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2010: The Year of Google v. Apple?

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:40:47 +0000

It appears that not just the Year of Mobile is being christened this January but new competitive lines are being drawn as well between Internet giants Google and Apple. Yes, it’s time to officially deem Apple an Internet company in my opinion but you are always free to disagree. According to All Things Digital Apple is preparing to announce a purchase that virtually mirrors the acquisition made of AdMob by Google. Apple is ready to buy Quattro Wireless for $275 million. Apple had been in the mix for the AdMob deal but Google won that one. So as a result Apple and Quattro’s ad platform will be getting geared up to fight out the looming iPhone v. Droid device conflagration (great ‘over-the-top’ word, huh?) that could shape the future of how many people acquire information from the Internet. Quattro was already ID’d as a potential win as evidenced by investment and there are more players out there says All Things D: Waltham, Mass.-based Quattro has raised close to $30 million from two main venture investors–Highland Capital Partners and Globespan Capital Partners. Founded several years ago, its clients include Ford (F), Disney (DIS) and the National Football League. Competitors in the space are many still, despite these big acquisitions, including Millenial Media and Jumptap, both of which are now clearly in play to other players from telcoms to other device makers to big Internet companies. So get ready for the battle that lies ahead. Who are you putting your money on?

Google to Host Android Announcement Event

cgseo — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:32:37 +0000

Google is stirring up buzz to rival Apple’s yearly expectations with an invitation for reporters to an event January 5—yep, just days before the CES show. Apple has made a tradition of big (or not so big) announcements scheduled conveniently upstaging the popular Consumer Electronics Show. So Google will definitely be cutting into the speculation market between now and then—especially since they told reporters the announcement, hosted at the Mountain View facility—will have something to do with their mobile OS, Android. First launched on the G1 over a year ago, “this is just the beginning of what’s possible,” Google said in the email invitation. The announcement comes less than a month after Google sent its employees home with an unlocked Android phone called the Nexus One , sparking a viral media frenzy when the employees hit social media. With free buzz already in the air and more to come, it seems entirely possible that Google will officially unveil the Nexus at the event. Apple, on the other hand, appears to be keeping any major announcements under its hat for now, with a major product announcement scheduled for January 26, according to Reuters . The anticipated Apple tablet computer would definitely rival a Google phone for buzz, but it looks like they won’t be in direct competition for consumers’ presales attention. So far, not a whole lot is certain about the Nexus One. Search Engine Journal takes a look at the definites and rumors from technical specs to carriers. On the other hand, there’s been a lot of buzz (which seems mostly misguided) around the Chrome OS being used on netbooks. Recently Google premiered a netbook with a Google OS—Android. What do you think? Will Google formally unveil the Nexus One? Or do they have something else up their sleeve?

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Google to Host Android Announcement Event

Consumer Groups Lobby FTC to Block GoogleMob

cgseo — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:50:32 +0000

Early last month, Google announced it was acquiring AdMob for $750M. The deal is still in the works, of course—in part, at least, because the FTC is taking a first and, as of last week, second look at the deal. As the FTC continues to scrutinize the search giant buying the mobile ad giant, consumer groups are taking their opportunity to have their say —and it’s not in favor of the deal. The biggest concerns of the Center for Digital Democracy and Consumer Watchdog include decreasing competition in the mobile ad market and consumer privacy. The groups say that together, Google and AdMob would control most of the mobile ad market. AdMob is already the leader in the market, thought there’s lots of competition in that area. However, with backing from the search engine, it’s possible that AdMob could come to dominate their arena just as Google pwns theirs. The second argument is based on the fact that Google and AdMob both collect considerable information about their users. Together, that information may be a threat to consumers’ privacy, with the two entities sharing everything from searching habits to location data. The groups’ full filing with the FTC is embedded below. It’s easy to understand the appeal for Google, though—with AdMob “approaching a $100M business in the next three years,” as TC puts it, this could be the way for Google to stake their claim in the emerging mobile market. CW and the CDD often make this type of filing on Google’s acquisitions, and it doesn’t always seem to have an effect. But with the FTC already taking a harder look, their word may have that much more sway with the regulators this time around. LtrFTCfinal – What do you think? How much influence will CW & the CDD have this time? Will the FTC ultimately okay the deal?

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Consumer Groups Lobby FTC to Block GoogleMob

We Are Spending More Time Online According to Harris

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:02:20 +0000

Shocked aren’t ya? It really is two days before Christmas because there is just not much happening. The folks at Harris Interactive are still working though and reporting that we are spending more time online than ever before. This will surprise no one but the report digs into some of the specifics of age groups which is always of interest. Honestly though, no surprises there either. TechCrunch tells a little about the study and what possible effects on the results could be: Harris concludes that the average hours spent online have increased from 7 hours from 1999 to 2002, to between 8 and 9 hours in 2003 to 2006, and surged after that. There was a sudden spike in time spent online in 2007 when the average hours spent on the Web increased to 11 hours. Last year, Internet users were online for 14 hours a week, double what it was from 1999 to 2002, although Harris says this could have something to do with the outbreak of the financial crisis and the lead-up to the presidential election in October 2008. The study is about personal time on line and is not inclusive of e-mail time. Based on that, we are talking about just short of 2 hours per day online on average. Here is the data that may be of service to you. There are no real surprises here. I think the shock of the proliferation of the online life is wearing off. There are likely to be other spikes moving forward like the increase of use of the mobile web that will be the new measure of growth online. I suspect that if Harris did some polling around that there would be great interest in the trending. Maybe that will help us identify when the real “Year of Mobile” was or is to be.

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We Are Spending More Time Online According to Harris

Online Recommendations > Advertising

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:38:47 +0000

Deloitte’s 2009 State of the Media Democracy report was released today. Unsurprisingly, it reports that TV has become more popular in the struggling economy (beating out other forms of entertainment). But the big news might be two of the “lesser” findings—about online recommendations and the mobile Internet. Online recommendations are becoming increasingly influential, especially compared with online advertising. Online advertising doesn’t stack up against its offline counterparts—83% of those surveyed cited TV advertising as having an impact on their buying decisions, but less than half mentioned online advertising among their top three. Even clicking through to another site has dropped from 72% to 59% over the last three years. (Only half would click more on more targeted ads, down from two-thirds last go round.) Online recommendations and reviews, on the other hand, are on the way up: Over half of all U.S. consumers and 69 percent of Millenials believe that online customer reviews and ratings influence their buying decisions more than any other type of online advertising, and 51 percent have purchased products based on an online recommendation. In fact, 24 percent of U.S. consumers would like to have an online service that recommends a product based on other consumers’ preferences. Meanwhile, the mobile Internet is making great strides in separating the Internet from the perception of a desktop. Of those surveyed, a third used their phone as “an entertainment device” and nearly half (47%) of smart phone owners say their phone is one of their three “most valuable” media/entertainment products (up from 20% last year). 48% of those surveyed have data plans, and nearly all of them (88%) are using their phones to access the Internet. (The rest are paying too much .) Shopping is already making headway on the mobile Internet—15% have purchased something on their phones. Also popular: texting, online search, downloading apps and online GPS. Clearly, both of these findings show us how the Internet is spreading not only in influence but in accessibility. What do you think? How can better you use online recommendations to your or your clients’ advantages? Are you ready for the mobile Internet?

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Online Recommendations > Advertising

Microblogging, Meet “Megablogging”: Post to WordPress via Twitter

cgseo — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:45:10 +0000

Let’s face it: nobody has the attention span to read more than 140 characters anymore. So WordPress’s latest effort— mobile microblogging cross posting to a regular blog —totally makes sense. Actually, it’s really not a bad shot. Based on an API interface, you can now cross post Twitter updates (with geotagging) to your WordPress account. And really, if all you have to say fits in 140 characters, that’s pretty cool. Of course, this also shows that WordPress’s tech team isn’t too worried about Twitter. And honestly, why should they be? Yeah, Twitter is popular and gets a lot of hype, but really, it serves a different purpose than full-sized blogs. Twitter is great for one-on-one, fast conversations (like public IM, I guess), and for interacting. It’s less great for . . . well, anything that takes more than 140 characters, for one. Interestingly, this capability also lets you read WordPress blogs you’re following—through Twitter. Of course, this uses teasers with links, rather than trying to abbreviate 400-word essays, tutorials or rants into 140 characters. All you need to do this is a Twitter client with custom API support. The official announcement from Matt Mullenweg includes a walkthrough on setting it up on the mobile client Tweetie 2. What do you think? Should WordPress be more worried about competition from Twitter, or is it better to go the all-inclusive route?

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Microblogging, Meet “Megablogging”: Post to WordPress via Twitter

Embed a Geo-tagged Twitter Picture Map in Any Blog

cgseo — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:17:55 +0000

Over the last few days I’ve been playing around with Mobypicture.com and more precisely their Geo-tagged picture map feature. I’ve found a way to have a map embedded on any blog that automatically centres on the last picture uploaded. What’s more it’s all done from a mobile phone… Perfect for any Travel Blog… Other features include: Micro-blogging and blogging brought together. Automatic posting to twitter and Facebook etc. One simple upload from any GPS enabled phone perfect for travellers on the road. Centres on last uploaded picture. Have a look at our Geo-Tagged Picture map. (might still have issues with Internet explorer, that’s not the map, it’s my limited code knowledge). Here’s How to do it: Sign up for free account at www.Mobypicture.com. Connect it with your social network services. i.e. Twitter and Facebook. Download the mobile app or set your favourite (Mobypicture has it’s own apps but I use Twibble ). Upload some Geo-tagged pictures from a phone or computer and it will put them in your stream, post them on your MobyMap (if you click on your Username on the right sidebar you will see a link that says “Launch MobyMap”) and update your selected social networks. FinallyPaste this code where you want the map to appear on a page on your blog or website:

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Embed a Geo-tagged Twitter Picture Map in Any Blog

Even More Google Updates

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:47:14 +0000

Google sure knows how to make an announcement. In the past 48 hours or so there have been updates to how personalization of search occurs, the unveiling of several new real-time / social / mobile features but that isn’t all the Google has decided to unleash on the market. Yesterday’s event at the Computer History Museum was the site of the real-time search announcement that pretty much took the wind out of the sails (and sales?) of other competitors’ efforts to beat Google to the real-time punch. Honestly that would have been enough to have everyone reminded of who the big dog is in the search marketing house but Google didn’t stop there. ReadWriteWeb covered the event and tells us of 5 more areas that Google announced innovations including some Android specific apps that are pretty cool. Looks like everyone including Apple has been put on warning. Near Instant Voice Recognition – Need a quick translation from English to Spanish? A new product prototype offers the ability through your mobile phone via the cloud. Look for most major language translations by the end of 2010. Customized Suggest Based on Location – When you start typing a search on your mobile application would be helpful if your location would be used to make the right suggestions? Of course. A demo of this service during the event yesterday demonstrated on one phone that believed it was in Boston and one that believed it was in San Francisco. Upon typing the letters “RE” the Boston phone suggested searches for Red Sox, the local baseball team. The San Francisco phone suggested a search for REI, the outdoor gear outfitter. Google Product Search Tied to Local Inventory – Just like it reads. Mobile product search will tell you location of a product and its availability. Near Me Now – Google.com on mobile, starting today on Android phones, will offer top-level search categories like restaurants or stores on the front page. Click that button and you’ll see the closest-by search results ranked by user rating. Google Goggles – This is pretty spectacular and I suggest you go check out the quick video here. Essentially, you may use an Android phone to conduct a search based on a picture you have taken. You can even point your phone’s camera at a store and get the name etc etc. Really cool. Of course, this is one of the more experimental products right now so there are limitations but the talk is to be able to one day take a picture of a leave and be told what tree it comes from. Neat. So what else does Google have up its sleeve? Who knows but anyone who thought that they have been sitting back watching the world go by and waiting for the search wars to begin has been mistaken.

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Even More Google Updates

Twitter Mobile Gets a New Look

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:10:49 +0000

I admit, I am coming at this one a little uneducated. You see I never used the Twitter mobile site until today when I even considered that it existed. With the third party apps available I just don’t think about Twitter as the place to ‘micro-blog’ but rather the act of ‘micro-blogging’. I suspect that will make sense to some and for those who get it maybe you should be just a little worried. Back to the important news at hand. The new Twitter mobile site preview was touted today on the Twitter blog . Leland of Twitter tells us Our new mobile web site is previewing today, just point your phone’s browser to http://mobile.twitter.com. Its got a great new look, and has some great new touches that will make your mobile experience on Twitter a bit more fun and a lot more helpful. Let us know if you agree and especially tell us how we can make it better. Here’s a look see. For someone like myself who is pretty committed to Tweet Deck as my third party Twittercation of choice this redesign will have little impact. I suppose it would be good to ask how many readers use the mobile Twitter site regularly. Is there anybody out there? Leland talks about the soon to be replaced version of the mobile Twitter experience as ‘m’ and seems to be trying to break the news to ‘it’ as nicely as possible. What may be a less known fact is: Lots of people access Twitter on their phones via our good ol’ mobile website, and trusty ‘m’ has been delivering tweets faithfully. However, ‘m’ doesn’t fully feel like Twitter, and could probably do a bit more things for you. ‘M’ should also be fantastically innovative — naturally the best way to do that is use our own APIs. So, the mobile team here built a brand new mobile web client from scratch, using only Twitter APIs, and we’d like to share the results with you. So it looks like ‘m’ is going to be kicked to the curb. Tossed away like so much rubbish despite the loyal and faithful work it has done in the past. So ‘m’. when your days are over I shall remember you fondly which mean much more if I had ever used you before writing this post. Anyway, good luck ol’ boy. You’re not the only one being put out of work these days.

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Twitter Mobile Gets a New Look

Ahhhhh To Be Young and Mobile

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:29:16 +0000

It appears that it is finally safe to say that if mobile hasn’t completely arrived it is certainly in the room and recognized for its potential. Should we declare 2010 as the ‘Year of Mobile’? Sure, why not. There will be others and honestly it means nothing to hype it. Let’s look at what’s actually going on at street level. Over at the ZDNet’s Between the Lines blog , Larry Dignan tells us about a survey from the Bernstein Research’s Jeffrey Lindsay did some research among 360 smartphone users that follows up some initial research he did in the mobile advertising space. Here is some of the information that you may find interesting 67 percent of respondents said that smartphones increased their Internet usage for personal use and 45 percent said work related usage rose. 95 percent of users use the same search engine for the PC and mobile. 37 percent of respondents say they are clicking on more paid search links and seeing more display adds. Users 18 to 34 found mobile ads to be more relevant than their PC counterparts. Older users panned mobile ads across the board. As Dignan points out, I agree the major piece of data to be gleaned from this is the fact the younger the mobile user is the more likely they will be responsive to mobile ads. The older users referred to breaks out in this chart below. I’m not surprised by this and I hope the rest of the industry will take heed. When it comes to mobile there may not be an audience unless your product or service skews young. This is likely to change over time but for now it’s the younger set that will allow mobile and advertising to be used as a phrase while others think that the separation of the two is the better way to go.

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Ahhhhh To Be Young and Mobile