Archive for September 21, 2012

  Get insight on digital business models at “IGNITION: Future Of Digital,” Nov.27-28, 2012, in New York. Hear from LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, GE, American Express, Washington Post, and more. Reserve your ticket now.

Jeff Bewkes will be in a keynote interview at IGNITION.

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‘Facebook’s Secret Weapon’ Is Coming To IGNITION

The mania for the iPhone 5 is the latest evidence of how mobile devices are central to consumers’ lives.

What’s next?

Find out the latest market intelligence on mobile hardware, payments, publishing, and advertising at Business Insider’s IGNITION: Future of Digital conference, taking place Nov. 27-28, 2012, in New York.

Speakers from Intuit, Broadcom, American Express, Financial Times, Zillow, The Weather Channel and more will cover mobile in-depth at the third-annual IGNITION.

Register before October for IGNITION and receive a free copy of BI Intelligence’s in-depth research report on Mobile Usage. The report covers how consumers use apps and email, what they buy on mobile devices, and more.

Use the code “BII” here to register now.

IGNITION speakers include:

• Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn
• Jeff Bewkes, CEO Chairman, Time Warner
• Dr Mehmet Oz, Host, “The Dr Oz Show”
• Henrique de Castro, President, Global Media, Mobile Platforms, Google
• Linda Boff, ED Global Digital Marketing, GE
• Carolyn Everson, VP, Facebook
• And many more. Full list here.

Check out the agenda for more information on themes and interviews.

Mobile discussions on the agenda include:

• THE GREAT DEBATE: MOBILE Publishing — Where’s The Money?

Should you build an app, an HTML5 site, or both? Will apps rule the world? Or is the browser the best solution for audience?

Paul Canetti, Founder CEO, MAZ Digital
Rob Grimshaw, Managing Director, FT.com
Greg Clayman, Publisher, The Daily
Paul Rossi, Managing Director and EVP Americas, The Economist

 

• 
MOBILE PAYMENTS: Who Wins? Who Profits?


In a cash-less, mobile, and networked society, who will capture the mobile payments market? Will software storefronts like Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s Marketplace offer proprietary solutions? Will revolutionary hardware like Square triumph? And how will publishers capitalize?

Chris Hylen, VP GM Payments, Intuit
Craig Ochikubo, VP GM, Wireless, Broadcom
Dan Schulman, Group President, Enterprise Growth, American Express

• CAN HYPER-LOCAL SAVE MOBILE ADS?

Mobile Advertising is hailed as the next major market by some — and as a mirage by others, who claim the small screen and plummeting CPMs shall never reap the rewards promised by all those eyeballs. So what’s right? Is hyper-local going to justify mobile ads?

David Kenny, CEO, The Weather Channel
Spencer Rascoff, CEO, Zillow

 

If we’re missing anything, let us know at [email protected]. Companies interested in partnering with BI to sponsor IGNITION can email [email protected].

See you in November.

The iPhone 5 is out, but it’ll cost you. The iPhone 4 is free with a contract, but that’s so 2010. What if you could spend $99 and turn your old iPod touch into a new iPhone? With no contract to  enslave you to the telecom companies? Well, there is.

Meet the FreedomPop. The $99 iPhone sleeve case turns your iPod Touch (generation 4) into an iPhone with all the connection speed of the latest model plus 1GB of free data every month, enough for basic email and iMessage texting. And all for less than $100, without a contractual commitment.

FreedomPop does this by using a 4G LTE hotspot built right into the case, allowing the iPod to access the Net at high speed over Wi-Fi. Be your own hotspot, says the maker of FreedomPop. 

Check out the video below to see it in action. 

Photo by Infinity Zero

Mobile Insights is the new daily newsletter from BI Intelligence that collects and delivers the top mobile strategy news. It is delivered first thing every morning exclusively to BI Intelligence subscribers. Sign up here for a free trial of BI Intelligence today.

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Ad Spend On Mobile Search To Reach $12 Billion By 2017 (Juniper Research via WirelessDuniya)
A recent report by Juniper Research, reveals the total ad spend on mobile web search will reach $12 billion annually in five years’ time. That’s 3x the ad spend this year, which they estimate will reach $4 billion. That’s still really tiny. Usage of web search on mobile devices will be driven by continued adoption of high-usage tablets, with the number of these devices in-use reaching 672 million by 2017. The report found that brands advertising in the mobile web search space, needed to ensure that their websites are optimized for mobile clicks. Ad spend is wasted if poor user experience ultimately prevents consumers from making a purchase.

Trends In Mobile Design (WordPress Integration)
Mobile designs both typical and popular are used for mobile website application. But the change user perceptions have become popular trends:

1. Social network integration
2. Doctype declarations
3. Code validations
4. Pop-up menu controls
5. White space
6. Homepage link ratio
7. Magazine style
8. Minimum style
9. Image-based navigation

These growing mobile trends have increased popularity and a distinct appeal.

HTML5 Is Still Not Ready For Prime Time (BI Intelligence)
Since January, several trends have emerged that lead us to believe that HTML5 is still not ready for primetime. While the idea of one HTML5-powered app working across all platforms is compelling in theory, the reality is more complicated. This is because there is a burgeoning fragmentation problem between the HTML5 standards. That problem is a result of browser fragmentation, which carries over to mobile as well. This, in turn, is key to understanding why HTML5 can’t displace native apps quite yet: The primary mobile browsers are controlled by huge market players with a vested interest in maintaining the current ecosystem.

iOS 6 Adoption Soars, Puts Android To Shame (Chitika)
The pre-release of Apple’s latest mobile operating system, iOS 6, exhibited low levels of usage due to developer activity. But following its release Wednesday, adoption levels soared despite high loads on Apple’s servers. After being available to consumers for over 24 hours, iOS 6 adoption had already reached levels above 15%, according to Chitika. This compares to ~1.2% adoption of Jelly Bean (or 1.5% according to Chitika), Android’s latest operating system (which has been available for months). The latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system offers a significant number of new features; such as Facebook integration, an upgraded Siri, and turn-by-turn navigation.

Best Practices For Mobile E-Commerce (Web Designer Depot)
Here are some best practices for mobile e-commerce sites that new start-ups and even SMBs involved in e-commerce should pay attention to:

1. Make the search box easy to find
2. Add social media to your site
3. Establish a flexible foundation

It’s a no brainer that mobile commerce can significantly impact a company’s revenue, its brand and its overall authority in today’s competitive market as the trend setter for others to follow.

90% Of SMBs Now Networking Online (Manta)
Small business owners are putting an increased emphasis on establishing and promoting themselves online to network and increase their customer base. An overwhelming 90% dedicates time to networking online and 74% find networking online more valuable than networking in person, according to a new survey by Manta. Nearly 50% of small business owners surveyed say the most valuable benefit of networking online is gaining and targeting prospective customers. Moreover, 78% say they gained at least a quarter of their new customers through online or social media channels this year. Check out the awesome infographic:

Manta

Update From BI Intelligence’s New Editorial Director (BI Intelligence)
I wanted to introduce myself, share some plans for the next few months at BI Intelligence, and ask for your feedback. I started this week at our offices in New York City, joining our talented team of analysts at a time of great ferment and growth in the global mobile industry. We are here to help our members keep pace with those changes. In the last month, BI Intelligence has added over 30 charts to its chart library. We also published three in-depth reports, including an update on the state of HTML5 and a look at the maturation of the U.S. smartphone market. There’s more to come. I welcome members to write me any time with editorial queries or comments. Thank you for joining us! -Marcelo Ballvé

The Amazing iOS 6 Maps

The nicest Burger King ever? Or a goof up?

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When Apple launched the original iPhone, one of the biggest complaints about the phone was that it was awful for making phone calls.

Apple did not bear the brunt of this criticism, though. It was its cellular partner ATT who was, and continues to be, trashed for bad performance.

Similarly, now that Apple’s Maps are getting panned by people, its primary map data partner TomTom is also getting trashed.

Earlier this week, the CEO of Waze, an upstart mapping company, called TomTom the “the weakest player” in the maps industry, adding, “What’s going to happen with the Apple maps, is that you’re literally not going to find things. When you do find them, they might be in the wrong place or position geographically. And if you do have it, the route to it may not be the optimal route.”

And that seems to be what’s happening for a lot of people. Apple’s maps are the number one complaint about Apple’s new iPhone and iOS 6, the new mobile software.

Before the trash talking gets to out of hand, TomTom is sticking up for itself, saying that it’s up to Apple to decide how the data gets used, but that TomTom’s data is not flawed.

In a press release titled, “TomTom stands by the quality of its Map Data,” the company says, “For over 20 years TomTom has provided high quality and accurate map data.”

It continues, saying, that manufacturers take that map data, and “create their own unique application, which defines the user experience.”
 
We spoke with Eszter Pattantyus, SVP of Maps Product Unit at TomTom. She reiterated this statement, telling us that Apple isn’t relying strictly on TomTom data. Apple’s maps list two dozen partners, which means it blending TomTom data with other data and its own proprietary data. Somewhere in that blending process mistakes could happen.

To underscore the idea that it’s not TomTom’s fault people are unhappy with Apple Maps, in its press release it says, “TomTom’s map data is the foundation of our own smartphone application, which consistently gets high consumer ratings in the iTunes App Store.”

In other words, when we do mapping applications on our own, people like it. When Apple does it, people are unhappy. You figure out who to blame.

Don’t Miss: The iPhone 5 Unboxed!

Here is what the new maps app looks like:

divPlease enable Javascript to watch this video/div

Update: As of Friday, Sept. 21, Microsoft has now issued a patch for the new zero-day vulnerability we reported on Tuesday, Sept. 18. The patch should be automatically applied to those users who have automatic updates enabled. A separate patch has also been applied to a Flash vulnerability Microsoft discovered with the Internet Explorer 10 browser used by Windows 8.

Microsoft said it was investigating a new zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer that could affect millions of users, running the latest versions of Internet Explorer on Microsoft’s most popular operating systems.

Specifically, Microsoft warned that the bug could affect users running Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, and 9, using the Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7, and Windows Server operating systems. Windows 8 and its integrated Internet Explorer 10 browser do not appear to be affected, Microsoft says. Internet Explorer on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 runs in a restricted mode and is also not affected.

While it’s unclear exactly how many users may be affected by the vulnerability, IE makes up 32.8% of the global browser market according to StatCounter, just a hair behind Chrome, at 33.6%.

Vulnerability Is Serious

Update: Microsoft has now issued a patch. So far, Microsoft has not issued a patch, although downloading the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit v3.0 may help mitigate the problem in the short term, Microsoft has said.

The vulnerability is considered to be a serious one, both in its scope and in its potential for harm. Basically, as Microsoft notes, “an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user”. In other words, the attacker could essentially do what he wanted with your computer: drop a keylogger or other snooping software, crash it, or perform other malicious activities. Symantec confirmed the vulnerability, and found that the software downloads additional malware.

According to Microsoft, the vulnerability could be exploited within a Web page: “An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website.”

The vulnerability was discovered by security researcher Eric Romang, who was assisted by members of the Metasploit team, which develops a vulnerability tool to for “penetration testing” against suspected vulnerable machines.

Using a Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP3 machine with an up-to-date Adobe Flash plugin, Romang noted that files cached on a server used by the alleged Chinese “Nitro” gang of hackers contained HTML code that launched an infected Adobe SWF file or Flash Player movie, which could execute arbitrary code on a user’s machine. The “Nitro” attacks (PDF) were a coordinated series of attacks that took place through Sept. 2011, targeted at the chemical and motor industries, apparently for the purposes of industrial espionage.

The team of hackers has since deleted the files from the server, indicating that they’re now aware that they’ve been spotted. That means that this particular “zero-day” hack has only a limited lifespan until Microsoft issues a patch.

So What Should You Do?

At this point, some security researchers are reportedly warning that you should stay away from Internet Explorer entirely until a patch is issued. That’s probably a little extreme – but it’s absolutely safe, too. Until (and if) Chrome and Firefox are also found to be vulnerable to this exploit, using these browsers is probably your best bet. You can also expect the major antivirus vendors to move quickly; McAfee, for example, said that it is already working on an update that will protect its users against the vulnerability.

If you’re using an older version of IE, you may as well take this opportunity to upgrade to the latest version that your operating system supports. You probably shouldn’t worry about opening any HTML-encoded email; by default, all supported versions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, and Windows Mail open HTML email messages in the Restricted sites zone, which prevents the code from being launched. But beware – clicking a link in an otherwise innocuous email message could also take you to an infected Web site; as always, use caution when clicking willy-nilly across the Web.

Less than 12 hours after Facebook’s manager of media partnerships told developers that the company is moving away from passive sharing apps, a clue about the the move showed up in newsfeeds.

Facebook members may have noticed something different when they logged in Friday morning. A “Trending Articles” item in their newsfeed like this:

Last night Andy Mitchell, Facebook’s manager of media partnerships, told a panel of developers that Facebook is moving away from apps that automatically share what people read. The apps, which have been developed by the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, SocialCam and other media outlets, give publishers a big boost in page views.

Publishers won’t be happy about losing a tool that brings people from Facebook to their sites.

Mitchell said member feedback prompted the change. There may be something more at play here than placating the Facebook base, though. Trending Articles seems like an effort to keep people in Facebook’s walled garden. It inserts like and share buttons under article links.

It’s conventional wisdom that many people seeing an intriguing headline share the link with friends before or even instead of actually reading the attached article. 

While we wait for more details from Facebook, I bet the new feature is designed to take advantage of that behavior.

One of the first things that struck me about the new feature is that an article that was read by as few as 1,400 members out of a billion-member social network made it to the trending list.

Looking at the number of likes I’m seeing when I click through to a trending article, it seems a lot of people are viewing the article link in their newsfeed, clicking like or share and moving on.

Salesforce, a pioneer in delivering business software over the Internet, is turning to social business and collaboration services to expand into new markets and keep its revenue engine running. So it’s no surprise that the company’s Dreamforce user conference in San Francisco this week is a love fest for social networking for business. But behind all the hoopla is a dark side that businesses should pay close attention to.

Salesforce’s New Social Tools

Salesforce unveiled a long list of products Wednesday and highlighted big-name customers like General Electric and Virgin Airlines. The new services are built on top of Salesforce’s core software for managing customer relations and for helping sales and marketing teams be more effective.

Over the coming months, Salesforce customers will have the option of using Chatterbox for managing and sharing files with partners and customers. Chatterbox places Salesforce in competition with Dropbox, Microsoft’s SharePoint and Box, in which Salesforce is an investor.

Other services that will be available in the near future include being able to hold conversations with customers via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and to create and manage marketing campaigns on the sites. Salesforce will also release tools for gathering intelligence on sales leads from Twitter, blogs and YouTube videos.

Market Pressures

Salesforce is hoping all its new products will keep it ahead of larger rivals Oracle, SAP and Microsoft. With such heavyweights in its rearview mirror, Salesforce can’t afford to standstill. It needs to enter new markets in order to continue driving double-digit revenue growth.

The brass ring for all players delivering business software over the Internet is a $49 billion market that grew by 25% over last year, according to Forrester Research. Spending on social business software will grow from $800 million in 2011 to as much as $5 billion in 2016, according to IDC.

Companies Fear Public Social Networks

With so much at stake, Salesforce is pushing hard into the new social business frontier. But what the marketing hype doesn’t highlight is the risks that need to be addressed before customers rev up the vendor’s new services.

The danger of having employees say the wrong thing on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn is real. Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline learned the hard way when it paid $3 billion last year to settle U.S. government allegations that sales reps sold the company’s drugs based on claims not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Avoiding A Calamity

To avoid such catastrophes, analysts recommend a thorough training program for every employee that will be conducting company business on a public social network. “Implementing them (social business tools) isn’t that difficult,” IDC analyst Michael Fauscette, said. “The problem is the tools need to change your business processes and your company culture.”

Employees need to be prepared to do business under the company’s brand in an open environment. Policies have to be clearly stated on what information can and cannot be shared with customers or partners. Workers also need to be taught how to speak on social networks. They need to be aware that communications go far beyond the walls of the corporate office where they are sitting in front of a computer.

While email can also be used to mistakenly release intellectual property or private communications with customers and partners, information posted on a social network travels faster and wider. “You’re no longer shouting it out in the cafeteria, you’re shouting it out at the local mall where anybody can hear,” Forrester analyst Rob Koplowitz said.

Nothing Is Simple

There is no simple way to introduce new policies and procedures for handling social business and collaboration tools. Changing a company’s culture to be sensitive to the greater exposure will also be difficult. So make sure you are ready before you turn on Salesforce’s new products.

Dutch satellite navigation specialists TomTom may already provide mapping technologies to Apple for its new iOS 6 Maps service, but the company has said it is more than willing to help Apple fix errors in its software to calm user backlash.

While TomTom’s vice-president consumer business Caroline Fisher told Reuters “we stand by the quality of our maps,” the company would help Apple fix issues that included the incorrect classification of landmarks, bad positioning, poor 3D rendering and other mapping related errors.

TomTom licenses its map data to Apple (but it is not the only one), but it is up to the iOS device maker to apply its data to their own apps. RIM is another licensee of the company’s data, but its own dedicated maps app and data will not be made public until the company releases its new BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

With iPhone and iPad users taking to forums, websites and social media platforms to voice their displeasure at the Maps app, Apple released a statement noting that the new Maps app was a “major initiative,” adding “The more people use it, the better it will get.”

Its full statement:

Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service. We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover, turn by turn navigation, and Siri integration. We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it. Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better.

According to All Things D’s John Paczkowski Apple’s Maps team is currently “under lockdown right now working to fix it.”

Apple is hoping that with increased usage, it will be able to crowdsource more mapping data and improve their quality over time. However, with many used to the quality of Google Maps in iOS 5, Apple finds itself racing to improve mapping features to compete with its rival.

TomTom’s offer begs the question of whether its intervention would enable a better experience on iOS devices. TomTom found itself playing catch-up when Google and Navteq released their own mapping services, as smartphone use started booming.

However, it has signed a number of lucrative partnerships with mobile companies over the past few years.

TomTom wouldn’t confirm whether Apple had contacted them to take them up on its offer.

Image Credit: Jens Schlueter/Getty Images 

 

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See Also

13 Underrated Apps You Need To Download Right Now

Here’s How To Instantly Get Google Maps Back On Your iPhone

Here’s Why Android Is Better Than Apple’s New Operating System For The iPhone

Apple’s iPhone 5 launches today!

If you were lucky enough to score one, you’ll want to start off your experience right by downloading these 15 awesome apps.

The apps we selected come from across the spectrum and are sure to supercharge your new phone experience.

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Ashley Lutz

Apple store associates at the Grand Central Station location in NYC this morning.

We went to the Apple store at Grand Central Station for the launch of the iPhone 5 this morning, where hundreds of people were lined up to get their hands on the device.

After waiting in line, going through the store and leaving, we realized that many people weren’t just waiting for the bigger screen or aluminum back. 

They were waiting because Apple does a great job of breeding a retail culture like no other.

Apple employees stood outside the store guarding the entrance with velvet ropes. When we entered the store and showed a wristband, they cheered “Welcome guys! You finally made it!”

In the store itself, we were greeted by many enthusiastic employees who cooed over the iPhone.

“Your relationship with your old phone is like, so over, right?” one employee beamed. “Isn’t it gorgeous?”

Several other employees stopped to ask what my friend and I thought of the phone.

As one customer who waited in line for hours told us, “I feel like I’m at a rock concert.”

“The energy, everything, is the same,” she said. “That’s why I wait, for that experience and excitement of something new.”

Then we left the store, where we were stopped by another employee, whose only job was to stand by the exit and say “congratulations, guys!”

Apple does a great job of training its employees to make shopping there special for customers. Even of the busiest day of the year, the associates were cheerful and happy to help.

Good customer service goes a long way.

DON’T MISS: Retailers Are Investing In The Wrong Form Of Customer Service