Welcome to the ‘Connected Learning Device’

Smartphones are so 2011. The definition of what constitutes a smartphone varies depending on who you ask but that’s not the point of this post. There are many definitions as to what consitutes the ‘smart’.  It has a modern OS, can access the web, is extensible via apps etc….

But what comes after the smartphone? Google introduced the notion of the ‘Superphone’. To me this sounded like a faster smartphone? But that is not really revolutionary but rather evolutionary.

What I really find interesting is what the next generation of connected mobile devices and computers will provide as a personalized experience to me at an individual level in addition to a distilled aggregated view of the network.

What happens when the entire world is connected? Everything has an IP and can read and write to the network?

As more and more data is created and shared and more objects come online,  my device must move into a learning mode where it get better with MY use in addition to the aggregate use of the network. I imagine a world where I don’t even need to take out my phone to open or close an application?

What happens when we solve the tasks and problems and people have at a system level and not at an app level?

Why do we need an alarm clock APP, a Weather APP, a Payment APP, an app for this or that?

Why can’t the phone learn my sleep pattern, know where I shop, where I travel, what I am interested in via observable data points created everyday? It can and will.

The current term of ‘application’ is redefined to mean the contextual application of mobile technology to solve a problem, perform a task seamlessly without the need of my interaction in the 2011 sense of the word ‘interaction’.  Touch revolutionized input and interaction but this is just the beginning.

Here are a couple of the characteristics that, in my estimation, would describe the next generation of connected devices.

• Moving from apps that are pre-programmed to execute specific use cases to a task oriented system that answer the query according to context.  I don’t even need to take out my phone to pay for my bus ticket. I just walk on the bus.
• Ability to instantaneously bring any object ‘online’ and write to it.
• No more share or send to buttons. The phone knows who is important to me in what context. Sharing is automatic.
• Sensor rich notification system that continuously ‘listens’ to the real world and reacts on the inputs received.

It becomes the true PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). A sensor rich, contextually sensitive, truly personal device that gets better the more I use it. Things would be automated.

So the question to me is, what happens when the phone knows you better than you know yourself?

Welcome to the Knowledge Phone.

p.s. I wonder what Apple is planning on introducing with ‘Assistant’. More on that later.

Keep your stick on the ice.

When to use a credit card

If you can carry it home, pay with cash.

Which headphones to get?

Which headphones should I get?

Choices:
a. Denon AH A-100
b. Bose AE2
c. Audio Technica ATH-M50
d. Shure SRH 840
e. other

hmmmmmmmm….

Engineering is not enough….

I will simple reference the man himself.

‘It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough, that it is technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities that yield us the result that makes our hearts sing.’

Steve Jobs.

Kindergarten Rules

I firmly believe that everything you need in order to be a great product manager you learn in kindergarten.

1) Care: You really have to care about the product, your team and most importantly the needs and pain points of your users
2) Share: Share information, ideas and collaborate. It’s never a one man show.
3) Listen: Probably the most under-utilized skill people possess but rarely use. Take a step back to listen to your customers and HEAR what they are saying.
4) Raise your hand: Stand up and ask for help. Surrounding yourself with good people, seeking advice and having the courage to say ” I don’t know” is fundamental.
5) Recess: Take time to play and try things out. Give yourself the opportunity to solve problems in different ways by changing the surrounding, time or topic. Inspire yourself and your team to think about things in new and different ways.

Facebook Privacy

Facebook Privacy is an oxymoron. People should assume that what you put on Facebook is public by default unless you make it private. Again, private is relative. Are you sharing with a specific group, all your friends, friends of friends? Things do get complicated when you look at the various privacy settings Facebook offers but I would urge those that are hung up about this issue to assume what you post may not be private.

At the end of the day people also need to take some personal responsibility for what they post but the entire issue of where responsibility lies is another topic for another post.

A Solution Looking For a Problem

Often times I come across people who tell me about this great solution they have just come up with or a ‘what if’ scenario promising then next best things since sliced bread. I always ask them one simple question: What problem are you solving for the user?

Don’t create a problem that doesn’t exist. Instead, focus on pain points that people have today.

Key to Success: Defensible Business Model

Think about the answers to the following questions:
- What is your unique intellectual property and how do you protect it? Do you have a patent?
- Can your service be easily reproduced by a competitor?
- What defensible advantages do you really have? Algorithms? Data? Customer experience? Security?
- What is your underlying asset? What happens if it becomes commoditized?

‘Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.’ (T.S. Elliot, Picasso)

Key to Success: Low Barrier to Entry

Lowering the barrier to entry to attract broadest reach and appeal is fundamental to successful products. Users need to instantaneously understand what they are being asked to do and what they can expect to get as a benefit. This is at the heart of successful mobile products: the ability to provide more benefit with only the needed functionality. Focusing on the one or two things that you want to enable is paramount.

The pen is truly mightier than the sword.

People lie all the time. This is the way of the new world. Whatever the cause, reason, excuse for this behaviour it is absolutely rampant in society.  I don’t know if this is something that is a part of who we are, or people’s lack of willingness to stand up and be truthful, born out of the reasoning that it wouldn’t change anything but it certainly seems to have resigned itself to statements like “that’s just the way it is.” In my daily dealings with the bureaucraziness of this world and the subsequent daily lies I found that when I ask people to put exactly what they have just told me over the phone in writing, the story amazingly changes. Is it because we are visual creatures and unless we don’t see it in black and white we don’t take stock of our actions? and hence the implications?  Similarly this applies to face to face conversations.  But back to getting things in writing and I can’t stress this enough, and this goes for absolutely everything that you do! no matter who you are dealing with, big or small, get it in writing and ask them to sign it! This changes everything.