Backwards vs Forwards

The launch of the App Store helped cement the success of Apple’s iPhone. So much so that other phone makers have since introduced their own variations of it.

Today I learnt that when Microsoft introduce their latest Windows Phone operating system later this year it will not be compatible with any of the apps they currently have available.

Is it just me or is that a seriously dumb move?

Apparently Microsoft are not that keen on backwards compatibility. Or as Microsoft’s Charlie Kindel puts it, “For us the cost of going from good to great is a clean break from the past.”

Which is all good and well but what about all those people who don’t want to upgrade their phone this year?

And what about all those people who have invested in a number of apps already. How will they feel about having to buy new versions of what they already have?

Windows has its loyalists. And many people are still hesitant to switch to Apple. But surely a move like this is going to encourage people to move away from Microsoft?

Wisdom of Steve

Did God approve this?

Stumbled across this less than classic ad today. Proof that even Apple was daggy when they were young.

Apple v Microsoft

Interesting comparison of the advertising of Apple and Microsoft.
Well worth five minutes of your time I think.

Experts unlimited

I first got involved with digital media around the time that Rupert Murdoch first spoke about the Information Superhighway.

As you can imagine a lot has changed since then. In fact a lot has changed since as recently as last year if truth be told.

It really is a great time to be in the advertising/comms business with a new possibility created almost every week.

Mobile apps are a great example.

The Apple App Store is only about 18 months old. Yet apps have become so commonplace that AdAge are now promoting app workshops.

I wonder if they ran television advertising workshops back in the day? Doubt it.

Which for me highlights one of the problems with the contemporary ad biz. Snake oil salesmen.

Internet Evangelists. Social Media Gurus. SEO Specialists. And now App Experts.

For every new technology or innovation there will always be people looking to make a fast buck.

Sadly it's not from the technology itself but from their self proclaimed proficiency with it.

iPod Macro

One of the problems with the iPod is that no sooner have you bought the latest model and it goes and gets superceded by an even better one.

No such problem for designer Paul Smith who was given this one off iPod Macro for his birthday by Apple's head of design Jonathan Ive.

Lucky bugger!

Shred those documents

Gotta get me one of these! Especially as it comes with its very own USB cable. Click here to find out more.

Another format dies

I remember when the iMac was first launched there was a lot made of the fact that it didn't have a drive for a floppy disk.

Industry pundits all proclaimed this a massive mistake. Of course it wasn't as the floppy is now long gone.

Same sort of fuss surrounded the launch of the Macbook Air which had no disc drive.

At the time Apple said it was to help keep the weight down and the profile slim.

Of course critics argued it was a major oversight.

Today comes news that Windows 7 may be sold on a USB stick.

This is apparently in response to the fact that most netbooks don't have a disc drive.

Which obviously means that once again where Apple go others follow.

And that the disk as a format may already be on its last legs.

It's obviously good

You need to squint to see it, but I reckon the headline on this ad is a great piece of copywriting.

But it's so bloody obvious you're probably thinking.

Well that my friends is what makes it so good.

An idea so obvious it's easy to dismiss it.

Sitting in the copywriter's bottom drawer are probably a dozen or more other headlines.

All of them perfectly good.

But none of them as simply perfect as One in a billion.

Skype on the iPhone

I'm not that big on talking on the phone so I've never bothered with Skype.

So many people I know rave about it but I hardly ever call people.

Anyway yesterday I heard that Skype was available for the iPhone.

I saw several tweets about it. So I downloaded it.

But what now?

A regular Skype user would probably know what to do with it but I'm a little unsure.

If I make local landline calls what do they cost and how do I pay for them?

Anyone?

Why think different?

Rumour has it the screenshot on the left is of a prototype Lenovo phone.

I reckon it's a fake to be honest. It's just too similar to the iPhone.

Then again, you never know. After all isn't imitation supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery?

60 minutes in 60 seconds

Like most of the audience, I sat bewildered during the presentation given by Bob Isherwood here in Melbourne yesterday.

He made a good point. And I've already quoted him 3 times today.

But as a presentation it really didn't work for me. That landmark ad for Apple by TBWA says in 60 seconds what it Bob took 60 minutes to say.

For the younger readers here's a recent remix.

Take that Apple

There is absolutely no way that Blackberry would ever run an ad like this. Which is a shame, because it is simple, interesting and very single minded. Props to Guava NYC who were the team behind it.