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Introducing Fidelity’s iPhone App
“These statements are strictly personal and are not those of any Fidelity Investments company.”
I'm very pleased to announce the release of Fidelity's new iPhone application. I'd like to thank all the people and teams involved in making this happen -- this truly was a cross-company effort with some of the best and brightest coming together to produce something that many of our customers have been asking for. The app can be downloaded by searching for "Fidelity" in the App Store or by clicking here.
Our mantra on the design side was to create an application that isn't just filled with features, but one that's also intuitive and easy to use. Fidelity supports a wide range of customers, each with their own financial goals, needs, and experience levels. That's why our aim was to create an application that would be easy to grasp by the most novice of investors yet still packed a lot of the functionality and customization demanded by our experienced, active traders.
If there's something you particularly like or something you hope to see in a future release, please voice your opinion in the App Store -- customer feedback is always appreciated.
And if iPhone apps aren't your thing, Fidelity's also recently launched a touch-friendly version of our mobile site. Visit fidelity.mobi from your iPhone, Android, Palm device, BB Storm or most any touchscreen smartphone to check it out.
The Windows Phone 7 Series: Did this really come from Microsoft?!
This is a huge surprise. Just when pretty much the whole world had already written off Microsoft as having failed at the mobile game, they come out with the Windows Phone 7 Series (let's call it WP7S). Forget the cumbersome name and instead check out the freshest UI and mobile experience in years. The video above is a lengthy 22 minutes but if you've got the time, it's a great way to learn about the main features of this new OS and actually see a device in action. I'd also suggest you check out Gizmodo's thorough analysis here.
Microsoft's new mobile OS is a complete departure from the past. Thank God! The interfaced is called "Metro" and borrows heavily from the Zune HD and XBox experience. Although it won't be available until the holiday season, the WP7S team will have the cooperation of all the major carriers (with AT&T being the "premier" one... huh?). Also, 9 manufacturers are on board so far, including Dell, Samsung, and LG. And to ensure that each device lives up to Microsoft's standards, each manufacturer will have to adhere to a "tough, but fair" set of hardware requirements -- sounds like the only leeway they'll get is whether or not to include a keyboard.
The entire mobile community has something completely new to get excited about. Sure, there's no Twitter support yet, it's unclear if you can run multiple apps simultaneously, and they'll likely be many other shortcomings to cry about, but this is great news for consumers and the mobile industry as a whole. Competition is great... and now there's an additional force in the smartphone game besides just Apple and Google (oh, and Palm). Let's see what designers and developers will come up with. I never thought I'd be this psyched about something that involves mobile + Microsoft.
Oh, and check out this recent TED presentation with a demo of Bing maps and all the augmented reality goodness they've been baking into their tech. Perhaps that's why I'm so excited... Microsoft DOES innovate. Let's just hope they don't take too long getting all this great tech into the hands of consumers.
Why the iPad isn’t just a big iPod Touch
When Jobs & Co. unveiled their newest toy to the world last Wednesday, I was more disappointed at the long list of missing features than wowed by Apple's magic. And it seems most people out there had the same reaction I did. Nearly half of CrunchGear.com readers that took this poll said they would not be forking over money to purchase an iPad. The remaining half was split between wanting to buy one and "Meh, I could go either way". This reaction is completely logical; without some of the much-anticipated features such as a camera, simultaneously-running apps, an option besides AT&T, Flash, GPS, and an earth-shattering new user experience (just to name a few) the iPad simply doesn't live up to the hype that had snowballed since rumors of such a device had surfaced years ago. At first, you may think the iPad is just a big iPod touch, but then you'd be under-appreciating what's perhaps its most important feature: a glossy 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 resolution screen.
Apple is no doubt taking a gamble by entering a relatively uncharted product category. Many people, including myself, aren't convinced that this is a device that actually solves a need. I've already got a smartphone and laptop, do I really want to pay for this in-between thingy? The feeling of "omg, this is going to change everything." that followed the announcement of the iPhone two and a half years ago just doesn't exist for me with the iPad... but that doesn't necessarily mean that it won't be a successful product. Perhaps the same way that Apple carefully entered the digital music space with the iPod less than a 
decade ago and revolutionized how music was sold and consumed, they hope to do with the iPad. The iPod and iTunes made it easier, more convenient, and cooler to experience all your favorite tunes in a format other than CD, cassette, or radio. With the iPad, Apple aims to set bar for this new class of portable computing/reading devices. They're making an entry into an industry that's projected to reach nearly $10billion in 2010 and one that Amazon, Sony, Barnes & Noble, and many others are also attempting to figure out. What makes Apple's chances perhaps better at succeeding is a user experience that 75million iPhone and iPod touch users are already familiar with and a business model that's already proven.
Will people be willing to trade in their e-ink readers and Kindles for a device that costs double, is under the strict control of Apple, and sports a lengthy list of missing features? Well, if so, this is what Apple's betting will win them over and also attract millions of others:
- better e-books (not just text, but multimedia & extras)
- a superior mobile web browsing device (yah, even without Flash)
- great multimedia and gaming
- the most apps (they're like glossy, digital Crack)
- an unbeatable user experience
The Apple iPad is not simply the shiny, fresh product out of Cupertino, but rather the most promising, new platform to affect digital content consumption. It's a replica of the model that's already been proven with the iPhone and the evolutionary next step in Apple's plans for success in the mobile computing space. The UI is one that's already embraced by tech enthusiasts, young kids, and older audiences alike. 3rd party developers have another potential gold-mine on their hands with this new product, yet with a very familiar SDK. Oh, and content publishers and bleeding old media giants finally have something to get excited about. Perhaps this is finally the format that'll fuel mainstream purchases of digital books, magazine subscriptions, and other forms of content. From what I've seen and read from people that have actually handled one of these things, the iPad is a surprisingly fast, light, and fun new form factor to play with -- something Jobs is betting people will soon see the value in.
Where the tablets of the past have all failed, the iPad hopes to be the first true prophet and deliver on perhaps what's been missing in a tablet all along: a proper user experience. It's got most of what people already appreciate from the iPhone and iPod Touch but with a larger screen to accommodate a new breadth of reading, gaming, and communications applications that we don't yet know we want. Time, of course, will reveal the success of the iPad, but I'll go out on a limb here and say that the future shows promise.
Charting exactly when Asia will dominate
Swedish doctor and researcher Hans Rosling gives an awesome talk at TEDIndia on the trends in economies and when Asia (China & India, precisely) will overtake the West. Rosling sports a killer Swedish accent but has even better visuals and whit. He's managed to put together software that clearly draws out the historical trend of the major economies over the past 150 years or so. He maps out income per person over life expectancy with the US, UK, China, India, & Japan on the graph and shows the trajectory each of these economies has taken up until today. And he then predicts exactly when India & the Red Dragon will surpass Europe and the US. As he's telling a great story throughout, the charts and visuals give the brain a way to really digest what he's saying. I'm gonna watch some more of his stuff...
Update: you can try his visualization software free online: http://www.gapminder.org/ Well, it's actually Google's now...
Best of: iPhone Developers Conference
It definitely was a fun & educational weekend a couple weeks ago here in Boston for 2009's Voices That Matter: iPhone Developers Conference. The hundred or so attendees all had their MacBooks out, taking notes, downloading presentations, and even coding as some of the speakers demonstrated the challenges of tomorrow and the best ways to tackle them. It was great to be in a building full of smart people -- mostly developers, some designers, and some business folks -- and be able to get different perspectives on where the iPhone and mobile in general is headed.
There were 20 presenters in total covering topics ranging from app submission best-practices, to advanced accelerometer techniques, to hybrid app development, and more. I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some of my favorite presentations and share some of the documentations (if available).
My Favorite Presentations:
Rapid Application Delivery: Going Hybrid - Prof. Lee Barney demonstrated his QuickConnect platform which allows developers to build and deploy iPhone apps using JavaScript and minimal knowledge of Objective-C. Lee explains how this is especially great for rapid development, prototyping, and being able to utilize the skills of great JavaScript, HTML, CSS developers.
- Download his presentation file : Voices.pdf
- Visit his QuickConnect site: Teton Technical
Sunday Keynote: Tapping into the Wild Success of the App Store - Jessica Kahn from Tapulous (makers of popular Tap Tap Revenge games) gave some insights around app submission & marketing and some tips and tricks on how to place in the rankings, effective SKUing strategies, how to name and describe your app to garner the most and best attention.
- Dowload her presentation here
Know Your Oppressor: A Brief Chat About Apple - Andy Ihnatko, one of the best know Mac, iPhone, & technology pundits out there, gave a very amusing presentation on the culture of Mac, Apple the company, and how the success they've experienced since the debut of the iPod & iPhone will be difficult to maintain. He had some great insight.
- Visit Andy's blog here
Saturday Keynote: Writing Good iPhone Apps - Aaron Hillegass from Big Nerd Ranch started off the conference with a great general overview on finding success in iPhone app development. He discussed common enemies of goodness in iPhone apps and how thoughtful businesses and stylish programmers can defeat them. He's written many of the top books on iPhone development and is now even building a 40-bed & bath school/facility outside of Atlanta for people seriously interested in learning iPhone & Mac development - wow.
- Download his presentation: hillegass.pdf
- Visit his Big Nerd Ranch site here.
Designing A Killer UI - August Trometer from Yowza!! explained the importance of a sleek, polished UI for iPhone apps. He explained how simply having great code and functionality isn't enough and how taking time to think through the UI, style, and interaction is critical in differentiating your app from the many thousands of others.
- Download his presentation: August_Designing_a_Killer.pdf
Well, I think that covers most of the key presentations I was able to attend. I absolutely learned quite a bit on a lot of different topics and the presentations sparked some great discussions during meals and breaks -- perhaps the best part. I've also posted a few pictures from my time there to give a better idea of what it was like (notice the Jobs look-a-like. unfortunately he wasn't the only one):
CNN’s 2009 Home Page Redesign
Looks like the people over at the CNN's Web Design teams have been busy. I think I need a bit of time to digest and get used to the new design before I can say if it's a real improvement, but first impressions are also important:
- a bit jarring visually compared to the previous design/template -- felt very RED and a bit heavier.
- I kinda wish they could have taken the new design across the entire site (minor criticism)
- looks like there's more emphasis on media visuals. Video especially feels like it has more prominence.
- homepage gets a little bare below the fold.
- news pulse feature is great. It's basically CNN's flavor of Digg, but with 'popularity'(???) driving the rankings.
- better integration of social features. comments are nice (why no facebook connect?), more prominent linking to facebook, twitter, & others, nicer iReport, and again NewsPulse is great.
Overall, I think CNN.com has a cool new design. CNN is setting the bar in the online space for news and media companies by proving their users with a very clean, slick look and feel, adding lots of great new features, and emphasizing their strengths in multimedia and social media. Sure there's the whole issue of creating more serious revenue from these 'sites', but I think CNN's strategy is to simply grow an audience first by concentrating on user experience... and the money will eventually follow (right, facebook?).
“Droid Does” make some sense
Contrary to what Gizmodo posted today, I actually think this Verizon ad is somewhat clever. It may seem like the marketing execs over at VZW are getting a bit desperate with this obvious attack at the iPhone, but I think -- despite it's corniness -- it's pretty smart and targeted.
Of all the US carriers, it's safe to say that VZW has the collection of the least exciting mobile devices. AT&T, Sprint, & T-Mobile all have flagship smarphones, and perhaps Verizon is now ready to put some money behind their own, The Motorolla Driod. The specs are impressive and so is the Android 2.0 OS. Personally, I think the iPhone is still the device to beat, but not everyone buys into what Apple's selling. And with this new Moto supposedly being "the Android device to beat," I think this is a clever attempt at wooing all the smartphone users with contracts expiring and also those people that haven't yet found something exciting enough to buy that isn't an iPhone.
ABOUT ME
Bio: I'm an information architect & UX designer at Fidelity Investments. I have a passion for things that click, call, browse, transact, locate, make money, and entertain. I majored in Entrepreneurship and IT at Babson College and live in beautiful Beantown, MA.
