Siri, How Cool Are you?

Siri Says: Very Cool, Ben...Very Cool.

Tacky beginning, I know, but iPhone 4S personal assistant Siri really is that cool.

Siri is the voice-activated assistant on the new iPhone. It can set reminders, schedule meetings, read and respond to text messages; all by using our everyday jargon.

While voice assistance is not unique to Siri ( Google Android devices have several voice integration tools), none offers what Siri can.

Granted Google voice assistance is great for sending texts, but can you do that without ever looking down at your phone? No.
Can you set appointments? Nope.

Siri brings everything you had in voice assistance and increased functionality by 10 fold.
Nothing has come even close to market with this type of disruptive technology. Siri is not only cool, it will change HOW we use our phones. And that's disruptive.

Amazon and their Blaze of Fire

Amazon just released their Kindle Fire Tablet. This tablet will use Amazon's unique OS and will use apps from Amazon App Store.
This tablet was dubbed the iPad Killer, due to the significant gap between the prices of the two units.

Amazon Kindle Fire = $200
Cheapest iPad Wi-Fi - $500

Entry in the tablet market is extremely difficult. Apple iPad commands approx. 68% market share.
As popular as the Android OS has become, Android Tablets have struggled to gain traction against the iPad.
It seems as though the iPad has benefited as a first mover advantage.

The Kindle Fire will sell millions, due to their unique price point. Additionally, Amazon already has millions of users visiting their site daily. This free marketing through Amazon.com will prove a major advantage for the Kindle Fire to succeed where others may have failed.

Time will tell.

Apple and The Lion King

Apple Inc. has revolutionized the tech world with their sleek designs, innovative devices, and arguably the most user-friendly Operating Systems ever.

This summer at the WDC, Apple announced two new OS, iOS 5 and Lion.

While iOS 5 has yet to launch, OS Lion for Mac products hit the App Store in late July.
Many are befuddled as to many conundrums users face in Lion. The user reviews and online stir has sparked my interest in the subject and furthermore, how this fits with Apple's strategy.

As aforementioned, Apple's wild success over the recent years has been due to the user-friendly strategy. It's all about the user, from Macs to the iPad. Everything must flow and work seamlessly.
Converts to the Apple Church switched for one reason alone, functionality. Why else would a PC user pay the premium prices not to mention re-learning computing through Apple's OS X.

And now converts come in masses. Therefore, it is confusing for the Mac-believers to understand the bugs/problems users face in OS X 7, Lion.

Here are a few excerpts from Mac-users that have recently made the switch to Lion:

This is the WORST software release Apple has ever done
By Andrew Melton
"I have been an avid Mac User since 1984 and have always touted the stability and reliability of Apple products. I installed Lion yesterday and this morning I have had 10 crashes in less than an hour. "

What happened?
By Tangofox1027
"Seriously Apple! I love your products, but Lion is not much of a step forward. I hat that Microsoft Office does not operate anymore with the upgrade...my browsers are slow...Thanks Apple!"

It seems as though Apple launched OS X 10.7 Lion BEFORE getting all the kinks out. Not the norm for the kings on Cupertino hill.
With such mixed sentiment from users, many find Lion analogous to Microsoft's Vista.

If Lion persists to be a pain, we may see mass exodus. Bad for Apple. Time for Apple to bring back the strategy that resurrected them.