The Management Mythbuster

Me and Steve Jobs are like that...

Forget $50, Steve is giving me $100 back on my iPhone. Oh the power of the Idiot...

Apple's iPhone and me - a cautionary tale

Eight weeks ago I bought an Apple iPhone for $499, now its obsolete! I know technology moves fast but this is ridiculous.

The model I bought is being discontinued and the more powerful version will now cost $100 less than I paid. I'm mildly irritated but to be honest you can't help but admire the company. What better way to undermine competitors than launch a great product and then start dropping the price before anyone has a chance to compete. Apple's done this with the iPod and I've bought four of the damn things. The combination of cool products and aggressive price competition makes for a pretty compelling mix.

Now all I need is for a $50 credit to my cellphone account courtesy of Apple and I will feel a lot better despite still being out $150 - so how about it Steve?

iPhone envy

Will I or won't I? Its the hottest new gadget for years - probably since Apple launched the iPod - pretty good track record don't you think - although we won't mention the Apple Newton from a few years back. Apple's CEO Steve Jobs has become a legend for his leadership and creativity - he's America's Richard Branson, or is Branson Britain's Steve Jobs? It must be a good weekend for Steve, with Pixar's Ratatouille cleaning up at the box office.

My own iPhone decision making is a mix of rational logic (its a phone, I use phones a lot, I use email a lot and I travel the world and the GSM network supports me in most places) and gadget logic (its cool and I want one). Gadget logic is a unique male-syndrome that allows us to rationalize $500 purchases of items when you you can a perfectly serviceable alternative for next to nothing.

Gadget logic often morphs into gadget envy. As my wife and I dined at a local restaurant last night the guy at the next table couldn't resist playing with his new toy and making sure that everyone in the room could see. In fact his very attractive wife, girlfriend or was it mistress seem unimpressed at being usurped by a telephone. Gadget envy rivals car envy which I talked about a few days ago. Sometimes we men get more wrapped up in our cars and gadgets than in our loved ones - another sign of our innate inferiority.

I have never been the first adoptor but I have been fairly early to the party from my first walkman, CD player, Palm Pilot and iPod so its a fair bet I will be gracing an Apple store or AT&T shop sometime in the next few weeks. I just hope the damn thing works!

Free Internet - Not Bloody Likely

The internet has been widely touted as a democratizing influence and its hard to argue with the power of blogs (except this one!), YouTube, Google and others to level the playing field in politics, social behavior and many other things including the color of Paris Hilton's underwear; but make no mistake a lot of people are making a lot of money. The Web is probably the utlimate capitalist tool allowing anyone access to any market at any price point their so choose. As a humble user life it not so simple (or cheap).

Nowhere is the phenomenon more obvious or irritating than the costs to simply access the service. A few days into my world tour I can report that internet access is at the same time one of the cheapest and most expensive services you can purchase. Here's a quick rundown on the relative pricing in US dollars for a day's access basded upon my travels over the last week:

The Idiot Internet Index (III)

Continental Airlines Presidents Club - Cleveland OH - free
Copenhagen Hotel - free
Toronto Hotel - $4
LA Hotel - $9.95
Chicago Hotel - $12.95
New York Hotel - $14.95
BA lounge Heathrow Airport - $25
Air France Lounge - Frankfurt Airport - $37
Wiesbaden Hotel - $45

Quite a range that offer ssome interesting arbitrage opportunities - what value an EBay service that brokers Internet access. I will update the III as my travels progress. I must stop now as I only paid for one hours access in this location at a rate of 8 Euros ($11) which of course translates into a daily equivalent of $264!!! What a wonderful world it is...

Mac Vs. PC -- the power of advertising

After 16 years I have returned to the Mac family. Sayonara Mr. Gates, bonjour Stevo. After four days as the prodigal son returning to the fold all I can say is "Why did it take so long dummy!" As many others have noted its hard to identify any area where the PC beats the MAC save for virus attraction, unplanned system shutdowns, hieroglyphic-like error messages and the abiliy to drive users to become fanatical luddites.

In addition to ease of use, my two Macs (one on my desk, the other on my lap) look "way cool" as my thirteen year old says and they have eliminated the spaghetti morass of wires under my desk. Instead of a six minute "boot" the machine fires up in seconds and gives me instant access to some pretty neat software and of course my iPod feels much happier docking with a Mac. I think I now need to buy a generous supply of black mock turtle neck sweaters, eat tofu and switch to a career in movies, advertising or design.

Quite why Apple remains stuck with US market share of under 4% is one of the great mysteries of all time. The reasons obviously have little to do with design and userability. Still Apple's share went up by one last week and now my two chlidren are lobbying hard to drive it even higher - this could be expensive ...

Tech Flameout - Thank You Mr. Gates

If I had the strength I would toss the five computers, three printers, one server and numerous other "peripherals" that theoretically "wire" my house in the swimming pool.  I give up the machines have won: Internet connections come and go at random; the instability of the wireless network is making Ray Davies (of The Kinks) sound like his microphone only works half the time; my high tech HP ColorSmart printer fails to produce pictures necessitating a forty minute wait in Target to produce prints from the "fast, simple and convenient" Kodak machine; Windows keeps telling me that my "Virtual Windows Memory Is Too Low" - you bet it is; my VOIP phone keeps beeping to tell me my network connection is unstable - its not the only one; my ISP has just been taken over by Time Warner who want to put an annoying Roadrunner cartoon figure on my screen - pass my shotgun; my kids are yelling down the stairs demanding an instant fix for their inability to access AC/DC on their iTunes; shall I go on?

I know most of it is my fault but when will this become easy?  Microsoft has about $40 billion in cash on hand and yet my system does not work more than 50 percent of the time - will Vista solve all my problems?  Well did Windows fix Dos, did Windows 95 fix Windows, did XP fix 95? Yet I will dutifully shell out a few hundred dollars for the upgrade plus a few hundred more for a smarter guy than me to install it all. At least I will be confident that my system will now crash faster than before and that I will be able to send even more automated error reports to Microsoft.

The sad thing is I am closet geek - I have a degree in computer science (its so out of date its obsolete but what the hell) and I actually admire Bill Gates, but this is driving me crazy. The quality and reliability of modern technology is about where the U.S. auto industry was in 1964 and look what happened to them.  For twenty years I have heard phrases like "plug and play" "seamless integration" "ease of use" - oxymoron's all.

There I've said it - now if I can only get this bloody router to talk to the cable modem and then the ISP you may actually be able to read this ...