GBM and our InkShows are ahead of the curve!

It looks like the InkShow work we’ve doing since February is getting some traction across the web.

First, a little background.

Before launching GottaBeMobile.com, Dennis and I had been talking about doing some Tablet PC software demos for several years. However, while at the Microsoft Mobile Partners conference in January, I sat down to dinner with Loren Heiny about some ideas we had, and he confirmed what Dennis and I had been talking about: tutorial and software demos geared to the Tablet PC. Tablet PC software begins to sell itself when you see it in action, and the space was lacking in this area. So, we owe a huge amount of gratitude to Loren for kicking Dennis and I in the pants and getting us going in this arena. By the way, if you have not visited www.TabletPCPost.com, you need to. Lora, Loren, and Layne Heiny have amassed a great collection of downloadable Tablet PC software at www.TabletPCPost.com that every Tablet PC user needs to look at.

Well, what do we name these software video things? We wanted something different, something other than “software video demos”. After some back and forth for two to three weeks, we came up wtih the idea of InkShows. They would encompass software demos, hardware demos, and audio interviews. Along with feature writing and news posting, InkShows would become a cornerstone of GottaBeMobile.com. We’ve also got the domain name InkShows.com. We now produce Software InkShows, Hardware InkShows, and Audio InkShows on the average of twice a week.

In the past week, there has been news that appears to indicate a shift from “podcast” naming convention after Apple is beginning to go after companies that are using the name “podcast”.  Robert Scoble is wondering if PodTech.net is next. It is a good thing we chose the InkShow branding route. In fact, it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that we decided to toy with the idea of changing the name of our Audio InkShows to  “Podcast InkShows”. Looks like we might end up staying with Audio InkShows!

Now, Robert Scoble is bringing some attention to the software demo video side of what we do. In this post, he wonders why Google has not produced any demo videos of their products, and also highlights that his Adobe Acrobat 8 software demo created more visits than any of the podcasts at PodTech.net during that week. Robert is saying what we already know: software demo videos are becoming quite the hit on the web, and consumers really enjoy them. Our Software and Hardware InkShows generate much more traffic than our Audio InkShows. Part of the value we bring to our InkShows is that they are independently produced – we demo the software, point out what you can do with it, and highlight the strengths and weaknesses. We also try to keep them under 30 minutes. We made a concious decision to not allow a software company to demo their own software. The only exception to this rule was the xThink MathJournal InkShow, which really needed a math expert to properly demo it.

This ought to be a great time for TechSmith, the makers of Camtasia Studio. Camtasia Studio is a product that allows users to create their own software demos. We use Camtasia Studio to produce all of our Software InkShows and they are also the sponsor for all of our InkShows.

What we would like to know is what we can do to improve what we have doing since February? We are regularly producing 2 InkShows a week, intermixing hardware demos, software demos, and audio interviews. What have we done that you don’t like? What have we done that you would like to see more of? Give us some feedback. We’d love to hear from you.

• Subcribe to our InkShows here
• iTunes users can subscribe to our Audio / Podcast InkShows here.
• Buy GottaBeMobile.com Gear here.

On behalf of the entire GottaBeMobile.com, thank you!

Rob, Dennis, Warner, and Matt