Enrique’s posterous

The debacle that Apple has created slamming “Microsoft” with their anti-PC ads is actually taking related companies in a direction that I didn’t expect, but it makes sense now that I see it. The more traction Apple gains with their market share and badgering of Microsoft as an  operating system… well? It was only a matter of time before behemoths like Sony, HP, Lenovo and Dell stepped up to the plate in an attempt to hammer Apple from their elitist high horse. Since Apple is an appliance manufacturer, making hardware coupled with their software, and very few Mac-clone companies exist in market, it’s pretty much Apple versus… well, everyone else.

Do they make a kick ass laptop? Yep, the hardware is awesome. Are they getting their numbers up, you betcha! But are they going about it in a way that can end up backfiring when the technology industry stands up against them all at once? Well… We’re certainly going to find out.

Since 2007, I’ve been a fan of Tumblr, I’ve used the hell out of it, syndicated my content to it, shared things on it, and well? It just didn’t grab me… ever. Their lack of community integration really did pull the rug out from under the service for me when I saw how simple it was to find others using the new, shiny, Posterous.

Thus, I’m going to evangelize Posterous, just as I did Twitter, and LOOK AT TWITTER NOW!! … Okay, I had nothing to do with Twitter’s success, but maybe with my help, and yours we can help Posterous take over the mini-blogging space, and just crush tired, old Tumblr.

In true “nrek” form, here’s the other side of the fence: Reasons you’ll love Tumblr ... and every single one, minus the themes is on Posterous, and Posterous just does it better, leaner, and cleaner. Posterous also has the huge one up I already mentioned. Community.

I don’t work for Posterous, I don’t even gain anything from this, but hey! I like to spread what I love and some people even know I’ve been doing that for years over at my other blog. So here’s a tweet to help spread the word:

RT @nrek Move to Posterous (http://bit.ly/RuDjH), delete your Tumblr (bit.ly/5pioR) #thebigmove

Why not liberate your social space from bloat by clicking here while you’re reading?

Yesterday, a discussion with Robert Scoble over at FriendFeed shed some interesting light on the way people think in the mobile world, and it’s brought me back into the research that I’ve grudgingly trenched through over the past decade to make sure the mobile purchases I make are sound, well planned, and will work for my needs. My friend (@massaro) put it best when he said, “I’ve seen what use a phone for, and the iPhone isn’t enough.” It’s true. The amount of technology that I use and how much I’ve tied it into my universe probably goes a little above and beyond what the typical user would do.

That said, it’s imperative that I’m able to access what I have, wherever I’m at, but also, I need to be able to contribute to it, distribute it, and alter it, quickly. I’m also a data-micro-managing fanatic. For me, it’s easy to “outgrow” simple devices and products, in fact, I’ve outgrown every simple thing I’ve ever owned. That’s also part of the problem I have with Apple, the creators of the one-button-hell.

So, I spent two hours this morning looking over the future of mobile technology, dipped into the Apple SDK docs, had a perusal over Qt, Symbian, Android, WebOS, and even poked around at what Qualcomm, Sony/Ericsson, LG and Motorola are up to these days.

I’m a big picture kinda guy, so when I say things like “Nokia is the best there is”, there’s usually a lot of research in both yesterday and tomorrow behind that statement, and not just some fanboy fanaticism crap that spawned from my “new favorite toy!” or utter hate for a company like Apple. I’m not that simple. So when an off-handed comment about my writing gets brushed off by a “critic” as Press-Releases, I get a little shitty about it, and take a second look at my position. In the end, I’ll either alter my approach and admit I’m wrong, or find out that I’m right, consider the critic to be absurd, and move on to the next thing.

So what did this morning’s research yield? Nothing new. After everything, Nokia is a greedy powerhouse and they’re losing market share against what is seen as an infiltrator in mobile technology (Apple). Apple hasn’t really made anything “new”; they’ve merely made software (which is what they do) that pushed the bar. They flopped horribly with the hardware of the iPhone, and it took 3 iterations of the damn thing to get it to where it should have been when they first released it years ago and it is definitely behind already. Nokia makes hardware, but now that the consumer focus is on software, Nokia is making brilliant long-tail decisions right now to ensure they won’t have much to worry about anymore.

What is going to happen is simple. People who love Apple will stick with their iPhone, and the iPhone will completely cease to be seen as a regular smartphone, much like iPods aren’t really mentioned as regular MP3 players. Apple’s used to this kind of separation from consumer markets (much like Sony is). Nokia will either engage Android and WebOS or trump them within the next 2 to 3 years, and that’ll be that. Unless they totally fuck it all up, which would be difficult given the brilliant decisions they’re making at the moment.

As for being slammed by Scoble for sounding like a Press Release in my blog posts, I’ve come to find the irony in that statement given how much he evangelizes his decisions. It’s what we do, those of us who weave technology into our lives. As technologists, we’d like to think we’re making sound decisions, and “what we know” is what pays the bills. Right now, I know that Scoble was wrong, and will continue to be wrong, because … well? He’s sold on what he thinks he knows. I’m just writing this to keep my 12 readers entertained.

So, basically – what I’m doing is writing an email…. Simple. The images you see were attachments in that email. The copy you’re reading is the body of the email and the title of the post (what’s tweeted) is the subject line. Pretty slick shit, huh?

Anyway, chances are you need to get on Posterous if you’re not already, I’m not even covering the “service specific” email addresses you can do, such as – if I wanted this to “only go to twitter” – I’d simply send an email to twitter@posterous.com instead of post@posterous.com – which goes to “everywhere”.