My first iPhone — loving it is easy!

Finally, she has come home. Our family's first Apple baby - the iPhone 5. I've been waiting to upgrade my current HTC Wildfire phone for quite some time and after evaluating all the flagships I had in mind, i.e. the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and LG Nexus 4, I came to the conclusion that iPhone 5 is the best fit for me, at least for now (I've discussed the reasons below). Apple says, loving it is easy. And it really is as soon as you hold the iPhone in your hands. I can't describe it in words as it's a completely out of the world feeling and there's no second thoughts that the iPhone is a brilliant craft of technology and design aesthetics which Steve Jobs started in 2007. I am a big advocate of everything google, android but now it's time to embrace Apple as in my old age I don't want to end up saying that I never used an Apple product, otherwise my grandkids will question me big time!

I wasn't born rich nor do I like to ask anyone for such expensive gifts but at the same time, I am impulsive and get fascinated by such amazing gadgets which can assist you in your day to day life. I mean, who doesn't? But, at the same time I like to research the product I intent to buy well and I must have read more than 50 posts combined on all the four phones in the last 4-5 months. After all, you're going to spend a huge amount from your pocket so you have to be sure that it's for the right product which will give you a great user experience and will last considerably long. My previous selection the HTC Wildfire proved to be a right choice at that point of time and I was quite satisfied with most of its features, except for the camera shots as it often had a slight lag period resulting in blurred photos. Here, I won't discredit any product as I feel all four phones are great in their own way and it really depends on your individual taste and what suits your personality. For me, the choice was basically between comfort, power and built quality. I did some perception mapping to understand what phone my friends associate me with as this would give me a clear idea of whether an iPhone fits in anywhere or is completely out of question based on my personality. The question is shown below:

Analysis: You know me well, right? Give me 5 secs, which phone comes to your mind first when you #thinkofArif? Thanks twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 24, 2013

Blame the marketer in me but I find this method of evaluating somewhat reliable, at least to give an idea. The answers that I received surprised me. Someone said Nokia 1100 (obviously joking!), then a Iron Man transparent phone (WTF!), Nexus 4, Samsung, Windows Phone and 2 responses for iPhone.

@scdelhi @arifkhan7 @harshbpatel the question was which phone comes to mind when we think of Arif - for me it is iPhone. #context
— Kalpesh Shah (@IamKalpesh) May 24, 2013

@arifkhan7 an iPhone Bhai ... Hands down! :) and no problem! I'm just being honest :)
— ZUHA KHAN (@Zuha25) May 25, 2013

Seeing those 2 responses for iPhone from someone whom I trust and value a lot gave me encouragement that I might be heading the right way. After the perception exercise, I thoroughly went through apple.com and their youtube channel to understand the finer aspects of the product. I came across the launch video where Jonathan Ive, Senior VP - Design speaks about the iPhone and that just won me. I must have watched this video 50 times and recommend you to watch it once, even if you have nothing to do with the iPhone.




As a marketer, I know this is Apple's exceptional marketing but somewhere in the video you find honesty, perfection and great value for design. As someone who believes strongly in visual design thinking, it was a great plus point for me. I instantly connected with Jonathan's vision for the iPhone and it went beyond that as I ended up reading a lot on him, the two favorites being his interview on simplicity in design and design for (economic) growth. By now, I had become his fan for design-thinking which resonated with my own perspectives on everything design. It wasn't enough and I knew I had to do something, so I spent some time on the weekend ideating a campaign (for fun) keeping one word in mind - simplicity. That's what really won my vote for iPhone. Simplicity 1-0.

Phone Campaign Concept: Every single element has been carefully thought; from shape, fonts & color choices. Like it? twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 25, 2013

It's not only the hooplah which influenced me but I actually took detailed opinions from actual iPhone users whom I trust and know well. Special thanks to @tanweeer, @ThisIsSamar, @IamKalpesh, @VishalGaba and @parthasarangi with whom I had convincing discussion on almost every aspect of the iPhone. This was important for me and if even two out of the three would have said a "No", I would've never gone ahead. Now, you understand why word-of-mouth is powerful? It really is, especially among trusted network.

@arifkhan7 I am using iPhone 5, previously had HTC Desire. iPhone is so much better, iOS is faster. I'm definitely with Team Apple from now
— Samar (@ThisIsSamar) May 22, 2013

'i' would! u won't regret it RT @arifkhan7: @thisissamar iMay, those whom I trust are giving it a strong reco and a thumbs-up. Should i "i"?
— Samar (@ThisIsSamar) May 23, 2013

So, to sum up, my final considerations were:

1. I required a phone first which can connect me instantly to my loved ones.
2. Something which should definitely fit comfortably in my hands. No compromise here.
3. Slips easily into your pocked and the iPhone Black looks very cool in hand.
4. Feature-rich hardware was not a priority but yes, I wanted the best apps.
5. A really good camera which can click instantly. And I mean instantly with sharp photos.
6. After sales support is very important and I didn't have a great experience with my previous phone's support. Have heard a lot of praise about Apple's premium support.
7. I'm from Digital Marketing and it's a known fact that the maximum content consumption is happening through iOS (and not Android). This was important for me as I feel it's important to understand the medium where your audience is and the only way to do that - be there. 
8. My three favorite J's on twitter (@jack, @jowyang, @jeremywaite) have an iPhone!
9. I can now vine like @tanweeer and @mahafreed as it's available only on iOS.
10. Frankly, I never thought I'll make a 3 times jump for a smartphone. NEVER. But all the other flagships were priced above 40k which forced me to rethink and if one can stretch till 42k, 43k is not a big deal. It burnt my pockets but then it's an investment, at least for the next 2-3 years.

Okay, reasons 8 and 9 above are just for fun. On the other hand, why not these guys:

• S4 - Big in my hand and it had much more features than I could possibly use. Confusing.
• One - Very nice phone but once again big in my hand & was relatively heating up fast.
• Nexus 4 - Convinced it's great phone but the design or feel - something was missing.

The Laws of attraction for me were - simplicity attracts, design inspires and touch fascinates which allowed me to buy the iPhone 5 with conviction. I called up my Father & Mother first and then my Sister to share the happy news, they were thrilled and congratulated me. Then, I spent time understanding the iPhone and its apps. I decided to do something different on twitter, and what better than tweet like my inspiration - Jack Dorsey (creator of twiter) followed by the announcement.

just setting up my twttr
— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006

just setting up my twttr (from my new iPhone 5).
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 27, 2013

[►] slide to unlock. She has come home. Our family's first Apple baby — the iPhone 5. Loving it is easy. :) twitter.com/arifkhan7/stat…
— Arif Khan (@arifkhan7) May 27, 2013

I started with Samsung and went on with it for 8 years, then moved to HTC for almost 2 years. I am a great admirer of HTC and have even praised HTC on my blog  to which their Worldwide Community Manager replied. Even today, many folks associate me with HTC including Javed Anwer, the well known Tech Journalist from Times of India whom I've bothered several times with my phone-questions!

@arifkhan7 You sure it's iPhone 5... Or is it HTC One?
— Javed Anwer (@Javed_Del) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 Nice. It's a great device for all practical purposes. Have fun :-)
— Javed Anwer (@Javed_Del) May 27, 2013

Now, it's time to move ahead with our family's first Apple baby - the iPhone 5. As I write this, I've spent almost 3 hours with it and I'm really loving it. I rely on my intuition and once again I think it has guided me well. I am satisfied with my "earned" iPhone for now and with this upgrade, I can focus on other priorities of life. Have I made the right choice? The tweets below suggest. I would like to hear from you in the comments section below.

@arifkhan7 You finally did it! I'm sure you'll see it was a good choice #iPhone5
— Samar (@ThisIsSamar) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 u r welcome , i am glad u made the right choice.
— Manish Khatri (@MAHESHTELECOM) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 I know you do :) I'm glad u made this choice :)
— ZUHA KHAN (@Zuha25) May 27, 2013

And these guys were just waiting for me to board the Apple ship:

@arifkhan7 so you succumbed.. Welcome to the club..
— तनवीर(@Tanweeer) May 28, 2013

@arifkhan7 woohoo... Welcome to the 5 !
— Zafar Rais (@Zaf) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 Enzzoy!! You're welcome in the Apple Fan Club
— Malhar Barai (@MalharBarai) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 welcome to the dark side :D
— Kalpesh Shah (@IamKalpesh) May 27, 2013

@arifkhan7 - kya baat kya baat kya baat bhaijaan...bangaye aakhir aap bhi #apple fanboy. Ab no looking back ;)
— Vishal Gaba (@VishalGaba) May 28, 2013

What next? Well, I want to first of all complete this blog post asap so that I can spend some time with my new iPhone! I will go a little slow now as I'll have to first learn the iOS and adapt to it fast because it's all new for me. I will also use it for a lot of reading and play dots as I end up spending almost an hour commuting from home to office. Plus, I look forward to capture moments around me from the awesome iSight camera and am leaving you with this wonderful video by Apple. Feel the magic!


 

Simplicity 1-0,
A.

Infographic: The complete history of #socialmedia

History was one subject which fascinated me back in school. I really enjoyed reading about the various civilizations, countries, eminent personalities, world wars, independence, science & technology and much more. Skimming through history tells us what has been tried in the past and what were its implications. Imagine if some of those folks like Newton, Gandhi, Einstein, Crick came back to real life and see how much the world has evolved improvising on their contributions to mankind, how delighted they would be. Not that it matters, but it's always pays to know a little background about the products, services, their evolution and about the company you're working work in order to understand the context and contribute significantly in-line with the business priorities.

Behind the banner - how digital ads are served?

Have you ever wondered how the digital ads that you see on any website show up? Does it not amaze you that those ads appear in practically no time, sometimes even before the web page has completely loaded! And then what about those Cleartrip and Flipkart ads which more or less connect with what's been on your mind for some time - noticed them? The world of online ads has grown a lot since Google introduced text links as one of the first AdSense units. Apart from text ads, there are the display ads, link units, video ads and mobile ads. Even if you're not someone from the digital field but have been blogging for some time, you would have been exposed to these ad units through your blogs dashboard. Next time when you login as admin, pay close attention.

I drank milk, cleaned my house and had good food. Happy Mother's Day!

Whenever I sit and think about the best days of my life, I can only visualize those moments from my childhood where my Father, Mother, Sister and I were together. Whether it was over the morning breakfast table, or going out to shop, or celebrating Eid or when our parents dropped us to school in our Maruti 800 car — every moment where we shared responsibilities, happiness, joy and sorrows together was special for me. I never realized it back then but now when we have grown up and moved away from our parents for work, I often remember these moments when I'm travelling back to home, or sitting near the balcony or when I'm at the beach. These moments flash in front of my eyes and I cherish them close to my heart. They will always be the best days of my life.

Twitter CEO @dickc's inspirational speech: Be bold. Make courageous choices. Be in this moment.

Two years back I gave an alumni speech to 1000+ students. I still receive emails from some students seeking guidance, asking for opinion and other curious questions that a girl/boy would have at that age. In my speech, I emphasized that in their journey they'll come across some very successful people and while it's good to admire them for who they are, it's also important to learn from their story and to know how to get there. Ask questions like "How did that guy reach where he is today? What did he do in his early years? What choices did he make? Was he passionate about something?" Every self-made person who's successful today was once just like us with his/her share of difficulties, curiosity and accomplishments. They've worked hard, followed their passion and are real-life examples of success. Learn from their story.

Bill Gates welcomes Warren Buffett on twitter, real-time opportunity for @CocaCola

May 2: Today, five years of professional life passed just like that but did some meaningful work, met some of the finest people and learned along. I'm thankful to those who stood by me and bore my crazy ideas. Back in 2008 when I started working I knew the fundamentals of Marketing, the 4 P's, etc like any other B-school grad. But, throughout my entire study period I've been fascinated by the web and have observed it from close quarters. Today, a lot has changed and it's the era of real-time marketing, i.e. on the go! If you can't think fast and write short, then you're certain to miss out in the big game. Twitter helps me exactly here. It allows me to think fast and identify unseen patterns which can be connected to make some sense, at best a story.

How to win twitter contests? Be yourself!

April has been an amazing month of sorts. What started off with winning the GOI's hackathon prize ended up by notching a few twitter contest prizes. Now what are these? In simple terms, Twitter contests are a range of activities which facilitate engagement between brands and individuals in form of contests on twitter. There are several types of contests, the most popular ones being replying to the question with a dedicated hashtag, retweet & win type and then photo contests. While there are many posts on how to run a successful contest, I am going to share how to win them as I've seen both sides of the coin. I've handled several twitter prize contests and have also won some in the past, 3 to be precise in the month of April 2013 itself! The secret to win is BE YOURSELF. That's all!

Career workshop with municipal school kids

It has been a month full of creative satisfaction till now. If by any chance you happened to read the maktion turns 5 post, then you would have come across my 4 diverse activities planned for April 2013 in order to keep the creative juice flowing. Apart from the exciting work at office, I had a great time attending a social meetup, then came GOI's hackathon where I created an infographic on Education in India which received the first prize! This was followed by a website UI review to bring out the researcher in me and finally conducted a career workshop on April 16, 2013 for 37 students from standard V of Shivri Cross Mumbai Public School at Sewri, Mumbai. In this post, I'm going to share my interaction with the very bright municipal school kids to discuss "career".

Impact: Infographic Education in India #12thPlan

It's been more than 10 days since I blogged on the infographic and the response has been thrilling! A quick look at the numbers (April 8 - 19, 2013):

 820  Blog Pageviews
 601  Infographic Downloads
 143  Times Blog Link Shared
 138  Comments on Blog, Facebook and Twitter
   96  Likes on Facebook and LinkedIn
     2  Press Coverage

Infographic: Education in India in 12th Five Year Plan. Maktion wins in GOI's #12thPlan Hackathon!

The week that went by has been amazing of sorts for me. I had sleepless nights but also opportunities to ignite some sparks of creativity. Last Friday, I went to a social meetup #ssmeetup and had a great time and I'm still receiving some amazing feedback on the twitter card that I had created in short time. Over the weekend I went to Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai to participate in a national level creative competition - the 12the Plan Hackathon. I first heard about the hackathon on twitter through Samraat (@samraatkakkar) and then it was through Gaurav (@sgaurav_baghel) that I came to know the registrations were closing on April 4 midnight. I just had 30 minutes to register and could not form a team of four in such short time. I had to register as a one man team as this really seemed an exciting opportunity. Twitter once again helped!