innovation playground Idris Mootee

There's Gotta Be Easier And Cooler Ways To Transfer Files Between Devices. A Lot Of People Are Working On It.

When people talk about innovation generally people are quick to refer to something completely new. The question is how many new ideas are really new? Or recanation of old ideas or new applications of old ideas? Or just new ways to package old ideas? It is not uncommon that multiple companies or people are working on the same new idea but no one knows each other are working on the same thing?

So many people are working on innovative ways to send and receive files over a wireless network which is done through Bluetooth or infrared or whatever. Some engineers are playing with the idea of using the optical spectrum that offers better security and higher transfer rates. Engineers from Pennsylvania State University have now succeeded in moving data outside the usual line of sight restrictions at speeds of over one gigabit per second, more than double the max speed available today.

The engineers have developed a system where a high-powered laser diode transmits data by converting electricity into infrared light, which then bounces off any walls and surfaces before being received by an avalanche photo diode, where it's converted back into electricity and translated into usable data. Using it in a room with no windows will ensure that any transmitted signals do not escape and cannot be intercepted or less interferences. Not sure how many rooms are completely closed with no windows.

One creative application could be the "wireless projection of HD television. Currently, two high definition broadcasts exceed the bandwidth of any radio system, but with a 1.6 gigabit per second gigabit system, two HD channels could be broadcast," according to Professor of Electrical Engineering Mohshen Kavehrad.

At Idea Couture we’ve been playing with the idea for more than 18 months exploring new ways to transfer files between devices using simple touch gestures. We called it “Touch-and-Send”. Obviously there must have been dozens of start-ups or labs working on solving file transfer problems or creative ways to do that using similar approach. Currently there is no simple way to move things, plugging into the USB is still the simplest way and requires no set up. 

But a new research project at MIT called Sparsh is also working to fix the file transfer problem. Sparsh (Hindi word for "touch") is a virtual cloud-based clipboard where any data, like a phone number or photograph, can temporarily live until it's "pasted" to another device. It is kind of like the mailroom.

To make it work, both devices need to be Sparsh-enabled and the person touches data on a device, such as a picture or a music file can be sent through the cloud and receive by another device. Right now, Sparsh is at a concept satge at MIT's Media Research Lab. Very exciting idea indeed.

Expect to see many more innovations enabled by the cloud. The sky is the limit.

The Next Time You Pick Up The Phone To Call A Customer Service Agent You Might End Up Talking To An Inmate In Tijar, India.

Global customer servicing outsourcing is touching us everyday and sometimes you don’t know who you’re talking to on the phone or online when you call your service provider. I have had good experiences as well bad ones and the business case for companies are obvious and the continuous drive for lower costs are pushing companies to be creative and look for emerging destinations beyond the popular candidates such as India and Philiphines despite their relative advantage in English proficiency.

India is trying to move up the food chain and trying to provide higher value outsourcing jobs while in the Philippines, but moreover in Malaysia, Thailand and increasingly Vietnam and Indonesia, all want a piece of the still gorwing pie. We are seeing some anti-outsourcing sentiment due to the high unemployment rate at home recede to historical norms. The cost saving justification needs to be significant these days but it is not easy as the standard of living in India and Vietnam are quickly rising. That’s when you need to be creative.

Now they are doing a pilot program in India recruiting inmates with some good IT skills to try them doing basic data entry, customer service and support. They need to start with changing the policy of allowing Internet access in prisons. Those who participate will get paid more than what they could earn doing other jobs in the prisons. This is still at pilot stage and I wonder how they will select the people to participate beyond their skills, will they have to say something like “Sir, before we continue on, I’d like you to know that I am special customer service agent and a convict and previously robbed and bank and shot the manager. I need to confirm that you would like to continue on to allow me to help you with your banking transaction here?”

According to Gopinath Reddy, director general of prisons in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, he told the Guardian in the UK that inmates' knowledge should be used for the benefit of "the nation." The pressure to lower cost and perceptions of lowering capital investment make outsourcing an almost irresistible impulse for service businesses and manufacturers. Global access to vendors, falling interaction costs, and improved information technologies and communications links are giving companies unprecedented choice in designing their operations. Theses strategies are too easy for many taking an extra few cents out but it is time to rethink outsourcing. We need the jobs back and let’s talk smartsourcing. The next outsourcing RFPs will go to top prisons in the US, India and Philipphines to competete against each other perhaps. That's innovation.

The Future Battle Of Seach Will Be In Social Mobile. Does Social Search Make Any Sense?

A friend of mine visited me from Japan and our conversation was around mobile search, since Apple’s acquisition of Siri, a company that makes voice-operated personal assistant app for the iPhone, people wonder what’s Apple intent was. This move has big implications for the future of mobile search and is just a first step into the game.

This space is where Google is not winning as generalized search is not working and so people have to resort to specialized apps. It can be super-local for hyper-specialized and need-based. It is more than just getting information but getting some jobs done. It is two steps within minutes versus most online search is the first step. Whether it is about finding a nearby pub, getting a movie ticket or getting a dinner reservation through OpenTable, context is crucial. So business model is pretty much based around affiliate commissions from partners.

There are still a lot of usability issues to solve and there is little tolerance to sifting through irrelevant search results and they include: How to create clear quick access action buttons? How do you combine motion and gestures into the usability language? How to use limited real estate particular there are a lot of information to display? How to meet the user’s needs quickly? He or she has less than 3 minutes to get what they want. How to deal with user mistakes? It is not just a backward button?

Is social search the answer? I don’t know and I am not sure. There are apps that go out there and search for rankings and aggregate them and translate them into usable data. I think there are some apps that simply go through social networks and find out what people are recommending. Adding social layers onto search results is one option but I don’t think it is an effective solution. I am not sure I know what is the best filtering technique? I think location matters. What people are tweeting is often irrelevant. Searching for ‘likes’ in Facebook can’t be too useful. We are still a few years away from AI search.

Researchers at IBM have been working on a machine called Watson that can sift through a terabyte of data and crank out answers to complicated questions in a few seconds. A version of the software that runs Watson could reside on a doctor's tablet computer in 3-5 years, analyzing test results to proffer a diagnosis, according to Dave Ferrucci, a senior manager at IBM.

Smartphones are getting more prevalent and powerful enough to handle complex tasks. More than 70% of Americans will own a smartphone by the end of 2013 and mobile tablets sport more powerful processors that let users run complex artificial intelligence apps on them. Ai will be available at the palm of your hands.. .in no more that 2 -3 years I hope.

In the meantime, Google will be buying up anything that helps the to colonized the mobile space. Anytime you need to use any of these services on your Android devices, you need to log into your Google account. That means all your location history, browsing history, and preferences are available for Google to use so that they can show you send advertisements your way.

In 2012, Facebook Will Give New Meanings To 'Social Services' And Will Pass Yahoo In Revenue And A Key Player In Mobile Space.

A week away from Christmas and we're not slowing down yet. Still plenty of things going on and I plan to spend the next 5 days in the office (a first in a year). This is the time I usually make predictions and I am working on a long one to share with our clients. Give you some ideas of what I am looking at:

At the end of 2012, there is the mass push to the clouds and consolidation will happen and India will probably own 25% of the world’s market. Not finished with my spreadsheet models, 25% is close.

At the end of 2012, the idea pf 'customer engagement' will finally emerge as a disciline that sits on top of all CRM, direct marketing, brand activiation or social media marketing activities. Big agencies continue to struggle as they are far behind the curve.

At the end of 2012, social innocation will hit a new high as corporations come to realization that CSR needs to be more than just corporate public relations. It is about issues management, stakeholders dialogue and social empowerment through emerging technologies and interactions design. True experts will emerge to help corporations to navigate this landscape.

At the end of 2012, Yahoo will not exist as a public company and will reach the end of a slow death; its valuation would dropped drastically and ultimately get acquired. The shareholder value destroyed over the next 18 months will be significant and they wish they’d sold it earlier.

By the end of 2012, smart phones/pads will significantly take away from PCs as the most common Web access device globally both from consumer device sales and usage.

By the end of 2012, someone will figurte out how to use iPad as a platform for education. It is a school for everyone and everywhere. Earn your credits or even degree with just your iPad. And free iTunes music for high score students?

By the end of 2012, Facebook will be a key player in the mobile space. What’s the big idea? They will have a platform that includes hundreds of standalone cross-platform applications for iPhone, Android and Blackberries. They would provide mobile developers with tools and support to create and push new 'social' apps.

Today Facebook generates only a little less than $3 per user per year in revenues while Google generates about $25 per user per year (more than $25 billion in revenue from about 1 billion users). Facebook has plenty of rooms to rethink and create new “media” space to capture some of that money. Facebook targeting potential is more attractive and it is an always on for many user (including me) already, it is far better than TVs.

But the bigger disruption is outside the 'media' space; it is payment and shopping – FB social shopping and payment mechanism. Imagine if they plug in product targeting (with what they know about you) and allow users (to be categorized as searchers/opinion shapers/advocates) to use some form of Facebook money to pay for it. Do the math here: FB Shopping + FB Mobile + FB Money.

Facebook will give new meanings to 'social services' and create new shareholder value. Facebook’s value (currently privately held valued between $35-$50 billion) would surely surpass Yahoo’s (publicly held current valued at $21 billion with operating margin at 12%) revenue by end of 2012 and Facebook can get a margin of 37%, multiply that by a moderate 14X P/E and you get a sense of what’s Facebook worth.

If you're interested in trends and forecast, here's a company TrendHunter that produced a good general trend reports and used by many firms. Will provide a review of some of the themes in the next two weeks.

Apple Should Forget The Movie Studios. Go After The Banks Instead. I Want My iMoney.

This sign is up for our San Francisco office. The archtiects and the girls are working day and night to get this right and a lot of furniture are still in the Atlantic Ocean. Shipping furniture from Europe to US is always slow. Hey we need to get the righ stuff we need to wait.

Congrats to Nick Hughes (managing director of Signal Point Partners and LBS alum) for picking up the Social and Economic award at the Economist Innovation Awards a few weeks ago held at the Science Museum in London. Nick was recognized for his part in creating the M-Pesa venture in Kenya, a mobile money-transfer initiative – something that is long overdue in the world of banking unmet needs.

M-Pesa was first launched in 2005, allow people to transfer money, pay bills and save using a mobile phone, without NO bank account. Handset to handset money transfer, you would wonder why we don’t have it here. Now it is widely adoption in different parts of Africa with over 12 million users in Kenya alone. I see this is more than a technology innovation; it is a social innovation to facilitate economic development in the developing world.

Today, it still takes weeks to clear a check, transferring money is still a pain and fees are hefty. It is time for disruptive change. PayPay was great; never really get beyond the web. It should have been Twitter Wallet or Facebook Money that we are using now. Twitpay is one of those; the service has only 15,000 users to date. They are not the only one trying to attack the payment ecosystem, seeking out ways small and large to tear down the fortress the banks and credit card companies have built to defend their businesses.

PayPal is trying to harness the creative powers of the open Innovation to rethink payments. ClickandBuy's Facebook application allows Facebook users will be able to easily execute money transfers among each other and purchase Facebook apps quickly and conveniently. Another one called Square, a new company founded by Twitter cocreator Jack Dorsey, lets anyone accept physical credit card payments through a smartphone or computer by plugging in a free sugar-cube-sized device — no expensive card reader required. I don’t know why Google is not attacking this seriously, big markets and big money. I guess that’s the problem with bottom-up innovation and efforts are not aligned with opportunities.

And I'd rather using Apple i-Money and use i-Tunes to manage my banking. Steve, forget the movie studios..go for the banks!!!! I am looking forward to getting rid of my wallet…so I have more rooms for gadgets.

Off to San Francisco for IC Innovation Masterclass and BTW our street sign is up. Competitors alerted and we are in game. Magazine gone to the printer. New staff starting this week. Partnerships discussions with a few firms. Busy week and now looking forward to catch up with my couple of dozens of frineds in the Bay area.

For Now Tablet Is Dominated By iPad, And Then There Are Hundreds Of Others Who Want A Piece Of The Action.

Microsoft just posted a really good quarter and has been openly criticized for its lack of strategy in the tablet market and other consumer market. This software giant has failed to innovate in many fronts despite massive resources and strong talent based. The company has also failed to create any buzz on their product launches; you wonder what is not working with this company. It is not lack of money for sure, and not about lack of talent either.

The iPod has only been on the market for half a year, the buzz has quiet down but adoption is high and broad unlike previous products. This is an instant success and looks like no one us close to being a threat. Though Samsung, LG, HTC, Dell, HP and Lenovo, and others are unveiling their own tablets, no on has the advantage of full software and hardware integration. Apple's complete integration of hardware, software, operating system, and applications is a major competitive advantage.

Many think Galaxy is only potential threat to Apple. The Galaxy's screen has about three times the surface area of typical smart phones, including the phone. When it comes to tablet features and performance, here's how the Galaxy measures up to the iPad. The Galaxy is about the size of large paperbacks and don’t expect battery to last more than 8 hrs.

Samsung has identified two problems to solve as a competitive weapon to compete against iPad. First is flash. And then the other is face-to-face communication. The Galaxy has two cameras, one facing you and the other facing away, and you can use the Qik app to videoconference with other online members. This is an attractive feature and for sure will be matched quickly.

There are a handful of Qik enabled phones out there, but it still hard to find someone to talk than using Skype. iPad2 might incorporate a camera and FaceTime. Android have more apps, above100, 000 apps but the proportion of high-quality apps that you have to pay for has not gone up significantly. Apple leans way the other way on this, limiting some of its 300,000 apps solely to iPad distribution. And most are willing to apps for the iPad. Mobile usage has become pervasive. Mobile devices (smart phones, tablets and whatever in between) will be experienced dramatic evolution in the next 5 years. It is the new competitive ground and becoming a real category on its own rather than something as complimentary to the PCs.

These tablets or large smart phones are fast becoming mini-computers with nearly 13 million iPads shipped this year and expect to grow 3x next year. These tablets’ bigger screens promise more immersive experiences for marketers. The web will become more app like and the user experiences will converge. I can see tons of innovation opportunities to drive new behavior. It is so easy to view content on iPad and people considered that as less private, and more willing to share. 2-3 users sitting in a coffee shop can easily view the screen. And as a shared device, the iPad invites social interaction and imagine design apps for real life social interactions rather than virtual. A game that can be passed around and played or something that people can use in a retail environment, sort of self-help navigation in mall and view merchandise and promotions etc. I can come up with another ten scenarios.

I am looking forward to see the Blackberry Tablet rumored to cost just under $500. The PlayBook will have a smaller screen than the iPad (7-inch PlayBook versus 9.7-inch iPad), and there won't be a 3G option (it shouldn’t as it should use the BlackBerry connection). The screen resolution will be similar the iPad, but will translate to more pixels per inch. The PlayBook will also have bigger ram than the iPad (1GB PlayBook versus 256MB iPad), and RIM also included in two cameras (5MP back, 3MP front). I think this is useful for BalackBerry users like me and will guaranteed a minimum adoption. Great, now I’ve got one more thing to add to my briefcase.

Deciding On Your Big Strategic Innovation Move? Don't Forget One Small Detail: How Do You Make Money?

Technology-based companies typically make one common mistake: They get too caught up in technological innovation, particularly developing new technologies, or get too obsessed with the next killer technology and thinks the world evolves around their latest invention. Even if they find the right applications for their technologies, they often defer the serious effort needed to figure out how they create economic value – or how do they make money? They did not come up with the answers but insisted sailing forward ending up with business without a business model. I find that funny, a business without a business model should not be called a business in the first place. It is different when a company needs to change their revenue strategy as they move up the value chain or extend their activities in the business eco-system. That's a different story.

A business without a clear idea of how it makes money is like a zombie, and for a business without understanding their roles and purposes is like a zombie without a heart in additional to a brain. Not sure what is the technical name for that? The walking dead?

Traditional technology innovation often leads to a strong internal focus and thus being too fixated on pursuing engineering development and lacks early consideration on commercialization, marketability and industry architecture. As a result, many technologically innovative firms fail to bring their products successfully to the market or create a sustainable business economic model.

Every company should have an idea how they would like to compete (create value) and make money (capture value) and that guides the strategic planning and implementation of all its innovation and planning activities. Strategic innovation should be about highly selective market entry with the intent of subsequent market domination.

There is too much hpye on business model design. The truth is there are only a handful of options so there is no need to glorify the effort. Organizations are increasingly inter-connected as they design, source, buy, make, distribute and market their products and there are many configurations you can play with. But that is not about the business model, that is the business design or value chain or value network (I think this is a better phrase). Business models are primarily about how to capture the economic value by extending the revenue sources. It is not uncommon for companies to operate outside and across traditional industry boundaries and definitions.

Any strategic innovation effort could lead to reconfiguration of assets and capabilities. When you hear the name Skype, what do you think? Probably free Internet calls. What is Skype’s business model? Well they never really have one unitl now. It is a great offering and good user experiences and the customer value proposition is compelling—free.

How do you make money by providing free voice calls? At least it looks like they finally figured it out, it is now “free plus paid services” model. Is there any business model innovation here? I don’t think so. They charge you for calls outside of Skype user base. They did try a new innovative experiments including sending money via Skype. However, when your corporate parent also owns PayPal, that won’t work. It was shot down very quickly. I don’t think they will try Skype auction next.

Next they should be putting their innovation effort on mobile, there are lots of opportunity for innovation that brings in new and real revenue. So they end up becoming a telecommunications company? They need to find a real problem to solve? Go back to the unmet needs? money from “upstream” partners. The local cost or free customer proposition limits their abilities to charge more, so they need to go somewhere to find revenue. Serving ads won’t get them where they want to go. The mobile area is still where the money is..at least for now.

I remember the analyst conference last year when Josh Silverman’s presenation was to address the following:

• How does Skype generate revenue?
• What drives Skype’s cost model?
• How will a software company change real time communications in ways that legacy telcos cannot?
• How is Skype structured to address its various market opportunities?

The net message was that they expect to double their revenue to over $1 billion in 2011 from their 400 million registered users. And maintaining segment margins of 18%-20%. Solverman stated that there is a communications paradigm shift going on where hardwired networks and devices are gradually being replaced by software-based networks and flexible devices.

For Silverman, Skype’s “opportunity is to become the world’s leading communications software company. To reinforce his point, Skype will not simply be on familiar telephony devices, it will show up in intelligent TV sets, car dashboards and intelligent public access terminals such as bank ATM’s all tied to a common network. Well that's a nice aspiration, but hardly a business strategy with a business model. At the end of the day, can they just tell me what are they planning to do in the next 3 years and where the revenue will come from. This is not the question people like to address.

There Is Texting For Business, Texting For Emergency, Texting For Health, Texting For Love And Texting For Seduction. We Have Yet To Understand The Effects Of Excessive Texting Impacting Our Communications And Realtionships.

San Francisco weather is perfect this week, yes unusual for late Sept. Exhasuted but a lot of things get done. Will be spending a lot of time here.

I realize I am texting more these days as it is faster and easier. Texting is one of our everyday activities, for the younger generation, it is the primary method to stay connect with friends. I have seen a couple texting each other even when they are in the in same house. And some text while they drive, eat and even in an intimate situation. Imagine that?

It is also becoming a common tool for business as customer services. Airline texts me update on flight status and that makes sense, as it is time sensitive. One significant strength of text messaging is its ability to remain unintrusive, particular we are in meetings or on conference calls.

A company called StartTalking is making texting easer by allowing you translate talk to text. You just talk to it, and have it send what you say as a text. Likewise, when someone sends you a message, it will read it out. Is that a good idea? Are we turning text into phone calls? The thing is free of charge and once installed on your Android phone (and available soon for the iPhone and BlackBerry), it works quietly in the background and listens for voice prompts in order to activate.

The two prompts that are coming in this first iteration of the product are "computer" and "operator," though in future versions you'll be able to program in whatever word you want. It's as simple as saying "operator: text message for (insert name of the name of the receiver)." It confirms you want to send a message to that person, and then you just begin speaking. When you're done talking, it runs that speech through conversion, and plays it back for you.  Works like a voice mail. But other than when I am driving, it is defeating the purpose of texting. People do it most in classes and meetings when they can't talk.

Texting is actually an interesting behavior that is affecting many aspect of our life. There is texting for customer service, texting for emergency, texting for socail causes, texting for security and testing for seduction. It is now ubiquitous in our society. Think about the future of seduction and flirting, texting will be a perfect medium. Just add location based capability and a people matching algorithm.

I can see a bestseller book titled “100 Proven Techniques - Texting to Attract And Seduce?” Think about it, all it takes is one single funny text to makes one laugh and remember you. There is a whole new set of techniques in how often, what style, what teaser, when and that becomes your brand. You can't over do it, too much texting is bad. It is sort of like direct marketing, and sometimes you need a call for action. What we are looking at here is to tantalize and tease her/him. Bring out your brand personality and always leave her/him wanting more. Texting is a great seduction tool if you know the right techniques.

It is easy to envision using texting to engage audience in entertainment, particularly terrestrial radio to interact with live programs, a new revenue stream too. Local politicians can use this to drive engagement with constituents since people can use it to send complains to their local councilors as most would not write a letter and make a phone call after the event.

Here is an innovative idea. You can build a business with this overnight. Starting a SMS–based training services. Whether it is for improving your general social skills, seduction skills, customer service skills, negotiation, self-improvement and even language skills etc. Or an SMS-based MBA? Anytime and anywhere. For $10 a month, you can learn new skills anywhere and anytime you want. And each session can be 5 min while you wait for your burger or 30 min while you wait for your flight to take off. I can come up with a list of 50 ideas to offer. May be this our next start-up incubation idea?

It Is Time That Google Needs A Reset. Now Facebook Places. Next Facebook Faces. Then Facebook Realtime Mobile Directory?

Here's Simon and Ashley as part of a team working on a social strategy for a very cool company. Part of the mission is to look at their competition and coopetition. In the world of business strategy and competition, friends can become enemies overnight. Google is definitely not happy with the idea that Facebook is sitting with 500 million users with 50% very active. What can they do?

Back in 2002, Google was competing with Overture and other search engine for shares. Overture was the search leader and was mining 3.2 billion pages, roughly 70 mm more pages than Google. Shortly Google climbed to 3.3 billion pages and continued to extend the gap. Soon after Overture bought the Web search assets of AltaVista and Fast Search and Transfer (including AlltheWeb), to compete with Google head on.. and the battle began...

Google won AOL business away from Overture; and Overture won Freeserve away from Google. We will be seeing the same battle all over again when this time Facebook is the rivalry? Google is the place to find anything and that is extending to places with Google Map and Street Views. “Local” is still hole in the Google world. Facebook Places is an innovation to fill that hole with a social-media twist. Facebook users can now "check in" to an existing list of nearby locations from their mobile phones or add new listings themselves, sharing that activity with their friends.

Facebook will potential become a platform for local business search listings, the same strategy that Google, Yelp, Foursquare, Gowalla, and a few others that are fighting to get local advertising dollars. Facebook Places is the latest example of how information access is empowering new behavior.

We don’t know if these behavior will become mainstream. It is not difficult to imagine that I will be able to use my Facebook app on my mobile device to find local business. I won’t have to open my laptop and Google a restaurant if I can just use my mobile device, with added comments and suggestions from my social networks. Facebook's decision to add location data to its product instanly creates a Google-scale competitor overnight. With so many businesses already have Facebook pages, it is easy to pay and extend that into Facebook local search. So pages + places = Yellow Pages + instance update on products + prices right in your pocket.

Today, 100 million people a month are using Google's Maps for Mobile product but it doesn’t mean much in terms of barriers for entry, at least not for Facebook. Google knows very little about me other than what I search but Facebook knows my friends, communities and what I am passionate about. Google needs a reset. Buy FB stock if it goes IPO.

What Do You Know About Business Model Innovation? People Are Confused About The Difference Between Business Model, Strategy And Innovation.

Most people think they know what a business model is. But when you ask them about the "strategy' then they wondered what they're talking about. Most of the time they mean business strategy (what a company does and how to make money) and use the words interchangeably. That’s fine. Then some people even get more confused when they apply that in innovation context. They mean changing or rethinking the business itself, including its core, boundaries, activities and capabilities. That’s strategic innovation. Business model innovation could be part of the outcome. But let’s face it, how many companies out there need to (and can afford to) rethink their business models?

A company can innovate strategically but with no need to change its business models. After all, there are only less than 10 business models out there, it is not like you can do unlimited creative explorations. At its simplest, a business model simply about exploring various ways to develop, improve or optimize your revenue stream(s) and matching them to your customer value propositions. Here are some examples of how people missed the term: 

Google is probably perceived as one of the most innovative companies today. They are essential exploiting technology innovation and you can say they have created an innovative culture. But there is nothing innovative about their business model design. Selling ads and sponsored links, not different from other media in that case, but there are so many people saying Google has an innovative business model.

And think about Amazon.com, it is an online retailer started with books and now expanding into new categories and even products. OK, it is a pretty innovative company but there is nothing innovative about their business model. They are an online direct merchant even though they open up their channel for others to sell their products and take a cut, that doesn’t qualify as business model innovation. That’s retailing except there is no physical store, just technology infrastructures.

What is Facebook’s business model? Not sure there is one, but so far it is advertising. And what options are available to them, not many. You don't need a strategist to perform a business model design innovation exercise, I can tell you in 5 minutes. I’ve read so much garbage about people running seminars on business model innovation, these are feel business yoga classes for those who knows nothing about real business strategy or Jnana yoga.

I’ve just finished writing 90% of our Innovation and Strategy Training package material, lots of good stuff and we will be using them to help our clients to truly innovate from organizing to planning and activation. These materials can turn anyone with a few years of good general business experience into an innovation strategist in a few days, and smarter than those who write books and articles on business model innovation who are as confused as the people who they talk to.

To strategically innovate or complete redesign of a company business model, first there must be a need, or strategic intent. Driven by a business strategy that forces the rethinking of the business models. Not the cart before the horse. Also one must understand what options exist and the migration paths. Strategic innovation can sometimes include business model redesign in combination with product, service, social, technology and experience innovation.

Not every company need to make radical changes in its core business itself, and in some instances the case for change becomes desperately obvious – as it is in the case of Blockbuster, Kodak, Palm or GM. Business model redesign is driven by of strategic innovation (a strategy to play a new game). This means complete transformation—of the organization, its core offerings, structure, systems, culture and capabilities—to create value in a new way. This include a business strategic decisions to move up-market or down-market or shift from products to services or solutions when the pace of commoditization continues to accelerate or the industry boundaries is opening up for new entrants. Not every company needs it. But every company needs to innovate around their products/service/experience/delivery/technology in order to remain competitive, all without rethinking their business models. My strategy and innovation material includes methods and tools that are rigor and effective, sometimes reading these junks can actually confused me.

With The World In Such A Mess. It's Time To Rethink, Reimagine And Preparing For A Reset.

No question many of us are upset, feeling restless and wondering how we have created such a big mess of this world. Countries are going bankrupt with Spain on the border of joining Greece. Countries’ (including UK and US) skyrocketing debt and deficits with politicians have absolutely no clue of how to deal with them and leave them to their grandchildren. The US immigration reform is not happening and forcing states like Arizona to take such drastic measures. We seem to have and continue to produce a generation of elected politicians who either don't know what is  right and wrong; or who simply don't have the intellectual ability to understand or solve these complex problems. They all promise the same thing – that they will do better than the other person and reform this or that. But as we see, they can't and won't. Hope is not a strategy.

And we are seeing no end to the two wars or do we have a plan to deal with the two mad men (in North Korea and in Iran). Climate change and men made disasters keep happening and financial reform is no where in sight, we can see a lot of talk and no action. And healthcare. Many wonder if there is anything we can do about this at all?

For many multi-national corporations, if you are making tons of money out of what you’re doing today, why border to create something new or change? For the once big mighty corporations, when you were making so much money out of oil, healthcare, pharma, financial services, why take any risks?

Can technologies save us? We hope that advances in science and technology will keep improving our lives in the years ahead but I don't think they can solve the problems that we have. But let’s not rely on future technologies; I think we have enough technologies around us to experiment with.

Here's an example: A bunch of MIT Media Lab's Next Billion Network folks worked in a project called "Can 4 Billion Cellphones Change the World for the Better?" The idea is to find new ways to harness the increasingly ubiquitous cellphone to help people in developing countries. They have ambition; their question is "can you make a cellphone change the world?"

Other cellphone applications for people in low-income countries are being developed by fellows at MIT's Legatum Center, whose director Iqbal Quadir was the founder of Bangladesh's GrameenPhone, a company that by introducing a low-cost cellphone service to Bangladesh starting in 1997 provided an early example of the power of mobile technologies to advance prosperity in the developing world.

One idea is to improve the delivery of health care in rural areas. Patients in a remote village have to spend a whole day or more traveling to the nearest clinic in order to be tested, diagnosed and receive treatment or a prescription drug for their health problems. But a new open-source software system developed by students who formed a nonprofit company called Moca could provide a faster way. I think this concept is not only for the developing world, it is a great way to lower our healthcare cost and improve quality too.

Nowadays we are all dealing with the hangover from the 60’s. Fifty years ago the concerns of design revolved around the improvement or performance of services and products, while today it is more about design solutions that challenge people to rethink our world, our environment.

We don't even need to look into the future, just look around us, there are plenty of technologies that allow us to change the world. just need more design thinking and imagination. Yes, we can use a few more smart people. Contact us if you're up to the challenge.

What You Don't Know About Crowdsourcing And Why They Often Fail?

Innovation is hard, it is not about getting the idea at all, it is about managing ideas. So you’ve have a few great ideas, so what? There is a lot of art and science behind moving ideas along corporate decision chain as well as managing unknowns. I remember I used to teach an in-house program for my strategists on “managing the unknowns.” These MBAs struggle with not finding enough data points and as a result stuck in the innovation process. How often these big world changing ideas came from people with MBAs?

But then there are so many ideas such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, OnStar, Kindle, Blackberry and the X-37B space plane launched this week,... that turned into innovations that change the way we work and play forever; stirred new competition and created new wealth. The future is never about the future, it is about now.

What changed our life, work and business? I will say automation, digital technologies, social media, modern medicines, jet engines, fast food, mass manufacturing, the marginal productivity theory of wages, consumerism and modernism. Many of these ideas grew in a world with fundamental economic convictions, namely the mass-production and mass-consumption of goods.

But these assumptions are fast changing. Spend a few days around the world stopping over in Shenzen, Shanghai, Mumbai and Seoul and you know what’s really happening out there. Companies are getting desperate and now reaching out to suppliers and customers for ideas. Some even go to the extreme of sourcing ideas from the everyone - the crowd.

There’s this naive belief that the crowd is smarter than individual. This is a dangerous theory. Engaging suppliers, advanced users and front-end employees are good practices, but not letting them do your job.

There is one recent book about crowdsourcing suggesting companies should stir things up. Just look at the current state of US politic, is that what you want to happen for your company?

Furthermore, let me tell you the secret of success for open innovation, this is a better word than crowsourcing. It is not the ideas, the breadth of the ideas, the quality of ideas etc. It is about building a team that believe in it and empowered to make it happen. Crowdsourcing and futurecasting are all great tools to get inspired, but they are not innovation, The most important part of innovation are the managing, mobilizing and aligning the ideas to strategic intent. At IC, we have the toolkits and processes and repeatedly appled them effectively in large organizational settings. Unfortunately that’s not something we can share here.

Another way to explain what I am trying to day -- Karim R. Lakhani, a pro at Harvard Business School, calls what most people refer to as crowdsourcing "broadcast search." A problem statement is broadcast along with associated incentives, and people with expertise apply their talent to solving the problem. I like the term virtuoso search better. Whatever term we use, let's not call it crowdsourcing and pretend that 10,000 average Joes invent better products than Steve Jobs.

The example of Cambrian House provided learnings for everyone. It was a very innovative idea. They were followed by the Kluster, CrowdSpirit, CrowdSpring, and FellowForce. Cambrian House was no question a pioneer in putting crowdsourcing to work. The company pretty much don’t exist today and the technology was sold to another company for a fraction of the original investment who now offers their technology solution as software services.

Cambrian House's CEO Michael Sikorsky reflected on Tech Crunch a few years back about lessons learned (excerpt):

Indeed, our model failed. In short: we became a destination people loved to bookmark more than they loved to actively visit (our traffic pattern was scarily VC-ish). The limiting reagent in the start-up equation is not ideas, but amazing founding teams.

A key assumption for us, which proved out NOT true: given a great idea with great community support and great market test data, we would be able to find (crowdsource) a team willing to execute it OR we could execute it ourselves. We needed amazing founding teams for each of the ideas – this is where our model fell short.

What we learned: it would have been better to back great teams with horrible ideas because most of the heavy lifting kept falling back on us, or a few select community members. A vicious cycle was created leading all of us to get more and more diffuse. Hence: the wisdom of crowds worked well in the model, but it was our participation of crowds aspect which broke down. Trying to find people willing or capable to take on the offspring (our outputs) of the CH model was hard and/or incredibly time consuming.

I Am Happy WIth My IPad Mini So There Are No Reasons Why I Won't Like My iPad. Just Add A Camera.

Some are comparing iPad to Netbooks, but it is not a fair comparison. I don’t like Netbooks myself, I used to have one 14 years ago made by Sony, it was a very powerful mini notebook with a built-in camera (a first at that time). It costs me $2,300 when I purchased that from a now bankrupted computer store chain in San Hose. It was a good one except keyboard was too small and battery life short. According to the guy at a local Best Buy store, 8 out of 10 Netbooks sold got returned. I am sure that’s not the case in Asia. I think many people have wrong expectations and not aware of the limitations of Netbooks.

There was one kid working at Best Buy asked me if I like the ITouch Jumbo, he was referring to iPad. I said I like the IPad mini (iTouch) that I have now, so I think I will like the iPad. The only disappointment for me is the lack of a camera, because I think if I carry that all the time and being able to use Skype is great plus. It doesn’t add much to the cost. The camera needs to be in the front obviously. It is still a little heavy; adding 11.5 lbs to my Louis Vuitton briefcase is pushing it. No video output is a negative; the other Lenovo Ideapad I bought has a HDMI output. The Lenovo tablet will be out soon and Brother (pic below) has a robust design for business use, not sure about the Brother brand name. Should rebrand this tablet to "iBro". Even with many criticisms, iPad will be an instant success. It is not a Newton I can guaranteed you.

IPad preorders are pouring in. Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board (subscription needed) noted that iPad pre-orders dropped from an estimated 25,000 per hour on Friday, the first day of availability, to around 1,000 per hour over the weekend. For the three-day period, the cumulative total was estimated at 152,000. That’s pretty good.

I think iPad will open up opportunities for print media and help shape portable media experiences. I can’t read magazines from my Blackberry of iPhone, with the iPad, it is a different story. The iPad platform has more than enough screen real estate and resolution to build interesting media sharing and communication experiences. Off course we have choices, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Lenovo and almost everyone is working on one in addition to those who have products out there such as Amazon.

Microsoft’s Courier is an interesting one, currently in "late prototype" stage of development. At least they are not making the tablet mistake, the dual 7-inch screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. There is a camera at the back too (sorry Apple). Currently, Microsoft is working on the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies. Microsoft's tablet heritage is digital ink-oriented, and this interface, while unlike anything we've seen before, clearly draws from that, its work with the Surface touch computer and even the Zune HD. And

Sony is doing some catch-up although they are stuck with their paradigm of competitive advanatage. The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony is working on a device that's described as being part Netbook, part e-reader and part PlayStation Portable. Sources within the electronic giant also report that Sony is working on a "PlayStation Phone," which would be capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games. Sony needs help.

How To Use Your IPad As A Flirting Device And Make The First Move. I Am Releasing The Instruction Ahead Of Apple's Launch In Three Weeks.

Here's how to turn your IPad as a flirtation device and find the dream nerd that you've always wanted. It works particular well with nerds but can also work with other segments I think. Flirting and dating with nerds is a challenge unless you also work in one of those environments you simply don't understand them. Being nerdy can be cool. Although they have a particular style of dressing and you have to like it. If you see a nerd that you like and want to make a first move the first thing is you need tools. In a few weeks, you can get the iPad, a perfect tool to get a conversation started with a nerd. I am providing with the detail instructions, all for free.

For those girls that don’t like making the first move (I don’t know why), here’s some advice of how to make a nerd to make a move on you. They probably started the conversation with some small talks; you need to treat that carefully. Don’t show any signs of showing “oh you’re such a nerd”. Respond with a smile and you don’t even need to answer that question. Ignore the question and move to step two. Stay calm and ask him a question of how to use a certain feature on your iPad. He can definitely help and make sure you have a book opened there, preferably a novel. Like a suggestive skirt or small-T, a suggestive novel can be powerful. You definitely should not be reading Wall Street Journal or New York Times. While he is fiddling with your IPad, ask him what does he do and talk about the novel. This is a proven flirtation technique and they will talk non-stop about their work, most likely a software engineer or interface designer.

What’s the best novel for this? I suggest to you Gloria Vanderbilt’s (the 85 year old mother of CNN Anderson Cooper) new novel, “Obsession: An Erotic Tale.” Joyce Carol Oates, who calls it, “a remarkable tapestry of human passion — an interior world of highly charged erotic mysteries that teasingly suggest, but ever elude, decoding.” It is the story about Priscilla Bingham, the widow an architect who, after his death, discovers a cache of letters, wrapped in magenta grosgrain ribbon, revealing in considerable detail his secret, kinky sex life.

Nerds are a lot more selective than the average dude. They have specific requirements on what they like and all the time care a lot about the look and feel but in a non-mainstream way. Being choosy is a core characteristic of nerds. They don’t like Barbie Dolls or princess type. They like cool people. . Don’t try to end his obsession with, say, robotics, Remember you have to love a nerd for who he is. 

 After 15 or 20 minutes into the conversation, please don’t talk about fashion or hairstyles, you should now pull up your Facebook page and then ask him to type his name on it. Click add friends.

IPad will soon have an app for this, a short-range radio system to flirt with other in a coffee shop. The idea is to use frequency hopping, meaning they hop to a new frequency after transmitting or receiving a packet of information. They can communicate with others within certain distance what you are reading or music you are listening to. That way, it is one step simpler to apply my strategy.

Your Smart Phone Could Also Be A Spy Phone. It Is Possible That It Broadcasts Your Location WIthout Your Knowledge. There's No Place To Hide.

I was watching Eagle Eyes last weekend, I was thinking what happened there is actually not unlikely, we’re being watched every second. Forget about your PC spyware, they’re nothing compare with mobile phone spyware that enabled call- and text-monitoring and most of all allow anyone to tap into the phone from remotely and activate its microphone, even when it is turned OFF.

So It doesn’t matter if you have an iPhone, Blackberry or any Android phones. These spywares are not expensive (often free) or difficult to purchase or install. Your cell phone can also tell your location. We all need our cell phones, now there's no where to hide.  There are many of these spy services out there for people who are desperate to monitor their children or employees. Companies such as Mobile Spy will help you monitor their call, mobile web browsing and text message activities. You can just log into your Mobile Spy account from any computer and see everything including GPS locations too! Scary!

One popular spyware for mobile phone is the Flexispy. They come in four packages with the high end Flexispy Pro-X which include features such as listen in on LIVE calls, secret mobile GPS tracker, read SMS messages, phone call history, email, and secretly listen in on the phone's surroundings.The entry level is the Flexispy Bug which allows remote listening only. It turns your phone into a bug so you can listen to everything.

Are you safe? probably not. A quick way to check if you phone is bugged, look for sudden drop in battery power, and then unusually billing activity with random numbers. If you for whatever reasons need to engage in a secret conversations, take the battery off.

As early as 1997, the National Reconnaissance Organization warned that any cell phone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone. This is basically done by transmitting to the cell phone a maintenance command on the control channel. This command places the cellular telephone in the 'diagnostic mode.' When this is done, conversations in the immediate area of the telephone can be monitored over the voice channel. 
This diagnostic mode was originally designed for remote software update. Now with LBS, not only they can listen in, they can locate you within feet. OK, when do they start making anti-spy software for cell phones?

Don't expect these privacy risks to go away. The reality is all government have no interest to fix it or make these products illegal. The more they can find out about you the better protected they feel. It is like 1984.