* Posts by Nabil Shabka

8 publicly visible posts • joined 12 Nov 2007

App to manage Android app permissions

Nabil Shabka

Re: PS

The US and Canada however have different passports, governments, emabassies etc. They are different countries. Last time I checked, at least until this September, everyone in the UK shares those things - this business about Wales, Scotland, England being different countries is nonsense - they are actually like states or provinces.

Free French app app booted by Apple, triggers 1m-strong petition

Nabil Shabka

Monopoly investigation

Seems to me that iTunes and the App Store be broken up as they are a monopoly, no question about it.

Mobile operators look to Firefox to beat back Google, Apple

Nabil Shabka

There's a chance this will succeed - it's HTML5 not firefox OS

HTML5 is the near future and if Firefox OS is optmised to run it then there is a very strong change it will succeed. Already people have started writing html5 'apps' to bypass Apple's control and it taking commissions - the FT and Amazon for starters. IMHO, for Firefox OS to truly succeed it needs to easily interact with dbases such as couchbase - then we have a new game in town - one that won't be under the control of phone manufactureres, phone companies or cloud service providers.

How Nokia managed to drive its in-house Linux train off the rails

Nabil Shabka

Actually Nokia lost the plot in 1999 - no vision

Too many cooks and no one with vision. Nokia's vision was to swtich form TV's to phones, that seems to be about it.

I bought the first Nokia Communicator in the mid 90's (I think it was '96) for £1K and it was the first smart phone ever. I bought it as the future was clear, it was smart phones. I surfed the web, got my email and read and edited word docs and spreadsheets. It may have been a 'brick' but it was the future. I stuck with the model for many years and then threw in the towel when it was clear that Nokia actually had no idea of where smart phones were going and switched to the Palm Treo when Palm finally put a phone with their pda. The Treo had a much better form factor and to my knowledge was the first smart phone with apps you could purchse from third parties and a touch screen (I didn't use my stylus much) but they too lost the plot when Blackberry showed up.

New products and the evolution of old products is the key to staying current and requires visionary leaders at the helm who in turn inspire visionary colleagues. Companies go down when they lose the ability to think out fo the box - which is often the case with companies that come to dominate their space (look at Microsoft now). They become huge oil tankers that can't turn around. There are very few large companies that have been able to successfully change direction (IBM and Apple are good examples of doing it successfully - albeit after they were on their deathbeds) and if big companies don't do this they will lose to new nimble players with vision.

Apple iCloud: Steve Jobs' own private internet

Nabil Shabka

It's beginning to AOLian

Sounds like everyone is turning to the AOLian Big Brother method. Lock everyone completely into one ecosystem. May they all go the route of AOL.......

Nokia: When pigeons fly home to roast

Nabil Shabka

Nokia blew it 1998

I was one of those people who bought the first smartphone to ever hit the market back in 1996 - the Nokia Communicator. I idd this as I was convinced it was the future - too bad Nokia didn't realise this. Three 'bricks' later I switched to the Palm Treo as I gave up on carrying the Nokia brick.

1998 saw the peak of a number of companies including Nokia and Microsoft. They were the big guys who just didn't get the changes that were occurring - and still don't.

Dear Dell and Microsoft: You're not Apple

Nabil Shabka

Missing the point

The problem is that MS simply didn't see the Internet and still doesn't get it. The world ahs changed. MS is not an innovator, it's a monopolosing juggernaught. That worked fantasitcally for years. It was clear in the late 90's that their reign was over. In order to succeed they cannot turn the huge tanker around. They need a new leader with carte blanche and vision. One who can go and compeltely reinvent the company. Sure they can continue to milk the marekets they are still successful in, stupid not to, while this is occurring but they need to a complete rethink.

BTW, the IBM of today is nothing like the IBM of old (the one that though box shiftng was more important than the OS and ended up giving birth to MS) - they almost went to the wall. In fact so did Apple in the 90's until the iPod. MS needs an 'iPod' and to set a new course - one that will eventually canablise their own market because if they don't, they will be beaten from the outside, as they are being now.

Resellers get shirty over FixITlocal

Nabil Shabka

Title

Independents are definitely not dead but they do have to be very careful about the large brand players entering the market as they're after the Independent's core business - onsite support.

The home and small business support market is changing quickly and we're at the beginning of a new and exciting evolution. The question for an Independent is not that the market exists but how to best position themselves so that they can offer the services that customers are looking for today while protecting themselves and capturing ongoing revenue streams.

On the one hand, this market is not keen on spending £150 to fix a problem on a regular basis when a new computer costs £300, on the other hand they can't live without their IT, need things fixed immediately (particularly minor issues), hate being on the phone for hours, are worried about security and are increasingly networking all their IT together.

So what do services customers need and want? At zuuMedia we believe that to be affordable services which include:

- Local Technicians with local pricing. The idea of having the same hourly rate across the country does not work. A Technician in London should be charging far more than a Technicain in Hull.

- 24/7 Remote Support for those little problems.

- Proactive ongoing security checks.

- Automated Offsite Data Backup (stored in the UK).

IMHO, this is the new market and Independents can have a prosperous future as long as they offer the services that customers require. In order to do this however, Independents will need to join a network such as zuuMedia.