Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.
Seen the story? Unbelievable! Rob Enderle tries to compare the wild-ass consumer success of the iPhone, and the growing pains that come from such a rush, to — get this — Microsoft’s Vista bomb!! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME???
Hey, USA Today — I seriously believe you need to update your list of quote sources! That is the extremely most *LAME* comment on the situation that anyone could ever imagine….
Here’s the RWW post. Excerpt: "There has been a lot of discussion recently about the changing face of the blogging landscape. On one hand many bloggers have turned to the likes of FriendFeed and Twitter to express themselves, instead of their blogs. On the other hand we have a group of professional blogs that are becoming more and more like ‘old media’." See my lengthy comment (#7) — what do you think?
I’m kinda pissed at Apple. (And I guess at AT&T, too — but then I’m always pissed at them.) I mean, being a longtime Apple customer and a loyal iPhone user and all, not to speak of being an AT&T wireless customer since the beginning of time (I have the whole freaking iPhone package, including unlimited text messages). So the point being, I bought into the whole deal here — okay, Apple? You and your buddies at AT&T should really like me. 
But I just think they treated their existing customers shabbily this time around. First of all, they never really communicated directly to me (neither firm) about what to expect regarding the upgrade to version 2.0 of the iPhone software, in the week approaching The Big Day. I had to rely on what was being reported — and it wasn’t all that obvious, actually. But I did read in a couple of places (can’t remember just where) that the upgrade would be handled by Apple doing a "push" of the v2.0 update to all existing iPhone customers (only those who were "official," of course, meaning signed up with AT&T here in the U.S.). Well, it never happened — still hasn’t. Not a word, and it’s now Sunday morning.
I finally got tired of waiting yesterday. About 11:00 Central Saturday morning, I was chatting with a buddy who told me how he got the update, and it had gone without a hitch for him. So, I went ahead and tried his approach. I hadn’t even tried to go "pull" it down — I was waiting for this "push" that had been promised!
First, on Thursday, I had downloaded iTunes 7.7 — which I’d read somewhere was required first, before I could use the iPhone 2.0 update. No sweat — that happened without any issues. But I found it strange, come Friday morning (I had figured the 2.0 software wouldn’t be available till then), that I still had not seen the "push." So, I clicked on "Software Updates" in my Apple menu, and was surprised to see it tell me nothing was available — that I was all up to date. (Lies!) But I figured, hey, they must be overwhelmed right now, or waiting to update existing customers till all new customers could be served (which is another customer service topic, but I won’t get started on that). 
So I thought, okay, apparently Apple did tell the press that this "push" was coming — so just be patient, I reasoned. What’s the big hurry? I would never even THINK of going and standing in line for a new phone myself, just to be first. So, why should I care when I actually get the 2.0 update to my current phone? Except all the hype about the flood of new apps coming — which I couldn’t use without the new software update — was getting deafening. I was itching to get some on my damn phone and try ’em!
Like a dutiful little Apple fan-boy, then, here I was sitting and waiting for this "push" they were going to do to us — and I get super busy, putting in a 15-hour day on Friday. But, heck, I would have broken for a message from Apple! So, here comes Saturday morning, and I find that the update IS in fact out there for us "old" iPhone users to "pull" down, and that other people already have it! Shees, I’m a laggard. Apple has left me sitting here looking like an ass, waiting for their damn "push"!
I had synced my iPhone earlier Saturday morning, expecting maybe to see when iTunes popped up on my Macbook that "You do not have the current iPhone software – do you wish to upgrade?" — or some such message. Never happened. On the contrary, it said "your iPhone is up to date"! Weird, I thought, maybe Apple’s servers were still screwed up from the barrage of the day before. Then, I hear my buddy ask, "So, do you have the new iPhone software yet? Some of these new apps are cool." I ask him, "How the heck did you get it?" He tells me, and it’s really strange. Get this — even though the message on iTunes tells me I’m up to date, I have to click on a button there that says "Updates" and — lo and behold — I will THEN be able to get my blessed update. WTF kind of usability is that?
So, natch, now that I become aware of this strange situation, I click. In another blast of user unfriendlieness, there’s no feedback that anything at all is happening! So, there I am, wondering WTF to do. But it had warned me on the initial screen that "This will take a while" (mentioning it had to back up all my stuff first). So, I figured I’d better just leave it alone, that something was happening in the background — and that I should just leave my Macbook and tethered iPhone combo sitting there while I hit the shower. Some twenty minutes or more later, I came back to find the process was successful, and the two apps I’d previously downloaded on my Macbook the day before (remember, I had iTunes 7.7 so I could do that), were right there on my third "home screen," just like they were supposed to be! 
Those apps were the free Typepad app — so (you guessed it) I can now enter posts from my phone to this blog! — and the free myLite Color Strobe and Flashlight, a "Utilities" app, so I can be the life of the party at my next rock concert. [Okay, I don’t go to many, but I definitely want to be ready… 🙂 ] 
Alas, what to make of this whole mess? I don’t care about the snafu related to so many people not being able to activate their new iPhone 3Gs on Friday in the stores — I’m talking about the way the software update was handled for existing customers. It sucked. I agree with at least one other blogger who said it should have been offered by Apple FIRST to their current, loyal users, well ahead of the onslaught of the iPhone 3G debut on July 11. Instead, they treated us as not important — didn’t even communicate to us about it directly. And, if they’d have gotten that out of the way first, it would have greatly lessened the burden on the servers for the 3G activation process.
Don’t get me wrong — my 2.0 update process went smoothly. I have my "new" iPhone, I love the apps I have so far, and I will be getting a lot more. But, then, there are things I don’t like about the App Store process, either — the slowness of them getting new, approved apps up there (I know of several that aren’t there yet and should be), the way they handle consumer reviews, and more. But don’t get me started — that’s a topic for another post.
Maybe I’ll do that one from my iPhone (thank you, Typepad app!) — though it will understandably have to be a lot less keystrokes than this one… 🙂
UPDATE: Whoops, meant to include this link to Declan McCullagh’s post on a CNet blog from Saturday afternoon: Apple iPhone v2.0 software on Saturday: Still M.I.A.
I’ve known Steve Larsen for a long time — ten years at least — and, wow, it seems a lot longer in Internet time. Steve is one of those people you feel you’ve always known. He’s one of the guys I respect most in the entire technology industry — a smart marketer, brilliant strategist, and just a top-notch people person and leader. Even though he left the Twin Cities five or six years ago for the fast-lane of the Valley, we still manage to run into each other a few times a year. 
One of those times was at a conference several months ago, where we got to talking [okay, it was over several adult beverages] about how long we’d known each other, and I started recounting the amazing ride this guy has been on since I first worked with him when he was SVP of Marketing at Net Perceptions here in Minneapolis, back in the day. And we decided I should write about him [Steve has this way of making me feel like I’m a really good writer] — that is, track the story of what I thought was just an extremely interesting and unusual background for one guy to have in this crazy startup world, stretching over at least a decade.
So, that’s what I set out to do: a full-blown feature on the life of a serial entrepreneur who just can’t stop, going from one cool gig to another — much like his other life of testing new motorcycles and touring all over the world. You see, Steve likes speed, in more manifestations than one, and is just always on the go. [I remember when he took me for a ride in some hot, new red sports car he’d just bought, taking it up to like 80 mph in about a two-block distance(!), on a lonely stretch of frontage road near the Sofitel. My life flashed before me.] It seemed an interesting mix to me — motorcycles, speed, and the entrepreneurial CEO — that people could relate to. So, I proceeded to put together the basics of an article soon after we met, then continued to tweak it here and there in my extra time on weekends, adding updates along the way. Soon, with some help from one of Steve’s very fine PR folks at PageOne PR, we set out to pitch it to some mags. Well, we didn’t get far till Chief Executive Magazine grabbed onto it, and, to our delight, decided to publish it last week as one of the first articles in its "Entrepreneurial CEO" section. Perfect. If Steve doesn’t fit that label, nobody does. Here it is: Zen and the Art of Startup Maintenance, by yours truly.
I’m delighted that the readers of this fine, long-standing publication are now getting to learn about this very talented guy. I think they’ll learn a lot. And, Steve, my hat’s off again to you! It was a pleasure being about to tell just a part of your amazing story….one that’s really still being written, as the readers of this article will learn. Continued best of luck with Krugle, a company I am convinced will rock the world of code search!
You can bet I’ll be following along, and I certainly look forward to being able to relate the next chapter in this very interesting guy’s life. [Okay, Steve, you now owe me another adult beverage at our next conference! Maybe DEMOfall in September? And Defrag, too, in November 🙂 …and…and…]
I blogged about a big event here in Minneapolis last night, featuring four of our larger hometown brands (well, three, plus one pretty big direct-marketer you may have also heard of). The topic was social media, and you can tell it was hot by this shot I grabbed with my iPhone of the very crowed room. 
My post about it is over at my NewMediaWise blog, because that’s where I talk more about marketing and all the changes happening in that field. The session was excellent, if for no other reason than I felt the panelists were sincere and candid in their remarks, and yet had as many questions as answers. It wasn’t fluff or BS — I think we heard what’s really on their minds, and they got us thinking about how much more still needs to be done….by big brands as well as small.
Thanks to our great local interactive marketing organization — MIMA.org — for putting on this gig. They said it was the largest of any of their regular monthly meetings to date. Hot topic, and lots of good networking before and after. I had the opportunity to chat at length with two of the panelists afterwards, Jim Cuene of General Mills and Gary Koelling of Best Buy, and also to meet several other folks as well.
Tell ya what, after experiencing Minnebar on May 10 and MIMA on May 14, I’ll say this…..this town is rockin’ this spring!!
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