Will I ever buy another laptop again?

Posted on October 24, 2012 by markkolier

On Tuesday October 23rd Apple introduced its smaller tablet called the iPad Mini. Later this week Microsoft is launching its new tablet called the Microsoft Surface. It will run on software called RT (not the forthcoming Windows 8) at first but eventually I believe it will be moved over to Windows 8 as well. I think it’s no small coincidence that both of these new products are being introduced to the world in the same week.

Why do I wonder if I will ever buy another laptop again? The statistics only begin to tell the story. Reports of declining computer shipments (both desktop and laptop) already point in the direction of the demise of ‘traditional’ computers. A tablet with a completely virtual keyboard (when oh when?!) with full wireless, wi-fi AND cloud storage for $50 will be the future (in fact there have been some futurists that predict the Google Nexus will be $49 as soon as next year). The integration of voice-recognition technology improving on the likes of Siri or Google Voice will make tablet ‘computing’ (when will we stop calling it ‘computing’? – and what will it be called if not computing?), an even better experience than could have been imagined ten years ago.

David Pogue’s column in today’s New York Times http://nyti.ms/WIB7IY offers an even-handed review of the forthcoming Microsoft Surface. I agree with Mr. Pogue that it is very odd that the biggest problem with the Surface is the software integration itself. Microsoft offering below par software is unheard of but that seems to be the consensus with regard to the Surface. It will get better fast and the release has as much to do with being out a shade earlier than Apple’s new iPad Mini than anything else. I do feel that the Surface’s inability to connect to the internet via cellular networks (like the Amazon Kindle) is a big detraction.

Think about things not five years from now but three years from now. Cloud storage of documents and applications will be much more acceptable, Tablets will have matured beyond where they are today, portability will continue to be more important (who wants to carry around a 5 pound laptop brick?) and hopefully the ability of all tablets to connect to the internet will go beyond wi-fi access. That is to say that cellular connection ability will have to be part of all tablets until wi-fi is ubiquitous and that future still seems to be more than a few years away.

I expect that I will be able to hold out from buying a new laptop. At present I am using a laptop that is indeed more like a brick – heavy, limited and what I really use it for is to connect to the internet and for remote log-ins. The new tablets can do all that and much more. The typing thing is still critical to me but I know the options improve every day.

How about you – are you done with laptops forevermore?

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CheapOair.com – good online travel but what about the company name?

Posted on October 22, 2012 by markkolier

In recent weeks I’ve noticed a ‘new’ (or what I thought was a new) online travel site called http://www.CheapOair.com. When I first saw the television spot I thought I was watching a misplaced skit from Saturday Night Live. There couldn’t really be a serious website called CheapOair.com could there?

A little reconnaissance proved me wrong. From Wikipedia – ‘CheapOair is an online travel agency that offers a large selection of flight deals, hotel rates, car rentals and vacation packages to destinations in North America, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, the Pacific, the Indian sub-continent and Africa. The company has localized budget travel sites for the U.S., Canadian and British markets, and maintains a low fare guarantee to all customers as well as social communities that inform, enable and engage travelers with tips and advice on how to save money while traveling.’

In fact CheapOair was founded in 2005 and has already arranged more than 18 million flight deals. It has also been awarded the Hitwise award for being among the top 10 travel websites three times in a row. It is rated the 5th largest online travel agency in the United States. A company called Fareportal Inc. is the parent company.

Up until recently I had never heard of the company – had you? In addition I don’t know if personally I could feel good about booking a flight using a company called CheapoAir.com. For what it is worth, at least it’s not the name of an actual airline. I don’t think that would fly with most people at all.

Being in the marketing business I am quite sensitive to branding and company (and website) naming. It’s hard for me to believe that someone conjured up the idea for a new travel website and said – ‘Hey let’s call it CheapOair.com! Memorable yes, but will it stand the test of time? I sincerely wonder – in fact I doubt it. My first reaction wondering if the name was a bad joke has to have been shared by a more than a few people.

One could argue (quite successfully) that GoDaddy.com also had an unusual if not memorable name. I felt that GoDaddy.com had iffy prospects when it first came out with ads offering cheap domain names using provocatively dressed models as brand ambassadors (not to mention racing driver Danica Patrick and later fitness and ‘The Biggest Loser’ star Jillian Michaels). Yet in the case of GoDaddy the name was not – ‘CheapOwebsite’ for the domain registration company.

I admit there’s a difference in answering the question – ‘Where’d you register your website?’ CheapOWebsite.com is probably something you’d rather not answer. But somehow when being asked about where you bought your airline tickets and saying ‘CheapOAir.com’ it somehow sounds better.

Standing apart from the competition is critically important. CheapOAir.com has done that so far with its name and to this point, its service. How about you? Would you buy your airline tickets using CheapOAir.com?

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Will the new Chinese President Xi Jinping institute communication reforms?

Posted on October 18, 2012 by markkolier

It seems that people that know me associate my travel to China with my being the ‘China guy’. While I am flattered that some consider me knowledgeable (to a greater degree than they are) of what is going on in China I’ve never lived there and am really at the nascent stages of learning about Chinese people, culture and government. I’ve learned a great deal in a few years but there is so much yet to learn.

Although I have not been in China since this June I have been actively following developments there from a number of angles. Both from news, reports from friends and colleagues living there and visiting Chinese nationals here in the U.S. all offer insight and opinions on what is going on in China and what the future might be like. The best I can offer is the future direction of the Chinese government is very uncertain – maybe more so than at any time in the past twenty years.

While the U.S. candidates for President take turns ‘bashing’ China, the Chinese government on November 8 will announce the new nine member standing committee. It is nearly certain that Xi Jinping http://bit.ly/RXGSx1 will be named China’s next leader. Mr. Xi has spent a little time staying in the United States (in Iowa) back in 1985 to learn about crop and livestock practices. For the past twenty years both Chinese Presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao have focused on improving China’s economy and they’ve been quite successful in that aspect. Chinese people’s living standards have risen dramatically in a very short time. I often tell people that China is going through its own 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s in the span of ten years. It’s an amazing story but the story is far from being done – or told.

In China citizens communicate with one another via national social networks like Sina Weibo and Ren Ren. They’ve learned to comment on things with both sarcasm and coded in order to not bring too much attention to themselves such that the Chinese government would suspend their account. Just last week Bloomberg.com posted a story on Xi Jinping and his apparent offshore held assets. Immediately thereafter, Bloomberg.com was shut down in China.

Mr. Xi has a great opportunity to be a thought leader along the lines that Deng Xiaoping did economically in moving China into a new era of freer communication. Most experts will say this is highly unlikely given China’s recent history and I tend to agree. But as China’s future leaders come from being born in the post-Mao era, the newer generation will hopefully continue to show that they are interested in hearing more from and sharing more with the world outside of China.

I’m not being naïve just hopeful.

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Five Guys Burgers is delivering on the brand promise

Posted on October 16, 2012 by markkolier

Arriving back in the NYC area from out of town at LaGuardia I was already hungry. For some reason on the plane I was thinking about a quick burger and fries at the Five Guys www.fiveguys.com at LaGuardia. The problem was that at the Delta Airlines terminal there is no Five Guys (it’s at the Central Terminal). We knew there was a Five Guys on the way home (there are actually several in our neck of the woods) and decided to go there and take it home.

As I was driving I was thinking about how far the Five Guys brand has come in such a short time. It seems to me that Five Guys is trying to become the East Coast’s own version of In-N-Out Burger – http://www.in-n-out.com a venerated West Coast chain of burgers, fries and shakes. I became a fan of In-N-Out when I went to college in Los Angeles many years ago. I still try not to miss an opportunity to have a double-double with cheese and a shake when I am in L.A. these days. In fact In-N-Out is rumored to be opening a location or two in New York City in the near future but as yet I’ve heard nothing more than that.

When I walked into the Stamford, CT location I noticed that there were at least ten people working behind the counter and there was a pretty good sized line for a Sunday afternoon at 2:45PM. And for the record Five Guys is not-fast food but they do have fast food prices. Every burger is made to order (like In-N-Out) and the French fries are really delicious and plentiful. In addition while you wait (and it was a pretty decent wait – like 15-20 minutes) there is a box of peanuts (shells on) that you can sample and eat as much as you want. People were helping themselves and seemed to be content to wait even if a bit impatiently.

I’ve been impressed with the brand consistency of In-N-Out and now I can say the same thing about Five Guys. I’ve been to several different locations and they are delivering on the promise every time. The employees seem to be happy to be working there and yet they are in constant motion. The customers appear to be happy to be there and as such in general there’s an overall good feeling in the place. The décor is bright, simple and utilitarian – that’s a good thing. If In-N-Out wants to make it on the East Coast I suggest that they hurry up.

Five Guys does not do a great deal of advertising as far as I have noticed. By consistently delivering on the brand promise they are building a loyal following – and that’s the best advertising they could ever do. If Five Guys did want to do some advertising I’d welcome the opportunity to work with them and we have a number of ideas to put into play. But if not, I will be content to just enjoy the fact that they can be counted on to deliver a quality experience.

I hope that Five Guys doesn’t lose sight of that. What do you think?

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Creepiness can sometimes also be cool

Posted on October 12, 2012 by markkolier

Google has used the corporate motto ‘Don’t be evil’ for quite some time now. While some people feel that it no longer has the same ring to it now that Google is tracking users universally across its services like Gmail, Search and YouTube. An article in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal caught my attention. It has to do with anticipating people’s wants and desires. In itself anticipating wants and desires can be somewhat if not entirely cool but I think at the same time it (to me) is also a bit creepy – probably mostly because of my not being quite ready to accept the idea of being watched or tracked.

The article “Big Brother, Now at the Mall” – http://on.wsj.com/QR5iub has to do with facial recognition technology kiosks at malls. The mere mention of Big Brother conjures up creepiness so there’s no doubt about word association at least as far as the author and editor are concerned.

The story discusses that in malls located in Seoul, South Korea there are information kiosks that have a touch screen and two cameras along with a motion detector. ‘As a visitor is recorded, facial-identity software estimates the person’s gender and age. The system’s makers, two companies from South Korea’s SK Holdings Co. conglomerate, plan to allow advertisers to tailor interactive ads on the kiosk by those attributes. A 40-something man looking up a restaurant on the kiosk may be shown an ad for a steakhouse in the mall, while a 20-something woman might get one for a clothing store. Shoppers will be able to interact with the ads with hand motions.’

Do you understand what I mean about being both creepy and yet cool? Delivering relevant content on an individual basis is the direction in which advertising is headed – no surprise there. Melding technology along with human behavior takes a little getting used to but I suspect it will become second nature to digital natives (as opposed to digital immigrants like me). Still I’ve never been happy about being pigeon-holed based on my appearance. I guess you could always wear a mask to the mall if you wanted to throw off the system. I actually might try that – when it gets to the U.S.

I also read a short article on technology that allows your tablet to listen in on your conversation and make relevant search choices to show you more information in real-time based on what subject you are discussing. This is not to say it can be done on the same device, in fact it’s well known that iPhone users cannot search while on a phone call. But serving up real-time relevant content based on actual ongoing conversations? I’d say that’s pretty cool. Is it creepy too?

Posted in Customer Experiences, Innovation, Marketing stuff | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

LinkedIn might be getting a little too pushy

Posted on October 10, 2012 by markkolier

Most of the business professionals I know have a LinkedIn account. Recently I’ve seen a number of my LinkedIn contacts becoming much more active on the platform. That’s a good thing in my opinion as the platform is being used to distribute content, articles, ideas, as well as answering questions in areas of people’s individual expertise. But a question I received today from a good friend of mine highlighted a line that LinkedIn is toeing if not crossing. It has to do with endorsing skills of people you are LinkedIn with.

My friend asked ‘A business acquaintance endorsed me on LinkedIn, out of the blue not at my behest. What is the appropriate action I should take? Endorse him back? Say thanks? Offer to buy him a beer? Or do nothing? ‘

Just this morning I received some ‘endorsements’ from people with whom I am LinkedIn. I did not ask anyone to endorse me. In addition at the top of my LinkedIn feed was a big box showing me a list of people that I might deem worthy of my endorsement for various skills. I did endorse a few people that had endorsed me (hard to ignore quid pro quo sometimes) and also endorsed a few people that I thought really warranted my endorsement (which I would only do if I really did feel they were worthy of an endorsement). The ‘suggestions’ of whom I might consider endorsing provided by LinkedIn kept on coming. If I passed on endorsing someone for a particular skill their name would pop up again suggesting endorsement for a different skill.

It’s easy to understand why LinkedIn would want to promote endorsements as well as why people would want to offer and receive endorsements. In social media suggestions, endorsements and recommendations from trusted friends and colleagues carry the most clout of any social interaction when it comes to getting people to take action.

But I think LinkedIn may be overstepping a bit if it is their intention to constantly put forth suggestions of who people might endorse on any kind of regular basis. What will occur is that the value of the endorsements will plummet since people will become aware that it’s too easy to just click ok and move on. Is that really an endorsement? Or is it just an acknowledgment that ‘Yes I know this person and they are familiar with and versed in this discipline’?

To me an endorsement should carry some sort of personal touch like citing a particular business experience you’ve had with the endorsee or something specific. How much time do people have to do that? However if there were fewer but more personal endorsements wouldn’t they have more value?

I told my friend that he need not do anything but if he wanted to buy the guy a beer that would be ok – who wouldn’t want that?

I think LinkedIn is treading on thin ice here – what do you think?

Posted in Best business practices, Communication, Social Media | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Laurene Powell Jobs should write about living with a modern day Newton

Posted on October 8, 2012 by markkolier

Now that I have finished Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs I have to admit that I wish I’d met the man – something I had never felt was all that important before I read the book. What I’d also like to read is the perspective of Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs to learn more about what it might have been like living with (as I see it), one of the world’s most influential inventors. She could call it ‘Living with a Mozart’ or any number of world famous inventors or creators.

I have never been an Apple aficionado; in fact the only Apple device I use regularly is an –iPod although I do find myself reaching for my wife’s iPad 2 with increasing frequency. Yet as I read the book I came away with the thought that Steve Jobs may have influenced more people on the planet at one time than anyone else in the history of mankind. His accomplishments of having been able to revolutionize desktop and laptop computers, music, mobile communication devices, tablet computers are self-evident. It’s ironic that one of Apple’s failures was the Newton – a personal device that used a stylus – a feature that Steve Jobs avoided on everything else he helped develop for the rest of his life.

That Steve Jobs changed music is undeniable. On iTunes alone there are more than 400 million customers. Facebook may have reached one billion users (with some debate on how many ‘fake’ accounts make up that total), but Apple has become virtually the only platform for music around the world – which do you feel is more significant? The word is that Apple is also readying a television/cloud interface that will revolutionize flat screen viewing. I would not bet against them accomplishing this goal.

Obviously people today never had the chance to meet Mozart, Da Vinci, or Sir Isaac Newton. Biographies written on those subjects are purely historical and we’ll never know what it was really like to have lived with them in their time. I don’t know much about people that knew Mozart, da Vinci and Newton intimately (although I have read a little that Newton was not unlike Steve Jobs in his inability to filter what he said). I doubt there’s much that’s been written by their wives, significant others or close friends. So Laurene Powell Jobs has an opportunity to offer a very personal and intimate view of this amazingly complex and influential person.

Understanding what people want and will respond to before they know it is a talent reserved for only a few amazingly insightful people. However the ability to put that insight into products and services is truly what made Steve Jobs one of the most influential people in history.

I’d like to read Laurene’s book – wouldn’t you?

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A bad case of the wanderlust with no immediate cure

Posted on October 5, 2012 by markkolier

I am going to Tampa, Florida in the next week to celebrate a nephew’s wedding. It will be the first time I have been on a plane in over two months. For me that’s highly unusual and I am becoming more and more frustrated since it’s my nature to be on the go – and I don’t mean back and forth to Manhattan or a day trip by car.

As I am in the process of working out the new aspects of my professional life I am now more than ever forced to opt-out of anything but essential business travel. I don’t like it at all. In no way am I trying to get away from my family and friends. But constant travel has become a part of my DNA and the experiences I have (and am willing to share) when I travel offer perspective and interactions that I think help make me more effective in all areas of my life.

I’ve never been in love with having a routine which for me often becomes a rut. Changing things up keeps my interest keen and traveling to the Far East over the past few years has become something that I truly enjoy. I have not been to China (or Japan) for four months now and it feels more like a year. I miss the feeling of managing my way around an unfamiliar place where I don’t speak the language well or possibly at all. I have some friends that have to travel a great deal on business and while I understand it can be tiring and no fun to be away from home constantly I am surprised that they don’t offer to share the positive aspects of their travels to a greater degree. It seems to me that their business travel for the most part is nothing more than a big burden.

Traveling today is easier than ever (I wrote a post http://wp.me/pn6jX-CR about that a few months back before I knew I would be traveling less frequently) and I’ve got the ‘wanderlust’ as my friend likes to say in a big way.

I am working on a number of things in the Far East and hope that I will have a need to make that 15+ hour flight to Asia sooner rather than later. This makes people shake their head and say – ‘I don’t know how you do it and am glad I don’t have to’. To them I say – ‘You are ignoring all the great things associated with travel’.

Unfamiliar (and sometimes bad) food, stress of flight and travel connections, the constant lack of sleep, the separation from the people you care about, missing watching your favorite teams play sports – I can’t wait to do it all again!

It all sounds a bit crazy when I read it back. But can you relate to how I feel?

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Extraordinary people – being a disrupter and visionary often goes with being a social misfit

Posted on October 3, 2012 by markkolier

I’m 2/3 of the way through Walter Isaacson’s excellent biography of Steve Jobs. Most people that know even a little about Steve Jobs know that he was not only a brilliant marketer and visionary when it came to delivering what people didn’t even know they wanted, he was also a pretty messed up human being.

It’s evident to me that being at the top of one’s field, craft, or even profession means that you’ve had to sacrifice many things – maybe having what we call a ‘normal’ life more than anything else. Having a special talent (think Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein) seems to require a certain amount of aloofness to the world around you at best and being considered an a**hole the worst. There’s a price to pay for brilliance – not everyone is or can be brilliant.

The same can be said for a large number of famous people like movie stars and athletes. To be considered ‘brilliant’ and extraordinary in your chosen field requires dedication, single-mindedness and an extreme effort that most people are not willing to make – even if they blessed with enough talent. Being arrogant, misanthropic, uncaring and a reprehensible human being appear to be part of the make-up of that exclusive club.

Does this mean that in order to be a ground-breaker you 100% have to be a social misfit? There are no doubt examples of people who do not fit that category. It’s just that I cannot think of even a few examples so you can help me out here if you are able.

The portrait of the tortured artist and visionary is vivid and true don’t you think? Is it sad or is it poetic justice? Or is it just the way things have to be?

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The danger in running a country the way you run a business

Posted on October 1, 2012 by markkolier

 

With the U.S. Presidential election about 5 weeks away, this week is another pivotal one in the race between President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. I have vowed to stay apolitical in my blog and while that’s not about to change (those that know me well know where I stand on things for the most part – yes I lean a little left sometimes more than a little), I am interested in exploring the concept of whether or not running the country like a business – (which most Republican friends of mine support to some degree) is a good idea – or more importantly could work.

However one evaluates President Obama’s overall job performance the American economy is a major factor in this (and every) election year. Governor Romney has argued that his successful business career while being part of Bain Capital positions him to be more successful at fixing the American economy.

Whether or not you agree that outsourcing jobs is a good or bad idea, the phrase ‘taking American jobs and shipping them overseas’, (China being the main culprit apparently), has been thrown around by Democrats regularly. I don’t have much use for that kind of rhetoric any more than I care to continually hear about people paying or not paying their ‘fair share’ – whatever that really means. I’ve a good number of friends – both Democrats and Republicans who are quite successful and to my knowledge they pay their taxes at the rates set by the U.S. government. Using whatever legal means are available to reduce one’s tax base is simply good sense.

Also, I am not any kind of job protectionist nor do I have a real problem with companies, American or not, trying to find less expensive ways to do business. After all at the end of the day companies – particularly public ones are evaluated on earnings performance and profit. It can and often is a heartless way to conduct business but business is exactly what it is – like it or not.

I have run several businesses and as such well understand the need to operate a business within its financial means. But I don’t feel that an ‘all-business’ approach to running a country is an idea that will benefit the bulk of its citizens. There are inherent dangers in so doing one of the larger ones being that people will be thrown off the boat and left in the wake if performance becomes the primary standard of evaluation. Yet that’s the feeling I get when I listen to the Republican platform. They have the experience, they ‘know’ how to balance a budget and they will cut spending so that it is equal with income. As a businessman it’s difficult to argue with that position. But like everything else – the devil’s in the details and there have been surprisingly few details offered by Republicans even up until this very moment.

When looking at the projected ways to balance the U.S. budget it’s obvious that there will be cuts in many programs in many places. I think it’s very dangerous to use the finances of the country as the primary and baseline measuring stick such that the impact of important decisions on people’s everyday lives could be viewed as collateral damage and just a shake-out of dead wood that had to go anyway.

A country should be fiscally sound but using a balance sheet to determine every aspect of a program will stifle sources of new ideas and approaches. Yes there are segments and people that misuse government grants and programs but that’s never going to be eliminated entirely. Public programs need to be reviewed for their effectiveness and held to accountable, agreed-upon standards when launched or when continuing those programs.

But not everything can or should be ‘off-loaded to the private sector’ although that might sound like a good idea and makes a good sound bite. GE business mega-star Jack Welch was famous for cutting the bottom 10% of performer each year. That worked well for GE – if you were not in the bottom 10%. Using that same approach for a country – what would happen to that 10%?

If you get laid off from your job, get fired, or leave your company for some other reason there are hopefully options for you to find work elsewhere. It’s a bit different when being a citizen of a country – moving countries is more difficult that changing jobs.

What do you think – is it feasible to run a country the way you would run a business?

 

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