Thank You Bonnie

Bonnie Caver and I once shared the sidelines when she was the women's hoops contact for Ole Miss and I was still serving in that capacity for the then Lady'Backs.

Today, she's one of the sharp former SIDs in corporate and commercial PR; and provided a cracking good presentation about strategy and social media on Tuesday.

She also proved one of my key points about why it is crucial, no, critical, for your athletic department to claim the iSpace surrounding your school. A crippled RSS reader or re-skinned app will not do.

To quote Bonnie, when speaking of technology and how it can reflect positively or negatively on a college or university, "with your your Flash I can't view your websites."

She brandished her iPhone from her pocket as she literally shook her fist in the face of those who have not taken the time (or, let's be honest, spent the money) to get into the iSpace.

One woman. Why does it matter? Certainly, our time and money would be better spent elsewhere. There are only 2.5 to 3 million iPad owners; iPhone is important, but what about all the other platforms.

Yeah, well Bonnie Caver is the target market of your app. A V.I.P.: Very Influential Person. Note the word choice. Bonnie like many out there in the iSpace are trend setters, decision makers (check out how many university presidents carry the iPhone), media influencers (really, how many blackberry users among TV talent anymore).

In this very painful case for anyone not invested in the iSpace, here is Caver, speaking convincingly before the entire convention that many of us have not taken the time to pay attention to her needs. Don't think she's not got some clout there?

Recruits aren't sportin' Palm Pre. And hey, for the record, I really like some of the new Incredibles and other HTC products using Android. But guess what Android will have soon -- which will render the need for a dedicated app on that platform less necessary: Flash.

Oh, addendum NeuLion/CBS -- did you catch Ms. Caver there? Live stats do not need to exist in Flash-based proto animations any more. Please. Pretty please.