Good Retail or ‘Shame on You HMV’?

Well you can’t blame them for trying, but this leaves a little bad taste in my mouth i have to say.

No, I’m not a priss, I’ve been sharing Jacko gags with the best of them, but this… come on.?

Is this good retail or just a bit distasteful? When would it be okay to do this..?

I guess it could have been tasteful had they put a little more effort into it and comp in an ‘In memory’ page with some considered imagery and respectful editorial or something.

But to hand crank the homepage to fill with Michael Jackson albums, videos etc without adding anything reeks of opportunism to me.

I say boo.

iPhone 3GS – ‘S’ for Sucker?

Original iPhone vs iPhone 3GS

Originally uploaded by Skedoozy

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‘Designed obsolescence’ is now entering the service space. We’re being ‘made to upgrade’ to access new services. The feature updates on mobile phones are relentless, but that’s another post entirely.

I’ve been stung by Apple more than a couple of times by buying the first edition of a new product, be it hardware or software.

I say stung because often these first editions are nearly always bettered within a year or two.

“Of course” I hear you say, “This is normal. Nothing new here”.

But Apple make things so damn sexy, so bloomin’ desireable and they can be so ruddy expensive that it’s MEGA FRUSTRATING to buy something, to love it, only to find your head turned by a feature update a year later. You’ve just outlaid £2000 on a shiny new MacBook Pro and then bam, processor update, you then find yourself indulging in feature hungriness.

I’m almost scared to buy Apple products these days because I fear they’ll ‘make’ me upgrade inside the natural life of the product I just bought.

It means that you have to make a decision; buy now and attain early adopter (read MacGeek) status or wait for the update and purchase in the satisfaction that while you waited and had that luddite LG Viewty handset for way longer than you would have hoped, now you can pimp the upgraded, super-fancy cut ‘N’ paste iPhone 3GS.

‘S’ for sucker?

(Apparently it HAS to be a big ‘S’)

Quite.

Anyway, today I shall go and buy one (if there are any in stock that is).

But O2 are making me jump to their tune

However, I’ve read through the new feature set which has been much covered in the blogosphere, not least at the actual time of the WWDC on Twitter. (Aside – God that was annoying – 10 people retweeting the iPhone features all at the same time.)

But, I digress.

I was particularly interested in the device tethering feature which basically allows you to use your ‘Unlimited Web Access’ iPhone as an access point for your laptop.

IF you are in the market for a decent 3G dongle for your laptop then this feels distinctly like one of those ‘two birds one stone’ moments.

Sadly not.

Here in the UK, O2 is CHARGING you £15 per month for the ‘Bolt-On’.

Not so bloody unlimited is it?

£275 outlay for the daddy iPhone 3GS 32Gb then a further £35 a month for 600 mins and 500 texts + unlimited web access + insurance (which you really should have). PLUS extra Apple Care for your ruddy software!!

That’s 275 + (18×15270) + (18×35630) + (12×10) + (1×59) = 1354

£1354 or one thousand, three hundred and fifty-four pounds.

I’ve just been fucked backwards.

This kind of marketing REALLY ANNOYS ME!

On one hand O2 are saying:

“Here is the convenience you’ve been waiting for! iPhone 3GS (read it… ‘S’) WITH TETHERING!!”

YES!!! FTW!!! – I say.

But on the other hand they are charging for the tethering saying”

“AH HA! FUCK YOU SUCKER! Yes we did say unlimited web access, yes we did say tethering, but what we didn’t say was ‘unlimited free access with you tethered devices”

It really annoys me.

But what annoys me more is that, I’ll probably still buy one as I’ve already waited 18 months.

Being a fanboy hurts your wallet.

Update: I have one. I am now officially a ‘3GSucker’.

Notice of courtesy – Slow Down

I saw this sign on the floor in my local train station suggesting that we all ‘Slow Down – Accidents Happen’.

Anyone commuting in and out of London will recognise the pace and tension at which people seem to escalate their psyche to when traveling.

As for ‘accidents happening’ – well, they will if you put bloody signs on the floor!

Anyway, a while ago, when I was studying Product Design at Brunel I had to go on placement for a year and I chose to work in Singapore as I could kill two birds with one stone and go abroad and work at the same time. It was nice, but that’s not why I mention it.

While I was there the government were running a ‘Courtesy Campaign’ as people in Singapore largely had few manners (something important to a traveling Englishman) .

The lion was called Singa, and on writing this post the campaign seems to still be running.

It all started in 1996 according to their website:

In his 1996 New Year Message, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong highlighted the need for Singapore to become a gracious society by the 21st century. Considerate social behaviour supported by a strong economy and good government will make Singapore the best home for its people.

There are pledges, a kindometer, TV Ads (I love the way the Lion scarily pans into shot) here:

If you enter your name you can see how kind you are:

I love the R is for ‘Respecting people’s property’

Visit the ‘Kindness Movement’ for more info.

We need more love here eh…?

It’s all part of the process – Paper Prototyping

Nothing to see here.

I just love seeing lots of the same thing together. Although users never actually see your site like this (of course not). I always find it useful way to stand back and see the level of complexity you may be asking them to navigate.

The ’stand back and go ‘ooh yeah, bit complex a’int it?’ test’™.

Fosta and I did a book about it once showing shops all with the same naming convention.

Black Cars en masse

Saw this from the roof of LBi in Brick Lane.

Booooring.

You spend ages waiting for one…

Yes. Dumped trolley’s, an emerging pet hate of mine.

In fact I’ve always hated it.

I’ve always wondered what goes through someone’s mind when they go shopping and come to the moment when they think:

Ah. Yes… I need to get this little lot home. I know, I’ll wag a trolley and push it through the streets like a bloody Womble and then leave it ourside in the street.

Same people who do this with mattresses no doubt.

But hey how, ermm, cool? 2 in one go.

Universal Music and Virgin Media – Unlimited DRM Free downloads

This is in the public domain.

My company, Universal Music have partnered with Virgin Media in the UK to provide an unlimited download service. The service will enable customers of Virgin Media broadband to stream and download as many music tracks and albums as they want from Universal Music’s entire catalogue.

Wow.

All in return for a monthly subscription fee to the service reported to be between £10-15 a month. There will also be a lower priced scheme for those not wanting unlimited access.

Now you are probably wondering what happens to your access if you unsubscribe? Well, the music is yours. As it is DRM free you can play it on most media players. Unlike Nokia’s Comes With Music service the music is not tethered to a specific device.

Press released the day before the government shares it’s Digital Britain report, the plan will combat illegal file sharing on the ISP who will also take measures with customers illegally downloading by suspending their service or adding ’speed humps’ to their usage.

Okay, people can get most stuff for free anyhow and this may not be enough to deter the most hardened of downloaders but this is a viable and cost friendly alternative and certainly a reason to join Virgin Media on this global first.

The service launches later this year. Where do I sign?

Google Wave – Who isn’t excited by this?

People are starting to get the impact of this, I’ll write my thoughts on that later, but for now if you haven’t seen this grab a coffee, some time and sit down for 80 minutes. Watch this video from the Google I/O conference about the soon to be released Google Wave.

I love this line: “You will forget you are looking at a browser”.

Also, I love the fact that this announcement TOTALLY stole Microsoft’s $100m Bing Thunder. Microsoft were simultaneously launching their new Bing search engine in San Diego while Google revealed a 4+ year incubator project from the guys who brought us Google Maps.

Microsoft present to a closed group of execs, Google present to 4k developers inviting them to join, play, build etc.

Oh the irony of Microsoft launching Bing (the next Google) while Google are launching Wave thus shifting the posts.

Bada Bing!