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Esquire Offers Interactive Print Edition Enabled by Netpage Mobile App

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November 26, 2012
  • Hearst is going mobile to make the December issue of Esquire completely interactive, without the need for QR codes or digital watermarks. The Netpage application allows mobile users to access additional content or save and share content with friends on social media sites.
  • A Lexus ad, for example, can be activated with animation that turns into a 30-second video — and some products found in the issue can be purchased using the app. Scanning the cover leads to an exclusive video with actor Bradley Cooper. Readers can also interact with recipes and digital storefronts.
  • “Print publishers are embracing mobile to help drive deeper engagements with their publications as readers increasingly look to consume media via smartphones and tablets,” reports Mobile Marketer.
  • “Esquire’s readers and advertisers have come to expect leading-edge content experiences — this partnership with Netpage represents both a ‘first’ and a new standard for the industry,” says Jack Essig, senior VP, publishing director and chief revenue officer at Esquire.
  • “As partners in breaking boundaries, Esquire and Lexus will not only deliver a new means for engaging with our content but will also fuel the conversation around both our brands,” he adds.
  • “Going forward, all Esquire issues will be mobile-enabled via the Netpage app,” notes the post. “Hearst is also currently testing Netpage for other magazines with plans to launch more mobile-enabled titles next year.”

Second Screen: Hulu Plus Launches New App for Nintendo Wii U Console

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November 26, 2012
  • While Nintendo Wii U users interested in television may have to wait for the company’s TVii services, they’ll still be able to access a second-screen viewing experience if they are Hulu Plus subscribers.
  • Hulu launched its Wii U app earlier than expected, offering bonus material and the ability to queue up TV episodes or view episodes previously watched on TV on the GamePad.
  • “While watching a show on the big screen, the Wii U’s GamePad displays information on a host of topics, including the current show or episode,” reports CNET.
  • “Although the console had promised a host of entertainment features, including a television programming handling through a service, called TVii, most of the features were missing at launch,” notes the post. “Nintendo plans to deliver those features in the coming weeks. And save for Netflix, the Wii U’s streaming offering was a little light. Hulu, though, should help bolster that.”
  • Hulu Plus, which currently costs $8 per month, is offering a one-week free trial to get Wii U users interested in the service.
  • The CNET post includes a 5-minute first-look video review of the Nintendo Wii U.

Nintendo Wii U Expands Entertainment Options with YouTube App

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November 26, 2012
  • Game consoles are increasingly offering non-gaming entertainment options including access to online services.
  • “Movies streamed from Netflix, music courtesy Last.fm, and, of course, the ubiquitous crowd-sourced video content of YouTube have all become nearly as common uses for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii as those consoles’ respective games,” reports Digital Trends.
  • “It should come as little surprise that Nintendo’s newly-launched Wii U console should play host to a dedicated YouTube application a mere five days after its retail debut,” suggests the post.
  • “The Wii U’s official YouTube application appears to be little more than a relatively standard aesthetics and functionality update for the original Wii YouTube app, only with special accoutrements added which take advantage of the console’s exclusive features.”
  • The Wii U app — like all official YouTube apps — is free of charge. Once downloaded, users imply enter their YouTube credentials to gain access to the site’s extensive video content.
  • Currently, the app does not include functionality that might allow users to upload video content to YouTube via the Wii U. No consoles are able to upload footage via their YouTube apps, “but given the number of recent, big-name releases that boast YouTube uploading capabilities as an important feature, it only stands to reason that YouTube and the various console manufacturers would want to expand the scope of their respective YouTube applications.”

Apple to Rule Tablet Downloads for Five Years, Paid App Market to Decline

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November 26, 2012
  • Despite its tablet market lead experiencing a dent in Q3, Apple’s iPad will continue to dominate the market for the next five years, according to Strategy Analytics.
  • “In its Mobile Apps Download Forecast: 2008–2017 report, Strategy Analytics forecasts a total of more than 350 billion smartphone and tablet app downloads between 2008 and 2017,” reports TechCrunch.
  • “The analyst predicts the Google Play store will account for more than 45 percent of phone-related downloads in 2017, while Apple’s iTunes Store will account for 56 percent of tablet downloads in five years’ time.”
  • By 2017, free apps will account for 91 percent of downloads, although paid apps will continue to be “an essential component of the app ecosystem,” according to Josh Martin of Strategy Analytics.
  • “Paid downloads will remain an important way for smaller developers to monetize their efforts,” he says. “For developers committed to paid downloads transitioning to tablets may be the smartest way to preserve the business model over the long term.”
  • “App Stores will also see a revenue crunch as more revenue is earned from advertising — revenue generated outside the bounds of the app store — and will need to prepare,” adds Martin. “Newer platforms such as Windows 8, BlackBerry 10, Tizen and Firefox are building their operating systems and storefronts with this knowledge which should go a long way to making them attractive to developers and end-users.”

Dyle Delivers Live TV to the Apple iPad: Ready for Prime Time?

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November 26, 2012

Watching live television on an iPad currently has limited options. With a cable subscription, for example, users can stream Disney and ESPN shows. Alternatively, New York City viewers can opt for Aereo (but the networks are suing to shut it down). Enter Dyle, which just launched for Apple’s iOS devices. Dyle, with support from NBC, Fox and other top broadcast groups, has released a free TV app for iOS devices that uses broadcast signals to beam licensed programming to viewers. Continue reading Dyle Delivers Live TV to the Apple iPad: Ready for Prime Time?

Opinion: TV Everywhere Requires Less Complications, More Consistency

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November 26, 2012
  • “The TV Everywhere pitch is straightforward: If you pay for cable TV, you can watch cable TV wherever you want — on your iPad, in your bedroom, on your phone, in the airport,” writes Peter Kafka for AllThingsD.
  • “The reality is a lot more complicated, for a lot of reasons, but the upshot is that right now you can only watch a bit of what’s on cable on devices that aren’t your TV,” he notes. “And if the cable guys are going to convince people not to cut the cord, or to sign up for the cord in the first place, that’s going to have to get better.”
  • Kafka cites ESPN’s “great WatchESPN app” as an example of this model that really enables consumers to watch content everywhere on demand. However, the app let Kafka down when he tried to watch Monday Night Football on his phone.
  • “The problem, says ESPN PR, is that Verizon has an exclusive on NFL mobile rights, so ESPN can’t deliver the game to me on my iPhone, even when I’m at home, on a Wi-Fi connection (which is the way that lots of mobile video gets consumed),” he writes.
  • While this may make sense from a business development perspective, what is the reaction of average sports fans who expect to watch what they want, when they want?
  • Even more confusing: while the game was not available on the iPhone, it was available on the iPad.
  • “Again, trying to argue that some rights apply to a 9.5-inch screen but not a 3.5-inch screen is the sort of thing that makes sense to lawyers and deal-makers, and no sense at all to normal people,” concludes Kafka. “You know, the people you want to keep paying for cable.”

Michael Powell: Cable Companies At the Mercy of Content Companies

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November 26, 2012
  • Michael Powell, president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and former FCC chairman, suggests that content creators are still in control in the emerging multiplatform age.
  • “Technologists are excited about software or hardware and we forget that people are really buying and holding on to stories,” notes Powell.
  • “The challenge in the living room — when you talk about new devices and platforms what often gets left out is access to the highly-produced, licensed content that viewers most crave. You’re asking to substitute a fresh experience.”
  • “The holy grail for the living room to me isn’t technology,” he says. “It’s figuring out how to integrate the phenomenal power and interactivity and information of the Internet into the highly produced premium content that we crave.”
  • When asked whether manufacturers should be able to tap into cable streams and offer alternative experiences, Powell suggests that “cable companies are at the mercy of content companies on the issue of content rights and use.” Mirroring the cable experience on other devices is not a technological issue, but an issue of licensing rights.
  • “At the end of the day Apple and Boxee and Vudu and Roku are going to find out that the content market is tough and expensive, and it’s hard to do the most creative things,” he says.
  • Powell suggests that all companies are heading toward IP-distributed content and a shift from a hardware-centric environment to a software-centric environment. “When the guide and content are in the cloud, you can change look and feel overnight,” he adds. “You won’t have to come in and get a whole new box — that’s a horrible model.”

Social TV Gets Down to Business, But Still in Early Days of Development

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November 21, 2012
  • With a new Nielsen report indicating that smartphones have saturated 50 percent of the American market and tablets have made their way into 20 percent of American television viewing homes, executives have begun to take second screen viewing more seriously as a legitimate trend, reports Ad Age.
  • Forty percent of Americans use smartphones while watching television at least once a day, according to Nielsen, and 84 percent use a smartphone or tablet while viewing television at least once a month.
  • These trends have executives, like Lou Paskalis of American Express, convinced that this “is a bigger cultural shift.” Paskalis has helped his company toward a vision where consumers use “mobile devices not only to chat and communicate, but also to look for product details and make purchases,” writes Ad Age.
  • While people do not like advertisements on their primary screen, second screen advertisements with relevant content could help drive commerce. This approach supplements the content on the main screen without interrupting the viewing experience.
  • “No one wants to see a pop-up in the middle of their program they love saying ‘Buy this!'” says Paskalis. “The primary screen is not the way to drive the commerce.” Second screen marketing represents “a way to augment the experience without impacting the experience.”
  • American Express is testing the waters through second screen partnerships with Fox and NBCUniversal. Verizon has been testing in-app voting for “The X Factor,” while Target has been steering viewers of ABC’s “Revenge” to additional content on second screens.
  • “How brands will create content that isn’t annoying and isn’t disruptive and really is something worth watching and not skipping — we are in the early days of figuring out that value for the consumer,” says Jeff Jones, Target’s chief marketing officer.

Checking In: Social TV Companies Viggle and GetGlue Announce Merger

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November 20, 2012
  • Rewards-based social TV service Viggle announced it will acquire GetGlue for $25 million in cash and 48.3 million shares of stock. Under the terms of the deal, Viggle will operate both brands.
  • GetGlue is “a social network based on check-ins for entertainment,” reports CNET. Its founder and CEO Alex Iskold will join Viggle as a senior exec and member of its board of directors. All 35 GetGlue employees will be part of the new company.
  • Launched in January 2012, Viggle rewards users for checking into TV shows by offering them points that can be used for gift cards and products from the likes of Amazon, Best Buy, Fandango, Hulu Plus and iTunes.
  • “GetGlue, an app that operates like Foursquare for entertainment, gives users virtual stickers for checking in while watching shows or movies,” explains CNET. “Those virtual stickers are then turned into real-life ones and mailed to users for their collection.”
  • The company was launched in 2007 and currently claims over 3.2 million registered users and more than 500 million entertainment ratings and check-ins.
  • “Viggle is raising the funds to buy GetGlue with investments from other companies that would like to see the two unite,” explains the article. Greg Consiglio, Viggle president and COO, says the investors “could be a media company, or could be somebody in the media strategic space, someone with hardware you might use to check in with.”
  • Current GetGlue media partners include ABC, Comedy Central, Fox, HBO, NBC, Showtime, USA Network and Warner Bros. Television. Viggle has a number of ad partners and relationships with Verizon and DirecTV.

Hulu Goes Live with New Video Hub Dedicated to All Things Gaming

By
November 20, 2012
  • Hulu has launched a new gaming portal that enables users to find previews of new titles through trailers, customer reviews and release information.
  • The Hulu Video Game hub — the second new channel Hulu has launched this month — is currently Web-only, but a mobile version for Hulu Plus-connected devices is in development.
  • “The Fox/CBS/Disney-ABC co-owned Internet video-streaming service is looking to lure in more viewers with a dedicated home for game trailers, reviews, and essential information (like release dates),” reports VentureBeat. “It also looks pretty with large high-definition image headers for featured titles.”
  • The portal hosts a review show called “Electric Playground” and episodes of gaming culture. There is also a section dedicated to programs and movies that relate to games.
  • “YouTube’s gaming channel sees millions of views each day. The latest ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ trailer, released only two days ago, already has 7 million views on Google’s video site,” notes VentureBeat.
  • “If Hulu can get in on that action, it’ll start producing respectable ad revenue at a relatively small cost, since publishers are the ones paying to produce the content.”

Gartner Report: Smartphone Sales Up 47 Percent, Android Expands Lead

By
November 19, 2012
  • According to a new report from Gartner, global sales of smartphones rose 47 percent in the third quarter compared to last year.
  • Samsung and Apple accounted for nearly half the market while Nokia took a slide from third place in market share down to seventh.
  • Android increased its share among operating systems from 52.5 percent to 72.4 percent. Nokia’s Symbian and RIM’s BlackBerry platforms fell sharply, while Samsung’s Bada rose to fourth place.
  • Total cellphone unit sales declined as smartphones continue to gain in popularity.
  • “More than 427 million phones were sold in total during the third quarter, 3 percent down on the same quarter a year ago, Gartner said, but up slightly on the 419 million devices shipped in the second quarter,” reports CNET.
  • “Meanwhile, smartphone sales are continuing their upward trajectory compared to feature phones — 169 million smartphones were sold during the quarter, an increase of 47 percent year-on-year.”

GameStop to Close 200 Stores as Players Gravitate to Online and Mobile

By
November 19, 2012
  • GameStop plans to close 200 of its stores around the globe next year. The world’s largest video game retailer says 3 percent of its outlets — primarily in Canada and Australia — are operating unprofitably.
  • The Texas-based company operates 6,650 stores worldwide. It recently reported that third quarter sales were down 8.9 percent from a year ago, to $1.77 billion. However, these figures are better than originally estimated and GameStop’s shares rose 4.25 percent to $24.48.
  • CEO J. Paul Raines notes the company is showing “strong resilience in the face of challenging category headwinds, and the new categories of digital and mobile are creating new profit pools that we are exploiting aggressively.”
  • “The retailer heads into the U.S. holidays weighed down by a two-year industry slump as players gravitate to mobile and online play from console-based games,” reports Bloomberg. “Raines said the company managed to expand margins in a ‘tough video game market’ by expanding into the re-sale of Apple iPads and other mobile devices and growing its digital download business.”
  • Investors are watching this month’s launch of Nintendo’s Wii U, the first major console release in six years, to see if it will have an impact on purchases of packaged games.
  • “GameStop hopes the start of a new console cycle with the Wii U launch and just-released high quality games like Microsoft Corp’s ‘Halo 4’ and Activision Blizzard’s ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops II’ will boost hardware and software sales this holiday season,” notes Reuters in a related article.

Google TV Update Offers Enhanced Voice Control and New Features

By
November 16, 2012
  • Google announced a new upgrade to Google TV on Wednesday, which now offers advanced voice control, a new programming guide app and features from Google’s Knowledge Graph.
  • “The most important new feature of the update, which has internally been called Google TV 3.0, is voice control: Users can trigger channel changes, start apps and fire up the program guide with simple voice commands,” reports GigaOM.
  • The system is sensitive to context, bringing up Web content, shows or videos as commanded by users. The article also notes that the Google TV voice control is different from that of Microsoft’s Xbox and Samsung’s TV platform.
  • “The company decided to add the microphone to the remote control to allow users to use both,” explains the article, noting that the “old D-Pad still works great for simple navigation tasks, which can be overly complicated if you want to solve them through voice or gestures.”
  • The smarts behind Google’s Knowledge Graph also powers the recently launched Google Now app.
  • “Google Now and the thinking behind it has been a big inspiration for Google TV going forward, [Google TV product lead Rishi Chandra] added, explaining that the goal is to eventually display content in very much the same way that Google Now displays its information cards to its users.”
  • Google TV 3.0 includes a new programming guide called PrimeTime that gives access to live TV and streaming content, “but shines especially during live TV viewing, when shows on other channels are displayed through topical overlays,” notes the post. “Eventually, the same functionality will exist for YouTube and other on-demand content.”

MasterCard Unveils Interactive Payment Card with LCD and Keypad

By
November 14, 2012
  • MasterCard has developed an advanced payment card with LCD technology and keypad intended to increase security and help protect bank and credit accounts.
  • “The credit card company has partnered with Standard Chartered Bank Singapore in order to release an interactive payment card that looks similar to a pocket calculator,” reports Digital Trends. “Located at the top right corner of the card, a member of Standard Chartered Bank Singapore will find a liquid-crystal display that shows up to six digits. Along the bottom front of the card, the user will find a a ten-digit keypad.”
  • The next-generation, interactive display card features additional functionality with its touch-sensitive “clear,” “okay” and “on/off” buttons.
  • “This card has been designed for transactions that require a higher level of authorization,” explains the post. “When a new cardholder first acquires the card, they will be able to generate a one-time password as an authentication security measure for the future.”
  • “With the continued growth in online and now mobile initiated remote payments, consumers are naturally demanding increased security,” notes Matthew Driver, division president of MasterCard Worldwide in South East Asia. “The innovative features of the Display Card serve to address this need, whilst empowering consumers to do so much more with their payment cards.”
  • MasterCard is looking into additional uses for the LCD related to personal finances, such as displaying current balance, remaining available credit and recent transactions.
  • Visa launched a similar card in Europe late last year. The Visa CodeSure Matrix Display Card features an LCD, keypad and battery that can last up to three years.

David Gilmour to Release First Concert as an App for iPhone and iPad

By
November 13, 2012
  • Musician David Gilmour will become the first artist to release a music concert as a smartphone app.
  • DVD authoring group The Pavement has created a new technique to convert DVDs into apps and is hoping to reach a larger audience with the concert app, rather than the traditional DVD-only distribution.
  • Gilmour, formerly of Pink Floyd, released a compilation of songs on DVD recorded during Robert Wyatt’s 2001 and 2002 Meltdown Festival at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The app will be a version of the successful DVD release.
  • “The critically acclaimed performance features Gilmour alone with just his voice and along with a vocal choir that’s accompanied by a group of acoustic instruments,” reports The Unofficial Apple Weblog. “Robert Wyatt, Bob Geldof and Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright also join in on some of the performances.”
  • The concert app will be available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch starting next week (an Android version is in the works). According to Gilmour’s website, the app will cost $8.99.
  • “The App works exactly like its source DVD — full of rich video and audio material with interactive motion, menu navigation options and bonus extras,” explains the site. “It is envisaged that this new process could open the door for many other classic musical performances to be made available as apps to be enjoyed on mobile devices, away from the restrictions of the home DVD player.”

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