Monday, June 13, 2011

Samsung and Apple to end Nokia's smartphone reign | Reuters

Samsung Electronics will become the world's largest smartphone maker in the second quarter of 2011, overtaking struggling Nokia Oyj which has lead the market since 1996, Nomura analysts believe. Nomura also sees also Apple overtaking Nokia, pushing the Finnish company to number three in the rankings.

'Nokia looks set to relinquish its smartphone crown to Samsung and Apple,' Nomura analysts said in a research note. Research firms Gartner and Canalys both said they saw Nokia, which created the smartphone market with its 1996 launch of the Communicator model, losing smartphone volume leadership later this year.

Social Media Doesn't Fix Crummy Products

For the last half decade, we’ve had it beaten over our heads that "it’s all about the conversation." That all a company has to do is "be social," to throw up a Twitter and Facebook account, and they have passed the marketing test.

Of course, this is utter crap, says consultant Mack Collier. "If your product sucks today, it will still suck tomorrow if you start using social media," he says. "The only difference is that more people will know about it."

Apple may offer unlocked iPhone 4 handsets

According to iOS developer Chronic, Apple plans to offer unlocked iPhone 4 models directly to consumers soon, in both black and white, with 16 Gbytes or 32 Gbytes of storage.

Worldwide Ad Market Approaches $500 Billion

Total Media Ad Spending Worldwide, 2010-2015 (billions and % change)Advertising spending around the world is projected to increase about four percent in 2011to more than $494 billion, eMarketer estimates.

Total spending on directories, internet, magazines, newspaper, outdoor, radio and TV advertising will continue to grow at steady single-digit rates through 2015, according to the forecast. By that year, advertisers worldwide will be spending almost $600 billion on these media.

Sarah Palin Email Gambit: Why People Hold Journalists in Such Low Regard

There's a reason journalists are held in such low public esteem, despite their own high self evaluations.

"The trove of more than 13,000 emails detailing almost every aspect of Sarah Palin’s governorship of Alaska, released late on Friday, paints a picture of her as an idealistic, conscientious, humorous and humane woman slightly bemused by the world of politics," says the U.K. Daily Telegraph.

"One can only assume that the Left-leaning editors who dispatched teams of reporters to remote Juneau, the Alaskan capital, to pore over the emails in the hope of digging up a scandal are now viewing the result as a rather poor return on their considerable investment," the Telegraph says.

"If anything, Mrs Palin seems likely to emerge from the scrutiny of the 24,000 pages, contained in six boxes and weighing 275 pounds, with her reputation considerably enhanced."

"The whole saga might come to be viewed as “an embarrassment for legacy media,” the Telegraph says.

In fact, repeated polls have confirmed the low and dropping esteem accorded to major media journalists. A 2004 poll by the First Amendment Center and American Journalism Review shows Americans remain critical of the professionalism and ethics of the people and organizations that deliver the news.

"They say that the press is biased, that it routinely falsifies and fabricates stories, and that it abuses its freedom," says the report. See http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=3731.

A 2009 study by the Pew Research Center found 63 percent of respondents said news articles were often inaccurate and only 29 percent said the media generally “get the facts straight” — the worst marks Pew has recorded — compared with 53 percent and 39 percent in 2007. See http://people-press.org/2009/09/13/press-accuracy-rating-hits-two-decade-low/.


In the 1997 Gallup Poll on honesty and ethics, two percent of respondents rated journalists as "very high" on honesty and ethics. About the same ranking gotten by members of Congress and car sales people. See http://www.gallup.com/poll/4294/honesty-ethics-poll-pharmacists-strengthen-their-position.aspx.
Honesty & Ethics: 26 Occupations
Nov 7-9, 1997
Very highHighAverageLowVery lowNo opinion
Druggists, pharmacists1653273*1
Clergy17%4231514
Medical doctors10%4636521
College teachers11%4435316
Dentists9%4537522
Policemen10%3940821
Engineers9%4040317
Funeral directors7%2945928
Bankers4%30511131
Public opinion pollsters4%19551228
Journalists2%21531743
TV reporters, commentators4%18551742
Business executives3%17551735
Local officeholders3%17561743
Building contractors3%17531845
Newspaper reporters2%17482463
Stockbrokers2%165414311
State officeholders2%15532442
Real estate agents3%13562044
Lawyers3%124131103
Labor union leaders2%134126126
Senators2%12502763
Advertising practitioners2%10492667
Congressmen2%10492883
Insurance salesmen2%10473083
Car salesmen2%63140192

Maybe Mobile Advertising Really is Mostly About Location

Some would argue that Apple's iAd initiative has failed to get significant traction, and might wonder whether it means anything particular, other than that Apple has not immediately been able to show its ability to reshape yet another industry. One way or the other, Apple has not shown sufficient value to get many advertisers to move budgets. See Looks Like the iAd Hasn’t Cracked Mobile Advertising.

Maybe the issue isn't necessarily Apple's prowess in the advertising business. The mobile advertising business remains quite small by overall industry standards. Of the possibly $600 billion U.S. advertisers spent in 2010, about $48 billion was spent on all forms of digital media.

Marketers invested a total $47.6 billion in digital advertising and marketing in 2010 according to the Jack Myers Media Business Report. 2020 Vision: Media, Advertising and Marketing Economic Health Report 2000- 2020.

U.S. mobile advertising spend was estimated at $743 million in 2010, according to eMarketer. That is expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2014, but that is a small number in the advertising market. Some estimate the mobile marketing market already is bigger than that, but most think the mobile ad market still remains diminutive.

About one online marketing dollar in every five spent in 2010 went to a mobile campaign, says Borrell Associates, one of the more-robust estimates. By 2015, the mobile share will have grown to almost two of every three dollars spent, according to Borrell Associates. See http://www.mobilemarketingandtechnology.com/2010/toppost/mobile-advertising-will-be-23-of-total-online-spending-by-2015/.

The Jack Myers study pegs the digital total spend at nearly eight percent share of all marketing communications investments in 2010, which were reported by Myers at $601 billion. That total includes all advertising, trade and consumer promotion, event and direct marketing, and public relations, though, and some would not include PR spending in the advertising total, nor good portions of event marketing.

Perhaps the biggest upside could come if mobile advertising comes to be seen as the best form of local advertising, rather than national campaigns. Google would like that, even if Apple probably would not.


Asian Microvendors Have 13% Market Share

According to the latest Strategy Analytics research, more than 200 emerging handset brands, such as Micromax, Spice Mobile and Yulong Coolpad, captured nearly 13 percent of global mobile handset market share, shipping 48 million units globally in the first quarter 2011. according to Strategy Analytics.

According to Neil Shah, Strategy Analytics analyst, “out of the 200-plus legitimate microvendors worldwide, the top 25 brands shipped nearly 21 million units in the first quarter of 2011."
Rising cellular subscriber growth in Asia and Africa has led to the rapid emergence of low-cost, mobile handset suppliers to fulfill rising handset demand, the firm says.

Net AI Sustainability Footprint Might be Lower, Even if Data Center Footprint is Higher

Nobody knows yet whether higher energy consumption to support artificial intelligence compute operations will ultimately be offset by lower ...