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Opinion:
Five Things for a Great Apple-branded ISP/Portal
- 6 July 99.
Recent news reports that Apple may be entering the Internet Service Provider
business have promted me to think about what that would mean for me personally
and professionally. While other PC manufactures have already entered this
new business arena, Apple has not -- although many of you may remember
Apple's ill-fated e-World online service that resembled and competed with
America Online.
Thinking back to e-World makes me think doubly hard about why an Apple
branded ISP service would be a good thing. After all, I eventually dumped
e-World for America Online only to dump them eventually for just the pure
Internet stuff. What really bothered me about the earlier America Online
is how un-Macintosh it really was. Getting logged on and surfing the Internet
was a real chore, as they preferred (and probably still do) to run you
past all of their private network stuff first. I haven't used the America
Online service lateley so I don't know if they have improved that experience
or not, or have done so but just added other non-Mac like featuers that
would frustrate Mac users anyway, just differently. The bottom line is
I dumped something made by Apple before just to get something that offered
more only to find how un-Mac-like the experience really was.
What's the Lesson Here?
The lesson is that if Apple wants to get my dollar for ISP services they
need to make sure they can fully compete with the offerings of other ISP's
where Mac users presently reside while making sure the experience is as
Mac-like as possible. I don't mean Mac-like in the sense that it looks
like the Mac OS (Apple's site doesn't look like the Mac OS), but rather
that it acts like it -- simple, elegant, easy, powerful, and transparent.
To do that Apple would need to think hard and long about what Web technologies
to utilize and how to implement them within an interface design that is
as powerful and easy as the Mac OS itself. It doesn't really matter to
me if Apple made an ISP / Portal experience resemble the look and feel
of the Mac OS (as an extension of the Mac OS); what does matter is how
it would quickly get out of the way so I can do whatever I want on the
Web.
Five Things for a Great Apple ISP!
What are the five most important items an Apple ISP would need to truly
help my Web experience really go?
- Speed. As far as Mac users are concerned, we are familiar
with having the fastest machines in the universe. This has been one
of the nice benefits of being a Mac user, especially since the G3
chip. But Internet access is a different story. The lastest internal
modems built-in the PowerBook G3's, iMacs and some other machines
are really poor. I've switched ISP's three times in order to get better
connections to my Wallstreet PowerBook. It's frustrating! An Apple-branded
ISP needs to offer cable, ISDN and DSL services as standard -- offered
everywhere -- and at low cost. To do that Apple could partner with
Bell Atlantic, MediaOne and other companies who have the infrastructure
in place. They could also sell the cable modems with the machines
via the Apple Store at discount prices.
- Technical Support. How many times have you waited an eternity
to get help from an ISP? How many times have you struggled to find
the information you need to upload Web pages you've designed to your
free 5MB of Web space? ISP's provide some of the worst technical support
on Earth. Apple's own technical support has seen better days, but
they are working hard on it. And it is getting better! I think technical
support for an Apple-branded ISP could be built-in to the Help features
in the Mac OS itself. I think it is hilarious to find loads of technical
help online about what to do if you can't get online. What good is
that information if you can't even get on? An Apple ISP needs first
class, call in, technical support on all issues related to surfing,
email and web hosting. An everything you have ever wanted to know
about the Apple ISP should be already present in the Help files in
the Mac OS and on a CD-ROM.
- Great Email. If my next ISP's domain is going to be "apple.net"
I want great email features for small business, SOHO and family's
with multiple machines. This is exactly where Apple, Dell, Microsoft,
HP, and Gateway want to take us anyway: the "home LAN".
With the low cost of CPU's and new home networking products (from
Farallon, Asante, and Macsense) the next move is better OS support
for multiple email accounts and recipients and free or low cost support
for the same. I would like an email account for every member of my
family -- all for one low price. And Apple needs to build the next
Mac OS with this in mind so it is not necessary to buy business class
email software just to distribute and manage five to ten email accounts
in a home LAN environment.
- Great Content. Any good portal is going to allow you to customize
your own "onramp page" (Internet startup page). What I mean
by great content is the ability to know where to go to find great
content on the Net. Apple's doing a pretty good job right now in regards
to QuickTime 4 content on the Net. What would be great is if that
could expand to include many more items across a number of subjects.
And don't forget Games! Games! Games! Apple needs them bad to really
grow and Internet gaming is hot and only going to get hotter!
- Education. Apple could really shine here. Think about it.
What if Apple provided free education to both children and adults
via an Apple-branded ISP. I mean what's the great big information
highway really all about? It's learning. Apple could partner up with
PBS, Disney the History Channel, the Smithsonian Institute, and others
to provide free learning through QuickTime 4 streamed content. Even
Apple's own seminars and online seminars could belong to this area
of content. Apple could be the worldwide leader in providing "information
age" education to the masses via its Apple-branded ISP service
and portal.
Looking back the first two items are all about "access" and
the last three about "learning" Yes, even email is essentially
about education, the sharing of information. It makes sense. If Apple
was to leverage its strengths it would do so by looking to education.
Education is where Apple has been brilliant in the past and the Internet
is the greatest educational tool of all. Apple also has three great
Internet technologies already in its possession: WebObjects, Sherlock
and the Mac OS. And you could easily add QuickTime 4 as a forth great
educational technology. Those four technologies combined are the single
best set of educational technologies anywhere.
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