The Steve Rubel Stream

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Steve Rubel
Steve Rubel (bio) is SVP, Director of Insights for Edelman Digital, a division of Edelman - the world's largest independent PR firm.

He is charged with helping clients identify emerging technologies and trends that can be applied in marketing communications programs. Rubel also explores these topics on his site, a monthly Forbes.com column and in a bi-weekly AdAge column. He can be found on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Steve can be reached via email at steverubel@gmail.com.

Note: Everything posted on this site is Steve's personal opinion. It does not represent the views of Edelman or its clients.

               

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Photo: You Know You Have a Problem When....

You know you have a problem when this is your iPhone on apps. I kid you not, this really is my iPhone - all 10 screens worth! 

I was staring at these icons on the train ride home tonight, thinking how many of these little buggers I really use. The short answer is far too many. I got a fever. And the only thing that's going to fix it is more cowbell! Oh yeah, and there's an app for that too.

In case you're wondering: they are indeed alphabetized - except for the last few, which are new additions. Oh and my "desert island apps" are as follows: Evernote, Instapaper, Byline (RSS), Kindle, Birdfeed (not to be confused with Birdhouse), Satchel, Umbrella, WeatherBug and WriteRoom.

Is this a common problem among geeks or am I alone???
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Posted 7 months ago
35 comments
Aug 05, 2009
Thiane Loureiro said...
You're not alone. But I am sure nobody beats you :-)
Aug 05, 2009
Andy Santamaria said...
Oh My Goodness. I can only imagine how long it takes your phone to sync! :)
Aug 05, 2009
Steve Rubel said...
@Andy surprisingly fast now that I have a 3GS!
Aug 05, 2009
Not Nurse Ratched said...
I got the fever too. Only I obsessively put apps on and take them off my phone as the mood hits. Kinda dumb.
Aug 05, 2009
Mario Losasso said...
Steve, you should do a longer post and just list all of them. My eyeballs arent good enough to see them.
Aug 05, 2009
Jim Graham said...
I have 150ish in iTunes, sync about 120 of those. I prefer Birdfeed as well, haven't found a lot of people that do.
Aug 05, 2009
Mario Losasso said...
@steve why do you use writeroom and evernote? Seems to me they have similar functionality. Just wondering before i drop a dime on something that isnt necessary. . .
Aug 05, 2009
Tamar Weinberg said...
You only have 10 screens? If I could get an unlimited number of screens, I probably have 20. Seriously. :)

btw, if you're on a deserted island, Steve, you better hope they have a weather tower and meteorologists for WeatherBug to function properly!

Aug 05, 2009
anthony marco said...
Apps are like Animated GIFs used to be... something that I over-populated my screen real estate with until I started having seizures - so I cut back a bit.
Aug 05, 2009
Tejas Patel said...
Steve, thanks for sharing the screenshot. I got half the screens that you have, but what I find is I there is only a screen full of apps that I use regularly, everything else gets used once in a week or once or twice during their lifetime on my iPhone
Aug 06, 2009
Dave Lucas said...
Steve! One of these days you're going to blow a fuse in your brain! :)
Aug 06, 2009
Steve Rubel said...
@Mario I use Writeroom for writing articles - when I need to concentrate. I use Evernote for notes and reference.
Aug 06, 2009
Cavan Reagan Reichmann said...
I am right there with you, except I'm only up to eight screens. I'm usually anti-clutter ... but I can't resist trying a few more apps every week.
Aug 06, 2009
Camiel said...
If you're satisfied with Birdfeed, what's the use of keeping the zillion other twitter apps?

Digital hoarding. Now that's a Dr. Phil episode I would watch.

Aug 06, 2009
Steve Rubel said...
@Camiel I use different Twitter apps in different contexts, but I agree.
Aug 06, 2009
Mohammad Badi Irshid said...
Ohh my god, I couldn't imagine this number of apps! wholy crapp .. your iPhone is almost crying all the night !!
Aug 06, 2009
Mediaman said...
Yes.
You're just looking at another reason for AAA-AnyThing, AnyTime, AnyWhere- the Grail of Internet development. You "Communications pod" will morph into an AAA device and then...then...you may be happy!
Aug 06, 2009
Evan said...
Yikes. I thought I was bad with 8 pages! I have a non-tech coworker who got his iPhone when I got mine, several months ago, and he has yet to go off of one page.
Aug 06, 2009
Ben L. said...
The only problem you have is that you aren't using Five Column SpringBoard to have more apps on each page!
Aug 06, 2009
Steve Rubel said...
@Ben, I haven't jailbroken my baby,
Aug 06, 2009
Anthony Scaffeo said...
steve - a blog post would be nice explaining how u use and manage to use these and how 65K is just to many and may effect innovation and crowding out :) nice job here :)
Aug 06, 2009
Peter Berg said...
Steve- I noticed your still keeping Your iPhone 'home' page to Apple's spec. Gotta respect that.

Also, not ONE game in your desert island apps?? Our brains need play time as well (even yours).

Aug 06, 2009
Steve Rubel said...
@Peter I believe in keeping the phone as Steve intended. :-) Also, call me boring, but I am not a huge gamer. More of a reader. 

Aug 06, 2009
Steve Epstein said...
I can help...I have 10 screens of 12 also..

Put Evernote on the bottom or on screen 1.
Complete lifesaver..

Steve Epstein

Aug 07, 2009
J. Michael said...
This is definitely a possible first. An online 12 step program. "I am an iPhone addict."
Aug 07, 2009
Joakim Jardenberg said...
You are sooo not alone. I decided to do a short rundown of my apps some time ago. I ended up writing a piece on the 67 most essential ;)
http://jardenberg.se/2009/05/01/rekommendera-67-iphone-apps/
The spotlight search is a lifesaver as an app launcer...
Aug 07, 2009
Charnita Fance said...
WOW. And that doesn't slow the iPhone down one bit huh? I really gotta get one.
Aug 07, 2009
Michael Lynton said...
I followed suit and re-arranged all my apps last night into alphabetical order. I had them somewhat grouped together, but I like this so much better!
Aug 08, 2009
Angela Booth said...
It's Apple's problem; we need better app management tools :-)
Aug 09, 2009
Jane Quigley said...
I have 6 full screens and I've made a pact with myself that I can't add another app (especially a Twitter app) until I delete one I'm not using. Otherwise, I'm totally out of control - I'd easily put 10 screens to shame. My Flickr set of my iPhone screens: http://bit.ly/6RCaO
Aug 09, 2009
Mark Nicholson said...
I see 3 spots still free!
Aug 31, 2009
Ramesh Prabhu said...
I believe the iPhone lets you have 11 total screens/pages, which leaves you with 19 (16+3) more apps ;) BTW Steve, How about sharing a list of your favorite apps?
Aug 31, 2009
Steve Rubel said...
Ramesh that's easy - Evernote, Instapaper, Facebook and Simply Tweet. 

Sep 01, 2009
Nathaniel said...
That is unreal Steve and I thought I was bad with 5 screens.

1 thing though I don't agree with the alphabetical listing idea. Tried it, didn't like it. Also I don't give a hoot what Apple think of me it's my phone not theirs. I wish you could delete apps such as stock, weather, contacts etc..... I arrange my home screen with the apps I use multiple times every day and then the other screens are arranged in usage order, like with like.

Evernote while I like the idea just loads too damn slow!

Sep 22, 2009
Dijana said...
i think im so unique these days... :)
no tattoos, no iPod, no apps

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