If Brad and Angelina had a Blackberry baby…
Measuring just over a half-inch thick and 3.1oz, RIM’s new 8100 arrival fits comfortably inside even the most design conscious pocket. The Fashion-set may however be reluctant to slip this new wonder from Waterloo out of public view. Where traditional BlackBerry genetics seemed influenced by 1940 Russian ham radios, the new Pearl looks the result of a carnal night between a young RAZR and an iMac. That such a marvel of design could be born from the corn fields of RIM is certain to spark rumors of UFOs and crop circles. The dorky RIM marketing campaign (see: rim.com) is however, proof that traditional management forces still control the company.
Details: 4.2 inches tall, 2.0 inches wide, and 0.6 inches thick. Weight:, 3.1 ounces. Camera Resolution: 1.3 Megapixels, micro-SD memory slot, mp3 player, Bluetooth.
While impressive, the details do not convey how well the device feels in the hand. The new organic keypad and latest version of “sure-type” are a reasonable prosthetic for not having a full QUERTY keyboard. The War and Peace crowd will want to wait for for the full keyboard version. Scheduled to appear in early 07, it and all future BlackBerry devices will include WiFi.
The camera and music player are an acceptable first attempt. Phone (call) quality is exceptional, as is battery life. – Email? I started using the Pearl browser to access gmail and after a week of use, still have not bothered to integrate native BlackBerry mail. - Which says as much about my laziness as the quality of the browser. Now that RIM and Verizon are making nice, rumor has it that a CDMA/EVDO version is in the works. Give me that with 802.11, and I’ll stand in line with my own $500 CDN (unsubsidized) to buy one.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
eBay, Amazon, and buggy-whips
We may never see the end of eBay and Amazon growth, but we are definitely seeing the growth rate slowing for both of these monoliths. Ever since the first computers were connected, an epic battle has raged between the centre of the network (centralized services), and the edge of the network (the personal computer).
The IBM mainframe maintained all processing in a central location, allowing users to only communicate via "thin clients" or "green-screen" terminals. The PC changed all that by giving "power to the people". That power turned out to be a double-edged sword when hard drives failed and backups got lost. The Internet pulled power away from the little guy, and gave him a web browser. Using this modern-day "thin client" he fed the ever-growing machine of centralized dotcom services like eBay and Amazon. - Often at the expense of bricks and mortar retail.
Any stock analyst will tell you that eBay and Amazon are experiencing declining growth rates. Why is that? The simple answer is that the edge of the network is now figuring out how to do what centralized monoliths held as they’re own advantage. It used to take deep pockets to integrate e-commerce gateways. You needed to buy servers, bandwidth, security policies, relationships with banks and credit card companies, and then hire legions of programmers. Unless you were a publicly funded company, or a major retail chain, this was not going to happen. As a result of these hurdles, if you wanted to sell something, you did not have much choice except to hock it on eBay or Amazon. It is an interesting paradox of nature that the success of one paradigm is exactly what leads to its demise. This is because the weight of success creates opportunity potential for an opposing paradigm. Equal and opposite reactions. Like water sloshing back and forh in a tub.
How do "eBay millionaires" become millionaires? They start by selling items on eBay. After they get really good at selling these items, they start their own web store on their own web site. They continue to use eBay, but only as a mechanism to bring new customers to their own autonomous site. They make their money by selling items from thier site. They use eBay as a form of advertising to bring in new customers. Hmmm... - Does that sound familiar? Isn't there some other company that also accepts money for web advertisements?
It is Google that is causing the foundation of the monoliths to crumble. Most people use Google to locate what they want to find. That link Google displays can take them to any web site. - Since that's the case, why bother parking your stuff on eBay or Amazon? Why not just bring that customer straight to your very own web store? Google is the interconnecting bus that gives power back to the edge of the network. It also gives power back to the bricks and mortar retailers who can now use the web to their advantage.
The IBM mainframe maintained all processing in a central location, allowing users to only communicate via "thin clients" or "green-screen" terminals. The PC changed all that by giving "power to the people". That power turned out to be a double-edged sword when hard drives failed and backups got lost. The Internet pulled power away from the little guy, and gave him a web browser. Using this modern-day "thin client" he fed the ever-growing machine of centralized dotcom services like eBay and Amazon. - Often at the expense of bricks and mortar retail.
Any stock analyst will tell you that eBay and Amazon are experiencing declining growth rates. Why is that? The simple answer is that the edge of the network is now figuring out how to do what centralized monoliths held as they’re own advantage. It used to take deep pockets to integrate e-commerce gateways. You needed to buy servers, bandwidth, security policies, relationships with banks and credit card companies, and then hire legions of programmers. Unless you were a publicly funded company, or a major retail chain, this was not going to happen. As a result of these hurdles, if you wanted to sell something, you did not have much choice except to hock it on eBay or Amazon. It is an interesting paradox of nature that the success of one paradigm is exactly what leads to its demise. This is because the weight of success creates opportunity potential for an opposing paradigm. Equal and opposite reactions. Like water sloshing back and forh in a tub.
How do "eBay millionaires" become millionaires? They start by selling items on eBay. After they get really good at selling these items, they start their own web store on their own web site. They continue to use eBay, but only as a mechanism to bring new customers to their own autonomous site. They make their money by selling items from thier site. They use eBay as a form of advertising to bring in new customers. Hmmm... - Does that sound familiar? Isn't there some other company that also accepts money for web advertisements?
It is Google that is causing the foundation of the monoliths to crumble. Most people use Google to locate what they want to find. That link Google displays can take them to any web site. - Since that's the case, why bother parking your stuff on eBay or Amazon? Why not just bring that customer straight to your very own web store? Google is the interconnecting bus that gives power back to the edge of the network. It also gives power back to the bricks and mortar retailers who can now use the web to their advantage.
Much adieu about Google mail
In short, Googles latest SMB gmail offering rocks. Using a simple browser interface anyone can create and manage email addresses for their own domain name. Instead of pulling your email onto your PC with Outlook or Exchange, you access your mail in your browser by logging onto a special gmail account. You can now do your emailing from anywhere. You always have your emails "with you". The very excellent gmail spam filter is applied to your company mail, so you almost never get spam. That last reason alone is enough to justify the service. Oh, and it's free. - Though that might not be the case forever...
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