Marketing lessons from “Let’s talk iPhone.”

There is no doubt that the netizens of the world felt a little cheated by the recent Apple event. Announcing an iPhone 4S, when the world expected an iPhone 5 announcement, left a pretty bitter taste in a lot of fans mouths. The question is, did Apple do the wrong thing? Or do we blame the raging blaze that is the internet for over-promising something that they had no right to promise?

The rumor mill these days has never been stronger, those with an imagination can now drum up not just whispers but all sorts of lengthy stories, images, even videos, and now with the internet, it has one of the most effective distribution channels ever known. The real challenge is that there tends to be a lot less diligence in the separation of fact and fiction, so much so it becomes like a game of  “Chinese Whispers”, one person starts rumor, another person retweets it, another links to it, someone blogs about it, and somewhere along the line, the fiction transforms to fact as it gets in to the mainstream media channels. At that point it creates unrealistic expectations on companies to deliver.

End of the day, every company wants to be loved by their consumer audience, but the consumer can be a fair weather friend. We have already seen people sharing their own consumer reactions, reality or parody, it does demonstrate a particular undercurrent…

image

Is this fair, well its consumers choice I guess…

End of the day there were also a lot of cool technologies that were showcased at the Apple event.

  • The announcement of iOS5 with features like

I must also say the announcement of the different watch faces for the iPod Nano were very cool as well.

Apple had a lot to talk about at this event, but with the build up in anticipation for an iPhone 5 announcement, should they have just focused on the business updates and iPhone 4S announcement only? It would seem the lack of an iPhone 5 overshadowed a lot of the other exciting technologies that Apple would have liked to announce. On the flipside would it have been a good idea to announce these other technologies if there really was an iPhone 5 being announced, because that too would have overshadowed the others.

I guess it comes down to a no win scenario whichever way you look at it. We know that we want to keep the media and consumer excited about all the cool stuff we have, but I think its important to at least do some work on trying to predict how your biggest announcement will be received, and evaluate if it’s a good idea to announce more, or announce less, and evaluate other ways to create a viable platform to talk about your other technologies, at least then it will get its own stage.

Thanks to Mr.Brown for being an example & Engadget for the links

Advertisement

Make a move

I have recently made a pretty enormous step with regards to my own career development. One which involved in making some pretty tough decisions. In this regard I have made the leap to step out of Microsoft and try my hand at a new position in a new company.

I’ll keep details on the actual move under wraps for now, but will surely make sure I announce it when I get started. I am really really excited about the new opportunity that lies ahead of me, and am enthused by the support of those that I am about to start working with.

There will be many people asking why…

Why did I leave Microsoft, was it

  • A bad review… nope, just had a great review
  • Not enough money… I guess you can always say you are never paid enough, but I was doing ok from this regard.
  • Job got boring… errrrrmmm Windows 8 anyone?

Absolutely none of that, the fact is, it was none of those things, it was that a pretty fantastic opportunity was offered and it would have been crazy to say no.

That being said Microsoft has been and still is an awesome place to work, and I am pretty excited about all the work that is going on over there especially with Windows 8.

But the biggest thing I will miss, and its cliché to say, will be the people, man we had some awesome times, with some awesome projects and events, they were a blast. You guys all know who you are, and this is not goodbye, more a see you later.

There is no better song I guess to some it up, then by those crazy monkeys from Incubus with the title track from the movie Stealth (I actually really liked that film, watched it a lot, have it on DVD and Blu-Ray).

Here’s to making a move…

Detox–Day 7 (The final day!)

It was a beautiful day here in Koh Samui today, blue skies and scattering of white clouds. My only hope is that the weather stays this good over the next couple of days that Janet and Oscar are here. I cant wait to see them tomorrow.

Still didn’t do too much, did my colonics and had another Thai massage downstairs. The ladies there are really good and stretch you right out. I am sure as well that they aren’t applying full pressure as they do it, as I told them I am a bit soft. It is a very relaxing experience through, almost fell asleep doing it.

The ladies here know its my last day, so they have been preparing the last treatments for me. One involves a small bottle of clear liquid I am meant to drink before going to be tonight. I don’t look forward to it, it will probably taste pretty bad, but at least its the end road. Tomorrow I get to eat again, the trick is deciding what… I am told I should be eating raw food for the next few days, vegetables and such, but I cant get the thought that a pizza is out there with my name on it…

I remember the last time I finished a detox, and was craving something to eat. I could barely finish it, seemed my stomach had shrunk, and it probably going to be the same case tomorrow. Regardless I look forward to eating something, as I said, its not the hunger, but the taste of good food that I miss.

I met an Australian woman from Japan this evening, she was telling me how unimpressed in Singapore she was, because she got denied permanent residence, even though she was invited to lecture at NUS. SI found myself sticking up for the country I call home these days, although I don’t think she cared. She tells me she is on day two of her detox, and she was feeling pretty depressed. Unfortunately she was just too depressing to talk to, eventually I told here I had to go and drink my detox drink. I guess Day 2 is when the toxins start coming out, so maybe that was affecting her, but I did not want to let her get me down after coming so close to my seven day completion.

So tonight I will spend the remainder, trying to finish the last book of “The Dark Tower” series, and dreaming of something to eat.

Detox–Day 6 Mysteries Solved!

Well I might be the first person in the world announcing this so hold your breath…

I finally know what Santa does the other 364 days of the year. He runs a jeep and motorcycle rental place here in Koh Samui. I could help but laugh when I saw that. Plain as day, the only thing they were missing was a picture of the old fella on the side of the car saying “Lo Lo Lo prices guaranteed!”.

I made my way up again in to town, with new directions on where to go, turns out the last place I went to wasn’t even remotely the town centre, I took the right turn this time and ended up in the main district of Lamai, shops, restaurants (that was a killer, just the smell of food made me question the last few days…), shops, massage parlours, some that looked reputable, some questionable.

The one shop I did head in to was a leather shop, and checked out there wares… finding a decent leather belt in Singapore that actually fits me has always been a challenge, so it was great to find something that looked of decent quality. I ended up buying two, one black and one brown. She wanted to offer me one with a sizeable belt buckle of fiery eagle landing on some banner, but decided that might be a little too ostentatious for the office.

On the way back had another laugh on signs here, and wish I had my phones with me to take a snap. A small sign saying “Beware Dog that Bites!”, it was good advice, all I needed to do now was to make sure if I saw any I should avoid them. I guess if it was for security it made the right impact, I am sure that the sign “Beware Dog that will give you a stern talking to!”, would certainly not instil fear in any would be trespassers.

Might go and try for a Thai massage downstairs, see if that can help kill some time…

Detox–Day 6

The weight loss has definitely slowed, haven’t seen any major loss for the last two days now, and no I haven’t been slipping the sneaky hamburger on the side, although the thought did cross my mind.

Got a funny remark from one of the older ladies working here, she told me that everyday she sees me I am wearing a different colour, and I am very beautiful. Cant blame the lady if she has taste I guess, but makes you wonder, how many days in a row do the guests here wear the same clothes?

The big thing now is trying to work out ways to pass the time quickly, I have already watched two movies in the TV room, thinking about another. There is also the Dark Tower to finish… 50% through now, and maybe a visit to the beach for the first time if the weather holds up well…

3 more colonics to go… thank god…

1.5 days to go…

Detox–Day 5

Well the raining has stopped, at least for a while, although the clouds still loom grey over the island, so I am a bit worried about heading out and being stuck in the middle of it.

At the detox drink this morning I checked in on the weight and it seems I have lost another kilo. I guess there is going to be a sharp drop then slow down as the body balances itself out, but will see what the end result after 7 days is.

I managed to get one of the girls to let me take a picture of their t-shirt which I mentioned earlier, classic…

WP_000045

I also took the opportunity to get a facial from downstairs in the beauty salon. Had a good chat to the girl working there about the floods and life in general. She tells me her boyfriend is from the UK, and is here for a year doing Thai boxing training. I guess you have to envy someone who is willing to take a year off to get their ass handed to them in a Thai boxing ring. She said she doesn’t dare to watch anymore, but I am sure that with a years training, he must get pretty good, or be very disappointed. Maybe its a skill which comes in handy at pub brawls over in England, although it would probably look pretty funny when one guy throws a punch and the other guy is hopping around on one foot Smile.

Maybe I should get a little pair of Thai boxing shorts of Oscar and Jude (My brothers son), and set up a mini ring at Christmas for entertainment. I think Jude would win.

Anyway, the beauty salon owner was telling me that a lot of the matches have been cancelled on account of the rain, so I haven’t been missing anything. She said I could go down and watch them train in the afternoons, although that sounds like a poor substitute to me, kind of like watching the trailer for a movie and saying you have seen the whole thing.

At the end of the session she asked if I wanted to borrow some movies to watch while I was here. It was funny she asked, because the day before I bought a movie from the 7-11, Predators, I have seen it before but they didn’t have a very good selection. She asked if I got the English or the Thai version…

“There is a different version?”

Turns out, yes I got the Thai version, which I handed to her and said she could give it to someone as a Christmas present. Fair payment for the loan of the other two movies.

So I think that’s how I will spend my afternoon, chilling and watching movies, i daren’t risk an excursion out and being caught in the downpours if they are anything like yesterday.