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Should Apple just sell its Mac computers and iPods with a two-year subscription, like AT&T does with the iPhone? Subscription plans are a great way to lock in customers. At the end of the contract, the user could keep their device, or trade up for a newer model and a new two-year contract.

There are two common issues with Apple products: usability and reliability.

Users tend to praise the usability and design features of Apple products. The company keeps tight control over its hardware, as I mentioned on 15 April 2008 in my billso.com article about the Open Computer. Mac software tends to be more reliable than Windows software because developers have to deal with a narrower range of hardware and operating systems

It’s very easy to damage or break a laptop computer, as I have mentioned in my billso.com articles of 3 March 2008 and 30 September 2006. The iPhone and iPod Touch ranges use flash memory instead of hard drives to increase their shock resistance. Hard drives aren’t the only point of failure in laptops, of course, Jacks, connectors, and power supplies are vulnerable components.

The iPhone and iPod Touch have special indicators in the headphone jacks that change color if they are dunked in water; see this article on Wired and this HardMac post for more information. I guess Apple has had enough warranty returns because users took their iPods out in the rain or the pool, or dropped them in the toilet.

Display screens are the most fragile part of a laptop computer, of course.

I’ve written about the Google Phone, also known as the gPhone, before on billso.com. Mobile phone manufacturers are starting to test prototypes and prepare an initial wave of handsets for FCC certification, with public sales likely late in 2008.

The arguments among software developers are starting to heat up as Apple gets its iPhone SDK (software development kit) ready to ship, while Google continues to revise its Android SDK. Android is Google’s software platform for smartphones.

On one side, AndroidGuys claims that the first generation of Android-powered smartphones will suffer from quality control problems, incomplete software and bugs. That’s probably true. Of course, iPhone had some initial issues right out of the box, too.

On the other side, droidworks counters with an important difference between the two platforms. Apple’s iPhone is a high-end smartphone that is tightly integrated with Mac software and iTunes.

The Android platform is based on open source software, and is highly scalable. We’ll see more Google Phones in India and China than iPhones, simply because Android is much cheaper to license and easier to deploy with inexpensive chipsets. There will be gPhones from a wide variety of manufacturers. Android phones do not require a full QWERTY keyboard or a touch screen, but the software will support these features if they’re included in the hardware.

Apple, on the other hand, will remain the sole brand for the iPhone.

Related articles on billso.com

• 20 April 2008: Mobile phones - the cure for global poverty?
• 5 March 2008: Today’s battle for tomorrow’s mobile phones
• 20 February 2008: Mobile phone platform wars
• 31 January 2008: Applications are coming for the iPhone
• 13 January 2008: The story of the iPhone
• 5 November 2007: There is no Google Phone - but there is an OS
• 12 September 2007: The Google Phone and the iPhone - both looking for software and spectrum
• 27 August 2007: Wireless providers gird themselves for battle

As business blogging becomes a key success factor in some industries, business bloggers sometimes face pressure to produce excellent metrics right from the start. Their managers sometimes try shortcuts to success, only to find that the online community can see through these tricks.

SEO 2.0 has posted an excellent list of 10 things a business blog should not do. These include:

Number 1) Writing under an assumed name. I use an old email address (billso) for my domain name (billso.com). My real name is listed on my about page.

Number 9) Requiring employees to read, rank and promote the blog. I do not require my employees or students to comment or rank my blog articles. I do assign blog articles for my students to read with their assignments. My blog articles provide up-to-date examples that my course textbooks cannot provide.

Building reputation and authority

SEO is an acronym that means search engine optimization. There are thousands of blogs and online businesses that offer advice on getting more advertising revenue, more readers and a higher Google rank.

Many bloggers get caught up in revenue generation, as I mentioned in my billso.com article of 27 March 2008. It’s much more difficult to build a blog’s reputation and authority. These attributes can be measured by counting the number and kinds of inbound links to a blog, a blog’s search engine ranking, and quotes in the mainstream media.

For readers, reputation and authority are difficult concepts. It takes little effort to lose these attributes. SEO Chicks has some more good examples of what not to do with a business blog. It’s a bad idea to set up a flog, especially in the United Kingdom:

A ‘flog’ is a fake blog usually created by a PR or online marketing firm for the purpose of falsely representing themselves as a consumer, usually for the purposes of creating a buzz around a specific product or brand. Sometimes this is done as a brand or online reputation management activity.

There’s usually hell to pay when the mainstream media or the blogosphere discovers a flog or a fake.

Related posts on billso.com

• 8 April 2008: Blogging and teaching
• 5 April 2008: Blogging can kill you
• 27 March 2008: Blogging as a business model
• 14 March 2008: Social media in action
• 25 February 2008: Social Media 101
• 11 June 2007: Blogging for a living

Cnet has a report on a cellular base station that can switch among wind, solar and diesel generators. This Gizmodo article has a few more details about E-site.

It’s an interesting concept that would be useful in developing countries. In Africa, diesel generators are often used to provide coverage. A cleaner alternative would be welcome.

As I pointed out on 29 March 2008, power isn’t the only problem that mobile phone carriers face in developing countries. Terrorists, insurgents, and other groups may target cellular base stations to knock out coverage or make a political statement. On the other hand, these same groups often rely on mobile phones.

E-sites also make sense for Hawaii. Oahu has good mobile phone coverage, but there are many parts of this island and the neighbor islands that are served by one carrier, if coverage is even available. Adding wind and solar power generation capabilities to existing base stations can also improve reliability during brownouts, blackouts, and seismic events. The wind and solar generators can be used to charge backup batteries, or to provide primary power.

As I mentioned on 2 April 2008, Aloha Airlines is still flying cargo flights in the state of Hawaii. It hasn’t been easy. Aloha flies 85% of the state’s air cargo, including postal mail, bread and other time-sensitive items. If Aloha stops flying, Hawaii’s economy will feel the effects within two days.

A report posted this evening on the newspaper’s web site says that GMAC has agreed to provide US$3 million in bridge financing while the Air Line Pilots Association and Aloha management are still negotiating.

UPDATE: here’s the full article from the Star-Bulletin’s 9 April 2008 print edition.

The main issue is which pilots will be retained when the cargo business is sold at auction on 24 April. Aloha management wants junior pilots, while ALPA favors the current collective bargaining agreement and senior pilots.

Cancellations and allegations

Meanwhile, Aloha canceled 7 of its 16 cargo flights today after pilots staged a sick-out. Mail and other time-sensitive cargo was shipped, but the situation will only get worse if the sick-outs continue.

An earlier report in the Tuesday print edition has more details. In the article, ALPA representatives claim that Aloha is blocking pilots from flying to Oahu for job fairs by confiscating their ID cards and turning off some information systems.

Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) will hold a hearing of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Thursday, according to this Star-Bulletin report. Inouye chairs the committee, and he will examine the current state of the airline industry in Hawaii.

Aloha Airlines president David Banmiller and the state’s three other Congressional representatives have been invited to testify. Banmiller has become more vocal in recent days, as he provides more information about how state officials refused to assist Aloha Airlines during the last two years. This Pacific Business Story has more details.

No backup plan?

Meanwhile, USPS spokesman Duke Gonzales stated that there is no contingency plan for interisland mail service if Aloha stops flying. Aloha flies in all of the mail for the islands of Hawaii and Maui.

Hawaii residents have enough problems already, as Kilauea producing an increasing amount of vog. The Honolulu Advertiser reported this afternoon that Volcano National Park has been closed as air quality deteriorates.

Yesterday, the Hawaii Superferry started sailing between Honolulu and Kahului, Maui after a two-month repair cycle. See this Star-Bulletin story for more details. The Superferry can handle large delivery trucks and their cargo, but the company has been unable to maintain a reliable daily schedule since the service was launched in August 2007. The departure of ATA and Aloha Airlines gives the Superferry a fighting chance to hit breakeven, which is possible with about 400 passengers and 110 cars per voyage.

UPDATE: The Star-Bulletin ran a long article on the Superferry in the 9 April 2008 print edition, with a timeline and plenty of details.