(YBH) – The air was thin in Aspen this week, the content at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech 2010 was not.
Three things stood out at this year’s conference. Prime point: apps will eventually run each of our lives. I say that in jest, but the functionality of apps will soon change the way we all interact with the internet and therefore our daily lives. Next, social media is the space to be in if you looking for venture capital cash (and who isn’t?). Lastly, and most important, the iPad is leading a revolution akin to the original PC explosion fostered by Apple, Microsoft, and IBM in the early 1980′s.
Let’s take a look at each topic.
Apps, Get in Now:
The “i” environment is changing the relationship between humans and computers. Psychologically, it may be as simple as the fact that the touch screen iPhone altered the physical interactions between man and machine. No longer is a keyboard required as a conduit between your thoughts and the images and text on a computer screen. Typing directly on the screen, or face of the computer if you will, is a much more personal act than using a keyboard. In turn, software, or apps, are becoming much more personal and customizable in nature.
The current iterations of IE, Mozilla, and Safari will be seen as a trio of Ford Model T’s in coming years. Google may eventually become a back-end supplier of data that powers apps (they of course will have their own apps as well), but going to a search engine in the traditional sense to look for flight deals will be a thing of the past. Why open Safari and type in a web address when you can simply press a button on your iPad’s homepage to visit a customized American Airlines portal?
The new iPad app Flipboard is justly causing a hype-storm in tech circles, less for what the app actually does, but for the fact that it represents a new way of thinking about social media, content, and the internet. Flipboard simply organizes Twitter, Facebook, and virtually any other content you consume, into a magazine-style format. Users literally flip through the pages of their lives on Flipboard. NOTE: The app just went live this week and the company is breathlessly trying to keep up with new activations. I’ve yet to receive mine, so I can’t offer a true review of the actual product just yet. The demo was impressive, however.
An obstacle for Flipboard, or any other PCA (personal content aggregator), will be integrating legacy websites (like this one) and other common functions (printing, etc.) into its app. An integration with Google, or perhaps Bing, will be paramount for Flipboard to move past the “cool, but impracticable” stage (think Second Life) and on into the future.
Also, subscription-based apps are the wave of the future for high-end niche content providers. Fortune unveiled its robust new iPad app during the conference. It’s clear the magazine plans to, and eventually will, have more e-subscribers than traditional ones. The magazine business has yet to price its apps on a yearly subscription model, but they will. Ahead-of-the-curve magazine and newspaper brands will couple physical subscriptions with a free iPad app subscription. For instance, the Wall Street Journal requires users buy a separate app subscription for $3.99 a week in addition to their physical subscription. I’ve had the WSJ delivered to my house on a daily basis for seven years; I’ve yet to buy an iPad app subscription. Neither fact will change in the near future. For me, it’s not yet worth the extra cost.
Social Media Return of the “Web Portal”
The number of “social media” entrepreneurs at Brainstorm this year was illuminating. From social media gaming companies like Zynga (the maker of Farmville), to upstarts like Badgeville and Clicker, social media companies are gaining the attention of venture capital, and for good reason.
Social media is booming more and more because of the billions of pieces of consumer data that the medium generates, and the opportunities for audience segmentation that the data represents, rather than the sheer volume of users to SM sites 500 million Facebook accounts means nothing if Facebook can’t use the data behind each account to attract advertisers. Hence the continuing privacy battle between Facebook and its users.
Social media represents the holy grail to marketers seeking laser accuracy in their ad focus. Take the Huffington Post, for example. Sam Stein attempting to prove that Dick Cheney actually is Darth Vadar is not the reason advertisers pay a premium to advertise there. The content matters, but it is the HuffPo eco-system that people are logging on for. Advertisers know this and want in on the action. In this regard, the Huffington Post is as much social network as it is a news site.
The iPad, One Device to Rule Them All
It is a foregone conclusion that the iPad will change everything in the “PC” world. My observation is based on the fact that almost everyone in the uber-tech savvy Brainstorm crowd had one. Oddly, none of the tech companies present pitched a new tablet product. Todd Bradley of HP did mention that a Windows-based HP tablet is in the offing, but the iPad was the gadget of choice at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech 2010. I should take a minute to reflect that last year no one had an iPad at the conference. It was merely a rumor way, way back in 2009. What a difference a year makes indeed.
It is hugely important that HP or a competitor comes up with a legitimate tablet product. Apple of course will dominate the tablet market for years to come, but without a Gimble’s to Apple’s Macy’s the sheer economies of scale will hold the tablet market back in the short term. HP, when pushed, usually gets its act together. Let’s hope they succeed here. Also, do not discount the possibility of a yet-unnamed Asian company called, say, ACME TABLET CONCERN, branding a killer tablet under the Dell or Gateway label.
Microsoft will doubtless find a way to be a big player throughout all of this, and clearly Google will come up with a tablet version of its Android operating system in the future. The sooner the better, I say, as the true winner in a Windows/Android tablet OS fight would undoubtedly be the consumer.
Final Analysis: Happy Days are Here Again for Tech Sector
The current tech boom is likely to extend for at least another five years. The tablet and social media interface markets will help see to that.
The difference in attitude from last year’s Brainstorm in Pasadena to this year’s in Aspen was nothing short of compelling. First and foremost, venture capitalists have a much clearer idea of the kinds of companies they need to nurture and fund to move consumer tech to the next frontier. VC’er Jim Breyer of Accel Partners summed up this year’s conference best. Mr. Breyer said that a VC’s delight is a company that is at “the intersection of social commerce, media, and mobile.” This humble writer thinks that Mr. Breyer is spot on.
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John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
