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My Nokia e71 has been through alot, it is without a doubt one of the best phones I’ve ever had, surviving an underwater adventure in Mexico which knocked it out for three weeks but coming back and working like a champ.    It’s been almost two years since I got it however, and since submerging it in the swimming pool at Puerto Vallarta I have been looking at options for upgrading.    For a time, I was ready to jump ship from TMobile to Verizon and get a Droid or a Droid X, and even considered an iPhone on ATT’s shady network  (shudder).   When I found out about the TMobile G2, momentum swung back to TMobile, and remained that way as news broke of the Nexus S.   Yesterday, while reading about the buzz created by dual-core devices at the recent 2011 CES, I discovered the LG Optimus 2X, and was sold almost instantly.   The decision has been made – although I will have to wait 4-8 weeks, I am officially holding out for this one.

First, I’ll break down what I perceive as the weaknesses/dealbreakers for the (now former) contenders:

iPhone 4 on ATT – well that’s easy.   After briefly owning an iPhone 3g in 2008 (which turned out to be a lemon), and having what was undoubtedly the worst customer service experience of a lifetime, there is no way I will ever patronize ATT again.

iPhone 4 on Verizon – two reasons:  a)  CMDA vs GSM is a no-brainer, and b)  long term  contract + outrageous monthly fees

Droid / Droid X / Droid Pro on Verizon – long term  contract + outrageous monthly fees

HTC Evo on Sprint – long term  contract + this phone just seems too big

TMobile G2 on TMobile – I was really tempted to get this one and would have paid full price to have an unlocked, contract free set, but ultimately decided against it due to the lackluster processor (Qualcomm MSM 7230 at 800MHz)

Google Nexus One – when I found out about the lame processor in the G2, I seriously considered getting a new Nexus One by becoming a certified Android Developer ($25), however I just couldn’t bring myself to get this as it is now one year old technology.

Google Nexus S – Really nice phone, however it is lacking some key features – HDMI, removable SD card, and by the time it hit the market I had my eye on dual core processor phones, which brings me to the winner:

LG Optimus 2x – this thing is just a beast: dual-core Tegra 2 1Ghz processor, full 1080p TV-out via HDMI and video capture through an 8 megapixel primary camera plus a 1.3 megapixel cam for face-to-face calling, 4-inch WVGA display, 8GB of on-board storage (expandable with up to 32GB of microSD) and a 1,500mAh battery.  Battery capacity is a potential issue given all the aforementioned shizzle this phone is running, but that’s a risk I am willing to take.

I’m sold.  Only question is should I hold out for the rumored launch on TMobile in February, or pre-order now from CellHut.com, unlocked for $519?

Google TV is a great option for ubergeeks (like me).   The problem is that for the average couch potato, its user interface is overly complex and presents a steep learning curve.  Both the NY Times and Wall Street Journal documented this in their reviews. Enter Kevin Bacon:

Now that its been on the market for several weeks and feedback like this is percolating back to the Googleplex, Logitech has launched a TV spot featuring Kevin Bacon, to highlight the appeal of their ‘Revue’ Google TV hardware to the masses.   And who better to pitch it than Kevin Bacon, who’s within six degrees of everyone?

More insight, and the inspiration for this post, at PaidContent.org.

Bill Lumbergh and the Bobs

Have you ever had an experience at work which was eerily similar to “Office Space”?  For background it’s my opinion that anyone who works in an office with more than one other person should familiarize themselves with Mike Judge’s 1998 masterpiece.  “Office Space” is a great film for its refreshingly honest and visionary treatment of office politics and white collar issues in general, touching on themes particularly relevant to today’s economy:  downsizing, “disposable” employees, excessive management, micromanagement, managerial incompetence, and the overall creative bankruptcy of corporate America.

One one hand, you’ve got the Bobs (Slydell, played by John C. McGinley, and Porter, played by Paul Willson) – “consultants” who have basically been hired to fire as many Initech employees as possible, and they start off by having everyone write a “description” of their job, so they can review/critique them, then dispose of them based on their own words.

On the other hand, there’s Bill Lumbergh, the abusive VP, who,  as described by a Wharton Journal, “brilliantly exposed the emptiness of linguistic conventions at work”.   Sound familiar?   Perhaps its due to the fact that this “tool” spends all his time “uploading”!    The fun really starts when Lumbergh and the Bobs disagree about whether their strategy of promoting the biggest slacker – instead of firing him – will pay off.

Seriously, though -  we’ve all run into both these types of people and situations.   The best thing to do is laugh!

Ok so I haven’t posted here since April.   Why?  Suffice it to say it’s a case of writer’s block.  Sounds like a cliche, but no really that’s the case.     Posting now to say that ends today — Saturday, November 20.   You’re officially on notice.   As a heads up, here is a brief rundown of upcoming posts:

- InternetFM:  The Next Big Thing

- Web Design Crimes:  What are the motives?

- Sharepointless:  Why MS Sharepoint is a disaster for public web sites – and what you can do if those you work with have been suckered into it.

- Lumbergh vs. The Bobs:  It’s an Initech smackdown

- SXSW 2011:  Top 10 reasons why I am attending SXSW 2011

- Lou Malnati vs. Frank Santarpio:  comparing the best pizza in Boston and Chicago

So yeah it’s great to be back.   Stay tuned!

- BG

Optimizing page load times and site performance is an ongoing and well-documented challenge for online marketers.   The proliferation of widgets and tags used to track online behavior and add features is a two-edged sword – adding functionality, generating insightful metrics vs. increased page load times.   As an interactive marketer focused on achieving higher conversion rates, I am acutely aware of the detrimental effect that slow load time has on conversions.   An item from Media Post about Subaru’s efforts to cut page load times with a tag aggregation service called Tag/Man illustrates how a major brand is tackling this problem.

Read more at Media Post

Sony and Major League Baseball have announced a partnership that will bring out-of-market games to Sony PlayStation consoles, extending MLB’s reach to video gamers and augmenting PlayStation’s position as a digital entertainment hub.   Last month I blogged about the road back for Sony, this is another step for the Japanese consumer electronics giant.

Read more from the New York Times

Google now includes site speed as a ranking factor in its algorithm, as reported on Friday by Searchengineland.    Successful Interactive Marketers is determined to a major extent on striking the right balance among creative, strategic and technical considerations.   Achieving optimal site performance and page load time depends on these factors as well.   While this has always been a factor, it just got a little more important.

It is not uncommon for key stakeholders to be unaware of the impact that site performance has on their online presence, particularly for online marketing efforts for which global performance is key to success.   Last month I wrote about the Alertsite performance monitoring system, and how one company has used it to improve user experience and in turn generate a greater number of leads from Asia and Europe.   With Friday’s announcement of the inclusion of site speed in the Google ranking algorithm, the stakes have been raised.   If you haven’t considered utilization of Akamai or one of its competitors in the site acceleration / content distribution space, perhaps now is a good time to revisit.   To validate what you are seeing from the Google Labs site performance toolset, try a free 30-day trial of the Alertsite service to gain knowledge and insight as to how your site measures up.

Last weekend’s iPad launch created a demand for iPad-centric advertising platforms.   Google has already tweaked Adwords to give marketers some iPad options, Yahoo will soon follow suit.

As reported by MediaBuyerPlanner.com, Adwords marketers can choose to have their ads displayed to iPad users by selecting “all mobile devices” in their campaign settings. Advertising users can also select “target only selected mobile devices” to choose specific devices or to choose the iPad only.

Yahoo’s strategy gives advertisers support for interactive product placement through Wi-Fi connections, as well as 3G cellular service offered by telecom carrier AT&T. The iPad also has local memory and can cache information. The possibilities for product placement range from animation to video clips to mini games.

The HTML 5 content driven to the device from servers makes the advertising possibilities endless. Since the iPad supports Wi-Fi, and a later version will include cellular service, clicking on a can of Coke, for example,  could take the consumer to a Web site, downloadable gifts, coupons, etc.

The bottom line?  Before investing dollars in ads targeted to this platform, Interactive Marketers need to see some metrics  – specifically we need to look at audience share data, demographics, and overall useage patterns.   The platform shows much promise as both robust a challenging growth environment, as shown by the strong sales numbers on Saturday.    At a minimum, mobile advertising has been redefined, and just alot more attractive and valuable .

Chatroulette presents a unique challenge to online marketers – how to make an impression, or achieve a conversion  – before getting “nexted”?    Travelocity has come up with a novel approach, using their iconic ‘Gnome’ character.  According to Media Post, the “Roaming Gnome” is appearing on the video chat site holding a sign that urges users to take a vacation in one of a number of destinations.   Travelocity’s ad agency, McKinney, also has a staffer appearing on the chat site.   If the user doesn’t like the gnome, they can just “next” it.   This is an innovative approach and one worth watching to see if other advertisers adopt a similar strategy.

Location-based social networking broke out at SXSW Interactive in 2009 when Foursquare and Gowalla made their debuts.   The rivalry that was established has heated up significantly and reached a new peak at SXSW 2010.   Since then the battle for supremacy over this white-hot  social networking channel has continued at a fever pitch.

I had not joined either of these sites until a couple weeks ago when I was in Austin for SXSW Interactive, my first trip to SXSW.    The buzz about Foursquare and Gowalla was loud, almost deafening.    After discussing them over lunch with @rmmdc, and watching him check into both on his iPhone, I decided to try them out side by side, then blog about it.  What makes my comparison interesting is that I don’t have an iPhone, a Blackberry, or an Android phone, so experience on both has been via their respective mobile sites (http://m.gowalla.com and http://foursquare.com/mobile) on my Nokia e71 smartphone running Symbian.   (yes go ahead and laugh – I think I was the only person at SXSW who didn’t have an iPhone or a ‘Berry)

The Foursquare Symbian experience:  has been good.    Foursquare gets major props for clearly stating that users can either download their apps for iPhone or Blackberry – if you dont have either then use their mobile site.  The e71 remembers my login credentials, 4sq’s mobile UI is easily navigable and responds quickly.   Overall it has been really positive, almost flawless.

The Gowalla Symbian experience : has been bad.   Gowalla told me up front that the service is currently available only for iPhone, Android, and Palm, however they then go on to offer up a link to their mobile site as an alternative (just like Foursquare does), which is somewhat confusing/misleading because it seems to indicate that the mobile site replicates the function of the apps, but its not even close.   When i try to log onto their mobile site from my e71, browser, nothing happens.   Failure to load is the best way to describe it.

The bottom line?   Gowalla is missing a major opportunity to gain audience share by failing so miserably with their mobile site.   According to most stats I have seen recently, they are running behind Foursquare by anywhere between from 400 – 600k users.  It’s not as if they couldn’t afford to test on the e71 and other Symbian platofrms – FastCompany details the advantage they had early on in investment dollars.

This analysis by Gartner explains the value and cost of developing mobile business architectures on alternative platforms – and its quite clear that with such a large share of the mobile audience, investing in Symbian development is well worth it.

I really want to like Gowalla.  Maybe they will read this and make a better effort to extend their user experience to Symbian devices.  Until then, I will be using Foursquare.