kevrichard blog

In the News — No comments
05
Oct 11

Why the iPhone 4S Was Not For The Early Adopters

Its now been a few hours after the much anticipated iPhone announcement. The upcoming iPhone 4S has been announced and the general sentiment I’m seeing from those with a vested interest in Apple (ie: Investors) and those who are fans of the brand (early adopters,iPhone users) is of general disappointment. No there aren’t any huge innovations. No the iPhone hasn’t been completely redesigned. Without a shiny object they all can swoon over of course they are disappointed. For Apple at this moment though that’s not really important. This launch wasn’t a showing of Apple’s latest and greatest. Simply put this launch was designed for everyone else!

Keeping Up With Competitors:

Apple is smart in realizing that the market is making a small shift. Previously phones with single core processors were good enough but soon that won’t be the case. With competitors like LG and Samsung bringing out phones with Dual core processors, consumers consumers will see two things when they buy a new phone over the next year: phones with 2 cores and phones with only 1.

As a tech company, Apple needs to have this upgrade because when they are being compared to other high spec’d phones they definitely don’t want to be seen as one of the firms in the second column with only one core. What could it mean for Apple if they did? This would be seen as a slow weakening of the brand. For a company that has built a brand on being innovative to be seen as falling behind is a big deal and in this sense the iPhone 4S ensures that Apple in the short term is able to keep up with ‘the Joneses’.

Getting the rest of Consumers On Board:

In selling phones Apple is also unique against its competitors that it sells just one brand. For a company in Apples standing only to have one phone means that the market it can target is very limited. Much like the release of the iPhone 3GS sold along side the iPhone 3, the addition of the iPhone 4S opens up a new product line for Apple which allows them to sell to different segments (along the lines of the “Technology Adoption Lifecycle‘).

Looking at this cycle its easy to see that Apple’s early adopters are already very settled into the iPhone 4 product line (as well as into multi-year contracts) and aren’t very likely to buy anything just yet. What the iPhone 4 will do is grab tech consumers who need a phone now and are neutral to what phone they get as long as its the latest technology. They will see that Dual Core is the latest and greatest and in their research Apple hopes that these consumers will go its way.

Moving back down to the iPhone 4 this is a phone for those who are more so in the middle ground and would probably be considered the Early or Late Majority. In their eyes they know that the iPhone is a solid product but they are a bit more sensitive to price and not as sensitive to technical specs. They like that they can get the iPhone 4 at a cheaper price and are willing to give up that its only about a half generation off of what the latest model is.

Last but not least is the iPhone 3GS which is the bottom of the barrel phone. Not to be mistaken as a bad phone, this phone is now considered aging and is primely targeted at the Late Majority and Laggards who don’t care for the latest and greatest technology but are more so price sensitive and will see having an Apple Phone as an added bonus to a purchase they make more so out of necessity.

Early Adopters and Apple Fans Will Have Their Turn:

As disappointed Apple Fans and early adopters are that they don’t have a new shiny product they can swoon over, I think its safe to assume that come early 2012 (if not sooner) Apple will have some new product announcements to make. Of course its key that for Apple to stay relevant they need to be constantly innovating and giving customers an opportunity to invest in its brand. Looking outside of this though something just as important for Apple to grasp onto is an expanded market share. By expanding its product reach along all lines of technology consumers they ensure that a larger audience has its hands on their products and supply them with the incremental cash flow they need over the longer term.

Social Media — No comments
24
Sep 11

Is Sharing the New ‘Like’ on Facebook?

Getting users to ‘like’ their content has been a strategy of many Facebook fan page owners in recent weeks because it quickly amasses simple engagements and creates awareness of the page. But with users given better ability to curate the content on their news feed and profiles, being able to focus more so on app and ‘life period’ content, this mode of user engagement may not be as useful moving forward.

Engagement above the fold:

With the new OpenGraph optimized news feed, a separation has been made between content more useful to the user which is the first thing they see along with everything else further down the page. As this feature allows us to grab just quick information on the go we are less likely to scroll down the page and view everything else. This includes that post to ‘like’ carrots from the food fan page you liked a few weeks ago!

Can you ‘share’ this?

Without the full changes to Facebook completely implemented it’s hard to make an exact prediction to how corporate content will operate (sponsored posts anyone?) but with demos from the recent F8 and some functionality already in place some predictions can be made.

Prediction ONE: Posts of major announcements and big campaigns will reach higher on the news feed. Why? Much like with Twitter, people want to be the first ones to share breaking news and content with their friends. As a result this may lead to multiple content shares (increasing volume relevancy) and friend discussion on the topic ultimately driving this content higher up the news feed.

Prediction TWO: Branded apps will become a stronger way to engage with fans. Why? The creation of brand relevant apps where users can either create content or where users are encouraged to return to on a regular basis is something that will either build the opportunity for a news feed impression (ex: creating a Spotify playlist) or because of usability reasons will create constant brand exposures as a result of using the app. With the new Timeline taking more of focus on life activities instead of user engagements apps are a way for users to become more active with a brand and integrate it into their online ’life file’.

Is it Time to Rethink Brands on Facebook?

All in all Facebook made some big changes to how the site will operate. Without looking into the future too much I think it’s going to be interesting to see how brands will need to adapt to continue to stay relevant online with consumers. I don’t think it’s going to be as simple anymore as just putting out rounds and rounds of content for users to ‘like’ and comment on. I feel brands will need to create deeper relevance to continue to drive their messaging to consumers.

Technology — 2 comments
25
Jul 11

Can We Use Measurement For Self Improvement?

Recently I read The Measured Life which took a look at group of people who call themselves “The Quantified Self” who track and measure many of the different actions in their daily lives. Reading this article fit well with some initial thoughts I had about what could potentially be done in self-measurement and reminded me of my recent (failed) attempt at a personal measurement dashboard. Measuring what we do and our personal growth isn’t something that has been fully explored yet but is something that potentially could play a stronger role in our lives in the years to come.

Data Everywhere!

In our lives we create a lot of collectable data. Thinking about our external data sources there are data trails such as your banking records, what you purchase, how much you travel as well as usage data from a variety of electronics and apps you use daily. Additionally for yourself personally there are things such as how you sleep, your mood , general health and physical activity levels that can all be measured in one way or another. Could bringing all this data together potentially give us a much deeper view into how we live our lives and give us a way to better optimize it?

Why Could This Data Be Useful?

The big advantage of any financial tracking application (example: Mint) is that you see where your money goes which makes you much better equipped to spend your money more wisely. Additionally knowing your purchase or usage habits lets you know what you should buy or replace on a more effective basis.

Could we all eventually have our own personal dashboard? Picture c/o Bill Rice

Use cases for measuring our lives could be things such as receiving an auto reminder when your car or other devices should be serviced or seeing how often you purchase a particular item so you know the next time you should pick it up. In terms of tracking your life data it could potentially be used in improving your health, gauging your personal satisfaction as well as let you weigh out potential decisions and opportunities.

But What About Fate?

Taking an opposing stance it could also be argued that knowing everything about ourselves could remove the serendipitous or by chance occurrences in life and limit us to our own predetermined paths. Could we be taking out some of the exciting aspects of life by putting a number towards our achievements and actions? I think this type of issue would come down to whether a person lets their life measures rule them or if they simply use them as a resource to make generally better decisions.

What’s Coming Next?

If I had a crystal ball I would say that opportunities for personal measurement are going to pop up more frequently in the coming years. With the popularity of tools such as Klout ,web applications like motivational app Epic Win as well as real life activity tracking tools like Nike + I think there is a strong desire for people to be able to quantify their actions so they can make a better judgments of their accomplishments as well as compare themselves against others. With some creativity and good use of technology I think we could have some interesting applications to use in the years ahead.

What are your thoughts? Should we be measuring ourselves? How do you measure yourself already?

Technology — 2 comments
29
Jun 11

AMD moves beyond speed with new APU processors:

Computer processing speeds are becoming a less important factor in computing. With our increasing dependency on web based applications and the introduction of multi-core processing, having more speed is nice but on average probably isn’t fully utilized by consumers. Yesterday I attended the Canadian launch event for AMD’s new Fusion APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) chip which directly acknowledges this trend by instead taking stab at a better graphics experience with an integrated graphics core.

Previously if you wanted solid graphics for your computer or laptop you would need to ante up some additional money for a dedicated or what’s also known as a discrete graphics card. While current processors often contain integrated graphics it would share memory resources with the processor making it much less effective. Through AMD’s APU which has an integrated processor and dedicated graphics chip all in one this situation is changed. Requiring less components and having a smaller profile allows for the creation of a (potentially) more effective machine.

Getting a view of what this technology is already capable of through AMD’s APU line I feel there is room for additional potential, the potential of things getting even smaller. Currently netbooks and tablets are underserviced when it comes to graphics capability and end up doing just basic tasks. With the opportunity of putting in a smaller APU chip, these devices can have further capabilities. While at the launch I was able to see netbooks and tablets with this new integrated chip (being able to game on a netbook rawk!), going furtherI can definitely see the potential for even smaller devices. My thinking was, what if this chip could be adapted for today’s smartphones and visual display devices? How much better could our graphical experiences be?

With computing the way it is currently you can only get so far by focusing on creating simply a faster chip. While in the past I may have overlooked AMD, I definitely feel that it’s great that they are thinking beyond focusing on chip speed and are considering instead how they can make the experience better. A big sales push for this line of APU chips will be occurring this summer and into the fall. We’ll have to see how this new product performs against its rivals.

As always feel free to contact me at either @kevrichard on twitter or kevin@kevrichard.com

Marketing — No comments
26
May 11

Facebook May Own Your Social Graph But Google Is Going For Your Wallet!

Announced today in a joint press conference with Citi, Mastercard, First Data and Sprint was the launch of Google Wallet a Near Field communication (NFC) payment system which is about to be test launched in New York City and San Francisco. This mobile application and hardware will allow consumers to use their mobile phones as a payment device (tapping it on a PIN reader) as well as potentially use it to hold their loyalty cards and product coupons which they can immediately redeem in store.

Its all about the data…

Why would Google want to get into the mobile payment industry? Think about the purchases you make on a daily basis and what they say about you. By compiling a list of a person’s purchases you can tell their geography (where they live and hang out), approximate their demographic and financial data and get a deeper look at their spending habits (what stores do they frequent, what sort of products do they buy etc). Like any other initiative that Google does they will be using your data to target advertisements in the form of offers and loyalty programs.

Further implications:

Without knowing the governance of this type of consumer data (and not knowing Google’s future plans) through the help of Google, companies could potentially have a wealth of data at their fingertips as a result of this initiative. First through the use of loyalty programs companies can link offline user accounts to their online accounts and compare their purchases. This could help them see the recency and frequency of purchases ( good ol’ RFM) but also see how consumer behaviour differs between the two outlets. By having this data they can make a wide variety of changes to what consumers experience either in store or online.

Again if privacy regulations allow it, companies can also get a better view of their customers and the general public on a more macro view. Having access to this wealth of purchase data companies can see what segments of customers are purchasing their products, what other products they are likely to buy and in some instances get a better sense of the purchase cycle. In terms of a supply chain view companies could also see at what times in the year consumers are more likely to purchase products and as a result they could work harder to move customers into their stores at these peak times.

Looking at this from a marketing and CRM point of view this development from Google has a lot of potential for companies to better reach customers and optimize efforts. On the consumer side of things it could get a little scary. Essentially through the use of this app you could potentially be giving away all of your purchase data for Google to sell to companies.In the past this hasn’t gone that well in the realm of public opinion ( remember Facebook beacon?). With more companies looking to move into the mobile advertising and payment field this will definitely be a development to watch for as to whether it works for the better or worse.

Communications / General Business — 1 comment
20
Mar 11

The Secret Code is….Hidden Promotions

When the word ‘promotion’ comes up in the context of retail stores, large signs or banners describing a firm’s next big deal comes to mind. “Get some gear! 40% of everything” or ” 2 for 1 on all merchandise” and the list goes on. When you go to the mall or shop online you’re often inundated with different sales and offers. So much so that it sometimes seems like some stores are having sales every day. These kind of promotions are aimed to get the most attention and hopefully drive the most traffic and as a result need to be as obvious as possible. But what if retail promotions were more covert? Instead of being open to everyone it becomes something that is found or stumbled upon?

At some restaurants you can find a ‘secret menu‘ where there are items that they don’t advertise but if you’re in the know will make for you anyways. Its a bit like a secret club where customers get something that publicly no body knows about and as a practice is something that ( to my knowledge) hasn’t been really explored in retail as much.

Recently I came across an unadvertised discount from the GAP that spurred my interest in secret promotions. Its since been taken down from this marginally legit sounding page. I had come across this link on a Reddit sub forum from someone who had came across it somewhere else. It asked for my cell number and in exchange sent me a discount code to be used at checkout. With some hesitance I tried it out as the site didn’t seem to have much relation to the GAP other than having its logo. Had I not trusted my source for the link I would have passed on it thinking it was a phishing attempt. It did end up working even though not even the employees had much of a clue about it having just come across it once before.

How is a promotion like this useful? Well in my case it gave me a feeling of exclusiveness (mouhaha! I’m one of the few!) and it brought me into a store I don’t often place at the top of my shopping list. With this promotion being so out of the ordinary it encouraged me to research further and with no promotion time span given it placed pressure on me to use this sooner rather than later.

Looking beyond myself as the customer, I estimate the benefits of this approach would be even further expanded when an influencer or content creator comes across this type of content. By seeing this ‘hidden’ content they have the ability to share and build further credibility with their audience. As a result I would presume a two fold result: this person would have a greater affinity for the company (Hey this company had awesome content that I could share with my following. I like them!) and there would be the seeding of this content to this person’s trusting followers who will be more likely to go through with a purchase.

So…. how is this type of promotion or even campaign implemented? That’s probably the harder part. Does the firm put up a site and just wait for people to come across it? Should content be seeded through chosen users or be placed on specific sites? As interesting as this idea is implementing it is the much more difficult part and needs to be explored further. But looking at this just as a concept there may be opportunity in this rather than continually building larger advertisements to get into the faces of the company’s potential customers.

As always feel free to contact me at either @kevrichard on twitter or kevin@kevrichard.com

*A note about this post. I’m not in anyway trying to say that lying or being not upfront with your customers can be used as a tactic. Obviously lying equals angry customers which goes on to decreased sales. I mean to discuss the use of content delivery strategies that are outside of a firm’s owned properties (website, Facebook page, store front).

Marketing / Technology / Video Games — 1 comment
12
Dec 10

Game Downloads: The Next Step in Console Gaming?

Preface: I just wanted to put some thoughts out on Edge Magazine’s article “Thinking Outside The Box” (found in their December issue) talking about how console game creators are developing more down-loadable games vs. going through traditional channels. It’s been a topic that’s been on my mind for the past few weeks and now that I have the chance I’d like to put some thoughts on paper. So here goes!

Like creating the next big blockbuster movie console based video games take a lot of time and resources to make and have no guarantees in being successful. With consoles being more wired to the Internet the opportunity to sell down-loadable games has both large and small studios looking into ditching the disc and selling their content through the console itself.

Cutting out the “middle man”

The largest blockbuster games today (those that sell 1 million +copies) take years to make and millions of dollars to develop and market. For a long time, the success of these games has shut smaller development studios out as publishers (those who package, distribute and do the marketing for games) look to sell high volume selling titles to see higher margins on their investments. Ever notice that much like the movie industry, the gaming industry is getting sequelitis? This is the primary reason!

With game downloads, the publisher isn’t needed to distribute or package the game. Console download systems such as XBLA and PSN essentially cut out the middle man putting game studios in closer contact with gamers. This is great in that it allows more industry players to join in and sell smaller and less costly games. It could help to spur further innovation and creativity with creators trying to do more with less. Looking at the other side have you also seen Apple app store lately? If gamers get more choice, this also means that games are competing for their spot on the list, perhaps fighting the same small studio vs. Big studio battle again (with exception of breakout hits which I may discuss this later).

The future?

Developing game media technology ( cartridges, game discs etc.) presents a cost to console developers, one that if they could do away with could let them focus on developing new ways for you to interact with your console and to create more effective console hardware. Could this happen in the next generation of gaming? My (while amateurish) call would be no. Things like Internet bandwidth caps and the issue of piracy are still two big issues that need to be grappled with. Changing an industry model doesn’t necessarily happen overnight as well. Big studios still enjoy a big lead and currently have a strong formula of getting games out to the masses through traditional retail outlets. Changing how these games are sold and packaged will definitely be a big step, one that’s going to need a lot more work.

Personal Thoughts — 1 comment
16
Nov 10

The Evolution of Gamer Camp

In the last session I attended at this year’s Gamer Camp Benjamin Rivers spoke about how the way we interact with games and with others while playing games has changed over the years. Similarly in looking back at this year’s Gamer Camp I think there has also been a dramatic (and awesome!) shift in the way the event has flowed and developed this year over last.

Having attended last year’s Gamer Camp I was like an impatient kid on Christmas Eve waiting for this year’s Gamer Camp to arrive and I definitely wasn’t let down. Starting from just an idea between Jamie Woo and Mark Rabo in fall 2009, this year’s Gamer Camp which occurred on Nov. 13 and 14 grew to become not only much bigger but also very different.

While keeping with the original format of Gamer Camp 1 on the first day I have to say that the addition of Day 2 was the most exciting. Set in the school of design at George Brown College the whole event was really opened up for attendees to explore and interact with the speakers and each other. Rather than a linear list of speakers, everyone in attendance was able to go from session to session or even not go at all having free reign to check out the classic game emulators, indy gaming cabinets or even just taking time out to interact with other game players and creators.

In the end I think this new format encouraged something that most people came to experience which was having an opportunity to just talk about games with fellow gamers and with the Toronto developer community.While gaming has become for the most part mainstream, having an opportunity to talk passionately about how we play and interact with games still doesn’t happen often enough.

Looking at how the weekend progressed you could definitely see that there were relationships formed and perhaps a sense of community being built. For myself I was able to meet some great people and had some great ideas started in my head with potential for projects to be created. Overall I think at the end of day two, people left exhausted but energized for more to come. For achieving this in just two years of existence in my opinion is pretty significant. To Mark, Jamie and everyone else involved in Gamer Camp this year congrats and thanks for the good times!

In a post I hope to have up sometime tomorrow I’ll take some time to look at some of the key learnings I took away this year. Stay tuned!

Around the Web / In the News — No comments
24
Oct 10

A Look at the “It Gets Better” project

On the web randomness happens. A word. An image. A website. One day it could be just like everything else on the net and then almost instantly it becomes something big (anyone remember 3 wolf moon?). In this randomness it happens perhaps less often that something with meaning and that does good takes off .That’s why I found it really interesting to see a video labelled “It gets better” get as much interest as it has.

The Background: After a series of recent youth suicides related to gay bullying, famous (infamous?) sex columnist Dan Savage known for his straight talking, no holds barred sex advice column “Savage Love” posted with his partner the video “ It Gets Better” which can be found below:

As it stands his video has received close to 1,000,000 visits from over a 4 week period. From a viral video standpoint this may be a little slow in growth but results from this video alone only tell half the story of its success. Growing off this video is the countless response videos from average people and a multitude of celebrities. With over 2,640 video’s created against this video ( according to YouTube search using the term “it gets better project”) and over 7.78 Million video views from the first 40 videos ( excluding the original) this has received some serious attention. Most notably one video has even eclipsed the original receiving more than 2.1 million as of this writing (below):

What does all of this mean? That this original video has inspired action and in a way a ripple effect. Unlike say a fail blog video or any of the other top viewed videos that you’ll see on the front page of YouTube this video caused users to further spread this message through the creation of their own content. This works to further spread the video to not only a larger audience but a much more diverse one than the original as its then seen by these users’ pre-established viewership through channel subscriptions and regular channel visits .

Measuring further success: If I had to measure the full success of this impromptu campaign ( and had full access to any data I wanted) I would do the following:

Measure the web and telephone traffic of the Trevor project over the long term ( a few months). As this group recieved a large amount of mention in follow up videos it would be a strong measure of awareness if there was a significant and long lasting increase in the use of the services from this organization
Measure the increase in creation and use of teen support services. While teenage suicide was a major driver in this campaign there are too many variables that could get in the way to see if these numbers have improved. But looking at whether there is an increase in support for teens and whether its actually being used would be a stronger sign that the message of `It gets better` resonated with its intended audience .

Do you have a question or comment ? Feel free to reach me at@kevrichard or kevin@kevrichard.com

KevRichardTechnology and Digital Communications