3+1 things about the tablet wars

Apple doesn't have to worry too much about the Kindle Fire or Nook Color or their kin. The people who buy a tablet based on price will still wish that they'd bought an iPad.  The people who buy a Nook have a specific reason for doing so and most will be happy with their choice. Apple would not have reached them anyway.

The people who buy iPads (iPad buyers are exactly who you think they are, but with pets (infographic) | VentureBeat), may not know quite why they did. Or, they probably knew exactly why they bought one, but are embarrassed to give the real answer. (Sort of like saying you bought Playboy for the interviews.)

Apple has managed the near-impossible: they became the generic name for a type of product while retaining their distinct intellectual property rights. (See their series of brutal take-down suits in Europe and Australia  over the Samsung Galaxy. Nilay Patel explains it all in Apple sues Samsung: a complete lawsuit analysis on The Verge.) Apple won the music player (iPod), integrated monitor-system (iMac), and ultra-ultra notebook computer (MacBook).

1. The iPad still defines the terms of engagement. It's iPad vs. not-iPad, even when it isn't. When Jeff Bezos announced the Kindle Fire, he didn't mention the iPad at all. He didn't have to and shouldn't have.


2. Retail strength trumps specs. Barnes and Noble makes better systems than Amazon, but Amazon can and will deliver anything to you effortlessly.
   Buying books and magazines on the Nook and iPad has been a confusing and unsatisfying experience. Amazon figured out how to do that a dozen years ago and no one else is close.


3. When the battle moves to the Cloud, Amazon may be able to get the upper hand. Apple's never done really well with Internet services. iTunes works because they control the start and end of the pipe and there's no chance to get lost.  Their servers rarely handle peak loads well.
   I think that Google should buy Barnes and Noble. Then it would be a fair fight between the Kindle and the Nook.

+1
None of these is a social product. Social media is glued onto each product like an afterthought. Apple doesn't know how to do social. (Remember Ping?)  The promised deep integration of Twitter is nowhere to be found in iOS5. Amazon doesn't even have the native Android Twitter client in its app store. The Nook leaves a bag of tools on the table and says, "Here, you do it."

By the way, there are plenty of tablet comparisons and reviews out there. You don't need one more from me.This one is pretty good: A human review of the Kindle Fire – Marco.org, as is the venerable CR: Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet: How the specs compare.

My own experience is that I pre-ordered a Kindle Fire, received it on Wednesday and boxed it up for return yesterday morning. I have a Nook that's now running CyanogenMod. Much of the time, I bring my iPad to meetings instead of my laptop.

For the next year and probably two, Apple will own and define the tablet market. One of these companies still has to figure  out a coherent social strategy for tablets. If Google doesn't buy B&N, Facebook should consider it make a serious social tablet.

Remembering where your friends are

We're told that our social networks helps to make us smarter. This Scientific American blog post, Social Networks Matter: Friends Increase the Size of Your Brain, reports that we have individual traits that make us more or less social, but, even so, being in a social setting causes positive brain changes.

It's been more than five years since I've worked in an office. I have to be intentional in my efforts to keep in touch with people, personally and professionally. Ideas need people to thrive.

For example, I worked at Rational Software during the time that it was acquired by IBM. I have kept in touch with many former co-workers in person, through email, and in social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+.

This morning, I read this article, IBM in the software era: Big Blue man gives HP a seminar • The Register. The piece includes an interview with Mike O'Rourke,  VP of Rational's  strategy and product management, a division of IBM software. O'Rourke became VP a couple of years after I left IBM. He has some interesting perspectives, however, on the evolution of Rational's products from the time of the acquisition. My former co-workers might be interested in this. Where, then, should I post this link?

An email to selected friends would have been most direct and probably the most likely to generate comments. The problem is that those comments would, at most, be seen by the people on the email thread. Others who currently work at IBM and people with whom I don't regularly correspond wouldn't have a chance to join in.

Facebook would be good. It is possible to post a message that's seen only by friends who worked or work at IBM Rational. That's a good-sized list. Some people, however, don't use Facebook with (former) co-workers; they only permit connections with friends in real life. I've had Friend requests turned aside by co-workers whom I thought of as friends. So it goes.

Google+ has lively discussions, but a limited audience.

I finally decided to share it in the Rational Alumni group on LinkedIn. More of my former co-workers are there and there's a greater likelihood that others would find this interesting. I'll report back on the results.

Local News: Chair City Signalization

The Sentinel and Enterrprise reports that city has received $500K for its Main Street Signalization and Roadway Realignment project. (An anagram for signalization is "I nail a zit song".) The Telegram story puts it into plain English:

Gardner was awarded $500,000 for Main Street signals and road realignment to develop 120,000 square feet of new commercial-office space, and to help with the redevelopment of 400,000 square feet of industrial-warehouse-office space near the project. The money is expected to generate more than 100 construction jobs and more than 150 full-time permanent jobs.

via Worcester Telegram & Gazette - telegram.com - Grants will pay for development work

The New England Post offers a fine summary of the statewide grants: Patrick-Murray Administration Approves 23 New Massworks Infrastructure Program Projects To Support Job Creation

If you want to find out more details about the project, well, good luck. The city's daily, The Gardner News, has its story, City gets grant for traffic signals, locked behind its paywall. The city's website shows nothing if you use their search. Google does show mention of something like this in the July minutes (PDF) of the community development committee.

So, a half million dollars of your tax dollars will help Gardner signalize. Whether that's a good thing or not apparently isn't any of your business.