Choosing To Pull Learning In – Finally

“This thing handles like a pig” from the movie Red October is in the back of mind along with my BlackBerry Storm as my iPhone 3GS w/32GB courtesy of Advisor.ca is outshining the BlackBerry on all fronts including the flat screen keyboard/texting, web browsing speed and ohhhhhhhh! the apps!

I’ve one more leg of my conversion to complete from the BlackBerry to the iPhone with the installation of an Enterprise version of Outlook e-mail and aside from having to push the e-mail versus BlackBerry’s pull system; all the other features of the iPhone will make pushing e-mail insignificant.

This is funny to me in that I thought that I would run the iPhone and the BlackBerry side by side for a month to make a decision and that idea went out the window in the first hour of using the iPhone.

Every once in a while, a product comes along that meets and exceeds ones expectations and the iPhone is one of those in a world where we are spoiled with “same old same old” through globalization which contributes to the limiting belief “there isn’t really anything all that new out there these days”.

One more thing – now I have three bars! I’ve been a loyal Telus customer for decades. Back five years ago when we moved to Craig Bay in Parksville I was lucky to have one cell phone connection bar on Telus. So having a smart phone was not that high on my priority list without smart cell phone reception and the only reason that I changed from a Motorola Razor to the BlackBerry Storm was because my contract was up and the BlackBerry was a freebee ( provided that I renewed my contract ).

From time to time I would hear from a neighbor that Telus was working on improving the cell phone reception but nothing changed.

Advisor.ca blessed me in another way because they are a member of Rogers Communications which includes their own telephone company which my iPhone is connected to so they have raised the bars from no bars / one bar to three bars so now I have a smarter phone and cell phone connection to go with it. Failing that, the iPhone has WiFi so that gives me another option to use the smart phone out here in the cell phone reception wilderness.

The iPhone and iPad have been on my wish list for a while and in advance of recently winning the iPhone 3GS w/32GB through Advisor.ca, I picked up a copy of MacLife’s iPhone Handbook – 99 Must Download Apps back in May.

I picked up MacLife’s iPhone Handbook thinking that with zero experience with an iPhone, reading through the handbook might give me some stronger reasons for wanting one and to understanding why loyal Apple fans will line up for new product launches.

I must admit, with my drive for intense focus and the use of time, I have had my blinders on for a while with the belief “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and I had no reason to change to an iPhone but MacLife’s iPhone Handbook changed all that.

You could say that I used pull learning versus push learning … there are all kinds of opportunities being pushed at us and we have to be ever  vigilant about the doors that we open because we could open too many … then again, growing old because of not opening any. Another way of looking at this is I am choosing to do strategic learning versus trivia learning. Strategic learning means learning something to push me out of my comfort zone.

Here is the link to MacLife’s iPhone Handbook – 99 Must Download Apps which caused me to brainstorm my own Apps list that sold me on both the iPhone and the iPad and I’ve included the 3 Apps that sealed the deal.

Before you get into my brainstorm list of Apps, check out; Advisor.ca’s – Advisors share their favourite mobile apps

1. Methodology – Clearly inspired by Brian Eno’s famous “Oblique Strategies” card decks, Methodology stimulates creative thinking by offering 100 flash cards that each offer a creative prompt. You can swipe your way through the deck, or shake to re-shuffle Methodology’s advice.
2. IDEO Method Cards started out as a physical deck of cards intended to inspire designers and creative pros. The app gives you eight free cards, which have ideas and exercises for improving designs and sparking creativity. The entire 51-card deck can be purchased in-app for $4.99, a small price to pay for creative sparks to inspire your next project.
3. WritePad – It’s one of the dream applications for the iPad–scribbling on the iPad’s screen with your finger or a touch-capacitive stylus, and watching your handwriting convert seamlessly to type.