The tech blog Engadget showed the packaging for the new touchscreen-operated BlackBerry 9530 - RIM’s first device with no physical keyboard.  Now called the Storm in the U.S. market, the phone will be released on Verizon Wireless later this year.  The 9530 will operate globally with a removable SIM card.  It will also include an 8GB SanDisk microSD card, stereo headset, travel charger and USB cable.

It appears that the device may be marketed as the Thunder in Canada through Rogers and in Europe through Vodafone.  Pricing or final release date are not yet finalized, although prior rumors has the phone pegged for a mid-October launch in the U.S.

Tags: 9530, Blackberry, RIM, Rogers, Storm, Thunder, Verizon, Vodafone

First of a six-part series

In order to be competitive today, virtually all sales professionals must use computers.  They need rapid access to information about their industry, customers, prospects, competitors, and their own organizations’ products and services, and the computer is the ideal device for finding, storing and retrieving this information.

Most people think of computers in terms of hardware: the central processing unit, storage, disk drives, keyboard and display, among other components.  But hardware is simply the “flesh and blood” of a computer - its “soul” is the operating system (OS).

Simply put, the OS is the first thing a computer loads when it is turned on.  It provides the rules which define how the computer recognizes all its hardware, how the components will work together, how it will run software programs, and how it will interact with the user. And so, most of the experience of using a computer is defined by the operating system.

For almost two decades, by far the most commonly used OS has been Microsoft Windows.  Today, more than 90% of all personal computing devices use some version of Windows, worldwide.

But is Microsoft’s long-held hegemony over the OS landscape slipping? Could alternative operating systems challenge Windows, and give users - including sales professionals - more choice in how they use their computers?  And most importantly, would any shifts in the OS market help or hinder salespeople as they try to do their jobs?

Over the next five days, we’ll examine the state of the principal operating systems used today, and try to get some insight about how their evolution might affect sales professionals - and what they should do to prepare.

Tomorrow: Microsoft Windows - XP, Vista, version 7, and Mobile

Tags: operating systems

Many thanks to everyone for reading the SellingGeek.com blog, and for listening to our podcast!  Since launching officially in May, our numbers have grown quickly, and we’re gratified and humbled by your response.  We’re now more motivated than ever to make Selling Geek a useful and entertaining resource for you, the sales professional looking for a competitive edge.

To that end, we are changing a couple of our practices, to make our posts more useful, and to encourage you, our readers and listeners, to engage more with us and with your fellow Selling Geek-iphiles.

1. Whenever we found a follow-up story or additional information that would add more value to a post, we’ve been tacking it on to the bottom of the original post, and marking it with an UPDATE designation.  Henceforth, we shall insert these into the comments section of that post instead.  This seems a more logical place to add more information related to a post anyway, and we hope that this will stimulate more response and add to the dialogue.
2. You may have noticed that we are now supporting gravatars with our comments.  A gravatar is a small picture that will appear next to your comment, to help personalize your response.  You can set up your own free gravatar by going to this site: http://en.gravatar.com/ It’s easy and free!
3. We want your feedback! If you’ve only been reading our blog posts, and have not listened to any of our recent podcast audio shows, then you don’t know that we award $20 in each episode of the Selling Geek podcast to the best voice mail, e-mail, or blog comment that we receive from you.  Currently, we’re releasing podcasts almost every week, so if you have any reaction to any of the content here at Selling Geek, by all means, please tell us what you think!

So, give us a call anytime on our U.S. toll-free message line: 877-345-7763, or from anywhere in the world at: +1 404-418-4970, or leave your comments below.  Let us know how we’re doing, and what you would like to see at Selling Geek!

Tags: $20 best comment contest, blog comments, gravatars, policy changes, selling geek

On August 26, a failure in network communication to an Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) computer center, located south of Atlanta, delayed hundreds of flights nationwide, as U.S. airlines waited for approval of their flight plans.  Dozens of major airports were affected by the failure, especially in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and mid-Atlantic cities.

The FAA had to divert all flight plan processing to a second data center, located near Salt Lake City.  The resulting backlog caused departure delays of two hours or more in major airline hubs.  Agency officials diagnosed the fault and had normal operations running again in less than one day, but some industry observers speculated whether this incident shows that the FAA system is vulnerable to more problems in the future.

So, were any sales pros affected by these flight delays? Leave us a comment below, and let us know how you feel about the fine folks at the FAA…

Tags: FAA, flight delays, network failure

The two leading web browser applications, Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, independently announced plans to improve their products before the end of 2008.

Mozilla reported that they will introduce a significant performance enhancement to Firefox, which will be part of the anticipated 3.1 upgrade to be released before the end of the year.  This new enhancement, called “TraceMonkey”, will enable Firefox 3.1 to boost execution of Javascript on web pages “by an order of magnitude or more.”  Many web pages use Javacript programs to present content, but many web browser programs manage Javascript content relatively slowly.  TraceMonkey will enable Firefox 3.1 to compile Javascript as much as 30 times faster than current browsers, in some circumstances, making for a much smoother and more user-friendly experience.

Microsoft’s program manager for Internet Explorer version 8 (IE8), Andy Zeigler, announced that the next version of the browser, expected by the end of the year, will provide a new feature, called InPrivate, which will enable users to use the web anonymously.  With InPrivate turned on, users will be able to control the recording of browsing history, cookies, and other personal Internet usage data.

We think that salespeople should plan to use both web browsers on their computers.  Firefox offers great speed and very efficient use of memory resources, as well as one of the easiest to use browser interfaces.  Internet Explorer 8, when released, promises to be fast, too - but it also should provide a safe backup for browsing some sites that require IE compatibility.  And the ability to browse anonymously could also be very useful in some situations - such as when conducting competitive intelligence, for example.

Tags: anonymous web surfing, Firefox, IE8, InPrivate, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, TraceMonkey

 

 Selling Geek 011-The Death of Voicemail [34:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this special extended edition of the Selling Geek podcast, we comment on recent technology news of interest to sales professionals, and we speculate about the possible future end of the scourge of salespeople everywhere: voice mail.

Please give us your comments and feedback on our U.S. toll-free message line: 877-345-7763, or from anywhere in the world at: +1 404-418-4970, or leave your comment below.  In each podcast episode, we award US$20 to the best voice mail, email or blog comment we receive.

Links to resources mentioned in this show:

• Aiptek V10 pocket projector
• Dell
• Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace (HANG UP) Act
• Delta Airlines wireless service
• American Airlines wi-fi access
• Apple
• Microsoft
• PC Magazine
• J.D. Power
• T-Mobile
• Jott
• Selling Geek podcast #3 - our previous review of Jott
• Chrysler
• Sales Roundup podcast
• TechCrunch
• Skype
• Pinger
• GrandCentral
• YouMail
• Apple iPhone
• Spinvox
• PhoneTag
• Yap
• Gain Control of Your Day podcast
• Today in iPhone podcast
• CRM expert Rich Bohn
• InfusionSoft

Please give us a good review on iTunes!

Good luck and good selling!

Tags: death of voicemail, Podcast, Timothy Sullivan

On July 11 2008, Apple released the latest version of their highly successful iPhone - the new 3G model.  Seen as the next step in the evolution of the popular device, the iPhone 3G received enthusiastic early reviews for improved performance and functionality.

But just over a month later, the initial glossy sheen on the new iPhone 3G has dulled considerably, for a variety of reasons.

First, Apple has not handled all aspects of their complex iPhone 3G launch perfectly, to say the least.  By offering the phones only through their own stores, or through their exclusive wireless services partner AT&T, and by requiring in-store activations for all purchasers, Apple ensured long lines and long wait times for eager new iPhone buyers.  This was actually beneficial for Apple, at first, since it visibly demonstrated the popularity of the hot new device.  But now, the excitement of waiting to buy a new iPhone has worn very thin, and is turning off interested but less fanatical buyers.

Fortunately, Apple is now starting to broaden availability of the iPhone 3G, by also allowing the big consumer electronics retailer, Best Buy, to sell the phones, too.  But in-store activations are still required, and of course, AT&T is still the only wireless carrier service supporting the device - but at least the lines will be shorter.

For those early adopters that have already bought the iPhone 3G, their experience has not been as smooth as it should have been.

• Apple’s new integrated online data synchronization service, MobileMe, faltered when it was released simultaneously with the new iPhone.  We’ve already documented the problems with MobileMe in a previous post.  Most recently, Apple announced a 60-day free service extension for affected users, to make amends for the initial glitches. However, many users continue to report problems with the service.
• Apple’s “walled garden” of applications for the iPhone - a proprietary, closed system of approving third-party applications before making them available to customers solely through Apple’s iTunes online store - was supposed to ensure consistent quality and a smooth user experience.  Instead, some “rogue apps” somehow managed to get through Apple’s approval process, resulting in a few largely bogus applications made available - most notably, the ridiculous “I Am Rich” app, which cost US$1,000 and did absolutely nothing.
• Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs admitted that an undocumented feature - a “kill switch” - is baked into every iPhone 3G.  This allows Apple to disable selected applications running on any user’s phone, without their knowledge or consent.  Again, Apple justifies this in the name of protecting the consumer from “bad” software - but since applications are available only through the 100% Apple-controlled iTunes infrastructure, the need to remotely kill bad software seems superfluous - perhaps even a bit paranoid - and it makes some users nervous.
• Most importantly, a substantial number of 3G users are reporting performance problems with their new phones - dropped calls, poor network connectivity, intermittent crashes, and sometimes bizarre camera behavior.  Apple even got hit with a class-action lawsuit over the 3G performance problems.  Apple released a new firmware update to address many of these performance issues.  But some analysts speculate that most of the problems stem from the internal chipset in the phone, and may in fact require a product recall.

So, should salespeople buy an iPhone 3G?

When Apple released the iPhone 3G, my inner geek voice, living deep in the Freudian id portion of my psyche, whispered in a giddy, giggling, excited way that the new Apple iPhone 3G was super-cool, and we should go get one right away.  Thank goodness for my much more practical super-ego, which keeps my geek id under control, and who wisely counseled, “Perhaps we should wait a bit and see how this 3G thing goes before we spend a lot of money.”

My super-ego was right, as usual.  The iPhone 3G is a potentially great communications and mobile computing device - and as soon as Apple gets all the initial hiccups, common to most newly introduced devices, all worked out, it’ll be worth a close look, for sure.  But until then, it’s time to wait and watch how those who succumbed to the impulses of their ids fare, as Apple methodically addresses all the issues that have popped up since the 3G launch.

Back in June, our advice to sales professionals was this:

We recommend waiting a bit beyond the July 11 release date, to see if the first hands-on reviews confirm the hype. Then, if the iPhone truly is as good as it looks, go ahead and plunge in, if you’re in the market for a next-generation hand-held communication and computing platform.

We’re sticking with that advice (with the guilty admission that we had originally defined “waiting a bit” as a few weeks, not a few months).  Now we think that it makes sense to wait at least until winter of 2008, and then evaluate how well Apple has overcome their 3G launch jitters, before getting in that line to buy.

UPDATE: MobileMe helps spammers

UPDATE: iPhone firmware update produces mixed results

Tags: Apple iPhone 3G, I Am Rich, iPhone kill switch, iTunes app store, MobileMe

The popular voice-to-text service, Jott, which heretofore was completely free, announced that they are now “out of beta”, and they have introduced a tiered services pricing plan.  In other words, most users will now have to pay monthly fees to get Jott’s most desirable features.  (See our earlier review of Jott, posted here, for a full description of the handy transcription service.)

Users can still use Jott for free, but only in a very limited form, and only if they are willing to see advertisements on their Jott.com page.  The “Jott Basic” option allows unlimited voice-to-text note and reminder recordings of up to 15 seconds each.  However, Jott Basic will not support management of notes and lists via email - users will have to go to the Jott.com site to access their lists and notes directly, and they will see ads displayed there. Further, Jott Basic does not support sending emails or text messages to other people - users must upgrade to higher-tier services for this popular feature.

According to Doug Aley, Jott Networks’ VP of Marketing and Business Development, “While we may serve ads in Jott Feeds (the service that reads RSS feeds back to you) eventually on the phone, we will likely not mess with the voice user interface, even on the free service. We plan to serve ads on our web site.”

Also, Jott Basic will support only a limited number of external links to other web services, which are:

• Micro-blog messaging platforms: Twitter, Jaiku and Tumblr
• Blogging content management systems: Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad and WordPress
• Third-party information sources: Amazon.com and Zillow

The regular Jott service tier is now US$3.95 per month, and includes:

• No advertising
• Unlimited 15-second messages (just like Jott Basic)
• Management of notes and lists either online at Jott.com or through e-mail
• The ability to send e-mail or text messages through Jott to other people
• Links to many more web services for calendar management, task management, and additional web-enabled information sources
• Automated voice-to-text transcription of tasks and appointments into Microsoft Outlook

The highest tier of service, Jott Pro, costs US$12.95 per month and includes all the features of the regular Jott service tier, plus:

• 30-second messages (instead of 15 seconds)
• The ability to reply to email on a BlackBerry device using Jott voice recordings

All tiers have access to Jott Feeds - which will read blog feeds to you over the phone - and they all also include Jott Express - an Adobe AIR-based desktop application that provides client-side management of Jott messages and reminders, and Jott for iPhone - a similar application for the Apple iPhone.  Users may cancel or change their Jott plans at any time without penalty.

What does this mean to sales professionals?

As we said in our earlier review, Jott is a very handy utility for salespeople on the go.  The ability to leave reminders and to-do items with a quick phone call, and then receive those messages in text form, almost immediately, is great for sales pros that need to keep track of myriad details without touching a keyboard.  Further, the ability to send emails or instant text messages to other users by leaving a quick voice recording on Jott is a godsend to mobile sales pros.

When the service was free, Jott was a no-brainer addition to any busy salesperson’s toolkit.  We think the free Jott Basic tier is now almost worthless - in other words, you get what you pay for.  However, getting all the functionality of the previously freebie Jott service for less than four bucks a month ain’t bad - in fact, we still think it’s a great bargain, and we still recommend it.

We only wish we didn’t have to pay more than three times the standard service fee, just to get BlackBerry integration.  That seems too big a step in Jott’s tiered pricing plan to recommend it, especially since BlackBerry users (and we are one of those) can get virtually all the voice-to-text functionality they need from the regular Jott service anyway.

We previously awarded the free Jott service a Sales Pro Value Score of 4.5 out of a possible 5.  With their recent change to a “for fee” service, and considering the enhancements they’ve made to Jott functionality, we’re downgrading that rating, but only slightly - to a 4 out of 5.

UPDATE: TechCrunch reports Jott has over 420,000 customers

Tags: Jott, Jott Basic, Jott Express, Jott Pro

The tech blog Engadget reports that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone using the open Android operating system. The phone will be built by HTC and go on sale in the U.S. “before Christmas, perhaps as early as October.” The New York Times also reported that the device will include a slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard.

Also, Google released the latest version of the Android software development toolkit.  Early reviews are very positive on the user interface, but decidedly mixed on native functionality.  According to the tech blog Gizmodo:

It’s hard to pass judgement on Android in the condition it’s in. What’s there is impressive, but there are so many glaring omissions, at least from a consumer standpoint. There is a fantastic system for managing ongoing calls and system messages (via the pull-down taskbar) but no apps to take advantage of it. Email and IM would suit such a configuration beautifully, but neither is included in this release…

…Objections aside, the progress is promising. In terms of usability, Android is much easier to navigate and customize than virtually all other mobile solutions. With a few more apps, Android will be a clear choice over Windows Mobile, skinned or not.

Here is a walk-through of the Android interface, using the toolkit emulator, conducted by the mobile phone blog, MobileCrunch:

What does this mean for salespeople?

The early Android phones will almost certainly be incomplete, compared to the more robust smartphone alternatives available today from Apple, RIM and Nokia.  Mobile sales professionals should continue to monitor how Android develops during the early part of 2009.  If more developers embrace Android’s open platform, and more applications begin to become available, it could become a very flexible alternative to the Apple iPhone or RIM BlackBerry.  In any event, Android’s potential competitive threat should help to keep the costs of smartphones down - and we could see an all-out price war by mid-2009 - definitely good news for salespeople.

UPDATE: Google trims features from Android OS release

Tags: Android, HTC, T-Mobile

In separate surveys conducted by PC Magazine (previewed in our interview with PC Mag’s Sascha Segan) and by J.D. Power, customer satisfaction for mobile phone services is highest for Verizon Wireless, topping all others in overall rankings.

There’s practically no difference between the top-ranked companies, however, with Verizon coming in with a score of 103, Alltel with 102, and T-Mobile at 100 in J.D. Power’s survey.

Both PC Magazine and J.D. Power list Sprint Nextel well below the industry average.  J.D. Power found that Sprint’s score was a lowly 72, while PC Magazine listed Sprint dead last among all wireless service providers.

More than 11,000 participants were included in the J.D. Power survey.  PC Magazine based their results on surveys of more than 19,000 readers.

J.D. Power also found that customers spent an average of 4.4 minutes on hold with customer service, a jump of 34% from the previous survey, while 49% of all wireless customers said they called in for help at least once, about the same rate reported last year. J.D. Power attributes this to the “increasingly complex” wireless phones and services available today.

Tags: customer satisfaction, J.D. Power, PC Magazine, Sprint Nextel, Verizon