Tim de Jardine -Entrepreneur

I am using my Iphone to the extreme at the moment.  My goal is to use it to the absolute maximum to get the best possible benefit.

Here is a list of applications and their purposes:

Organising my Day:

• Task Management -Things
• Time Sheeting -Jobs 1.0

• Expense Management -Pennies

• Twitter - Tweetsville
• Facebook
• Linkedin

• Amazon/Ebay - Pageonce

• Mind Mapping - iBlueSky
• Blogging -Wordpress
• Wikipedia -WikiPanion

• NetNewsWire
• iNewz

• Flight Status

• FileMagnet

• Informant

• iRewardCards

• Mindwave
• Asleep

I have been looking around for a while to find the best twitter app for the iphone.  There are about a dozen applications out there at the time of this post.  Some of them have twitter as an add-on to futher functionality, some are so simple with just the update window.  Others have the right balance.  

Twitterrific is the iphone app that I have chosen as my pick.  Why?

With Twitterrific I can:

• Upload photos which automatically convert to Twitpic
• Show my location
• Follow my friends conversations
• Click on links and view them through the in-built browser.  No safari launch needed.
• Use a built in javascript to post a link from safari.
• Use an intuitive interface with a great help system for people who dont understand what tiwtter is.

An Iphone app I recently purchased shows the opinion of a worldwide audience on whom will win the US election.  Very curious if these results are true?  If so, Obama will win a 73% to McCains 25%.  The media would like you to think it is a close race to the finish, this is what they always do.  

I am just curious, is this unfiltered poll any more accurate? Or does it reflect the type of people whom buy Iphones?  I guess only time will tell.

Goalkeep Screenshot

Not to turn this blog into an IPhone only blog, I have to share the experience I have with a new application called GoalKeep.

Much like how Jerry Seinfeld kept his habit of stand-up comedy by marking off each day on a calender and seeing how long his chain of successful days are, Goalkeep is a habit builder in your pocket.  Very intuitive and even more effective this application will be a great addition to the mobile office on my IPhone as I move away from a desktop pc.

Get it here, absolute bargain

Finally, after literally months of seeking I have found the best GTD (getting things done) application on the Iphone & Ipod Touch: Todo by Appigo.

Why does this app beat all other Iphone GTD applications? One word:

Integration.

Todo integrates flawlessly with Remember the Milk (RTM) and Toodeldo (what I am currently using). These are two of the most popular GTD web-based applications.

A single system is extremely powerful. You have one place for data, backed-up and synced over the air with a local copy on your IPhone.

RTM and toodledo also offer many other ways to use this system with dashboard widgets for the mac and pc along with firefox extensions and igoogle plugins.

Other GTD applications have not achieved integration with already popular products and instead chosen to try to make themselves the central hub for web-based GTD rather than leverage off proven products like RTM and toodledo.

Download your copy here.

So after the dust has settled lets have an analysis of how I saw the handling of the IPhone 3G build up.

One word to describe it: incompetence. Here we have a company that is going to be the first in the world to release a device that has never had so much hype associated with it and they screw New Zealanders out of a deal. Two days ago on Monday when Vodafone announced the plans would start from $199, they we were utterly dissapointing when the pricing was announced yesterday.

For a brief moment on monday there was this huge demographic of people who suddenly thought “you know what, im gonna get one of those”. This demographic dissapeared the moment plans were released yesterday which can be described as a bungling mess.

When the prices were announced yesterday, the Vodafone site was down for over an hour and I got the plan information off of geekzone.  Geekzone is more reliable than a multinational.

Who runs this company? Surely you would anticipate a spike in traffic? It seems that the pre-registering with Vodafone for the IPhone accounted for nothing as the media are hinting that the only way to get an iphone is to either order online (site will go down) or que in line in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Another blunder.  A colleague of mine (heavy Telecom customer) went into a Vodafone store to pre-register.  He is heavily dissapointed.

Techcrunch covered the story helping to spread international attention at the hideous plans.

So here we are, first in the world to sell, first in the world to blow it. Welcome back to 3rd world status New Zealand.

There has been considerable backlash within New Zealand with an online petition(with over 1100 signatures in less than 24 hours) to boycott Vodafone and an interview with the Vodafone “marketing manager” as he was systematically crucified on live television.

So Vodafone, why go for a small market when you could have had a huge market?  You chose a big piece of a small pie, rather than a small piece of a big pie. Its the same old story and New Zealanders wont get over this one anytime soon:

Data pricing is expensive in New Zealand, dont use it.

Lets keep text messaging and fall further behind.

Any mobile applications I release wont be featured here if current market conditions prevail.

Will Vodafone listen? I doubt it, you don’t have to when you have a monopoly.

Telecom, your move.

About 4-5 years ago, my business partner and I came up with the idea for a device to record exercises at the gym to track and record online in a software as a service model where people could actually measure progress. At the time this was radical thinking we could clearly see there would be a market in the future.

Nike has recently teamed up with gyms to provide integration between gym equipment and the Iphone. It is now only a matter of time that this type of integration will exist on anaerobic exercises.

The point is this:

We spent alot of time honing a business plan and talking to people and it seemed that some shared our vision, some did not. We even went to a few of the local business incubators in Wellington to pitch the idea and get some advice from “experts”. This was the wrong move.

The incubator was more interested in the “budget” or “board of advisors” than pointing two fresh-faced grads in the right direction. We clearly understood that these are important areas to address, but not at that time. We wanted to get the concept right, see if it would fly…This proved very frustrating.

The moral of the story is this: Dont expect any type of inspirational/visionary advice from these so called “experts”. They are only really there to sell consultancy services.

You are the visionary.
You are the one who sees the future.
These people are not entrepreneurs.

Canadian Citizens are angry at telco Rogers about the pricing for the 3g Iphone. So angry that last checked today, they had around 18,000 signatures added to an on-line petition rallying Steve Jobs of Apple to sign with another telco carrier in hope of a better deal than Rogers.

23,000 signatures is at least 4.5 million dollars of handset business alone and if we add the minimum sales that Rogers would get of $60 per month on a basic plan Rogers stands to lose potential business of $16,560,000 annually. All up a minimum handset plus plan for two year loss of around 37.6 million dollars!

Vodafone take note, it takes one voice and many supporters to create this much impact, lead the field and release competitive plans!

UPDATE

Looks like we are hinting at a great deal from Vodafone according to this article

UPDATE

Looks like vodafone screwed the public with the highest in the world pricing. Watch their little spokesman get eaten alive on Campbell Live

Apple just announced the new iphone at $199.

Today Apple released the IPhone 2.0, this is truly a ground breaking device and I find it hard that the likes of Microsoft and Rimm to compete.

This is just another example of how a company has innovated to create a remarkable product and a marketplace backed by a community to drive it. This is the point of change.

During the keynote speech a few examples of applications were showcased by various developers. Some of my Favorites:

Loopt, which turns your phone into a social compass.
Some interesting Medical applications from MIMVista, who plan to release a dozen applications for mobile devices. This is a huge untapped marketplace. There were also some body-part learning applications that will be interesting to trial.

Software is available on July, looking forward to trialing it.