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The early success of Google's Nexus 7 tablet sales, on the heels of Kindle Fire's success in Q4 last year, establishes that the 7-inch tablet category is here to stay. Before Kindle Fire there were no successful Android tablets of any size. Kindle Fire's combination of rock-bottom pricing ($199) and Amazon content helped drive several million in unit sales. Now Google's new device is off to a blazing start.
The company just released its first TV commercial for the tablet (a very Apple-like spot).
As I previously discussed, the new Google tablet (starting at $199) is vastly superior to Kindle Fire. It now puts enormous pressure on Amazon to pull a rabbit out of the hat with its "2.0" release. Yet Amazon wants to release "five or six" new mobile devices (mostly tablets) of various sizes.
Apple is rumored to be releasing a smaller, lower cost tablet later this year. This is a defensive move for to prevent the iPad from being under-cut by lower-priced, almost-as-good products. A 7-inch iPad (or larger iPod Touch), combined with the Nexus 7, will likely dampen Amazon mobile device sales unless quality is dramatically improved.
Regardless, the rise of the 7-inch tablet category now creates additional options for consumers and additional complexity for advertisers and to some degree publishers. I suppose it's an argument for "responsive web design."
With Kindle Fire 2, Nexus 7 and the coming Apple 7-inch tablet (and the accompanying low price of these devices) we should see 7-inch tablets sell millions of units. Many people will now have smartphones, small tablets for travel and "on the go," and 10-inch tablets for home. PCs will largely be used for "work" or become secondary devices for most consumers.
Indeed, the device market is moving much faster than publishers and marketers. Publisher content and ads generally don't look particularly good on the 7-inch form factor. Tiny mobile banners are barely noticeable and landing pages look awkward filling only part of the screen. In addition, right now there are only a few apps optimized for 7-inch tablets. Smartphone apps look OK but often appear stretched or out-of-proportion.
All this will have to change -- and relatively quickly.
The PC market, where the attention of most publishers and marketers is still largely concentrated, is not going to grow. And by Q1 of 2013 there will be millions more tablets in people's hands. In fact, I believe that there will be 100 million tablets in the US market much more quickly than anyone is predicting: by the end of 2014.
With sales driven by competitive prices many of these will be 7-inchers, which don't play well with ads and content designed for smaller smartphones and which can't render apps, content or ads created for 10-inch tablets.
I've been using the new Nexus 7 Google tablet since I obtained one at the Google developer conference late last week. I also own a Kindle Fire, which I use regularly for reading and watching movies. After just a short time it's clear that the Nexus 7 beats the Kindle Fire, the best-selling Android tablet to date, by a mile.
Outside of the Amazon content universe the Kindle Fire offers a generally sloppy and lackluster tablet experience. Whether you agree depends on your expectations and whether or not you own an iPad. Some people argue that Kindle Fire, as a basic Kindle upgrade is great for the price. But as an owner of two iPads, my view is that it offers a poor overall experience beyond the borders and boundaries of Amazon's media and shopping content.
Beyond this, I'm not a fan of Android tablets in general. I owned the Samsung Galaxy 10.1, which was a real clunker next to the iPad. That's partly because there were and still are so few tablet apps for Android. Indeed, none of the 10-inch competitors to the iPad have sold well. By contrast Kindle Fire sold because there’s no Apple entry in the 7-inch category. But its rock-bottom $199 price and the Amazon brand were the big drivers of sales, which have now slowed.
Yet the Kindle Fire tablet is an Android device in a technical sense only; it marginalizes Google. Accordingly Google felt compelled to act and the company has now taken direct aim at Kindle Fire with its new 7-inch tablet, built by Taiwan computer maker ASUS. It’s priced identically at $199 (although there's a $249 version with more memory). Google has also followed Amazon’s lead and made content from its "Google Play" store a major part of the Nexus 7 experience.
After a week of very heavy use, I'm very pleased with the performance of the Google device. If I think of it as a tablet it still falls short of the iPad by a considerable margin. However if I think of it as a larger smartphone it's great.
It fits easily in your hand and the larger (than a smartphone) screen makes almost everything better about the experience. There are still relatively few tablet apps, and the 7-inch size is awkward in certain respects. Steve Jobs referred to it as a “tweener." It doesn’t fit in your pocket like a smartphone but doesn’t offer the full-screen experience of the iPad. However smartphone-optimized apps and mobile websites don't look as awkward on a 7-inch screen as they do on a 10-inch Android screen.
Unless you're a loyal Amazon Prime customer and/or a very heavy Kindle user, in choosing between the Fire and the Nexus 7, there's no question about which device to buy: the Nexus 7.
It offers such a superior experience for virtually everything you'd do on a tablet -- and you can download the Kindle reader Android app. Indeed, the full range of Android apps are available from Google Play. On the Amazon tablet you get a subset of Android apps (no Google Maps for example).
Google should have a very successful product in the Nexus 7. The one major challenge is that right now there’s no retail distribution. Google is selling it directly through the Google Play store. And while there’s a huge installed base of Android users who are the primary market for this device, Google will need Best Buy and other retailers to offer the Nexus 7 before it can realize its full sales potential.
The US Center for Disease Control tracks the number of mobile-only and mostly mobile households. Today 30% of US homes have no landline with an additional percentage making and receiving most of their calls via mobile. In that scenario the landline becomes a kind of "spamcatcher" reserved for telemarketers and fundraising calls.
The combined number of mobile-only and mostly mobile homes in the US is now above 45%. That's an amazing statistic if you think about it.
An analogous, emerging statistic is the number of people who primarily access the Internet on their mobile phones. This morning the Pew Internet Project published survey data that show 17% of all mobile phone owners use their phones as their primary Internet access device. However, if the population is narrowed to all mobile phone owners who access the mobile Internet (55% of mobile phone owners according to Pew) the "primarily mobile" percentage jumps to 31%.
In other words, according to Pew, "31% of these current cell internet users say that they mostly go online using their cell phone, and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer." Even more striking, 45% of 18-29 year olds who access the Internet on their phones are in this "primarily mobile" category.
We found previously (n=1,504) that 17.6% of Internet users went online primarily via a non-PC device (smartphone/tablet). Regardless, these numbers will will only grow larger over time.
Ever since Siri was released with the iPhone 4S last Fall -- although it seems much longer than that now -- it has been reshaping expectations both among consumers and to some degree in the enterprise. Few people are aware of all the work going on around virtual assistants and customer care in the enterprise. It's a very dynamic segment and Siri has become a reference point.
In addition to Siri there are dozens of voice-based intelligent assistants for Android. There are also Siri competitors in the iTunes store, including Assitant (Speaktoit), Evi (TrueKnowledge) and Kngine. But there are probably about 12 - 15 more apps that present themselves as voice tools or intelligent assistants.
Having a voice UI and/or intelligent assistant is now becoming a strategic capability for smartphones -- even "table stakes." Witness Samsung's new "S-Voice." However, while the Samsung GS III has received rave reviews, S-Voice has emerged as its weak link. LG is also introducing a voice capability for its handsets. It's not clear why they're doing this because Google's speech recognition and voice actions are baked into the Android OS.
Some of the smaller consumer-facing "assistant" companies and startups (e.g., Speaktoit) become near-term takeover targets as carriers and OEMs recognize the new importance of voice as a UI and, beyond voice, the need to offer an intelligent assistant capability to match Siri and fulfill the new expectations it's creating.
Google and Microsoft have yet to move beyond pure voice input and embrace the "personal assistant" metaphor, though Google has been working on something for some time -- often referred to as "Majel," after Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's wife. Nuance, which powers Siri, has Vlingo and Dragon Go!, which sit between what Google and Microsoft offer and Siri in terms of capabilities.
Notwithstanding intelligent keyboards such as Swype (another Nuance product now) and Swiftkey, voice will emerge over the next year or two as the primary interface for most tasks on smartphones. Most iPhone users use only limited functionality on Siri and Apple has been trying to educate them about its full capabilities. By contrast, keyboards are likely to become secondary tools or used in very specific situations: entering numbers or correcting typos.
As one colleague put it late last year, if speech is the "new mouse" then voice is the new touch.
The Online Publishers Association followed up its 2011 tablet users survey with the release of an encore study (n=2,540 online adults). It contains a rich trove of data about US tablet usage among adults. According to the survey Android and the iPad have roughly equal shares of the US tablet market. This finding is contradicted by other data sources that show more than 90% of all US tablet traffic comes from the iPad.
The survey found that 31% of the Internet audience (vs. all US adults) owned a tablet today -- or 74.1 million users. Here are a selection of other findings:
Tablet owners have bought plenty of apps but they prefer ad-supported free apps if given the choice. Below is the list of paid-content categories, according to the survey:
The following were the top product-research categories on tablets:
Generally speaking attitudes and response to advertising are positive among tablet owners, with large numbers using the devices for research and buying. According to the survey, tablet owners spent an average of $359 buying products on tablets in the past year.
There are also plenty of indications in the survey that people prefer their tablets to other devices for the various activities they're engaged in.
In January of this year the Pew Internet Project released survey data that showed 19% of US adults owning tablets (iPads). That was up from just 10% only a month before in December. Now comScore has released data showing that roughly 24% of smartphone owners also have tablets.
If we extrapolate these numbers, the Pew data suggest that there are roughly 42 million tablet owners in the US (as of January 2012). The comScore data argue the number is now 55 million. These figures seem entirely reasonable. Apple CEO Tim Cook reported 55 million iPads sold to date in February.
People use the term "tablet" but the market remains largely about the iPad. The only other two models with any traction are the Kindle Fire and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. According to Gartner Apple's share of the tablet market will be 61.4% at the end of the year. IDC says Apple had a 68% share of the global tablet market in Q1 2012.
Both of these figures are incorrect and largely based on shipment estimates. Shipments don't equal sales to consumers.
Perhaps I should say instead that people may be buying other devices but it still doesn't matter. According to ad network Chitika, based on an analysis of millions of impressions in the US, the iPad "accounted for 94.64% of all tablet based traffic." By contrast Chitika said that the nearest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy tablet, "boasts a lack luster market share of 1.22%."
Late last week ad network InMobi released its own tablet data, showing gains by the Kindle Fire and total Android tablet ad-impression share of 28%. That argues the iPad controls a 72% share of the total tablet market.
We're likely to hear an update of tablet numbers this morning from Tim Cook during the Apple WWDC keynote.
Back to the comScore tablet data: the company says that just over half of tablet owners are watching video on the device, while nearly 10% are doing so every day.
A year ago in March AdMob found, based on a survey, that 77% of tablet owners were using their PCs less. In addition 28% of respondents said that the tablet had become their "primary computer." Clearly tablet ownership does cannibalize PC usage, while smartphone ownership may complement it. Roughly 80% to 90% of tablets are used mainly at home.
Once Microsoft puts Office on the iPad it will become a true PC substitute.
Microsoft is shutting down the Tellme-powered 800-Bing-411 line on July 1, 2012 (it was originally supposed to be June 1). Bing 411 was arguably the best of the several "Free DA" services in the market, which was launched by 1-800-Free-411.
In 2004 when Jingle Networks' 800-Free-411 appeared it made enormous sense. It was an ad-supported DA service that captured users' directional intent (just like search) and could deliver ad impressions against those queries. Some analyst firms assumed it would lead to billions in mobile ad revenue (audio ads). We also thought it would be a much bigger deal than it turned out to be.
I had called it "mobile search for the rest of us." However, the rapid rise of smartphone adoption after 2007 had a lot to do with the demise of Free DA. At one point there were a growing number or competitors in this this market sub-segment:
Most of these are either defunct or languishing. Goog411 turned out to be the voice tuning and training wheels for Android voice search. Accordingly, Google got the utterances it needed and shut the service down a few years ago.
In April 2011, Marchex acquired Jingle Networks for $62 million in cash and stock. The primary reason Marchex acquired Jingle was not for 800-Free-411 but for its carrier and other relationships and its more recently developed ad network.
Whether because the services weren't sufficiently promoted or didn't quite work as promised -- again Bing's was quite good at one point -- or whether smartphones simply offered more control and capabilities, it's hard to say why the market never really developed. Certainly the consumer logic was there but the revenues and usage never materialized.
See related: Bing 411’s Three-Year Run Ends June 1
There have been rumors of a "Facebook phone" for at least two or three years. Facebook clearly needs to figure out mobile, so it's logical that Facebook would be talking again about a branded device. According to the New York Times over the weekend:
One engineer who formerly worked at Apple and worked on the iPhone said he had met with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, who then peppered him with questions about the inner workings of smartphones. It did not sound like idle intellectual curiosity, the engineer said; Mr. Zuckerberg asked about intricate details, including the types of chips used, he said. Another former Apple hardware engineer was recruited by a Facebook executive and was told about the company’s hardware explorations.
It's worth mentioning that there have already been quasi-facebook phones, from INQ and HTC (Status). The Status had the distinction of being the first phone with a "dedicated share button." By most accounts these phones are not huge successes. The Status appears to be an outright failure.
Presumably the model for any coming Facebook phone is the Kindle Fire, a highly customized version of Android. Facebook could then have an app store, develop mobile advertising, have a mobile browser and so on. The logic is clear.
The problem is that a Facebook phone is likely to fail. Most people would not want to "commit" that fully to Facebook and would likely be concerned about privacy and how their contacts and other data were being used or exploited by the software. By the same token, the availability of Facebook apps on major smartphone platforms is going to be sufficient for the overwhelming majority of people.
There will be a small slice of the population that would appreciate deep integration of Facebook into a handset (those might be younger users). But it will be a minority.
We may ultimately see a "Facebook phone" but I don't think it would be competitive with the iPhone and other Android handsets -- at least not in North America.
Last week Nielsen released data comparing US smartphone users' app adoption and usage vs. last year. Nielsen says that the average US smartphone owner in 2012 has 41 apps on his/her phone vs. 32 apps in 2011:
In just a year, the average number of apps per smartphone has jumped 28 percent, from 32 apps to 41. Not only is the 2012 smartphone owner downloading more apps, they are increasingly spending more time using them vs. using the mobile web — about 10 percent more than last year.
Nielsen also says that smartphone owners spend roughly 39 minutes a day using apps (vs. 37 last year). However this finding is much lower than Flurry's earlier declaration that smartphone owners spent 94 minutes per day in apps. It's not clear why these numbers should be so far apart. It may be that Flurry's data are behavioral (analytics based) and Nielsen's figures are based on self-reported survey data -- in which case the former would be more accurate. However, this is speculation.
Earlier this month comScore released data that asserted "4 in every 5 mobile media minutes" are spent in apps vs. the mobile browser.
According to Nielsen the top five mobile apps across smartphone platforms are Facebook, YouTube, Android Market, Google Search and Gmail. Finally, the measurement firm added that its surveys show users continue to be concerned about mobile privacy and location sharing:
[P]rivacy continues to be a concern with the vast majority (70% in 2011 and 73% in 2012) expressing concern over personal data collection and 55 percent wary of sharing information about their location via smartphone apps.
It absolutely makes sense for Groupon to launch a Square-like payments platform for its merchants -- part of its effort to diversify more holistically into local commerce. A payments tool for merchants (first reported by VentureBeat) would also support and complement its recently expanded Groupon Rewards loyalty program.
According to VentureBeat Groupon would seek to gain rapid merchant adoption by undercutting the fees on similar services from Square, PayPal, Intuit and the recently launched Sail. Reportedly there would be a 1.8% transaction fee and $0.15 transaction charge, which are lower than any of the fees from other, competing services. Groupon's payment platform would utilize the iPad and iPhone in a way similar to Square.
In this "race to the bottom," where merchant card fees are concerned, we're seeing the rapid commoditization of payment processing especially at the SMB store level. I was told that companies like First Data are very concerned about this development and are trying to "get closer to the consumer" as a result.
Meanwhile PayPal yesterday morning announced an expansion of its in-store payments program. Previously it had a single retailer, HomeDepot, now there are 15 more national retail chains:
Abercrombie & Fitch, Advance Auto Parts, Aéropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, Guitar Center, Jamba Juice, JC Penney, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Nine West, Office Depot, Rooms To Go, Tiger Direct and Toys “R” Us.
I have yet to use the system but it will need to provide substantial efficiency and convenience and/or "value adds" (e.g., loyalty rewards) to consumers to get them to use it vs. traditional payment cards. PayPal ultimately has to "back onto" either a bank account or a credit card.
My informal understanding is that the HomeDepot trial wasn't entirely successful because of low consumer awareness and low usage accordingly. This broader roll out should help awareness greatly.
Through these retailer relationships PayPal will glean enormously valuable consumer data and purchase history information that it can use potentially as inputs into its PayPal media network targeting capabilities. This data mining hasn't been confirmed to me but I suspect that consumers who use PayPal in stores will have that transaction data factored into future ad targeting if they're using any of the eBay/PayPal properties.
Just as with the commoditization of merchant payment services, services such as PayPal are creating a potential intermediary or "gateway" relationship between consumers and their credit card companies. Card companies will ultimately be forced to respond -- Amex is ahead of the curve -- with amp'd up loyalty and deal programs themselves.
We're in an acclearating "land grab" phase of mobile payments. Multiple providers can and will exist but all the coverage, announcements and general "noise" in the market right now has the paradoxical effect of both raising consumer awareness but also delaying adoption of any individual solution.
This morning Facebook is trading below its $38 offering price. This reflects investor skepticism about the long-term outlook for the company. Indeed, there are many challenges ahead for Facebook -- one of which is mobile monetization.
This weekend the company bought yet another mobile site, Karma. Karma provides a streamlined way to deliver physical gifts to people through their smartphones, using the Facebook infrastructure. While this latest acquisition is undoubtedly about getting access to the team it is also about the business model and new ways to generate revenue from mobile devices.
I have argued one reason (clearly not the only one) that increasing numbers of people use smartphones to access Facebook is avoiding the clutter of the PC site and ads in particular. While Facebook has started to show Sponsored Stories in mobile users' newsfeeds it cannot simply duplicate the ad environment online in its mobile apps. Too many ads would alienate users.
So how does Facebook make money off mobile usage in a way that doesn't make users abandon its apps? Here are a few ideas:
Some or many of these ideas could come to pass. Regardless, Facebook will need a range of approaches and revenue streams in place to truly deliver the kind of mobile revenue performance that investors will want and will become imperative as more users access Facebook primarily via mobile devices.
The IAB has released a fascinating report on mobile shopping and user attitudes. The study wasn't a simply survey. Instead the research involved 260 US adults who agreed to participate in a two-week "mobile diary" project. It thus got an in-depth look at their behavior. Below are some of the findings that I found most interesting and noteworthy.
One finding that illustrates simple assumptions about mobile behavior cannot be made was the fact that most "mobile commerce" activity happened at home:
Specifically the study also found that most product searching happened at home and not "out and about." Store location searching did happen mostly on the go. But these findings suggest that behavior many marketers assume is happening on the go is actually taking place at home.
In a majority of cases "mobile commerce" (shopping) activity was stimulated by the presence of other media. This fact is relatively well known but still needs to be pointed out. Too many marketers think about mobile in a vacuum. Specifically 46% of these users were watching TV or on their computers when they used their smartphones to look up information.
What stimulated their mobile commerce (shopping) activity? The largest group said that mobile was the "easiest way" to accomplish the particular task. In other words, it was easier for them to do a mobile lookup than it was to go on a PC. Beyond this, mobile advertising was a major "stimulant" of subsequent research or mobile shopping behavior.
One of the most interesting findings, which is an outlier compared to other data in the market, is the overwhelmingly favorable perception of mobile ads, which were viewed by 70% of these study participants as "a personal invitation." That's an incredibly positive finding for mobile advertising.
Another very interesting finding is that mobile users who click on ads are mostly not immediately interested in buying. They want to learn more about a product or service. Many also want to see related products or services (presumably to see what their options are).
All this suggests that mobile (display) advertising exists somewhere between pure awareness and direct response. Most people -- at least in this sample -- are not prepared to buy immediately in response to mobile display ads. Search is a different matter because of the directed nature of the consumer behavior vs. display.
Finally the study indicates that the best way to make mobile ads relevant to users is to localize and personalize them. Personalization is OK, according to the study, with permission (hard to execute for marketers). But localization can more easily be done without capturing personal or behavioral data.
The University of Michigan's American Consumer Satisfaction Index for May is out. I've pulled two categories: wireless carriers and mobile handsets. The chart immediately below reflects that of the four major US mobile carriers Sprint beats Verizon by a single satisfaction point. They're all clustered very closely together however.
The next chart is more interesting. It shows consumer satisfaction with smartphone brands.
Apple comes out on top (83), followed by Nokia, LG and HTC (75). HTC and Motorola are two points behind them. Interestingly, Samsung -- which is now the largest handset maker in the world -- is 12 points behind Apple (71). The only company to score more poorly than Samsung is RIM.
People at the ACSI say that these numbers are predictive of future consumer behavior. A low score implies declining future sales. By the same token a high score should predict positive sales activity.
Certainly Apple is doing well and RIM is in decline. But Samsung is an anomaly. It continues to see massive sales and would thus appear to defy the predictive wisdom of the ACSI scores.
On Friday the Pew Internet Project released survey data that showed significant usage of "real-time location-based information" by smartphone owners in the US. Earlier consumer surveys have shown that 90% or more of smartphone owners have used their devices to get "local" or location-based information (at one point or another).
When you consider that Google Maps is either the top app or one of the top two apps on the iPhone and Android the Pew finding is obvious and not a surprise. Indeed, Pew never clearly defines the cluster of sites, apps or services that constitute the location-based information category. That may be because the question is asked in that way, without further definition, to consumers.
An additional finding from the survey is that 18% of smartphone owners are using "check-in" services like Foursquare:
In November 2010 Pew said that only 4% of survey respondents were using "geosocial" or "check-in" services.
We should see "location-based services" hit 100% usage or penetration among smartphone owners, depending on how the category is defined. That's because every smartphone owner is going to eventually use a map or check the weather or look up a restaurant.
Facebook has again updated its S-1. There are a few reasons for this, including the awarding of additional stock to employees. However there's a very interesting discussion of mobile in the revised document (pointed out by TechCrunch). On page 14 of the document Facebook reiterates uncertainty around its ability to make money off mobile users:
We had 488 million MAUs who used Facebook mobile products in March 2012. While most of our mobile users also access Facebook through personal computers, we anticipate that the rate of growth in mobile usage will exceed the growth in usage through personal computers for the foreseeable future, in part due to our focus on developing mobile products to encourage mobile usage of Facebook.
We have historically not shown ads to users accessing Facebook through mobile apps or our mobile website. In March 2012, we began to include sponsored stories in users’ mobile News Feeds. However, we do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven. We believe this increased usage of Facebook on mobile devices has contributed to the recent trend of our daily active users (DAUs) increasing more rapidly than the increase in the number of ads delivered. If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.
The only mobile ad unit currently used by Facebook is Sponsored Stores, which put brand and advertiser messages in the user news feed. These units have proven to be successful on the PC but could become annoying to users on mobile devices. I have not yet seen any of these ads myself.
One reason why mobile usage is growing so rapidly for Facebook is a result of general smartphone adoption among Americans. There are also things about the user experience in mobile that are superior to the PC: the ability to take and immediately upload pictures, for example.
There may be another reason why usage is migrating to mobile: ad avoidance. People may be choosing the mobile version of Facebook over the PC site precisely because there are fewer ads; it's a "cleaner" experience. If my theory is correct then Facebook has a major problem on its hands. As Facebook puts more ads in mobile to make money it risks alienating users if the company is not very careful and thoughtful.
Mobile ads on Facebook will have to add value, be compelling (offers) or highly relevant (local) in order to work. For this reason I expect Facebook to make a major mobile ad-network acquisition. This would be for the "infrastructure," the expertise and the inventory. It would be analogous to what Google did with AdMob.
A couple of days ago local-social startup Glancee announced that it was being acquired by Facebook:
We started Glancee in 2010 with the goal of bringing together the best of your physical and digital worlds. We wanted to make it easy to discover the hidden connections around you, and to meet interesting people. Since then Glancee has connected thousands of people, empowering serendipity and pioneering social discovery. We are therefore very excited to announce that Facebook has acquired Glancee and that we have joined the team in Menlo Park . . .
Glancee, which is really just a 2.0 version of the original Loopt, adds to Facebook's growing arsenal of mobile assets. The social network has identified mobile as both an area of vulnerability and opportunity. In the Facebook IPO roadshow video COO Sheryl Sandberg calls out mobile as "a key area of growth for Facebook."
What she's talking about is revenue rather than usage. The company already has more than 500 million active mobile users. And Flurry Analytics recently said that social networking activities now consume as much daily mobile app munitues as games, the former number one category. Much of that activity takes place within Facebook.
The purchase price of Glancee was not disclosed but we can assume it was an "acquhire," rather than a technology acquisition -- though there may have been a bit of technology that motivated the purchase.
Glancee was part of a group of "passive" or "ambient" location startups that include the over-hyped Highlight and a dozen others. I have argued in the past that ordinary people (as opposed to those in the tech industry) don't want to continuously broadcast their locations even to close friends and colleagues. Accordingly these friend finding and pseudo-dating apps are destined to fail unless the offer some other angle or utilitarian functionality.
Facebook may choose to use some of Glancee's capabilities as part of a new version of its app. But my guess is that Glancee, like Gowalla, will be completely shuttered and that Facebook won't turn its app into a ambient friend finder. That would complicate the privacy picture for Facebook -- though I expect geofencing and geotargeted advertising to be part of what Facebook eventually develops for mobile marketers.
We're likely to see more acquisitions from Facebook as the company continues to build up its mobile capabilities. What the company hasn't figured out is how to make money in mobile, commensurate with its mobile usage. It now pumps Sponsored Stories through its users' news feeds, having just introduced mobile advertising. However that by itself won't fulfill the mobile ad revenue imperative about to be imposed on Facebook by its IPO.
As we all wring our hands over the slow and uneven development of mobile payments -- and watch the contest between PayPal, Google Wallet, Square, LevelUp, Boku, mobile carriers and others – it's possible that mobile payments might become mainstream in less anticipated ways. Individual retailers and franchises, for example, might be much more successful in motivating consumers to adopt the technology than the major payments players taking a “horizontal” approach.
Starbucks was a trailblazer with its mobile app and wallet functionality in the US. Home Depot recently enabled PayPal to be used in selected stores. And TGI Friday’s has just followed with iPhone and Android apps that include a mobile wallet. The casual restaurant chain has 600 locations in the US and roughly 350 of them are now equipped to let customers pay by app. Startup Tabbedout provides the payments capability in the new TGI Friday’s app.
After the app is downloaded the TGI Friday’s customer opens a tab. She or he receives a code through the app, which is then shown to the server who enters it in the restaurant’s POS system. No card swipe means greater security for the consumer. (I once had my credit card number stolen by a waiter in a high-end restaurant.) A consumer credit card is associated with the app, which is where the payment comes from.
In addition to paying in the restaurant, the app helps users find restaurant locations, see the menu and receive offers. Payments become a kind of hook for a broader set of services and loyalty efforts. While TGI Friday’s is the first restaurant chain to adopt mobile payments (after Starbucks), expect others in the segment to follow relatively soon.
Fast casual and so-called “quick service” restaurants (fast food) will likely duplicate this move in short order. One can easily imagine a McDonalds or Chipotle app with a restaurant locator and mobile payments. Chipotle already allows mobile ordering.
The integration of mobile payments into loyalty apps by major brands is likely to help educate US consumers, “socialize” mobile payments and drive consumer adoption much more quickly than abstract initiatives from PayPal or Google or mobile carriers. The consumer doesn’t have to think about which merchants or stores will accept mobile payments in the single-store scenario. In other words, the consumer “why” of mobile payments is answered much more readily in a specific context, like the one presented by TGI Friday’s.
Mobile payments provider Boku has now completed a deal with Sprint, making it the final major US carrier to enable carrier billing through Boku. The startup operates in more than 60 countries and claims to process "hundreds of millions" in payments accordingly. It has relationships with more than two hundred mobile carriers around the world.
Companies like Zong (now part of PayPal) and Boku got started to enable online users (mostly younger people) to purchase virtual goods in a simple and secure way. They evolved to enable purchase of physical goods offline. While Zong was acquired Boku and smaller payments companies like it risk being marginalized in North America and Europe by banks, credit card issuers and others (e.g., Google, PayPal, Square), which are reaching out to a broader population of users that already have credit cards.
In developing countries carrier billing may be an effective approach for users and merchants in the absence of a more conventional credit card infrastructure. However in developed countries -- with carrier bills already very high -- few individuals (except those without traditional platic cards) will want to load up their carrier statements with additional costs. You may dispute me on this but I firmly believe that in the US, for most adults with existing credit, carrier billing is going to be a non-starter.
Boku cites a Strategy Analytics survey that argues, "consumers are twice as interested in operator billing as using traditional credit/debit cards." I simply don't accept these findings as valid. Another survey (US only) by electronics site Retrevo found the opposite in June of last year:
Companies such as Boku need to branch out into physical goods and move outside of carrier billing to withstand the onslaught from other players with greater brand recognition and momentum. Indeed, earlier this year Boku did an NFC payments deal with Mastercard in the UK as part of an effort to do so.
Most marketers' email campaigns are not optimized for mobile. I observe this all the time in my own experience: the majority of emails I open on my smartphone (iPhone) land on an HTML page that assumes I'm on a PC. Yet PC email opens will be the minority use case very soon according to data released by email analytics provider Return Path.
The company examined 500 client email campaigns in Q4, 2011 through Q1, 2012 and found that 30% of email opens were on mobile devices. Further, it said that mobile was on track to become "the dominant email marketing platform later this year." This makes sense because email is one of the primary activities that people do in mobile. Return Path asserts that 42% of all time spent with mobile is spent on email.
The company doesn't indicate whether iPads are counted as mobile devices here. In that case PC-formatted emails will look OK.
Regardless, the Return Path data and prediction will come as a shock to most email marketers who are well behind in terms of mobile adoption. Citing third party data Return Path said that of all email opens only 2.4% of people opened the same email on their mobile device and a PC. In other words, marketers get one shot at users and that's going to be mostly mobile as of later this year.
Citing another third party study Return Path reports that 63% of Americans and 41% of Europeans either close or delete emails not optimized for mobile. This shows how high the stakes are for marketers who rely on email -- especially retailers.
Perhaps the second most suprising datapoint from the study, Return Path found that "Apple devices account for 85% of all mobile email opens." What this effectively means is that at some point in Q4 a majority of email opens will happen on iPhones and iPads.
A recently published study from the UC Berkeley Law School about mobile payments and related issues finds some significant consumer resistance -- at least in the abstract. A survey discussed in the report found that "over three-quarters (74%) of Americans said that they are 'not at all likely' or 'not too likely' to adopt mobile payment systems. Just 24% say that they are likely to adopt mobile payments."
Enthusiasm or resistance to mobile payments varied by age. Interestingly the people most enthusiastic about the technology were those in the 35-44 age range -- not the youngest adults. Yet attitudes and behavior are often distinct and surveys don't always reflect what people actually do in concrete situations in the world. Still the data potentially reflect a stiff uphill climb for mobile payments purveyors.
Services like Square and PayPal Here may be exceptions because they don't require a change in consumer behavior. The consumer is still swiping a card; it's the merchant experience which is changed.
A 2012 consumer survey conducted by the US Federal Reserve found that 12% of respondents had made a “mobile payment” within the past year. However “payment” was broadly defined to include online bill paying, m-commerce, charitable giving and money transfers, among other transactions. Online bill paying was by far the most common “mobile payment” activity according to the survey.
(Source: US Federal Reserve Q1 2012, n=1,780 US adults)
Concerns over security and the lack of apparent/clear benefits were the top two obstacles to mobile payments adoption according to the Federal Reserve survey.
The UC Berkeley survey looked at related areas surrounding mobile payments adoption. It explored location tracking and other privacy related issues (i.e., giving merchants information as part of the mobile transaction). Among other things, the survey asked consumers about how much information they were willing to give to merchants and how comfortable they were allowing their movements in or around shopping areas to be tracked by retailers or other entities.
The report says that, "Americans overwhelmingly oppose the revelation of contact information (phone number, email address, and home address) to merchants when making purchases with mobile payment systems. Furthermore, an even higher level of opposition exists to systems that track consumers’ movements through their mobile phones." An overwhelming 96% of survey respondents say they objected to having their movements tracked by merchants or retailers; and 79% said they would “definitely not allow” it, with the remaining 17% saying they would “probably not allow” it.
Again this may be an abstract fear that dissipates if consumers realize concrete benefits from permitting themselves to be tracked or by divulging information. Regardless, mobile payments vendors and merchants will need to overcome the catalog of user fears and offer very concrete benefits to drive adoption. There are a large number of people who not only don't see mobile payments inevitable, useful or convenient but see it as a net negative.
That perception will need to be overcome to mainstream the phenomenon. And that will probably happen by getting a sufficient early adopter critical mass of people who can then proselytize and educate their friends, family and colleagues.


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Corsair Gaming (CRSR 3.39%) continued to experience high demand for its gaming peripherals and PC-building components in the first quarter of 2021.
A quick look at the headline numbers shows total revenue jumped 72% year over year, but a shift to higher-margin streaming products contributed to a robust increase in adjusted earnings per share of 420% over the year-ago quarter.
During the first-quarter earnings call, CEO Andy Paul said the company saw continued growth in players buying components to build $2,000-plus gaming PCs. Clearly, the pandemic-driven momentum is still with the company in early 2021, but Paul also noted that Corsair is nowhere close to realizing its long-term opportunity.
"The vast majority of people that are playing video games have bought no specialist gaming gear at all," Paul said. Here's why that statement could spell big returns for investors.
Corsair has plenty of room to grow revenue
Corsair Gaming is a leading brand in the gaming peripherals and components market. It held the No. 1 market-share spot in the U.S. in the first quarter across every component category related to gaming. Corsair has extensive distribution channels to sell its products across major retailers and specialty computer stores.
Based on its brand strength and vast distribution network, Corsair is in a great position to capitalize on growth in the gaming industry, where it's estimated that as many as three billion people will be playing games by 2023.
However, as management pointed out during the earnings call, only a small fraction of these players spends money on specialized gaming gear such as mice, keyboards, and microphones. This is a good thing for investors, since it obviously points to a very large opportunity for Corsair Gaming as more players dive into video games and upgrade their hardware as a result.
How big is Corsair's opportunity? The total amount of money spent on video games in 2020 was $174 billion, according to Newzoo. But annual spending on gaming peripherals, streaming gear, PC components, and prebuilt PCs and laptops was estimated at $46 billion, and that's an increase of 28% over 2019.
Corsair generated just $1.7 billion in revenue in 2020, which leaves a massive gap compared to its addressable market. Still, investors shouldn't expect a quick reward. Although management raised its revenue guidance for 2021, it still expects a lower rate of growth following the recent surge in sales.
Nonetheless, there are a few reasons why Corsair could beat its own expectations.
Is management's guidance too conservative?
Full-year guidance calls for revenue to reach $1.9 billion to $2.1 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 17% at the midpoint. That's a modest increase compared to the 55% growth rate in 2020, although management admitted it's being conservative in its outlook.
Paul said during the earnings call that the company currently expects lower growth in the second half of 2020. But consider what he said next: "But so far, clearly, we're seeing a lot higher acceleration than we planned."
There are clues outside of Corsair's results that show the gaming market is still red hot. Top game producer Activision Blizzard just reported it is seeing strong engagement trends carry over to the second quarter in Call of Duty: Warzone, one of the most popular titles on the market. Interest in esports titles is a fundamental driver of revenue for Corsair's gaming products, which are specifically designed for the rigors of competitive multiplayer games such as Warzone.
While Corsair management doesn't want to get ahead of itself and get too optimistic about the near term, it is also not ruling out growth could remain higher than expected, even as it wrestles with supply chain shortages: "[W]e're pretty optimistic but no reason yet to get ahead of ourselves and suggest that there's going to be massive growth in the rest of the year," Paul said. "But obviously, there could be."
The stock is down down 7% year to date as growth stocks have fallen out of favor in 2021. This could be a good buying opportunity for growth investors as video games captivate an increasing number people, especially among the younger generations.

domain: news


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Latest Miley Stories
BeautyStat.com Review: Exclusive Photos Of MAC Cosmetics Holiday 2014 Makeup Collections, Collaborations With Prabal Gurung, Miley Cyrus
The Admiral Theatre Gentlemen's Club is supporting AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL on August 14th by holding a “Sexy Miley Cyrus Look-A-Like Contest” during her visit to the Windy City.
In-demand Documentaries on Justin Timberlake, MTV's Artist of the Year and Miley Cyrus now digitally distributed on worldwide, mobile devices (iPad, iPhone) via Hilton Entertainment Group
Miley Cyrus 2014 Bangerz Tour concert tickets are on sale today to the general public at TicketProcess.com.
QueenBeeTickets.com is delighting customers with discount Miley Cyrus tickets for all stops on the recently announced Bangerz Tour for 2014.
TicketProcess offers fans an opportunity to purchase tickets to popular events that are on sale today Novemeber 15th 2013, which include Miley Cyrus, IL Divo, Jeff Dunham, Brad Paisley and more.
Fans from all over the country are searching for affordable Miley Cyrus tickets for sale, and QueenBeeTickets.com has released additional seats at fair prices just in time for the buying rush.
The Miley Cyrus Bangerz Tour was announced recently and is already gaining the attention of the entire pop music world.
- A young chicken: also used as a pet name for children.


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| Nov 2, 2013
| 2:06 PM
While the state of the economy remains debatable, shoppers will continue to be conservative with their Christmas budgets, retail analysts say. And that means more bargain hunting.
Here are some tips from deal-finding experts and local savvy shoppers...
| Nov 7, 2013
| 6:41 AM
The fifth annual Heather L. Hurd 5K Run and 1 Mile Fun Walk will be held at Harford Community College Saturday, Nov. 9.
The race honors the memory of Heather L. Hurd, a history major at Harford Community College from 1999 to 2003, who was killed in 2008...
| Oct 27, 2013
Consider the holiday retail race to be in full swing, as both Wal-Mart and Toys R Us moved to stake a claim in the competitive toy market back in September by releasing lists of top toys for Christmas and Hanukkah.
Discount behemoth Wal-Mart, which says...
| Jan 7, 2014
| 12:25 PM
Amazon and L.L. Bean tied for best in customer satisfaction during the holiday season, while Priceline.com came in last, an index released Tuesday showed.
The ForeSee Experience Index (FXI): 2013 U.S. Retail Edition measured overall and channel-specific...
| Jan 27, 2014
| 4:22 PM
State Rep. Dan McNeill, D-Lehigh, has announced he is seeking re-election to a second term. McNeill, 66, a former union leader and Whitehall Township commissioner, said he plans to officially hold a re-election event at 6 p.m. Feb. 18 at......
| Nov 5, 2013
| 8:29 AM
There are just a few weeks to go before the 8 p.m. Thanksgiving shopping madness begins on Nov. 28.
Were talking about Black Friday, and if you want to score the best deals on holiday gifts, youll need to use the next few weeks to draw up a battle plan...
| Dec 25, 2013
Today is the day Christians around the world celebrate one of the central miracles of the New Testament: the birth of God's son on Earth. Since then, the "miracle" bar has been lowered and the label has been secularized, attached by the media to all...
| Jan 16, 2014
| 12:15 PM
Reader Kurt Kuhnle posted this on the Savvy Shopper Facebook page:
"$450 worth of kids clothes for $77 at Babies 'r Us! Major score! All clearance items are $4 or less, plus there is a 20 percent off coupon for Rewards members. I think it ends tomorrow....
| Nov 7, 2013
| 8:37 AM
Toys "R" Us, Rite Aid, Macy's and
| Nov 19, 2013
| 10:32 AM
Farm Fresh is offering its customers a $20 store coupon with a $100 gift card purchase now through Nov. 30.
Participating gift cards including, Amazon, AMC, American Eagle, Applebees, Lowes, Mastercard, Bass Pro Shops, Regal Cinemas, iTunes, Kohl's,...
| Nov 19, 2013
| 8:19 AM
Walmart will offer a selection of its Black Friday deals on Friday, Nov. 22, a week before the hallowed shopping day.
“Black Friday is our Super Bowl and we plan to win,” Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising and marketing officer of...


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As New York City’s smallest Apple store, the SoHo location may finally be scheduled for an expansion into an adjacent space, according to a tipster. Building permits were issued earlier this month for certain demolition work in the basement of the store at 103 Prince Street, and core samples are being drilled out of the ground in front of the store. But that work may only be preparatory, the source says. Now Apple’s name has appeared on the lease for 124 Greene Street, the space on the side street behind the SoHo store, which the U.S. Postal Service occupied after giving up the main building to Apple in 2001. The small post office on Greene Street closed in late 2009, providing the opportunity for Apple to now pick up about another 5,000 square-feet of space. The SoHo store covers about 16,000 square feet, including basement offices and storage. The other three New York City stores occupy at least 20,000 square-feet.
The entire parcel of 103 Prince Street/124 Greene Street is 70 feet wide and 125 feet deep. Apple occupies the entire upper level of 103 Prince Street, and part of the lower and basement levels. Until late 2009, a small Post Office occupied the lower-rear levels of the parcel, addressed as 124 Greene Street. The diagram below depicts how the space was divided, looking at the Greene Street side of the building, Apple store entrance to the right. Also, download (pdf) the first permits issued for the construction.


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CUPERTINO, Calif. — Feb. 9, 2022 — Interra Systems, a leading provider of content QC, monitoring, and analysis solutions to the digital media industry, today announced that it will host a 2022 Tech Leadership Webinar Series for customers and partners, with insights into the latest media quality and compliance assurance innovations. Taking place on Feb. 22, March 2, March 8, and March 16, the online event will shed light on hot topics for the broadcast and OTT industries, including automated captioning and subtitling workflows, ad-insertion monitoring, efficient delivery for MPEG-2 TS, and strategies for moving content monitoring to the cloud.
“Global video consumption has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and delivering an outstanding quality of experience across all screens is a crucial necessity for today’s broadcasters and OTT service providers,” said Anupama Anantharaman, vice president of product management at Interra Systems. “Our Tech Leadership Webinar Series will provide attendees with valuable information about improving video quality of service and experience for viewers, simplifying QC and monitoring workflows, and leveraging state-of-the-art cloud, ML, AI, and ad-insertion solutions so they can drive higher monetization.”
Interra Systems’ Tech Leadership Webinar Series will feature the following session topics:
- “Complete Automation of Captioning/Subtitling Workflows” on Feb. 22 at 9 a.m. PST. This webinar will examine captioning/subtitling challenges and how to overcome them using Interra Systems’ BATON Captions solution.
- “Ad-Insertion Monitoring” on March 2 at 9 a.m. PST. Ad monitoring must be a critical component of OTT video service delivery to enable seamless ad insertion, better quality of experience (QoE), and increased monetization. During this webinar, attendees will gain insights into how Interra Systems’ ORION suite streamlines ad monitoring and related data to ensure QoE for end users.
- “Efficiently Delivering MPEG-2 TS” on March 8 at 9 a.m. PST. Cable and satellite operators, broadcasters, and OTT streaming service providers will learn how to automate the delivery of MPEG-2 TS in a media workflow with Interra Systems’ VEGA Vista solution.
- “Moving Content Monitoring to Cloud” on March 16 at 9 a.m. PDT. This session will explore how cloud can bring efficiency and flexibility to media operations, including the features and tools needed for monitoring in the cloud, steps involved in moving from on-prem to cloud, and important checks for determining audio-video QoE.
To learn more about Interra Systems’ Tech Leadership Webinar Series and to register online, visit https://www.interrasystems.com/Webinar/Tech-leadership-webinar2022. More information about Interra Systems solutions can be found at www.interrasystems.com.
# # #
About Interra Systems (www.interrasystems.com)
Interra Systems is a global provider of enterprise-class solutions that streamline the classification, quality control (QC) process, and monitoring of media content across the entire creation and distribution chain. Relying on Interra Systems’ comprehensive video insights, media businesses can deliver video with high quality of experience, address new market trends, and improve monetization.
Widely adopted by broadcast, cable, telco, satellite, IPTV, OTT, and post-production markets around the world, Interra Systems’ products enable better quality video, reduced exposure to regulatory issues, and higher customer satisfaction. Featuring AI- and machine learning-enabled algorithms, along with a flexible, software-defined architecture, Interra Systems’ solutions support a variety of deployment scenarios, including the cloud, for higher performance, scalability, and efficiency.
The company’s industry-leading solutions include BATON, an enterprise-class automated file-based QC system that ensures high quality content at every stage; BATON Captions for efficient video captions creation and distribution; BATON Lipsync for automated audio video sync detection; ORION-OTT for quality assurance of ABR streams, allowing flawless delivery of live and VOD content; ORION for 24×7 confidence monitoring of linear/live video delivery; ORION 2110 Probe for IP-based media workflows; WINNOW for content classification and compliance; VEGA for in-depth media analysis, offering content debug and compliance; and BMP, a powerful, industry-grade media player.


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KANSAI Plascon Africa, a subsidiary of Japan based Kansai Paint, has concluded its agreement to purchase the Sadolin Paints operations in Tanzania and other East African countries.
This was announced by Kansai Plascon Tanzania Managing Director Amin Habib, during a press briefing in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.
“We are thrilled for this acquisition,” Mr Habib said adding: “We will be able to tap into Kansai’s strong brand heritage, and trusted performance, providing us with new capabilities, access to technology and a know-how.”
The acquisition will see no changes in top management or any other positions at Sadolin. The company will continue to operate as optimally as it has been with the current employee base.
Mr Habib, will keep his position as company’s MD, said they are now going to benefit from new and improved technologies from Kansai Paint. Kansai Paint is a global company with major operations in Japan, China, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
Its product offering covers the decorative, industrial, protective coatings and automotive segment. It has research and development facilities in Japan, India and South Africa. Since establishment in 1967 in Tanzania, Sadolin Paints has grown to become one of the country largest paint manufacturer. Sadolin market share was estimated at over 50 per cent especially in automotive and protective coating paints.
President of Kansai Plascon East Africa Gary van der Merwe said East Africa was one of the fastest growing regions in the continent, with a rapidly emerging middle class, increased spending power and growing urbanization.
“This is, therefore, a good time to launch into a market that is in need of our wide range of products to enhance their lifestyles, while also increasing our global footprint,” the president said. Kansai Paint is a top ten coatings company globally. In the last 10 years it had embarked on a global expansion drive.


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On Thursday, Donald Trump announced to Bloomberg that Amazon, Facebook, and Google may have a monopoly and that these companies are all involved in what he called "a very antitrust situation."
After asserting that Google has a most definite liberal bias, Trump threw Amazon and Facebook into the discussion as well and explained that he believes most people would agree with his feeling that all three of these companies are involved in antitrust activities, as Business Insider has reported.
"As you know, many people think it is a very antitrust situation, the three of them."With antitrust laws in place to make certain that companies don't become too large and place a stranglehold on competition, Donald Trump could certainly move to enforce antitrust laws with these companies. However, Trump did not say that he would be moving to take any action immediately with Google, Amazon or Facebook and stated that at the moment he has no further comment about the current situation.
"I won't comment on the breaking up, of whether it's that or Amazon or Facebook."Earlier on Wednesday Steve Bannon, who was Trump's previous White House chief strategist, remarked to CNN that he feels that tech companies like Google should be dismantled and broken up, according to Business Insider. With Bannon calling these companies "evil," and noting that there is "no doubt about that," he then launched into an attack specifically on Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai and said that these individuals are true "narcissists and sociopaths," and that "these people ought to be controlled, they ought to be regulated." After this, he insisted that Google, Facebook, and Amazon should all be broken up.
If Donald Trump were to seriously consider taking action with antitrust laws against Facebook, Google, and Amazon, then either the FTC or the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division would be called upon to decide whether they should be taking up proceedings against these three companies.
Trump has previously stressed that Amazon is a "no-tax monopoly" that uses the U.S. Postal Service to its advantage, and a website called Axios has said that the president is reportedly "obsessed" with the company.
Of course, part of the reason that Donald Trump has voiced his displeasure with Google is because in his opinion, "Conservatives have been treated very unfairly."
"I tell you there are some moments where we say, 'Wow that really is bad, what they're doing.'"With Donald Trump putting Amazon, Facebook, and Google in the spotlight with regard to antitrust laws, it is fully possible that action may be taken in the future against these companies.


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Attend Automotive Linux Summit and Open Source Summit Japan in Tokyo, June 20 – 22, for three days of open source education and collaboration.
Automotive Linux Summit connects those driving innovation in automotive Linux from the developer community, with the vendors and users providing and using the code, in order to propel the future of embedded devices in the automotive arena.
Session highlights for Automotive Linux Summit:
- Enabling Hardware Configuration Flexibility Keeping a Unified Software – Dominig ar Foll, Intel
- Beyond the AGL Virtualization Architecture – AGL Virtualization Expert Group (EG-VIRT) – Michele Paolino, Virtual Open Systems
- High-level API for Smartphone Connectivity on AGL – Takeshi Kanemoto, RealVNC Ltd.
- AGL Development Tools – What’s New in FF? – Stephane Desneux, IoT.bzh
Read more at The Linux Foundation


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Prolgae, a Nordic-Indian startup company, is fighting malnutrition in the world by producing high quality, affordable spirulina.
Prolgae founder and CEO, Aakas Sadasivam, started his business with the aim to fight malnutrition – primarily in India and Africa – by producing premium quality, sun-dried spirulina and make it available to everyone.
Widely recognized as a superfood, spirulina is a rich source of protein, vitamins A, B, D and E, Calcium, Iron, Potassium, GLA. Moreover, it is a natural appetite suppressant and has powerful antioxidant properties.
Prolgae was recently chosen as one of the Top 25 companies in India by the CEO magazine and was also one of the Top 10 Agritech Start-ups. Prolgae Spirulina is currently available as flakes and powder and they are eyeing to tap the future of algae, as well as looking to scale up producing spirulina.
Prolgae are seeking a further seed investment of $200,000 USD for increasing production, and making value added like omega 3, phycocianin powders, and algea based foods.


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A new gaming event set for April 2017 has been announced by CEO. The event has been named CEO Dreamland and it will have a focus on Smash tournaments, but there will be other events taking place as well. A statement on the CEO Dreamland website read, "We would like to show the love back and host an event dedicated...
- home page on Rainbow Six Siege ESL Katowice in Spectacular Fashion
- home page on COD WW2 Dev Very Dedicated to eSports
- Anthony on Available Xbox One Elite Controllers
- br9apps.com on Smash Summit 4 Dates and Prizes Announced
- Roxy on LDLC Say Goodbye to COD


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Most of the people who were there at midnight on November 15, 2001 to get their Xboxes probably blame Seamus Blackley for that late night adventure. As the Xbox Technology Officer, Xbox Evangelist, Wandering Xboxer and the guy most responsible for putting the system on the minds and in the hearts of gamers everywhere, Blackley occupies a unique position as a guy who's seen the system go from idea to reality over the last three years. It came as a surprise to many videogame industry insiders when Blackley announced his resignation from Microsoft yesterday.
As one of the most high profile figures associated with the Xbox, next to The Bill himself, Blackley's resignation ignited plenty of speculation about the company, the system and the man himself. As it turns out, Blackley is leaving the Xbox team to create games and content for the very system he was instrumental in developing.
"I'm not leaving because I think Xbox is f---ed up in any way. The timing has nothing to do with anything that's happening with Xbox. I was blown away today by the press response and also by the gamers' response on message boards," Blackley said.
Blackley's next venture will be a gaming company that he's helped co-found and that will no doubt focus on the Xbox's considerable technology. The as of yet unrevealed company has been up and running for a matter of months now while Blackley continued his duties with Microsoft. His arrival in the new venture also means that a formal announcement of the company's name and mission will be coming in a matter of weeks. Apparently, the plans are secret and impressive enough to demand all of Blackley's attention.
"I'm leaving now because I've actually got to get in there and start doing work. I could cheer from the sidelines and contribute ideas and vision and stuff. But I couldn't actually get down to work," added Blackley.
It seems there's no relation between the arrival of new Xbox Director of Content Planning Ken Lobb from Nintendo and Seamus Blackley's departure to create videogames. With a whirlwind of rumors surrounding Xbox, its current position and its future, the timing of Blackley's departure regardless of motivation will likely keep whisperers whispering through E3 and beyond.
IGN will have more on Blackley in coming weeks and plenty more on Xbox for the rest of its life.


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This foldable, dual-screen phone with a Nintendo 2DS vibe transforms into a tiny tablet.
Microsoft also will be making Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams available for U.S. government customers in early 2018.
Vendors are reacting swiftly to a vulnerability that lets attackers eavesdrop on your network traffic.
Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics 2017 give Apple a B- on its report card, ahead of the likes of Dell, HP, Samsung, and Amazon. But the top spot goes to a company you may not have heard of.
The new feature was designed for contingent workers who need to display their work in a professional manner to gain business, while also measuring engagement with the content displayed.
The malware affects Windows 7 and up to Windows 8.1, the researchers confirmed.
Many businesses are making use of IoT devices these days--but does an IoT implementation make financial sense for your company? To help you decide, this handy tool will enable you to calculate the total...
General Motors' subsidiary Cruise Automation plans to test fully autonomous vehicles in lower Manhattan.
Microsoft offers a glimpse of how its new Fluent Design is evolving the Windows 10 experience.
In the spooky spirit of the season, here are the products, apps, and trends that chill our staff to the bone.


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Flu injection in the holiday?
For many, June is holiday time but it is also flu time. While holidays will no doubt have more exciting things in store than a visit to your GP or pharmacist, June is not too late to have a flu injection. If we look at the WHO (World Health Organisation) outlook for influenza, we see a
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American fashion label J.Crew has announced a retail collaboration with Asia’s leading designer specialty store, Lane Crawford marking the brand’s first retail environment outside of North America. Beginning in October 2012, a curated selection
of the J.Crew autumn/winter 2012 women's ready-to-wear and shoes, men's apparel and accessory collections will be available at select Lane Crawford stores, allowing customers throughout Hong Kong and China to shop J.Crew.
partnership will debut at the Lane Crawford ifc mall in Hong Kong and the Seasons Place store in Beijing, as well as on lanecrawford.com, providing a new and exclusive positioning for both brands across Greater China.
Millard Drexler, J.Crew's chairman and CEO said: "We always want to work with the 'best of the best,' and Lane Crawford was at the top of our fantasy list. When it comes to editing and presenting collections with a creative and elevated point of view, no one does it better. We are beyond excited to partner with Lane Crawford to help introduce J.Crew to Asia."
Andrew Keith, Lane Crawford's president added: "We are thrilled to be collaborating with J.Crew on this first-ever, unique multi-channel project. J.Crew is renowned in the US for bringing together an exceptional level of quality and distinctive styling, paired together with Lane Crawford's exclusive edit; we are very excited to offer this unique experience to the Hong Kong and China markets."
Established in 1983, J.Crew operates 277 retail stores across America and Canada, as well as 96 factory outlets and online business at www.jcrew.com.
Image: J.Crew Fall'12 New York Fashion Week Presentation


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Travel News: Consumer Rankings Released for Best Airline Customer Service & Flight Schedules
Ever wonder what the most on time flight in America is? Or if your delay was the worst in flight history? It probably wasn't, I know it sure felt like it. To help avoid delays and be an informed traveler, a number of airline consumer ratings have just been released based on on time arrival, denied boarding, lost luggage and costumer complaints. In the video, it mentions some of these stats and other shocking facts, like the longest non-stop flight is 18 hours long, and one of the most expensive items ever lost by an airline was a painting worth $20,000! With so much chaos traveling to Europe and new airline partnership opening up to Mexico, it's a good thing someone is keeping an eye on the airline business and helping travelers relax in comfort on their way to such lovely destinations as our Cabo San Lucas resorts ;) Enjoy!


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plastprintpack West Africa 2013 from 3 – 5 December in Accra, Ghana
According to VDMA-The German Engineering Association, the imports of plastics, printing and packaging machinery and equipment to West Africa in 2011 increased by up to 75 per cent. Against this backdrop the Accra International Conference Centre in Accra, Ghana will open its gates from 3 to 5 December 2013 the 1st plastprintpack West Africa. The International Trade Show on Plastics, Composites, Chemistry and Printing & Packaging Solutions and Material is organised by the trade fair specialist fairtrade Messe from Germany.
Among the ECOWAS-The Economic Community of West African States as a regional group of 15 West African countries, Ghana has developed into a „Donor darling” of the international giver community. This success is founded on political and economic stability. Further on Ghana belongs to the out-performers in Subsahara-Africa, with gdp-growth rates of considerably more than 7 per cent (ECOWAS average: 5%). This growth is driven by divert industry sectors. Private investments into the branches of oil and gas, mining, agriculture, food processing industry, retailing and energy as well as public investments into infrastructural projects made Ghana an important hub for business with West Africa. (Source: GTAI – Wirtschaftstrends Ghana 2012/13, January 2013).
According to Martin März, managing director with fairtrade, Ghana is the ideal venue for this leading cross-border trade show. As stated in the study of GTAI, growing population, increase in consumer consumption as well as the great distance between West Africa and the major consumer goods industries in Europe and South Africa, make a local production certainly worthwhile. These tendencies are supported by the import figures of VDMA for plastics, printing and packaging machinery and equipment into the ECOWAS countries. Compared to the year 2010 the imports in the plastics sector grew by 37.7 per cent from 96.9 up to 133.5 million Euros.
A rise from 36.7 to 64.5 million Euros represents an increase of 75.7 per cent in imports of printing machinery and equipment. And in the same period, the imports in the packaging sector to the ECOWAS states increased by 52.1 per cent up to 223.3 million Euros. Industry experts agree that this is not the end of this development. „I am convinced: in 10 years from now we will witness the great Africa boom. By then, for us working in the field of packaging technology, business-wise the continent will play a similarly important role as Asia does today,” claims Friedbert Klefenz, President of Bosch Packaging Technology and Chairman of the board of the packaging machinery sector within VDMA.
The trade fair specialist fairtrade Messe recognized this potential and launch the plastprintpack West Africa. The 1st International Trade Show on Plastics, Composites, Chemistry and Printing & Packaging Solutions and Material is scheduled to be held from 3 – 5 December 2013 at the Accra International Conference Centre in Accra, Ghana. According to the organisers this event will be the „place-to-be”, to meet buyers from West Africa as well as technology leaders from Europa, Asia and America.
Two decades of experience in organising trade fairs and a strong institutional partner AHK- Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana make these targets realistic. To create valuable synergies for exhibitors and visitors alike, printpackplast West Africa is held in conjunction with agrofood West Africa, the 1st International Trade Show on Agriculture & Livestock, Food, Beverage & Packaging Technology and Food, Beverages & Hospitality.


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Normally hot in the news, Google is red hot today because of a rare public talk with its cofounders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, during which they discussed many of the topics we’ve all been wondering about, including how deep they’ll go into health (not so far that it stymies their overall business – besides, it’s “painful”) and what’s next with self-driving cars (why own your own when you can ride share?), as well as criticizing the government and society as a whole. You can view the 40 minute discussion here. And speaking of Google, the company – smarting whenever a consumer searches within Amazon rather than going to Google first – wants to compete with Amazon with Google Shopping Express.
Bikini models are not usually a Scoop topic, but one woman started a fabulous – and growing trend – sensation when she posed with her colostomy bag. The photos went viral, people started applauding her for her courage in her fight against Crohn’s Disease, and others began to follow suit. Bravo!
This weekend I attended my first wedding with its own hashtag. For better or for worse times are changing, and it’s more important than ever to listen to what your audiences are saying on social media. Four reasons why: you’ll more deeply understand the issues surrounding your brand, identify new business opportunities, find more appropriate (key word appropriate) ways to engage, and ultimately your brand will create better content. Thanks Justin Freid VP Search & Emerging Media for this story.
Stress levels affect health, and a recent fascinating study shows that most of Americans’ stress is because of health as well – poor health condition, disability and chronic health problems are the top three causes of stress cited in the Harvard/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study. And although some use positive outlets to deal with stress, the three most common responses to stress are to sleep less, eat less and exercise less.
– Carly Kuper, VP, Strategic Marketing & Corporate Communications
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Wednesday, 24 Oct 2012
Alongside the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and the new Mac Mini, Apple also unveiled its next-generation iMac. Available in 21.5- and 27-inch screen sizes, the new iMac boasts faster processors, a re-engineered display, and an edge that measures just 5mm thin. Prices start from S$1,788.
In addition to the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and the new iMac, Apple has also updated its Mac Mini models with new Intel 'Ivy Bridge' processors. The S$788 base model features the 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, Intel HD 4000 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive.
Apple has just added a second Retina display-equipped MacBook Pro to its laptop lineup. The just announced 13-inch MacBook Pro features a 2,560 x 1,600-pixel LED-backlit display, and the base model with a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of flash storage is priced at S$2,388.
Tuesday, 23 Oct 2012
Engineered with new construction methods and treated with performance-boosting sensor-reactive surface coatings, the Razer Invicta, Manticor, Destructor 2, and Megasoma 2 gaming mats were put through rigorous qualitative processes, including mouse lift-off, acceleration, and precision tests.
A Japanese blog has shown Sony Mobile's rumored flagship C650 phone (codenamed Odin) spotting a 5-inch display with a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. Also, the device is said to make its first official appearance at CES next year.
Skype, the voice call and chat service provider that was acquired by Microsoft late last year for US$8.5 million, has announced a new Modern-style version of Skype for Windows 8. The app will be pre-installed on devices from 12 manufacturers, and be made available in the Windows Store come October 26.
Bill Gates recently sat down with Steve Clayton, who writes for Microsoft's Technet blog, to share his thoughts on Windows 8 and what this new operating system means for the company.
Monday, 22 Oct 2012
We know that the HTC J Butterfly smartphone, in all its 5-inch Super LCD 3, 440ppi glory, was recently unveiled in Japan. Now, Android Central has posted leaked images showing what is possibly a US/Verizon version of the J Butterfly called the HTC DLX (short for HTC Deluxe).
According to a recent report by The Korea Times, OLED TVs are unlikely to hit retail shelves anytime soon with rumors suggesting that manufacturing problems faced by the likes of LG and Samsung could delay the official launch of these highly anticipated TV sets until 2013.
Friday, 19 Oct 2012
80 years in print later, Newsweek will move to an all-digital format early 2013 and will cease its print publication on the last day of this year due to the increasingly challenging print advertising environment, and a growing online audience.


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Martin Currie has appointed Mark Elliott (pictured) as head of UK business development.
In the newly created role, Mark will work with Franklin Templeton’s UK sales team to strategically develop its business in the UK retail market.
He joins from the wider Franklin Templeton Group where he was most recently head of strategic accounts. He previously spent a decade at Blackrock in a variety of roles, including head of UK sales.
Mel Bucher, global head of distribution, said: “UK retail is a critical market for our future growth and Martin Currie is integral to Franklin Templeton’s plan to grow in the UK retail market.
“We are delighted to have [Mark Elliott] join the team to further consolidate our presence in the UK and position ourselves as a leading active equity specialist for institutional and intermediary clients. Mark’s experience makes him well-placed to support our efforts.”


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When it comes to Apple devices, the look of the thing is just as important as how it works. If we were unkind we could say that the look is more important than how the device runs but that’s not fair – Apple’s mobile devices are not slouches in any department.
It’s looks that we’re focusing on right now as a CAD file, which claims to show Apple’s upcoming iPad Mini 4, has surfaced online. This could be our first real look at Apple’s mini tablet hardware, ahead of the September reveal anyhow, and it’s a lot more detailed than our usual leaks. Visually, anyway.
Most of what we get here is a look at the overall design as well as a few dimensions – the iPad Mini 4 is set to clock in at 6.1mm thick. That’s quite the drop over the last outing, where the iPad Mini 3 measured 7.5mm. In terms of ports and the rest, there don’t look to be many surprises heading out way.
Unfortunately there are no details about the components that will live inside this shell, and that’s really where we’re expecting the major changes – if any – to show up. Stay tuned, Apple won’t keep a lid on their devices forever.
Source: @onleaks (YouTube)


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As the revolutionary technology that underpins most developments in cryptocurrency, blockchain has already been proven to have many applications outside of the world of finance. With recent innovations in science, ecommerce, and even the music industry relying upon the immutable and decentralised nature of blockchainâs transaction records, it seems there is almost no sector that cannot benefit from the technology.
Even the energy industry is starting to take note.
Some months ago, a story was published by GreenTech Media concerning 15 new energy companies that were dabbling in blockchain. Some of those companies generated their funding through ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), chief among them Grid+ who, during a sale of their tokens in November 2017, managed to raise an astonishing 94,070 Ethereum, 570.5 Bitcoin, and $125,000 in hard cash. Quite the achievement.
The company is in the process of developing a software and hardware solution that will result in a secure gateway enabled by the Ethereum cryptocurrency, which will connect IoT (Internet of Things) devices to one another. The purpose of such an enterprise? The hardware gateway will act as a secure store of a userâs Ethereum tokens that will process payments for electricity and other energy supplies in real-time. The net result of this is that a client can arrange for their various household appliances to run when the cost of energy is at its lowest, with the gateway settling their bill at point of use from their cache of Ethereum tokens.
Meanwhile, European company WePower has begun blockchain operations on an even larger scale, rolling out a platform that it intends to tokenise the energy output of an entire country: Estonia. The blockchain system allows green energy enterprises to sell contracts based on forecast future production using their companies own digital tokens which has the potential to raise the necessary funding for such projects through a host of smaller investors.
Whilst these companies may be using blockchain in a slightly different manner to the altcoins, the fundamentals remain unchanged and only prove the flexibility of the technology behind it all.


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Anderson Service Wins 2012 Angie’s List Super Service Award
Anderson Service for Home & Business has earned the prestigious 2012 Angie’s List Super Service Award. Using Angie’s List, thousands of consumers share their reviews and ratings on local contractors and companies in more than 500 categories. More than 1 million consumers in the U.S. turn to Angie’s List to help them locate the right contractor or company for the work they need done.
Per Angie’s List:
“It’s a select group of companies rated on Angie’s List that can claim the exemplary customer service record of being a Super Service Award winner,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks.
“Our standards for the Super Service Award are quite high. The fact that Anderson Service for Home and Business earned this recognition speaks volumes about its dedication providing great service to its customers.”
Angie’s List Super Service Award winners have met strict eligibility requirements including earning a minimum number of reports, an exemplary rating from their customers and abiding by Angie’s List operational guidelines.
Our goal at Anderson Service for Home & Business is to provide our customers with first class service and we have worked successfully with homes and businesses for over 55 years in SW Florida.


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One of Pacific Beach’s latest restaurant-bars has been a popular spot this summer for locals to enjoy a refreshing craft brew or specialty cocktail alongside contemporary gastropub-style American cuisine in a hip, yet casual beach-lounge atmosphere.
With an ideal venue just steps away from the big blue — but just off the bustling main drag — Duck Dive owners Tom Winn, Billy Ramirez, Doug Sondomowicz and Pete Cich determined that a laid-back, surf-inspired restaurant and bar was in order at the former Hennessey’s location at the corner of Mission Boulevard and Emerald Street.
“We wanted to make sure we did it right,” said Winn, a majority owner. “Doug, Billy and Pete have opened bars and restaurant-bars before. For me, it was good to have those people around, because it helped us get things done right.”
The local restaurateurs opened Duck Dive in late March after nearly four months of construction to transform the former Irish pub into the bright, beachy venue it is today.
With the help of interior designer Yale Jallos of Loma Collective Design, the foursome was able to bring its vision to life. The result is an ambiance filled with organic and natural elements, like the wood-slatted ceiling that recreates the nearby rolling waves, the use of raw, rusted and recycled materials throughout the site, a hyperlocal tribute to Pacific Beach with a photo mural of Crystal Pier plastered on the wall, and other imagery that pays homage to the local surfing culture.
“It’s a nice ambiance —a little more upscale for PB — but we want it to be a laid-back local bar, too,” said Winn.
In keeping with the theme, the team at Duck Dive also incorporated locally inspired cuisine, cocktails and craft beer to the menu, as well. Many of the 20 craft beers on tap are from local breweries, and some of the menu items are sourced from about as local as you can get — at Pacific Beach’s Tuesday Farmers Market.
Every Tuesday, chef Juvencio ‘Beto’ Garcia gathers the best produce from the farmers market to create seasonal dishes for “Farm to Table Tuesdays,” where guests can take advantage of a $15 farm-to-table special, including an appetizer and entrée featuring the fresh local produce, starting at 5 p.m.
And Tuesdays aren’t the only day of the week to pay a visit to Duck Dive. The restaurant-bar also features Disco Dive Thursdays, Lazy Sundays, Wine Down Wednesdays, weekday happy hour specials and DJs on Thursday through Sunday nights.
Winn, a long-time service-industry employee and manager, and his colleagues know what the industry is all about, and they brought together the best employees in the business for the launch of their latest venture.
“I actually worked at Hennessey’s before it closed. I brought back about five employees from Hennessey’s, and we brought over some people from Shore Club,” Winn said. “We have a great staff. They’ve all worked in the industry. We’ve bartended. We’ve managed. So we kind of hand-selected them.”
One of Duck Dive’s bartenders, Andrew Hanson, attributed the closeness and cooperativeness of the staff to the attentiveness and camaraderie of the owners.
“These guys are great,” said Hanson. “Everyone has worked at other bars. From my experience and everyone else’s, they [owners] treat their employees like them. It really is like a family in that sense. You can kind of escape that overbearing corporate structure, but everyone still works hard and pulls their own weight.”
Because employees enjoy the company of their fellow coworkers and their job function, this reflects positively on their service to the customers, creating a good experience for everyone.
“Taking a risk on a new bar, you’re not sure what’s going to happen, but I could tell that with the people they brought together that it was guaranteed to work,” Hanson said. “We’re all good buddies, so that keeps everything light and fun.”
The staff and owners’ passion and expertise in the industry is evident at the popular dining establishment.
“I’ve worked in the industry bartending and managing for almost eight years. I’m used to it. I love it. I’m not ever going to get out of it,” said Winn.
Not only can guests expect this local watering hole to stick around for the long haul, they can also expect some great new ventures from Winn as well — both at Duck Dive and beyond — as he hopes to open up another restaurant in San Diego in the next year or two.
For more information or for a full drink and menu list, visit www.theduckdive.com or call (858) 273-DUCK (3825). Duck Dive is located at
4650 Mission Blvd.


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The publisher of magazine brands including NME, Marie Claire and Wallpaper, said newsletter subs jumped from around 1.2 million to 1.9 million in 12 months after the introduction of the Experian CheetahMail service.
IPC worked with the technology provider to develop a multi-channel service to improve the media company’s return on investment (ROI) from email marketing.
The magazine company said marketing emails had previously been managed and distributed by a third-party company, while it handled its 40 newsletters with an in-house system.
Its technology partner developed a bespoke system to fulfil both tasks, training 36 staff to use its newsletter package and providing an online resource for online marketers to assess the effectiveness of campaigns.
Lee Wilmore, head of database marketing, IPC Media said: "Using Experian CheetahMail has revolutionised our editorial newsletters and email marketing campaigns.
"When we run tests, we can now see increases to open and click rates as they happen, leading to increased ROI and learnings we can share across the entire business.
"It’s sped up the process of running an email campaign and gives control to each individual user over how they want to manage and schedule their workload."
IPC said its new system allowed it to send 20 million permission-based emails a month, compared with three million, 12 months ago.
In addition, the publisher had reduced bounce rate and for NME, increased opening rates by 20%.


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Shipa Freight Wins Logistics Technology Platform of the Year
Shipa Freight has won the Logistics Technology Platform of the Year Award at the recent TLME Excellence Awards in Dubai.
The award was originally crafted to celebrate the digital platform that has set a new paradigm in logistics technology.
The primary criteria in deciding the nominees included a capacity for robust data analytics, time and cost-saving automation, efficient transport management, easy deployment, interoperability, regulatory compliance, and above all, a demonstrated increase in productivity for end-users.
You can watch an interview with Shipa Freight’s Varun Kulshreshtha after the award win below:
Shipa Freight has built a reputation in being able to integrate seamlessly into the wider chain and simplify operations holistically.
TLME CEO Sam Khan said: “This is a major award and one that had very, very tough competition, therefore the team at Shipa Freight have done themselves proud in securing this big win.”
Read more: TLME Excellence Awards: Winners List


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The Co-op has teamed up with Finnish firm, Digital Goodie to launch its first dedicated online grocery shop and home delivery service.
First trialled in March last year as a proof of concept, it now plans to offer same-day online city-centre deliveries from 650 stores by the end of the year.
“Convenience lies at the heart of our offering and as part of this, we have major online expansion plans which will make it easier than ever for customers to shop with us,” explained Chris Conway, Head of Food Digital at the Co-op.
“Such growth can only be facilitated with a digital partner that offers modern and agile technology and we’re delighted to continue our work with the Digital Goodie team who are intrinsic in bringing these plans to life.”
It will be using Digital Goodie’s software as a service Connected Commerce platform. This includes commerce, OMS and in-store picking modules, which have been optimised for FMCG.
“When we started our journey with Co-op we were impressed on how focused they are on digitalisation, and how agile they are in their approach. The speed by which they were able to design and build their own storefront is a testament to these traits,” said Moris Chemtov, Global CEO of Digital Goodie.
“However, it is also a testament to the robustness and completeness of Digital Goodie’s headless commerce platform. We are proud to be the first platform vendor to truly bring headless commerce to the grocery industry, and look forward to many more wins in the upcoming months”.
It explained that the “headless paradigm” is a logical separation between user interface and business logic layers. A retailer can take full control of the end user experience, by using the open API’s of the platform to build and design their user experience without depending on the platform vendor.
In December last year, Digital Goodie acquired Manchester’s Maginus for an undisclosed sum.


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Updated below: Perhaps Michael Snyder stepped down as CEO of Vonage because he realized he wasn't the best executive for the job. But naming company founder Jeffrey Citron as interim CEO--even for a short time--may not be the best fix either.
Why? Citron has had his run-ins with the Securities and Exchange Commission while he was at Datek Online Holdings over securities fraud allegations. He was barred from associating with any securities broker or dealer and paid $22.5 million in civil penalties.
From Vonage's IPO filing dated August 2006:
"Citron and other individuals participated in an extensive fraudulent scheme involving improper use of the Nasdaq Stock Market's Small Order Execution System, or SOES. Datek Securities (through its successor iCapital Markets LLC), Mr. Citron and other individuals entered into settlements with the SEC in 2002 and 2003, which resulted in extensive fines, bans from future association with securities brokers or dealers and enjoinments against future violations of certain U.S. securities laws."
Indeed, Citron's issues are in the past, but Vonage gave the Datek incident a lot of play in its filings leading up to the IPO. In fact, part of the reason Snyder was CEO in the first place was that Citron was a liability.
"There is a risk that some third parties will not do business with us, that some prospective investors will not purchase our securities or that some customers may be wary of signing up for service with us as a result of allegations against Mr. Citron and his past SEC and NASD settlements. We believe that some financial institutions and accounting firms have declined to enter into business relationships with us in the past, at least in part because of these matters."
And now Citron, who had been Chief Strategist, has to right the ship as CEO on a "short-term basis." But the risks Vonage noted about Citron before are still in play. Bottom line: Citron may still be a liability. As a Vonage customer questioning the company's prospects, this development isn't comforting.
Meanwhile, Citron is applying the band-aids to Vonage's business. Vonage said it plans to reduce its marketing expense by about $110 million. For 2007, Vonage plans marketing expenditures of roughly $310 million. General and administrative expenses will be cut by $30 million through "consolidation of operations and workforce reduction."
Vonage is projecting revenue of $195 million for the quarter ending March 31. Wall Street was expecting revenue of $197 million, according to Thomson Financial. Vonage is projecting 332,000 gross subscriber line additions, 166,000 net subscribers and an average monthly churn of 2.4 percent. Those projections a bit light, but are in the ballpark of Wall Street estimates.
The big question is how those projections unravel in the upcoming quarters. An even bigger question: What if Vonage needs more financing as it dukes it out with Verizon over patents? Financial firms were wary of Citron before. They certainly aren’t going to be more enthusiastic given Vonage’s problems.
Update 12:15 p.m. ET:
A few takeaways from the Vonage conference call. Jon Arnold also has his take.
Citron's status: Citron said a search to replace Snyder started today. When asked about his previous problems with the SEC, Citron declined to comment on whether he was allowed to be CEO of a public company.
Verizon patent dispute: Vonage chief legal officer Sharon O'Leary said that the company's plan was to appeal Verizon's patent suit. She also noted that "we don't believe we infringed on Verizon's patents." She had a bevy of issues with the way the court handled the Verizon suit. O'Leary said the court essentially took Verizon's word that the patents were valid and "reduced a hearing that usually takes days to a few hours."
"The likelihood we will succeed on appeal is strong," said O'Leary. "We will work on our appeal and expect it to take one and a half or two years to run its course."
Sprint patent suit coming: O'Leary said it was uncertain whether a Sprint suit overlapped with Verizon patent claims. O'Leary said Sprint has approached Vonage about patents to work out a business arrangement. "I feel very strongly we can enter into a business arrangement to solve that matter," she said.
The workaround: Citron couldn't give a timeline on the development and design of workarounds that would render Verizon's patent moot. However, these workarounds are in the design phase. Citron said Vonage "will have better picture of timelines in May."
Churn increase due to negative publicity: Citron argued that Vonage's churn rate in the first quarter was consistent with the fourth quarter. Citron noted it's too early to see any customer impact due to the Verizon patent suit.