Tag: apple

Google’s Busy Week Of Launching iOS Apps

Posted on by Lab Team

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.

Microsoft To Lay Off Over 18,000 Jobs

Posted on by Lab Team

Microsoft announced its plan today to “eliminate up to 18,000 jobs” over the next year, with some deep cuts from the businesses it acquired from Nokia. According to the report, about 12,500 of the jobs being eliminated will come from the Nokia groups, or from its overlap at Microsoft. Echoed by recent news that the company has killed off its plans for Nokia Android phones, this huge shake-up seems to indicate Microsoft’s plan to focus on improving its cloud and mobile services instead of wasting their efforts on hardware manufacture. Considering its competitors Apple and IBM are now teaming up to tackle the enterprise IT market that Microsoft currently dominates, such a repositioning could be proven timely in the long run.

Update: Microsoft is also reported to be closing the Xbox Entertainment Studios.

Apple Brings iTunes Account Refill To Mobile

Posted on by Lab Team

After some tests in Japan, Apple is now rolling the iTunes Pass in the states. The new feature embedded in the Passbook app allows users to add credit directly to their iTunes Store accounts. Such a feature signals Apple’s intention to reach an even wider range of customers with its digital stores by simplifying the process for iTunes account refill. In addition, this move towards mobile could also indicate that Apple could eventually make a broader play for iOS-powered native mobile payments.

Apple Gearing Up For iWatch Launch

Posted on by Lab Team

Apple has reportedly poached an sales executive from luxury watch brand Tag Heuer to help its upcoming launch of iWatch, which is rumored to be set for an October release. While Google is getting a head start over Apple in the smartwatch race, this move seems to indicate Apple’s intention to capture the high-end of the nascent wearable market by combining the sleek, elevated product design they are known for with its beloved iOS-exclusive app. Whether this positioning of iWatch as a premium device would work out for Apple remains to be seen, but with Apple in the ring, we sure are in for a real smartwatch battle later in the year.

Beats Music Offers Big Exclusives To Compete With Spotify

Posted on by Lab Team

When Beats Music announced its streaming music service, many wondered how it would be able to compete with the likes of Spotify and Pandora, the industry heavyweights. Now we have a better idea; after their acquisition by Apple, Beats Music is using its industry clout to gain access to big exclusive singles, like Jay-Z’s remix of “Jungle.” Though Spotify has about 40 times the number of subscribers, Beats has the brand names – and now, it also has industry exclusives to lure new users. 

iOS 8 Credit Card Scanner To Boost Mcommerce

Posted on by Lab Team

iOS 8 has a new feature which will use your iPhone camera to scan credit card information for more seamless purchasing online. What’s more is that website developers do not need to enable the feature as Safari will activate it whenever a credit card is requested and prompt users to scan within the keypad. According to eMarketer, more than 19% of US retail ecommerce will be on mobile devices in 2014. Expect this development to boost purchases from the mobile web in the future.

Proximity Push: iBeacons & Actionable Notifications

Posted on by Lab Team

The Lab is bullish on iBeacons, Apple’s latest technology which enables proximity messaging (1-150 feet in range) via compatible apps. Think about recipes tailored to the grocery aisle you’re in or facilitating wait times at a restaurant without the need for those lovely restaurant pagers. Well, Apple’s recent announcement of actionable notifications brings the promise of iBeacons to another level. Now apps can push proximity-based notifications that let users take action like downloading that recipe or preordering appetizers right from within the home screen notification.

It’s a DR marketers dream, but don’t abuse the power! These notifications need to reduce friction for the user, not increase it. Users will be as quick to drop the app as they were to install it if they are bombarded by Like requests. 

How Apple Can Use Beats To Beat WhatsApp

Posted on by Lab Team

Welcome the newest competitor to the battle for messaging app domination: Apple.  This week the company announced a souped up version of iMessage that lifts a number of key features from Snapchat and WhatsApp like ephemeral messaging, and photo, video, and audio sharing.  There are three reasons the new product is unlikely to be a real threat to the big players in the space:

1. You can use the platform to interact with other iPhone users, but you need to use another service to chat with Android and Blackberry friends.

2. There’s no compelling product innovation to lure people away from their current go-to messaging apps.

3. Apple is unlikely to steal market share from Snapchat since the two platforms appeal to different demographics. WhatsApp is a more likely target, but it has a huge head start on Apple that’s hard to overcome.

If Apple really wants to shake up the messaging space, it has one big potential advantage and differentiator– Beats.  Apps like Tango have partnered with Spotify to deliver music clip sharing, and Kik has partnered with One Direction and apps like Rithm to connect with teens and acquire new users.  Music will be a key battleground in this space because people love to share it, and Apple is in the position to create a deeper music sharing experience than the competition with Beats in its arsenal.

No messaging app has corralled the entire music industry yet, but it’s only a matter of time before artist pages on these platforms are as ubiquitous as artist pages on traditional social media. Among messaging app owners, Apple is in the best position to get the music industry to embrace its products– iMessage included– since the industry already depends on iTunes.

Every label and artist wants its record featured in the iTunes app store, and Apple has premiered an impressive number of major records in the last two years including releases from Coldplay, Vampire Weekend, The Black Keys, and The National.  If Apple gives Beats and individual artists a chance to connect with users through iMessage, the music industry could play an active role in bringing its audience to the platform.

For now Apple’s messaging app approach has positioned it as a follower, but with the tools at its disposable it could easily transform into a messaging app leader. It better move fast, though, because the competition already has a serious head start.

Apple Introduces Health App Suite

Posted on by Lab Team

The wait is over: Apple announced a new app suite called Healthkit, which is part dev kit and part Health app that syncs multiple fitness trackers, heath data, and medical information into an easily accessible hub. At the same time, it leverages the accelerometer on the iPhone to trace different datapoints about individual wellbeing. It also could very readily pave the way for Apple’s own piece of wearable tech, which is rumored to contain even more sensors to monitor personal health. 

What You Need To Know From Apple’s WWDC

Posted on by Lab Team

Not free to watch to the full two hour press conference from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference? Want to skip the developer jargon and get to implications for marketers? We got you covered. Check out the 3 biggest developments from today’s announcement.

Continuity – The new feature lets you toggle between devices seamlessly. It syncs activities so you can pick up an email mid-draft from mobile to your desktop or continue watching a movie on your tablet from Apple TV. For media consumption, this is only going to drive cross platform viewing.

Messages – The Messages app looks a lot like WhatsApp with video and voice sharing, mapping features and more. Apparently the WhatsApp CEO isn’t all too pleased. As more behaviors take place within messaging, marketers will need to see this as a new media channel, not just dark social.

Actionable Notifications – Notifications can now be actionable, like Liking a post within a Facebook notification. It very much falls in line with our Notification Nation trend as glanceable media takes hold. Third party widgets are also available within the Notification Center. Expect user interaction to increase across apps that nail push notifications.