It's pretty fascinating that Facebook and Google debuted new messaging paradigms within six weeks of each other. Facebook Home's one key feature is the prominent placement of its "chat heads" messaging alerts on the home screen. Google is launching a new messaging app particularly focused on group messaging. The debuts of these two initiatives fit within the same timeline: a sudden realization in 2012 that smartphone messaging had started … [Read more...]
Good news for Google Fiber: Broadcast TV audiences are cratering faster than ever
Mai 17, 2013 By
The early reviews of Google Fiber are in from Kansas City and one of the most attractive features of the service seems to be how it makes Netflix irresistible. The buffering annoyances that consumers take for granted vanish as Google Fiber feeds movies and shows instantly to eager Silicon Prairie dwellers. What's more, the recently launched Google Fiber TV app offers video on demand for iPad. This direction is fascinating because of the hottest … [Read more...]
Amazon tablets soar in mobile content consumption
Mai 16, 2013 By
Millenial Media, a leading mobile advertising platform, is out with another Mobile Mix report. It shows Amazon's tablets gaining share in the mobile content market at a fairly dizzying clip. The Mobile Mix report is based on billions of monthly ad impressions and it offers an interesting glimpse of emerging trends in mobile content consumption. Perhaps the biggest bombshell is that Amazon is now hogging 28% of ad impressions served to Android … [Read more...]
Fear of American pop culture drives European smartphone, tablet taxes
Mai 15, 2013 By
European governments are casting a baleful eye on the explosive smartphone and tablet growth. The problem for many Europeans lies in the way these devices promote vehicles for American entertainment — from Amazon and Netflix to Apple and Disney. The new proposal made by the president of France would slap a 1% tax on all smartphone and tablet retail sales, with a goal to protect "l'exception culturelle". This exception is a concept France … [Read more...]
Samsung, Apple and others escape as slumping feature phone sales haunt Nokia
Mai 14, 2013 By
The PC market isn't the only tech sector in trouble. According to Gartner's new numbers, Asia-Pacific is the only region in the world where mobile phone volumes are still growing. Phone sales in the United States are now dropping at 9% annualized pace. Globally, phone volumes were practically flat in Q1 2013, inching up a mere 0.7% year-over-year. Smartphone growth came in at a torrid 43% during the quarter, several points above what was … [Read more...]
BlackBerry and the fateful Q5 pricing question
Mai 14, 2013 By
When BlackBerry really began its tailspin in the summer of 2011, the reason was clear. Handsets in the new Bold lineup were too expensive for emerging markets and the cheap Curve phones were suddenly slammed by cheap Android competition. BlackBerry has known for years that its real problem is pricing. It was the Latin American demand shift for low-end Android phones that broke the company's back two years ago. This is why it's so puzzling that … [Read more...]
