Can Business (Card) Be Beautiful?

The basic purpose of business card is to give information. Name, company, ways to contact. Ideally it would also be a reminder about location, time and event. Hopefully it's an advertisement, reminder of possibilities, promises, opportunities. Business card should have a story to tell.

Would it hurt, if it was also beautiful? Would it help, if your business card was fit for framing? Something people would save not only because of you and the shared moment, but because they would like to look at it? Because it would inspire them to be better beings, more creative, look outside the old box?

Here's some inspiration, "60+ Most Beautiful and Creative Business Cards Designs". Next time you update your cards, take a moment to think about it. May your next card be a Better Card!

How to Generate Money

Chris Andersson, of The Long Tail fame, points to an analysis about how web 2.0 businesses actually make money. The biggest revenue seems to be online advertizing. I would have though biggest source of income is Venture Capital investments.

The original analysis (by Box UK) is both interesting and useful. It shows what has been tried, what is being used, what are related possibilities. For start-ups it can help to (re)define what is their market and business model. Usually one model is not enough, so it's useful to see options where to target next growth sprint.

Analysis is based on data from Webware's "Top 100 web apps for 2008". This gives an enourmous amount of credibility to the analysis. You can see several well know companies, who are actually using these models: Amazon, Google, iPhone, Opera, eBay, !Yahoo, Skype, Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook, bitTorrent, YouTube.

Some are more successful than others. Something to seriously think about.

Rumours: SonyEricsson -> Sony, Sun -> IBM

Recession is changing the world as we know it. Voluntary disruptions, such as Symbian Foundation and Android, will be joined by surprising operations forced by ruthless markets.

Motorola is fading, Palm is making desperate last moves, Facebook is trapped by Microsoft, Google tries to be everything for everybody, twitter explodes online communication.

Latest rumours are that Ericsson wants to sell Sony its share of SonyEricsson. Or that Sony wants to buy. Both companies have known financial problems, so it's difficult to guess in advance. We should know more this Friday 20 March, when Manager Magazin is released.

At the same time there are rumours that IBM wants to buy Sun. IBM is big on mobile service side, but recession is hitting hard on subcontractors. This move would allow them to take an active role in defining future of mobility. Interesting technology is still Java FX, based on SavaJe.

Surprisingly SonyEricsson and Sun are connected via Java FX. Just a coincident.

Two ways to fight for survival during downtime:

1. Expand your service repertory. Sony might try to get back the leading positions in both camera and music player markets. Currently Nokia is the largest camera and digital music player manufacturer. Also remember what happened to SonyEricsson Playstation mobile phone!
   
2. Create new innovative products. IBM already has office suite, but taking hold of Sun they could have more freedom. Java fragmentation is old news, Java MIDP3 process seems very slow. Flash and Qt might take over, Android is not using Java, iPhone is closed environment. Would IBM bet on java? Or just Sun's server business? Both?
   

Thing's will be different.

Android 1.1 for ADP1, Just the Way You Wanted

Android Developer Phone 1 (ADP1), firmware upgrade 1.1, does not allow installing copy protected applications. The situation is weird, since intended target group for ADP1 is developers.

You know developers, the fellows who write those copy protected applications. The fellows, who need to check that everything works for normal users. Is this a not-so-clever way to increase hardware sales?

One of the surprises at MWC 2009 was lack of Android devices, regardless of expectations and early announcements. But no, there are still loads of Android devices in labs, 12 devices to be released by the end of 2009, VC people in the loop revealed. Or was it 16? Maybe 20?

Google says "many developers are concerned" about possibility to pirate copy protected applications on ADP1. On the other hand there are developers disagreeing with this. The situation is similar to Symbian Signed start: platform people blamed operators, who blamed platform people, nobody took credit.

Everybody forgets the developers, in the best interests of the developers, of course. Apple iPhone marketing department must be having a party.

One Shop to Rule Them All - or Maybe Not

What's going on in online mobile software business?

From myriad of small stand-alone one or two app websites, to operator controller Walled Gardens, to huge generic software stores (Handango), to manufacturer operated application stores (Apple AppStore, Android Market), to... what's next?

It's all about money. Developers, some of them, write software for money. Application stores were born, when some developers just couldn't figure out bookkeeping and tax systems. Some merged into megastores. Operators want their fare share, since they keep the system up and running. Manufacturers want to sell more hardware, maybe even get their own fare share of the software and services business.

Some developers are not happy about this. After so many fair shares taken in between, after so many forced restrictions and requirements, there is very little left for developers. There is more than just money: freedom, independence, self-expression. Latest software market revolutions are led by Cydia, to fight Apple's tight control, and potential "Android App Flea Market".

Nokia has been heavily criticized about being late in the online application store rush. Maybe they let others make mistakes first, learn from them, and then make things right. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Let's see how Apple and Android deal with the new situation. Let's see how long Nokia waits.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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?