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.

Basecamp, Get Organized

A few years ago, one of my business partners turned me on to this project management tool called Basecamp, put out by 37Signals.  For virtual businesses like mine, which rely upon multiple people in various locations always being up-to-speed, it proved to be an invaluable tool.

Basecamp is a web-based tool that lets you manage and track projects (or simply ideas) and quickly create client/project extranets.  Simply put, its a project management, collaboration and task software application.  According to their website, over 1 million people use it (and I wouldn't doubt it either).

Now I'm sure that there are other tools like Basecamp out there, although I have yet to come across them, but I felt like I was a caveman, carving messages in rock prior to my Basecamp introduction.  Simply put, Basecamp really helped me get organized, and enhanced my overall efficiency.

Not to say that I was some disorganized slob before, but its the difference between having my personal calendar, to-dos, appointments, files, emails, and various notes jotted here and there, and having all of these assorted loose ends in one place.  And the beauty of it, is that your whole organization can use it.

Basecamp is great in that it doesn't require you to learn anything new, and works with you where you are.  Alerts come directly to your email box (whichever email account you decide you want to use) and rather than having to log into some webadmin portal to respond or view messages, you can reply from within the email and your response gets posted in Basecamp.

Since being introduced to Basecamp, I've become a cheerleader for the web-based application.  I use it with all my clients and for virtually any project I take on.  It doesn't only aid individual organization, but groups as well.  We've got a network of over 60 producers world-wide.  Whenever an opportunity arises, we post up a message with all the necessary parameters, and within hours, we've got multiple submissions.

If you're already organized, then HOORAY for you, but if you're not, check out Basecamp and get organized.

My iPhone Rocks!

Ever since the iPhone was released, people have been heatedly debating its virtues (and shortcomings).  One of its obvious flaws is that it just doesn't do everything that less sophisticated (and less expensive) smart phones do right out of the box.  For example, why can't I capture video with my iPhone (without a hack app)?  Why can't I create (or at the very least) edit documents on my phone?  Why can't I get a decent internet connection (and why is the Edge network as slow as molasses moving uphill on a sunny day)?

But on the flip side, its benefits are too numerous to drop here, so I won't bore you with effusive iPhone praise.  Suffice to say, while its no crack--I mean Blackberry, and doesn't support push email, its still one of the hottest devices out.

Now my comments are well out of time, in terms of anyone really caring about my iPhone two cents, but my iPhone really does rock, and I'm going to be on the iPhone bandwagon until someone comes out with something markedly better.  Now I say all that having been a die-hard Treo whore.  When the Treo dropped, Handspring/Palm could do no wrong.  I was pimping Treos from the gate.  I had the 180.  Then I copped the 270.  From there it was the 370, then the 600, then the 650 (am I missing one?)  

Needless to say, I was whipped.  I loved everything you could do with the Treos, the syncing with my Entourage over the air, typing with the full qwerty keyboard or using the stylus (when I was in the mood).  I was a wiz with the camera and captured some priceless vids with it as well.  I was playing mp3s and generally living la vida loca before I answered the siren song of the iPhone.

Once I got my iPhone, I dumped my Treo like a bad habit.  I was smitten, and my former love never again invaded my thoughts.  I was surfing the internet like I was sitting in front of my G4 (albeit with a really small screen) and I loved that whole two-finger expand/contract thing.  I was watching movies on my iPhone (MOVIES!!!!)  I mean, c'mon, really?  Can you really be mad at the iPhone?  I was texting, emailing, reading documents and pdfs, and I totally couldn't see how I had survived without the iPhone in my life.

Whenever I see Treos today, I think, "perhaps one day you'll graduate to the big leagues, poor sap."  I know that Treo owners universally long to feel the cool, sleek weight of an iPhone in their palms.  I feel their eyes gently caressing my iPhone whenever I pull it out to answer a call, check an email or simply watch a video.  They don't want to look, but they must.  But hey, what can I say?  My iPhone rocks!