Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Author: Paul Wallbank

  • The internet of things and empowered customers

    The internet of things and empowered customers

    “The internet of things is about what we own and how we build solutions around that rather than what we buy and companies following us around and guessing about us,” says veteran industry commentator Doc Searls.

    In an interview with Decoding the New Economy, the writer of the Cluetrain Manifesto discusses how he sees the internet of things changing marketing.

    For Searls, the connected shoe is a good example of how individuals can control the data being collected on them and the way businesses can get far more relevant information about how customers are using their products.

    Searls sees that the trend towards companies trying to dominate their fields in the Internet of Things as being doomed.

    “It’s our internet of things, not theirs. Right now the internet of things is being discussed as Apple versus Google versus Facebook.”

    “None of those are going to own the internet of things; the internet of things is a matter of you and your things and me and my things.”

    Empowering customers

    Searls sees the connected shoe as being a good example of how the internet citing his own New Balance shoes as how manufacturers can get richer data on its customers.

    “The interesting thing is there’s much more intelligence a company can get directly from its customers who already own something rather than following us around on the internet.”

    Searls’ view challenges today’s model of advertising based services; it may be this is the reason why companies like Google and Apple are so focused on playing a part in the internet of things.

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  • Amazon learns that profits matter

    Amazon learns that profits matter

    It’s typical for a new businesses to go several years making losses but Amazon has barely made a profit over the last twenty years despite being valued at $150 billion by the stockmarket.

    That luck could be running out though as the Amazon’s stock fell nearly 10% last week after the company announced it had slipped back into losses last quarter.

    Amazon’s losses are largely due to Google starting a price war on web services which is a warning that other deep pocketed web giants are now lining up for the company.

    Google’s actions in crippling Amazon are somewhat ironic given how Amazon disrupted the publishing industry by using its deep pockets to subsidise its loss making bookselling business.

    Amazon’s problem is it operates in commoditised industries where deep pocketed players are prepared to challenge the company’s market position.

    Companies like Google and Apple have incredibly profitable products like Adwords and the iPhone while Amazon relies on the largesse of investors hoping to turn a future profit, that is a clear weakness against strong, well funded businesses.

    For a tech company, twenty years is clearly the future and now Amazon has to define exactly where the profits are in its business.

    Sometimes, just being a disruptor isn’t enough.

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  • Changing technology

    Changing technology

    Last night’s ABC Nightlife program showed how the tech industry has changed in the last five years.

    In 2009 the bulk of the conversation would have been about personal computers, laptops and viruses.

    Last night, malware is still an important topic but almost all of last night’s listener questions were around smartphones and Tony’s questions were on social media.

    That social media and smartphones were the main topics and personal computers — and Windows — were barely mentioned show just how the computer industry has shifted.

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  • Smartphone safety and online trust – ABC Nightlife technology

    Smartphone safety and online trust – ABC Nightlife technology

    Smartphones for the vision impaired, malware on portable devices and online trust were the topics of the July technology spot on  Tony Delroy’s Nightlife along with why a restaurant claims Google sent it broke and how we can’t always trust what we hear online.

    If you missed the show, you can download the program from the website.

    For sight impaired smartphone users both Doug and Nick called in to suggest Vision Australia’s services. The organisation has a page dedicated to smartphone and tablet resources.

    Nick and Peter asked about malware protection for Android smartphones. Both Intel’s McAfee Mobile Security and Sophos’ Mobile Security for Android are free for home users.

    The next spot is scheduled for 4 September, if you have any topics you’d like to discuss contact me or the Nightlife producers.

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  • A big reset button on business

    A big reset button on business

    “Every large company is just another color of a spore in a petrie dish.”

    For the latest Decoding the New Economy video Internet Pioneer Doc Searls discusses The Respect Network, online privacy and the future of business on the web.

    Doc Searls is one of the internet’s pioneers who helped write The Cluetrain Manifesto that laid out many of the ideas that underpinned the philosophies driving the early days of the internet.

    Searls’ visit to Sydney was part of the rolling worldwide launch of the Respect Network, a system designed to improve internet users’ privacy through ‘personal clouds’ of information where people can choose to share data with companies and others.

    A big reset button on business

    In many ways The Respect Network shows how the internet has evolved since the days of the Cluetrain Manifesto, something that Searls puts in context.

    “We wrote the Cluetrain Manifesto in 1999,” says Searls. “At that time Microsoft ruled the world, Apple was considered a failure – Steve Jobs had come along and they had the iMac but it was all yet to be proven – Google barely existed and Facebook didn’t exist at all.”

    “On the one hand we saw the internet, we being the four authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto, and this whole new thing in the world that basically hit a big reset button on ‘business as usual’”

    “It did that. I think we’re vindicated on that.”

    Resetting business

    “What we have now are new industrial giants; Apple became an industrial giant, Microsoft are fading away, Nokia was the number one smartphone company and they’re all but gone.”

    One of the key things with today’s markets in Searls’ view is the amount of information that businesses can collect on their customers; something that ties into the original Cluetrain idea of all markets being conversations.

    With the evolution of Big Data and the internet of things, Searls sees challenges for companies using old marketing methods which rely upon online tracking. Something that’s a challenge for social media services and many of the existing internet giants.

    “The interesting thing is there’s a lot more intelligence that a company can get directly from their customers from things they already own than following us around on the internet.”

    Breaking the silos

    Searls also sees the current trend towards the internet being divided into little empires as a passing phase, “every company wants a unique offering but we need standards.”

    For Searls the key thing about the current era internet is we’re only at the beginning of a time that empowers the individual,  “the older I get, the earlier it seems.”

    “Anyone of us can do anything,” Searls says. “That’s the power – I’m optimistic about everything.”

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