This is a repost of an article that I originally wrote for Technorati and was published there.

First announced at Google's I/O earlier this year, the Google Chrome Web Store is now in developer preview mode, giving developers a chance to test the platform before it is officially open for business.

This gives developers time to experiment with how the store works, play around with payments and figure our how to install apps within the Google Chrome web browser (the Webstore will be for apps, extensions, and themes).

From my perspective, this is another sign that Google is working to change the way people consume content on the web, the same way Apple changed the mobile industry with their App Store.

Before the Apple App Store there was a classic chicken and egg scenario. Consumers did not spend money on apps, which created no incentive for developers to create them. But when Apple launched the iPhone, accumulating a massive user base drawn to its great product and brand, it was able to launch the App Store with a ton of developers on board. Apple successfully centralized mobile apps. Suddenly, there was a horde of developers working to create simple apps, reach millions of users through the App Store, and make a lot of money. Like Apple, Google already has critical mass, and a well-known brand, which are important elements to doing this successfully.

Google wants end users to be able to easily find new apps on the web, a difficult task today, and to get them used to start spending money on web applications, especially in a micropayment kind of way. Once live, developers can easily access the millions of users who are going to be looking for cool apps to install (and be able to easily charge users).

This isn't a new scenario. Attract lots of users who use your platform and like your brand, encourage developers to create great content with the promise of millions of consumers, drive users to install (and pay for) apps, and watch the whole system snowball. With the Google Chrome Web Store, which strongly mimics the Apple App Store, the conundrum of how to find users who want your apps –and are willing to pay for them—goes away. This is a boon for developers and consumers alike.

This is a repost of an article that I originally wrote for Technorati and was published there.

Recently, Forrester analyst Thomas Husson wrote a blog post on the future of application stores and I was struck by his suggestion that publishers make it too complicated for end users to find and download apps.
He said:

"The subtle differences between widgets, Web apps, native apps, Java apps, and optimized mobile Web sites don’t make much sense to your end users. As long as they have an icon that acts as a touchpoint to access content and services that are relevant to them, it won't matter. The challenge for you is to make sure that your core target audience has your icon on their home screen, so that they engage with your company and not your competition."

I couldn't agree more.

Husson points out that there is an increasing demand for apps from end users, however, app stores need to greatly improve the user experience so that even those with no technical knowledge can leverage their offerings and access all these coveted apps.

Today, the delivery of apps to end users can sometimes be cumbersome, especially as it relates to app payment. Paying for apps is probably the second most difficult challenge for end users after poor user experience. While payment is what drives developers (the idea of being able to easily make money off of their application), it is a big hurdle for end users.

App stores need to encourage developers to offer free apps so that overall adoption rates rise. Down the road, when the market matures, payment will become easier to manage and more accepted by end users so everyone will benefit. In the meantime, App stores must reduce the friction and let end users easily consume free apps without having to set up an account or payment method (currently, in the Apple Appstore a user needs to set up an account before they can download any app). This will lead to a better app economy in the long run.

This doesn't eradicate or reduce the benefit for developers. On the contrary, with the right monetization mechanisms in place, publishers can realize greater adoption and higher revenues without charging end-users. Developers need other monetization options to be available via the platforms for which they develop; for example, built-in virtual currency systems, easy access to advertising (a la Apple's iAd), and affiliate systems.

Once app stores make it easy for developers to use these different mechanisms in their apps, more and more apps will be self-sustainable without having to charge users. This will lead to an increase in adoption, while still being able to monetize the popularity of an app (for both the developer and the app store).

The driving forces for a good app economy in an app store are:

• A critical mass of users that reach the appstore
• A user experience that enables all these users to be able to consume apps easily
• High quality apps
• Happy app developers

In order to create high quality apps, app stores need to make sure developers are happy with the results they get from developing an app and offering it through a specific app store. Aside from the prospect of making a lot of money by developing an app, app stores can lure in developers by offering reach. After all, the two things that pretty much every publisher on the Internet is interested in are traffic and monetization. The app store needs a critical mass of users anyway in order to thrive, so it should offer the developer mechanisms for reaching all those users, especially based on the quality of their apps (good apps get exposure to more users, creating even more of an incentive for developers to create good apps).


The apps space is definitely heating up and there is a lot of potential there, but app stores still have a long way to go before everybody, including my grandmother, will be consuming apps.

The big guys all know this and are setting their sights on creating app stores for different platforms to hook in users. Aside from Apple's Appstore, some great examples to keep an eye on are the Google Chrome web store, Microsoft Windows 8 (both currently pending), the Conduit App Marketplace (yes, technically I work for Conduit, but biases aside, you should really check it out), and OpenAppMkt (both live).

I happened to run across Tony Hsieh's (CEO of Zappos) presentation from SXSW '09.
Awesome stuff there, here are some of the highlights that I think are relevant for pretty much any technology startup, especially b2c companies (but definitely not only).

Just like Donald Norman said in his presentation at Business of Software, Tony basically says: it's all about the experience (after all he's only selling shoes, it could have easily become a boring, Al Bundy style, online shoe store that most likely would not have succeeded like Zappos did).

"People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel."

Zappos' core values are what made it a success both in terms of it's actual business, in terms of employee satisfaction and attracting talent, and actually selling the company to Amazon a few months ago.

Here are their core values:

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and a Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More with Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

Some other interesting tidbits from his presentation:

Interviews & performance reviews are 50% based on core values & culture fit.

He introduces 7 steps to building a brand that matters:

1. Decide - if you want to build a long term brand
2. Figure out your values & culture
3. Commit to transparency (twitter is a great tool for this)
4. Vision - "Whatever you're thinking, think bigger." Chase the vision, not the money...
   He adds a nice quote from Puff Daddy: "Don't chase the paper, chase the dream."
5. Build relationships - (not networking) Be INTERESTED rather than trying to be INTERESTING
6. Build your team - "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." (Al Gore quoting African proverb)
   Hire slowly. Fire quickly.
7. Think long term - There is no "get rich quick" formula. "Overnight" successes are years in the making

In the end he actually offers a copy of the Zappos culture book to whoever wants one and tours of their offices when you’re next in Las Vegas (they'll even pick you up from the airport or your hotel in a Zappos Shuttle!).

How's that for service?

I've been a big proponent of the Facebook Like button, ever since I saw Mark Zuckerberg announce it on stage at the last f8 conference. It seemed like a no-brainer, every site would add it and Facebook would take over the world.
There seemed to be no reason for a site not to add the innocuous little snippet of JavaScript code to every page/post.

Hell, within a week of announcing the Like button, Facebook stated that over 50,000 sites had already added it. According to Facebook, just a month after it was launched more than 100,000 sites had added it.

Of course I also added the Like button to this blog and was basically expecting readers to hit it if they enjoyed a post, thus telling their friends about it and maybe driving people back to my blog.

However, I think it's harming me! (well not harming me physically, but you get it)

Here's the deal: when I write a new blog post I also tweet about it and update about it on my Facebook wall.
Many people see my Facebook update in their Newsfeed and either comment there or hit like on the Facebook post.
This is what builds up as more people comment and like:



The more people comment on that and like it, the more it will appear in the news feeds for their friends and therefore gives me more exposure.

(bear with me here, I have a point)

When people click on the Like button at the bottom of an actual post on my blog here's what may appear in their news feed:



Much less appealing, ah?

Not only that, it also dilutes my "likes" (splits them into two groups, likes for the original post and likes for the update on Facebook about my post).

What I would like is a way to combine both groups of people who like my content into one group so they'd all promote the same thing, which would make it appear more in Facebook Newsfeeds.

I tried to manually add the Facebook Like code to each post, after I updated about it in Facebook so that the Like on my original post actually likes the Facebook update. It's a manual process that takes much more time but I was willing to do it. (I need to post to my blog, update about it on Facebook, quickly go back to edit the blog post, and manually add the Like snippet of code to the post).
The big problem is that Facebook for some reason (I'm guessing technical) doesn't allow adding their Like button to facebook.com URLs.

So I'm thinking about removing the Like button entirely from each post (until Facebook allows liking of facebook.com URLs).

My reasoning behind this is that if I remove the Like code from each blog post people may go back to the original Facebook update and hit Like there. No more diluting of likes and the updates that appear in people's newsfeeds will be the richer kind, not those puny ones that you get from the Like button.
For users who didn't come to my site from Facebook I'd ideally want to keep the regular Like button, at this point, but that's too much of a hassle.

So should I remove the Like button?

Lots of people have been asking me why I need an iPad (I plan on getting one really soon).

Here are the answers that I've been giving them (and myself) on why I need an iPad, before owning one:

• It turns on really fast (much faster than a laptop). This is great for taking notes, looking something up, checking my calendar...
• Relatively lightweight to carry around. I know a netbook may be lighter but carrying around an iPad is lighter than my laptop
• It can do most of the essential things I need to do on my laptop, especially when on the go: email, web, docs (mainly Google docs), twitter, watching videos, Skype
• It has a great interface for playing games
• The non-committal data plan. Whenever I'm in the States I can just purchase a $15 dataplan for that specific month, directly from the device. Very convenient. 
• It's cool, innovative, and really sleek (I gotta be a part of the revolution), which brings me to my final reason:
• Cuz I'm a geek, duh :)

So it won't replace my laptop altogether but while travelling it pretty much has me covered.


Here are the things I think I will be missing by carrying around only an iPad:

• No way to sync my iPhone (for backing up and transferring media)
• No Bittorrent client
• No way to convert videos for viewing on the iPad

Let's start with a confession: I'm a Foursquare addict. The minute I arrive somewhere, I pull out my iPhone and check in on foursquare to let my ‘friends' know where I am. I also use Blippy when I buy stuff and I send pics of what I'm eating to Fiddme. My Last.fm account broadcasts to everyone what music I'm listening to, in real time.
Oh, and I tweet at least 30 times a day.

What's my point? Well, it's like this: A few years ago, I wouldn't even upload my photo and put it online, for fear of exposing myself to potential unwanted evils. Spyware had reared its ugly head and was out to get us.

But, enter the age of modern spyware, and we're all sucking it up. Why? Cuz it's fun, it's entertaining, it makes us feel important to have an audience. Besides, it's no longer perceived by the masses as being spyware. Hell, it's become weird NOT to do it – we're opting in, en-masse, to let companies spy on us. We're willingly and excitedly spying on ourselves and reporting in as often as possible, letting the world know pretty much everything there is to know about us.

And the more, the merrier, is the goal here; not only do we want an audience, but we follow up on who's following us, how many - we want numbers and we publish those numbers with pride: "I have 20,000 followers on Twitter!!"

So the question remains, WHY? Why do I spend so much of my time checking in and tweeting and posting? Why are so many of us unwilling to put down our smartphones before sticking the fork in our steaks, or getting on the treadmill? Is this a massive case of world-wide narcissism? Are we that attention-starved, or are we all just trying to stretch our 15 seconds of fame as far and wide as they'll go?

I've pondered this long and hard, and here's what I've come up with:

1. I guess the number of followers I have somehow makes me feel more significant than the four real-life friends I'm sitting to dinner with in ten minutes. Yes, dammit, I need to feel important.
2. I like the idea that I'm logging my life and can keep track of what I've done, where I've been, etc. For both me and for future generations who'll be able to look back and see that grandpa bought an iPad when it first came out (assuming they'll give a damn).
3. There's something comforting in knowing that while the big, scary, chaotic world around us expands and accelerates, I'm part of a global community that's getting closer and cozier with knowing more about one another.
4. To accelerate serendipity - when I arrive someplace, like a restaurant, I can immediately know if somebody I know is also there and connect with them.
5. To get a feeling for what's hot and what's not. When I see that lots of people go to the same restaurant (over time) it basically serves as a recommendation from my friends for the place. Same for bad reviews.
6. As a means of showing appreciation – if I get good customer service, have a tasty meal, find a great deal… I get an innate urge to share my happiness with the world and show appreciation for whoever/whatever was responsible for momentarily making me happy.
7. It brings people into my world and gets me closer to the people around me. This is probably the gist of it. I'm no longer alone when I choose not to be.

Shit, Foursquare just let me know that my friends are already at their table, and I'm clearly late for dinner.
Gotta run...

In this great presentation from TED, Dan Ariely demonstrates how easily we are guided into making specific decisions, all while being under the illusion of being in control (not me of course :).

Here are some of the highlights, excuse the crappy screenshots (the entire 17 minute video is embedded below).


In a survey among different countries the percentages of people willing to donate their organs varied quite a bit:

When checking to see why there were such differences between countries, they checked for cultural differences between countries and saw there was no correlation (Austria and Germany for example are culturally similar but have totally different percentages of organ donors).

The answer came from checking the donor form at the DMV.
In some countries (the ones with the low organ donor rate) there was a section like this in the form:
People wouldn't read the text, not check the box, and not join the organ donor program.


In other countries the same question would appear but with a slight variation:
and people would also not read the question, not check the box, but by doing so they would join the organ donor program.
(This is a classic opt-in vs. opt-out decision used in almost all online forms)


Another example he gives is in this sign up form for a newspaper:
1. is a web only subscription
2. is a print only subscription
3. is both web and print subscription for the exact same price as option 2


When presented with these 3 options, these were the percentages of people's choices:

So the middle option is useless (nobody chose it) and can be removed, right?
Look what happened when it was removed and only option 1 and 3 were offered:

So by offering a "useless" option, that nobody chose, the perceived value of the third (more expensive) option went up and more people chose it (because they believed they were getting more for the same price).
That "useless" option made more people pay $125 instead of $59.

Not bad, ah?


Check out the entire video:

Here's my list for 2010 of products that I absolutely can't live without (inspired by Mike Arrington's list).

These are all products that I use daily and either make my life easier or more fun (and are not trivial like my fridge and car).

This list is a current snapshot of my favorite products, I think the interesting part about it will be to look at it in the future and see how it changes.

Here we go:

• Gmail - you know what this is
• Google Reader - this and twitter are my main source of news (no tv, radio, paper, or news site)
• Twitter - no explanation needed (I hope at least)
• Facebook - ditto
• Zenbe lists - great iPhone App and web application for managing and syncing tasks from the iPhone and web 
• SplashID - password manager for the iPhone and desktop
• Flickr - where I store all my photos, including those that I post to Twitter
• iPhone 3GS - marvelous device
• Google Docs - where I create and store all my documents. I still use MS Office for Outlook and PowerPoint
• Dropbox - great free solution for automatically backing up any files I want, syncing them between computers, and accessing them from anywhere in the world
• Eztv - pretty much my only source for watching TV shows
• del.icio.us - where I store all the sites I may want to find again in the future
• Google Maps - use it all the time, especially when abroad
• Skype - use it mainly for saving on the phone bill, occasionally for IM
• Foursquare - ok, I could live without this one but I use it all the time
• Plancast - for letting people know what events I'm attending and to discover what events I should attend
• Digg - main way of seeing what's hot and finding cool stuff
• TechMeme - main way of keeping up to date with tech news
• AppShopper - how I track iPhone apps that lowered their price
• Blogger - the service I use to host and manage this blog
• Jango - great way to list to music I like online (used to be Last.fm till they started charging money)
• bit.ly - URL shortening service with very useful tracking information
 

Since the iPhone is such a big part of my day to day, here are the iPhone apps that I can't live without:

• Waze - free turn by turn GPS application
• Boxcar - how I get Twitter reply and DM push notifications
• IM+ - how I get gmail push notifications 
• NoteMaster - app to edit and view Google Docs on the iPhone
• qStatus - app to easily update Twitter

Feel free to post yours in the comments...