that I cut off of feeds that were too noisy (or too stale) and added feeds that were either more personally focused or specifically relevant. This has made my RSS reader cleaner and easier to manage, while delivering better content than ever.
• Help at least five people quit AOL. I helped three. So that’s not too bad.
• Make 40-50% of tweets replies. I just checked and I’m around 25-30%, about half my goal. It’s a good wake-up-call to see this resolution and something I’m going to try at again.
• Sign up at least three friends to Twitter. I likely helped sign up 20+ people in ‘09, so this was a nice over-performance. Though with mainstream media’s constant spotlight on Twitter, this was fish in a barrel.
• Contribute more in online Forums. Huge failure here. If I contributed 5% in ‘08, then I was likely at 2% in ‘09… I’ll need to keep working on this one.
• Buy ZERO computers. Another big failure. Enough said.
• Redesign my website. Potentially the biggest failure on the list. This will remain a priority in ‘10 (see below).
• Use more features of Facebook and LinkedIn. A small success! In 2009 I started using these networks much, much more. I’m still no power-user, but I’ve uploaded pictures, kept my profile current, and interacted with friends and colleagues.
• Write more conversational blog posts. Another moderate success! I definitely wrote significantly fewer posts in ‘09 (as predicted) but my post-to-comment ration went from 1:2.4 to 1:3.1 - I’m proud of that and would like to keep seeing that number climb.

That’s a relatively successful year! So here’s what I’m planning for 2010:

• Buy ZERO computers. None. Not even one…
• Redesign my website. Just do it. (Ok, now on to new ones:)
• Drop to one Netflix disc. I started 2009 with three discs, but thanks to Netflix Instant (and Xbox 360 integration) I’ve been able to cut back to two. Netflix Instant is an amazing feature and I plan to rely on it only more this year. This will be pretty contingent on Netflix adding more available instant movies, but I don’t see that being too big a problem.
• Evangelize the cloud. I’ve begun relying on Microsoft’s Live Mesh and it’s amazing. Syncing files between multiple computers (between work, home desktop, home laptops, etc (see resolution #1)) Mesh has changed my life. With that and Dropbox, I aim to set up friends and family with these tools - to rely less on faulty external harddrives and more on online options.
• Be more open minded about mobile OS preferences. In 2009 I blogged a LOT about Windows Mobile, some about Android, and a little about BlackBerry… oh, and just a little about the iPhone. I mentioned Palm’s Web OS twice and Symbian almost never. In 2010 I can’t imagine losing interest in Windows Mobile - but I’d like to get more involved with other platforms too as this will help me perfect my mobile expertise. For example, there were dozens of complaints about the iPhone that I didn’t even know about until I got one…
• Engage more online. This is a bit of a leftover from last year, but with greater context. I want to interact with followers more on Twitter, friends on Facebook, connections on LinkedIn, comment more on blogs I read, and answer more questions in forums. The whole point of social media is the “social” part - time for me to contribute more.

So that’s it. Let’s see how well I do.

Have a happy and techy 2010!

A few months ago a colleague of mine at Forrester published a report claiming that “The Smartphone is Dead” (clients only). The argument, with which I fully agree, is that as even the dumbest of phones gains “smart” features and functions, the concept of a dichotomous world of “smart” and “dumb” phones makes no sense.

It’s a fantastic report and has a great series of recommendations on what this means for the broader scope for Consumer Product Strategists, and I was reminded of the research when I saw this YouTube video (in German, which might actually help its cause):

Oh, so your phone has an App for that? Well this phone has hardware for that. Now is this a “smart” phone, or a really dumb idea?

Ok, sure this is a joke, but it brings up a good (and hilariously animated) point: how much function do we really need in our phones? At what point are we overly depending on a single device? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all about convergence, but how much convergence is too much?

It’s like TV/VCR/DVD combos. How many of these out there still have three functioning parts? My guess is that over 80% of them have at least one of the three components in a less-than-functional state. And once one component breaks, then you either a) have to replace all three or b) have to replace part of it with an additional device giving you a big clunking TV/VCR/DVD connected to a DVD player.

But then there’s the other side of this argument: what if your device only does one thing and instead of a converged device, you carry many devices? I know people who carry one phone for calls, a BlackBerry for emails, and an iPod for media. This isn’t so crazy, right? Well thanks to smarter devices, it seems a little crazier now than ever before.

Converged devices, like the iPhone, have gained so much popularity because of their ability to eliminate the need for carrying multiple gadgets. Maybe a converged Phone, VCR, Toaster, Car-Charger, Printer, etc. is indeed in our future. So what does this do to the market? Mainly, I think it makes single-function devices considerably less attractive in the broader landscape of gadgets.

If, in the future, cell phones have image-stabilized, 12mp, zoomable cameras - we won’t need point-and-shoots. If laptops integrated 3G connections better, would we need MiFis? If phones have 3D, graphics accelerated gaming - would we need Gameboys? (Apple’s hoping the answer is “No”.) And if cell phones have SMS, email, or web connectivity, would we need a Twitter Peek - a device that only does Twitter? Well… no.

And that’s my point. Single-function devices are in trouble as converged devices take over consumer’s pockets. Will we ever get to a point where our phones make toast? I sure hope so. But in the meantime I think three things make sense: 1) only converge functions that naturally fit together, 2) don’t buy any converged device that integrates VHS, and 3) be leery of single-function devices.

The smartphone may be dead - but I look forward to seeing what new smart features converge in future devices.