Business On Software

Regular readers and colleagues would know that I have been secretly lusting after an Apple iPhone for quite a while now.  For many years, I was a stickler for the Palm range of products – way back from when they were using the dying PalmOS system, to the more recent Windows Mobile operating system.

Well, I have finally laid my Palm Treo 750 down to rest.  There was nothing really wrong with it – the device itself works perfectly, as been robust as anything.  However, I got a call from my carrier rep the other day saying that my monthly repayments on the phone had finished, and would I be interested in upgrading to another device…and that got me thinking.

I bought an iPhone 3G for my wife last year, and it has converted her from a technophobe, to someone who embraces this device with wild abandon!  She finally loves using email and messaging – and uses her phone to nearly maximum potential.  I, meanwhile, have been sulking in the shadows and secretly coveting her phone.

So, when the call from my carrier came at the same time that the iPhone 3GS was released – I couldn’t contain myself any longer.

I have now had my new device for a week.  And….I love it.  There is no doubting that the iPhone interface is streets ahead of anything else at the moment (although I have not played with Android or WebOS as yet).  The 3GS boasts a better camera, plus the ability to capture video.  It also has a voice recorder (I had to purchase iTalk separately for my wife’s old iPhone – hah).

The whole concept of the AppStore is also intriguing to me.  I used to spend a lot of time searching across various sites on the internet of varying reliability and trustworthiness to find applications for my Windows Mobile devices – but now I can browse one site with the knowledge that the apps have been vetted by Apple.  Whether this is really a good thing or not is debatable, but I am leaning towards the positive at this stage.

I am also enthusiastic about my experience with Apple support so far.  When my wife’s iPhone battery started to fail (i.e. only lasting a couple of hours), the device was still under warranty, so I rang Apple, and they sent out a replacement phone in advance, complete with all the shipping labels to send the old one back – after I had received the new one and set it up and ensured it was working.  That is the first time I have ever heard of a manufacturer sending a replacement out prior to getting the old one back! Kudos to Apple support.

The main reason for me getting this phone, though, is to try and run my business on it as much as I can.  For example:-

• ANZ Bank has released an iPhone friendly web link which enables me to keep track of my business and personal bank accounts.
• I am using Wesabe to better control my expenditure and personal expenses
• We are switching to an online Saas based accounting system for my business, which I can drive using my iPhone
• I have installed an RDP client on my iPhone so I can still use my Windows Servers while out in the field
• I am using Fuelly to track my fuel usage and milage on my business vehicle

I am hoping to keep you updated on here as I move more and more of my business online.  The iPhone is going to be a big part of that.

Photo by Anna_Greece via Flickr

Joel Spolsky mentions that developers who try and fill a hole in a particular vendors offering risk having their products being made obsolete by the vendor themselves.  He cites 15 iPhone apps that have been made obsolete by Apple with the latest release of the iPhone 3Gs.

As a developer who has been creating products that ‘piggy back’ onto another vendors major software offering, we have had first hand experience of this situation.  On a regular basis, we see the major vendor release software updates or features that either:

a) is exactly the same as a feature in our add on

b) breaks a particular feature in our add on

c) prevents us from proceeding with out own product roadmap for future enhancements

To be honest, I don’t believe that any of it is done be our vendor out of mean spiritness, or an intention to directly hurt us.  Because they are a large, lumbering company, they just plod along on their merry path, following their own product roadmap with scant regard for what us ‘little guys’ are doing.  Such is life, for a Remora software company such as ours.

Joel says that developers such as us are effectively trying to snatch pennies from the path of an oncoming steamroller, and he says that add-on developers would be lucky to get 1% of the total vendors market.  True, to a certain extent, but I think there are still ways that we can get a good outcome from such a situation.

I think that if we can differentiate our product offerings enough, people will still spend the money to buy ours because it is either easier to use, or has better features.  Note: I don’t say more features, just better features.

To go back to the iPhone for a while – I purchased the iTalk application by Griffin Software for my wife’s iPhone so she could record conversations with her mum for later possible publication in a book.  iTalk is a great tool, with easy syncing to her PC (without having to use iTunes) plus the ability to change the recording quality (and thus file sizes).  I don’t think that the built in voice recorder in the iPhone 3Gs can do this (please correct me if I am wrong).

To me, the two features that I highlighted above will still mean that I would be willing to pay for iTalk over the built in software.  Differentiation is still the key.  The vendor will always have to try and build their software according to their grand plan, i.e. in this case, Apple can only make their voice recorder sync using iTunes.  To do otherwise would be to risk a major cashcow of theirs.  Third party vendors like iTalk who can break this stranglehold can still win the battle.

Image from schimilblick via Flickr

Many of my friends, colleagues and readers of this blog will know that I am a true gadget freak, and am totally enamored of technology, and will try and use it in all aspects of my life.

Which is why many of them are totally surprised when they find out that March 2009 will mark one year that we have not had TV at our household!  I mean, we have a TV set – an ancient 17 inch cathode ray that was given to me by a former employee about 10 years ago.  People walk into my house – see this in the lounge and laugh, saying “Where is the 50 inch plasma display?”.  They are incredulous when I tell them this is all I have, and No, we don’t have any other TV’s in the house.  Not even in our, or the kids bedrooms.

When we moved into our house last year, we noticed that there was no ‘free to air’ aerial on the roof.  There was a satellite dish for Austar, but we never had an account, and my wife put her foot down and declared that from now on, we were not going to be a TV household.

To be fair, my sons and I had a lot of problems about this in the early days, but now, 12 months down the track…I don’t even miss it.

We do have a collection of DVD’s that we watch from time to time, but what do we do after dinner and on those long Sunday afternoons I hear you ask (as many of our friends have).

Well, we have reverted back to the ‘old fashioned’ ways of entertaining ourselves.  We play cards – Uno and Skip-Bo being some favourites.  We play Monopoly, and leave the board set up for days while we continue a game.  We talk, we play guitar, we read to the kids, we make up stories.  Sounds quaint I know, but it is FUN…seriously.

Same for game consoles.  People think I am mad when I say we have NO Playstations or XBoxes or Wii’s in our household.  Oh, all right, I bought myself a Sony PSP a couple of years back, but I haven’t seen it for months.  I have no idea where it is now, nor the charger to get it up and running again.

Both my wife and I cannot stand it when we go out for family dinners with friends, and their kids have their noses buried in their Nintendo DS all through the meal.  We try and teach our kids to enjoy conversation and interact with their friends and adults.

It has been challenging at times, especially with the peer pressure that the kids get at school.  But overall, Sam (my wife) and I are happy with the results so far, and we look forward to being a TV and game console free family for a while yet.