Way back in February of this year (three months is a long time in the mobile industry and several lifetimes if you’re a Nokia investor) I reviewed that company’s tie-up with Microsoft in an article entitled, “Hello Team Nokia, I’m the New Captain. WE’RE SINKING! TO THE LIFEBOATS EVERYONE!”

My contention, back in those bleak midwinter days, was that embracing a new operating system (specifically, Windows Phone 7) would not help Nokia solve its three biggest problems as recorded by CEO/Captain Elop:

Losing on brand and user experience to Apple at the top of the market.
Losing on price and capability to Android phones in the rest of the smartphone market.
Losing on price to emerging suppliers in the feature phone market.

Three months on, Android is going from strength to strength (I suggested in February that Nokia would have been better off taking Android and then investing heavily in putting a branded, exclusive user experience on top of it), Windows Phone 7’s market share is falling (it’s dropped by almost 50 pecent year on year), and the Nokia freefall continues. The child being eaten by the revolution now is Nokia’s mobile content brand, Ovi.

According to the BBC, the company will be selling music, games, and apps content under the Nokia name from now on. According to Nokia Ovi blog editor Pino Bonetti, who broke the news, the changeover will enable the company to “leverage the high value of the Nokia master brand to better support future plans to deliver disruptive and compelling mobile experiences globally.” In other words, the four-year-old brand did not distinguish itself enough in the marketplace to make supporting its continued existence worthwhile – probably because, as Pocket-Lint editor Stuart Miles has commented, “they [Nokia] created a brand out of something that did not need to be branded.”

So what’s next? The interesting rumor going around is that Nokia is planning to sell off its mobile phone business to Microsoft as well. Pinch of salt taken, one wonders what would be left of Nokia if this happened, and whether this was the plan all along? Trojan horses, and all that. And was the Skype acquisition a precursor to creating a Microsoft power trio focused on delivering the complete mobile experience, from hardware to software to voice?

On my way to work each day I pass the Headquarters of Vertu, Nokia’s top-of-the-line vanity phone range. Ironically, the building itself sits on a roundabout with a sign on it saying, “Sponsor this Roundabout.” As things stand at the moment, Nokia—going round and round like a ship in a whirlpool—hasn’t managed to find one either

Think about it – do your customers need a dictionary in their pockets in order to understand your mobile Web site?

There’s a major push for the use of plain language in the world today. The U.S. Federal Government even has a Web site that advocates the use of clear communication in government writing. I love the purpose – but one of the hyperlinks on the home page of their Web site says “OMB Final PL Guidance.” Not quite as clear as they would like. I guess it’s all a work in progress. When you live in a world of acronyms and proprietary language, clear communication takes planning.

I was speaking recently with a group of field representatives from a very large, international company that serves a diverse set of customers and markets. I asked how they navigate through all of the company-specific acronyms which they use in normal conversation. They admitted that in reality, their organization did put together an Acronym Dictionary for new hires to learn the language of their company.

(more…)

I’ve heard plenty of horror stories from customers about IT projects that went sideways. Many of these projects have similar roots. They started as IT or technology projects and were managed that way. While this may seem like a logical approach, most IT projects involve an influence that can never be underestimated – a user. One who can inflict mass hysteria on an average IT project that fails to correctly anticipate and compensate for its impact. I doubt that swapping data centers or server hardware would impact your user community if done correctly. The same cannot be said for a mobility project.

Mobility, by its very nature, involves additional risks that a typical technology refresh or upgrade doesn’t encounter. Your user community is mobile, so they aren’t sitting at neatly appointed desks in a nicely air-conditioned call center or business office. They are in a hostile communications environment with no guaranteed connectivity, and they are face-to-face with the customer. Any impact on this team has ramifications to not only the entire company, but also to your customers and your reputation. Now throw in new devices – phone and data plans, a new application and a few new processes – and you can see the big (ugly) picture.

Your mobility project will influence many diverse departments back at the office as well. Systems will be accessed, data will be transmitted, and processes will be automated that will likely have an immediate bearing on office staff. The office staff will also try to understand the new approach. This can lead to misunderstanding, frustration and a lack of general support and adoption. All of these moving pieces have to be managed well to pull this off. Bring in the program manager.

Am I a bit daft to suggest that you need a program manager to be successful? This isn’t a new revelation. I’ve whined about planning in the past. I’m not suggesting you need a program manager – I’m insisting you need a program manager.

(more…)

I had the privilege of doing a turn-and-burn trip to Southern California last week. This was a round trip to So Cal and back in the same day. Nothing like business travel – it’s so glamorous….

I live just outside of Spokane, WA and as we are keen to say, “You can’t get anywhere from Spokane.” As is the case with most business travel, I had limited lead time to make my travel arrangements and I wasn’t willing to spend the gross national product of a small country to buy my ticket so I booked a flight on Southwest Airlines.

Full disclosure: I don’t own any SWA stock, I don’t know anybody that works for SWA and I’m not a regular flier of SWA, so this is just an observation on my part, and not a paid endorsement.

The usual flight time from Spokane to LAX is about 2:50. I left Spokane at 6:30 a.m. and arrived at LAX at 10:40 a.m. That may seem like a long flight until you consider that I visited two other states on the way down. We first flew from Spokane to Boise, Idaho. We then flew to Reno, Nevada and finally on to LAX. Now I know what you’re saying, “That sucks.” But I disagree. What other airline could have pulled off that feat and still got me to LAX 15 minutes early? If you travel often enough you’re probably mumbling under your breath, “Nobody.”

(more…)

Even the most casual readers of the technology press cannot have failed to notice that app stores seem to be opening on every corner of the internet at the moment.

First there was Amazon making a big splash with the opening of their Android app store.

Soon after, Barnes & Noble announced they would be following suit.

Then RIM confirmed that their forthcoming Blackberry Playbook device would be able to run Android Apps, in the process proving that sometimes the rumour-mongers aren’t just…mongering.

At this point Samsung were obviously feeling somewhat left out of the headlines because they announced that their own app store had reached a milestone: 100 million downloads.
Meanwhile, Ovi, MeeGo App Store, and Blackberry App World continue to grow (probably while making odd sucking noises that can only be heard in Apple HQ) and businesses are waking up to the possibility of opening their own mobile application stores powered by white-label solutions.

What you’ve probably noticed about the above summary of recent app store news, is that none of it featured Apple’s App Store (a name Apple has been able to trademark). Apart from the occasional story about censorship on Steve Jobs’ stroke of genius/cash-cow (and a controversy over the amount of commission Apple takes on in-app subscriptions), the Apple App Store has been forced to give ground to its Android-selling competitors in the news. Furthermore, the balance of coverage is a reflection both of Android’s vibrancy and the degree to which Apple’s unique selling point has been weakened. It is highly plausible that today’s consumers are no longer worried about missing out on the app experience if they buy a device not born in Cupertino.

(more…)