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- Tesla Eyes Some Apple Love for Its Stores
They say mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, and at this point, Apple has got to be downright blushing. Tesla Motors, the electric car maker that has taken pains to distance itself from auto companies and cultivate an image as a tech innovator (like Google! Apple!), has now hired Apple’s former real estate chief George Blankenship to head up development of Tesla’s retail strategy and network.
Rather than following the more common dealership franchise model, Tesla uses showrooms modeled after Apple stores to show off its vehicles, bring in deposits, make sales and eventually service the cars. As TheAppleBlog has put it, Apple stores are so compelling because of the overall experience, from the customer service (which Apple calls “surprise and delight”) to the stores’ roomy interiors and bright lighting, to ubiquitous in-store Wi-Fi. Apple’s stores are part of the reason why according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index survey (PDF), the company beats its closest competitors by a good 10 points.
Tesla’s stores don't come cheap (can’t imagine Blankenship did, either), since the company targets high-income customers in upscale real estate markets like Manhattan, Los Angeles and London. According to Tesla’s announcement today, Blankenship will initially be working on stores in Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C.
When Apple opened its first store back in 2001, it had a goal to eventually put an Apple store within driving distance of 85 percent of consumers in the U.S. In 2009, Apple opened more international stores than domestic ones and intends to open at least one Apple store in one new country a year. Of course Tesla has just recently gone public and doesn’t have the kind of cash for such an aggressive domestic and international expansion. But according to Tesla’s filing, it expects to use a portion of the IPO proceeds to fund expansion of Tesla stores, which it estimates will cost "approximately $5 million during the year ended December 31, 2010, and an additional $5 million to $10 million annually over the next several years thereafter to establish approximately 50 stores globally."
Image courtesy of Tesla Motors
Переслать - How-To: Combining Hazel and Dropbox to Automate File Management
Look, I’ll be the first to admit it: I’ve got a horrible memory. While I’ve moved as much of my life to the cloud and my iDevices as possible, the reality is even though I’ll put a document in my Dropbox folder meaning to “do something” with it, I won’t. e-Books are a good example. Cory Doctorow releases his books under Creative Commons and so recently, during lunch at work, I grabbed the e-book file for one of his books, put it in my Dropbox account meaning to import it to iTunes when I got home. The file sat forgotten for three weeks.
Thankfully, Hazel is becoming my electronic assistant that just takes care of these tasks for me. Simply put, Hazel takes the idea of mail rules and applies them to the entire system. At its core, Hazel is a watchdog. You tell it to keep an eye on a folder, and if certain criteria are met, perform an action. We’ve covered Hazel before, but I wanted to focus specifically on combining it with Dropbox.
I have a rule set up to watch an e-books folder in my Dropbox folder and import those otherwise-forgotten files into iTunes. Since I leave my MacBook on a lot, when I get home the files are already imported. Even when I’m on my MacBook this is handy. I just throw the e-book into this folder and it’s a fire-and-forget solution.
Evernote is a central tool to my workflow. Research materials, presentation images, class notes and materials all go into Evernote. However, because of Keynote’s integration with iPhoto, it’s also beneficial to have images in both places. I’m always keeping my eye out for images I can use in presentations. One nice feature about Hazel is you can have it execute Automator workflows when a certain condition is met. So, if I throw an image into my Dropbox Photos folder, I can tell it to automatically add the image to both my Evernote and iPhoto libraries. This is very handy when combined with the iOS app. If I’m researching a story and take some snaps with my iPhone, I can use the Dropbox app to upload the photo, and Hazel will do the rest.
I also have a Dropbox “landing folder” for documents I want to add to Evernote. Goodreader on iOS can write to Dropbox. Using the “open with” feature I can easily get most files into Goodreader, which can then write them to the landing folder. Hazel will take care of importing them to Evernote.
I’m also finding it handy to get files off my Boot Camp directory into the cloud. I’m not really in the mood to set up Dropbox on the Windows partition — even though Dropbox can be set up to only sync selected folders, I’d rather not have it installed. So, the directories I want to get the contents copied into the cloud, I just have Hazel set up to monitor that folder as well and copy the files to Dropbox.
Hazel has a free, 14 day trial and will set you back $21.95 when you get it. I’m finding it’s proving indispensable when I put a file on Dropbox, but want to do something with it after it’s up there.
Переслать - Quick Tip: Opt Out of iAd Data Collection
It’s been a little over a week since Apple started rolling out iAd, its new advertisement feature for iOS 4. The first ads started to appear on July 1, and come from a variety of big-name companies including Disney, Nissan and AT&T. However, for some, iAd brings up a privacy concern.
To make sure users only see ads which might interest them, Apple studies the data from their iPhones to see what the user does and doesn't like. According to Rachel Pasqua, who is an agent working with Apple on iAds for her clients:
Apple knows what you've downloaded, how much time you spend interacting with applications and knows even what you've downloaded, don't like and deleted.
While this is clever on Apple’s part, there are more than a few iPhone users who are bound to be worried about the safety of their information, especially after the hacking fiasco earlier this week. Luckily, Apple has provided a way to opt-out of this data collection.
As detailed in Apple’s Knowledge Base article, to opt-out, all you have to do is point your iPhone to http://oo.apple.com. You should see a “successful opt-out” message and a few bullet points giving you some information about the opt-out service. If not, Apple’s advice is to “wait a few hours and try again.”
This only works for devices running iOS 4 — you can’t opt-out on an iPad or on a desktop computer for example — and if you own more than one device, you have to opt-out on every device individually. Also note that opting-out doesn't stop you from seeing any ads, it just stops Apple from collecting data about how you use your iPhone.
Переслать - MobileMe Updates Galore: Calendar Beta and iDisk App
If you’re one of those shelling out $99 per year for Apple’s do-it-all cross-platform sync service MobileMe, as I am, then this has been a good week. In fact, it’s been a pretty good few months overall, thanks to what appears to be a renewed interest on Apple’s part in keeping the service worth our while.
First there was the web-based Mail overhaul, and then the Find My iPhone app. Now, the Calendar web app gets a similar makeover to the one Mail received, and like its predecessor, it starts out in invite-only beta form. And at nearly the same time, we get an update to MobileMe’s iDisk app for iOS devices, bringing with it true iPad/iPhone universality. And it’s about time.
The iPad has been out since April of this year, and yet Find My iPhone was the first MobileMe-related iOS app to boast universality. iDisk and Gallery seemed to be being ignored, despite the obvious potential both apps held on the larger iPad screen. Well iDisk is now fully updated for the iPad, and it works wonderfully. The built-in document viewer lets you see all those PDFs, images and word processor files you have stored on your cloud disk. It also works with the “Open In…” feature along with compatible third-party apps, and allows you to create shares for people who don’t use MobileMe.
The Calendar web app beta probably won’t mean much to iPad owners, since presumably they’re using the native Calendar app on their devices, but it sure is a big upgrade for those accessing their MobileMe services from their computer’s Internet browser. Again, like with Mail, it takes cues from its iPad predecessor. The book-style view is there, and there’s also redesigned day, week, and month views in addition to a new barebones list view.
You can share calendars among friends and set up email notifications regarding changes, and publish a calendar for public use, if, for example, you have a recreational sports team to organize. You can also create events and send invites and receive RSVPs, even if your guests aren’t using MobileMe themselves. Sounds like it could provide one more reason for me to stay away from Facebook, if it works as smoothly as it sounds like it should.
The Calendar beta does come with some hefty requirements for all this, though. If you’re on an iPhone, you have to be using iOS 4, for example. It’s iOS 3.2 on the iPad, of course, and 10.6.4 on the Mac. PC and Outlook support are said to be coming soon. To get access, you must be a MobileMe subscriber. Login, and navigate to me.com/calendar, and then click on the “Request an invite” link in the lower left-hand corner of the screen…then cross your fingers.
Переслать - iPhone: The Art of the Launch
Infographic by Column Five Media
Переслать - What Makes an Apple Store So Great
If you haven't had an opportunity to visit an Apple Store, I strongly recommend doing so. My last visit was a week ago when I picked up my new iPhone 4 and, though I've visited the stores plenty of times before, waiting in line reminded me of what makes Apple's retail plans such a success.
True, I've written before about some of the missteps that Apple has taken, but even with its faults, the company never stops and keeps striving to make a difference in the minds of its customers. So what makes an Apple Store so great? It's all about the experience.
Certainly, one can argue that the reason why people will wait in lines that are hours long for a new telephone is because the telephone must be pretty frackin’ cool. Some of you may have done this before, waiting outside of a Best Buy or Walmart for a chance to get a Nintendo Wii or Playstation 3 when they first launched. But if you did, I bet your experience was nothing like it was at the Apple Store.
First, the stores have Wi-Fi. That one may seem a little cheesy, but when you're camped outside at 3AM, it's nice that a company that, despite all its talk of being energy-efficient and going green, still decided to leave its wireless routers active at night so you can watch Hulu while waiting in line.
Second, the stores take care of those who are waiting in line. During both the iPad and iPhone 4 launches, the two stores I visited had partnered with a local Starbucks and California Pizza Kitchen to provide food and drinks to those who had been waiting — at no expense to customers. How many places do you know of that do that?
Third, the experience with the employees is, despite the occasional misstep, phenomenal. Employees are not on commission so there's no pressure for them to sell you everything and the kitchen sink. They're in the business of building a relationship. They'll shake your hand, call you by your name and really take personal pride in being able to help you with the right solution every time. Not only that, but it’s not just about selling you on the products. Apple is one of few companies who really wants you to return to the store and learn more about how to use their products, even if you’re not buying anything else. It’s all about the experience -– with the products, with the people and with the stores.
If you've ever had a chance to visit the Ritz Carlton, this type of service will be familiar to you as it originally started with its gold standards. The Ritz Carlton credo is the guiding philosophy of Apple's own credo.
"The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission. We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambience. The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests."
Even its motto, "We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen" speaks volumes to how Apple treats its own customers. Have you ever walked into an Apple Store and not been treated like royalty? (As an aside, I strongly suggest you do not walk into a store and demand to be treated like royalty.)
Apple calls its service "surprise and delight." It aims to surprise its customers by seeking opportunities to deliver on its customers wishes and needs and then delight them by going above and beyond, if you give them the opportunity.
Again, look at the recent iPhone 4 launch. After waiting in line, I was then taken into the store where I had a chance to play with the iPhone while I waited for the next Specialist who could help me with my purchase. When I'd finished purchasing my phone, it was switched over on AT&T's network (rendering my old phone inoperable) and another Mac Specialist was there ready to help me plug it into a Mac and finish the activation process.
If you give them a chance, and don't exploit it, every team member at Apple will not stop until they've given you the best experience they can. Unfortunately, however, as the busy consumers we are, we like this attention and tend to expect or even demand it sometimes. There are times when a Genius Bar appointment may not be available until the next day or that hot new iPhone just isn't in stock. Getting frustrated at this point is understandable, but take a few moments to understand how the team at Apple really wants to help you and be sure to treat them with that same level of respect. Even though the stores are busy, politely asking, "How can we find a way to help me get my Mac working as soon as possible?" is just enough to, if they haven't offered already, allow them to look at Genius Bar appointments at neighboring stores and go ahead and schedule the appointment for you. Or, if the store traffic permits, check in your Mac for repair and diagnosis at a later time so you don't have to wait for the appointment.
The moral of my story is this. The Apple Store is a great experience and that's a big reason why people love to buy Apple products. For many, it does start with their first iPod or iPhone and later they return for their first Mac. So don't forget the little things that make the experience so great (the attention, the people) and appreciate them because Apple's formula for success is something you just won't find at Best Buy or AT&T or really any other retail store for that matter.
There you have it. Yet another reason why many of us Apple users are called “fan boys.” Have you had your own surprise and delight experience at Apple? Tell us about it in the comments.
Переслать - Sponsor post: Sponsor post: Akamai Launches Open Video Player for HTML5 Toolkit
Akamai has released a new Open Video Player for HTML5 < video > developer toolkit, aimed at simplifying the task of creating flexible HTML5-based video player applications for delivery of HTTP content.
The goal of the Open Video Player for HTML5 < video > is to provide a foundation to allow developers to quickly implement world-class solutions for cross- platform/device/format video applications, providing their users with a consistent, high-quality experience through Akamai’s rich media management, delivery and measurement solutions: www.akamai.com/HTML5.
With adaptive bitrate video technology that automatically adjusts video quality levels based on a user’s connection speed (Wi-Fi, 3G, Edge) consistent security and analytics –- all part of Akamai's HD Network – content owners can deliver the highest-quality video experiences possible — even 24×7 TV channels — on portable devices. This toolkit will make it easier for them to create such experiences for the iPad and iPhone and better service their audiences through a portable, ‘best possible screen’ viewing approach.
The player provides a code library supporting industry best practices and standards such as CSS, JavaScript, HTML/HTML5 and Yahoo Media RSS 2.0. This means developers can dramatically reduce the time it takes to create an HTML5 < video >-based experience to support Apple’s iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), as well as other browsers/devices supporting HTML5 < video >: www.akamai.com/HTML5.
Переслать - TechUniversity: Aperture 101
Aperture is Apple’s pro-level photo management, editing and sharing application used my both amateurs and professionals around the globe.
In this TechUniversity Aperture 101 screencast (subscription required), we’ll take a look at a number of areas of the application to help you get up and running right away.
Topics that we’ll cover:
- Importing photos
- Organizing photos
- Editing photos
- Sharing photos
- Exporting photos
Below is a sample of the video. The full screencast clocks in at just under 17 minutes.
Переслать
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