So . . . tonight my students and I had the very good fortune of having dinner with Mr. Norio Murakami, the former president of Google Japan. We had a great time and he’s an amazing man. (I was introduced by one of my students.) We talked about privacy, AI (no matter what Elon says), the Internet of things and Japanese mobile culture. Mr. Murakami also happens to know some very famous people...
Mobile Consumer Behavior: Japan
The first half of the course was spent defining the mobile landscape and how consumers were using it. The last part of the class had us reviewing Japan. That is to say, reviewing Japan’s economy, government, culture and tech. In summary, things are very complicated and are tied to the past and the need to embrace the future probably more so than any other country in the world. We also had two...
Mobile Consumer Behavior: Classes
This may be the longest post in the history of the Internet. It may break it. Ideally this would have been done the day I taught the class but this quarter was exceptionally busy. In fact, the last time I was that busy was during grad school while working a full time job. I was a human piñata this quarter. But below is an outline of what material I covered during the class. Intro – The first...
Mobile Consumer Behavior: Data collection: Quantitative
Along with qualitative data, my goal was to collect quantitative data in the form of a survey. Developing the raw questions was relatively easy but refining them to a point where anyone could take the survey with ease, took some doing. I didn’t have much experience in this level of refinement and was too close to the subject to refine it. I enlisted Dr. Baack (Nope. That’s not him on the...
Mobile Consumer Behavior: Data collection – Qualitative
Data collection was arguably the most important part of the class. Without data it would be impossible to discuss the differences between the US and Japan in regards to mobile consumer behavior. As I mentioned before I wanted qualitative and quantitative data to provide a more complete picture so I set about buying lunch for my PhDs in marketing and picking their brains about what not to do. The...
Mobile Consumer Behavior: The Project
Now that I had created my class, I needed to develop a project for my students to complete during the course. Since we were studying consumer behavior, data collection and analysis would be essential. I also wanted to be sure we collected/analyzed both qualitative and quantitative data. This would provide a deeper understanding of how people were using their devices. I wanted this data to paint a...
Mobile Consumer Behavior
Two years ago I walked into my Chair’s office and shared an idea with her about two travel classes I had in mind. One was to Brazil to study the differences between the US and Brazil when it came to social media use. Brazil is has a profoundly social culture (read this) and I was curious to vet the differences. My other goal was to travel Japan to study the differences in smartphone usage...
Her
No. This is not a post about an ex-girlfriend. And I’m not sure if a spoiler alert is needed. :) So I finally got to see the Spike Jonze movie Her and I have to tell you, they did an amazing job! You start by thinking, “How could anyone fall in love with an OS? That’s stupid!” and when I first saw the commercials, I felt the same way. But I’m here to tell you...
My grey Saturday
So  . . . my wife and I went out today since the kids were with their grandmother. In the process we forgot our mobile phones. We BOTH forgot our phones. But, being level-headed individuals we thought we’d feel disconnected while simultaneously feeling good because we could just hang out with each other, uninterrupted. However, over the next couple of hours, I/we realized how enabling our...
The concierge and the future of mobile advertising
I’m currently working with a client (and a small army of students) on creating an app for their business. It’s been a great process and as we work through their models I realized that we’ve crossed over some conceptual threshold. From proactive to reactive. Now . . . most times when I say something like that, there is a slight groan that comes from the audience. I understand...