New mobile ‘Apperating’ systems are changing the way we use our smart phones

Facebook home logoDropbox logoAviate logoGive Wired Magazine the credit for coming up with the term ‘Apperating system’ as it applies to the home screens and general navigation on smart phone devices.  Writer @ryantate did an excellent job in his June 2013 article, explaining the concept of a ‘software platform that sits between the operating system and the apps, capturing an enormous share of the user’s attention.’

Facebook Home (built on top of the Android platform) is a prime example and one that people are beginning to hear about.  From the article Mr. Tate adds “With Facebook hogging the top billing, users are less likely to turn to competing apps like Google+ and Google Voice. So while Facebook Home is, on one level, just another Android app, it also represents a hefty dose of anti-Android. It’s a brilliant bit of business jujitsu: Google spent billions of dollars on Android, between the software and the hardware, but now Facebook has swooped in and stolen the customer experience right out from under it, adding a software layer that will put Facebook’s ads front and center while pushing Google’s to the bowels of the system.”  BTW I particularly like the reference to ‘business jiujitsu’  – well played Mr. Tate.

But there are more of these platforms coming on line and I was surprised to think of Dropbox.com and Amazon’s Kindle Fire platform in the context of an ‘apperating’ system but it makes total sense.   That Dropbox could act as a cloud-based hub for content created to be accessed anywhere and on any device for which you have internet service is just…cool.    Yes I am aware the iCloud offers this option as well but apparently it is not as easy to use as Dropbox.

Just last week I received a notification offering the opportunity to sign up for an alpha release of Aviate – and its own offering in the smart phone home screen takeover battle that has begun (whether you know it or not.)   The pitch from Aviate went like this ‘Aviate is an intelligent home screen that organizes and surfaces information at the perfect moment. Sign up and be the first to get Aviate on your Android phone.’   The idea is that Aviate’s version of a smart phone home screen will be ‘Simple, Dynamic, and Contextual’ – meaning it will adapt to you and your surroundings.   I signed up just because I was intrigued enough to want to know more.    Not just how does Aviate work but how will it be monetized?   I am not certain the creators of the Aviate ‘apperating’ system have quite figured that out yet but I bet they have a few ideas.

In order for a new system like any of the above to be truly contextual, people will have to adapt, adjust, and accept having their GPS turned on all the time.  The tide has turned for me since the NSA and US government appear to have the ability to find me anywhere anyway, why would I worry about being tracked via GPS?

How about you?  Would you consider embracing a major change in  the way you use your smart phone and the way you interface with its content and apps?  The options are growing every day.

Posted in Communication, Community, Mobile Communication, Social Media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A year after closing a company – motivation is the word

secondwindI honestly thought I’d be even further along.   Maybe that’s why I’ve been feeling more frustrated than normal lately.  It’s been almost exactly a year since I felt it necessary to cease operations of my former company.   That time remains etched in my memory as if it happened yesterday.   At the time I thought that things would be different in a year.   I did not know how, but I knew things would be different.   After all a year is a pretty long time right?

One year later my professional life continues to evolve in so many ways.  Mostly in good ways.  I really enjoy working with my two partners and I am enjoying the dynamic of exchanging ideas with more than a dozen other really smart team members.   I and we get to work with some really interesting and smart clients and outside partners.  Every day is different and that suits me particularly well.

It’s not all good though.   There are still some unresolved issues from my former business that plague my psyche and are just not pleasant to think about.  I try not to but recently it’s been more difficult.   It’s certainly not the kind of anniversary anyone would ever want to celebrate and I sincerely hope it never happens to you.

I realize that thinking I’d be further along is more a measure of my normal impatience than anything else.  Yet, professionally, I have this nagging feeling that I’m searching for that professional sweet spot.  What I mean by sweet spot is having a perfect mix of challenge, productive output, and success that I’ve had before and am striving to achieve once again.

The old saying that the journey is its own reward was laughable a year ago.   That’s not the case for me now as a result of the dramatic changes in my professional life over the past year I’ve learned so much about myself, my professional relationships and prospects that what I’d really like to do is help people that are in or have been in the same situation realize that there is life after a professional setback.   Obviously the story is incomplete with many chapters still to be written.   The intellectual side of me realizes that I’ve made progress – maybe even a lot of progress.   The emotional side of me continues to feel that this is all taking far too long.

I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe the word that describes my impatience and sometimes angst is actually motivation.   I’m not one to rest – now more than ever.  How will it all work out?  New skills, new challenges, new growth opportunities and new relationships.  That kind of sounds like what a journey is all about.

Thanks for all the support and if I can help others in the process it will be worth it in the long run.   What is really the case is that I am just not quite there – yet.

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Ethan Allen – the interesting Asia story of a venerated American Brand

Ethan Allen in ChinaLast week at the Asia Society in New York I attended an event entitled “Ethan Allen CEO – Selling ‘Made in the USA’ to China.   It featured Ethan Allen Interiors CEO M. Farooq Kathwari interviewed by Timothy Aeppel bureau chief for economics in New York for the Wall Street Journal.   Mr. Kathwari is a Kashmiri Indian-born CEO (which he’s been since 1988 – amazing unto itself for a public company), who runs an 81 year old American company named for an American patriot.   He was there to talk about Ethan Allen’s expansion into China.   The room was crowded for good reason.

Mr. Kathwari as the CEO of a NASDAQ traded public company was reasonably forthright but several times noted an inability to answer based on disclosures that he had already made to capital market analysts.  When it came to the company’s expansion into China there were several main thrusts.

1)      Ethan Allen does some manufacturing in China.  There are 7 plants in all and Mr. Kathwari  related the story of how he came to be contacted by would be Chinese furniture manufacturers who wished to build a plant in western China (Xinjiang province) and ultimately forged a deal with Ethan Allen to produce furniture for the company.

2)      Ethan Allen continues to make furniture in the United States.  Mr. Kathwari noted that costs in the U.S. are higher than they are for plants in Mexico and China.  But the company is committed to making furniture in the U.S. and is also focused on treating all of its employees ‘with dignity’.  That means paying them a fair wage, taking care of health coverage and not focusing the company’s efforts solely on chasing profits quarter to quarter in order to appease Wall Street.

3)      Ethan Allen sells custom-made American-made furniture in China.  In fact about half of the Ethan Allen furniture sold in Markhor stores in China comes from the United States.   The customized upholstery that is the hallmark of Ethan Allen is not something found in Chinese factories.  And orders including shipping to China can be achieved in as little as 8 weeks.  That the custom furniture is proven authentic – a word we marketers like to use a bit too much, is the reason that Chinese buyers will pay dearly (but competitively according to Mr. Kathwari) for the real thing.

4)     Ethan Allen has to connect with Generations X and Y as Baby Boomers are simply just too old to be a primary target any longer.

Mr. Kathwari also acknowledged that in some of the stores (like one of the Ethan Allen branded furniture stores located in Shanghai), sell the real Ethan Allen products on one floor and then another company located in the building may well sell knock-offs on another floor.   ‘There will always be knock-offs’ stated Mr. Kathwari.

I do wish Mr. Kathwari would have had time to discuss the managing of the Ethan Allen brand in China and around the world and the collective fierce protection of that brand.  By developing an international business plan model for the company (Ethan Allen is also looking to expand into Brazil as well as other areas in South America), the future of a venerated American brand looks to be secure.    That is as long as the attention to innovation and continual development of new markets is not forgone.

Sounds like an example of a flatter world to me.  Credit to Thomas Friedman, of course.

Still does it surprise you as much as it did me that an American company could make a product in the U.S., ship it and sell it to China and still be profitable?

Posted in Best business practices, Brand Advertising, Business in Asia, Business in China, China, Marketing stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Expats living in the U.S. and China still seem to forgo a wide world view

ExpatsI’ve posted that American expatriates living in China have increased my learning curve.     Having met more than fifty U.S.A. born expatriates that now live in China (and even more non-U.S western expats), there are similarities in their view of the United States.   In my experience there are very few that are interested in moving back to the U.S. anytime soon.

When I first noticed this a few years ago I thought it was interesting yet not surprising given China’s stratospheric rise (recent difficulties notwithstanding) and the ability to live well in China by western standards.    But over time these expats seem to have a nearly universal displeasure with what’s going on in the U.S.    That the U.S. has its problems is no secret, but turning a cold shoulder to the U.S. as a whole bothers me.   Far from perfect, the U.S. may not always be the shining city on the hill but it’s still the most desired places to live on the planet.     That has not changed.

The converse is also true.  Most of the Chinese expats that I know who live in the U.S. are in no great hurry to move back to China.   From what I have seen the longer Chinese expats live in the U.S. the less likely they are to ever return to China.  Freedom does have a nice ring to it.

Fugitive Edward Snowden has set back Sino-U.S. relations (Russia-U.S. relations were not all that good to begin with and I don’t think the U.S. is all that concerned with its Ecuadorian relations), with his release of intelligence gathered by the U.S. on China, Hong Kong, and U.S. citizens among others.  While I will offer no opinion on Mr. Snowden’s patriotism or lack thereof, the aftermath is that an even larger mistrust is growing between the Chinese and U.S. governments.  At the same time there appear to be increasing feelings of mistrust and misunderstanding between the people of both countries.

Why does it have to be this way?   Why can’t Americans living in China (for example) simply enjoy, even prefer, living in China since in their case it fits their lifestyle and offers the ability to live in an amazingly interesting time in China?    But it goes way beyond that.   There’s a snootiness to many American expats living in China that they are not only on the cutting edge of an expanding China market, but in rejecting the boring and mundane American way of life they are somehow living a more enlightened life.  I suspect most of the expats I’ve met that have expressed that sentiment would categorically deny it but I’ve seen and heard it first-hand and don’t like it.

Chinese expats that live in the U.S. relish the freedoms that are inherent in the U.S. and those same Chinese are not all that surprised that the U.S. is monitoring communications and individuals.   The difference is that Americans in the U.S. have a collective sense of outrage at surveillance policies that have gone undisclosed – a debate that should be undertaken in my opinion.   As Winston Churchill once said – “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”   The Chinese just expect that they are being watched and at any time could be thrown in jail in China for no obvious reason.   That’s state-sponsored socialism for you folks.   I prefer the ‘imperfect’ democracy alternative.

American and western expats that live in China should think twice about bashing their home countries.

Posted in Business in Asia, Business in China, China, Living in the World Today, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Men’s Wearhouse debacle – What’s wrong with changing a tired face of a brand?

George Zimmer youngGeorge Zimmer oldMen's WearhouseMen’s Wearhouse founder, CEO and longtime spokesman George Zimmer was fired by the  board last week.  The reverberations can still be felt.   I had not realized that Mr. Zimmer had been the spokesman for almost thirty years.   In fact if you see photos of Mr. Zimmer from when he began acting as brand spokesperson he was a young and fully bearded guy.  Today he is an old fully bearded guy.    I don’t understand all the hoopla on removing Mr. Zimmer as the ‘face’ of Men’s Wearhouse when it comes to promoting the brand.   The iconic tag line that Men’s Wearhouse has used for YEARS, ‘You’re gonna like the way you look.  I guarantee it’, was and still is good.

Why the board decided to fire him entirely is puzzling to me.   A week after announcing a 23% jump in first quarter profits the Men’s Wearhouse board made the decision to boot Mr. Zimmer?     TheStreet.com had a similar take -from thestreet.com article ‘They don’t even thank the guy that grew Men’s Wearhouse from one tiny Texas store into one of the country’s largest specialty men’s retailers with 1,143 locations and $2.48 billion in sales last year.’  It’s a good thing the company did not lose money in the first quarter as had that happened, stringing Mr. Zimmer up in a public flogging would seemingly be the board’s approach to protecting shareholder value.

Company founders do not always make good long-term business managers.   However Mr. Zimmer has/had done an admirable job of keeping Men’s Wearhouse a relevant brand even if his continuing on as spokesman was no longer relevant.   While the guarantee is cool and should be kept, someone like Ryan Seacrest who does wear a suit quite nicely, would much better connect with the men’s suit buying universe.   Let’s face it, the over 50 crowd is no longer in their prime suit-buying years and the target audience has to get younger or Men’s Wearhouse will indeed become an irrelevant brand.

The market for men’s suits is ever-changing but it’s not beyond comprehension that since everything old gets new again, resurgence in suit-buying should not be all that far off.  Mr. Zimmer and Men’s Wearhouse did many things exactly right.   Removing the founder as spokesman is fine.  Kicking his butt out the door is not.  The end of this story has yet to be told.  I guarantee it.

Posted in Advertising, Advertising to Millenials, Best business practices, Brand Advertising | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Match.com goes old school – back to board games

boardgame-bizplus_laAn article in Tuesday’s New York Times noted that has it has found a partner in the board game industry.   “On Tuesday, the company began holding what it is calling Stir game nights, where singles gather at bars and restaurants to play games like Bananagrams, a word game, and Spontuneous, a music game. The company will present 30 events through the fall in its top 25 most popular markets.’.

Board games are for the most part a non-digital experience.    When it comes to a dating site/service getting people to ‘connect’ over a something like a board game makes a lot of sense to me.   I mentioned to my wife that our first date many years ago (pre-mobile devices) was at a place called Tiffany Wine and Cheese café and that place was noted for the wide variety of board games available for patrons to play at no charge.   It was a perfect low-pressure environment for a first date.   Ok maybe I should have avoided the backgammon smackdown I handed out to my future bride (no I have not forgotten) but hey we’re still married so it worked out right?

When it comes to true social interaction amongst people and in particular people who may not know each other that well, board games offer a real-time shared experience that have few parallels.   Think about some typical first date experiences.   A one-on-one first dinner date comes with pressures all its own.   Sharing a movie is also a tried and true first date yet sitting in the dark with what is for the most part a stranger is hardly a way to get to know someone.   The same can be said for attending a concert or live sporting event.

There are classic board games like Monopoly, Risk (does anyone play that cold war game anymore?), Life, Sorry, and Clue (ok not quite classic) as well as 1980’s games that are searching for new life like Trivial Pursuit, and Pictionary just to name a few.  I remember board games also being useful when the power would go out.  That once-primary use of board games probably continues today.

I think Match.com might really be on to something here.  What might be more interesting is a possible renewed popularity for low-tech board games that have people not looking at their smartphones but in fact interacting and enjoying involved time with each other.

For board game fans you might enjoy some of the updated games you played as a child (no not Operation or Mouse Trap although I still wouldn’t mind playing a game of Trouble).

Match.com and board games are indeed a good match but it’s my hope that Millenials might find that a good old fashioned board game is actually kind of retro-cool.   Yes I know I am such a dreamer.

Do you think board games match well with first dates?  What’s your favorite board game?

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Google buying battery hog Waze is smart – as long as you have power nearby

WazeThe news last week was abuzz with Google’s latest $1 billion acquisition of crowd source navigation application WAZE.  Bloomberg.com had this to offer – “Google needs to maintain supremacy in maps, as they are a key to mobile advertising,” Andrew Frank, an analyst at Gartner Inc., said in an e-mail. “They need more ways to shore up their social efforts.”

I started using Waze last summer.  The application was clean, worked well and I liked it quite a bit.  The crowd-sourced traffic aspect is valuable a real-time feature although I wonder how solo drivers might share or view the consistently updated information.  Shouldn’t their eyes be on the road?  As a passenger using Waze it was great to be able see travel times, traffic on the routes, construction projects on the road and even weather conditions.

There was however a big problem and the problem was Waze was (and still is I suspect) one of the all-time battery hogs I’ve ever seen when it comes to mobile applications.   I don’t see any news that this dirty little secret has been addressed in any way.  Find a power source is not what most people have in mind.   It’s understandable that any GPS application is power hungry to a certain degree.  But in order for Waze to truly become ubiquitous, this problem will have to be rectified – at least to a degree.   Consequently I am not using it at present.

Think for a moment about stand-alone navigation units like Magellan, Tom-Tom, and Garmin.  Waze can and likely will render stand-alone units obsolete.  Google Maps and MapQuest have tried yet have fallen short.   While the stand-alone units are portable in that they can be moved from vehicle to vehicle, they are not designed to be carried around as one would a smartphone.

Google has promised to not fiddle with the Waze platform and to maintain both Google Maps as well as Waze.  I expect that eventually they will be merged into a single application once the battery hog problem has been addressed.

If you don’t have a GPS navigation device and have only used Google Maps, MapQuest or some other map service, give Waze a try.  Just keep the power cord handy.

And please share what you think of Waze.  Any good tips on how to extend the battery life when using it would be very welcome.

Posted in Customer Experiences, Mobile Communication, Technology, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Kindle Fire can’t be the best that Amazon can do

Ipad Kindle FireEven before I had bought the original Kindle in 2007 (this was pre-iPad days if you’ll recall), I had been a longtime fan of Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com.   Back in the 1990’s I bought some Amazon.com stock @ $11/share only to sell it when advised by an investment manager friend of mine that it was a not a company that would make it over the long haul.  We all know how that turned out.  The lesson I learned there was when you have a good reason(s) to invest in a company that’s more likely to be a winning investment than the any outside advice.  Something that Warren Buffet has espoused for years.

Amazon.com’s investment in building warehouses back in the 1990’s all over the U.S. not just so it could ship books, (which it ships fewer and fewer each year), but so it could ship merchandise from other companies who did not have the infrastructure to store and ship goods that can be delivered quickly and inexpensively (i.e. Amazon Prime).     In 2007 the Amazon Kindle 1.0 was a breakthrough in e-Readers.

Today, in my opinion, the Kindle Fire has ended up being sort of like a Blackberry.   It’s functional, totally not cool, convenient, and does many of the things most tablets do, but it’s definitively not an iPad.  In fact it’s not even a Samsung Galaxy Tablet.

When I bought the original Kindle (still have it but don’t use it – I’m thinking Smithsonian someday), the ability to buy and read e-books at a low cost was so cool and convenient.   Even after I sent back my original Kindle for the second time I supported the platform.   Being all in on Amazon.com, when the Kindle Fire came out in November of 2011 and I was among the first in line to get the ‘much improved’ interface.    And indeed it was light years better than the original Kindle.  Yet at the time the iPad2 had already been released and it was my hope that the Kindle Fire would negate the need to purchase an iPad.   That idea did not last long.

For the holidays in 2011 I bought an iPad2 for my wife.  The iPad3 had been released, but we did not need the additional features as the iPad2 was graphically so superior to the Kindle Fire already.   Pure and simple, the iPad is far superior to the Amazon Kindle in almost every way.  In fact, I can read my Kindle books on the iPad sharing the interface from my Amazon account.   I can even watch movies from my free Amazon Prime account on the iPad.  Yes, I do realize this is hardly a news flash for many people.

But I also realize that Mr. Bezos and Amazon.com are getting off way too easy here.  Is the Kindle Fire (even with 3G) the best that Amazon.com can do?   The answer is and better be, no!  Not for a company and a leader that has gotten it right so many times.   What is taking so long?   I’ve heard noise about a new operating system and big changes for the Amazon Kindle.   My advice is that Amazon.com better pick up the pace here as the ground being ceded may never be reclaimed.  And it just might be an Achilles heel for Amazon.

I know I will hear from the Apple acolytes.  But I’d also like to hear from the Kindle users on what they think.

Posted in Best business practices, Community, Customer Experiences, Innovation, Leadership, Mobile Communication, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Protecting your LinkedIn network is essential

LockedI read an interesting and surprising statistic related to LinkedIn this week.    Only 17% of professional people have a LinkedIn account.   When I dug deeper for the correlating data I was only able to find an article from March 2012 that made a similar reference.

I’ve written somewhat regularly on my feelings on LinkedIn and overall I am still very bullish on the company’s prospects, model and utility for its users.

However I’ve also written that LinkedIn continues to push the boundaries of best practices when it comes to helping its users (not always members since most users do not pay to use LinkedIn but the number is growing).

Recently LinkedIn has afforded people the opportunity to contact total strangers with a message entitled ‘Good to see you on LinkedIn’.   I really dislike this approach and hope that the management of LinkedIn pulls this option off the table quickly and entirely.    I’ve worked to keep my LinkedIn network limited to people that I know personally and to people that have been referred to or recommended to me by someone I know.    I realize not everyone approaches their LinkedIn network in the same manner but I do strongly encourage people to protect their network of valued contacts.   The last thing LinkedIn users wish to happen is to have a connection pore over their contacts and contact them (i.e. bother them) with offers that are blasted out indiscriminately.   There are those that disagree with me and follow the ‘Open-networking’ approach opening their network up to anyone and everyone.   I feel this is a huge risk and you should think twice or three times about it as it opens the entire platform up to being continually spammed.

I made a connection some time ago from my days in university with a person that I have not seen in many years.   This person has taken to blasting out messages related to his business (irrelevant to mine) pitching offers and deals.   I really dislike using the LinkedIn platform in this manner.  I thought about contacting the person but really aside from the time we connected on LinkedIn we’ve not been in touch and I decided it’s not worth the effort.  (The saying that there’s a reason we’ve not been in touch for thirty years and it wasn’t because I couldn’t find you, still holds).  Removing the person from my LinkedIn contacts is the easier and shorter path.

LinkedIn in my view remains the most useful social network and I spend a fair amount of time every day researching companies, individuals and industries.   I’m open to connecting with people as it is great to meet and learn about people’s backgrounds and organizations since the information is all self-reported.  But I urge people to think of their own LinkedIn network as being sacred and to above all protect it from those that would not have the same respect for their own LinkedIn connections.

How do you handle your LinkedIn network?

Posted in Best business practices, Communication, Social Media | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Don’t telephone Millennials and they won’t call you either

Marketing-to-MillennialsWriter Joel Stein’s recent article in Time Magazine entitled ‘The Me Me Me Generation’ was well-written if not incomplete.  We’ve all seen examples of narcissistic teens and twenty-somethings but as a generational group they hardly are unique as I’ve seen many forty and fifty- somethings who would give Millenials a run for their money when it comes to being self-absorbed.   One important thing Mr. Stein did not offer when it comes to Millenials is their somewhat collective lack of desire to engage in talking on the phone – smartphone or otherwise.  

Unlike Mr. Stein, I do not have statistics and my observations and those of my friends who are parents of Millenials coincide into an opinion that Millenials seem to have little desire to engage with people that they do not know via phone.   Since one cannot send an SMS text message to a non-mobile device it means that in order to get information from an entity with whom you need to connect you have options such as browsing the web to try to get the information or sending an email.   But as we all know too well that does not always work.   Sometimes you just have to pick up the phone and call.

I’ve witnessed on a number of occasions Millenials receiving phone calls and intentionally ignoring them and then never listening to the message since they don’t recognize the phone number.  Oftentimes they won’t listen to the message even if they do recognize the phone number.  They’ll just call you back – maybe.  I realize that the formative experiences of older people like myself are so completely different as I grew up in the age of no caller ID – the phone rang, you did not know who was on the other end but you answered it.   Millenials have a very different way of looking at interpersonal interactions – that is to say they avoid interacting with people they do not know until deciding if they actually desire to interact or not.

There’s always a danger in making a broad generalization such as this.   There are of course exceptions but I stand convinced that overall Millenials would much rather find any other way to solve a problem than to actually call someone they do not know.   It could be as simple as having a question or problem with an insurance bill.   To most Millenials to pick up the phone and call a switchboard or designated information number and get through to the proper person is an ungodly task and even more a horrible waste of time.   That calling faceless corporations is a maddening way to spend time is irrefutable.  But to not do it at all – ignore it, to try to find another way around ends up being a bigger waste of time and makes things even more difficult in the long run.    We experienced people know all about that.

The telephone was invented 137 years ago and for a long time it was thought to be an amazing device.   I think an old-fashioned party line would make Millenials really uncomfortable – talk to a bunch people you do not know at all over the phone?

So be aware of the pitfalls when calling Millenials.   And if you want to do something even more irrelevant – send a Millenial postal mail.  No good news ever comes in the mail to Millenials (since Millenials do not subscribe to printed periodicals for the most part so all they would receive would be bills and advertising mail).

Have you seen what I’ve seen?

Posted in Advertising to Millenials, Living in the World Today, Millenials, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments