This is part of the series: How to work remotely from Buenos Aires

There’s no doubt smartphones have changed the lives of millions. We put up with the costs and hassles of the carriers because we pretty much now have a computer that we can carry around in our pocket, giving us access to a phone (do people still use those?), texting for quick messages, maps when we get lost, music to make us happy, games to kill the time, photos and videos to share, and the entire web at our fingertips.

But if there is one area of confusion and fear that most smartphone owners have, it is what happens when you take that phone across international borders. This article by Caty Kobe on outrageous cell phone bills gives several examples:

A British news site reportedthat an iPhone user had gone on a Mediterranean cruise and returned to England to find a 54-page phone bill totaling $4,800. The iPhone didn’t know it was cruising through foreign waters, so it was checking for new emails every five minutes – even when the phone was off – racking up hefty charges by the hour.

A NY Times article where San Francisco man whose European vacation cost him an additional $852 because he didn’t deactivate the iPhone’s automatic email-checker, which looked for new messages more than 500 times on his trip through Italy, Croatia and Malta.

If you DO want to use your phone overseas, what is the best option?
- Sign up for an international plan?
- Buy a SIM card?
- Rent a phone in the country you are visiting?
- Buy a prepaid phone card?

Your choice will vary based on they type of travel you are doing and just how connected you need to be. My opinion is in the video below.

If you decide NOT to use your phone, how do you set the iPhone so you don’t get huge charges?
Hint: you’re going to want to turn off the two settings in the “network” section. Needless to say, a lot of money is at stake with getting these settings right, and it’s not always comforting to rely on friends, blogs, Apple reps, or the crack customer service teams at the carriers. (And since I fall into that category, let me give a disclaimer saying please check your owner’s manual for exact instructions and I’m not responsible if you’re the next person the news reports come calling for).

Here is my video tutorial with screenshots to tell you how to set your iPhone for international travel:

Jim gives an epic guide showing how to work remotely from Buenos Aires.

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

Hey everyone! Want to be “location independent” and work from exotic places but don’t know where to start? Today I am going to do an epic, 2,000+ word post AND have several sub-posts with photos and videos as a way to go way overboard and over-deliver on the amount of content you’re going to get.

I always strive to deliver “walk the walk” content to my readers, so after years of hinting at working remotely from a foreign country, I put my money where my mouth was and after leaving my full time job in November 2011, booked a 12-day trip to South America from Dec 29, 2011 – Jan 12, 2012. Where did YOU spend New Year’s Eve?

Below, I detail everything you need to know about working remotely from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Learn the safest neighborhood, best hotel, closest co-working space, 9 ways to generate income, the tech gadgets you’ll need and what to do for fun.

Additional content:
Review: On the road with the Macbook Air
Review: Best hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Review: Urban Station Coworking Space in Buenos Aires
How to set your iPhone for international travel
Gadget packing list for International Travel
How I generated 9 income streams within 30 days of getting laid off
Fun things to do in Buenos Aires while working remotely

Why work remotely?

So the first question you may be asking is, why work remotely? Well, there are plenty of resources out there such as books like The 4-Hour Workweek or The Art of Nonconformity and other blogs that promote the virtues of location independence, so I won’t go into it too deeply.

But it falls into what I’m seeing as the workplace trends that I spoke about in Episode 176, and what this new blog is all about.

Staying at your job and working from an office from 9 to 5 forever and taking the rare 3 day weekend here and there is no way to live. Similarly, the ability to take several weeks off away from the office on a stress-free vacation also isn’t an option for most people.

Face it, the concept of a singular workplace is blurring.

For the majority of people I know, 1-2 hours a day are spent physically at work, yet doing personal things like being active on social media, answering email with friends, and surfing the web. However, 1-2 hours a day are spent outside of the office on their free time, checking on business email or catching up on work projects.

Being able to balance fun and international travel while keeping the bills paid can be a great option in the new economy.

Why Buenos Aires?

I will quote from John Belushi in Animal House:
-Kroger, your Delta Tau Chi name is Pinto.
-Why Pinto?
-[belches] Why not?!?!

Seriously, this is how I answered this question. When you do something out of the ordinary that others aren’t used to, such as telling them you’re planning on going to South America by yourself for a few weeks just because, they really don’t know how to handle it.

Why Buenos Aires?

Why not?

Another answer I gave with a smile is, well, Tim Ferriss told me to go there. Listen, I’ve promoted this guy’s book so much I should get royalties, but I’m a believer in not reinventing the wheel, and since I’m trying to emulate the 4-Hour Workweek, why not follow in his footsteps?

I also LIKED that it shocked people. It sounded fun. It sounded exotic. It sounded scary. I wanted to push myself to do something that caused fear and uncertainty.

From a logical point of view, my other reasoning was simple:

Weather.

It was freezing winter in New York, so why not go somewhere warm and sunny? That ruled out Europe or the Northern Hemisphere. Australia seemed too far. I’ve already been to South Africa. So hello Buenos Aires. Done.

Where to stay in Buenos Aires?

Now the fun part started for me, the research. I love love love the thrill of the search… for flights, for hotels, for neighborhoods.

I had two main considerations: Safety and Convenience

Since I was going to a foreign country that I had no knowledge of, I don’t speak Spanish, and was traveling alone, being in a safe part of town was very very important to me. I also wanted it to be incredibly convenient, with restaurants and cafes outside my door, anything else within taxi range.

Palermo Soho

After much research, I settled on the neighborhood (or barrio) of Palermo Soho. Runners up were Palermo Hollywood and Recoleta. After staying there and visiting all of those neighborhoods, my personal opinion is that I chose correctly and Palermo Soho is the absolute best choice for safety, convenience, and overall location for someone working remotely.

Hotel vs Apartment

This was my most difficult decision. For weeks I was juggling the following:

• Researching hotels on Trip Advisor, analyzing reviews, locations, and cost
• Debating going low-end with more of a fun element at hostels
• Engaging with individuals on AirBnb.com and Roomorama.com to rent a private apartment
• Doing a vacation swap with my New York City apartment
• Communicating with apartment rental firms in Buenos Aires

All of them had their pros and cons. The hostel would be cheap and beneficial as a solo traveler since it would force interaction with other people, but I’m a little too old for that demo and had security concerns. Apartments were lower cost and some were really amazing, but I was concerned about location, transfer of money, and getting trapped working inside all day – like I was already doing. Finding a person to exchange locations on the exact same dates wasn’t working.

So in the end, because this was my first time there, and I wanted the benefit of being able to speak with people that spoke English in the event of an emergency, I decided on a hotel.

I ended up splitting my time in half, first staying at a place called Five Cool Rooms, and then moving next door to the Soho All Suites. Both had amazing location and a hot tub on the roof. In the end I would highly recommend the Soho All Suites because the rooms were much larger and they have excellent WiFi.

See: Review: Best hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina (including videos and photos)

Getting work done

While relaxing with my laptop in a caf̩ or on the rooftop deck is a great way to get work done Рand one I did often, sometimes you really want to spend several hours in a highly productive office environment.

Based on my recent experience in New York, I decided to investigate co-working spaces. As it turns out, there was an amazing one exactly 1.5 blocks from my hotel. The space was big, bright, and I got a ton of work done. I ended up sitting across from someone from Brooklyn.

See: Review of the Urban Station Coworking Space in Buenos Aires (including videos and photos)

Gadgets and technology needed for international travelers

Ah, my favorite part – gadgets. No digital media traveler is complete without a personalized list of all the cool things they ‘need’ in order to be productive.

Being a solopreneur often means going against conventional thinking. That’s why, just 2 weeks after getting laid off, my first thought wasn’t to crawl into a turtle shell of radical cost savings, but rather, to strut into the Apple Store and drop $1500 on a new 11′ Macbook Air and upgrade my aging iPhone 3G on AT&T to the new iPhone 4S on Verizon.

Of course, I don’t recommend this if doing so would cause a “can’t-pay-the-rent” level of pain in your finances. But the reason I did so is that I viewed these items as investments to help me make money, rather than expenses costing me money.

- Simply, my iPhone 3G under AT&T was not high enough quality for me to make professional phone calls for my business; when you’re speaking to someone about hiring you, continual dropped calls and apologies doesn’t cut it.

- Secondly, the new Macbook Air solved many problems. It was faster than my old 15′ Macbook Pro. It was smaller and lighter, saving back pain and making it a no brainer to always have with me. And lastly, I feel it exuded a more polished, professional image for me as a consultant and speaker.

See: Review: On the road with the Macbook Air (including videos and photos)

Speaking of my phone, another question that every international traveler has, is what the heck do you do about a phone when traveling?
- How do you avoid killer roaming charges?
- Do you change your plan with your carrier?
- Do you rent a phone when you are there?
- What about something with a sim card?

I considered all of these things, and my decision was to turn off phone and data coverage and rely on Skype, Email, and Wi-Fi. There are 2 specific screens you need to know about to do this, so again, it’s easier explained on it’s own, under:

See: How to set your iPhone for international travel (including videos and photos)

So in addition to the Macbook Air and my iPhone 4S, the rest of my arsenal was made up of the following:

- Kensington travel plug adapter Note that if you have a modern device like a laptop or phone, as long as the charger says it can handle both 110 and 220, you just need this adapter to handle the difference in the outlet size, not voltage. If you have a hair dryer or something like that, do more research.
- Sandisk 16GB thumb drive
- Transcend adapter to transfer photos from my camera’s memory card to my laptop
- Canon T2i DSLR camera and mini tripod
- iPod Nano and Nike+ for running and music
- Buenos Aires tour book
- Ear plugs
- Moleskin notebooks

See: Gadget packing list for International Travel (including videos and photos)

Making money while working remotely

Now the tricky part. How do you make money while working remotely? Preparing for a fun trip is well and good, but the ideal scenario is to be able to earn while you travel.

To be clear, this was the very first trip I took in the attempt to work remotely, so in every way I was viewing this as a test. Did I make enough money while I was gone to pay for everything? Definitely not.

But what surprised me, was that I was able to pinpoint 9 different ways I was able to earn some small amount income – or in most cases, create scenarios for future income — while traveling abroad.

These include:
1. Renting out my apartment when I was gone
2. Being paid to write a blog post
3. Worked on my podcast, which is sponsored
4. Planning a conference, email saying sign-ups
5. Consulting over Skype for Salary Tutor
6. Plan a Skillshare Class
7. Consult at the hotel in return for a free night
8. Affiliate commission for web hosting
9. Fun Fantasy Football ‘earnings’

See: How I generated 9 income streams within 30 days of getting laid off (including videos and photos)

Fun things to do in Buenos Aires

So lastly, all this seems like a lot of work. What about the fun? Let me say that it was an amazing country. The weather was spectacular, the people were friendly and beautiful, the Palermo Soho was safer than New York, and free, strong Wi-Fi was available in 90% of all the bars, restaurants, hotels, and cafes I went to.

Some of the highlights include

• Cafes like Mott and Bar 6
• Restaurants like Campo Bravo
• Clubs
• Running in their version of Central Park
• Recoleta Cemetery where Evita is buried
• Taking Tango lessons
• San Telmo street fair
• The colorful buidlings in La Boca
• The government buildings of downtown
• Even going to an Ex Pat Bar to watch NFL playoff football

See: Fun things to do in Buenos Aires while working remotely (including photos)

If there’s one thing I regret, it’s that I went at time during the year that there was no professional soccer being played. But hey, that gives me an excuse to go back.

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Jim interviews Nick Gammell, CEO and founder of workout app Gain Fitness.

- Download podcast: Via iTunes | Save to computer (Right click, Save As)
- Play it below:

When it comes to working out, there are questions that come up time and time again:

- We all know we SHOULD work out, what can be done to make sure I DO work out?
- How can I find the time to work out on a crazy schedule?
- How do I keep from getting bored with my workouts?
- How can I keep better track of my results?
- Why do personal trainers cost so much?
- How do I see results once I’ve reached a plateau?

And for the Apple fans out there…
- My iPhone can do just about everything, but can it make me look better naked?

On this week’s podcast, I spoke with Nick Gammell, the CEO and Founder of Gain Fitness in his attempt to answer all of those questions.

He comes from a good pedigree of brains and brawn… a lifelong athlete and former college football player to address the workout side of things, and an analytical brain with experience at Deloitte consulting and a little tech company named Google to fuel the technology side.

After chatting for just a few minutes, it became clear that I was the perfect demographic for his product.
- I enjoy working out but don’t have a lot of time
- I generally do the same workouts so need variety to get out of a rut
- I like to track my progress and see results

What the gain fitness app on my iPod touch allowed me to do was set up some initial parameters (gender, equipment access, intensity level) and then enter how long I wanted to work out.

On a Saturday, I did 45 minutes and did a lower body gym workout. On a Tuesday before work, I did 30 minutes of “push” exercises (incline dumbell press, etc) at the gym as well.

But then life got in the way. After hitting snooze a few too many times the next day, running late for work, and still feeling a bit sore, I did something I wouldn’t have done without the app.

Instead of skipping the workout, I programmed a quick 10 minute, low-intensity, at-home workout. This ended up being mostly stretches and a few strength exercises, but I could see how getting in an extra quick workout or two every single week would really pay off.

The best thing for me was it was like having a trainer, telling me new exercises and structuring my workout.

In the interview, I go on to ask Nick:
- What was his background that led him to consulting, Google, and then CEO

- What kind of advantage does having a group of former Google employees give their startup?

- How do the analytics on the backend help customize the workout?

- How is Gain marketing the app and getting the word out, given the $120,000,000,000 fitness industry and hundreds of thousands of apps in the app store?

In the end, success in any workout plan comes down to changing habits. So far, bringing along my own little personal trainer has given me a new level of excitement. Only time will tell if I’ll be uploading before and after workout photos to prove that success.

Gain Fitness Website | Gain Fitness On iTunes

Today’s interview brings together so many things that I love about this podcast… meeting cool people, digging into the mix of marketing and technology that created a successful project, and hearing a great story of an entrepreneur that worked really hard, and with a little luck, some great decisions, and the help of social media, achieved his goal.

In this case, the story is about Matt Rix, a Canadian Flash developer working full-time, that learned how to program on the iPhone, sketched out a puzzle-style game called Trainyard, topped the popular game Angry Birds at one point in iTunes, and by next year, will leave his full time job in order to pursue his dream of developing games and other apps full time.

Along the way, he gives great insight on:
- The evolution of the game
- How he tapped the international market
- The importance of a tutorial in his game
- The best day to launch an app
- How to leverage social media to launch a successful app
- The key turning point for his success

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play the full interview it below:

Below is a full transcript of our conversation:

Jim Hopkinson: Welcome everyone, this is Jim. Today on the phone I have Matt Rix who is a Canadian developer. And the reason he’s on the show is kind of a success story – bit developer, bit entrepreneur, and he’s used Social Media, and the App Store, to develop a game that ended up beating Angry Birds and making some money on the side and he’s going to tell us the story today. So welcome, Matt.

Matt Rix: Hey, how’s it going?

JH: Great, great. So what part of Canada are you dialing in from today?

MR: I’m from Mississauga, Ontario. It’s just outside of Toronto.

JH: Excellent, and so, you work fulltime for a company called Indusblue, and there you do iPhone app development, as well?

MR: Yeah, I do iPhone and iPad app development; usually not directly for ourselves, but for big name clients, like TV channels and stuff like that.

JH: And so the main story, though, is you’ve had this kind of whirlwind tour of an app being successful and everyone likes to hear these success stories. Have you been interviewed by any other media outlets or any fame, or just nerdy podcasts like me?

MR: Yeah, just a couple things. There’s been a couple blogs and sites that have done written entries and stuff, but nothing too much yet.

JH: Well, give us little bit of your background, how did you get here, did you have a computer background coming into it, and any kind of entrepreneurial spirit; what led you to this point?

MR: I‘ve been a Flash developer for a long time. So, I went to college for a couple of years for Flash development and I’d been doing it since high school. And then pretty much out of college I got a job at Indusblue, the same company I’m working at now, and I’ve been there for five years doing Flash development.

So, for the first four years I was working there, I was actually a Flash developer working on mini sites, lots of advertising stuff, even some banner ads; all that sort of stuff. But, gradually over the past year, the company has been transitioning towards doing more iPhone and iPad app development. You can kind of say we sensed a shift in the market a little bit from all the advertising mini site stuff with Flash to more app-based products, so that’s kind of where my background comes from.

JH: So it’s almost kind of fortunate that your company said, ‘Hey, we want you to learn how to develop for the iPhone, as well, and help kind of train you,’ and gave you that opportunity there.

MR: Yeah, exactly. So, it was almost a little bit a chicken and the egg thing where I was kind of starting to do it on my own time, anyway, and so that helped a little bit with; I had seen it a bit, so I knew it was something that we could definitely do; it wasn’t that far away from Flash development. And then we were given a bit of time by my boss just to spend a week or two just messing around with iPhone development, seeing how far we could get. And we realized during those couple of weeks that this is actually we can definitely do, it’s not that far away from Flash development and it’s a very similar skill set at the end of the day.

JH: And then when did the motivation come along for you to try your own game? I know some people just like they work 40-50 hours a week, and they just want to go home and sit on the couch and watch TV, or something. But, there’s another set of people that are like, ‘You know what, I want to try something on the side, I want to try to make some extra money,’ how did that come about?

MR: Yeah, I’ve always been into games, but I’ve never really, I made games on and off in my spare in time, but I never really released much, I don’t know if just I have high standards or something, but I just wasn’t really happy with anything I made. At around that time, I guess it was around a year ago now, I was really thinking, like, ‘I really want to make a game,’ and there were a couple of sites popping up where you could make some money with Flash games, so I was like, ‘I’m going to make a Flash game,’ and I knew I had the skills for it and it was just the sort of thing where I was like, what I really want to do with my life, eventually is just make games full time.

So, I got to take at least take some steps towards that. And, so that’s kind of what led me to start coming up with game ideas. So, I take a train to work every day, so I would just sit on the train with a pad of paper every day just writing down ideas. I had a little Netbook laptop and I would just program my prototypes of game ideas. And that was kind of, eventually what led to me coming up with the idea for Trainyard.

JH: Nice. And so who is the typical user or the person that you’re kind of aiming this towards?

MR: It was tough at first when I, even when I released it I actually thought it’s very like a very logical game, there’s people who like logic puzzles, the kind of people who like Sudoku. But what I’m actually finding now is that it seems to appeal to a lot more people than I thought it would. I get tons of emails from people I wouldn’t expect to enjoy the game at all. It seems to really appeal to the same kind of audience that likes games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, and I didn’t think it would actually be that accessible as a game.

JH: Yeah, I think games are definitely the number one type of app that is downloaded on the iPhone. Is that correct?

MR: Yes, that’s definitely correct.

JH: So you’ve got that, you know, Sudoku, those are really popular, and then you targeted Angry Birds. I like that, because it’s kind of your underdog story, right? Everyone needs that kind of adversary to shoot for. And you said, ‘You know what, I want to build something that can knock Angry Birds out of the Top Ten.’

MR [LAUGHS] Yeah, exactly. It was funny because at the time, I think at the time I actually started building it. I don’t even know if Angry Birds was on the Store quite at that point. But when I saw Angry Birds in the Store, I think I was still developing it at the time that came out. I was like, “That’s a really good game.’ And at the time I actually didn’t really think that it would appeal to that broad of a demographic; I knew it had some potential to be really popular with certain types of people, but I didn’t think it would actually be that popular.

And now Angry Birds has been at the top of the charts for, I think, like six months or something now. So I knew that they didn’t have quite the staying power that they once did and that they really were something that I could pass. And there’s still a huge, huge presence on the App Store. They, right now, in the top three, they have two of the top five, with Angry Birds and Angry Birds Halloween. So, they’re definitely not something that’s completely just falling off the App Store by any means.

JH: Yeah. So, take us through the building process. So, you’re working on a new platform, you said a couple of months that you thought you could get it done, but what were some of the challenges that came up?

MR: Yeah, well, there’s a great kind of framework for iPhone involvement called Cocos2d that is actually very similar to doing Flash development; so, that helped a lot. I used that and I was like, ‘You know what, I can do this.’ So the first thing I did was I actually built a completely different game – it’s like a tic-tac-toe sort of game just to kind of figure out the whole process of making a game for the iPhone. So I went through the whole process.

The game was completely done, but I never actually released it. It was just a game; it’s kind of work out the kinks and figure out how the system works. And then, after I finished that, I was like, OK, now I’m ready to build Trainyard; I have the skills, I understand some of the pitfalls and stuff of the iPhone platform.

And, I think around that time, it was probably September or October last year. And, I figured that in three months I could finish Trainyard, I could have it done by Christmas, and then I could just use my Christmas vacation time – a couple of weeks or whatever to polish it off and submit it for the App Store. But that turned out to be very […]

JH: … a little ambitious? [LAUGHS]

MR: A little ambitious, yeah. I think it was partly that the scope of the project kept changing as I worked on it. I was like, ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be great if I could do this, I can’t release the game without having this feature and I would realize all these things, and the graphics would never be quite as good as I wanted them to be,’ and I actually found that was one of the things that took the most time was doing design work.

It’s probably just because of the fact that I’m not really a designer by trade, so that sort of work takes a long time for me. It’s a very iterative process where it starts out ugly and I make it a little bit better and little bit better, and a little bit better, and gradually, finally, it comes to a point where I’m actually happy with it.

JH: What I really liked, and I bought the game on iTunes last night and got through four or five different rounds, it is a little bit, and I saw this on your blog or by people talking about it on Reddit, it’s a little tough to describe, and when you look at it some people are saying when you look at the screen shots, it’s not like, ‘Wow, this looks amazing,’ but it’s really kind of addictive.

And, I think that one of the key things you did is really built in the help, because it’s kind of a slow learning curve, like you go through multiple levels over and over and it’s getting harder and harder and harder, a little bit at a time. And, I think adding that Help, and say, ‘This is how it’s going to work, this is what this level does, try it,’ I think you did a really good job with the Help.

MR: Yeah, I think that was actually one of the big things that really helped sell the game because at one point in the development process, the Help was just a big block of text that just said, ‘Here’s how to play,’ and it was just kind of, it took forever to read.

And I realized if I want this game to do well and I want it to be the best it can be, I’ve gotta spend a lot of work making an actual tutorial system. So, I probably spent a month work just on the tutorial system that teaches you how to play. And the beauty of that system, though, is that you don’t know how to understand English to even understand how to play.

So, two of the biggest markets for the game have actually been Japan and Italy where obviously they don’t speak English or not as much. And it’s done great there because the people there can still understand how to play, despite the fact that they might not understand the language the game is written in; and I think all that is due to the tutorials.

And I also think the kind of help with the market of people who may just see something in the Top Ten, they’ll buy it for a dollar or they’ll play the free version and they don’t really want to invest so much time in the game; so they might, if they see a big block of text, for all I know, they’re just going to close the app and uninstall it. But if there’s a colorful tutorial that shows them exactly how to play, I think that helps to really make people want to play the game and understand how to play the game, even if there are more complex concepts and all that sort of thing.

JH: Yeah, there’s no substitute for a quality product and something that is easy to use. So, then you entered 2010 and you set yourself another deadline. Now tell us how that worked out.

MR: Sometime in May I was hoping to release the game, basically, but just so happened that my wife was pregnant and we had our son a month early, so instead of the game being finished in May, my son actually came in May, which is, obviously an interesting twist to the timeline I planned. I was like, ‘OK, this month I’m going to release the game,’ and all of a sudden we have a baby a month early, but that actually kind of worked out in my favor because I was given a month off from work which was actually really helpful to help my wife, but it also, he slept most of the time so it gave me a ton of time just to really polish off the game and do all the last finishing touches that I wasn’t sure I’d have time to do before, so it was, actually, the timing worked out really well in the end.

JH: You might be the only person saying, ‘If you really need a lot of extra time make sure you have a newborn.’ [LAUGHS]

MR: [LAUGHS] Exactly. Yeah, he takes up a lot more time now, that’s for sure. But, at the time he was sleepy and that was quite handy for me.

JH: Excellent. You probably you just worked in like two-hour bursts here and there, right? [LAUGHS]

MR: [LAUGHS] Yeah, basically all through the night or something like that. Not quite so much, but, yeah.

JH: You submit the game, it gets approved by Apple in about a week and then you set about for the marketing plan. And so, a couple things I read on your post where you’re going to word of mouth, you’re going to talk to a lot of people that have iPhones, you did a video trailer, you were going to developer blogs and you tried some AdWords, so tell about that first phase of marketing and how that worked out.

MR: Yeah, so those were the main things I did. I didn’t have a whole lot of money to really spend on marketing, so, the vast majority of things I did was just the little things I could do. I sent what I thought was a fairly personal sort of email to all the big blogs that I could think of.

Like you said, I made a trailer which I thought was pretty good at the time. But those are probably the main things, and then the thing I was really trying to do was to get mentioned on Touch Arcade which is the biggest site, by far, for iPhone games and so that one of the things I was trying to do. I didn’t get mentioned there at that time. They also have a forum there so I posted threads there and that sort of thing.

And then I did a little bit of marketing, not marketing, but advertising; I spent fifty dollars on AdMob, I spent fifty dollars on a really cool site called Project Wonderful that has kind of unique auction system for apps, and they have ads on a lot of web comics and things like that. I even spent fifty dollars on Google AdWords which definitely was the least effective of all the advertising things I did by far, I think, probably just cause of its distance from the actual App Store. I think AdMob could work if I had spent enough money, but with the small budget I had none of those things were very effective, at all.

JH: And so at that point, you were still getting some sales, right, about almost $1000 a month worth, or?

MR: Yeah, around $1000 a month worth. Yeah, that’s probably accurate; it was very up and down so one day it would be $50, one day it would be $10. Every once in a while some blog would mention it or someone would mention it, someone influential would mention it on Twitter and I’d see sales spike to maybe a $100 or $200 for that day; but, by and large the sales were probably under $100, probably an average of maybe $30 to $40 a day.

JH: But that’s still not a bad thing, right? You wake up in the morning and you get a couple of emails, ‘Oh, I made 200 bucks last night, or something.’ But then, kind of the tipping point I guess was two things, right, was it mentioned in the UK or was it mentioned in Italy?

MR: It was Italy, yeah. So…

JH: Italy and then Reddit after that.

MR: Yeah. Well the big tipping point was actually releasing the express version, so…

JH: OK.

MR: […] when I released the game I knew I really had to make a light version to get the word out there, but, one of the things I wanted to do was actually wait and see how people reacted to the full version, so that when I release the light version I could kind of tweak it based on the feedback I’d heard. So, the full version I had heard some complaints from people that it was too slow and that sort of thing, so I eventually made a light version, but I steepened the difficulty curve a bit so it got to the hard parts a bit quicker; and I released that on September 30^th; so not even a month ago yet.

And, so I released that, I did something kind of unique with it, most light versions have maybe five puzzles in them or levels, or whatever; but instead I wanted something that completely stood out, so I made 60 puzzles and I made them brand new so none of them were in the old game; I made them all from scratch. It took a few weeks and then I released it and for a couple of days people were buying it.

And then an Italian blog, probably the biggest one in Italy for iPhones and stuff, picked it up, wrote a great article about it and pretty much right away it shot to the number one free apps in Italy. That was pretty much the turning point I guess you could say for the popularity of the game.

JH: That’s so cool, cause I haven’t even thought of that, like I’m looking to maybe doing something for the App Store and like, marketing to Italy and their App Store is like one of the last things that I was thinking about right now.

MR: Well, it was funny because even at the very start when the game came out, I don’t know why particularly, but there just seemed to be a lot of interest in the game in Italy. I even had a guy email me and just say, ‘You know, I’d like to translate your app description for free, is that OK if I do that?’ And I said sure.

JH: Wow.

MR: So, he just sent me my full app description in Italian and I put that on; and I think that was actually one of the things that helped sell the game was just the fact that the description of the game was in Italian. And, it didn’t cost me anything; it just happened to be a guy who was a really big fan of the game just offered to do that for me. So, that sort of thing was really cool.

JH: Excellent, so then things are really taking off, and then tell us what you did with our, as most people know Conde Nast-owned Reddit.com, and what you did with them.

MR: Yeah, so that was, I guess we’re basically up to a couple of weeks ago now, so I had a whole bunch of kind of stuff coming together. So because of the express version doing so well, Apple decided to finally feature the game which is a huge thing; it’s kind of like a mini-winning the lottery in the App Store world – that was a big thing. And that means that when you open your phone there’s a featured apps list and it’s on that featured list.

So I was like, ‘Great,’ it’s featured and I let it say featured for a few days, and at that time the price of the game was $2.99. And, I think it was featured on a Thursday – games, everything are always featured on Thursdays, that’s just how the Apple system works. And so I let it stay at $2.99 for a few days and then when it was coming up to Tuesday, I decided to kind of put a marketing plan into action.

So, because of being in the featured list, the game was already rising up the charts, and by that time, I guess it was Tuesday morning, the game was, I think 48 in the U.S. overall charts. And that’s actually quite high and especially at the $2.99 price, that was great.

But I realized that I kind of had unique opportunity with being featured and with the price of $2.99, and a whole lot of things, so I wrote the blogpost that we’re kind of talking about now, which is the story so far where I go through the whole history of the game from its beginnings to where it is now and then I posted that story on Reddit and I said, ‘If you guys buy my game, it can beat Angry Birds and to help you guys want to the but the game, I’m going to drop the price to 99 cents, right now, the moment I post this post it on Reddit. So, please help me out. You know, this will actually change my life if you guys do this.’ And that was kind of the beginning of the crazy experiment, basically. [LAUGHS]

JH: That’s great. And, so, and the Reddit community was able to give you feedback on the game and what was kind of most helpful with, what’s happened with that?

MR: Well, yeah, it was great. The Reddit community was able to, they had lots of great feedback,  everyone seemed to like the game, they were obviously buying it. I heard a lot of comments from people saying, ‘I wouldn’t have taken a chance if this was [$] 2.99, but since it’s $.99, why not.’ It’s such a small cost for me to help you out.

There was actually one guy who mentioned, I think he was a writer for Attack of the Show, which is a pretty big gaming show in the States, and I actually just… He wrote a segment on puzzle games for Attach of the Show. I actually just saw that this morning that it was on that show so that was really cool, too. Yeah, it was just a huge, huge amount of feedback, and just really positive, everyone helping out. It felt really, really cool.

JH: Now what about Android, is there any chance that, like how difficult would it be to convert it from what you have now into an Android app?

MR: Well, the way I’ve written it now, unfortunately, is in Objective C, so it’s basically Apple’s language. So it’s not directly portable, but Android development is, by far, the biggest thing I’ve had requested from people. I think I get more emails about Android than anything else, probably like two or three times more emails about that. I have to look into it more, but I think it actually might be possible to develop the Android app using Flash which is the skill set that I already have. And if not, I’m looking into other technologies like Unity to do hopefully do more of a cross-platform development across things like Android, maybe stuff like the Palm Pre. I’ve had a lot of requests for a desktop version of the game. So those are all kinds of things I’m considering at the moment.

JH: Well, now that you’re a pro, does a Sprint 4G App Challenge that we’re running on Wired and the first prize is $50000, but it ends in nine days. So, [LAUGHTER] So, I don’t think you’re quite up to speed […].

MR: [LAUGHS] Yeah, that would be a tough one.

JH: [LAUGHS] Well, great. Tell us kind of like the overall lessons learned either from the tech side or dealing with Apple or kind of the marketing on it.

MR: Yeah, I definitely learned a lot. I think one of the actually the interesting things I learned for people who want to games […] the App Store is that you really don’t need a publisher. There’s been a lot of debate about whether you need a publisher or not to get up with App Store, and I think, obviously I’m not the only person to do it by themselves, but, I think a lot of people, especially recently, seeing games like Angry Birds at the top of the App Store, they’ve been thinking, ‘Maybe I need a publisher like that to get me to the top,’ but I think my story kind of proves that you don’t need a publisher, you can do it by yourself.

And, actually Rovio, the company who made Angry Birds – their first version of Angry Birds was published by [Chalingo] but they’ve come out recently and said, ‘You don’t need a publisher on the App Store, we wish we hadn’t chosen Chalingo, basically, we could have done that ourselves.’ So, I think that’s one of the big lessons for sure.

And, just in dealing with Apple, I don’t think I’ve ever actually had to […] build the Trainyard rejected by the App Store. I’ve always made sure to follow their guidelines, to check for bugs and things like that sort of thing. So, that hasn’t been too bad. And in regards to getting featured, I can’t say it’s totally random, but it’s definitely, you have to get your game out there and have people talking about it. And, the best way to do that us with the free version, then you might as well do that. Because once you get featured by Apple, that’s kind of the tipping point for, if you utilize that featuring correctly, you can really make a huge difference to your bottom line.

JH: That’s kind of the ‘Golden Ticket’ like you said, to, once you get featured; and I know we’ve had that here with some of the apps we’ve done. Well, that’s awesome. Right now we just checked the rankings – you’re number 4 in the U.K., number 5 in Canada, and number 7 in the U.S. So, that’s great. You said that you said to Reddit, ‘Help me get this and do well and it will help me change my life.’ Would you say that’s happened? Do you mind, have you shared some of the stats of where you are now?

MR: Well yeah, absolutely, I haven’t really shared the actual financial details, per se, I’ll just say that it’s a very comfortable amount of money [LAUGHS], I guess you can say. But my plan is actually to, I have a lot of loyalty to Indusblue where I’ve been working, and I have some projects I’m working on there, so for the rest of the year I’m going to stay there, finish off all my current projects.

But, in 2011 I’m actually going to set off on my own, start my own small games company which will probably just be me at first, and maybe an employee down the road or something like that, we’ll see. But, yeah, obviously it’s been a huge, huge change in my life or at least it will be in 2011. It’s great cause I’ve reached my goal which was to do game development full time and that’s all I really wanted to do; so, now I’ll be able to do that; come up with some more interesting games. I’m going to work on Trainyard a lot, add some features people have been requesting. So, yeah, it’s been amazing.

JH: That’s amazing, that’s great. Well, I’ve bought it and it is, if you like puzzle games or iPhone games it is addictive, and, like I said I’ve been through about four or five levels, and come on – $.99, it’s definitely worth shot. Do you have a URL where they can get to that directly, or

MR: Yeah, if you go to trainyard.ca, so it’s a Canadian domain. Yeah, but trainyard.ca, you can get information about the game, you can see the trailer, there’s a link to buy it on the App Store, all that sort of stuff.

JH: And is that where your blogpost is, as well?

MR: Ah, sorry, my blogpost is at struct.ca.

JH: Well, excellent. So, like I said, everyone check out trainyard.ca to download the app, and struct.ca to read more about Matt’s story. He kind of like we went through, but in detail with some screen shots of everything from his original scribble notes to his cute baby that helps him launch this.

MR: [LAUGHS]

JH: So, thanks so much, Matt, for coming on. I appreciate it.

MR: No problem.

JH: This has been the Hopkinson Report podcast. I’d like to thank my special guest, Matt Rix. Remember you can read about his iPhone game at trainyard.ca, follow the Matt Rix entrepreneurial story at struct.ca, or just go to Trainyard in the iTunes App Store.

And while you’re in there, check out the new ARS Technica iPad app – I had a small hand in the testing of that stuff and it’s a really good app.

And, always, thanks for listening.

While it’s not 100% official, both the Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch are reporting that the long-rumored story that Apple will produce a CDMA version of the iPhone for Verizon, starting in Q1 2011, is true.

As an iPhone owner on AT&T, what will it take me to switch to Verizon? Let me write an open letter to their management and marketing team.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below for maximum ranting entertainment (recommended):

Dear Verizon

Congratulations! I hear that you’ve convinced Steve Jobs to build you your very own iPhone for your CDMA mobile network. You must be soooo excited.  I read that an analyst said it could mean 10 million more customers for you.
I also saw that you have about 27% of the smartphone market, while AT&T has 38%. That’s a pretty decent lead to make up.

However, here’s the good news for you.  Nearly 7 out of 10 of the smartphones that AT&T customers have are iPhones. So if you can get those people to switch, those numbers might change in a hurry.

I have a few suggestions for your marketing department.  First, let me tell you a bit about myself.

- I’m 41, live in Manhattan, and have a Bachelors of Science in Computer Information Systems. I have been around technology all of my life.
- I work for a website called Wired.com, teach a social media class at NYU, and with the money I have left at the end of the month, I often buy gadgets like the iPad and high end digital cameras.
- I also have my own blog and podcast, and am very active on Facebook and Twitter. Not to brag, but I’m pretty connected and a lot of people come to me for tech advice.

In short, I am your dream customer.

Let me tell you what the mood is right now in case you missed it. For the most part, people HATE AT&T. The best way to describe it is we tolerate them, because we’re such fans of Apple and love the iPhone so much.

Dropping calls is so commonplace that it’s just accepted right now. They’re lucky that we’re so wrapped up in texting and email and apps, that we barely speak over the phone anymore. But people want out.

But we’re not stupid. Sure, you can TELL us that your network is better, but we’ve been burned before. It’s all too easy to envision a scenario where millions of AT&T fans flee to Verizon, only to overwhelm the network and find themselves in the same exact situation.

So here’s what I suggest:

1) PROVE your network is better.
I don’t know how, but you’re going to have to figure it out. Don’t just show us charts and graphs, but send an engineering team to Manhattan to demonstrate.

Remember the Pepsi Challenge back in the 80s? I do. They literally set up tables in front of department stores and did blind taste tests because they were that sure. That’s what you should do.

2) Emphasize the improvements to your network.
I’m not sure how much money you have to invest in bandwidth, but I’d start with a bajillion or so.

3) Emphasize customer service.
At least in the beginning, we need to be able to talk to you. Whatever it takes, get some geeks working the customer service lines and require them to pick up in 2 rings or less. And don’t even think about outsourcing. One of the most frustrating things in the world to me is when I know more than the tech support guys.

4) Tell us why you’re better than the Google phone.
For me, Apple has me by the horns because I have a Mac and iTunes and an iPod and an iPad. So why not own the iPhone too. But don’t think I don’t see Android gobbling up market share. Even if it’s only mostly true, throw us a bone so we can defend ourselves.

Got it? Good. I’m about ready to switch.

But just before I do, I have a small list of demands requests.

Before I get started, let me tell you a bit about myself. And my friends.

- I’m 41 and I live in New York freaking City. It ain’t easy. In fact, there are 19 million of us here, about 1,000 per square kilometer. And we ALL use our phones. ALL the time. You don’t understand. We don’t have cars, so by city law we MUST use our phones while walking, while talking, while waiting for the bus, and while eating a delicious slice of pizza.
- I have a BS in Computer Information Systems. That means I know that Ruby on Rails isn’t a new flavored vodka from Smirnoff. I have been around technology all of my life. So don’t try and pull any bull with me. Same for the rest of the new dialed-in generation.
- I not only work for Wired.com, but I’ve written for them. Did I mention they have 11 million uniques a month? And that I often run their Facebook and Twitter feeds? Oh, and that social media class at NYU? That means I’m filling the heads of the next generation of geeks with MY ideas. And there are lots and lots of people like me with similar digital networks.
- And all that social media stuff you hear about? Blogs and podcasts and Foursquare and so on? I LIVE for that stuff. Nothing makes me happier than sharing information among my worldwide network of hyper-influencers.

In short, if you mess this up I am your worst nightmare.

Ready? Here’s what you can do.

1) Straight cash.
Yes, like a star NFL player coming off a contract year, I want a fat signing bonus. How about $100?

You know what? There’s going to be a lot of us coming over and I want you to have money left over for more towers. $50 ought to do it. Straight cash, don’t let PR try to sell you on “Verizon Bucks” or something.

2) Money back guarantee.
Listen, other companies do this all the time, and this is a HUGE risk we’re all taking. Our cell phones have become our lifelines, and it’s an expensive pain in the ass to switch over. Just suck it up and do it. In fact, I’ll save you a few million in ad agency fees by writing your marketing campaign. You ready? Here goes.

“Switch your iPhone plan from AT&T to Verizon and try us for 30 days, risk free. If we don’t deliver faster data, fewer dropped calls, and a better customer service experience, you can switch back no questions asked and we’ll give you your money back. Act now and for a limited time, get $50 just for signing up.”

Done and done.

3) Lower monthly bills
You heard me! Don’t you flinch or it’s off. You know what my last AT&T bill was, for basic minutes, data, and unlimited text? $124.89!!! How about we shoot for something in the $75 range. OK maybe $89 or $99, don’t hyperventilate. But again, don’t mess with us either. We KNOW those text messages don’t cost you a damn thing… why not come out and say so? Say listen, AT&T charges you $20 for unlimited texts — $1310 per megabyte! — but in reality they cost us fractions of a penny. Let’s say $5 and call it even.

4) Tethering.
So right now I pay the cable company a huge amount for home internet. I pay money for data on my iPhone. And then AT&T has the nerve to charge me $25 a month if I want 3G data on my iPad?  Ridiculous. Let Steve have an app that gives me 3G service from my iPhone to power my iPad when I need to, OK? Don’t worry about it, I’m in WiFi most of the time anyway.

5) Free upgrade to a 4G phone
I told you we weren’t stupid. We know the difference between the iPhone 4, and an iPhone running on the 4G network. The TechCrunch article predicts that Apple is going to wait as long as a year for 4G to work out any kinks, like they did with 3G. It will be embarrassing to have all those Sprint fanboys shoving their 4G network in our face! We’re early adopters, dammit! Look at 2011 as a trial period. Give us a nice little 3G phone and keep us happy, then reward us with an easy upgrade to 4G in 2012.

6) iPhone-palooza party
Yes, we want a party. A big one. At minimum, everyone in New York City and San Francisco is invited, and we’ll figure out the rest of the guest list from there. The party will happen March 17, 2011 in Austin, TX.

Yes, that’s right…

On St. Patrick’s Day.
During South-by-Southwest.

- Activities will be planned by social media superstars, via social media. I nominate Gary Vaynerchuk as emcee (he’d crush it), and Julia Allison as party committee chairperson (don’t be a hater, you know you trust her in this role).

- There will be an online vote to see which bands should perform, and you will bring in the top 5

- There will be unlimited beer, alcohol, and Grade A Texas Ribeye steaks

- Each attendee will receive an iPhone-palooza cool laptop case, fleece, hat (choice of frat boy baseball cap or sulking programmer skull cap), and Gore-Tex windbreaker. We’ll even let you throw in a ‘Sponsored by Verizon’ branding somewhere on there as long as it doesn’t look dorky like every other corporate freebie, and is fully approved by the style committee

- Above all else, unlike AT&T at SXSW in 2009, your service Must. Not. Fail. So go over the top. Don’t just tweak existing towers. Don’t bring in mobile units. Build a one-time-use, 50 foot tower in the middle of downtown Austin for this event.

This sucker should hum from 100 yards away, and require SPF 50 to get near it. It should be a location on Foursquare and have it’s own Twitter account and Facebook page. There will be races where people must scale to the top, take a 3MB photo, and then email it to their entire contact list.

So, as you can see, I’m very excited about moving over to Verizon this spring, and look forward to your response to my suggestions. Oh by the way, just send me an email or text – don’t bother calling.

Sincerely

Jim Hopkinson

Jim can see the next big trend, and he’s not going to let it go by.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

I get asked the following question quite often:
“Jim, what’s the next big trend?”

Sure, the internet is always growing, and social media, Facebook, Twitter, geolocation, group buying, online video, and mobile are still at the top of everyone’s list. But I think there’s something bigger. Am I qualified to guess at trends? Sure, why not.

As I look back on my life, I see a few examples where I did see a trend and acted on it:

- Joining an interactive video multimedia startup in 1994
- Going to a fast-growing Internet market leader in 1998
- Seeing that technology will continue to influence business and culture when I joined Wired in Jan 2007

But there were some trends that I missed:
- I purchased an HD-DVD player — not Blu-Ray — a few years ago
- I thought a Netbook was going to be one of my favorite devices (I was wrong)
- Staying stuck at one job position too long

Strangely, sometimes you are so immersed in the trends around you, you don’t see them clearly and take advantage.

One example sticks out.

In the podcast, I talk about working at Staples in the fall of 1991, and my exposure to a new computer company called Dell.

- The other computers we were selling at Staples were horrible
- Acer was probably our best model, but it was far from the sleek netbooks of today
- Example: Solitaire was standard; MS Office was not
- Terrible disk space and memory options

Dell changed all that, with a little-known, custom-order 3-ring binder in the back office:
- Users could order custom specs
- There was a review of entrepreneur Michael Dell, then 27 years old (read his fascinating bio)
- People gave glowing reviews
- Great value for the dollar

I saw how Dell could be sold at retail (albeit back then through the secret back-room, special order), then I saw how they worked with my own eyes:
- In my first job, the performance of Dell vs other PCs was astounding
- They had a clearly superior build quality
- They rarely broke down or crashed
- They were the fastest by far of any computers
- This trend continued at my startup

How could I take advantage of this?

Investing Guru Peter Lynch once said ‘Buy what you know.’

If I were an investor, this was a no-brainer:
- I was in the computer industry
- I knew the background of Dell’s founder
- I saw sales at retail
- I saw usage on the job
- I saw incredible productivity
- I saw customer loyalty and repeat sales

- And adjusted from Yahoo Finance, it was trading at 24 cents.

So did I purchase 5,000 shares and ride into the sunset a few years later? Not quite.

But I won’t beat myself up…
- I was 23 years old, with no experience buying stocks
- I didn’t really have enough money to really make huge impact
- There are other factors to consider when buying stock
- I would have had to sell in 1999 or 2000 to get the best gains

But what did I do?
- At least I used the knowledge for myself
- I bought 3-4 Dells in a row over the next 10-15 years
- I told everyone I knew to buy Dell

Now, we’re approaching 2011, 20 years later.

Taking a step back, I’m here to tell you that I think eBooks, apps, and tablets like the iPad are the next big thing.

Yes, yes, it might be ridiculously obvious.

But maybe not to all.

Maybe you’re like I was and so immersed in the business, that you didn’t step back to look around and ACT on the trends you’re seeing.

Let me build a simple case:
1) eBook growth – Amazon has already come out and said they sold more eBooks than hardcovers in the second quarter
2) App growth – Users are on pace to download more apps than songs
3) The Web is Dead – Well, at least that’s what Chris Anderson argues in the latest issue of Wired. Reading further, you’ll see he talks about the rise of apps.
4) Tablet sales growing – As of mid-September, the iPad has sold roughly 3.27 million units, and there’s even rumors that a second version of the iPad will be ready for the holidays (or at least Q1 2011).
5) More tablets are on the way – Samsung announced their reader, and unlike some other competitors, this is a brand I trust. It looks solid and while I predict it won’t beat the iPad and Kindle, it will help build the overall market
6) Strength of the Amazon Kindle – A new version was recently released, and like any good computer upgrade, it is smaller, lighter (8.5 oz), faster, and has a 50% better contrast.

The new Kindle already has 700 positive reviews and most importantly, it is only $139 for the WiFi version (vs $379 for the DX); can’t you see this FLYING off the shelves for the holidays? Is it a coincidence that they also have a slate gray version? Does anyone else remember that you could only get computers in off white before graphite colored cases finally became a hit?

What I know:
- I’m seeing interest and success of iPhone apps and iPad magazine apps at Conde Nast, one of the world’s largest publishers of content
- I’m tracking the industry and seeing new releases weekly
- I am an iPad owner, and am starting to use it more and more, seeking out great apps
- This product is in its infancy — it’s only been available since April! — we’re going to get more apps, better apps, multimedia integration, more video, more interaction with the web, and more social media extensions
- More friends are calling me asking about the iPad; Do you like it? Should I wait to buy one? Can I get a discount anywhere?
- It still blows people away when I show them in person, from my 5 year old nephew (just tried the free Toy Story app) to a college senior (showed him what a “tablet portfolio” looked like)

What you can do about it
- If you have a company, figure out if an app can help your business
- If you’re a marketer, track this stuff. Know the demographics that are adapting these products and appeal to them
- If you’re an individual, think about how you can take advantage of it, such as creating an app in a niche you love, writing content, or becoming an expert in design or development

What I’m doing about it
- Monitoring this and getting involved at work
- Maybe I’ll talk to my financial adviser to ask how we can take advantage of this through stocks or funds
- Immersing myself in it; I’ve bought an iPad, and am downloading any kind of app or magazine or content that looks interesting
- Jumping in with both feet. Disclaimer that some of this is outside of Wired, but for fun I have a fully completed eBook content I want to test and am investigating opportunities around this

I’ll leave you with this:
- If you’re in this industry, keep an eye on this
- If you do something completely different, step back and take a look around you. What are the trends and opportunities in your area of expertise that YOU can take advantage of? In other words, what is YOUR “1991 Dell moment?”

Play the full podcast:

Follow me at twitter.com/hopkinsonreport

Apple’s iPad is flying off the shelves. Jim gives his real-world results after 30 days with it, reviews the Wired Magazine app, analyzes market share trends and asks, can it be beat?

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

iPad iPad iPad.
Everyone is talking about the iPad, and so am I. Lets take a look at three things today:

1) My experience with the iPad 3G after one month with the iPad
2) My thoughts on the Wired Magazine iPad app
3) Analyze Apple’s historic marketshare and drill down to see the future of tablet computing and if the iPad can be beat

Note: All thoughts are my own opinion and not that of Wired or Apple. I have no affiliation with Apple and was not compensated.

Summary of the podcast below. Listen to the entire show for the full experience.

OK, so I’ve had the iPad for 30 days of real world testing.

I’ve installed various apps: the Entertainment Weekly Must List and Weather Channel (good, but could use some work), ones with solid functionality (Kayak, Pandora, MLB at Bat), ones that I normally wouldn’t use (Marvel’s comic book reader and games such as Asphalt 5 and Labyrinth), and Conde Nast’s own (Epicurious, GQ, and Wired).

The best part about these apps, is the ease that you can simply install them, check them out, and delete them if you don’t like it. While it does add to this constant ADD, “try it and forget it” world, it really puts the pressure on developers to create visually-appealing, easy to use apps right out of the box. You might only have 5 minutes to hook someone, or it’s delete and move on to the next program. That’s why I think the “Lite for free, pay for upgrade” model works so well here.

People are going to continue to find new and inventive ways to use the iPad. For example, check out uber-designer Brandon Werner’s “iPadfolio” (best viewed on an iPad). He used it in an interview and blew them away.

Things that I’m looking to do more of in the coming months are:
- Download and read more iBooks
- See a Facebook app for the iPad (they have to be working on one, right?)
- Get Apple’s SD card attachment so I can transfer photos from my DSLR right to the iPad

Real life use
As many others have probably noted, the iPad is the king of the couch surfer. It is fantastic around the house, especially for the short time each day that I finally relax (when I’m not out or working on 3 blogs) and turn on the TV. As I predicted, it’s such a better device to do the following:
- Check and respond to quick emails
- Surf the web
- Check Twitter
- View photos

Yes, you can do all this on a bigger, heavier, hotter laptop, but it’s a faster, quicker, more focused experience.

Road test: Family trip
I went to visit my brother’s family in Austin, TX, traveling there with my parents. Results were:
- First and foremost, I did not have to take out the iPad when going through security
- It was great on the plane… it’s instant-on, I didn’t worry about battery life, I watched video, read the GQ magazine app, and easily tucked it into the seatback during meals
- I let a 5-year old play with it at one point, and she instantly bonded (apologies to her parents, who will probably need to spend $500 to get her to stop talking about it at some point). We downloaded Tic Tac Toe and iSpy and had a few spirited matches, and it was amazing how kick-ass she was at the driving video game. Although it was tough for me to tell a white lie and console her when the game yells “YOU LOSE!” if you don’t finish in the top 3.
- I also let my parents (both over 65) use it. They approached it like a cat sneaking up on something new in the yard, and pretty much got the hang of it using maps and music. I did run into one issue, as my mom was trying to check her email in Safari (my email is set up as the default in the app). She was using the updated, flash-based version of Yahoo mail, and it wasn’t rendering correctly. It was just weird enough looking that she NEVER would have figured it out (most people wouldn’t), it was only because I noticed it and changed here to “Yahoo Classic” email that we were able to move on.

Camping trip
First, let me lay out my street cred. I’ve done my fair share of camping and consider myself a pretty good outdoorsman. Yes, I’m an actual Eagle Scout, something that 95% of scouts never attain.

Now let me destroy that street cred. Mostly as a fun test, a friend and I went camping in upstate New York (I did my first trail running race). Not only did we use Google maps on the iPad to locate a diner 2 exits away for dinner instead of cooking, but that night we hunkered down in the tent and watched a movie. Yes, I brought along a $639 iPad camping. And yes, it was awesome.

Road trip
I’m putting this to the test this week, bringing the iPad on a long road trip. As a combo GPS device, movie player, musical jukebox, e-mail checker, and with the “Gas Log” app, it should come in handy.

Thoughts on Wired Magazine’s iPad app
It was really interesting working on such a cool project, and seeing the initial success of 24,000 downloads in 24 hours.

Let’s get the two big questions out of the way:

- 500 MB in size
Yes, that is a very large size, especially for those with the 16GB model. Wired feels that the technology will evolve and the app will get smaller in future versions. The tradeoff was video. By including the video within the app, that allowed for a more seamless process and users could read the entire magazine without being connected to the web. I’m sure if we did NOT include it, people would be complaining that every time they got to a video they had to wait longer for it to play. Perhaps there’s a middle ground where users are asked to download or stream upon install (not sure if that’s technically feasible).

- $5 per issue cost
It’s really quite simple.
- When viewed against the cost of a year-long print subscription ($10 per year), the cost of the app seems six times higher. People make the analogy that they pay $10 per year for the Wired Magazine paper subscription, so why should they pay $60 per year for the electronic version.
- When viewed against the newsstand price of $5 (which 80,000-100,000 non-subscribing Wired fans pay every single month), it’s exactly the same.

At it’s core, this is a slice of media entertainment.
- Millions of people pay $5 a pop for magazines at newsstands, airports, and in supermarket checkout lines every month
- The Wall Street Journal charges $4 per week for their iPad application
- Netflix customers pay a monthly fee for video entertainment
- The latest blockbuster movie is $12.50 a ticket here in NYC for 2 hours of entertainment last time I checked
- And don’t get me started on what I pay for cable each month

Bottom line, the Wired Magazine iPad app gives you several hours of media entertainment for $5. And yes, Conde Nast is “exploring many ways of making it easier for users to enjoy our content.” IE, they’re looking at the best way to make some kind of subscription program work.

Areas for improvement
Just so you don’t think I’m a total homer, here are things that I think can be improved with the app
- Better navigation indicators. Because this is such a new device, I think it’s ok to treat users a little bit more dumbed down to start. My guess is that it was partially done on purpose, as it makes the user explore the app and find new features. I’m not asking for giant blinking “click here” buttons, but there were a few small areas where it could have guided me better. That being said, I was a pro by the time I finished the entire issue.
- Navigating the fun stuff. The great part about the app is the interactive features… swirling, twirling hearts and planets, and stop motion legos. But I sometimes had trouble when I wanted to swipe to the next page, but the app still thought I wanted to swirl.
- Pinch and zoom. Once you get used to pinching and zooming all over the iPad, you miss it if you come across something and are not allowed to do so. This was the case for most of the app, except for some sections that let you do this.
- As others have pointed out, there is a slight disconnect when say, playing a movie clip and it brings you outside the app, plays it, and then returns, vs. keeping you right where you are. I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that it will continue to be more streamlined.

What I loved
- The app, taking advantage of the hardware itself, is crazy bright and easy to read. Vibrant. Glowing.
- I loved the interactive touch buttons to flip multiple views. Swiping from page to page is — let’s say it — fun, but it’s also a great experience to stay on one page, and view multiple views or photos by tapping numbered dots
- The fun stuff. The ultimate goal of the app is to combine the best of print and the web in an engaging environment. This was best seen in the “Most Dangerous Object in the Office” section. This month it was a flaming hacky sack. Reading about it in print? Interesting. Actually SEEING two employees flailing around with a fiery footbag of flames in the bathroom at the Wired office in SF? Amazing.
- The extras. Ironman spining around, lego Lamborghinis, Toy Story clips, exclusive Trent Reznor songs… all of this adds to the experience.

The Ads
Call me crazy, but sometimes I LIKE looking at ads. I like seeing cool companies launch cool products that I might want to get. And stop groaning, this is a marketing podcast and blog, you knew it was coming.

But here’s the thing. You get to experience it under YOUR terms. Watching live TV? Sorry, sit through the ads. On DVR? get that fast forward button ready. In a magazine? It’s an easy page turn. On the web? Better hope that peripheral vision is working to block out things if you don’t want to see it.

But on the iPad? If you don’t like the ad — swipe — it’s gone. Instantly. If you DO choose to learn more, you can take it to the next level. My favorites were as follows.

For simply clean, crisp, uncluttered product messages:
- Dyson Fans
- Intel
- Mercedes (with great commercial embedded)
- GMC

For excellent photos that looking practically 3D on the iPad:
- True Blood
- Jack Daniels
- Volkswagen
- Infiniti

And remember, THIS IS VERSION 1! Developers, writers, editors, programmers, and advertisers are only going to get better at this.

Can it be beat?

Lets look at four categories that Apple is in, and what kind of market share they command.

First, where am I coming from? I am a computer guy. I Love all technology. Love good technology. I’ve been literally using computers for more than 25 years.
First 21 on a PC, last 4 on a Mac.
- Macbook pro at home, Dell laptop at work
- iPhone for personal use, Treo for work email
- iPod touch and Nano
- 1 iPad

Computers
I think that Macs are beautifully designed, easier to use, easier to get tech support, don’t get viruses, are more expensive, and are definitely the computer system that I’ve switched over to, that I see myself using moving forward, and that I would recommend to a friend. However, there is absolutely no denying the market share numbers.

Apple owns just 10% of the personal computer market. That means 9 out of every 10 computers out there are not made by Apple.

But in doing my research I came across this amazing article on Techcrunch from July 2009, that said Apple owns 91% market share on computers above $1000.

So is Apple winning in the computer department? In the big picture, no. There are countless millions of PCs around the world running Windows, the vast majority of businesses and IT departments are locked in with the PC/Windows platform, and will be for some time. It’s a tough process to switch. This is business device in a mature market.

But can Apple win the upper end of the market where profits are greater? Looks like they already are.

MP3 Players
What is the market share of the iPod vs other MP3 players? It tough for me to find the latest and greatest stats, but one blog from Sep 2009 said that iPods had a 74% market share. I’d call that dominant. Lets put it this way, do YOU have any friends that have a non-Apple MP3 player? If you were out to buy a new device, would YOU consider something else? I thought so.

My point is this… this is a non-business device, in a relatively new market. And Apple dominates it.

Phones
What I am about to say might sound familiar. I think that the iPhone is beautifully designed, easier to use, easier to get tech support, is more expensive, and is definitely the phone that I’ve switched over to, that I see myself using moving forward, and that I would recommend to a friend. Kind of like the Mac.

But in terms of marketshare, it’s also like the Mac. A recent report just found that Android phones outsold the iPhone in the first quarter of 2010. What was Apple’s share of the smartphone market? Just 21%. Again, the stats show that it is hardly dominant.

A cell phone is a mix of business and pleasure, and is definitely a mature market. The iPhone will continue to do well, but won’t necessarily dominate.

But here are the numbers that astound:
- 50 million iPhones sold to date
- App Store carries 200,000 apps
- 3 billion app downloads

Even more telling, Ars Technica reported: Apple responsible for 99.4% of mobile app sales in 2009

Tablet computers
What is Apple’s market share in tablets? Let’s not include the Kindle since that is primarily a dedicated e-reader and not a computer. So who is their competition? The Archos 5 Tablet? The Samsung NP-Q1u? Let me know when you find someone that owns one of those. All I know is that they’ve sold 2 million iPads in under 60 days. I’d say that puts them at 99% market share.

So, where does that leave us? Is the iPad like the iPhone and Mac, where it will face stiff competition from it’s known enemies, Dell, HP, and Google?

I’m going to say no. My gut tells me it’s going to play out a lot like the iPod. This is a new device, and an entertainment device. Yes, there will be competition at the lower levels, but the great equalizer is the App Store.

If someone came up to me and said “Should I get an iPad or should I wait for one by Google or HP? I hear they might have more storage, be cheaper, have USB ports, play flash, and so on.” I totally agree.

But again, it’s the App Store. That’s the killer product that will prevent me from recommending other devices.

So if someone asks me, should I get the iPad? I would say can you afford it and when would you use it? It’s best as a companion device, is great for light travel, and is king of the couch.

If they ask if they should wait to get next year’s iPad, I say no. Of course it will be better, and if you’re very patient, then go ahead and wait an entire year. But remember that there will be software updates before then that will raise the bar a bit.

If they ask if they should wait for another company’s tablet, I say they are coming, they will be cheaper, and have some better features, but ask yourself this:

- How long till there is a similar app store that has all the games you want to play?
- Do you sync your music with your iPod?
- Where are you going to download movies from?
- Do they have a better way to read books?

So do you agree with me?

Apple has sold 2 million devices.
They have a huge lead on the competition.
Almost every developer right now is working on iPad apps, not other apps
And when new tablets appear in six months to a year, remember that Apple will have been working on their new version for a year as well.

So I ask you. Can the iPad be beat?

Email: MarketingGuy [at] wired.com
Twitter: @hopkinsonreport

Today on The Hopkinson Report: Everybody Gets a Trophy!

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

I talk with former Wired Intern 1.0 Brandon Werner (pictured above) of The Modern Day Pirates about how engaging with different generations is changing, specifically that notoriously difficult market of 18-30 year olds, known to many as Millennials or Generation Y.

In this corner, Jim, the Gen X archetype. In the blue trunks, Brandon, paragon of all things that represent Gen Y.

Brandon and Jim discuss:
- How WW2 vets came home, reproduced like it was their job, and created the baby boomers.
- The relationship between Dr. Spock –not that one– and Baby Boomers becoming great, caring parents.
- Why we can blame Richard Nixon for 80s hair metal.
- Why each generation before has their own self-affirming name for Millennial.
- “The jock of today uses more computers than the nerd of the ’80s.”

Fast Facts:

Other topics covered:
- How video games are now the dominant form of media entertainment for Millennial.
- Social media is a direct result of young adults being the entitled “Me generation.”
- They’re happy to do some work at home, just let them use social media at work.

- There’s a new generation of young girls, sitting at home, talking about themselves. I couldn’t have said it any better than this video:

But wait, there’s more!
- Mobile mobile mobile! It’s the best way to advertise to Millennials and Apple, Facebook, and Google know this!
- On Demand is a necessity, they need to operate on their own schedule, especially if it gets to use through word of mouth.
- How the recession — Jim calls it “The great economic smackdown” — is keeping back the Millennials from potentially being ‘The Next Greatest Generation.’
- Why they’re being called ‘The Peter Pan Generation.’
- The infinite futility of voicemail and the incredible value of badges!

Get ready ready for your ears and eyes to bleed.
Brandon introduced me to a YouTube phenom named Fred. Thankfully, even Brandon shudders at the thought of this future. Of course, this episode talks about him missing his meds.

I couldn’t watch the whole thing to figure out which ones, but like Brandon and I talked about on the podcast, it has to be one of the anti-hyper drugs that parents are so fond of giving their kids these days.

Before you jump out of your 15th floor office window, here are the most shocking stats of all:
1) This video has 26 MILLION views (many of his others have millions as well)
2) He has A-list sponsorship via Toys R Us and Hot Topic, including a clothing line!

RANT OF THE DAY
Don’t end the podcast a moment too soon! During the final outtro music, I manage to squeeze an unbelievable basketball rant in about 14 seconds.

I finally figured it out! A revelation hit me while editing the “Generation X vs Generation Y” podcast.

I have a huge pet peeve with basketball players giving HIGH FIVES and HANDSHAKES and FIST BUMPS to teammates after MISSING a crucial free throw. This now happens at the college and NBA level.

You’ve all seen it by now. It’s the waning seconds of a game. The team is up by only a point, and the other team fouls. If the player does what they should and hit their free throws, the game is basically over. But they routinely FAIL at the one thing they’re supposed to do. Hell, Larry Bird’s FT% in 1988 was 94.7%!!!

But it’s not that they simply MISS the free throw. I’m not saying I’d make them in the same situation. But this is the problem:

The other players RUN up to them to give them a congratulatory handshake after this failure!!!

It drives me crazy! What do they even say to each other? “You just choked the free throw that will cost us the season… high five!”
I mean, seriously. Don’t you people understand the general concept!?!? When you do WELL, you get congratulated. When you FAIL, you should be feeling a bit of shame.

But now I know why: All the players are Gen Y!!!

They can’t do wrong and we don’t want any hurt feelings. It’s like a giant group hug.

“That’s ok D’BRICkashaw… don’t let those mean ol’ fans get you down. Aw shucks, you’ll get them next time. It’s not your fault.”

Well guess what … at least in college and the NBA, you don’t get a participatory trophy if you lose.

So the much-ballyhooed Apple iPad was announced on January 27. What do I think?

Well, I reveled in all the hype, blocking off my lunchtime calendar and jumping between 5 different live-streaming tabs on my browser.

And first off, you DO have to give Apple credit for the hype. Love them or hate them, just think about the sheer number of people talking about this product, and the entire industry of bloggers, writers, reporters, photographers, and so on that exist just to speculate and cover this stuff. I can’t think of another company off-hand that creates another sub-industry just to cover it (other than “Hollywood” or “Wall Street”).

However, with this hype, you live by the crowd and die by the crowd. And right now, the crowd is turning on Apple. My take is that the device is certainly not as good as everyone had dreamed it would be (how could it?), but c’mon people… let’s at least HOLD the thing and try it before passing judgment. Perhaps there will be a double reverse backlash where it now becomes cool to say that it IS the new device to have.

In the podcast I dive into why it could be compelling, and the 5 types of people that would use it.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

I think the most compelling features could be:

- Super light 1.5 lbs
- Instant-on like an iPhone
- The potential as an eBook reader (which I don’t think has been discussed enough)

So who are the 5 people that will use the iPad?:

1) Professional geeks, early adopters, unwavering Apple fanboys

I am a professional geek. That’s what I do. I love gadgets. I don’t always get the first version of every new thing, but I like to keep on top of it for sure.  I will strongly consider getting it once the hype dies down and I see it, and maybe I can unload my barely-used netbook on someone.

So will early adopters flock to it? I’m not sure. It’s never good to question the unwavering passion of some of the Apple fanboys, but perhaps Steve Jobs and Co have a Macbook Air on their hands. It was very cool, incredibly designed, and you’d think that it would be something an early adopter would love. But I haven’t seen many bloggers pulling one out of a manila envelope.

2) Travelers

We’re venturing into netbook territory, and it’s hard for me to defend what the iPad can do over a light, small, fully-equipped computer. But I HATE bringing out my laptop on a flight. At least with my work-assigned computer, it’s too big, I hate the whole boot up and log in, and the battery life barely makes it halfway across the country.

I’d much rather keep it in my bag and watch a movie or read. Aha… that’s the advantage of the iPad. You can do all that – watch 10 hours of movies (allegedly), listen to your music or podcasts, read an eBook, or easily browse your photos. And… you can simply slide it into the seatback when you get up from your window seat and have to crawl over people, or want to set it aside when you get your inflight meal.

3) Couch surfers
Here’s the scene… you own a desktop, not laptop. It’s in another room. Or you have a laptop, but it gets too hot, and too heavy on your lap while watching TV. The iPhone is just a bit too small for effective web surfing. The solution is that the iPad is sitting on the coffee table while watching TV.

Picture the scene at a Super Bowl party. You’re watching the game, focused on the big screen. Whoa, that crazy commercial just told you to go to GoDaddy or Pepsi or you want to check a stat. No bringing out the laptop and clearing away a pile of nachos and beers, just pass around the iPad.

Or if you’re on the couch and have an idea, you can just pick it up, turn it on instantly, fire off an email, jot some notes down, and put something on the calendar. (OK, I know I know… you can do this with a laptop or your iPhone too… I’m trying here!)

4) Thieves

On 1/27 the iPad was announced. That same day, I’m sure developers were getting together to tailor their apps, publishers were meeting to figure out content, and video game management teams were having breakout sessions.

But what about the ICSE?  The International Cartel of Stolen Electronics?  OK, I made that up, but did you know that 10,000 laptops are stolen per week at airports? And according to a Forbes story in 2008:
- Cell phone thefts were up 33% from 2006 to 2008
- Digital camera thefts were up 25% over 3 years
- iPod thefts were up 91%
- A 2007 study showed iPod robberies bumped up overall crime rates in some major U.S. cities
- Stolen iPods accounted for 4% of all robberies in Washington, D.C., in 2007.

So if I was ICSE president, I’d say it’s the best news since white headphones. While you can’t just stick it in your pocket and take off like a phone, at less than 2 pounds it’s not like the old days when you had to steal a 200 lb Sony Wega TV.

5) 3P: Portfolio Presentation Professionals

OK, another made up term, 3P.  I think the iPad would be amazing anywhere a professional person with a portfolio has to meet with clients. For example:
- Fashion Designers
- Architect or engineer
- Illustrator / Comic Books
- Artist
- Photographer
- Real Estate Agent
- 1:1 Salesperson
- Interviewees

Imagine you’re an artist trying to sell high-end paintings to a gallery. How impressive would it be to pull out this small device and just swipe your way through your best work?

Or what about being a wedding photographer and sitting down with a couple on their couch to show them your best shots?

Or you’re a real estate agent… out in the field, running around, showing people photos, layouts, and floor plans. Maybe it’s to people not used to using a computer that much. Swipe. Here’s the master bedroom. Swipe. Here the map that shows the nearest schools.  Swipe. Add those people at the open house to your contact list.

And lastly, what about on an interview?  I’ll tell you I’d be impressed if you took out an iPad and said can I just show you a few of my projects?

As for the Apple iPad’s prospects with me… it may not have the job yet, but it’s definitely going to get an interview.

It’s sort of like your TV news as you always wished to receive it… with a poppin’ beat and a happenin’ bass line .”

That’s how The Gregory Brothers describe their series of videos, Auto-Tune the News. I’ve been following the series for months now, and tweeting and forwarding them to anyone looking for funny entertainment at the intersection of pop culture, music, and technology.

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it below:

For those unfamiliar, there are 3 main points you need to know:

# 1) There’s a digital process in music called Auto-Tune. Think of it as photoshop for your voice. Almost every artist makes small touches to enhance the product, while others use it liberally to radically alter the original recording. You might originally know the effect from Cher’s 1998 Grammy-award winning, multi-platinum dance song “Believe.”

# 2)  Modern artists like T-Pain have brought it back big time, not only with award-winning songs, but also collaborating with Saturday Night Live for their popular digital short “I’m on a boat,” with Jimmy Kimmel for skits on his show, and he has an iPhone app called “I am T-Pain.” More on that in a second.

# 3) A Brooklyn-based band called The Gregory Brothers have made a hilarious string of viral videos called “Auto-Tune the News,” which mix political and pop culture news footage with a poppin beat and a happenin’ bass line, all set to Auto-Tune. I interviewed Andrew, Michael, and Evan on the podcast.

Auto-Tune the News #2 is one of my favorites, and the original where Katie Couric utters the now-famous line “Very Thin Ice.” As you’ll see, the brothers superimpose themselves into the newscasts, wearing outfits ranging from hip hop garb to an angry gorilla.

As a service (torture) to my readers, I show how Auto-Tune can take a hopelessly horrible singer like myself, and at least give you a laugh. Play the podcast to see how my opening intro sounds after running it through T-Pain’s Auto-Tune iPhone app.

Additionally, I was very curious to see what exactly made for the best Auto-Tune effect… was it the person’s voice, their inflection, their pacing, certain words, or certain vowels?  The Gregory Brothers answer that in the interview, but I also extended it to songs.

What I found was that the higher the voice, and thus the more you sang out of key, the better the Auto-Tune.

Here are the top 5 songs I recommend for Auto-Tuning:

# 5) The 1986 classic “Your Love” from The Outfield

# 4) One everyone likes to sing along to, “Wonderwall” by Oasis

# 3) Put on your gloves, it’s “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor

# 2) You probably saw this coming, it’s “Roxanne” by the Police

# 1) And in the top spot, it’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey

As a bonus, I conclude the podcast by singing a line from my top pick, so brace yourself.

My all-time favorite thus far is definitely Auto-Tune the News #8. The Gregory Brothers, along with Evan’s wife Sarah (who is also part of the band), masterfully tie in the opening “Made in America” theme across topics as diverse as Michael Vick’s comeback and the geese problem at airports. Unintentional singers include ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, VP Joe Biden, and Katie Couric’s replacement Maggie Rodriguez (still a fine shawty).

In the interview we talk about:

- The Gregory Brothers’ start with the 2008 presidential campaign, and how they extended it episodically

- What software do they use to create the Auto-Tune the News effect

- The process of putting together Auto-Tune the News, including what programs they use to edit the video and audio

- What type of voice makes a good unintentional singer

- Collaboration with T-Pain for an Auto-Tune skit on Jimmy Kimmel Live

- Their view on the use of Auto-Tune in the music industry

- Whether they’re on “very thin ice” with Katie Couric and other people they’ve featured

Download the podcast from iTunes, or play it now:

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Links:

The Gregory Brothers: Website | MySpace

Auto-Tune the News: Website | YouTube | Twitter

Hopkinson Report: Twitter