Over the past month I have tested the Nokia E61 (reviewed here earlier)…concluded I don’t like it and have started using the N73 instead. Bottom line (for the N73) - too smart, too slow, I like it but it’s definitely not an “off the shelf” product.

What is true for real life (spouse, friends, job) is true for technology as well - expectation is an important factor of interaction. If I know what to expect, my full mindset shifts accordingly. Over the years I have tested (and created) many, less then perfect products, some of which I loved. When I know I should ignore the imperfections and focus on the core, the context remains the right context. THAT’S what beta is for (what’s up Google?). The “Beta” label puts everything in perspective. It signifies the recognition that this is still work in progress and that comments are welcomed. Once you go live - imperfections are much less excusable. Google realized (but abuses) the fact that Beta have a romantic marketing side to it. Participating in a beta makes you feel unique, involved and excited about being first.

The Nokia N73 should have been released in beta and this is why:
• Its sluggish, sluggish, sluggish - it makes you feel like you are working with a bad web service. This is simply unacceptable. Reminds me of my first car, a beautiful yet completely unreliable Alpha Romeo.
• Switch from idle mode to active - phone hangs for 5-10 seconds. Select gallery - wait 5 seconds. Press End instead of Back to go stop and action - hangs. Open a text message - wait 5-10 seconds (sometime more)….its bad, bad, bad.
• Loading a phone with smart features is nice, but implementing them into every single flow - not advised. Every time I select a contact I have to select whether I want to make a video call or voice. Common - give me a break - is my name James Bond???

• Camera - 3.2 Mega Pixel is awesome, but don’t throw out your regular cameras just yet. The camera is great for better then normal lighting conditions, but in a closed room it reminds you that there is still a lot of work to be done on convergence of cameras and phones. None the less, this is the least of my worries and actually one of the biggest sweet spots of this whole early release fiasco.

What could have turned this around? Label it Nokia N73beta If I had this phone with a beta label I would be showing it off left and right. Forgiving all the little things mentioned above. After all its beta - focus on the core - its loaded with features, the smartest phone I have ever had. Incredible screen, slick looking. I could always make these video calls to Q to pretend I am a covert agent working for a start up. Beta…makes all the difference.

a few notes about the Nokia E61 Aner raved about (and why I didn’t like it):
• Its too wide - those few millimeters more than the Motorola Q or Blackberry make all the difference. Very awkward to hold while talking.
• Round corners, guys! Holding a wide phone is one thing but when the corners are not round (or round enough) it’s really not comfortable. Notice how the Blackberry’s corners are rounder and smaller at bottom end. The folks there understand what holding a mini computer over your ear is about..and made it more comfortable. Nokia has yet to learn.
• Tight qwerty. QWERTY keyboard is good but making it too tight looses the edge. I found my not so big but above average fingers where hitting wrong keys. I type faster using T9. Again - Motorola Q and Blackberry buttons are much smaller but better spaced. Very big difference.
• Lack of camera - I realize the enterprise models need to be camera less. This is something I realized in hind sight. Camera phones are important to me…if a phone doesn’t have them I’d prefer the model with. Motorola Q seems like a much better pick.

      

1. Making lines enjoyable. I am personally allergic to lines. We waste so much time in lines there must be money in it. I am not talking about more advertising, hell no! I’m talking about making it a pleasure instead of horrible pain. Has anyone ever considered a massage parlor in the DMV? a batting cage in the Safeway? imagine that!!

2. Home / near radius noise reducer. There must be a way to lower outside noise without covering the walls with asbestos. Something that has to do with generating counter waves. I’m sure.

3. “Find me a restaurant / spa / party”. I’ll input budget, occasion, date, time and personal preferences. I’d get a call back with the options. It’s a personal assistance service, but one I would pay a subscription for if it’s good.

4. A real blog crawling service. Not yet another search engine or a aggregated start page. Something real. Something that really gets me relevant stuff I like based on what I already read. Seriously, somebody get this done already!

5. Family CTO - A service you can send your mother in law to every time her computer get stuck. But the trick is creating a service that will not only fix her computer, but that will upgrade everything in the house without costing her a dime. I’m still trying to figure that one out.

No need to pay royalties as long as you give me credit.

      

In the long run - yes. In the short term - no.

Many people wonder about the future of MetaCafe - YouTube smaller (and in my opinion much better designed) rival. What kind of impact does GoogleTube have on MetaCafe’s future?

Right now the heavyweights will probably wait. GoogleTube will now set the table for copyright practices, advertising models and CPM real value. Yahoo, Microsoft and News Corp. will not go through a “me too” because it’s horrible strategy in this case - YouTube is number one service and a red-hot brand. You can’t beat that by buying number 2

(as a side note - while YouTube’s traffic has spiked since the merger rumors began, MetaCafe’s traffic, as well as the other rivals, has gone slightly down).

More importantly, advertising agencies need time to get up to speed with building advertising practices through such services, and the ecosystem is years away from figuring itself out.

In the longer term, MetaCafe may greatly benefit. First of all, now there is a reference involved, one we all wish for. MetaCafe is much better positioned towards avoiding copyright issues - it uses a much better content filtering system, human and automatic - and it can limit the exposure to commercial copyright infringement. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that a GoogleTube legal mess would actually contribute to MetaCafe under certain circumstances.

MetaCafe has the financial resources and user depth to fuel a couple of more years of rapid growth. Once the industry matures a bit, and if the half assed CPM estimations are even remotely right, MetaCafe will not only have a great brand but a much more significant asset - very profitable operations.

Now imagine what a profitable YouTube would have been sold for.

      

I started writing for Sportingo, the online destination built for and by sport fans. My first two editorials cover the two subjects I am most passionate about - Basketball and Baseball. The first one, NBA expansion to Europe? Are you kidding me?,  deals with the expansion facade David Stern is trying to put European Basketball to sleep with. The second one, C’mon old timer, it’s the joy rogers show, pays tribute to a 42 year old reserrected anti-hero, Kenny Rogers of the Detroit Tigers.

Check out Sportingo if you haven’t already and enjoy.

      

1. Yes, I think it’s over priced. Having the industry titans fight over you helps though.

2. Very good for the Start up scene. This type of exit is more effective then any presentation.

3. It’s not the last or highest.

4. Google is probably the only player that doesn’t have to show ROI, Share price will go up no matter what.

5. It’s a defining moment for the industry. Seriously. I’m glad Google bought YouTube, it’s a good fit. Let’s see what kind of advertising model they will spin out of it. The better and more profitable it is - the better off we all are.

6. Check out what Mark Cuban has to day. Before AND after.  

      

I traded in my RAZR V3 and got the Nokia E61 this week. The E61 is heavily promoted by Orange and I couldn’t resist the QWERTY keyboard.

The bottom line is that I love it! I loved the RAZR as well, but the V3 fat boy wasn’t really it, and the Q is not a GSM phone. The E61 is the first REAL smart phone I see from Nokia. The previous Symbian based ones were featured phones, not smart phones. The E61 is WiFi enabled (huge plus!), has a wide QWERTY keyboard (a must!) and despite it’s size fits rather well into a pocket. Email works like a charm, but the real surprise was the browser! Rich HTML, smart mobile centric navigation, escellent screen resolution. Mobile browsing is actually fun and easy! Way to go!

It seems like the PDA days are over. Smart phones have won the battle and that’s good news for Nokia and bad news for Microsoft. As Russel Buckley summarizes well:

“The last bastion for the PDA is the US, with over 50% of worldwide sales. Maybe, that’s why Microsoft think the battle of Palm v Windows is even vaguely relevant to the big picture. As I wrote over a year ago, it’s like two bald, old men, fighting over a comb. Even Palm seem to have realised this today.

Next target for the mobile is the stand alone MP3 player, about to be consigned to a historical curiosity, as one of the fastest product life cycles - from launch to extinction -ever to be launched.”

      

I’ve been hearing a lot of “mobile operators are dead” lately. Bleeding voice, cut throat competition, garden walls falling, devices taking over entertainment and internent access points, MVNOs grabbing loyalty…what a nightmare! Or is it?

If you have a neat operator centric solution in mind don’t pitch it to the investment community. Chances are you will kindly be thanked for your time and be advised to focus on the internet, enterprise or another golden egg space of the month that shows future potential.

Operators dead? Bullshit! Operators very well maybe on the brinks of becoming even more gigantic. Monstrous.

Strategy Analytics has released a new report, which concludes that the conditions are finally right for wireless payments growth over the next five years, projecting that mobile contact-less payment will be used to drive sales of US$36 billion by 2011. FeliCa, mobile payment service in Japan, is going to generate $900M this year and that’s in less less then 3 years fro inception. $900 Million! More then Myspace, YouTube or FaceBook…

It’s not simple, granted, and requires formation of new value chains which currently do not exist. Banks, Credit Card companies, Operators and Device Manufacturers need to build an ecosystem. In the end, operators will become wireless supermarkets of a new kind. That’s not trivial. Think about it for a second though. It makes so much sense!Operators stand better chances of becoming mobile supermarkets then they had of becoming serious content players. Operators are large, bureaucratic, organized, established enterprises with a natural orientation towards operating services; privacy, security, procedures, payments, customer support and calculating ongoing margins. Much closer to banks, credit card companies and retail chains then to record labels and internet portals if you ask me. Yes, there’s a market shift involved, but the cultural and organizational shift is not as dramatic. The DNA is there, and that, in my opinion, is the key.

Today’s pure communication services cannot generate tomorrow’s profits. It has more to do with the natural path of aging technology then with dramatic changes in the market. Tomorrow’s growth engine is not voice, video, WiFi or any other sort of enabler. These will only set the stage for services and applications. Operators will enable wireless trading and will benefit from mobile entertainment and media. Both ain’t peanuts. Hold off the obituaries.