The vital importance of removing the "i" from innovation, instinct, intuition, inspiration, invention, insight, ideas... Please help fight the "I Effect."

When thinking about the next big thing, please think about somebody else for a change.

Yes, change is hard enough to push through the system as is. Don't stuff up the channels of progress with your own stuffiness.


During my career, I have seen many good product ideas dismissed because of the painful "I Effect." You see, when it comes to evaluating business ideas, often a fantastically homogeneous group of individuals sit around a table and point out how they themselves would never need such a device or service.

Most world-shattering inventions have suffered at least one such "I" dismissal. The computer in the home, the wireless radio box, talkie movies, television, and then color television.

I've certainly made the mistake myself several times. I once said that there is no opportunity in ringtones because "I would never buy one." And I've made other miserably wrong forecasts based on what I personally thought was annoying or cool. But I've learned. And so can you.

Almost 10 years ago I saw a very excellent Facebook-like service proposal get dismissed by an executive on the grounds that it was something the executive said he didn't need. "I don't understand it, and I don't think I would ever use it." That's not a verbatim quote: the real quote was even more brutal.

It's not easy to remove the "i" from the innovation equation, but I do suggest that your try. Remember, you can't spell myopia without "my." So fight it with fury. For example, when attending any brainstorming session, interrupt anyone who talks constantly about their own day-to-day experiences. You probably know the type already: "Well, what I do is when I get home I turn on..." Or, "I would never use such a thing."

I acknowledge that are times when anecdotal evidence mirrors general behavior. But I have met very few individuals who have the instinctual talent to really understand what ports well to the larger audience.

One reason so many new products & service come from young minds working out of old garages is because in big companies, go-no-go decisions are ultimately made by out-of-touch managers working closely with out-of-touch executives.

When it comes to innovation, please check your I sight and do make sure that you're not getting in the way.

[ images from Patheos ]

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Canopy Sensus. Making the case for the back of the case. But whatever happened to LucidTouch from Microsoft & Mitsubishi?

Could this change user interactions going forward? And backward?

PC World STORY >>

From what I can see, there's not too much exciting coming out of CES 2013, yet. For the most part, what's happening in Vegas can stay there for now.

Indeed, one of the more interesting products to be announced is an iPhone case, the Canopy Sensus. Sensus enables the back of smartphones to be used for touch input. It's an interesting approach. But not a new idea.

Back in 2007 Mitsubishi together with Microsoft introduced the "LucidTouch" input system. LucidTouch (please see the second video below) was an interesting approach to making touch a more natural user interface. Why block valuable screen real estate with multiple fingers when the back of devices go completely unused? And since then, other companies patented similar back of device uses. None have come to market.

It's interesting to note that Mitsubishi made one of the first true multi-touch products, the DiamondTouch, which was being shown years before the iPhone.

Companies such as Mitsubishi and Microsoft are great at showing off lab-based innovations. But it's time for some real-world excitement. Hopefully for them, ideas such as LucidTouch can help them with a comeback.

Canopy Sensus case for the iPhone, CES 2013:

LucidTouch from 2007 via Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) & Microsoft.

Tongue in cheek: Get your market timing right or you could be history

The business world can be so medieval.

So, an idea clicks in your head. You get to work. Yes, you're an innovator. A real visionary well ahead of your time. You have concepts and even near-working prototypes of products and services long before your competition. Sorry. Take a number and get in line. You're missing one key ingredient.

Woody Allen said that 80% of success is showing up. I would add that showing up at the right time greatly increases your odds. History is full of sad stories of missed opportunities. We've learned over and over that being first to a market that isn't quite ripe is a recipe for failure.

Here's to hoping you get your timing right and your good ideas don't simply get shelved. After all, you don't want your company to be history. ROLL THE TAPE:

“Samsung Galaxy S III to feature wireless charging!" Yes, prepare to be dazzled by wireless power claims.

Wireless charging is a hot new feature more than 100 years in the making. But that’s how technology trends so often develop.

PHANDROID STORY >>

As often is the case, it’s not who does it first, but who does it loudest.

A story originating out of Korea has it that Samsung’s next iteration of their successful Galaxy super phone line will feature some form of wireless charging. Sure, wireless charging has been done before, even in smartphones. Just see the last HP WebOS device with its “Touchstone” charging system.

More than 100 years ago, Nikola Tesla demonstrated real wireless electricity. And practically every electric toothbrush on the market over the past 20 years have featured some form of inductive coupling. And now the same convenience will soon become mainstream in the handset market.

Nope, wireless charging is not breaking news. The Wireless Power Consortium was formed more than five years ago to address the specs that could boost the market for such a feature, and their Qi standard was first published in 2009. And other organizations and companies have been proposing their own solutions along the way.

So get ready for great claims and power games. There’s always some smoke and mirrors when it comes to rolling out such new old technology. In reality, it’s done with wires.

Palm did it long ago. Who?

Here it is! Nokia’s amazing tablet concept! See it here, now! PIC!

Apologies for the misleading tabloid-style header. But there are no lies here. Only facts and memories.

I’ve touched upon this Nokia concept device a number of times only because I find that it tells an interesting story about vision, innovation, and credit. Rarely do new products pop up out of the blue. All inspiration has a history attached.

Before the turn of the century (August 1999 at the IFA exhibition to be exact), Nokia introduced a working tablet prototype that drove tech journalists and open-source fans wild: a large, connected touch-screen device based on Linux. Users could surf the web, write e-mails and chat, and even catch the game via its built-in digital terrestrial receiver. All content was equal. The word "convergence" was all the rage at the time, and Nokia just redefined the term.

The device, known as “MediaScreen,” ran a UI layer Nokia called “Navibars,” which was in essence, an advanced and flexible menu system. Users could create bookmarks to television stations just as easily as they could to a website. Users could create folders which could hold broadcast links, web info, photos, and applications. A sports folder, for example, could contain videos of little Johnny’s football match, an icon for Eurosport TV, and the latest scores from the web.

And then what happened grandpa? Well, the dot.com bust didn’t help. Things became tight here and there and companies began to concentrate making-money ventures. Nobody knew how bad things could get. And the component costs must have been quite brutal at the time. But if I understand the evolutionary line correctly, MediaScreen did act as innovation for other Nokia projects and programs -- sort of a grandparent to a future generation of tablet-like devices such as the 770.

Timing can be a cruel dealer of the deck. Woody Allen once said 80% of success is showing up. But it’s really showing up at the right time. And showing off. When Apple’s iPad was first introduced, I called it Laptop2.0. Now, if I am reading this news correctly, Nokia has confirmed that the company will be entering the tablet market, although few details are provided. Will this be Nokia’s own 2.0.

Nokia’s “MediaScreen” tablet concept from 1999:

Breaking development: Eastman Kodak declares bankruptcy. This is not a pretty picture. Did it have to be this way?

STORY >>

Did they try to live up to their image as an innovator or did they rest of their laurels?

Did Kodak fail to see the big picture? It seems that way.

Apple 3D breakthrough? Should Apple's new 3D GUI IPR for iOS worry other vendors?

STORY via Patently Apple >>

I've been trying to follow mobile 3D developments for quite many years now. This is no sudden technology disruption: 3D has been around for more than 50 years and there's no doubt at some point some company will get this right. As opposed to television sets, individual-user 3D-enabled handheld devices have the advantage of only have to cater to one single user, so it's more appropriate for glasses-free 3D viewing.

There have been a few handsets on the market supporting 3D content, but the first mainstream handheld electronic gadget is probably Nintendo's 3DS. I've tried the 3DS a few times. I'll reserve judgement here as I understand I'm not the core addressable audience for the device. But to go mainstream in handsets, some company is going to have to do better in 3D.

Will that company be Apple?

Apple has filed a number of 3D-related patents over the past few years. If you work at a large handset company, I recommend your IPR department do their research here.

Here's some new info via the very useful site Patently Apple on a new 3D GUI patent applications for iOS. Stick-figure drawings in patents aren't always so clear,
patent application from Apple that reveals an exciting new 3D GUI for iOS mobile devices.

The patent covers the use of device sensors such as gyro sensors to adjust the 3D display. I would think that this isn't the only patent out there covering this general approach and it will be interesting to see who gets to market first with a 3D smartphone with a real WOW effect.

3D will be coming someday. It might even be holograms. But some company will get this right. Get ready to stick out in a crowded marketplace full of look-alike products.

$444m. The number of the beast? With paper, Microsoft has become a profitable Android player. Has the look-alike smartphone market become boring?

Microsoft making millions milking monster OS. PCMAG STORY >>

Oh where's the innovation these days?

If I were a smartphone vendor, I'd be very concerned about long-term industry profitability. The majority of smartphone vendors are currently losing money... and that's in a booming market. Imagine how things will look when the market levels off. The smartphone market is starting to look a lot like the airline industry.

According to a recent Goldman Sachs report, Microsoft will make around $444 million this year from Google's Android via licensing fees for its embedded IPR. And as Microsoft continues to pursue IPR and licensing deals on top of Android, getting somewhere between $5 to $10 per pop, Android could become a billion dollar business for Microsoft. (Ironically, Android is currently more profitable for Microsoft than is Windows Phone.)

Of course, in reality, Microsoft is looking for a way to boost Windows Phone, and by working the other side of the equation to increase Android handset prices, Microsoft will have a more competitive platform on their hands. A $10 licensing fee is significant amount of money on a device with a bill of materials that is approaching sub-$100.

For years, the employees of legal and IPR departments in companies around the world have been worried about potential of "submarine" IPR attacks against Linux, with some troll waiting around for a large installed user base before rising to the surface. In the end, it was something much larger.

As the smartphone battler gets more vicious, it will take some heavy guns for any platform to succeed. The business is now as much about collecting patents as it is about innovation.

As the world awaits the next iteration of the iPhone, the truth is, we already know to expect more of the same: some nice marginal improvements, but nothing revolutionary. And competitors will match feature-for-feature in this follow-the-leader market.

Smartphone developments have gone flat.

Who invented the tablet?! Who invented oxygen?

So, who invented the tablet form factor? This is certainly a topical discussion.

To anyone who has ever watched any sort of science fiction, from The Flintstones to The Jetsons, from Star Trek to 2001: A Space Odyssey, the concept of PDAs and tablets seemed rather obvious. It was a natural metaphor of touching and writing. Of paper and pen. Of pointing and gesturing.

I like to point to the Nokia MediaScreen, a proof-of-concept device introduced at IFA in September 1999, as the start of big thinking when it comes to the tablet. The MediaScreen was a Linux-based tablet concept device with a GSM uplink and DVB-T reception. It was hip, connected, exciting, and slightly ahead of its time. Nokia was at its peak during the time, and when Nokia spoke, the audience listened. The MediaScreen drove the fans wild. Was Nokia about to make the market for this new form factor? No.

About a year later 3Com introduced the Audrey. It was the time of internet-appliance madness. The Audrey was almost as pretty as its namesake, Audrey Hepburn, but the product never made it as big. It was canned mid-2001. But around the same time, Microsoft began talking about tablets and pen-based computing. The products weren't mature enough to succeed, but the ideas were still flowing.

Of course, the truth is credit is due to many. Gene Roddenberry and Arthur C. Clarke. 3Com and Palm (who were one in the same for a while). Apple and Nokia. Microsoft and Amazon. And many more.

It's a shame to see innovation go flat as it is these days. Hopefully going forward, the industry will be on a roll.

Flintstone's tablet: sometime between 50 million to 100,000 years ago:
Note: Dinosaurs roam free in the background, making accurate time determination a bit tricky.


Star Trek tablet: mid-1960s.. or the future:


Apple's Newton from 1993:


Palm Pilot PDA circa 1997:


Nokia's "MediaScreen" concept device, introduced in 1999:


3Com's "Audrey" introduced October 2000. Killed June 2001:


Nokia's 770 tablet, announced in 2005:


Microsoft's Slate computer introduced Jan 2010.