This iPhone app from Absolut is very impressive. Drinkspiration was obviously carefully planned to try and take over the already crowded category of drink recommendation apps (most of which aren’t even free). It was developed by a Swedish agency by the name of Great Works.

Before you read further, watch the demo video if you haven’t yet:

Download it here (iTunes link). I personally paid for a few similar apps a while back and have since removed them because I found them confusing and they really didn’t help me easily answer the big question, “What is a new drink I can order or make instead of the usual?” I’m pretty sure almost anybody that drinks and who isn’t a bartender has this problem.

Drinkspiration does a better job at helping you answer that question and at the same time it went above and beyond by adding several other social and location-based features which really sets it apart.

The number one complaint we’ve been seeing lately from developers is the challenge of app exposure now that it’s very crowded in every category. Until there are changes made, the most obvious answer to that question is to create something worthwhile for the user with unique features that are worth talking about. Of course that’s easier said than done.

What Drinkspiration does right…

1. Useful functionality

This app solves that common problem among drinkers in several different ways. Some features also leverage the iPhone’s built-in GPS and other available API’s. The different options that are presented allow you to get drink suggestions based on things like your location, desired taste/color of the drink, the time of day, the weather, liquor type, glass type, and even the type of bar vibe.

They also included two other unique options: see what other people are ordering in real-time across the world (I am 99% sure they got this idea from the popular Ocarina app but there is no harm in that) & recommend a drink by background volume (my favorite one that worked well when I tested it).

2. Well designed user interface

A must IMO for any iPhone app to be taken seriously.

3. Social network optimized

Linking to Twitter and Facebook worked as expected (except it got my location wrong but I don’t think that’s Absolut’s fault). One small change I would make: the Facebook status should also be updated so it says “I just had an Old Vic” like it does on Twitter or else your friends will be probably be confused.

I do like how they link all updates to absolutdrinks.com, the online version of the app where you can search, browse, and find more tips on how to mix the drinks.

If only they would have figured out a way to hook up with the already popular Foursquare app, that would have put the app over the top.

4. Good app name

Drinking + finding the inspiration to try something new = Drinkspiration.

5. Free download

There might be a few other exceptions but for the most part, people won’t bother paying for a clearly branded app. One of the exceptions might be paying for subscription based apps from magazines or newspapers that will have frequently updated content (and most likely replace a paper subscription).

Other Thoughts

Some of the early reviews for Drinkspiration on iTunes aren’t so great but it looks like they are mainly from people who are pointing out some of the bugs that Absolut will likely fix with future versions. I did notice it crashed on me a few times but that’s usually the case with a lot of the new and complex apps I try these days. Besides the iTunes store, the mentions on Twitter for Drinkspiration have been very good.

I imagine that Absolut will create the same app for Android, Palm and maybe even BlackBerry sometime in the near future (Update: already plans to release an Android version as this article points out). They created an app that people will likely show off to friends at the bar which will lead to more downloads. There is a huge opportunity for a major beer company to create something similar for the beer category. I’m also wondering since Bluetooth enabled accessories will be a huge part of the iPhone market very soon if it would be possible for Absolut to develop an iPhone breathalyzer which would allow you to blow into it and display your blood alcohol level within the app.

Let me know your thoughts on this or any other recent examples of branded apps which you thought were well-done. Some others that come to mind right now are Dunkin Donut’s Dunkin Run, Oakley’s Surf Report, Charmin’s sponsored SitorSquat and Kraft’s iFood.

I wanted to highlight some of the advertising efforts that have gotten attention recently because of their creative use of technology. Video games, bands, major brands, and ad agencies themselves are all coming up with new ways to get attention online while typically leveraging the most popular social networks.

I placed the following examples into 4 categories: Social Media, Mobile, Interactive, and one honorable mention under Augmented Reality. Click on each example to check it out.

Social Media

The Protoype Experience

Prototype is a new game coming out (from Activision) on XBOX 360, PS3, and Windows. Sign in using your Facebook account, wait for it to load, and sit back and enjoy the game preview that’s customized with some of your Facebook data. It’s being described as the coolest use of Facebook Connect so far.

TRVSDJAM Mixtape

Simply connect using your Twitter account, post the auto-generated message with the #trvsdjam hashtag, and you get to download the new mixtape free of charge. Coldplay also recently released a free live album, but instead of a tweet, they just wanted your email address. What’s important to notice is how quickly good deals (especially free) have begun to spread now. Before it was mainly through forums, email, and instant messages, but now social networks are increasingly becoming the way most people share deals online.

It shouldn’t surprise you that this resulted in tons of links on Twitter and the hashtag #trvsdjam showing up in the trending topics for several hours. This also reminded me of another recent effort when Crank tried to take over your Facebook status. Advertisers have to be careful with this approach. Unless there is enough value in it for the consumer, the backlash against a campaign being considered spam can be brutal with the online crowd.

BooneOakley YouTube Home Page

Although this example is not advertising a product or service, it’s a genius way of an agency being creative with their own online home. Plenty has been said about this already but it’s a must see if you have not come across it yet. This is my new favorite agency website at the moment with a close second being Wexley School for Girls.

Quicksilver’s The Spot

I think they got this idea from the Honda Insight Let It Shine video on Vimeo, but that’s not important. This Quicksilver video got my attention (for long enough) to see that it ends with a skateboard being thrown at the screen. The shattering glass effect then shakes the browser window a few times which I had never seen before. I’ll take a shaking browser window over an auto-maximizing one any day.

Old Navy Supermodelquins

These Old Navy Twitter accounts might have been setup a while ago but I found out about them only after recently attending the Crispin Porter + Bogusky Digital Peepshow here in NY. Instead of just creating a general Old Navy Twitter account to push out deals and news, CP+B decided to take a different approach and created several accounts for the fictional store mannequins that are also featured in the latest TV ads. During the presentation, they mentioned Alex Bogusky does most of the tweeting for these accounts himself which I thought was very interesting I’m now following all of them, it’s like a comedic drama that takes place in my Twitter stream.

So lots of creative stuff being done with Twitter and Facebook. I don’t think that will slow down anytime soon since these are the two social networks where people spend the most amount of time right now. The introduction of Facebook Connect and Twitter OAuth has made it possible for digital agencies and brand marketers to create experiences like these instead of just the usual fan page or brand account.

Mobile

Digital iPhone controlled Ads

Although this idea is not something completely new, it’s the first I’ve seen with the iPhone. I don’t think many people will take the time to engage with these ads unless there is something in it for them (coupon, exclusive preview of product, etc). The linked article mentions “digital outdoor” but the ideal location for these types of ads will be indoor shopping malls. CBS has partnered with Westfield Shopping Centers so you should start to see these pop up soon at your local shopping mall.

One example of something similar to this was done as part of a campaign for NikeID in Times Square as Richard Ting, Executive Creative Director at R/GA pointed out to me. It also shouldn’t be long before more events and conferences create these types of setups allow people to play games or interact with live product demos.

Nissan Cube Accessorizer

Nissan created this iPhone app which lets you customize and build your own Nissan Cube. Essentially the same thing you could do online but now on your iPhone. What the app is missing is a way to share your customized Cube with friends or through Facebook once it’s customized. There isn’t even a way to save your car to bring in to a local dealer and order the exact configuration. Unfortunately, no matter how I customized it, I still couldn’t get it to even look somewhat decent. iTunes direct link is here.

Gillette uArt

I wouldn’t consider this a cool app but I wanted to mention it anyway. I downloaded the new Gillette iPhone app uArt because I thought it would be fun to see what I’d look like with different beards. I tried it out and within seconds found the app was a huge disappointment. A decent idea but the execution is terrible.

But I give Gillette credit for the recent How to Shave Your Groin video they put on YouTube that is already approaching close to a million views. Gillette is clearly putting some money toward unconventional marketing methods online and in mobile, but they need to work on the mobile part.

Overall, I had a lot of trouble finding good examples of branded iPhone apps, even with 50,000 in the store now. I do like the fact that more apps are starting to include Facebook/Twitter sharing options. The AP Mobile News app recently added this to their latest release so I can now use Facebook Connect and my Twitter account to share articles in less than 3 seconds.

Interactive

GTI Project

Although this VW site isn’t targeted toward the U.S. market, I still enjoyed this simple game because I am a car enthusiast and I’m always interested in anything VW/Audi related (I currently drive a Honda but have owned a VW & Audi). There is a leaderboard so if you’re competitive, it could suck you in until your time gets better and better.

There are probably a ton of other cool interactive sites that were just released, but this is just one that I recently came across after seeing a link to it on Twitter.

Augmented Reality

USPS Virtual Box Simulator

This was created by AKQA for their client, the United States Postal Service. It’s being described as one of the first practical uses of this technology. The first example using this technology that I came across was GE’s SmartGrid not too long ago which I thought was pretty amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing what else this can be used for like this video I found on YouTube.

Update: I came across a great blog post with 10 more great examples of augmented reality being used in recent campaigns.

Coming Soon

At the Digital Peepshow, Crispin Porter + Bogusky gave attendees a preview of a Facebook app they have been developing for their client Coke Zero. They partnered with the University of Illinois to license face recognition technology to create an app called the Facebook Profiler. The Facebook Profiler will analyze your photos and then find your look-alikes on Facebook (to promote Coke Zero tasting just like regular Coke). Keep an eye out for the app over the next couple of months and expect it to get as much attention as the Whopper Sacrifice app they released not too long ago.

Any other creative campaigns that I missed? Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr or comment below.

What I’d like to summarize as best as I can in this post is what Palm is doing online to engage with potential early adopters and long-time loyal Palm fans (which there are many of). I believe Palm could be considered a Prom King Brand, which advertising consultant Alan Wolk describes as a brand that people don’t mind “conversing” with. I think that alone has simply been the biggest factor in helping Palm successfully grow an online following.

Here are 7 things I noticed they are doing very well:

1. The Official Palm Blog

The blog looks to be managed by Palm’s Director of Online Communications, Jon Zilber and Palm’s PR agency, Edelman. It is updated a couple times a week, just enough to keep people coming back and interested. There are great discussions going on beneath most entries where Palm fans voice their opinions and seek answers to Pre questions (which usually get answered).

In Rohit Bhargava’s latest book, Personality Not Included, he refers to a great example of a Moleskine blog that was started by one passionate Moleskine customer, or what he calls an “accidental spokesperson” (pg. 59). Moleskine didn’t realize it would make sense for them to have a blog until one was started. The blog owner was later hired to officially continue his efforts for the brand. It’s obvious that a blog makes sense for Palm, especially since there are already several “unofficial” blogs out there that are doing very well. This official blog gives them better control over the information and rumors that are released about their own products.

The only thing I would suggest is for Palm to make it easier for visitors to share the content via Digg, Twitter, and Delicious.

2. Facebook Fan Page

The fan page is currently approaching 7,500 fans which is a solid start but still way behind BlackBerry which has 135,000 fans. The newsfeed is regularly updated with links to developing Palm news (even on other sites) and other online media. The Discussion board is very active and is used frequently to have featured Palm employees answer fan questions (where the accompanying blog entry directs you). Comments and Likes are common on most newsfeed items which makes it obvious the fans love the constant updates.

3. @Palm Twitter Profile

The Twitter profile appears to be for many purposes. The profile bio sums it up nicely, “Stay connected with Palm and learn about news, products, tips and tricks, deals and more.” Addressing customer support issues is another way they are using Twitter. What caught my attention was how well they are using their blog, Facebook, and Twitter together to host conversations and spread new content.

When asked about who handles the account, the reply was:

I think that will change after the Pre launches and the account grows along with Twitter.

4. Pre YouTube Channel

No need to go anywhere else, these videos straight from Sprint and Palm offer plenty of in-depth demonstrations of how the Pre will function and improve your mobile life. Apple did something similar for the iPhone but did it directly on Apple.com. Posting the videos on YouTube allows them to spread easily online by allowing people to embed them wherever they want. YouTube videos also tend to rank very high in Google search results.

5. Pre-Launch Pre Buzz

It’s becoming more common to see a brand highlight and try to aggregate all the buzz going on online in one location. Skittles drew a lot of attention to their site recently when they redesigned their homepage to link to Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook. If you head over to the Pre homepage on Sprint’s website, they are doing something similar but keeping it all on one page. I think this site also aligns nicely with their recent What’s Happening advertising campaign that got a lot of attention.

6. Become a Real Reviewer

The Real Reviewers program is a great way to give back to the online community by creating an opportunity for die hard fans to get their hands on a free Pre for 6 months. This type of transparent focus group can be great if the company really believes they are about to deliver an amazing product. Put it in the hands of some of your brand’s biggest fans and let them do what they do best.

This immediately reminded me of another similar project that was launched recently by Ford called the Fiesta Movement. Ford partnered with Ogilvy to identify 100 “agents” that get their very own Ford Fiesta for 6 months before anyone else in the U.S. These selected agents are already starting to create and share their experiences with the car on Twitter, YouTube, and their blogs. All this new content is being aggregated on the newly created Fiesta Movement website.

Just like Ford carefully chose their agents, Palm is looking for select applicants that are completely wired online (like me!) and heavily rely on their mobile phones for constant connectivity to their social networks. This post called Do Something Small on the Brains on Fire blog reminds marketers that really good things can come from putting a lot of time and effort into working with a small group of loyal customers instead of always trying to reach as many people as possible at once.

7. Notify Me Pre Alerts

SMS/Email alerts are still a great way to reach out to potential customers who are willing to opt-in to your brand and get the first updates about a new product or service. This method of engagement starts online and extends to email, text, or even live phone outreach if it makes sense.

Because Palm is a reputable company that I have known for many years, I trust that they will not use my personal info for any other purpose besides what I signed up for.

Final Thoughts

Palm had a rough couple of years, but with the Pre it certainly looks like they are about to strengthen their position as one of the major players in the smartphone market. Growing their online community and leveraging it to constantly improve upon their products will only help the company overall.

A couple of questions come to mind: How will they react to any negative feedback and press once the Pre is launched and how will they make sure their other products don’t fall off the grid?

Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr and while you are here, check out 6 ways to provide customer support and feedback online.

To get an even better idea of what Zappos looks like on the inside without reading up or taking a tour of their headquarters in Las Vegas, take a look at their YouTube Channel (where most of the videos are employee generated). At the moment, I can’t think of any other company that is empowering employees to use social media in this way (like Twitter). I already knew about the employee parades, but who knew they had a head shaving day? I think there is obviously a lot to learn about this approach of running a fast growing company with such a high level of transparency and giving employees this much freedom.

I wonder if Tony predicted how much attention and consistently great PR Zappos would get for operating the way they do. Why is it that I have blogged about them not one, or two, but three times now? It’s well known that they hit $1 billion in revenue last year and only recently have they started to actually spend money on TV advertising.

Make sure to read the full Inc. article here. Also check out my other post Happy employees get their own book and Robert Scoble’s recent post summarizing his visit to the company’s headquarters.

It started with this message on Friendfeed:

Although this amount of money isn’t enough to significantly change someone life, the post still led to a response of over 1,400 comments. When I saw he was giving it away on Friendfeed, I was interested to get Scoble’s thinking behind this approach so I asked him a few questions:

After you decided to give the money away, was doing it through Friendfeed your first reaction? Why didn’t you just give it to a charity?

I wanted to do something online instead of just giving money to a charity. I think it worked out wonderfully.

Do you think it would have worked if given away through Twitter?

Twitter wouldn’t be usable because I wouldn’t have been able to group replies like this. Also, I like Friendfeed a lot more and it’s more reliable and nicer for conversations.

One of the winners, Margaret, is using the money to help bring an Egyptian girl who suffers from a condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (like her own son) to Philadelphia for the surgeries. The condition affects 1 in 3000 and results in multiple fixed limbs and joint contractures. The $1,750 that she will be getting from Robert Scoble is only a small chunk of the $25,000 needed to cover all the trip’s expenses, but it has certainly gotten her a lot closer. You can find out more and donate money at the Big Life, Big Spirit website or follow @bigspirit on Twitter. I asked her:

Would you have ever thought being a Friendfeed user would have helped you get closer to your fundraising goal?

I have had more luck leveraging Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed for donations and awareness than my associate has with letter writing. It really was a fluke that I saw the contest. I hadn’t been on FriendFeed in awhile and just logged in. I saw the contest and realized it was ending that day. Any chance I get to promote Dolagy and the AMC community, is worth a shot. I posted the story and honest to god, I was speechless when I saw I won. The kindness of strangers sometimes blows me away. Actually since my son was born, my life has changed so much for the positive. Thanks to FriendFeed, Twitter, etc. I have gotten contacts to help publicize our efforts, look for Luxor-based videographers to capture her living conditions now (no luck yet but still hoping) and dozens of ideas on how to continue our efforts.

I think the social media community is so much tighter and willing to help each other. You would be amazed at the number of emails, tweets and messages I have gotten from people offering to help look over content, call a friend, offer a few dollars. When I started this project back in July I never honestly knew how valuable my online community would become to me. The full story of Jude, Dolagy, Shriners and myself is truly powerful and a strong example how you can be connected to someone you never met.

The other two winners were just as deserving - a student from England who will use the money to help pay for tuition and an art studio that was damaged during a California wildfire.

Her example is solid proof that all charities should now be putting a majority of their fundraising focus on social communities instead of traditional methods. In this example, Friendfeed made it easy to create an open thread that was easy for Scoble to read through and filter later on.

Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr. Further Reading: Well Wishes $2 You & Neighbors + Neighborhoods.

Gone are the days when the simple contact form or a lengthy FAQs section enough to provide the level of customer support savvy consumers now expect. And traditional feedback methods like focus groups and phone surveys don’t really make sense for primarily web-based companies.

Thankfully, there are now several online services available that help companies of any size go above and beyond to connect with their customers through social media, create self-help communities, and consult their early adopters for valuable feedback. What’s great about using the web for customer support and feedback is most of the methods mentioned below empower your own customers to help each other. In a recent post from Seth Godin, he states “Self-service customer support outperforms the traditional model because people don’t have to wait in line.” Effective online support will help get rid of those lines, therefore helping decrease operating costs and also increasing the amount of success stories that people will tell their friends about.

Here are just 6 online approaches I have seen companies taking recently, with examples of each in parentheses:

1. UserVoice (Sling Media & Twhirl)

Described as “Customer Feedback 2.0″, UserVoice is essentially an open forum that empowers users to prioritize and vote on product or service improvements they would like to see implemented first. It’s a great way to organize those requests into one location (instead of emails). UserVoice creates a new level of transparency when it comes to developments since any company using the service is now forced to constantly update their users and loyal customers on their progress. The option of embedding a tab onto any site creates a quick way for suggestions to be added to a company’s UserVoice page.

2. Get Satisfaction (Timbuk2 & Zappos)

Similar to UserVoice, Get Satisfaction offers a service that allows for embedding a widget that site visitors can quickly use to submit ideas and feedback. A major benefit of using Get Satisfaction is it creates one central location for questions, suggestions, problems, and testimonials without having to clutter a company’s own site. Employees join in to answer any concerns as soon as possible. Happy customers also love to leave praise on Get Satisfaction so it’s not always bad news when there is new activity.

3. Online Chat (Vimeo)

Online chat is instance and effective when done right but that all depends on the size of the company. Any customer would appreciate not having to deal with any case numbers or a waiting queue. If instant chat is an option, just click on the screen name link, make sure they are online (probably only during normal business hours), then start chatting to get help. Vimeo goes one step further by even putting faces behind the AIM screen names. Ironically, I found that neither Skype or AIM offer instant online help using their own chat clients.

4. Twitter (JetBlue & Comcast)

There is already a ton of discussion on how Twitter is being used by companies such as JetBlue and Comcast for customer service so I won’t get into that. Assuming someone from the company is constantly monitoring Twitter, it can be one of the quickest ways to address concerns online. The most important thing to note here is that negative feedback about a company can spread very quickly, so it’s up to the company to monitor Twitter to turn negative situations into positives.

5. Forums (Apple & Dell)

Forums have been around forever and are still a great, inexpensive way to support a community. The best benefit of an active forum is that your knowledgeable customers will most likely end up resolving other customer issues before your employees even have time to respond. That does not mean you shouldn’t have employees moderating the forums to make sure things are running smoothly.

6. Facebook Fan Page (Virgin America)

There are many ways a facebook page can be used - two of them include addressing customer concerns and soliciting feedback. As a fan page grows, companies should pay closer attention to new discussion board posts and comments left by fans and respond through a private or public messages to any concerns. There are also add-ons like the Reviews app which allows fans to leave reviews of the company on your fan page.

Final Thoughts

Of course many companies use several variations of the above to keep customers happy. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to evaluating which of these different approaches any one company should take. Do a Google search for ‘online customer service’ and you will find a ton of services promising you to be the best and cheapest solutions. Most of these offerings are complete crap which likely don’t get any love now that there are options like the 6 above.

Am I missing any other methods which you have noticed companies using recently? Why is one way better than another? Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr.

The image hosting service TwitPic has become one of the most popular 3rd party services for Twitter. Because of its popularity, most of the mobile Twitter apps that are available offer an easy way to upload pictures directly to TwitPic to post along with your text update.

While breaking events and celebrity photos generally get the most views, you can browse through the hundreds of the pictures being uploaded every couple of minutes by typing ‘twitpic’ into Twitter Search. Without any stats, I thought a little about what people are most likely uploading the most to TwitPic and came up with these 5 things (click on them to see the latest Twitter search results or click on image to enlarge).

1. Sunsets

When you get to witness a great sunset, your first reaction is likely to take a picture if you have a camera. For Twitter users, that first reaction is taking a picture, uploading it to TwitPic, then posting it to Twitter. Almost as frequently as sunsets, people are tweeting pictures of rainbows.

2. Dessert

What is it about desserts that makes us want to remember what they looked like before we devour them? Probably because for most of us it’s a rare occasion. Thanks for making everyone else on Twitter jealous but just remember who is going to be feeling better after it’s all gone.

3. Puppies

Puppy pics might be a close tie with cute babies. Either way, Cute Overload should be paying attention.

4. Driving

Probably not the a great idea (especially while holding onto an iced coffee) but people are doing it anyway. Hopefully your next tweet won’t include a TwitPic of your car accident.

5. Drunk Photos

Why only regret drunk dialing or texting one of your friends when now you can reach several people at once through drunk Twittering? I say do whatever you can to share these funny moments with everyone (Twitter can be too serious), just don’t drop your iPhone doing so.

We should also start to see more drunk videos posted through Qik, Seesmic, and 12seconds.tv as more phones come with video recording options. This is only going to continue to get more interesting as Twitter adoption grows and as mobile phones come equipped with higher resolution cameras. I hope TwitPic considers adding a better way to sort and view the best pictures being uploaded.

Any other common or funny trends that you have noticed lately?

Leave a comment below with a link to some other good Twitter search results or TwitPic’s you have come across. Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr.

In this interview, Tony Hsieh talks about the several ways the company differentiates itself (many of which are widely known but others not). He also goes on to mention that Zappos releases a book every year called The Culture Book that consists of authentic employee responses when they are asked what the Zappos culture means to them. I got a hold of this year’s book by emailing Tony. After browsing the book and reading through some of the responses, you immediately get the feeling that Zappos employees are very proud of working for the company no matter what position they hold (book is organized by departments).

So why put this book together? The answer to that is not clear, but the book says it does get “distributed to employees, prospective employees, business partners, and even some customers.” So that alone should tell you it’s very likely used as an effective way of recruiting new employees and further proving to the business world that Zappos is onto something.

Your employees are happy and they are not afraid to tell their story, why wouldn’t you want everyone to know?

Besides this interview, there is already tons of discussion on what differentiates Zappos as a company and now as a major brand, but I keep finding myself amazed at how seriously they take employee and customer satisfaction and how open they are with sharing their reasons for success. Tony’s presentation from a conference last year on how they got to $1 billion is sales is even available on Slideshare.

When I posted about the Zappos Culture book on Twitter, Julio Fernandez (@SocialJulio) replied with this important question:

Whatever happens, I think the Zappos story is becoming more valuable as time goes on and as they continue growing with very little marketing. Email Tony to get a free copy of The Culture Book (he replied to me within a few hours and I had the book in 2 days) or buy a copy on their site.

How are they being used by brands? The smart brands are the ones that have already thought of ways to connect with a large base of current iPhone users (Kraft, Obama, Audi, to name a few). Most other major brands are most likely in the process of or just starting to think about developing an iPhone app because of the successes they are continuing to hear about. But only a select few out of the rapidly growing database of 20,000+ apps with be successful because they will either be really useful, linked to a well-liked brand, or very creative. Of course the longer it takes for the app to be released, the smaller the chance of it being successful. It’s worthwhile to note that companies like Remember the Milk, Salesforce, Mint.com are creating iPhone apps to supplement their web services as an added benefit to offer to their customers. Some of the most impressive apps aren’t just displaying content in a mobile-friendly manner, but also paying very close attention to creating a sleek user interface and coming up with unique ways to engage people using the iPhone’s features.

What about publishers? They need to recognize that besides an electronic reading device like the Kindle, people are already browsing their content frequently on the iPhone (and most likely not having the best experience if nothing has been developed for them). Even though it will take time, the iPhone will be a big advertising platform for publishers in the future. Besides newspapers, I think most major magazines will have iPhone apps soon. What they will need to figure out is a revenue model that makes sense because as of now the app store does not allow publishers the freedom of charging readers a recurring monthly fee to subscribe to the latest content downloads. The first successful magazine app will owe a lot of it’s success from free PR and it looks like Lucky Magazine and People Magazine are very close to launching. Update: Apple has announced that the 3.0 software update will allow subscription based purchases to be made within the app. Great news for publishers.

How are they affecting the gaming industry? The cost of the app plays a huge factor, but not as much as you might think. We are starting to see more findings that indicate increases in spending for apps on mobile devices. People are willing to spend $5-$10 on good game because it’s an inexpensive alternative when compared to most video games that cost over $40. It’s only a matter of time before more games that offer online play gain in popularity just as we saw happen for all the major gaming consoles over the past couple of years and the classis example of the iPhone game Tap Tap Revenge. While no one is sure yet if increasing sales of iPhone games are damaging the sales of the major players, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the iPhone’s popularity is already hurting the sales of other handheld gaming devices.

Some further reading: 8 reasons for building an iPhone Web application, Mobile ROI: You get what you pay for, and Apple iPhone controls over 66% of all mobile web use.

In that short section, he briefly explains what Twitter is all about and then mentions one example of how Laura Fitton (@pistachio) built enough trust over time to grow her following to just over 16,000 people. Laura obviously saw huge potential in using Twitter as a tribe building tool early on. While building her own tribe, she also impacted the lives of many others who have now managed to build tribes of their own.

The essential lesson is that every day it gets easier to tighten the relationship you have with the people who chose to follow you.

There are hundreds of other examples of leaders increasing their reach though using different online mediums. The first two that come to mind are Guy Kawasaki, who started with his blog How to Change the World and Gary Vaynerchuck, through his Wine Library TV videos. Godin emphasizes in the book that although these online methods can be very successful, they are still not the only answer in building a tribe of followers.

But never forget: it’s about quality not quantity. You will hear this many times on Twitter and its been discussed over and over. I am sure there are some users (like Tad Chef) with 200 close followers that are getting the same amount of benefit from using Twitter than some who have 2,000 uninterested people following them. 2,000 close followers could take a few days or a few years for some people to attain, but the best thing you can do it just stay patient and continue to lay the foundation. A tribe leader must always focus on gaining the trust of people first no matter what method they are using, online or offline. Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr.