inputs/outputs

After much speculation and hopefulness about a cell phone from Google, the company came out and announced that they’re not announcing a cell phone just yet. And really, what were you expecting?

The iPhone wasn’t a shock. Apple is the business of satisfying wants, not needs. Their computers can’t do anything that a PC of the same cost couldn’t handle, and many specialized applications only run on a PC. You need a PC to do things, but you want a Mac so that you can enjoy doing it. Apple also defined the standards for an MP3 playing device, and recently created a phone that no one truly needs, but everybody wants.

Google, on the other hand, satisfies the needs before the wants. Before Gmail, there was no efficient and simple web-based email service that also allowed for 3rd party clients through POP or IMAP. Or a calendar system that wasn’t bulky and difficult to use/collaborate with. Before Writely (Google Docs), we had to send email attachments back and forth to edit files. These are things we needed, and the aesthetics were inherent in the functionality of these innovations.

Google didn’t announce a Gphone - they announced a platform for developers to write applications on.  An open application that any phonemaker could use.  Granted, this approach has been tried before by Linux/Open-source fanatics, but this time it has a better chance of sticking due to Google’s initiative and brand recognition.  This, in combination with the iPhone, is really good news for the wireless market.

The iPhone has set a new standard for phones, and already brands like Nokia have tried to imitate the features of the iPhone.  The iPhone’s biggest weakness is its proprietary nature (only AT&T, app development is limited).  For a cell phone brand wanting to compete with the iPhone, a good strategy might be to design something similar to the iPhone (multi-touch, full featured browser), but instead of spending a lot of money on app development, let the users make the applications, and use the open Google platform.

Google has prove itself worthy of making great user interfaces.  Why not leave that to them since most cell phone makers have proven that they can’t make a good UI?  Cell phone makers can start focusing on the hardware to make sure people get what they want, and the needs are left to Google.

They could’ve easily released a Gphone, but instead, they created a piece to a puzzle and figured out where to place it.

Update:  This blog posts talks about the ignorance of more than half of the blogging world towards RSS.  I do think that it’s a matter of time before it becomes like email.  And another point that I hadn’t really thought about is the exposure it can give bloggers.  I do use an RSS reader, by the way, but I do miss being able to see the blog for what it is.

Nowadays, most sites can be separated into style and content. That means you can design an entire site and syndicate the content (feed) in whatever format you please, allowing tools like Google Reader to make things easy for readers who want to aggregate their favorite blogs and websites.

(And, as a side note, aren’t most websites, that aren’t service oriented, blogs? I remember when tech-saavy friends would make websites in the 90’s, and suddenly realize that there was nothing to write. To much of a hassle to update the html everytime you wanted to write something new about your life, and besides, the 5 mb of free space that your provider gave you was filled with huge gifs anyway. Back then, you would only buy more than 50mb of space if you were running a business. Not the case anymore.)

So, what’s the point of spending time designing your blog when so many users are switching over to RSS readers like Google Reader? Instead of seeing your intense graphics and smoothed out fonts, they’ll see whatever font their reader is set on. Your blog is supposed to be an extension of you, isn’t it? Aesthetics and all?

Having a good design is useful when you have a really popular post that’s making its rounds on the internet, on the front page of Digg or Reddit. Maybe it’s a video that you found on an old VHS tape that has “youtube phenomenon” written all over it, or it’s a really amazing post that has a long running conversation going on. It’s like working in a call center and wearing pajamas: no one knows about your attire until you do something remarkable and your customer surprises you at work with an award and a promotion.

I almost wish RSS didn’t exist sometimes. If a blog is a representation of the person writing it, I want to see that person in the way they wanted to display themself - not on a boring RSS reader.