A news story about the threat of incremental hearing loss to users of current-generation portable music players caught my eye - with a sharp spike predicted in 20-years when the MP3 generation could become the ”pardon, what did you just say?” generation.

I do remember similar stories when the Walkman arrived. Alarmed audiologists predicted just such a disaster in waiting when it debuted and then later on with the Discman.

Yet, to date, there have been no statistics to bear this out. The Walkman has not sent an unusually high number of 40-somethings to hearing aid clinics to get technology to restore what technology has taken away. Nor for that matter has this happened with 30-somethings and their Discmans.

Though, Apple with its iPod, Microsoft with Zune and other companies selling these products should give some consideration to that story. It could well be a case of third-time accurate.
Walkmans were clumsy, ungainly products with not that great sound quality and tapes did jam a lot. The Discman, clunky again, had skipping problems when you were on the move. Neither machine was welcome in the office environment.

Not so the current digital generation players. They are sleek with no jamming or jumping, easy to access, contain massive storage and the sound quality is great. Moreover the earphones don’t give much noise bleed. It’s all going straight in. And they are pretty inexpensive.

As a result they are everywhere. People are plugged in on the bus, in planes, jogging and walking and at the workplace. How often have you asked a colleague a question and had to wait for the person to pop their earphones out?

Young people are vaguely aware of the risks of ongoing, excessive noise, they just don’t really understand the consequences.

For the companies selling these players, I’d suggest a pre-mortem exercise. Get some of their smartest people in a room and throw them this (worst-case) scenario.

”It’s 2032, our company faces a raft of class-action lawsuits from people with hearing losses claiming that their consistent use of our player caused it. [Never mind the rock concerts they attended, the all-night dance parties, the blasting stereos at home and in the car - you can’t sue yourself for stupidity.] What actions do we now wish our company had started taking in 2007 to minimise, if not expunge, our legal liabilities from these class action suits.”

Consider this: A woman in America successfully sued a furniture store for injuries received when she tripped over a child that was running around in the store. The child she tripped over was hers.

Posted by Rodney Fletcher September 28, 2007 3:37 PM | Comments (0)

After two days of networking and information the first Microsoft Partner Connectionz conference finished with a triumphant black tie awards ceremony at the Auckland Museum last night.
After years of coat tailing on the Australian partner conference, hopes were high within Microsoft that local partners would take the opportunity to attend and they did (360 in total).

This was the first big IT event I had attended and I was impressed with the organisation and attention to detail at the Skycity convention centre. The media room was a nice touch as it gave me a chance to grab a seat, a glass of water and write a few notes in between sessions. Incidentally, the partners I talked to were impressed with the speakers and sessions as well.

But of course this being Reseller News, the social networking is nearly as important as the stories. Here’s a small list of signs that you’re at a Microsoft NZ awards ceremony:

1. Even though the awards invite said `black tie’ one fellow decided to turn up in a bright yellow suit - pleasing the Australians in the audience who thought he was wearing the Wallabies colours

2. The MC, TV game show host and comedian Jeremy Corbett revealed he used to work in IT, but is feeling better now

3. Unlike TechED, stylish women were in abundance. The men still looked geeky though.

4. The awards ceremony is like an IT Oscars - spot lights, different music for every category, etc, but thankfully no tearful acceptance speeches.

5. Jeremy Corbett got away with repeating the infamous quote made by Microsoft’s Carlos Martinez at the end of the conference’s opening address - and this time Helen Robinson laughed instead of blushing. We promised not to publish the quote, as it's just too risqué

Posted by Hamish Barwick September 21, 2007 5:48 PM | Comments (0)

Turning up at the Fairfax Business Media office for my first day on Reseller News was a little like high school - what would my co-workers be like? Would they welcome the new guy? When they found out I was from Gisborne would they assume I could surf (waves, not the internet)?
As it turned out many people seemed to know I was the new guy and came and said hi. I probably made a good start by turning up at 8am. Officially people are meant to start at 8:30am - unofficially, well that would be telling....

I should explain that I had come from a magazine job writing mainly about food and beverage issues so this was a return to newspapers after a long absence.
From day one I was in the thick of it, writing stories and harassing people with messages on landlines and cellphones. Nearly everyone I called in the IT industry or their P.R. agencies congratulated me on the new job (such friendly people!).

The first event I got along to was Enterprise IT's second birthday. Industry people seem to love socialising - and there's always plenty of alcohol. I think the booze is laid on so the media turn up (only joking). I shook hands and temporarily blinded some poor souls with the searing sun like flash of the Sony digital camera as I moved around taking social photos.

The crowning achievement in my first week was to get the front page lead on Acer moving up to second in PC vendor ranking. That was a frantic story as country manager Rod Bassi had been away all week - but a quick phone interview got the results.

After meeting a number of resellers I can sense that people like having their own industry paper and many are happy to take time out from their busy days to talk and share gossip. Thank you to all who have done so.

I've only had two requests to see a story before it goes to print. I'd like to put on my Media 101 hat for a moment and remind the industry that we are not Reseller PR - you may not always like what is printed but getting both sides of the story must prevail for the paper to have credibility. Here ends the lesson.

I look forward to meeting more of you as I do the rounds in the industry.

Posted by Hamish Barwick September 12, 2007 5:22 PM | Comments (0)

You know the saying… the higher you go the bigger the fall…well Apple is living with that scenario right now.

From when the iPhone ‘roadshow’ started rolling in January with Jobs announcing the product at the Comdex exhibition in Las Vegas, and the subsequent six months as the company built up to launch day, the iPhone was the perfect product pitched into a hugely competitive market and coming out on top.

Americans love Apple and if the company was releasing a phone then the faithful were there to buy it. Apple’s hardcore turned up in those first few days in droves when it was launched in the US, to make for great media visuals of crowds of people lining up to buy their own iPhone.

The "be cool, be hip, impress my friends; let’s have an iPhone popping out of my pocket" factor must have motivated more than a few buyers. A lot of people did want to be the first person on their block to have an iPhone.

Three months later to show its appreciation to all those hardcore Apple users, the company turns around and makes them look quite foolish by lowering the phone’s price by a third

From being cool and hip iPhone users now look like mugs who ponied up US$200 too much to Apple for not a lot.

I’d say right now in the US being cool and hip is not owning an iPhone. ”You didn’t rush out and buy one? That was a smart move!"

How did Apple screw it up so bad? The price drop certainly indicates an out-of-touch-from-reality marketing department. Now everyone important at Apple would have got free iPhones and the executives clearly did not take on board that real people, i.e. not Apple executives, actually had to pay for the phones.

Moreover, it would seem, highly-paid Apple marketing people are so out of touch they must have thought $200 was such a piffling amount why would anyone care.

Well, that reality check came through loud and clear to Apple within minutes of the $200 price drop announcement. It arrived via the internet’s message boards lighting up with iPhone owners who didn’t regard $200 as a trifling sum.

Apple is backtracking with its $100 rebate. But, really, that only halves the pain for iPhone owners.

It’s too little to late; the damage is done. The company has insulted its core audience and forever tainted itself with this maxim; ”Don’t buy that new Apple product now. Wait for the price drop in three months.„

Silly, silly Apple and silly, silly Steve Jobs. That price drop will have severe, long-term ramifications for the company whenever it is releasing new products.

And the score is:

Apple 0, All other cellphone companies 1.

(Referee’s report: Own goal by Apple.)

Posted by Rodney Fletcher September 7, 2007 5:23 PM | Comments (1)

Speech-recognition software has been waiting in the wings for so long, you do have to wonder if it will ever make centre stage.

Technical problems have hindered the technology from its conception at Bell Labs in 1952, when researchers invented a system that recognised spoken numbers over a phone.
A lot of improvements have flowed under the bridge since then, with the technology now popular in call centers, directory assistance services and voice portals - speech-driven data services supplying the likes of airline arrival/departure information, weather forecasts etc.

Opus Research and Datamonitor are predicting big things for the technology - particularly in the area of voice-driven mobile search. Search terms are spoken into a mobile device, rather than typed in. The improved technology along with falling costs of processing power and storage capacity has made this area of the technology more accurate for businesses to use in communicating with customers

Locally the Inland Revenue Department uses a voice portal for customers to secure tax returns. After a letter notifying me of a tax return I rang the IRD phone number to connect to the portal. An automated voice service asked me to say my IRD number, and repeated it back to me. Then the portal asked me to say yes to confirm my bank account number nominated in the letter was the one I wanted the money deposited in. The hardest part was to resist the urge to thank the automated machine/voice that had so kindly agreed to put money in my bank account - instead I just hung up.

That’s all well and good with speech recognition being utilised over the telephone and as a search device on mobile applications. Though its use in the car, in the office and at home has some severe human limitations.

An 20-year-old driver is hurtling down a winding country road at night when his drunken mate in the back seat screams out ”lights-off”. Not funny and quite possibly fatal. And as for your suburban dad zipping down the highway, how will he react when his wife decides the wipers should be on now because it is raining hard enough for her.

The two examples are why I believe speech recognition in a car is a no-brainer. The driver loses control of some basic functions and I personally wouldn’t want a bar of that technology in any car I was driving.

And at the office, you might like to finish your day by saying ”computer off”. Just don’t say it loudly or you might turn off your fellow-workers’ PCs.

The scenario for speech recognition uptake in the home isn’t that great either. For those living alone speech recognition for light switches, TVs, stereos etc would be a disaster. One day you’re authoritatively giving commands to your appliances and before you know it the years roll over and you’re saying out loud. ”Where is the newspaper?”, ”I must feed the cat” while alone in the house.

Consider speech-recognition technology in a house with six 20-something flatmates, (worse, five of them are graduates of Otago university!) - hmmm, I could pass on that lifestyle option

In terms of people switching devices on and off by voice commands, I think the humble physically-operated switch and its more nifty cousin, the remote control, are safe for a while longer.

And for those who think speech-recognition software will allow them to dictate the great novel that is just bursting to get out. Forget it. The best speech-recognition software that will ever be invented will not compensate for a lack of talent. If you have not been able to type your great novel, don’t think your going to be able to recite it.

Posted by Rodney Fletcher September 4, 2007 5:32 PM | Comments (2)