SPECIAL COMMENTARY
Technology Bells and Whistles
By B. Thomas Romeo, Sr. Techical Engineer at MerchantAdvantage
This month let's talk a bit about bells and whistles. For technology that which is "extra" is not necessarily the latest or greatest; rather it is what is intuitive and time saving. The adage is that technology is a tool not a genre. As hardware and software are developed, we find that many companies’ advances really are not about shifts in the paradigm of our workflow but are actually easier ways to do things. Web 2.0, which is more of a catch phrase than an exact moment in time when the World Wide Web was upgraded from 1.0 to 2.0, defines a subtle transition into Web based services.
Now that most industries are considered online and connected to the Internet (as opposed to, let's say, 15 years ago where Internet connectivity was considered itself as a bell and a whistle) not only are there new ways of using the Internet but that very connectivity creates the posibility that these new technologies can actually catch on. Early on in the Internet days, companies survived by having a critical mass of users savvy enough to figure out a dial up connection and their software. Those who made it easiest (read: most intuitive) survived. AOL. Those who drudged along, even with good technology but poor interfaces, died off. Compuserve. Prodigy. Was it the bells and whistles that AOL offered or the clean interface and intuitiveness that helped them survive.
Right now, connectivity itself is being redefined. Not only has bandwidth been mainstreamed by DSL and Cable connectivity, but cellular companies are also changing the dynamic of access. We can now be online without dependency on our "home" network via widespread hotspots, like those offered by AT&T and Starbucks, and the mainstream emergence of 3G data modems.
Now instead of seeing more and more laptops show up in coffee shops and airports, we're starting to see more and more laptops showing up with little black or white 3G modems sticking out of the side of them. And let me tell you - these things are great! You can be anywhere and be connected. The obvious travel situations, in the car (stopped not driving), on a boat, in a doctor's office - any type of "waiting" situation - including if you are moving and are waiting for your DSL line to be installed. (This one I know about!)
Also a cool thing that is coming is for these little 3G modems to work with routers. This means you can stick the gadget in a router and build a network around them. Imagine having a house wireless network based on a 3G modem - multiple machines running wirelessly from a single cellular connection. Imagine having a little network in your car where your passenger carrying a wireless laptop or smartphone has a good solid Internet connection. This is definitely a bell and a whistle.
Many technologies like this have existed and have simply sat idle waiting for mainstream acceptance. A little analogous history for example might be when Apple released iTunes in January of 2001 setting the stage for their iPod. Later that year when the iPod was initially introduced, mainstream use of iTunes expanded. A few years later the iTunes store existed, then the AppleTV, and now if you talk about renting a movie you might be doing it from Blockbuster, Netflix or iTunes.
This is not even to mention the fact that iPods are considered the equivalent of microwaves in just a few years of existence. Other examples can include how we manage photos or videos. Let's forget about iPhoto and iMovie for a second and talk about Picasa and YouTube. It took awhile for digital cameras and videocameras to become mainstream but now that many people have access to them, Google has created some of the most intuitive ways to get those photos and videos onto the web. Now it's common to refer to YouTube videos or share a Picasa library, or even upload photos to a Flickr site using Picasa. There are even some cameras like the Flip that have "YouTube" built right in.
Now of course in regards to online marketing - our industry has also had it's “critical mass points” historically. In 1990 the first web browser was released, yet the Internet prohibited commercial transactions until 1991. In 1992 the first book was sold online and the protocols to buy and sell were being developed and deployed. In 1995, Amazon.com was born along with AuctionWeb (later to become eBay).
Ten years later we've seen the stability of shopping cart technologies, online transaction capabilities and order management components. It would be accurate to say, at this point, that Shopping 2.0 is emerging. What more can online merchants deliver? Social components like those at Ciao, mobile apps like those from Amazon, theFind and Like, and video reviews like those on Smarter all speak to the bells and whistles that our industry is beginning to offer. We are seeing blogs and wikis and audio visual interactivity at a level of sleek implementation replacing the previously spotty, browser-crashing options we had before. Realplayer has been replaced with YouTube. Blogging is an occupation and merchants are bloggers on their own storefronts talking directly to their consumers. Craigslist, Facebook and Wikipedia are mainstream words that we'll use as as a noun or even as a verb in sentences.
This is exciting stuff, and for me it's fascinating to look at both a little of history and a little of the future of technology and think about its implications not only for the media enjoyment we get out of the gadgets we have access to, but for the workflow implications that allow us to work faster and more efficiently. Even inside our industry we have the bells and whistles that allow our storefronts and channels to be more exciting and more robust, e.g Web and Shopping 2.0. We also have bells and whistles like the fancy ways to be connected wherever we are, faster than ever before - and with more critical mass to come, which always leads to greater stability and intuitiveness.
- B. Thomas Romeo
Technology Bells and Whistles...Do You Need Them?
SPECIAL COMMENTARY
Technology Bells and Whistles
By B. Thomas Romeo, Sr. Techical Engineer at MerchantAdvantage
Now that most industries are considered online and connected to the Internet (as opposed to, let's say, 15 years ago where Internet connectivity was considered itself as a bell and a whistle) not only are there new ways of using the Internet but that very connectivity creates the posibility that these new technologies can actually catch on. Early on in the Internet days, companies survived by having a critical mass of users savvy enough to figure out a dial up connection and their software. Those who made it easiest (read: most intuitive) survived. AOL. Those who drudged along, even with good technology but poor interfaces, died off. Compuserve. Prodigy. Was it the bells and whistles that AOL offered or the clean interface and intuitiveness that helped them survive.
Right now, connectivity itself is being redefined. Not only has bandwidth been mainstreamed by DSL and Cable connectivity, but cellular companies are also changing the dynamic of access. We can now be online without dependency on our "home" network via widespread hotspots, like those offered by AT&T and Starbucks, and the mainstream emergence of 3G data modems.
Now instead of seeing more and more laptops show up in coffee shops and airports, we're starting to see more and more laptops showing up with little black or white 3G modems sticking out of the side of them. And let me tell you - these things are great! You can be anywhere and be connected. The obvious travel situations, in the car (stopped not driving), on a boat, in a doctor's office - any type of "waiting" situation - including if you are moving and are waiting for your DSL line to be installed. (This one I know about!)
Also a cool thing that is coming is for these little 3G modems to work with routers. This means you can stick the gadget in a router and build a network around them. Imagine having a house wireless network based on a 3G modem - multiple machines running wirelessly from a single cellular connection. Imagine having a little network in your car where your passenger carrying a wireless laptop or smartphone has a good solid Internet connection. This is definitely a bell and a whistle.
Many technologies like this have existed and have simply sat idle waiting for mainstream acceptance. A little analogous history for example might be when Apple released iTunes in January of 2001 setting the stage for their iPod. Later that year when the iPod was initially introduced, mainstream use of iTunes expanded. A few years later the iTunes store existed, then the AppleTV, and now if you talk about renting a movie you might be doing it from Blockbuster, Netflix or iTunes.
This is not even to mention the fact that iPods are considered the equivalent of microwaves in just a few years of existence. Other examples can include how we manage photos or videos. Let's forget about iPhoto and iMovie for a second and talk about Picasa and YouTube. It took awhile for digital cameras and videocameras to become mainstream but now that many people have access to them, Google has created some of the most intuitive ways to get those photos and videos onto the web. Now it's common to refer to YouTube videos or share a Picasa library, or even upload photos to a Flickr site using Picasa. There are even some cameras like the Flip that have "YouTube" built right in.
Now of course in regards to online marketing - our industry has also had it's “critical mass points” historically. In 1990 the first web browser was released, yet the Internet prohibited commercial transactions until 1991. In 1992 the first book was sold online and the protocols to buy and sell were being developed and deployed. In 1995, Amazon.com was born along with AuctionWeb (later to become eBay).
This is exciting stuff, and for me it's fascinating to look at both a little of history and a little of the future of technology and think about its implications not only for the media enjoyment we get out of the gadgets we have access to, but for the workflow implications that allow us to work faster and more efficiently. Even inside our industry we have the bells and whistles that allow our storefronts and channels to be more exciting and more robust, e.g Web and Shopping 2.0. We also have bells and whistles like the fancy ways to be connected wherever we are, faster than ever before - and with more critical mass to come, which always leads to greater stability and intuitiveness.
- B. Thomas Romeo
Posted by Chip Arndt on April 27, 2009 at 09:15 AM in ECommerce/MCommerce Soft Tools, Guest-Expert Commentary, MerchantAdvantage News, Online Storefront Tips and Advice, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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