Amazon has the puzzle pieces.  It will be interesting to see if they can make them all fit together.

• Customers.  Well over 100 million customers with credit cards on file.  Yikes.

• Amazon Prime.  Also known as instant gratification.  Who doesn’t want two day shipping for all their Amazon purchases, especially heading into the holidays?  And once you have two day shipping, it makes you want to buy everything from Amazon since retail (other than Apple) is such a horrendous experience these days.  They can afford to lose money on shipping because the Prime customer likely spends tons more than the non-Prime customer.  Bundling video streaming into Amazon Prime at a time when Netflix is alienating its customers is huge.

• Amazon App Store for Android tied to those 100+ million credit cards.  Google doesn’t have a financial transaction infrastructure.  Amazon has transactions in its DNA on a scale that blows everyone else away (with the possible exception of Apple).

• Amazon MP3 Store, Cloud Player & Cloud Drive.  Not great yet, but it at least gets them in the game.  Still really a cloud storage offering more than a media offering, but that’s an important piece of the user experience in a device-centric world.  Acquire Spotify for music streaming and make my day.  Go ahead, I dare you.

• Kindle family.  It looks like Kindle will turn into a product line ranging from the basic Kindle for hard core readers to the Kindle Flame for a richer media experience.  Kindle is already a reading brand.  It’s about to become a media consumption brand.  That could carve out a compelling consumer use case to focus on.

Amazon has more pieces than anyone.  The other Android “licensees” only have their history of designing and manufacturing devices.  That’s not enough.  If Amazon makes device-based shopping matter and  really innovates with books, music and video, they could be a force to be reckoned with.  Hopefully, they put enough energy into the end to end user experience.  Okay, there is no chance that they will put “enough” energy into it. I’m just hoping that they put a lot more than they have in the past.

I, for one, will tune in tomorrow to see how far they’ve gotten.

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POST ANNOUNCEMENT UPDATE:  I totally didn’t see Silk coming and yet it’s possibly the most interesting part…a split browser that takes advantage of the Amazon cloud (AWS) to make everything faster for the Kindle Flame user.

Every election we hear about “family values”.  We’re a few short months away from this tattered and battle-worn drum beating loudly once again.  Our politicians will dive headfirst into the thorny issue of what constitutes family and whether or not we all share the same values.  It’s a complex issue and the debate, although passionate, is rarely fruitful.  Perhaps we should shift our focus to the individual rather than the family unit.  After all, every social structure imaginable is made up of the same component parts – individual people.  You.  Me.  That strange dude that you seem to run into all over town.  That passive aggressive anonymous guy that keeps posting obnoxious comments on your favorite blog.  Myriad individuals, each of whom are part of many different social structures.  And since every structure is only as strong as its weakest link, addressing the character weaknesses of individuals promises to be a pretty leveraged endeavor.  A compelling return on our investment awaits us.

The Boy Scouts were onto something over 100 years ago when they created what they call the Boy Scout Law.  Although the Boy Scout Law has evolved a bit over the past century, it does a decent job of defining a set of character attributes that boys should embrace as they become men.  It’s a good list.  Not perfect, perhaps, but a terrific starting point.  There’s no question our world would be a better place if more folks – men, women and children – embraced these character traits. It would make for better interpersonal relationships, work environments, classroom and playground interactions, and business dealings.  And hopefully, if we aligned our real and virtual selves, it would also dramatically improve the culture online.

BOY SCOUT LAW (with some interpretation from the Boy Scout Handbook)

A Scout is Trustworthy.
A Scout tells the truth. He is honest, and he keeps his promises. People can depend on him.

A Scout is Loyal.
A Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and nation.

A Scout is Helpful.
A Scout cares about other people. He willingly volunteers to help others without expecting payment or reward.

A Scout is Friendly.
A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He offers his friendship to people of all races and nations, and respects them even if their beliefs and customs are different from his own.

A Scout is Courteous.
A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows that using good manners makes it easier for people to get along.

A Scout is Kind.
A Scout knows there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. Without good reason, he does not harm or kill any living thing.

A Scout is Obedient.
A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobeying them.

A Scout is Cheerful.
A Scout looks for the bright side of life. He cheerfully does tasks that come his way. He tries to make others happy.

A Scout is Thrifty.
A Scout works to pay his own way and to help others. He saves for the future. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property.

A Scout is Brave.
A Scout can face danger although he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at him or threaten him.

A Scout is Clean.
A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He chooses the company of those who live by high standards. He helps keep his home and community clean.

A Scout is Reverent.
A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

Although the Boy Scout Law evokes more than a little bit of a 50s vibe, it reminds us that we can choose how we treat others and our environment.  A message worth getting nostalgic about.  Now, I would be remiss to ignore the fact that the Boy Scouts organization has had some pretty backwards (and sometimes hypocritical) views about homosexuality over the years.  They are also a bit too militaristic for my personal taste.  However, when it comes to defining the character of a model citizen, they had their act together back in 1908 when they first committed their membership to a common code of conduct.

Today, we have an opportunity to learn from the Boy Scout Law while distancing ourselves from scouting per se.  Perhaps we could make up a more modern set of guidelines to set the aspirations for our national character.  I would be proud to sign an American Character Pledge, if such an article were drafted, by the people, for the people.

It would be cool if a bipartisan grass roots campaign adopted such an idea and set out to define the American Character for today’s world.  The goal?  To get our citizens to weigh in on who we collectively want to be moving forward.  No resting on our laurels.  No hiding from our sins.  Let’s be a country full of individuals that folks around the world can relate to, respect and admire, not for our wealth and power but for our character.

Where do I sign?

One of the secrets to Apple’s success is that they know how to tell a story better than almost anyone.  In a sea of overly complicated mp3 players, the iPod was simply “a 1,000 songs in your pocket”.  Despite RIM being a relatively well established business smartphone, the original iPhone would define the mass market smartphone as the seamless integration of iPod + Phone + Internet.  Not only did the new definition make Apple’s product the only choice (no one else can include an iPod as part of their phone), it was also dirt simple to understand.  Yet another example, convincing consumers that it’s better to pay 99 cents per song on iTunes than stealing music through file sharing services.  The list goes on and on…

By explaining their products in simple ways that anyone can understand, Apple creates stories that are easy to spread through three primary channels with high fidelity.

1. Advertising. Apple pays to imprint their message in our brains through ads that, like any well-train politician, hit a singular message over and over and over until that message becomes synonymous with the product being advertised.
2. Press Coverage. By carefully nurturing media relationships and staying on message in every press interaction, media outlets everywhere write articles and broadcast coverage that faithfully (more often than not) deliver the product’s key message for free.
3. Word of Mouth. Then the most amazing thing happens.  Consumers everywhere start raving about the product to their friends and family.  In real world conversations (yes, those still happen) and online.  And guess what? They can’t help but stick to Apple’s script.  After all, it works.  It tends to be the most efficient and compelling way to help the uninitiated to “get it”.

The result?  As long as the product lives up to expectations, it becomes a success.  Users are happy.  Sales are good.  None of this happens by chance, but by expending a ton of energy creating a compelling, easy to use product.  And by expending another ton of energy creating an equally compelling, easy to understand message.  The message is not an afterthought, but rather an integral part of the product development process. An artful science.  One part yin.  One part yang.

Why do I bring all this up?  Because I’m intrigued by the current bizarre state of the social media phenomenon, Twitter in particular.  A couple hundred million folks across the globe use Twitter (active users are far less of course).  Yet most of my friends don’t know why they would or how they should use it.  They don’t understand the story. And I live in Silicon Valley with friends who tend to be decidedly geekier than the average American.

Twitter gives me realtime, local glimpses of mideast rebellion or the latest on the Japan crisis, which is cool.  It also keeps Charlie Sheen in my online face and floods me with banal dreck from certain over-tweeters that starts to feel like spam, which is decidedly not cool.  I do love the promise of what (I hope) Twitter can offer me in the future.  The bottom line, though, is that Twitter the Phenomenon is way ahead of both Twitter the Product and Twitter the Story.  The opportunity is to figure out a compelling story and build an insanely great product to match.  And it all starts with vision.

@Jack, we’re counting on you.

A todo list of sorts…

• Don’t stop refining the Twitter story until you can explain “future Twitter” to today’s non-users.  Today’s user and usage model will likely be insufficient to take Twitter across any chasm worth crossing.  Make sure you can illustrate how the Twittersphere embodies the pulse of what’s happening in the world “right now” and how anyone can put their own finger on that pulse whenever they want to find out what’s going on.  Use real examples that capture our emotions.  The stories are out there.  Tap into them to get us jazzed.  Then refine the user experience to allow today’s non-users to experience the magic firsthand the next time a major event happens.  Don’t make tweeting a pre-requisite to our falling in love with Twitter

• Clarify the difference between Facebook and Twitter.  DO NOT shy away from this one.  The two services can and should be fundamentally different.  However, the common perception is that they are direct competitors and that Twitter is behind.  Clearly define Twitter for us and demonstrate that it solves a different consumer need.  Facebook extends real world relationships online.  My Facebook friends tend to be folks with whom I would break bread or grab a beer.  Personally, I think it’s weird to “friend” a product, service or brand.  Twitter, on the other hand, is about staying abreast with what’s going on in the world “right now”.  Connections on Twitter are based on a completely different kind of relationship, more of an extension of a brand relationship than a deeply personal one.  I follow celebrities, media outlets, people I admire.  Some of them may also be friends, but the majority are people or brands I care about but wouldn’t call friends in a traditional sense.  And hopefully, I can tap into the Twittersphere in a more visceral way, without having to declare my relationship status with each information source.

• Don’t be too wed to today’s concepts.  As an example, the notion of “following” has it’s place as it’s good for making persistent connections with individuals and brands with which you want stay connected.  However, it’s wildly insufficient as the mechanism for staying abreast of what’s going on in the world.  If I’m on vacation and want to know if my train is on time, those I follow cannot possibly tell me this.  Solve this important problem a different way.  Whatever works best.  Focus on my information discovery need and don’t force fit the mechanism that’s already built if it’s not the right answer.

• You’ve got three stories to tell, be able to tell them all:  1) how Twitter can enrich consumers lives; 2) how brands can use Twitter to extend their relationships with their customers and prospects; and 3) how developers can prosper on top of the Twitter platform. Don’t make any of these audiences figure it out on their own.  Spell it out for them.  Make sure they understand.

The opportunity ahead for Twitter can be amazing, as long as they get their story straight.

Last year, I helped my wife found a startup.  We incorporated, bought office supplies, set up shop in the dining room, fought for new business, and even fought with each other now and then.  In short, we did whatever it took to get our fledgling operation off the ground and make it a success.  In contrast to most Silicon Valley startups that are haunted by a lack of profitability, ours would be “not profitable by design.”  Our agency, CASSY (Counseling and Support Services for Youth) would be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Most startup ventures fantasize about someday becoming cash flow positive on their way to making a profit.  The push for them is to generate more and more revenue, keep costs down and grow profit.  Business 101.  Not with us.  Although we need to be fiscally responsible in order to survive, we’re technically not allowed to make a profit.  Sure, we need to generate revenue to cover costs.  We can even bring in more money than we spend in a given year.  However, we cannot grow equity since there’s no such thing as equity in our world.  Instead, we must pour everything we make back into the organization to achieve our mission.

As a nonprofit, we are all about “mission.”  Turns out this is an incredibly good thing. Instead of pursuing profit growth (insert pig and truffle analogy here), CASSY exists for no other reason than to pursue its mission – to de-stigmatize mental health services and make supporting students’ social and emotional well-being the norm in our local schools.  We dream of a world where all kids get the social and emotional support they need to be successful in school and in life.

What’s powerful are not the specifics of our particular mission, it’s that we have one and that everyone involved is committed to do their part to help achieve it.  Executive Director.  Staff.  Board of Directors.  Community Supporters.  They are all individuals who believe in and are truly committed to pursuing this shared mission.  Together they have a purpose, a reason for being.

In today’s world where people are more engaged with their social network than they are with their workplace, it’s quite possible that commercial organizations could learn something here.  Although companies are still getting lots of our hours, most of them are not getting much of our passion.  Successful organizations create a culture around a mission worth pursuing.  Microsoft in the early days.  Apple today.  Tesla.  Facebook.  The Body Shop.  Not only do they have a clear mission and culture, but they enlist  others who are enthusiastic about contributing to the mission, folks ready to raise their cups with both hands and chug the corporate KoolAid with reckless abandon.  Why do they drink?  Because they love how it tastes.

To engage us, organizations need to inspire us.  After all, helping a corporate entity make their quarterly number just isn’t that exciting.

Give us a cause, a crusade.  Something to “Like”…

In early 2009, I decided to leave my position at Apple after almost six years to help my wife start a nonprofit agency which provides mental health services for kids right at their school.  Apple was (and still is) on a tear and the economy was (and still is for the most part) in the toilet.  Many casual acquaintances thought I had lost my mind.  The reaction I remember most clearly, though, is a poignantly simple one I got from one of my son’s then 10-year old friends, Zach.

“Thank you!” he said.

I initially thought Zach was grateful that my wife and I were providing the social and emotional support that our young people need to navigate the intricacies of growing up in today’s chaotic and excessively competitive world.  How sweet, I thought.  Turns out that’s not at all what he meant.  He was too young to grok the significance of our fledgeling nonprofit and what “psychotherapy” or “mental health services” were all about.  Honestly, he didn’t care about any of that.

Zach was thanking me for quitting my job.  From his perspective, my leaving Apple meant there was one more job available to someone who needed one.  I doubt he knew the stats about double digit unemployment, but he was keenly aware that too many folks out there were out of work.  I had a great job that I no longer loved.  The best thing to do was to get rid of it so that someone else could have it.  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure…so to speak.  Interesting and refreshing way to see the world, through a 10 year old’s eyes.  (Zach gave me far more altruistic credit than I deserved, but I found his viewpoint to be enlightening nonetheless.)

This boy’s perspective comes from growing up in an era and locale where recycling is a given.  He was right – I had been lucky to have a super cool job which had, for many years, given me great satisfaction.  The fact that over time that position had lost its luster was neither earth shattering nor unique.  It happens all the time.  The right thing to do was to move on and pass the opportunity on to someone else.  And, I guess, to glove up and start digging through someone else’s trash.

The reality is that most jobs in this country are recycled.  Even the presidency.  Before Obama, there was Bush.  Before Bush, Clinton.  And so on.  The problem is that we can’t recycle 100% of our jobs, and even if we could population growth would require us to somehow recycle 125% to stay ahead of the game.  Not possible.  Technology continues to make some jobs obsolete, while others migrate to lower cost geographic regions – both overseas and in this country – where workers will perform the same tasks at a fraction of what it costs locally.

Job loss like this is the new normal.  We need to go through the stages of grief and move on to finding a new path forward.  Pretending that jobs will just miraculously come back as the economy recovers will ensure that our best days are behind us.  Yes, we should continue to recycle as many jobs as we possibly can, but it will not be enough.  Deal with it.

It may sound crazy, but I think Obama should establish a federally funded VC that would  invest exclusively in business ideas that, if successful, could spur meaningful job growth.  This VC would not be looking for an ROI multiple of a traditional VC.  Instead, it would be measured by GDP growth and domestic job creation.  In a way, he already did something analogous when he bailed out GM.  By doing so, he saved 100s of thousand of jobs.  Saving jobs is good.  Creating exciting new ones would be even better.

I’m sure there are tons of better ideas out there.  I just think that we’d be wise to make this a national priority and start experimenting.  Some will fail, some will be insignificant, and some, if we’re lucky, we’ll be wildly successful.  Sound familiar, Silicon Valley?

Tomorrow I begin.  Not 100% sure where this is headed, but that’s pretty much true for me in so many ways right now.  That’s okay.  Or at least I like to tell myself that it is.