BEYOND SG

The real world test - Apple iPhone versus the Blackberry Curve

With all the bad financial news and doomsday analysis, lets talk about something trivial.

I use two cell phones. I am in communication with my team, customers, shareholders, auditors, lawyers, investors and my precocious daughter 15/7 (as in 15 hours/7 days) via cellphone/SMS/i-Chat/Emails. This is not something I am proud of. One of my favorite sayings is that only the Poor need to talk so much. The rich can enjoy the peace and tranquility of the sound of silence because they can afford to switch off their communication devices.

Phone A is the basic phone. Phone B is the PDA cum phone. The combination is self explanatory.

I started using the iPhone (Phone A) last year. Got it from Redmond, Seattle (i know.. getting an Apple device in the heart of Microsoft land.. little ironies) while attending a Microsoft conference. Our company has been using the Blackberry (Phone B) for a few years. Our current model is the Blackberry Curve. Among ourselves, we call it the Slaveberry. My kickass Finance team and M&A team are obsessed about it. Just to illustrate - I wake up at 5am for a glass of juice and my deputy has already sent 10 emails at 4am reminding me the things I have to do today.

This is the perfect usability TEST between iPhone and the Blackberry. To really test whether a phone or communication device is superior, you can't use it for a few days and write a review that Device A is better than Device B just by comparing the features. You have to use it a couple months, drop it a few times, curse at it, exhaust its battery, expose it to sun, a bit of bathwater, download a few updates BEFORE you can conclude that the phone is good or bad.

My criteria for the winner is amateurishly simple . If i spend more time using one phone, that particular phone is declared the winner. And the clear winner is the Blackberry Curve.

It is not that the Apple iPhone is over-hyped and its many features overblown. I want to like the iPhone. I want the iPhone to win. I want to join the chorus of thousands of journalists and reviewers who labeled it the sexiest device on Earth. It is a very good phone but the Blackberry Curve is just better and a more effective device. I find myself using the Blackberry as time progresses and now I don't even see the Blackberry as PDA (Phone B). It is THE DEFAULT communication device. The Apple iPhone, despite its coolness, is now a backup phone. I use it when I could not find my Blackberry. I use it when the Blackberry's battery runs low. I use it when I realize the Blackberry is in my pants while I am driving...

The next question is why the Blackberry is a better device?

1. The Blackberry has a tactile keyboard. I want to be sure what I type. I don't want some HAL9000 algorithm to second-guess me. I don't want to retype a word if i can help it.

2. The Blackberry can cut and paste. Sometimes I need to send a SMS to Person A but I do not wish to blindly forward the same SMS to Person B. With cut and paste, I can quickly edit a SMS. Likewise for emails.

3. The Blackberry has superb search function. When I search for, say, Boston, all I need to do is type BOSTON and every person whose address book has the word Boston will appear. On top of that if i click the person's name, the Blackberry will remember which phone I last dialed since he probably has a home/office/cell/fax number. It is these little attention to details that make the Blackberry the superior phone.

4. The Blackberry's battery lasts longer. Self explanatory.

5. The Blackberry is lighter and tougher. It has undergone the Real Life Torture Test and been proven to withstand physical abuses like accidental drops, knocks and spills.

6. The Blackberry has far less chances of accidental dailing someone. The moment you slot your Blackberry into the holster which has a magnetic clip that is detectable by the Blackberry, the Blackberry will be key-locked. Or you can keylocked the Blackberry within say 1 minute of non-usage. The iPhone has the non-activity keylock feature BUT as a touch screen device, you may accidentally touch the Dial onscreen "button" and dial someone while you are putting it into your pocket. So many friends and relatives of iPhone users have received such mysterious calls from the iPhones. The Blackberry is not perfect too. It has a one-touch set up dial feature and if you depress a key long enough, it will store a dialed number and becomes the hotkey for that phone number. The next time you depress the same key accidentally, it will dial that person. Extremely dangerous stuff. 

Last but not least, the Blackberry Curve is a serious business oriented device. Sure, the babe at Balaclava or St James Powerstation will think you are a pathetic corporate slave chained to your emails, excel spreadsheets and powerpoints. But the good news is that you got a job! In the months to come, having a job is sexy. With the iPhone, you can play some downloaded Applestore accelerometer-enhanced games and show some mindless iPhone applications like swirling milk on the screen and the babe will wonder - can you afford the next monthly phone bill?

Having said that (and to spare myself answering angry emails from Apple fanatics), the iPhone is a perfect conversation starter with anyone. "Wow, cool phone, where did you get it?" "Did it cost you a bomb?" (The answer is invariably "no" despite the fact that he has already pawned his organs.) "That's the cool game! Where can I download it?" "Never see a protective shield that looks so cool, dont think they sell it at Sim Lim?" "The phone looks cool but i prefer workhorses like a simple Nokia..." You can chat up with anyone who has an iPhone; it is perfectly polite and non-threatening to start an "iPhone" conversation. In an era in which we spend so little time communicating directly with human beings, the iPhone is priceless from that perspective.

Ok, carry BOTH phones... if you have deep pockets (bad.. bad.. pun indeed).

Harold Fock

The worker bee WINNER! (www.blackberry.com)

   

The Conversation STARTER! (www.apple.com)

Apart from stopping bullets, what can Kevlar do?

We know Kevlar is used in body armour. We have seen too many heroes riddled with bullets and thankfully, they wore Kevlar (by DuPont) and lived to fight another day.

I just got this pair of amazing British-designed Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) 685 speakers and they are sitting prettily in my office. While I am writing this and doing my year-end closing and corporate exercise (it is 11pm now on a Friday night and yes, entrepreneurs works long hours), the speakers are playing Pet Shop Boys, my all time favourite Euro-techno band.

If you look at the yellow cone, audiophile calls it "cone bass/midrange" and I suspect it means the normal range of frequency -not so high (that's for the tweeters) and not so low (that's for the bass flowport), it is made of Kevlar.

Since Kevlar is a high tech synthetic fabric that possesses high tensile strength, it is perfect for making the vibrating part of the speaker's cone. Dont ask me about the science but intuitively it makes sense.

Check out Wikipedia on Kevlar and i was surprised to learn it was invented as early as 1965. It is used in so many applications - body anti-ballistic armour, ropes, car brakes, buildng material, optic fibre cables, sports equipment and drum heads. Yes, drum heads.

I don't need a body armour (yet) but it is nice to have two pieces of Kelvar blasting the sweetest music I have ever heard on my B&W. As they always say in those science programmes, what will they think of next?

After Pet Shop Boys, I will play Susan Wong (queen of Super Audio CD recording with her perfect vocal), Tsai Chin (she sang the memorable song in the movie Infernal Affairs - both Andy Lau and Tony Leung were staring at the vacuum tube amplifier), Diana Krall and a chamber group playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

Kevlar makes my long lonely nights in the office fun.

Harold Fock

The amazing B&W 685. The robot is not part of the speaker but a gift from my daughter Natalie

The Power of a Search Engine in a trip to Seattle

Last month, I was in Redmond, Seattle to attend a Microsoft conference. During the trip, my business partners and I decided to visit the Apple store as we wanted to check out the new iPhone and the Air Mac. The problem was we have no idea where was the flagship store in Seattle. We got into the cab and asked the cab driver to locate any Apple store. He was very helpful but was not sure. He remembered vaguely that there is an Apple store somewhere at University Village.

I punched three search words in Google on my Blackberry 8800. "Apple" "store" "seattle". Out pop the following information on my Blackberry screen:

Apple Store www.apple.com 2656 NE University Village St Seattle, WA 98105, United States +1 206-524-8100 Get directions

Google "knew" that when you punched in the above keywords, chances are you are looking for an Apple store and it is smart enough to anticipate you need a map too. A second click told me the opening hours of the store. Mission accomplished. We all bought quite a few items from the Apple store, thanks to Google. Otherwise we would have gotten back to our hotel, have a few glasses of wine and sleep.

It just dawned on me there and then why Google is worth billions in terms of valuation. And why Microsoft wishes to buy Yahoo. In the net age, you cant live without a smart search engine.

Harold Fock

At Microsoft Conference Centre trying to fight jet lag. The folks at Redmond WORKS HARD. Their conference assembly time is 645am!!!

At Seattle's amazing Science Fiction Museum and Experience Music Project Building (the purplish reflective structure behind me). Yes, you got it right. They devote half a Frank O. Gehry-designed building to SCI FICTION books and movies. How Geeky Sub Zero Cool can you get?

The APPLE store (It felt like "Harold and Kumar found White Castle" Burgerstore when we arrived!!!)

Of Things to Come - Underwater Mice, Telescopes and "Auto" Cars

Last week, I spend a nice morning at the Singapore Science Centre. It has been ages since I made a visit there. From nostalgic recollections, I bet everyone remembered the amazing underwater mice habitat at the central atrium. It was powered by solar cells and it showed the possibility of living underwater using photo-electricity to filter oxygen out of water (i think that was how it worked). Today, the central atrium has newer exhibits featuring static electricity generators, Jacob ladders and whirlpool demonstration. But i still miss the mice.

I brought my daughter to the Science Centre and I could not help recalling my dad bringing me there when the Science Centre was first opened in the 80s. We went to Jurong Town Hall by mistake and architecturally, both buildings look similar in those days. I remembered this thought clearly - I want to be a scientist when I grow up. There is nothing cooler than science, spaceships, planes and machines. Now my daughter, at 2.9 years old, has been hounding me to buy her a telescope as she fell in love with planets. I want her to see the rings of Saturn and the valleys of the Mars. And be amazed. And be inspired by the smallness of ourselves and the largeness of space. You have no idea how happy and proud I am. This is full circle.

I did not grow up to be a scientist but i add value to scientists, technologists, programmers and inventors. I make them rich. I hunt funding for them. I protect their ideas and patents. I shield them from predators. I look for an A-Team for them, and if necessary, eliminate (i.e. downsize) trouble makers for them. I rub my hands and almost purr when I get hold of a piece of technology or understand the power of a new software.

So civil servant, politicians, administrators, public charities - if you are reading this, please spare a thought for putting money in science exhibitions, roadshows, courses, centres, quizzes etc. Be a promoter of science gadgets and inventions. Cater to the NERDS. Inspire the kids. The love of science and technology is a like a romantic journey. You never give up your first love. And I am glad I never did.

Below is a picture I took of a self-driven car powered by several on board PCs. It is a new exhibit at the Science Centre. Think about the possibility when you can utter commands to your car and it takes you there while you read, work and entertain inside the auto-car. Like Minority Report. Like I-Robot. Like Demolition Man. Like those cheesy SCI-FI shows. Except that it is real. It will take years (all the legal issues about who should be responsible in the event that the car damages another car/human being must be worked out.) Maybe, the car's CPU will incorporate Asimov's Laws of Robotics - A robot(car) must not harm, or thru inaction, harm another human being/car. Maybe if that law is incorporated, cars will travel at 10 km/hour. We don't know and that is why the future is so exciting!

If you ask me, I trust a silicon chip anytime - more than those Ah Bengs/Ah Sengs/Ah Lians/Ah Ang Mohs/Ah Showoffs/Ah Executives/Ah celebrity having too many drinks/Human Beings in their modified (Model and Make: fill in the blank) cars on some ego or drunken trips. Call me a dreamer but the chip is the way to go. Volvo and BMW today offer cars that are computer assisted - they warn you when you change lane badly or blindly, they buzz you when you tail gate another car and so on. The integration of more and more safety technology into the car is inevitable and at some point, the line will be crossed and we humans become assistant drivers. And that is not a bad thing.

Harold Fock

Harold Fock's self driven car in 2020? It has to be in black though...

"Thar's Gold in Them Thar Hills !"

"Thar's GOLD in them thar hills !" - This was the singularly most heard cry on the lips of the floods of immigrants who came from all over the world in a fevered, mad race to find untold and undiscovered wealth amidst the barren, sun-bleached Californian hills surrounding San Francisco Bay.

History had nicknamed these fortune hunters the "49ers", for 1849 was the year of the "Gold Rush" when 100,000 prospectors descended into San Francisco after gold was discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Today, the spirit of these pioneers lives on in San Francisco's football team, who are called the "49ers".

The Technology Gold Rush of the 1990s and today is no different - Prospectors are still lured from distant corners of the world, but today, modern technology enables them to be transported there at supersonic speed, with in-flight service while watching the latest Pixar movie in air-conditioned comfort. 

Like their counterparts of more than a hundred and fifty years before, these high tech prospectors have packed their hopes and dreams and have come well-equipped - not with picks, shovels, or lanterns, but with armfuls of post-graduate degrees in computer science, electronics, engineering, and business.   Hungry for success, these 21st century entrepreneurs are the brightest brains and talents this planet produces and revel in nothing less that taking on the entire world.

Way back in 1849, prospecting for gold in the San Franciscan foothills was a pure numbers game - The more claims a prospector staked out, the greater the odds he had to "Strike it rich!" The trick was, of course, not to run out of money before finding the gold. Today, thousands of entrepreneurs and their financial backers, the venture capitalists, engage in the same gambit, but the game is coached in Silicon Valley-Venture Cap jargon.

The mythology of it all holds an irresistible and almost mystical allure for thousands of dreamers all across America and the world.    The mere mention of the word "start-up" in Silicon Valley conjures visions of huge global market potential, paving the fabled road to what could be untold fortunes for its founders.

For a  Valley start-up, discovering gold is equivalent to getting listed on the stock exchange or being bought by Google or Yahoo for a gazillion dollars. If your company goef for an Initial Public Offering (IPO), you have to write a document for your potential public investors explaining your business and its risks - this document is called a "prospectus".  The past casts long shadows into the present indeed.

Every year the US Immigration Department issues around 100,000 work visas. Curiously this is the same number of immigrant gold prospectors who came here exactly a century and a half ago. As they say, "History repeats itself".

Perhaps, history will refer to the high tech dream-seekers of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries as "the 99ers" and perhaps, they will also be remembered for their hopeful cry, "Thar's Internet Gold in them thar hills!"

David Lim

The Power of Methane

1. The universe is not short of energy. Every star radiates it in abundance. Part of the cosmic material is methane or CH4, which is the carbon atom, with its valency of 4, linked to 4 hydrogen atoms. When the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft reached Titan, the biggest moon of Saturn, about two years ago, it found a landscape which looked surrealistically like earth, with seas and land carved out by rivers. But it wasn't water. Saturn is very cold, way below minus 100 Celsius. It was liquid methane.

2. The earth itself has a lot of methane. The huge bubble of natural gas off Qatar is mostly methane. In the coming decades, natural gas will become more important as a fuel source. Down in the deep ocean beds, we find huge lakes. Lakes under water? Not of water but of methane hydrate. At high pressure, methane and water molecules combine lattice-like to create these lakes. A couple of years ago, I saw beautiful videos of them at Woodshole Oceanographic Institute at Cape Cod, Massachusetts taken by the deep sea vessel which took pictures of the Titanic. Ringing these lakes were teeming colonies of giant mussels feeding off the methane in complete darkness. Around deep sea vents on the ocean floor which release methane live all kinds of strange creatures like tubeworms which derive their energy from the bowels of the earth.

3. Scientists like Tom Gold, who wrote the fascinating book 'the Deep Hot Biosphere' believe that the earth is charged with methane which is constantly bubbling off to the surface. Trouble is: methane is a greenhouse gas. Whether as methane or as carbon dioxide which is produced when the methane is burned for energy, the release of carbon into the atmosphere aggravates global warming. No one knows how much of global warming is caused by human activity but there is no doubt that human activity worsens it.

4. Qatar has estimated reserves of 900 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. More and more will be found around the world, often not associated with oil. We don't lack energy. It is all a matter of economics and of preserving the environment which gives us life. Every organism survives by carefully economising on the energy it uses. We have to, too.

George Yeo

A Porsche for $750 bucks

A Porsche 911 For $750

in USA Today there was an interesting piece by Kevin Maney on the rebirth of Iridium.

You may remember Iridium. Motorola poured $5 billion -- with a B -- into launching 66 satellites that would power a worldwide satellite phone network. Despite the $5 billion investment, the company went bankrupt and measured as one of the great business failures of our day.

Until today -- perhaps.

It turns out the Iridium assets were bought out of bankruptcy for $25 million by a random collection of investors (Maney analogizes the acquisition price to paying $750 for a Porsche 911 or $2 for a night at the Ritz). The new owners cut out all the bureaucracy, stabilized the system and are now operating the company in the black, in no small part thanks to the many reporters and military personnel in the Gulf using Iridium satellite phones to communicate.

Maney concludes "Once a joke, Iridium might turn out to be a leader."

I have no doubt that the excesses of the late 90's have led to a number of valuable assets being available for purchase for a song. That said, I find it a little hard to view the rebirth of Iridium as a business triumph. Iridium was a bad idea. There just wasn't sufficient business in the satellite phone market to justify $5 billion in capital costs to get it up and running. That the system is now making small amounts of money is a far cry from vindication for the initial supporters of the Iridium Project.

It's great news for the new investors and more power to them -- good entrepreneurs can always spot an undervalued asset -- but the $5 billion Iridium Project remains a business mistake of pretty colossal proportions.

David H.

What I saw at COMEX and the scary OEM boys

I just spent three days at the Comex 2006- Singapore's largest IT and consumer technology exhibition. Basically, anything electronic and electrical can be exhibited there and the crowds were mindbogglingly huge. I came across this fantastic China OEM company that manufactures a hand-held, PDA-like video player similar to the Video i-Pod. For about S$240, you get a video MPEG3 player, a MP3 player, a E-learning viewer, with Multiple Choice Questions test quizzes, 4 dictionaries (Chinese to English, vice versa and classical Chinese dictionary etc), word reader, voice recorder, game machine, calculator and the list of features goes on and on. The company threw in the kitchen sink and then some. The rule of thumb in estimating OEM manufacturing cost is about say, 25-35% (pure conjecture here) which means the video player's cost price is around S$60-80. Now, think about Apple's profit margin?

When I met the Chinese founder, he explained to me what is the meaning of OEM boys speed. The moment he starts producing a model, he knows that it has 3-4 months product lifespan before his competitors come up with something cheaper and better. He will be planning to maufacture Model Version 2.0 and putting the finishing touches to Model Version 3.0. So the OEM boys are about two prototypes ahead just to stay alive in the game. Naturally, our jaws dropped but he was nonchalance about the endless pursuit of feature improvements and enhancements. "I cant stop. If I slow down, my competitors will be there and I am dead. My next important job is to figure out how to minimise inventory because the product will be obsolete in just a few months! It is like dealing with vegetables (perishables)." I found out that at the grand old age of 36, he has nearly 1,000 workers and part-timers all over China. This is China OEM power at its best.

I am fully convinced that I dont want to be in his arena. China has always been a 3-D photocopy machine to me. Ever saw Star Trek? They had this Replicator installed in the starship which enabled the crew to ask for anything and the Replicator just build the requested objects from "fresh atoms" :-).

Let's not kid ourselves, in tea sessions and feedback sessions where the Very Important Politicians (VIP) are around, I always hear uplifting stuff like "Oh, Singapore will move up the value chain", "we can be the R&D centre, the brains and China and India are the low cost manufacturers, like hands" etc. These guys never even work beside a conveyor belt before and somehow figure out we can move up the chain. Wow! Amazing! China and India are now the R&D centres, low cost manufacturers and soon to be global distributors- all in one powerhouses.

So in order to live happily ever after, we have to figure out how to use the Replicator before it becomes a Terminator. And figure out fast.