Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Tag: mobile (Page 4 of 5)

Minnesota Mobile Developers Clocking Millions of Downloads

(Note: This post first appeared at Minnov8.com, on May 2, 2010.)

CrowdOfPeople-circle Local developers of apps for mobile devices, especially those
designed for Apple’s platform, are quietly amassing large numbers of
users for their creations, I’ve been learning.

This past week, I thought it would be an interesting little project
for me to do a survey of sorts as the basis for this blog post. What I
did (totally unscientific, I admit) was ask all the Twin Cities-area
mobile developers I happened to know just how many apps they have on the
two major platforms, Apple and Android, and how many users have
downloaded their apps to date.  It turned into a bigger project than I
thought!  It required a lot of back-and-forth emails to clarify all
their current offerings.  But I’ve sorted it all out as best I can, and
you’ll see the results of that survey in the second half of this post.

The two most-experienced mobile app development firms in Minnesota I
have known quite well for some time, having been a consultant to both in
the past: DoApp and CodeMorphic
These two firms began developing for the iPhone platform as soon as
Apple released the SDK in March 2008, and had their first creations in
the App Store from the get-go, in the case of DoApp (July 2008), and
CodeMorphic soon after. So, it was no surprise to me, then, that these
two have the largest numbers of downloads locally. But many more
Minnesota developers jumped in after them, and still are jumping in. In
fact, I learn about a new one almost weekly. Some publish apps in their
own name, some only for clients, and some do both. (For apps developed
for-hire for client companies, developers cannot track ongoing download
numbers in real time — only their clients know, unless they tell them or
otherwise publicize the numbers. But the developers can certainly make
educated guesses, which some of them did for me for my survey.) What
triggered this idea for a post was a news announcement one of the two
big local development firms just put out …

DoApp Inc. Announces One Million Downloads of Its “Mobile
Local News” App

Actually, it’s not one app; there are more than 100 of these DoApp “MLN”
apps out there, because that’s how many customers (media outlets) have
signed up with DoApp to date to use what is really an “app platform.” 
DoApp-Mgmt-250w
It allows DoApp’s customers — TV news stations, newspapers, online
publications, and radio stations — to easily brand the app for
themselves and deliver their content via smart phones and other mobile
devices, including the Apple iPad.  (DoApp has not yet submitted to
Apple an app designed specifically for the iPad, though its many iPhone
apps do work on that new device.)  In its recent announcement, DoApp
counted downloads for all its locally-branded Mobile Local News apps,
including both Apple and Android downloads, in saying they have
surpassed the one million number. The company first made the Mobile Local News
app available in April 2009. For more about all of DoApp’s products,
see the company’s web site.
  (In the photo: Joe Sriver, center, Founder; Wade Beavers, left,
CEO; and Dave Borrillo, VP-Software Development.)
I conducted an
email interview with DoApp founder Joe Sriver to learn more about the
current status of his company’s Mobile Local News app business.

First, here’s a map showing U.S. coverage of DoApp Mobile Local News
apps. For a list of all the
media properties that have the company’s app, see the lower portion of this page.


MobileLocalNews-map Minnov8:
Just out of curiosity, Joe, what percentage
of the one million downloads you’re announcing for Mobile Local News
are iPhone vs. Android?
Sriver: “Currently, the breakdown is about 60/40 in
favor of the iPhone. Android has really been gaining a lot of ground in
the last year. 2010 is a big year for Android.  We are seeing over 49
different brands of Android phones that are tapping our MLN app — a
challenge to maintain.”

Minnov8: How many of your existing customers for
this app offer both iPhone and Android versions? Does our local WCCO-TV,
your first customer, offer both?
Sriver: “Our platform offers the native iPhone and
Android versions for all our media outlet customers — WCCO included. We
will also have a Blackberry WAP version debuting in the next month. 
We’re seeing a new influx of iPad users accessing the news, too, so
let’s just say we will have an iPad solution soon.”

Minnov8: Most all your customers for this app
appear to be TV stations. Are any radio stations or newspapers signed up
yet? Do you expect more of the latter two?
Sriver: “We have been signing newspapers as well.  In
the last few months, we signed Journal Communications, which includes
Milwaukee’s Journal-Sentinel, and the Los Angeles News Group, which
includes several newspapers in the LA area. Our SBT News app serves the
newspaper in South Bend, Indiana.  We have also signed Swift
Communications, whose properties include many newspapers in the western
and northwestern U.S.  With our recent announcements, a flurry of radio
stations are contacting us, and our first radio station app will be out
in the first week of May.”

Minnov8: How much are you seeing media outlets
developing their own custom, native apps for mobile devices — as opposed
to simply skinning your app and configuring it for use with their local
audiences?  What’s the difference in time and money with your approach?
Sriver: “We’ve talked to many media outlets. A few of
them have decided to do development in-house. Many of them call us back a
few months later after they realize all the development requirements
for iPhone and Android. They tell us our Mobile Local News solution is
the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient method to bring their content
to mobile. The money difference is huge for them because its the support
that kills them, and we have a solution that fits to scale.  We’ve done
nine major enhancements in 12 months already, and for a property to do
so is a huge resource drain.  It’s just tough to keep up with
technology.”

Minnov8: How does DoApp Inc. make money from this
app — licensing?  Revenue share? Where does your “Adagogo” ad platform
fit in here?  What portion of your customers for this app have ads
appearing on it?  What revenue do you make from ads that appear on the
app?
Sriver: “We offer a subscription model where stations
can receive 100% of revenue from advertisements, or an advertising
revenue share model, where news organizations pay a small set up fee and
then share advertising revenue with DoApp.”

Minnov8: Are all current customers for the app in
the U.S.? If so, any plans to pursue business in other countries?
Sriver: “Yes, all current news entities who use Mobile
Local News are in the U.S.  We do have plans for news organizations in
other countries. We can support translations right now, and we are
working to reach out to the growing Spanish-speaking consumer market.”

Minnov8: Your original partner for the Mobile Local
News platform was Inergize Digital Media of Minneapolis — and I remember
having the initial discussion with them on your behalf in the fall of
2008. What role do they play? What percentage of the media outlets that
have signed up to use your app were existing customers of theirs?  And
what revenue split does Inergize get from this partnership?
Sriver: “Inergize brought many of their existing
stations who used their web solution to the mobile platform via DoApp’s
Mobile Local News. We’re working to establish other relationships and
also extending our direct model to TV news/radio/newspaper properties. 
The relationship works like this: DoApp provides Inergize’s partner
stations with the DoApp Mobile Local News mobile publishing solution. A
percentage of ad revenue goes to the station or newspaper, Inergize, and
DoApp.”

Minnov8: What does 2010 hold for DoApp? What portion
of your overall revenues do you expect will come from the Mobile Local
News and Adagogo combined?
Sriver: “We will continue to build our base of news
entities who use Mobile Local News.  MLN is the most popular platform
for mobile news delivery in the U.S.  Our Adagogo ad platform is
currently being used on all Mobile Local News apps. We will continue to
grow Adagogo as well. DoApp is also focusing on mobile real estate. We
have created what is arguably the most advanced real estate solution,
combining cost savings capabilities for agents with simplicity for their
clients — allowing mobile access anytime, anywhere via smart phones and
other mobile devices.”

So, what about DoApp’s total stats, for all their apps?  Here are the
numbers I got from Joe:

What is the total number of apps DoApp has had accepted into the
App Store?
iPhone: 125 (all but about 15 are Mobile Local News
apps). Android: 110.
Paid vs. Free? iPhone: 4 are paid apps, the rest are free.
Android: all are free.
What is the total number of downloads of all your apps?
iPhone: 4.5 million. Android: 600,000.  Total= 5.1 million.

So, where do other Minnesota developers stand as far as downloads? 
Well, here’s that unofficial survey of mine, with respondents in
alphabetical order, by company name.  The first happens to be the other
large player in the iPhone market I referred to earlier, who may in fact
have the largest number of downloads of all, although that cannot be
verified:

CodeMorphic
– Bill Heyman, Founder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
50. (All under the names of clients.)
Paid vs. Free? 20 paid, 30 free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
CodeMorphic provided a conservative estimate (because its clients have
the download figures): 3-5 million.  The most popular of CodeMorphic’s
apps has been the NPR Public Radio Player, which the firm said had 2.5M
downloads as of two months ago. It also did MPR’s app. Its other popular
apps include the “Smarter Agent” real-estate app. Some national brands
CodeMophic has done apps for do not allow the firm to publicly disclose
them as clients, but these apps have broad reach, too. To see a
selection of some of  CodeMorphic’s apps, see the firm’s portfolio page.)
Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? None
yet.

Mentormate
– Bjorn Stansvik, CEO

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
1 (“MigraineMate”).
Paid vs. Free? Free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
858.
Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? None
yet. (“LocationMate app to be launched, for both iPhone and Android.”)

Mobile On Services Inc. (BuildAnApp.com) – Scott Pearson, VP-Business
Development

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
22. (“We’re still in beta.”)
Paid vs. Free? All free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
4,000 iPhone, 500 Android. (“Will be a much different story in a couple
of months.”)
Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? Yes, 12.

MobileRealtyApps.com,
and Performant Design LLC – Aaron Kardell, CEO

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
4. (“Soon to be 5.”)
Paid vs. Free? 2 paid, 2 free. (“Soon to be 2 paid, 3 free.”)
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
20,000.
Do you have apps available now in the Android Market? No.
(“But coming soon.”)

Mobile
Roots
– Lynn Smith, CEO/Founder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
5. (Three are under Lynn’s name; two apps were developed by
Mobile Roots for clients: “Margaret for Governor” and “Brazelton for
House.” Two more apps are in development for political candidates.)
Paid vs. Free? 1 paid (“What the Funkytown!” – $0.99), 4 free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
3,270.
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? No. (“But
releasing our first next week.”)

Recursive
Awesome
– Justin Grammens, Cofounder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
7 public apps in the App Store; also 5 private apps for one
client, which are installed using the limited “AdHoc” distribution
method, whereby each app is manually installed on individual Apple
devices.
Paid vs. Free? 1 paid, 7 free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
Estimate provided: 850,000.
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? Yes, 6 — 1
paid, 5 free, and 1 in private development. Estimated total downloads
for these: 60,000.

Refactr
Ben Edwards, Founder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
2. (“And 2 more submitted.”)
Paid vs. Free? All free to date.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps?
One app built for Mayo Clinic: download number not known. The firm says
its own app, “Flashbang,” has been downloaded about 20,000 times.
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? None yet.

Tiny
Mission
– Bekki Freeman, Founder

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
3.
Paid vs. Free? 2 paid, 1 free.
What is the approximate total number of downloads of all your apps
to date?
1600.
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? No. (But
“working on it as fast as we can type!”).

One thing that occurred to me as I was working on this survey over
the past few days: it isn’t just software development firms that doing
mobile apps — many of those being firms that do development-for-hire,
and some of which are doing self-publishing of their own apps.  But
there are also other types of local firms that are developing their own
apps, some in-house, including startups whose initial product is a
mobile offering, or has a mobile version. One such startup I just
learned about is this one, based in Stillwater:

Nibi
Software
– Troy Peterson, CEO

What is the total number of apps you have had accepted into the App
Store?
1. (“An educational app called Nibipedia, which mashes all
the educational Youtube channels with Wikipedia articles — so that, when
reading an article, the app recommends relevant videos. It also tracks
your research path for you so you can review later. We have several
other apps in the queue. Apple makes taking an idea from conception to
market so much easier than with traditional web apps. We’re stoked.”)
Paid vs. Free? Paid – $1.99. (“But we’re offering it to
teachers in our Facebook Group for free.” Presumably, that would be via
the AdHoc distribution method.)
What is the total number of downloads of all your apps? No
specific number reported. (“It was just released, and has not been
promoted. But we’ve had several hundred downloads already from people
who became aware of it in the educational marketplace. It’s really
designed for the larger display screen of the iPad, so we are setting to
work to promote that in the next few weeks.” Presumably, that would
mean an iPad-specific version of the app is coming.)
Do you have apps available in the Android Market? Not yet.
(“But we’re going to, for sure.”)

A footnote: I only contacted firms that I
know to be developing for the Apple or Android platforms, but I make no
claims that this is a complete list. One firm I contacted that chose not
to report its numbers at this time was Handcast Media Labs, creators of
the “SparkRadio” app (one of my personal favs), which is available for
both the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad platforms. Another developer I
contacted did not respond: Dan Grigsby, who was head of
MobileOrchard.com, a company he announced recently he was shutting down.

Now we want your input: Who have we missed?
Are you a developer doing mobile apps? Do you know of a Minnesota
company that has released iPhone or Android apps?  Is your mother doing
iPhone apps? How about firms based outside the Twin Cities? If so,
please tell us in the comments!  Also tell us what apps you like.  And,
lastly… is the iPad better than sex?

Note: See the comments to this post where it originally appeared (Minnov8.com) here.

My Live Blogging of DEMO Spring 2010

Well, it's that time again. Twice each year, I cover the DEMO conference — and this time around it's DEMO Spring, in warm, sunny Palm Desert. It's been a long, cold winter!  I'm excited, because, as I noted in my previous post, 65 really exciting new ventures will be launching!  The event will be hosted by new executive director Matt Marshall, the CEO and editor-in-chief of VentureBeat.

Here's the page where my live-blogging posts will appear, in real time as they are published. To do this live blogging, I'm using a great tool designed
just for this purpose called "ScribbleLive." DEMO_2010-LiveBlogBanner   My on-site coverage will begin soon after I arrive on Sunday March 21 (the opening reception is that evening), and will run through late Tuesday afternoon March 23, when the conference wraps up. 

Before my last DEMO event (Fall '09), I always live-tweeted the proceedings, rather than
doing live blogging. That changed as of last fall. The tweeting had worked okay, but this live-blogging approach I decided I like better, for a
number of reasons: (1) I'm not limited to 140 characters per post… (2)
I find it a nice middle ground between doing short, often hard-to-write
(and understand!) tweets and the more rambling long-form blogging…
(3) it's as fast or faster than tweeting… (4) it's way faster than me
trying to post quickly on my own Typepad blog here… and (5) it
prevents many of my Twitter followers from getting mad and unfollowing
me when I'm doing so many rapid-fire tweets at events, which for a DEMO
can be upwards of a couple hundred! Another cool thing is that I can
attach a photo to any of my live-blog posts as well. (Though I will also
upload all my pix to a Flickr set during and right after the event.) 
The tool also allows me to attach an audio or video file, if I wish, but
I don't expect to do that.

For me, as a longtime event reporter,
this ScribbleLive tool is really an ideal solution. Here's my live-blog archive of DEMOfall '09. And here's another example of how myself and three other blogger colleagues used this tool simultaneously for the first
time: it was at the the Blogwell event at General Mills in Minneapolis last year.

I
look forward to DEMO Spring 2010, and hope I hear from you — whether during the
event, before, or after. I will likely be publishing some other,
stand-alone posts here on this blog while at DEMO — namely, audio
interviews, as I did starting at DEMO Spring '09. To communicate with me,
you can always post comments here at my blog.  Or, talk to me via
Twitter by putting @GraemeThickins at the beginning of your tweets —
since I will be monitoring Twitter search closely as I live-blog the
event.  Get this — if I want to tweet once in a while, those will appear automatically in this live blog, too. Pretty cool.

Look for me in the DEMO ballroom — I'll be in my usual spot in row three of the press section,
right down in front.

DEMO Spring 2010 Announces Presenting Companies

JWmarriottDesertSprings DEMO_2010-logo+dates As is
my custom, I’m publishing the list of DEMO presenters as soon as it’s
released.  What follows is an
excerpt from the press release that just hit the wire:

———

The
DEMO conference, the world-renowned launch platform for some of the most
notable emerging technologies introduced over the past two decades, today
announced the lineup of 65 companies that will share their never-before-seen
products and value propositions to the technology community at DEMO Spring 2010
on March 21-23 in Palm Desert, California (JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort).

The
DEMO conference opens a window into technology's future, and this year the
event will feature some of the most promising new products and prototypes from
a variety of different industries including Social and Media, Cloud,
Enterprise, Mobile, and Consumer Technologies.

DEMO
Spring 2010 is also excited to have VentureBeat Founder and CEO, Matt Marshall,
on board as DEMO’s new executive producer, who has evaluated and selected
leading-edge innovations to launch on the DEMO stage.  

In its
second year, sitting alongside the demonstrating class of DEMO Spring 2010, the
Alpha Pitch program will feature 13 early-stage entrepreneurs and pre-launch
mode companies that will have 90 seconds in the spotlight to share their
prototypes to the critical DEMO audience. To have qualified for the program,
each company must be pre-revenue, and have received no more than a seed round
of funding.

You can
still register to attend by going to the DEMO web site Live broadcast
over the web will be available through a partnership with DEMO 08
demonstrator and former DEMOgod award winner BitGravity,
for registered qualified members of the press.  Qualified members of the
press may request live viewing access via www.etouches.com/demovideo. Videos from
live DEMO Spring 2010 presentations will also be available within 24-48 hours
after each presentation on DEMO.com.

———

As
always, I will be covering the event on-site, posting some audio interviews as
I can, and also live-blogging the entire proceedings, as I did for DEMOfall
’09
.

And now, ta-dah!  Here’s the just-released list….

DEMO
Spring 2010 Demonstrators:
     

ABJK
NewCo, Inc.; Austin, Texas; www.zosh.com                                                                                  

AirSet;
Berkeley, California; www.airset.com                                                                                          

AppVoyage;
San Jose, California; www.appvoyage.com                                                                                   

AppWhirl,
Inc.; Mountain View, California; www.appwhirl.com                                         
                       

bloson;
Cambridge, Massachusetts; www.bloson.com                                                                           

BlueSkies
Hospitality Management Systems (HMS); Pendleton, Indiana; www.blueskieshms.com             

BrandFolium
Corporation; Sunnyvale, California; www.brandfolium.com                                                  

CalendarFly;
Pelham, New York; www.calendarfly.com                                                                           

Closely,
Inc.; Denver, Colorado; www.closely.com                                                                                 

Cloudscale,
Inc.; San Mateo, California; www.cloudscale.com                                                                

Democrasoft;
Santa Rosa, California; www.democrasoft.com                                                                

DigitalScirocco;
Seattle, Washington; www.digitalscirocco.com                                                              

Everloop;
Danville, California; www.everloop.com                                                                                  

eXaudios
Technologies; Ramat-Gan, Israel; www.exaudios.com                                                             

FathomDB;
San Francisco, California;

www.fathomdb.com

Fliptop;
San Francisco, California; www.fliptop.com                                                      
                       

General
Inspection, LLC; Davisburg, Michigan; www.generalinspection.com                                            

Genieo
Innovation; Herzlia Pituach, Israel; www.genieo.com                                                                    

GlideTV,
Inc.; Pleasanton, California; www.glidetv.com                                                                          

GreenNurture;
Tempe, Arizona; www.greennurture.com                                                               

gwabbit;
Carmel Valley, California; www.gwabbit.com                                                                            

Hillcrest
Labs; Rockville, Maryland; www.hillcrestlabs.com                                                          

InfoDome;
Oakland, California; www.InfoDome.com                                                                              

Infusionsoft;
Gilbert, Arizona; www.infusionsoft.com                                                                              

Invested.in;
Thousand Oaks, California; www.invested.in                                                                        

InVisage
Technologies, Inc.; Menlo Park, California; www.invisageinc.com                                              
                                                                       

MightyMeeting,
Inc.; Setauket, New York; www.mightymeetings.com                                                       

MiniMash,
Inc.; Oakland, California; www.minimash.com                                                             

my6sense,
Inc.; Herzeliya Pituach, Israel; www.my6sense.com/                                                               

NetToons,
Inc.; El Cerrito, California; www.nettoons.com                                                            

Network
Hippo, Inc.; Ottawa, Ontario; www.networkhippo.com                                                                

nyoombl,
Inc.; Palo Alto, California; www.nyoombl.com                                                                         

Phone
Halo; Santa Barbara, California; www.phonehalo.com                                                                  

Pi
Mobility; Sausalito, California; www.pi.pngmobility.com                                                                            

Rebtel;
Stockholm, Nacka Strand; www.rebtel.com                                                                                 

Sharetivity;
Palo Alto, California; www.sharetivity.com                                                                            

SocialWish;
Brooklyn, New York;

www.socialwish.com                                                                                            

Solvate;
New York, New York; http://solvate.com                                                                                   

Supercool
School; San Francisco, California; www.SupercoolSchool.com                                                          

Sutus,
Inc.; Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; www.sutus.com                                                            

Tastr,
Inc.; San Diego, California; http://xpenser.com/                                                                            

Teneros;
Mountain View, California; www.teneros.com                                                                            

Value-Centered
Solutions, Inc.; San Pablo, California; www.inoutcash.com                                             

VenueGen;
Morrisville, North Carolina; www.venuegen.com                                                                    

ViaCLIX;
Los Gatos, California; www.viaclix.com                                                                                               

VIC
Wave Communication, Inc.; Victoria, British Columbia; www.vicwave.net                                           

VISIARC;
Stockholm, Sweden;

www.visiarc.com
and www.mobiledocuments.com                            

Vivox; Natick,
Massachusetts; www.vivox.com                                                                                      

Voxofon,
LLC; Houston, Texas; www.voxofon.com                                                                               

Widgetbox;
San Francisco, California; www.clickturn.com                                                                      

Zerista,
Inc.; Denver, Colorado; www.zerista.com                                                                                   


DEMO
Spring 2010 AlphaPitch Companies:

flinc;
Dieburg, Germany; www.flinc.mobi                                                                                               

Immitter;
Los Angeles, California; www.immitter.com                                                                              

KarmaKorn;
Lindenhurst, Illinois;

www.KarmaKorn.com  

MEDL
Technology Co., Ltd.; Mongkok, Hong Kong; www.medltech.com                                                

neverend
media; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; www.neverendmedia.com                                                   

R3
d.o.o.; Maribor Slovenia, Europe; www.mmatcher.com                                                                      

PERMISSIONtosend;
Denbigh, Wales, UK;

www.permissiontosend.com

SocialOrbits,
LLC; Chicago, Illinois; www.SocialOrbits.com                                                        

Systems
Thinking Institute, LLC; Cedar Creek, Texas; www.systemkey.net                                               

TicketPlayground.com;
Plantation, Florida;

www.ticketplayground.com

ThickButtons;
Palo Alto, California;

www.thickbuttons.com

Yumit;
Madrid, Spain; www.yumit.com                                                                                                   

UppyMedia.com;
Alameda, California;

www.uppymedia.com                                           

ZURB;
Campbell, California;

www.zurb.com


An
additional excerpt from the press release:
In addition to the exciting
companies that will take the stage, DEMO will host some of the single most
influential entrepreneurs, organizations, and venture capitalists in the industry
to participate in panel sessions on the key themes for the show, including:

– Social
and Media

– Cloud


Enterprise

– Mobile


Consumer Technologies

Matt
Marshall, Executive Producer of DEMO, will lead these panel discussions
throughout the multi-day conference.

———

I'll be at DEMO for the entire event, which starts late afternoon Sunday and goes through Tuesday evening.  If you'll be in attendance, I look forward to
meeting you
!



My Talk on Blogging and Social Media at ‘Club Entrepreneur’

I gave a presentation on blogging and social media recently to the monthly lunch meeting of our local "Club Entrepreneur," which was launched within the past year by Rick Brimacomb. ClubEntrepreneur-logo About 60 people attended, more than they'd had at previous meetings, so we got to meet in the larger, main dining room of the Minneapolis Club — which is just awesome (quick iPhone photo included here, which I shot afterwards).

What a treat to present in such an historic place!  MplsClub The date was February 4, 2010.  After the event, I uploaded a pdf of my 64-slide deck to SlideShare: I titled the talk, Why Launch a Company Blog and Use Social Media.

I originally created the presentation in Keynote on my Mac, with lots of nice transitions and builds, which you can't see on the SlideShare pdf, of course.  You can in the QuickTime movie of the Keynote file that I also created, but that's 238 megs, so I won't expect you to download that… 🙂

(Note: A shout-out to authors David Meerman Scott, Debbie Weil, Brian Solis, Ann Handley, and Tara Hunt, whose work I cited in parts of this presentation. They are all heroes of mine.)

Also, I audio-recorded myself making the presentation, with my little whiz-bang podcast machine — my Olympus LS-10. So, if you'd like to listen as you go through the SlideShare pdf, here's the MP3 file:

Download or listen to Graeme's presentation at the Minneapolis Club, "Why Launch a Company Blog and Use Social Media (MP3)".

The talk was 45 minutes, with about 12 minutes additional of Q&A at the end. You can't hear some of the audience questions very well but, overall, the recording turned out better than I thought it would — I just tried it as an experiment, setting the device on the projector table (mounted on a mini-tripod), about 12-15 feet away from me.  It worked well, though next time I'll get closer to the LS-10, so the volume level will be a little better.

If you'd like to have me give this presentation, or a variation of it, at your company, or as part of a workshop for a group of employees, please hit my email link at the top right. Thanks!

An iPhone Fanboy Reviews the Droid

Or should I say "tears it apart"?  No, seriously, my objective is to be fair here.  As an independent blogger, I take the opportunity from time to time to do a review. And I was offered a Droid loaner a few days ago by my PR buddy Al Maruggi, while we were at our Twin Cities Social Media Breakfast meeting.  I told him, sure, I'd take a look at the new phone from Motorola and Verizon he handed me in the box, then return it to him today. Droid_VS_iPhoneNote to the FTC: I'm not keeping it, dudes — it's a loaner!  Of course, I don't need it, anyway, since I'm now into my third year of unmitigated iPhone bliss, having upgraded to a new 3GS a couple months ago. Well, I should say bliss with Apple, not necessarily with AT&T.  The latter is, of course, the only carrier choice in the U.S. for the iPhone — unless you want to jail-break your phone and void the warranty.  People tell me they do that on T-Mobile and the phone works fine.  But for those locked into a Verizon contract, or those convinced they can't live without the better 3G network that Verizon claims it has (you know, the superior coverage they keep beating us over the head with in their ads?), then the Droid would seem to be the closest you're going to get to the iPhone experience on Verizon. 

The Experience

So, okay, let's start with that — at least the initial experience. (And no company, hands down, does that better than Apple.)  Which of the above phones would you rather have?  It all starts with the home screen, I guess. Now, granted — on the Droid, if you touch the arrow on the tab at the bottom and slide up, you get a much better looking screen on with all your little app icons — and without the mottled gray background (what's with that?) — but, overall, I have to say that the visual experience with the Droid doesn't compare well with the iPhone.  And I say that even knowing that the screen is supposed to be higher resolution than the iPhone (personally, I didn't notice that much).  I guess it's really the "brand experience" I'm talking about here.  And that applies to the box, the packaging, too.  Motorola (or is it Verizon?) tried to come up with something here as good as the iPhone, but to me they missed the mark. Something about the darkness of the whole thing — the black, the gray, and then that goofy little glowing red ball on the screen (on both the package and all over Verizon's promotional materials). Inside the package, though, the little "Getting Started" booklet is very nicely done — love the fanfold, and it tells you everything you need to know, quickly.

(NOTE: See the "Update" added at the bottom of this post.)

The Feel

The Droid feels good in my hand — solid, a little heavier than the iPhone. But that seems to be because it has more metal. And, heck, it does have a slide-open keyboard, so it should be heavier.  But that slight additional weight didn't bother me.  It's also a little thicker than the iPhone, as you would expect — but that's hardly even noticeable.  It's a teeny bit narrower as well.  To be quite honest with you, though, that actually feels a little more natural in my hand than the iPhone does.

A Look at How the Droid Is Billed

So, here's how Verizon presents the new Droid phone on its web site — including a big fat poke at the iPhone in a commercial they run at the front of this web page (hit "Skip Intro" if you've seen it). Funny how every new smart phone out there has to go after the leader. And Motorola, the manufacturer of the Droid with whom Verizon partnered, describes the phone thusly on its media center page for media and bloggers:

Introducing DROID by Motorola, a Smartphone powered by
Android 2.0 developed in partnership with Google and Verizon Wireless,
the nation’s largest 3G network. DROID delivers high-speed Web,
voice-activated search, a super large touch screen and thousands of
customizable apps and widgets from Android Market. With the
thinnest full QWERTY slider available on the market, it’s a
no-compromise supergenius in your pocket, multitasking at break-neck
pace to get things done.

High-Speed Mobile Browsing

• See the Web at break-neck speed on the largest high-resolution display with a Flash 10 ready HTML browser.

• Look up favorite sites, video and music fast with a high-speed, cortex A8 processor and lightning-fast connection.

•View it all on the 3.7” display with more than 400,000 total pixels, which is twice that of the leading competitor.

• Work faster on the Web with double tap to zoom in and out.

Google Searches Beyond the Web

• Type your search to deliver results such as contacts and music offering a complete search experience on a mobile device. 

• Use voice-activated search to serve up both your contacts and Google search results, based on your location. 

• Find your way with free spoken turn-by-turn directions with Google MapsTM Navigation (Beta), with Street View and LatitudeTM. View geographic information, such as My Maps, Wikipedia entries and transit lines, right on the map.

How It Worked for Me

I must say the Droid itself, and Verizon's service, worked pretty darn well, in the few hours I spent playing with the phone. The hardware is solid, and the service is fast — whether accessing the web, the "Android Market" to download apps, sending emails and texts… it all was quite speedy. I downloaded about four apps, one at a time, and they were all on my home screen fast. I've never used the Android Market before to get apps (this is the first time I've ever even used an Android phone), and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to see how well it worked. (I hear about 10,000 apps are available there now, versus 85,000 for the iPhone on the App Store.) I downloaded a few apps from Minneapolis-based DoApp Inc. (which already has 75 in the Android Market) — I grabbed "MyLite," our local "WCCO-TV Mobile Local News," and a similar one for San Diego called "SD 6 News."  I also searched the Android Market for the app I use most — "Tweetie" — but no dice.  Also couldn't find "Twitterific," another one I've used.  But there were tons of Twitter apps in the Market, most of which I'd never heard of, or they were specialized apps for certain kinds of tweet content. The one general Twitter app that looked to be the most highly rated, in the five-star icons that appear with each app, was "Twidroid" — but I didn't take the time to try it (I know how Twitter apps work).

I also tried the camera yesterday, and found it works okay, though it took me a while to figure out how to best use the skinny little camera button on the side. And I really didn't notice the camera's auto-focus function. I did email photos successfully.  They must be big files, because it's a 5-megapixel camera.

Built-in apps like YouTube worked great. Again, quick access — and I searched on my name, and up came all my videos very quickly, in a nice interface, and even some I had favorited (all mixed together with my vids). The Maps app was awesome. Very impressive, and the GPS function was pretty darn accurate in instantly finding my location. There's a new "Layers" aspect to the Maps that I didn't really understand, but I clicked on "Traffic" and got a different view. Then I drilled in via the "Satellite" menu option and got a scary-good overhead view of my neighborhood — up close and personal.  Maybe that higher-res screen is what made the Maps look so darn good on the Droid.

The slide-open keyboard worked okay for me, but my fingers (which really aren't very big) were fat-fingering that thing bigtime. I honestly would have no idea how anyone could double-thumb that keyboard — except maybe someone with thumbs the size of a three-year old. I much preferred using the "virtual keyboard," which comes up automatically when doing searches, emailing, etc.  But the keys are much smaller for that in portrait mode than the iPhone's virtual keyboard — making it horribly hard to use!  So, flip it to landscape mode, and you get much bigger keys. That option worked way better for me.

So, What's My Net-Net?

Okay, those are some of good things. I try hard to be a positive guy!  But now how do I really feel?  🙂 Let me try to give my overall, bottom-line assessment…

Some things that really bugged me were the lack of the nice big, round home switch which I'm so used to at the bottom front of the iPhone. Man, I really missed that on the Droid!  Having to go to the top of the phone, and find that little tiny switch at the upper right was a real pain. I swear it takes two hands, or a real contortion of one hand, to press that damn thing!  That is a major user-experience mistake in my book.  I also found a lot of other things that just weren't intuitive about the phone's operation, or the navigation within apps, including email and texting. For example, I could not figure out how a text became a Draft when I was trying to send it, nor could I figure out how to retrieve that Draft so I could send it. Couldn't figure out how to delete some private messages I'd sent, either, before I turn in the phone. And, right now, I can't even get back to the home screen, no matter how many times I press the little home icon on the front of the phone.  Another weirdity: I have yet to see where I go for "Settings" — there's no icon I can see for that, as there is on my iPhone.  So I could not, for example, shut off the damn machine-language guy saying "Dro-o-o-id" in a low, bass drone every time an email came in. Puh-lease. Also, it just never really seemed natural to use this phone — which way to hold it… up or sideways, or slide it open… or what. And that home button way up top, then the camera button way down low. 

So, okay, my net-net … you knew this was coming: it ain't no iPhone.  Now, if you really can't leave Verizon, and you really want to pay the same price as an iPhone ($199 with a two-year contract), just to stay with Verizon — then, yes, it's a close experience.  But close is what you get, not the cigar.

Then again, if you really like Verizon all that much, why not just wait?  All us fanboys in the know predict Apple is sure to add Verizon as a carrier for the iPhone here in the U.S., just as soon as the AT&T exclusive expires. 

What do you think?  Lock yourself in for two more years with Verizon now, or wait for the iPhone?  What would you do?

UPDATE 11/6/09:
Wanted to cite an earlier, very comprehensive Droid review by Engadget, which appeared prior to mine.  (Amazing how being a paid blogger let’s you go to the lengths this guy did.)  Also wanted to give this local shout-out: Garrick Van Buren’s Droid review.  Finally, I point you to what I think is the best review of all — by the master himself, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, on November 3rd: Motorola’s Droid Is Smart Success for Verizon Users. In addition, here are some more local tie-ins: a growing, grass-roots local organization called Mobile Twin Cities, and their Google Group.  They’re focused on all things mobile, including marketing, and all mobile OSes, including both Android and iPhone, of course.  And, on top of that, we even have a burgeoning Minnesota Android Developers Google Group as well.

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