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.
Posts
