They claim that what they have done is to benefit you the consumer, but in reality that may be very different.

At issue is that there is no opt out mechanism, lets say that your out enjoying a nice morning drive on Saturday morning and you get a text message, you have to pull over to read it because its illegal to text and drive right…

Well you get stopped in a hopefully crime free area, and you look at the text and it says Tony the Tailor has a buy one get one Suit special today, and by the way your cell phone provider just charged you .25 cents for this text have a nice day.

Well your sitting there thinking what the heck is going on here, when your girl friend, remembers that you searched for a Tux for a wedding two months ago, (girlfriends are good at that remembering thing aren’t they) Well back to reality, hopefully you are in a safe area and a guy with a black ski mask is not standing at your car door with a gun.

That is just one way this thing could get out of hand and there are tons of other ways that could cause a Constitutional crisis.

Will competing products edge the ipad out of the market place because apples refusal to provide access to the Bluetooth stack?

Blue tooth functionality is becoming more and more popular…

Apple may be on the edge of serious competition for its ipad product.

Update, guess what, there are so many pads on the market that the value of the pad, has gone way down hill yet, still Apple has not adjusted to this new market.

 android…

When will they learn that the market is not the same as it was back in 1999…

Will apple, change its ways or will they continue to disrupt access to hardware that is not owned by them?

What they are doing, is something that is a real problem, allegedly Apple is attempting to apply the same restrictions they apply to software, which is ok I guess, but with hardware, you the consumer are the owner, now Apple, eventually there has to be a stop to this garbage.

Apple allegedly blocks access to the bluetooth stack preventing use by disabled individuals.

For many disabled individuals who are hearing impaired as well as disabled in other ways, the ability to use a bluetooth connected device on the ipad would greatly improve the lives of those individuals, however, allegedly Apple does not allow connections to certain devices that would create a great deal of happiness in the lives of many people who are disabled.

For many disabled people the ability to use speech to text software would be of a tremendous value to them however allegedly apple is not allowing them to connect these devices to the ipad even though the capability allegedly is there already.

Additionally the use of a microphone/headset capable of enhancing hearing is also something to consider.

For many people the idea that they cannot use the hardware that they buy to do the things they want to do is just not a very nice thing to do, we hope that Apple will see the light on this issue and do the right thing.

Do people really care much about

QR codes at all?

In a recent spat of products from wordpress plugins to other mobile media
developing products, the QR code generator is touted to be a huge method
of reaching people, in offline business.

But is it really all that or is it just another slick method of selling you
something you really dont, need?

QR codes are they the next big deal in mobile marketing.

How the changing market could cause mobile attrition.

 

Mobile marketing can be classified into two types based on the technology involved.

The more traditional form involves marketing on the move like moving billboards and road shows. The second type refers to marketing on a mobile phone like cell phone. Since the onset of millennium, mobile marketing though cell phone has become very popular. Short message service popularly known as SMS has made marketing by this method a lot easier.

There were some problems in the beginning as unwanted information was being sent to the people. Most of the SMS that were passed around was spam and it received negative media response in all parts of the world. This was because a sector of the advertisers bought list of mobile users and began sending them unsolicited messages. They were later stopped due to strict security measures and laws passed. Marketing industry recognized the potential of mobile marketing and utilized it to the full extent. The mobile service providers coded guidelines and laws. It then became a legal advertising channel. The Mobile Marketing Association and Interactive Advertising Bureau also have laid down guidelines for the proper functioning of mobile marketing.

Mobile marketing has become popular in Asia and Europe as it is a novel idea and in Europe alone hundreds of millions of pounds have been investing in SMS advertising. Now SMS has become the most famous part of mobile marketing. Because of the popularity of short codes, SMSing has become a lot easier. This has created a new approach to reach out to potential customers. Now mobile short codes are looked upon as mobile domain name, by many of the brands around the world, when the customers message the brand at any occasion.

In America, the first SMS short code campaign was started in 2002. SMS containing short codes are easier to send a message with complete information. Short codes are usually numbers that are assigned to mobile operators of a particular location, which they use for brand campaigning and other purposes. They are very small, like they contain only four to five words. These numbers are always under scrutiny by the service provider and each and every message is monitored to see that they do not go against the original service description.

Like opt-in emails, customers have to opt for SMSes. This is the biggest criterion, which the advertiser has to follow in order to send a promotional SMS. Some of the mobile operators ask for double opt-in form from the receiver. At the same time opting out is made easy for the customer. When the customer wishes to terminate receiving messages, they have to send STOP word by SMS. All these guidelines have been laid by the Mobile Marketing Association consumer best practice guidelines and it’s a compulsion to follow those by all the marketers who wish to do mobile marketing in America.

Now, service providers have started to provide the option of sending SMS to email addresses. Other than this, other services provided are mobile games, mobile tones etc., which are used for promotional purposes. This has lead to the invention of MMS or Multi-media Message Service, through which short promotional videos and animations can be send. Bluetooth is another good technology. It started in 2003, and many companies in Europe have found it useful. When a message is send via Bluetooth, the receiver should accept request from the sender. So, sending messages by this method is legitimate. The message transfer speed is high and is also a free service as it is a radio-based technology.

The method of sending SMS advertisement to mobile phone users based on their geographical location is known as Location based service. The customer is tracked via a GPS chip which is built-in the phone. Radio location signals from the nearest cell phone towers are used for this purpose.

Mobile marketing follows a very safe marketing strategy, as it is customer opted. The short message sent through this method is known as mobile originated or MO message. If the advertisement is done through a call, the call is known as mobile terminated or MT message. As there is a phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users, this kind of marketing is a sure hit.

In fact it can do just about anything you need it to do…

The King of content is what?  Video?  iBooks?  PDF, what then?

What can be the most important thing in producing content?

That would be original content, not recycled not rewritten, but real quality content.

Content is not just about words, it is about quality it is about what we can do with what we have.

Finding a good way to manage your content is just one method, of managing your content, but in reality, you really need to do many things, to get and create more content.  Good content is all about how that content relates to your website and your product.

Membership content is all about providing additional value.

The other day I was at Walmart and I noticed something that was a little surprising, everyone was texting, texting here texting there, texting everywhere.

So is it really, the trend of the future.

In fact, there were people trying to drive their buggies around and almost running into other people, mostly because they were not paying attention to what they were doing, they were in some cases stopped in the middle of the isle and people on both sides of them were waiting to get by, finally someone had to say excuse me but you need to move out of the way, they looked up as if in a daze and was embarrassed, (as they should have been) and moved out of the way, but can you imagine trying to drive down the road, wow is all I can say.

These days just about everyone is busy texting, even while they should be driving down the road.

Getting your media act together, what you can do to ensure your success in marketing for mobile media.

There are discussions going on right now among developers about the mobile revolution, in fact it appears at least for now that mobile communications, are in fact more prevalent, than its stationary counterpart.

So with that piece of info in mind…

What will the next big thing be?

Will it be html5?  probably not.

Is this the next generation of the media, will people get their news from mobile sources rather than stationary sources like the TV, are we looking at a brave new world?

What is the number one, most used media form for mobile media?  is is Video? or is it Audio?

You might be surprised to learn that it is in fact, Audio…

Video and Audio for the on the go crowd, is very popular, but what does  this mean to you?

Mobile content, is it the hottest new trend?

Some say yes and they are working hard to get content that is both fresh and friendly to as many devices as possible.

The iPad is one of the fastest growing user groups in history, with a rumored, 3.9 million sold and counting, the number of iPad users is growing faster than they can make them.

In fact, there is an entire industry dedicated to breaking into these devices, mostly I think to thwart, Steve Jobs, because of all the really great apps that have not been approved.

Because of one thing or another, sometimes it is because of political reasons.

Other times it is for some other reason, which no one knows, so in reality the apple Steve jobs thing is just sort of back fired on little Steve, I say little because he is acting like a child.

And his company will pay the price, so who will develop the next great device that is not tied down by jobs over reaching and perhaps even illegal activity to censor developers.

You have to wonder, there are some great apps out there, but many of them are not approved by apple so if you want a good app in the future you may not be looking at the app store at all you might be looking at breaking or jailbreaking your device.

Many say that nearly 50 percent have already done it, and more plan on doing it, but it really creates the question why do it, at all?

Well for one thing, Apple is not allowing very many apps to be approved, and the changes that they have made are not popular, banning flash, banning all other languages, except obj c, banning any api that is not apple approved, banning this, banning that…

The result is that you have a banned iPad.

So if you really want to see what is going on in the real world, dont look for apps in the app store because there are few that are actually developed for the iPad.

I know they say that there are thousands, but that is not true allegedly there are fewer than 2500.

Why is that? Well for one thing, many thousands of developers have quit Apple, after the over reaching and perhaps even allegedly illegal, terms and conditions of development, many thousands of developers have the feeling that they have been insulted and beaten by Apple the big bully on the block.

All because of an Adobe and Apple war, in fact one such group called, RunRev.com was damaged so badly that they may not survive.

Because they put their faith in Apple, and they lost millions of dollars, they lost.

So, perhaps they are selling lots of iPads, but if you want the really best apps, you may have to go somewhere else to get them.

Today I tried to advertise on the Microsoft advertising network, having had an account for years, it is interesting that now using a MAC I cannot connect to the MAA, center, because of a software glitch, odd, that they have some kind of alleged, 32 bit requirement, when I tried to use a 64 bit browser, I could not get it to work, Safari, wont work, Google Crome wont work, so why is this, and more importantly when a business allows their ego to get in the way of their business ethics, (allegedly) how can they ever expect to win?

The war continues, questions arise about who will eventually win.

The traditional War, between Apple and Windoze, has been a long and frightfully fought battle and it is not over by any means, however, Apple has moved upward in this clash of the Titans, with innovative products that seem to work better than the Microsoft alternatives, Apple has steadily moved ahead in this race, however, if they are not careful there could be sarpents in the future if Apple is not careful in its treatment of developers and consumers alike.

Apple has gained a lot of ground not because of new technology but because of technology that is steady, it works, and they are always trying to make it better, is it perfect? Well of course not, but it is something that you can rely on.

In the mobile market Apple just has an edge both in technology and in service.

The products they produce just work and that is something that you just cannot say for the competition.

Competition is a good thing, it brings new products to the market and it also allows diversification to deliver new technology.

While we did not always see eye to eye on some of the things that Apple did over the years, Steve was certainly a visionary, and you cannot deny his success.

Because of the grey I thought he was a much older man, but that just shows that you can accomplish great things in a short period of time.

Is it really all about the math?

The future of computing technology may well be all about math and how it works for the future of computing.

Intel has reportedly made an admission that it has found a design problem in one or more of its products.

Will it effect you? or will it effect a product that you already own?

The cost to Intel is expected to be about one billion dollars, $1bn in negative revenue and the cost to make repairs.

Now I do not know about you but if I pay good money for a product that is priced at a level that is considered expensive, then I expect to have what I paid for not a repaired product, which allegedly some will be offering, since no one knows for sure how much this may or may not effect, the market and or products already in the market place, no one knows for sure how this will work out, but it is good to see a company for a change accepting responsibility for its problems.

How many times have you called into get technical support for a problem you as a consumer face, such as slow internet connections, or other internet connectivity issues, is it not always someone else that is to blame?

In a recent issue I called in and communicated that I located a distribution issue, the technical support, (person) (if you can call them that) replied with a it must be a problem with your computer, (brand new computer, sorry that is not the problem)

Well then it must be a problem with some other vendor, I will submit a ticket.

Ok, is that accurate, ( because I want to know) I ask, Do you ever find that a technical issue is your fault, or your problem?

Silence…

” I say are you still there ”

Silence…

Sir, ?

“Oh, yes, sorry, I was just looking up our network to make sure there are no issues on our end.”

Naturally I want to know how this technical service person determined that it was the cause of the problem was not his problem?

“Our distribution is solid there is nothing that can go wrong with our distribution”

I have to ask, so why did you check if there can never be a problem with your distribution?

“I am trying to help you sir”

But, if there is never a case where the problem is a problem that is your companies fault, then can you tell me what your purpose is?

“Excuse me”

I am asking you that if, there is never going to be a time and place where your company is at fault, then what reason is there to ever call your company for support?

“Sir I have submitted a ticket to the Provider and we are doing all we can”

I see, ok then I am going to say that there will never be a case where your company is responsible for its delivery of service.

Over the years, I have seen many issues and many different times, where the company that provides services are either unwilling or directed to not accept any responsibility for its product or services.

I think that is significant to see a company actually admit that there is a problem, and then fix it.