4Prox

Weighing up the Advantages of Mobile GPS Navigation verses PNDs - will Augmented Intelligence tip the Balance?

J. R. Quain reports in the NY Times today.  In a good article he reminds us that there are still good reasons to buy PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices), click here to read more.  According to Quain, a  key advantage of a PND, that has routing and roads stored in the device memory, is that if you are going into wilderness or areas without wireless data service, then mobile navigation is not necessarily going to work for you, whereas a PND will work fine.

If the consumer is mulling an either / or decision then it will be decided by consumer preference. In the table below I have summarized the relative benefits of mobile GPS navigation compared to PND, splitting the benefits up between prerequisites and differentiators.

Key: Green Favorable / Red Unfavorable

As we know PNDs growth has tailed off and mobile GPS navigation is catching up fast.  I believe augmented reality and augmented intelligence features like "when to leave" alerts from GPS Calendars will tip the balance towards mobile phones for the main stream.  It has been and will continue to be increasingly difficult for PNDs to compete.

Julian Bourne

Proxpro Inc.

Prompt - The GPS Calendar (AT&T Certified)

Available on Blackberry App World

click here for details

The Best (Most Useful) Mobile Apps for your BlackBerry 8900, Tour or 9630

I'm convinced that every US technology journalist has an iPhone.  By stealthy means Apple dominates the mobile technology news.  But have you noticed how so much of the hype is focused on flash in the pan novelty applications that are opened once and quickly forgotten.  Developers focused on BlackBerry do well to concentrate on "Usefulness".  Some journalists seem to have their back turned on the extraordinary useful apps available on BlackBerry devices.  

Here are the best and most useful BlackBerry apps I regularly use on BlackBerry 8900 (Tour and 9630):

Prompt - The GPS Calendar (Daily / hourly usage) that tells you when to hit the road so arrive on time every time.  Prompt is a godsend for road warriors.  For Prompt on BlackBerry AppWorld click here

TinyTwitter I have tried a few Twitter clients, is the best so far for me. I enjoy following Richard Branson, Stephen Fry, Jonathon Ross, Jack Walsh and John Cleese. Also following the buzz on my company Proxpro at @proxpro.

Facebook (daily usage) is much improved from the 8800 version.  I wish under the "Friends" icon the status pop up would stay visible for longer than 2 seconds.  With postings longer than 140 characters you have to speed read which is unnecessary. Available at BlackBerry Appworld click here

 

Open Table (monthly) I tried to convince Open table to create a mobile up back in 2005/6.  At the time a mobile strategy wasn't a priority.  I'm glad the app is now available.  Click here for BlackBerry AppWorld

 

Intelligolf (weekly usage) for golf fanatics is the best solution.  I've been using this for 3 years.  I think Intelligolf, by making the recording of stats so easy, has improved my game by 5 strokes.  To have distance for each club and most frequent misses has helped me to focus on weaknesses.  I can also measure the couching improvement of my PGA club professional.  Available at BB AppWorld click here

 

Google Search, maps, gmail and news of course. 

Work in progress.  I'll add more useful apps as I find them.

How to Accelerate Sales Like a Racing Driver?

I remember reading an article on Michael Schumacher, the Formula 1 Racing driver, that explained the secrets of his success.  Diagnostics comparing speed going into a race track turn and speed coming out of a turn showed how Schumacher used less brake, later, than his rivals, thus keeping the mean speed higher.  Schumacher is credited with winning a whopping 7 world driver's championships.

The dilemma, of course, is that the faster you enter a corner, the more likely you lose complete control and fly off the track.  I believe this is a good metaphor for people in sales.  The very best, most highly motivated sales people cram as many high quality sales visits per day.  The danger is that by having too many back-to-back meetings, they are caught out by traffic and arrive late damaging customer relationships, (flying off track so to speak).  The fear of being late is so uncomfortable, common wisdom amongst those in sales, is prudently to allow an extra 30-60 minutes above travel time, (slamming on the breaks too hard).  A business person might have a coffee, make calls, or write visit reports, but we know this coffee time in the middle of the work day is WASTE.

Take this example from my sales days on the road:

There is 7 hours drive time in the above round trip to Cleveland but if you allow 60 minutes for traffic prior to Findlay, Columbus and the flight back to Boston then it risky to do more than 2 customer visits that day.  I in fact managed the three visits but I was always concerned about being late. I knew if I had perfect just-in-time information about predicted / real-time traffic, I'd never have to worry about punctuality and it turns out it is easily possible to  achieve 3 visits and catch your flight home.

Benefits of Prompt- The GPS Calendar:

- 50% INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY

- LOWER COST PER CUSTOMER VISIT

- PUNCTUALITY

- DRIVE SAFER

- FOCUS ON CLOSING, NOT MAKING THE MEETING