The Berger Project » Technology

The web today

Adam — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:02:25 +0000

Great video about the evolution of the web, information, and more. And done in a cool way.

Did Apple really do everything wrong?

Adam — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:40:50 +0000

The other day I wrote about strategy and how, if you have a strategy, it will greatly increase our chances of success. (Note: you can be successful without having strategy but that only occurs because of luck.)

Then yesterday I landed on this article: How Apple Got Everything Right, By Doing Everything Wrong. Ironically I used Apple as the example in my strategy article. This article does a great deal of building upon my Apple examples. Apple went against the grain in everything they did, it didn’t have to work out (and it didn’t during the ’90s), but because of the strategy they are now one of the fastest growing computer brands, the leader in digital music sales in the US,global leader of portable audio players, and soon to be the leaders in the communications business.

Wired

Strategy equals success

Adam — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:20:19 +0000

I am not a Machead by any circumstance, but Apple happens to do some great things. The strategy and foresight that comes out of Steve Jobs and Co. is brilliant. Apple garners billions of PR impressions and buzz with every announcement they make (and all the rumors that surround future product announcements). While that is fantastic for them, it really doesn’t change the products themselves. From iPods to MacBooks and the AppleTV, though the buzz drives sales it does not have any effect on the products themselves. The product development begins years ahead of the announcement, all attached to a very tight, well thought out, company vision and product road map.Not buying it? Give this a thought: Apple releases a SDK (software development kit) for the iPhone, yup the same iPhone that is driven via iTunes, this SDK includes (staying away from the technical side) a brand new application store that will be the “exclusive” distribution method for the upcoming applications. Just how the iPod and iTunes are in bed together the iPhone and iPod touch are now in bed with the App Store. Let’s not underestimate the power of this advancement, there are going to be thousands of apps — don’t believe me, why would a V.C. fund create a $100,000,000 iFund to fund these projects if some really smart/tied-in people didn’t believe that iPhone apps were not the next big thing. So big deal, who cares, right? Wrong. If you step back and see that the iTunes store, and now the Apps Store, are created to drive Apple product development then you can see how important this advancement is.

Let me back up.

Back in 2001 Apple released the first iPod along with iTunes.
By 2002 Apple expanded the iPod and iTunes beyond Macs and included PCs
2004 brought color support to the iPod along with photo support
By 2005 the iPod classic supported video (this later came to the Nano in 2007). Concurrently Apple added video to iTunes in 2005 and followed with full length movies in 2006
By January 2008 Apple introduced movie rentals, the Apple TV take 2, and the MacBook Air

Looking at these last two bullet points you see the strategy shining through. These weren’t thought up in the last minute, I can guarantee that movie rentals came about back in 2005/2006. So what took so long, why wait 2 years to release them? Strategy. By tying the hardware to the software people are “forced” to buy both. The Apple TV, though the least successful Apple product, hinges on the fact that you can download movies and watch them in your living room. And if you don’t have time to finish the movie you can watch it our your iPhone/iPod touch. Worried about movies piling up and taking up too much space, no worries, they wipe clean after 30 days. Hmm, now Apple starts to create a system/regimen for consumers. Then you throw in the Mac line (Air/MacBook/MacBook Pro/iMac/Mac mini) and you see that the software is flawless across platforms. Your content picks up where you are, the devices look alike (driving brand recognition), and if are worried that your MacBook air doesn’t have a drive, don’t — you can burn CDs/DVDs via other computers with drives.

I could continue to go on and show you every detail of the Apple strategy but I’ll leave it here. It is important to realize that that strategy is what is driving their product releases, feature upgrades, and business growth but this does not mean that the strategy always benefits the consumer. There wouldn’t have been very many people complaining about the MacBook Air having a disc drive, for another .1 oz in weight, but then you wouldn’t need to rent movies from iTunes, now would you. When the strategy is crystal clear, business can actually drive the consumer purchase decisions and mindset, as opposed to consumer’s wants and need driving the company. It is a rather audacious/risky move but when you have that strategy down pat, you are sure to win every way around.

What am I doing?

Adam — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:54:22 +0000

Here is what I have been doing recently (among many other things), but these are worth/I’m able to blog about.

Watched the Apple SDK/Enterprise announcement
Watched the Steve Ballmer interview by Guy Kawasaki live from Mix in Vegas
Followed the ExpressionEngine 2.0 developer preview, thanks to David’s Tweets
Started (again) to Tweet and Pounce since people laugh at me for updating my status on Facebook
Writing a blog post to follow this one, as well as taping some videos
Doing my taxes
Watched the recent Digg Townhall
Upgraded Dabbledoo’s Google Hosted account to the new Gmail, and installed Better Gmail 2
Thinking about strategy and what it mean/how to do it (see bullet 5)

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The 2008 Consumer Electronics Show

Adam — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:40:08 +0000

Now that CES has come and gone, it is about time that I write a wrap-up post with some of the cooler technologies and products that were on display. This year’s show was much better than 2007, when there really weren’t any new technologies, but still not as great as 2006 when High Definition became a consumer reality.

CES is quite possibly the only event where speakers can be described as “sexy” and everyone understands what that means. And you never know how cool Bill Gates was until he rocked out live on Guitar Hero with Slash.

Kodak was dead

Adam — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:03:57 +0000

Let’s all remember the days when Kodak died and we all felt that those Kodak Moments would be gone forever. Thankfully they caught on to digital and are consistently in the top 3 photography manufacturers (by sales $’s). This is a great internal video that has now turned viral. If only all marketers could get that passionate over their brands.

Calacanis

Why didn’t I twitter

Adam — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:38:27 +0000

There has been more than a ton of talk about twitter, the micro-blogging phenomenon that blew up at SxSW. So with all this hype and buzz about the end of blogging, why would I choose now to start a blog instead of opt to go with twitter?

To be honest I can’t really answer that question. I have a twitter account but I just haven’t fallen in love with it (aka become obsessed with it) like I am to Facebook, Gmail, Farecast, etc. From what I hear, twitter gets exciting when you have a large social network on the site as well.

I will continue to use my account, and given that I am getting into blogging mode (personal, not the other) maybe I will take more of a stab at it. If you are on twitter please feel free to add me (AdamB).