Lori Yannucci work samples

Preventing Concussions in Athletes
May, 2015

I created this infographic for medical device maker Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies. The company makes a monitor that measures, among other things, ECG and it can be a useful tool in research into brain trauma. One of the goals was to create awareness of the risk of concussion in young athletes and to provide helpful information on how to prevent them. But the primary purpose was to establish GLNT as scientific experts in brain trauma research. I published this content to the Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies website and shared it through email and social media.

EMG-controlled robot
November, 2014

I wrote the script, filmed and edited this video demonstrating the capabilities of the BioRadio medical device from Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies. It was a part of a content series designed to show the wide range of uses for the BioRadio.

Interview Tips for Biomedical Engineers
April, 2015

I developed this content to appeal to the large number of college students that visited our site and subscribed to our email list. Students don’t typically purchase the BioRadio but they are influencers in the purchasing process. Many of them become professors, as well, and may someday need to purchase a product like the BioRadio. I developed this to create goodwill among an important target audience and to keep them engaged with GLNT.

RIP infographic
February, 2015

I created this to explain Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies’ unique capabilities in measuring respiration through a process called RIP (respiratory inductance plethysmography). This content helped GLNT to land a contract to provide BioRadio monitors to a large clinical trial.

One More Thing…

Apple fans will recognize the line “one more thing” from Steve Jobs’ presentations at Apple media events. It was how he introduced the announcement that he waited for the very end of the presentation to deliver. Ever the showman, he typically saved the best for last. Just when Apple fans thought they had seen all the cool new stuff Steve had to deliver, he revealed the absolute coolest thing yet after teeing it up with his catchphrase “and there’s one more thing…” And that “one more thing” was usually a surprise because what Steve planned to announce at Apple events was always shrouded in secrecy, the same secrecy that kept news of its latest and greatest product launches from the press.

Apple will hold a media event tomorrow, January 19, at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC and the company’s veil of secrecy is still firmly in place so there are no details on what CEO Tim Cook is expected to announce. However, it is rumored that the event will cover publishing and, specifically, textbook publishing. Some insiders have speculated that Apple will unveil an eBook publishing tool that, similar to Apple’s Garageband software, will put the power to create interactive digital books into the hands of writers and editors. Steve discussed his vision for transforming the textbook market with his biographer, Walter Isaacson, before his death. In his words, the textbook industry is an “$8 billion a year industry ripe for digital destruction.” According to Jobs:

‘The process by which states certify textbooks is corrupt. But if we can make the textbooks free, and they come with the iPad, then they don’t have to be certified. The crappy economy at the state level will last for a decade, and we can give them an opportunity to circumvent the whole process and save money.

In his lifetime, Steve Jobs revolutionized seven industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing (actually, he created an industry where none existed), digital publishing and retailing. Will Apple execute on his vision to revolutionize an eighth – textbook publishing? We’ll find out tomorrow. But I personally hope that it does. The textbook industry follows an outdated model that does little more than kill trees. Each semester, post-secondary students have to shell out $50 or more to purchase textbooks that became outdated the minute they were printed. The textbook racket is one of the things that is making college more expensive, putting it out of reach of more and more young Americans.

There are several advantages to publishing textbooks in a digital format. They are cheaper for students and, since they can be stored on an iPad, there’s nothing to carry or store. This is especially important for youngsters who often have to carry books in over-stuffed backpacks. At the very least, digital publishing will help ease the strain on still-developing spines. Digital textbooks can be updated quickly and inexpensively so they have more educational value for students. Eliminating textbooks – or drastically reducing the number published – reduces waste and is good for the environment. If this is all that Apple does tomorrow, it will be a major event. But I’ll be disappointed if Apple doesn’t aim higher.

The announcement of a digital publishing tool – similar to Apple’s GarageBand or iMovie software – is the truly exciting possibility for tomorrow’s event. Digital textbooks could give authors the ability to create a more robust experience. Text, video, audio and interactivity make the learning environment more robust. And if publishers have the ability to add a social component to the books, then learning can become a community experience. More importantly, an easy-to-use publishing tool would enable educators and schools to publish their own material. This opens up a world of customized learning materials that could be made available to a wider audience of learners. And I haven’t even addressed how non-educators could use a self-publishing tool. Imagine just a few possibilities: picture books customized to a particular child; family histories; memorials of departed loved ones; recipe books…just to name a few.

Steve won’t be at tomorrow’s Apple event but his presence will loom large. I hope that Apple leadership has the courage to carry on the vision he laid out before his passing.

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 2: My Least Favorite Song

Before I start this post, I must admit to a minor failing. When I started the 30 Day Song Challenge, I pledged to write a new entry every day for 30 days. Not making excuses or anything, but I shouldn’t have made that pledge right before the New Year’s weekend, while my boys still had a week to go on their holiday break. But I’m back now and ready to share the songs that are most meaningful to me. And on that note, let’s continue where we left off, with My Least Favorite Song.

I attempted to write this post last week but I just couldn’t make a selection. And I still can’t. Browse through the channels on Pandora or satellite radio (forget about terrestrial radio, they only play commercials these days) and you’ll hear a lot of really bad stuff. It would be too easy to choose something like “Break My Stride” (it’s worse than you remember, isn’t it?) or anything by Air Supply – valid selections, to be sure, but there’s no fun in making the easy choice. So, instead, I decided to list some musical qualities and types of music that I absolutely detest…call it my list of things about music that suck.

Note: despite the best practices of blogging, I’m not linking to any of the artists or songs below. Unless you actually like this stuff or you’re a glutton for punishment, you shouldn’t be listening to any of this. Nobody should.

• Melisma: defined by Wikipedia as “the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession”, melisma is a fancy way of saying “what Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilara do to every song.”  And, God bless ’em, they have inspired every female contestant on “American Idol” to do the same thing. There’s nothing wrong with showing off a beautiful set of pipes with some vocal calisthenics but would it hurt to show even a little bit of restraint?
• White Dude Rock: this is rock music at its worst: bland, homogenized music stripped of all the things that make music interesting or listenable. It is performed by generic-looking but suitably scruffy guys – white guys, of course – led up by a lead singer who is not attractive but at least more attractive than the other band members. In fact, I have a theory that the bands Daughtry, Puddle of Mudd and the hated Nickelback are all the same group with different lead singers. White Dude Rock all sounds the same: bad. And there are only two types of white guy rock songs: the earnest ballad, which is usually about how bad it sucks to be on the road and how much the white rock dudes miss their families, and the foot-stomping arena rocker. The rockers weren’t written from any kind of honest place of feeling and emotion: they were written in the hopes that they would be played at sporting events or in truck commercials. They are purely commercial grabs, desperate attempts at relevance.
• White Dude Alt-Rock: see above but instead of pissing all over rock music, this genre pisses all over alternative music. They took wannabe grunge rockers, cleaned them up a bit, added a nice, glossy sheen to their music, and removed all of the angst and suicidal tendencies from the lyrics. Throw in a good-looking lead singer and you’ve got alternative music that is non-threatening enough for people who aren’t cool enough to listen to real alternative music. It’s like the Kidz Bop of adult music. Bands like Bush (featuring Mr. Gwen Stefani), Everclear and Stone Temple Pilots – sorry, they were never as hard as they thought they were – represent the worst of this.
• Pro-America anthems: songs about bombing countries because hell, yeah, we’re America! Or, basically, any song from Toby Keith.
• Vanity projects: this is music that the performer thinks is important and necessary but, to everyone else, it’s just a waste of time. In the worst of cases, it’s inexplicable. Try listening to 2 minutes of the Metallica/Lou Reed album and you’ll have a fine example of what I’m talking about, as well as a thorough understanding of why this type of music is so awful.
• Music from bands that don’t know when to quit: why do classic acts insist on recording new music? These guys have done their duty. They’ve completed their service to music and they can rest on their laurels. The fans don’t need them to record new music…we’re perfectly content for them to play the classics. Classic bands recording new music is like sending WWII veterans to fight the war in Iraq: they’ve done their bit and they served admirably. Now it’s time to leave the fighting to the young guys.

There’s more, of course. But I’ve become a little disheartened at just how much bad music is out there and would like to focus instead on music that I love. So tomorrow’s post will be about a song that makes me happy.

Previous posts:

• 30 Day Song Challenge
• 30 Day Song Challenge – Day 1: My Favorite Song
• 30 Day Song Challenge – Day 2: My Least Favorite Song, Part 1 

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 2: My Least Favorite Song

Today’s topic of the 30 Day Song Challenge is my least favorite song. I have to admit: I got nothing. Actually, I’ve got plenty. I just don’t know how to narrow my list down to only one song. For instance, I could name any song by Phil Collins or The Eagles (yes, The Eagles. They suck. Deal with it.) but that would be too easy. My selection here should have meaning and weight. There are plenty of bad, awful, loathsome songs, but my least favorite song should inspire something in me. Just as my favorite song, “Like A Prayer”, fills me with joy and makes me want to dance, even though I can’t dance, my least favorite song should have the opposite effect with the same degree of passion. And right now, I can’t seem to come up with something that is that detestable. Maybe it’s because I’m in a good mood and feeling hopeful and happy for the new year. Or maybe I’m still riding the high from my favorite song choice. Whatever the reason, I’m stumped. So I’m taking a pass on the song challenge today but, hopefully, I’ll have chosen something by tomorrow.

I’d love to hear some of your choices. Perhaps that will inspire something in me. So what are some of your least favorite songs?

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 1: My Favorite Song

Yesterday I decided to test myself with the 30 Day Song Challenge, an exercise where I share songs that are meaningful to me in some way. The Challenge kicks off today with a tough one: my favorite song. This is tough because I have a lot of favorite songs. My favorite song changes daily. Choosing just one is almost like choosing my favorite sibling…how can I possibly be expected to choose?  On the other hand, selecting one song from a long list of favorites indicates just how special that song is to me. So my selection for favorite song – all-time favorite song is Madonna’s “Like A Prayer”.

“Like A Prayer” is the title track to Madonna’s 1989 masterpiece. The album Like A Prayer signaled Madonna’s maturity from a pop music tart to an artist demanding respect. In its review of the album Rolling Stone magazine said it was “proof not only that Madonna should be taken seriously as an artist but that hers is one of the most compelling voices of the Eighties.” No other song on the album demonstrated that more than “Like A Prayer”.

The song starts out with a staccato guitar blast followed by the sweet tones of a gospel choir and then Madonna’s voice: “Life is a mystery / everyone must stand alone / I hear you call my name / and it feels like home”. The song has been described as a battle between the sacred and profane. In it, Madonna sings “I’m down on my knees, I want to take you there”…why, exactly, is she on her knees and why does she want someone there with her? Truthfully, the song lyrics never made much sense but for me, the power of the song isn’t in the lyrics, it’s in the music and in the production. Madonna and producer Patrick Leonard layer jangling guitars over a funky bass line, backed by the angelic voices of the Andre Crouch Choir. The emotional high point of the song comes around its mid-point, as the song builds over the refrain and bridge to an explosive crescendo at the intermediate. Madonna sings with great urgency over a booming, joyous gospel chorus. It’s the point in the song where I blast the volume and, if I’m home alone or where nobody can see me, I make a pathetic attempt at some dance moves. I can’t dance but this song makes me wish I could dance my ass off.

As powerful as the recorded version of the song is, “Like A Prayer” is never more incredible than when it’s performed live. In her performances of the song, Madonna combines theater and dance to amplify the power of the song. For Madonna fans, her best performance of “Like A Prayer” came during her 1990 Blonde Ambition tour. Madonna and her crew of backup singers and dancers perform the song while acting out a mini-play, exploding into a joyous chorus at the afore-mentioned crescendo of the song.

Madonna performed a more subdued version of the song at the Hope for Haiti benefit concert in 2010. She had a full gospel chorus behind her but only a simple acoustic guitar and piano for accompaniment. Despite the scaled-down production, the song had all of the power of previous performances.

As I write this, any indecision I might have had in choosing “Like A Prayer” as my favorite song has faded. This song makes me feel alive. It makes me want to take the joy and the passion that I feel when I hear it and spread it far and wide. I wish I could take the power of this song and distill it into pill form so that I can take it whenever I feel down. Wow, that’s a pretty powerful start to the 30 Day Song Challenge! I can’t wait to write about tomorrow’s selection.

Previous posts from the 30 Day Song Challenge:

1. 30 Day Song Challenge Revisited

 

Sad day

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to me that Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple. He has been battling cancer for a while and in his last appearance at WWDC he, quite frankly, looked terrible. But it still hurts to see him go because this can’t mean good things. I have to believe that he wouldn’t step down as CEO unless he absolutely could not continue any longer. And now that he has…well, it makes me very sad.

In my entire life I have had three heroes. Three people who continually inspire me with their brilliance, innovation, dedication and ambition. Three people whose contributions have changed our culture and have made the world – or at least my little slice of it – better. Those people are Madonna, Howard Stern and Steve Jobs (what? you were expecting something different from me?). Today, I feel like I’ve lost one of my heroes.

Stay strong, Steve. Hang in there for as long as you possibly can because the world is a much better place with you in it.

Where’s the love, Apple?

This past weekend was pretty exciting. The Rapture didn’t happen and Apple observed the tenth anniversary of its revolutionary retail stores. There was much speculation leading up to the retail anniversary about how Apple would observe the occasion. It was theorized that Apple might launch a surprising new product (iCloud, please??), overhaul the stores, or maybe just throw a big party. Among Apple retail employees, the leading theory was that Apple would recognize their service by giving them an awesome iSomething as a gift. In the end, we were all as wrong as the guy that predicted the end of the world.

Apple’s big deal turned out to be what Mac pundits called Retail 2.0, which allows users to experience the retail store in a whole new way. Apple replaced all of the store signage on the tables (“acrylics”, in Apple employee parlance) with new displays featuring an iPad2 running a custom app that allows users to gain information about products – everything from technical specs to pricing and accessories. The app also features a “call button” that will summon a Specialist to the customer if he or she needs help or is ready to purchase. The new displays are beautiful and look awesome on the tables. I had a dream last night that I displayed them all over my home and they really brightened up my dream home. The information app that runs on the iPads is useful and user friendly. I think customers are really going to love it. And the Specialist call system…well, there are a few kinks that need worked out but I know my fellow retail specialists will learn on the fly and not only fix the system but make it even better. The product table redesign also includes these incredible glass table markers to indicate where the products are located. The only disappointing thing about the store mini-redesign is that there is still a shelf dedicated to boxes of software. This is probably a petty complaint but there isn’t a ton of shelf space in the store and Apple should focus more attention on the Mac App Store instead. But that is a minor complaint compared to the great experience the new iPad2 displays deliver.

My larger complaint is with how Apple recognized the contributions of its workforce. Which is to say, it didn’t recognize us at all. In the days leading up to the May 22 event and the corporate-mandated store meeting to be held that same day, employees hoped for some sort of gift as a thank you for their service. Since our Christmas gift from the company was a humble coffee mug, I didn’t get too carried away with thinking we were going to get some kind of an extravagant gift from the company, even though it is sitting on a giant pile of cash. But some kind of recognition – an Apple-branded shirt or maybe a commemorative lanyard, similar to what we wear in the stores – would have been nice. When I worked at Ernst & Young, the firm and individual managers routinely gave out branded premiums as a token of appreciation. The gifts were fairly small in value but they sent a big message: you, the employees, make our firm successful and we appreciate your effort. When the firm launched a new green office initiative, it gave each employee a coffee mug to reinforce the importance of reducing waste. When the firm celebrated its 100th anniversary, we all received a golf umbrella as part of the celebration. When I was a member of a successful project team, the project manager gave us each a travel coffee mug to thank us for our efforts. These gifts weren’t valuable but what the firm understood is that when there was success to celebrate, the employees should share in it because they played a critical role in creating it. Ernst & Young also knew that when people worked extra hard to ensure success, their efforts “above and beyond” the norm should be rewarded. Apple doesn’t seem to get this.

I’m sure that complaining about not getting a trinket with an Apple logo on it sounds petty and perhaps it is. The fact is, I find my job as a retail specialist tremendously rewarding and not just because of what I receive from the company. Each day at Apple brings new opportunities to learn and to grow. If you’re lucky enough to work at a store like mine in Legacy Village, then you get to work with incredible people and supportive managers. Finally, there are the customers. Providing solutions, connecting people with technology, enriching lives…these are rewards you simply can’t put a dollar value on. Call me sentimental, but it’s a privilege to show someone how to use FaceTime to connect with far-flung relatives or how to organize and share precious family memories using a program like iPhoto. But I can’t help but feel underwhelmed by the love Apple shows its employees. As much as I love Apple products, the employees are what make the store experience truly special. Of course, I’m biased but don’t believe me, believe our customers. The satisfaction surveys we receive from customers routinely cite the helpful and knowledgeable employees as a key reason for visiting the store and making purchases. But it’s not just the sales support we deliver. We engage customers in many ways, from delivering high quality workshops to helping them troubleshoot issues with their devices. We are more than simple salespeople, we are brand ambassadors who want to ensure our customers have the best possible experience with us, our store and Apple, as a whole. Our allegiance to the company and its products lasts long after we leave the store at the end of our shift. And I’m not just speaking for myself here. I feel comfortable saying that my Apple colleagues carry the same level of commitment to the company, as well as the same degree of disappointment with the company’s weak show of support.

So with that off my chest, I’m back to being a happy and loyal Apple employee. No amount of dissatisfaction with the company can dim the joy of selling an iPod to a child who is spending the money from his First Communion on his first iDevice. Ultimately, I’m thankful to the company for hiring me and giving me the opportunity to have those kinds of experiences. But Apple needs to understand that a little bit of love goes a long way with retail employees who work hard and love the company more than the company seems to love them.

Something is happening here

Over the weekend, I posted the following to my Facebook page: As I read through year-end technology stories, I realize that I have had the privilege of working for Apple during one of the most significant years in the company’s history. It’s a pretty amazing thing to be a part of. I wrote this after reading multiple articles about Apple’s 2010 successes and the potential for another huge year in 2011. As an employee of the Apple Store, I felt like I had played a tiny part in the company’s success, both as an employee and consumer. A little while after posting this, I felt a little embarrassed by my fit of ass kissing, clearly motivated by some Apple-flavored Kool Aid. But then I had an interesting encounter at my local Target store.

I was browsing the aisles when I was approached by a young woman who looked vaguely familiar to me. She was talking excitedly about buying an iPad and I recognized her as a visitor to the Apple Store who had come in to the store a few days earlier with questions about the iPad. She was interested in buying one wanted to learn a little more because, although she had heard a lot about them, she really had no idea how they worked or how she might use one. I told her about the iPad and then answered her questions about the device. We spent about thirty minutes together and at the end of our discussion she was intrigued by the iPad but needed some time to think it over.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see this person again, telling me about her recent iPad purchase. She told me how she left the store that day and couldn’t stop thinking about the iPad and all the ways she could use it so she returned the following day to buy one. Since buying it, she had been using her new iPad almost non-stop. She thanked me profusely for helping her to make, in her words, “the best technology decision” of her life.

I’m lucky enough to get this kind of feedback all the time, although I don’t usually get it from near-strangers at Target. Most of the time, it’s from customers who return to the store after buying an Apple product to pick up an accessory or maybe a new Apple product. Sometimes, they come back just to tell me about how much they love their Apple product. And it isn’t just me…any of my Apple Store teammates could share similar stories of enthusiastic feedback from happy customers. But the experience with this customer led me to reflect on the previous months of my employment with the Apple Store, particularly during the holiday shopping season.

Every day, we get people into the store to buy Apple computers and devices. I can’t give exact figures but I can tell you that, on some days, small car dealerships would be thrilled to get the kinds of sales that we get at our store. But we also get a lot of people with no immediate intention of buying. The come in simply to browse the products, play with the iPads and talk about their products with an Apple employee. We routinely offer troubleshooting and user support – aside from what’s offered to product owners at the Genius Bar – to customers. And, of course, there are the teenagers…the small gangs of youths who visit the store after school and on the weekends to play on the computers and network with their friends from the Apple Store. This all boggles my mind. I bought a refrigerator from a very nice man at Sears but I don’t go back there to chat him up about refrigerators. I wouldn’t recognize the kid who sold me my TV if he came up to me and said, “hello there, I sold you a TV”. And the only time I see the man who sold me three Fords over the past 7 years is when I go to the dealership for service or a new car. So why is the Apple Store difference?  Why is all of this happening? What’s going on?

After several years as a customer and a few months as an employee, I’m still not certain. From what I can observe, it’s some mysterious alchemy, a heady mixture of great products, beautiful store design, and good customer service. The attraction of Apple products isn’t hard to understand. The stores are built to attract people – proper lighting designed to show off the products, an easy-to-follow store layout that makes it easy to access the Apple products available for use, a fast and personalized check-out experience. Add to that, a collection of the best employees that retail has to offer. You may think I’m being immodest but it’s harder to get hired at an Apple Store than it is to get accepted into Stanford. And Apple doesn’t hire employees simply because they love the products or know a lot about technology. I don’t know what hiring standards Apple uses but I know that my co-workers all exhibit the same mixture of personality, intelligence, curiosity and plain, old make-the-customer-happy determination that makes it as much fun to work with them as it does to be serviced by them. I would add the Apple customer to this mix, as well. On the whole, I find that the people I talk to are smart, curious and a little adventurous. And they’re not young technology-obsessed kids, either. I routinely talk with customers across all age groups. I don’t have any real numbers to support this but, based on what I regularly see at the store, I would venture to guess that Apple’s customer base is trending older (or at least it is at our store). It’s fun to talk with our customers and you see a real sense of camaraderie between customers and Apple specialists, as well as with other customers. This is all great stuff but Apple can’t be the only store that has hit on a winning retail formula. Why are we different??

I think the special ingredient in the Apple Store’s success is community. More than just a store, it’s a place where people want to be. It’s something they want to experience. At a retail store, the beauty of Apple’s products and stores combine with the relationship between Apple employees and customers to form an experience that is unique. Not only can you buy a great product at an Apple Store but you can learn more about it from an Apple Specialist and share your experience with them and other customers. You can talk about the latest keynote address from Steve Jobs or complain about how much you hate Windows (we’re not supposed to but, hey, it’s fun). The Apple Store can give you something that no other store can. You can buy Apple products almost anywhere, even at Wal-Mart. And you might even get someone who is friendly and knowledgeable on the product to help you. But that’s all you’ll get. At an Apple Retail store, you get a special blend of products, place and people.

If you’ve made it to the end of this post, you’re probably thinking I pretty much overdosed on Apple Kool-Aid. No Kool-Aid for me, thank you. I’m a proud member of a community of independent thinkers who use the best technology in the smartest ways and share it with others, both in and out of the group. And that’s what is happening at the Apple Store.

My prediction for 2011: Apple takes over the world

OK, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little. When it comes to Apple and its products, I am prone to fits of hyperbole. But a quick scan of headlines from the Interwebs provides evidence that 2011 could be yet another huge year for Steve Jobs’ little outfit in Cupertino:

• Apple made money in 2011 before the year even started. OK, to be completely accurate, the company’s fiscal year started in 2010. And on January 18, Apple will report on its earnings from Q1 2011. Under normal circumstances, it would be hard for the company to top its record results from Q4 2010 – $20.34 billion in revenue and a net profit of $4.31 billion – but Q1 2011 isn’t normal for Apple. Sales from the holiday shopping season will be included in those revenues. Just based on what I saw at the Apple Store where I work, I’m guessing those numbers will be huge. Like, larger than the GDP of several Third World countries combined huge. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the picture below of Apple Store traffic during a typical shopping day. For other stores, that’s Black Friday-type traffic. For Apple, it’s 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon.

• The Mac App Store arrives on January 6. The Mac App Store will bring the same app-buying functionality found on Apple’s mobile devices to the Mac. So now finding, buying and updating software will only require a few mouse clicks (or, if you’re using Apple’s Magic Trackpad, a few trackpad touches). Many long time fans of the Mac are disappointed in this development fearing that the Mac App Store will dumb down the OS X platform. Maybe they’re right, although I hope the OS will be appealing to both seasoned Mac users and newbies, as well. But the App Store will almost certainly be popular with the growing ranks of Mac users and will help to build loyalty among this group.
• Apple’s three-way with AT&T and Verizon: rumors of an iPhone for the Verizon network have been around for a long time, probably since the iPhone’s initial release. But the rumors gained some credibility back in October when both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that an Apple source admitted to an upcoming Verizon iPhone. Since then, the rumors have become more persistent, such as today’s report of iPhone shipping goals for the first three months of 2011. Again, my own evidence is anecdotal and limited to the Legacy Village Apple Store but if I had a dime for every time a store visitor asked me when the iPhone will be released to the Verizon network, I would have a shit-ton of dimes. It makes me wish I was Steve Jobs, who will actually get $599 each for those iPhones, instead of a meager dime. Then again, these “credible” rumors could be as solid as the rumors of the white iPhone, which continues to be as elusive as Bigfoot riding in a UFO.
• New iPads and iPhones: here again, rumors abound of new versions of Apple’s popular mobile devices. The latest reports suggest the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 will include a powerful new processor. Rumors on the iPad 2 suggest that an updated device will include a camera and enhanced display. Since Apple tends to release product updates on a yearly basis, it’s a pretty solid bet that we’ll see a new iPhone and new iPad in 2011. No matter what new features are included, the new
  devices will almost certainly solidify the geek love from its most dedicated users, as well as attract new fans.

It would almost take an act of God to derail Apple’s steamrolling excellence. Seriously, the earth under 1 Infinite Loop would have to open up and swallow the Apple campus whole in order to weaken the company. Then again, if pancreatic cancer couldn’t kill Steve Jobs, then nothing will, so don’t count on anything taking down him or his company any time soon. As a result, 2011 will be another huge year for Apple. I don’t expect that Apple will actually take over the world, or even the desktop computing market, which Microsoft still owns. The company will face competition in all of its markets from tough new competitors, such as Google. And now that The Beatles are finally available on iTunes, what else could possibly top that?

No, 2011 isn’t going to be any kind of “tipping point” year where the masses finally embrace the company becomes the dominant force in computing, as Microsoft once was. Instead, 2011 will be just another strong year where the company continues to change the face of computing and how people use technology in their lives. Through products big – the iPad, MacBook Air – and small – the Mighty Mouse, AppleTV – Apple is changing how people engage with technology, improving the user experience and providing faster, easier access to people, commerce and knowledge. So years from now, we’ll look back on Apple’s 2011 as just another year where the company made cool products that thrilled long-time fans and attracted excited new users.

As for me, my only hope for 2011 is that we finally get to see Steve Jobs do this.

Is Apple the only company that doesn’t need a social media strategy?

A new survey of brands on social media lists the top brands on sites like Facebook and Twitter. And while companies like Coca-Cola and Starbucks each have over 5 million Facebook fans, Apple has…none? Actually, Apple, one of the most talked-about companies in the world, has no fans because it has no virtually no corporate presence on social media web sites. How can that be when seemingly every company is using Twitter, Facebook or some other tool to promote their brand? Could it be that Apple doesn’t need a social media strategy?

One persuasive argument for why Apple doesn’t need a social media strategy is that it has legions of devoted fans who will do the company’s heavy lifting for it. Consider this: after Steve Jobs’ key note address at yesterday’s WWDC, seven of the top ten trending topics on Twitter (whew, try saying that three times fast) were related to Apple. That means that, for at least part of the day, people on Twitter were tweeting about something other than Justin Bieber. Popular tech blogs like Gizmodo and TechCrunch dedicate gigabytes of discussion to Apple and it’s products. With promotion like that, what could Apple possibly add to the discussion?

Another argument is that the open nature of social media goes against Apple’s famously secretive culture. Let’s face it, when a company’s CEO is spotted in public less often than Sasquatch, you can’t expect him to share his lunch order over Twitter. While Apple’s demand for secrecy can be restrictive for employees, it adds to the company’s mystique. It’s cool that Steve Jobs doesn’t tweet about his latest bowel movement or organ transplant because that makes it so much more meaningful when he randomly responds to an email with some tidbit about the company’s strategy.

Perhaps what we’re missing here is that Apple does have a social media strategy. But the strategy is based on listening, rather than talking. One of the benefits of social media is that companies can access a wealth of customer feedback, simply by tapping into online chatter. That’s not to suggest that Apple engineers are sitting back, waiting for feedback to roll in over the Internet so they know what to work on next. But immediate access to consumer input on a product has many benefits. Most immediately, engineers can identify bugs and issues that need addressed quickly. Long term, these online conversations can help to shape the direction a product will take. For instance, once the initial excitement of the iPad release died down, the question remained: what, exactly, is this thing and how will consumers use it? Is it an iPod on steroids? Or a MacBook, scaled down slightly? It’s hard to tell from the first generation of the product but I suspect that online conversations about the iPad and how it’s being used will provide Apple with the information it needs to start answering these questions and, subsequently, molding the iPad accordingly.

Apple has enjoyed a great deal of Internet love over the past few years. The iPod captured a majority of the personal music player market, becoming this generation’s Walkman. The iPhone has captivated both gadget geeks and Luddites alike. Thanks to these successes, Apple is capturing a larger share of the PC market than ever before. This has helped to make Apple one of the most popular and prestigious brands in the world.  But Apple’s technology and brand dominance has been relatively unchallenged over the years. All of that is changing. Google is coming on strong, with a popular mobile device OS in Droid, and ambitious plans to develop a computer OS, among other things. Apple has been damaged in the development community, thanks to its hardline stance against everything from Adobe’s Flash to pornography apps. And, although, Microsoft seems to be dying a slow death, you can never count out the company that changed desktop computing.

Because of these challenges, the online conversations are changing and not all of them are in Apple’s favor. The company may need to take a stronger role in driving these conversations to a more favorable place, which could require a more aggressive social media strategy. Does that mean Steve Jobs will be posting his vacation photos on a personal blog? I think you’re more likely to see Sasquatch first.