slamboard

Just last week I sat in the car waiting for a ferry while Catherine sat beside me working on her laptop with a newly purchased 3G connection. It’s pretty cool. Since we work at home, taking a laptop on a trip is a carefully considered decision. If there are no anticipated waits, if there is no pressing business, then it could be like carrying around an 8 1/2 pound, three figure brick.

iPhone could go 3G soon and Nokia may beat them to the punch.

Source for this post: Washington Post

This invisibleSHIELD video might be the biggest workout that these geeks have ever had in their lives. They spend most of this video piling weights on a stretched sheet of their polyurethane film product. Scratch proofing is a smart investment for pricey gadgets like the iPhone and this material is obviously not flimsy. This is the same material that is used to protect the leading edge of helicopter blades by the US Army.

A cute girl walks by partway through the video, BTW.

You might have not noticed that iPhone went on sale in the UK recently. I didn’t. I’m sure it was a very life changing day for thousands of technophiles and sheep-like consumers within the UK.

There are some headlines hailing the launch as disastrous, one authorized dealer, Carphone Warehouse had a technical problem that stalled the complex transaction process. People also hailed the sales tally as underwhelming. The service provider, O2, is pointing out that it is the biggest sales weekend for a handheld device in the nation’s history.

I think the negativity was inevitable because of the simple fact that people are not lining up to be the first iPhone owners ever. In fact, the German launch occurred 18 hours earlier.

The iPhone was developed in secrecy and the third party applications that were available before the 1.1.1. software update were not welcomed by Apple. I don’t know if any writers will say that the ’soon’ to arrive software development kit is a change of heart, but if they do they will be wrong. The timing of some actions by Apple may have been driven by emotion to some slight degree, but the stages are cold calculated marketing. I think that the promise of future development of applications that do not void warranty may make users less inclined to try underground apps.

According to a blogger on Wired, one of the unique things about the iPhone is that if a hacker can can access to one application of an iPhone, gaining access to everything on the phone is easy. Some of the potential malice he described is like something from a movie. Imagine if someone can gain remote access to you phone and execute a command that makes the phone take pictures and send them back to the hacker. If I had an iPhone…which I do NOT…I would be putting some kind of make shift lens cover on that puppy right about now. Of course, a hacker can also use malicious code to turn your phone into a listening device. I’m guessing that these real time Spy Versus Spy type applications won’t be used by private citizens that much. The kids will probably just steal you text message history and list of phone numbers.

I was just talking about cell phone recycling today. Now the news comes out that Greenpeace has deemed the iPhone to be toxic. One of their main problems with the phone is that the design is an obstacle to easy recycling of the battery. They also strongly disapprove of the lead soldering that exists inside these phones. Government bodies in the USA and the UK have approved the phone with reference to environmental standards.

I have not always agreed with everything that Greenpeace does, but I am happy to see them calling Apple on this. Companies who act like the leaders of an industry need to walk the walk.

If you enjoy hearing more about the iPhone users who have ended up with a useless phone as a result of their ‘hacking’ efforts, here is a podcast from Newsweek.

I am waiting anxiously for someone to write a quintessential marketing case study of the iPhone. It seemed like the pre sales hype had a level and a character somewhat different than any other examples that I can think of. Post sales has been a cascade of disappointments for some people and overall I think the World has been underwhelmed.

If you like making slick, short promotional videos, then Black Turtle Media wants your work!.

If you type ‘So Much Plastic’ in the search box on YouTube, you will see one of the short films that I made. As you can see, my work is not quite as slick and polished as it could be. Animation is supposed to have at least 16 frames per second to fool the eye and I think I was at about 5 for the middle part of this video. I also have trouble getting the sound levels just right on my videos.

The premise of Black Turtle Media is that they allow open submission of amateur promotional video. Many people are very tired of the advertisements that are produced by mainstream advertisers. I myself agree that they often lack imagination. More accurately, if one imaginative ad works, the industry spends about two years replicating the same idea to try and sell everything from beer to pregnancy tests.

If you want to make an iPhone video, go for it and send it to blackturtlemedia.com. They are even running a contest and the best video stands to win $5,000. For the contest, you can choose from these topics…the Apple iPhone, Halo3 or Decision 2008.

The contest is determined by voting from viewers. I watched a couple of videos on BlackTurtleMedia.com this morning. There is a real range as far as quality and creativity. I think a latecomer with a catchy video would have a good chance of walking away with the money.

I am curious as to whether the company and individuals that are being promoted are aware of this promotion. I am sure Apple and the Makers of Halo3 at least know about Black Turtle. I suspect that some of the Presidential candidates are not aware of this grassroots campaigning. Bear in mind that if a candidate does not officially approve of a message, they should not be held responsible for its content. That is, unless there is evidence of unofficial approval.

There was so much enthusiastic promotion of the iPhone in the lead up to its release and some of the videos on blackturtlemedia.com are prime examples of that atmosphere. Now that the products are in hand, user ads are taking a different tone. They are pretty cool gadgets and if I had one, I would use it for more than finding good calamari.

Will Europeans line up for iPhones?

No, they will queue.

The other major difference as far as Apple is concerned is that the service provider (T-mobile) in Europe is said to be generously forking over a share in it’s voice revenue. AT&T is only providing a cut of its data revenue to the manufacturer.

I have to wonder if many Europeans will take a wait and see attitude, given the huge price drop in the US after only two months of sales?

The one hundred dollar credit is available to people who bought an iPhone before August 22nd.

If you are a subversive type that activated your phone through some alternative method as opposed to the inconvenient, expensive AT&T way…you don’t get the credit.

You can’t use the credit to get iTunes gift cards. I think there should be a streamlined option involving a $100 donation to charity.