Karm City

Dead platforms

This weekend, HP’s stock of TouchPads quickly sold out, as their prices dropped from $499 to $99. With the parts that make up a TouchPad being worth $300 alone, it makes the purchase pretty easy to justify if you’re on the fence about buying a tablet.

Some folks claim the device isn’t even worth $99, as the platform, WebOS, is no longer being developed.

Which brings me to my point: it’s fascinating how quickly the expectations of mobile devices have changed.

Five years ago, mobile devices were in a world locked down by hardware, with a virtually non-existent mobile app ecosystem. I remember typing away on my Palm Treo, looking forward to upgrading to the next iteration so I could admire the new OS version number. Then came the Windows Mobile game, where the phones would have varying versions of OS 4, some buggier than others. If you wanted a solid software experience, you’d have to be sure to pick the right hardware.

Nowadays consumers and geeks alike want a mobile OS they can continually update with new features and load new apps on, all from the device itself. Anything less would be antiquated.

I think the TouchPad strikes a happy medium between the two. It’s got lightning-fast hardware, is quite capable when it comes to basic tasks like reading a Kindle book, checking email and surfing the web, but it’s effectively frozen in time. That is, unless the Android nerds have anything to say about it. Either way, you can get one for $99, which is a steal for a tablet, no matter how defunct.

Incidentally, you can go buy a Palm Treo 650, running WebOS’ predecessor, Palm OS, right now for $120. That’s $20 more than a brand new TouchPad.

Now, I need to go wash my hands, as I just wrote a post that endorses the purchase of a non-Apple device.

How to make money running a “sample sale” site

As evidenced by Gilt:
Step 1) Establish the perception of selling goods at an incredibly steep discount and wait a few months.
Step 2) Start displaying an inflated “original price” on products.
Step 3) Sell products at prices that are higher than the actual retail price.

For example:
This blender is listed today on Gilt Home, with a supposed retail price of $100. They’re offering it at a “cheap” $49.

But, do a quick search on Amazon and what do we get? The exact same blender for $39.

No “exclusive membership” necessary.

One could almost consider this a bait and switch, but it’s up to the consumer to do some research to see if they’re truly getting a discount.

The only true value Gilt offers is in its clothing department, where it often difficult to access the styles and brands offered unless you took a trip to New York. For that, I’m happy to pay a slight premium.

Localist in the News

Today’s announcement has spurred some write-ups in a few publications:
- The Daily Record
- The Baltimore Sun
- eCampusNews

I feel sick. I feel helpless, and my perception is that our government is utterly useless.

Their obsession with the debt ceiling is mind-boggling. Yes, it’s an issue, but it’s not the issue you put in the public sphere to debate about for three months. Every respected economist agrees that spending cuts alone won’t get the job done, no matter how deep they cut into the bone. Yet, nobody’s saying, “Hey Republicans, I know it’s against your policy to vote for tax hikes, but guess what? You won’t have a country to govern if you don’t!”

Plus, the country’s credit rating is going to be downgraded regardless of what happens before Tuesday, right? Why don’t we focus on that?

Obama’s absolutely pathetic. His inability to speak up has completely deflated any confidence I’ve had in him to elicit true change. Our liberal president is a moderate conservative. Great! Now the crazy right-wingers just look like regular old right-wingers.

What we need is a congress with fewer lawyers. Why can’t we elect scientists, teachers and artists into office? People who aren’t taught that holding one’s ground and playing chicken are the only tactical realities in politics. Germany has been rebooted three times, and each time, it’s become the most prosperous country in Europe. I’d have to think it’s due in no small part to the makeup of its government: actual experts making decisions on policies that impact their respective fields. In the US, “governing” is a mishmash of sales and marketing, coupled with a game of telephone, basing decisions on bullet points.

I’ve never been apathetic about how our country is run, but I’ve run out of options. I need to not care to retain my sanity.

Apple deflates release cycle, increases demand

Asymco just published an analysis that suggests Apple’s deferred iPhone release has actually boosted current-model iPhone sales. A great observation.

Apple’s previous annual release cycle reminds me of the notion of monetary deflation. If the price of an item is continually dropping, nobody will buy it because they’ll wait for the price to hit rock bottom. If the release cycle of an iPhone is always annual, most people will weigh the option of waiting until June for the next iteration, or buying one at that moment.

Now, with a wrench thrown into the wheel of Apple’s consistent release cycles, many who were playing the waiting game couldn’t any longer.

Typically, deflation obliterates an economy. In Apple’s case, it’s actually boosting business. I suppose if there’s one thing Apple does wrong, it’s obey the rules of economics.

TechCrunch Disrupt: The Gong Show

Watching all the Disrupt videos, I’m blown away at how similar the format is to The Gong Show. The entrepreneurs look rushed and scared. Even a meeting with most intimidating VC meeting wouldn’t be this awkward.

The demeaning attitude of the TechCrunch panelists, staff, and overall feel of the conference in general leaves me feeling pity for these companies, instead of being excited about them.

If the companies really are that crappy, pick five instead of twenty, and give them the time they deserve to get their message across.

The panelists don’t even know why they’re supposed to be there. In the ‘Arrived’ demo, one of the panelists said something along the lines of “we’re pretending to be potential investors and you’re pitching us… I think… they never told us what we’re supposed to be doing.”

How can a company give an adequate pitch if they don’t know who they’re pitching to?

Why artificially lowering the expectations of your customers is bad

Many efficiency bloggers and Four Hour Work Week folks have said one of the necessities of running a business is proper inbox management. Part of what they mean is: don’t respond to your customers right away; wait until the next day, so they don’t expect you to respond at any moment.

This is good advice for email management, but horrible advice if you want to keep your customers beside themselves with happiness. In reality, for your customers to be happy at all, they need you to respond in a reasonable amount of time. That means on the same day, usually within an hour. Your customers already have staff that barely respond when needed; they don’t need the same treatment from their vendors.

Plus, I’ve found that the “distraction” of email often isn’t a distraction at all. It’s not unreasonable to configure some “set it and forget it” rules in your mail client to funnel incoming mail to appropriate buckets, and the rest is minimally intrusive.

The reality of running a business is that you will always be interrupted by email. So, you can defer it, freeing up two minutes at the expense of a satisfied customer, or suck it up and reap the benefits when you need a good referral.

At a small company, you’re paid to take risks. At a big company, you’re paid not to.