How Smart is Apple ? ….

They are sooo smart …

On one hand I am always amazed at the sheer marketing “genius” and reach of Apple and how it never ceases to amaze me that one company can drum up such fierce loyalty and drama for their products.  And on the other hand I am constantly amazed that as smart as one company can be in certain areas, they can be so damned stupid in others.

One only had to read the mountain of blog posts and news stories to understand that their would be great demand for the 3g iPhone.  I am sure Apple knew this was coming, yet the seemed utterly unprepared.  now I understand their are supply chain logistics that I probably dont totally grasp, but it seems to me fairly obsurd that there are STILL lines to buy the iPhone nearly three weeks after its initial launch.

I will admit I made 2 trips to the mall over the last couple of weeks to pick up a 16GB black iPhone, only to find long, extremely long lines.  My thought was always, “How the hell do I know if I wait in this long ass line, that I will get the model that I want?”  That alone kept me away.

So I was shocked to see this post over at iPod Observer about how Apple is now using a voucher system at the stores !! Brilliant.  It took the company who made $1 billion in profit last quarter 3 weeks to noodle this system out ?  They all must have been busy trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with their MobileMe fiasco ….

According to the post

The vouchers are handed out to customers starting at the beginning of the line and note which iPhone 3G capacity and color each customer wants. If the day’s inventory of a specific model is already sold out or accounted for through vouchers, potential customers will know before they get in the store, making it easier for shoppers to decide if waiting in a potentially hours-long line is worth their time.

So now those poor idiots at the back of the line know that when they get to the front of the line, they actually have an iPhone to take home …

It is truly sad it took this long to come up with this tremendously complicated solution ! Great job Apple.

Searchles signs on with Washington Post

Searchles, the local DC startup that provides “social search, has made another big step.  Recently we reported that they received a $300k round of funding, bringing their total up to the $2 million mark.
Mashable is reporting that they have signed a deal with the Washington Post and their newsreaders social network called MyPost.  What Searchles is bring to the table is

Now, when browsing the profiles of other MyPost members, you will see Searchles’ “Related Users” widget, which shows you other people who have taken an interest in similar stories on washingtonpost.com, based primarily on comments.

This seems like a pretty interesting idea.  As we all know, old media is struggling with way to stay relevant in todays climate and I think the Post has been doing well to stay ahead of the curve.  This is another good step for them, especially since it is two local companies and would seem to be a good fit.  A look over at the offical Searchle’s blog gives us a little more insight into the deal.

The widget is part of our Searchles Discovery® technology - geared towards online publishers, bloggers, and social networking sites and priced based on set up fee and a revenue-share working scenario. Social Discovery tools offer a set of customizable solutions for boosting site-engagement, realizing full value of site content by using it as a foundation to build and utilize networks of trusted peers, as well as enhancing social search features and capabilities for targeted advertising.

In addition to the widget, a ‘searchle it!‘ bookmarklet will be added to teh Post stories, with the hope of getting more good content pushed to the Searchle user base.

It will be interesting to follow this deal and see how the integration works to help both companies.

Startups: Check out Google’s Docs new templates

In a recent post I mentioned a great resource for everyone out there buidling a business on a budget and for anyone who needed a business document, it is a service called Docstoc.

This last week, Google has released a great repository for their Google Docs online documents.  There are templates for all types, Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations.  I took a quick look and they have a lot of great resources.  I saw templates for business cards, budgets, and great themes from presentations.  I am a huge fan of Google Doc’s as it allows me to write and have access to all of my stuff from everywhere I can get online.  I even use it as a research tool to keep a running documents for notes collection and as a blog writing tool.  With the ability to take the Docs offline now even gives you the flexibility to write on the go away from a conenction.

So if you are working on yor startup and need a quick template, head over and take a look.

Watch out Satellite and Terrestrial Radio, Here comes the iPhone

I have not been fortunate enough to get myself a new 3G iPhone, but I did get to upgrade my first generation iPhone to the 2.0 firmware and have been completely impressed with the apps so far in the App Store.

The developers have done great work and I look forward to many more great titles to be released in the coming weeks.

I did have a thought today while at work about some of the apps, in particular AOL Radio and Pandora.  I totally love the regular Pandora site and when at my desk at work, this is the web site I always have up, playing a never ending stream of music I like.  Well with their great iPhone app, I now get that same experience on my iPhone.  I was hesitant at first, wondering how the music would stream over the “slow” Edge network, and was surprised by the quality.  It played without pause.

So as I sat at work, I wondered to my friends, “Do you think that the Pandora app will play through the fm transmitter in the car ??”  We thought about it for a moment and talked about how cool that would be.  So after work, I gave it a go and was pleasantly surprised that Iwas able to stream the AOL and Pandora apps right through my fm transmitter !  What a cool surprise.  I sat in my car and thought about this for a moment.  I have had Sirius radio for about that past two years and I love it.  I have not looked back to terrestrial radio in the least bit.  But now it occured to me that this may being another turning point.  Besides my Sirius I listen to my iPod/iPhone for mainly podcasts since I catch most of my music on Sirius.  But now what if my iPhone could go so far as eliminate the need for Sirius, music and talk.  With Sirius, I bounced between several stations for my music and would catch some talk shows no and then.  Well now with my iPhone, I not only get my fix of talk shows that I want to listen to through podcasts, I also get a music station that is totally personalized just for me, without a single commercial !  Pandora’s algorithm is such that is finds music you like and adds it to your station.  I have several personal stations set up, an Alt Indie, Jazz, and so on and the Pandora app lets me play any one of them.

This is an interesting time for both the satellite and terrestrial radio businesses.  Traditional radio has been looking in their rear view mirror as the new kids on the block, XM and then Sirius crept up to take a larger and larger share of the market.  And now those same satellite providers are trying to merge in order to not only stay alive, but also to continue to fight the traditional outlets for listenership.  Well now with the ability for a platform like the iPhone to stream content you want with no commercials for free, those new kids on the block better watch their mirrors as well.

Need a Business Document? Try Docstoc of Course

I can tell you from personal experience that finiding good business documents can be hard to say the least.  As someone who has started a business in the last year, launched a small web service, performed some consulting work, and a variety of other things, I could have used a service like Docstoc long ago.

I think as with many new business owners, the maze of contracts, NDA’s, and other business docs can be a little daunting.  I remember my first conulting gig, trying to come up with a contract that looked and felt professional.  I wish I had known about Docstoc back then, and I am happy to be passing it on to you all now as a resource for you to use.  Here is a quick overview of the service from one of their training videos.

I hope you all find this useful, I know I did.

Let us know any other good resources you have for us fellow entrepenurs

Need Some $$ For Your Startup ? Start Here

I came across a great post today over at Jason Nazar’s blog about raising money for a startup.  Jason is the founder and CEO of Docstoc, an online repository of professional documents.  Docstoc looks incredible and I am going to explore it some more and report back to all you budding startups out there on how to utilize it well, but in the meantime I wanted to pass along Jason’s post on rainsing money for startups.

As Jason notes

I had selectively helped some folks raise money for their companies in my last consulting business. The truth is, no one should ever be a better fundraiser for a startup than its founders. And if you are relying on an outside 3rd party to “raise you money”, you’re likely in for a huge waste of time.

In any case here is a link to his full document, Raising Money for a StartUP Company.

It is a good read, let us know what you think.

Heh DC, Put Up and Show Up !

Of course we all know of the local chatter revolving around the fact that DC is or is not a good place to bring up a budding business.  Many around, including me, like it here and think there are good things in the works.  However, others, especially VC’s, think greener pastures are elsewhere.  Well it is our chance to show them they may juts be wrong.

I was chatting with Keith Casey of Casey Software and WhyGoSolo a little while back and he was telling me about this business plan competition coming up in the area, and he said it would be a great opportunity for the local tech communtiy to stand up and be seen and heard.

The competition Keith was talking about is the Mid-Atlantic Business Plan Competition

That day is the no-holds-barred deathmatch of entrepreneur vs entrepreneur. There are presentations in the morning, a round of eliminations, and then the culmination of the entire contest… the finalists get to present in front of a public audience affectionately called the STARTUP SMACK DOWN.

The panel will include several VC’s, professors, and other local entrepenuers.  Keith makes a great point when he states :

I think it’s time to put up or shut up. If we storm the place… if we completely pack the final presentations with the best and brightest from the DC Tech community, people will notice. The VC’s will do a double take. The professors will take note. The students competing will reconsider immediately leaving for friendlier places.

I am all in as they say in Texas Hold’Em.  What about you ?  We would love to get everyone we can in that auditorium as Keith says to make people take notice that we are here and ready to flourish.  If we can start the create a minor shift in the perception of some of the panlists, they may take that back with them and start a little buzz.  And that would be good for all of us.

So here are the details:

Date: Saturday, April 26 2008

Time: 1-5 PM

Where: ICC Auditorium, Georgetown University (Building 26 on this map)

So what do you say ?  Stop by and join the Facebook Group I created: DC Technology Business Plan Competition Crashers if your interested.

Event: Refresh DC March Happy Hour

RefreshDC is having a Happy Hour this week in DC.  Many of you are aware of the great job RefreshDC does in the DC area
 

Refresh is a community of web designers, developers, and other new media professionals working together to refresh the creative, technical, and professional aspects of their trades in the Washington, DC, area. Our goal is simple: bring together the best and brightest new media professionals in the DC metro area so that we may learn from one another. Our industry is too rich for any one person to "know it all." That's where we come in.

They hold some great events and this month decided to have laid back happy hour for all to get together.  Here is the Upcoming Event page for the meetup and here are the details for you as well.

Capitol City Brewery