Operation Chokehold Highlights the Wrong Pain

The CRN article last week by Kevin McLaughlin, "AT&T Faces Potential 'Operation Chokehold'" discusses Dan Lyons' (a.k.a. the fake Steve Jobs) AT&T customer "call to action" asking they simultaneously launch data hungry mobile apps to overwhelm the NYC AT&T network.  The goal was to shame the carrier into building more capacity.

As McLaughlin quoted me in the 5th paragraph of his article, Lyons displays a fundamental lack of network infrastructure understanding.  I believe, however, with this charade, he is entirely on the wrong side of the chokehold problem.

In my opinion, Apple has created the "chokehold," not the greedy carrier (Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of the carriers, I could go on for pages about their sins, but not my focus here.)  I blame the Apple campaign "There is an app for that!"  While brilliant marketing, the pressure to have the largest number apps in one's app store was the net result and thus the race to the bottom on quality. 

In general, the best written mobile apps utilize the network the least. Understanding, when and how to use the transport is the "Black Magic" of mobile app development.  The shear number of mobile app suddenly available on the iPhone App Store (now in excess of 100,000) tells me that the vast majority do not uphold any quality standard of performance. 


The carriers have gotten so fat on overpriced all-you-can-eat unlimited data plans, that the heavy usage apps are their comeuppance!  You can be sure the price of these plans will adjust to pass the costs along to the consumer.

Considerations Before Building the Next Killer Mobile App

When brands /customers approach REGARD to build a mobile app for them, we are often aksed ..."Would you recommend first developing for iPhone, BlackBerry or Android?"  Our reply always depends on their goals.  That said, we tell them to consider these statistics from the 3 major App Stores:

• 100,000+ iPhone Apps
• 14,000+ Android Apps
• 4,000+ BlackBerry Apps

Brands must consider how well their audiance aligns with the demographic of the various Smartphone products.  Second, how likely is the Smartphone user to find your app among the noise?  I personally have never been a fan of "build it and they will come" ...rather... "Market it and they will come!"

Next consideration is pricing strategy!  As I pointed out in my post for BlackBerry Cool "Conclusions from selling apps..." investing in developing an app is only the beginning of the investment.  You need to consider also the following:

• Pricing Strategy (Free, Free to Premium, Try & Buy or Buy only)
  
• Marketing & Social Media Strategy 
• Planned enhancements (Roadmap)
  
• and, often overlooked, Support
  

All of these factors play into the decision to build a mobile app.  Not that you can't change course once underway, but you must have a plan before you jump on the bandwagon or you the chances of a succcess story in the Mobile App Gold Rush are greatly diminished.

Making Sense of BlackBerry T-Support now BlackBerry TSS

The BlackBerry T-Support Program (now known as BlackBerry Technical Support Services (TSS) has changed considerably in recent months. Most notably, the pricing structure has changed. RIM has gone away from the combination of the number of production server and Smartphone calculations in favor of selecting a level of support and the number of deployed handhelds. You still need to provide the SRP key of all production BES servers, however, that is no longer part of the pricing calculation.

RIM has eliminated the T-Support levels of Tx1, Tx2, Tx3, Tx4 & Tx5 and simplified into three categories ("Standard", "Premium" and "Elite".)



In essence, here is the mapping:
* Tx1 & Tx2 = Standard
* Tx3 & Tx4 = Premium
* Tx5 (on steroids) = Elite

It appears to me that the "Standard" level provides a little cost savings to the smaller clients, but drops the quality of to encourage the mid-sized companies to step up to Premium Support. The same seems to have happened at the Premium level, former Tx3 customers are paying a little more, but also getting a straight to the DART team, while the former Tx4 clients are getting essentially the same support at a lower cost. With the cost of the Elite program, I believe there will be VERY few clients to sign up for this program. There are many more affordable options to receive far more for your money. For example, REGARD offers "tech-to-site" support and expert BES remote support at a fraction of the cost of RIM Direct.

The other VERY SIGNIFICANT change, is that BlackBerry customers receiving TSS support and software quotes from RIM Direct will now only receive quotes at full retail price. REGARD believes this is RIM's recognition that value-added resale partners (like REGARD) with locally available BlackBerry savvy technical resources can provide a greater value proposition to their customers in their local geographies by combining BlackBerry TSS along with their own support services.

In addition to REGARD R-Support, REGARD also offers BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 readiness assessments and training for BES Admin, Help Desk and end users.

Contact sales@regard.com to discuss how REGARD can save you significant amounts on your support renewal and software licenses.

Hot Tips For Navigating Your BlackBerry Calendar

I like to watch people fumble around with their BlackBerry calendar ... It's a hobby of mine. They often hit 5 or more keys or thumb through menus to get to their appointment information.

The problem is they have not been trained!

So here are some of the best kept BlackBerry Calendar secrets to streamline your experience.

The first thing you need to do is disable the "Quick Entry" feature. This will take away your ability in the day view to just start entering an appointment. The is an easy trade off as all you need to do is use the "C" Quick Key described below.

Step 1: Open you calendar, hit the BlackBerry logo button and roll down to "Options." Select "General Options," then roll to "Enable Quick Entry". Hit the Space bar to toggle selection to "No"

Step 2: Hit Escape twice to return to your default calendar view

Step 3: Here are you Quick Key short cuts...you are going to love it!

• D - Day View
• W - Week View
• M - Month View
• A - Agenda View
• S - Scrolls through the above views

With in any of the views, here are more Quick Keys:

• N - Next
• P - Previous
• G - Go to a specific date
• T - Go to Today
• C - Create New Appointment

Hitting the same key twice will toggle you between that view and the previous. When creating an appointment and you want to change the duration of the meeting.

• Hold Alt key and roll up or down.

Hope this helps!
-Steve Beauregard
www.REGARD.com
www.REGARD-Solutions.com
www.REGARDventures.com
www.BlackBerryTraining.net

Count to 10 slowly...call back...say "CELLHELL" and MOVE ON!

Today...I'm on a MISSION to save frustration and time...both of ours!

The Problem Statement:

In mid sentence, your cell call drops...you call back and get their voicemail...then they call you back while you're in their voicemail. You hang-up attempting to pick up the incoming call...and fail...you both hang up and try each other again! Repeat until...

When you FINALLY get reconnected, both parties discuss whose fault it was, whose coverage sucks more, which model of phone you have, and how the last model you had, while heavier and able to fry and egg in seconds, actually had fewer dropped calls. Invariably someone goes on a rant how the carrier claims "fewest dropped calls" and "can you hear me now?" Jokes...we have all heard them...get over it already!

Once you have established whose coverage sucks less at the moment, and who should try the other's phone model...you can now get back to the important question..."At what point in the conversation was the call dropped?"

With collectively four (4) fewer minutes available on your monthly calling plans before those nasty overage charges kick in....you are once again back on track!

The Solution (Soon to be posted on eHow.com):

Step #1 - The person that initiated the call...COUNT SLOWLY TO TEN (10)...this give the carrier network time to figure out that call is no longer connected!

Step #1a: The person that received the call...Press END and sit tight.

Step #2: When the 10 seconds are up, the person that initiated the call, places a new call (hopefully to you).

Step #2a: Person receiving the call answers and simply says "CELLHELL"

Step #3: Calling parting having heard "CELLHELL" repeats "CELLHELL" showing their mutual agreement that (i) your carrier coverage sucks ass, (ii) they should put a repeater in the tunnel you just drove through (iii) you lose your coverage at the same exact spot every day (iv) why won't they fix it, (v) your Smartphone model is inferior to the 80's briefcase cell that was more powerful than your microwave ... and, finally, (xxiv) you'd rather have a root canal than make small talk over such things.

Step #4: The person that WASN'T talking when the call dropped...tell the other party the last thing you heard.

Step #5: MOVE ON with your conversation people!

So next time you hear "CELLHELL", you'll know what to do...if you are on a three party call or bridge...you are on your own!

I hope this was helpful...your milage may vary!

REGARD Releases R-Vintage Lookup for BlackBerry in time for WES 2009

Realizing it is the wrong season for a new vintage release (at least in California,) REGARD today released R-Vintage Lookup for BlackBerry. (Click from BlackBerry Browser to download)

Wine lovers will be able to quickly access vintage ratings by country, region and varietal right from their Smartphone.

The FREE app will be available to BlackBerry 4.2 and above Smartphone users via the new BlackBerry App World.

A premium version will be released in coming weeks with additional features that wine enthusiasts will consume faster than a 1997 Napa Cab. The premium version will be priced well below what a wine lover would pay for a single glass at any major city nightclub.

Additional "R-App" utilities are in the works and will be released by REGARD in the coming months.

Facebook for BlackBerry 1.5

Yesterday, Research in Motion officially released Facebook for BlackBerry 1.5 as the upgrade to v1.2. This has been a long time coming as I was getting really tired of the year long "Smack-Talk" I have endured from my iPhone zealot friends.

There are two new features that alone make it worth the upgrade from 1.2 to 1.5. First, the ability to comment on my status and the status of friends....FINALLY! I find the order in which the comments display to be slightly confusing, but it works and it gives me the immediacy of mobile functionality I have been renowned for since 1998 (When I first started using the BlackBerry.)

The second key feature is my favorite! The integration of Facebook notices into the Message List. RIM has taken what had become an annoyance and made it an enhancement. Now from my regular Message List, I can click on a Facebook notice and it drops me right into the Facebook app for BlackBerry. I have noticed a little processing delay on my BOLD when first bringing up the message, it take a few seconds of processing time to figure itself out.

There have been some nice enhancement so the "Friends" interface allowing you to direct dial from facebook profile information or to connect and add Facebook contacts with you Address Book.

Some basic "look and feel" touches add sexiness such as the screen wipe and auto refresh, but those are just window dressing and don't really add much to the features. I would have preferred RIM spend that time on selecting Categories for new friend requests or adding comments to Notes which didn't make it in this release. Hey...but what do you want for free?

I was a little skeptical of a few of the other integration features between Facebook and my enterprise calendar and contacts. In fact the BlackBerry Contacts Application checkbox disclaimer reads "enabling this feature will periodically send copies of your BlackBerry device contacts (thus my Outlook contacts) to Facebook, Inc...." I'm actually OK with this so far, because I do this with Plaxo as well. BUT THEN ... it goes on to say "...and you acknowledge that access to this data will no longer be subject to your and your Facebook Friend's privacy settings once stored on your BlackBerry device"

HOLD THE PHONE (no pun intended)!!

The new Facebook app for BlackBerry is going to circumvent my privacy setting and those of my Facebook friends? This gave me pause...having worked with RIM as a partner of a dozen years and knowing their infamous legal department...how did THIS sneak through the cracks?

Upon further inspection, this is no different than any other Facebook app...RIM is just pointing out what millions of Facebook users have fully understand....Every time you allow a Facebook app to access your profile, your information and that of your network of friends is being downloaded into another company's database. Facebook ceases to have any control whatsoever over that data from that point forward. In the case of the BlackBerry app, the data is going into the persistent data store of MY BlackBerry and RIM is telling me that they and Facebook are no longer responsible for the security of that data. I am far more comfortable and have now rechecked the "BlackBerry Contacts application." I just hope it doesn't start sending out unbeknownst to me and making Facebook Friend requests!