To Upgrade or Not To Upgrade, That Is the Question

I've had my trusty iPhone 2 G since it dropped. In two months, my 2 year contract expires, and I will be free and clear of AT&T's onerous terms. But now that the 3GS is here, chock full of exciting new features (that aren't available for the 2G), I am faced with a dilemma.

FYI, I paid $399 for my 8 gig iPhone a few years ago. My initial excitement for having copped the freshest phone in the market, soon gave way to dismay, as Apple decided to drop the price (and offer that measly credit to suckers like me).

I was even further disheartened with the abysmal Edge Network, and the less-than-stellar browsing experience outside of a WiFi signal. Eventually, I came to accept these limitations, still happy to be part of the exclusive iPhone family.

When the 3G was released, not soon thereafter, I began to worry that I had a 'sucker' tattooed to my forehead. Surely, Apple hasn't released a new iPhone less than a year after the introduction of the first. I couldn't stomach shelling out any more money for a phone, which had so quickly ushered in the obselescence of my own.

I stuck to my guns, though, and avoided the siren call of the 3G, with it's (allegedly) faster 3G connection speeds, and (supposed) enhancements. Yeah, it's a little sleeker, but it's not sleek enough!

Now the 3GS teases me. It calls me. I've got a video camera, voice controls, a compass, MMS, cut&paste, blah, blah, blah. It costs less than I paid for my 2G and way more features. It's bringing sexy back. Can I afford to be without it?

Well, for now, the answer to that question is an unequivocal 'Yes. I can.' Truth is, I'm broke. As much as I'd love to own the latest and greatest, I can't justify yet another gadget (but damn! I want it!)

If anyone within the sound of my blog feels moved to charity...hit a bruh up.

The Open Screen Project

I recently completed a survey for Fierce Wireless, which asked about the mobile strategies my company was implementing.  It soon became apparent that the survey was really about Abode's mobile efforts, and was gathering information on how effectively Adobe made it's presence in the mobile space felt.

Apparently, Adobe has been quite busy in the mobile space for some time. Flash Lite, Adobe Labs and the Open Screen Project are a few of Adobe's more well known efforts, but they have been actively engaged in developing mobile solutions, to allow developers and end-users to benefit from the Adobe suite of products and services.

Adobe's mobile efforts are similar to those of Apple, Google, and more recently handset manufacturer, Nokia, who are taking steps to offer their current user base greater utility, driven by extentions of their current capabilities.  Adobe's efforts are equally ambitious, with the announcement of the Open Screen Project Fund, which they hope will generate Apple SDK, and Android-like responses within the developer communities, that will translate into greater Adobe-based mobile applications for end-users.

Will Adobe open up their own App Store?  Who knows.  Ultimately, I was glad to have been included in the survey, because it gave me a chance to look into Adobe's efforts, and extend my knowledge of all that is mobile.  If you're not up-to-speed on Adobe, definitely check them out.

Getting Money in a Recession

Everyone is all up-in-arms over the declining stock market and wondering if Obama's economic stimulus package is a real solution or a finger in the dam.  I don't know about the rest of you but the recession hasn't hurt me one bit. Perhaps that's because I own no stocks (all my money is in bonds) or because I'm African (American) and we're used to struggle, but the whole implosion of the world markets is an interesting footnote to my life.

But for those who are impacted, the economic climate is really f-ing things up.  So, in the spirit of Obama, here are a few economic stimulus tips for anyone ready to make moves:

1.  Mobile. Mobile. Mobile.  If you haven't noticed, mobile has been making slow but steady gains globally.  It's still in its infancy, so there are still plenty of 'first-mover' advantages for the wise, but this advantage won't last for long.  What can one do with mobile?  The more appropriate questions is what CAN'T one do with mobile.  Mobile today is like the internet was at its infancy, very few people 'got it' initially, but when they did, the whole dot.com thing happened.  Don't be on the bubble, when mobile breaks.  Get in now.

2.  Less is more.  Learn to scale back and work in a more efficient and productive manner.  I've always been a fan of guerilla-style tactics.  I'm an advocate of working small and lean, so that you have the ability to adapt rapidly to change.  Audit your company, processes and systems to determine where you can trim the fat.  Find out where you can scale and what aspect of your current business or operation is expendable. 

3.  Partnerhips.  If ever there was a time for allies, now is that time.  You should actively be looking for situations where the partnership adds value for both parties.  You should look for partners where you know they would add value to your operations or business, but also where you'll add value to their's as well.

4.  Be aggressive.  Forget all that 'the meek shall inherit the earth' malarky!  If you see an opportunity, seize it.  Right now, everyone is scared, and as the saying goes, 'scared money don't make none!'  You've got to be prepared to stake a claim and justify your position.  Difficult economic times are really a boon for the well prepared and the aggressive.  People want solutions and are willing to follow anyone who holds themselves out as a solution provider.   Be the one with all the answers, offering without hesitation and with unbridled confidence.

5.  Use technology.  I've always said that technology is the great equalizer.  That is true now, more than ever.  Use all that technology has to offer to get out there.  There are countless free or low cost solutions for building and hosting websites, mobile sites, building and deploying SMS campaigns, CRM solutions, project management, and the list goes on.  Make sure that you're not re-inventing the wheel and open-sourcing it all the way (unless you've got some ill cats developing proprietary ish you can get to market right away!)

A case study for this methodology can be found in my man Kenyatta 'Tally' Galbreth.  Over two years ago, we sat down in his attorney's Park Avenue offices in New York to discuss his mobile play.  He had a major international investor greenlight his media start-up, Gotham Jungle, and he wanted me to run his mobile division.  Long story short, the investor took a massive hit, and the money went away.

Undaunted, Tally still set up Gotham Jungle, with his own money.  He got a friend who was into web and application development to partner with him to develop some apps for the Apple App store, based on the SDK Apple had released.  Today, he's got his website up and they've got a few dashboard widgets available for download.

Tally's setup is still a little rough around the edges, but he's doing it.  And he's not waiting for anyone else to make it happen.

I'm not saying that by following these tips you're going to see a stimulus check tomorrow.  I am suggesting, however, that you can flip this whole economic downturn on its ear, and make positive revenue-generating moves for yourself right now.

So be like Mike and just do it!

Scared Money Don't Make None

So I've been advising this company which wants to release an unsigned artist.  The artist already has one older sibling in the industry with some modicum of success, and the group behind this current effort wants to capitalize on the upcoming release of the older sibling's second album.

We've been doing this dance for the last couple of weeks, involving me trying to convince them about the proper way to proceed.  I've made it clear that in no uncertain terms, they're going to have to spend money.  As the saying goes, 'scared money don't make none.'  I've also made it abundantly clear, that if they're looking for favors, or expect people to come on board because of the 'opportunity' of working with this artist, they're tripping.

In my opinion, this kid has a chance to be successful.  He's young, has a great voice, a marketable look, but he doesn't have the kind of cache, where anyone will be going out of their way to put him on.  In this current climate, and with the labels folding, scaling back, and generally scratching their heads trying to figure out how to connect with the public (and generate record sales) any artist interested in making it in this industry needs to disabuse themselves of the impression that they're the 'next best thing.'

As I've said, there is always the potential that this kid will have breakout success.  But today he has nothing.  There is no demo, no single, EP or LP.  There is no website, Mypsace, Facebook or any other significant web presence.  There are no songs, no rehearsal schedule, no marketing plan, no producer, songwriters, stylists, management or any other critical piece necessary for this thing to come to fruition.

What there is, though, is a committed group of individuals, who recognize that they're out of their element, and require expert assistance if they are going to make their fantasy of success for this artist a reality.  They have already been through the older sibling's music industry 101, and are now completely versed on the bang up job the industry does with the uninitiated.  Due to the collective lack of experience they had (at the time this artist got their deal with the label), the artist got burned.  

The main reason I'm involved is because my boy called me one day, and told me to give these guys a call because they needed help.  While I can clearly see the potential, map a path to success and help them execute the plan, the reality is that I am not prepared to be second guessed.

I'm going to meet the principals today.  I expect that we'll hash out all the details, and I'll be able to put everything in perspective one time.  If not, I'm going to have to decouple from these cats.  As excited as I may be about anything, I'm no longer interested in waging warfare with my clients about what they should be doing.  I had enough of that in my practice.  I'll give my two cents, and leave it to you to decide what to do.  

I'm certain that this would be a much more interesting rant if I could talk in specifics (and not all this cloak-and-dagger non-specific babble), but for the time being, I can't.  However, if all goes well, I'll be talking about this act all the time, so stay tuned.

What the hell have I been doing?

I have been completely derelict in my writing responsibilities with respect to this blog. In my own defense, I've been working on a lot of different things, including a new gig, starting a creative agency (http://www.shadowpropaganda.com), specializing in strategic and non-traditional marketing, writing ANOTHER blog (http://www.stephenchukumba.wordpress.com), planning, attending and moderating panels at conferences across the country (and overseas), and generally being bout-it bout-it.

But, I recognize that I have a duty to keep the content flowing, so I return, after my extended hiatus, and re-engage.

What's been going on? Well, since I last posted up, Apple released the iPhone 3G (which I resisted getting) the new MacBook (with the aluminum casing like the Pro) and the MacBook Pro, both of which include many of the features contained in the Air (like the multi-touch track pad). I've got to cop at least one of these bad boys.

There have been a number of handsets released featuring Google's Android operating system, and the industry is a flutter with excitement over it. T-Mobile released the G1, and the reviews so far have been quite positive. Whether any of these new devices will unseat Apple's iPhone remains to be seen.

Verizon Wireless tried to increase its rates for SMS on its networks, only to beat a hasty retreat in the face of a malestrom of criticism and alarm. It was, to say the least, a public relations nightmare, and still signals the end-of-days for content providers and aggregators relying solely on premium SMS as a revenue source.

W-A-P. Get with it, its the wave of the future. WAP will enable content providers to monetize their content withouth the carriers taking 40-60% of the puchase price away. With the number of smart phones capable of seamless m-commerce transactions on the mobile web growing from 15% to over 65% by the year 2012, carriers will have little option but to decrease their percentage take, or risk being foreclosed permanantly from the premium content market.

The stock market rollercoaster ride and the presidential election are the two really big things that have taken place in my absence. Obama won the Democratic nomination, and McCain the Republican. Obama selected Joe Biden as his VP, while McCain selected a political novice, Sarah Palin. Currently, Obama has a seven point lead nationally, but if the Bradley effect comes into play, that lead may be meaningless. November 4th is not far away, we'll see.

That's about it for now.

The Future is Mobile

Years ago, I used to have this running debate with a friend of mine regarding which platform was going to be the dominant one in the future, Windows of Mac.  I was the Windows fan, because I felt that it was a superior business platform, and was far more ubiquitous than Mac (which I relegated to the world of artistic/design types).  My friend (the artistic/design type) was steeped in Macs (they gave them out at Princeton University), and believed that the people at Apple were on to something.

Every so often, we'd sit down and compare notes, and as the years progressed, we discovered we were both right.  Windows is still the dominant platform, installed on 95% of the world's computers.  But Mac is the dominant platform for media.  And so we called a truce to our ongoing debate, since virtually everything you could do only exclusively on one platform or the other (back in the day), could be accomplished on either today (and fairly interchangeably, read: Intel Dual Core).

The dominant platform today, as I see it, is not Windows or Mac.  Its not even computer based.  It mobile.  Period.  Full Stop.  There are more mobile phones in operation today than there are personal computers.  In 2006 browsing on mobile phones overtook browsing on PCs as the dominant way to surf the internet.  Today, virtually any task you can perform on a computer can be accomplished on a mobile device.  And smart phones, like the iPhone, Blackberry and Treo, are affording the types of business productivity, typically offered by laptops.

While there are still issues of interoperability, and lots of content, applications and functionality is not yet device or carrier agnostic, these issues are being addressed.  Unlike the clash of the titans, between Mac and Windows, mobile device manufacturer, carriers, aggregators and the like, are utilizing lots of different standards, thereby giving users lots of options.  What's more, its not likely than a single uniform standard is on the immediate horizon.

But what's of singular importance, is the fact that mobile is still a vast untapped, undefined horizon.  Its the wild wild west (Kool Moe Dee, not Will Smith).  I stay preaching about the virtues of mobile, and regularly encourage my clients to get up on it (Salt N' Pepa style).  There is soooo much money to be made by content creators and aggregators.  And there are few barriers to entry.

Mobile phones are inherently social networking tools, and so anyone interested in capturing an increasingly mobile audience, needs to start capturing mobile phone numbers (as well as email addresses) to truly stay connected.  Failing to adopt a mobile strategy, in addition to an internet or web strategy is a fatal flaw in any marketing or promotions plan.  The low price point for acquiring a mobile phone, means that an ever increasing audience is ripe for the picking for the really focused player.

At the end of the day, mobile is where its at, and where its going to be for the foreseeable future.  

The following was a public service announcement.

Coming Full Circle

I've been running into lots of former clients recently, that I used to represent before I closed my practice, who are increasingly seeking out ways to properly monetize their assets.  From producers to performance artists (rappers, singers, rockers), they are universally arriving at a stage of enlightenment that I preached back in the day.

Essentially, they have come to realize that "DIY" (Do-It-Yourself) is the order of the day.  Instead of chasing the brass ring, and holding onto the dream of a major record label deal (if you didn't get the memo, they're fairly hard to come by), I advocated putting in the work and reaping the fruits of their labor.  I could never reconcile the lopsided nature and the sheer inequity of recording agreements.  

I used to offer my clients the analogy of a mortgage when it came to signing recording or production deals.  You see, when you purchase a house and take out a mortgage, you're agreeing to repay the loan to the bank, with interest.  When your mortgage is repaid, you own the title to your house, free and clear.  But when you're lender is the record label, even when you've paid them back in full, plus interest (and the label is fully recouped), they still own your masters IN PERPETUITY (that means forever).  So there was always a negative incentive to entering a recording agreement, that never went away.

The few clients who understood my analogy were bummed, but felt that it was worth it to get the "exposure" that came with signing to a major label.  A lot of those folks are flipping burgers or telemarketing now.  Still others felt that they would be so famous and do so well that they would force the label to renegotiate their deal or they would 'find God' (as a means of forcing he label to renegotiate or lose their asset).  I don't recall getting any RIAA plaques from anyone...perhaps it got lost in the mail.  

The one group of people who got the message loud and clear were the ones who rejected those lopsided offers, and redoubled their efforts to go I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T (shout out to Webbie).  A few of those cats have sought me out for some more doses of the good business advice I was doling out back-in-the-day.  And I'm more than happy to oblige because they are well on their way to independent success.

Unlike those who think that success occurs overnight, these folks have been grinding it out, developing their personal and professional networks, tightening up their catalogues, researching publishing, digital media and distribution mechanisms, and generally honing heir business skills.  I find our interactions are light years further than we were when we first linked up, and incredibly productive.

So I'd say look out for Face Fashion, Dough Lo Entertainment, Omar Jermaine, U.G.O., and pretty much anyone else who's name gets dropped in this blog.  The mere fact that I am dealing with them is reason enough to follow my lead, but if you're looking for more, watch, wait and listen, and the proof will manifest itself right before your eyes.