Future of Work Blog

February 01

iPad, what I wanted and what we got

So the iPad hype is over and as friend and mentor Faisal stated today, a Hitler video on YouTube may have taken down the product before it shipped. Why? Well, it isn’t the features. The features that are missing and the design misfires and the naming brouhaha stem from the failure of Steve Jobs to understand that his vision should not be Apple’s strategy. The product looks like it was crafted out of a more is better approach. People like the iPod Touch and the iPhone, so let’s give them a really big one. And as I tweeted the other day, charismatic leaders can’t abandon market research.

iPad isn’t a strategic product. It doesn’t demonstrate vision. It also hasn’t shipped yet, so either the naysayers are wrong, Apple pulls back and innovates (which would be the right strategic move) or they go forward and see what happens, knowing that they have good power under the hood that could be repurposed with new software. Remember, this is not their first foray into a new platform. The transition from the old Mac OS took awhile to get right (if you think they every did, or that you just don’t care about running Apple OS8 apps anymore). They had, as the video suggest, and opportunity to change the game, but they went well below that with their execution. The downside for the PC industry is that now the plethora of tablets coming out will create a new Wild West. That may be good and it may introduce a victor unseen in today’s landscape. The tablet format is sufficiently different that just tweaking an existing OS may not be the answer. The answer may lie in innovation and invention we haven’t see yet. So far no one stands on the strategic high ground. We’ll just have to shake off our disappointment and see what happens.

Jobs will likely find his Black Swan in a Hitler video. Like the end of Starship Troopers (the movie) the answer to the demise of the iPad may well not be the huge marketing might and R&D of Microsoft and HP, Lenovo and Acer, but a modest guy in a bedroom editing room putting subtitles over a Der Untergang clip.

Here is my evaluation of the features I said I wanted to hear about earlier:

	OS – evolutionary from wrong direction
	Multi-tasking - Nein
	Size – thicker than expected
	Weight – OK
	Multi-touch
	Storage – Limited – no expansion
	Graphics chip – nothing new
	Battery – OK
	Bluetooth support
	IP Telephony and Unified Comms
	Camera
	iPhone integration
	Improved App store (predicated on first item, e.g., high end apps delivered via clicks)
	UI
	WiFi File Sharing
	New App Platform
	Amazon Integration

= this symbol denotes neutral not negative

And if you haven’t seen the Hitler video yet…

4:25 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

January 27

Check out my new blog on strategy

I will continue to comment on a variety of items here, including the future of work and the forces that will shift that future, but I wanted to focus on strategy as well. Come visit http://danielwrasmus.wordpress.com/ to engage in a dialog about strategic planning, scenarios and how to effectively use them in your organization.

I look forward to the conversation.

10:27 AM GMT | Read comments(0)

January 26

The Apple Tablet – What I Hope to Hear Tomorrow

Apple is a very strategic company today. Most of that comes from the charismatic leader they have in Steve Jobs. It also comes from a board of professionals that apparently have encouraged the company not to over reach. A new platform for Apple is a big deal. They dominate in their niches, even in PCs, where they own the mindshare of the avant-garde of the computer industry that defines the edges of what is possible with technology in society.

So now I’ll put my geek on, and talk technical. Here is what I hope to hear tomorrow when the iTablet, TouchPro, MacPanel, iSlate, MacBook Slate, Mac Slate (or whatever) is announced.

An entirely new operating system, based on the kernel of MacOS but very similar in feel to the iPod touch. It will,however, need a pen-based input alternative, because as most iPod Touch and iPhone users will tell you, the touch experience is great, but one can loose productivity through its inaccuracies (wrong touches, multiple backspacing, especially in vertical mode). And multi-tasking. The OS must be able to do more than one thing at a time. I think this will be the most interesting aspect of the announcement. Microsoft’s choice was to expand the Windows platform, as it has since the pen-enabled version of Windows XP, to embrace pens, and now touch. But if you start with touch, as Microsoft has shown with Surface, you should fundamentally rethink the experience, and perhaps even the OS, to optimize for the new experience. Apple has the opportunity to be a strategic leader by breaking with the past and demonstrating innovation through a new OS that builds on current security and networking for instance, but opens up new “vistas” in its user experience.
No larger than 12 inches, preferably 10.1 or so. Netbook-sized, but only the screen.
Very very very thin and very very light.
Multi-touch – I know, given.
Real storage. Apple always skimps on memory and disk. It’s cheap, don’t, especially if you are planning on changing the multimedia game.
New graphics chips – low power, but high performance – first to use some new breakthrough that isn’t widely watched
Some kind of cool new battery technology that is thin and supports a minimum of 5 hours of use. 8 would be better, but seriously, who can’t plug in someplace within a 5 hour operating time that isn’t living in a blackout.
Full bluetooth stack support immediately. Tablets are great until you go to write the great American graphic novel, then you need a keyboard. Mice, headphones, controllers, also necessary. Of course, all the regular wireless stuff as well (802.11N and backward compatibility).
Full IP telephony support, perhaps a partnership with Skype. Don’t just go after the gaming market, redefine communications as well. Video and voice.
iPhone integration. Really really cool iPhone integration that makes the relationship seamless and the iPhone more than a device to synchronize. If they do it right, the iPhone becomes an important portable peripheral, including an input device, that when docked, doesn’t just sit there and pump data back and forth, but can act as a extra screen, and input device, a previewer of sites that eventually become favorites (so Safari would synch too). Integration done of WiFi not bluetooth (bluetooth network OK, pairing not)
New AppStore model that includes all kinds of apps, like Quicken and Office, along with content. The rumored integration with Amazon would be a good strategic move for both, especially if this device is the heir apparent to the nascent eBook market. My bet is a good, reasonable priced tablet becomes the precursor to the demise of the eBook market because people don’t want to carry anything that big around with everything else they need. I’m betting on convergence, vs. divergence.
Floating UI – Nothing fixed in place. All UI elements can be moved around or hidden.
Software integration with Windows through QuickTime/iTunes so media of all types streams to other platforms through a non-OS layer. All of this and Windows compatible file sharing.
A new application development environment with real openness, something like Ruby, including the concept of scalable applications across the phone and the tablet.

Well, if I don’t stop typing they will announce before I get these out. Let’s see what tomorrow holds.

1:52 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

January 17

ABC News Future of Work Series on YouTube

Daniel W. Rasmus

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