Unless you are selling talking beer openers or donuts, comparing your product to Homer Simpson defies conventional wisdom. When your product is a slow-selling car, your actions are certain to leave people saying, “D’oh!”
Yet, this is exactly what Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally did recently. He wasn’t subtle, in a public speech he projected an image of Homer over a picture of Ford’s Taurus sedan while being critical of the design and talking up future models as much better. We can be pretty sure that this will not rally sales of the Taurus over the coming months, so has Mulally gone mad or is he actually smart?
Tag Archives | mobile
2008 Trends Watch
It’s very risky to make predictions in the tech industry. If we knew for certain what the future would be, we’d all be retired and living on our stock investments.
Yahoo in 2008
It would be difficult to find a company that underwent more change in 2007 than Yahoo.
Lessons from Amazon Kindle for other tech companies
One of the toughest tasks in the technology industry is jump-starting sales of a platform — a product that requires a lot of third-party content or software. A PC without applications is a doorstop; an iPod without music is just a piece of jewelry. Platforms have a chicken and egg problem: Content won’t be produced [...]
The Man Behind Google’s Open Handset Alliance
If there’s one thing users want, it’s open use of the technology they buy. Hacked iPhones bear testimony to the desire for open cellphone use that is free of carrier restrictions.
Google’s November 5th announcement of their mobile phone software…
Taking web apps out of the browser: Does anybody care?
In late October the Mozilla Corporation announced Prism, the new version of its Webrunner technology that lets web applications run outside the browser. Mozilla positioned Prism as an open alternative to Adobe Air and Microsoft Silverlight, two other efforts to enrich web applications. Mozilla called Air and Silverlight “proprietary platforms” that seek to replace the Web. By contrast, Prism is supposed to be a “powerful and open platform” for innovation.
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
I’m seeing a proliferation today of headlines that indicate….
Anticipation …
Persistent rumors that Google is launching a mobile “platform” based on open business models could culminate tomorrow, November 4, 2007. Here’s the link “href=”http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20071103/tc_pcworld/139240″ I found. Bunches more online this afternoon so I have to believe that something BIG is going to be announced tomorrow. ONE big implication: we have now two amazing companies going [...]
Mobile Commerce, Really?
A colleague recently bent my ear regarding mobile commerce and how she can barely wait for some of the new services (like this one) to become available in her area. I love a good gadget as much as the next guy, but having lived through electronic wallets and many of the other “great ideas” on the front-side of the dot com boom, I’m a bit skeptical.
For those that are willing to learn, failures teach us more than successes, so this got me thinking about what the past can teach us about these new service offerings. I’m not talking about ringtones and wallpaper; I’m only talking about stuff you buy with your phone, not for your phone.
Software Platforms of the Future
A very important trend to watch in 2007 will be the ongoing efforts to separate the operating system from the platform (the APIs and user interface that an application interacts with).
Key players in this movement include Adobe’s Apollo and Microsoft WPF/E.