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In Today's AdvertisingAge Simon Dumenco writes:

"To give you some background, in late 2007, I tested the Eee PC, a mini laptop from Taiwanese laptop maker Asus. At the time, the "netbook" moniker hadn't quite congealed around this emerging category of sub-sub-notebooks, so when I wrote a column in January 2008 about my experience with the 2-lb. wonder, I didn't even know what to call it. But I knew then it was going to change everything. The $300 machine, I wrote, "has me contemplating nothing less than The End of Microsoft." That's because I tested a version that was Microsoft-software-free -- it had a simple customized interface built around Linux (the popular open-source operating system) and was obviously set up to encourage users to compute on the "cloud," using free web-based services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Facebook, etc. I totally didn't miss Microsoft's balky operating system or its pricey apps, because I was mostly using my new little buddy as a front-end to the internet (sort of like an oversize iPhone, with a real keyboard) rather than computing locally on my hard drive."

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I bought an Asus Eee in 2008, but found that the screen resolution made it impossible to use Yahoo mail and other net aps with top-heavy page layouts. The browser and advertising cruft at the top of the page made the form factor impractical.

Fast forward to 2009. I've abandoned the Asus, and love my new Dell Inspiron mini, with a screen resolution that works, even with chrome-heavy MS applications. This is my new buddy for note-taking, photo storage, email etc.

However, in the long term the iPhone seems like the better solution for walk-around computing (messaging, maps). Waiting for July when I see what Apple comes up with.

In honor of Apple’s launch of the 3G iPhone last month, I’m posting a few words about Leander Kahney’s new book “Inside Steve’s Brain.” In this video Kahney talks about the three things he feels Apple does well: software design, industrial design and marketing. Farhad Manjoo’s provides some additional details in his interview with Kahney, posted on Machinist.com.

Kahney's observations inspired me to jot down the following thoughts:

Good people do good work - When Steve re- joined Apple in 1997, he stopped development on the Newton, but kept the team, who later went on to deliver the iBook. Steve forms long-term creative partnerships that can span years. No matter how good your process is, the secret ingredient is smart people with good ideas.

Use the power of prototypes - “Steve Jobs doesn't wake up one morning and there's a vision of an iPhone floating in front of his face. He and his team discovered it through this exhaustive process of building prototype after prototype.” Apple made more than one hundred prototypes of the MacBook Air before they were satisfied. A good integration of industrial design and interaction design requires a tight collaboration between these two disciplines. Creating physical artifacts helps the team understand the experience of the device and “fail quickly” when necessary.

Focus on the entire experience - The original Mac mouse was an unfamiliar device for consumers. It was packaged separately so the act of handling it and plugging it in would make it “a little less alien…” The iMac packaging contained an insert “specially designed to double as a prop for the slim instruction manual.” One of my favorite parts of buying an Apple product is the "out of box" experience.

Empower small teams with a shared vision - According to Kahney, Steve believes that small teams are easier to manage. He also feels that “Everyone at Apple has a passion to impact culture and society.” Even within a large enterprise, it's possible to form smaller teams with a mandate for innovation.