Messaging app Kik users can now easily share their whereabouts with each other thanks to a new partnership with Glympse, a start-up specializes in temporary location sharing technology. The new feature has been fully integrated into Kik so users don’t need to leave the app to share their locations. Given that “where are you?” is undoubtedly one of the most texted questions, this feature could certainly come in handy for Kik users. As messaging app continues to expand its functionality, we expect to see more partnerships like this popping up in the near future.
Category: Percolate
Google Looking To Turn NYC Payphones Into Wi-Fi Hotspots
Over 7,300 payphones in New York City may be transformed into something much more relevant in this mobile age, as Google proposes to convert them into free Wi-Fi hotspots. If completed, this project would basically blanket the whole city with Google-owned Wi-Fi networks, which in turn would benefit the Internet giant greatly with user location tracking and other valuable marketable data. Similar to Facebook’s lofty plan to bring free Internet access to the whole world, Google is looking to move closer towards the inevitable future of big data and ubiquitous computing.
Amazon Quietly Launches Consumer-Facing Mobile Payment App
Amazon has unveiled Amazon Wallet, its consumer-facing mobile wallet app, on both Amazon Appstore and Google Play without much fanfare. For now, the app has yet to support actual mobile payment or even store credit card information, instead limiting its functions to digitally storing gift cards and membership cards. Amazon has long hinted at its ambition at dominating basically every facet of e-commerce, and this app, while still in beta, is a good indication of Amazon’s aspiration in establishing itself in the e-payment field.
Could Smart Earphones Be The Next Big Thing In Wearables?
A company called FreeWavz is looking to Kickstart the funding for their new product—a wireless smart earphone with built-in fitness monitoring. With Google Glass being made available for consumers a couple months ago and Apple gearing up for iWatch launch, the wearable tech is slowly but surely gaining some momentum. From fitness wristbands to smart contact lens, from smart-headsets to now, smart-earpieces, it seems just about every tech accessory has the potential to become the next connected smart-device. With more players entering the arena, it’s shaping up to be an interesting ride for the burgeoning wearable market.
Netflix Reports Record-High 50 Million Users Worldwide
In its second quarter report released today, Netflix notes it has crossed the milestone of 50 million members, with 36.24 million domestic subscribers and 13.8 million international ones. In comparison, Time Warner claims 127 million HBO subscribers, while Amazon coyly admits that it has just over 20 million Prime subscribers. The company also reported 1.34 billion in revenue, doubling the profit it had last year.
As Netflix expands around the globe and heaping up the profits, the company also seems to have become the major force advocating for Net Neutrality, which it once again, unsurprisingly, asserts its support for in the report. Its battle with big cable and ISP companies over this issue will most likely intensify as Netflix continues to gain strength from the fast-growing OtT market.
Yahoo Buying Mobile Start-Up Flurry For Its Data
Yahoo has confirmed to be acquiring Flurry, a mobile ad platform with real-time bidding feature. Following a slew of mobile start-up acquisitions, however, Yahoo’s interest in Flurry might be more than just for their mobile products and resources. Along with its ad exchange platform, Flurry also offers a mobile analytics platform popular with app developers, with nearly half a million apps on iOS and Android employing Flurry’s tool to track how people are using their apps. Therefore, Flurry hoards a considerable amount of the valuable behavioral data that Yahoo desperately needs to jump-start its mobile business.
Emoji-Only Messaging App Set To Launch
Yep, you read that right. Someone is making a messaging platform where its users are only allowed to communicate through those playful little icons known as emojis. The network, aptly named Emoj.li, has not officially launched, but it is currently accepting username reservations. The usernames, of course, have to be emoji-only as well, properly reflecting the diehard emoji-purist ideals of its creators.
Following the surprising success of the Yo app, where you could only send your contact a simple “Yo” and nothing else, Emoj.li comes off as a whimsical, almost parody-like creation, riding right on the recent tide of testing the limits of messaging apps. How far this trend, undoubtedly spearheaded by Gen Z, could push forward our cognition of mobile communication remains to be seen. Who knows, maybe brands will pay good money to be integrated into the emoji library if this platform ever blows up—just imagine the potential bidding war between Pepsi and Coca-Cola over the soft-drink icon. For now, however, we could only respond with an enigmatic winky-smiley face.
Twitter Acquires CardSpring, Moves In On E-Commerce
Right after Facebook began testing a Buy button that enables its users to make purchases straight from their News Feeds, Twitter strikes back with the news that it has acquired CardSpring, a mobile payment start-up whose platform could let developers build credit card-linked offers such as electronic coupons, loyalty cards, and virtual currencies. With this acquisition, Twitter is no doubt betting on its mass platform, with its innate blurb-y style and targeted hashtags, to effectively distribute those integrated offers. In this tight race towards social e-commence dominance, this move might just give Twitter a little edge over Facebook.
CBS Outdoor to Buy Van Wagner Billboards
News broke today that CBS Outdoor is acquiring outdoor advertising businesses, including over 1,100 billboards in 11 major domestic markets, from Van Wagner Communications for $690 million. As the former CBS Corp. unit continues to broaden its reach, the fairly fractured OOH advertising market remains a dynamic place, with JCDecaux, Clear Channel Outdoor and Lamar Advertising all rivaling CBS Outdoor for the eyeballs.
While OOH advertising, especially the billboards, has been notoriously difficult to measure, a lot of exciting new technology has emerged in this regard to help quantify and maximize its efforts (many featured in our Virtual Lab). Clear Channel, for one, has been reportedly experimenting with location-based interactive outdoor platform. In this digital age, regardless of the amount of good ol’ billboards one might own, all marketers should be looking into the new out-of-home technology, especially the mobile ones, to really drive the message home.
Google’s Busy Week Of Launching iOS Apps
It’s been a busy week for Google on the native iOS apps front. Just over a week after launching a new separate YouTube Creator app, which lets video creators manage their channel on the go, Google is now introducing the Google Analytics app to iOS. Earlier this week, the internet giant further embraced iOS with the launch of its Ingress augmented reality game, while on Wednesday an all-new Google AdWords Express app for small businesses arrived for both iOS and Android.
Although most of these launches are mere catch-ups with its existing Android app, this at least shows that Google is not giving up on the Apple users yet, despite the on-going competitions between the two brands. After all, making those Google apps available across popular platforms serves as a perfect way to maximize audience reach and, in this case, to subversively infiltrate the user-base locked in Apple’s closed ecosystem with its brand presence. Such is the power of universal access and compatibility.
