Six months after its now-famous acquisition, Vine is the #1 free app in Apple’s App Store. The app, acquired in mid-october before its initial launch, has had its share of controversy, having been pulled over adult content and thereafter relaunched. But for all the hiccups the app has not failed to generate mountains of visual content, viral media (with its new trending hashtag section), and has been used in unique ways by brands and celebrities alike. Vine’s closest competition in the social sphere thus far is Snapchat, but it’s important to note that Vine is only iOS compatible at the time of writing, which means that even more growth into the Android field should be expected.
Tag: apple
More Apps Downloaded On Android In Q1 But Apple Reports Higher Profit
According to data released yesterday, 51% of all apps downloaded during Q1 of 2013 were downloaded from Google Play. But although Google had the majority in terms of numbers, Apple took the cake in terms of revenue, raking in 74% of overall app revenue during the same time period. And at the same time, although the App Store and Google Play remain the major heavyweights as far as app stores go, BlackBerry World and Windows Phone Store are still direct, though admittedly distant, challengers. Perhaps surprisingly, the strongest growth over the first quarter of 2013 came from South Africa and Brazil, where significant increases in downloads were registered, but without the corresponding revenue jump. This means that the downloading capabilities are in place, but that people aren’t quite ready to take out the checkbook just yet, but many think that in the near future, these markets could represent many billions of dollars of growth.
Forget Apple, What About An Amazon TV?
Until the iWatch was rumored the continued need for people to talk about Apple, was a conversation fueled by rumors of a Apple TV.
For me this felt like another chance for Apple to redesign something that people didn’t realize was terrible until Apple showed us the way. Generally the seem to put up with bad design and then coin Apple as a genius for what amounts to quite obvious simplification. In fact, I’m amazed at how much bad design people put up with, every single remote in my apartment is a ugly and functions terribly, my microwave has 32 buttons, of which I use 4.
All the conversations thus far have spun around how Apple would change the way we navigate content. They would likely bring in this world of easily searchable pipes where we’d not focus on the content provider ( Fox) or channel ( Fox Soccer ) or means of providing content ( Cable TV), but instead focus on a content theme like “Soccer” and then show us all manner of “Soccer” content from live games, to video on demand, to youtube to Bluray discs you could buy. It seems like a natural way to change the game, but one fraught with political battles that only someone like the mighty Apple could win.
A question I was asked to Answer on Quora got me thinking, it was asking why T-Commerce ( the idea of buying goods and services directly from TV Ads or TV shows) has not taken off.
I quickly replied how many brands don’t have ( or want to have) the fulfillment systems required to make that attractive, so while P&G are big enough to have a online shop, they aren’t too keen to sell you a bottle of Dawn for home delivery when they’d rather you went to store. I jokingly suggested the only people who’d ever be able to make the model work would be Amazon. It got me thinking.
An Amazon TV would be much like a Kindle HD. It would be sold at cost price, hardwired to buy “content” or in this case “Goods” from Amazon. Amazon would gain market share of these TV by undercutting the competition. As an Amazon customer, you would have your address and Credit card on file. I’d expect it to have a built in camera for monitoring user behavior, but also for Skype calls and gesture control. So as a consumer your experience would be this.
You could see any Amazon content on your TV with no set top box, so you could play TV, Music and Videos via your Amazon account ( and price based on how many people viewing). I’d expect Amazon to have amazing search and recommendation engines based on your demographic and behavioral data and what your friends and influencers watch. This content would be served by agreements with Cable and other TV companies, again, only Amazon has the might to be able to do this with the required weight.
It would be gesture controlled, and be linked up to Amazon Voice to allow you to make video calls over the internet. Amazon would then sell the ability to buy items seen in TV shows, Films, Games and Advertisement breaks to Brands, but with the deals fulfilled by Amazon – so you may be watching Skyfall and buy MacCallan Whisky or Heineken, or be watching A teen drama and decide to buy the outfit worn by the main character, or most likely be watching a TV ad and decide to add a product to your shopping basket.
Amazon then start to get even more customer data, it showcases the effectiveness of ads, records which creative works, when they work, you could even serve banner ads in real time based on promotions that may be going on, so long as the customer finds them valuable,
It seems to be the perfect combo, brands selling more to people, to target more precisely being able to monitor ad effectiveness and producing a solution that works well for typical heavy Amazon users.
Strategy Analytics Report On Cloud Market Share
Oftentimes, companies focus on market share for hardware and software, but in today’s world cloud media services are an increasingly important service for our devices, and Strategy Analytics has, for the first time, quantified market share data: Apple’s iCloud and iTunes Match are the leaders for cloud services in the U.S. at a combined 27% of usage. This makes sense, as apple has tried its hardest to ensure that the majority of users are synced into the cloud network, especially on iOS 5. For others, the gap is significantly smaller. Dropbox and Amazon Cloud Player are at 17% and 115% respectively, while Google Drive is hovering at just 10%. One of the most striking conclusions of the study: music is the driving force of cloud utilization, as audio represents 45% of the content on cloud-based any platform. At the same time, it’s clear that the cloud hasn’t fully developed: 55% of those asked hadn’t used a cloud service at all; it appears that there’s a long way to go before everybody is interacting with the cloud.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Launch
Samsung held their launch event for their flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone in Times Sq yesterday. With Samsung’s marketshare growing to 21.4% for Jan 13, many are curious how the new handset will compete with Apple which holds 37.8% of the market. We could dive into some of the tech specs like the 5″ display or 13 megapixel camera, but let’s move our focus to the software and business concerns that will likely have the greatest impact for the Korean tech giant in their battle with Apple.
S Features: Despite being a Google Android phone, Samsung has a number of unique features that give it an edge over other Android products. One of the most interesting is their touchless controls like gesture inputs that let you wave your hand to take a call or smart pause which will stop videoplay when you look away. We’ve been talking about vanishing interfaces since our 2012 trends report which seem to be more prevalent each day. Also interesting is the line of “S” features like voice drive which converts text to speech and S Health that uses integrated sensors to measure steps taken and monitor other health activity. Samsung is smart to capitalize on the quantified self trend that previously relies on external hardware like Nike Fuelband or Fitbit.
Marketing: Samsung has bet big on the Galaxy SIII and SIV in an Us vs. Apple marketing push. The company has spent $401 million in the US alone in 2012 compared to Apple’s $333. We predict them to keep the spend strong for several months following the launch, but that may die down if they are not able to see increased sales growth.
Converting Users: Samsung is certainly taking over the Android space with HTC, Motorola and LG trailing way behind but how about Apple users? That valuable chunk of the market may be the most difficult to sway, despite lowered price point. One big consideration is the media sales as Apple users are known to spend substantially more in apps, content and more. For an iPhone owner to switch, they would need to begin their media purchases from scratch as they move into an entirely separate platform. This will undoubtedly be the biggest hurdle for Samsung, UI considerations aside.
Do you have any predictions for the S4? Weigh-in in the comments section below.
Apple Patents Continuous-Shot Photo Process
If you lack zen-like stillness when shooting with your iPhone, or if you haven’t yet mastered the fine art of triggering the shutter in time, Apple’s newly uncovered patent may bring you some relief. The design uses continuous capture to take a series of full-resolution photos rapidly as soon as the camera app is opened, and place them in a memory buffer. Once the shutter has been triggered by the user, the most recent images will be scored automatically for quality to present the user with what is likely to be the best image. As Android and Blackberry tout their advances in mobile photography, Apple could be preparing to launch some improvements of their own with the next iOS release.
An Apple Watch?
The Lab is heading down the rumor mill along with the tech community after the NYT reported that Apple is developing a smart watch. The watch will likely feature all of Apple’s flagship services like Siri, apps and integrate with other Apple products. What’s interesting is that the Apple sources feel that form factor will be the biggest differentiator as they experiment with curved glass that fits to the wrist. If the rumors are true, Apple would leapfrog any competitors in the wearable computing market and dwarf the just released Pebble watch.
Apple Patents New Image Recognition Device Lock
Apple has filed a new patent application to cover a proposed method of unlocking digital devices using image identification. The process would work by displaying an image or images from a user’s library and using either text or voice input, having the user identify the subject of the image exactly based on previous input. This could be adapted into a highly secure method of device locking with the use of multiple images and highly specific identifier keywords, and could be a draw for security conscious users.
WalletKit Launches With Breakthrough Convenience
WalletKit, a new platform to equip businesses to create passes for Apple Passbook and other mobile wallets, launched today. Its unique quality in the crowded mobile pass field is its extremely simple backend, allowing any user with access to the system to make changes in real time to all distributed passes, with no need for technical knowledge. The company also includes analytics reports to track the number of passes distributed and used.
H.265 Video Format Approved
Soon you could be streaming 4k video over your broadband network, and full HD to your mobile devices. The new H.265 video format has been approved by the ITU as a successor to the H.264 codec standard driven by the launch of the iPad and other post-Flash mobile devices. H.265 is informally known as High Efficiency Video Coding, and compatible chips are expected to appear within 12 to 18 months. Soon, as little as 20 Mbps of bandwidth could allow 4k video streaming.
