ASUS issue fix for GPS issues on Transformer Prime #ASUS
ASUS finally issue fix for WIFI issues on the Transformer Prime #ASUS
ASUS gives in to customer demand for answers to the Transformer Prime, allowing access to their product development department.
ASUS Transformer Prime / Amazon cock up
I wonder how many people are waking up this morning to an email from Amazon.co.uk that says;
“Hello,
We regret to inform you that your order will take longer to fulfill than originally estimated. Our supplier has notified us that there is a delay obtaining stock for the following items you ordered on December 19 2011.
“Asus EeePad Transformer Prime TF201 10.1 inch Tablet with Keyboard/Dock - Silver (Nvidia Tegra 3 Quad Core 1.3GHz, RAM 1GB, Storage 32GB eMMC, WLAN, BT, Webcam, Android 3.2)”
We are awaiting a revised estimate from our supplier, and will email you as soon as we receive this information.”
I don’t think there is any doubt that the tablet market will be fiercely competitive over the next year, especially between the Apple and Android operating systems, however, I dont recall a situation between customers and suppliers (manufacturer & retailer) as stupid as this.
There will always be those that buy the iPad. For them it is a great pice of kit and the marketing techniques used by Apple are incredibly efficient at creating a hype rarely seen in other product categories. That said, I do wonder sometimes if Apple are are brilliantly talented or if the competition are just a little stupid.
I dont want an iPad. I love Apple generally but it does not have some of the options that I would like.
As an early adopter I therefore went for an Android Tablet, the original Asus Transformer. That unit developed screen bleed to a point it was awful and the retailer (Best Buy) in the UK were brilliant in refunding my money so I preordered as soon as the new Transformer Prime became available on Amazon. I chose Amazon out of brand loyalty and previous experience. I avoided the Currys / PC world / Dixons setup as their service is still pretty awful in my opinion.
The hype created by Asus largely based on technical specification and functionality rather than ‘usability’ was justified. The execution has been terrible. Reports of that the specifications do not work at the level customers expected in terms of GPS, Wifi & Bluetooth is well documented on the internet.
Shame on Amazon for not letting their customers know the supply problems earlier. To be honest I knew something was not right when I could not find the product listed at all on the UK site, but I had some trust still as the delivery estimate had not changed.
That trust has now been eroded and I will not be preordering through Amazon again.
ASUS in their wisdom has announced a new upgraded version already, for market in Q2 2012 with full 1080 screen and a 2meg front camera. Personally I see little point for me. The 1080 playback makes little difference in terms of viewing distance for film and I dont play games. I dont video conference and those that do will need a sufficient pipe in terms of broadband to upload the video for conferencing from the 2meg camera, then of course there will be power usage for the bigger screen.
I appreciate that this is a bit of a rant but when will these technology companies learn. Create hype only if you can deliver otherwise dont waste my time. Dont launch a new product when the most recent one is not even in the store on launch date and those that did get it early (because some PC World staff were not briefed properly) get issues that should have been resolved in development and testing.
This could have done so well.
Apple will always be in a position of strength when they can supplement the income from hardware with the sale of software through the market. They also are sensible enough to realise that you dont need a 2meg front facing camera when a cheaper 640 pixel works just as well and is probably cheaper.
From what I can tell there IS ONE clear distinction between Apple and the competitors in the tablet market at present…
and that is….
MARKETING !
Apple have a consumer orientation that facilitates the production and sale of products that we actually want (or think we want), in essence the technology facilitates and supports the lifestyle.
They have the ability (most of the time) to merge the ‘form’ with ‘function’….
The other (are you listening ASUS) remind me of Joey from friends when he gave Chandler a pen which also had a clock built in.
Now what I would like is an iPad that is memory expandable so I am not screwed to buy a much more expensive model which is identical but has 16gig more space. It needs a 16:10 / 16:9 screen ratio not 4:3 as I watch films and like photography taken with a proper SLR not a compact. I dont care about GPS as I normally know were I am but some kind of internet whilst out and about would be good but not a deal breaker so wifi/usb for tethering would do. It needs a keyboard (well done ASUS) as without one its limited in terms of functionality.
OH, and multiple user accounts on the operating system for me and better half please.
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This wont happen of course because I would not need the Mac book pro for writing this post.
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1200 (ish) undergraduate students were asked to define ‘Feedback’ in their own words as part of a process to try and understand the results of a National Student Survey. 130 undergraduate students responded. This is a wordle of the top 75 words (excluding common language such as ‘it’ & ‘the’)
Fortunately, marketers do not have to personally develop the technologies, but they need to know enough to understand technology, select appropriate suppliers, and direct technology professionals in order to harness its power.
Strauss & El-Ansary (2004, page 69)
Strauss, J., & El-Ansary, A. I. (2004). Integrating The “E” In E-Marketing. Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER), 2(8).
2011 IPA Media Owner Awards winners
Specific Media, Google/You Tube, and Facebook were just some of the sixteen winners announced last night (15th November 2011) at the IPA’s first Media Owner Awards (the MOA) ceremony which are designed to showcase best practice from online media owners and to raise the digital standard.
The Web took off because it provided scientists (and, eventually, the public at large) with a window onto incredible amounts of data. Some of it was previously obscure; some of it was previously inaccessible. And much of it drove innovation – both in Web-based tools and services and in myriad other areas of our everyday professional and personal lives.
Scientific computing’s petabyte datasets reveal how the world works. Business and ecommerce data present opportunities to both enhance and exploit customers’ experiences. Facebook and Twitter memorialize our lives more fully, transparently, and globally than they ever have before. Data – and our ability to understand, access, and secure it – drives the conversation in each of these cases. We ignore it at our peril.
Commentary from Thom Dunning and J. William Bell pg 486 in Andreessen, M., & Bina, E. (2010). NCSA Mosaic: a global hypermedia system. Internet Research, 20(4), 472-487.
Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and, to coin one at random, “memex” will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.
Bush (1945, pg. 107)
Bush, V. (1945), “As We May Think,” Atlantic Monthly, 176 (1), 101-108.
Tomorrow afternoon’s session on Digital Comms and Social Media
