Ok. I give in. I wanted to resist the temptation of writing something about the iPad. But hey, here goes nothing. I am not going to touch the design and naming issues here. I am accepting what most of the world has: it has a great UI, lovable form factor & fans ready to buy it. In other words:

ipad= the best media “consumption” experience

Many have observed that the iPad is much more like a big iPod Touch than a tablet computer per se.  The app-centricity, the OS, etc.  But the deeper, more fundamental distinction is that the iPad, like the iPod and the iPhone before it, is geared primarily toward the consumption, not the creation, of content.  The iPad will force consumers to continue to pull high-margin apps through Apple’s system.  A tablet version of the MacBook would do no such thing.

After watching the apple presentation , a few thing are glaringly apparent :

1) A big move towards the app based system rather than a file based system
You don’t browse files as you do on your MAC but rather work through apps like you did on the iphone. There seems to be no way to access the file system anywhere. All this is geared to promote consumption through apps rather than content creation that we traditionally associate computers with.

2) Missing flash support, once again
One who owns the doors to the best “media consumption” tool, makes the most dough. Flash has 70% of the worlds games & 75% of video, but apple has controversially not being supporting it, because it will open he flod gates of free content that people could access through safari.  Just for the record, there is no access to any of the flash content on Disney, Hulu, Miniclip, Farmville, ESPN, Kongregate, etc. Apple would rather prefer that they create an app., go through the app. store and give them a cut on any sale. Which might be good for a struggling media industry, but I am not here to take sides.

3) Most of the presentation time was spent promoting games, news apps,  ibook, video & audio playback . ( yes iworks was presented  & brushes was talked about. But lets try to follow my story here. )
Some numbers make this observation even more clear (quoting from Apple’s 10K)  :

Net sales of other music related products and services increased $844 million or 34% during 2008 compared to 2007, due primarily to significantly increased net sales from the iTunes Store in each of the Company’s geographic segments.

Again from their 10K – notice the Jump in Return on Sales :

Well,  that is because apple is moving from a hardware business model which traditionally has lower gross margin ( apples 33% numbers were way above normal to begin with )  to a software business model where  gross margins of 70-80% are not unheard of. This 5% jump in Gross margin can in a large part attributed to a 21% increase in the sales made through itunes, when compared to a 14% increase in overall net sales. The sales through itunes are now roughly 10% Apple’s total sales.

So the restrictions Apple has on iPad make much more business sense than usability sense.  They have created a device which promotes media consumption on their terms. Will it get sales figures comparable to the ipods & iphone’s , only time will tell.
As far as the name goes “No Comments !”.

Update: - Apple’s initial iPad demos showed flash component on websites now they demo videos have been modified to show placeholder lego blocks. more at venturbeat.com

If I can take the liberty of assuming that both design and business consulting are “problem solving” approaches. I have a case to plead for the design approach to problem solving:
• It recognizes ambiguity and explores multiple incomplete solutions
• Proposed solutions change with the process, as exploring them uncovers relevant issues and reduces ambiguity
• It is a forward looking qualitative approach as against a quantitative data driven approach to problem solving (Quantitative data may be used to come up with proposed solutions, but not for critical decision making).

This is an attempt map the creative process to the business process of problem solving:

( This post was buried in my other website; since I merged both of them, it seemed a good idea to post it here.)

I came across a few rants about “Clay Shirky’s rant about women” . He needs more women to say “I can do that. Sign me up. My work is awesome,” even if they have no experience in that work.
I will not go into the correctness or morality of that assertion, a lot of discussion has already taken place on that.

I want to touch upon a different slant of the same paradigm. When I came to study in the US, the first thing I realized was that we South Asians lack the skill of self-assertion. I used to joke with my American friends that once you touch an airplane, you can claim to be from the aerospace industry ! While us South Asians would even cast doubts on our hard skills, even if we had had them for years.

Looking at it from a recruiter’s perspective: they are faced by an information asymmetry of the bad lemon form. A typical resume/interviewee is expected to amp-up his/her achievements. So most of the stuff an interviewee puts out there would be given a hair-cut, by a certain BS factor, which might vary by interviewer. This puts someone who is shy by nature in a bad spot. This is one of the reasons, I believe, that you find a lot of South Asians in finance & operations careers after their MBA. Its easier to showcase quantifiable skills. We feel more secure in tangible territory.

My solution to this problem. Truth be told-
- lets get out of our comfort zone: Even if it is culturally unacceptable to go out there and sell ourselves, we have to find our own ways of doing it. If “I” have taken the decision to move to the US , I have to get used to use the word “I” more in a week than I would use it in a year back home.
- Be Findable : Its inevitable that people who are more google search friendly have a better chance of getting the phone call from Steve Jobs . But that does not mean we put out laundry lists of our work history everywhere. Tell a story that people want to hear. Dont spin , but know the right side of the coin to present .

Daily Need to prove my Sanity : I have unexpectedly become a social media misfit at a  traditional consumer marketing & life sciences powerhouse. As people say “destiny/god works in mysterious ways” I wouldn’t be where I am had it not been for the innocent concern of my Kelley classmates . Everyday I have to prove to them that my love for social media is not me falling for a fad. Had I been surrounded by believers somewhere in California I wouldn’t be as well versed in my field of choice.

Mid-western flexibility:  If you are passionate about something, Kelley will figure out a way to help you accomplish it. The  MBA program chair Prof. Phill Powell truly represents the flexible and down to earth nature of the faculty and staff at Kelley (Although he is a southerner, lets don’t go into the details here). His emotionally charged leadership style has been a steady source of inspiration for students in this tough job market.

Bloomington : Any one talking about Kelley cant leave Bloomington out; its a town which at first glance feels too small to fall in love with . But it turns out to be a city as liberal and diverse as San Fransisco, at Midwestern prices ( $$$) what more can a turban sporting impoverished MBA student ask for !

Team spirit – a cure for my bipolar disorder : If there is one thing that stands out for Kelley, its “Teamwork” which is an integral part of all activities here. When one is down and out the team doesn’t let it be so . In the same vein one is entrusted with responsibility towards the team. These are valuable relationship lessons that I don’t think I could get any place else.

Lastly the phenomenon called Prof. Wayne Winston : I am am a designer, with a serious aversion for Microsoft Excel . But the spreadsheet wizardry that he imparts, lets me boast my analytic skills without shame.

Go Hoosiers !

Recently I sent out a single question survey to graduate students. The question was:

How would you like Recruiters to connect with you ?
1) LinkedIn
2) Facebook
3) Both
4) Others ( suggest)

Here are some simply obvious results from the survey.

70% of the students wanted recruiters to connect with them only on LinkedIn

btw. the most suggestions for other networks were for Twitter. I guess I should have included it as an option in the survey. One creative student suggested Carrier pigeons as another option, unfortunately I had to take him out of the data-set.

I still need to send this out to undergraduate students . Would the results be different for them ? Not very much, I assume.

The turban has long signified an inquisitive learner and an attempt to be in harmony with the the changes in the world. While the “new urban” is defined by technology.

This blog is home to my inquisitions on marketing, design and technology in general, and social media in particular.
Hence the name, urbanTurbanGuy a turbaned perspective on the “new urbanity”.