Colum O'Dwyer And "The Other Mac Blog"

I do a lot of research. Lots of research on Apple and the company's product markets. When I want someone to corroborate or challenge my views on Apple's product paradigm, the integration of hardware and software, and in particular uses of Apple products in the education market, I call a young man named Colum O'Dwyer. Asking Colum a ten second question always involves a ten minute answer. He has an uncanny knack for understanding the way Apple products are designed and the design ethic built into product uses and functionality.

Colum recently began a Web presence called The Other Mac Blog. Being new to the Mac Web he asked if I'd contribute finance-related content for his site. The answer was easy. Writing about Apple and the company's finances is what I do. It's second nature. What makes working with Colum fun is his spirited approach to immersing himself in Apple products and what he discovers about the products and their uses within hours of getting started. 

The other night he planned to do nothing more than watch a bit of TV content so he surfed over to CBS.com. Being the person he is,  he caught a CBS iPad test come across the screen. Within minutes there was a post on his site and he sent screen shots of the find to AppleInsider and Macrumors.com. At 6:15am the following morning my iPhone is sounding with notifications of text messages from Colum with only the words "check this out" and references to link backs to his story.

I finally had a chance to call him at the end of that day. After my personal briefing from Colum as to why he thinks push notification on the iPhone is underrated and multitasking is an overrated desire among developers, he tells me there were 8,582 page views from reference links on his story about CBS.com's iPad test. That's Colum and those page views are the result of what happened when this talented and energetic young man sat down to do nothing more than watch some late night TV. He's a natural when it comes to discovering things about Apple and its products. 

Colum has a refreshing enthusiasm for all things Apple and the kind of kinetic energy that makes all this fun (again). I'll be posting on his site on weekends and, knowing Colum, I'll have a few text messages early Saturday morning Pacific Time about all of the unexpected uses he's found for the new Apple iPad. I wonder what he'll discover next?