Archive for March, 2011

CTIA – Thoughts from the home office

I have to admit that when I was first asked to attend CTIA on behalf of my company, the first thing that came to mind was “oh no, not another freaking trade show…I have better things to do with my time”.  Well, while I could certainly point to portions of the show that made me long to go swimsuit shopping with my daughter again (see previous post), the majority of the show was quite insightful.  Enjoyable, even.

I started sessions on Monday, one day before the official start, and participated in some great discussions on mobile marketing and promotion.  Panelists discussed whether mobile apps would still be relevant, if mobile advertising would finally get its groove both here and across the world, and how and when major brands should make their push into mobile.

But perhaps the best discussion of the first day was around the whole “ecosystem” process, and it if really works.  People went around and were asked to rate the performance of the ecosystem, with scores going anywhere from 5-8.  About half way in the discussion, the statement about control of the user came up and how different parts of the ecosystem weren’t willing to relinquish control, rendering the system less than efficient.  I challenged the panel on that, and asked a simple question:  ”Why?”  I mean, if the ecosystem is designed to make all these players work so much better as a team rather than individually, then why is this failing.  I know as an industry we are really struggling with this, and it’s perhaps because there really isn’t a true ecosystem, but instead, there is just a bunch of companies all vying for a part of the same end asset – the customer.  Doesn’t sound/seem very collaborative.

I sense there is a better way.  There has to be.

During the sessions, it was great to connect with folks from a lot of major brands and share with them where Nuance plays in the aforementioned, uh, “ecosystem”.  I really believe that speech will play an important role moving forward in mobile experiences, and it’s not just because I work for Nuance and run the Mobile Developer Program.

So that was Day 1.  And it was good.

Day 2 started off with a keynote from Dan Hesse.  I don’t remember much of what he said.  What I do remember was the moderated discussion between Dan Hesse, Dan Mead, and Ralph de la Vega, all moderated by Jim Cramer.  It was a great exchange, especially the zingers from Dan Hesse (he was definitely the scrappy third wheel in the middle, but he played it well).  It’s funny; I was a Sprint customer for years due to their cheap plans and decent network coverage.  I finally had to give up my service when my company wanted me to get on the corporate plan with VZW.  I’ve had no complaints with VZW, but also never really had any complaints with Sprint.

The rest of the day was filled with client meetings, and a few informative sessions.  More discussions on mobile marketing, app store strategies, and retail.  Also got to catch up with my good friend and old colleague Assaf Baciu, who now works for Upstream Systems in the UK.  They really had an amazing booth – felt very much like something out of some utopia movie.

Tuesday night, Nuance won the MobileTrax 2011 Mobility Award for Dragon Dictation, and I attended the MobileTrax award banquet and received the award on behalf of the company.  I also met up with some familiar faces and met some new ones.

On Day 3, my fearless leader Scott Taylor had an impromptu invitation to participate on a panel to discuss the future of device interaction.  Right in his sweet spot, he did an amazing job fielding where alternative input mechanisms (other than keyboards) will become necessary as apps become more complex.  The other panelists concurred, and I bet we will continue to see the benefits of collaboration in this area between speech, haptic, and other technology providers.

Day 4 was the WIPJam day.  This was amazing.  It was focused solely on the app developer community.  It was my first WIPJam, and I met so many interesting people, and learned a lot about what different people are dealing with trying to create, market, and profit from apps that they build.  Bottom line – it’s not a cakewalk, and not for the faint of heart.  It may seem easy to just go out there, build an app, and put it on the app store, but unless you just want to be app #300,001, you’ve gotta be a LOT more creative about what you’re actually selling.

So, that’s a very quick wrap on the week.  I have to say I was glad at the end that I had attended.  I’m hoping that many of the meetings I had will turn into business opportunities, but beyond that, I’m just really excited about how the mobile market continues to evolve.  I’m not sure you can ever get completely current on everything that is going on (well, unless you’re my friend Gary Clayton – he does a pretty good job), but it’s an exciting time for the industry, and I’m glad to be a part of it.

Final, shameless plug:  if you’re interested in getting speech technology integrated into your mobile applications, visit my program’s site at http://dragonmobile.nuancemobiledeveloper.com.

2011
03/27
CATEGORY
Mobile
Technology
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Am I really this old-fashioned?

Somehow yesterday I found myself swimsuit shopping with my older daughter.  Being the cheapskate thrifty person I am, we decided to visit two stores that I thought would be both budget-conscious and not make me have to feel completely uncomfortable around strips of expensive clothing that are marketed as swimwear.

Now, to back up, our family has had a standard for swimwear for our girls that does not include bikinis or anything where more skin is revealed than covered in the torso region.  I recognize that many parents in this beach town where we are fortunate to live do not share my conviction, but alas, they are not my barometer.

So we head out to the first place, in search for a flattering, bright colored one-piece or perhaps a tankini (who in the world came up with that name?), believing that we should be able to solve this in the typical daddy-shopping mentality (in fact, I had quipped to my wife that we would be back in about 30 minutes).  Well, upon arrival, I discovered that somehow all of the conservative bathing suits for anyone older than 5 and younger than 50 had somehow disappeared.

At first I thought, “well, it is Spring Break, and surely all of these visitors have just bought up all of the cool speedo-type suits and ones that fathers everywhere would be comfortable having their daughters wear.

Nope.

Apparently, “conservative” these days has to do with how much of your buttocks are covered and whether or not you want more than the very center part of your breasts covered.  You know, just to stay legal.

The second store we went to, I actually asked a few of the girls who worked there to help us find some things, and they confessed (while trying not to laugh I suspect) that they didn’t carry anything like that.  In their store.  A store that markets having 1,000 ladies swimsuits.

So I started to cave and said, “OK, let’s see if perhaps we can find something that has some good coverage on the bottom – maybe shorts – and a top that doesn’t have spaghetti straps (they had some name for this, but I don’t remember nor care to).  Of course, I then come to realize that shorts have many different definitions as well, most of which didn’t tangent with mine.

Well, after trying on probably 7 or 8 different combinations, and exasperating both the two of us and the girls at the store, we all cried uncle.  They pretty much told me that they really didn’t have something with the “coverage” that I was looking for, and that we may need to check elsewhere.

And then there was the six-year old girl with her mom and her mom’s friends who was trying on bikinis, and after taking four or five in with her, she exited the dressing room saying “Mommy, these two make my butt look too big, and this one covers up my top too much.  But I think this one will work”.  What was worse was the mother’s affirmative response.  Jeez.

So after two hours (exactly 90 minutes past my allotted time) our shopping excursion had ended – my daughter disappointed, the girls at the store likely irritated and thinking “I am glad I don’t take my dad swimsuit shopping”, and me, frustrated at the experience.

And my frustration really wasn’t about going shopping with my daughter.  We do that often, and she knows what is acceptable and what isn’t, so generally we have a good time doing it.  But I hate that we both felt almost a little under attack (OK, probably me more than her) for staying our ground of what we think is appropriate swimwear for a 13 year old.  I know that some of the selection may be due to being in the fortunate position of living at the beach as we do, but even still, I am amazed at how much families are willing to allow their daughters – no matter what age – to be as provocative as possible this side of the law.  And no, we don’t dress our girls up in burqas, but we also don’t let them go out like they are looking for the nearest empty street corner either.

So I guess our quest for the perfect swimsuit will continue another day, perhaps when we arrive in Orlando next week – the family for Spring Break, and me for the CTIA 2011 conference.  Maybe we’ll have better luck there, being away from the beach scene.

I sure hope so…

2011
03/18
CATEGORY
Life Lessons
Parenting
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A week full of questions

I must say that I have been deeply distraught by the recent events in Japan.  The horrendous earthquake was bad enough, but then the tsunami that followed was just dreadful.

And while I know this isn’t the first major natural disaster to hit our world in recent years, this one has hit me particularly hard.  I guess it’s probably because I was just over in Japan – for the first time, mind you – in early February, and really enjoyed my time over there.  I met some great people, had some amazing food, gave two great seminars, and overall found myself longing to go back.  I can’t say that for some of the other international destinations I have frequented.

So, while one week doesn’t a lifelong connection make, the nearness of my visit and the joy of it in general has made this whole thing so much more, well, personal.

I wish I had something more inspiring or thought-provoking to say, but I don’t.  All I can say is that I am truly grieving for the people of Japan, and pray for peace in the hearts of those that are enduring something I can honestly be grateful I haven’t had to.

And hope that I never do…

2011
03/16
CATEGORY
regular
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Grieved today

I know it has been over a year since my last blog post. And for that I should be ashamed. It’s not that I haven’t had much to say, but rather I frankly just haven’t been motivated to say it.

But today is much different.

In the past two weeks, I’ve had a dear friend of mine in Atlanta experience first-hand the suffering of his daughter with a strange illness. I don’t keep up with him much anymore, and have only met the daughter a few times, but this one instance consumed me with grief and worry over her health and the emotional health of her parents. And I’m thankful that she is doing much better.

Then when I woke up this morning, I hear about the devastation in Japan. Now, normally something like this would upset me, but then I’d just figure out a way to help through financial giving and prayer. But see, I was just in Japan six weeks ago. I made lots of good friends. I have a connection with people there. So, now it’s personal.

It might as well have been in my own backyard.

After frantically sending emails and trying to call my friends in Tokyo, and then seeing some relieving updates from them on Facebook, the first part of my worry subsided. While my friends weren’t able to go home, they at least were able to continue with the breath of life given to them.

But I still can’t stop thinking about the others there, and how much they are suffering. I am overwhelmed with grief today.

You know, maybe I identify too much with situations like this, even if I only have a small connection. Both of these scenarios involved groups of people I have connection to, but in the grand scheme of relationships, they aren’t really close connections. But my heart is so freaking heavy right now over both of these

2011
03/12
CATEGORY
Life Lessons
Parenting
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