My presentation on the business application of location-based service Foursquare from last week’s AMI FutureComms workshop:

Here at Thinq we like to plan for the person using the device, rather than for the device itself – devices such as the recently released (to unprecedented anticipation) Apple iPad. But here I get stuck…. Just who will use the iPad?

The early adopting gadget addict? Let’s call him Michael. Sure, he’ll probably want it, may even line up to buy it, but I predict the iPad’s shininess will rub off quickly…..  The inability to multi-task applications will drive him mad (what, I can’t check my emails and watch a movie at the same time? Or listen to Pandora and surf the web?). I can hear his scoffs now.

How about Gary, an on-the-go businessman? He wants to impress potential clients with slick presentations on a lightweight device – the iPad will certainly do that. But will he have time to figure out how to use Keynote, the only presentation software the iPad will support? And does he really need another device (he’s already got a laptop, desktop computer, and iPhone). More importantly, will his IT department buy it for him?

Then there’s Cary, a uni student sick of lugging stacks of text books around. She loves the iPad her Dad bought her. It holds all her textbooks, she can research on the web between classes and take notes with it during lectures. But the 10 hr battery life means she keeps getting caught out in class with a dead iPad because she forgot to charge it overnight. And although the LCD screen looks pretty (much prettier than the e-Ink based Kindle), she can’t see it in the sunny courtyard between classes. And whilst the iPad’s price tag is low, I’m not sure it’s low enough for a student budget if Daddy doesn’t cough up the dough.

Which leaves Helen, an avid book reader. Her favourite room in the house is the study, which is packed with books she’s collected over the years. She hasn’t bought a Kindle yet because she thinks it looks and feels “clunky” and loses the romanticism of reading a real book. But the cheaper prices from the iBooks online store, and the iPad interface have convinced her it’s time to jump into the eReader market (even if she does have a giggle every time she sees the name iPad).  Then she discovers that Random House, the world’s biggest publisher, isn’t supported by iBooks…

So who will buy the iPad (aside from Pee-wee)? Well, I’m not sure droves of people will. But then whilst there are some big gaps in expected functionality (tough crowd), it’s bound to revolutionise the way we consume media.

When you think about it, the original iPod simply stored and played music. The iPad already does a lot more than just store books. It stores and plays music and movies, stores your photo albums and provides an unprecedented large screen, touch based web browsing experience. And that’s just the native applications – what apps are developers the world over dreaming up for the iPad right now? So it’s already leaps ahead of where the original iPod was, and look how that’s shaped mobile communications.

But what about you, would you buy it? And if so, how would you use it?

Ham? Maybe.

Wine? Quite possibly.

Limited strenuous exercise? Almost certainly.

There are a number of reasons why my fingers might feel fatter in 2010, that’s “twenty ten”  people, not “two thousand and ten”. Stop wasting good syllables. A problem shared is a problem halved, so I decided to discuss my condition with a few close friends. Turns out a number of the folks I surveyed were also suffering from podgy digit disorder. After much contemplation we uncovered a common factor in the way we all behaved over the Christmas holidays.

We had all spent more time playing with our iPhones. From DoodleJump to Tweetie we’d all been tapping, swiping and pinching far more than your average working week and it was starting to have physical effects. Or so we thought. Why else would we be tapping a back link when we were trying to hit the search field?

Leave enough space between action taps - One of Bill's "8 Rules of Thumb" (source: How People really use the iPhone - Bill Westerman)

It wasn’t until I stumbled across Bill Westerman’s presentation – How People Really Use the iPhone that I started to think maybe it wasn’t me. Maybe it was my phone, or more specifically the application’s user interface design. Maybe all of my additional holiday usage was starting to uncover flaws in the way some iPhone apps were designed. Turns out Bill’s study uncovered a number of common usability issues experienced by people when trying to navigate a series of common apps.

These common issues have formed Bill’s “8 rules of thumb” a great checklist for iPhone application planners and developers.  Just as no serious web project would be undertaken without a strong planning, prototyping and testing cycle neither should the brave new world of phone based application development.

foursquare is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things.

Yesterday was a good day – it was inadvertently brought to my attention that foursquare is finally available in Perth! And, it comes only a couple of months after its Australian debut in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Here’s how it works:
Using a mobile app, mobile web or SMS (US only), users voluntarily check-in at a variety of locations – cafes, stores, bars, parks – and in doing so alert friends of their whereabouts… perfect if they’re in the area and keen to drop in to say hello. It’s also possible to check-in and keep the location private – designed for those times when three’s a crowd.

When checking-in, users can share tips (i.e. try the frites at Little Creatures!) and add activities to personal to-do lists. Check-ins earn points; there are extra points awarded for going to new places and the user who has checked-in most at a given location becomes the “Mayor”. Users can also unlock badges by checking in at interesting places… it’s a competition to explore your city!

Player Please! - a badge that is unlocked by checking-in with 3 members of the opposite sex.

I first became hooked on foursquare while living in NYC and I would rank it amongst my favorite iPhone apps. Why? Because it satisfies every reason I’d ever use an app:

Utility: 1, it enables you to locate people and places, and 2, it offers user recommendations/tips for various locations

Communication: the app obviously facilitates lateral communication and also has Facebook and Twitter integration

Competition: don’t forget that this is also a game – you’re competing to check-in at the most places and unlock badges by doing unusual things (you don’t know how to unlock badges until you’ve unlocked them)

Social networking: the community aspect ties it all together – the tips that pop-up alongside venues are from your friends (*ahem, word-of-mouth from a trusted source), you’re able to catch up with your friends, you’re in competition with your friends.

And then there’s foursquare for Businesses, which gives retailers an opportunity to alert users of promotions when they’re in the area.. imagine checking-in at Starbucks and immediately getting a notification that the Dome just across the road is offering 2 for 1 coffees! In addition to this, many retailers offer special discounts to their establishment’s current Mayor – which effectively rewards the best customers and creates an incentive for other patrons to frequent.

Charities are also seeing benefit in foursquare. Last month Pepsi sponsored a campaign which dedicated 4 cents for every NYC check-in to CampInteractive, an organization that aims to inspire inner-city youth through technology.

This is clearly no playground game we’re dealing with here.

OK, so Gartner recently revealed that Smart Phone sales were up 27% (whilst standard mobile sales were down 6%). The iPhone was a major contributor with 13% of all new handsets sold in 2nd quarter 2009 up from 3% in the corresponding period of 2008.

I haven’t seen a personal device get traction like this since the Sony Walkman in the 80s and there’s a real simple reason. It’s not the phone, the phone is actually rubbish – it’s the promise of a truly decent mobile web experience. The crux of which lies in the ability to zoom in and out with ease – funny that whilst the cynics were saying that mobile web will never work because the screen is too small, Apple invented a way to take screen size out of the picture…so to speak.

And Joe Public loves this new type of web experience. According to AdMob’s April 2009 Mobile Metrics Report Apple’s iPhone accounted for 43% of all mobile web traffic despite having just 8% of all handset sales in the same period. So, mobile internet usage is on the march and yet many digital marketing folks don’t seem to be paying attention.

How many of the major Australian web properties have customised their web experience for the iPhone (and other smart phones)? I’ve seen a few, Realestate.com.au for example but most brands are missing an enormous opportunity to engage via what is the fastest growing form of web access. If you’ve got a smart phone then go take a look at some of your favourite sites….they’re bad huh!?

It’s not just about missing opportunities either. In many cases a mobile alternative version of your web site could be required to maintain an acceptable level of accessibility and usability. For example Flash is not supported by the iPhone’s safari browser and sites that rely heavily on this plug-in will not display as intended (if at all). And it’s not going to be fixed overnight either as there are some fundamental reasons why Apple is resisting the inclusion of Flash.

So stop sitting on your handsets and take action. Start by including mobile based browsers in your web testing standards for all new development, that’s a bare minimum. Most importantly strongly consider developing a unique version of your major web application or site especially for mobile web browsing.  It amazes me that Seek currently has no iPhone version (or app) of their site – imagine the take-up of mobile based job hunting – come on guys what’s taking you so long, surely it’s not the business case!