Dell recently leaked information about a new “Pocket Projector” — for updated details, see this post.

Tags: Dell Pocket Projector, pico projector

The blogosphere has been abuzz with rumors - some of them practically promulgated by the manufacturers themselves.

First, Apple kicked off a frenzy of rumor-mongering when their chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheim, referred to a coming “product transition” which would allow Apple to deliver “state-of-the-art new products that our competitors aren’t going to be able to match.”  This was enough to start Apple-watchers speculating about what the possible new “product transition” could be.

MacDailyNews speculated that this new product may be a MacBook Touch, citing an anonymous source:“Think MacBook screen, possibly a bit smaller, in glass with iPhone-like, but fuller-featured Multi-Touch. Gesture library. Full Mac OS X… Possibly with… haptic tech. Slot-loading SuperDrive. Accelerometer. GPS. Pretty expensive to produce initially, but sold at ‘low’ price that will reduce margins… [Available] by October at the latest.”

The reality might be less flashy, but more significant.  AppleInsider and Engadget both suggest that the “product transition” may instead be a decision by Apple to develop its own chipset for the next generation of Macintosh computers, which heretofore have been powered by Intel processors.  This decision may be driven by the performance of Intel’s integrated graphics in the recently released Centrino 2 platform, which may be insufficient to meet Apple’s requirements.

Apple, of course, has not officially confirmed any of these speculations.

Meanwhile, Dell Computer’s founder and CEO, Michael Dell, hinted that his company may be entering the smartphone market with a device of their own.  As the technology blog Engadget reported:

“When asked if there was a ‘desire’ on its part to work with [open-source mobile phone operating systems] Android or Symbian, Mr. Dell stated that the company ‘is kind of working on that,’ although it wasn’t ready to ‘publicly disclose’ plans. Granted, he also asked… ‘not to expect anything anytime soon’ when referring to a phone…”

Dell, of course, has not officially confirmed any of these speculations.

Finally, tech blogs JKOnTheRun and DigitalNoise, among others, cited rumors of internal meetings at Microsoft about development of a Zune-based phone. Industry analysts have speculated for years about expanding Microsoft’s audio and video player into a smartphone based on the Windows Mobile 7 operating system, as a potential competitor to Apple’s iPhone.  Other blogs, such as ZuneScene, report instead that Zune Marketplace content may be integrated into a Nokia mobile device.

Microsoft, of course, has not officially confirmed any of these speculations.

What do any of these rumors mean to salespeople?

It’s always fun to speculate about new gadgets, and how they might provide us with exciting new capabilities.  But should any of this affect what kinds of technology salespeople should acquire - or not acquire - now?

In a word — no.  Even if any of these speculative developments truly come to pass, it may be months or years before we see any of these devices available.  And more likely, most of these rumors will turn out to be false.  So, if you’re in the market for a new mobile device or computer, go ahead and get one that exists in the here and now - and leave what might one day come to the speculators and science fiction writers.

UPDATE: More rumors: Dell might get into the music player business again

UPDATE: Looks like one rumor is true: Dell launching two new music players in 2009

UPDATE: Another Apple rumor: iPhone Nano to be available by Xmas?

UPDATE: Are these pictures of the new Apple Macbook?

Tags: Apple MacBook Touch, Dell smartphone, Microsoft Zune phone, rumors

According to the All About Microsoft blog, the software giant has confirmed that a new version of its web browser application, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), will be released to general availability before the end of 2008. Microsoft’s Senior Vice President of Online Services and Windows, Bill Veghte, mentioned to a gathering of financial industry analysts that Microsoft will release IE8 “later this year.”

An early version of IE8 was made available for testing by software developers in beta form earlier this year, and a second beta release is set to be provided in August. The new version is reported to include significant performance improvements, and more compliance with Internet website standards.

By far, still the most widely used Internet web browser application, Internet Explorer is also the most widely supported by website and software application developers.  Even though Firefox 3.0 may still be faster, salespeople should also plan to have a copy of IE8 on their computers, when it becomes available, for those rare websites that do not perform adequately in Firefox.

UPDATE: IE8 to support anonymous web surfing

Tags: All About Microsoft, IE8, Internet Explorer 8

 

 Selling Geek 008-Adobe Acrobat 9 [21:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sales professionals live and die by the quality of their communications with customers and prospects. Misunderstandings lead only to incorrect expectations – for the buyer, the seller, or both – which lead ultimately to bad feelings at best, or bad business at worst. And as a result, the best salespeople take extra care to keep their communications clear and well documented.

However, in this age of electronic file transfers and computer-based word processing, documents are easily changed. That’s great for accelerating negotiations and closing business, but it also means that misunderstandings can creep easily into proposals, price quotations, contracts and agreements.

I learned this lesson the hard way. I remember one potential buyer that I worked with several years ago. I’d provided them with a summary of pricing for my services, sent to them in a common word processing file. We quickly came to an agreement to do business together. And then the trouble started.

I wrote up a contract, using my original price quotation as a basis, and sent it to my prospect. But then I received an urgent phone call.

“What the *&%@ is this?!”, my prospect exclaimed.

“Uh, that’s the contract for services – is there a problem?”, I stammered.

“You bet your @$$ there is! This isn’t what we agreed to at all!”, he retorted.

After some investigation, I discovered that someone had edited my original quotation, inserting services they wanted me to provide – at no additional cost – and they had “forgotten” to send the amended quote back to me. Well, no wonder I’d thought that sale was so easy – someone had inserted a 50% discount into my original pricing, and neglected to tell me about it!

I tried to explain to my prospect that someone had changed my original quote, and that I couldn’t deliver the services they wanted at those prices. But they wouldn’t listen – their unreasonable expectations had been set, and no amount of diplomacy on my part would deter them from their position. In the end, we agreed not to agree – and I lost the business.

Behold: PDF, Protector of Sales Pros

I vowed henceforth never to let such a mistake happen again, and after a little research, I found a solution: Adobe Acrobat, which enables you to produce documents in the Portable Document Format, also known as PDF.

A PDF file retains all the graphics, fonts, illustrations, charts, pictures and formatting of the original document, and it can be viewed on virtually any platform. In other words, PDFs allow you to produce documents that will appear exactly as you produced them, no matter what kind of computer system your recipient uses.

Even more important to sales pros, PDFs can be made un-changeable. So, you can produce price quotations, RFP responses, proposals, contracts and agreements, secure in the knowledge that someone isn’t going to mess with your carefully worded content. For salespeople that depend on crisp, clear communications – and who among us doesn’t? – PDFs are a very cool thing indeed.

Now, Adobe has released a major update to Acrobat, version 9. And this latest version includes a lot of new features that enable document creators to get… well, very creative, if they are so inclined. But are the new enhancements in Acrobat 9 useful for sales professionals?

Don’t be stingy

Perhaps only to torment buyers with difficult choices, Acrobat 9 comes in three flavors: Standard, Pro, and Pro Extended, with progressively more features in each version. Although you’ll be tempted to save some money and acquire one of the cheaper versions of Acrobat 9, I recommend that you don’t do it. If you deliver presentation files to customers, and you use Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, you’ll want the Pro Extended version for that integration feature alone. Also, the Pro Extended version provides many more options for converting and embedding a wider variety of file formats into PDFs, which just flat-out makes it safer and simpler to use.

You’ll also need some pretty hefty hardware to run Acrobat 9 – if you don’t have at least a 1.3GHz processor running Windows Vista or XP, or a comparable Macintosh, then you’re going to find using Acrobat 9 to be a maddeningly slow experience.

Now, multimedia PDFs

Prior versions of PDF files were great for protecting static documents, or some limited interactive forms. But Acrobat 9 now includes support for embedded multi-media content. Now, if you wish, your PDFs can play convert movies in eight different formats into embedded Flash content.

Imagine what this means for your sales proposals. You could create a company introduction movie using a tool like Camtasia Studio 5, for example, and insert it into a clickable box inside your proposal. Your prospect only has to click on the movie box to watch your recording, all inside your protected proposal file.

That, as I’ve said before, is a very cool thing indeed.

You can embed all sorts of other useful multi-media content into PDFs with Acrobat 9. If you sell online products or services, for example, Acrobat 9 will take snapshots of Web pages and convert them to a PDF that includes links and screen animation. If you sell services that require communications about physical locations, you can insert interactive maps that allow users to mark locations and measure distances. For sellers of products requiring technical designs, you can embed interactive 3D models from CAD applications.

Online document collaboration and forms

Acrobat 9 also includes access to Adobe Systems’ online community, Acrobat.com. You can post documents to the community, and use it to collaboratively edit and comment on those documents with prospects. Now you can have one copy of a document and build it together with a prospect, and then mutually agree on the final result.

Oh, if only I had this when I had my earlier trouble with my edit-happy prospect.

You can also use Acrobat 9 to set up online intelligent forms, with full tracking capability. You could use this to set up marketing event registration, for example, and then use the data collected to send reminders or distribute supporting literature.

Acrobat’s best feature: document security

With all of these neat new features, it’d be easy to overlook Acrobat 9’s fundamental ability to lock down your carefully crafted documents. Acrobat 9 enables you to produce PDF documents from any application from which you can print, or from Acrobat 9 itself. Your document recipient does not need the full Adobe Acrobat 9 application to be able to view what you send to them. Rather, they only need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program, which will now support viewing of all your embedded multi-media content, if you decide to include it.

In addition to using Acrobat to lock down price quotes and proposals, I’ve also found it to be very useful for protecting intellectual property. For example, I can use Acrobat to show samples of proprietary training program materials. It doesn’t completely prevent dedicated thieves from stealing my content, of course, but it makes it lot more difficult to copy than if I’d sent it in editable form, such as in Microsoft PowerPoint format.

Prepare to pay a lot for Acrobat 9

Adobe Acrobat 9 isn’t inexpensive: the Standard edition costs US$299, Pro costs $449, and Pro Extended costs $699. Also, Adobe’s tiered support plans are not cheap, ranging from US$175 to $1,200.

Sales Pro Value Score

Despite all of its new features, Acrobat 9 is still relatively easy to use. It includes very well documented help and tutorial videos to guide you if you get lost. But make no mistake, there is a lot of functionality here, and a lot of details as you get deeper into some of the more esoteric capabilities. To truly master Acrobat 9, you will need to study it and use it for several weeks, at least. But if all you want to do is produce protected PDF documents that look great, you can get good results in about 20 minutes after you first install the product.

So, although it is certainly not cheap, and has a long learning curve, Adobe Acrobat 9 is a valuable tool for sales pros who produce important documents. For its ability to embed multi-media content, excellent security, ease of use, and support for online collaborative document editing, Selling Geek gives Adobe Acrobat 9 a Sales Pro Value Score of 3.5 out of a possible 5.

Additional resources

• Even if you don’t buy the full Acrobat 9 product, everyone should at least download the free Acrobat Reader — see this review from CNET for more information.
• This list of PDF-related software applications provides some useful file converters, managers, creators and viewers.

UPDATE: Adobe Systems’ portable document format (PDF) has become the latest International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard.

Tags: Acrobat.com, Adobe Acrobat 9 review, PDF, Portable Document Format, selling geek, Timothy Sullivan

To operate efficiently, business organizations must be able to synchronize email, calendars and contact information between their users’ computers and mobile devices.  RIM built an entire business on this vital requirement with their BlackBerry line.  This is why Apple included Microsoft Exchange support and other enterprise synchronization features in its latest version of the iPhone, the 3G model.

To their credit, Apple also recognized that individual users who aren’t tied to a corporate network have never been able to automatically and reliably synchronize data between their computers and phones, quickly and easily.  So, when Apple also introduced their MobileMe service with their new iPhone, many people got excited, including many remote-office salespeople and independent sales representatives.

MobileMe promises automatic synchronization of email, calendars and contacts to anyone using an iPhone or an iPod touch — whether they use a Macintosh or Windows computer.  MobileMe also provides up to 20 gigabytes of online storage, an online photo-sharing facility, synchronized Internet browser bookmarks, and some other handy Web applications — all for just US$100 a year.

Unfortunately, MobileMe’s launch has been a rough one.  The new service has gone down intermittently ever since its launch with the new iPhone 3G.  Apple claims that these issues affect only a very small number of users, but the reports of outages continue to echo in the blogosphere.  Windows users are also upset about Apple’s method of forcing a new preferences control panel through the iTunes installation of MobileMe.

And then, prominent tech journalist Walt Mossberg slammed MobileMe in the Wall Street Journal, asserting flatly that it was “far too flawed to be reliable”.  He cited several problems that plagued his testing, including significant synchronization delays, slow response times, failure to load calendar data, errors in the online storage service, poor integration with Microsoft Outlook, missing data, inability to synch bookmarks, and a generally poor user experience overall. “If Apple does get MobileMe working smoothly, it could be a terrific service. But it’s way too ragged now,” Mossberg concluded.

The New York Times’ technology columnist David Pogue also criticized MobileMe, calling it a “MobileMess”.  Pogue said, “This is [like] an airplane that’s stuck on the runway for hours with no food or working bathroom.”  Harsh criticism indeed.

At the other end of the spectrum, the usually conservative PC Magazine gave MobileMe a four star rating, citing the service’s simplicity and integration, especially for Mac users.

What does MobileMe mean for sales pros?

Most sales professionals will never use MobileMe. Rather, they will continue to synchronize their data through their corporate networks, who use Microsoft Exchange and integrated devices such as RIM’s BlackBerry.

But some salespeople operate independently from a corporate network, who would benefit greatly from a fast, reliable data synchronization capability — not to mention simple online backup and data sharing services.  For them, MobileMe presents a potentially cost-effective solution — and one that makes an iPhone an attractive smartphone for field computing as well as for communications.

Unfortunately, until Apple can make MobileMe more stable and reliable, and until they can address all of the user interface glitches, in particularly on Windows machines, MobileMe is “not ready for prime time.” Our advice: watch and wait, and hope that the next version works as promised.

UPDATE: Apple acknowledges MobileMe problems, issues status report

UPDATE: Apple says MobileMe e-mail issues solved

UPDATE: MobileMe gets new leader, Apple’s CEO admits problems

Tags: Apple, David Pogue, MobileMe, Walt Mossberg

According to the tech blog, Digitimes, the Korean consumer electronics manufacturer LG is now planning to enter the mini-notebook market with a new device constructed by Taiwan-based Micro-Star International (MSI), with an expected launch date of October 2008.  The device will run Microsoft XP and will be less than 9 inches wide, with a 120 gigabyte hard drive and an Intel Atom processor.

More and more manufacturers are reluctantly entering the mini-notebook / netbook / ultracompact PC market, to compete with small, thin, lightweight devices such as the Asus Eee PC, Acer Aspire One, MSI Wind, Apple Macbook Air, and the imminent Dell E-Series slated for an August release.

Earlier this year, Hewlett-Packard released its own sub-compact PC, the HP Mini Note, which is similar in size and performance to the rumored LG machine.  In fact, sales of that model has been so strong that HP is now considering a second edition at a lower cost.

However, according to the gadget blog, Crave:

“PC makers are more or less unenthused [about mini-notebooks] since all they do is drive down prices on full-size notebooks. But most are jumping in anyway. With margins thinning out on PCs, even the big guys like HP and Dell … can ill afford to leave any potential revenue on the table.”

Why should sales pros care about mini-notebook PCs?

While small, these portable machines may be the perfect second computer for sales professionals who travel extensively to make calls on prospects or customers.  These machines contain enough power and connectivity options to drive a presentation, access the Internet, or run a simple word processor or spreadsheet application on the road.

However, their smaller form factor, and limited storage and processing power, make them unsuitable for more intensive tasks.

But their low cost, small profile, and light weight make them ideal for salespeople on the go, if they don’t mind synchronizing selected files from their main PC to one of these lighter computers for the road.

In the end, mini-notebooks provide more lower cost options for sales pros, and also help to drive down the cost of larger mobile computers — all good news for salespeople.

UPDATE: Dell E-Series to be really called “Inspiron Mini”?

UPDATE: Asus Eee PC to offer “whole day” batteries and online storage

UPDATE: Ubuntu version of Linux operating system to appear on more sub-notebooks

UPDATE: Lenovo, Intel and Sylvania entering the netbook market

UPDATES: Fujitsu Lifebook U2010 gets a shakedown; Lifebook ultra-portable to be the “U820″ in the US

UPDATES: First look at Lenovo’s new ultraportable; Lenovo’s new US$399 IdeaPad S10 netbook

Tags: Acer Aspire One, Apple Macbook Air, Asus Eee PC, Dell E series, Fujitsu Lifebook, HP Mini-Note, Intel, Lenovo, LG mini-notebook, mini-notebooks, MSI Wind, netbooks, Sylvania, ultra-compact PCs

With more and more governments requiring hands-free use of mobile phones in cars, those traveling sales professionals that don’t have a built-in Bluetooth speakerphone might want to consider the Ego Cup — which fits in a cup holder.  CNET reviewed the Ego Cup, and gave it middling scores — but cited its ease of set-up, decent performance, and simple operation.  At a price of $100, this is a quick fix for in-car phone calls — if you have a spare cupholder near your driver’s seat.

Tags: Bluetooth speakerphone, CNET, cup holder speakerphone, Ego Cup, hands-free speakerphone

 

 SG007-Best Cars for Sales Pros [32:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the Selling Geek podcast, we interview CNET’s editor at large and Car Tech podcast host, Brian Cooley, about:

• the best cars for sales professionals
• five criteria that salespeople should use to evaluate automobiles
• how autos will adapt to rising fuel prices
• the coming trends in integrated technology in cars

Click here for a complete transcription of this interview.

Links to resources mentioned in the show:

• Alltop sales blog aggregation
• Apple iPhone 3G
• BlackBerrySync
• Crackberry.com
• Intel’s Centrino 2 platform
• PhoneTag
• Brian Cooley’s website
• CNET
• Car Tech podcast
• Honda Accord EX
• Toyota Camry
• Chevy Impala
• Chrysler’s in-car Internet capability
• Lincoln Town Car
• Ford Crown Victoria
• Mercury Grand Marquis
• Lexus LS 460
• Audi A8

UPDATE: CNET selects the “best five” standalone GPS devices

UPDATE: GM’s new intelligent car windshield

UPDATE: Shelby building fastest electric car

UPDATE: An affordable electric car coming soon?

UPDATE: GM teams up with utilities for upcoming electric cars

UPDATE: Electric Mini coming in 2009

UPDATE: Vauxhall auto reads road signs

UPDATE: Nissan shows collision avoidance prototypes

Tags: automobiles for salespeople, Brian Cooley, Car Tech, cars for sales professionals, CNET, Podcast, selling geek, Timothy Sullivan

Intel officially released their new Centrino 2 product line on July 14. More than just a new family of central processing units for computers, the Centrino 2 is a complete platform designed to maximize computing power on mobile devices - especially laptops - while also conserving power, and thus greatly extend battery life. The Centrino 2 platform includes a number of new features, all designed to optimize mobile computing, including:

• Faster and more efficient memory and disk storage – Centrino 2 supports dual channel DDR3, which is tech-speak for much faster internal memory that runs at lower voltages for better performance and battery conservation. It also includes improvements for more efficient use of disk drives, also increasing speed and reducing power consumption.

• Higher clock speed – Centrino 2’s internal computer bus, which ties all components together, operates at a high speed (1066MHz), greatly reducing data flow bottlenecks. In other words, your system runs faster - ’nuff said.  On some older computers, even if you had a super-powerful processor, the system would still get bogged down by relatively slow clock speeds. That’s no longer a problem with Centrino 2 based systems.

• Improved graphics - Centrino 2 includes integrated graphics with more than double the 3D performance of prior systems, and hardware acceleration for high definition video.  Centrino 2 also has the ability to alternate between integrated and dedicated graphic processors, depending on whether the unit is operating on battery or external power, or at the command of the user – this enables users to optimize battery life, by adjusting to the graphics requirements of their applications.

• Faster wireless networking - Centrino 2 includes support for 802.11a, b, g, and draft-n wireless Wi-Fi connectivity.

• Good processing power – Although not as fast as Intel’s higher-end processors, Centrino 2 does provide strong processing power, running at 2.26GHz to 3.06GHz, which is significantly faster than previous laptop-oriented chips.

What does this mean for salespeople?

Laptop computers have always been less powerful than their desktop-bound cousins, but Centrino 2 represents a very nice compromise between mobility and power. This means that salespeople can expect thinner and lighter laptops with long battery operating times. In fact, after Intel’s release of Centrino 2, systems based on the new platform were immediately announced by Lenovo, Toshiba, Fujitsu and Sony, and many more are expected very soon. Salespeople looking for fast, reliable laptops with long battery life should definitely consider Centrino 2 based systems.

Additional resources about Intel’s Centrino 2 platform

• Intel’s web page about the Centrino 2 line
• Gizmodo on Centrino 2
• Crave on Centrino 2
• Extreme Tech on Centrino 2
• Centrino 2 explained
• New laptops use Centrino 2 platform
• Fujitsu introduces new Centrino 2 laptop
• Lenovo’s ThinkPad X200 - Centrino 2 laptop
• Dell Latitude E with Centrino 2 to be released in August

UPDATE: Centrino 2 buyers to get free personal area network upgrade in 2009

Tags: Centrino 2, Dell Latitude E, Fujitsu, Intel, laptops, Lenovo, mobile computing, sales professional, Sony, ThinkPad X200, Toshiba