Google has just launched a service which allows advertisers buy ads displayed on specific geographic locations on its popular online mapping and local search service. The move further extends the reach of its ad network and potentially lets Google tap into local marketing dollars that traditionally go to phone directories and other media.
This will also prove a useful service for Google wireless users on the go. The service provides a small logo - such as a coffee cup for a coffee shop - that when clicked on provides details of the advertiser.
This is a good move by Google and should help them expand their ad revenues. Google and Yahoo driving into the classifieds and local ad market is a natural for them and an area ripe for their services and digital value add. With Google Base, Maps and local search they have many of the bases covered - now they just have to get the consumers!
Friday, March 31, 2006
Toshiba launches worlds first HD-DVD players
Toshiba on Friday began selling the world’s first next-generation DVD player in Japan, stealing a march on rival Sony, which plans to sell a competing optical disc format later this year.
Bic Camera, a leading Japanese electronics retailer, said its Yurakucho store in central Tokyo had sold out by 4pm. The company is expected to launch versions priced at $499 and $799 in the US by mid-April, to coincide with Warner Home Video’s launch of HD-DVD software on April18.
Sony will launch their Blu-Ray competing hi-definition DVD player later this year. Two standards will of course be a nightmare. Most consumers would be wise to wait a year or so and see which standard wins out. Toshiba has the tech giants behind them, but Sony has the hollywood studios.
Ultimately it will be he with the most content that wins - so on the face of things Sony has the real head start. And there will only be a few hundred DVD titles converted to either format by the end of this year. So, the launch of these two new DVD standards is exciting - but one for the future!
Bic Camera, a leading Japanese electronics retailer, said its Yurakucho store in central Tokyo had sold out by 4pm. The company is expected to launch versions priced at $499 and $799 in the US by mid-April, to coincide with Warner Home Video’s launch of HD-DVD software on April18.
Sony will launch their Blu-Ray competing hi-definition DVD player later this year. Two standards will of course be a nightmare. Most consumers would be wise to wait a year or so and see which standard wins out. Toshiba has the tech giants behind them, but Sony has the hollywood studios.
Ultimately it will be he with the most content that wins - so on the face of things Sony has the real head start. And there will only be a few hundred DVD titles converted to either format by the end of this year. So, the launch of these two new DVD standards is exciting - but one for the future!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Nokia's shares bounce up as they predict greater handset sales this year
Nokia's shares bounced up nearly 5% today as they predicted that 2006 would deliver even better handset sales globally than previously estimated. They had expected 10% growth from last years total of just under 800M. Now they expect 15% year on year growth.
Analysts said the strong growth was coming from emerging markets. To benefit from it, Nokia also announced three new low-priced phone models in China, and said it expects to sell them all in "tens of millions."
But they will not be the only ones to chase such markets and low end devices, for this year Sony Ericsson and Samsung will join the mass market battle. Nokia though feels confident as they apparently enjoy a 20% cost advantage over rivals in cheaper phones.
And you need it at the volume end - cos the margins are miniature. But 2006 looks set to be another stellar year for all the leading handset makers.
Analysts said the strong growth was coming from emerging markets. To benefit from it, Nokia also announced three new low-priced phone models in China, and said it expects to sell them all in "tens of millions."
But they will not be the only ones to chase such markets and low end devices, for this year Sony Ericsson and Samsung will join the mass market battle. Nokia though feels confident as they apparently enjoy a 20% cost advantage over rivals in cheaper phones.
And you need it at the volume end - cos the margins are miniature. But 2006 looks set to be another stellar year for all the leading handset makers.
Microsoft's Windows Live Mail goes into test
This week, Microsoft served up the first test version of Windows Live Mail Desktop, a free Windows program that will let users manage multiple e-mail accounts. The software is designed to work with Windows Live Mail, the successor to Hotmail that is also in beta testing.
It will go fully live at the end of 2006 and will allow users to access multiple accounts through one window. Yep, that would even include Gmail and Yahoo Mail! Wow, how nice - Microsoft are rising above competitor spats to deliver a service of real potential value to users.
It will go fully live at the end of 2006 and will allow users to access multiple accounts through one window. Yep, that would even include Gmail and Yahoo Mail! Wow, how nice - Microsoft are rising above competitor spats to deliver a service of real potential value to users.
Best Buy has a great last quarter
Proving yet again that electronics is the place to be (just so long as your not RadioShack) Best Buy reported a sizzling quarter ending February.
Earnings rose 13% in the quarter, as consumers spent more on big-ticket items like flat-panel TV's, digital music players and laptops. Revenue rose across all of its channels, led by a 50% upswing in online sales.
Demand for flat-panel TVs and MP3 players drove a 17.7% jump in same-store sales of consumer electronics. No wonder they're always out of iPods! And Best Buy expect to beat analyst expectations for 2006 with revenues around $35bn.
They certainly have cracked successful electronics retailing in the US. Now lets see if they can do it abroad as well.
Earnings rose 13% in the quarter, as consumers spent more on big-ticket items like flat-panel TV's, digital music players and laptops. Revenue rose across all of its channels, led by a 50% upswing in online sales.
Demand for flat-panel TVs and MP3 players drove a 17.7% jump in same-store sales of consumer electronics. No wonder they're always out of iPods! And Best Buy expect to beat analyst expectations for 2006 with revenues around $35bn.
They certainly have cracked successful electronics retailing in the US. Now lets see if they can do it abroad as well.
MySpace cleans up its act
MySpace, the fast-growing community website hugely popular with American teens, has removed 200,000 “objectionable” profiles from its site as it steps up efforts to calm fears about the safety of the network for young users.
Apparently these profiles were obscene or just "a little too edgy". MySpace is clearly moving to clean up it's act after some bad press recently around teen stalkers at the site.
But none of the press has affected MySpace negatively. They now have a massive 66M users (which is nearly as big as Ebay!!) and are signing up another 250,000 per day. Is anyone not a member of MySpace?
Murdoch must be beside himself. And it looks like his half a billion for the teen site was a snip at the price.
Apparently these profiles were obscene or just "a little too edgy". MySpace is clearly moving to clean up it's act after some bad press recently around teen stalkers at the site.
But none of the press has affected MySpace negatively. They now have a massive 66M users (which is nearly as big as Ebay!!) and are signing up another 250,000 per day. Is anyone not a member of MySpace?
Murdoch must be beside himself. And it looks like his half a billion for the teen site was a snip at the price.
Google files to sell over 5M shares
Google has filed to sell another 5M shares. It will add over $2bn to their already meaty coffers. Could it mean more acquisitions are on the way.
The sale would mark the third time that the Internet search giant has tapped the equity markets. Google filed for a secondary stock offering in August 2005, raising more than $4bn a year after it went public. The company had more than $9 billion in cash and investments at the end of 2005.
With over $11bn in the bank Google could pull off some transformational M&A moves. Speculation is bound to permeate the airwaves over the next few weeks. Or how about a hi-speed Wi-Fi/WiMax network across the US?
The sale would mark the third time that the Internet search giant has tapped the equity markets. Google filed for a secondary stock offering in August 2005, raising more than $4bn a year after it went public. The company had more than $9 billion in cash and investments at the end of 2005.
With over $11bn in the bank Google could pull off some transformational M&A moves. Speculation is bound to permeate the airwaves over the next few weeks. Or how about a hi-speed Wi-Fi/WiMax network across the US?
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Ooh, Ebay in court too
Well, it's quite a day for tech giants and high courts. As Apple celebrates their 30th birthday by going to the UK high courts thanks to a tussle with the Beatles (see the last post), Ebay defend themselves in the US Supreme Courts.
And should they fail they may even face an injunction. Ebay was found by lower courts to have infringed 2 e-commerce patents owned by MercExchange, a small tech company. They concern the "buy it now" feature on the site, which allows users who don't want to take part in an auction to buy an item at a fixed price.
But isn't that what you can do at any commerce site? I buy at fixed prices at Amaxon, iTunes etc etc. Isn't it really the same thing? How can these guys have a patent on it?
Anyway, should Ebay fail they may have to settle for large chunks of change. The tech industry seems very much behind Ebay on this one and I wholly agree. Some of these patent disputes are going too far and could end up in stifling innovation for all of us. Good luck Ebay!
And should they fail they may even face an injunction. Ebay was found by lower courts to have infringed 2 e-commerce patents owned by MercExchange, a small tech company. They concern the "buy it now" feature on the site, which allows users who don't want to take part in an auction to buy an item at a fixed price.
But isn't that what you can do at any commerce site? I buy at fixed prices at Amaxon, iTunes etc etc. Isn't it really the same thing? How can these guys have a patent on it?
Anyway, should Ebay fail they may have to settle for large chunks of change. The tech industry seems very much behind Ebay on this one and I wholly agree. Some of these patent disputes are going too far and could end up in stifling innovation for all of us. Good luck Ebay!
The Beatles take Apple to court!
The Beatles have taken Apple to court in a long standing row over the name Apple. For the Beatles own Apple Corp which shares the fruity logo. They had a painful legal battle over the name in the '80's, which settled in 1991 with Apple paying up to $26M (apparently) to enable them to keep using the name. With limited use in the music industry.
Thanks to iTunes and the iPod, the Beatles Apple Corp has the US computer company in the UK's high court over breach of the last agreement. And if your not confused enough by now I'll just cut to the chase.
I guess it wil be hard to prove that Apple is not heavily into the music industry thanks to their new Internet services and iPod player. Even though they are a distributor and not creator or publisher of music. The likely outcome will be another large chunk of change going from Apple Computers to the Beatles.
And the high court judge is even a self-confessed iPod fan. Does anyone not have an iPod?! I even have one now - mmm, nice! Anyway, the press surrounding the case and the likely hike to iPod sales as a result of it (as if they need any help flogging the little players), should more than offset by any payments to the Beatles.
Thanks to iTunes and the iPod, the Beatles Apple Corp has the US computer company in the UK's high court over breach of the last agreement. And if your not confused enough by now I'll just cut to the chase.
I guess it wil be hard to prove that Apple is not heavily into the music industry thanks to their new Internet services and iPod player. Even though they are a distributor and not creator or publisher of music. The likely outcome will be another large chunk of change going from Apple Computers to the Beatles.
And the high court judge is even a self-confessed iPod fan. Does anyone not have an iPod?! I even have one now - mmm, nice! Anyway, the press surrounding the case and the likely hike to iPod sales as a result of it (as if they need any help flogging the little players), should more than offset by any payments to the Beatles.
Microsoft's Vista challenged by the EU
Microsoft has been warned by the EU that if Vista does not comply with EU demands about "bundling", then they could be banned from selling it in Europe.
They highlighted Vista's integrated Internet search, digital rights management used to protect copyright and software that would create fixed document formats comparable to Adobe's PDF. EU regulators have also warned Microsoft against putting certain software-security functions into Vista.
But, apparently the approach by the regulators has arisen because Microsoft has asked them to check that Vista complies with recent EU regulations against Windows. That's very proper of them! Mind you, Microsoft is going to be treading a very fine line with Vista. After all, one of it's core competitive advantages is that it is a more integrated OS.
The more integrated it is, the more competitors will scream about bundling. Search, DRM and security look set to be the hot button features for possible violations. looks like Microsoft may need the delay to the launch of Vista to iron out all these potential issues!
They highlighted Vista's integrated Internet search, digital rights management used to protect copyright and software that would create fixed document formats comparable to Adobe's PDF. EU regulators have also warned Microsoft against putting certain software-security functions into Vista.
But, apparently the approach by the regulators has arisen because Microsoft has asked them to check that Vista complies with recent EU regulations against Windows. That's very proper of them! Mind you, Microsoft is going to be treading a very fine line with Vista. After all, one of it's core competitive advantages is that it is a more integrated OS.
The more integrated it is, the more competitors will scream about bundling. Search, DRM and security look set to be the hot button features for possible violations. looks like Microsoft may need the delay to the launch of Vista to iron out all these potential issues!
Google's share of search market shoots up!
Google gained an additional 6 percentage points of the US search market based on total queries, widening its lead last month against Yahoo and Microsoft 's MSN, according to data just released.
Google's share of the search market rose to 42.3% in February from 36.3% a year earlier, according to data from tracking firm ComScore.
Searches on Yahoo Internet sites represented 27.6% of the market, down from 31.1% a year earlier, while queries on MSN fell to 13.5% from 16.3%. And some pundits are predicting that Google's share could even go right up to 70% in the US.
The only other search engine that saw any growth in their market share was Ask.com. It proves the value of their latest innovations as well as search engine specialists versus broader portals.
Hey, Google's share could even near Microsoft's share of the PC O/S market with Windows?! Now that'd be a huge boost to Google. It'll help their ad revenues as well. Wall St will applaud it when they wake up tomorrow.
Google's share of the search market rose to 42.3% in February from 36.3% a year earlier, according to data from tracking firm ComScore.
Searches on Yahoo Internet sites represented 27.6% of the market, down from 31.1% a year earlier, while queries on MSN fell to 13.5% from 16.3%. And some pundits are predicting that Google's share could even go right up to 70% in the US.
The only other search engine that saw any growth in their market share was Ask.com. It proves the value of their latest innovations as well as search engine specialists versus broader portals.
Hey, Google's share could even near Microsoft's share of the PC O/S market with Windows?! Now that'd be a huge boost to Google. It'll help their ad revenues as well. Wall St will applaud it when they wake up tomorrow.
Worlds leading electronics companies back bluetooth to link home devices
Leading electronic companies worldwide have decided to back Bluetooth as the core wireless technology to connect electronic devices in the living room. That will include TV's, stereos, etc etc.
This is a major boost to Bluetooth that should now become a ubiquitous networking technology by 2010. And having one core standard will massivley boost the connectivity of devices in our houses. The connected home is on the horizon for the mass market.
Finally!
This is a major boost to Bluetooth that should now become a ubiquitous networking technology by 2010. And having one core standard will massivley boost the connectivity of devices in our houses. The connected home is on the horizon for the mass market.
Finally!
Verizon and Google ink ad partnership
Verizon Communications Superpages.com has agreed to resell advertising on Google's search engine to small businesses that buy ads in its print and online directories.
Verizon Superpages.com has 3,000 advertising salespeople who work with small businesses that buy ads in its print yellowpages and online directory. Now they can offer them Google's Adwords services as well.
Google inked a similar deal with BellSouth last Autumn. Given that BellSouth are about to merge with AT&T Google will soon have stitched up both of the US' largest telco's in yellow pages deals.
This will help Google drive into small and medium sized business customers and considerable ramp up their distribution. Nice deal!
Verizon Superpages.com has 3,000 advertising salespeople who work with small businesses that buy ads in its print yellowpages and online directory. Now they can offer them Google's Adwords services as well.
Google inked a similar deal with BellSouth last Autumn. Given that BellSouth are about to merge with AT&T Google will soon have stitched up both of the US' largest telco's in yellow pages deals.
This will help Google drive into small and medium sized business customers and considerable ramp up their distribution. Nice deal!
Net Neutrality heats up in Europe as well as US
Net neutrality is heating up in Europe now as well as the US. Two of Europe's leading operators, Deutsche Telekom and Telecom Italia are trying to work with the European Union to develop regulations to charge leading Internet companies such as Yahoo and Google for using their networks. They argue that they are and plan to invest Euro's 100bn's on hi-speed networks and need to recoup costs to ensure future network quality.
Dubbed “net neutrality” in North America, the issue has pitted telecoms companies against internet visionaries who claim that a new charging structure would undermine the principle of openness on which the internet was built, and prompt internet companies to charge consumers more for their services.
European operators are poised to invest about €80bn ($100bn) over the next 3-4 years in high-speed, or so-called next generation, networks. They argue that profitable internet companies such as Google should be charged higher fees to help pay for the networks. The operators also argue that these fees are necessary as video services spread. But internet companies say any extra levy – they already pay for the data they push out – would stop tomorrow’s Google's from even starting.
It's a tough call. As Internet companies provide higher bandwidth services and more and more Voice applications, you can understand why operators want to charge them. They are after all undermining their own business models.
BUT, Internet innovation must not be stifled and telco's make plenty of money. Now want to eat some of the Internet companies lunch. I guess they're just not used to the heavy duty competition they face today from start up telco's, cable companies as well as the Internet folk.
I'm not sure that regulation is ever any smart way to fight back. Better services and value is. On balance I'm one for not seeing the Internet companies get charged by the telco's. Let's see if the US and EU regulators agree - I hope so, for all us users who ultimately pay the bills.
Dubbed “net neutrality” in North America, the issue has pitted telecoms companies against internet visionaries who claim that a new charging structure would undermine the principle of openness on which the internet was built, and prompt internet companies to charge consumers more for their services.
European operators are poised to invest about €80bn ($100bn) over the next 3-4 years in high-speed, or so-called next generation, networks. They argue that profitable internet companies such as Google should be charged higher fees to help pay for the networks. The operators also argue that these fees are necessary as video services spread. But internet companies say any extra levy – they already pay for the data they push out – would stop tomorrow’s Google's from even starting.
It's a tough call. As Internet companies provide higher bandwidth services and more and more Voice applications, you can understand why operators want to charge them. They are after all undermining their own business models.
BUT, Internet innovation must not be stifled and telco's make plenty of money. Now want to eat some of the Internet companies lunch. I guess they're just not used to the heavy duty competition they face today from start up telco's, cable companies as well as the Internet folk.
I'm not sure that regulation is ever any smart way to fight back. Better services and value is. On balance I'm one for not seeing the Internet companies get charged by the telco's. Let's see if the US and EU regulators agree - I hope so, for all us users who ultimately pay the bills.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Microsoft now to push launch of Office 2007 out to - 2007!!
OK, so now that Microsoft have had to delay the launch of Vista to next year (for technical reasons) - now they have decided that Office should follow suit (apparently for business reasons!? - so they can launch the two together - mmm...). That makes sense. Unless of course you are a PC maker or retailer. In which case this will be one fat disappointing Xmas.
Microsoft just keeps rocking the PC industry. And keeps handing it to Apple. How will Apple take advantage of this Microsoft stumble? It's up to them!
Microsoft just keeps rocking the PC industry. And keeps handing it to Apple. How will Apple take advantage of this Microsoft stumble? It's up to them!
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