In this article I will have a closer look at the Waterfield Sleevecase for a Lenovo T61p with an extended 9 cell battery.It will not only be an indepth look at the product and its features, but I will also highlight the pre-sales advice and its underlying process.

Waterfield customer pre-sales service

The Lenovo T61p is a very robust and reliable machine, that is stall widely used in corporate environments. In my case it is a reliable workhorse for daily work, and with the extended 9 cell battery I can work during my daily commute without any problem.

SFBags order process

The ordering process and customizations consists of six general steps:

1. Tell us what type of laptop you have
2. Select Orientation
3. Trim Style
4. Add a Flap
5. Add a shoulder strap
6. Add a Piggyback pouch

1.  Tell us what type of laptop you have

The first step in the ordering process is defining the exact laptop model, for which you would like to order the Waterfield Sleevecase. From the pull down menu you can choose the manufacturer, which is in my case Lenovo. Furthermore note the “Laptop not listed? Click here.” link which allows you to choose a manufacturer or notebook that isn’t in the list.

Lenovo is listed, so I can select Lenovo from the pull down menu. As a result a pop-up window with a table of predefined Lenovo notebook options is shown. I couldn’t choose the Lenovo T61p from the table because it is an older machine. Remark the differences in orientation, and the use of a normal vs. an extended battery. On the bottom of the table you can click on … and fill in the form. This form is exactly the same page as the “Laptop not listed? Click here.” like described above.

This is the point where Waterfield customer service kicks in, to help you with some pre-sales advice. Based on the information from the form, you will be contacted to check the measurements of your machine (both in metric and US units, otherwise use the unit converter in Microsoft Mathematics ). After a check double-check loop, you will be provided with the optimal size for the Waterfield Sleevecase. Based on my experience the Waterfield Sleevecase always has a perfect fit. Remark the comparison of a Waterfield Sleevecase for HP Mini 1000 and a no-name netbook sleeve from eBay.

The funny part in here is that Gary, the brilliant mind behind Waterfield and its designs, also helped with the pre-sales advice. So it is not just a single person, but Waterfield Designs consists of a great and knowledgeable team.

2.  Select Orientation

The second step of the ordering process is the selection of the orientation of the Waterfield Sleevecase. You can choose the horizontal or vertical orientation. Since I use a Tom Bihn Empire Builder messenger style bag, I choose for the horizontal option. If you are a hardcore backpack user, you probably would prefer the vertical orientation.

3.  Trim Style

In the third step of the ordering process you can select a leather or an indium trim. In functional terms there is not much difference, so it is a matter of style and personal taste. I simply choose the Lead Indium option.

4.  Add a Flap

In order to fully protect the precious workhorse I chose the option to add a flap to the Waterfield Sleevecase. Another advantage of adding the flap to the Waterfield Sleevecase is the fact that the notebook is that well protected, that you can drop your laptop in a backpack as well (or any other bag). If you use a messenger-style bag you might think about the option not to add a flap so you have easy access to your laptop. However I would go for the optimal protection.

5.  Add a shoulder strap

If you want to travel really light you select the option to add a set of D-rings and a shoulder-strap to the Waterfield Sleevecase. You can  select the option to just add the D-rings, which is my preferred option. For the $5,- it gives you the opportunity to attach a shoulder-strap when needed. In the daily use it is often easy to grab the Waterfield Sleevecase (and the laptop) on one of the D-rings from the bag. Just hook one of your fingers in the D-ring and here you go …

6.  Add a Piggyback pouch

The final step in the ordering process is the option to choose a piggy bag or not. It is simply a small bag, which you could clip onto the D-Rings of your Waterfield Sleevecase. Personally I don’t have a need for this, since I use a Waterfield Medium Cableguy and a Waterfield 7 x 10 to stash away my power adapter mouse and some other accessories.

Waterfield Sleevecase a closer look

The Waterfield Sleevecase for Lenovo T61p is an almost custom build case. Furthermore you will get a Sleevecase that perfectly fits your notebook, instead of a one-size fits all. I haven’t seen many competitive products that take the use of a standard or extended battery into account.

Like I outlined in the review of the Waterfield Sleevecase for Lenovo X60 tablet, the used materials are really durable. The neoprene is really thick, providing excellent cushioning for your notebook. The ballistic nylon is normally used for bulletproof vests, where it now protects your precious machine.

On the backside of the Waterfield Sleevecase there is a convenient storage for some papers or a privacy filter that I use on my screen during the commute time. Remark the slope of the compartment for easy access to your papers.

Overall conclusions and final thoughts

The Waterfield Sleevecase for the Lenovo T61p is a great investment, even for an older machine like the Lenovo T61p. I pack and unpack the Lenovo T61p, and thus the Waterfield Sleevecase several times a day from the Tom Bihn Empire Builder bag that I’m currently using. The Waterfield Sleevecase is a very robust, well build product that perfectly protects your notebook while you are on the go. It allows you to easily switch between a custom laptop bag or a simple backpack that is not primarily designed for laptop use.

Over the past months, you can’t see any signs of wearing out. More in particular I’m using the Waterfield Sleevecase for the Lenovo X60 tablet over 2 years now. An excellent product combined with a knowledgeable staff that consults customers with excellent pre-sales advice is simply a winner ! If you are rocking an Apple MacBook Air, I would definitely recommend to check out the MacBook Air Travel Express case !

Tuesday I was invited for the local HTC Wildfire launch event on a special location, Circuit Park Zandvoort. Circuit Park Zandvoort is one of the few car-race tracks in the Netherlands with a rich race history, several race klasses and even Formula 1.

This is a special location to introduce a new product like the HTC Wildfire, right ?

Introduction HTC Wildfire by Mark Moons, Regional Manager HTC Benelux

Mark Moons, Regional Manager HTC Benelux, kicks off the first part of the HTC Wildfire launch event with a general introduction of  the current HTC position in the Benelux (= Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) market.

HTC in the Benelux – Position and Trends

HTC grows in the Benelux market, (1) in terms of company, and (2) in terms of brand. HTC has a growing marketshare in the Netherlands, which is a trend I could follow over past events (for example Android Experience 2010 – Great Dutch event around the Android Ecosystem, and HTC HD2 locally announced by Mark Moons (HTC Benelux).

Mark Moons, Regional Manager HTC Benelux, raises a few highly interesting points about dynamics in the market.

1. The smartphone is becoming more mainstream, which means for the HTC brand a shift from technology brand to a more lifestyle position.
2. Furthermore there is a clear impact of social media on the use of smartphones, share your life always and everywhere. People who are engaging in social networks from a smartphone are more active/involved compared to traditional use behind the screen of a notebook.

To wrap-up this section HTC is the market leader on the Windows Mobile- and the Android operating system, and as an example don’t forget the huge success of the HTC Hero !

Meet the HTC Wildfire

In the picture above you can see that Mark Moons, Regional Manager HTC Benelux shows the HTC Wildfire in front of an aerial photograph of Circuit Park Zandvoort. On MobilityMinded I have published an article ”HTC Wildfire preview – Android & HTC Sense for the masses” that covers a preview of the HTC Wildfire hardware, and hopefully a thorough and in-depth review can be performed later.

In this section I will provide additional background information, underlying some of the key features of the HTC Wildfire. However I will start with the following summary of the HTC Wildfire on the HTC website:

“You have lots of friends in lots of different place. Why not bring them to you? See everyone’s Facebook, Twitter and Flickr updates, all in one feed. Share your favourite apps, because your mates will love them too. And get everything from texts, to photo’s organized by the friend that sent it – not to mention their latest Facebook status when they call. HTC Wildfire. Your friends have never been closer to you.”

Social networks take over the world

As mentioned before by Mark Moons, social networks are a catalyst for smartphones and their use.

• Facebook:  500 mln users;
• Twitter:  40 mln users;
• Flickr: 32 mln users;

The numbers from the presentation don’t need much of an explenation, social networks take over the world.

Android Market – An explosion of applications

The second set of statistics provided by Mark Moons, Regional Manager of HTC Benelux is about the Android Market.

• There are more than 54.000 applications in the Android Market and counting;
• Forecast:  150.000 applications in the Android Market by Q4 2010;
• Android users download -on average- 8.7 applications per month;
• 60% of the applications in the Android Market are free;

While in my honest opinion the number off applications doesn’t tell anything about the quality of the applications, these statiscs do show that there is a clear momentum for developers to jump on the Android train. However it is interesting to see the explosive growth of an open source based mobile operating system like Android, compared to the closed mobile operating system of the Apple iPhone.

Google Maps Navigation will become available in the Netherlands this month, and combined with Android 2.1 and the option to share applications with your friends, brings this the best of Android to the HTC Wildfire. If you add 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen supporting multi-touch, the HTC Sense GUI and an excellent 5.0 megapixel camera to this, you can only conclude that the HTC Wildefire is ready to target the segment “between” the feature phone and the smartphone. Given the price point of E259,- (including VAT and excluding a subscription) HTC is clearly comitted to play a tough retail game !

Paul van Splunteren, Dutch GT4-teamowner Porsche Eindhoven provides tips and tricks about Circuit- and F1 racing

Paul van Splunteren, Dutch GT4-teamowner Porsche Eindhoven, delivers the second session of the HTC Wildfire launch event in which he shares his tips and tricks about racing on Circuit Park Zandvoort combined with his own car-racing-experience. Paul van Splunteren, will compete in the legendary 24 hours race of Le Mans upcoming June, and has a well established track record in car racing.

• Circuit Park Zandvoort, and how to race on a track like this;
• A well balanced curve technique on race circuit is extremely important;
• Physical health of drivers, heart rates and g-forces;
• A thorough comparision between GT3 / GT4 and F1, differences in speed and power;
• Don’t forget to enjoy the race experience !!

In think Paul van Splunteren, shared quite some interesting facts about car-racing ! Being an active road cyclist I could grasp a feeling about the heart rates and physical health of the drivers, which is highly underestimated.

Do you also remember that HTC Benelux is the main sponosor of the Dutch GT4 championship and the sponsor of Team Bilderberg Porsche Eindhoven ?

“The partnership of HTC and Team Bilderberg Porsche Eindhoven is a strong combination of companies driven by values like innovation, design and speed. In addition to extensive relationshop marketing closely tied to the Porsche brand, HTC and Team Bilderberg Porsche Eindhoven work together on new mobile applications for car-race enthusiasts and Porsche drivers to get the most out of their HTC Smartphones!”

Picture used with permision of Chris Schotanus, Essay Producties

Porsche Carrera GT3 race-experience on Circuit Park Zandvoort

With all the tips, tricks and shared experience of Paul van Splunteren, Dutch GT4-teamowner Porsche Eindhoven, it was time for our own race experience on Circuit Park Zandvoort in a Porsche Carerra GT3 !

In the group photograph above I’m on the 6th position from the left, next to Mark Moons, Regional Manager of HTC Benelux (wearing a black blouse and holding the helmet in front of me). While at the picture you see the Team Bilderberg Porsche Eindhoven Porsche GT4 car, we were able to drive a Porsche Carrera GT3 on Circuit Park Zandvoort.

I must admit this was my first drive on a race track, so this was an exciting experience. Amazing to feel the power and acceleration of the Porsche Carrera GT3, and the stability riding curves is simply awesome. After a few laps you really start to feel the car and get a good flow in the curves, and you really enjoy the ride. On the straight line to the finish you get a speed of about 200 km/h, but inside the Porsche you simply don’t have the feeling driving that fast. Also the roll cage, race seats and helmet give a nice touch of a real race and get the adrenaline flowing !

I started with the first group of six cars, so I was able to see the other two groups race as well. The experience from the pit lane is different, mainly because it looks so much faster as a spectator. However it was extreme fun to see the others race, while I also enjoyed the other race cars on the track like a Corvette C6 and even a Radical S3, which was also on the track when I raced !! Impressive to hear the torque and mussle from these race cars.

Final thoughts and conclusion

I would like to thank HTC Benelux and Whizpr for the invitation to this special HTC Wildfire product launch on a very interesting location.

Everyone present at the launch event could really experience the results of “a strong combination of companies driven by values like innovation, design and speed“. The synergy and similar mindset of HTC and Team Bilderberg Porsche Eindhoven resulted in a great race experience on Circuit Park Zandvoort. Two great brands with a drive to be a leader come together on the same place: the race track !

Like I mentione before it was my first time riding on a circuit, and the driving behavior and power of the Porsche Carrera GT3 really made it an exciting experience. In order to get an additional idea of the day you might want to check out the set of pictures on my Flickr-account, or the imagebank of Chris Schotanus, Essay Producties.

Finally I do believe that with the HTC Wildfire, HTC has an interesting device  to play the retail-game to win and bring both HTC Sense and Android to the masses !

I was fortunate being invited to attend the highly succesful first edition of the Android Experience, an event that adresses the Android ecosystem from different perspectives.

In this article I will briefly summarize some of the highlights of Android Experience 2010 @ the Amsterdam Convention Factory.

On the MobilityMinded website I have written an extensive event report, inline with the following structure:

1. The importance of openness for innovation – Vincent Everts, trendwatcher;
2. The mobile future is bright and open, the impact of Android – Ed Achterberg, founder, CEO  and senior research analyst at Telecompaper;
3. The power of Android:  User experience is key – Mark Moons, Regional Director Benelux HTC;
4. Developing Apps: Doing business making money – Raimo van der Klein, Chief Exectutive Officer of Layar;
5. Banking with apps – David-Jan Janse, Manager of Rabo Mobile, Rabobank Netherlands;

The highlights of Android Experience 2010, in my personal opinion, are marked in itallic in the list structure above.

The mobile future is bright and open, the impact of Android – Ed Achterberg, founder, CEO  and senior research analyst at Telecompaper;

I really liked the objective scientific approach of Ed Achterberg, founder, CEO  and senior research analyst at Telecompaper. While some very interesting facts about the competitive mobile landscape were presented, Ed Achterberg also made some points that really make you think.

• The misuse of the term personal computer for a desktop computer at home, while you take your smartphone with you all the time. A smartphone, which has taken over a lot of computer capabilities, is probably the most personal electronic device. Also the impact of other devices, like the netbook, e-book readers and devices like the Apple iPad will change the landscape;
• Ed Achterberg presented a graph with the indexed results of the simplicity of device configuration at first use. Honestly I didn’t expect this measurements. However with the average age of the Dutch society rising, fast and easy configuration for the Joe Average end-user becomes critical, with increase of complexity among mobile electronic devices;
• The Android operating system has got a very explosive growth curve with rapid development cycles. From the launch of the HTC Dream, which was the first Android device several versions of the Android OS have been released, 1.5 , 1.6 , 2.0 , 2.1 and a variety of handset manufacturer customizations. The open source nature has driven the growth of the platform, but it also fragments to Android OS at a fast rate. An interesting question is if Google should step up and close the open source model a little. Ed Achterberg suggests that a more uniform quality and user exprience could help the Android OS.

Especially about this last bullet I had some discussion about, among mobile friends and on Twitter with for example JeanPaul Horn (Planet Android / iPhoneclub) and Arnoud Wokke (Tweakers). I’m also curious if and how Google tries to manage the Android Marketplace with an explosive growth of developed applications (indexing and categorizing applications vs. sending in new applications) ?

The power of Android:  User experience is key – Mark Moons, Regional Director Benelux HTC;

Mark Moons, Regional Director Benelux HTC, builds further on the market figures from the previous session of Ed Achterberg by sharing the HTC marketshares and the position of the Android OS in the Dutch mobile market.

A significant part of the session is about the Android ecosystem. Mark Moons explains the necessity of a healthy ecosystem in which the different players challenge each other and drive true innocation. In this light both open- and closed ecosystem are addressed, as well as the opportunity to educate end-users and create a competitive advantage for retailers.

The main conclusion is that an operating system with a healty ecosystem and an excellent user experience will be sustainable on the long term. According to Mark Moons, “Android will become the second operating system in the Netherlands within two years“.

Picture used with permission of Daphne Channa Horn, Independent Photographer

Developing Apps: Doing business making money – Raimo van der Klein, Chief Exectutive Officer of Layar;

Raimo van der Klein, Chief Exectutive Officer of Layar, is the fourth speaker on the Android Experience, and shares the challenges, opportunities and reconfigurations of business model and strategy in time of Layar.

Layar now aimes at becoming a platform (in contrast with the initial content focus) on top of which other developers can build their services, and in which Layar more or less takes care of a stable platform/environment, the distribution, the installed userbase and pre-installation on Android smartphones, for example the Samsung Galaxy S.

Raimo van der Klein explains the different business models and some specific business details in an interview with Vincent Everts (in Dutch and remark that Android World = Android Experience, Ed Achterberg is from Telecompaper not from Telecomworld)

THE FACTS

• Layar had 3-5 business models from the start about a year ago and now;
• Layar was one of five concepts the Layar team planned to do, however now there is fulltime focus on Layar only;
• 32 people are working on Layar;
• Layar is funded (with venture capital) for E2.5 milion euro;
• 2700 Layar developers worldwide;
• 450 Layars published already and 1700 Layars in development;

THE BUSINESS MODELS

1. Content Layars, payment for hosting;
2. Opening the platform, payment when content is published, for example with a monthly fee;
3. Analytics, premium payments for advanced analytics;
4. Currently Layar focusses on building and expanding the brand, distribution and things like the pre-installation deal with Samsung;

AND ALSO

• Games and tourists guides will become available in Layar in the near future (remark business model 2 in the list above);
• Currently Layar has more end-users on Android devices than on the Apple iPhone devices;
• The release of every Android device caused some change in the Layar code. Upcoming year about 90 handsets, and 2 people working fulltime on a stable Layar experience on all these devices;
• Looking at a collaboration with Nokia (Symbian, Meamo). Nokia is stil the largest handset manufacturer that ships 400 milion handset per year;
• Nokia plays the retail game very strong and pushing the distribution among stores;

Raimo van der Klein illustrates the Layar platform startegy with a new venture: TAB worldmedia, who connect augmented reality with outdoor advertising. I was fortunate to talk with Remco Vroom and Johannes la Poutre in the late afternoon, which was highly interesting.

At first I’m glad that Raimo van der Klein is willing to share these details on a business model level. It is very interesting, and these facts simply illustrate that business model innovation and the constant search for new strategic opportunities and exapnding competitive advantage are a necessity for every entrepreneur.

I’m curious if the Layar team used a business model design tool, like the business model canvas proposed by business model expert Alexander Osterwalder.

Final thoughts and wrap-up

I would like to compliment everyone who has been involved with the organization of the first edition of the Android Experience.  The great industrial atmosphere of the Amsterdam Convention Factory was excellent for a technology event like this.

In addition to the excellent presentations above, Android Experience was also about meeting old friends (developers, press, bloggers, handset manufacturers, distributors) and meeting new friends. During and after the Planet Android App Challenge 2010, I had a few drinks with Patrick de Laive of the Next Web. A great guy with an exceptional entrepreneurial drive.

Other examples of this creativity and entrepreneurship are my discussion with the guys from TAB Worldmedia, or the described presentation of Raimo van der Klein, Chief Exectutive Officer of Layar, and Koen Krijns of Hardware.info with the barcode scanning application for Android.

The conclusion is simple, first edition of the Android Experience was a huge success !!

Dynamic Content Gallery Picture used with permission of Daphne Channa Horn, Independent Photographer

Last year I attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but unfortunately I do need to miss one of the best technology shows on the planet this year. Since I’m passionate about Windows Phones and other Microsoft products I didn’t want to miss the Microsoft CES 2010  keynote with Steve Ballmer and Robbie Bach.

While Steve Ballmer announced to the public that the HTC HD2 will become available in the US via T-Mobile in upcoming spring, I was far more excited by an announcement made by Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division @ Microsoft: “Project Natal for Xbox 360“.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFrvHSEQKTU

What is Project Natal for Xbox 360 ?

While the video above of the announcement describes Project Natal for Xbox 360 pretty well, but you might want to look at a Project Natal definition from the Wikipedia page:

“Project Natal is the code name for a “controller-free gaming- and entertainment experience” by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video game platform. Based on an add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console, Project Natal enables users to control and interact with the Xbox 360 without the need to touch a game controller through a natural user interface using gestures, spoken commands,or presented objects and images. The project is aimed at broadening the Xbox 360′s audience beyond its typically hardcore base.”

Both the video and the definition shown that Project Natal for Xbox 360 is a complex but very challenging innovation from a technical- and scientific perspective. In the Project Natal video above you can see some behind the scenes with the some Project Natal team members, each having a different professional- and educational  background !! I think this story tells it all …

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9tmr8VDqN8

Some concluding thoughts about Project Natal

I used to play with the Atari 2600 “gaming console” as a child, but I have never really played a lot on gaming consoles. However yesterday the little child in me woke up yesterday after I saw the announcement and demo of this technical masterpiece.

Some critics might say that the first steps into a different way of interacting with the gaming console were set by the Nintendo Wii Console. This might be true, but the types of games and “game-richness” on a Nintendo Wii Console totally differ from the types of games on the Xbox 360 or the Sony PlayStation 3. Furthermore the Nintendo Wii Console still requires a kind of controller, despite the form may differ from the traditional controllers.

The Project Natal video above provides some realistic scenario’s which outline the new way of interaction between man and machine. I really like the part where the skateboard is scanned and loaded into the game so the boy can ride his own skateboard in the game, or the steering, clutching and tire changing in the racing game.

I think it is fair to say that Microsoft has developed a great new technology for the Microsoft Xbox 360 with Project Natal. In order to further boost the return on investment (ROI) on this excellent outcome of Microsoft Research, I started to think if there are different applications in other markets within the Microsoft Ecosystem.

I can think of future scenarios where you can control the machines in your kitchen, or interacting with your home electronics or I can even think of scenarios in the car industry. This might sound like future mapping, but I honestly do believe that Microsoft has a powerful technology in their hands with great potential. I hope we can see some results in the future.

“Microsoft tonight announced it would start shipping its Natal gesture and voice controller for the Xbox 360 game console in time for the Christmas holiday shopping season.”

Like you can read in the LA Times article above,  Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment & Devices Division @ Microsoft tonight announced that Project Natal is available for consumers early 2010. In other words this is soon, and I’m definitely gonna see if I can replace the good old Atari 2600 memories with a brand new Microsoft Xbox 360 (Elite) gaming console, of course combined with the Project Natal add-on !!

Yesterday I received some interesting news about HTC, which for a change isn’t about one of their latest devices, like the sponsorship announcement of Team Columbia-HTC just before the start of the Tour de France 2009 earlier this year.

However HTC now teams-up with Wallpaper* and sponsors the Wallpaper* design awards 2010, as you can read on the Wallpaper* website. An intersting move since Wallpaper* isn’t about mobile technology, but about design interiors fashion art and lifestyle as you can read in the subtitle of the Wallpaper* logo.

Perhaps this collaboration isn’t as strange as it seem to be at first sight, since the common denominator is design and functionality. You all probably know examples like the eye catching design of the “chin” on the HTC Dream and HTC Hero devices, or HTC is the first to use capacitive screen technology on Windows Phones with the HTC HD2.

“We all enjoy a bit of flash and flamboyance now and then but we reserve our highest praise for design that does something truly useful and does it beautifully. We go ga-ga for elegant solutions and functional punch. HTC, world leaders in communications technology, are of a similar mind and operate under the banner ‘quietly brilliant’. Who better then to partner up with to present this year’s Readers’ Choice award, a celebration of the beautifully useful.”

The nominations for the HTC Reader’s Choice (Design) Awards 2010 are:

1. Bullfrog LED front bike lights by Knog;
2. Air Multiplier fan by Dyson;
3. W+W toilet and sink by Roca;
4. Up street furniture by Ewo and Norway Says;
5. The 3rd person archive book by artist John Stezaker;

This list clearly shows a great variety of products, which really makes it an interesting “competititon”. Furthermore it is very intersting to check out additional pictures and art in a gallery of the five nominations.

Concluding thoughts

In ordre to wrap this is a very interesting collaboration, and it might sound strange when you first read about it. However according to the press release the partnership expresses HTC’s focus on design and innovation.

Strategically it might even be an interesting opportunity for HTC to tap into a “new” network of fresh designers guided by great out-of-the box thinking and who are able to come-up with new designs.

If you are interested in design, which I am as a mechnical engineer, you should certainly check out the five nominations with the additional pictures and bring out your vote. I’m very curious which design will be the winner of the HTC Reader’s Choice Awards 2010 !!

In November it was time for the annual invitation-only Möbius conference, and I was one of the very fortunate ones to be invited for this great event. The Möbius conference 2009  was held in Seattle, and I was very excited about my first visit to one of the top 10 tech cities in the world.   

In this article I will provide a short section with background information about Möbius, and than focus on this year’s Möbius conference and the discussed contents (which I’m allowed to share).  

What is Möbius ?

 For those of you who don’t have a clue what Möbius is about, there is a pretty nice definition on the Möbius website:   

“Möbius is an invitation-only community of the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers. The collective insights, opinions and influence of Möbius drives market trends, industry buzz and the buying behavior of people worldwide. Möbians interact behind the scenes with companies big and small to shape the direction of devices, services, pricing, design and the culture of consumer technology.”  

You can furthermore read that Mobius is about a never ending conversation, which is to some extent a reflection of the word Möbius (strip) and its mathematical properties. However open dicussions and ongoing conversations about mobile technology and closely related topics are the essence of the Möbius group.

Möbius Conference 2009

Arne Hess, Windows Mobile MVP and Editor in Chief of the::unwired describes a Möbius conference in an article on his website as:

“Möbius isn’t just another blogger, press or analysts briefing but the main part of the whole conference it is the vital interaction and discussion between the attendees, Microsoft and its partners. It’s 48 hours of discussions, sharing information and thoughts about the mobile and wireless future.”  

In order to give you an idea about who is taking part in these discussions I would like to start with providing an overview of the attendees of the 2009 Möbius conference in Seattle:

• Alex Gay, Akihabara News
• Arne Hess, the::unwired
• Chris Ziegler, Engadget Mobile
• Dieter Bohn, Smartphone Experts
• Gianni Carfagno, SoloPalmari.com
• Jenneth Orantia, freelance writer
• Jerome Tranie, MobiFrance
• Derrick Ngan, Pocket PC Channel
• Joel Evans, Geek.com
• Judie Lipsett, Gear Diary
• Leigh Geary, Cool Smartphone
• Lisa Gade, MobileTechReview
• Matt Miller, ZDNet Smartphones & Cell Phones
• Michael Gartenberg, Gartenblog
• Paul O’Brien, MoDaCo.com
• Philip Berne, InfoSync World
• Rafe Blandford, All About Symbian
• Remo Knops, MobilityMinded
• Rich Brome, PhoneScoop
• Ryan Block, GDGT
• Sacha Fuentes, Xataka.com
• Sascha Segan, Gear Log
• Shane Chiang, Mobinauts
• Vincent Nguyen, Slash Gear

As you can see this is a great group of people, and I’m very fortunate to have met the probably smartest people in the mobile sector. Not only in terms of geographical location, but also in terms of formal education, type of website and even mobile platform it is a very diverse group. You can imagine that this adds some great value to the discussions. For example it is great to hear Rafe Blandford share his thoughts about the Symbian platform and the latest Symbian devices.

As you can read in the reports of the Mobius conference 2007 in Amsterdam (report day 1, report day 2, report day 3) there is always a great mix of sessions, about which we can write and sessions that are under the Mobius NDA handshake. Unfortunately this year the almost complete conference were NDA sessions, so I won’t be able to share reports like back in 2007.

However Jason Dunn, Windows Mobile- & Zune MVP and Editor in Chief of ThoughtsMedia, has written an excellent article (page 1, page 2) on the Windows Phone Thoughts website, which I would highly recommend you to read. Also Jenneth Orantia, freelance writer, has managed to write a trip report on the Gadget Monkeys blog. I think both these article should give you an idea about the Mobius 2009 conference.

Conclusive thoughts

I would like to start the concluding section with the fact that I really love Seattle as a city. Despite it was pretty cold and rainy (even for a Dutch guy), it is such a great city where you can really feel the creative city approach, which in concept has been described by visionary Charles Landry. It was for example great fun to visit the first Starbucks ever, and Pike Place Market together with Shane Chiang and Sacha Fuentes. I will definitely visite Seattle again in the future, it really felt like home there !

Furthermore the Mobius Conference 2009 was -in my perception- very successful. It is such a privelege to meet such smart and creative people from all over the world and engage in discussions with them about the future of (windows) mobile. Honestly the Mobius Conference has really given me a creative boost, and kept me going back home !!

I would really like to explicitly thank Microsoft for the inviting me to the event, I have been in a very fortunate position ! An addtional great many thanks to Microsoft for hooking all of us up with a Zune HD 32GB, which is an amazing device and much more than a mediaplayer. The Zune HD isn’t for sale in the Netherlands, so that makes it really special. Furthermore a great many thanks to HTC for giving us an HTC HD2, the most powerful Windows Phone on the market. Amazing, and blazing fast !

To wrap up I really had an amazing time in Seattle, it was great to catch-up with old friends, meet new friends and I finally would like to thank everyone again who contributed to the great conference !!

During Mobile Monday Amsterdam #11 Robert Rice and Joe Pine II, two excellent speakers, addressed the very interesting topic of Augmented Reality. Both speakers had different approaches and views on addressing the topic, but it resulted in a great event and perception on Augmented reality.

This article will show a YouTube video titled: “TNT Post goes mobile with Layar” and it certainly is cool to see a combination of two worlds ! We can’t deny that TNT Mail has suffered from modern technologies like e-mail, which had a large impact on the number of sent “physical” letters. Therefore it’s especially cool to see both -seemingly contradicting- worlds combined into this YouTube video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Bae7LwgSc

What is Layar ?

On the Layar product website a product description is available, which clearly outlines the purpose and concept of Layar:

“Layar is a free application on your mobile phone which shows what is around you by displaying real time digital information on top of reality through the camera of your mobile phone. Layar is a global application, available for the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic and other Android phones in all Android Markets. It also comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy in the Netherlands.”

Layar is a combination of the words layer and augmented reality, so it probably isn’t a big surprise that several layers are “projected” on top of the real world.

“View all 87 layers that are now live (or almost) all over the world in the Layar 2.0 Content Catalog.”

Thoughts and Wrap-up

While currently this application is only developed for the free Google Android platform, it certainly is cool to see such new applications as a result of cleverly combining different existing technologies currently available in a mobile phone.

Also comparing the old TNT Mail business model with the business model of a company like Layar, would be an interesting and insighful case study to conduct. It might result in a clash of both the Augmented Reality and “real” worlds, but it also shows advancement in technology- and application development.

I’m sure that a company like TNT Mail certainly has intered the online- and mobile domain is well, searching for new opportunities and challenges. Question however will be if both models can co-exist next to each other !!?

Recently version 2.1 of Layar Reality Browser was launched, so if you are open to explore new technology applications and get a whole different perception on Augmented Reality and interacting with your environment you should certainly grab your Google Android powered phone and install Layar Reality browser on it ! Would be cool if you can share some personal experiences in the comment-section !

Constanze Roman -a Community PM with the Windows Mobile Community Team- has published an interesting article on the Windows Mobile Team blog with the title:  “Ready to Port your iPhone App to Windows Mobile?“

Although I’m not a developer,  nor having a formal Information Technology & Computer Science education, I would like to have a detailed look at this cool case study from a business administration- and entrepreneurial perspective. It might be a good starting point for discussion, so comments are welcome.

Apple Appstore, Android Marketplace and Windows Marketplace for Mobile 

Let’s start builing this case with some details and background information about the Apple Appstore from Wikipedia:

“The App Store is a service for the iPhone and iPod Touch created by Apple Inc. which allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with the iPhone SDK and published through Apple.

And furthermore some details about the time frame:

“The App Store opened early in the morning on July 10, 2008 via an update to iTunes. The billionth application was downloaded on April 23, 2009.”

These numbers clearly show that since the launch of the first generation iPhone in June 2007 the mobile marketspace is disrupted with the result of high growth both for iPhone sales and as a result iPhone Application sales. Developers have massively addapted the platform, and simply move where the sales volumes are, right ?

In October 2008 Google hit the market with a similar concept called the Android Marketplace, and because of the Java-kind programming language the developers embraced this platform as well, and currently there are quite some freeware applications in the Android Marketplace. The Android platform however is in the early stage of it’s developments, but thanks to developments of HTC the platform has made some large steps in becoming mature.

Microsoft is currently working hard on the Windows Marketplace for Mobile and probably gains momentum from the Windows Mobile 6.5 release. In a sequence of articles on www.mobilityminded.com I have covered quite some details of the concept and the implementation of the payment mechanism: 

1. Windows Marketplace for Mobile coming to Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.0
2. Windows Marketplace for Mobile – Payments and Operators
3. Microsoft Surface table to win in developer contest: The Race to Market Challenge 

In the articles you can read some concluding facts as well:

“This means that developers will have an opportunity to reach more than 30 million Windows Mobile devices. ”

This means that Apple iPhone developers have the opportunity to enter a second and third market, and scale their businesses significantly. As stated in the introduction, a real case study is conduced in collaboration with a developer for the application “Amplitude”.

 Amplitude – A real(istic) case study !

On the gripwire website you can find the following product description of Amplitude (for iPhone):

“Amplitude is a fun application that enables users to amplify audio from their surroundings. By enabling users to adjust the volume/gain on their microphones, Gripwire has turned the iPhone into a high-tech listening device capable of picking up the sound of animal heartbeats, distant conversations, and a host of other sounds that you might never have noticed.”

Very cool that for the case study not a kind of fictive application is chosen, but an existing application from a “real” software-development-firm. Constanze Roman -a Community PM with the Windows Mobile Community Team- explained why Amplitude is an interesting application to use for the case study.

“Amplitude is well suited for a porting project because it combines a rich user interface with features such as alpha blending and transparency with specific audio and sound requirements, which makes it challenging to port the app but, at the same time, provides a number of helpful learning experiences.”

However I have seen quite some interesting applications on the Apple iPhone where the build-in g-sensor is used. This could also be an additional challenge in the porting process, since these hardware parts become also very common in Windows Phones. However the Amplitude application covers already quite some parts of the spectrum.

Minimizing the learning curve by solid documentation ? 

The article ”Ready to Port your iPhone App to Windows Mobile?” already describes to broad overview of the research project, but on the MSDN network the whole case study is well documented in the article:  “Porting the Amplitude Application from the iPhone to a Windows Mobile Device – a Case Study“

I think the article can be of great help since it offers a starting point, and it provides bits of code which could be helpful while porting your own application. However each application has its own structure and probably each developer has an own style and structure of coding, so a unversal approach probably is not applicable. Every application will have it’s own challenges and it’s up to the developer to tackle these. I also expect not all the developers to document their findings and put these online. 

“The large development community, both within Microsoft and outside, and the various whitepapers, blogs, virtual labs, websites, and other online documentation, offered a wealth of information that provided direction and greatly facilitated problem resolution. The only real challenge was assuring total portability between screens, and that was assured by utilizing the concept of aspect ratios.” 

The documentation is a good point, but in the MSDN article you can read there are some challenges due to the differences in platform requirements as well.

Wrap-up and idea’s

Let’s start by having a look at the main conclusions from the research:

“Porting an iPhone application proved both surprising and not nearly as challenging as had been expected. Once the frameworks and library decisions were finalized, the effort to port code essentially consisted of moving Objective C to C#, both of which are Java-like languages.”

Remark my introductary comment that I don’t have a formal Computer Science education, so I need to trust the developer’s word. I think that the available documentation helps, and it can even significantly decrease the learning curve.

Mary-Jo Foley -Editor at ZDNet All About Microsoft- described earlier this year a kind of chassis/reference concept in her article: “A Microsoft smartphone: No. A Microsoft phone chassis: Yes“:

“Think of what Microsoft is doing in phones as similar to what it has done in the PC market. Microsoft often develops reference implementations and encourages PC makers that they build PCs that adhere to a set of reference guidelines/specifications.”

To me it sounds a little like concepts I know from Mechanical Engineering: process- and product-standardization, modular architectures and -designs. These concepts, if there is some part of truth in it, could furthermore decrease the learning curve for developers since the standards are very clear and outlined (comperable with DIN-norms in Mechnical Engineering).

“Thompson’s case study shows, that even though there are some challenges in porting a multimedia-rich application from the iPhone to Windows Mobile, the task can be accomplished, especially with the help of developer-friendly tools like Visual Studio, the richness of community content that is available for Windows Mobile, and last but not least by planning the project ahead and doing all the necessary research in advance.”

I would like to make a final point here. Close friend and colleague Paul Willen concluded in the article: “Windows Mobile 6.5 Development – What about Developers?” 

“[...] I think its sad to see that a very good developer has to do a great investment before his application can actually become a product in the Marketplace .That’s why I hope Microsoft will re-consider the choice and gives something to starting developers. Something that will make it easier and cheaper to start developing.”

While for the Apple Appstore and the Android Marketplace the development tools are free, developers need to invest even before they start developing. And despite the developer will get 70% of the revenue of the application, according to Todd Brix in the channel9 video, it might be a threshhold to start developers porting their Apple iPhone Applications !

I hope this article will provide some input to start a valuable discussion, and since I’m not an expert in the technical coding part, you developers out there might get my up to speed about the implications !

Reference List

While many references are used as links in this article I would like to highlight the two most important references on this case study, which provide a great amount of information for developers:

1. THE WINDOWS MOBILE BLOG:  Ready to Port your iPhone App to Windows Mobile?
2. MSDN:  Porting the Amplitude Application from the iPhone to a Windows Mobile Device – a Case Study

A few weeks ago Jason Langridge wrote an article on his blog “Online Mind Mapping” which caught my attention and covers a great online service for Mind Mapping called MindMeister.

Last year I attended a traning of Marc Tigchelaar which I covered in the article: “Speed reading, mindmapping & braintraining“, and during the recent “Business Model Knowledge Fair & Book Launch” I could experience the power of visual (thinking) techniques in business communication myself by applying it on drawing a business model.

Introduction: “What is mind mapping ?”

On the mindmeister website a very nice definition can be found which covers most of the concepts behind the mind mapping technique:

“Mind mapping is a creativity and structuring technique that focuses on the human mind and its assumed inner workings. Contrary to the conventional methods of linear reading and writing, mind mapping is based on the central thesis that our mind works both rational and associative. In order to mimic this behavior we have to adapt our traditional methods of note taking, brainstorming, and creating lists. We need to introduce visual stimuli based on imagery, colors, icons and a more holistic view on a given topic or theme. ”

On the website of Tony Buzan -the developer of the Mind Mapping technique- you can find a very practical and helpful example called: “Exam Revision 10 Top Tips“. Here comparison overview is shown of a mindmap next to the list of tips, so please compare for yourself.

MindMeister and some key features

Now we know a little about the basic concepts and reasoning behind mindmaps, let’s have a look in which ways MindMeister extends on these concepts and makes this tool extremely useful for business and working in projects:

“MindMeister is the market leading and multiple award-winning web-based collaboration solution that uses proven mind mapping concepts to facilitate multi-user planning, brainstorming, and project management sessions from within a standard web browser.”

While I used Mindjet Mindmanager 8 until now to draw mindmaps on my Lenovo X60 tablet, it is not easy to work simultaniously, adjust or share the mindmap easily with you project team.  This brings us to THE unique feature of the MindMeister service.

Collaborative Online Mind Mapping

“MindMeister brings the concept of mind mapping to the web, using its facilities for real-time collaboration to allow truly global brainstorming sessions. Users can create, manage and share mind maps online and access them anytime, from anywhere.”

With this concept MindMeister become a valuable business tool, which projectmanagers and engineers could use on daily basis, without the need to be writing on a white board in the same physical room with your team mates. It will help to capture idea’s in an efficient way, and describe relations among the different idea’s in a graphical way.

Mobile access

Another feature that I really like as a mobile technology enthusiast is the availability of a MindMeister for mobile application. With this application you really have total freedom of accessing your mindmaps on the go, even without the need of a computer or notebook.

“MindMeister mobile, our iPhone application, provides access to your online mind maps whereever you are. You can create new ones, edit them and sync them with the server. Through our unique user interface you have both the comfort of an iPhone application and the familiar interface of MindMeister”

Unfortunately the MindMeister for mobile application is only available for the Apple iPhone, and as a Windows Mobile fanboy I truely hope that this great application will be ported to the Windows Mobile platform as well. I think it would a great application to have in the business center of Windows Marketplace for mobile.

Overall thoughts

Despite I really like Mindjet MindManager 8 on my Windows Vista powered Lenovo X60 tablet, I think that the MindMeister service brings mindmapping to the next level and making it available for a wide variety of business applications. You can easily share the mindmap with your colleagues and changes by your co-workers are shown on a real-time basis.

MindMeister connects the web, the pc and the smartphone so you can access the mindmaps anytime anywhere. This is a comperable strategy as some of the Microsoft products like Microsoft Live Mesh or another example Evernote. This multi-platform approach is a concept that I  personally like, and I truly hope te see a Windows Mobile version coming soon !

MindMeister is offered in four different editions:  (1) basic; (2) premium; (3) business; (4) academic; The basic version is free, and this is a great opportunity to get familiar with mind mapping or start instantly sharing and colaborating on mind maps with your co-workers and friends.

Reference List

1. MINDMEISTER:  Online Mindmapping – About
2. BUZAN WORLD:  Buzan Books on Mindmapping

Perhaps some of your remember the acquisition propositions of Microsoft to Yahoo! earlier this year, which in the end didn’t result in Microsoft buying Yahoo!. However yesterday the news spread very fast on the web that both companies announced a long-term agreement in the Web Search segment.

“Yahoo! and Microsoft announced an agreement that will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry. In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.”

Analysis key terms of the agreement

But even the simple term version in the summary made me think about the advantages and impact the agreement has for both Yahoo! and Microsoft. Dueto my background in and interests in technology trends I wanted to have a closer look at the key terms below:

@1.   “Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!’s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;”

Remarkable is the long-term character of the agreement, especially in the fast moving and hard to predict digital era we currently live in. However the agreement might be a good strategic move, in order to continue development and expand marketshare for the Microsoft Bing decision engine.

@2.   “Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.”

This key term only supports the expansion of Microsoft Bing, since it will power the search platform on Yahoo! websites. A questionmark however is if Microsoft will also have access to the Yahoo! search data, which is collectd by Yahoo! until now.

@3.   “Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.”

It sounds like this key term is really aimed at combining complementary skill sets, or to reduce Microsoft’s sales force for premium search advertisers.

@4.   “Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.”

Thus the agreement is only for the search-segment of both the companies, while other parts like the Instant Messaging platforms and the Web Properties, etc. will not be part of this agreement. From a Microsoft perspective, it looks like this deal is fully aimed at brining Micrsoft Bing to the next level. What intrigues me is how the close collaboration agreement will be shaped in practice? Will the Microsft Yahoo search become a separate business unit under the Microsoft Bing “umbrella” ?

@5.   “Yahoo! will innovate and “own” the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.”

This one is very interesting, since I believe that both companies will invest in continuous development of the user experience as well as the search experience. This key term triggers a question again: What will happen to the Intellectual Property (IP) that is a result of a co-creation process, which required both parties’ knowledge to develop / or create ?

@6.   “Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites.

• Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement.
• Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.”

Well here come some financials in play. Microsoft (Bing) will pay Yahoo! compensation for the market expansion which seems to be fair for both companies. The first bullet however only covers the first 5 years of the agreement, while the exclusive license agreement on Yahoo!s search technologies is bought for a period of 10 years! Honestly in the fast moving internet era, these periods seem to be long but might be the result of “slow moving giants” compared to the flexible start-up companies.

@7.   “Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo!’s O&O revenue per search (RPS) in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country.”

Looking a the compensation-term of the agreement  above and the fact that Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo! revenue per search, both companies but foremost Microsoft have really faith in the success of Microsoft Bing, which is more than a Google search alternative.

@8.   “At full implementation (expected to occur within 24 months following regulatory approval), Yahoo! estimates, based on current levels of revenue and current operating expenses, that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of approximately $500 million and capital expenditure savings of approximately $200 million. Yahoo! also estimates that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual operating cash flow of approximately $275 million.”

Nice to write down the estimates, but which prediction and estimation models are used to calculate these numbers. What is the balance between the financial win for Microsoft and what is the financial win for Yahoo!?  However I do think that this merger / acquisition can result in highe efficiency improvements by combining the best of both worlds in search and advertising. If the numbers and calculations we’re correct we will see in time.

@9.   “The agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies. The agreement maintains the industry-leading privacy practices that each company follows today.”

Consumer privacy is certainly a good point, but will this key term not slow down the companies since they seem te rely both on certain types of information for additional development of their services.

Thoughts and wrap-up 

Todd Bishop -co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash- has written a series of articles on the TechFlash website about this deal from a variety of perspectives in the following highly recommended articles: “What people are saying about Microsoft’s Yahoo partnership” and “Analysts, investors react to Microsoft’s Yahoo partnership” and “Audio: Ballmer and Bartz discuss partnership, Google, and f-bombs“

“While Microsoft gets the larger market share to improve Bing’s search relevance and advertising volume, Yahoo still gets 88 percent of the revenue from ads on Yahoo search, without the R&D and operating expenses that it would normally encounter. That frees up Yahoo to concentrate on its online media business, Ballmer said.”

But how can we relate this agreement back to the failed acquisition in February this year, and what was te initial goal of the Yahoo! acquisition at that point in time ? Was it also aimed at buying the search technologies of Yahoo! in order to improve Microsoft Bing and leverage the Yahoo! network to collect data and expand in advertising as well ?

All interesting questions, which will require some additional research. However what most strikes me in this deal is the long-term character and trust both companies have in this agreement and the partnership. I would like to know when you really can measure the impact of this agreement, both in financial- and in operational and efficiency terms as well.

In the article I explicitely didn’t talk about Google -another industry giant an leader in the search segment-, but I’m also really curious on their strategic reaction as well. And:

• Is the agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo! a clever move to dismantle Yahoo! piece by piece or is it a better deal for Yahoo! so they can really develop ventures in new or related industries ?
• Will the two industry giants be able to be more flexible and move faster due to this agreement, like a early start-up ?
• Which management challenges will the (partly) merger of Yahoo! and Microsoft (Bing) bring ?
• What impact has this acquisition on the innovative power of Yahoo! and Microsoft ?
• What is the impact on the business models of Yahoo! and Microsoft ?

Concluding

The current agreement betweent Microsoft and Yahoo! is a very interesting business case, of which I will follow the developments. I hope in time some questions will be answered and perhaps some new challenges will come on their path. The long-term character of the agreement and the open formulation of the key terms, makes it even more interesting to follow. Please let me know what you think of this agreement, and you might have some thoughts about the proposed questions as well.

Reference List

1. MICROSOFT PRESS PASS: News Press Release Microsoft Proposes Acquisition of Yahoo! for $31 per Share
2. CHOICE VALUE INNOVATION:  Microsoft, Yahoo! Change Search Landscape
3. TECHFLASH:  Analysts, investors react to Microsoft’s Yahoo partnership