50 iPhone App Recommendations for Newbies

Now that Verizon is selling iPhones, a whole bunch of my friends + coworkers have recently made the switch to iOS for the first time.  That means a lot of "what are the best apps I should download first?" questions coming in!  Now that Blippy is on the verge of getting shut down, I thought it might be helpful to write out a quick list of iPhone apps that I recommend.  For the most part I've left a quick note about each app's purpose.  Some of these might be a bit unusual, but I'm recommending them because I really like them at the moment or I think they have real potential.  Some of them also require subscriptions to other services, though I've tried to minimize that.  I've also left games off this list because they're fairly subjective and the best ones are usually reviewed heavily in the app store.  Last but not least, a lot of these have very comparable alternative options, but these are the ones I've been drawn to for one reason or another.  With that said, here's my list- what do you think? Which do you agree or disagree with?  What would you change?  What are your questions? [view the full list on the post page]

Let me introduce you to Recco

My friend Joe hit a big milestone this weekend on a longtime personal project of his: he (and his partners) launched a company and published an iPhone app into the Apple app store. I'll get to the app in a second but first some words on the milestone. A lot of people talk about good ideas every day and never do anything about them. Joe and his friends stopped talking, got to work and made something*. I'm crazy impressed with their drive and ingenuity, and even a bit jealous of his ambition too. No matter what happens from here Joe and the guys should be really proud of what they've accomplished- I know I'm proud for them.

So on to Recco. The way I see it Recco was born out of the frustration of a generation of food recommendation sites that focus on aggregating the masses- both in content quantity and participation. While some are better than others, there's still this feeling like there's too much content and too many people to discover the best stuff.  The Recco team saw a need to build an app that cuts the clutter and helps get to what you really want- giving and getting recommendations from your trusted friends of great places you should experience.

For those of you who use Foursquare or other mobile location apps the experience with Recco will be fairly intuitive.  You open the app to view recco's around you, and you add recco's + tips as you want.  Your credibility rises as people endorse your recommendation.  It's pretty basic right now but this is just version one- I'm excited to see how the Recco team builds upon their platform to bring more powerful recommendation and discovery.  Check out the Recco site to learn more and download Recco for iPhone, and start giving Recco a try.

And to the Recco team: it was exciting to be a part of your beta- congrats on launching, let me know how I can help moving forward, and I can't wait to see where you go from here!

*By the way, Seth Godin produces a lot of gems but the number one reason I read him every day is to remind myself I should keep trying to move from talk to make...

Facebook & Google Racing to Establish In-Store Mobile Connections

A few months ago Google sent out QR code stickers for local businesses to put in their windows. If a passer-by snaps a picture of the QR code with their phone they're brought directly to the business's Google Places page where they can read reviews and learn more about the store. It would actually make more sense for stores to put the QR codes in other places, like on their delivery menus or on print ads, since when shoppers are at the store window they can just walk right in and experience the business first hand.

Well rather than be left out of the storefront window Facebook has now answered by shipping their own stickers that advertise a store's Facebook URL and the ability to "like" (formerly "fan") the brand's Facebook page via text message. As it lies now, Facebook's value proposition seems more significant. If a consumer is interested in the brand after browsing the physical destination, it's a great time get them to join the business's social network to kick off a lasting relationship. Google's Places page (at least right now) doesn't offer much to someone who's already been to the store.

It actually makes complete sense for Twitter to get in this game as well. I already see stores advertising on their signs to "follow" their Twitter feed, but that actually isn't so quick in a mobile client. Most people don't know you can just text "follow [twitter handle]" to 40404 to follow a profile immediately, but Twitter could definitely help stores advertise this.

Has anyone seen the Google QR or Facebook stickers in a local store? Which brands do you think make the most sense for in-store promotion? What type of offerings would you like to see as a product of the merging of web presence and physical presence through mobile moving forward?

The Power of Facebook Mobile: Making Your Phonebook Personal

Last week Facebook rolled out a new version of their very popular iPhone app. Aside from finally enabling push notifications, it also provided a new option to sync your address book with Facebook. At first I was skeptical of how well this would actually work, but count me impressed. Facebook's ability to match your phone contacts with personal Facebook information is very impressive.

Consider my experience this weekend. I received a phone call yesterday from a new business contact who I hadn't spoken to before. I missed the call, but I saved the number in my phonebook. This morning when he called back Facebook had automatically located his profile based on his phone number and name, inserted his picture into my contact listing, and linked me to his profile. I could see his company, and put a face to a name. This was especially impressive because I wasn't even connected to this person on Facebook- it was don't only through matching public information. Facebook facilitated my experience in a way that made the power of its personal information so very clear.

Now all of the sudden most of my contacts on my iPhone have faces on them, and each listing has a link to a Facebook profile. And you can imagine this is just the beginning- why shouldn't Facebook fill in the person's work information or home address, if the person has opted in for it? Then when friends move or change which company they work for I don't have to worry about updating my address book- they've likely updated their Facebook profile, and Facebook will update me.

The syncing doesn't work perfectly, but it's a lot more powerful than I expected. And now I feel like the listings in my phonebook are actually my friends, and my new contacts are real people. I can't wait to see where Facebook takes this next.

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Review: The Android G1 vs. the iPhone 3GS

It’s been a month since I switched to the iPhone 3GS from the Android G1 and it seems worth giving my reflections. When I had the G1 I loved it. The Android operating system is awesome- Google’s effort in opening up the mobile phone is very impressive, and they’ve proven over the last year they’re committed for the long haul. Here’s what it does well: The interface is great, much more like a computer operating system. Simple things like an information bar, which makes it more like Windows, may seem unnecessary to Apple but the reality is status updates like new email & text message alerts are important and often lost on the iPhone. Also, the Google apps integration is fantastic, and for the world outside of work (i.e. Microsoft Exchange) that’s much more exciting. You can sync Gmail and Google Calendar to iPhone, but it’s not native and it kills some of the reasons I joined Gmail in the first place, like threading. Also Android lets 3rd party apps plug in to the OS, which is important for things like taking a picture with the camera and then having your choice of where to upload to, rather than on the iPhone where you have to pre-select which program you are going to use to upload even before you take the picture (or after you exit the camera all together).

Other features of Android like desktop widgets are cool but I don’t really find them necessary. iPhone lets apps do small updates through the icons, and leaving widgets on the G1 had two huge side-effects- it killed the battery life, and slowed the OS significantly. This is also my feeling on multitasking; in most cases, you really don’t need it. If iPhone apps were a little better at holding your place when exiting and re-opening them, and there was a normal info bar for push notification & other message alerts, I can’t see many reasons I’d need multitasking, especially considering the likely trade-off between that and battery life.

So what the iPhone 3GS in the face of this? Well as much as I loved the G1, I really haven’t turned it on since getting the new iPhone. There’s a lot to love about Android, but the 3GS is by far and away a better phone. First a caveat, it would definitely be fairer to compare the new iPhone to a more modern Android phone, but I don’t have that luxury. So after a month of using an phone that is all together faster in every way, from using applications to browsing the web, I can’t imagine having it any other way. Also for all of the suckiness of OS lockdown, it’s amazing how beautifully consistent every experience is on the 3GS. Every time you open an app loads just as quickly, and the usability of many applications is also comforting. What I really miss the most about the G1 is the keyboard, which in all honesty I’d take on the iPhone in exchange for a bit thicker phone. But the iPhone’s typing auto-correction is actually pretty impressive, making onscreen touch-typing much more functional than on Android.

So in the end it comes down to this. From my experience, the iPhone 3GS does the things I care about the most significantly better than the G1. That probably means that Android needs to be installed on a phone that’s worthy of its breadth of functionality, which it looks like the upcoming Verizon Droid will do. If that happens, then Apple needs to take the iPhone OS to the next level to compete. If not, then I’m sad to say I’ll take less functionality for an overall better experience, as much as I didn’t want to come to that realization.

Hoping for a Verizon Android Phone Soon

My phone account is up in May and in this day and age that's a pivotal moment - my decision right now effects the next two years!  What service and what phone do I go with?

I'm on Verizon, which is generally considered to have the best service but the worst options for phones.  Over the last few months I've had the opportunity to test the Google G1, which is on Sprint.  Since using it I can't see myself walking away from a smart phone with a tangable keyboard.  However, I don't want to be on Sprint, and the G1's lack of Microsoft Exchange support may be too much in the long run.  On the other hand, I love the application support, as minimal as it is compared to the iPhone.

So what about the iPhone?  It has exchange support, the best application platform, and is generally an impressive phone.  However, the touch keyboard doesn't seem like it would suit me; I type too much full content on the phone.  Also, Singular is still considered a questionable service.

So where does that leave me?  As boring as it sounds, I may just need to settle for a Blackberry.  Slowly the applications are coming, there is a full keyboard, and I can stay on Verizon.  It's not interesting, not boundry pushing, but it will give me the most capability without loosing the features I need (service, a keyboard, and applications).

Or, Verizon could put out an Android phone.  The Boy Genious Report is suggesting that the phone pictured above is a Motorolla Android phone that has been built for Verizon.  It is slick, has a slide-out keyboard, and runs the Android interface.  Right now it's a rumor, but if it's real then Verizon may just have me sold on a new contract.  If not, then the new iPhone that is expected to be announced in June at the Apple developer conference has a shot at moving me to Cingular, or I'll find the best Blackberry available at that time.

Skydeck Part 2: Some Additional Recommendations

After trying out Skydeck recently, I sent my initial thoughts and recommendations to the designers.  Very shortly, I received a message back from them thanking me for spending time with the tool, and asking for more feedback on what else I might want to do with more detailed analysis of the mobile data.  I came up with a few more recommendations that I’d like to see in Skydeck, which I’m posting here as well:

• Per person, a breakdown of texting vs. calling, and which they respond to more
• How quickly does someone return a call or text message
• When is an individual more likely to pick up a call or respond to a text?  For example, I typically am able to connect with my mom in the morning before she leaves for the day, but my friend only answers after 8PM, when he’s coming back from the office
• How could you do this type of analysis if mobile phone carriers don’t provide it natively? What about having a seconds threshold, such as recognizing that calls longer than :30 sec are real discussions vs. voicemail
• ability to mark certain contacts as irrelevant; for example, my Verizon voicemail and Verizon web service are listed in my top contacts, and they heavily overshadow individual people, but I don't care about them
• can it pull the backup phonebook data form my cell phone, so i can use the contact names for numbers that I've already entered into my phone

These are all new in addition to my original comments.  It’s great that Skydeck is reaching out to its users; hopefully this type of interaction with the early adopters will aid it in developing into a cool and resourceful product!  Has anyone else tried it out? What are your thoughts?

Skydeck Turns Your Mobile Phone Call Data Into a Social Network

Tonight I decided to give Skydeck a try - it's one of those social utilities you probably haven't heard of but might really enjoy using.  You connect it to your mobile phone company's website, and it scrapes your phone bills to build out a social network around your call and text information.  From here you can see who your true contacts are ranked by the amount of time you spend communicating with them.  It's on the growing list of social utilities that takes your every day behaviors and unlocks the social value, as well as the deeper personal utility, behind the data.  Think about how Xobni organizes your outlook info, how Last.FM leverages your music listening habits, and Mint organizes your financial data.

Skydeck has a lot of potential - it's sitting on very personal and very revealing information that speaks directly to how a majority of people do most of their communicating - their mobile phones.  However, right now it's missing many of the features that would make it great. I'd like to see more data - for example, where are trends?  I want to see minute and text usage per month, as well as per day, and per hour.  I would love to see recommendations on how to improve my phone bill, such as "most of your calls are nights and weekends, lower your day-time calling", or "you consistently go over your txt message allocation".  It needs to take a cue from Mint in terms of features.

Also, Skydeck highly touts its ability to connect with other social tools to merge with the rest of your important contact data beyond the phone number.  However, it currently really only connects with desktop tools and Plaxo, which means it's more for the business class.  The people I email with using Outlook are rarely the same people that I contact with my cell phone, so I need Skydeck to connect with Facebook, where most of my friends update a significant ammount of their contact information.  It could also potentially work well with Linkedin, just as Xobni does.

All in all, I'm looking forward to seeing how Skydeck develops - if it can add more features and create more utility, it will be a killer application.

Why aren't facebook users obsessed with Twitter yet?

Every time someone asks me about Twitter I wonder how come more people aren't interested in using it. Facebook has obviously blown up - everyone of every age is on it, and using it often, whether they claim to like it or not. People love to write on each others walls, update their statuses, and comment to each other about both. So in that case, why don't people start using twitter? Aside from the fact that through twitter you can update your Facebook status, it's essentially a combined Facebook wall and Facebook status, but through texting via a cell phone, which almost everyone I know is also obsessed with. It takes many of the things that people do on Facebook and makes them faster- your friend updates his status, and you know immediately. And if that status is "out at a particular bar" then you might find you're in the area and make your way over when it matters, not when it's too late three hours later. Your friend writes on your wall and you know immediately, and you can respond just as fast. So if Twitter in it's most basic form combines many of the things that people I know love, how come no one is using twitter?

As I'm writing this, I'm thinking - maybe it's because all we really care about on Facebook are the pictures.

Using Jott to send emails from a phone call

You don't need a blackberry to have a multimedia phone - lately I've gotten in the habit of using a voice tool called Jott. Jott enables me to call in and voice a command of a location, such as "myself" or "calendar" and then leave a voice message. When I hang up, a transcription of the message (and a link to the message recording) is sent to the location I directed. Through the Jott website you can link email addresses, calendars, blogging tools, and more. Right now I have it set so when I call Jott I can leave a message for myself and it sends an email to my work e-mail address. This way when I am out at night and remember something I need to do the next day, I make a quick phone call and have it waiting for me in the morning. You can also set up a text messaging option, for when you can't make a phone call. On Jott itself you can keep track of your to-do's that you've sent to various locations, listen to your messages, organize them, set reminders, and more.

k b skobac mobile revisited

I have a mobile version of my blog that there really isn't a purpose for, and I'm sure no one is visiting it, but for the sake of experimenting in the space it's still live. Now my mobile website provider Mofuse is allowing you to demo the mobile site in a simulated cell phone interface (see the picture above) - so I figured at the very least I'd share that demo link so if anyone is curious they can try out the site and it's features without actually jumping on from a cell phone.

CES Trend #1: Open Platforms

This is first of my posts on trends that were illustrated by announcements at CES 2008:

1. Open platforms - everything is opening up and everyone wants to own the platform.

At Yahoo's keynote talk, Jerry Yang (who just this year returned to serve as the CEO of Yahoo after years away) showed off two new open platforms - one just launched and one as a concept for the future.

Yahoo! Go 3.0 - Yahoo! has offered a rich visual interface for download onto mobile devices and easy access to Yahoo's most popular tools for a while now.  With Yahoo! Go 3.0 Yahoo has standardized the mobile widgets on an open platform, and allowed other brands to build widgets for download and integration directly into the mobile platform.  Advertisers will also be able leverage the platform by designing ads that utilize the Yahoo! features such as maps.  Yahoo opening their mobile platform is a direct response to Google's announcement of Android, the open mobile platform that was announced in 2007 and we'll likely here  more about at the Mobile World Congress next month.  Verizon Wireless has also announced that they'll open up their famously closed network by the end of the year.

Yahoo! Social Mail (concept) - Yahoo! also showed a conceptual design for a new Social Mail  program built out of their popular online mail client.  The Social Mail concept would be turning Yahoo! Mail into an open platform for communication, allowing other companies like MySpace and eVite to integrate directly with Yahoo! Mail, as well as all of the other Yahoo! properties that would not be integregated, such as Maps and Flickr.  It would start by turning the Mail startpage into a life-stream of all of your contacts, letting you know when you friends updated flickr, facebook, sent you a text message, IM, or e-mail.  All of your contacts across all of your properties would be integrated, sync'd, and ranked based on your overall communication levels.  Then you would be able to leverage all of the integrated programs. 

For example, say you were IMing friends via Yahoo! Messenger inside your Yahoo! Mail program, and everyone decided to go out to dinner tonight.  You'd be able to click the Yahoo! Maps tab and see everyone's favorite restaurants ranked via Yelp!  Then you'd be able to send out an eVite with the names of the people you are IMing, the highest ranked restaurant across all of your friends preferences already added on, and the event assigned to your calendar.  Afterwards, all of the pictures your friends took at the dinner would show up in your life-stream in-box.  Google, again, is expected to reveal a similar integrated email program in the near future, at the very least leveraging more Google properties.  Mail is the most social application we have, regardless of the spread of MySpace and Facebook, and both Yahoo! and Google are expected to leverage this into a more powerful social application in 2008.

Here is a small portion of video footage I took of the talk where Jerry Yang shows the friend rating, mapping, and eVite features.

Technorati Tags: CES,consumer electronics show,CES 2008,Yahoo,Yahoo! Go 3.0,Google,Android,open platforms,mobile

Google Spurs Change

Google Operating System has an interesting post called "winning even when you lose" where they discuss how Google spurs change in industries regardless of if it loses the apparent arms race.  The few examples given, of which there are likely many more, are:

Email - 2004 - Gmail launches with 1GB of free storage compared to Yahoo's 4MB of free storage.  In response, Yahoo grew to 100MB, then 1GB a year later, and finally, is now uncapped, while Google is only at 6GB for free (although it's growing at all times)

Instant Messaging - 2005 - Google Talk launches as an open standards chat program meant to exchange IMs with all open IM clients (although at the time that meant none of the big 3 competitors - AIM, Y! Messenger, or MSN Messenger).  In response Yahoo and Microsoft teamed up to link their IM services later that year.

Mobile Phones - 2007 - Google announced that it would bid for the 700MHz spectrum in the US, declaring four conditions of open applications and devices.  Later that year Verizon Wireless finally announces that it will open its wireless network to 3rd party devices and software.

Social Networks - 2007 - Google launches OpenSocial, an open widget application platform, and a month later Facebook announces it will open it's widget application platform for use on other social networks.

k b skobac mobile (from mofuse)

luck you now my website is available as a mobile WAP site!

you can bookmark http://m.mofuse.com/kskobac on any mobile phone and read the k b skobac blog in any mobile WAP browser. This is brought to you by a really cool and simple service called Mofuse.

(I'm fairly certain this will never get used but I figured why not)

Do I care about the iPod Touch ?

Apple released three new iPods yesterday - a widescreen video iPod Nano, a gigantic iPod Classic, and an iPod Touch.  The iPod Touch is essentially an iPhone without a phone/data network, and with the newly added functionality of wireless iTunes when a wireless network is available.

At first glance I was extremely excited about the iPod Touch.  It is an iPhone with a bigger hard drive, a slimmer (under a third of an inch), lighter figure (4.2 ounces is lighter than my camera), full screen video, and wireless browsing via Safari web browser.  Do I run out and buy one as soon as its on the shelves?

But then I started to think.  $399 plus tax and insurance, will probably run close to $600 all said and done.  I don't buy music from iTunes though, so wireless iTunes means nothing to me.  I don't even have new mp3's anymore since I am hooked on Rhapsody,  so 16gb isn't that important to me.  And wireless browsing without guaranteed access due to lack of wi-fi in many areas means I can't keep up on RSS feeds the way I want to throughout the day.  So what am I really getting out of this?

If I buy the iPod Touch it will be the smallest version, probably without a rebate, and I will mostly use it as a mobile computer whenever I'm on a trip. And it will be because I can't resist playing with the browser.  Otherwise I'll buy  the Creative Zen 16 GB which lets me play divx files and use Rhapsody, and a Backberry Pearl 2 when it comes out for Verizon in November.

Technorati Tags: apple , ipod , ipod touch , ipod nano , ipod classic , nano , iphone , creative zen , blackberry pearl , blackberry , wi-fi , wifi , safari

The Good and Bad of Verizon Wireless

I usually have nothing good to say about phone services. They are expensive, they stiff you with unfair charges, they bill you for air time when someone steals your phone They cut out when you need to make a call. They don't make it easy to get a phone that actually works.

Verizon in particular has its ups and downs. It gets service in crazy upstate New York places where no other service connects. However, as a marketer, they're a horrendous to work with, since they won't do SMS text or download programs with vendors that utilize other carriers. Their elitist closed door policy promotes bad business practice.

However, with all the criticism, I should say when they do something right - last weekend a representative from Verizon called my mother to tell her how she could rework her phone plan to save money. She said that her kids (my brother and I) were using three times as many text messages as our plan provides, and that we hadn't gone over our phone minutes in years. She suggested lowering our family minutes plan, and buying a bigger text message package. All in all it would net $5 higher as a plan, but save in $30 plus of overage fees monthly. The changes were made right away.

This is the kind of move that may seem like it shorts Verizon in the present, but this type of service is what would keep someone from changing carriers. Now we just need everything else corrected as well.

Technorati Tags: mobile, cell phone, verizon, verizonwireless, service plan, text, sms

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What would stop you from buying the Apple iPhone?

This graph represents a survey of people who have already stated that they would buy an Apple iPhone. That said, what factors weigh in on the quickness of executing that decision? 60% say that switching carriers isn't an issue; 6% say they would pay over $400. So it will take some time, and it will take a price drop, for Cingular to capture the approximately 20% of iPod shoppers that said they'd buy an Apple iPhone.

Technorati Tags: apple, ipod, mobile, iphone, cingular, music phone

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Trade cell phone mobile plans with someone else

If you're dying to get out of your cellphone contract because you'd rather have another carrier, but you don't want to incur the fees, now there are two separate companies that have popped up that let you trade your mobile plan with someone else - for a small fee of course.

• Cellswapper.com Get out of your cell phone contractCelltrade
• America's Online Cellular Exchange Place

Perfect for people who want to trade their better Verizon network for a Cingular plan that might drop calls but allows you to have the Apple iPhone when it comes out in June.

Technorati Tags: mobile, cellphone, trading, verizon, cingular, swapping