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Do the Size of Mobile App Stores Still Matter?

cgseo — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:34:21 +0000

According to Mplayit CEO Michael Powers, the size of a mobile platform's app store is now mostly irrelevant. Facebook-based mobile app store Mplayit took a close look at the most popular apps for Android, BlackBerry and the iPhone and found that the most popular apps on all three platforms tend to be very similar. As the popular app stores continue to grow, users on all the major platforms also drift towards the same known brands and hits like EverNote and Pandora. Sponsor Mplayit also found that one of the fastest growing app categories across all the major platforms are barcode scanners. Apps like ShopSavvy and RedLaser have clearly hit upon an unfulfilled need. Size Doesn't Matter According to Powers, asking how many apps exist for a given platform is now a moot question. All the major platforms now offer more than enough apps and as long as people can find the apps they are looking for - and as long as these apps are good - most consumers will be happy. Most users simply don't need 50 different apps to write their grocery lists. Looking at Mplayit's list of the most popular apps across the top platforms, it also becomes clear that quite a few of these categories are being dominated by known brands like Shazam, Pandora, Evernote and Facebook. Mplayit, of course, is in the business of giving app recommendations across platforms and doesn't fail to note that it's own store is a good alternative for finding apps outside of the standard top 20 charts. Or Does It? To some degree, Powers' comments about the size of today's app stores rings true. Maybe it really doesn't matter that the Android store only features about 20,000 apps and that the Apple App Store now holds more than 100,000. Maybe it is true that consumers tend to gravitate towards the same brands on all platforms. At the same time, though, having more apps in the store also means that there is a more active developer ecosystem around a given platform. While iPhone developers rightly gripe about Apple's approval process, we've seen a lot more innovative apps for the iPhone than for Android. Is the size of the Android market holding you back from making the switch? Do you think Android has enough good apps that make up for the smaller app store? Do you think the quality of today's BlackBerry apps is good enough? Feel free to let us know in the comments. Discuss

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Do the Size of Mobile App Stores Still Matter?

Businesses Need to Formalize Their Social Media Policies

cgseo — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:40:43 +0000

According to a new study , enterprises continue to deploy social networking tools at an increasing pace. At the same time, though, this Cisco-sponsored study also found that a surprisingly small number of businesses have implemented formal processes and policies related to their use of social media. IT departments have also been left out of the loop when it comes to the adoption of social media tools. Only 10% of the respondents currently involve their IT departments as primary decision makers when it comes to choosing technologies for externally facing social networking initiatives. Sponsor This study was sponsored by Cisco and carried out by the IESE Business School in Spain, the E. Philip Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the U.S. and the Henley Business School in the United Kingdom. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 100 companies in Europe, Asia and Africa. These businesses were selected because they were early adopters of social media tools. Most of the interviewed companies are using social networks (75%) and micro-blogging tools (50%) as their primary tools to reach their audiences. The study found that social networking tools like blogs, Yammer, Facebook and Twitter are now being used by almost every department in these businesses. The Honeymoon is Over As Neil Hair, assistant professor of marketing at Rochester Institute of Technology and one of the lead researchers of this study told us yesterday, it is also important to note that "the honeymoon period" for social media in the enterprise is coming to an end. Early projects were often led by one or two early adopters who were enthusiastic about the possibilities of using social media tools in their companies. Now, more and more companies are seeing social media as an integral part in how they communicate with customers and vendors. Missing Pieces: Governance and IT Only 1 in 7 companies have formalized a process for adopting and deploying these tools, however. Only 1 in 5 of the interviewed companies have created internal policies that govern the use of these tools by their employees. As the researchers noted, quite a few companies struggle with finding the right balance between "the social and personal nature of these tools while maintaining some amount of corporate oversight." Very few companies (1 in 10) report that their IT departments are directly involved in their social networking initiatives. As these tools become more important, however, the the demand on IT to integrate these tools into the existing infrastructure will surely rise as well. Discuss

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Businesses Need to Formalize Their Social Media Policies

Google to Shut Down in China?

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:15:53 +0000

According to information just released by Google, its Chinese web portal, Google.cn, may be biting the dust shortly. In the wake of a string of cyber attacks, certain surveillance activities and long-standing censorship policies, Google SVP David Drummond writes, "We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn We should review the feasibility of our business operations in China." Sponsor Last month, Google noticed a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack" on their infrastructure that allowed for the theft of Google IP. The attack came from China and targeted at least 20 other major corporations involved in technology, finance, media and chemicals. Google believes the main reason for the attacks was to access Gmail accounts of advocates of human rights for Chinese people. Dozens of accounts with users based in the U.S., Europe and China have been accessed to varying degrees; Google denies any security breach on their part, stating that malware or phishing might have caused the accounts to be compromised. Although Google would not normally share information of this nature with a global audience, their team has decided to do so now because the attacks and account surveillance that have been uncovered speak to issues of security, human rights and free speech. "We launched Google.cn in January 2006," wrote Drummond, "in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that 'we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.'" Drummond also references China's attempts in 2009 to curtail and censor free expression on the Web, which we have covered in depth and which we listed as one of last year's greatest failures . Google execs, who have decided that serving censored search results is no longer an option, will spend several weeks talking with the Chinese government about whether or not they could run an unfiltered search engine in that country. If the two entities are unable to reach an agreement, it is likely that Google.cn will shut down, as will Google's offices in China. What Took So Long? We've long been critical of major tech companies that, through acts of omission or under the auspices of compliance with foreign governments, do harm to human rights, privacy and free speech. In a post from October 2008 , our own Marshall Kirkpatrick questioned whether Google, Yahoo!, YouTube or any of the larger web companies operating internationally were equipped to handle the moral and ethical responsibilities of their expansion overseas into troubled territories. He reminded us of several affronts to human rights for which these companies were responsible, then noted, "It's hard, because their fundamental drive is to monetize these huge markets." Curt Hopkins, founder of the Commmittee to Protect Bloggers , responded with a similar point of view, saying, "Given that not just Google but every single other American tech company has shat themselves to get at the mythological Chinese market, this is way too long in coming. "What took so long? Did they finally realize that they are never going to make any money as things currently are so they thought they'd get some PR? This is great news, but you still have to ask: Who benefits from this? And how do they benefit? I hate to be cynical, but the best we can hope for is that Google says, 'This isn't going anywhere for us, and it's so unpleasant.'... If I was in Google's shoes, I would never stop talking about how wonderful we were for doing this." Hopkins's cohort Andrew Ford Lyons has posted a statement that Google ought to immediately remove filters from search results on Google.cn and promote uncensored, unmonitored web access "by channeling some of their incredibly smart staff's efforts toward projects that protect privacy in China and help more Web surfers there quickly and safely bypass firewalls." We will continue to update you on the situation as we receive more information. In the meantime, please let us know your thoughts in the comments. Discuss

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Google to Shut Down in China?

Never Mind the Valley: Here’s Boston

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:35:00 +0000

With tourists flocking to the Boston to walk the cobblestone streets of the Freedom Trail and visit various historical landmarks, Boston is often thought of for its ties to the American Revolution. But Boston is also the birthplace of a revolution of a different sort. In 1946, Georges Doriot, a professor at the Harvard Business School, founded the American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) in Boston - one of the very first venture capital firms. In 1957, the ARDC invested $70,000 in Digital Equipment Corporation, a company founded by two former Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineers working on transistor-based computing. The ARDC was later able to turn around and sell their investment for $450 million, quite possibly the best return on an investment ever at that point. Sponsor RWW's Never Mind the Valley series: Boulder Los Angeles Coming Soon: Portland, OR and Austin, TX Half a century later, Boston is a thriving and vibrant community not only for venture capital and startups, but also for large technology companies and research corporations. With nearly a hundred regional colleges and universities - like MIT and Harvard - and over a quarter of a million students, Boston has quickly become a breeding ground for innovation in the tech sector. "The thing that's amazing is we don't have to worry about attracting people into the Boston community," said Jeffrey Bussgang of Flybridge Capital Partners in a speech at the Harvard Business School last October (see video embedded below). "The challenge is to retain people." And retain them they will, thanks to a plethora of resources available to young entrepreneurs and startups in Boston. Monthly meet-ups like Mobile Monday and Tech Tuesday as well as other events like the biannual Mass Tech Leadership Council Unconference are just a few of the great ways startups can get their feet off the ground. Other organizations like TechStars and Stay in MA help Boston startups set up shop in Beantown with scholarships, funding, and mentorship. And why wouldn't startups want to stay in Boston? Massachusetts boasts the highest per capita VC investment rate in the United States, eclipsing California and New York with $457 per person. Data released today from information and data-services company ChubbyBrain shows that while other Northeaster states are suffering from floundering VC investment, Massachusetts is alive and expanding. While New York and Pennsylvania fell to just $513 million and $254 million respectively in the second half of 2009, Boston's home state soared to $1.2 billion. Figures like these have vaulted Massachusetts past New York into the number two spot behind California for VC investments. Bussgang says that reasons like these and the overall economic stability of the state have encouraged startups and entrepreneurs in Boston, despite being across the country from sunny Silicon Valley. "Yeah the winter sucks, but Massachusetts has delivered a budget on time and balanced the last couple years... unlike what's going on in California," he says. Bussgang also points out that California continually ranks last on Chief Executive Magazine's list of Best and Worst States for Business, though Massachusetts is usually not too far away. The close-knit technology and innovation community of the greater Boston area has fostered spontaneous collaborations resulting in several successful companies across numerous industries. Cloud computing solutions like Carbonite and GlassHouse , robotics companies like Roomba-maker iRobot , online video providers like Brightcove , and e-commerce startups Vistaprint and Shoebuy are all examples of the firepower Boston's potential can produce. Boston has even seen recent expansion from larger corporations, such as Google , Microsoft and Cisco Systems . Having these larger companies in the Boston area provides excellent opportunities for startups, says Bussgang. "Boston has become an outpost for a lot of these satellite R&D centers, and a place where the companies that we fund can find a home," he says. To learn more about the Boston startup scene, check out Don Dodge's extensive list of events, resources and people, as well as Larry Cheng's Massachusetts VC Blog Directory , which you can import right into your RSS reader to stay on top of what VCs in Boston are talking about. Photo by Flickr user the-o . Discuss

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Never Mind the Valley: Here's Boston

Top 6 Colleges with Entrepreneurial Programs

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:30:00 +0000

For young budding entrepreneurs approaching graduation this spring, or for those looking to go back for a post-graduate degree, finding the right program for your needs is very important. In their seventh annual joint effort last fall, Entrepreneur Magazine and The Princeton Review teamed up to rank the top 25 undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs in the United States. Only six programs managed to make the top 10 in both lists, securing their spots at the top of the best overall entrepreneurship programs. Sponsor #1. Babson College - Babson Park, MA Finding themselves in the top spot of both top 25 lists is the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College . Babson's entrepreneurial programs boast the largest enrollment by far of any of the top schools with over 3,300 total enrolled students, and offers undergraduates a total of over $300,000 in scholarships. #2. Drexel University - Philadelphia, PA Drexel's undergraduate program of the Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship is rated sixth best, but the university's third-ranked graduate program at the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business has boosted them into the number two spot overall. Drexel offers the most money in scholarships out of the top six, providing $350,000 for both undergraduate and graduate students, and claims that 100% of their faculty are entrepreneurs themselves. #3 (Tie). University of Arizona - Tucson, AZ The entrepreneurial programs at the University of Arizona are the most exclusive clubs on this list, enrolling just 100 undergrads and 50 graduate students in it's McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the Eller College of Management . With $120,000 available in scholarships and low enrollment figures, entrepreneurs at Arizona have an excellent chance at receiving financial aid. #3 (Tie). Temple University - Philadelphia, PA

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Top 6 Colleges with Entrepreneurial Programs

How Blogging and Tweeting Leaders Build Better Teams

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 22:40:20 +0000

In 2007, Wired Magazine published an article entitled the See-Through CEO where Redfin founder Glenn Kelman gained the public's sympathy and a slew of new members by blogging his corporate woes. Lately we've been looking inward at how companies can improve their employee recruitment strategy through social media. Great candidates research you before accepting an offer, and here is what your social media profile reveals to them. Sponsor LEARNING : A few months ago Bessemer Associate Sarah Tavel wrote an article entitled

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How Blogging and Tweeting Leaders Build Better Teams

Are You Hiring the Right People at the Right Time?

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:19:02 +0000

The most important component of a startup is the team. Not only do you need to hire the right people for the job, you also have to hire them at the right time. Polaris Venture Partners' Mike Hirshland wrote a great post entitled, How to Kill a Startup: Hire Executives instead of Entrepreneurs . After investing in companies like Automattic and

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Are You Hiring the Right People at the Right Time?

I Run 13 Browsers At Once; 11 of Them Just Went Open Source

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:06:01 +0000

FluidApp is what's called a Single Site Browser and is a great way to pull key websites you use throughout the day out of your primary browser and onto your Mac dashboard as standalone applications. It's super easy for anyone to use. The service has a thriving community of users - I have 10 Fluid browsers running on my computer right now and wouldn't want to work without them. In fact, I'm writing this blog post from Movable Type inside a Fluid Browser. In a quiet mid-December move, FluidApp developer Todd Ditchendorf put "most of the code behind Fluid" up on Github under an open source license. That's very good news - new developments are already coming fast and furious. If you haven't checked out Fluid before, now is a great time. Sponsor There's something magical about the way single site browsers let you use different web apps. They don't get lost in tabs. They don't fall prey to browser crashes. You can put a handsome icon in your doc to jump over to them. Windows users looking for a similar experience should check out Bubbles or Mozilla's Prism . Now that Fluid for the Mac is open source though, it will be very exciting to see what features are added next. Creator Ditchendorf says he has some more exciting plans under his hat but nothing to show off yet. Watch this space. What's your favorite Fluid App? One of my favorites is LazyFeed . Next: 15 Fluid Apps You Can Build For Your Business . Discuss

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I Run 13 Browsers At Once; 11 of Them Just Went Open Source

Keep All Those Resolutions You Just Made: Try mySomeday

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:23:57 +0000

So, this year, you've resolved to lose weight, take a class, learn a new language and buy a better mobile device. Good for you - but we all know how well most new year's resolutions go. If you want to strike while the iron is hot, we've found mySomeday , a new tool for solidifying, planning and executing your dreams into realities. The site's a little bit like Dorthy.com and a little like LetSimonDecide , but it's also got simple project management tools and interesting social features. Could mySomeday actually help us stick to our resolutions? Sponsor A while ago, we tested Dorthy.com, a semantic search engine for aspirations that asked users to list goals, share progress and encourage one another. This is quite close to what mySomeday purports to do, as well, albeit through very different mechanisms. Calling itself a "goal achievement platform," mySomeday combines planning tools, social networking features and a support community. It makes sense that publicly sharing goals with one's network has a positive impact on one's chances of reaching those goals. Also, hacking a dream into a plan with a series of steps and measurable outcomes can help transform a cloud-castle into a reality. The site also reminded us of LetSimonDecide, a decision-making platform that helps users analyze their dreams or wishes to determine if they're optimal, practical and advisable. Once the decision-making process is complete, users can share their conclusions with other site members and make an action plan to implement the decision. On mySomeday, users are prompted to set deadlines and receive email reminders, but one of the most interesting features is the option to add multimedia inspirational content, including pictures and videos. Visual reminders have powerful effects - much more than mere words on a glowing screen would, we suspect. As part of their business model, mySomeday is offering branded "Expert Plans" for common or niche goals. Currently, Expert Plans are being offered by Seeds of Peace, Flirtexting, BK Farmyards and Nuru International. What methods or tools are you using now to keep your resolutions - whether they were made for 2010 or whether they're just longstanding but dormant goals? Do you think mySomeday is a site you could use? Would the imagery, reminders and community help you achieve your goals? And what do you think of the company's rather unique Expert Plans model? Let us know your opinions in the comments. Discuss

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Keep All Those Resolutions You Just Made: Try mySomeday

2 Cross-Publishing Services Get Acquired in 1 Day: Critical Path Buys ShoZu

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:22:24 +0000

ShoZu Goes to Critical Path - Cross Network Publishing Doesn't Seem to Be a Stand-Alone Business Hours after high-profile Silicon Valley social aggregation service Seesmic announced that it acquired angel-backed cross-network publishing service Ping.fm , a similar deal was announced in Europe. Identity management service Critical Path , maker of software called Memova, announced that it has acquired mobile uploading service ShoZu , a company that had received an enormous amount of venture capital. Sponsor Rumors of the deal were first reported in mid-December by Robin Wauters of TechCrunch . Now the deal is done, reports leading European mobile blogger Ewan Spence . We're hearing that the announcement will be officially released later today. Update: We just received the official press release as well. ShoZu raised more than $30 million to build a mobile app that allows users to publish photos, videos and text to more than 50 different destination social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Blip.tv and more. The service has long been popular on Nokia phones and sells an iPhone app for $5. Shozu was voted one of our readers' favorite mobile apps in 2007. For more about ShoZu see this Techcraver interview with the company's CEO. Critical Path is a little like a combination of Plaxo and Verisign. It offers messaging and social apps, APIs, Identity Management and Access Control. Was this the big exit that ShoZu's investors sought? Almost definitely not. Critical Path is an innovative service that's got some big customers like BT, France Telecom and Orange, but it's unlikely that ShoZu came at a high price. Spence alludes to the same when he writes that Critical Path "saw the potential of combining their Memova platform suite with ShoZu's engineering." Update: In the official release, ShoZu Board Director Nigel Pilkington from lead investor SEB Venture Capital UK, called the deal "a successful outcome for us." Maybe that's being polite, maybe it's true or maybe it was a small success financially. It's most likely a talent deal and evidence that cross-platform publishing tools like ShoZu, Ping.fm and competitor Pixel Pipe are probably not stand-alone businesses. Just like FriendFeed's aggregation across scores of APIs wasn't enough to make it a success outside of being scooped up by the much, much larger Facebook - these other companies that create the pipes for the tubes just aren't compelling enough to a large number of consumers. They do make nice acquisition targets, though, and show that the future of the social web may not be found in reading and writing to one single network like Twitter or Facebook. The savvy companies that are building value on top of those networks are also dedicating resources to bring on engineers skilled at working with far more networks to publish to or read from. Discuss

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2 Cross-Publishing Services Get Acquired in 1 Day: Critical Path Buys ShoZu