Week of November 5, 2007

Mobile Meet The GPhone: Android

Friday, November 9, 2007

Earlier we mentioned how Google was going to level the playing field in the way of social networking applications by creating an open platform that all social networks could use to create Facebook-style integrated applications. Now we are seeing something even more disruptive: Android. Android is Google's open OS and application framework for mobile phones.

One of the major problems with phone innovation today is that various phone companies use different operating systems, from Windows Mobile to Symbian. To create a cool mapping application, for example, requires writing the program as many as four different times. With Google's Android system, you write the application, and it works on EVERY phone.

More than anything, this is disruptive to phone carriers, who hate certain applications because they undercut the carriers' business model (Skype, for example). It is too soon to see how disruptive Android will be, but it is clear that Google is serious, and the gPhone? It's aims to be bigger than the iPhone--it aims to be everyphone.

Mobile Song Downloads Trending Up

Thursday, November 8, 2007

At least for UK mobile operator Orange. Orange reported that mobile downloads of songs nearly doubled from 105,000 in January to 203,000 in October. While the increase is certainly impressive, the numbers are still paltry compared to the songs sold via iTunes and don't even register when you consider songs downloaded for free via peer-to-peer networks.

Facebook Launches New Ads...Users Worried

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Facebook has launched an aggressive advertising program entitled simply, Facebook Ads. The program includes the previously reported on behavioral ad program, where advertisers can target ads based on any aspect of the users' profile. But there is more: Advertisers can add widgets to their own sites that allow Facebook users to become endorsers, and finally a report aspect that allows advertisers to see who is seeing their ads with details pegged directly to profiles.

The overall program includes an unprecedented access to user data for advertisers, and this is generating somewhat of a backlash. Hardcore users don't like the access given to their data, but as blogger/technologist Jason Calacanis put it: If you want something private, you simply don't put it in your Facebook profile. The backlash has been minimal so far, but as more ads get placed, that may change.

National Online Ad Network Coming From Newspapers?

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

One of the challenges of selling online is effectively monetizing it via a large online ad network, most of which are run as defacto agencies run by outside companies. The newspaper industry is looking to change that. The Chicago Tribune reports that five of the nation's top newspaper companies are talking about creating an ad network that would let them more effectively sell their online inventory against pure web companies.

Radiohead Results

Monday, November 5, 2007

Comscore has announced more details about the Radiohead download experiment, and the results are interesting. The headline is that 62% of downloaders decided to pay nothing for the album. This number has been getting press as dampening the excitement of the Radiohead experiment. However, a look behind the numbers reveals that the efficiency of the Internet makes the results a big success for Radiohead.

Comscore reported that 17% of downloaders paid $4 for the album. This is $680,000 in revenue. A further 12% paid between $8 and $12, for a rough figure of $1,200,000 in revenue. Not even including the other higher and lower amounts, Radiohead has already generated nearly $2 million in revenue off their album, a figure which they do not have to split with any record company or distribution outlet. There is no doubt that this is more money than Radiohead has ever made off of any of their albums.