About Me 0076: Making Money Ebay

Try a different mobile OS

If you are due to renew your mobile contract this year then why not give some thought to switching OS? Android, iOS and Symbian have all seen big shifts in usablity and technical features in 2010 and 2011 might be a ideal time to see how the other third lives or to try something new and go with Windows Phone 7. Who knows, maybe by the time your contract is due, BlackBerry will surprise us too?

Listen up and listen good

Last year you probably gave Spotify a try and maybe even subscribed. This year you should give a few other music streaming services a go. Try out the web-based mflow so super simple track sharing and purchasing and keep your eyes peeled for Google Music and Apple’s take on cloud music storage.

Make an app

If you run Android you can now knock up an app using Google App Inventor without too much in the way of coding savvy. Symbian users can make newsreader apps with the Ovi App Wizard and iPhone owners can use AppBreeder to create promotional apps that can be published to the App Store (for a fee).

Back that stuff up

Listen carefully – your data is important. If you lose your hard drive or your PC gets nicked you will be in trouble, so the time to start doing proper backups is YESTERDAY. Luckily there are plenty of ways to back up your stuff that mean you won’t have to give it any thought bar a bit of initial set-up. Try online solutions like Carbonite or Dropbox or go for a local WiFi gadget like Q-Waves Wireless USB Data Kit.

Reuse and recycle

Getting rid of some of your old gadgets and gizmos has never been easier. eBay now offer green.ebay.com to instantly trade decent old electronics for cash or recycle duffers at no charge. There are other specialised services for mobile phones such as SellMyMobile that will pay you cash money for your old blower. Go 3D

If you want to watch the undoubtedly amazing new David Attenborough 3D doc via Sky you will have to bite the bullet and get yourself a 3D TV at last. Come on, you know you want one really. Just think of all those times you can watch Avatar! If 3D video still isn’t floating your boat then this could be the year of 3D Radio.

Kill your television

Well not the telly itself maybe (especially if you just spent a fortune on a new 3D one) but why not see if you can live without your satellite or cable subscription and embrace Internet TV? Google TV, Apple TV and the Boxee Box all offer low-cost ways to change the way you suckle from the glass teat. TV catchup services like iPlayer and 4OD mean you can still watch shows you like from the terrestrial channels even if all you have is an old laptop – just dont forget you still need a licence.

Make something amazing in Minecraft

There are loads of incredible games launching this year but the amazing creations of Minecraft players keep wowing us with their sheer inventiveness. Now that Minecraft guru Notch has decided to release the first proper beta of the indie mining and making game it seems like the ideal time to start digging for minerals and build something out of this world. We’d love to see what you can come up with.

In 1995 I remember waiting in lines to buy Windows 95. It effectively ended the design lead Apple had for 11 years in personal computers.

From then on Microsoft had both the thought leadership and the market share. Apple ended up with less than 10% market share. Microsoft had most of the rest.

Lots of people think that Apple could repeat 1995 in 2011. This time with iOS instead of Macintosh OS and with Google in the place of Microsoft.

We forget one little thing: 1995 was different.

Here’s how.

In 1995 Microsoft had a HUGE marketshare lead with DOS. That meant it had a huge army of developers who didn’t want to switch over to Apple’s system, which they saw as very closed and inflexible. I remember developers coming into the consumer electronics store I helped run in the 1980s and they’d complain bitterly about Apple’s policies (Apple was far less flexible back then than it is today and forced developers to fit into a “look and feel” set of guidelines).

But I look at who is making money. Back in 1995 developers were mostly making money from DOS. Remember, this caused WordPerfect and Borland to make bad bets. They bet on DOS for too long, while Bill Gates went and built some of the first and best Macintosh apps. The lesson, though, doesn’t pass from 1995 to 2011. Today where are most of the developers making their money? iOS (according to Sephora, Starbucks, OpenTable, eBay, and many other developers). So, Android has to convince developers to switch, or do both platforms at same time. That’s quite different.

Plus, back in 1995, who owned the best distribution and supply chains? Microsoft did. Today? Apple does. Apple didn’t have stores back in 1995 which will ensure its products get seen in the marketplace. Back then Microsoft could outspend Apple for shelf space at Frys and other retailers. Plus, Microsoft’s model of having many OEMs building hardware for its OS was far superior to Apple’s approach. Today that’s not really true, because the OEMs aren’t really able to bring that much value to the table and Apple has the best supply chains in China locked up (I visited one of them about two years ago and keep in touch with the folks there and that’s still the case). So, it’s not very likely that a Google phone will ship with better screens or better materials. At least not in volume. That is a huge difference from 1995 to today.

Other differences? Apple has outspent Microsoft on Advertising around the world. Look at this picture. It’s in Paris subway. Apple bought every square inch of advertising space (it bought the entire subway system’s advertising space, it seemed, iPad ads were plastered down the entire trackway). Google isn’t able to get its message there. That didn’t happen in 1995. Remember how dominant Microsoft’s advertising was back then? Microsoft even convinced the Empire State Building to change its colors that evening.

Let’s go back to how closed Apple is. Most apps this month got approved in less than a week. Some even got approved in less than four days. During the Christmas rush. Is this as good as Android’s (you can ship in minutes) policy? No. But, on the other hand, there are quality controls which consumers appreciate. The apps — overall — ARE better on iOS than on Android. Just check out TweetDeck. It crashes every few minutes on my Android phone. Twitter isn’t nearly as nice. Facebook isn’t as nice. And most apps aren’t as well designed, nor crash resistant, as on iOS.

I am sensing a switch, though. Fred Wilson is leading the charge. But other developers are grumbling about Apple and want there to be an alternative and they are all comparing notes with each other. “How’s Angry Birds doing with its advertising-only Android apps?” they ask. Very well, the answer comes back. So that means more developers will take the bet on Android, but so far I haven’t seen many go “Android only.” Why not? Because they know most of the PR comes from journalists who use mostly iOS devices and most of the best users are on iOS devices too (Sephora’s lead mobile developer told me 80% of the users who pull out a mobile phone in her stores are using iOS, that is echoed by nearly every developer I talk with). Even Swype, which has been kept from delivering their keyboard on iOS devices showed me a prototype of it running on an iPad and the inventor whispered “if Steve Jobs wants to talk, we’d love to ship this on iOS.”

So, when someone says that Apple is repeating the mistakes of 1995 (yes, I’ve been guilty of saying that in the past couple of years too) you should tell them that 2011 is not even close to the same set of conditions as 1995 has.

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About Me 0076

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Making Money Ebay

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