Product Management
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Christmas Gifts and the Meaning of Design
Gifts are a funny thing. A year ago, for Christmas 2012, my wife “gave” me an iPad mini. I use quotes because I actually bought it; supply was constrained, and when we got a notification that there were models in stock, I quickly dashed over to my local Apple Store1 and picked one up. It […]
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Misunderstood
Apple just posted their holiday iPhone commercial: This is what I’m talking about. It’s not about specs, it’s not about thinness, it’s about what those physical properties make possible for real people. Now please do the same for the iPad (which has always been harder to advertise). Previously: Whither Liberal Arts link The Magical iPad […]
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Promotion in the App Store
Two interesting articles last week, better together. First came TheInformation’s1 maiden piece about How Apple Gives Some Apps an Edge (subscription required): Being featured [in the App Store] can be a developer’s jackpot. Developers say that it could cost them between $100,000 and $300,000 in marketing to buy as many downloads as they receive from […]
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Amazon and the Benefits of Vision
In case you missed it – and how could you? – this happened: While professional skeptics have been skeptical, the sheer audaciousness – and frankly, awesomeness – of Amazon’s drone proposal has attracted a near unanimous outpouring of amazement and adulation, at least if my Twitter feed is to be believed. It truly is a […]
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Whose iPad Life?
My mom just emailed me. Normally, that would be unremarkable. She’s getting older, but isn’t that old, and surely an email isn’t that difficult of a task. This email, though, speaks volumes: Start with the subject. HK is Hong Kong. My parents are flying from Chicago to Taiwan to see their grandchildren, and while they’ve […]
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The Magical iPad
This is part three in a series on last week’s iPad event. Part 1: Whither Liberal Arts? | Part 2: The Missing “Why” of the iPad | Part 3: The Magical iPad In The Missing “Why” of the iPad I wrote: Yesterday’s presentation covered the “What” and “How” of the iPad, but it had nothing […]
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The Missing "Why" of the iPad
This is part two in a series on last week’s iPad event. Part 1: Whither Liberal Arts? | Part 2: The Missing “Why” of the iPad | Part 3: The Magical iPad Christina Warren took issue with my article, Whither Liberal Arts: To this I have just one response. It’s the best Apple commercial in […]
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Whither Liberal Arts?
This is part one in a series on last week’s iPad event. Part 1: Whither Liberal Arts? | Part 2: The Missing “Why” of the iPad | Part 3: The Magical iPad Steve Jobs closed the January, 2010 introduction of the iPad with this now famous slide: His remarks: The reason that Apple is able […]
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So the 5S is (allegedly) killing the 5C. Why is this bad news?
John Koetsier, writing at VetureBeat: Apple has the prototypical good-news, bad-news scenario on its hands, with soaring sales of its flagship iPhone 5S contrasting sharply with souring sales of its “for the colorful” iPhone 5C. “Our latest channel checks confirm that Apple indeed has cut back 5C production by 35 percent and increased 5S production […]
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Open Source Apps
I’m a bit late to the most recent flareup around app store pricing – it’s been a busy week of traveling – but it’s worth noting that the trend towards free is basically inevitable and the expected result in a functioning market. To put it another way, apps want to be free just like apples […]