The year of Upstart interactive TV’s ( google and apple amongst others) and Tablets ( over 100 shown at CES). For those of you who do not know CES its the years show of shows for tech. The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Nevada… viva Las Vegas! This year set records for attendance as well as a buzz in the air of promise for the New year. Last year was kind of dowdy and dreary and you had to stand in line to see a 3D tv. This year they were all around the expo halls as were tablets and tablet/notebook hybrids and e-tablets. Also QR codes made the booths go around this year. Almost  all the large manufacturers of tech had Qr codes one could use to expound upon the virtues of their products and services. If only CES had seen the wisdom of that instead of handing out individual maps to show all the exhibitors for all the Halls ( over 7 maps in all not very well done CES).

But that is the Joy of this show and the burgeoning power of smart phones and the new kids on the block ..tablets. Already the manufacturers of tablets that were shown at CES with out cameras built in were promising within 3 months that they would have them.  The ability for you clients and consumers to access your company via mobile tech is becoming one of the most important channels to pursue in the coming 5 years. So get on the band wagon now. With smart phones projected to be half of the cell phone marketplace in the US alone by 2015 ( that’s 150 million of them) and with a projected sales of 40 to 50 million tablets this year alone you had better be able to be accessed by this technology. IF not your customers will find someone else who is available.

Also I had the privelage of being with Soma Games and Intels Peter Biddle’s Atom Mashing Radio show. You can listen to it here.

Have a Great New Year from SMMEE!

Just got back from the Login conference hosted here in sunny (okay rainy) Seattle. One of the interesting round table debates was on forums. The debate in questions was should there be official company forums around ones game or leave that to third parties and or fans? One of the many interesting topics that came up was overall cost of hosting a forum as well as the feedback it generated. Apparently fan based or third part forums were usually self moderated while larger ones were moderated by the sites volunteers or paid staff. The third party/fan based forums usually had more positive feedback and support for the games they were based on while the company based forums were more negative. Now guerrilla based negative comments really haven’t made it into these forums yet (but it has been hinted at) and game companies are generally the tip of the spear in new tech on a social level so that was great to hear.

However the discussion came down to a general conclusion that the game companies (even the giants like WOW,LOTR and Startrekonline) need both company sponsored forums and fan based forums. For mainly TWO reasons.:

1: Customers service is number one(without fans to play the game why exist) and they need to have a way to reach the company and forums are a great way to do this. Twitter and blogs don’t have the same impact.

2: Fan based forums are necessary to see what fans are doing amongst themselves and a great way to have research and development done for you outside your company(no cost as the fans are doing it themselves) and a cost effective way to release information about upcoming products and reward fans with sneak peaks.

Now you may not be a game company but forums can do the same for you. Provide effective communication to your customers on your products and service as well as allowing your customers to comment on your products and services and say things they might not tell you face to face that you need to know.