Mark Sigal
Mark Sigal is the Chief Product Officer at Unicorn Labs, a builder of iOS Games, eBooks and Educational Apps. He is an eight-time entrepreneur, whose ventures span mobile, digital media, social networking and platform development. Sigal maintains a personal blog called The Network Garden.
Google Buzz: Is it Project, Product or Platform?
I think that it's great that Google is iterating Gmail, and actually improving an existing product versus rolling out something new and half-baked. Nonetheless, I am confused. I thought that Google Wave was destined to be the new Gmail, but after today, I am left wondering if Gmail is instead, the new Google Wave. Read more.
Check Mate: Apple's iPad and Google's Next Move
There is an axiom that the biggest game-changers often result from ideas that, at first blush, seem easy to dismiss. So it goes with yesterday’s launch of the iPad, Apple’s entry into what they call the ‘third category’ of device — the middle ground that exists between smartphone and laptop. Why is the iPad (seemingly) so easy to dismiss? Well, for one, it is an evolutionary device when conventional wisdom suggests that it needs to be a revolutionary device to find a wedge into a new market. In this instance, conventional wisdom is just plain off base.
The Google Android Rollout: Windows or Waterloo?
Watching Google's rollout of Android to date, including this week's announcements around the Google-branded, HTC built, Nexus One phone, I am left with two conflicting thoughts. Is it the beginning of their assent into Windows-like dominance or the fortnight of their 'Waterloo' moment?
Is Facebook a Brand that You Can Trust?
In light of the company's past consumer-unfriendly initiatives, Facebook's recent 'privacy' settings change should serve as a wake up call to its 350M users that they are entrusting a Fox to guard the Hen House; a truth that is destined to erupt into a crisis for the company.
Google Android: on Inevitability, the Dawn of Mobile, and the Missing Leg
If for no other reason than the 'Anyone but Apple' crowd needs an alternative, there is an 'inevitability' meme associated with Google's Android initiative. But, is their success in the market really inevitable? Over a year after Android's launch, the jury is still out.
It's in the Bag! The Apple Tablet Computing Device
In the past 25 years, the 'personal' computing revolution has evolved from tethered (desktop) to luggable (portable) to joined-at-the-hip (mobile). The author argues that the next wave of computing will extend this level of personal attachment to the bag-carrying consumer (think: purses, backpacks and briefcases) when Apple releases it’s much rumored Tablet Computing Device. Read more…
iPhone Killers, Blackberries and Chicken Parts
While a steady stream of so-called iPhone Killers are filtering into the market, Apple’s momentum continues unabated. Inspired by his own experiences upgrading to the Blackberry Tour, the author ponders why so many solution providers confuse delivering a bunch of ‘chicken parts’ with producing an actual, living, breathing chicken. BlackBerry Storm, Palm Pre, the G2, and now Droid have all been touted as contenders to the mobile computing crown, yet the iPhone continues to kick butt.
Rebooting the Book (One iPad at a Time)
The book business is under assault. Book sales have been stagnating for some time, Amazon is the industry's boogeyman, and more terrifying, book publishers have no idea how to market books in a world (largely) devoid of bookstores. Moreover, in the age of the always on, it's fair to ask, do people even still read anymore? Just as it re-envisioned the Media Player, the Mobile Phone and Mobile Computing, Apple is well positioned to reboot the Book with its forthcoming iPad Tablet.
The Library of the Commons: Rise of the Infodex
Somewhere between the realm of Personal and Shared media lies the realm of the Universal. The realm of the universal is the Library of the Commons, a global repository of user-generated and crowd-sourced media and information. Services that logically nest in the Library include: Amazon Reviews, Yelp, YouTube, Craigslist, Wikipedia, Flickr, Tweets. So how did we get to this place in the story? What gave birth to the Library of the Commons?
Touch Traveler: London, Paris and only an iPod Touch
Recently, I spent two weeks vacationing in London and Paris with only an iPod Touch for communications and connectivity. Mind you, I am not suggesting that this was a wise thing to do, but it's what I did, and this post captures the good, bad and ugly of the experience. First off, the revelation (for me) was how much the Google Mobile Maps App on iPod Touch completely changes the equation when traveling. Moreover, Maps allows you to visually navigate in Real-Time (very different from the experience on my Blackberry), all the while push-pinning favorite destinations, and determining routes in just a few clicks. It is the consummate reality augmentation application for travel, a sort of "magic compass."