TechDistortion

Taking the Right Stand

An incident occurred a few weeks ago when GoDaddy chief executive Dr Bob Parsons posted a video of his elephant hunt in Zimbabwe where he  kills an elephant that was trampling local crops. For those that don’t know, GoDaddy is one of the largest domain providers in the world and also offers a bunch of other services (I guess this loosely makes this a Technology entry? I post it as General as well…) I was alerted to the “situation” when some of the people I follow on Twitter posted that they had transferred or extracted their domains from GoDaddy and gone elsewhere.

Another domain registration and hosting company put a sale on - bring your domain to us from GoDaddy and we’ll put a fixed amount from each domain transfer into the Save the Elephants. According to all reports, a large number of people have voted with their feet. The new domain provider and Save The Elephants have done okay out of the situation it seems.

Here’s my problem with all of this - how are people moving their domain somewhere else going to stop people from killing elephants? If you want to donate to Save The Elephants then please do so - the full amount of money you otherwise would have given to another domain provider will instead ALL GO to the cause. That stands a much better chance of being more impactful.

Another problem I have: if an employee of a company you do business with is doing something you disagree with, but the remaining hundreds or thousands of employees aren’t, is it fair to judge and/or attempt to punish the company as a whole for the actions of only one person? It’s fair to say that the CEO of a company holds a “special place” and it publicly visible but my experience with CEOs is that they are typically the least useful people in the company and are seldom ones who ever make a positive fiscal impact on the company or its bottom line.

It was a terrible thing to watch. I don’t agree with it. Then again, it’s not my backyard and it’s only one persons actions at play here. When the time comes and I decide if/how best to respond to this situation, I’ll try a bit harder to take the right stand. I would rather make a real impact rather than have a knee-jerk reaction that makes me feel slightly better on the inside in the short term but in the end makes no tangible lasting difference.

The Engadget Exodus Continues

A few days ago Joanna Stern left Engadget. Today, Chris Ziegler left Engadget. In my previous post I discussed my affinity for the dynamic trio as I came to think of them: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller and Nilay Patel - who have also left in the last six weeks. One I didn’t mention was Ross Miller who left a day after Paul Miller. Whilst Ross wasn’t as much of a public figure as the trio was, he did make occasional appearances on podcasts and the Engadget Show (Episodes 8 &12) though I did enjoy his writing. Chris was a very serious character, fiercely determined to finish what he was saying and the point he was making despite others efforts to side-track him. Joanna Stern thus far (for me at least) was the most pleasing to the eye on the Engadget staff and an excellent tech writer (I particularly enjoyed her Blackberry editorial). These additional three writers are yet another big blow to Engadget.

Losing people from a company is a part of business. What’s happened and is continuing to happen at Engadget is a haemorrhaging of key writers, currently with no end in sight. Ross points towards the infamous “AOL Way” as part of his reason for leaving, however many of the others leaving specifically say that it emphatically isn’t the AOL Way and Joshua goes so far as to say Engadget isn’t subject to it in any way.

So what’s going on? Alas I have no inside knowledge, though I have seen mass exoduses like this before. I believe that as Engadget was growing a strong core of writers became good friends who enjoyed working with each other. Time went on and the workplace became bigger, more pressure and less focus on what they originally got into it for. The first two to depart mentioned in their blog that the AOL Way wasn’t part of Engadget and I suggest it was more the fear of what AOL might have in store for Engadget that was more the issue. After their departure the remaining group start to question why they aren’t considering leaving too. After a bit of soul searching they then decide to leave as well, and as each person leaves there is one less person to stick around for.

Engadget has become a tech news juggernaut - like it or not it can not be denied. Having said that they are just a tech blog, and their bloggers may decide to do what Ryan Block did a few years before and start their own, smaller tech site and start over.

I wish them all the very best in the future. As for what remains at Engadget, expect to see less posts and the posts you will see with a bit less polish for a while until they can begin to fill the gaps and start building up what’s left of their shattered team. Because Engadget is a good tech site, I also wish them all the best. Seriously.

Windows Phone 7 and Android 1 & 2 OS in 2015?

IDC (Ramon Llamas) has predicted that the Nokia-Windows Phone 7 alliance will put Windows Phone 7 in as the number 2 mobile OS by 2015. Two things: Firstly past performance by Nokia is no guarantee of future success especially given they’re using a relatively unpopular OS in their new products (not saying that Windows Phone 7 isn’t good, but by the numbers it isn’t popular yet). Secondly WebOS doesn’t enter their list despite it’s huge potential and backing by HP. Half-baked, Risky prediction. Words marked.

WWDC, the iPhone 5, the iPad 3 and What Apple Might Be Up To

First the iPod Launches were at seemingly random times each year. In recent times like clockwork Apple would produce tweaked models, released around the world in September ready to stuff the stockings of eager consumers. Interestingly 12 out of the last 15 iPod Models were released at a September event since 2005 - arguably the time at which the iPod became a ubiquitous consumer device. Apple’s strategy was simple: aim for the time when consumers are cashing up ready for Christmas, have plenty of stock and their licence to print money couldn’t be easier.

The recent announcement of WWDC specifically said it would be about the future of Apples two platforms: OS X and it’s closely related brother iOS. Several industry sources including The Loop and All Things D are reporting there will be no new hardware announced at WWDC this year - when traditionally the new iPhone is released. To me this makes perfect sense. There was a time when Apple wanted more people to come to WWDC - how to lure them? A keynote with Steve Jobs announcing an amazing new product. The flip side: Apple would reach a target demographic wooing their developers who are also Apple customers with their shiny new toys. With WWDCs now selling out and selling out in less time each year (2009 sold out in 30 days, 2010 sold out in 8 days, 2011 in 10 hours) there’s no need for such a carrot to draw the crowds as it were. Let it focus on software development for their platforms without distraction.

Apples iPod business is slowly shrinking in size. The reason is clear - their other devices are taking the role of a music player to the next level with the iPhone and iPad. Due to competition with iPod competitors the iPod has become a lower profit device compared to the iPhone and iPad. Also, why would most people have an iPhone and an iPod? You can only have one set of headphones and although the nano can clip on and the iPhone can’t, there’s precious little else that makes the Nano a compelling proposition over an iPhone considering everything else the iPhone can do.

Now the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad are becoming the hit products like the iPod was in 2005. Volumes are increasing and as competition heats up Apple want to position all their best products with a common release date running the same platform (iOS) at the sweet spot in September. It makes perfect sense. I guess we’ll see in September.