Sony-Ericsson is about to ship their newest entry into the smartphone market — a Symbian-based little fella.
Not sure about the phone yet, but clearly S-E senses a pending attack by the world’s copyright infringement community. That moniker is sporting as horsey a TM as I’ve ever seen in my life.
Hint to Sony: there’s no legal requirement that your TM be visible from across the room. And with a name like Vivaz … well, I think it’s safe to go on low-alert with this one.
The industry prepares for Palm's next announcement
Last week, Palm CEO Jon Rubenstein wrote a companywide email to the troops following his announcement of Palm’s preliminary results for this quarter. Sales weren’t exactly booming.
This announcement wasn’t mandatory. It’s a strategy. It’s what a company does when they smell a really bad news day in the making, and they’d love nothing more than to diffuse it. Rather than shock us with bad results at quarterly report time, Palm went for the “preemptive let-down.”
I actually have a fond place in my heart for Palm. I was once a total Pilot guy, filling my device with “apps” (well, maybe three) and showing the thing off with iPhone-like fervor. Then again, I used to love WordPerfect too.
Point is, things change. It’s going to take one hell of an effort, and possibly divine intervention, to right Palm’s ship.
In a weird way, I enjoy reading memos like Rubenstein’s. It’s interesting to see how different leaders rise to the occasion. His mission is to paint a rosy picture in the face of obvious challenges. Ours is to read the true meaning into the words he chose:
Softer than expected performance. Mini-disaster. Excellent potential to become maxi-disaster.
Slower than expected customer adoption of our products. Make that “slower than dreamed.”
We expect to exit the quarter with $500 million in cash on our balance sheet. Paychecks won’t bounce for a while yet.
The entire executive team has been working extremely hard to improve product performance. About time.
…and have implemented a number of initiatives to increase awareness and drive sales. On a budget that’s a fraction of our competitors’.
Verizon Wireless… acknowledged that their execution … was below expectations. Thank God we have a scapegoat.
To accelerate sales, we initiated Project JumpStart nearly three weeks ago. Oh my.
Nearly two hundred Palm Brand Ambassadors… have been training Verizon sales reps across the US. Should work as well as the Apple-trained CompUSA sales force.
… a growing number of Palm ads on billboards, bus shelters, buses, and subway stations, all getting the word out. The ad guys will save us.
I am still confident that our talented team has what it takes to get the job done. The trading season is pretty much over. We got what we got.
Go team!!! Ah, motivation. The Book Of Management, Chapter 12.
Of course it’s never over till it’s over. But with Palm stuck in the shadow of iPhone, Droid, Nexus One and the whole gang of them, and app developers going where the customers are, Palm truly will require a miracle comeback.
Every time a new Apple product comes out, the experts share their opinions. But who reviews the reviewers? Well, that sounds like a fun job…
Erica Ogg (CNET): “… the quintessential Apple device …”
Nice, Erica. I buy that. If you look at everything Apple’s done in the last few years, you can easily say “it all led to this.”
Donald Bell (CNET) (Editor’s Take): “… a bit of a misfit… fortunately I like misfits… I’m a fan of disruptive technology… it is going to change the way we think about mobile technology beyond the smartphone.”
Disruptive is the key word. iPod and iPhone were disruptive. While some will be sniping over iPad’s missing features, disruption will be happening all around them.
David Pogue (NY Times): (paraphrased) Phase 1: Apple rolls out product. Phase 2: basher-bloggers scream about its many limitations. Phase 3: positive reviews, people line up to buy it, basher-bloggers disappear.
We like you, David. You don’t take yourself too seriously, and you see the folly all around us. You’re a smart guy, though not the best singer.
Walt Mossberg (Wall Street Journal): “It’s about the software, stupid. … public acceptance… depends heavily upon the software and services that flow through its handsome little body.”
A little creepy there at the end, Walt, but the sentiment is correct. Also, congratulations for scoring an invite to the event even after that tawdry little piece you wrote about Windows 7 being as good as Mac OS X.
Michael Hiltzik (LA Times): “After months of hype, the reality was underwhelming… Hard to see it as anything other than a threat to Kindle; depending on how it is exploited, eventually it could be more.”
Hmm, I’m a little underwhelmed by your ability to imagine. Somehow I think Apple may have a plan for “exploiting” this thing. Since you mentioned it, I’m also now wondering if iPad really is a threat to Kindle. Kindle might have a shot at life as your basic e-reader — if they cut the price to a fraction of what it is today.
Adam Frucci (Gizmodo): “My God, am I underwhelmed by it… absolutely backbreaking failures that will make buying one the last thing I would want to do.”
My goodness, Adam. You sound like a very confident man. By the way, what you would want to do — fascinating as that might be — really isn’t the story here. It’s what a few million other people want to do that has resulted in iPad.
Mark Wilson (Gizmodo): “Substantial but surprisingly light. Easy to grip. Beautiful. Rigid. Starkly designed … touch responds like a dream.”
Mark, would you mind having a word with Adam? You guys work in the same office?
Nicholas Deleon (special to CNN): “Will size matter? … We’ve adjusted [to iPhone's size] and there are no signs that people are tiring of it. … iPad… couldn’t possibly be considered portable… a 10-inch behemoth.”
Dear God, man. Do you carry your own coffee? In one hand?? It’s an eight-ounce monstrosity!
Claudine Beaumont (Telegraph UK): “… had hoped to hear more about how iPad could be used to read magazines… potential to be a game-changing device, but it will be the second- and third-generation versions that will really drive the agenda.”
I hear ya, Claudine. Had that same hope for the magazine thing myself. Revolution temporarily on hold.
Michael Miller (PC Magazine): “Given the hype… the most surprising thing is that Apple was still able to have some pretty big surprises… the pricing was much more aggressive than I thought it would be… felt faster and more responsive… applications aimed at creating content.”
The content-creation part of iPad hasn’t nearly gotten as much air play after the intro. But I agree, Michael. What people do with iPad — a computer with no visible OS — may surprise many.
Josh Topolsky (Engadget): “… was fairly underwhelming… unimaginative might be more accurate… will really come into its own when developers get their hands on it…”
Correct, Josh. And on the third Sunday of next January, the sun will rise in the west. Developers did have a wee bit to do with iPhone’s runaway success. And as we saw at intro, iPad gives developers a far richer place to let their imaginations run wild.
Hiawatha Bray (Boston Globe): “Not a world-changer, but not bad.”
I’m disappointed, Hiawatha. Have you gone soft? I was kind of hoping for something more definitive, like your first take on iMac in 1998: “The iMac will only sell to some of the true believers… doesn’t include a floppy disk drive drive… an astonishing lapse from Jobs, who should have learned better… the iMac is clean, elegant, floppy-free — and doomed.” Not that I hold a grudge…
In the naming biz, this is a dream job
What a difference a few billion eyeballs can make.
While some new products lead a pauper’s life when it comes to advertising and PR, Apple’s new tablet will be born into obscene riches. It will become a TV star, a global headline, grace the cover of hundreds of magazines and be analyzed in thousands of blogs. Whatever name Apple gives it — that word will echo across the land.
Naming experts will tell you that even silly names are accepted quickly, as soon as they become familiar. (See Verizon, Virgin and Google.) Clearly the tablet’s name will become familiar with breathtaking speed.
This gives Apple license to be incredibly brave. They can make the name as creative as the product itself. But how brave will they be? If you try to go by Apple history, it will only confuse you. Here, you’ll find two totally opposite examples: iPod and iPhone.
iPod is a classic name for the ages. No one could have predicted it, since it said nothing about the product other than vaguely describe its form factor. It had as little to do with music as the name Macintosh did with computers. But by creating such a magnificent user experience, Apple would soon make the name iPod synonymous with music — and one of the most powerful brand names on earth.
iPhone took a completely different path. The product was hotly anticipated for months, and the prognosticators had already dubbed it the iPhone. The familiar “i” made it an Apple product, and the device would be … a phone. Not Apple’s most imaginative moment.
With iPhone, the category named the product. With iPod, the product named the category.
My hope is that the tablet’s naming will be more in the creative tradition of iPod and less in the obvious tradition of iPhone. Granted, slate describes the shape of the product just as pod did before. The difference here is that the industry is already overflowing with tablets and slates. It was a feisty and original Apple that shook up the music business with the word iPod. It would be great to see that same Apple show up on Wednesday.
The only real argument for iSlate is that it eliminates the need to educate customers. But with all the world’s attention already so intensely focused, I don’t see the need to educate — only the need to amaze.
We’ll soon see which side of the brain won the debate.
Why do I get so emotional at holiday time? How embarrassing would it be if I went all wispy on you when I was supposed to be calculating and critical? I think it’s best if I simply wish you a happy holiday and propose that we meet back here on January 4th. I promise, before then I will post only in the event of an emergency!
Have fun, all.
Ken
You’ve probably heard that Microsoft is opening its own stores, and that they’re taking a few cues from the Apple Stores. Addendum: they’re taking a few cues, the tables and stools, the shirts, the Genius Bars, the high fives, basically everything they can copy without running up against federal cloning laws.
This video, taken at the opening of the Microsoft Store in Scottsdale, is Exhibit A. If it weren’t for the bargain-hunter-ish PCs on the tables, you’d swear you were in Appleville. And if you’ve ever seen an Apple Store opening, you’ll be aghast over the degree to which they have imitated even the Apple hoopla. This isn’t copying. It’s identity theft.
I honestly don’t know how the people responsible can look at themselves in the mirror each morning. Surely there are other ways to get into retail without copying every detail from the people you’re constantly accused of copying in the first place.
Though there is some logic in replicating a proven winner, I’ll be extremely surprised if this works. The Apple Stores have broken retail records because millions of Mac-loving and Apple-curious people literally had no place to go for knowledgeable advice, hands-on experience and service. The stores broke records because, like most of Apple’s efforts, they were inventive. Microsoft Stores are doomed for two simple reasons:
1. PC people have a zillion other places to go to touch the latest models and get technical support: electronics chains, office supply chains, warehouse chains and countless ma-and-pa shops.
2. PC customers are price-driven. Even if they visit a Microsoft Store to try things out, they’ll buy where it’s cheapest — on the Internet or at a competing retailer. Remember, Microsoft itself has been so proudly advertising the mindset of the “laptop hunters.”
It’s just hard to imagine that too many people will feel particularly motivated to visit a Microsoft Store — unless, of course, it’s to join in the merriment on opening day.
Okay, it may not be the most spectacular part of the computing experience — but Apple has always had a special place in its heart for the l’il critter that helped launch Revolution #1.
Here’s a quick stroll down memory lane, starting with the very first Macintosh mouse (which clearly shared some DNA with the common chimney brick).
Savor for a moment one of Apple’s most wretched mistakes: the hockey-puck mouse that shipped with the original iMac. Having no obvious “up” or “down” by feel, it sent cursors flying in all the wrong directions. A classic case of over-design. For consumers it was a major annoyance, for pros (it also shipped with the Power Mac) it was an outright insult.
Fortunately, chief designer Jony Ive recovered from that one. Form and function then lived happily ever after as we got the multi-button mouse with no buttons, the innovative scroll wheel (on the questionably named Mighty Mouse), and now, fresh out of the oven, the Magic Mouse. Clearly, this is the mother of all mice — now standard with the new iMacs and also available separately.
I tried one the other day and, creepy as it may sound, it actually made me smile. The entire mouse is a button, the entire surface is touch sensitive. You scroll or flip through pages simply by sliding a finger or two. It really is one of those “what will they think of next” moments. And it gives you the feeling that Apple puts more thinking into their mouse than most computer makers put into their PCs.
Hello and thank you for showing up. This blog is something that’s been on my to-do list for eons and I can procrastinate no longer. If you don’t know me already, a quick introduction: I’m Ken Segall, technology and advertising enthusiast. For over 20 years, I’ve been involved in advertising, product naming and strategy for some of your most loved (and maybe most loathed) companies — including Apple, IBM, Dell and Intel. (I get into a lot more detail at my website, if you’re interested). I must say, I am continually amazed how often history repeats itself — and how often history is ignored. Some of my journeys in advertising have been exhilarating beyond expectation, others were so horrifying you may have to cover your ears. I’ve spent my professional life working across the table from people as brilliant as Steve Jobs and as deluded as… well, I’ll fill in those blanks a little later.
When I hire creative people, my first priority has always been to find out if a person even likes technology. I mean, if the conversation goes that way at a party, do you excuse yourself to get another drink or do you actually get a charge out of talking about it? Just think of this blog as a party where your host keeps babbling about technology and marketing. You can always excuse yourself to visit a blog that serves better refreshments – but I hope you’ll stay and offer up your own opinions.
I’m eager to talk about the successes and failures not only in the marketing of technology, but in the technology itself. These days, we’re all responsible for what the technology companies are creating. We vote every day with our wallets and words. No topic is off limits, and I do hope we can stir up a little trouble here. Stay tuned…