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Study Predicts Mobile App Market Will Show Significant Upward Mobility

Written on March 17, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

Apps is now one of those words that has taken on its own meaning in the American lexicon as most people who use it are referring to the apps for mobile devices. Why not since the market is growing at a serious rate because it makes having a handheld device much more interesting than just being a phone and a way to connect to the web.

A study suggests that the growth will be unprecedented in the very near future with bold predictions of billions of dollars being generated in the apps market. Mashable reports on the study which I will allow you to read about before I say anything further.

Lithuanian-based GetJar, an independent mobile phone application store with over 60,000 mobile applications for major mobile platforms such as Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile, commissioned a study that predicts a huge surge in the number of mobile app downloads and the overall size of the mobile app market.

According to the study, created by Chetan Sharma Consulting, mobile app downloads should jump from 7 billion in 2009 to almost 50 billion in 2012. By this time, the market will be worth 17.5 billion dollars, the study predicts, despite the expected lower price of mobile apps, which should drop from the current average of 2 dollars per app to 1.5 dollars in 2012.

I bet you can guess where I am going carrying my red flag. Yep, the source of the report is someone who has a vested interest in making the market look ginormous. Also, the information is somewhat appnostic (that’s just another cheap attempt to turn a phrase to describe an app agnostic) because this particular company from Lithuania (red flag number 2?) can’t do anything with Apple apps so they have a vested interest in pumping up the Android and others app market hopes as well.

The apps industry is going to grow. There is no need to commission anyone to make that prediction. It’s a no brainer. As to how big will it get? It’s anyone’s guess and the real intrigue as we move forward is the growing intensity of the battle for the platform of choice between the iPhone and Android devices.

Any predictions on who wins that one?

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Study Predicts Mobile App Market Will Show Significant Upward Mobility

Apple Will Take Google’s Money But Still Thinks They Are BS

Written on February 12, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

There have apparently been some rumors (yes, there are rumor mongers in the Internet space which is SO hard to believe) that have been talking about Apple entering the search game with their own search engine. This whole game of Google v. Apple has lately been fueled by the rumor mill and comments like those made by Steve Jobs in giving his take on the “Do No Evil” mantra of Google. While that makes for some juicy headlines and speculation it is apparently not true about Apple’s attempt at search.

The Business Insider tells us the reasons why that rumor is not true.

The rumor that Apple is building its own search engine “isn’t credible,” according to a source familiar with Apple’s operations.

Our source tells us “there’s too many options” for search on the market, so there’s no reason for Apple to build its own search engine.

Another reason Apple might not want to build its own search engine: It’s getting over $100 million a year from Google in its revenue share deal, according to our source.

Now, $100 million in Apple’s case is not a huge sum of money. Of course, having that come in the door rather than putting valuable resources of time and talent on building its own engine is the better way to go. One thing that was not mentioned in the article is how long this deal is in place. This is an important piece of any business interactions between Google and Apple because as the days pass the fact that they don’t like each other is becoming very obvious. Of course, being head-to-head competitors for control of the Internet as we know it can make this happen.

There is mounting evidence that how these two giants interact is changing and may be less and less of a reality moving forward.

Our source tells us when Apple first introduced the iPhone, it hammered out its deal for Google Maps in two weeks. When Apple prepared to launch the iPhone 3G with GPS a year later, it was a six-month process “full of acrimony” to get the maps deal finished.

Google wanted access to all sorts of data from the maps, but Apple didn’t want to give it up, according to this person.

If you would like to see Business Insider’s take on the Apple side of the coin then visit their piece called 11 Apple Execs Hellbent On Destroying Google. It’s fun to think that people are rubbing their hands together furiously in Mountain View and Cupertino laughing their best “Buhahahahahaha” laughs as they plot each other’s demise. Gotta love the Internet.

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Apple Will Take Google’s Money But Still Thinks They Are BS

Google’s Smartphone Gains Should Create Some Buzz

Written on February 10, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object, book, marketing

All the online world is buzzing about the introduction of Google’s Buzz yesterday. The competitor (or death knell) to FriendFeed has everyone wondering just how much of the social media market can Google ‘control’ by playing the intermediary. Considering how far reaching their other services are I think it looks more and more like Google could end up in the driver’s seat after all of this.

Another prong of their attack on Facebook, Twitter, Apple and the online world in general relates to the move into smartphones / mobile devices which are becoming a critical component of the social web. As more and more chances pop up to tell everyone about everything, those who feel the need will want to do this at any time so being able to use these services ‘on the go’ is critical. Google’s Android movement is now looking to be more and more important as the likelihood for Google apps to best work on, you guessed it, a Google device makes good business sense.

According to comScore and ars technica Android devices are making their move but still have a ways to go to catch up to RIM (BlackBerry) and Apple’s iPhone. My guess is that by the end of this year this chart may look considerably different in favor of Google’s plan.

Oh, by the way, a note to Palm and Microsoft. That object in your rear-view mirror that is getting bigger very fast is going to catch you so move over and start planning another route.

I have written here about my iPhone dilemma. I am a Verizon customer in the middle of a contract with a BlackBerry Storm. I am squeamish on AT&T issues but realize that greater adoption of Android devices could make Verizon’s network act like its competitor’s. While I am close to making a change on the phone (sorry BB, game over) I am more and more convinced that the Android device is the better choice. It’s not nearly as sexy as an iPhone, but considering the importance of Google to my daily existence it will be much more practical. Google has already exhibited its willingness to roll search related features out to Android devices only and my guess is that it will be a trend in the future.

We have heard from other readers about their choices in the smartphone market. In the past it has been the ‘wow factor’ that has driven many moves. If Google continues to do the things it has been doing it may be just as important to consider the ‘now factor’ which is less about being entertained and more about being efficient and effective right now.

Any thoughts on the matter?

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Google’s Smartphone Gains Should Create Some Buzz

Google Searches Follow To Your Mobile Life – If It’s An Android

Written on February 2, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

Google continues to bring more and more functionality to the Google experience and in a huge coincidence the latest improvements only run on Android phones. Hmmm……wonder why they would do that?

In a nutshell, Android devices can now access searches made on your computer or other devices. If you do a search query on your desktop then hit the road with your Android phone you can now have that search available on the go. The Official Google Mobile Blog states

If you often use both a computer and a mobile phone in your daily routine, it can seem like a hassle when they don’t stay in sync. You might spend time on your computer looking for a great used bookstore, only to forget the name of the place when you are ready to get directions from your phone. Sure, you could print directions in advance, but we believe smartphones are “smart” because they save you time. That’s why today we’re making your phone a bit smarter with the introduction of personalized suggestions and synchronized starring in Google Maps for mobile on Android.

Google continues to make these kinds of updates aimed directly at the market that is making smartphone choices. If there is a chance to jump ship from say, Verizon, it can be tempting to go over to AT&T for the iPhone. In my case, I have a BlackBerry Storm that needs to be replaced. I have thought about an iPhone forever but Android phones are looking like a strong choice because of my near dependency on Google services. My iPod Touch can do the app thing but carrying two devices kinda sucks. Honestly, though, it may be worth the hassle if Google is going to just do more on the Android phone.

The blog gives a scenario where this feature could come in handy

Personalized suggestions make it easy to find places you’ve previously searched for. For example, imagine you’re on your computer and you come across the Place Page for Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Cafe. After reading reviews, you decide to stop in for lunch. When you’re ready to go and want to get directions, just open Google Maps on your phone, start typing “mar,” and you’ll quickly see a suggestion – saving you from re-typing a long query and making it easier and faster to be on your way.

The fight is definitely on between Google and just about everyone else. It gets some people like Steve Jobs pretty riled up. What’s more important though is that it gets customers fired up to have a smartphone that helps them be more efficient with the tools that they already rely on for efficiency.

This is only going to get more intense so fasten your seat belts and be ready for the fireworks should be created that the rest of this year and many more to come.

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Google Searches Follow To Your Mobile Life – If It’s An Android

Google Apps May Get Its Own App Store

Written on February 1, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

It’s no secret that what really sets the iPhone apart from other smartphones is its App Store. Google appears to be betting that an app store will help set Google Apps apart from Microsoft’s office and business software.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google might announce the Apps app store as soon as next month. [...]



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Google Apps May Get Its Own App Store

Apple CEO: Google Wants To “Kill The iPhone”

Written on January 31, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

According to a hearsay report in Wired, Apple CEO Steve Jobs allegedly said the following at an internal town hall meeting for Apple employees coinciding with the launch of the iPad:
We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t [...]



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Apple CEO: Google Wants To “Kill The iPhone”

Jobs: “Don’t be Evil Mantra is Bullshit”

Written on January 31, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: blackhat, seo

From wired:

On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars

Fake Steve Jobs had a great writeup too, a few weeks ago in a similar vein:

I’m like, Dude, do you not remember all that stuff you told me about not making a phone, back when you were still not recusing yourself from iPhone discussions during board meetings? You swore, and I mean you looked me in the eye and swore, that you would never make a phone. He says, We’re not making a phone. HTC is making it.

I was talking to Phil Schiller about this and he pointed out that even Microsoft never was brazen enough to pull something like this. Even Microsoft had some tiny bit of shame. Google is a different beast altogether. They’re like nothing anyone has ever seen in our business. Not only are they not ashamed — they think they’re the good guys!

It boggles the mind. They’re pure sociopaths.

All this stuff about not being evil? And being open, and transparent? All this crap about how they think everyone should just share all the information in the world? Yeah. Except you don’t see them sharing their search algorithms, do you? You don’t see them sharing the stuff they’ve done to Linux in their data center.

They’re pure sociopaths. So well put!

The other day i needed to upgrade my flash plugin (so I could watch porn, obviously). What did I see when I went to install? A fucking PRE CHECKED Google Chrome Spyware kit. Why is Adobe pushing it? Well it probably has something to do with the $2++ spiff they get for each install.

Why the fuck would I want Chrome if I’m updating a flash plugin? That makes 0 sense. Chrome is the ultimate in spyware. It’s fucking evil to the core.

Any other company does half the spying or is half as intrusive as chrome is would get WAY more heat that Google’s taken on it. But Google just gets a pass. Imagine if Microsoft tried to pull that shit. They’re be public fucking hearings about it!

I think this is the year the worm turns. This is the year that both FSJ and the real SJ told the world that: The fact of the mater is, Google is full of shit – and I think the world just might listen.

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Jobs: “Don’t be Evil Mantra is Bullshit”

Irony: You Need A Map To Find Google Street View On The iPhone

Written on January 30, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

We came to a strange realization on Friday at SEL headquarters: Google Street View is terribly unintuitive on the iPhone. As Danny Sullivan suggested, you practically need a map to find it. For those of you with an iPhone or iPod Touch who know how to use Street View already, move along — there’s nothing [...]



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Irony: You Need A Map To Find Google Street View On The iPhone

Why Marketers Don’t Need to Care About the iPad

Written on January 27, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing, searchengineguide

by Mike Moran

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

It’s hard to look up without reading about the iPad. I am sure that it is a wonderful device. And I know nothing about it that you can’t read and see in al the usual places. But if you are wondering what you need to know about it for your business, the answer is probably “nothing.” And that is a good thing.

For all the hype that you’ll hear about the iPad, the best thing about it is that it is a revolutionary new hardware category (because tablets have all failed in the past), but the software is refreshingly evolutionary.

Yes, people might suddenly buy tablets in droves and have a new device to find your business. But the way they find your business won’t require much from you that is any different from what you needed before. Sure, if you run a magazine or a publishing company, this is big news, but you have a lot of other things to worry about, too. But for normal small businesses, there isn’t anything new here, which is great news.

Here are the ways that an iPad user can find you:

• Old-fashioned search in a Web browser. We don’t have details yet, but it is likely that your plain old boring Web site will work just fine here. If you have already optimized your site to be found, the 1024×768 resolution should display your site just fine, with one exception: Flash is not supported. That will probably be fixed soon, but not today. (If your site doesn’t render well without Flash, you probably have other issues that prevented you from optimizing it for search anyway.)
• Local search. If you have a local business that benefits from walk-in traffic from people on the go, you should already be thinking about local search. If so, it is unlikely that you need to do anything special to support the iPad. From what I read, the iPad does not appear to include a GPS chip, so it won’t be aware of exactly where people are (unlike most smart phones), so its local search is limited to knowing approximately where you have connected to the Internet. This isn’t much different to how computer users are treated in local search, so I don’t see any revolutionary changes to what marketers must do.
• Apple apps. I want to call them iPhone apps, but now that they run on iPods and IPads, I think they need a different name and I am not smart enough to know if they already have a different name. Regardless, all of these existing apps are said to run on the iPad, so if your business already has an iPhone app or can be found by an important iPhone app for your industry, it will be found by iPad users with that app, too. You should expect to see some folks update their apps to take advantage of the larger screen size. If you have your own iPhone app, you might want to do that, too, but I don’t think there is any fundamental marketing change needed here.

So, there is mostly good news here for digital marketers. If you’ve been ignoring how folks find you online, or you have no idea what local search is, the iPad is just another in a series of wake-up calls that you need to listen to. But if you’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on the last few years, the iPad doesn’t seem to add anything to your to-do list.

If the iPad takes off and creates a new successful category for mobile devices, then more folks will be searching and shopping and that will be great. What’s even better is that what you are already doing to be found when they search is just about all you need to do to be found on the iPad. So, if you want to immerse yourself in the details because you are gadget hound, go ahead. But if you’d rather get back to work and mostly ignore all the hype, be my guest. Your business will be just fine.

Check out our small business news site.

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Why Marketers Don’t Need to Care About the iPad

Google Goes for Browser-based Voice for iPhone

Written on January 26, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

Six months after Google said that Apple rejected a Google Voice app for the iPhone (Apple maintained that the app was merely under review, a process which usually takes about a week), Google has finally decided to circumvent the ban. VP of mobile apps engineering Vic Gundotra told the Crunchies Voice would get on the iPhone “one way or another.”

Here’s another: they’re going for a browser-based Google Voice (like the rest of us are using). This option was formerly less viable, but now Google has improved the mobile version of their site for iPhone and Palm Pre users.

The controversy, of course, is that Google Voice allows users to make calls and now send text messages without charge, and without using the minutes in their carrier’s plan.

The New York Times documents the improvements:

Of course, iPhone users were always able to point their mobile Web browser to m.google.com/voice to access their Google Voice accounts. But plenty of things didn’t work right. For example, making calls was a two-step process and the outbound caller ID feature didn’t work, meaning that whoever received the call couldn’t see who was calling, which is one of the more compelling features of Google Voice. [Senior product manager for Google Voice Vincent] Paquet said that all those problems have been solved, and that the new version of Google Voice also offers free text messaging.

Naturally, Google maintains that this isn’t a strike against mobile carriers, just a response to the high demand they’ve had from mobile users with browsers capable of interpreting HTML5.

What do you think? Is this a fourth volley this month in the budding Google/Apple war? How will Apple respond?

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Google Goes for Browser-based Voice for iPhone