YouTube
Originally uploaded by mike3k

The reason the idea of the open source meets commercial ethos in the Chumby is the ability to self select website widgets and turn the interface into a reflection of the services you use. Similarly, the Google/Apple partnership while manifesting both sides of the do no evil implications, is made for mobile web youtube, gmaps, greader, gcalendar and so on.

Compare this to the apps and experience of Blackberry and Windows Mobile (or compare directly to Apple’s lack of real office/web suites) and the battle for the mobile desktop will have a big say in the attractiveness of the hardware (assuming there is some catchup on the touchscreen gestures side)

Check the Youtube/Iphone picture mike3k uploaded, and this is a glimpse of the future experience esp once google fuse Jotspot, Writely, Reader, Calendar, Docs etc into a schweet on the go interface. What is there, 3.5 Billion Mobile Phones ? 1 in 2 people in the world, and growing !

At a basic reengineering level, the mobile web looks crap in existing pda/phones. So while Apple’s beautiful appearance and screenshots of its Iphone attracts, this may only be skin deep once you start reading Dave Winer and Scoble’s experience 24 hours in. On the other hand, these problems should be solvable, and in the end the consumer in 12 months will be able to browse a mobile web much more similar to the one they’re used to on their computers.

Scripting News : “When I click on a link in Safari on the iPhone, before I can read anything, I have to futz with the display resolution of the browser to make the text visible. This may not sound like a problem, but what a distraction, when following a link, before getting the idea, your mind has to take a detour into managing the device. In reading as in the movies, suspension of disbelief is broken when your mind has to exit the space of ideas and manage the projection device. It’s wrong for the device to ask you this, even as a setup issue it should be usable out of the box, but it’s unacceptable that it make the user configure the browser every time it displays a new page.”

Scoble : “Seriously there’s one customer who REALLY should think about not buying an iPhone: someone who uses a thumb keyboard phone like a Blackberry. The keyboard is frustrating to use if you are a heavy Blackberry user. That’s the one case where the iPhone’s other benefits will have a tough time counteracting those flaws.. My #1 frustration this morning with the iPhone? Fonts. Dave Winer’s right. I want to change the default view on the Web browser to always be zoomed in.”

But as Umair says, the Iphone is a trigger point, where all the other mobile players will need to play feature catchup. I wonder what Razr 2.0 + N95 3.0 will look like ?

BubbleGeneration on Apple’s Strategy :
1) “…Pick an industry which sucks (ie, imposes significant nuisance costs/menu costs/externalities on consumers)
2) Redress the imbalance by making something consumers love
3) …Which disrupts the long-standing industry equilibrium, and shifts market power
4) Use said market power to redesign (a hyperefficient) value chain..“

Originally uploaded by 0×000000

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs is having a shot at the high profile waiting in Iphone line, talking to Scoble, Apple CoFounder The Woz : “First he went out telling everyone he invented the Mac. As if. Then he lifts my brand name and calls his book iWoz. Then he comes sniffing around looking for a free iPhone. Forget it, Captain Segway. Look. You did some nice work — back in the seventies.”

It will be interesting with Apple’s Google love in these days how the iPhone Long Tail will be monetised. As the Open Garden blog (which ironically has been helping Nokia with their strategy in the space) says : “Because the Mobile Web is fragmented, you need to unite it across some dimension across Operators. We see this with admob and screentonic .. both of whom have individually a billion ad impressions (across Operators) on the Mobile web.”

OneTrip.org on iPhone
Originally uploaded by Neven Mrgan

After all the talk about “how old” funded entrepreneurs should be, the textbook HD exam answer is detailed at AskTheVC - who note a barrier which stops many people starting, or working for startup businesses - is not being paid equivalent to their plush corporate “just got to be able to sustain my outgoings.. mortgage, car, credit, schools, gadgets etc” (thus making salaries below $75k/$100k very unlikely for good people)

Downunder this is compounded by a lack of 5yrs+ online experienced candidates (often left online industry around 2001-3), as well as lack of early stage funding (The circular “There is nothing to invest in / Weak management teams” being the primary reason + where funding does happen it often moves the business offshore hence negating local labour issues) : “VCs are normally reluctant to fund ventures where the management team is looking to replace their salaries that they had at larger companies. Cash is a scare resource in a startup.”

Success!
Originally uploaded by niallkennedy

So if I happened upon $275K.au I could drop an Iphone (using who cares about the price AT+T international roaming) into a M6, or maybe if I could get together $160K I could have a new burgundy M3 quad exhaust V8, carbon fibre roof M3, via Jalopnik : “If you just unpacked your iPhone (not in Australia you wont have unpacked it, because we dont get it yet do we ? damn we join coalition of the willing with Bushette jnr, and all i got was this damn tshirt - now where’s my iphone? asks mr costello) and you’ve got yourself a BMW 3 and 5 Series with 03/07 production, the X5 with 04/07 production and the 6 Series with 09/07 production dates equipped with an iPod/USB interface — guess what? You’ll be able to drop the iPhone into your ride and faster than you can say “Boom!” in your best German accent — you’ll be good to go.” (check video of wannabe iphone thief here who goes to steal iphone but gets the microphone by instead)