manage to experience

August Insights | February 2010

2010-02-03T15:18:50-05:00

Is Foursquare the Next Wave of CRM?

For the moment, I'm Mayor of Thai Pan, one of my favorite restaurants in downtown Greensboro. I scored this honor without campaigning; all it took was checking in on Foursquare more than any other Thai Pan customer.

Foursquare is part game, city guide, and friend tracker. Members note their visits ("check-in") to locations using mobile apps. By doing this they accrue points and earn rewards. Sound a bit geeky? It is. But if Foursquare can break into the mainstream, it might just become a serious customer loyalty platform.

Customer loyalty programs are notoriously difficult and costly to implement and manage, particularly for small businesses. And, they often have requirements that are obstacles to participation. Think of the ubiquitous "buy-10-get-1-free" punch card. One more card in my wallet? No thanks. They also tend to operate on the passive assumption that a payoff on the horizon will draw customers.

Foursquare takes a simple approach to CRM: Create a flexible platform that tracks user location, build in a basis for rewarding users, and allow businesses to create innovative ways to use the service. For example, customers at the Starbucks on UNC Charlotte's campus can show the cashier that they've checked -in to Foursquare and receive a discount on a drink. At one hotel, the "Mayor", or most frequent visitor, gets free room upgrades.

Beyond tracking location, Foursquare allows members to see friends check-ins and comments. Instead of semi-anonymous ratings that typical city guides offer, you learn what your friends like, and why. These trusted tips, the service's promotion of businesses that are near your location, and a developer toolkit that allows integration with other services combine to make Foursquare proactive in a way that most traditional customer loyalty programs aren't.

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The iPad, Flash and People-Centered Computing

I'll spare you too many words about Apple's introduction of the iPad. Countless words have already been sacrificed to speculation about, fawning approval and dismissal of the iPad, before the first unit has shipped. But, there's a more interesting conversation happening around what the iPad means to delivery of online experiences.

Robert Scoble was early to the debate. His question: Is Flash(yes, the Flash used on countless Web sites) finished? Neither the iPad, nor its iPhone/iPod Touch cousins support it, and Web heavyweight Google — a supporter of open standards — is putting its support behind HTML5, which will reduce the need for dedicated plugins like Flash in order to view content. So, if the iPad is the sales monster that many expect, will it kill off Flash, and by extension, other plug-in dependent content? Not immediately, but that seems to be where we're headed.

The iPad represents the mainstreaming of people-centered computing,where devices have a narrow set of features, seller-controlled functionality (think Apple's App Store), and vastly simplified maintenance requirements (no plug-ins, drivers or the like). The focus is on doing work, not maintaining and updating devices. Look at the iPhone and you can see its an approach that people embrace. Will the same happen for the iPad? Ask a colleague:Would you rather update a printer driver or work on a client presentation? The answer will be telling.

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Emerging Ideas

Augmented reality — what works
Have you encountered augmented reality applications? The best examples take products off a screen and place them in your environment.

What is it you do, again?
A good reminder about keeping your blog focused on building business.

Case study: How Pepsi got social media right
The benefits of working toward long-term impact and deep engagement with customers.

Cynical devices

2010-01-29T12:09:49-05:00

"The iPad is an attractive, thoughtfully designed, deeply cynical thing."

Apple appears to be cheerleading a fundamental shift in personal computing: A narrowing of options. They're creating a universe of DRM, and strict control over software options and availability.

To echo Alex Payne's point, Apple is selling consumption, not creativity.

iPad as an idea that's better than the device

2010-01-28T09:26:12-05:00

Frog Design has an interesting take on the Apple iPad:

"The iPad is the beginning of a new category — one that is hyper-convergent and humanistic."

It's an optimistic assessment – and one I'm sympathetic to – of the idea that the iPad represents. It's mobile computing that non-geeks can embrace. On that level, it's easy to forgive the lack of features we expect in entry level netbooks.

From my perspective, there are three deal-breakers with the current model:

10 hour battery life. For a device promoted as a new wave of e-reader, that's disappointing performance. A minimum of 30 hours would be more like it.
2000-era data plans. $15 for 250 MB of data?
Lack of a built-in HDMI output, for sharing video on an HDTV.

To be fair, this is version 1.0. It's a solid idea. And I'll be interested to watch the evolution of the device.

Need b roll?

2010-01-28T08:20:25-05:00

Anyone who has produced a video will get a chuckle out of this:

Apps and the cloud

2010-01-22T22:35:31-05:00

This article by Louis Gray reflects my current thinking about application choices, and benefits of cloud computing.

I'm increasingly wary of both Microsoft's bloated Office apps and Apple's apparent interest in increasing complete control over my "experience." Neither is attractive.

My response has been to turn to Web-based apps – starting with email, and calendar and contact management – that offer sufficient functionality without locking me into a specific platform. It'll be a while before I can move away from Office and a few other select applications (I don't see a good alternative to the lovely OmniGraffle Pro, for instance) that live on my local drive, but I'm making solid progress toward living in the cloud.

The state of e-readers

2010-01-19T08:28:19-05:00

I've been closely following the evolution of e-readers, and even came close to pulling the trigger on a purchase myself. But this post at jkOnTheRun zeroes in on why I haven't' bought a dedicated e-reader, and why most folks shouldn't.

I love the idea of a single purpose e-reader (and no, an Apple tablet with limited battery life doesn't fit the bill for me), but until publishers and hardware sellers agree on a consumer-friendly distribution model (no time soon), I won't buy one.

Status Update

2010-01-14T10:37:47-05:00

Yes, the tumbleweeds are rolling through here, serenaded by the gently whistling wind.

While I benignly neglect this place, I'm:

Finishing production of a client's corporate overview video.
Riding herd on the development of three Web sites; one for a business client, and two others for an agency client, while...
...writing a spec for another site.
Working on a variety of print and digital advertising programs, corporate signage, and collateral.

I'm also acting on some lingering guilt and developing a digital assets management system to improve collaboration between me and my creative and technical partners.

And, I need to do something about my business site. It's embarrassing, I know.

Mag+

2009-12-21T22:17:46-05:00

Most of the energy around e-readers seems to go into controlling ownership and distribution of content, rather than the experience of reading. This interesting video puts the focus back on the experience and offers a glimpse of what reading on a digital device can be.

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Augmented Reality (AR) – an interesting application

2009-12-11T10:18:56-05:00

A simple, useful application of AR by Samsung.

Square: credit card payments, simplified

2009-12-01T17:18:12-05:00

This caught my attention:

Face-to-face commerce is accelerating away from cash and checks, leaving some smaller vendors out in the cold. Square provides a simple way for vendors to accept credit card payments using mobile devices.