Sprint's Meet the Palm Pre Launch Campaign is Terrific

11 days and 7 hours remain until the much-anticipated Palm Pre launch... at least that's what Sprint's ad campaign has drilled in my head (again and again). The ads are running on sponsorships across major blogs, through Google AdSense, on Facebook & social media sites and now on TV. And hats off to Sprint - who I have criticized before for poor marketing and being out of touch with consumers.

Meet the Palm Pre campaign:

- the campaign is savvy and dynamic (including countdown timers, Twitter searches, media mentions, etc)

- the ad layouts (see now.sprint.com) give the appearance of desktop / mobile widgets... which is what makes the Palm Pre so appealing to consumers

- terrific utilization of social media - from YouTube, to Twitter to popular blogs (like Engadget and CNET)

- sharp, integrated ad units that connect with one another and the on-Sprint.com efforts

- the larger "This is Now" campaign, under which the Palm Pre campaign is nested, does a better job than RIM's efforts of conveying the aliveness of the network - and the handset's ability to play a role in managing your activities (from critical events like email and calendaring to social events like video and Twitter)

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Of course, it is also great that Sprint has an integrated widget campaign... although: - they do not use Widgetbox (!) and their homemade widget installer is clunky and unintuitive - before grabbing the widget, a user needs to agree to terms & conditions... bizarre and clearly not good for virality - users cannot grab the widget "in the wild" - they must visit Sprint, agree to terms and then take the embed code

iPhone Game Play Goes Retro; Gets Mixed Results

In late March, I wrote that the next step for iPhone game developers was to go 'backwards' by mimicking control pads found on old gaming systems like Nintendo NES and GameBoy:

Well the iPhone has really gone retro by releasing Sonic the Hedgehog with a two-button control pad. TechCrunch's Jason Kincaid isn't a fan: "I’m not a fan of the control scheme some developers are adopting to port these classic games, which typically consists of a virtual joypad in the bottom left hand corner of the screen with a few virtual buttons on the right side. Visually the buttons successully mimic the gamepads of yore, but they lack any tactile feedback at all, which gets frustrating when you’re trying to dodge bullets or leap from cliffs and you accidentally hit the wrong button."

Similar feedback was given in the comments from my earlier post. Commenters pointed out that some other games have virtual "d-pads" that have similar issues:

"It's already out there. Though having used these apps, this setup is still difficult to actually play with. There's no tactile feedback to the buttons, making playing very difficult."

If tactical feedback is the primary issue, perhaps the pad / buttons need to be more prominently displayed and provide more obvious visual feedback upon touch.

... Or you could always buy the new Sony PSP that featured a slide-out controller pad, carry yet another device in your pocket and purchase more expensive games. My bet - iPhone developers will figure it out and users will get accustomed to it.

iPhone Push Notifications Screenshot (aka The Mobile Stream)

MacRumors has screenshots of Apple's new iPhone Push Notifications (running through the new iPhone 3.0 software).

Think of it as the real-time feed (or stream) going mobile. Just as Facebook's feed opening sparked new innovation and successes, push will do the same. And also like Facebook, developers and applications will have to walk the fine line of too-much vs. too-little information (usually solved by customization / personalization):

Color, Unibody iPhones? Just Bring on the iPod Tablet!

Rumors of the new iPhone are making their way around the web (see Business Insider). They are good looking and would cause iPhone enthusiasts to wish they had them... but the color alone wouldn't cause people to upgrade: There is only one Apple rumor I care about (and I wrote about this in December): bring on the Apple Tablet.

Think about it:

Apple Tablet = Netbook + Amazon Kindle + App Store + iPod Touch

People are gobbling up netbooks for $400-$600 and the Amazon Kindle runs $359-$489... wouldn't a $500-$750 be a success? I would pre-order instantly.

Google iPhone App Version 0.3.1448

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Strangely, I read through all of the update announcements for my iPhone Apps. And I enjoy it.

Sometimes you learn about bugs - either common (slowness, crashing) or unique to that app. Sometimes you wonder who wrote the marketing blurbs (for instance, 'this version now comes with ads! Yes: ads!')

And then there is Google, who released version 0.3.1448 of the Google Mobile App yesterday. Included in their enhancements: - Speed improvements for voice search (thank you!) - British and Australian accents (great?) - Various bug fixes (very descriptive) - Longer version number (akin to still being in "beta") - Ninja (really?)

The NYT Erroneously Concludes iPhone Users Don't Do Work

The New York Times is claiming today that iPhone owners do not use their devices for work:

A new report from Compete surveying the behavior of 600 smartphone users found that 73 percent of iPhone owners used their mobile devices primarily for personal reasons, like entertainment. By comparison, 59 percent of owners with other types of smartphones — from manufacturers like HTC, Research in Motion and Nokia — primarily used their devices for business and work-related needs.

Step back a moment:

1. iPhone users obviously consume more content than non-iPhone users because no other mainstream device allows users to do so... or has the available library of content: 35,000 applications and high-speed internet browsing.

2. In contrast, Blackberry users likely use their devices for what they do best: email. You could argue, that outside of limited web-browsing, email and calendaring (or if they want to define that as "work") is all the Blackberry does.

3. iPhone users might use their phones for activities beyond just email and calendaring - but that is because they are able to. That doesn't mean that the iPhone is incapable of "work"; rather, it means that the iPhone is capable of much more than work utilities. Likewise, it doesn't mean that iPhone users do not use their device for work - it means that those utilities are one available usage.

1 Billion Apps - So Now What for iTunes' App Store?

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It's a staggering number: 1,000,000,000.

The iPhone App store launched in July of 2008 and grew faster than most anticipated - both inventory and adoption. The App Store's 25,000 apps will reach one-billion downloads sometime in the next 48 hours. That's an average of 40,000 downloads per app.

So what's next for Apple's App Store? The iPhone 3.0 OS that will launch this summer will create a new wave of applications and inspire a new series of innovations. But equally important, the App Store needs to change. It needs a total overhaul.

The App Store is overwhelmed by the flood of content - which is sorted in only three ways: - recency - popularity (which is somewhat of a black box) - featured content

The result is that users are left downloading already popular applications or sifting through new content (25 at a time). It is akin to buying music from either the Billboard Top 25 or being placed in front of a rack of everything else - sorted only by release date. Shouldn't my recent purchases play a role? Better yet, my reviews and defined preferences? How about my social graph and their selections?

Another great example is the difference between shopping on Amazon and on eBay / Craigslist. They both have seemingly unlimited inventory - but Amazon's shopping experience is efficient because it is based on recommendations and user history / data. Meanwhile, you have to sift through listings on eBay and Craigslist to find the right product, seller and price.

The other constraint is that the App Store is most conveniently accessed on the iPhone / iPod Touch - which makes search-based navigation even more cumbersome.

I think there are two clear solutions:

1. Integration into the Social Graph

Ideally, iTunes would integrate Facebook Connect. I want to know what apps my friends have downloaded and how they were rated (and it's in the developers' best interest to share that information). Furthermore, most applications are more engaging if connected to the social graph (whether socially or directly through Facebook Connect).

2. Premium App Store

I believe editorial can and should play a role. Whether it's featured content or paid placements (a revenue opportunity for iTunes) - there is an opportunity to expand on what they already do for music (Editor's Picks, lists, etc). A pay-for-placement (or performance) marketplace could arise as well.

13 iPhone Apps I Want Developed (Google, ESPN, FriendFeed)

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1. GMail The improved Gmail iPhone site is just that: improved. But a true GMail iPhone App would allow fuller cusotmizations, run faster, better integrate calendars and contacts... and soon utilize the new push notification systems of iPhone 3.0.

2. Google Reader / RSS I use my iPhone as much for email as I do for content consumption. A Google Reader App would instantly be my starting point for iPhone-based web browsing. It would also increase my activity on Reader - particularly the social aspects (sharing, commenting, etc).

3. AdWords / AdSense Ever been without a computer and needed data associated with AdWords or AdSense? Happens to me all the time... Better yet, the ability to lightly manage campaigns (particularly with AdWords).

4. Facebook Connect + iTunes & App Store This is a pipe dream, but I would love an Apple built app that, via Facebook Connect, created personalized histories and storefronts for iTunes and the App Store. I find both stores increasingly unusable due to the overwhelming inventory... Facebook Connect is the solution.

5. ESPN Fantasy Is there a better use case for an iPhone App? Fantasy sports require on-demand knowledge and management. Fantasy sports players would never put their iPhone down again. 6. FriendFeed Perhaps this would be solved for me by a Google Reader App... but FriendFeed would provide more social functionality and would certainly make me a more loyal, active user.

7. Techmeme I visit Techmeme daily. It is particularly difficult to navigate on the iPhone. A simple iPhone App would make the on-Techmeme / off-Techmeme navigation more efficient. It would also allow for history and search functionality.

8. Starbucks I drink a lot of coffee and use a lot of Starbucks' free wifi. Some sort of location finding application that provided coupons and incentives would be very appetizing.

9. MLB.TV MLB.tv is my favorite product of 2009: amazing HD streaming quality with every conceivable feature request (fantasy tracking, four-game split screens, DVR controls, etc). I would pay an additional $10-$20 to get the streaming on my iPhone (when 3.0 arrives).

10. Google Analytics Makes total sense. All I need is basic statistics.

11. Aardvark I love Aardvark... but my most frequent use-case is when I am away from my computer. With an iPhone App, I would use Aardvark far more routinely and it would be my Q&A service of choice (perhaps replacing Yelp and others on mobile).

12. Wordpress.org To the best of my knowledge, there is not an equivalent of the great Wordpress.com iPhone App for blogs running Wordpress.org... if there is, please let me know. If there isn't, please build it.

13. USPS Tracking The FedEx App is terrific and solves a big need - and with 3.0 it will be even better. I would love the same for USPS (but certainly do not expect this to be built!).

Rich Media Advertising Comes to iPhone

We have seen the iPhone provided rich advertising experiences on branded sites like Yahoo and ESPN... but this is unique:

Mobile advertising agency Medialets has created ads utilizing the iPhone's accelerometer and audio capabilities. The below interactive ad is a full take over on the iPhone (shown in SGN's iBowl game). When a user shakes the iPhone, the Dockers model break dances accordingly.

Here's the simplest way to think of campaigns like this: A. The consumer enjoys the ad and interacts with it... often repeatedly B. The advertiser wins because the consumer is proactive and motivated to share C. The publisher wins because A+B = far greater CPMs (supposedly 10x here) If advertisers can effectively and meaningfully engage consumers (the A in this equation), B and C fall into place. That is why I firmly believe that the most valuable ads will also be the most engaging and/or relevant... and that targeting and interaction are critical:

Other formats and ad actions from Medialets:

Available Ad Formats Chiclet - Clickable content that can be stylized to fit app by app developer Icon - Icon which can be manipulated to fit app display. Clickable Banner - Fixed size clickable content Text - Clickable text Overlays - Translucent popup that supports image, text, video, full button, or combination Interstitial - Full screen ad shown between pages of an app Branded Experiences - Custom built applications to your specifications. You’re only limited by the capabilities of the device. Splash Screen Placement - Full screen ad shown before app home screen Home Screen Placement - Full screen ad on home screen that scales down to a banner, chiclet or logo. Custom Brand Placement - We’ll work with you to create a unique brand placement that caters to your needs and imagination.

Available Ad Actions Click to Call Click to Full Screen Video Click to Overlay Video Click to Video In Ad Video As Ad Video Text Overlay Video Graphic Overlay Video Button Overlay Click to Embedded Web Page (Online) Click to Embedded Web Page (Offline) Click to Online Web Page Click to Offline Microsite Click to GeoLocate Click to Email Click to App Store Click to iTunes Library Content Click to iTunes Store (Audio & Video) Click to Lead Capture (Online) Click to Lead Capture (Offline) Click to Share