Google TV Gets "Surprising" Traction

Google TV has many of the same goals as Apple TV, namely to provide a simpler interface, a new way to discover great web and TV content. Google TV wants to provide a more TV-like YouTube experience, while Apple TV aims to do the same for iTunes and other content.

Google says it now has more than 150 apps which developers have specifically built for TV. Up to this point, Apple TV and Google TV have used an "add a box" approach. Google TV appliances

But Google has been aiming to make Google TV capabilities a native feature of the TV set, and seems to be getting some traction in that regard. Google TV getting traction

Google TV partners appear to include LG, Samsung, Sony and Vizio, all of whom will be featuring built in Google TV features on at least some TVs. LG Google TV


Just how soon "many" makes and models will have embedded Google TV is not so clear. It might take several years. How long before Google TV is widely available?

Apple, on the other hand, might be planning to build and sell it own TVs. Apple might build its own TVs.

Mobile Wallet is an Ecosystem: You Can't "Own" It

The concept of an "ecosystem," though sometimes misused, is quite germane in the mobile wallet and mobile payments space, simply because no single entity can "own" the entire value chain.

"Both banks and telephone companies will slowly come to this realization: No one party can “own” the mobile wallet, and the winners will be those that collaborate and cooperate," notes Brett King at ABA Journal. How 2012 will change retail banking forever

The ecosystem has been necessary even in the arguably less-complex traditional credit card business. But mobile commerce, involving credentials, offers, marketing, advertising, in-store promotions, payment and content services, are much more complex.

More Evidence Text Message Market is Changing

There is growing evidence, largely from European markets, that people are starting to use messaging formats other than text messaging, with obvious implications for the perceived value and pricing for carrier-provided text messaging services.

Finland's largest carrier, Sonera, for example, recorded a 22 percent decline in texting on Christmas Eve in 2011, versus the same night in 2010.

It isn't that people are communicating less. They are just using different methods of communicating. Text Messaging Declines

Hong Kong also apparently saw a similar decrease on Christmas, dropping 14% from the same day in 2010. Netherlands service provider KPN provided an early warning when it announced significant declines in messaging volume earlier in 2010. KPN text message declines

Dutch telecoms regulator, OPTA, which shows a significant decline in the number of SMS sent in the Netherlands in first half of  2011 compared to the previous six-month period.

The country's largest operator, KPN, has also reported declining year-on-year messaging volumes over the last few quarters due to what it calls "changing customer behavior."

Wireless Intelligence says text messaging volumes are falling in France, Ireland, Spain and Portugal as well.

According to OPTA, the total number of SMS sent in the Netherlands stood at 5.7 billion for the first six months of the year, down 2.5 percent from 5.9 billion in the second half of  2010, even though total text messaging revenue rose slightly (0.6 percent) to EUR378 million during the period.

That should not come as a surprise. The number of over the top messaging alternatives has been growing for years. But there is a "network effect" for messaging, as there is for any other communications tool. Until a user is fairly sure that nearly everybody he or she wants to communicate with can be reached by a particular tool, adoption is slower.

But there always is a tipping point, where the expectation changes from "I doubt this person uses this tool" to "there is a good chance they use this tool." Finally, there is the point of ubiquity, when the assumption simply is that "everybody" uses the tool.

Also, the history of text messaging and email are instructive. Though most cannot remember a time when it was so, email and messaging services once upon a time ere not federated. In other words, you could not send messages across domains.

History also tells us what happens after federation: usage explodes. With alternative messaging platforms, we still are not in a "full federation" mode, where anybody can send messages to any other user, irrespective of what device, operating system, service provider or application they prefer to use. That day will come, though.

When it does, usage of text messaging is going to fall sharply, unless it is a feature people can use for no incremental charge.

Google Chrome Gets Faster, Safer

Google has released a Beta version of its Chrome browser that is supposed to be faster, and more secure, as well.


"One of the things people like best about Chrome is that it loads web pages quickly," Google's Chrome blog says. "To get you where you want to go even faster, Chrome will now start loading some web pages in the background, even before you’ve finished typing the URL in the omnibox." 

"If the URL auto-completes to a site you’re very likely to visit, Chrome will begin to prerender the page."

Pre-rendering reduces the time between when you hit Enter and when you see your fully-loaded web page--in some cases, the web page appears instantly.


On the security front, improvements to Chrome’s Safe Browsing technology should help protect you from additional types of malware attacks. Google Chrome Blog

Previously, Chrome focused primarily on protecting you from sites that would exploit your computer with no user interaction required. Now, we’re seeing an increase in malicious websites that try to convince you to download and run a file that will harm your computer. Some websites even pretend this malicious file is a free anti-virus product.


To help protect you against malicious downloads, Chrome now includes expanded functionality to analyze executable files (such as “.exe” and “.msi” files) that you download. If a file you download is known to be bad, or is hosted on a website that hosts a relatively high percentage of malicious downloads, Chrome will warn you that the file appears to be malicious and that you should discard it.


I've just loaded it and it does seem to execute faster. I'm amazed. 

Who Are the Top 10 Power Influencers in Mobile?

 

Thanks, Traackr. Hat tip to Forbes.

See this 10 most influential or Traacker

The Digital Living Room

Over the last several decades, virtually all changes in consumer use of television have shifted consumption in the direction of non-linear consumption.

You can argue about whether the shift to "interactive television" has happened, or what that actually means.

Does Social Messaging Displace Text Messaging?

The data is impressionistic, but one user has discovered that ability to send Apple iOS 5 "iMessages" does reduce the amount of text messaging.

Apple's iMessage is a service that seeks to replace text messaging, and in at least this case, seems to do precisely that.

The iMessage service sends messages (text, images or video) using any broadband access mechanism, defaulting to text messaging if the recipient cannot receive such messages. It probably is important to note that the biggest potential effects would be seen where one iOS 5 user sends lots of messages to other iOS 5 users.

 What iMessage cuts text messaging