HTC and AT&T are teaming up to create a Facebook-integrated phone. No, not in terms of the OS. But the hardware itself. This device, called the Status (get it?) will have a Facebook button on the shell itself. With a single click, you will be connected to the world of Facebook, where you can commence sharing, uploading, friending liking and more.
My question is, is this really faster? Is a hardware button better than a touchscreen icon? Will it actually improve Facebook integration, or is it a mere marketing gimmick?
I’m not sure AT&T cares much as long as it’s one of them?
Yes, the Google Plus app launched right along with the service – signaling that Google Plus is designed to be mobile. So, how exactly does Google + incorporate with the ever-evolving mobile lifestyle?
GPS. Camera. Messaging.
Google Plus makes it easy to share. And when you do, you have the option of adding your location to every post. Let’s say you’re downtown Chicago watching a concert in Millenium Park. You share a photo along with your location, and your friend who is in one of your Google Plus Circles sees that you’re within shouting distance. This could help make those random and super fun run-ins a little more frequent.
And with Instant Upload, you can set your phone so that every photo you take automatically gets put in a private album that’s stored in the cloud – and ready to share. No more file transfers. No more confusion. Google Plus aims at making mobile simple.
The new iPhone 5 due this Fall is getting the majority of news time lately. But, what’s flying under the radar is the “iPhone Lite“, a cheaper and affordable iPhone designed specifically for consumers in developing countries.
At this point though, discussing specific features would be purely speculative. But, in terms of how to keep costs down, what could the iPhone Lite lose? Industry insiders say that a cheaper shell and overall construction and losing internal memory altogether could do a lot.
So, the question is, will the iPhone Lite come to America, or focus on China and other still developing countries? And, if launched in America, the iPhone Lite is priced equivalent to Android models, could Apple’s market share regain the lead once again?
Yahoo wants to be the app aggregator of the mobile Web, and have built Yahoo AppSpot to do just that.
Right now, when you’re looking for new apps, what do you do? Do you jump on to your phone’s app store? Quickly scroll down the “best selling” chart and see if anything looks interesting? Or you learn about new apps from friends, only to search and search to no avail to find the same app available on your mobile operating system?
Yahoo AppSpot hopes to help make finding new mobile apps easier. Search by title, category or interest and you’ll receive a comprehensive list of apps sorted by popularity, price, user rating and operating system.
Plus, AppSpot makes recommendations for you based on the other apps you’ve downloaded in the past. For a company that doesn’t seem like its doing much in terms of new innovations, this might actually be one that catches on. At least, I’m not familiar with something similar. And it could definitely be useful.
As the tech community continues its evolution to a universal standard of Web programming (think HTML5), the new world of mobile operating systems is already starting out completely fragmented.
Let’s say you decide to make an app. Well, you have to decide who you’re going to make it for. Because if you want your entire customer base to enjoy the fruits of your labor, you can’t just make it for Apple. (<– like that pun?)
Because Apple’s iPhone App Store sells 33 million App downloads each day. But Google’s Android App Store sells nearly 17 million a day. Plus Blackberry, Nokia, Palm and Microsoft. And your decision becomes not what kind of app are you developing, but who won’t get to use it.
I’ll admit to being originally skeptical of the smartphone as a purchasing device. But, as a person of reason, the data has swayed me.
Google has released a smartphone usage study showing that 53% of smartphone searches result in a purchase. And 20% of those purchases take place through the smartphone itself. While smartphones searches are still being used in majority for in-store purchases (40%) and later purchase online (35%), these numbers are very helpful in understanding the profit possibility of the mobile customer.
It’s also important to understand the behavioral economics behind the future of smartphone purchasing. Just as the move from cash to credit card unleashed a whole new level of spending (since buying things didn’t really feel like an exchange of money), expect a similar boom when you can 1-click purchase anything through your phone. Especially since smartphones are being used to cure boredom in everyday monotony.
When technology blogs used to write about Apple, they risked angering the majority of their readership by writing about such a “niche toy market”. Today, Apple is leading the technological evolution and industry titans from both sides of the PC-Mac aisle eagerly awaited Steve Jobs’ keynote address to learn what’s next for the tech giant.
Well, no new toys this year. With the iPhone and the iPad holding media and consumer interest alike for the past several years, we almost expect to hear about a new toy every time Jobs speaks. But instead, we learned about iOS5, Mac OS X Lion and iCloud.
Mac OS X Lion will be released in July exclusively through the Mac App Store (a perfect opportunity to instantly mainstream this still evolving downloadable marketplace.) Many of the new features, including Multi-Touch gestures and app interaction are designed only for touchscreen devices. The new Resume feature allows you to bring back apps to exactly how you left them when you restart or relaunch the app. This seemingly small feature will be extraordinarily helpful, and Apps auto-save as you work. In short, Mac OS X Lion was designed for the iPad, and designed for the app world.
Uh oh. You finally figured out what a QR code was, and now we’re moving on to the next big thing? Yes. Because, let’s be honest. There were a few success stories rolled out by the big players using QR codes. But the majority of QR code campaigns ended up being a huge flop, because: 1) People didn’t know what they were. 2) People didn’t know how to make their phones scan them. 3) These campaigns were often sending people from print material to…harder to read print material, rather than taking advantage of the transmedia capabilities that QR codes can offer.
But, that’s all in the past now, because now near-field communication (NFC technology) has arrived, right? Well, that depends on who you ask.
Near-field communication (NFC) will absolutely be used by the big players. But, where a small bit player or individual could create their own QR code free of charge, the costs manufacturing and distributing RFID tags is significantly higher. In short, it’s more expensive and harder to do. The benefit? Your phone can replace your wallet, and interact with the physical world in amazing new ways.
Watch this video, and tell me Windows 8 is playing it safe. You can’t. You can no longer argue that Windows is playing catchup to Apple anymore. This is clearly something WAY different. Of course, it may be awful…
Because let’s be clear, all of the raves regarding Windows 7 surely had to have been from people who hadn’t used a Mac before. Because Windows simply copied the best that Mac offers, and put those features in their operating system. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. That’s the sort of competition that leads to true innovation. But Windows 7 wasn’t innovation. This is.
Windows 8 touch technology is crazy. It’s weird. But what is it? Well, it looks like it’s simply a simplified front-end navigation option. You are greeted with a tile grid, rather than the traditional start screen. You can think of these app links like the front page of your smart phone. You probably have your favorite 8 on that page, rather than the current Windows 7 setup (and Mac setup) that lists every icon in your dashboard. This is different. This is mobile-y. This is app-y. Will Windows 8 be great on the desktop? Will Windows 8 even be great on mobile?
We’ll see. But, you can no longer excuse Microsoft of unoriginality.
Apparently, being a social media fiend isn’t enough anymore. Because now, nearly everyone is.
So, social media strategist Jay Baer has created a new label for social media progressives – “Super Social“. And the question becomes, are you a super social? Well, are you in the 1/3 of social media users who use social sites several times per day or more? Do you prefer Twitter to the other social networks? Do you love your smart phone? And do you follow brands/companies on social media networks?
Yeah, you know who you are. And the best part about Baer’s terminology is that it makes tech nerds like you sound “super”.
