Design-wise, this is one of the best iPhone applications I have ever seen. It keeps well to the Obama campaign colors and graphic themes. It also adhears perfectly to all iPhone application standards. I’ve seen plenty of other iPhone applications from reputable companies that are no where near as good as this one. Remember the train wreck that was the Audi racing application?

But this application isn’t just a pretty face. There is clear purpose here. One of the most important aspects of a national election campaign is phone calling. Millions of dollars are spent setting up phone banks and aquiring  lists of names. With this application the Obama campaign can unleash an army of phone callers at no cost. The application searches your built in phone book and by area code determins who among your contacts are in certain battle ground states and sets you up for calling them. It even keeps track of who has been called and who has not. Other features include a get involved button which, using the build in location aware feature of the iPhone, finds your local Obama HQ and other local events and activities you can participate in. The Media section includes lots of video from Obama speaches that you can watch and email to your friends. Again, a method to spread the word. This is how virtal marketing really works. Finally, there is an issues tab which provides detailed information on Obamas positions on a variety of issues.

Obama has been heralded as the campaign that has best used the Internet and new media to great effect. Here we see the campaign really walking the walk and living up to this reputation in spades.

Apple has a priority list of features, and they got as far as they could down that list with this model, Joswiak said

Really? Apple’s priority list of features certainly does not match up with its customers priority list because every iPhone owner I know had copy and paste at the top of that list. It smacks of the elitism that has always been a part of Apple if you look closely. We’ll do what we please and you’ll like it. For the most part we do because what they create is amazing. For all the talk of Open Source and freedom on the Internet, Apple is the most closed, proprietry company there is. So, Apple will give you copy and paste on the iPhone when they are darn good and ready and until then you will sit quietly and wait.

But we haven’t come very far yet as every blog/podcast ad network still works under the presumption of numbers. Lots of raw numbers. They do this because this is what the advertisers demand. As an “old school” podcaster, I belived we were going to change the world. We were supposed to change the very face of advertising, forcing them out of their relentless chance for raw numbers and getting them to understand the power of who and the return on influence. But were trying to change an industry that has done what it does for many many years and change never comes easily. Until then, the fight goes on.

I am throwing my weight behind FriendFeed. Follow me there at http://www.friendfeed.com/davidjacobs

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I don’t understand why they need to put these kind of restrictions on the service. My other favorite coffee shop, It’s A Grind, provides free open access, no questions asked. And when I am there, I always buy a coffee. The Starbucks program reeks of corporate think. Let’s look at all the risks and mitigate them. God forbid we trust our customers because given the chance they’ll rip us off. 98% of Starbucks customers will buy a coffee while there, so there’s no real reason to require it with the card and how many will sit there all day and suck access? Not many. And those that do are going to be thirsty and hungry and will most likely buy more stuff. I would rather see Starbucks and AT&T trust customers to begin with and apply restrictions in the future if real problems surface. But like the music and film industries, corporate America still feels the need to control their customers and has a basic lack of trust for them. This, of course, runs completely contrary to the spirit of the Internet and the new world of business online. Maybe, just maybe if you treat your customers with respect they will give you back the same.

Within five years it’s going to be hard to run any kind of web service or application that is not open source, or at least provide a strong set of open API’s. This is part of the new paradigm of Internet business. Open Source has been around for years, but only now it is really starting to take hold. This is partly why Google has the strategic advantage over Microsoft as we move into the future. Open Source is built into the Google DNA. Microsoft has been built on the concept of proprietary systems and control. Buying Yahoo makes sense for Microsoft not just for their search advertising program, but for the Yahoo culture and philosophy. Yahoo also has Open Source built in. If Microsoft would allow some of that to seep in, it could benefit them emencly.

Open ID
DataPortability.org
Google Friend Connect
Myspace Data Availability
Facebook and Data Portability

Last Christmas I asked the members of my family about various aspects of technology. I didn’t even bother with things like Twitter. I was probing mostly about RSS. Some knew of it. Fewer had a good idea of what it did and none used it. They all read blogs directly from the websites, no aggregation. Shocking. The Internet, like the entire Silicon Valley, is a giant reality distortion field. If you don’t check things out from a different point of view, you can get a very inaccurate notion of what is true.

As Kara so aptly points out, while Twitter looks like the hottest thing since sliced bread, when you take off your reality distortion lenses, you realize we’re not even close to being there yet.

Although many will play it off as such, I don’t see Android as competition as much for the iPhone as it is for Microsoft and Windows Mobile. Google is taking the Microsoft approach, not focusing on hardware at all, but providing a software platform upon which many phones can be built. Apple’s iPhone is a unique experience unto itself and I think it will continue to stand apart. The pressure is really going to be on for Microsoft to make Windows Mobile more compelling.

What all this means in general is that the mobile market will continue to accelerate and companies had better start thinking about how mobile fits into their plans. Already I am disappointed that my bank Washington Mutual has no mobile access to their online banking. Customers will soon factor mobile access into their buying decisions when looking at things like online banking and bill payment.

Synchronization features will also be an important part of any new product or service. Ideally I want my data synced between my desktop, mobile and Internet. Evernote is a new note taking program that I am loving and it does a masterful job of synchronization. All they need now is a better iPhone client.

In general I don’t trust Blockbuster to pull of either the hardware or the service. It’s not what they do and unless they have a very good partner to help them, I foresee failure. If they can put more pressure on Apple, however,  to get more movies on iTunes or Netflix to accelerate their online initiative, their effort will be worthwhile for end users.

It’s funny to read statements in the article like Blockbuster needs to be careful not to canabolize their brick and morter business. That’s old school thinking. That business is already dead. The best way to survive in a changing world is to put yourself out of business before someone else does. Blockbuster does have a strong brand name and a window of opportunity here to make the leap. Are they savy enough to pull it off?

Something similar is happening in the virtual world space. Second Life has been the dominating leader up to now, but the bloom may be coming off the rose. There is lots of competition in the virtual world space and much of it is of the niche variety. Disney purchased Club Penguin. Webkinz is incredibly hot, and now Nickelodeon is experimenting with a virtual world. There are also virtual world platform companies that will allow anyone to create their own virtual world. Sound familiar? Second Life is the general purpose virtual world with no real focus. It also seems to have lived out its 15 minutes of fame. I think if Second Life doesn’t do something dramatic they will end up like Friendster, an innovator that became insignificant.

Infected is a great read and it’s your chance to be  New Media Hero.