My week in mobile: Google Tablet, Facebook browser rumours and Apple’s Developer Conference predictions

Fragmented Android landscape by Open Signal Map

Another week in mobile and, as always, many new developments in the global platform war. It looks like Google will finally be launching its very own tablet this July. As Android is by far the most popular operating system and Andy Rubin, Senior VP of Mobile, told reporters at Mobile World Congress that ‘2012 is going to be the year that we double down and make sure we’re winning in that space’, we’re expecting a big push. Somo's Innovation Director, Maani Safa, spoke to the International Business Times about the problems with the fragmentation of Google’s operating system after OpenSignalMaps identified 3397 unique Android devices. Could this hinder Google’s attempt to disrupt the tablet market?

Google tab and Kindle Fire head-to-head?
Rumour has it that the seven inch tab will sell for just $199 – could this be a loss-leading strategy to snatch marketing share from the Kindle Fire? Amazon is yet to launch the Kindle Fire in the UK, but Brand Republic reports that the company has negotiated a deal with UK bookseller Waterstones. Although a top online retailer joining forces with the struggling publishing sector might seem counter-intuitive, Barnes & Nobile in the US is showing how a multi-channel strategy like this can work – their stores provide Nook tablets for kids to play on, and special deals for their tablet owners, to entice them in store.

Facebook to buy browser?
Facebook is rumoured to be buying the Norwegian internet browser Opera, showing yet another serious move towards becoming a fully integrated ecosystem, after a rocky week post-IPO. Microsoft, moving ever-closer to being a post-PC digital company has launched So.cl (pronounced social), its assault on the social networking space. With the ‘screen agnostic’ Windows 8 OS on the way, they may also be poised to lead in the smart TV market; VP Frank Shaw detailed that CEO Steve Balmer keeps an 80-inch in his office…

Apple Developer Conference
This multiplatform glory could be short-lived; we are all on the edge of our seats for the Apple Developer Conference on 11^th to 16^th June, where we expect to see iOS 6, without Google Maps, perhaps an NFC-enabled iPhone 5 and possibly the Mac TV. How much do you think it would take to get the UK’s ITV channel to sell their trademark? We want iTV!

Written for Somo and first published here: http://www.somoglobal.com/news/our-week-in-mobile-google-tablet-facebook-browser-rumours-and-apples-developer-conference-predictions/

My week in mobile: Facebook App Center and no more Maps on iOS

Yesterday, another long-awaited opportunity was finally revealed as Facebook launched its own app marketplace, The App Center.

Facebook has a $3 billion advertising business that’s tipped to get a lot bigger. Despite recent speculation that it can’t win on mobile, the company is in a commanding position both in terms of user base and the value per user. This new social discoverability platform will soon reach one billion people, more than 50% of internet users and nearly 15% of the world’s population.

To date, only web or mobile apps built with Facebook were displayed on their platform. Developers can now promote any Android or iOS app that allows users to log in via Facebook. New ‘product pages’, similar to other app stores and brand Facebook pages, will hold app details.

The aim of this move is to drive mobile downloads, either directly or through links to the relevant app store. The center will contain paid apps, the first time they have been given visibility on Facebook.
Facebook has not yet revealed what will be taken into account when ranking new apps, however, we are expecting highly social elements – weighted towards social sharing, positive ratings and reviews.
We expect Facebook to become one of, if not the biggest, mobile publisher and this is an excellent opportunity for our clients to promote their apps in a highly populated and social setting.

End of Google Maps on Apple?

In other news in Platform Wars, Apple is likely to drop Google Maps from the next iteration of iOS. According to ‘trusted sources’ speaking to 9 to 5 Mac, this will give way to a new Map app with an Apple back-end. This is unsurprising in the race to become the ruler of mobile, but is potentially an unsettling change as many people are used to Google Map. How different can a map be you ask? Apple’s new offering should include 3D. Like you’re actually standing there…

Watch out for Apple getting rid of Google as its default search engine…

Written for Somo and first published here: http://www.somoglobal.com/news/our-week-in-mobile-facebook-app-center-deadline-no-more-maps-on-ios-and-uminski-on-the-brand-perfect-tour/

My week in mobile: bad mobile sites, Shazam’s dual screen deal with ITV and can Groupon save the UK high street?

Last week, David Murphy from Mobile Marketing Magazine revealed that mobile media paid for by consumers will be worth $150bn in 2012. Much of this is coming from the increasing use of the mobile web, as well as the growth of the app markets.

More than 23 billion apps were downloaded globally in 2011. In 2012, this is forecast by Strategy Analytics to increase to over 32 billion. Developers are facing the increasing problem of not being easily found in the heaving app stores, as well the need for that really different idea in the first place.

Shazam's dual screen deal with ITV

Another issue reported by the BBC this week were findings from Stanford University that poorly designed mobile websites drain battery life.  This is even truer for apps, which are much heavier and are often used for longer periods of time. While we applaud businesses that are brave enough to leap into mobile, all consumers want is a good experience, quick information that isn’t going to kill your phone. Is that too much to ask?

The Mobile Marketing Association held their Brand and Agency Briefing yesterday in London.  Alex Meisl, the MMA’s chairman, pointed to Deloitte research that said that in three years, 4 in 10 shops will disappear from British High Streets.

Groupon revealed big plans to make their service more relevant and more local for users with their new app Groupon Now! Much of their work is focusing on becoming a platform for local businesses and educating them on these opportunities, which could go some way to reversing the trend towards shop closures. They said that 10% of revenue is now coming from mobile.

Shazam’s new appointment, Miles Lewis, also spoke at the event and the company is still flying high after signing an exclusive deal with the UK’s ITV channel. They are hoping to make the best of the dual screen opportunities brought to life by tablets and smartphones, while also announcing a new Music TV Ad Chart, which will show just how popular new records become after appearing on the box.

Google rewarded us this week with a new brand of cloud storage. Drive, a competitor to Dropbox is pretty good. It gives you more storage for free, is cheaper to upgrade and you can open 30 different kinds of file in your browser, even if you don’t have that programme installed. And it syncs very nicely with all your other Google accounts.

Rumours are still rife that there will be a Facebook HTC phone coming soon. Will they build their own operating system, thrusting a new, major player into the mix, or will this just be a combination of their assets?

Written for Somo and first published here: http://www.somoglobal.com/news/our-week-in-mobile-bad-mobile-sites-shazams-dual-screen-deal-with-itv-and-can-groupon-save-the-uk-high-street/

Women in Wireless launches in the UK

By Kirsty Styles (Communications Executive, SOMO)

Jerri DeVard addressed the few men who braved the Women in Wireless London launch with “welcome to our world, we have expertise in discomfort!”  Said with a smile and charm, she won everyone over immediately.

In a lemon dress, the tall African-American Executive VP and CMO of Nokia cut an interesting figure, and brought with her a truly inspirational story that left time poor women in the crowd scrambling to call their mother, wherever in the world she is.

Like Jerri, her audience want to be happy and successful. Before us, it felt like we had the embodiment of just that. “I wanted to be successful personally too, jobs come and go, your family is always there” she added.

The Women in Wireless launch couldn’t have been better timed, coinciding with the news that the pay gap in London is the largest in the UK, almost 23%, childcare costs stop women from going back to work, while female unemployment has risen by 7,000.

Jerri has two children, and committed with her husband that they would be ‘present’, there would always be someone to sit down and have dinner with them.  She has turned down meetings to be at their special moments.

“We all stand on someone’s shoulders” she said, of the need for women to help guide others to success . She mentors young women around the world, giving them anything from an email, a text, to a shoulder to cry on. As a teacher, you have to ask ‘How can I help you?’

“Can you have it all?”, the age old question came from the audience. “Maybe you can’t have it ‘all’ at the same time. But we owe it to ourselves to find out what ‘it all’ is. You make it work.”

She finished her address with the words of Nicky Giovannia, the American writer and activist: “I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.”

On Work
The best thing you can say to someone in business is, ‘I’d like your help’.

Know your strengths and play to them.

There is no substitute for being good at what you do – you have to be good to enjoy it, you have to enjoy it to be good.

Lean to those people who think differently to you.

Find those people at work who will give you an honest opinion about who you are and how you are perceived.

On Family
Your mum is someone who loves you, and also someone you can trust [not  necessarily  guaranteed in a relationship.

Friends tell you what you want to hear.

Her mum put herself through college after having two children, ‘isn’t being my wife and the mother of my children enough for you?’ her husband urged. ‘No. I want to do more.’ She rose to become the Commissioner for Literacy for the State of Massachusettes.

Remarried.

On Relationships
Be careful who you choose to take on your journey.

Written for Women in Wireless and first published here: http://womeninwireless.tumblr.com/post/21717665264/women-in-wireless-london-launch

My week in mobile: Teenagers sullen as Instagram joins the mainstream, Google+ changes and Q1 results, plus Barclays Pingit

You can always tell that something has become mainstream when your mum comes home wearing it (skinny jeans, Ugg Boots…). Not confined to clothing choice or language (no it isn’t cool when you say cool mum!), the phenomenon is quickly spreading across the tech world.

 

Maybe it’s also a bit about your privacy, either way, when a teenager gets the Facebook friend request “… has indicated that he is your dad”, there’s very little hiding. The Register toys with the idea that Facebook might struggle for an audience in 2013 as young people flock for somewhere else to play…

After Pinterest’s recent rise to fame, young hipsters across the globe will have let out another cool shrug on hearing the news that Facebook has bought Instagram (never let them know your true feelings), leaving yet another crowd on the move looking for the next small thing.

While Google+ has received a bit of a panning for its recent updates, including mimicking the cover photo feature forced on Facebook users, it does allow for improved customisation, excellent video conferencing and integrates with all of your other Google stuff. And with only 170 million users, it is crucially the place where you might not have to hangout with your mum. Yet.

Despite having significantly fewer social users than Facebook, Google’s Q1 earnings show they are still doing something right. They are seeing increasing success with ads on Youtube, and are expecting CPCs on mobile to come down. All good news.

Sadly Sony, the ageing post-war behemoth, is shedding 10,000 jobs in a bid to streamline its business into One Sony, and keep up with agile, digital-only competition. Despite this, in the US alone, 6,000 new mobile jobs have been created since the start of the year, according to Mobile Marketing Magazine. And yes, we are hiring in the US, UK and Asia.

In an indication that it might finally be hip to be square, the UK bank Barclays has just released an update to the person-to-person app Pingit to include 16 and 17 year old. Apparently by popular demand!

Any smartphone user with a UK bank account can now send up to £300… No more late pocket money…  Maybe having a tech-savvy mum isn’t so bad after all..?

Written for Somo and first published here: http://www.somoglobal.com/news/our-week-in-mobile-teenagers-sullen-as-instagram-joins-the-mainstream-google-changes-and-q1-results-plus-barclays-pingit/