28 February 2009

Business cards should have a story


Spent last week in MWC Barcelona, meeting lots of people. Some I knew in advance (great seeing you again!), some were new acquaintances (pleasure meeting you!). That's about 25 persons on a long day, on the average. Finnish people are not too socializing, I'm afraid.

This week I went through all the business cards, no big surprises there. Wish I had met someone from Lego and got a Lego business card, like Chief Happiness Officer Alexander Kjerulf! Found via Lifehacker via Geekdad. Credit were credit due.

Kids would love that. On the other hand, they were extremely happy with 3 rubber ducks, too, courtesy of Rubberduck company (mobile-tv business). Am I business for them, will I recommend them - who knows. I only know that for the next year I will see their logo about daily.

What does Your business card tell about You, Your business, Your product, Your service? Does it catch the eye, does it open questions, is it a reference to be saved for later use? Is it something to talk about? What is the purpose of Your business card? What is its expected lifetime?

27 February 2009

Working at home: Work or Home?


I've met many people who say they want to work at home. The first silent question in my mind is: do you want to work or do you want to stay at home?

Those few, who actually have worked at home, have some common advices. Make it serious, either by ritual (walk around the house before and afterwards, setup your gear, change clothes) and/or create a special place dedicated for work. Yes, you can work in the corner of your bedroom, but then it has to be more than "just a corner".

Lifehacker tells about Mitch Haile, who is very serious. He's definitely working at home, check his FAQ! Contains much more than just a detailed description of his office, how did he built it and what's in there.

I've done both, stayed at home and worked at home. Some rituals, some special arrangements - and lots of peaceful night time without interruptions.

26 February 2009

Nokia Netbook


Yesterday evening Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia CEO, was interviewed in Finnish YLE televion A-Plus show.

Nokia is considering subnotebook manufacturing, because in 5 years mobile phones and notebooks, as we know them now, would be merged. True, Nokia already has Communicators product line, as well as new subcommunicator devices such as N97 and E75, but in future both keyboard and screen would be bigger.

What is going to happen with Nokia Internet Tablets, running maemo? New release was expected in MWC 2009 Barcelona, but in vain. Will we see something new based on future Symbian Foundation release?

24 February 2009

iPhone AppStore statistics


Eye opening iPhone software statistics from Pinch Media with realistic sounding analysis: free vs paid, does advertizing pay off, counting eyeballs. Here's the slides.

It's always better to know what you're doing. The next best thing is to follow closely the reactions to your (random) actions. The worst thing is to just hope for the best. However on the average it's better to do something, than nothing at all. If you fail, then fail spectacularly.


Is there Social Networking outside USA?


One of the hot trends in MWC Barcelona 2009 was mobile/social networking. Lots of talk, but talk is cheap. Here's some statistics at Site Check - Web Site Advice, comparing January 2009 data from Compete and Quantcast.

It's sad to see how little life there is outside USA, not even worth measuring. Anyway it's always interesting to see statistics vs statistics. Wondering how Twitter is really doing?

Myriad Group = Esmertec + Purple Labs + Openwave + Sagem


New name to remember: Myriad Group. Google finds several, but not the right one yet. Would expect mobile veterans to find a more unique name. Btw great summary by RethinkWireless.

Esmertec, creator of JVM for all non-Nokia phones. Purple Labs, medium size name in mobile sw business for already a decade, growing steadily. Openwave, big name in (wap) browsing. Had a bright future, but wap just didn't succeed. Sagem, old mobile phone vendor still bravely struggling to stay in game.

Wonder what they will make together. Great potential, but can they focus.

23 February 2009

Missed opportunities


Last week I bought Nokia 5800, was surprised about the experience.

In the shop I looked all around the box, could not see anything about S60, Symbian OS or possibility to run/install 3rd party applications. Half jokingly I complained to shop personnel and was mildly shocked about response. They had no idea that 5800 runs Symbian OS or S60, even less that it's possible to install additional software.

This was a big store in capital of Nokialand (Espoo, Finland), the shop run by the second biggest Finnish mobile phone operator.

I'm losing money as 3rd party sw developer, Nokia is losing money as hardware vendor and mobile phone operator is losing money as operator.

What would be a better time to advertise and sell mobile phone software than the exact moment the customer is ready and willing to pay for a brand new phone?


12 February 2009

Handango Yardstick 2008 Analysis

Simon Judge made a nice short analysis of latest released Handango statistics. Here's my additional comments about the Handango Yardstick of 2008:

Sorry Simon, isn't Android share 0.1% and that 10% belongs to Smartphone Software (Windows Mobile Standard)? Then half of Handango sales is for Windows!
  • TOP-5 is utilities and personalization software.
  • 7% share of Symbian software sales contain both S60 and UIQ.
  • Number of new mobile content titles during 2009 is 10000 - but what platform were they made for?
  • Sales of 51% Windows, 11% Palm, 31% RIM suggests strong USA orientation.



Consumer Attitudes Towards Mobile Applications


Brand new research report about how consumers think about mobile software. This free sample contains research objectives, table of contents and intro to creator companies ARCchart and WaveMetrix.

Not much there, for free, but one thing: table of content mentions two applications types separately: Games and Navigation applications.

No Messaging, no Email, no Social Networks, no Mobile-TV, no Video, no Camera, no Web Browsers, no Utilities, no Music Players. Just Games and Navigation. That's something to think about.