Walking dead

On January 12, 2012

Not all mismanaged companies are dying, as not all well managed companies are surviving.

What’s dying for sure, though, is a company that no longer sees anybody caring for it, be it employees, managers, stock owners or founders. For short, if there no longer are any more persons that really care for that company, as a whole (as in “feeling it”, or “loving it”) and to be able to act accordingly – then that company is dead.

That doomed company is kept in coma by its high-rank tenants who strive to milk its last drop; the comatose state, on the other hand, is technically dependent on several key people, which, usually, are not aware of their crucial importance. The tenants are not aware either of the importance of these people that are playing the roles of “artificial lungs” and “artificial hearts”.

The show is over when one of these “artificial organs” is arbitrarily unplugged.

If you believe “care” is too vague, then you never had a company of your own or never had the chance to work for a living one.

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A good kind of copying Apple

On January 12, 2012

Warren Ellis (via Daring Fireball) on Amazon customer support:

“Isn’t it strange, to be so shocked by actual efficient, friendly and delightful customer service?  To have a global electronics company say, “well, hell, we’re sorry about this, how about we sort this out quickly and cheaply for you instead of humping you right in the eyesockets and stealing your wallet?” “

Copying good strategies and tactics is the next best thing that can happen in a market (second to inventing them); mimicking products and features, as Samsung and Google do – is subhuman.  Don’t give me the “this is business” crap; a circus chimp is also making  money by mimicking people, that doesn’t turn it into a human.

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Selling “Samsung”

On January 12, 2012

John Biggs on Samsung being the next Apple:

“Then consider Samsung’s lead in cellphone sales. While many would argue that Samsung specializes in meh and me-too, 60 million cellphones sold in 2011 can’t be a fluke. This isn’t about Android or iOS or Windows Phone – it’s about Samsung making and selling millions of phones to millions of people. Samsung is mercenary. They’re happy to use anyone’s OS as long as it puts phones into boxes and boxes into shopping bags.

So you have two superlatives: biggest phone manufacturer and biggest TV manufacturer. Add in some tablets, some washing machines, and some acceptable software and you have a real and vibrant ecosystem. The next year will bring plenty of efforts to bring streaming media into the home, but the guy who is already there will win.”

Federico Viticci against Biggs argument:

“John Biggs surely has been to CES more times than I have (actually, I never have) and he knows this industry, but he’s plain wrong.“

“Biggs being wrong” is only a byproduct of “Biggs trying to sell Samsung & Android to Wall Street”. His main objective is not having a point based on facts, but gathering arguments for people to invest any kind of resources into these two brands (Samsung and Android). He’s just a drummer.

On “Samsung selling two TVs a second” – I’ve seen this before, it’s called “Nokia”. Not an argument anymore.

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Android is different

On December 20, 2011

In most comparative reviews between iPhone and, say, Samsung’s or HTC’s phones, there’s a small sophism that’s omni-present: Android is just “different” from iOS.

(On the other hand, the hardware comparative reviews are mostly clear: that device is better than the other (specs-wise). When it comes to software, boy, Android is simply different.)

Let’s put things straight: “something is different from something else” only means that the two things are not identical, which is a tautology. Anybody talking about two distinct things and saying the most important thing about them is that they are different – well, he is just trying to throw dust into your eyes; he’s not saying anything at all. He’s not just being polite, he’s plainly misleading.

It’s like saying the most important thing about “2″ and “3″ is that the two digits are different. No sir, “one is bigger than the other” is the most important, generic thing to say about them.

Android is different from iOS means “Android is not identical to iOS”. No shit?

The most important fact is that Android is not just “different” from iOS; Android, today, is a worse operating system than iOS, at least from two perspectives: customer experience and developing objectives.

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Kindle Fire sales rate

On December 20, 2011

I’ve read a strange assertion today:

“As a developer I’m interested in this [Kindle Fire sales rate] because I want to know how many Kindle Fires are being sold, and thus how large of a potential market for my apps the Amazon Appstore presents.” David Smith.

Suppose Kindle Fire sells like hell, so tomorrow there are 200 million Fires in the market. Will this make your app work better on Android? What are you guys building apps for, money or pleasure?

Cause “money” doesn’t sell anymore.  

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Charlie Miller getting banned out of Apple’s dev program

On November 8, 2011

“Security Researcher Reveals iOS Security Flaw, Gets Developer License Revoked” - MacRumors.

The guy got banned not because of what he discovered, but because of what he actually uploaded into the AppStore: the damn malicious code. That’s a big difference.

Forget about “proof of concept”; you don’t prove your gun works by shooting somebody.

 

Money for nothing

On October 22, 2011

Marco Arment:

“One of the reasons people get so emotionally attached to Apple is that the entire experience, from walking into the store and buying something to using it at home, is so starkly different that there’s a strong feeling that Apple is saving us from the Best Buys of the world.” marco.org

Well, some say it’s just a mass hypnosis or even a religious drive for Apple to have that many customers… What else can they say, when they are spending a shitload of money just to be able to sell expensive crap in their cheap stores?

Also, as a corollary, can you guess which one is more expensive: an ugly, useless, 50$ piece of crap that never works properly, or a functional, beautiful, 200$ tool?

Right! The 50$ crap is 100 times more expensive than the 200$ tool. Apple’s margins are so very thin, compared to such a theft.  

 

iOS security issues

On October 22, 2011

“Siri and the SmartCover can unlock your iDevices”; switch off the cover unlock-screen option, passkey your Siri and shut up!

Nobody else has ever built anything close to these two, so don’t fucking tell me these are the “iOS Achilles heel” or that “the iOS security got compromised” because of the most creative inventions of the year.

Buy an Android instead, these ones never get unlocked with a SmartCover.

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Apple lost the hat they never had

On October 19, 2011

Apple “missed” Wall Street’s expectations today, with its Q4 figures. It didn’t miss though its own expectations, the guiding mark from June. For the record, the headline is: Apple missed.

On the other hand, Yahoo! “managed” to meet Wall Street’s expectations, although Yahoo never expected anything from itself. For the record, the headline is: Yahoo did a good job in Q4.

So, back in June, Apple said: We’re going to be a bit pessimistic about Q4 earnings, as we are going to change our product strategy, therefore we expect lower figures. That was a hat they considered fit.

The next second, Wall Street said: Apple is doing better and better, they have to be doing soooo much better than they are saying; let’s set a higher expectation mark than theirs! That was a bigger hat than Apple forecasted.

Today, Apple pulled the real hat out of its reports, and the hat fitted perfectly. Wall Street’s didn’t.

But Wall Street had been selling its own larger hat for months! Everybody bought it and hoped to get rich in 3 months. Make no mistake: Wall Street sells its forecasts for real money. The investors trust Wall Street, as most of them are unable to follow or understand Apple’s trajectory. So they buy this trust from Wall Street.

Wall Street becomes just a very expensive Google Translate for investors.

The problem is Wall Street’s hat was no good; it was too large. People who bought it had a quick and strong feeling they were deceived.

Who’s to blame? The hatter or customer’s head? Although the answer may look obvious, if there isn’t any other hatter in town and you have already paid good money for that larger hat, you’re going to wear the hat anyway!

In order to make everybody’s life easy, Wall Street decided today to pay the press to blame the customer (Apple) for having a far smaller head for such a beautiful large hat.

So, instead of reading “Wall Street missed Apple’s real trajectory” headline, you’re reading “Apple missed Wall Street’s forecast”.

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The new iPhone5

On October 8, 2011

I ask everybody who complains about Apple releasing “only an upgrade, not a new product”: would you have preferred a new form factor and a new name, for unchanged specs, or would you have preferred new specs and more power in the same body called 4S?”.

Craving for a new form (teardrop or whatever) and a new name is like craving for a new set of earrings and beads, no matter what.

What’s really bothering everybody is Apple being stubborn at keeping the “4″ in its new device name, besides being stubborn at keeping the exact form for 4S.

Truth is, Apple purposefully chose to keep some things unchanged: the categories. It only added more capacity to the already existing categories. Because what Apple values more than spoiling the users is helping the third parties spoiling the users.

Imagine all the accessories producers, app developers and retail chains, they all hailed this decision; they all instantly thought: “It’s so much better for us, we can build more and better products and services for Apple customers“. Who else in this world can say the same for their supported brand? (Wait! What are the other companies that offer and get so much support to / from third parties…?)

On the other hand, when did Apple do what its users dreamt? Apple users always start dreaming after they buy the product, never before. Those who dream before buying are Microsoft and Google users. And their dreams are never coming true.  

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