Data Management Would Make the iPhone the Phone Killer

There are plenty of rumors now running around the internet about a possible iPhone launching from Apple. There is a single key feature that Apple usually gets right that we suspect will make any phone from Apple the only phone anyone will want to buy: software.

Within weeks of the first generation iPod, open source software hackers were making applications to turn the iPod into a quasi PDA that could hold contact information. More recent iPods do store and display contact information. Windows users have the option of synching contacts from Outlook or manually using Windows Address book, a little known application that ships with every modern version of Windows. But for now, iTunes, the software that has made iPod THE mobile music device really doesn't support contact information.

Since standard cellphones for most part lack any hardware to PC connection, few if any phone models can synch to PC Address books. Sure, blackberries and sidekicks do, but the average person isn't walking around with a SmartPhone, and many folks carry both a standard phone and SmartPhone. Meanwhile, the wireless carriers have decided to make a few extra dollars charging customers to move address books to new phones. The last phone we dropped $100 on after "loyalty" rebates, but wound up paying an additional 10% of that price to transfer our address book to the new phone. This is beyond aggravating, and frankly, reason enough for us to consider dropping Verizon.

We've been playing around with contacts on our fifth generation iPod for a while now. Its tough though, since we're smart enough not to use Outlook. Indeed, most of our contacts are in gmail and hotmail. So instead, we manually maintain our Windows Address book, and when we remember to, update our iPod Contacts accordingly. So besides our Gmail Address book and the iPod Contacts folder and the Windows Address Book files, we also have our phone Address book. Maintaining all of these databses is time consuming. Yet, this is where an Apple branded cellular phone could surpass other, lesser media phones.

Apple needs to build an address book function directly into the iTunes software for an iPhone to really be the Cell Phone killer the company will want it to be. This may seem counter intuitive, since you can't really buy contacts from an online store as you can music or videos or movies. But it is the key feature that would differentiate an iPhone and the feature that made the iPod the success it was.

Furthermore, building contact software directly into an iPhone / iTunes would allow people to actually be welcomed to "the Social." More times then not, when we come across someone we know but don't have their phone number, party A takes the time to input Party B's contact information. This is then followed up with a 15 second call so that Party A has Party B's contact information without going through the motions of inputting data on a tiny cellphone keypad. Yet, if iPhone / iTunes manages contacts, then two users could simply swap contact data wirelessly. Ultimately, this is a social behavior people engage in all the time that modern technology has failed to really figure out how to streamline.

So indeed, we have high expectations that the Apple iPhone will change digital communication. But at the end of the day its not about the hardware, but instead about the software, which Apple has proven again and again to understand.

Bye, Bye, Bank of America

My relationship with my bank has been on the rocks for months. I mean you, Bank of America. Tonight our little tit-for-tat took an ugly turn when I went ahead and cancelled the credit card they issued me.

I was very happy back in the day when I was a customer of mid-sized Fleet Bank. Fleet had ATMs everywhere I needed them-- mainly the civilized sections of the country, the megalopolis between Washington D.C. and Boston. And how excited I was for them to offer me such an extensive line of credit. And yet, here we are.

Bank of America bought Fleet (who I suppose in fairness, had bought a whole number of smaller banks on the way). And Bank of America's first threat was made when they sent a new card to replace my ancient fleet ATM card. Oh how I miss that ugly aqua-marine and sea-foam green card. It was, quite possibly the easiest card to find in a wallet cluttered with dozens of similar looking credit cards and identification cards and shopper loyalty cards.

Predictably, the new Bank of America ATM card was a shade of gold that matched at least two other cards in my wallet. Fine, I conceded, I'll use your gold ATM card. But leave me my green and silver Savings Bond Visa card.

Some weeks later of course, Bank of America sent me a brand new, shiny gold colored credit card. They may have taken my sea-foam green ATM card but I sure as hell wasn't using their ugly gold and blue credit card too. So I cut the card into little pieces and continued using the Fleet credit card.

I knew though that the Fleet Savings Bond card had a limited life. I could ignore the Bank of America's demands that I use their new card only as long as my Fleet card did not expire. I had more than two years to go.

Then one afternoon I was hoping to buy a product online. Unfortunately, my two year old collector's item of a credit card had no special code for added security. The number had rubbed off sometime after the merger of Fleet and Bank of America. I called up customer service and they assured me the only thing I could do would be to wait for a new card to be issued.

I told them not to bother, preferring to keep my Fleet Savings Bond card rather than whatever fancy Bank of America branded card they would send me.

Of course, a few days later, Bank of America had sent me yet another branded card, gold and blue. Again, I sliced and diced the card into little pieces, reassured that I had at least until 2007 before I would be using their blue and gold card. I did however, sign up for a new card with a different bank, partly to have a spare credit card, and partly knowing that one day soon I'd be cutting my ties with good ol' Bank of America.

And then that's when it happens. I log into my account online and notice that my card is no longer being referred to as "Savings Bond Card" but instead "Financial Premier." Whoa there cow-boy! I have a Savings Bond card, not a Financial Rewards card.

After a few frustrating minutes trying to access "My Rewards" in my account, I gave in and decided there was one inevitable option: calling customer service. Obviously I am loathe to get involved with automated dialing systems, but it seemed the only solution. After a quick skip to dial a human, I was, though unaware of this at the time, on my way to canceling my card.

The nice lady on the other end confirmed my suspicions: Bank of America unilaterally decided to give me a Financial Rewards card. Thanks, Bank of America, that kind of personalized service is why I do business with you! Indeed, thirty seconds later I was cutting up my card, even before the nice lady on the other end of the line confirmed the account had been cancelled.

So as it turns out, I'm in the market for a new card. I think the only real criteria that I have is that the card is not Gold and Blue.

The Quotable Times

The Times amused us twice in two days. We thought that this was worth noting.

"Bonfire Night...is celebrated by building a fire around a homemade effigy of Guy Fawkes, the Catholic perpetrator of the failed plot to blow up Parliament in 1605, and shouting happily as it burns to a crisp."

-- Trick or Treat? For Many Britons, the Reply Is Neither

"[when] Alessandra Conti, 16, and her classmate Michelle Palotta, 17...saw Ruehl for the first time at a mall in Paramus, N.J...[they said] 'Instead of being in Bergen County in the middle of New Jersey, we are on a street in New York, and that is where we want to be anyway — living in New York City.' "

-- Are We Shopping? Is This a Store