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January 21, 2008

The !@#$% Product Rating Scale

I have my own rating scale for consumer technology. It’s called the !@#$% scale. It works the opposite of most ratings in that perfection is as close to zero as possible. For every swear word uttered you add one point. Unlike most rating scales there is no finite limit. Theoretically a new product could score a 2,327 on my scale. No product has ever gotten close because I usually take a bat to the product when it gets close to 50. My !@#$% rating scale is so easy to understand even my dog gets it. For lower scores he stays close and wants to be petted. For higher scores he typically runs away and cowers behind a piece of furniture or my wife if no furniture is readily available.

It’s important to note that I’m not dumb (I can’t say that everyone agrees with this statement). I attended a lot of school and paid attention most of the time. However I’m not smart enough to have earned a doctorate in computer science or electrical engineering. When something gets too difficult to understand I either don’t do it or pay someone else to do it for me. I’m a reasonably good barometer for new technologies. If I’m compelled to buy and able to get the product to work most people should be able to.

Recently I’ve been on a bit of a buying spree of new consumer technology. In the past several months I’ve picked up a Sling Box Pro, an Apple iTouch, a Nintendo Wii, and a Canon S1000 digital camera. I have justified these expenditures based upon the fact that I work in consumer marketing at Cisco and therefore should be trialing the latest technology. My wife is a bit skeptical of this reasoning and is wondering why I can’t get Cisco to subsidize my recent purchases since they are a “business expense”.

Overall each of these products has scored well on the !@#$ ratings scale. While none has scored a perfect zero, none has scored above a 10. Overall a pretty good showing for each of the products which has been a big relief to my overly sensitive golden retriever. However my recent experiences with the four products have highlighted some pet peeves I have about consumer technology. So here’s my top five “Consumer Technology Pet Peeves”:

5. I just paid $1000 and none of my devices work together.
4. Instruction manuals are anything but instructional
3. Games that require four years to make it past level 1
2. I just want it to do one thing really well, not 10 things poorly.
1. Easy set-up? PLEASE!

Of the group, the Wii is the standout and the only swearing has resulted from my wife’s ability to consistently beat me in every game we play. I guess she was blessed with very good hand/eye coordination. So often in consumer technology a product is developed that searches for a consumer problem or need. Very rarely does a product come along that not only delivers on its promise but takes a fresh approach. As a casual gamer, I have owned a variety of previous generation game consoles. With the exception of the Nintendo 64 my parents bought me in 1987 the typical cycle is that I get all excited about buying the new console, purchase a few games, play it intensely for a week and then push it towards the back of my entertainment console. There is definitely an initial euphoria most often followed by a lack of interest. This is both good and bad for the company who made the console. The good is that they convinced me to hand over $300 of my hard earned cash. The bad is that they never really engage me with their product and are unable to generate an ongoing revenue stream from additional game title purchases. Most the games (sports, first person shooters) are too complex for anybody who has a semblance of a personal or professional life. I recently played Halo and couldn’t survive past the first 5 minutes of the game. What fun is that?

The Wii is different. Its creators recognized that most people are looking for a fun, interactive experience not a Dungeons and Dragons labyrinth. While Sony and MSFT built great consoles, they clearly were competing for the hard-core gamer who values technology and revels in complexity. I’ve now owned the Wii for a week and play it everyday for 15-20 minutes. I’m still focused on using the Wii sports game that came with the console, but have started to look for additional games that leverage the Wii remote yet are simple enough to enjoy from the get-go.

I’m off to my nightly Wii practice session. My wife has agreed to give me a rematch in tennis and this time I’m not going to lose.

Posted by Mike Kisch at 07:41 PM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

January 15, 2008

Why I love Video on Demand

I may work at Cisco, but I don't consider myself much of a technophile. Of all the gadgets I own, I only use about 10% of the features. I don't like instruction manuals and don't have the time to research all that my phone, MP3 player, etc are capable of. I'm mostly disappointed with the consumer technology I buy, but recently, I've been having a really good experience with Video on Demand from my cable TV company. As an employee of Cisco, I understand what Video on Demand (aka VoD (acronym alert!) is. I just never really spent much time using the service until recently. What changed? Well, I had always rented movies the way that most people rent movies. First it was a visit to the video store and then when I got lazy began to rent over the internet. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. I eventually determined that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages and cancelled both services. Then I discovered Video on Demand. I'm an Astound customer in the San Francisco area. While I have a DVR, I often miss some of my favorite shows. While looking for a movie one night, I stumbled upon old episodes of Entourage, Weeds, Californication and Extras. I had seen about half the episodes but there were at least 20-25 I had not seen. The best part is that they were free since I subscribed to the premium services. In the last few weeks I've seen all of the episodes and continued to dig deeper into the VoD library. A lot of the content is B-grade, but a good portion is fairly entertaining. The best part is that it's instantly available, it's free, and I can order it from the comfort of my couch. Consider me a convert. I know check the library frequently to see what has been newly added. And that brings me to a few areas that need to be improved. Nothing's perfect and the Video on Demand service from my cable company has a few issues. The act of finding interesting content is difficult. Somebody needs to step up and figure out a way to better present options to consumers. The delay between the DVD release and VoD is still too long. One of my favorite movies of the last 2-3 years came out in December...The Bourne Ultimatum. Rarely do I have to have a video when it comes out, but this was an exception. I ended up heading to Best Buy to purchase it, but I would have preferred to just order it over the network.

Even with the negatives it amazes me that only 27% of broadband users use an on-demand service. VoD libraries are increasing with some service providers offering up to 7,000 titles. The quality is the same as watching broadcast TV, price seems reasonable and there is no waiting.

Gotta go. The 3rd season of Entourage just became available and I'm trying to catch-up.

Posted by Mike Kisch at 10:45 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 10, 2008

Cisco at CES: Key Themes from the Show

Day four of CEShttp://www.cesweb.org/default.asp and I’m still standing…barely. I feel like I haven’t slept in days and my knees are permanently locked in place from standing in our booth all day. As expected CES was hectic, but not as crazy as it has been in past years. I saw a few funny things...this guy certainly looked like he was having fun.

A couple observations from the show:
1. Display technology continues to advance. Panasonic featured a 150” plasma that has 2-3x the resolution of today’s mainstream HD TV sets. In addition to getting bigger they are also getting slimmer. Panasonic, Sony and Samsung all showed off new displays that were less than 1” thick. What most excites me about the new displays is that they are constantly getting better at displaying high quality video to consumers. I suspect that current flat panel sales will continue to do well and soon the majority of homes will have this technology. Check out the worlds largest plasma TV...

2. Devices connected to the network continue to flourish. The CE industry is beginning to understand the power of the network and how it can help them create a better consumer experience from installation to the delivery of new services to the device.
3. Advancements continue on the network side as well. A few cable companies announced new initiatives designed to deliver 100mbps to the consumer. This along with the fiber optic networks being deployed by the telecommunications companies is really opening up the pipe and the potential for exciting new consumer experiences. The network continues to evolve in the home as well. We are quickly moving to the 802.11N which will deliver faster speeds and better range. Particularly exciting is the dual band technology from Linksys that enables a person to stream high-quality HD video content throughout the house while also been able to send email, access the internet, etc.

Visual networking experiences are highly dependent upon these technology advancements. The ability to deliver networked digital video to a range of devices combined with the consumers ability to participate in communities of people and communicaties of content is gaining steam and we saw examples throughout the show.http://www.cisco.com/consumer

The show ends in a few hours and the attendees will board plans and return to their homes. I'm looking forward to a few days of peace and quiet...

Posted by Mike Kisch at 02:13 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

January 06, 2008

Cisco at CES 2008

Two days and counting before CES 2008. The anticipation is building. The clock is ticking and people are diligently trying to tie up all loose ends. Today we're finalizing our booth and setting up all of the meeting rooms. Tomorrow we will do the set-up for our high-roller hospitality suite at the top of the Venetian. CES is definitely an experience. It creates a level of anxiety, but also a sense of excitement. For those of who haven't had a chance to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, I will give you a brief tour.

CES happens every January in Las Vegas. If Vegas is crazy for most of the year the dial is turned up to 11 for CES. 150K people descend upon the city booking every hotel room, restaurant reservation, and limo available. Celebrities, professional athletes, high-profile executives pop up everywhere. Just last night I saw Jalen Rose and Tori Hunter at a restaurant at the Venetian. As a Red Sox and Celtics fan I wasn't overwhelmed, but it was a funny coincidence that the moment they showed up our service went south.

Why do people deal with the hassle and continue to travel to the show?

For the chance to see 3000 exhibitors ranging from Sony to a mom and pop accessory companies. For four days in January, Las Vegas is the center of the consumer technology world. Want to see the worlds largest TV? Odds are that someone from Samsung, LG or Panasonic will trump last years 107" model. Want to see your favorite band? Odds are that some company is throwing a private party with the Black Eyed Peas, Matchbox 20, or some other musical act as the headliner. Most of the activity takes place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but the hotels also book up for private meeting space for those folks who don't want to brave the showfloor. For four days a population the size of medium size city walks booth after booth playing with the latest gadgets and searching for the best swag. If you can step back and take it all in, it really is a spectacle.

This is Cisco's second year attending (Linksys and Scientific Atlanta have attended for many years) and the experience is still fresh and exciting. Talk to me in a few more years and I may have a different opinion but for now it's a fun show to participate in and one that we spend a huge amount of preparation on. We're really excited about the progress that we've made and think we will have a good showing. There are some exciting new products, new branding and a general sense that the vision we see for how the consumer experience is evolving appears to be spot on. For this years show, we're really excited about the emergence of visual networking. Visual Networking is the combination of streaming digital video and social networking and we think it's going to be big. Underlying visual networking is the concept of video everywhere. Not just on your television, but on your laptop and your mobile phone.Not just used for entertainment, but for communications and for disseminating information.

Not sure what the major new product announcements from other industry players will be this year, but I'm reasonably certain that the concept of "connected" or "networked" devices will continue to gain momentum. For the past two CES shows more and more manufacturers have been adding networking capabilities to their devices. For consumers this is a great thing. Devices connected to the network will be able to do things that previous generations of stand alone devices couldn't dream of. Installation hassles can be more readily handled in the network. Getting devices to work together is easier because the network can act as the integrator instead of a person. Delivering new services and content to more devices is also now a possibility.

Duty calls so I have to go. I will try to post several times over the course of CES on our progress at the show, cool new gadgets that I've seen and the general madness that is CES.

Posted by Mike Kisch at 07:54 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Welcome to the Cisco Consumer Experience Blog!

What better time of the year than early January 2008 to start something new – CES is upon us, MacWorld is coming up, and then there are always New Year’s resolutions.

It’s a VERY interesting time in the world of consumer electronics. There are super-changes on the horizon. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, … it’s a product, it’s a service, … it’s managed, it’s DIY, … you rent it from service providers, you buy it at retail … – put it all together and it’s a consumer experience.

Cisco is well known to enterprises and technical types, but not so much to consumers. What we’ve done historically, developing “the network as a platform” is harder for consumers to grasp than a "bright shiny consumer electronics object" because a network's not tangible and because it does so many things, rather than one specific thing. It's like trying to sell an “invisible Swiss Army knife.” But the rise of digital video delivered over a network will not stop – so the system and partnerships that are required to deliver it in a way consumers want will evolve – and Cisco’s contribution to the consumer experience will grow along with the awareness of Cisco’s role. Be sure to follow our Cisco Consumer Web Site to see what we've got at CES and thereafter. We’ll all find out together as the year develops – and we hope you’ll join us on this blog to experience the adventure of inventing and discovering how the future plays out. -- Ken Wirt, VP Consumer Marketing

Posted by Ken Wirt at 06:00 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)