Category: Technology

Mary Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends Report

Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends Report for 2016 came out last week. Some highlights include:

  • The global internet adoption rate was flat year-over-year at 9%, reaching 3 billion users or 42% of the world’s population
  • Smartphone adoption’s growth is slowing, while Android increases marketshare despite a shrinking average selling price
  • Video viewership is exploding, with Snapchat and Facebook Live showing the way, though video ads aren’t always effective
  • Messaging is dominated by Facebook and WeChat, it’s growing rapidly, and evolving from simple text communication to become our new home screen with options for vivid self-expression and commerce
  • US advertising is growing, with Google and Facebook controlling 76% of the market and rising, but advertisers still spend too much on legacy media rather than new media where the audience has shifted
  • Meeker predicts the rise of voice interfaces because they’re fast, easy, personalized, hands-free, and cheap, with Google on Android now seeing 20% of searches from voice, and Amazon Echo sales growing as iPhone sales slow
  • The USA could become the home of the auto industry again thanks to innovation from Tesla and Google despite US auto sales slipping since 1950, though car ownership will fall as Uber/UberPool sharing becomes mainstream

Working With Steve Jobs

Great article on working with Steve Jobs. By someone who actually worked with him – former Adobe, NeXT, and Apple employee Glenn Reid.

I can still remember some of those early meetings, with 3 or 4 of us in a locked room somewhere on Apple campus, with a lot of whiteboards, talking about what iMovie should be (and should not be). It was as pure as pure gets, in terms of building software. Steve would draw a quick vision on the whiteboard, we’d go work on it for a while, bring it back, find out the ways in which it sucked, and we’d iterate, again and again and again. That’s how it always went. Iteration. It’s the key to design, really. Just keep improving it until you have to ship it.

I think in many ways Apple still adheres to this philosophy of releasing an MVP and continuously iterating again and again and again until they have a polished, mature product.

Read the full article.

Revisiting OS X Public Beta

Wow! What a blast from the past. Check out these screenshots from the first public beta of Mac OS X (full article). I remember using this build (and the previous Developer Previews) and marveling at the stability compared to Mac OS 9 and Windows 3.1. Still, I was convinced in short order despite the dearth of available apps and began using it full-time with the release of Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah. Good times!

WiFi That Just Works?

I ran across eero the other day. It bills itself as a “the world’s first WiFi system. A set of three eeros covers the typical home. They work in unison to deliver hyper-fast, super-stable WiFi to every nook of every room.”

eero

Very stylish, Apple-like hardware. I’ll be interested to see if the software and app deliver everything promised on their website – 60-second setup, mesh networking, one-tap guest access, high performance, automatic updates, advanced security and simplicity. If so, this could be a very welcome addition to many homes.

Pre-order pricing for a single device is $125, while a set of three will cost you $299. But those prices won’t be the same forever — the final retail pricing will be $199 for one and $499 for a three-pack.  Pre-orders are now closed and their website says they will be available to order in early 2016 – presumably at the higher prices.

How Mobile is Changing Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior and expectations have forever changed. With powerful phones in our pockets, we do more than just check the time, text a spouse, or catch up with friends. We turn to our phones with intent and expect brands to deliver immediate answers. It’s in these I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, I-want-to-buy moments that decisions are made and preferences are shaped.

Think With Google:  4 New Moments Every Marketer Should Know

$700

Apple’s stock price broke the $700 mark today after announcing the iPhone 5 set a record with over two million pre-orders during the first 24 hours of availability last Friday.  AAPL has risen over 65% in nine months.

Fix for Slow iPad Sync and Backup Failure

The other day I started experiencing very slow iPad syncs which ultimately resulted in backup failures. The process would hang at “backing up” in the iTunes status bar approximately 90% through the sync/backup process. It appeared that the existing backup was corrupted. The solution that worked for me was to delete the existing backup in iTunes and completely re-sync.

  1. Connect your iPad.
  2. Go to iTunes Preferences > Devices.
  3. From the list of device backups, highlight your iPad’s backup file and click on the “Delete Backup…” button.
  4. After deleting the backup disconnect your iPad and shut it down.
  5. Quit iTunes.
  6. Power on your iPad and connect it to your computer.
  7. iTunes should start up and automatically perform a sync. If it doesn’t, click on your iPad in the left-hand column of iTunes and click the “Sync” button.