The waiting line game of Mailbox

// #Mailbox , the latest attempt at improving mail #productivity , might work or it might fail. But they've handled their launch strategy in an innovative and smart (in terms of  #marketing ). 

Instead of the classic "give us your e-mail to notify you" and then just launch for the entire world, they adopted a "waiting line" concept: people who signed up first will get the app first. This rewards early adopters but also allows for "bragging rights" as the app shows your number in the "line" and how many people are in front and behind you. 

The result today is people filling the social networks with screenshots like the one below, showing how long the line is and if they are lucky (to be ahead) or unlucky (to have to wait a lot). And of course the tech press has something "exciting" to write about :) 

One could say it's the digital equivalent of #Apple 's lines on product launches. It remains to be seen if other start-ups will copy this idea... :)

15 Years of Apple.com

// A collection of #Apple 's home page layouts since 1997!
http://www.slideshare.net/choehn/15-years-of-applecom-15990876

Awesome Google Maps fail

// Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on #Apple's #map failures... :) 
Link to the see it for yourself http://goo.gl/maps/4bh3m
And Bing getting it right http://binged.it/QQMkkf 

Reshared post from +Sharon Strandskov

I am usually pretty pleased with Google Maps, but surely there has to be a faster way... I know there were border issues, but I thought they settled those, and imagine you could go through a closer country regardless... anyone know why this would be the case?

Edit: Read comments for more examples, such as those from +Nigel Fish and +Wayne Radinsky, like this one where the pins are both in Vietnam, within 0.12km and it is a 750 hour rerouted drive: http://goo.gl/maps/O9Oy6

Edit, potential reason, thanks to +Jennifer Luzio:
"Google hasn’t actually operated in China since early 2010, when they decided they would no longer censor search results on Google.cn. That move came after Google sustained a cyberattack originating in China, designed to steal the GMail information of Chinese human rights activists. The Chinese government has long denied any involvement.
Users in mainland China can still search using Google Hong Kong."
from SearchEngineWatch
More on the cyber attack: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2066083/Googles-New-Approach-to-China-A-Closer-Look-at-the-Attack-Heard-Round-the-Web

Either Google is purposefully avoiding China or they have such a lack of quality sourced data that they choose to avoid China.

In album October 5, 2012 (1 photo)

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The Apple Manual on being a Human

// A big scoop for Gizmodo yesterday, with what appears to be the Apple manual on their Genius staff training. It's a full instructions set on how to talk to customers in a civilized, friendly and empathic way, while at the same time not admitting that there might something wrong with an #Apple product and of course always providing some opportunity of selling merchandise... 

Full read http://bit.ly/TtwMDq

cc +Guy Kawasaki have you seen this? I thought of your books when I saw this :) 
via +Nassos K. 

Unrelated issue: what on earth did #Gizmodo do to their commenting system? This thing is unusable...

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Want Apple-styled maps on your site?

In the new version of iPhoto announced two days ago, #Apple has dropped using #GoogleMaps in favor of +OpenStreetMap, an open-source initiative for map data.

Given that Apple was kind enough to NOT give credit to #OpenStreetMap (see more http://bit.ly/xM3YGt) I'd say it's ok to use Apple's map tiles on your website. And you can do just that if you check the source code here http://bit.ly/xCguI9
More information on OSM can be found at www.openstreetmap.org

Apple tiles

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Apple: the ultimate troll, the first error

One hour and a half of presentation and they still haven't announced the name! :D

In the initial version of this post, i thought #Apple was trolling the internet. Minutes before the end of the iPad event and after the endless rumours on the name - #iPad3 , iPad HD, iPad RD? - and there was no mention of the name of the new iPad, except the descriptive "the new iPad".

And then, the event was over. And the name of the new #iPad is "the new iPad". Or "new iPad". Or something like that. Or maybe not.

In the first major product launch of the post-Jobs era it seems like Apple is doing it's first big #marketing error. It doesn't take much thought to see that calling a product "new" is problematic. For starters, you can't call it "new" forever, especially when we are talking about an electronic device where everything changes every six months. And of course, there is the issue of how are you going to call the next version. "Super new" sounds... strange.

Someone can argue that the "new" part will eventually be dropped and Apple will refer to as just "iPad". This doesn't make sense either as it would mean that for Apple there is not much difference between the original iPad (1) and the (new) iPad. Which would be disappointing for people getting a second-hand iPad1 and realizing that it can't do what the latest "iPad" ad shows...

Count me in the "confused" column.... :)

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#free #apple #icons what more do you need from life? :)

#free #apple #icons what more do you need from life? :)

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Free Icons: Apple Icon Devices
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Fake Apple stores in China (are you listening, Steve Jobs?)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="512" caption="Stoer!"][/caption]

They looked like Apple products. It looked like an Apple store. It had the classic Apple store winding staircase and weird upstairs sitting area. The employees were even wearing those blue t-shirts with the chunky Apple name tags around their necks... You have already guessed the punchline, of course: this was a total Apple store ripoff. A beautiful ripoff – a brilliant one – the best ripoff store we had ever seen (and we see them every day). But some things were just not right: the stairs were poorly made. The walls hadn’t been painted properly. Apple never writes “Apple Store” on it’s signs – it just puts up the glowing, iconic fruit...

Full article: Are you listening, Steve Jobs? « BirdAbroad.