Getting the Word Out

One of the toughest things to do as a (relatively) small software developer is to get the word out about your product. We don’t have a multi-million dollar ad budget or a marketing department filled with people thinking up clever new ways to let people know how badly they need our software. At the same time we have some great products that people get really hooked on once they start using them.

Eric Sink, a person in our industry who I have a ton of respect for, wrote a blog post today about a near disaster with his laptop. It no longer recognized his fingerprint and he couldn’t remember the ultra secure password he’d selected for it! I read articles like this one quite often and all I can think is “We have the solution! Why doesn’t everyone know about it??”

The Solution for Eric So just how could we have helped Eric? First, I’m going to assume that Eric either a) has more than one computer at home, maybe a desktop PC somewhere or that b) he could GET to another computer if he needed to. That said, here we go:

1. Eric enters his top-secret laptop password into an eWallet card. 2. Although Eric still needs to remember his eWallet password, because he has all his important passwords in eWallet he only has to remember that one password. Now the odds of totally forgetting become very slim! 3. Eric could even choose a handy hint in eWallet to at least push him in the right direction if he does forget his eWallet password. 4. Using SyncPro in eWallet 5.0, Eric can synchronize the wallet on his laptop with the wallet on his desktop computer. Even if he gets locked out of the laptop as he did in the article, he can still get the password from eWallet on his desktop! 5. In a worse case scenario, maybe his desktop fries out or something, he could have backed up his wallet to a CD or used SyncPro to back it up to a USB drive or remote FTP site. If he does this, by installing eWallet on any computer, he can open the wallet file that he has backed up.

Throw in some other precautions, like making sure at least one other person (wife/best friend/etc.) knows the eWallet password as well and now he never has to worry about getting 100% locked out of anything! Laptops, websites, bank accounts, with eWallet he has them all at his fingertips (pun intended. :) )

The Solution for Ilium Software This one is a little tougher. Just how does a company like Ilium Software get the word out? In this age of a million choices it seems all to easy to have your product slip off into the depths of the internet and get overlooked by customers you could really help! Apparently we’re doing something right because we’ve been around for 9 years, but we want to do even better to ensure that we’re around for at least 9 more!

So please post your two cents on this one! We’d love to hear your ideas. (And Eric, if you’re reading, drop me an email! I’d be happy to get you a free copy of eWallet!)

New InScribe Keyboard Layouts!

We just posted a brand new keyboard layout pack for InScribe! This new pack includes eight layouts including Cloemak, Dvorak, Hcesar, Maltron, Plum, Qwerf, Quicktype, and Staggered. The layouts are self installing. All you need to do is download the pack here and when you run the installer it will automatically install the layouts for you. I want to extend special thanks to the folks at Plum for giving us permission to distribute a copy of their great layout.

In addition we’ve also posted a pack that includes all the default layouts. If you really botch up the defaults while customizing, running this installer will replace them with the original layout formats.

UMPC: The Missing Link

Michael Mace wrote a fantastic article about the mobile computing market. If you haven’t read it, you really need to read the entire article. I think he is on the money with his analysis and I quite literally could not have said it better.

BUT

The one thing he said that I disagree with is:

“Information manager [device] innovation has basically ground to a halt, and the users in this space are very frustrated.”

I agree that the users are frustrated. I don’t agree that innovation has ground to a halt. In fact, the information manager’s dream device is already out there.

The UMPC.

Contradicting Microsoft To prove my point I first need to contradict some of the things Microsoft has said. Mainly, they’ve insisted that the UMPC is not replacing laptops or PDAs, that it’s for a mysterious ’new market.’ This was a really unfortunate statement because it sent all the reviewers on a bigfoot hunt for this previously undiscovered market. When they couldn’t find this magic market they responded negatively!

The fact of the matter is that the UMPC WILL replace laptops for some users and the UMPC WILL replace PDAs for others. In some cases it might replace both the user’s laptop AND PDA. The reason is simple. There are some things that laptops and PDAs are just not very good at.

PDAs Aren’t PCs I LOVE PDAs (and by “PDA” I mean true PDAs and also devices like the Windows Mobile Smartphones.) These are fantastic devices. The one thing I see all the time though are people trying to get their PDA to work like a PC. I’m guessing that these people are the “Information Managers” Michael Mace mentions in his article.

These people really, really, REALLY want to have their PC with them all the time. They spend countless hours synching data, they buy complex and memory intensive programs to emulate database software, they purchase piles of memory cards to get more memory to hold their data!

How do I know? Well first off, as the guy who spent years answering the phones for a company (Ilium Software) that sells information management software for PDAs, I talked to these people time and time again. Second, I’M one of those people! My dream was my PC in my pocket ALL the time. For years my Pocket PC was the closest I could come. So, like all the other Information Managers, I made do.

Laptops Aren’t Really Portable “Get a laptop,” people would tell me. I’ve got a laptop. A really nice one in fact. BUT, and I know some people will say I’m nuts, laptops aren’t really portable. They aren’t. Yes you can move them around and yes they are more portable than a desktop, but I’ll bet that almost anyone who has ever…

\* Tried to get out and use a laptop in a coach seat on an airplane… \* Balanced a laptop on their lap while trying to drink coffee with a free hand… \* Tried to use a laptop while in the driver’s seat of a (PARKED) car… \* Tried to use a laptop while reclining on the sofa… \* Tried to use their laptop while standing around waiting for a bus…

…will admit that a laptop, even a small one, is just not that portable. It’s great when you need to move to a static location, setup at a table, and work for a couple hours. It’s excellent if you have a whole lot of typing to do, but when it comes to true portability the laptop doesn’t cut it. For one thing, the clamshell design makes it kind of clumsy. Plus, these days the demand for wide screen is making laptops bigger, not smaller!

So yes, a laptop gives me the POWER I (and other Information Managers) am looking for, but not the portability.

UMPCs to the Rescue! So where do I get PC power with PDA portability? It seems obvious to me…the UMPC.

What it does better than my PDA: *I don’t need special versions of software to use my data. *I don’t need memory cards to get enough memory. *The screen is big enough to see and manipulate the data I store on it! *I have full access to all the software titles I use on my PC, never saying “I wish they’d make a PDA version!” *I can read ebooks on it without squinting or zooming constantly!

What it does better than my laptop: *It’s lighter. *I can hold it with one hand and use it while sitting, standing, laying down, or even walking. *I can carry it in just about any bag (although typically I just carry it around like a book). No more special computer bag draped around my neck. *I can use it in confined spaces easily (cars, airplanes, etc.)

The Moral? The moral of the story is that the UMPC is the Information Manager innovation that Michael Mace is looking for. It is also a device that WILL draw off both PDA and laptop users. Personally, I no longer use my laptop. For those occasions where I need the “laptop experience” I just plug in a mouse and a portable keyboard and I’m good to go. Even if I carried these all the time (which I don’t) they would still take less space than my laptop does.

As for a PDA, I have a Windows Mobile Smartphone, but the poor little thing no longer needs to live up to my overblown expectations of it’s capabilities. I keep a limited set of information on it for those occasions when I can’t bring my UMPC.

And finally, I KNOW the UMPC needs to improve. Battery life in particular stinks. Then again my first iPAQ only had a 45 minute battery life so I firmly believe that this is a temporary problem.

UMPCs are the new PDA. If anything, it’s smartphones that are the “new market.” UMPCs are just giving us the portable computing experience that PDAs always failed to deliver.

Voice Reminders

I’ve always liked using the Record/Notes option on my Pocket PC to remind myself of something when it’s not handy to type a note – this is especially useful when driving, I just press and hold the Record button and my reminder is saved as an audio file, accessible from the built-in Notes application. The problem is, I often forget to look and see what reminders I’ve saved – D’oh!

Our friends over at WebIS have a nice solution for this: VoiceMinder. VoiceMinder automatically sends the audio note to my email where I’m sure to see it.

If you keep track of tasks via email, then check out VoiceMinder.

2007 Windows Mobile Partner Summit

Just returned from attending the two day Windows Mobile Partner Summit held in the Seattle area. The summit included OEM, Mobile Operator, and key strategic partners to discuss what’s coming down the road from the Windows Mobile team. We’re under a NDA so I can’t say much about the meeting right now, but I can say that I very much liked what I saw. Stay tuned for more details as we’re allowed to release them. A big thank you to the Windows Mobile Partner team for putting on the event and sharing future plans with us.

Belated Congratulations ...

… to a great site - PDA24/7 - on their 5 year anniversary! We wish you all the success you deserve for the next 5.