The iPadification of the Web

Design on the Web needs a reboot — and the iPad may provide the push publishers need to toggle the switch. But will smarter-looking online offerings save old media?

Creators of Web content have poured considerable effort into reinventing their websites as top-down, gorgeously designed experiences for Apple’s tablet and other mobile devices, in the hope that what they give away on the Web might turn into something their audience will pay for as an app.

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Shift in Thinking About Broadband Devices and Usage?

Some observers have less faith in consumer common sense than others do. Some might argue that consumers will not accept reasonable policies and plans related to broadband access for their devices. Up to this point, some might simply point to growing usage, and argue that dire consequences will result if there are any changes in pricing that reflect usage to some significant degree. Others might argue that consumers and providers are rational, and that both are capable of changing usage patterns in ways that provide the value users want, and yet also allow providers the ability to recoup their investments.

Customers are rational, are capable of understanding the consequences of behavior, and so will change their behavior. "Contrary to the popular view, tiered pricing, whereby subscribers pay for the bandwidth they consume, will not signal the death of the mobile Internet," argues Yankee Group analyst Declan Longergan.

Service providers and consumers will learn to live with bandwidth and devices in ways that satisfy their needs, without bankrupting carriers or slowing innovation. "In the same way that the notion of eco-friendly consumption behavior has gradually entered the public consciousness, so too will the idea of network-friendly (and unfriendly) mobile devices," says Lonergan. Service providers and the most sophisticated end-users will pay more attention to which devices make most efficient use of limited network resources and monthly data allowances, and will change. Over time, so will most other people.

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Google and Facebook "Competition" is About Ad Revenue

Google's real competition isn't other search engines like Microsoft's Bing or Yahoo, some would argue.

Nor does Facebook currently face much of a threat from other social-networking sites.

But what some would say now is happening is a struggle between Google and Facebook over user attention, which is related to the matter of advertising attractiveness and hence, revenue.

Common Sense: Will Google Survive Facebook? - WSJ.com (subscription required)

Targeted Advertising Faces Headwinds

Will the future of online advertising be highly targeted or not? It increasingly seems it will only be partly so. Facing presure from the Federal Trade Commission, both Google and Mozilla (Firefox browser) have introduced ways to opt out of behavioral advertising, which allows ads to be targeted.

Google's solution is an extension for its Chrome web browser that lets users proactively block certain advertisers from serving them behavioral ads. Mozilla's approach would bundle a "do not track" feature with its browser, but require websites and ad networks to agree to recognize such requests from Firefox users.

Microsoft has previously announced its own plans for letting users opt out of such ads as well. Those moves, plus any additional FTC rules, are going to limit the extent to which targeted ads can be delivered.

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Smaato Raises More Money for Mobile Ad Network, Especially in Asia

Smaato has gotten a new round of funding. Singapore’s EDBI led the $7 million round, with participation from existing shareholders including global private equity firm aeris CAPITAL.

The new funds will help fuel Smaato’s international expansion, in particular to extend its presence in Asia from its Asian headquarters in Singapore.

Smaato Raises $7M Venture Capital Round for International Expansion of Mobile Advertising Platform | Smaato Blog

Blekko Takes "Curated Search" Mobile

Blekko, the curated mobile search engine, has released Android and iPhone applications. Says Blekko CEO Rich Skrenta, “In a world where people want the most relevant answers on the go, mobile search is becoming increasingly more significant.”

The app has a sparse interface which allows you to view search results whether or not you are logged in with your Blekko account. With the exception of Facebook integration, the app pretty much runs the gamut of features found on Blekko itself, most notably the ability to search by /slashtag or curated topic. Results are sorted by most relevant and by date.

"Curation" is an important concept these days. We used to call it "editing," in some circles, but the principle is the same. There's a firehose of information blasting at people every day. So it is helpful to cull the "good stuff" from the noise. People who do that used to be called "editors." At museums, we call them "curators." The job is the same: pick out and organize the good stuff thematically.

Blekko Takes Curated Search Mobile With iPhone And Android Apps

Mobile's Growth, in Numbers and Pictures

Mobile usage and importance, in stats.

85% Of Teen Brand Word-Of-Mouth Occurs Offline

Online marketing and messages generally are seen as important these days. But a new study finds teens, who exchange opinions and information about brands more than consumers as a whole, use word of mouth.

Contrary to what we might expect, relatively few of those conversations take place online, according to the latest findings from TalkTrack, an ongoing study conducted by market research firm Keller Fay Group, which specializes in word-of-mouth (WOM).

It's true that teens are twice as likely, compared to the general public, to hold brand conversations online. Still, just 13 percent of teens' brand discussions take place online (including email, texting/IM and social networking), compared to seven percent of the general public's discussions.

MediaPost Publications 85% Of Teen Brand Word-Of-Mouth Occurs Offline

"Sponsored Stories" by Facebook Not Seen as "Ads"

Facebook's "Sponsored Stories" program clearly is an "advertising" program, but it is intentionally designed not be be seen as such.

U.S. Tower Business Reaches Maturity

The U.S. tower industry has reached the maturity stage of the growth cycle. Here are eight reasons why some believe that.

1.      Tower companies are moving into international markets to increase their portfolios. Exhibit 1 – American Tower added 8,000 towers in 2010, but only 1,000 were in the U.S.

2.      A close look at financial statements shows that revenue growth is coming from existing tenants rather than from new towers.

3.      More money is chasing towers than there are towers available. Several tower industry veterans with millions of equity investor funds at their disposal cannot find towers for sale.

4.      The build to suit market is ultracompetitive. Many firms that have built towers to meet carrier new site needs have left the market as competition has erased profit margins.

5.      Tower companies are seeking other uses for their cash. The most common tactic is to buy out the leases under their towers. Others are considering increased dividend payments

6.      At least one major tower company is considering changing to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) structure. REIT status provides significant tax benefits to companies who pay out large portions of their earnings as dividends to their investors.

7.      Tower Companies are developing additional service offerings for the carriers in order to find new revenue growth engines. Likewise, tower companies are investing in ownership of fiber and microwave networks that carry wireless traffic from cell sites to switching centers.

8.      Tower companies have traded upside revenue for from new rents for 4G equipment in exchange for extending the term length on their existing collocation agreements.

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IMF to US: take care of deficit, or else

U.S. officials must act quickly to control government deficits or face slower growth and even more difficult choices in the future, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday in a report criticizing the tepid U.S. response to its rising public debt.

The IMF warning comes as federal officials grapple with a congressional projection this week that the annual deficit will reach a historic $1.5 trillion this year. This was the latest report to raise concerns about how massive government debts in developed countries could undermine the global economic recovery.

“The U.S. has a lot of credibility. This does not imply their credibility can last forever,” IMF fiscal affairs director Carlo Cottarelli said as he released the IMF study. It concluded that the United States is falling behind on a promise it made to other top economic countries to halve its budget deficit by 2013.

IMF to US: Better start taking care of business

Smart Grid Apps for LTE

Alcatel-Lucent and Tantalus have developed a "smart grid" system using Long Term Evolution networks. The system is important because "machine to machine" communications are expected to provide a key revenue segment for wireless providers, allowing mobile service providers to move beyond revenue models based on "devices used by people," to all sorts of other applications where sensors talk to machines.

Alcatel-Lucent and Tantalus have developed meter collectors and video cameras that will be connected over an LTE network.

Smart grid and other sensor-based applications will be important on the front end of the mobile business as drivers of new revenue, but also important on the back end, in terms of contributing to need for backhaul, middle mile and other capabilities.

LTE Coming Soon to the Smart Grid

Would You Bet Against Apple?

You might be the sort of person who bets against Apple. If so, you'll probably bet against Apple succeeding in any significant way with its rumored mobile payments. The argument against success as a retail store payment vehicle (Apple might builds on iTunes for some other payment-related function) probably starts with the "what's the additional value" argument, but that applies to all proposed systems.

The assumption is that Apple's mobile payment system would have to be as convenient as a credit card swipe. That same objection applies to all other systems as well. Some might argue a mobile payment alternative does not save time; Apple won't either; therefore there is no value and no reason to adopt. Apple will have also have to piggyback off of, or have retail partners deploy, the near field communication terminals required on the retailer end of the transaction That's another barrier.

One possible advantage Apple gains with this new payment scheme is Apple mobile payments bypass the credit card processing fees Apple currently pays for each iTunes transaction. Some might question value for retailer partners and end users. If Apple decides to share those savings with retailers, and rewards users with some loyalty program at the same time, there's the answer to "how do retailers and users benefit."

There are big barriers to mobile payments adoption, ranging from handset capabilities and user habits to entrenched and efficient existing payment systems. But big changes in user behavior have occurred before, when the value was understood. That doesn't mean mobile payments will succeed wildly in the next 12 months or even 24 months. But it could, and Apple starts with a different perspective: it doesn't want to disrupt the traditional payments business. It only wants to enhance the value and stickiness of iTunes.

Apple doesn't have to look first and foremost at its potential direct revenue or profit margin. It doesn't worry so much about those things when it sells music or video or movies. It just wants to make iTunes and its "i" devices so useful and popular that people keep buying them. That makes for a dangerous competitor. Essentially, Apple wants to "give away" what other people need to "get paid for." That is the underlying power of disruption in the Internet space, always.

It's too early to know who wins, or whether Apple will be among them, or why it might win. But Apple, and others, will be dangerous to the extent they clearly understand they have existing revenue models that are enhanced if they extend themselves into mobile payments in some way. The best-placed players might just be those with an existing and powerful revenue model that gets more powerful with mobile payments, without the need to make additional revenue from the payments process itself.

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Top Brands: Apple, Google, BMW

Google, Apple and BMW are top brands in a new survey.

Another Take on Augmented Reality

I don't know about you, but my first thought was "how do they do that?"