Consulting | Jason Palmer, CPA, CITP

Tech Support Contracts Insure Productivity

July 12, 2012 By Jason Palmer 2 Comments

Technical Support Contracts are the ultimate safety net to keep you productive when bad things happen to good computer software and hardware.

Software support contracts enable you to call an expert in near real time and get immediate assistance with any usability issues or errors allowing you to get back to work as quickly as possible.

Hardware support contracts, depending on the response level purchased, can provide replacement parts same day or next day, with or without a trained vendor technician to install them for you.

If your TV Set or iPod fails, it will probably not impact your ability to make a living, so a discussion of the value of support and service contracts on consumer electronics gear are a topic for another day.

Last night, after the monthly Microsoft Patch Tuesday updates applied, my computer requested to restart. I dutifully complied and walked away for a few minutes. When I came back, I heard a “jet engine” sound – which was the computer fans running at full speed with nothing but a green power light, no hard drive light activity and nothing on my computer screen. As a Computer Professional, I followed the appropriate diagnostic protocol and sadly determined that the motherboard had failed in my one month old computer.

As my desktop computer is critical to my daily productivity, I had a same day, four hour response hardware technical support contract on it. I called the manufacturer late in the evening, went through some additional troubleshooting steps and the support person concurred that the Motherboard needed to be replaced. A Tech Support Case was created for morning dispatch and by 11am a Courier had arrived with my new Motherboard. To expedited matters, I installed the Motherboard myself but I could have easily arranged for the manufacturer’s technician to stop by and install it for me. In fact, the assigned technician to the on-site tech support case called me around 9am to advise me that the part was in-transit and that he was available in-person or by phone at my discretion.

Within an hour of the part arrival, my PC was fully operational and I was back to work and getting on with my day. Without a Tech Support Contract, had I relied on the standard warranty, it would have taken one full business day for dispatch of the part and the technician.

Had this been a Consumer class PC instead of a Business class PC, the only option might have been to send it back for service to the manufacture or wait up to a week for on-site service – if even available. This difference in the standard business class system warranty options, in and of itself is a good reason to purchase “Business Class” systems vs. the consumer oriented models available at warehouse clubs and consumer electronics stores.

Had I been unable to work for more than a few hours, the lost revenue and productivity would have far exceeded the nominal cost of the same day, four hour response Tech Support Contract. In most cases, these premium option Tech Support Contracts cost approximately 20% of the list price for same day service and a little as 10% for guaranteed next business day service. When you look at the cost of not being able to do your work compared to a few extra dollars for the premium warranty options, the value becomes clear.

Even though my data was fully backed up, I still would have needed a system to run all of my software applications: Quickbooks, Microsoft Office, ACT!, Google Apps, etc. Compared to having a similarly configured spare system, or my willingness to purchase one at full retail – assuming one was available with comparable specifications, the least expensive, most expedient option was and is to have a current, in-force Tech Support Contract for my personal computer with the same day service option.

I would like to point out that my data was never at risk. I have rock solid backups of my data both on-site and off-site – I just could not get to my applications and data – until my desktop PC was fixed – to do my work. Had this been a catastrophic failure of the hard drive or a complete loss of the system (Fire Damage or Theft), of course, I could have done a full restore to a new hard drive or completely new system. And that would be expected for those situations.

Software Updates fix things before they Break

July 11, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

Software Updates are an important part of periodic maintenance for the programs that keep your technology running. If the “Check Engine” light came on in your car, would you keep driving until the car finally broke down completely? No, you see the “Check Engine Light”, and if you are like most people, you get your car to the mechanic as quickly as possible to have the problem investigated and repaired.

When a Software Vendor, such as Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle (Java), or Apple, releases a Software Update, that is the equivalent of of the “Check Engine Light” telling you there is a potential problem in your technology that needs to be addressed and fixed as quickly as possible.

You have probably noticed that major software vendors that release a large number of patches categorize them in to three basic categories: Critical – as in “ignore at your own risk and peril”; Recommended – as in “I would if I were you”; and Optional – as in “We really think you should install this for the new feature, but the choice is yours.”

Some vendors release Software Updates on a periodic schedule like Microsoft with “Patch Tuesday”, the second Tuesday of every month, to help customers plan and schedule maintenance. Others release Software Updates on an as needed basis and ALL will usually release a critical patch as soon as available.

If you are the type to change your oil “per the car manufacturer’s recommendations” and follow the recommended scheduled maintenance, then you should be following the Software Update Patch schedule of your software vendor and applying the updates as soon as possible on the same scheduled, periodic basis.

Most software products and computers have an “auto-update” feature that is turned on by default. This is usually the best setting for the majority of users. The software or operating system or computer, “phones home” to the Vendor to get notice of any updates and either automatically installs the software update or notifies you that one is available.

To drive home the point of the importance of Software Updates, I just spent the last seventeen hours updating and undoing the damage caused by lack of scheduled maintenance on a File Server. The “Check Engine Light” was on for over a year and no one took any action. You might say I did a transmission rebuild, flush and fill of the radiator, and removed the sludge in the oil pan, all in one service call. Considering that I earn at least as much as an auto mechanic, this was an expensive repair job. And, the company lost two days of productivity with no access to their accounting system, files, or email.

Since few, if any updates were applied by the prior computer consultant, instabilities in the software manifested themselves and caused a cascading failure of the operating system. Conflicts between various drivers – special pieces of software that tell the Windows operating system how to interact with the hardware – and the Windows Server Operating System were causing the infamous BSOD – “Blue Screen of Death.”

Software Updates fix things before they break – and so should you by applying them.

However, if you find that you too have ignored the “Check Engine Light” on your technology and need some after the fact assistance, consider me like the “Triple A – American Automobile Association” and feel free to contact me for a “Tow” back to the Computer Repair Shop garage to get your systems back in working order.

Software Licensing Cost – Understanding the Value

July 10, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

The first rule of computing is to never do anything by computer that you can do faster by hand.

Frequently, when discussing the cost of Software Licenses, business owners grumble at the prices charged per copy by the usual suspects such as Microsoft, Intuit, Salesforce, or Sage ( – to name a few.) They proclaim that it is like pouring money in to a hole and that they don’t understand why they need to have the latest versions nor do they understand why they would want to make sure that every employee has a copy of the Software.

I ask why they feel that there is no value or not as much value as the developer of the software assigns to the per copy license. In some cases I get a legitimate complaint that not every employee fully utilizes the software, but in most cases the business owner just has an arbitrary value assigned to the software based on their own perception of what they think it is worth or should cost.

Let us use a copy of the Quickbooks Premier Small Business Accounting Software with a single seat/copy price of approximately $400 as an example. First, I ask the business owner what is he paying is bookkeeper – the person using the Quickbooks software? For simplicity we will use $45,000 (which is the average salary for a bookkeeper in New York City.)

I ask the business owner what did his bookkeeper use before Quickbooks? The answer, as one would expect, Green Ledger Pads and a large number of mechanical pencils with gum erasers and a Check Register provided by the Bank. I then go on to ask how were financial reports such as daily cash receipts, cash flow, sales, interim income statements, accounts receivable, and accounts payable produced. The obvious answer of course – all by hand – and it took a tremendous amount of time. I would be remiss if I did not ask if there were ever any math errors in the ledgers and reports – again – of course a few would crop up here and there.

Now, for the small sum of approximately $400 all of the reports mentioned above are available at the click of a mouse in a matter of minutes instead of hours or days. Assuming the original transactions are entered correctly, the math errors have been virtually eliminated. Now, your bookkeeper can process more transactions in less time because recurring transactions can be memorized and re-entered as needed within seconds. Reports can be memorized as well and refreshed quickly with current data at will.

In short, the bookkeeper is saving dozens of hours per month by automating tedious data entry and reporting tasks. In keeping with our example, if $45,000 translates in to approximately $22.50/hour based on a 2,000 hour work year then in less than 18 hours, the Quickbooks Software has paid for itself in increased productivity, all within one month of purchase.

To validated this savings, Intuit, the makers of Quickbooks did a survey and found that in the most conservative responses, 25% stated that they saved up to five hours per week by using Quickbooks.

My point is that any software product that makes you or your staff more productive, allowing greater efficiency and the ability to generate higher output which translates in to revenue for your company is usually well worth the nominal per user/copy/seat charge.

Software licenses do not cost, they pay.

An Information Technology Inventory – Cheap Insurance

July 9, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

My father’s absolute favorite expression regarding life was, “The time to sharpen your claws is not when you hear the Hunter’s call.” Dad was a big fan of the Boy Scout Motto, “Be Prepared.”

Today, I received the classic periodic frantic call from a potential new small business client who obtained my name as a referral that her current Computer Consultant was resigning her account effective virtually immediately. He was at least kind enough to hand her a network information sheet with some very limited user name and password access information for the Server and Firewall but not much else.

To make matters worse, the former Computer Consultant mentioned to her that the Server was having a number of issues that needed to be addressed immediately. (It turns out the abrupt resignation was due to his inability to resolve the issues. So rather than seek assistance, he quit the account before a total meltdown could occur.)

As I started to ask her questions about her information systems and technology, even simple questions like “How old is the File Server?” or “Can you tell me the manufacturer”, and “How many PC’s do you have?” – I could see through the phone the blank expression and hear the complete panic in her voice.

Sure, if you point most qualified Information Technology professionals in the general direction, they will be able to inventory and reconstruct the missing documentation and put Humpty Dumpty back together again, but that takes time and is an unnecessary delay and expense that can be prevented with a little preparation.

Here are the pieces of information that YOU should know about your Information Technology Environment REGARDLESS of who is responsible for maintaining it.

As you read through the list below, you may see a number of technology terms that you are not familiar with and that’s O.K., because the person who set up your Information Technology Systems – your Computers, File Server, Software, Network, Firewall, Email, Internet Access, and Web Hosting certainly does (or should) understand these terms and can write the answers down for you.

Physical Inventory: The manufacturer, purchase date, serial number, warranty expiration date and service level (same day, next day, on-site or off-site), and support phone number for each piece of hardware including: Computers, Monitors, Printers, Firewall, Network Switches, and File Server, as applicable.
Software Inventory: Application Name (i.e. Quickbooks or Microsoft Office), License Number, Number of Users Licensed, Support Contract Information including start/end date and support phone number.
Server Information: Operating System, Administrator Login and Password, IP Address, Server Installed Applications (i.e. Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Exchange, Accounting Software); Active Directory Domain, DHCP Scope, Drive/Partition Volume Information.
Network Information: IP Map which includes Static IP Device Assignments (usually Printers); Router/Firewall Information along with User Name and Password, If a Firewall, then Support Contract Information for Updates and Contact information for assistance; Wiring Diagram for Office and Jack/Patch Panel Number Assignments.
Internet Access Provider Information: What type of technology? – Cable Modem, DSL, FiOS, T-1, Ethernet over Copper, or Building Provided Ethernet? Who is your provider? (i.e. Cablevision, Time Warner, Verizon, etc.) Do you have a Dynamic or Static IP Address assigned? If a Static IP Block, how many IP’s? Along with Sub-Net, Gateway, and Doman Name Server information IP’s. Is there an online control panel to manage your account? If so, user name and password access information as well as the URL to access the control panel. Is there a term contract in place? If so, then start date and end date, along with name of Account Manager and Technical Support phone numbers and contacts.
User Information – Full User Name with Login information for each account that accesses the network resources (i.e. File Server); Optionally, Password Information if a small environment, as applicable; Which computer they use to access the network and the specific network resources they are permitted to access: which directories on the Server, which Printers, and which Software Applications. Secondary User Name and Password information for any Client/Server Software Applications like Quickbooks, ERP Systems, Accounting Software, etc.
Email Information: Primary/Secondary Domains, Anti-Spam and Anti-Virus solution, if applicable; Full list of all email account addresses including any generic addresses such as info@ or sales@ and if they are configured as mail forwards or mail alias’s. Type of Mail Server: POP3, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange, Office365, Google Apps for Business, etc. Who is responsible? Internet Service Provider, Computer Consultant, Web Hosting Company, Internal Email System (On local File Server?)
Web Site Hosting Information: Domain Registrar Information including Account Name and Password; Web Hosting Company – i.e. 1and1, GoDaddy, local Internet Service Provider, hosted on Local File Server? – And appropriate account and contact information.

Armed with this information, you will be prepared with the critical details necessary so that any reasonably qualified Information Technology person can step in and take over without too much issue on short notice and keep you operational.

If you are in the New York City metropolitan area and find yourself suddenly without your Computer Consultant, feel free to use my contact page for assistance. I specialize in crisis situations – that would be resolving them, not creating them.

Blackberry 10 and RIM – A Platform without People

July 6, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

On Wednesday, July 4th, BlackBerry CEO, Thorsten Heins wrote an op-ed piece exclusively for the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail, titled “Don’t Count BlackBerry Out.”

Mr. Heins tries to make the case that it is the media who are to be faulted for reporting fact after fact that demonstrate that RIM is a sinking ship. He says he understands the frustration of shareholders and their eagerness to see the underlying value surface. Perhaps his boldest statement in the face of reality, at least from an outsiders view, is that RIM is not a company at its’ end. He then goes on to spend the rest of his op-ed piece talking about global innovation, the nascent mobile computing market, growing Blackberry market share (in countries where the iPhone/Android have not landed in force), and how Blackberry 10 is poised to connect users not just to each other but to everyday life – such as parking meters, car computers, and ticket counters.

To him I respond that I believe the three words he is looking for to describe his new Blackberry 10 Platform and Ecosystem are: The Internet, Bluetooth, and iTunes/iCloud/Google Play – which do all of that today, now, on iPhones and Android phones.

Thomas Edison, although generally credited as the inventor of the light bulb, was not actually the first to produce an incandescent bulb. What Edison did was to make it better and is actually most noted for developing the infrastructure for modern electric power. (Fun Fact in Capitalism: The first actual electric lamp was developed by Humphrey Davy and demonstrated to the Royal Society in approximately 1806. A near mirror version of “Edison’s Light Bulb” was patented a full year earlier by Joseph Swan in 1878 in England. Even then, if you printed it in the newspaper, had enough money and lawyers, you could make it almost true that “Edison invented the Light Bulb.”)

Mr. Heins claims that: “With BlackBerry, RIM created the framework that gave people their first taste of an untethered yet completely connected life.” Unfortunately for Blackberry, just like Edison, Apple has already given people a completely untethered and connected life as well as an amazing ecosystem for content producers and developer’s to flourish in. Apple took the Smartphone and built an incredible infrastructure around it that left the actual inventor in the dust.

Mr. Heins states that the latest delay in the release of the new Blackberry 10 mobile platform is due to the additional time needed to stitch together the way certain features work together and improve the integration between applications.

RIM protests that it eschews the homogenized sameness of competing operating systems. Yet Blackberry 10 is mostly a combination of what RIM would call “Best of Breed” and what most of us would call the “Best Application Companies Available for Acquisition” group of disjointed functions which, with the exception of perhaps Apple and Symbian platforms, describes how the Android mobile platform is built. Third Party Applications add missing core functionality to Android, Apple, and Symbian.

The most damning comment made by Mr. Heins is that “RIM has hired outside advisers to help me and the other members of the executive team think about the business in new ways and to explore a range of alternatives that leverage our core strengths and build on the BlackBerry brand.”

To me, if RIM had the vision for Blackberry and its’ presently untapped underlying value as well as its’ evolutionary and perhaps even revolutionary future for the Blackberry 10 mobile platform, you would be reading this on your Blackberry device today instead of on an iPhone, iPad, or Google Android based device.

As my father used to say, “Don’t tell me, Show me.”

WordPress Plugins and Widgets

July 3, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

WordPress Plugins and Widgets are specialized code modules used to extend out the functionality of a WordPress web site. Examples of Plugins are the Aksimet AntiSpam Plugin – which helps screen visitor comments and determine if they were written by a human or a machine (spam), the Microkid Related Posts Plugin – which allows you to suggest similar Posts at the bottom of a current Post to the reader, and the ScribeSEO Plugin – which tests a Post for its’ Search Engine readiness, VaultPress Plugin – a WordPress site and database backup tool, and the list goes on…

A WordPress Widget is a specific type of WordPress Plugin that is used to add visual appeal and interactive options to a WordPress web site. Widgets were originally confined to the Sidebar of a WordPress Theme but can now be used almost anywhere including the header and footer of a Theme. Examples of Widgets include tag clouds, search boxes, calendars, weather updates, and surveys.

If you look on the right hand side of this web page, my Twitter feed, called “The Tweetisphere”, is an example of a theme widget as is the list of “Categories” for my JasonPalmer.com site. And, if you look at the bottom of this page, you will see the Related Posts Widget, with the title “Other related stories…”

Plugins and Widgets are created by army of independent software developers in the WordPress Community. (Check out the WordPress Plug-in Listings here.)

Many users will only need just a few Plugins and WordPress includes some popular ones, such as Akismet, by default. However, there are thousands to choose from to do things that previously required the expertise of a programmer to create.

Many Commercial WordPress Theme Developers such as StudioPress.com, the creators of the Genesis Framework, make popular plugins and widgets, such as the “Social Profiles Widget” – used to insert icons links on a site page to your profiles on popular social sharing sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, FeedBurner, and more, which are optimized and tested specifically for their Genesis Themes. As the WordPress Theme Widget specification is a standard, most Widgets, even if developed by a specific Theme creator will work with other WordPress themes without issue.

Plugins (and the Widgets they create) are installed in WordPress through the Plugin Manager of the WordPress Administrative Dashboard. You can usually search by name or keyword and then install the Plugin by clicking on “install.” Once installed, a Plugin needs to be activated, and in some cases, options configured.

In the case of some Commercial “Paid” Plugins, a special compressed file in .ZIP format is provided by the commercial developer and then you, as Administrator, through the WordPress Plugin Manager, upload the .ZIP file to your site, then activate it, and configure options as necessary.

WordPress.org keeps track of over 20,000 Plugins and Widgets and will tell you which are the most popular, in terms of number of times downloaded by users as well as ratings as voted on by the WordPress community.

Check out the WordPress Plugin Listing:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins

Google SiteMap Generator for WordPress

July 1, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

The Google SiteMap Generator for WordPress creates a specially formatted XML (Extensible Markup Language) file that contains a list of URL’s and metadata, (information) listing and describing the pages on your web site.

The SiteMap file tells the Search Engines about the structure and format of your site as well as the type of content and specific information about that content, think caption or card catalog data about each page, image, video, or document. This tells the Search Engine explicitly where to go on your site to catalog and index the pages. As the SiteMap file contains information about the frequency of updates (i.e. new posts and uploads) to your site, it helps the Search Engines determine the scheduling of Index Crawls of your site.

SiteMap submissions to Search Engines, specifically Google will always be beneficial and in no case will your site be penalized for the submission. Google, Bing, and Yahoo are the predominant users of the SiteMap.xml file but other Search Engines use them as well.

The format of the SiteMap.xml file is based on an agreed upon schema called “SiteMap 0.90” between Google, MSN, and Yahoo so one file works for all of the major Search Engines. (Read more at Wikipedia here.)

The easiest way to create this file is to use a Google SiteMap Generator for WordPress Plugin. JasonPalmer.com uses one plugin called “Google XML Sitemaps” presently at version 3.2.7, from Arne Branhhold but there are many to choose from all which accomplish essentially the same task. (If you are not using WordPress, there are a number of generic SiteMap XML Generator tools available, just search “sitemap.xml generator”.)

In most cases you can just accept the defaults of the Google XML Sitemaps plugin. You may want to adjust the “Frequencies” Section and specifically set how often various sections of your site are updated. In the case of JasonPalmer.com, the Homepage, Posts, Tags, and Current Archive pages change “Daily”, (as I post daily), but the Categories, Static Pages, and Author pages are at the default of “Weekly” as they change less frequently, if at all, on a regular basis.

The Google XML Sitemaps Plugin will automatically generate a new SiteMap.xml file and notify Google and Bing/Yahoo of any changes to the site so that the Search Engines can return to index new and updated pages. In addition, you can trigger a manual rebuild of the SiteMap.xml file and upload it manually using Google Webmaster Tools or Bing Webmaster Tools. (See my Post, “Google Webmaster Tools”.)

For More Information on the SiteMap.xml File and Protocol, visit Wikipedia:
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitemaps

The Google XML SiteMaps Plugin at WordPress.org:
– http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator

The Google XML SiteMaps Plugin Official Web Site:
– http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator

Google Webmaster Tools:
– http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools

Bing/Yahoo Webmaster Tools:
– http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster

Google Webmaster Tools

June 30, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

Google Webmaster Tools provide you with detailed reports about how visible pages on your site are to Google.

Using Google Webmaster Tools you can:

See how Google crawls and indexes your site and see specific errors generated such as “page not found.”
Learn about internal and external links and which key word search queries bring traffic to your site.
Upload a Site Map file which tells Google which pages are most important and which URLs (pages) you want Google to index.

One of the most helpful aspects of Google Webmaster Tools is the “Site Health” area. Here Google tells you about Crawl errors. Google is extremely efficient and subsequently many sites have their generic sample posts indexed at Google. You delete them but Google still thinks they exist. The Crawl Error report will tell you the exact page location and the date the error was detected giving you the opportunity to investigate further.

Google has no way of knowing, without a little human intervention, if a “Page Not Found” is a technical problem, a page that is now behind a secure login, or has been removed. Once Google indexes a page or is told to index a page at a certain URL, it will keep trying until told otherwise. It is through the Google Webmaster Tools that you can mark these errors as “fixed” or permanently remove a URL from Google’s index.

Similar to Google Analytics, (Read my post on “Google Analytics for WordPress“) Google Webmaster Tools provides specialized traffic analysis focusing on and listing the search terms that caused your site to be displayed somewhere in the results listing of the query and its’ average position. And there are extensive reports on which sites link back to your site as well as how your site links to itself between categories and pages. Of course, Google+ activity reports are included showing search impact, activity, and audience.

The most important feature of Google Webmaster Tools is the Optimization Section. It is here that you can upload a SiteMap.xml file that tells Google about pages that it might not otherwise find during the Index Crawl and it gives you an opportunity to definitively tell Google about the content of your site. In a similar manner to the Search Engine Optimization discussed in my Post, “All in One SEO Pack for WordPress”, the SiteMap file can also provide metadata about the types of content on your site such as video, images or news. A SiteMap entry for a video might include the run time, category, and format information. For an image, the subject matter, type, and any license information. A SiteMap file can also alert Google to the last time of a site update and the frequency of change of or addition of new content to the site. (A future post will discuss how to create SiteMap.xml file.)

In short, using the Google Webmaster Tools Dashboard allows me to keep my site as “Google Friendly” as possible by alerting me immediately to any Indexing Crawl Errors, the status of my SiteMap.xml file updates, and it helps me determine which keyword searches are drawing traffic to my JasonPalmer.com WordPresss web site.

Useful Google Webmaster Links:

Google Webmaster Tools:
– http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools

Google Webmaster Academy – Everything you ever wanted to know about Google
– http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=checklist.cs&tab=1095542

Google Webmaster Tools Help:
– http://support.google.com/webmasters/?hl=en

Apple iPhone turns 5 – A Proven Formula for Success Copied.

June 29, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

The Apple iPhone turns 5 today. The first iPhone went on sale on June 29^th, 2007. It was one of the first phones to drop the physical keyboard in favor of a multi-touch display. Remarkably, Apple sold approximately 1 million iPhones in the first 74 days and each successive release continues to break all previous sales records.

The features of the original iPhone and evolution of the successive generations are well known so I will not discuss them here. Instead, I will focus on the marketing achievement and the ability to improve upon people’s productivity and communication. Yet Apple’s success is a proven formula copied from days of old.

Many are completely mesmerized and content to live in the Apple ecosystem or what the industry calls “A Walled Garden.” (A very nice Walled Garden, but a Walled Garden none the less.) Apple has made draconian decisions about exactly what the iPhone will be, (and what it will not be), what applications are allowed to run on it, which cell phone carriers and markets it will be available in, exactly how much the revenue share will be for developers, publishers, writers and just about anyone and anything that has a financial incentive component to it, what content will be available with regard to music, books, and movies, and the list goes on. Oddly, were this any other company but Apple or product but the iPhone/iSeries of products, we would call this a monopoly and anti-competitive. (Can you say, “Microsoft”, sure I knew you could. A Fred Rogers Tribute.)

Yet, like lemmings, (albeit happy lemmings), over 200 million people with iPhones are content to be dictated to by Apple as to exactly the type of Smart Phone experience they are going to have and enjoy (or not.) In short, “Take it or Leave it.” It all sounds oddly familiar…

Many think that what Apple as accomplished with the iPhone has never been done before when in fact it has been done many times before in the Great American Industrial Complex. I cite specifically Henry Ford and the Model T. One of the most famous expressions often attributed to Henry Ford and paraphrased regarding the Model T is, “You can have any color as long as it’s black.” Ford did not invent the automobile; (Apple did not invent the Smart Phone), Ford made it affordable and popular by creating a reasonably great user experience at a price point. Apple did the same with the iPhone.

Henry Ford offered potential customers little or no choice – just like Steve Jobs did with the iPhone. However, Ford changed the future of transportation for a nation and Steve Jobs changed the future of mobile communication. Until Henry Ford introduced the Model T, automobiles were mostly for the affluent and had little standardization. In the aftermath of the Model T, we became a nation of drivers. And for those of us that desired “choice”, other manufactures stepped in to build on the techniques developed by Ford and market share moved accordingly. Until Steve Jobs and the iPhone, there was little consistency in the Smart Phone experience for the tight integration of communication, media, and sharing of information with the exception of perhaps the Blackberry environment.

In parallel to Apple, as the automobile industry expanded, there were numerous other manufactures that made cars at a variety of price points and varying qualities. The same can be said of Smartphones. In the beginning, Ford had the definite edge by being the first to revolutionize the way automobiles were manufactured. Apple has had its’ own series of notable firsts: Multi-Touch onscreen keyboard, 100% controlled Apple environment, iTunes integration, the App Store, tight integration of music, photos, video; and highly planned and controlled product release schedule. In some respects an almost mirror of the automobile manufactures with very minor updates in each model year and major updates every few years.

Apple, like Ford, has little to fear in terms of fading away even though the number of Smart Phones based on the Google Android operating system now has a larger market share. General Motors surpassed Ford, yet over 100 years later, Ford is still going very strong. It is clear that Apple will continue to do the same.

Thousands of Applications have been written for and are available on the iPhone allowing users to do things that had never been done before on a Smart Phone. Blackberry had the Blackberry Messenger considered one of the best proprietary messaging platforms ever. Apple created a similar application called iChat but then after Apple added a front and rear facing camera to the iPhone, improved upon the experience with Face Time, a video chat application which was previously limited to the domain of desktop computers.

What Apple has done with the iPhone, similar to what Ford had done with the automobile, is to change the way America communicates, (well at least for 200 million plus iPhone users), and experiences a Smart Phone. At the most basic level, the iPhone is a cell phone just as the Model T was a car. It makes and receives calls allowing people to have the mobile version of the telephone conversation experience that the world has enjoyed since the telephone was invented in the 1870’s. Where it improves upon the Smart Phone experience is by having created an ecosystem, a.k.a. Walled Garden, that very much like Disney World, virtually guarantees a consistent experience and outcome (good or bad depending on your point of view), every time you use an iPhone (or visit the “Happiest Place on Earth.)

This is the true achievement of Apple on the iPhone’s 5^th Birthday.

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