5 Mobile Payment Tools for Business

According to a new survey conducted by Mobio Identity Systems, 94 percent of North Americans would be happy to complete payments through their phone if they knew the system were secure. Here are five of the top mobile payment solutions currently available for use by small businesses.

5 Mobile Payment Tools for Business

What the iPad Means to Unified Communications

"The first time I held a friend’s iPhone, my immediate reaction was, “Wow, this would be perfect if it were just a little bigger,” says Chris Sullivan, director of training and documentation for AVST.

"The iPad isn’t a game changer, but it’s essentially a more human version of a laptop," he says. The important thing is that Sullivan is thinking about the iPad and tablets in general as having implications for unified communications. But if you look at what Sullivan points to as examples of how the tablet, as a device, might set the stage for more use of UC, you will notice right away that very little of what he thinks is important about UC has to do with "voice" or "using phones," though that is what most people were thinking was at the core of UC some years ago.

Some might argue that most of what is important about the evolution of UC has to do with all sorts of applications other than voice, or phones. It is still about "communications," of course. It is just that "communications" now includes many different modes these days.

What the iPad Means to Unified Communications

Bearish View of Google+

Not everybody thinks Google+ will succeed. Some think it is another case of "technology for its own sake."

A spectre is haunting the technology industry. It is called "electric wok syndrome" and it mainly afflicts engineers and those who invest in their fantasies. The condition takes its name from the fact that nobody in his or her right mind would want an electric wok. But because it is possible to make such things, they are manufactured, regardless of whether or not there is a need for them. The syndrome is thus characterised by the mantra: 'Technology is the answer; now what was that question again?'

That isn't my view, but I am a big user of Google services, for work and everything else. I am seeing increasing traction with people I normally connect with in the technology space, which might not predict success in the broader consumer market. It is way too early to make any assessment of whether Google+ can succeed, though, for those who are skeptical or those who are optimistic.

Why Google social networking = electric wok

"You Don’t Know It’s A Bubble Until The Bubble Ends"

If you haven't lived through an Internet investing bubble and the burst, you are in for some surprises. Funding is going to dry up, which is why so many firms are raising money now, while they can. Innovation won't stop, but lots of would-be innovators will find themselves in an investing nuclear winter. Firms won't be able to easily go public, so we'll be back to the "sell my company to Google" exit strategy. There will be additional names on the "sell my company to" list, but the point is that it will be impossible for most start-ups to raise money, and hard to exit.

For people not in the Internet business, the impact will be more diffuse, but might be worse than the last time around, in 2001. The reason is that the economy was healthy then, and is definitely unhealthy now. House prices were still in a building bubble. Housing now is a bubble that has burst.
Some might still argue we are not in a bubble, or building towards a bubble.

"On the general question of bubble, in the first place you don’t know it’s a bubble until the bubble ends, by definition," says Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. "The rule I set for myself 10 years ago was that if the press calls it a bubble then I’d pay attention, and let me report that the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist have all written articles saying that it’s a bubble."

Almost by definition, once the bubble bursts, we are going to find out that no companies are worth as much as investors thought they were worth.

Eric Schmidt: You Don’t Know It’s A Bubble Until The Bubble Ends

Media Tablet Sales Lag Optimistic First Quarter Targets

Worldwide media tablet shipments into sales channels fell by 28 percent on a sequential basis in the first calendar quarter of 2011, to 7.2 million units worldwide, according to International Data Corporation. Looking forward, however, IDC raised its shipment forecast for 2011 to 53.5 million units from a previous projection of 50.4 million units.

“We expect the rest of the year to be much stronger, but we believe vendors who continue to focus on the telco channel for distribution will face serious challenges,” says Bob O'Donnell, IDC Vice President, Clients and Displays.

For the first quarter of 2011, the seasonal trends typically found in more mature consumer electronics and computing categories had a notable impact on the burgeoning media tablet market, suggesting that demand for the category may not be quite as strong as recent media hype suggests, IDC says.

Media Tablet Sales Lag Optimistic First Quarter Targets, But Forecast Remains Strong

Patent Issues for Android Growing?

Microsoft is getting a reported $5 intellectual property royalty from HTC on every Android smartphone and tablet HTC sells. Microsoft also reportedly has also struck deals with a handful of other manufacturers for an undisclosed fee on each device they make as well.

Microsoft reportedly also is seeking $15 per Android device from Samsung. That is roughly in line with what Microsoft charges Windows Phone 7 manufacturers for use of that operating system.

The issue is whether there will be other licensing deals sought by Oracle, Microsoft and perhaps Apple, which is also suing some Android makers.

Such deals would be important because they would raise the cost of shipping Android handsets. To the extent that lower licensing costs are an important issue for some models, such potential costs might slow Android adoption by some manufacturers.

Can patent licensing fees derail the Android express?

More Bad News On Job Front

The Labor Department has just released its June unemployment and jobs data, and it is dismal. The June unemployment rate has just ticked up to 9.2% from 9.1% in May and the payrolls creation was a mere 18,000. Read more here..

Consensus estimates were 9.1% for unemployment and the payrolls projections were above 100,000 since the ADP payrolls data came out this week.  Dow Jones was at 125,000 in payrolls, and Bloomberg’s reading yesterday was 110,000.  Apparently this leaves more than 14 million Americans on the sidelines.

To make matters worse, the payrolls data for the prior two months were revised lower by 44,000.

One way of looking at matters is to note that we haven't had this few jobs, as a percentage of people, since about 1983, which was a rough year.

Get Your Facebook News Feed In Google+

"Google Facebook," an extension for Firefox and Chrome that lets you view your Facebook stream in Google and update your status from it. Download here.

Install the extension, allow it to connect with your Facebook account and pull the required information and a Facebook button will be added next to the Home button in the Google interface.

You can update your status (text updates only) by clicking on the What’s on your mind? field box. As of now, you can’t see status likes or post comments from Google. But just wait.

Get Your Facebook News Feed In Google

Amazon Bets Big on Tablets

If you assume a tablet is optimized for media consumption, and is in some ways an e-reader for people who don't want to use a dedicated e-reader, then it is obvious why Amazon wants to be a supplier of branded tablets that immediately become distribution platforms for its content.

And DigiTimes reports that Amazon is placing large orders for tablets.

Remarkable Candor From Facebook Exec

Despite the possibility that we now are in, or building towards, another Internet investing bubble, the amount of innovation we might expect in social and other areas remains extraordinary. And it always is refreshing when a top exec at a category leading company with huge market impact admits that his own firm might not be working on the innovations that might fuel the next great wave of Internet applications development.

Investment Values Twitter at $8 Billion

Twitter is in the process of raising $400 million in a deal that values the company at $8 billion, according to the New York Times.

Rory Maher, an analyst for Hudson Square Research, says Twitter makes about $200 million a year from online advertising and is close to profitability. At those levels, a valuation of $8 billion, or roughly 40 times sales, is difficult to justify."

That is just one more bit of evidence that we might be in an Internet investing bubble, or building towards one. That is no slam on all the social application innovation going on right now. I use Twitter just about every day, and I find it one of the most useful business tools I use on a regular basis. But valuations can diverge from end user value in dramatic ways at times.

Investment Values Twitter at $8 Billion

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..