Mark Sigal on O'Reilly Broadcast

The Five Keys to a Successful eBook Production: The Story of Spot the Dot

2011-06-02T22:04:24Z

What are the key steps in building a successful interactive eBook? This piece looks at the best practices from the perspective of a recently launched children's eBook called 'Spot the Dot.'

When and What is "Good Enough"

2010-08-25T19:28:28Z

There is an axiom that it is more important to focus on doing the "right things" than on having to do everything "perfectly right." But, this begs a question. At what point is "good enough" achieved? Read on...

Riddle Me This: Aren't the Rumors of a $99 Apple TV a "tell"?

2010-08-23T23:01:20Z

I think that I am safe at this point in generalizing that Apple, as a Company, is dedicated to delivering real, sustainable value to its base of users. All of the economics and first-hand customer experience bear this point out. That is why I can't reconcile an iOS-based Apple TV reboot with the rumored $99 price.

Four Thoughts on the WHAT, WHY and SO WHAT of Google App Inventor for Android

2010-07-12T21:07:17Z

There is something enticing about a software toolkit for non-developers; the concept that if you can articulate a workflow or algorithmic outcome, you can "meta-program" it without writing a line of code. That's why I think that there is some warranted excitement around Google's App Inventor for Android. It represents a holy grail and a myth at the same time. Read more...

Apple and the "last mile" to true Mobility (iOS, meet OpenDoc)

2010-07-04T16:09:07Z

Thanks to Apple's execution in rolling out over 100M iOS-powered devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad), we are on the cusp of completing the "last mile" to rich, persistent information mobility; a domain where compute, communications, gaming, media playback and media creation tools are literally at your fingertips. Into the mix, Sigal suggests that a long-extinct Apple technology initiative, known as OpenDoc, offers a conduit between document, device, the cloud and beyond.

Adobe Crumbling: Is Winning Mobile Flash Fight Critical to Company's Success?

2010-05-13T23:12:06Z

In ramping up its on-going PR blitz to try and sway public opinion in favor of forcing Apple to support its Flash Runtime model, Adobe is facing three fundamental challenges. Read more.

The iPad as Companion Device - Day 3

2010-04-07T07:16:23Z

Owning an iPad is like having a really good chair. If personal comfort's your thing, the price is worth it.

Ruminations on Apple Q1, 2010 Earnings Call and Investor "Dead Zones"

2010-01-26T18:11:56Z

Listening to Apple's earnings call and then absorbing the chatter across a number of technology, investing and Apple-focused sites, and finally, watching the stock go up, down and sideways, I am reminded that when you are working from the wrong narrative, faulty storylines are destined to emerge. The analysts who got Apple's story wrong before are the same folks dazedly staring into space as they contemplate Wednesday's Apple Tablet announcement, and how it feeds the next leg of Apple's growth while throwing a lifeline to print media.

Open "ish": The meaning of open, according to Google

2009-12-22T18:53:42Z

In 'The Meaning of Open,' Google's SVP, Product Management, Jonathan Rosenberg, simultaneously acknowledges the fuzziness of what exactly "being open" means and owns up to the fact that Google isn't all the way there. At the same time, my simplified net out on this one is that Google's real credo (in practice) is "be open where commoditization is the goal, be closed where proprietary differentiation is the goal," a somewhat self-serving definition of the world.

Steve Jobs is the closest thing to Walt Disney since Walt Disney

2009-11-24T21:10:52Z

I have written in the past about the the vision that drove Steve Jobs in pursuing his ambition for Apple. A cursory glance at the significant milestones in the careers of Walt Disney and Steve Jobs suggests an otherworldly ability to invent, re-invent and extend 'unfair advantages' across seemingly orthogonal domains. Steve Jobs is the closest thing to Walt Disney since Walt Disney, now forever bound by Pixar.

Posterous: The Copy-and-Post Revolution in (Micro) Blogging

2009-11-04T18:00:11Z

A friend of mine, who has achieved repeated success in high-tech startup land, said that if you want to be successful, focus on segments where <10% of the crowd currently adopts the solution, and by virtue of dramatically simplifying the approach, you can toggle adoption rates to closer to 90%. Enter Posterous, a micro-blogging tool (it's free) that does a few things really well.

The Right Stuff: Apple's Q4 Earnings Call

2009-10-20T18:37:06Z

The Fourth Quarter was Apple's most profitable quarter ever. Yesterday's earnings call was about two things. One, the iPhone Platform continues to deliver the goods. Two, the continued impressive growth of the Mac, especially MacBooks. As such, it was about the power of the platform as much as it was about the device itself.

Land and Expand: Why Apple Allowing In-App Purchases in Free Apps is a Big Deal

2009-10-16T23:27:42Z

Yesterday, Apple announced that they are now allowing In-App Purchasing within free apps. I think that this is a big deal, an entree into what I refer to as 'land and expand,' and yet another reason that Apple remains the gold standard of mobile computing.

Should Apple Give a Rat's Ass that Developers Aren't Getting Rich off of the iPhone Platform?

2009-10-07T21:26:23Z

Apple's iPhone Platform is a runaway success relative to just about any metric that you can throw at it, save for one. Where are the breakout successful developers for whom the platform is a 'True Wealth' inducing moment? On the one hand, it is humorous to listen to the woes of 'aspiring' millionaires quibble. On the other, there is a valid argument that Apple's push to drive volume and ubiquity via "cheap" comes at the potential cost of cultivating breakout, transformational apps that cost more, require a longer sales cycle, and thus, more evangelizing to find their beachhead.

iPhone, the 'Personal' Computer - Future of the Mobile Web

2009-09-15T17:15:57Z

The iPhone is the first truly 'personal' computer; more personal to its owners than the PC ever was. Talk to iPhone owners (not to mention, the 20M iPod Touch owners), and this truth bubbles to the top again and again.