Random Thoughts

Here are some random thoughts/questions I’ve been kicking around lately. They’re mostly half-baked. Thoughts welcome.

• Why doesn’t Amazon sell mobile apps through its storefront? Why doesn’t Palm partner with Amazon for this purpose? How about Google?
   

• Is patenting software equivalent to patenting language (or grammar)? Put another way, when it comes to software, doesn’t copyright law strikes a better balance between incentive and protection than patent law? We don’t grant patents to authors with novel plot lines, but somehow people keep majoring in English. In fact, maybe it’s time to come up with a whole new IP system altogether. This medium is unique, so should be its governance.

• Is saying Walmart hurts innovation like saying LeBron hurts youth basketball participation? (re: the “I can’t compete against it/him, so why even try?” mentality)  I’ll talk about abuse of market power all day, but blanket statements like “Walmart is bad for small business” completely miss the point.

• Is low-end disruption now possible in home automation/networking? This used to be the province of the ultra wealthy (Bill Gates’ house, anyone?).  But with inexpensive, open source hardware like Freeduino, I bet you can hook a lamp up to wifi for under $20 (after production economies are factored in). Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse STBs already hook into the network. A well-positioned wi-fi (or bluetooth) to IR converter could work for unconnected legacy equipment. There’s smart grid implications here too.
  
  As for remotes, no need to buy hardware—build an app. Compete on design (think: the boxee of home control) and use a psuedo-freemium model. You get the remote app for free, and it connects to all devices you have. The Premium side comes from hardware module sales.  Think wifi versions of this thing (which is great, by the way). At this point, the only real barrier to home automation is the hardware, and that may not be a barrier anymore. At the least, open source hardware has decreased the barrier significantly. I like this idea. Get in touch if you do too.

• Did most of the people who were going to buy an iPad preorder one?

• I spent the last two days playing with my fiancee’s iPad. While I’m sure people can and will use it for business productivity, I think the device’s future lies in shallow web interfacing (e.g., quick browsing, calendaring, basic email, light gaming and other casual, intuitive uses). This thing is the best accessory I’ve seen in the connected home. But when I travel, I’m still taking my MacBook. It’s not much bigger and it’s loads more powerful.
  
  But I love the iPad, and I finally see a real future for home tablet computing. I don’t think the iPad will own work tablet computing—it will capture a massive chunk, especially early, but ultimately businesses rely on personalized, complicated uses that only a widespread, engineer-driven development community can provide. That’s why I’d bet on Chrome OS in the enterprise space.
  
  I think we’re about five years away from tablets being as ubiquitous as smartphones. Having an open alternative to the iPad will be a great thing. In the meantime, though, the iPad is a bit frivolous, yes. But it’s here. And it’s fucking awesome.*

• LastPass has changed my life. It makes my browsing far more secure while speeding up my passwording interactions. That said, faith has no place in internet security. Until LastPass opens up completely and competes on design, I will maintain a twinge of doubt. But I’m not saying anything new here. 

*HT to Mark M. for the line

Why does it take two to Bump?

Before payments take over the web, we need to address the issue of lost passwords (thanks to Matt Mireles for the pointer).  Amazon has tried a bunch of stuff to overcome this issue: 1-Click and PayPhrases come to mind.  But what if the answer isn’t decreasing virtual friction?  What if the answer is creating a virtual payment process that is physically (and behaviorally) natural?

Bump Technologies has an interesting product.  When you want to transfer information between iPhones, you bump them together (gently), and thanks to the magic of accelerometers and 3G, data is exchanged.  What I love about this product is that it uses physical actions to trigger virtual action in a natural, mechanical way.  Bumping fits into the mental schema we have for handling physical data, and that makes it easy to understand and adopt.  The other day, PayPal introduced a new app that allows people to “bump” money to each other.  The app thus marries the mental schema of a physical act to a virtual action.

But why do you need two people to bump?  Why can’t I use bump in the same way I use my credit card, except for online shopping? 

Here’s the use case: I find a new tv to buy at bestbuy.com.  I head to checkout, where I’m presented with payment options: Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Bump.  I choose Bump and enter my PIN (or billing zip code, or any other short, personal identifier stored somewhere other than on the actual phone).  I then bump my computer.  Bump’s servers connect the dots (act of bumping + PIN) and voila, payment made.  Receipt’s in the email.  In action, the process is no different than handing over my credit card to the cashier.  It feels natural in a way that entering numbers doesn’t.  It feels like the way things work at the store.

I’m out of time, but I like this idea.  Bump shouldn’t limit itself to being a medium of exchange between mobile devices.  Its greatest attribute is that it creates the expected virtual response from a common physical action.  It would make sense to a child, and to my mind, that’s the mark of good technology.

Would Kmart buy ad space inside a Walmart?

Probably not.  But isn’t that the brick-and-mortar analogy to this:

That’s right, Amazon now places product ads from external websites on their product pages as a CPC ad service.  Here’s my question: is this the most valuable CPC ad space for CPG manufacturers on the internet today?

I actually don’t know the answer to that question, but I suspect it’s so.  After all, buying ads for “baseball” on Google is as likely to serve to someone looking for information as to someone looking for an actual baseball.  But people surfing Amazon are pretty clearly in the market for purchase, which makes these ads ultra-valuable.

It’s easy to see why Amazon would do this.  They position themselves as the low-cost, low-hassle, large-selection merchant.  To meet these goals, they need to know what their competitors are offering and for how much.  By hosting these ads, Amazon gains frictionless access to competitor offerings and pricing information.  In essence then, Amazon’s competitors pay Amazon for the privilege of providing Amazon with competitive intelligence.  And these merchants are willing to do it because Amazon, more than any other portal on the internet, is where people go to do commerce.