Friday, July 15, 2011

Is Google+ Similar to Facebook, or Something Else?

Is Google+ an improved or different version of Facebook, or is it something else? And if it is something else, what sort of "something else" might lead to financial success or failure? One view, probably the most popular, is that Google+ will succeed or fail as an alternative to Facebook. Read more.

Another view might be that Google+ is something different, but might be the "wrong" something different. See Read more..

It's likely too early to tell, either way.

Apple Offers App Volume Purchasing To Businesses

Apple has launched an App Store "Volume Purchase Program" for businesses.

The business VPP represents an expansion of the Volume Purchasing Program introduced last August for schools.

That program allows educational institutions to acquire apps by purchasing "Volume Vouchers," fixed value cards offered in denominations of $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000 that be redeemed only by an authorized program manager or program facilitator. Purchases of 20 or more apps by educational institutions are eligible for volume discounts, offered at the discretion of the developer selling the app in question.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Ericsson to Launch Mobile Money Service in Phillippines

Ericsson is launching a money transfer business in the Philippines, connecting Filipinos to networks in seven European nations.

Ericsson Money Services began in February 2011, and the new extension will allow mobile phone users in the Philippines to send and receive money to and from their families and friends in some countries in Europe.

The service also can also be accessed online through a dedicated website and through Facebook and Twitter, but in the Phillippines, virtually everybody seems to use a mobile.

Indian Mobile Money $350 Billion in Activity in 2015

Mobile phones are now poised to usher in mobile money as an everyday form of currency in India, with $350 billion of payments and banking transactions flowing through them by 2015.

However, mobile money will not be a large generator of fees for telecom operators, as the total fee pool of $4.5 billion will be split across several entities, according to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Just over $235 billion of annual credit and debit card transactions occur in India today, a figure dominated by around $215 billion of cash withdrawals at ATMs.

Sony’s Android Tablets Aren't "Slates"

Sony is betting you’ll buy one of its upcoming tablets for one big reason: They look like nothing you’ve seen before, especially the clamshell S2.


Codenamed the “S1″ and “S2″ for now, Sony’s two unreleased Android tablets depart from the usual square, flat slabs we’ve seen so far in 2011. Instead, the S2 design comes as a dual-screen, clamshell device, while the S1 is similar to many current tablets with one significant deviation — its funky, wedge-shaped form factor, which tapers from one end to the other.

“It looks like a magazine with the cover folded backwards,” a Sony spokesman said at a Wednesday event in San Francisco. “And the tablet’s center of gravity rests on the wider end with the hand holding the device.”

Google+ reaches 10 Million Users in 2 Weeks

Only two weeks after launch, Google boasts 10 million users, making it one of the fastest-growing social networks ever. Additionally, people are using Google to share content over one billion times a day, Google reported during its earnings call. Here's the transcript of the conference call, published in record time, I'd say: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106189723444098348646/posts/dRtqKJCbpZ7

"It's 1999," Says Stephanie Tilenius, Google Commerce VP

Google's vice president for commerce Stephanie Tilenius, onstage at MobileBeat 2011.About "80 percent of commerce is offline and local,” Tilenius said. "Stephanie Tilenius, Google commerce VP. As for where the market is, she likens it to 1999, in terms of e-commerce development with eBay and Amazon. "We’re at the beginning of 10 years of innovation and competition,” she said.

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 ...