According to eMarketer, mobile advertising will only make up one percent of the total U.S. ad spending in 2012. Even so, mobile advertising still stands to have a significant impact on companies such as Google, Twitter and Facebook.
Currently, Facebook only accounts for 2.8 percent of the mobile advertising market, eMarketer reports. The company has struggled to gain revenue from its mobile ads, which make up less than two percent of Facebook’s overall ad revenue.
“Next year, however, Facebook’s U.S. mobile-ad revenue is expected to jump to $387 million, according to eMarketer, or about 8.8 percent of the projected total U.S. mobile-ad sales for 2013,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The company’s market share, which eMarketer expects to reach 9.5 percent by 2014, would transform Facebook from a newcomer into a distant No. 2 in a market dominated by Google.”
“The experimentation phase will come to an end, and Facebook will figure out what works in mobile, both for the advertiser and the user,” said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson.
“Even with the expected boom in Facebook’s mobile-ad revenue, eMarketer expects mobile advertising to account for roughly 20 percent of Facebook’s total U.S. advertising sales by 2014, lagging behind the proportion of mobile users who visit the site,” the article states.
David Kelley, founder and chairman of design and innovation firm IDEO, launched “d.school” at Stanford in 2005 as a place to build creative confidence… and geniuses like Steve Jobs. Kelley recently joined Stanford professor Bob Sutton onstage at a MIX Mashup to discuss their philosophy.
Officially named the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, d.school is “a multi-disciplinary mashup of design thinking principles, real-world projects, and collaboration,” Fortune explains. The 17 courses offered each semester cover a variety of themes, but are all aimed at breaking down the walls inhibiting innovation.
The first step in the program is “desensitize yourself to failure,” the article reports. In order to try out ground-breaking ideas, people have to be willing to fail, step outside their area of expertise and celebrate the small successes along the way.
Sutton describes the next big cornerstone in d.school philosophy as “do to think.” Instead of starting off planning or figuring how to make an idea profitable, jump into it and make a prototype. Next, play up your inner five-year-old and ask: Why? How? What if?
“Genuine questions demonstrate a sense of humility, curiosity, even vulnerability,” explains the article. “And they offer up a powerful advantage in a world of expanding complexity and change — a world in which no single individual can possibly have all of the answers, but an open, curious one can attract more perspectives, surface more possibilities, and enlist more help than if they’re closed off by certainty.”
Teaching these three elements at d.school, Kelley hopes to not only build creative confidence but also “self-efficacy,” or as psychologist Albert Bandura explains, “the sense that you can change the world and that you can do what you set out to do.”
A new concept called Government 2.0 leverages the power of online tech stars to solve offline problems. Want to keep city fire hydrants clear of hazardous snow build-up? There’s an app for that.
One notable Gov 2.0 non-profit called Code for America (CfA) has already made substantial improvements in the public sphere. Including the Web app for fire hydrants, CfA has created 35 apps, “for everything from urban blight to school buses,” notes the Wall Street Journal.
The apps work by inviting locals to take up small tasks that benefit the whole community. You can adopt a hydrant to keep clear for firefighters, take on the routine of clearing a storm drain or monitor batteries for local tsunami warning sirens.
“It’s irritatingly obvious, really: Shared technology saves time, money, even lives,” comments WSJ. “Government spending on information technology in 2012 is set at $79.5 billion federally and $55.4 billion for state and local. Meanwhile, to complete one government project — estimated at two years and $2 million — it took a couple of CfA fellows just [2.5] months.”
Besides bringing “online efficiency to offline civics,” the Gov 2.0 movement advocates transparency, calling openness the “next generation’s default setting when they’re up against big problems,” the article states.
The NPD Group has released a new report showing that 2012 has seen a loss of 12 million gamers in the U.S., a five percent decline from 2011. Even so, mobile gamers increased from nine to 22 percentage points and now make up the largest gamer segment.
The study divided gamers into six categories: mobile, digital, core, family+kid, light PC, and avid PC. The family+kid gamers saw the largest decline at 17.4 million gamers.
Last year, core gamers made up the largest segment but they still spend the most of any segment.
“Given the long lifecycles of the current consoles and the increasing installed base of smartphones and tablets, it’s not surprising to see a slight decline in the core gamer segment,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “It’s the revenue contribution of the core gamer segment that continues to outpace all other segments, and remains vital to the future of the industry.”
In the past three months, core gamers spent an average of $65 on physical games — notably higher than the overall average of $48.
In the same time period, game purchasers spent an average of $16 on digital games-PC/console/portable and almost 14 percent reported buying microtransactions/additional game content, up from 11 percent in 2011.
As mobile continues to expand, game publishers are putting more focus on social, free-to-play, the cloud, and of course, mobile gaming. And EA is no exception.
“Going forward, every EA game will have some multi-player or social component,” Forbes reports. “This doesn’t mean single-player games will cease to be a part of the EA catalog, it just means that even single-player games will have tie-ins across multiple devices.”
The article notes that this transition to the cloud is very beneficial for certain games, enabling users to to pick up where they left off on any of their devices.
“The problem is, an immersive single-player game that tries to force people to play minigames on separate platforms is probably going to lose whatever immersion factor it ought to have had,” the article suggests. Additionally, requiring social integration, like a mandatory Facebook login, could deter gamers from playing at all.
“That’s not evolving with consumers, it’s adapting to what many in the industry see as the wave of the future: mobile, free-to-play, and social gaming displacing more traditional games,” Forbes writes. “It’s also a bit of sleight of hand. For all the talk of fan service, many of these mobile and social tie-ins are little more than the gamification of viral marketing.”
Mobile gaming is not necessarily growing at the expense of traditional gaming. “The two experiences are fundamentally different, especially since mobile touch-screens are essentially the most limited and limiting type of game controller on the market,” explains the article.
Apple users can now edit Google Docs on the go, following an update to the Google Drive iOS app. The new features finally put the iOS app on par with the Android version.
“Google says that any edits on collaborative docs will appear in ‘seconds,’ and full rich text formatting is included as well,” reports The Verge.
“Even the basic function of creating a new document is no longer out of reach. Presentations have been enhanced, with new animation support as well as speaker notes — two crucial items for those living in the slide deck world.”
“Docs support isn’t the only big change, though — users can now upload photos and videos directly from a device to Drive, and it’s now possible to add folders and move (or delete) files directly from the app,” notes the post.
The Android app also received an update that offers the ability to add comments, reply to comments and view tables within the app.
Online privacy company Abine offers a free service called DNT+ (Do Not Track Plus) that “claims to give control back to the user by providing insight into which social networks, advertising networks, and companies are tracking you,” Business Insider reports.
Unlike Microsoft’s “do not track” feature on Internet Explorer 10, Abine actually allows consumers to stop advertisers from tracking.
“Abine not only allows you to notify advertisers that you do not want to be tracked, but it also lets you both see who is tracking you and then block that advertiser from tracking you,” the article explains.
BI tested out DNT+ on various sites, finding social networks had the most trackers. The New York Times had 11 trackers: one for social networks, three for ad networks and seven for other companies.
By contrast, Facebook reported 154 trackers, all monitoring activity on other sites.
“For most of the networks and companies Abine identifies, the tool recommends that you block them,” the article states. “However, there are a few trackers that they suggest you allow. The reason, according to the company’s website, is that some trackers are identified as core technologies that are critical to how a site runs, such as playing videos or login functionality.”
In an interview with AllThingsD, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos discusses the company’s eclectic business strategy that ranges from offering Web services to selling apparel.
“Our approach is, if we have a good idea, and if it’s something we think customers would care about, like AWS or Kindle Fire, then we don’t ask why do this, we ask why not do this?” says Bezos. “We have a high bar for doing those things. We don’t want to do me-too things. The people we’ve attracted over time to Amazon want to be pioneers. They want to be inventors. They want to do new things.”
Amazon has created its own approach to making a profit while offering cheap services and devices — an approach that Bezos admits doesn’t work for every company.
“In my view, you set up the business in a way that is aligned with the customer, or you can set it up in odds with the customer. When you have the option, you should figure out a way to be in alignment,” he explains, adding the make-money-up-front or make-it-up-on-the-backend approaches may work best for others.
Amazon has taken on expensive endeavors, like its Amazon Prime service and Kindle Owner’s Lending Library, both of which the company has spent millions to license while offering customers a low price.
“Despite what some have said from time to time, Amazon is a for-profit business,” says Bezos. “So, we looked at some numbers, and we believed that this would be a good program for customers and for Amazon — that’s the alignment I’m talking about.”
“These devices are not very useful unless they are connected to the Internet,” he notes, regarding wireless. “The whole point is to connect to the Internet, and that means Wi-Fi. Even for 4G, you want Wi-Fi.”
“This year, we wanted to build the best tablet at any price,” Bezos concludes. “Take away the price and it’s still the best tablet. It also happens to be only $499.”
New data from IHS iSuppli shows that cloud-based storage subscriptions are expected to pass the half billion mark this year, a sizable increase from the 300 million in 2011.
Next year, the growth is expected to remain high at 25 percent for a total of 625 million subscriptions. By 2017, IHS iSuppli expects 1.3 billion cloud-storage subscriptions.
Independent providers such as Dropbox have been strong players in the early cloud market, but powerful consumer technology and IT companies are now crowding in with new cloud services — Apple’s iCloud, Amazon’s CloudDrive, GoogleDrive and Microsoft SkyDrive, for example.
“The big question is how many of these consumers are using the freemium, as opposed to the paid, versions of these products,” notes GigaOM.
“Profitability is the tricky part. Ragdish Rebello, Ph.D., IHS’ director for consumer and communications, said these companies should realize — if they don’t already — that cloud services in and of themselves are not profitable so these vendors better be prepared to identify and provide value-added services that actually make money.”
Facebook has almost seven times Twitter’s number of monthly users, sitting at one billion compared with Twitter’s 150 million. But Forbes contributor Eric Jackson argues that Twitter is now in fact a bigger company than Facebook because of mobile ads.
According to eMarketer figures, Twitter’s 2012 mobile ad revenue is $129.7 million, compared to Facebook’s $72.7 million. In the world of social media, mobile ad dollars mean everything.
“The stock market is obsessed with who will make money in the mobile space because the stock market — correctly — believes that all of us (or 90+ percent of us) will only access these services from mobile devices in a very short period,” writes Jackson.
Facebook is “really only a PC-based ad company,” he suggests, adding that Facebook’s Payments business has also struggled due to the rapid shift in mobile.
Admittedly, Facebook only began selling mobile ads in the second half of 2012 but Jackson counters, saying “Twitter’s mobile ad sales were likely also light in the first half of the year.”
“Maybe Facebook is going to ramp things up in the future,” concludes Jackson. “But given that they’re 7x as big as Twitter and to have their heads handed to them like this from the quirky little San Francisco company, it’s embarrassing.”
A recent Nielsen consumer survey found more adults reported using radio streaming service Pandora to listen to music than Apple’s iTunes.
“Apple has dominated the sale of song downloads since 2003 when it launched what was then the iTunes Music Store. It has since become the largest music retailer, physical or digital, in the world,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “But if services like Pandora and Spotify gain popularity, Apple could lose its edge.”
Apple is reportedly working on creating a custom-radio service, according to people familiar with the matter. The service would be available across all Apple products and possibly on Windows computers. It would not, however, work with devices using Google’s Android operating system.
“Apple is negotiating for its own licensing deals with record companies, these people said, because it wants to offer users a greater degree of interactivity than allowed by so-called compulsory licenses used by Pandora and other webcasters,” notes WSJ.
Pandora’s free, ad-supported service has yet to be profitable due to high royalty payments. Research firm eMarketer expects the company to earn $226.4 million in mobile ad revenue this year, but Pandora’s “content-acquisition costs for [Q2] increased 79 percent compared with the same quarter in 2011, far outstripping its revenue growth of 51 percent,” explains the article.
Apple’s service would also take the ad-supported approach with its iAd platform, a move that could make achieving profitability difficult. Competing music service Spotify instead relies on subscription fees for ad-free versions, and has noted that less than 15 percent of its revenue comes from ad sales.
Smart TVs have become more advanced with high-speed processors, built-in cameras and Internet connections. Even so, consumers are still opting to use their set-top boxes to access the Internet and other services because of the poor user experience on smart TV interfaces.
“While many TVs now offer the same functionality and connectivity that previously only existed in such set-top boxes as Apple TV or Roku, most consumers simply aren’t connecting this way,” reports Fortune. “Jupiter Research predicts that by 2017 some 650 million users worldwide could be connected online via a TV, including through set-top boxes.”
Some TV interfaces are not intuitive and there is no standard among the various manufacturers. “Imagine if each computer you used had an entirely different operating system, one of eight or 10 types, rather than simply Mac or Windows,” the article suggests.
“Set-top boxes have other benefits over smart TVs,” the article adds. “For one, most larger screen HDTV sets can cost upwards to $2,000 and have an eight to 10 year life cycle, while a set-top box costs far less to replace.”
“The TV stays in the house for eight years or more, and it can’t keep pace with the changing technology of the Internet,” says Colin Dixon, senior partner of The Diffusion Group.
Dixon “noted in a recent study that this fragmentation could result in $1 billion in lost ad revenue alone,” explains Fortune. “Advertisers are struggling to decide which smart TV platforms to support.”
“The problem with Smart TVs is they aren’t smart, not by a long shot,” suggests Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group. “They are more of an oxymoron.”
MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd ventured to Tampa and Charlotte for the Republican and Democratic national conventions, conducting meetings with lawmakers and speaking about intellectual property protection.
“Dodd issued a statement Tuesday praising the Democratic party platform, which calls for protections of Internet freedom as well as protection of intellectual property. He also praised the Republican platform language last week,” reports Variety. “But neither platform gets into the specifics that would trigger the kind of outcry that greeted the Stop Online Piracy Act anti-piracy legislation, which stalled in the face of an Internet protest in January.”
Dodd said that SOPA had some issues, but he hopes that the tech businesses and movie industry will be able to work toward a “balance between a free and open Internet, and simultaneously protecting the intellectual property of this creative industry.”
“I think there’s a growing effort in the industries themselves to find some common ground on how we manage to satisfy both industries going forward, and also some thought that if we need some sort of legislation, we are going to do it cooperatively if we can,” he noted.
Dodd has stated his support for President Obama but he doesn’t think a Republican president and Congress would affect how he does his job. During his years as a senator, Dodd made many connections with notable Republicans and worked hard to collaborate with Republicans on bills.
His visits to the conventions were fairly brief, contrasting the tech industry’s strong presence at the events. “Google has a giant pavilion made of shipping containers, and Facebook and Twitter have a heavy presence,” the article notes.
Following Nokia’s launch of two new Lumia models, the 820 and 920, Engadget interviewed the company’s CEO Stephen Elop about the Windows phones and his expectations for consumer adoption.
“I think Windows Phone 8 allows us to deliver the most personalized smartphone experience,” Elop said, adding, “more and more personalized information can be brought to the home screen.”
The compatibility with the upcoming Windows 8 OS will also provide users with a better overall experience, he said. “It shares that same design language in terms of user experience… which leads us to an environment where we can have greater sharing between a PC, a tablet, a phone, the Xbox gaming platform… rounding out that digital experience for consumers.”
As Engadget notes, the Nokia-Windows Phone partnership has yet to have strong commercial success, begging the question why Nokia didn’t opt to pair up with Google’s Android OS.
“The fundamental reason that we went to the Windows Phone… was for one word: differentiation,” Elop said. “And I think this is an example in the industry where people realize that differentiation really does matter.”
He expects the user experience created on the Lumia devices to convert consumers. In addition to the Windows Phone 8 personalization, the devices have wireless charging and a great PureView camera for low-light pictures and shake-proof videos. The phones also offer an augmented reality program called Nokia City Lens that shows users what the camera sees with added information about their surroundings — restaurants, transportation, etc.
Elop added that Nokia remains committed to their older devices, even as technology progresses. The current Lumia models will be able to upgrade their home screen and add City Lens.
Motorola announced three new, practically identical handsets Wednesday, which strongly resemble the Droid Razr in both name and looks.
The Droid Razr HD and Razr Maxx HD are expected to sell over the holidays for $199 and $299 respectively. The slightly smaller Razr M is a mid-range device that will retail next week for $99.
“But while largely unexciting on their own, the three phones mark a new direction for Motorola, which was scooped up by Google earlier this year,” VentureBeat writes. “Recently appointed CEO Dennis Woodside called the devices the beginning of a ‘new’ Motorola, which is one that’s betting heavily on three key areas: 4G LTE, battery life, and, most predictably, Android.”
Motorola has determined that these three elements as well as durable hardware are most important to consumers. Its consistent design means the company, like Apple, is “focusing on hero devices with a design language that can only belong to one company,” the article states.
“That, ultimately, is good for consumers, because it ensures that the devices that Motorola releases will be of higher quality and will be more likely to get updated to future iterations of Android,” the post continues. “It also means that Motorola (and Google, of course) will be able to focus less on redesigning hardware and more on improving the user interface (again, like Apple).”
