One of the domains I pay particular attention to is person-to-person and mobile payments (I’ve also done some design work in this space). Right now, there is a lot of discussion/debate/chatter around near field communication (NFC) technology and how it can be intergrated with mobile devices to support payments “on the go.” Several mobile hardware manufacturers have already integrated NFC chips in their shartphones, and Google has an active strategy around integrating NFC and mobile with their Google Wallet product.

This is all well and good, except the 800-lb gorilla in mobile, Apple, has not presented their mobile payments solution yet. I think that they will reveal it soon, though… in September, with the release of the iPhone 5. I suspect that Apple will present a complete integrated solution at that time, and if they leverage assets they aready have effectively they could very quickly dominate the space.

Here’s what I think Apple is going to do, based on years on following the company as well as some other research.

Apple will zig, instead of zag: It won’t be NFC

Apple tends to define their own path, so they can “own” it. NFC is what everyone is talking about… so I think Apple will go in a different direction, and adopt the low-energy bluetooth protocol. Not just because it’s different, but because of some of the benefits that the protocol provides that NFC doesn’t… primarily compatibility and security. More on “compatibility” in a moment…

They’ll provide an complete end-to-end solution

Apple will not put out half a solution, they will roll out a complete infrastructure to send, recieve and process payments. How? Through all their products: the iPad, the iPhone, and the MacBook. Apple can quickly push software updates and apps through their app stores to allow all these programs to securely send payment information to each other, using bluetooth. They can also provide simple accounting and reporting apps for small businesses, allowing for analysis and easy transfer of payments recieved into business accounts. An iPad is a lot cheaper than a dedicated point of sale system. Personal payments can be transferred to customer’s checking accounts… or converted to credits that can be used on the app store.

They can leverage a huge user base

There is no need for Apple to ask customers to setup an account to make these mobile payments from… They already have customer’s credit cards on file, through their iTunes accounts. Millions of customers. That “default payment method” will be all that most customers need to use the service, and the setup process will be as simple as installing a new payment app and logging in to authorize the app (and probably agree to some new terms and conditions).

They’ll purchase Square

Square provides a great payment system with integration with iOS and Android devices. I expect Apple to buy it, for its talent and technology… and to remove a competitive solution from the marketplace.

Apple will emphasize security and guarantee transactions

Apple already has the “find your iPhone” service, and offers remote wiping, and I’m sure that they will emphasize this when they roll out their mobile payment process. One of the main fears customers have of mobile payments is losing their phone and someone using it to buy things with it. Apple can easily “force” a PIN login is required if you have activated mobile payments, as well as additional gurantees that can alieviate customer concerns.

The End Game

Why does Apple want to get into mobile payments? Primarily to prevent the competitors from dominating the domain… and also to sell more devices. Easy mobile payments would be a huge value-add to motivate many users to buy Apple hardware. They can structure the “rules” to get a chunk of every payment made with such a service. And if Apple wanted to they could “lose money” on such a service for years in order to dominate the channel (they only have $100 billion on hand, after all). It’s the razor-razor blade scenario – lose money on the razor, make money on the blades. They can lose money on each payment made through such a system because it locks customers into the Apple hardware ecosystem… an ecosystem with very high-margin devices.

Apple has already started testing a mobile payment system… in their Apple stores. If you download their Apple Store app, you can buy items in the store right now… scan a barcode with the iPhone camera and the app will charge your iTunes account for whatever you want (again, using the credit or debit card you already have on file). Expect their mobile payment to leverage the camera in a similar way.

Finally, customers love Apple and hate banks. Apple has incredibly high customer satisfaction numbers, much higher than most financial institutions have. Therefore consumers will be a lot more open to a payment system that comes from Apple than from a bank. This will help Apple get to a “critical mass” with users… and change how people do things. Again.

I used to code. And when I say “code,” I mean write HTML, JavaScript and active server pages – not full desktop applications. This was close to a decade ago, and while I have taken some software development classes since, I haven’t used any coding skills in any meaningful way since then. It’s not that I don’t want to code, I just I don’t need to do so in my job. Additionally, and to be frank… I think software development is much harder than it should be, and the varying levels of quality in the software development tools out there doesn’t help.

That may soon change, dramatically, and this change may come from an unexpected place: Apple.

Last month a patent application from Apple for “content configuration for device platforms” detailed specifications for a basic WYSIWYG tool to build apps. Now, Apple patents a LOT of stuff, and many of their patents have historically ended up going nowhere… but I think this one isn’t such a case. I suspect that Apple is working to change how software for their platforms are created, to open up their platform to… well, everyone. It’s a huge shift in the traditional approach of working with software developers that aligns with both Apple’s history, it’s aesthetic, and it’s growth strategy.

Apple has a long history of taking complicated tasks and making them easy and obvious for customers. It started with desktop publishing, with Apple making the first consumer computers and printers that provided accurate typography and page layout tools (Apple didn’t create Pagemaker, the first successful desktop publishing app, but produced the first Macintosh that made such an app possible). Though it wasn’t there first, Apple produced software that made video editing accessible and easy, with Final Cut Pro and then iMovie. It created software to make producing DVDs as simple as dragging and dropping content (not used much now, but at the time iDVD was a very popular app for creating content). It made music production accessible to the masses through Garageband, multi-media presentations dead simple with Keynote… And so on and so forth, with the most recent effort, the iBook Author tool, focused on supporting the creation of multimedia eBooks.

Software development requires specialized knowledge that most people don’t have… just like like video editing and desktop publishing used to be. The eccentricities of a particular language, the processes of doing software builds, the specific functionality that exists in the development environment being used… all of this requires a learning curve, and for many people it’s a steep one that is discouraging and frustrating. Apple can remove a lot of this complexity by releasing a program exactly like the one they detail in their patent – an app that allows for simple object-oriented programming that lets users compile and run apps without having to know how to call APIs, create preference files and deal with stuff like memory managment and database calls.

Would this be a solution for the professional developer to use? Probably not. It would be like iMovie for apps… the pros can still use XCode or their preferred development environment to custom build their own apps. But just as iMovie has allowed people who have never heard of SMTPE timecodes to quickly edit a short movie together, an “iMovie for apps” would open up programming to the masses, allowing people who are intimidated by the prospect of coding the ability to creating simple apps they want and need with a minimal effort.

Such an app would also support Apple’s growth strategy. The more apps that are created and available, the more desirable it makes the devices that run them… devices that are all sold by Apple. Since Apple gets a cut of every app sold, the more apps in the marketplace the more money they make. And the “App maker” or whatever Apple calls it will only work on… yup, you guessed it, Apple hardware. Will many of the apps created by such a tool be… well, crap? Yup. But many of the apps available in the app store today aren’t very good as well… the quality apps will usually rise to the top.

Will Apple reject a huge number of apps submitted? Yes, but consider this: Apple can develop this new “App maker” program in a way that lets users distribut their own apps on an ad hoc basis… imagine if a small business could roll their own integrated inventory app for their staff? Apple might not make money off every app sold in such a scenario, but such a feature could motivate many companies to buy iPhones for all their employees… Which is a perfectly satisfactory result for Apple and thier growth strategy.

I may be reading too much into a patent application, but to me it makes sense that this is something Apple would do, for the reasons cited above and for one more thing: It would be a bold move, something that would differentiate Apple’s OS from Android and Windows in a huge way… especially if such an “App maker” allows users to create apps that work on ANY Apple device – Mac, iPad or iPhone. Apple has a history of making similar bold moves, and making them work. I can see no reason for that stopping now.

I recently watched the video of Apple’s announcement of the new iPad. It was, like all Apple product announcements, a familiar affair. It started with statistics, it teased features, it detailed specs, and demonstrated new programs designed to take full advantage of the new hardware. It was polished, professional… and kinda boring.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who oversaw the presentation, is a good public speaker, but… he’s not Steve Jobs. In fact, the whole thing suffered from everyone on stage not being Steve Jobs. For years, Jobs famously presented new products with an enthusiasm and a passion that showed how proud he was of what Apple was delivering to the buying public… and when you combine such passion with his charisma and pitch-perfect presentation style, well, it was not just a product roll-out. It was an event. It was special… and you didn’t even have to be an Apple acolyte to be impressed by it.

The management at Apple has done quite well in the post-Steve Jobs era. The Apple stock is up 60%, the company has more cash-on-hand than ever before (enough to buy some countries), and products such as this new iPad are selling exceedingly well. But here, in their product presentations, we see the ghost of Steve Jobs at every moment of the agenda. The Apple braintrust are slavishly following the same script that Jobs perfected, and… it’s not the same.

Apple needs a clean break from the past. Even if these media events do exactly what Apple hope for, they need to change how they do them, because Steve is gone and nobody can ever do these things better than he did. Trying to follow the same approach comes off as being stuck in the past, dated and not forward-thinking… something that Apple clearly does not want people to think they are. So for that, and to move on… Apple should say goodbye to Steve’s way of doing these things, and try something new.

Like, maybe, just releasing a product and letting it’s qualities speak for itself.

If you’ve been paying attention to the stock market lately, you may have noticed that Apple is doing quite well. At the time of this writing the stock is over $500 a share, the company has just had another quarter of record earnings, and Apple is worth more, in market capitalization, than Microsoft and Google combined. And some analysts say its growth rate is accelerating…

What is driving such amazing financials? Primarily, it’s being driven by a device that didn’t even exist until five years ago: the iPhone. The share of revenues accounted for by iPhone sales was almost half Apple’s total, and that half was more than Microsoft’s TOTAL revenue in the same quarter. The iPhone is one of the most profitable and successful products, ever. And almost every customer who buys an iPhone is going to be “locked in” to their iPhone for a long long time. Not necessarily because the iPhone is “better” than competing mobile devices from Google, Nokia or Microsoft… but because of Apple’s secret weapon: the app store.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time research user habits and behaviors, and have some observations about why people are resistant to change and get stuck in “ruts.” A primary reason is people are either comfortable or afraid of change… or both. But another key factor is cost… both tangible and intangible. We say, “I can’t exercise more, I don’t have the time!” because we think we don’t have the currency – time – to spend doing it. “I can’t change phones, I have everything setup the way I like it” is the inverse of that argument, in that we look at the amount of time setting up and personalizing our phone as an “investment,” one that would be lost if the user switches to a different type of phone.

Directly aligned with this is the Apple app store, where both actual and perceived cost comes into play. As Apple has the biggest app store, and has made the process of buying apps as simple as possible, it’s easy for users to start loading apps that suit their lifestyle… and the more apps users add and use on the iPhone, the more users become locked into the “tender trap” of the iPhone. Since the majority of apps cost money, this very quickly results in a lot of additional costs for the new iPhone customer, which this (perhaps unconsciously) increases the value of the phone to the user.

Beyond that “sunk cost” of apps, the customer’s use of the apps and the phone over time is another “investment” – the phone becomes more “valuable” because through use, content is created – notes, photos, game achievements, to do lists, etc. This results in a perceived cost to switching, a loss of that created value (which, like the “investment” above, would have to be “respent” with a new phone). This is how the “lock in” happens: the customer personalizes the phone to reflect his or her interests and load it with their own content… and there’s no easy way to “get that stuff out.” Unless, of course, they upgrade to the next version of the iPhone… then it’s easy!

A final point: The factors referenced above were the same reason that Windows has dominated computers for years – the hard and soft cost of the applications and the data that was created in them made it hard for customers to “switch” to another OS. This need to continue to keep customers on Windows, was one of the reasons Microsoft has focused on backwards compatibility with their apps and operating systems. With a new generation of consumers and an active effort by Apple to convince the world that “switching” was a positive painless thing, that is now far less a factor. If rival phone manufacturers want to “break” the lock the iPhone is creating with customers, they would be well advised to take a page out of Apple’s “switch” campaign.

Being a close follower of Apple and their design decisions, I'd say a primary reason the Mac Mini doesn't have that connection is simple: it's not a portable computer, and it doesn't have a battery.

The idea behind the MagSafe connector is to prevent laptops from being yanked off tabletops when someone trips over the cord. When this happened before, the laptop inevitably ends up damaged. This, obviously, is a bad experience. As  the MagSafe is a great solution to this problem, it was added to the laptop family.

The Mac mini is a desktop computer. While it is a very small form factor, and is easily portable, it still needs the "trappings" of a desktop computer to work – a monitor, mouse and a keyboard. So adding the MagSafe connector will only benefit the minority who takes this computer with them… And could very well tick off the majority if the MagSafe connector is pulled out in the middle of an important task (see the "no battery" comment, above).

See question on Quora

Lots of things.

They decided not to build a MIDI "break-out" box a couple of years ago, even though the product was ready for production according to some sources.

They decided to stop making printers.

They decided to simplify thier product lineup, to have two (then three, then four) lines to sell. Desktops, laptops, (and eventually) mobile phones and tablets.

They decided to stop licensing their OS to third-party hardware manufacturers.

They decided to not go open-source.

They decided to no longer sell previously successful products when they felt they had reached end of life (iPod Mini) and when they didn't align with the rest of their products (white MacBook).

They decided to not sell computers based on specifications, but instead on the experiences that such devices provide, allow, and support.

They decided to not have a physical keypad on their phone.

And so on.

See question on Quora

Perfect is the enemy of good, and perfect is also a very high bar to achieve. I don't know if I'd say that the following are perfect, but they ae very good indeed:

Simplenote let's you take notes and write. It also syncs your text to all other devices that have the appropriate software in the background. It's simple and just works.

Instagram let's you take and share photos, and the UI is very very good. It's a app that is both usable and fun to use.

Another "insta" app, Instapaper let's you read web pages offline, and presents the text in a way that is quite readable.

Finally, I look at Zite as an interface that is incredibly useful but one that "gets out of the way" and let's you concentrate on reading, which is the key to a good mobile UI.

See question on Quora

Captured Moments is an interactive book of my photography. It is available exclusively from the Apple iBooks store and is available for the low low cost of FREE. Please check it out, I hope you like it

Apple created the iBookstore and the new iBook Author tool. As creator of said platform/application, they can put stuff in their EULA that says "you must never use this tool without wearing pants" if they want. It's their IP, they can do what they want. But just because they can set whatever terms they want doesn't mean they should set unreasonable ones. To many, the "if you want to profit from this work you need to cut us in on it and you can't go anywhere else" clause is unreasonable, like the aforementioned hypothetical "pants" restriction. Personally, I don't think it's unreasonable… I do however think it's self-defeating for Apple.

The "exclusivity" clause will make creative people think twice, and many will avoid the iBooks storefront/platform all together due to it. Who does that hurt? Certainly not the creative types because they have multiple tools they can use and multiple channels to promote and sell their content (look up "the Internet"). It will end up reducing the variety and choice in the iBookstore… making users less likely to think of iBooks as the "first choice" for ebook shopping. it hurts Apple more.

I have two books available for sale on both the Kindle and the iBooks store. I'm working on two more. One of them will be available anywhere, the other will only be on iBooks and be created using the iBooks Author tool. Why? Because I am selling the first book and giving away the second, so the restriction doesn't "hurt" me…. and I don't "need" the iBooks Author tool to create my work. Would it make my life easier if I can use iBooks Author to do ALL my ebooks? Sure. But it's not a deal breaker for me.

See question on Quora

Users are creatures of habit who don't like change. Resistance (to change) is something I've written and researched extensively with users – people don't like to change even if it's good for them, because they are comfortable with how things are. 

Apple wants to become part of user's lives, and the more they are the more likely that inertia will set in. The more integrated Apple products are in user's lives the harder it is to "break" from the "Apple way." They are "locked in."

In addition to a more integrated and usable experience, services like iCloud work best on – surprise! – Apple hardware. 

Being an Apple "fanboy" (and shareholder) I look at this positively, because both parties benefit – users get a better experience (most of the time) and Apple sells more stuff.

See question on Quora

Some reasonable guesses:

• Better Display (not quite “Retina” but close)
• Faster processor (A6?)
• More RAM
• Siri Integration
• Better camera

Some “Out there” (and semi-informed) guesses:

• Thunderbolt connectivity for faster transfer AND charging (goodbye, iPod connector)
• NFC
• Wider home button that supports gestures
• Apple will produce and sell their own Bluetooth keyboard case $79
• Wireless syncing between iOs devices (game status, files, you name it – start on one device and end on another)
• You can use the iPad 3 as a sketchpad for your mac (like a Wacom tablet) with a new drawing app from Apple (the return of Macpaint?)
• A projector attachment (for iPhone 4S or iPad) $99
• Passive 3D mode (a la Nintendo 3DS)
• New app called “Channels” that lets you “record” and stream TV shows for viewing on your iPad

See question on Quora

Make them push, not pull. Right now you have to go "get" the updates, by clicking on the App Store icon, then going to updates. That's "pull."

Change to "push" by using the new Notification Center that was just added in IOS 5. If you have three updates, then just tell the user that through a notification. They can then respond or ignore the notification.

Also, why make the user enter their password when they make updates? It's just an update, there's no need for this security check. Remove this, or give the user the ability to disable this for updates.

Finally, Apple has setup the ability for developers to make their app updates incremental (also in IOS 5) and if widely adopted this will help make downloads smaller and improve the update process/time.

See question on Quora

There are some practical reasons, and some pragmatic ones.

A "thinking" device is a device that is consuming power to think (to run the processor), and hardware and software designers have to keep a core user need in mind: battery life. The more the device "thinks" the lower the battery life. So devices are designed to be instant awake "on demand" computers that respond to user input. Siri, for example, probably uses a significant amount of processing power, and I'd wager if it was on all the time it would cut the "uptime" considerably.

Additionally you look at how people work with computers and computing devices, and the key idea of user control and freedom comes to play. Do you want to be "told" what to do by your phone, or to "tell" your phone what to do? Most users want to be/stay in control… And the idea of a "thing" telling them what to do just won't be appealing. This type of interaction has to be very carefully and well designed to work.

An area where this does "work" is with GPS, where the device "tells" the user what to do… But even then, there are limits. The user is still "in control" and the GPS is supporting the user's travel, not commanding. If a GPS comes off as "nagging" when informing the user of a traffic problem then the user will be… Well, I've tested of a similar solution, and it didn't work very well. Basically, the "tone of voice" is important in this and many other contexts. Get it wrong and you'll quickly get an angry user.

Some pragmatic reasons why devices are dumb… Well, we are still limited by old models and paradigms. We have desktop computers that are capable of millions of calculations per minute and we aren't doing anything innovative or new with that capacity. No one has come forward and invented an intelligent "butler" that used the innate information we all host on our own computing devices to, well, make suggestions. To help.

"I know you like Mythbusters, so I taped the new episode for you."

"There's a new Peter Gabriel album coming out. I downloaded the details and some samples and sent it to your iPad."

"You're electricity bill was due last week, would you like me to pay it for you?"

A smart assistant, who suggests but never takes control away from the user. All of these things are possible NOW, but no one has taken the next step to leverage the different systems and computing power together.

It's coming, though. Someday.

And if anyone wants to hire me to help design such a system you know where to find me…

See question on Quora

Some theories…

Apple makes hardware that allows you to consume content… content that you collect and love and revisit. Music, movies, TV shows, games… we have a lot of "stuff." Apple has a distribution network that lets you instantly buy more stuff, and it's much easier than going to a store and buying a physical disc. It's a closed and very profitable ecosystem, because it is absolutely optimized to be as friction-free and personalized as possible.

Compare this to cable or satellite TV: it's also closed, but it's barely personalizable and expensive. Consumers pay for dozens of channels that they never watch, many don't have the ability to pause or record programs, and even then back-catalog content isn't readily available… and when it is it's an incredibly limited selection.

Apple has almost all the pieces to transform TV already:

• A deep catalog of content via iTunes
• "Season passes" of your favorite shows
• A personal library available on all your devices
• The ability to "push" games to your TV to share
• A cloud service that allows for ubiquitous sharing and redownloading of all your content

Hardware margins for TVs are thin, and Apple knows that… which is why they will be selling the experience, NOT the hardware specs. If/when they put out a TV it won't be the biggest or the best TV, but it will be plugged into a powerful ecosystem that competitors like Sony and Microsoft have been trying to build for years and it will have an experience that people WANT.

The "one more thing" that will make this revolutionary? I think it will be personalized "ad hoc" channels. You like Mythbusters? Spend $X a month and get access to the entire backchat along of every episode, available via streaming. Star Trek, The Wire, football, cooking shows? Same thing. Customers will have much more choice about what they watch, and these channels will be available on every Apple device they have, no matter where they are. And all of it will be ad-free.

Networks will still exist, you'll just "pay" for each network… or only pay for certain shows. If you want more content, then you buy more channels. And imagine a subscription to a Disney channel that would not be the Disney Channel that we see on cable, but a Disney channel that gives you access to everything the studio has ever done! Would many parents and movie fans pay a premium price for a TV that allowed you to access such a channel? You bet.

Content, content, content. It's about delivering a personalizable experience that users own and love, and just works. If any company can do this, Apple can.

See question on Quora

No, but he (apparently) DID like Star Trek. He mentioned Star Trek on two separate product launches, played a clip from the reboot when introducing the iPad and a shot from the newest Star Trek was used to promote the (then new) 27″ iMac on multiple Apple web pages (and there was no “corporate synergy” in play – he chose to showcase Star Trek for other reasons).

Seeing as many (including myself) see some similarities of Apple’s devices to some of those that were on the series (iPhone being a “tricorder” of sorts, and the iPad being very close to the Trek PADD device), I wouldn’t be surprised if he enjoyed an episode or two.

See question on Quora

There’s going to be no shortage of words written about Steve Jobs. I never met him, never knew him. And yet…

I have to write something, more words to add to the rest. Because I’m compelled to.

Steve Jobs died today, at the age of 56. I could spend some of these words detailing what he did and who he was but you already know that stuff. I dare say, that if you are alive today and have had any exposure to technology or mass media, you know who he was. His impact and mark is obvious, historic and cannot be diminished.

I want to spend some words writing about what he believed in.

Like I stated, I never knew him, never met him… and yet, I did know him. His passion, his aesthetic, his values around life and design… He was a man who worked really really hard to made things better. He made technology accessible and by doing so he made people happy. His company was founded to makes products that lets people do more things in a better way. He was uncompromising, focused, and his vision changed the world. He looked at other company’s banal ideas and technology… and showed then how to make things elegant. How to do it right.

I understand such passion. I appreciate it. And… I share it. That’s what I do, too. My job is to design software and make it useable, useful, better. Will I have anywhere near the impact he had? Not a chance. But his passion is my passion and I will continue to work to make things better for people, one moment at a time.

I’ve seen Steve Jobs called “one of a kind.” We are ALL one of a kind, every one of us. We all have the same 24 hours in each day. The measure of a man is what you do with the time you have – the only currency we really have to spend. Steve Jobs made the most of his time, and I aspire to do the same in my own life. I think we all should.

When my Dad died last year, I said that “we are what we leave behind.” Dad left a mess. Steve Jobs leaves a legacy, one that time will not diminish. He used his time on this Earth well. Was he perfect? Of course not. No one is. But Steve Jobs left the world a better place than it was before he was here.

Thanks, Steve.

One of the really interesting trends I’ve observed over the past few years is something I call “the death of the save button.” It started in the mobile space, where the operating systems persist data in the background as it is being set and so the information is “saved” without an action required by the user. If you are reading an ebook it remembers where you were, if you were writing a note it keeps the words and returns you to exactly where you left it, etc.
We still have edit functions for information like contacts, but then the control is called “done” in Apple’s iOS devices instead of “Save.”

This same type of behavior has moved into computing, and is at the heart of the latest version of OS X, Lion. You still have a save control but the “state” of the document you are working on is retained and the data is saved in the background for the user. Which makes sense… which is the reason why I think the explicit save button is doomed, and along with it, the concept of a file system itself.

“Save” is a legacy concept aligned with the model of objects that existed in a physical container – a hard drive. You “save” the object “to” a place. Now computers are fast enough to save your files in real time, as you edit them. The “where” is less important as the fact that it’s saved, and securely so.

We are seeing an evolution beyond the idea of the physical file object into the idea of content… content that the user either consumes or creates. The tools that the user has allows for access to that content, and specific tools exist for accessing specific types of content. These tools are called “apps” and the model is now about aligning the content to the user regardless of the place or physical container… Wherever you go, whatever device, you can access your data. Why have a file system? The alignment is around the apps that can access the content, not around a ubiquitous file manager application – especially if you look at the idea of a universal search that allows you to find any of your data and then trigger the app that allows for accessing said data.

When you look at what Apple is doing with their iCloud offering, it is the next natural progression of that new model. A model that works best if all the devices are in a closed aligned system, of course… a system where all the devices are made by one company. A company like Apple. It’s a brilliant strategy – make computing so simple that you don’t even need a visible file system. It just works, wherever you are… your stuff is there too.

So, am I right? I think so, and I think that we need to look at a future where there’s just our digital “stuff” – not files, just “stuff” that we have, share, and use. And Apple will gladly sell you the newest shiniest objects to access your “stuff.”

Auto-complete/suggestions on app search can be frustrating. If I am looking for a particular app by name it's great, but if I am searching by a type of app or a free-form term then I get lots of false or less-than-useful results. A better search (in my opinion) would present a category listing or two on top of the results and then list app results.

When it comes to Genius, it's recommendations are usually just way way off, and I think it's because of the algorithm being used. The recommendations are binary: "You bought this (one app) so we think you may like this (new app). The same problem exists with the Amazon recommendation, which updates a section on the home screen based on the last couple of things you were looking at – it's too narrow and reactionary.

A better experience would be a more holistic one, where ALL your purchased apps would impact the recommendations, and the recommendations that appear on the "top" would be the ones that the system has the highest confidence. In fact, the search above would also be improved with such an algorithm (of course, Google does this with thier search results – somewhat – and it may be hard to replicate such "secret sauce."

Recommendations based on both purchases and usage (number of times the app is opened) would be better still… Of course you have to balance the benefits vs. the privacy of the user when it comes to such an approach.

See question on Quora

My pal Anthony Pascale from Trekmovie.com asked me to do a quick video review of the new Star Trek PADD app for the iPad and, since I’m on holiday, I was able to put together one. Here it is:

No, though it may work that way initially. Apple has made APIs available that allows any developer to integrate thier apps with the iCloud service no matter what the platform.

When it rolls out this Autumn it will "just work" with the core iLife apps and OS X Lion, and if it does "just work" as promised I'd wager a lot of developers on the fence about integrating will hop off it (and add it to their applications) fairly quickly.

See question on Quora

No, iCloud is a behind the scenes seamless integration of users data to their devices. Any default search engine would be in the device itself, and right now, that is Google on all Safari browsers. That should not changed when iCloud comes out.

See question on Quora

The rumor is a new MacBook Air will be released in the next few days, using the Sandy Bridge processor and MAYBE adding Thunderbolt. If so, I'll be buying (a second) MacBook Air myself. Wait a week.

See question on Quora

Potentially, yes… But keep in mind the infrastructure and the experience is not finalized yet. I’m running iOS 5 beta on my iPhone and the cloud setting screen allows you to turn on or off what syncs with iCloud on the device, and the iTunes sync takes it one step further, allowing you to decide whether or not you automatically sync apps, music or book purchases AND whether or not you want iTunes sync to only work if you are on wi-fi. Cell syncing for iTunes is off by default, so if you want to sync purchases on a cell network you have to turn that feature on.

Since the bulk of the data will be content purchases through iTunes, that option should prevent high data usage… Unless you turn that on and buy a lot of apps or music. I think that Apple MAY add that “disable cellular” option to the global iCloud settings screen… We’ll see.

See question on Quora

Disclaimer: I'm an Apple fanboy and investor.

Apple should spend their money on three things: content, infrastructure, and materials. I'll start with the last, first.

Materials: Apple can leverage it's cash reserves to lock in raw materials to build iDevices for years to come, and get a great price by negotiating long-term contracts. They are already doing this, and this is the right thing to do. It means Apple can get the best of the best to ensure their supply chain is sustainable and bulletproof.

Second, infrastructure: Apple can build thier own wireless network in all the major cities, and charge for wireless access… Or give it free with an "iCloud" subscription…. One that only works on iDevices. Ubiquitous internet access, "free" with your $99 subscription? It would make the telcos very very nervous… And give Apple another great differentiator to sell their products.

Finally, content: Apple sells iDevices for creation and consumption, and with the consumption part Apple is still beholden to the content creators. If Apple bought a major content creator… Like, oh, Disney… That would ensure a constant content stream that Apple can sell and promote… Content that everyone can access on their iDevices.

See question on Quora

It depends on what you are designing, and how far 'outside of the box' you want to go.

My design team is in the process of doing the design for a cross-platform mobile app, so we can't rely on the UI conventions of just iOs… We have to create an app that will work on and make sense to users who are on Android as well. So that actually opens up what we can do in our design. I'd suggest if you think you may be porting your app to other platforms to start thinking about how the app would work in another medium.

And hey, there's nothing stopping you from being original and creative with your design one day, and then using the iOS UI design patterns the next day.

See question on Quora

Nope.

Apple is not in that business, and the attempts to get into this business (Ping) did not impress anyone. Apple sells devices that people use to communicate, consume, create, and record. They want to sell lots of them. It’s a different model.

Apple will be very happy to sell devices that access and support users in all of their lifestyle choices… Including using Facebook.

Now, will Apple BUY Facebook? They have a lot of money, and Apple tends to buy talent they can’t grow internally. Though I’d say Sony would be a far better acquisition… Or maybe Disney.

See question on Quora

To quote Gary Oldman's character from The Professional: EVERYONE!!!!!

Apple wants to sell ad many iPads to as many customers as they can. They have framed it as an "8 to 80" device, and the software is basically framing it as a "lifestyle device" that supports what you do in, well, life.

Add the base software to the incredible extensibility that the hundreds of thousands of apps (that cover an incredibly wide range of needs) provides, and you have a target market of, well… All sentient creatures on Earth.

They'll be targeting other planet's user base around iPad 16 or so…

See question on Quora

Here’s video, shot of the iPhone 4, and edited on an iPad 2, from the Sydney Aquarium.

I am quite frankly amazed at how easy it is to edit video on the iPad 2 with iMovie. It was cool to be able to do it on the iPhone, but the size of the screen was a major limitation. The iPad 2 has no such limitation, and it’s fantastic.

As many of you know I’m an expat living in Sydney and I got an iPad 2 (finally!) tonight. Here’s some first hand reporting from Australia around the frenzy that greeted iPad 2…

Went by the main Apple store in downtown Sydney at noon during my lunch hour. There were EASILY 500 people in line. I had ordered online at 6 AM so I looked at that line and went “no way!”

Then, the technolust raised its ugly head at 2PM. Could I wait the three weeks before getting one? Nope. So I went to JB Hi Fi at 5 PM. The line was easily 80+ people long, and I was hopeful but realistic. 15 minutes later, they announced all the white ones were gone. At 5:20, they announced all the 3G units were gone. Half the line left. I got even more hopeful.

I was 14th in line when they said “NO MORE STOCK, we may get some more next week. Maybe.” Crap. I dashed to another JB Hi-Fi two blocks over – no luck. They were sold out too.

One last hope – Myers, a huge retailer here, has a large Apple presence in their electronics department. I went over to Pitt street, to the 6-story Myers location, and took the lift to the sixth floor…

MASSIVE line. Easily 200 people.

I asked someone who worked there, “any chance?” He said if you want Wi-fi, yes, you will probably get one. 3G is the most popular model here, with white being second – They love their ubiquitous ‘net connectivity down under.

They were limiting each person to 3 iPads purchases each (which, frankly, ticks me off = it should be at most two, preferably one per customer).

They sold out of the 3G by 6:30, and they ran out of the 64GB unit at 6:20. They were almost out of white by 7.

At 7:10 I got a 32GB white iPad 2. I am currently syncing it and will be happily playing with it soon. When I left they had around 150 units left, so Myers got (I would guess) at least 500 iPad 2s. And when you count the number of Myers, and JB Hi-Fi locations… There are a ton of units shipped for the international launch, but the massive crowds and interest guarantees that they will be gone by morning here.

Note to myself – buy more Apple stock.

Historically, Apple has acquired company for two reasons – the people and the ideas the people have executed. They are interested in one thing: intellectual property that can be used to add value to thier existing products and services.

Siri had some amazing voice recognition software that was (and still is – I still have the app on my iPhone) leaps and bounds above what Apple created in their Voice Control app. Siri created a smart "lifestyle" app – one that let users talk to their device and do things in a way that was personal, engaging and "just worked." Voice Control was a public beta – the folks from Siri will definitely make it better.

Apple bought music sharing/streaming service Lala last year for the same reason – it offered a "your music, accessible through the 'cloud'" solution that I have every confidence that Apple will leverage for a future (next?) version of iTunes.

See question on Quora

No evidence, I'm afraid (I aspire to be a good enough UX designer that someday I MAY be good enough to work for Apple) but I can offer a couple of observations that, as Sherlock Holmes might state, leads one to believe that they very much engage in user testing.

First, a colleague of mine recounted that when Apple was designing the Newton many many years ago the designers went out with a block of wood with paper on it… they "used" said block of wood to sketch out ideas about what they would do with a mobile computing device in their day to day lives. Not user testing per se, but definitely user-centered design. While the Newton failed, I think it was more an example of the technology not being ready for prime time… Technology that could not match the vision of the design team.

Second, the final point that Steve Jobs has now made twice in two separate product announcements – that Apple focuses on the alignment of technology and liberal arts. They make products that are based on what people want, need, desire… Products that enhance their lives, and delight without detraction.

The idea that Apple designs such products without actually TALKING to users is to me an absurd notion. They are successful precisely because they focus smart and incredibly talented people to focus on people – not hardware. One of the best ways to understand what people want? You talk to them. You may not actually do formal usability testing per se, but I'd wager there is a huge contingent of professionals at Apple who do what I have done often – contextual inquiries, interviews and ethnographic studies into what people want.

Finally, the proof is in the pudding. Take an Apple product, software or hardware, and do a hueristic analysis. Do your own usability test, and ask participants to accomplish specific tasks. Apple will not (or potentially ever) get 100% success in the tasks you test, but I'd wager that most of what you test will be quickly and easily understood, used, and well received. Those controls and interaction models are pretty crisp and clear and I'd be quite surprised – and very impressed – if the designers at Apple got to such a final product design without doing some level of user research and design testing.

(Now, the obligatory disclaimer: I don't work for Apple, though I own Apple stock. I own Apple stock for the same reason I own an abundance of Apple products… I appreciate believe and support what they are doing. I'm not an Apple "fanboy.")

See question on Quora

I have read scores of pundits talk about the iPad being a “consumption device,” that it’s for enjoying content and not creating it. To all these talking heads, I say “phooey!” The iPad is a great device to be creative and productive, especially if you are in the user experience design field. Here’s my list of the great (and quickly becoming indispensable) apps that I use to create next-gen online experiences.

iThoughts HD
This mind mapping tool was originally created for the iPhone, and has now been updated for the iPad. With intuitive controls and the ability to export the results into multiple formats, it’s a must-have for visual thinkers and designers.

Newsrack
How do you keep up with what’s going on in the technology and design community? Why, by following RSS feeds and readers like Google reader, that’s how. Newsrack is my favorite reader, for many reasons, primarily because of it’s integration with Google reader and the ability to share links via Twitter and send content to off-line readers such as Instapaper (see below).

IMockups
Want to do some quick design sketches? Well, iMockups is the app for you. Very similar to Balsamiq Mockups, this app let’s you drag and drop UI elements on the screen and then export the designs to your photo library. It’s quite useful and I look forward to future updates, where they plan on adding photo import and more stencil shapes.

Pages
Want to write design documentation on the go? Well, Pages isn’t a perfect word processor, but it is optimized and designed for the iPad, and the latest version fixes some of the usability issues (no access to the menu bar when in landscape mode, for example) that the first version had.

Omnigraffle
I’m a huge fan of the desktop app, which I consider “Visio on steroids.” My initial reaction to the ipad version was frustration and anger – the UI was hard to “get” initially, and had a learning curve steeper than I would have liked. But after taking the time to get to understand the app, it’s now one I use on a daily or weekly basis to create user flow diagrams and quick visualizations. Hopefully the next version will provide better stencil and document management capabilities.

Good Reader
The ability to have all my documents with me is a godsend. I copy dozens of design articles, saved as PDFs, to the app via iTunes and the controls are intuitive and easy to use. It even supports syncing and downloading documents from box.net, Dropbox or iDisk.

Instapaper
If I don’t have the time to save web pages as PDFs to read with Good Reader, I can quickly click the Read Later bookmark that saves the content of the page to Instapaper, and I can save an offline version of the article the next time I open the app on the iPad. An incredibly useful app, especially when I’m traveling and have no Internet access.

Penultimate
This is the ultimate sketching app for the iPad, which allows me to quickly draw up ideas with my fingers or with…

Pogo sketch pencil
Not an app, really, but a stencil that has a tip that the iPad or the iphone “reads” as biological. It gives me greater control than just my fingertip, and is a great deal at only $15.

Originally posted on Atmmarketplace.com…

The iPad, Apple’s much-hyped new tablet device, was released last month to some measure of success — over 1 million units were sold in just 28 days. Clearly, the device has found an audience, more than any other tablet computer produced to date.

The question for financial institutions is, does this matter? How should banks and credit unions react? In the short term, the best reaction is to make sure their websites work in the Safari browser that ships with the iPad. Consumers who bank online will continue that behavior, only now many of them will be doing it using iPads. Financial institutions should also make sure that if they provide a mobile version of their site that automatically launches when accessed by the iPhone, it doesn’t do the same when opened with the iPad. Limited screen size is not a concern with Apple’s new tablet.

So, should financial institutions rush to create custom iPad apps to support the new device? Not quite yet.

As a user experience architect with Fiserv, I have conducted scores of consumer interviews and usability tests to understand consumers and provide the most effective product design possible. While doing so, I have reaffirmed again and again that mental models (how users think of activities or objects) and usage patterns (what users do to accomplish day-to-day tasks) are two deciding factors when it comes to technology adoption and success.
As noted above, usage patterns will remain the same for a while — users will check their finances online, mostly through the financial institution website. They will typically access this site from their home computer or laptop, and the iPad will initially be just another access option. The 3G iPad, however, may shift the traditional usage patterns. Because it will offer uninterrupted Internet access anywhere the user is (within the AT&T service area, of course), consumers will be able to use it to bank “on the go.” The iPad may become the world’s best mobile banking platform, due to its screen size, processing power and ever-present connectivity. For the most part, this mobile banking will not take place through custom mobile apps, but through the web browser.

This is not intended to minimize or dismiss mobile banking applications. Consumers have many more mobile phones than iPads, and always will — but the iPad does provide a richer experience than most mobile devices. That said, it’s still about the user’s mental models that will determine if they will use the iPad for banking. If users think of the iPad as a device that is as secure as their personal computer, then they will use it for banking. If not, then the iPad will face concerns related to security and privacy.

Also, the way consumers eventually use the iPad should influence financial institution strategies around facilitating usage of their services via the iPad and other tablets. The iPad will be used by many as a “lean-back” device, intended for consumption of information and entertainment. Others will look at it as a “lean forward” device, one that can be used to create content such as presentations, documents, spreadsheets and more. For the first group, providing online banking services through their existing site may be more than sufficient. For the second, providing a custom iPad app that provides not only banking services but also financial planning and goal tracking may be more useful. How these usage patterns “shake out” over the next few months will be worth close attention.

Smart technology providers cannot afford to wait things out. Even though we do not know how end users will use the device, we are making sure that we “future proof” ourselves by ensuring that our products work with the iPad and that we provide apps for the platform. The idea of being able to use the iPad or other tablets to virtually “touch your money” is an intriguing one, and we have some top development resources working on a “touch banking” product offering for the iPad.

Some financial institutions have already started the process of providing such custom apps for the iPad. Spain’s Banco Sabadell will soon be rolling out its own custom iPad app, and it will not be the last. The key to the success of any such app is, as always, user-centered design. The apps should empower users to accomplish tasks, and not just be first-to-market “me too” solutions. When it comes to any such solution, banks should always keep consumer’s needs, mental models and usage patterns in mind.

So, will the iPad change things in banking? Not overnight, but, as we saw with Apple’s iPhone product just three short years ago, change can sneak up on the world very quickly. Apple went from 0 to 50 million iPhones sold in that time … and if they sell only one tenth as many iPads, that’s still a lot of existing (or potential) users for financial institutions to accommodate.

I just finished watching the great documentary on industrial design Objectified, which has interviews with many of the best designers in the history of the domain, including a personal favorite of mine, Apple’s Jonathan Ive.

One moment early in the film struck a cord. The great designer Dam Formosa from Smart Design said that we need to understand the extremes – when designing hedge-clippers, if we understand that many of the people who use such a product are arthritic, and that many others are young and muscular, then supporting both will affectively support the needs of everyone else.

Could we apply such thinking to user experience design? I think so, and I think we already do it when it comes to creating personas.

In order to better understand our users we create representative personas, based on extensive user interviews, that my team can use to as design “targets.” These personas allow me to emphasize with the consumers of my designs so that I can craft solutions that work for them, and not for me (I also try and avoid using the same type of software that I design, to reduce the potential for bias).

The thing that I have found when it comes to personas, though, is something I call the “soft middle” – personas that are accurate but are so similar to the personas in the same range that they are almost indistinct. Whenever me or my team creates such personas we often label these personas as “secondary” personas, as opposed to the “primary” personas… The ones that represent the extremes.

So, what is the most important things to put into personas? A clear and (preferably) visual representation of the key characteristics and those “extremes”. We recently did a mobile research study, to understand how people use their mobile devices – and a key indicator we focused on was the engagement and involvement people had with the mobile technology.
How they thought of the devices, and the usage patterns and mental models we defined, allowed us to better understand what users need to understand to adopt mobile services my company was offering. We learned the extremes, and built personas from them. We could have created nine personas, but found that six primary and one secondary persona represented the data we found in our user research without having a “soft middle.”

In summary – define the most important characteristics, target the extremes, and do so by research real users. If you do your due diligence you’ll end up creating solutions that service the needs you find out. Like the man said, solve the problems at both sides of the scale and chances are you’ll solve the problems of everyone in the middle as well.

I love tech fanboys. If there is anything popular or new, their initial response is either to praise it to the heavens or to tear it down for what it doesn’t do. And this past week end we saw the best case study that I have seen in recent memory: the iPad. Apple’s new tablet computing thingeee has brought both sides of the tech continuum out of the woodwork and the comments and hyperbole on both sides have been… well, impressive.

Depending on where you go on the Internet the iPad will either revolutionize the way we use computers (throw away your mouse and keyboard NOW, people, to really get ahead of the curve) or is a crippled device that is overpriced and fails in almost every way (Oh, sorry, that’s “EPIC FAIL”).

I lean more towards the former, just because I’m an optimist. I think the iPad is great for what it IS, but it’s not the best thing that ever happened, ever. After using it for a coupled of days it has enhanced my life and made me more productive, and so I think it was worth buying. I expected what I was sold, and I got more than I hoped.

Not to sound like a fanboy, one thing that the critics claim that grates on my is the device is overpriced for what you get, compared to a netbook. Well, that is the wrong comparison, in my opinion. You need to look at usage patterns and the experience that the device provides – it’s very much an apples vs. oranges comparison. So here’s a quick “shopping list” that I pulled together that compares the iPad against other devices (plural) appropriately.

(This list is focused on USAGE, not functionality. YES, I know the Kindle has a longer-lasting battery, I get it – for most people that is a nice to have, not a must-have… power outlets are pretty ubiquitous. “But, but, it doesn’t do flash! It doesn’t multitask!” Well, yeah. The second is coming, and the first is slightly annoying – until all major sites stop using flash and use HTML 5 – which I think will happen, and soon…)

WHAT YOU CAN DO AND WHAT DOES IT COST:

The iPad: Entry level version, $499. It does a lot of stuff that a lot of other devices do (see below).

The other devices:

Netbook. The obvious one, first. The average price is $250, so let’s use that.

Nintendo DS or a PSP. Yes, the iPad is a great portable gaming system, with a screen that beats both these systems, hands down. The average is $170, so let’s use that. And the games are cheaper for the iPad.
Digital Photo Frame. The iPad has a “screen saver” that works as a great digital photo frame. Comparable frames of that size cost $150, so that’s the price I’ll use in my math.

Portable DVD player. A flat-screen DVD player costs $140-160 bucks, and with comparable screens. Yes, the iPad doesn’t play DVDs, but software to covert movies to a format that can play on the iPad is available, for free, for both Windows and OS X. And if that’s too complicated, users can buy movies in one click on the itunes store. Let’s pin this one at $140.

An iPod. The iPad works as a pretty damn good iPod, better than the Shuffle but in some ways not as comparable as the iPod Touch or the Nano (you can’t shoot video like you can with the Nano, but the screen is bigger than the iPod Touch). Let’s split the difference and say $100.

A Kindle. Yes, the Kindle has the e-ink technology, which is more usable in bright sunlight – but how often do you read in that environment? I’d say… rarely. The entry level Kindle is $259.

A streaming Netflix box. Yes, you can stream all your Netflix movies thanks to a new (and free) app. The Roku entry-level version costs $80, and even though you need to buy an extra accessory to output video from the iPad, think it’s fair to use the $80 price.

The Experience. I can’t pin a price on this one, but as a user experience architect, I consider the design of the devise – both the software and the industrial design of the hardware – to be absolutely vital to success. I would say that this one is “priceless” but let’s be generous and say that the iPad’s UI and hardware is worth about $50.

The bearing cost. I want to factor in the “convergence cost” – imagine owning, maintaing, and carrying around all the above every day. I’d go nuts if I had to do that. I’d say being able to do all the stuff I detailed in all the devices above in one singe device is worth $50 – it is to me, at least.

And the rest… The iPad is a great notebook, portable storage device, comic-book reader, board game… as they say, whatever the use case you may have, odds are “there’s an app for that.” I won’t assign a value to this, except to round up at the end.

The Total

So, how does it look? The total of all I have detailed above, rounding up? $1200. So, is the iPad a great deal, at the entry level price of $500? ABSOLUTELY. Is it making my, and many peoples lives better and easier? I would say so.

And when you realize that, adjusted for inflation, the iPad is the cheapest device that the (notoriously overpricing) Apple has ever sold? Well, it’s an even better deal.

OK, this post should be considered wild-ass speculation, but, since a great many industry analysts are paid a great deal of money for such seemingly random musings, where’s the harm in throwing another ill-based rumor on the pyre?

I noted three things I found interesting when it comes to my favorite consumer electronics company recently. First, in the past two keynotes Steve Jobs has made a point to emphasize that they have hundreds of millions of customers in the Apple music store… and “all with credit cards.” An odd statement, contextually, unless what they are planning is what happens. Follow…

The second thing was that Apple has replaced the previous Windows-mobile based applications in all of their Apple stores with iPod Touches, all equipped with credit card readers and a proprietary app that supports point of sale transactions. They use hardware attached to the device to read the card and you “sign” with a stylus that works with the biosensitive ipod touch screen. Boring stuff, you may think… well, read on.

The third and most interesting thing that I am seeing is that a lot of companies are pushing the idea of a “pay anyone” service, where you can send money through the web… or through a mobile device. A startup called Square, from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is targeting such a market opportunity with a dongel that you connect to an iPhone that allows you to accept a credit or debit card payment anywhere… and they get a cut of the transaction. The technology looks cool… but I think they are late to the game.

I think Apple is ready to ship an iPhone that supports personal payments, with card-swiping built in.

Crazy talk? Think about it. They have the infrastructure (“millions of users – all with credit cards on file”), they control the hardware, and they are already using apps to do transactions – millions, every day, in all their stores. Cloud they “leap-frog” all the banks and financial services companies and provide such a “ay anyone, anywhere” service? Yes… and they would be able to socialize personal payments better and quicker than any other company could. And they’ll get a cut of every transaction.

Again, this is wild and crazy speculation, and this could mean that Apple could end up being, affectively, a big bank… but I wouldn’t put it past them. After all, Apple likes to “think different” and “follow the money.”

And there’s a lot of money in transaction fees.

… I just bought my wife a new computer, and it wasn’t a mac.

To be fair, she has never wanted a mac, and has resisted the constant propaganda I had thrown her way since I switched a few years back. If I replaced her old HP computer with a Mac Mini I’d an iMac she would have raised a great ruckus, so I bought a $329 Compaq. Running Vista.

And, Jobs help me, I love it.

It’s fast, the new Ui is gorgeous, the media player and photo gallery programs are really nice… And so on. All for about half the cost of the Mac Mini or the original coat of the iPhone.

Have to say, with Vista finally to the point where users are beginning to accept it, and after some of the mistakes Apple made with the new iPhone rollout and software problems plaguing both it and Mobile Me… I may not ever “switch back,” but Vista is now a viable option to me.

Steve, you better have a new Special Event soon, cause you’re beginning to lose me…

Well, I just finished installing Leopard on my 4th Mac (one was for a friend of mine) and my initial thoughts are this… Fantastic OS, buggy installer. I had to do a full install on one of the four computers due to an unrecoverable error message during the upgrade. I had luckily backed up everything on that computer (and it was my non-critical laptop) but I shudder to think what my reaction would have been if I hadn’t.

Also, restoring files from the backup was not seamless – it would not import my old address book calendar files and did not import e-mail settings. The only way I was able to get my data back on the computer was due to my “backup” contacts and calendar on my iPhone…

Reading around the net today a LOT of people who tried the default upgrade encountered similar problems. If this was Windows, a LOT more press would come from this, methinks, but due to the “thank you sir may I have another” relationship may in the Apple community have with the company, the complaints will be far less than the number of individuals affected by this.

I think that the installer, honestly, was not ready for release, but Apple, just like they did with the iPhone, released a partial-beta to the public.

The most success (and the only upgrade of the two I tried that worked) was with my son’s mac mini, but then again, he has no e-mail or calendar entries and very few documents…

As I stated, he operating system is fantastic (and I am already taking advantage of spaces to increase my efficiency), but the advice I am giving everyone is simple – if you can backup and know how to restore your files, then do a clean install. Otherwise, wait until the next version is released (probably before Christmas – look for stickers on the outside of the package before then, indicating the point-release…)

I posted earlier about the feedback – mostly negative – towards Apple’s update of the iPhone software that removed the ability to install third party open source apps and rendered “hacked” phones (that work with networks other than AT&T) deader than a drawer full of doornails. Since then I’ve also read on Engadget that quite a few factory-fresh iPhones are also going the way of the Dodo after installing the update. So, the best you can say is Apple rushed an update out that was not tested well, and the breaking of customer’s phones wasn’t malicious.

Wow, that’s much better, isn’t it?

Finally, Leo Laporte, a huge advocate of Apple, has posted the following: Read more.

Apple, when you have lost a fanboy pundit like Leo Laporte, you have a problem. A big problem.

Fix this. Soon. 

First photos uploaded here. Stunning, ain’t they?

More coming throughout the day.

Totally lame I know but my son and I are number 37 and 38 in line outside the new apple store at the Mall of Georgia an hour before they open. Since I never did this before I’m live-blogging it.

The mood here is calm but anxious. A woman walked buy a few moments ago and asked why e were here. A fellow in front of us said “we’re ashamed to say.”

That’s about right.

Through the magic of my hacked iPhone I’ll be uploading images to flickr momentarily.

More fascinating analysis (including a review of the mall’s carpet pattern) on its way.

Just found out that the new Apple store will be opening on September 22nd, which also is my birthday.

“Oh Steve you shouldn’t have!”

And I leave the best for last:

The G3 Apple Beer Server. Can I order two?

(NOTE: last Apple post for a while, as I move on to my other fetish: Disney!)

I’ve put together some ideas/features that can/will be added to ye old iPhone, along with my guesstimate as to the probability of such functionality actually being added. If I’m wrong, I’m hedging my bets appropriately. If I’m right, I can brag about my prescience throughout the blogosphere. Enjoy!

e-books

The screen is fantastic for reading text, either web pages or e-mails. Why not e-books? Imagine sample chapters distributed like podcasts via itunes or the whole book as a PDF… Imagine a partnership with Amazon to buy e-books… Imagine Apple offering the Product Gutenberg library through the itunes music store. Wow.

This will definitely happen if Sony ticks off Steve Jobs (to cripple future sales of Sony’s e-book reader device).

Probability: 50%

Video Recording

No brainer, actually. Apple won’t let any competing product/smart phone promote a feature it does not offer, especially with the emphasis on video that Apple is making with the new iMovie and partnership with Google/YouTube.

The key will be this – will it capture audio well enough? If Steverino determines the microphone is not good enough to match the video with the 1st gen hardware, that may mean video recording won’t be out until the 2nd gen iPhone,

Probability: 80%

Flash support

I think it’ll be here around the release of Leopard, especially with the new support of the H.264 video codec (promoted and loved by Apple) in the new version of Flash.

Probability: 70%

iMap e-mail support

Support of corporate exchange server e-mail? Yup, especially if sales start to fall below expectations. Got to get those corporate customers.

Probability: 65%

File support/file browser

People like to use their iPods as portable storage drives – I think Apple would be stupid to prevent this usage/support the need. However, I think that Apple might need tight control of the storage space to support caching for Safari, Google maps, etc., so to maintain the stable user experience they may avoid adding this feature (3rd party software already supports this).

Probability: 35%

Voice Memos

Another no-brainer BUT Apple has never focused on this feature for iPods (and third-party vendors have had to step in). I think Apple may decide that this is a “nice-to-have” feature and may not have a high enough user base/need to warrant development.

Probability: 30%

Increased Stability

My IPhone crashes twice a day when I am multitasking (playing music as I web surf) which is still an improvement from the first two weeks I had it (before the bug fixes were pushed down via iTunes). I expect the stability improvements to continue via regular updates.

Probability: 100%

Hacks foiled

Lots of people have hacked the iPhone to add things such as custom ring tones, apps, etc. Apple will, unlike with the Apple TV, stop these projects via updates, because some of the hacks (like ring tones) cut into future profit opportunities (see below) and contractual obligations to AT&T.

Probability: 90%

Ring-tones (via iTunes Store)

Gonna happen. Ring-tones is a billion dollar industry, believe it or not, and Apple wants a piece of that pie. I’d be surprised if it isn’t out by the end of September with a new version of iTunes.

Probability: 100%

iWeb publishing

Publishing blog entries via e-mail is old hat to some, as WordPress has had a plug in for a while. Imagine if Apple offered that as an option – write a note on your iPhone and then, with one click, post an entry to your iWeb site (hosted on .mac, of course). It fits with the same paradigm that the new “publish to .mac gallery” function for photos does, and promotes iWeb and .mac (which is in Apple’s corporate interest – you know, the one involving squeezing another $100 out of the user base very year).

Probability: 75%

“Event” photo galleries

Expect to be able to organize/load photos to your iPhone via the “Event” construct/meta data just added in iLife ’08.

Probability: 90%

Detailed Real-Time Traffic

It’s all about the data. If Google maps starts to offer similar detailed real-time traffic service to what Yahoo offers then the iPhone hopefully will roll it out as well. I personally would love to see this one.

Probability: 60%

Alternate Routes

More map stuff – Again, Google has offered some cool stuff lately with maps and it would be nice to have alternate routes on the maps app on the iPhone.

Probability: 60%

GPS

Too much power needed, too much latency, no real reason to add it, even if competing smart phones have it.

Probability: 5%

Accessories for car stereos (i.e. FM Transmitters)

Unlikely. Too much RF interference from the phone to connect to the car stereo with an FM transmitter like many iPods have.

Probability: 5%

To-Do Lists

Yeah, everyone complained about the lack of a to-do list when the iPhone came out – well, I think Apple was simply waiting for Leopard, the new version of OS X, to be released, in order to check this particular “to do” off of their iPhone feature list. I think we’ll see To Do’s by the time Leopard ships in October.

Probability: 95%

2nd Gen version with more storage and features (and cheaper)

In case you’re new to this, welcome to Apple’s product life cycle. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.

Expect a 2nd gen iPhone by, at the latest, spring.

Probability: 100%

Calendar improvements

The calendar sync is awkward (all new appointments made on the iPhone are listed under a “calendar” list in iCal). This will be fixed.

Probability: 100%

Games

I don’t know. The touch screen offers a unique design challenge for game designers and Apple may limit the work on this until the controller experience is “nailed”. I think it will happen, but not anytime soon.

Probability: 55%

SDK for (some) developers

I think we will never see an open SDK for developers to write apps for the iPhone. HOWEVER, Apple has and will promote development guidelines to some key partners (cough GOOGLEcough) and I fully expect these partners to roll out functionality for the device that Apple will promote as a new feature they will “own.”

I also think this “internal” SDK will be leaked and posted on the ‘net within a year.

Probability: 95%

External SDK

Depends on sales and Apple management. I dought Steve ceding any control of the iPhone experience to any third-party developer. Reference: the last six years of the iPod product lifecycle.

Probability: 5%

SOMETHING ELSE

I have every confidence in Apple’s ability to surprise people. Heck they can make the dang thing a remote for the Apple TV if they want to! So I’m sure that the designers in Cupertino have plenty of tricks up their sleeve and I look forward to the next “One More Thing” for the iPhone.

Probability: 100%

One of the things that has annoyed some Apple fans recently has been Apple’s high system requirements for the new iMovie 08 (which I reviewed over the weekend). Want to use the newest, easiest-to-use video editor ever made with your old G4 Powerbook or iMac? Sorry, the installer won’t let you even put it on your hard drive. Man, that super-cool skimming feature must really eat up a lot of processing power and graphic cycles, right? I mean, for pete’s sake, the $1000 Final Cut Studio can run on G4s! That iMovie must be really cutting edge!

Well, not exactly. Someone has posted instructions on how to change two files from the install disk to allow you to install iMovie ’08 on your old power pc-based Macs. It ain’t easy but guess what? I did it, it works flawlessly and the only noticable performance impact is the render time is slower on the older Powerbook than my newer iMac.

Hmm.

Apple wouldn’t be using this new cool video editing tool as a lure to get people to buy new Mac computers, would they? Nah, that’s not the warm and friendly Apple we all love… Right?

At any rate, the instructions are here.

Kay, there’s been a lot of bickering online the past few days about the newest version of the entry-level video editor iMovie (yes, I know another Apple-related post – it’s a sickness, I tell ya). David Pogue spoke for a large and vocal number of he user community on a post on the New York Times web site (the comments are as interesting as the posting). To summarize, the primary complain of the users is that the basic workflow has changed significantly and functionaliy that existed in the previous version is no longer available.

Apple rewrote the app from the ground up to become a TRUE entry-level video-editor that anyone can start to use and immediately understand. Another goal was to reduce the effort involved and allow users the ability to create short videos extremely quickly.

After using it to import my old video clips and reconcile them to the new paradigm, I have to say: critics be damned. Apple has not only accomplished their goals, they have hit one out of the park.

The new iMovie approach, with the ability to quickly scan through hours of video footage, and then “pinch” the segments you want, is revolutionary. Video projects that have laid fallow for months were completed in less than 20 minutes, and quickly uploaded to youtube thanks to the new integrated youtube plug in. Examples:

Again, completed and uploaded within the hour. Yes, it ain’t “professional” quality, but if I need to do professional editing, I go to Final Cut Express or Pro. I want to not have to “work” to upload or edit home or family videos, and iMovie had become a cumbersome tool that required a lot of time to tweak and complete projects. This solves that problem, and in a fantastic experience to boot.

Two critiques, to balance things out: The process of getting my old iMovie content into the new app was ponderous and slow – it copied files into the new library format and that took some time (and file juggling to make space). Like all previous iLife upgrades, I expected to be able to click on the old file and have it pen in the new app – not the case with iMovie, and Apple could have saved themselves some cuustomer service calls from irate or confused users if they had developed a “migration wizard” to help people move to the new version.

Second, the whole “event” idea – the notion of structuring the content according to a time-stamp that the users can tweak – is a great idea, but there are problems with execution. Because of the migration process tons of video clips from 2002, 3 and 4 are showing up under the “2007″ event category. Sorry, if you are gonna force a date-based structure on us, make sure the dates match the timestamps in the video files. Hopefully that will be fixed. And iPhoto? Their implementation of the Event structure tries to auto-detect the library and create events for the user. Good luck with that, as I ended up with at least a dozen events that contained one photo.

Worse than than that, if I try and delete the event, it takes the images in that particular event out of any folder it has been assigned previously AND puts the photos in the trash! WHAT THE HECK? Again, this needs to be fixed, and should have been done differently (I’m glad I don’t work in an Apple support center right now).

Both these critiques are far more valid in my opinion than the users complaints of the iMovie “downgrade.” The old version of iMovie is still on your hard drive, and if users want to keep the existing model in place they can use the old version.

The more I use iMovie 08 the more I like it. Again, a huge win for users and another “ooh, cool” feature for Apple to promote.

I broke down and got one two weeks after the bloody thing came out. I had decided to sell qute a few collectibles on ebay for a month to help pay for the apple of my eye (ahem) and was able to score a nice end-bid on a couple of things rather quickly. So, when my ebay sales totals and free cash reached the Bob Barker point, the last vestigal traces of my willpower collapsed upon itself.

Remember when McCoy accidently injected himself with that psychedelic drug on Star Trek?

Yeah, it was kinda like that…

So, how is it? Well, it’s fantastic. After a month of use I couldn’t see myself living without it very comfortably.

BUT… it’s a first draft product.

I may not be the only person who has ever used this metaphor before, so bear with me if you’ve heard this one before: Apple sells drafts, not final products. Some time they sell rough story treatments (iWeb 1.0), other times they deliver rather complete could-be-published-tomorrow stories (MacBookPro, the new iMac). The iPhone is somewhere in-between. It “feels” like a 1st generation production, with some rather obvious features lacking (video, advanced calendars, to-dos, iMap mail support) and some annoying bugs (even after the update pushed out a couple of weeks back the browser still crashes, though far less frequently than it did).

I have every confidence that there will be future fantastic enhancements for the iPhone, and all of the above criticisms, however slight, will be resolved. And don’t get me wrong, the damn thing is like a damn Tricorder device in my hand, it’s that cool.

I only wish that power-users such as myself had gotten more bang for the buck the first time around.

iweb 2, WHERE ARE YOU?

Well, I was anxiously awaiting the anticipated update to ilife to be announced during Steve Job’s MacWorld keynote this morning, so that I could continue to use the software to easily post my blog. Well, no such announcement occurred, as the iphone ate up the bulk of time.

SO, the fact that iweb is unmanageably bloated and has created a virtual “walled garden” due to the lack of trackback pings, I am done. I have installed WordPress and will be customizing this and other screens shortly. That being said, I will miss some of the iweb featres and may – MAY – go back to using it someday. But, for now, I’m back to where I was a year ago (I used Moveable Type back then) and will probably not look back.

HOWEVER, I will cherry-pick selected postings from the past year and repost them here if I think they are worth retaining. Stay tuned.