fetjuel’s Friends and Family

Not All Customers Fit

nobody@vox.com(Jon) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 09:07:57 -0700

In 1997, I worked at an ISP in the Bay Area doing technical support. My boss told me "the customer is not always right. That's why they're calling us, after all." Of course that old adage is referring to customers being treated well because they make your business, not their grasp of technical ISP details. But while his logic was flawed, I still do agree with his central point for a sightly different reason: the customer is not always right, because not everyone is a match to every product or service.

For example, a person making $30,000 a year might contact Mercedes and complain bitterly that Mercedes' are too expensive. And they are, for this customer, because he is not a fit with the Mercedes target demographic. This customer should be politely listened to, his comments filed away, and his opinion taken in stride. Maybe Mercedes should get into the budget market. But maybe not. The customer isn't "right", he just has his opinion and it may or may not line up with corporate objectives.

My company recently started charging money for our service. We had announced for about two years that we were in an open beta, and that we would eventually try to make money at this. (while keeping a free option available with fewer features)

On one hand, I was surprised how many people were level-headed about the change. There was a lot of "Damn it! Ok, I'll pay." or "Damn it! I can't afford that but I understand." And that's great.

But there were still the people that demanded that we keep giving them a free ride. And not only are we not for them, I'm happy to see them go. Our service costs money to operate, so I'm happy to see these "free or die" people go and cost our competition money. Money they will never, ever recoup, because these are customers whose primary metric is how free the service is.

If you decide that you are never paying for software, don't be surprised when your options are limited. Or if some businesses are more than happy to see you go. You're not "right", you're "cheap", and that's not a match with every company.

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You can't fault them for trying

nobody@vox.com(Jon) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:54:01 -0700

Apparently T-Mobile is going to make their own AppStore, but it'll be for the entire carrier instead of just one phone.

And they probably think 1000x the phones means 1000x the profit. I see 1000x the complexity. Or at least 5x the complexity considering that's the number of different platforms. Plus some multiplier because dealing with two platforms is more than twice as hard as only handling one.

Imagine the AppStore launch with ten times the delay and ten times the complexity and bugs. With no killer phone.

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McDonalds and Microsoft are Improving

nobody@vox.com(Jon) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:04:13 -0700

A new series of McDonalds commercials shows two hipsters discussing McDonalds' new espresso. When the word "McDonalds" is uttered, the hipsters recoil, and then one admits that they like McDonalds. Then the other admits it too, and they riff about how they're tired of being pretentious, and head off to the nearest McDonalds franchise.

I think these ads are fantastic because they're at least partially realistic. In the last decade we've been treated to the "Isn't it hilarious how fanatical our fans are?" ad countless times, but they're never for brands that anyone feels that strongly about. Brands that really do get people crazy like Apple and Harley-Davidson don't run ads like those. So instead it's some Sprite commercial where a guy builds a spaceship out of Sprite bottles because he wants to Obey His Thirst ... in space.

But the McDonalds ad doesn't pretend people are fanatical, or even neutral. They openly admit that McDonalds isn't cool, however briefly, before continuing with their pitch. And allowing this little ray of reality to intrude on what ends up being a pretty generic new product pitch makes all the difference. By making a tiny bit of fun of their bad PR, they look clued in. This is something McDonalds some trouble with, and these ads address it well.

Microsoft?

I am a big time Apple and Microsoft watcher, so Ballmer's quote about Apple a few weeks ago gave me pause. Rather than continuing with the approach that made Microsoft, often referred to as the "ecosystem" strategy, Ballmer openly announced that they're moving away from it. In favor of Apple's "own everything" strategy. Because the ecosystem strategy doesn't work for fantastic user experience.

This is huge. It's like America saying capitalism isn't working well, so they're going to try communism. It's amazing that they're going to pivot to an approach they have always looked down on, and it's doubly amazing that Microsoft, who is traditionally more arrogant than Apple, is admitting the need to change.

It's huge enough that I'm a little scared for Apple and AAPL. There are two reasons that Apple has been able to differentiate itself in the last decade: owning the hardware and the software, and Microsoft's apparent refusal to admit that their strategy needs improvement, allowing Apple to get away with murder without a real response from Redmond.

Now that Microsoft has admitted it has a problem, they might start achieving great things again. Apple should be worried.

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Chili Crab is delicious...

nobody@vox.com(hachi) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:01:52 -0700

Chili Crab is delicious.

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Glee

nobody@vox.com(Jon) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:35:07 -0700

I remember the Mac shareware boom in the 90's. You'd get a CD-ROM tucked inside a Mac magazine stuffed full of shareware goodies and the quality was actually pretty good. I'd usually find a few gems per disc.

I remember the version tracker boom several years ago. It was sort of like the first boom but with all the improvements the Internet enables, like ratings, comments, and "more like this" sidebars.

I think the AppStore boom is going to be a much bigger deal. The distribution is better, sure,, but the exciting part is that this will be a whole new platform.

I think I'm about to download about 100 new apps in the near future. I'm not kidding or exaggerating.

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The Obama Surprise

nobody@vox.com(Jon) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:21:15 -0700

Obama is a centrist. If this is a shock to you, you *really* haven't been paying attention.

This is why i'm voting for him. If you want a liberal version of Bush, completely unwilling to compromise and keeping your lib cred intact, I hear Nader is running again.

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Brainstorming design

nobody@vox.com(Jon) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:05:38 -0700

My favorite thing art school was the peer review. I loved getting feedback on my art, and I loved talking to other artists about their approach. It made all of us better.

I just got back from Apple's big developer conference, and realized how much I missed peer reviews. I don't know that I have ever had an idea of higher quality than the ideas that routinely bubble out of a brainstorming session.

I am thrilled about the ideas I will be implementing in the coming months, but I can't take sole credit for any of them. But I don't mind.

It's like being given the best food you've ever tasted - don't be mad it's not your recipe, learn from it, enjoy it, and incorporate it into your personal cookbook.

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Got me a new laptop at work

nobody@vox.com(hachi) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:02:02 -0700

So one of the things I did to build it up... I branded it.

DSC01972

20 minutes of fiddly work (mostly figuring out how to make a dos boot disk on a usb key)

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The Trip, On An iPhone

nobody@vox.com(Jon) — Sun, 25 May 2008 19:47:10 -0700

We've been dreading this for months, maybe years. One of my main parenting fears has always been traveling. I can deal with all sorts of tough parenting problems in the home, but throw my screaming baby on a plane full of strangers and I'm at a loss. I'd prefer to be at home 10 to 1 for most things, but dealing with a baby is more like 1000 to 1.

There were to be 5 flights total. The first was pretty long an the kid did great. Then we got cocky, and each progressive flight was worse than the one before it.

I'm now in the final hour of the final flight. Things got downright hellish at first, but we eventually got him to sleep. Then some more. Now he's lazing on Sarah and he looks like an angel.

A few hours ago I was two screams away from never traveling again. Now I'm being flooded with relief, with sympathy for how much these trips must have been hard for him.

I'm not quite ready to admit it until we're safely off the plane, but this was so hard, and so worth it. Just like being a dad.

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First Laptop in a Decade

nobody@vox.com(Jon) — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:12:59 -0700

The last time I used a laptop was during the last internet bubble. It was a gorgeous Powerbook G3, it was black, and I took it with me everywhere.

But then I got tired of the limitations of a laptop when compared to a desktop. Less expandable, more expensive, more likely to break, slower. And sure, I could bring it with me wherever I went, but it made my shoulder hurt. After leaving school to go to a full time job, which provided me with several computers, it didn't seem that useful to be mobile.

But now it is, and I love it. Laptops have a personality. They're like your favorite pair of jeans that fit perfectly because you wear them all the time. And thanks to Apple's Migration Assistant, I was able to easily move over all the things I need from my big lumbering desktop system.

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