The competitive prospects of Google — Tech News and Analysis

The obvious competitor Google is taking on with Google+ is Facebook. But there are lots of other applications that might be affected as well. The "Hangouts" app is getting attention for its drop-dead-simple way of allowing users to set up and use multi-party video chats. How Google can track who is speaking at the moment, and needs to have the audio feed, is somewhat amazing. But the issue then becomes whether "Hangouts" can become a popular business tool for multi-party videoconferencing.

That might both stimulate demand for other business-class services, as well as reduce demand for consumer grade video chat services or applications. A survey of 451 GigaOm readers suggests the notion of competition with Skype (especially for video calls), as well as Facebook (social networking) is where the biggest upside for Google+ might be, and where competitors might feel the most pressure.

Competitive prospects for Google+

Is Google+ Enthusiasm an Indicator of Demand for a Facebook Alternative?

The early reviews of Google (including mine) have been almost uniformly positive. The "Hangout" and "Circles" features seem to have gotten most of the attention, from me and everyone else, it seems.

Some might argue that, aside from the almost certain enthusiasm of early adopters, there is evidence of end user demand for a real alternative to Facebook.

Being an "underdog" works better for Google in this case. It might be hard for people to root for Google in search or advertising or mobile operating systems and so forth, where Google is a major player or a market leader. Taking on Facebook in an area where it has stumbled in the past (social networks) is a horse of a different color, as the saying goes.

Does Google Rapture Indicate “Pent-Up Demand” For Facebook Alternative?

Apple’s App Store Downloads Top 15 Billion

Apple today announced that over 15 billion apps have been downloaded from its App Store by the more than 200 million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users worldwide. There are 425,000 apps available. That works out to around 75 apps per device.

Apple says it has paid developers more than $2.5 billion in commission to date. That means that apps in total have grossed more than $8.3 billion in revenues. That suggests an "average" revenue per app of $1.80.

Apple’s App Store Downloads Top 15 Billion

Conversion Rate Gains Beat Traffic Gains

It’s a lot easier to improve your conversion rate by a percentage point or two than it is to double or treble your traffic, says Neil Shearing. "If you get 1,000 visits per month at a one-percent conversion rate, you make 10 sales," he says. "If you improve the conversion rate to two percent, you’ll double your sales to 20 per month. If you went in search of more traffic instead of improving your conversion rate, you’d have to double that, which means getting 2,000 visits per month instead of 1,000.

The former is arguably easier than the latter.

Sales CSI by Winning Ware Reviewed | Internet Marketing Strategies and Marketing Tips by Neil Shearing:

Businesses Focus on Social Media for Lead Generation

With lead acquisition the top goal of business-to-business companies, marketers are prioritizing investments in social media and digital content marketing in 2011, according to a survey from Focus.

Meanwhile, client understanding and customer retention are top goals for B2C brands with marketers emphasizing social media, digital content, and email as a means to achieve their goals.

Some 55 percent of B2B companies report “acquiring leads” as their top strategic priority in 2011, followed by building brand awareness (49 percent) and lead conversion (45 percent).


Read more.

Mobile Behavior is Similar to Desktop Behavior, it Seems

Peak mobile engagement with Web resources seems to mirror that of desktop PCs, namely that usage peaks in the early evening.

Like PC usage, which occurs nearly all hours when people are awake, mobile Web usage happens all day long.

Google+ Users Prefer it to Facebook

A poll of 1,000 Google+ users suggests Google+ users, at least, are looking for an alternative to Facebook. The poll found that 67 percent of Google+ users prefer it to Facebook.

The results do not necessarily suggest people will stop using Facebook; only that Google+ early adopters do prefer Google+. Read more

That isn't hard to believe. The Google+ interface is clean, simple and uncluttered. But the main thing is that it allows people to create "Circles" of freinds, family, acquaintances and work or hobby associations that actually make sense. It has never made sense to some of us that all Facebook updates are broadcast to all "friends."

A reasonable expectation for Google would be that growing numbers of people start to use Google+ for new social activities, without abandoning Facebook entirely. An application with clear network effects, which is what Facebook is, is tough to abandon once the scale effects kick in.

The other issue is that some users won't want to make drastic changes of habit until they are fairly convinced Google+ will survive. Not all products Google launches succeed, and some users might be wary of investing too much time in Google+ until it is a "survivor." Read more here.

Google+ Push to Affect "Blogger" and "Picasa."

Google will rename Picasa "Google Photos" and rebrand "Blogger" as "Google Blogs," apparently as part of the larger Google+ push.
The transition from Picasa and Blogger to Google Photos and Google Blogs will occur “in a month to a month and a half,” suggesting August 2011.

The date aligns with the likely public launch of Google+ is supposed to happen on or before July 31.

The brand unification effort will be the largest in company history — it’s never renamed a property as large as Blogger, some would note. Other acquired brands have been re-named in the past, so the move is not without precedent. And it makes sense. Blogger and Picasa are social products, where sharing is built into the the basic functionality.

Google To Retire Blogger & Picasa Brands in Google Push:

Payfirma Launches iPhone Mobile Paymenets

Vancouver, Canada-based Payfirma launched an iPhone-based service quite similar to U.S.-based Square. allowing Canadian merchants to process major credit payments to be manually, by entering card information on the iPhone, or using an optional card reader.

Transactions are conducted in real-time through Payfirma’s secure gateway, and no information is stored within the app or the card reader. Read more..

There’s an option for auto-calculation of tips, pre-authorized payments, and even refunds. Customers can then sign right on the screen, and receipts emailed instantly showing transaction details and the signature.

Payfirma's revenue model is transaction fees, set at 1.99 percent of the value of the sale, plus 25 cents per transaction. The credit card reader costs $99, but is free to accounts billing $500,000 or more. Read more..

Mobile Payments Market: $670 billion in 2015

The total value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and near field communications transactions will reach $670 billion by 2015, up from $240 billion this year, according to Juniper Research. Digital goods payments will account for nearly 40 percent of the market in 2015.

The growth will be driven by the rapid adoption of mobile ticketing, NFC contactless payments, physical goods purchases and money transfers as people in both developed and developing countries use their devices for everyday transactions.

Some 20 countries are expected to launch NFC services in the next 18 months, resulting in transactions approaching $50 billion worldwide by 2014. Meanwhile the need for financial access in developing countries is such that active mobile money users will double by 2013, Juniper Research estimates.

Mobile Payments Market to Almost Triple in Value by 2015 Reaching $670bn, According to New Juniper Report

LightSquared Raises $265 Million

LightSquared has raised $265 million of additional funding from new and existing investors.

LightSquared has now raised a total of $2.3 billion in the past year, but may need to raise as much as $4 billion to finish its nationwide network, and it still has to get permission from the Federal Communications Commission to use its spectrum, given concerns about interference with GPS and aeronautical communications.

Falcone’s LightSquared Raises $265 Million - Bloomberg

Nexus "Contraptions" Uses Content as a Game

Google is using a YouTube game to market the Nexus S smart phone. Its the first time I've recalled seeing YouTube used as a game platform.

This is a glimpse at what video might be in the near future; an experience that is more interactive, more engaging, and customizable by each viewer. It’s also an interesting use of game content.

The game has a problem solving angle, and illustrates use of interactive video that can be customized for each user.

Check it out here: YouTube - ‪nexuscontraptions's Channel. ‬‏

Google Ends Deal with Twitter

Google has ended its agreement with Twitter allowing Google to show real-time Twitter results in Google's "Realtime Search." Google hasn't said why it ended the agreement, in place since October 2009, but the launch of Google+ presumably has something to do with the decision.

While Google will not have access to the former special feed from Twitter, information on Twitter that’s publicly available to Google's crawlers will still be searchable and discoverable on Google.

Google also said that went Google Realtime Search relaunches, it will include content from a variety of sources and not just be solely devoted to Google material.

Google Realtime Search already has been carrying content from a variety of services beyond Twitter, including Facebook fan page updates. In addition to Quora and Gowalla content, Google Realtime Search indexes:

• Twitter tweets
• Google News links
• Google Blog Search links
• Newly created web pages
• Freshly updated web pages
• FriendFeed updates
• Jaiku updates
• Identi.ca updates
• TwitArmy updates
• Google Buzz posts
• MySpace updates
• Facebook fan page updates
• Quora
• Gowolla
• Plixi
• Me2day
• Twitgoo

As Deal With Twitter Expires, Google Realtime Search Goes Offline

Growing Evidence Mobile Phones Do Not Cause Brain Cancer

Although there remains some uncertainty, there is growing evidence that mobile phone use does not cause brain tumors in adults, researchers say.

In a review of eight different studies, there were no statistically significant positive associations with cumulative call time and brain cancers.

Methodological issues limit the conclusions that can be drawn from the study, the researchers conclude, but its results, along with those from other epidemiological, biological and animal studies suggest that within about 10 years to 15 years after first use of mobile phones there is unlikely to be a material increase in the risk of brain tumors in adults. Data for childhood tumors and for periods beyond 15 years are currently lacking.

The results are important for obvious reasons.

Read the study summary here

EU forces cap on data roaming charges - Telegraph

Price caps for mobile roaming charges on voice calls and text messages, already in place have also been extended until 2016, according to the Telegraph. The price caps apply to the charges mobile service providers levy on other carriers when subscribers are roaming across national boundaries within the European Union area.

Under the changes, drawn up by European Union telecommunications commissioner Neelie Kroes, the wholesale cost of data connections in a roaming scenario will drop to a maximum of 30 euro cents per megabyte in July 2012, equivalent to 90 cents at retail, falling to around 10 cents in 2014.

High mobile charges have been an issue within the EU for some time, with regulators continuing to put pressure on operators to lower charges.

EU forces cap on data roaming charges - Telegraph