But limited as I am, even I can see where the future lies. Managing your life from your mobile device is the way of the future and the future is NOW! You can do everything from managing your finances on line with apps like Mobile Banking and others. You can pay your bills right on your Smartphone with apps like My Verizon Mobile.

There are apps for playing guitar, buying movie tickets, playing crossword puzzles, listening to custom radio channels and the list goes on and on.

For your business there is a goldmine of opportunity in the world of Smartphone apps.

Let us take a couple of  ideas from the top of my graying head here:

How about an app that let’s customers order their lunch from your Restaurant right from their phone.

How about an app for Dental practices that lets patients set appointments directly from their phones?

I have a great idea for an app for a flower delivery service that lets the customer (guys mostly) setup pre-scheduled flower purchases and deliveries. Yes guys you never have to miss another birthday or anniversary again!

Mr. Optometrist How about an app that reminds your patients that it’s time for a new eye exam!

Look the world of apps is the world of customer service. How simple and easy can you make it for your clients or customers or patients to access your product or service?

How many obstacles can you remove from the path your new customer must follow to find you?

There are as many apps possible as there are customer service ideas or sales funnels or delivery solutions etc.etc.

Have brainstorming session with your fellow executives,your staff,your customers and then find an app developer to build you the app that makes your business the go to biz!

McIntosh Marketing is one of those App creating businesses !

Windows Phone 7: Applications & Tools | Laura Foy | Channel 9

Windows Phone 7 Program Manager, Sean Mckenna, swung by the Channel 9 studio to give us a demo of some Windows Phone 7 applications. The idea is that these are some core applications, for which the source code will be made available …

Publish Date: 08/04/2010 10:56

http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/LauraFoy/Windows-Phone-7-Apps–Tools

Seen the Windows Phone 7 apps preview? – MSDN – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

The Microsoft UK MSDN Blog is your one-stop-shop for Microsoft developer tools, news, downloads, trials, tips and tricks.

Publish Date: 09/21/2010 4:29

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukmsdn/archive/2010/09/21/seen-the-windows-phone-7-apps-preview.aspx

Netflix, anyone? image – A look at some Windows Phone 7 apps …

View Netflix, anyone? image in CNET News’ ‘A look at some Windows Phone 7 apps (images)’ slideshow – CNET News.

Publish Date: 09/16/2010 10:12

http://news.cnet.com/2300-10805_3-10004870.html

By Alltop_branding at 09/22/2010 14:32

By megpro at 09/22/2010 14:13

Best Free iPhone Apps List

freeappreport.com Here’s my top 10 favorite free iPhone apps. iTunes Links Fox Sports – bit.ly USA Today – bit.ly Google Earth – bit.ly iDisk – bit.ly Facebook – bit.ly Skype – bit.ly UrbanSpoon – bit.ly Shazam – bit.ly Pandora – bit.ly The Weather C…

*** 7 Crazy, Funny and Must-Have iPhone Apps ***

Your iphone, blackberry or android is more than just a tool. It’s also a great place to play games, prank friends, and just generally have fun. These 7 great phone apps will have you laughing and poking for hours! Fortune Cookie for the Android You s…

Article by: Carlos Gamez

carlos@mcintoshmarketing.com

Image by: Doug Belshaw

Microsoft is going to spend billions to make sure that doesn’t happen.  That is about half a billion to market it, while they are spending about a billion to develop it.

Can they come from behind?

Microsoft just killed off their Kin phone, after selling less than 10,000, they took if off the shelves in just a few weeks.  That was a couple hundred million dollars wasted.

Yet if you look at the Xbox, Microsoft came out of nowhere and rocketed past rival Sony in just their 2nd version by creating a better product with better online technology, quicker.

If I use the Xbox as a basis for a guess, Windows Phone 7 and $500 billion dollars will give them a significant market share.  Windows Phone 7 must make serious inroads, so that the next version and leapfrog the iPhone and Android.

Android 3.0 Tablet… I am almost certain I will love even more.  Now I am sure the preference of the two comes down to each individuals needs but I think the Android’s apps are far superior to that of the iPhone.  They seem so much more interactive and alive compared to the iPhones ability to simply mimic a web browser.  Now as I can’t say for sure that the Android 3.0 Tablet will reign supreme over the iPad because I don’t really know what they will be targeting to set them apart.

Rumor has it that this new tablet may be called Gingerbread and come in a 10 inch version as soon as the holidays.  Digitimes has been reinforcing these rumors by giving out the following hardware details for this new PC tablet stating:

Motorola’s tablet PC will feature the Tegra 2 platform from Nvidia and a 10.1-inch panel supplied by Sharp. The panel has a lower brightness than that of Apple’s iPad, but is thinner in size. The tablet PC will be manufactured by Motorola and is set for mass production by the end of 2010, Kuo noted.

Digitimes Research senior analyst Mingchi Kuo has already mentioned that Motorola is in the lead to develop this hardware for the new Android 3.o tablet.  Along with this merger, Verizon’s Lowell McAdam, already stated earlier this year that they were working with Google to develop a competitive tablet device.

Kuo seems to have high expectations for this Android 3.0 tablet PC.  This was quite the opposite of the iPad creators who almost seemed like they were creating the tablet just for fun and then were surprised to see to high demand for such a product.  Kuo strongly believes that they could sell over 2 million units in 2011 and will be in mass production by the end of this year!

Nothing against the iPad, (even my boss, Bill McIntosh, was giving them out earlier this year!) but I can’t wait to see Android’s version of this new tablet PC trend!

Now while Mozilla’s “Home” application for the iPhone allows you to connect your web browser from your PC to your phone, allowing you to take work, your Firefox browsing history and your bookmarks with you.  Chrome2Phone actually works similarly allowing you to sync content from your PC, like videos and clips, to your mobile Android device.  Now here’s the kicker, “Voice Actions” is what makes the Android’s Chrome2Phone far superior to the iPhone’s Mozilla application.

Android’s “Voice Search” app is a voice-to-mobile interface  that gives you the ability to search, e-mail, text, set an alarm, take notes, look up music and locations online and even place calls and map out the locations just found… SO COOL!  Anyways, Apple did acquire Siri, so this is obviously Google’s quickest response.  While figuring out that this might be why Google created these awesome apps, I happened to find the things that Google director of product management, Hugo Barra, had to say about the future of mobile technology very very interesting AND super exciting!

These improvements by Google for Androids Voice Search “Voice Actions” lets you do so much more then just search by making your whole mobile experience hands free and so so easy.  With Dave Burke, Google’s engineering manager, and Google stating all the details on how the application pushes the data to your mobile device and which versions these applications are currently available for you, you can easily get all of your questions answered before you upgrade.  This is a huge advancement of just two years back when Google originally introduced voice search, which ended up being very limited comparatively.

Being able to simply speak that you want a map of all the local vintage shops, then the app finding them online and displaying them back to you in no time!  Or finding the next track you want to listen to just a minute later, makes this version far superior.  It’s just a matter of time before an updated version comes out for the iPhone and I can’t wait.  I love watching technology outdo itself, in my opinion, it is way better than reality TV any day!!!

Check out the full list and the video below to see all of what Google’s voice command application has to offer through their “Cloud”:

Like Google says, Don’t type when you can talk!

Even though it is not a full on Firefox Browser it is a pretty impressive iPhone approved application.  If you are not a big Firefox user then this may not interest you as much OR may convince you to become one.  This awesome new application allows you to sync up with the Firefox Browser on your home or office PC.  It is 100% free and can be uploaded onto your iPhone or iPod Touch.

My favorite thing is the ability to be able to pick up at any time and stay connected with exactly what you were already doing.  This is really neat because it allows you to be working or playing on your PC and then literally you can pick up your iPhone or iPod Touch, sync up to the browser you were just on and now take what you were doing along with you by mobile.  This is great for a number of reasons like when you loose track of time and are running late, now you can literally just pick up and go!  Also handy for those last minute appointments or emergencies that tend to come up when you are in the middle of a really important project with an upcoming deadline.  Now you can take the urgent work with you and get the that appointment or handle that emergency all while staying on top of and completing your work.

My favorite things about Firefox Home is the ability to take your favorite bookmarks with you anywhere you go.  Have you ever gone to meet up with friends or co-workers and wanted to share something you were just checking out online?  Or wanted to pull up an informative page during an important business meeting or conversation?  Or even just want to compare prices before making a large purchase?  Just search for what you want on your personal or office PC and then sync up with your mobile phone and take it with you while you go shopping.  I really love this ability and think it has been a long time coming.  So don’t delay and download it for free and see how it can make your life easier today!

There is one company that is going for broke with their marketing. They sold $1.1 BILLION DOLLARS in 3 days …just this week-end!

They are selling items that cost hundreds of dollars each and for the most part their products require that you sign up for  1 to 2 years of additional (costly) monthly services.

In the midst of a massive and stifling recession this company moves forward using every tool in the marketing handbook.  Tools that you can use right now with only minimal prep time.

This company has utilized every Online Marketing tool and strategy.  By the way, this was done at very little cost as well.

I did a search for their new product and here is what I found online:

42,900.000 Blogs with with content about their product
9,730,000 Pages online with content about their product
363,000 Images of their product
18,338 “likes” on their product Facebook page
10,800 videos with content about their product
2,140 News Items online with content about their product

Most people consider this company to be a technology company. After reviewing these figures I am solidly convinced that this company is a Marketing company.

It generates BUZZ like no one else and as a result it moves product.

These are the same tried and true proven methods of Online Marketing that we deliver for our clients day in and day out.

And they too are reaping the rewards from this amazingly effective marketing.

Who is this amazing Company?

It is Apple!

This week end they sold an estimated $1,139,000,000.00 worth of the new iphone 4g.

Yes they did this over the week-end. With a minimal cost to them too!

So the next time someone tells you “Online marketing doesn’t work!”

Remove that person from your circle of trusted advisors for they know not what they speak of !

Author: Carlos Gamez
Business Development, McIntosh Marketing
carlos@mcintoshmarketing.com

Image by:   Garret Albright

Users don’t need to see ‘spinning globes’ and ‘dancing flowers’.  They need to be told what problem you solve and given the to solve it by buying your services.

It is one thing when a car dealership puts up a huge blow-up Santa Claus to get you to come into their dealership (an online equivalent to an advertisement on a website).

You would NEVER see a dealership stick a blow-up Santa Claus in the middle of their rows of cars (the equivalent of using flash animation throughout your site).  That would just distract their customers from the real reason they are there.

And now with the wide adoption of the iPad and iPhone, which both don’t support flash, your site will be even worse.  You will have huge holes in your website where flash once was.  And if you were using flash for you site navigation, your site because unusable.

The reason we needed flash ten years ago, isn’t an issue anymore.  We as web developers have powerful tools to do the same animations as flash, without using flash, so that you can view them in every browser and device.  You still have to use caution to not distract from the main goal of your site, but this is being done every day using tools like jQuery, prototype and mootools.