Sharp needs Apple.  And everything about the Sharp AQUOS Interactive Board product video above tells us why.

In the world of consumer electronics, the battle of digital ecosystems is ON! And for electronics companies that lack paired (parent or sibling) connected devices and the connected services which consumers use to sync their lifestyle content – a behavior to which we have grown accustomed – the issue of declining market relevance grows to graduate school white paper levels. Popular culture’s experience with electronics platforms has progressed over the past decade and product demand has shifted towards these platforms. It’s product Darwinism at its best. We now also look for the X-factor in everything, especially our digital devices. This shared electronics ecosystem and device X-factor are exactly what Sharp lacks. Fortunately, it appears that they are aware of it.

Doug Albregts's intro of Sharp's AQUOS Interactive Board at CES 2012. It's painful to watch this, but the device itself is great. Notice that the product video view count is incredibly low for such a fantastic interactive device.

If Only I Had A Brain

Sharp makes great products. Really, they do. Like most people, I use their products at the office. Sharp is one of Japan’s top industrial companies, manufacturing all types of electronics: copiers, faxes, appliances, ACs, POS systems, high-luminosity LEDs, LCDs and Optoelectronics. Each a very complex product.

However, it is apparent from the research videos that I’ve posted here, that Sharp is not a good software platform developer. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean heck… I’m no operating system / platform developer. Fortunately, it’s not a requirement of me. However, for electronics manufacturers, it’s a different conversation altogether. Once there was a time when an electronics manufacturer’s machines did not necessary have to be “smart”. Those days have come and gone. Smart is precisely what devices must be now.

Operating systems are spreading across all electronic devices. For the past 15 years (if not more), it has grown as a requirement. That is why it is so important to have products that are strategic, well-prepared and smart today.

What we essentially see with the AQUOS Interactive Board featured in this article is that Sharp can flex its manufacturing muscle to create huge interactive Gen-10 displays. However, the question, “And?” seems to linger loudly in the air. You can even sense it from the audience during Doug Albregts’s painful-to-watch product introduction above. The AQUOS Interactive Board product should be smoking hot, but instead it feels incomplete. Like the Scarecrow laments in the Wizard of Oz, this product seems to sing “if only I had a brain.” Luckily, the device is only being marketing for the boardroom (there are probably reasons for this).

While Sharp’s AQUOS Interactive Board itself is not a fore bearer of Apple’s upcoming product or vision, the product videos and the device’s introductory GUI show use of large-scale touchscreen glass and controls which will clearly translate well for Apple’s television requirements. The touch screens are also massive – offered in 60, 70 and 80-inch versions. The production of pixel-packed touch-responsive glass of this scale is no small feat, whatsoever. It appears that Sharp has produced something so fantastic, that they don’t even know what to do with it. Or, they were righting the ship to be ready for more business from Apple.

Maximizing a unique moment in industrial supply chain history, the timing of this article coincides with massive Sharp investment announcements from Apple, Hon Hai Precision Industry Company and Foxconn. Essentially, each seizing the opportunity to move higher up the flat-screen display supply chain – or just flat-out going all-in on Sharp’s latest manufacturing capabilities as a means to secure steady output for the Apple Television (as well as Apple’s smaller devices). All activity and strategies surrounding this investment are equally worthy of a graduate school white papers.

Sharp's new Sakai City plant. Sakai City's production capacity is equivalent to 15.6 million 40-inch LCD televisions, per year. Click to learn more.

Dedicated Manufacturing

If you did not know before, Sharp has a created massive and fantastic manufacturing facility in Sakai City, Osaka, Japan. The facility is bleeding edge and it has significant production capacity. This is a place where the AQUOS Interactive Board is made – and it is a place where Apple’s next generation of Retina displays are made (Sharp has been an Apple supplier for years). The iPad 3′s newer generation of super-pixel-density Retina displays requires a production process known as a-Si TFT. Until recently, only Samsung could properly produce and supply this new screen specification in quantity. This changed when Sharp’s new facility came online. Now, Sharp has the ability to produce to the new Retina specification; which they are actively manufacturing today. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Sharp’s new facility is currently running at only 50% of its designed output rate.

Sharp’s Sakai City facility required a huge investment on the part of Sharp, but the long-term upside for Sharp is that all (I am assuming) a-Si TFT display orders can now be shifted away from Samsung – a brand which has turned out to be quite the growing rival for Apple. Therefore, with a-Si TFT now set as an Apple standard and a wide open production in line, it is safe to assume that consumers can expect to see iPad 3 levels of Retina display quality and touchscreen sensitivity in any upcoming Apple television release. I believe that it is the same display tech we are seeing above with the AQUOS Interactive Board – Sharp is just looking for additional markets for the high-end glass.

Moving On Up (to Japan)

Apple is entering the flat-screen television market at a time when there is a glut of non-smart flat-screen LCD production capacity – and a glut of product stock. It’s an interesting moment. With a weakened economy and incessant rumors of Apple entering the television space, even as I write this article, most electronics manufacturers are looking to divest the huge capital outlays required by high-end flat-panel production facilities. Or, knowing that they do not have the winning device ecosystems, they are looking to shutter their consumer television brands altogether. Most point to Apple’s massive impact on the mobile phone industry as proof of imminent invasion and defeat. Another compelling point for hesitation, a recent CNBC survey determined that half of all American households own an Apple product. More specifically:

“Homes that own least one Apple, own an average of three. Overall, the average household has 1.6 Apple devices, with almost one-quarter planning to buy at least one more in the next year.” *2

Sharp brand flat-screen televisions, like all major electronics brands, are also lagging in sales. Therefore, they really needed to divest a good amount of their investment in flat-screen production capacity. Seeing a great buying opportunity, as well as having a desire to move higher up the television electronics supply chain, Hon Hai Precision Industry Company (the world’s largest electronics manufacturing company and the product supplier to Apple – from which it derives 40% of its revenue) is buying into the Sharp Display Products Corp plant at Sakai City.  Hon Hai has also agreed to take 50% of Sakai’s production output, which, at 72,000 LCD substrates per year – or equivalent to 15.6 million 40-inch LCD televisions, is huge. Here is more detail as covered by Business Insider yesterday:

“The timing of Hon Hai/Foxconn’s equity stake and partnership with Sharp along with Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou’s separate 46.5% investment in Sharp’s Sakai City plant lends further credibility that Apple TV is in the works. This also follows reports that Apple is investing ~$1.3bn in equipment destined for Sharp facilities. The fact that Hon Hai is investing rather than just procuring panels from Sharp underscores a deeper level of integration which Apple/Hon Hai are accustomed to, increased reliability as Sharp has struggled with iPad3 qualification, and an effort to improve Sharp’s financial position before becoming a more meaningful supplier to Apple. We also believe Corning has an 83% market share at the Sakai facility and would ultimately benefit from improving utilization that is expected to happen over time. Sharp accounted for 10% of Corning’s overall sales and 25% of its display sales in 2011″ *3

So, as you can see, the Apple Television release is no longer a question of if, but a question of when.  Most market analysts believe it will be early 2013.

What Does This Mean For Marketers?

1. People will buy this television in droves.  All other television manufacturers are looking to build (or they are trying to flat out replicate) the Apple lifestyle device ecosystem model, as best they can.  With the recent tweaks to the Apple TV set-top box, especially with the up-sizing of content and applications to 1080p, the television’s operating platform is now ready.  As a matter of fact, you could pretty much start building for it today if you were so inclined.  As for the other electronics manufacturers, the majority are flocking to Google TV – or they are trying to align with Amazon’s emerging ecosystem.  Sony, as seen in the post below, seems to have a pretty good plan in place, as it has tons of entertainment and game content that it can leverage.
2. You will not want to be unprepared when the race gun goes off. As stated, current analyst opinion pegs the Apple Television launch to early 2013. Clearly, product preparation for something of this scale could take longer than expected – so the launch date may drag out a little. I think what this means for brand leads is that if you start planning and sandbox exploration now, you can be an early adopter and ensure early successes for your brand on the new, larger platform.
3. Ask yourself, what will you do with all of the new real-estate? Apples iOS platform’s display scale has now ramped up from 3.5-inches, to 10-inches, to 60-inches. Is your web site’s presentation layer, user experience and content prepared for that level of high-definition presentation? From this day forward, in production planning meetings, you need to ensure your visual content will display brilliantly on the new displays.
4. If you plan well and take some chances, you could, in fact, truly create an interactive brand channel experience. As discussed before (see below), Bjork has really nailed it with her Biophilia album app. The app now only requires more budget – and further development.  It is a direct link to her fans.

If you are a marketing VP, the Apple Television launch merits a serious planning conversation now – and it should be accounted for in your brand’s visible development horizon.

Or, of course, you can also ask us for some really great strategies!

// Christopher Jones

Sony’s Connected-Device World Takes Shape

Björk’s Biophilia… The Album Remastered

*1 – New York Times
*2 – CNBC
*3 – Business Insider
*4 – The Economist
*5 – The Verge

Make it easy for me to make the jump. Especially if we are jumping space.

These words were spoken by one my good friends the other day – spoken as we discussed the qualities captured in the TED video above.  And I liked them. The viral video was created by Ridley Scott as a sneak peek into the narrative and production qualities of his upcoming film, Prometheus.

Background

If you did not know before, Prometheus is an upcoming film that is, in essence, the prequel to Scott’s 1979 film, Alien. It will also be a blockbuster summer film. Yes, Prometheus is also a very awkward word. Scott knows this. With the video above, he sheds light on his upcoming work – by immersing fans in the mythology of Prometheus, Zeus, man and fire.

Ridley Scott’s directorial efforts in the Sci-Fi film genre, while not large in number, have produced two of the most influential “Tech” films of all time, Alien and Blade Runner (1982). Both films have a massive fanbase – and these fans have loyally followed Ridley to his other projects, such as Legend, Black Rain, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down.  Scott’s directorial quality is amazing and has repeatedly set new cinematic standards.  Therefore, as you can imagine, the fan story that has unfolded for Prometheus is one of great expectations. In fact, expectations are so great, that most online fan comments reflect concern that the new endeavor will flop.

I mean, its name is Prometheus.  What is that?

Negative sentiment can easily happen and spread in the connected-device world.  It is quite possible that your best brand fans will actually freak themselves out, if you do not let them in on the secrets.  And since the Prometheus team was very adept at film secrecy, Ridley’s fan base actually grew to be a little jaded. The raving fans needed something – a concept I like to refer to as Proof of Life.  This is what Scott delivers in the video above.  And the content of this production segment is awesome. It’s actually better than awesome.  I can explain.

The take away is that, product-wise, it doesn’t matter if you are creating something incredible or not.  Going completely dark can be a negative.  With any big project, plan and share Proof of Life with your fans.

It’s Alive!

Whereas Blade Runner was classic Sci-Fi, Alien was actually a Horror film wrapped in a Sci-Fi framework. The interesting thing is that by suppressing typical Sci-Fi psycho-babble and simply putting an intelligent, black latex-coated, sexualized, shark-like creature with legs on board a spaceship – audiences discovered that it made the futurism of the film much more real. We suspended disbelief (made the jump) almost immediately, which is an incredibly hard thing to pull off in Sci-Fi. Much of this is due to the fact humans are genetically hardwired to flee stuff with big teeth.  Think Jaws,1975. We were just flat-out confused with mortal fear, in space (the dark movie theater itself feeling like an extension of the ship).  I loved it… more please.

Insert Peter Weyland, the fictitious industrialist behind the Weyland Corporation. Weyland Corp. is the company that essentially threw the original blue-collar ore-mining crew on a collision course with the aliens. Soundly asleep in hibernation on a space barge, the crew was awakened from their trip home by their employers and instructed to investigate a SOS signal on a nearby planet. Only to find out, as we ALL find out later, that a derelict spaceship’s beacon was really transmitting a warning to STAY AWAY.  And transmitting that warning for very good reason; big freaking, shark-like creatures with legs and fangs were afoot! Whatever these beings were, Weyland Corp. wanted a closer look for potential Biotech research.

Before Alien, we had never seen a “real alien”. Until now, we had never seen the “real Weyland”. And yet here he is, at a TED Conference in 2023… talking the talk and walking the walk.  The idea behind the clip above is incredibly smart since TED is a real-world phenomenon which uniquely supports the pretense and context of Weyland’s grandiose character.  TED Conferences have become THE place and platform for some of the brightest people on the planet to share their learnings and vision. At $5K-10K a seat, it can be a personal game-changer for you to attend. Lots of bright people in the room. Lots of ego. Life-changing connections can be made. It is the perfect platform for an industrialist of the future to step forward and share his ideas – Ideas Worth Spreading.

In a Steve Jobs world, Ridley’s TED clip makes Weyland’s character fascinatingly believable.

Creating a Reality Field

There are those that believe mankind could not have progressed to its current technological capability without some level of outside intervention or influence. Simply put, some quasi-scientists believe that ancient astronauts landed on Earth, early on, and influenced mankind by sharing technologies. Sometimes referred to as Paleocontact.  At its core, the debate is one of mathematics, ancient markings and unexplainable relics. See Nazca Lines. Some believe it is statistically improbable that we could be where we are today technology-wise, without help.  Now, I agree that, that is a stretch.  However, the kid in me is inclined to like that line of thinking; to uncouple common sense from the theoretical.  Somewhere deep down, you know you probably like it, too.  Carl Sagan, commenting on the topic, once said of Paleocontact, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

Peter Weyland

Well, what if we did find extraordinary evidence?  People would go nuts.  Enter Ridley’s Prometheus. Cue up a host of incredible filmmaking talent and hide their work in insane secrecy. Then, cue up a HD video of Peter Weyland in front of a massive audience.  Have him walk audiences through a timeline of technological advances, such as fire, gunpowder, biotech, androids and M Theory – a variant of String Theory that explains interactions between Quantum Mechanics, Relativity and Supergravity. Hence, when ships do jump space, it will happen using M Theory. Plausibility grows…

A Sci-Fi film asks for a high level of suspension of disbelief. And your classic Sci-Fi fan, like the one writing this entry, understands and appreciates this all too well. In essence, what my friend Norm was saying was: I’m interested in going on your journey. Just make it easy for me to believe.

This reason to believe is exactly what Ridley Scott masterfully accomplishes with the video above.  Sci-Fi genre standards are about to be re-calibrated.

// Christopher Jones

See:  Weyland Industries

feb 29 viewcount – 5K
mar 01 viewcount – 35K
mar 03 viewcount – 48K
mar 07 viewcount – 55K

Copyright © 2012 Scott Free

GoPro continually defines and masters the “activity image capture” category. Therefore, to mark the 2011 release of their new HD Hero2 camera system, GoPro distributed Hero2 camera kits to select pro and pro-am athletes around the globe as a means to collect the “sickest” user-generated sports-content available. The athletes enthusiastically delivered. The video above is a five-minute heart-pounding product vignette showcasing the chops of the Hero2 camera in its three kit editions: Outdoor, Motorsports and Surf.

We like the Hero2 effort (and its predecessor Hero efforts), because the content fires-up target viewer synapses in all the right ways; utilizing great people, interesting locations, broadcast-quality footage, kinetic editing and good music. As we all know by now, content consumption habits are (in no small way) changing with the global saturation of smaller connected devices. If you thought people did not read before, people are definitely reading less now (even if folks wanted to read, they can’t easily digest type on small screens). GoPro realizes this, which is why their video effort focuses on content that quickly conveys their brand’s character and the product benefits of the Hero 2. In fact, GoPro’s UGC efforts have been so well received, their television campaigns mirror the energy of the video above and deliver much of the same consumer generated goodness.

Similar to GoPro, your organization’s online content must be immediate. Video-based content is best positioned to accomplish this. At once, video content can be visually engaging, visceral and sharable. Also, when executed correctly, videos like the one showcased above can provide you with millions of quality impressions.

Since launching in late-October 2011, the GoPro HD Hero2 video has collected 9.4 million views – and 50 million minutes of brand & product engagement. For this, we consider GoPro to be the new leader in UGC campaigns. And we congratulate them!

Copyright © 2011 GoPro

Sony is back in the mobile game with their new Xperia™ S HD mobile. The design & UX are very city / London and an important feature is the device pairing, which is highlighted at 2:00 min. This video offers sneak a peek at the next wave of interaction and brand device integration. Notice how many times direct access to Sony Entertainment and Sony Games is mentioned. It’s a signal of the forthcoming battle of device ecosystems.

See: Sony Xperia™ S HD mobile

Björk - a very bright star.

avant-garde

noun \ˌä-ˌvän(t)-ˈgärd, ˌa-; ə-ˈvänt-ˌ; ˌa-ˌvōⁿ-ˈ, ˌa-ˌvȯn(t)-ˈ\

1. an intelligentsia that develops new or experimental concepts especially in the arts

French, vanguard

First Known Use: 1910

“Avant-garde in music can refer to any form of music working within traditional structures while seeking to breach boundaries in some manner, or to describe the work of any musicians who radically depart from tradition altogether.” *1

It is within this conceptual realm that Björk has thrived for more than three decades; ever evolving sonically and prolifically spinning artistic wonder.  And she has just done it again.

Start Here

Björk's first album. Her mom created the album's Arabian Nights / Icelandic genie look. It's awesomely Royal Tenenbaums-ish.

Icelandic singer Björk first emerged from music school in 1976 at the age of 11, with her cover of Tina Charles’s I Love to Love rotating in on Reykjavik’s RUV.  Well received, Björk was given the opportunity to record an album.  Simply entitled “Björk”, an album consisting of various pop radio covers and one original piece was recorded and locally released in 1977.  Her stepfather produced the album and Björk’s mother, Hildur Hauksdóttir, designed the album’s artwork.

Following her first album, Björk was offered the chance to do a second album, but she turned it down.  With the money earned, Björk purchased a piano and started composing new songs of her own.  Since that time, Björk has repeated this reinvestment formula again and again; pooling all of her resources to pursue her own vision of music and maintaining her sense of self.

Fast Forward

Emerging internationally with the Sugarcubes and the song Birthday in the late eighties, Björk has become one of the world’s most successful and highly-regarded recording artists.  In the nineties, Björk anchored her legacy with the help of Nellee Hooper (the Bristol producer / remixer / composer for several seminal 90s albums including Massive Attack’s Protection) and created two albums that defined the period, Debut and Post.

In 1999, Bjork, director Chris Cunningham and Glassworks London forever digitized Bjork and the intimacy of machines with their All is Full of Love video. The video won two MTV Video Music Awards for Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects and is considered to be one of the best videos of all time. The video is on permanent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Digital Creative for Digital Creatives

Albums such as Debut, Post, as well 1997′s Homogenic, allowed Björk to collaborate with many of that decade’s great visual designers, including Michael Gondry  [Human Behavior and Bachelorette], Stéphane Sednaoui [Possibly Maybe], Paul White [Hunter], Spike Jonez [It's Oh So Quiet], Chris Cunningham [see left] and more.  As time progressed, it became understood that Björk’s dedication to artistic collaboration in music and mixed media was second to none.

Music and its applied video arts typically steer cultural trends.  These trends trickle down from an artist’s experimental video work, through fan / follower production designers & directors to film, television and advertising (especially in the 1990s, which was notably packed with nascent and emergent digital technologies).  With this mass propagation, our overall cultural experience and consciousness moves forward.  And with nearly 51 nominations and 15 awards in various international music, video (television) and film awards under her belt, it’s safe to say that Björk’s ever evolving art has had a massive cultural impact.

The Art of Creating Music >> Shifted

Latronic's Notron sequencer. Bjork and Mark Bell produced unique sounds on Homogenic using a Notron to control a 909 and various synths. Only approx. a hundred of these British-made devices were manufactured.

“Following the minimal electronic music of Brian Eno and the krautrock band Tangerine Dream, 1990s electronic dance music was influenced by changes in technology that lead to the use of production methods based on repetition, especially the genres of trance, minimal techno and ambient. Well-known artists include The Orb, Orbital, Underworld and Aphex Twin.” *2

Björk and her various producers (Mark Bell, Howie B, etc.) have been crafting their work with portable and non-traditional music production tools for years.  During the 1990s, much industry research and development was invested in professional audio creation and recording instruments, such as keyboards, midi controllers, drum machines, samplers, sequencers and non-linear music production programs.  Björk and her producers, like many great 90s music artists, gravitated to these newer experimental platforms – the 90s are brimming with great albums that utilized new programming techniques. Björk’s creative use of these new technologies (and her spectacular voice) are hallmarked by her 1997 album, Homogenic; an album that is considered to be a creative zenith for Björk, and, “if not the greatest electronic album of all time, it’s certainly the greatest of its decade.” *3

Homogenic, 1997. Bjork's cover art has graduated to design work by Alexander McQueen.

The Art of Experiencing Music >> Shifted

Since launching in 2001, Apple’s iTunes (and Apple’s subsequent mobile device iOS) has taken the digital space by storm – integrating phones, tablets, peripherals, music and a massive bank of portable applications.  This dominance has created both opportunity and disruption across all forms of lifestyle media and other near-alike technologies.  It is worth noting that many people, certainly from Generation X and prior, miss the physical discovery and listener experience associated with the purchase of actual CDs or albums.  Albums and their accompanying liner notes & studio art round out the listeners immersion in the artist’s theory and cognitive function. With the rise of iTunes and the demise of corner record stores, this quickly became a romance under served.

Simultaneously, recognizing the importance of portability and accessibility for musicians, music device companies developed and migrated digital versions of their instruments (limited and full flavors) and other specialist software to the iPad platform.  This process created several new opportunities for new and older artists:  #1 – Pro music tools are no longer cost prohibitive to new musicians (as with their more hardware-based progenitors)  #2 - The user experience of these programs has been greatly optimized and simplified for tablets and touch screens (think hit pads vs. string strumming)  #3 – Upon download and boot-up, the musician experience is immediate and so is the production quality.  #4 – The entire music suite has become hyper-portable.

Today, Björk experiments and composes her music utilizing iPad apps and similar touchscreen experiences.  It appears it was only a matter of time before Björk explored the app frontier; to find out what it would ultimately mean for her music.  And true to her nature, she cracked things open like a small sea-island earthquake – opening up a tiny fault line and kicking up newness that demands exploration.

#pause#

Sister nature. Identity and graphic system design by M/M Paris.

Biophilia >> Björk’s Game Changing Project

In late 2011, Björk released her latest musical project titled Biophilia. Excluding Bjork’s soundtrack work, Biophilia represents her eighth full-length studio album.  It arrives over four years after her last studio album and stands apart from prior works; assembled with equal parts of performance and installation artwork.  Multiple (and entirely new) instruments were handcrafted to complement her compositions, including a Gameleste, a high-voltage Tesla Coil Bass/Synth and a gravity-driven Pendulum Harp; each a beautiful and deserved work of art that appears predestined to fold into either the Tate Modern or the MOMA.

The Biophilia application. Click for intro.

With Biophilia Björk wished to reconnect listeners to her more tectonic sonic creations; an album similar to Homogenic in spirit, but a fault-line further travelled and much more primordial.  Integrate voice, wind, water, rock, electricity and computer processor.  The album’s tracks, its cosmos of custom-crafted instruments and its three-dimensional galaxy of song applications were created as auditory and interactive gateways to a deeper atomic layer of the natural universe.  The world Björk has created feels part Alice in Wonderland, part 18th century Industrial Revolution and part Frank Herbert’s Dune.  Sir David Attenborough even lends his voice from the naturalist mentor ether.

Biophilia’s music and applications ask users to recalibrate and apply a new level of thoughtfulness to the significance of music and sound; to explore the relationships between musical structures and natural phenomena, from the atomic to the cosmic.  The approach is hypnotic; re-enchanting people with the process-of and immersion-in symbiotic music and progressive rock – not just the consumption of rootless pop singles.  With the rise of iTunes and the decline of tangible physical media, it would appear that Björk is re-anchoring the ritual of music immersion, interaction and sharing.

The artist / album app is poised to replace the cardboard covers and inserts that for many years provided the context and story of an album.  Now, music app owners can buy into a much richer and dynamic artist / album experience – across multiple platforms.  For the artists themselves, (if done right) this direct access could generate more revenue and overall artistic control than they have enjoyed before. Artist / director / creator / album apps stand to reboot recording creativity after the nearly disastrous turbulence that the rise of digital media files forced upon artists in the 2000′s.  Digital content delivery and consumption is maturing.

Song interactions - featuring playback and editing.

To create the cosmos that is Biophilia, Björk created a virtual science guild; collaborating with Scott Snibbe, the designers at M/M (Paris), as well as approx. thirty other talented individuals – all artists, instrument makers, writers and software developers.  The album’s mothership app is essentially free, with add-on song-game apps ($1.99 each or $9.99 bundled) that allow users to interact with the physical forces, processes and structures behind each song.  As mentioned earlier, Björk creates her music using a variety of tools, but it appears her musicality remains piano based – seeking harmonic, melodic and resonance interplay with strong hammer percussion sensibilities.  This style expresses itself in the global feel of the Biophilia application, as well as the user experiences of the individual song-game apps.

Why Do I Like This?

Most of the articles that I’ve read that cover the release of Biophilia focus on the fact that the app is cool and wonderful – and very Björk. This is clearly true.  However, there is something greater in action – and I like the direction that Björk is taking.

The internet is transforming.  The document web (web pages and their files) as we know it is waning.  Its users chased off by poor design, a general lack of innovation, security concerns, unwelcome interactions (such as viruses / spyware) and, in general, too many marketing & web tracking tendrils intertwined with the web’s original protocols.  It’s for these and other reasons that people have jumped to closed systems such as Facebook, but Facebook too has increasingly opened its environment to marketers – and proved too often that safeguarding user privacy is not a priority.  Soon we will leave there, too.

With these changes in mind and with new mobile connected devices, people are flocking to portable applications which take users directly to favored experiences and media.  As I mentioned earlier in Digital Nomads – Part II, beginning in 2011, more than half of all mobile internet traffic was video related.  Connected applications and their necessary operating environments are spreading across all major electronics devices (even watches have now entered the game).  For example, among the many items on display at this year’s 2012 Consumer Electronic Show, Smart Televisions continued to play a highly competitive game.  Each manufacturer essentially adopting and/or maturing their computer-like internals and operating systems to support internet connections, applications and digital media interaction.  Touch and gesture control will soon follow these innovations. Instead of turning channels, we will be moving through unique applications and digital media by hand on smart glass.  (Apple has even rebooted their intent to enter the TV market.)

I like what Björk has accomplished with Biophilia.  The whole of the project is much greater than the sum of its music, new instruments and games.  The music is more cerebral – and it’s fantastic.  See Crystalline performed here.  Björk has not only created her first application, she’s essentially taken the first step in creating a dedicated interactive content channel – one that directly connects fans with her music, videos, instruments, games, et al.  In the near future, you may be able to open, play and interact with Björk’s entire creative library on a wall-mounted touchscreen television (or tablet) – completely transforming how you (and your family) experience her content and ideas.

Biophilia was no small undertaking and certainly not cheap.  The experience high-concept; its interactivity even surrounding fans when Biophilia is performed live.  The work is aspirational – illustrating why Björk is a true artist and why she remains one of our world’s greatest cultural assets.

Thank you Björk, for once again summoning your resources and driving innovation.  We really do enjoy it.

// Christopher Jones

PS – There is a Biophilia multimedia immersion series currently taking place at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, New York.  Go here for more info.  If you live in the area, you may want to participate.

*1 – Avant-garde Movement
*2 – Minimal Music
*3 – BBC Music
*4 – Slant Magazine

A recent favorite TV spot, Everything Computes, IBM's latest ad in its Smarter Planet series, does a great job driving home the concept of digital pervasiveness and the new opportunities opening up for brands, products and people.

Part 3 of 3

Picking up where we left off in Digital Nomads – Part 2, recently, I attended a mobile optimization webinar hosted by Google. The webinar was great, but what I really enjoyed was the video linked below.

Now that we’ve witnessed the shift to external connected environments and the mobile-computing empowerment of the masses, I’d like to discuss how these changes and new emerging consumer behaviors are impacting brands. As a space saver, I’m going to share Google’s video, because it will save us both from an entire page of bulleted statistics. Also, the video is way more cool, as it presents key findings from Google’s study “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Consumers” (a study that tapped into 5,013 US adult smartphone internet users).

See: The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Consumers © Google 2011

From the research above, here are the key smartphone users stats that will impact all brands and products:

• 79% use their phones to help with shopping
• 70% use their phones while in-store
• 54% use their phones to find a retailer
• 49% use their phones to compare prices
• 44% use their phones to read product reviews
• 35% use their phones to actually make purchases

Amazon Mobile App

Recognizing the coming user trends, Amazon was an early mover – developing a mobile app that takes advantage of the best features and functions of their shopping experience – even adding a few new ones, like a barcode scanner for pricing comparison. Coupled with Amazon Prime benefits or the benefit of Free Super Saver Shipping, Amazon Mobile a very compelling shopping tool (especially in light of the economic downturn and rising gas prices). The two articles linked below highlight Amazon’s recent sales success. Average sales per Amazon customer have nearly doubled since 2006 – and that now appears to be taking a toll on Wal-Mart and Target (and other large brick & mortar retailers).

See: We Are Spending More Money With Amazon

See: Amazon.com: Kicking The Crap Out Of Wal-Mart And Target

While most brands do not have the technical resources to support such comprehensive commerce experiences, that is by no means a loss. Yours is probably more of a product-oriented challenge than a retailer challenge, anyway. Instead, Amazon Mobile’s success should provide a clearer vision for expressing your brand in the connected-device space. Focus on streamlining your buyer’s tasks, but have some fun – be entertaining. Since you’re product-focused, leverage the distinctiveness of your product and brand personality… and much like how Amazon’s app wins by delivering retailer transparency, you will need to win by delivering product and brand transparency.

Tablets are similar in benefit to smartphones, but afford you a much deeper and richer brand engagement. Last Fall, Vision Critical, a Vancouver-based research firm, reported that 41% of consumers likely to purchase an iPad cited shopping as a reason for their interest. A good reason for this is that tablets are designed and primed for rich-media content consumption – all but demanding thoughtful engagement and video-based product information from brands. This, in turn, is transforming (and marching) marketing teams into content production houses, generating online-appropriate rich media that will live on any digital asset and thread itself throughout the social ecosystem.

The H&M tablet app does a great job of supporting buyer tasks and social sharing. However, what I like most about the app is that it takes users behind the proverbial velvet rope to access the inner workings of the brand (utilizing well-curated, rich videos).

Phone apps are clearly great, but tablet apps really allow consumers (and your employees) to pipe into the pulse of your brand. The farther you go in creating a valuable, entertaining and immersive experience, the more product sharing and loyalty you will enjoy.

I would recommend to any client who is not already exploring tablet apps, that they start now. A smart way to think about developing an enterprise-class experience is to get your feet wet by diverting the production budget of at least one spot television commercial for the development of a quality, sustainable tablet app (with companion iOS and Android phone apps).

Create an app that will not only be enjoyed by users at home, but one that can also express itself in-store by empowering sales associates and curious shoppers. Tablets provide a powerful and immediate kiosk solution for retailers.

Apple Store - Scottsdale, AZ

See: Apple Store 2.0 revealed

Tellingly so, Apple is experimenting with its iPad technology to better leverage the platform in their own in-store experience.

It’s always wise to pay attention to the projects that Steve Jobs leads, as his presence typically indicates enterprise strategy, focus and serious investment. It stands to reason that as Apple perfects its retail store solutions, it will likely experiment with bigger iOS-driven touchscreen displays – driving larger in-store touchscreen experiences and setting a course for other brands to follow.

We have entered a blue-sky moment for marketers, because the connected device space is vast and fluid…. and approaching the space as a marketer is comparable to the digital brand-building frenzy of the 1990′s. It’s the responsibility of marketers to be wise, but adventurous in determining how best to express their brands in the connected environment space – using a suite of cross-platform apps, extending relevant features and functions that your consumers love, developing deep and direct relationships, and making your products attractive for online buying.

In future site posts, I’ll continue to share insights, examples and popular culture samples that evolve the connected device story.

// Christopher Jones

See: Digital Nomads – Part 1
See: Digital Nomads – Part 2

Repost with permission. Written on May 26, 2011 for Think Interactive.

Biz Stone and Twitter's Wills & Kate #RoyalWedding Server. Positioned above Gaga's and Beiber's.

Part 2 of 3

Picking up from where we last left off, in Digital Nomads – Part 1, I’d like to share some recent statistics that were released by Cisco in their Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2010–2015. As you will see below, the mobile adoption and consumption statistics are staggering:

While we generally anticipate high growth rates with front-running technologies, Cisco’s report sheds light on more than simple tech adoption. What they’ve presented in their report illustrates just how seismic in nature the shift to wireless has become. Essentially, Cisco has captured and benchmarked the consumer shift to the un-tethered landscape. A wirelessly-interconnected landscape filled with small computers that are disguised as either a phone or a tablet or something else that’s so well concealed, you are unaware that it’s even there.

It now appears that we, as a population, have climbed over the hill of wires and entered the proverbial “Valley of Signals.”

Royal Wedding Walk to Buckingham Palace (AP Photo/APTN)

I was about nine and a half years old on Wednesday, July 29, 1981, when Prince Charles and Diana were married – barely old enough to enjoy the royal pomp and statesmanship. Fast forward nearly 30 years. I’m sure most of you, like myself, watched at least some of Prince William and Kate’s wedding. Once again, I’m old enough to enjoy the royal pomp and statesmanship. However, this time, I felt a difference. A changing of the guard from old to new. In many ways, Will and Kate appear to have provided a face for an entire generation of super-connected Millennials – and television captured it.

While enjoying the broadcast(s), one moment in particular stuck out the most to me – and it wasn’t even a scene with Will and Kate. It was the moment reflected in the image above – the orderly procession of tens of thousands of spectators, walking from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace for the couple’s kiss. The nerd in me could only think about the sheer volume of mobile media and voice traffic beaming out of that roving crowd. I suspect that many of the tweets that day trafficked their way through the standalone Wills and Kate server at Twitter. Biz and team were smart (see photo at top).

Fact: According to NBC, mentions of the #RoyalWedding hashtag topped one million by mid ceremony. *1

Honestly, it was a great sight to behold – lots of people having a good time and enjoying a temperate London morning. It reminded me of the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games; when athletes enter arenas as teams, cameras in hand, snapping pix and smiling – documenting the experience not only for themselves, but also for their families, their friends and their nation.

See: Mashable’s Royal Wedding Snapshot

Now, let’s use that analogy to come up with an idea of the wireless traffic generated by the Royal Wedding spectators. I’ve read estimates of 1,000,000 general route spectators and 500,000 balcony spectators. *1 Considering the amount of people captured in the image and video above, I think it’s fair to use a headcount of 1MM to extrapolate our observations.

Here’s we know about the Royal Wedding, the UK and the UK’s technographic profile:

• 2008 UK population estimate – 61.4MM (the most recent we found) *3
• Approx 16MM smartphones are active in the UK *5
• With that in mind, 16MM / 61.4MM = 26% general population smartphone penetration
• Of smartphone users, 41.1% of Europeans access mobile media *5
• 1MM spectators actively participated *1

With these stats in mind, here are a few fun estimates we made for your consideration (these are conversational in nature, of course):

• Approximately 260,000 smartphones were present along the Royal Wedding route
• Of those with smartphones, it is probable that as many as 106,860 people were creating and disseminating content via mobile connections and applications – aka citizen journalists (for perspective, the New York Times has approx. 1,150 staff writers)

The communication horsepower that mobile technology and its applications provided the Royal Wedding spectators that day was impressive. And in many ways sets a precedent for what we can expect see with the 2012 London Games – for which most big brands are now preparing.

Much has changed since Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981. Inside the 30-year story arc between their royal wedding and Will and Kate’s, the desktop computer’s relevance arced as well. The connected environment is no longer relegated to fixed devices in workspaces or home. As we all have witnessed, it’s gone outside to the external environment. The connected environment is now in-home, out-of-home, in-car, in-store, in-mall, in-air, in-train, at-sea… on demand.

In Part 3 of this series, we’ll discuss a few of the ways that brands are activating in the connected environment – making strides to maintain brands that are relevant and resonate with their target consumers.

// Christopher Jones

Sources:

*1 – NBC News
*2 – ABC News
*3 – UK Office for National Statistics
*4 – Wikipedia
*5 – ComScore 2010 Mobile Year In Review

See: Digital Nomads – Part 1
See: Digital Nomads – Part 3

Repost with permission. Written on May 12, 2011 for Think Interactive.

Ring°Wall @ Nurburgring Race Track | World's Largest Multi-Touch Wall

Part 1 of 3

nomad
no•mad
noun ˈnō-ˌmad, British also ˈnä-
Latin nomad-, nomas member of a wandering pastoral people, from Greek, from nemein
First Known Use: 1579

As is relates to personal-digital interaction, in my mind, the desktop computer passed away in 2009. Thanks to a generous cocktail of 3G & 4G networks, plentiful data packages, real smartphones and great app environments, people are putting their PCs in sleep mode and heading out into the sunshine in droves to have fun, including me. Case in point: I have a beautiful 24” iMac that I rarely wake up. I used to spend a lot of time behind it. However, now, sans creating a personal document or editing digital photographs, almost every personal digital task for which I used my desktop, I can now tackle with my iPhone. Most likely my iMac will not be the last desktop I ever buy, but – for the moment – it sure feels like it could be.

Equipped with well-connected devices, people are pushing away from the personal computer during their leisure time. Smartphones and other connected devices are changing evenings, weekends and all around free time for hundreds of millions of people. Whether it’s a friend sharing a laugh with fifty friends or a sleepy IT professional in Abbottabad, Pakistan tweeting about a helicopter flying overhead at 1AM, it’s safe to say that we, as humans, have crossed a special mark on the digital culture timeline. We are now free to move about the world to engage and respond to people, things and brands and in real time, from any number of connected-device applications.

Fact: AT&T reported that traffic grew 30-fold from 3Q 2009 to 3Q 2010.*

The vision of the digital global village has become a reality, thanks in no small part to the connectivity features and benefits of social channels such as Facebook and YouTube. The global landscape feels more tangible now – exploration more attainable. We find ourselves thinking about places our parents never even knew existed and we are taking opportunities to push ourselves and our friends even further to explore this landscape. Connections always seem to have a way of driving curiosity, building confidence. And now that we have each experienced the opportunities that this super-connected culture affords, we will inevitably want more of it – the convenience of it, everywhere. Personal devices will certainly continue to optimize and better themselves, but what’s next?

It was no small feat reaching the current state of digital affairs.  Perhaps given a bird’s eye view of the past and present, we can start to see the trajectory of our future. The following list highlights my personal observations of the key technology adoption and general culture ramping that brought us here. Clearly the points are anecdotal, but hopefully the observations will paint a picture of progression:

Companies and consumers can expect the current decade to be marked by out-of-home digital integration and more extensive environmental interaction; whereby connectivity is embedded in just about anything that makes sense – and plenty of things that make no sense at all.

Now that we’ve established the marketplace’s shift to the connected environment, in Part 2 of this series I’ll share mobile consumption statistics and detailed insights that reflect the importance of transforming your company into a brand that resonates with consumers, connected devices and external environments.

// Christopher Jones

*Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2010–2015

See: Digital Nomads – Part 2

Repost with permission.  Written on April 15, 2011 for Think Interactive.

Volume
London/Hong Kong/Taiwan/Melbourne/St Petersburg
2006

UVA’s large-scale installation Volume first appeared in the garden of London’s V&A museum in 2006 and has since traveled as far as Hong Kong, Taiwan, St. Petersburg and Melbourne.

It consists of a field of 48 luminous, sound-emitting columns that respond to movement. Visitors weave a path through the sculpture, creating their own unique journey in light and music.

The result of a collaboration with Massive Attack, Volume won the D&AD Yellow Pencil in 2007 for Outstanding Achievement in the Digital Installation category.

Copyright © 2006 United Visual Artists – London, UK

Copyright © 2010 The Chemical Brothers

Copyright © 2009 Groove Armada

Copyright © 2009 Tiësto