Google vs Apple: TNG

Apple invests a billion dollars on a datacenter to host cloud based services for iDevices ('iCloud' - shockingly original) which it will make available free to Apple device users.

So some very interesting things happening here:

One, Apple giving stuff away free, which is a shock from which I will recover only over the next couple of weeks.

Two, Apple's selling the hardware at a premium (iPad, iPhone, etc), selling apps cheaply, and giving services away free. This is in sharp distinction to the normal model of selling the base hardware cheaply to lock customers in and make money on the services and apps. If you see video game consoles, for example, manufacturers often make a loss on the hardware to make a profit on the games sold.

And three, Apple's being forced to compete where Google is strong, up on the cloud, which may not end up that well for Apple. Google's cost of running huge datacenters is far lower than anybody else (long story), so the economics would seem to suggest Google 1, Apple 0. Having said that, Apple had no choice - with Android having access to GMail, Picasa, and now Google Music Beta, Android users have had evolving functionality from 2008-2009 which iOS users will only potentially get in Sep-2011. Here goes hoping it's not another MobileMe disaster.

Fun question: Where's Microsoft? It's testimony to how the world has changed that the hottest technology battle is between Google and Apple. One generation's monopolist is the next-generation's almost-ran... WP7, I'm looking at you!

Google: April 1st, 2010 - Vowel Outage, and counting

Check out Google's 'vowel outage'... living up to their tradition of April 1st. ;-)

If they've implemented this by way of code, which, being Google, they probably have, it's quite impressive. I hope they haven't fallen to the level of having recoded their pages manually to get rid of the vowels - below their standard.

The fun would be if the same page renders with vowels for some users, and without for others, based on a probability function. This is what I hope they've done, based on the statement '... for a subset of users...' (check out http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/todays-vowel-outage.html) in which case, very cool.

I think what I like most about Google is the cool factor. The idea is not to somehow, anyhow, reach out to people, which is what most advertising tries to do. The idea is to put something up and let it hang, and trust some people to get it. And not really care that the whole world doesn't, while secretly knowing that everybody and his uncle wants to be 'in the know', so the chaps who do get it waste no time in trumpeting it to everybody else, so actually you're able to get the same result while spending a ton less and ensuring much better acceptability of the message. While also creating a bunch of Google ambassadors, so to speak, who're doing the word-of-mouth advertising.

My favourite example of this business of 'put it up there and let it hang' is their recruitment campaign based off a billboard. If you're not familiar with it, you may want to check it out here: http://news.cnet.com/Google-recruits-eggheads-with-mystery-billboard/2100-1023_3-5263941.html

The importance of perspective

The human tendency to get sucked into problems and 'zoom in' in an effort to get into further and further detail to resolve them carries the heavy penalty of making mountains out of molehills, and fearsome alien warriors out of ants... while it is very difficult to maintain perspective at such times, the value is undeniable.

To be able to step out from one's skin and, at will, observe the world with detachment, regardless of circumstance or situation, should be the correct definition of emotional maturity.

In the absence of such self-control, calm is merely the absence of sufficient stimulus, and not a state of mind...