Digging In

Thoughts on Things

We Need to Change the Meaning of, "Sent from My iPhone"

I have had a long-standing problem with, "Sent from my iPhone."

It makes me feel cheap - as in, you don't care enough to communicate with me in a meaningful way, so you're going to justify that by just claiming you're mobile.

This may have worked when Blackberries were still legal in most countries, and the concept of sending email away from your desk was still new and exciting.

But, times have changed. Most of us now live our lives mobile. To be honest, the number of emails I send via iPhone vs. via computer comes closer and closer together each day.

Which is why I can't stand the idea of, "Sent from my iPhone," in the way most people have it: there's a real chance this email could contain typos and bad grammar, even though the iPhone fixes most of my spelling mistakes on the fly and I've been emailing from a mobile device for years now.

I think we need to change the meaning of, "Sent from my iPhone."

Instead, what if we turned what's a lack of caring into a deep form of caring?

How about we make, "Sent from my iPhone," mean, "I care about you and about our conversation so much that I'm going to take the time to respond to you while I'm out and about doing other things."

But wait, there's more.

I generally send very long emails - it's not something I'm proud of. But, when I use my iPhone, the 5 sentences idea takes hold and I really get to the point. So, how about we make, "Sent from my iPhone," really mean, "I know you have a lot of stuff to do and not enough time, so I'm using a mode of email that forces me to only say the most important things."

So, in the end, maybe I'll put, "Sent from my iPhone," back onto my mobile footer. Maybe I'll even do it in my regular desktop mail client - a friendly reminder to people that I care about them, and a reminder to me to keep it short and sweet, because I care about them.

Or, I guess I could just become Steve Jobs, at which point, "Sent from my iDevice," is simply nothing more than a clever marketing message.
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The Rapporative Successes

Rapporative (the Gmail add-on you should download right now) posted on their blog today about how they got started. Long story short, they accidentally launched their product (read it and you'll understand), and the blog post goes through those first crucial days of activity and highlights several key takeaways that I'll call "The Rapporative Successes". They are simple, but timeless pieces of advice that in this instance were focused on a web application, but can be applied to nearly any business or project. I've listed them below for quick reference, but definitely suggest reading the full post.

So without further adieu, "The Rapporative Successes"...
  1. Offer surprisingly great service
  2. Use a feedback forum
  3. Release early
  4. Be ready to scale
  5. Build for the press
  6. Build early
Congratulations Rahul, Martin, Sam, and the entire team!
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I'm Back.

So after what started as an identity crisis and ended with some URL's being lost in the ethers of the Internet, I am back here on petertkane.com. I am transitioning away from Tappin Strategy - considering that I haven't posted there in quite some time, while it was also was lost in cyberspace.

That said, what will you find on the "new" petertkane.com?

I'm going to go against the typical "blogging" recommendation of picking a topic and writing mostly or only about that. I'm an eccentric and random person with lots of interests. They will all be reflected up here. The idea of this site isn't necessarily to show my smarts in marketing or corporate strategy (of course, there may be a bit of that), but rather just present who I am in a decently enough written way not to drive all my "adoring fans" away.

I want people to know what I think about and ponder on a fairly consistent basis. I want someone who comes here to browse for a little while and get to know me and understand who I am as a person.

I'll still try to keep all of my shorter posts and media over on my other site, Tappin Time, so people can pick and choose where they head. Again, I hear this is a no-no, but really could care less.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it! And remember, if you're ever in the need of a pick-me-up, visit www.ihatehayesglanden.com and remember that you're you, not Hayes.
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