Twitter's Business Model

Most publishers today talk about only two common monetization streams—advertising and premium subscription. Article below highlights additional potential avenues of monetization for Twitter.

The other big recent development for Twitter - Last week, Microsoft's Bing and Google announced "search deals" with Twitter, with Bing also making a deal with Facebook, allowing the search engines to show results related to "what is going on right now" and bring alive the concept of the Contextual Web.

Is it brilliant or nonexistent? A little of both, according to blogger David L. Smith

By David L. Smith, Businessweek

Posted on Conversation Starter: October 26, 2009

It has become a popular game, even among investors who should know better, to dismiss Twitter based on lack of a business model. But there is a difference between not generating income and lack of a business model. I believe that, in just a few short months, Twitter will show the world that not only do they have a business model, but that theirs is the most sophisticated around. As the founders have admitted, they did not necessarily plan out their success. But the result of their outside funding and considerable valuation is that they have been free to watch and learn what might be possible.

Most publishers talk about the two common monetization streams—advertising and subscribers—as though there are no other options. As many have seen over the last year, dependence upon advertising is a slippery slope in a downturn. Even the incredibly successful Rupert Murdoch is struggling with the model and believes that subscription is the answer.

Last week, Microsoft's Bing and Google announced "search deals" with Twitter, with Bing also making a deal with Facebook, allowing the search engines to show results related to "what is going on right now". They tried to build this and still may, but paying Twitter and Facebook is logical for now as they are rapidly becoming major referral engines to many sites.

In fact, these are traffic deals. Until now Google has been the only company on the planet to make major money by driving traffic to other sites. These deals are Twitter's first steps toward doing the same.

Twitter has a number of experiments in progress that are likely to turn into revenue streams:

Search

Twitter acquired search.twitter.com in the summer of 2008. Of the many applications built on top of the Twitter API, this had shown to be incredibly popular. In fact, it had the potential to overpower Twitter's servers to such a degree that for the first year, they did not put up a search box but hid the feature at the bottom of the results page along with "about us, contact", etc. This search is very powerful, as proven during the recent Iran upheaval when Twitter was one of the only ways to get word out. While Twitter has said that they will not run ads, their users would not object to the monetization of search through an adwords-type solution.

Ecommerce

First Dell and then many other companies have sold millions of dollars worth of equipment through Twitter. If Dell only has, say, 45 of a product left, it does not pay to put up an eBay page. They post it on @DellOutlet, or another of their accounts, and the product sells immediately. I'm sure that if Twitter is not asking now, they will in the future charge a small commission for such direct sales. Who could object?

BTB consumer help

This summer, Twitter and Best Buy started an experiment with @TwelpForce. They have over 13,000 followers and you can ask anything and a Best Buy employee will answer. They've even promoted this through TV. This is the future of customer/vendor communications.

Twitter 101

Twitter 101, another program that launched last summer, is a comprehensive tutorial for companies to do business via the help of Twitter. The more businesses use Twitter, the more ways the company will find to monetize their traffic.

Verified accounts

Twitter is in beta test with verified accounts, enterprise subscriptions that confirm that customers are really doing business with the company they are looking for rather than an imposter or squatter. Twitter will charge businesses a small subscription fee for this service.

Applications

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams has said that Twitter will not have ads. What I think he means by this is that there will not be a banner ad across the top of Twitter's website. However, he has said that applications will be featured on Twitter, and an adwords-type feature currently shows one application at a time on the results page. Applications are the graphical ad unit of the future and if done correctly, will be accepted by the Twitterati.

Thousands of applications have monetization potential. According to GigaOm after "TwitterGate," when somebody hacked Twitter servers, Twitter has considered buying a number of these. And why not? They can get others to do the development and just as they did with search.twitter.com, use the high Twitter valuation to cash in on applications that have proved to be profitable and leverage them against the large Twitter user base.

Network marketing

The larger Twitter grows, the more the connectivity between users benefits all. But there is gold beyond the conversations that are going on. The pure connectivity in itself is valuable. While Twitter may not run advertising, many companies would love to license the right to target people using what is called "birds of a feather" targeting: identifying a group of people with a common interest and then expanding that target by finding others with similar interests. A number of companies are doing this right now, while honoring privacy; they don't have to know who the people are.

As I mentioned at the start of this blog post, most publishers have one or two ways to monetize their efforts. I have outlined at least eight which Twitter will probably use, and there certainly will be many more. That's why I think we all have a lot to learn from this company that "has no business model".

Twitter tweets on deals with Bing and Google

The race for real time search, which is likely to be one of the lynch pins of the context aware web, heats up

October 22, 2009 Written by James Middleton, Telecoms.com

Social networking phenomenon Twitter has announced an unlikely pair of bedfellows in Microsoft and Google, announcing search related partnerships with both firms.

On Wednesday Twitter announced a collaboration with Microsoft’s Bing search engine, that will see the platform used to help it provide real time web indexing of the entire public Twitter feed.

But not to be outdone, search giant Google will also be including up to the minute Twitter updates in its own search results, which alongside Microsoft, appears to stress just how important real time information is in the battle for internet search ownership.

In related news, Microsoft also appears to have scooped Google on a deal with Facebook, incorporating real time updates from the social networking site in Bing’s search results.

A New Tune for Facebook Gifts

Ramping up monetization efforts with physical and virtual gifts. Also helps in some measure in bringing more folks into the FB fold via Facebook Connect integration with popular 3rd party online assets.

Music gifting neatly leverages the social avtaars of music (gift music and not only does the recepient get to hear/download it but so does your entire network get to sample the same) .

by Will Chen, Facebook Blog, October 21, 2009

We're continuing to enhance the Facebook Gift Shop so you have more ways to express your appreciation for the people in your life. A couple months ago, we took a first step by testing new types of gifts created by developers, including e-cards, charity donations and even real-world gifts where you can buy a friend a physical gift along with a virtual one.

We now are unveiling a newly stocked and redesigned Gift Shop, with new categories of gifts and additional gifts for charity, music and sports from developers. With so many gifts available, we also introduced a new design to make it easier for you to browse and purchase gifts with different gift categories. We will be rolling these changes out to everyone in the coming weeks, so don't worry if you don't see them just yet.

Remember, in order to buy Facebook Gifts, you must purchase credits on the site using a major credit card. Credits cost 10 cents in U.S. currency, and they are available for purchase in 15 currencies. After you select your gift, click "Buy," and we'll walk you through the rest.

Music Gifts (U.S. only)
You now will be able to purchase songs as gifts for your friends. The "Music and MP3s" section of the Gift Shop, powered by LaLa.com, offers over 8 million songs for any music lover from artists such as Beyonce, the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Imogen Heap and even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Web songs are 1 credit each, while full, downloadable, and digital rights management-free (DRM) MP3s are 9 credits each.

Gift recipients can play their Web songs and MP3s from their Facebook News Feed and wall as frequently as they like, as well as from LaLa.com if they have an existing account or choose to sign up using Facebook Connect. MP3 recipients also have the added ability to download their songs and enjoy their gift on music players like iTunes and Windows Media Player. Other people who are able to see the music gift will only be able to play the song in full once, after which they will be able to play a 30-second clip.

Sports Gifts
For the next big game, be sure to rally your friends by sending them their favorite team's mascot or jersey with branded virtual gifts. Officially licensed gifts from the U.S. National Basketball Association and U.S. Major League Soccer are now available in the Gift Shop, as well as school-themed gifts from a number of major U.S. colleges ranging from Oklahoma State to Stanford University. These gifts are offered in the "Sports" section of the Gift Shop.

Gifts for Good
You already can purchase gifts on behalf of non-profits, including Kiva, Project Red, TOMS Shoes, Charity Water and the World Wildlife Fund. The net proceeds of those gifts are donated to the organizations. Now, you'll be able to support even more causes your friends care about through gifts offered by the Causes application in the Facebook Gift Shop.

My sister is an animal-lover and for her upcoming birthday I'll be making a contribution to the Humane Society of the U.S. through a Facebook Gift that will go towards towards animal rescue efforts by that organization. In addition to the proceeds that directly impact the cause, my gift will appear as an image on her Wall.

Whether your gift contribution is for disaster relief, world hunger, medical research or education, your gift will have a financial impact and help spread the cause's word.

With a greater variety of gifts, we hope that you will have even more freedom to express how you feel for every occasion. Look for even more gifting options to come over the next few months.

Music strengthens its online social avtaar (MySpace already has a number of initiatives going) as its always also been about sharing! Taking music to where the users are rather to than building a separate property and then dealing with garnering traction.

Facebook Users Will Soon Be Able to Give the Gift of Music

By Paul Bonanos |GigaOm, October 21, 2009

Updated with confirmation from Facebook: There’s more than one way to post a song on someone’s Facebook profile — an Imeem link or a YouTube video, to name two. But Lala.com is set to become the first streaming music provider to offer songs as virtual gifts in Facebook’s store, according to a report today on the New York Times’ Bits blog. Several Facebook third-party apps already provide song streams, and the company has toyed with the idea of introducing a music service for some time. (Its most popular music app, iLike, became a MySpace property at a fire-sale price this summer.) Today’s news, however, represents Facebook’s first true foray into music, as well as a vote of confidence in Lala’s paid-streaming model.

Lala typically offers free one-time streams, 10-cent “web songs” that can be streamed an infinite number of times, and paid MP3 downloads at various price points. The virtual gifts can apparently be Web songs that will cost one Facebook credit, an equivalent of 10 cents, or full-song downloads that cost about 10 credits. Neither Lala nor Facebook is providing details on how their model will work yet, including whether the recipient’s friends get to stream the song as well.

Lala already allows a user to push a single-play song stream out to Facebook and Twitter, or to embed a widget elsewhere using a bit of code, for free. Other services that offer embeddable streams can be less reliable, with some songs reduced to 30-second clips and other embeds disabled upon request of the labels. A virtual gift of a song stream is still mostly about making a gesture, especially with free alternatives floating around, but for music fans, a timely stream is at least as good as a picture of a birthday cake. Update: Facebook confirms in a blog post that it will sell the song streams, part of a fully revamped virtual gifts shop featuring non-profit donation gifts and sports-related goods. Recipients of a gift web song will be able to listen as many times as they like, while their friends will get to stream it once, after which they will be replaced with 30-second clips. Downloadable MP3 gift songs will cost 9 credits.

Facebook's Sandberg: The Risk Is Not Doing Enough

Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg on the social networking site's approach to innovation, how it differs from Twitter, and its advertising advantages

By Jennifer Martinez, Businessweek

Facebook has been hit with public outcry over some of the changes it has made to the social networking site over the years, but the real risk, according to comments made by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg at a Churchill Club event in Palo Alto, Calif., on Thursday night, is that it doesn't do enough when it comes to innovation. She was responding to a question from Charlene Li, founder of the consulting firm Altimeter Group, as to whether Facebook goes too far when it introduces major changes to the site. "If Mark were here, I know that he'd say: 'The risk is that we don't do enough,'" said Sandberg. She acknowledged that users protested, for example, against the news feed and the home page redesign but said that in both cases, user engagement—and number of users overall—rose. "We'll know when we're not doing the right thing when users don't continue to grow, and when engagement doesn't grow."

Twitter vs. Facebook

Facebook approach to innovation is markedly different from Twitter's, where much of it is determined by its users. They spurred the creation of the "@" reply function on the micromessaging service, for example. And while Twitter isn't a major threat to Facebook's share of the social network market just yet, Sandberg acknowledged its importance. "Twitter is part of the same movement," she said, referring to the sharing of real-time information, adding that "they have a very different approach to it, which is fundamentally based on anonymity and broadcasting. Ours is fundamentally based on identity and sharing."

On Advertising

Facebook revolutionized online advertising, according to Sandberg, because it paved the way for ads that encourage two-way social interaction between consumers and advertisers. For example, many of the ads on Facebook encourage you to take a poll, play a game, or answer a question. "I think when the Internet came out, everyone thought it was going to change marketing…and really what happened is a lot of the things that were going on before moved online. So you used to do a TV ad, you did a banner ad—but it was still that one-way communication of one to many," she said . "Our ads are really two-way and really social. That's, I think, the real difference." And while its ad format offers advertisers something unique, it also helps that Sandberg is sitting on a pot of gold—Facebook's database of over 350 million users—which allows the social network to connect advertisers with their target audience. This has made the difference for Facebook amid an economic climate where online ad spending has declined for two consecutive quarters this year.

A lot has changed at the Palo Alto-based startup since Sandberg joined in 2008 after leaving Google, where she helped develop the search engine giant's moneymakers, AdWords and AdSense. The company can now boast that it's cash-flow positive thanks in large part to its self-serve ad business—and that it owns the lion's share of the U.S. social network market. And if Sandberg's comments are any indication, the company has no plans to stop innovating anytime soon.

Google Prepares Music Search Service (Updated)

It is likely to be a part of Google Search, and will allow users to quickly discover song previews, artist info, pictures, video and more.

Google's interest lies in attracting music fans looking for information about artists. Compensation for record labels, however, would likely come from the Lala and iLike services.

• By Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired
• October 21, 2009 |

Google plans to launch a music service, Wired.com has confirmed with sources familiar with the situation. Next to nothing is known about the service at this point, rumored to be called “Google Music,” “Google Audio,” or “One Box,” although we have confirmed that it will be announced next Wednesday, and that it will link out to two music services: Lala and iLike.

Google will not become a music retailer itself, but will offer enhanced music search with a streaming function — first of possibly several vertical search offerings. Searching for an artist or song will apparently bring up a box (thus Google’s working title: “One Box”) with a streaming link randomly assigned to stream songs from either Lala or iLike, the latter of which was acquired by MySpace in August.

Lala, iLike, “and others” will announce the service next Wednesday at Capital Records Music in Hollywood, California, with musical guests OneRepublic plus members of Linkin Park and Dead by Sunrise.

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The RSVP on the invitation (right) links to an e-mail address at secure online event registration company Paragon New Media, which lists Google as a client. After spotting that, we confirmed with a source close to the situation that Google’s upcoming music service will be announced at the event.

Google’s music search service, whatever it ends up being called, will include music from all four major labels and, most likely, all of the indie content on iLike and Lala (as one insider put it, it would be harder to remove a subset of songs from those services than to let Google simply index all of it).

iLike currently streams some songs as 30-second samples and others as full-length songs, and sells MP3s for the usual prices. Lala allows registered users to stream complete songs and albums once, for free, after which point they can buy streaming songs 10 cents that can be credited to the purchase of the full download. At this point, it’s not clear how these services will behave when presented through Google’s search interface.

Google has yet to respond to our requests for comment. The company is also building the back-end for the majors’ upcoming Vevo music video service, and operates a free download service in China that TechCrunch says will not resemble whatever Google launches here in the U.S. and possibly elsewhere as well.

After this music search product launches next Wednesday, we understand that Google plans to release other search verticals, possibly including a travel booking service.

Amazon: Turning Consumer Opinions into Gold

The Web giant's cache of consumer-generated reviews lures ever-more shoppers, who increasingly research products before buying

By Spencer E. Ante, Businessweek

When Amazon.com first began letting customers post reviews of products in 1995, many people thought the Internet retailer had lost its marbles. Letting consumers rant about products in public was a recipe for retail suicide, critics thought. Now, almost 15 years later, customer reviews are as common as hyperlinks, and a retail Web site that does not have feedback loops is considered passé or irrelevant. In fact, more than 5 million consumers have posted tens of millions of reviews on Amazon.com, says the Seattle company.

Amazon's review program reflects a new reality for the way consumers shop in the Digital Age: The Internet has become the world's greatest research tool, and consumers hardly buy anything anymore without first getting the skinny online. Some 70% of Americans say they consult product reviews or consumer ratings before making a purchase, according to an October 2008 survey by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, a research and consulting firm. Amazon has played a central role in the change in consumer behavior by being the first successful Web retailer to embrace consumers' views. "What we try to spend our time on is harnessing customer passion," says Russell Dicker, Amazon.com's senior manager of community.

TAPPING THE COMMUNITY

Besides its review program, Amazon.com has created scores of community-based features on its Web site that help drive sales. In 1999 it unveiled Wish Lists, allowing people to share their favorite products. Hundreds of thousands of people have publicized millions of items on their lists. In 2005, Amazon.com launched customer discussion areas for specific products. And in 2006 the company created discussion hubs that allow consumers to gab about a wider range of topics, such as video production, Harry Potter, or yoga. All told, Amazon rolls out 50 community features on its site every year. "We spend a lot of time looking at what customers are doing and seeing what they are saying," says Dicker.

Executives at Amazon currently are focused on increasing the relevance of customer-generated content through software enhancements. One effort is aimed at offering more localized information. So if you are shopping for a TV, a listing for nearby TV installation services might pop up. Another effort is geared to improving the relevance of consumer opinions. One example launched in September: a feature that highlights the ratings of specific product attributes. A review of a digital camera, for example, will now include ratings of key features such as battery life or picture quality. Click on the attribute, and it serves up all the reviews addressing that feature. "We want to make it more and more convenient for people to find the right products," says Dicker.

For Amazon.com, community is not just a way to tap into consumer desires. It also provides a competitive advantage. By amassing one of the world's largest collections of consumer opinions, the site has become a leading source of product reviews. And those reviews are a valuable magnet that lures more consumers to its Web site. "You increasingly look at Amazon for reviews," says Sebastian Thomas, head of U.S. Technology Research at RCM Capital Management, an investment firm with a stake in the company. "It will be hard for someone else to build that scale."

Retail experts say one of the most profound changes in consumer behavior over the past few years is the emergence of such information-based shoppers. Typically, they are educated workers with broadband connections who are strapped for time and suspicious of TV ads. So they increasingly shop online. "The biggest change is the amount of research consumers are doing before they leave their houses," says Paul Ryder, Amazon.com vice-president of consumer electronics. The surge in online research was originally driven a few years ago by high gas prices. But Ryder says information shopping now has more to do with the convenience and value offered by the Web as frugal shoppers hunt for the best bargains. Another recent shift, Ryder says, is that consumers are doing more research for commodity products, such as cleaning solutions, instead of just big-ticket items such as a car or home.

A JOKE GOES VIRAL

One example of the power of online feedback popped up on Amazon.com in November 2008 when Brian Govern posted a satirical review of a T-shirt emblazoned with three wolves. "This item has wolves on it, which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth five stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened," he wrote. "After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-Mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women."

No one paid much attention to the review until it appeared on collegehumor.com on May 4, 2009. Then it went viral. To date, there are nearly 1,500 reviews on the Mountain Men's Three Wolf Moon Short Sleeve Tee, and more than 15,000 people have voted Govern's original review as "helpful." Although there were instances in the past where products received thousands of comical reviews, Amazon.com says this was the first time in which the jokes catapulted the item to best-seller status. For several weeks in June and July, the T-shirt was the No. 1 apparel item in the store. "The breadth and depth of reviews are very important to customers," says Ryder. "We are using them more than what salespeople or our friends tell us."

Facebook Banks on a Little Help from Its Friends

Social-media networks are starting to influence all kinds of purchases, from cars to movie tickets. The idea is to make e-commerce more like going to the mall with friends. Social media and tools like Facebook Connect are making shopping social again.

By Douglas MacMillan, BW Magazine
October 26, 2009

Merrill Squires avoids car salesmen at all costs. So when the 48-year-old marketing executive from Dallas was choosing between a Chevrolet Tahoe and a GMC Yukon Denali recently, he turned to his 600 Facebook friends. Dozens responded, and one old pal—a Denali owner—steered him toward the Tahoe. "I trust his opinion on it, and I would never have thought to pick up the phone and call him," Squires says.

Social-media networks are starting to influence all kinds of purchases, from cars to movie tickets. Shoppers sift through Twitter posts for opinions about gadgets or running shoes. They turn to Kaboodle, a Web site for sharing shopping lists, to get gift ideas. But Facebook, with 300 million users worldwide, has the best shot at combining retail and social media in bold and lucrative ways, and it's chipping away at this challenge.

Last year the company rolled out Facebook Connect. When retailers use this service, they get a Facebook log-in window on their Web site. That allows Facebook users to tap their friend lists for input as they shop. Already, 43% of online retailers have signed up, according to researcher e-Tailing Group, and an additional 31% plan to join in the next year.

Facebook Connect does add a twist to the experience of visiting an online store. When shoppers who are logged into Facebook see an item they want to buy, they can press a button, sending a photo and product details to the pages of their friends, who can give it the nod or recommend something else. These comments can pop up months later when mutual friends are looking for similar information. Brian Bateman, 33, uses Connect when he buys concert tickets from Live Nation (LYV) to recruit friends to go with him.

Facebook's director of platform marketing, Ethan Beard, says the idea is to make e-commerce more like going to the mall with friends. Shopping can be a "social experience, but with the Web it turned into sitting by yourself [at] a monitor," says Beard. "Social media and tools like Facebook Connect are making shopping social again."

For five-year-old Facebook, retail may be the path to profits. Advertising currently makes up most of its estimated $500 million in revenues, but online ad growth is slowing. Investors foresee shoppers opting to use Facebook rather than search engines such as Google. "That's the vision. That's why Facebook is worth so much money," says Dave McClure, a consultant with Founders Fund, a venture capital firm that backed Facebook in 2006.

POWERFUL COMBINATION

For now, Facebook lacks an online payment method, but it recruited a handful of staffers, including at least one executive, from eBay's PayPal. A payment system would allow it to collect fees from merchants for transactions performed within the Facebook network—a potentially huge revenue source, based on how well retail and social media have been mixing. Fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg has set up a promotional page on Facebook that has attracted 25,000 fans. And next month she plans to launch a line of sunglasses at the same time that her retail Web site begins offering Facebook Connect.

Others are skeptical that the social circles people develop on Facebook have the power to change the way we shop online. "I don't know that enough of us have [Facebook] networks large enough that there is overlap in what products we are looking for," says Sucharita Mulpuru, e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research (FORR). But many retailers are placing serious bets on friend power. T-shirt seller Threadless shows off a weekly roundup of new shirts to fans on Facebook, which is where it now spends the lion's share of its ad dollars. Says Cam Balzer, marketing vice-president for Threadless: "When you start to see the power of those audiences and the word of mouth ... it makes you want to get more out of that same audience."

Spotify & 3 deal confirmed

Spotify is also rumoured to be working with Telia in Sweden to bundle the premium version of Spotify into handsets. The first phone to get the music service pre-bundled will be the Android-based HTC Hero but it has also been reported that INQ, the Hutchison-owned handset maker, will make a Spotify-branded handset for operators.

19 October 2009

By Duncan Geere, Pocket-lint

Spotify and 3 have formally announced the partnership that Pocket-lint detailed last week. As previously reported, 3 will begin selling the HTC Hero with a Premium Spotify subscription bundled in - which normally costs £10 per month.

The tariff costs £35 per month over 24 months, and you'll have to pay £100 upfront too, so it's not cheap. For that, though, you get 24 months of Spotify Premium, 750 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited mobile internet. You can also get free calls to other 3 users and to people on Skype. We presume the Spotify app will be preloaded on the handset.

There's more handsets in the works too - "Spotify Mobile will initially be available only on the HTC Hero" says the press release, the keyword being "initially". With an S60 version in the works, could we see an N97 bundled with the service in the future? Or even perhaps even an iPhone if 3 eventually makes a deal with Apple.

Want a quote about the whole thing? Of course you do. Faisal Galaria, Global Head of Business Development at Spotify, told Pocket-lint: "This is a very exciting deal for Spotify. We're intent on offering people a high quality, simple yet powerful portable music experience at a fair price and we're thrilled to be working with 3 to bring Spotify to UK music fans".

ATSC adopts new mobile TV standard

Another broadcast mobile TV standard. While this has the backing of the major US broadcasters, the issue now remains about adoption beyond the US and the range of compatible handsets

Mobile Business Briefing

October 19, 2009

The mobile TV market has another standard to add to its list, with news that the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has approved the Mobile DTV standard. The move is designed to enable US broadcasters to provide services to mobile devices using their digital television transmissions. The technology is backed by major Korean vendors LG and Samsung, as well as a number of US broadcasters.

The service rivals mobile TV services that stream over mobile networks or use a purposely built platform, such as Qualcomm's MediaFLO. Last month the GSMA announced its endorsement of Integrated Mobile Broadcast (IMB), a new 3GPP standard. Mobile TV has been slow to take off around the world, due in part to a lack of a unified standard around which economies of scale can be built.

Twittermania: Airtel in India brings TweetSMS to your mobile

• Airtel first operator in India to launch two way Twitter SMS (Tata had last year launched the notification service)
• Twitter now has 5 mn subscribers from India out of a total of 11.5 mn and is soon likely to become it largest market
• Airtel has exclusive arrangement with Twitter to offer TweetSMS in India
• Charge Rs.1/outgoing tweetsms (incoming tweetsms are free)
• Over 50 Mn of Airtel's 110 Mn subs now sms
• Well known folks on twitter from India include - Priyanka Chopra, Gul Panag, Mallika Sherawat, Karan Johar, Shashi Tharoor, Pritish Nandy, Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi, Rahul Gandhi, Narenda Modi, MTV India, NDTV (@nmanaktala - I follow Shashi Tharoor and thoroughly enjoy his tweets as also Narendra Modi and Padmasee Warrior)
• Twitter globally as an organisation has under 80 employees altogether with 6 people in its mobile team
• A recent investment in Twitter valued it at $ 1bn
• Twitter also recently announced its turned cash positive, 1 year ahead of schedule

Hello, Bharti Airtel
Twitter Blog
October 14, 2009

Twitter is committed to fostering the open exchange of information because we passionately believe it can have a positive global impact. When people can exchange information freely and publicly they are able to accomplish great things. As powerful as the Internet has become for the democratization of information, its range is limited when compared to mobile texting—a format uniquely native to Twitter. There are over one billion people with internet access on the planet but there are more than four billion people with mobile phones and Twitter can work on all of them because even the simplest of these devices feature SMS.

We have seen people use Twitter to help each other during fuel shortages, track the spread of wildfires, check in during earthquakes, organize major charitable events, spread urgent news efficiently around the world, and much more. In many of these scenarios, texting has been the key. People exchanging information quickly and efficiently with the device that has become essential to everyday life, their mobile phone. In many parts of the world people do not have Internet access but they can text—and that means they can access Twitter.

As we grow, we seek to partner with organizations that share our vision for positive global impact. Our partnership with Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile operator in India, means a huge population of people can now send tweets at standard rates and receive tweets for free. Bharti Airtel is offering people in every city, every village, every remote taluk and even the smallest panchayat the opportunity to connect to Twitter and enjoy the open exchange of information with no added fees. We are proud to have Bharti Airtel as our partner. Give Twitter a try with your Airtel phone by sending START to 53000. And spread the word!

Twitter is not about technology, it's about people. We worked quickly to establish full SMS service in India with the largest operator because organic growth in the region has been unusually strong and there is huge potential for positive impact. India already shines brightly with Twitter advocates like film stars Priyanka Chopra @priyankachopra Gul Panag @gulpanag, and Mallika Sherawat @mallikala, director Karan Johar @kjohar25, Minister of State Shashi Tharoor @shashitharoor, upper house member Pritish Nandy @pritishnandy, news anchors Barkha Dutt @bdutt and Vir Sanghvi @virsanghvi, plus media outlets MTV India @MTVindia and NDTV @ndtv just to name a few.

Despite growing global awareness, Twitter has under 80 employees altogether but our little mobile team packs a punch. Kevin Thau with help from Tim Huske have built a mobile team of six people within Twitter and they've made considerable strides bringing full SMS service to the US, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and now India. As long as you keep asking for Twitter, we'll keep working to activate full service in your region with no extra charges. Don't forget to activate your mobile—visit the Devices page or text START to Twitter

12 Phones Strong, Android Army Mobilizes for Explosive Growth

The Android party seems to be gaining traction ! Google obviously hugely benefits in turn via integration (device embed) of its services and the potential to garner users and monetize via its rapidly expanding advertising engine which seems to be making rapid forays into the mobility domain primarily via Android.

By Roselyn Roark, Wired
October 16, 2009

If you’ve thought about picking up an Android-powered phone but found yourself turned off by the hardware choices (ahem, G1), you may soon wish to reconsider.

“Android adoption is about to explode,” said Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, in an earnings conference call Thursday. “You have all the necessary conditions.”

Schmidt’s forecast may prove accurate with 12 Android-powered devices in 26 countries on 32 carriers. Recent rumors, announcements and releases further fuel the rumble in the mobile community.

By handing out Android as an open source platform, Google aims to help manufacturers focus more time, money and energy on their hardware and specific usability for each device. Using the Android OS, there is no need to re-invent the wheel when it comes to the mobile software. Developmental resources can instead be allocated to innovation and quicker adaptation of emerging technology. This direction in mobile development does seem to create the “necessary conditions” for Android to appeal to an extremely broad range of users.

When the first Android phone, the HTC G1, was released in September 2008, some developers questioned how Google would address making the Android OS and third-party apps work smoothly with various types of hardware. Screen resolution was a primary concern among developers polled by Wired.com: How could an app designed to work with the G1’s resolution, for example, work with another Android phone sporting a different resolution?

Fortunately, the Android team at Google is working to ensure their platform is compatible with every mobile phone, specifically when it comes to screen resolution. The Android 1.6 SDK, the developer’s kit, allows a manufacturer or developer to add code in their application to conform to different handset’s resolutions. (For example, “Do this when the phone has a resolution of 320×480; do that when the resolution is larger.”) They have created three categories of resolution sizes that any given device will fall into, ensuring a single third-party app will work across all phones. There is also a “compatibility mode” developers can incorporate into their applications built prior to 1.6, aka Donut.

Excited by the Android mobile-nova? We’ve created a list of the 12 Android-powered smartphones so you can begin researching and deciding which one is best for you:

• Motorola Cliq (T-Mobile / Available October 19)
• Motorola Sholes (Verizon / Available October 30)
• Samsung Behold II (T-Mobile / Holidays 2009)
• Samsung Moment (Sprint / November 1)
• Huawei Pulse (T-Mobile UK / Available)
• HTC Hero (Sprint / Available)
• HTC Tattoo (Vodafone UK / Available)
• HTC Magic /myTouch 3G (T-Mobile / Available)
• HTC Dream/G1 (T-Mobile / Available)
• Dell Mini i13 (China Mobile / Confirmed, Release Date TBA)
• Acer Liquid (Unknown / Confirmed, Release Date TBA)
• LG GW620 (Unknown / Confirmed, Q4 2009)

T-Mobile to launch DVB-H service

A shot at DVB-H by one of the big boys now. Content and its format is key to gaining user traction based on my experience in this field.

By Robert Briel, Broadband TV News
September 22, 2009

The German incumbent telco Deutsche Telekom plans to launch a mobile TV service using the DVB-H standard next year. It will be the country’s third attempt to launch a “Handy TV” network.

The operator’s mobile division T-Mobile is currently talking to Mobile Broadcast to build a network of DVB-H transmitters. Reports in the local press say the operator does not want to confirm a launch of a mobile TV service but is studying all possibilities.

T-Mobile owns the mobile TV rights for the German football Bundesliga and is currently distributing them on their own UMTS network. Being a mobile operator, the company is not allowed to own a DVB-H broadcast licence itself. A way around this would be to have the Constantin Medien, which is offering football coverage to apply for such a licence.

Two earlier attempts to launch a mobile TV service in Germany faltered. The first one used the DMB standard and stopped its activities in May of last year. Also last year, the Mobile 3.0 consortium, when it won the DVB-H licence, handed it back when it couldn’t meet expectations.

Google launches Crowdsourced 3D Building Maker for Google Earth

Google expands its crowd sourcing initiatives for Maps to expand its data set and also leverage the community to keep it updated and presumably go 'hyper' local. When does in-building mapping and offers & coupons come in. Cant be that far behind !

by Leena Rao, TechCrunch on October 13, 2009

Google is launching their version of Sim City today, Google Building Maker. The tool lets you create buildings for Google Earth. Building Maker lets you pick any building and construct a 3D version of it using photos and building blocks provided by Google. Google says that buildings are relatively fast to construct using their tool, taking only a matter of minutes.

Building Maker runs within your web browser and connect with your Google Account so you can get credit for your building. You can also use Google SketchUp to edit or modify your creation.

When your building is finished, you submit it to Google, where it will be deposited in a giant 3D warehouse. If yours is the best version of the building, Google will add it to the 3D building layer in Google Earth. Google Building Maker, which is available in 14 languages, lets you make buildings in only 50 cities at the moment, but will be rolling out the feature to other cities in the future.

While Building Maker is definitely a fun tool, Google gets some benefit out of this. They are crowdsourcing building making to their users, in addition to doing this internally. Google is also crowdsourcing to help update Google Maps, letting users report changes to a particular location, destination or roads.

Watch the video below for more information, or visit the Building Maker site to get started.

Posted by mickmel at October 13, 2009

Building Maker: Create 3D buildings online

Try Building Maker

Building Maker is a 3D modeling tool for adding buildings to Google Earth. It's fun to use, and an easy way to get on the 3D map. Here's how it works:

• Select a city from around the world.
• Make a building with photos we provide.
• Save your building and it will be reviewed.
• See your 3D building in Google Earth!

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Millions of people will be able to see your model in Google Earth. Get Started »

See places that others have modeled:

buildingmaker japan" height="160" width="215">		buildingmaker helsinki" height="160" width="215">		buildingmaker seattle" height="160" width="215">
Neighborhood in Sapporo, Japan		Downtown in Helsinki, Finland		Business in Seattle, Washington US

Apple: Finding Even More Uses for iTunes

Apple can do a lot with iTunes, the largest digital content distribution platform today. It also helps that it has 100 million credit-card accounts that outnumber Amazon's 94 million active customers and the 75 million at eBay unit PayPal.

The online media store is already one of the largest e-commerce sites in the world. Here are some other things Apple might be able to sell via the Web

By Arik Hesseldahl, Businessweek

October 12, 2009

As Apple closes in on the release of a device usually described as a tablet—most likely in early in 2010—my thoughts turn to the role of iTunes, the online store selling music, books, and downloadable applications for the iPhone and iPod touch.

We don't know the tablet's precise features or release date, but it's reasonable to assume the machine will play music and video and run a range of software applications. It may also be positioned as a Kindle-killing digital reader, and thus display digital books, magazines, and newspapers, presumably sold on iTunes.

Which brings me to other ways Apple may harness iTunes in conjunction with the new device. Apple is already the biggest retailer of music in the world, and a key player in downloadable video; the iTunes store is also a pretty big software storefront, with 2 billion iPhone applications downloaded.

Mac Software on iTunes?

If the tablet turns out to be an electronic reader that will compete with Amazon's Kindle, then there's good reason to expect that iTunes will become an excellent replacement for your neighborhood bookstore and newsstand.

The larger a role iTunes plays in digital goods, the bigger a player it becomes in electronic commerce, period. Its 100 million credit-card accounts outnumber Amazon's 94 million active customers and the 75 million at eBay unit PayPal.

So what else might iTunes sell besides digital media and iPhone apps? How about Mac software, for openers? With Microsoft days away from pushing the button on its next version of the Windows operating system, Windows 7, Apple could use its powerful iTunes store to once and for all eviscerate the long-repeated but false notion that Mac is lacking in software compared with Windows. As a trusted software distribution channel, iTunes would carry both its own software as well as third-party software for the Mac.

Making the Transition Easier

As with the iPhone, Apple could divide software into categories: games, business software, security, utilities. New Mac owners, including the growing cohort of people who have switched from Windows, will have an easy-to-use method for filling their new machine with software specific to their needs.

Apple might even create a routine for suggesting applications that replace those commonly found on Windows with their Mac-friendly equivalent, and make the transition even easier. This iTunes software store (iTunes may need another name eventually) will help drive home Mac's well-deserved easy-to-use reputation.

And here's an idea for an application Apple could offer as a featured download. We'll call it "Windows Be Gone." Microsoft is already drawing criticism for making it complicated to upgrade from Windows XP, often requiring users to erase the hard drive of the PC in question. Apple could create a drop-dead simple application that imports a user's key data—including e-mail, contacts, etc. from Windows—and saves it to the Mac. There are third-party vendors that offer applications that do this, and indeed Apple offers this as an in-store service for new Mac owners. Why not make it something that can be done at home?

(For a minute I was tempted to suggest that iTunes even carry third-party Windows software. Indeed the majority of people using iTunes do so on PCs running Windows. But why make the Windows user experience any easier? The answer instead is to shoot Mac-vs.-PC TV ads promoting the iTunes store as the best way to find software for your computer, better than anything available to Windows users.)

Moving Genius Beyond Music

Down the road, the iTunes software store could expand to offer services to software developers. Rather than products that are downloaded on a one-way basis to a specific device, couldn't iTunes become the back end for a new generation of cloud-based services? Already there are scores of applications on the iPhone that tap Web data. Why not make iTunes part of that cloud?

Give app developers a set of unique services found only on iTunes they can put to work to make their applications smarter. Call it the iTunes Cloud.

Consider as an example Genius, Apple's smart way of suggesting music you'll like based on the buying habits of others. Perhaps there's a way to harness that same kind of intelligence within different kinds of applications for consumers and businesses alike. A consumer travel application might suggest places to eat and attractions to visit based on what millions of others have done. A sales application might suggest a follow-up call to customers who just bought a particular product, to suggest accessories that similar customers bought within weeks of their purchase. A medical application might detect patterns in the symptoms a doctor is encountering and correlate them with symptoms being seen by other doctors in nearby communities.

It's taken iTunes six years to grow from an upstart digital music store into something more powerful than may have been imagined. The moment may be here to turn it into something even bigger.

Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.

Waze – Test driving a free, crowd-sourcing phone navigation app

Crowd sourcing now moving beyond maps to helping build a mobile navigation guidance app

Jeff Bartlett and Frank Spinelli
October 08, 2009
Consumer Report.org

Consumer Reports GPS test team has been toggling between testing portable navigation devices (PNDs) and iPhone navigation apps since the summer. Among all the technology and innovations we have sampled, Waze stood out to us as an interesting alternative to a traditional, name-brand nav solution. The free app is in a development stage, tapping users to build out the mapping and provide the real-time traffic data. Consider it the dawn of Navigation 2.0.

We had been intrigued by the promise of the Dash Express unit when it was first introduced. Its twist on the genre was to share traffic-flow data among its users. The device was a bit cumbersome, and it didn’t sell in great enough volume to be truly effective or succeed. Since the Express left the market, some companies have begun offering free traffic information, while others have expanded into the user-sourced map corrections and connectivity.

We just updated our GPS ratings, adding devices from Mio, Magellan, and Insignia. Before hitting the typical iPhone apps and PNDs again, we downloaded Waze and took it for a test drive.

Admittedly a work in progress, the concept is quite captivating. Waze is using early adopters to users to build and enhance the maps, along with the travel information. The underlying map is based on the open-source United States Census Bureau Tiger Map, rather than the ubiquitous Navteq or Tele Atlas maps.

Instead of storing maps on the phone, Waze uses a server-based system that downloads maps and related information as needed. Consequently, the application takes up just 7.4 MB of memory—much less than the 1 GB that is common among other iPhone apps. Waze is also available on Android, Symbian, RIM, and Windows Mobile platforms.

As a true navigator, Waze has deficiencies. The maps are incomplete, guidance quality varies, and it lacks many features that are common on the paid navigation applications, such as text-to-speech, ability to exclude a road, lane assist, reality view, and a directions list. That being said, the overall interface is relatively easy to use, and address entry is identical to using the Google maps application.

While it certainly has a “ways” to go, the Waze concept is intriguing and may appeal to tech enthusiasts as a public science experiment. For true navigation, you’ll want to download another application, or stick with a traditional PND.

Google Maps to use proprietary data in the US

What has been expected for some times is now a reality...this heats up the LBS race at the data layer (maps level) and probably also will also lower costs for Google over the longer term as also give it more control over the map data.

GPS Business News
Thursday October 8, 2009
Ludovic Privat

Google Maps is no longer using Tele Atlas as a map data provider in the United States, we learned today. This change was explained in detail in a post from Andrew Lookingbill, Software Engineer with the Mountain View company on a Google blog:

"Today you may notice that the United States looks a bit different in Google Maps -- all of that new green park land was probably a giveaway. That's because we've worked directly with a wide range of authoritative information sources to create a new base map dataset. In our experience, these organizations that create the data do the best job of keeping it accurate and up-to-date.

For example, in the US there are a number of publicly accessible geospatial datasets created by the government for the Census, land surveying, and transportation. These datasets provide information on everything from road networks and water bodies to toll roads and bridges. By integrating this information, and working with specialized data sources like the USDA Forest Service's Forest Boundaries and the US Geological Survey's National Hydrography Dataset, we've been able to expand and improve features in our maps like parks and water bodies.

Satellite, aerial, and Street View imagery also helped. With overhead imagery, we could zoom in on roadway details to figure out details like the size of the road. Our Street View imagery, which you know as a tool to help you explore new places, turns out to be very helpful to understand road restrictions and confirm street data by reading street signs."

What has been expected for some times is now a reality and we guess that the United States is only the first part of the plan for Google: other countries will come in due course. The next question that comes to mind is when is Google releasing its own turn-by-turn navigation software? That might come sooner than what everybody expected so far...