sMoRTy71.com

How Apple should have announced the iPad
I have given Apple a lot of grief over the years. My main gripe is with their fans who think they can do no wrong. Or with the press who continues to call them the most innovative when, lately, they have been the most iterative (going from 8GB iPhones to 16GB iPhones, EDGE to 3G, etc.).

Regardless of which side of those debates you come down on, I think many can agree that Apple completely mis-marketed the iPad yesterday during the big press event. I know, I know, that's almost blasphemous. Even with all of my gripes, the one thing I have *always* given Apple credit for is how well they market their products. With the iPad, we see that even Apple makes mistakes.

So what's the problem? There were a couple of big ones for me.

1. The positioning
Jobs lead off the press event and tried to make the case that consumers are longing for a device that sits somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook that does e-mail, web browsing, photos, music, games and video better.

This leaves us all scratching our heads and asking, "If I have an iPhone and I have a MacBook Pro, why do I need an iPad?"

When you saw the iPhone, you recognized the innovation and the need it met instantly. It was the phone people had been waiting for. No one has been waiting for the iPad that Jobs gushed over yesterday.

2. The name
Because they were positioning this as a multi-purpose web device, they had to give it a generic name. Not only did they pick a generic name, they picked a name that was ridiculed around the world on Twitter for sounding like a feminine hygiene product. Ouch!

So how should they have done it?

The positioning
Whether they want to admit it or not, the iPad is taking aim at the e-reader market that is currently surging, thanks to the Amazon Kindle. Had Apple lead with the e-reader capabilities, they could have shown how primitive devices like the Kindle and nook really are.

I think it would have a clearer value proposition, gotten more positive buzz (the "Kindle killer!") and would allow the iPad to live along side iPhones and MacBooks.

The name
If they had positioned it to compete with the Kindle, they should have named it the "iRead" or "iReader." Those names work whether you are reading an e-book, a website, RSS or even e-mail (though that's a stretch).

They showed the same approach with iPhone. Sure, it is a phone, but the real innovation was in all of the other things the phone could now do (apps, true mobile web browsing, etc.).

They had the opportunity to do the same thing with the "iReader," but chose to announce a Swiss Army knife device with a generic name and no clear market. This is the biggest flop in terms of their marketing approach that I can remember.

What do you think? Is this a device that will find a niche once people get their hands on it? Would you shell out $500 for one when it launches?

An Apple tablet is still a tablet
The nerds of the world, myself included, are all worked up over Apple's big product announcement slated for tomorrow afternoon (1pm EST). The consensus opinion is that we will finally see the mythical Apple tablet. Speculation is all over the map, so expect something between an iPhone and the Holy Grail. And, depending on which end of that scale the tablet ends up, expect to spend accordingly.

So, taking a step back from all of the hype for second, am I the only one who has absolutely no desire to use a tablet? This isn't my usual, tongue-in-cheek, anti-Apple ramblings. Forget the manufacturer. I have absolutely no desire to adopt the tablet form factor.

Because of the size, text input seems like it will be trickier than it needs to be. You'll have 3 choices (unless Apple unveils some sort of iMind UI) that I can think of off the top of my head:

1. Using both thumbs while holding the tablet -- similar to how you use the iPhone keyboard in landscape mode now

2. One-handed hunting and pecking while holding the tablet in the other -- similar to how some people use the iPhone keyboard in portrait mode

3. Traditional typing approach using a virtual keyboard while resting the tablet on another object -- similar to how we use laptops today, but with some annoying limitations

Am I missing one? One that would make the tablet form factor more compelling or easier to use than an iPhone or netbook or laptop? I completely expect to see something I don't expect when it comes to the interface (remember, we all knew the iPhone was coming, but we still blown away by how they implemented the UI), but I still can't see myself falling for a tablet.

Of course, if they go the e-reader route and make this a content consumption device (which would require much less text input), then maybe my objections don't really matter. Then again, if this $800-1,000 device is all about taking on the nook or Kindle, then I am definitely out. I may be a nerd, but at least I'm not a book nerd :)

Guess we'll find out tomorrow. So what's your take? Excited?

I created one of the worst domain names of the decade!
Laurel Sutton, from brand name development company Catchword, posted an article on MarketingProfs.com today that included profilactic.com in a list of the 10 best and worst domain names of the decade. How awesome is that? I always say that is better to be really, really good or really, really bad than lost somewhere in the middle. Mission accomplished, profilactic.com! :)

We wanted a funny, memorable name for our site that aggregated all of your social media profiles and content (this was pre-FriendFeed). Seemed like a winner to us.

Nationwide unveils the Cartopia iPhone app
After many months of hard work, our mobile team at Nationwide has unveiled their latest app for iPhone and iPod touch. Cartopia is a car shopping app that gives you access to all of the information you need to make a purchase decision. This includes vehicle history reports, total cost of ownership, pricing information, vehicle safety and more.

After entering several cars you're considering, the app will rank them based on the criteria that you value most. It's very cool.

You can get more info on our Facebook page, our website or in iTunes. Would love to hear what you think of the app.



Cartopia is our second iPhone app this year. Our first, Nationwide Mobile, was just named to Ad Age's top ten list of branded apps for 2009.

My interview about Twitter in Columbus Monthly
It has been quite a week for the sMoRTy71 media juggernaut. First, the interview I did with Lindsey Miller about Yammer for Ragan.com was published on Monday. Now, the interview I did with Noah Blundo for Columbus Monthly's December 2009 issue is out in print.

Noah interviewed several people around town, including Christina Christian from the Mid-Ohio Food Bank and Debra Jasper and Betsy Hubbard from the Kiplinger Program for Public Affairs Journalism at The Ohio State University, to get a perspective on using Twitter as a business tool.

I shared what we've learned over the past 16 months of using Twitter for Nationwide.

The article isn't available online (and I haven't actually seen a paper copy of it). A colleague scanned it so that I could check it out. You can check out the B&W scanned copy here. If you have a physical copy of the magazine, you can find the story on pages 65 and 66.

While I'm not a big fan of having my photo taken, I am glad that they left my stuffed tribute to Sheldon J. Plankton in the shot :)

Talking Yammer with Ragan.com


I spoke with Lindsey Miller from Ragan.com last week. She was interesting in hearing about how we're using Yammer at Nationwide. Check out her article where she highlights 4 tips for getting started with Yammer.

I'm lovin' Pogoplug
Got my hands on a first-generation Pogoplug this week and wanted to share my first impressions.

First of all, if you're not familiar with Pogoplug, it is best described as a magical little box that allows you to share just about any USB hard drive over the internet. It does all of this for around $100.

Because I have way too many PCs and servers in my house with photos, video, music on them, I wanted to set up a common backup location for all of them while making all of that shared data available anywhere.

I'm using my Pogoplug to share my Drobo, which has 2TB of redundant storage, "in the cloud."

Set up was really simple. Plug the Pogoplug into a wall outlet (it looks like a big power adapter) then connect it via a USB cable to your hard drive and an ethernet cable to your router or switch. The final step is logging into the Pogoplug website to activate your device and create a web account to access your data through your browser.

Now, I can use a program like Sync Toy 2.1 from Microsoft to backup all my important files from each of my PCs to the Drobo over the network. Very handy.

It also allows me to stream music or other content to any internet-connected PC or mobile device (it has an app for iPhone). I've been using it all week to stream music to my laptop at the office.

One of my favorite features is being able to map the Pogoplug drive in Windows so you can just drag and drop files like you would with a local drive.

A second-generation Pogoplug has just been released. In addition to updating the look of the hardware, it will also add 3 more USB port so you can connect multiple USB hard drives. It retails for $129.