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I. Am. Thrilled! to see that Lotus is doing so much lately to show a commitment to the Mac, iPhone and now iPad. Its actually been a bit hard to AVOID seeing something in the press about that – which is great. I’m especially glad because a quick click on the “iPhone” link in this site’s tag cloud will show lots and lots of entries where I’ve talked about the need for this over the last few years.

And its clear that Lotus has listened (perhaps not to me, but a bunch of us). That’s great! It sends a great message about the brand’s commitment to some outstanding devices; it positions them in a great way (hey, anyone who can ride Apple’s ad/press-tailwave should do so!); and I still believe that it will translate to $.

There is simply no other point to this article than to acknowledge that lots of people are talking about this and I think its all great news. Its easy to have a blog and stay focused on what improvements are needed or what messages are not being heard – I just wanted to say “thanks!” for listening and acting on this one. Its great stuff!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go tell my boss that I NEED an iPad! 

Tags: buzz, ipad, iphone, mac, News

Which of these three does not like the other?

I heart Quickr. I “heart” it even more now that I’ve seen a preview of Quickr 8.5 at Lotusphere. It appears that Lotus has done some great work to streamline the user experience quite a bit. For me, this was one of the biggest take-aways from Lotusphere as our own deployment of Quickr has stalled out largely due to some clunkyness in using the product.

I (as the guy in charge of all things IT world-wide at the company) haven’t done much to help people get passed that. The main reason is that I have a big commitment to Windows 7 being our O/S of choice and Win7 doesn’t play nice with Quickr connectors.

Sidebar: I’m not quite clear on when that support will come. Anyone? Anyone? Buhler? Buhler?

The dudes at Snapps have come up with a GREAT iPhone app for Quickr. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used this thing since it came out. Its very simple, easy to set up (even an end-user can do it) and quite helpful. Plus it looks great, works great and I’m not sure there’s many other features I’d like to see in this thing.

If you haven’t seen it for yourself, its worth taking a look at because it is GREAT!

Tags: iphone, quickr, snapps

I’ll admit that in every single one of the 8 (I think that number is right) Lotusphere’s I’ve attended, I haven’t given much thought to the LS online tool that’s prepared with the event. Until now.

Perhaps the lsonline.info site has been this good in the past – but this was the first year I’ve noticed it … and WOW is it a great tool! The interface is very easy to use. I was able to scan through the list of sessions and create a calendar of what I wanted to see in very short order (a process that normally involves multiple reads through the materials, scanning for sessions that repeat and generally a good afternoon planning session right after I pick up my Lotusphere registration information).

But the best part was that I could export my schedule as an .ics file which then can be uploaded into Notes so that my calendar is available with me – how handy is that!

It doesn’t end there, they’ve also provided a mobile interface (www.lsonline.info/m) which works fantastic with my iPhone!

Very cool!

Tags: iphone, lotusphere, ls10

Everyone else seems to be posting things that reflect on the last year – so I decided to do the same. Below are the top 10 moments/posts/thoughts that I feel are more noteworthy from this blog. Enjoy.

10. Lotus announces Sametime 8.5 before the end of 2009 (despite me being SURE they’d wait to Lotusphere)

9. Disk savings from DAOS was easy to implement and quite beneficial on disk space usage!

8. Began using Google Voice a utility that’s not all “there” yet but potentially a game-changer for managing phone calls & voicemails.

7. Notes turns 20

6. Realized the using an iPhone is more like integrating something into your life than getting a new phone.

5. Realized that people don’t “search” any more, they “Google.”

4. My alter-ego starred in a video all about “conferences at Disney World” which featured Lotusphere 2009.

3. After much debate (and frustration caused largely by SnowLeopard) I abandoned a Mac in favor of a PC.

2. Notes (Traveler) support for the iPhone was released (and it rocks!)

1. I got fed up with hearing things like “notes is a tarnished brand” and one simple thing to try to make my voice heard for a moment by being featured on theInfoBoom.com along with a companion piece on my blog.

Tags: 2009, daos, google, iphone, lotusphere, mac, pc, sametime, traveler

A few weeks ago I posted an entry asking (begging?) GM to consider an iPhone app that would allow me to start my car from my iPhone. I don’t want it because its cool (well, that’s part of it) but because their basic and advanced remotes have horrible range … and I live in MN, where its cold and the last thing I want to walk within 25 feet of my car, start it, then go back inside to wait for it to warm.

Moving on … this week I noticed a post about an iPhone app Mercedes is working on as a additional remote for their cars. That’s perfect considering my other car is a C-class. Here’s the down-side of this app: no remote start. It simple mimics the functionality you have on your existing key fob. Let’s take a look at the steps needed to start your car for a moment (as I illustrate my point to this entry):

With current key/fob:

1. Remove remote from pocket
2. Press button – car opens

With proposed iPhone app:

1. Remove iPhone from pocket
2. Press button to activate iPhone
3. Slide finger to unlock iPhone
4. Swipe to screen containing your MB remote application
5. Press icon to start app
6. Wait a moment
7. Press button to open car – car opens (I’m just going to assume that it does it as quickly as well – which I somehow don’t think will be true.)

So there you go, GM. Simply hurry up and build the app I talked about and you’ll have a GREAT new feature Mercedes doesn’t even have! Again, I’m available for beta testing. 

Tags: cars, iphone, remotes

I have to admit… once Turkey Day passes I mentally tell myself “Ok, that’s it… Lotus isn’t going to release any new software until Lotusphere.” I mean: why would they?

And yet this year, they did.

Lotus Sametime 8.5 is schedule to be released next week and it promises to be a BIG upgrade. At the top of my list of favorite new features is the zero-footprint install. That’s been the biggest pain in getting people to use Sametime in our organization (they just don’t “get” why they ask for Sametime and get Java errors).

Of course #2 on the list is the pictured iPhone client. I’m anxious to see how that works! I did a usability lab on it last year at Lotusphere and can already tell they addressed some of the issues I had with it. Well done, Lotus!

A bunch of great links are out about the new version, here’s my roundup:

• What’s new in Sametime 8.5
• Sametime 8.5 Features/Benefits (PDF)
• Lotusphere 2010 Sametime Sessions
• Sametime 8.5. How-To Video

One additional note: the YouTube video above is GREAT. Not only is it a great way to show how the product works but its something I can pass out to other users when we launch it. This is precisely the kind of thing that’s extremely helpful to have (from IBM/Lotus) for our team!

Tags: iphone, lotus, sametime, training, video

Dear GM,

I recently purchased a new Buick Enclave from you and LOVE it! I’ve owned many (MANY!) cars and this one easily makes it into my “top 3″ favorite cars of all time. You really did an outstanding job on the vehicle. Oh, and you’ll be happy to note that this vehicle replaced a Lexus RX, which we opted to not re-purchase in lieu of getting the Enclave. So your ad campaign targeting the Buick brand against Lexus is working (and in my estimation, accurate).

I have only two complaints about the vehicle:
1. The side-view mirrors are far too small for a vehicle that big
2. The range of the auto-start (even the “enhanced” one with the key fab larger than a Motorola Razr cell phone) sucks. A lot.

I’m not sure if you know this or not, but Viper has built a great iPhone app that allows people to start up their cars (among other things) by using their iPhone. Its a great app and I’m quite confident its translating into some nice sales.

That got me to thinking… why don’t YOU do it? You already have the infrastructure in place in the form of the OnStar system which can remotely do all sorts of stuff to a GM vehicle. Why not build an iPhone app that allows us, the owners of those cars, to remotely start/stop the vehicles? You could charge for the app (I suggest “free” but if you’d like to make some money, I’d pay as much as $29.99 for the app) and require an OnStar service contract to be in place (of which, I’m on the fence about anyway – this would throw me over that fence).

Beyond being a forward thinking product, this would also solve the problem of how poorly the range is on your key fabs, including the advanced one which I have purchased for the $200+ price and yet seen only a 3 foot range improvement (exaggeration – but not by a whole lot).

If you’re looking for someone to help test it, I humbly offer my services.

Sincerely,

Me.

Tags: buick, cars, gm, great ideas, iphone

I’ve discovered that is all I need to say now after I re-call someone I just got disconnected from when using my iPhone.

Sad.

The best mobile device in the world is quickly becoming the most distrusted piece of technology in my life. I didn’t realize it until today when I stopped to think that I now:

• Schedule conference calls around when I’ll be near a land-line
• Preface important calls with “… I’m on an iPhone, so if we get disconnected, I’ll call back.”
• Interrupt people who call my cell to ask if I can call them back from another line
• Often use the phrase “Sorry, iPhone” to explain I got cut off

Its been YEARS since I did any of those things consistently. Cell phone technology has been pretty dang good for the last few years and call quality and reliability reached a point where it didn’t really matter what phone I was using – the cell phone was nearly as good as a land line. But the iPhone is quickly undoing that.

Now… I’ve been an iPhone user since day one. Literally. It seems that this problem has become much worse in the last 30 days. Which prompted me to wonder: what changed?

1. iPhone software update
2. Enabling push notifications on EchoFon (a Twitter app)
3. Notes Traveler

I disabled #2. I’ll roll back to the previous version to address #1 if #2 doesn’t fix it. And I sure as heck hope that #3 has nothing to do with any of this. Because “I heart Traveler.”

Tags: iphone, traveler, why we got disconnected from that call

InvestorPlace.com has a report out about how Apple’s iPhone is closing in on RIM/BlackBerry in a number of categories. While the BlackBerry is the defacto standard for mobile business devices, there is a clear trend that even business users are moving to the iPhone.

With the release of Lotus Notes/Traveler support for the iPhone we have seen an amazing amount of interest. We have limited our deployment of iPhones to ensure we do our due diligence of testing it in our environment but continue to have daily inquiries about the status of that testing. I’ve never seen so many people interested in “beta testing” something for our group. I’ve also NEVER seen people offer to pay for the device out of their own pocket if they can simply get one with their company-issued cell phone number attached. I’ve even had a few people who have asked if they can buy the device AND pay the additional monthly service costs, if any.

Hmmm… perhaps I’m sitting on a profit center and don’t even know it?

This report suggests not only that there continues to be a strong migration to the iPhone (although, not necessarily at the expense moving away from RIM) but that the customer satisfaction for using the iPhone continues to be very strong… an item I find interesting in light of a variety of articles suggesting that as many as 30% of iPhone calls are dropped (I’ve never experienced anything anywhere near that number).

Regardless, I find it interesting that a device which has nominally changed in three generations (face it, it hasn’t changed significantly) still has so much interest that people are still wanting to migrate to it; love it when they have it; and willing to pay out of their own pocket so they can have it. Amazing!

Tags: blackberry, iphone, marketing, mobile, notes, traveler

Last week I was told that I was one of the most outspoken critics about Lotus’ lack of support for the iPhone. While I agree that I complained quite a bit, I was surprised to hear that the number of complaints I lodged reached anyone’s radar screen. With that in mind, I feel compelled to comment on the latest update to Lotus Traveler which now supports the iPhone.

In a word: Nailed-it!

From my perspective, I’ve been waiting for Notes connectivity since the day iPhone apps were first launched – which is a long time to wait for something (email, contacts, calendar sync with Notes) I could easily have by moving to a WinMobile or BlackBerry device. There is also a relationship between the amount of time I have to wait for something and the continuous raising of my expectations of the product once its released… which is to say: I’ve had some HIGH expectations for this product.

And Lotus totally pulled it off. Install is easy & painless. Setup is so easy its almost non-existent (which is GREAT). Usability and integration with the iPhone is awesome. What’s more, Lotus also threw in a free surprise in the form of global address book look-ups which is a HUGE deal for us since we leverage directory assistance to integrate not only address book information but supplier, vendor and customer information — all of which are now easily at my fingertips and work GREAT!

Nice job, Lotus! You guys NAILED IT!

Tags: iphone, nailed it, notes, traveler