The customer experience of watch32

Internet TV is available through a number of websites with catch up and on demand services. There are equal numbers of sites offering movie services through the internet with paid subscriptions and indeed for free. Watch32 ( www.watch32.com ) is just such a site with numerous movies available to watch through your browser from old films through to current cinema titles recorded on camcorders complete with people walking in front of screen. The site is very basic and not optimised for mobile but riddled with viruses as every click and Mouse movement results in a pop up and a test for your anti-virus software. The experience is more than you should expect for free but with it comes associated risk of damage to your hardware. Epic in risk for sure. 

What impacts will google selling Motorola have?

With mobile phone numbers now in excess of 7 billion and therefore more than the global population the mobile phone industry is big business with huge numbers attached. Google bought Motorola in 2012 for over $12 billion and this gave them rights to a wealth of patents in mobile manufacture and possibly as important blocked Motorola deploying these to skew the smart phone market. Now less than three years later google is admitting defeat and selling Motorola to Lenovo no doubt having stripped it bare of its valuable patent assets ( http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/01/29/google-confirms-selling-motorola-lenovo-2-91-billion/#!tXqJR ). This rare admission of defeat from google helps protect the android experience through other providers such as samsung who were not pleased to see google threatening to move into manufacture and potentially dominate the android device market. While google looks longingly at Apple for its end to end control on devices it must consider their principles of open source access for the platform which flies in the face of having a production capability such as Motorola. The customer experience of android probably as a result of this sale lives on with less risk as providers rest easier knowing they aren't going head to head with google on manufacture. 

FaceTime for home video conferencing

The realities of a modern workforce are that people are scattered around locations making communication a challenging prospect without racking up travel expenses. The corporate world has long since been users of video conferencing facilities with people accepting pixelated images and losses of sound to conduct meetings across time zones. FaceTime was launched by Apple as an extension to standard iOS with devices using front and rear facing cameras. This new functionality allowed fellow iOS users to video conference each other via wifi creating near cost free visual connections. The service relied on your contact having an iOS device and on reasonable reception to conduct your video calls. It is in many ways 80's sci-fi movies come to life as people connect with loved ones across the globe able to see and hear them reducing the distances between one another. FaceTime. Epic 80's movies video calls in the palm of our hands. 

The experience of having your email account hacked

With email now not only a communication tool but an essential element in authentication for most web sites it is a prized possession that we hold dear permitting us to message home that we will be late for tea and also get logged into our favourite online retailer.  This personalised ID is under constant attack as our email accounts are threatened from continuous hacking attempts to get access to our contacts list and to distribute viral nasties to our unsuspecting address book. Email hacking is booming with hackers getting access through weak security, corrupt emails or dodgy downloads.  These hacked legitimate accounts are then hijacked to send spam to all and sundry using your previously clean account that is now being tarnished with every form of spam from porn to money scams. The customer experience of having your mail hacked is terrible and leaves a strong feeling of having your own private space invaded by a foreign entity. It is far from epic and best avoided through strong security and complex passwords with crazy combinations of letters, numbers and random symbols you are most likely to forget. 

The customer experience of ikea online

Ikea has a clear customer experience planned for all the visitors to its monolithic stores guiding them through the maze of home furnishings in a prescribed order to maximise spend and control the user experience. Ikea also operates online with a website formatted to support all devices with optimised content and a complimentary mobile app that gives digital customers the opportunity to browse the catalogue without having to visit the store. This also saves ikea the overhead costs of having to meet customer need to have the brochure posted creating delivery costs. The web site and application mix a blend of product information with full rooms decorated to present the items in a suggested decor. Much of this drives of replicate the in store experience for the digital customer and give a familiar environment to those using the site. This works well really using omni channel experiences beyond the various digital channels but through digital and in person. Epic joined up thinking. 

The TiVo customer experience

Virgin media (www.virginmedia.com) brought a challenge to sky in the UK to deliver satellite television services beyond the terrestrial channels supplied by freeview. Virgin improved its offering by bringing the TiVo box to the uk to deliver its cable television channels. TiVo provides channel guide and record functionality with on demand added in 2013 ( http://epiccustomer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-customer-experience-of-virgin-tv.html?m=1 ). The customer experience of TiVo is much improved over many other devices with a simple menu system and some artificial intelligence attempting to recommend shows that may be of interest.  Storage starts at 500gb rising up to 1tb which should be more than enough for the most avid coronation street watcher. That said with enough series links enabled the storage could quickly be utilised especially is recording HD channels. If we are to receive 4K quality channels in the future storage will need to continue to increase well beyond 1tb. TiVo definitely a quality device but epic TV is not yet with us. 

The customer experience of using simplemind+

Mind mapping is a powerful tool for capturing thoughts on a subject in a structured way allowing people to share their thoughts and engage greater numbers on an idea. Traditionally a tool bound by pen and paper it has been opened up by touchscreen technology that lends itself perfectly to this. Realistically smart phones provide too small a medium but tablets and mini tablets are superb for this activity. Where mind map tools had been restricted on conventional computers requiring nimble mouse usage touchscreen puts you in complete control able to drag and reposition with ease while at the same time bringing up a touchscreen keyboard where needed. One good example of this is simplemind+ available for iOS and android which offers a free lite edition or the full package for £2.99 where you can more readily export the content to a PC or equivalent via PDF. The application works extremely intuitively and it becomes quickly obvious how to use it as something like this needs very little menu complexity unlike spreadsheet or equivalent packages. Give it a try and unlock your ideas for the  world in this epic use of mobile devices.