Tag: google

Mobile Payment Heats Up Again As Google Debuts Android Pay

Posted on by Lab Team

Earlier today at its annual I/O developer conference, Google officially unveiled its newest attempt at conquering mobile payment—a new Android Pay app that will power both in-app purchases and physical transactions in stores. Replacing the old Google Wallet app on mobile, Android Pay will become the universal payment solution in the Android ecosystem. Using tokenization and Near Field Communications (NFC) technology, as well as support for fingerprint authentication, Android Pay seems to work, quite frankly, just like Apple Pay. Unsurprisingly, it also comes with an API that will allow developers to incorporate payments into their apps.

Previously, Google has had a tough time getting major banks and credit card companies on board for their payment products, but things look different this time around. Retailers are eager to participate given the seamless integration of loyalty rewards, which Apple is likely to launch soon also. Three out of the four biggest wireless carriers in the states, save for Sprint, are among launch partners for Android Pay, along with all major credit card providers like Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and AmEx.

Besides an NFC chip and the more recent Android OS (KitKat or higher), making it usable on more than half of active Android phones. Given Android’s over 1 billion active users worldwide, it may just be what Google needs to catch up with Apple in mobile payments. It remains to be seen whether Android Pay adoption for in-store purchases will help Google attribute sales to prior ad views.

Google “Jumps” Deeper Into Virtual Reality

Posted on by Lab Team

Google has announced a new version of its smartphone-powered virtual reality viewer Cardboard, adding support for iOS devices as well as phones with bigger screens. The latest Cardboard design will fit larger phones, up to 6 inches, and it’s gotten rid of the magnet controller, replacing it with a cardboard input button that will work with every phone. It is also much easier to assemble. In addition, an accompanying Cardboard virtual reality app for iOS will also be made available soon to broaden Cardboard’s accessibility.

Moreover, Google is also determined to push VR technology into the mainstream with a new open-sourced “Jump” VR platform that aims to facilitate and assist users in creating VR content. It also teamed up with action camera maker GoPro to develop a crazy-looking 16-camera rig for easier 360-video shooting.’

With other more polished VR headsets, such as Facebook’s Oculus and Samsung Gear, readying for consumer market, Google seems to be more focused on VR content rather than the hardware, which is a smart strategy for Google to ensure its place in the nascent VR market. Altogether, these new offerings will make producing live action VR content much cheaper and the confirmation that YouTube will stream spherical video will make its jump to the mass market happen sooner than later.

Google To Make YouTube’s Pre-roll Ads “Shoppable”

Posted on by Lab Team

Read the original story on: AdWeek

Google announced the new ad format at Wednesday’s Ad:Tech SF meeting that adds “shoppable” elements to YouTube’s pre-roll ads, also known as TrueView ads. Now in some pre-roll ads, viewers will start seeing product offers, complete with prices, images, and a link to the advertiser’s website.  Online furniture retailer Wayfair and cosmetics retailer Sephora are among early partners to test this new feature, with both reporting positive feedback. But whether YouTube viewers will click “shop” instead of “skip” is still up for debate and largely depends on the execution.

Overall, the new addition to YouTube came as a part of Google’s recent push for monetization across its platforms. Last week, reports surfaced that Google is planning to add “buy buttons” to its paid search results on mobile devices. Similarly, as part of a new advertising partnership inked last month, the search giant has also tweaked the layout of mobile search results to incorporate real-time updates from Twitter, extending the reach of branded tweets to mobile searchers.

How Google’s “Buy Buttons” Could Impact Ecommerce

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original article on: Engadget

Google is reportedly planning to add “buy buttons” to its paid search results on mobile devices in the coming weeks, which will redirect interested shoppers to another Google product page to complete the purchase. According to sources, the search giant will start showing the buttons displayed under a “Shop on Google” heading when users search for products on mobile devices, which won’t appear with the non-sponsored results composed by Google’s search algorithm. Macy’s is named as one of the launch partners.

This new feature, should it come to fruition, signals the search giant’s ambitious plan in branching out its search platform into ecommerce space. Although its share in desktop search has slipped 3% from 67.5% in March 2014 to 64.5% in March 2015, according to comScore, Google still commands over 83% of U.S. mobile search market, according to StatCounter’s data, putting it well ahead of its competitors. Backed with a dominant position in the mobile search market, it makes perfect sense for Google to become a one-stop shop for mobile searchers.

Update 5/29/2015: Google’s Chief Business Officer Omid Kordestani has confirmed in a interview that the buy buttons would indeed be coming soon.

European Mobile Carriers Plan To Block All Online Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Financial Times

A recent report claims that some mobile network operators in Europe are planning to start blocking online ads to target Google’s stranglehold on digital ad revenue. The mobile carriers have reportedly installed ad-blocking software in their data centers and plans are afoot to switch the technology on by the end of the year.

The software, developed by an Israeli-based company named Shine, will prevent most advertisements from loading, thereby causing some severe viewability issue for online advertisers. However, it seems that it will not affect social “in-feed” ads on Twitter or Facebook. Should this actually be implemented, which seems highly unlikely given relevant regulations, digital display ads would be seriously impacted. Maybe now is the time for brands and advertisers to take a look into native ads.

Here Comes “The Internet By Facebook”

Posted on by Lab Team

Last week, we reported on Facebook’s Instant Articles, the newest product in its relentless chase after digital publishers. Now officially launched, it serves as a mobile-only content initiative, designed to get partnered publishers to get their content hosted natively on Facebook’s servers so as to eliminate the long wait for in-app browser to open. Among the first batch of publishers signed on are prestigious news outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, BBC News and BuzzFeed, all seemingly eager to try out the glossy, mobile-friendly new format and speed this new feature brings.

In related news, Facebook started to test its own in-app, in-house search engine earlier last week. Selected users have discovered a new feature that allows them to easily search and add links that are already shared on Facebook, directly to their posts and comments. Although not necessarily trying to take over Google’s business, this new development, combined with the launch of Instant Articles, all point to Facebook’s ambitious plan to turn its social network platform into a closed-off mobile ecosystem for digital content. In fact, Facebook is on track to pass Google in incremental ad dollars, according to a Morgan Stanley analyst.

If such trend continues, we might soon be seeing a version of The Internet, as presented by Facebook. Therefore, it is important for media owners and brands alike to at least to try out Facebook’s offerings first to see if its platform works for their specific purposes.

Update 5/15/2014: Smaller publications, including local news sources, will reportedly have an opportunity to try Instant Articles for themselves soon.

Google Reinvents Its Mobile Search Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original article on: Wall Street Journal

As mobile search overtakes desktop in 10 global markets including the U.S. and Japan, Google saw a great opportunity to unveil its new image-based mobile ad formats that are built to stand out in search results. Designed to work with touches and swipes common on mobile devices, the redesigned ad formats would presumably work better on the smaller screens of mobile gadgets than keyword-based links and blurbs.

Moreover, the Mountain View-based company also launched three new ad units to target hotel brands, automakers, and retailers, and plans to leverage relevant data like hotel bookings and availability into the new ad formats. Considering Google’s dominance in the search market and the vast data it possesses, the company seems well positioned to race Facebook in mastering personalized ad targeting.

 

Google To Become The Ultimate Fashionista With Search Data

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: New York Times

Once again putting the vast amount of data it gathers to good use, Google has announced a plan to issue fashion trend reports biannually based on web searches. This move underscores the company’s bid for greater influence in the fashion ecommerce space. Such insights, for example, have allowed Google to begin consulting for major retailers including Calvin Klein, which use Google search data in fashion planning.

Google To Launch Wireless Service With Pay-As-You-Use Data Plans

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: The Verge

Earlier today, Google unveiled its new cellular service Project Fi, which leverages Sprint and T-Mobile’s wireless networks to offer mobile bandwidth under a new pricing scheme where subscribers only have to pay for the amount of data they used. Subscribers will pay $10 per gig of data on top of a $20 base for unlimited talk/text, and whatever data they don’t use will be credited to them in the next pay period. Moreover, it will also let users make calls over WiFi.

Despite Google cautiously rolling out this service, starting with availability on Nexus 6 smartphones only, it will undoubtedly push the Internet giant further into telecom market and further disrupt the wireless industry, already locked in a price war over data plans.

 

 

The Google “Mobilegeddon” Starts Today

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Business Insider

Back in early March, Google announced its decision to prioritize mobile-friendly websites in its mobile search results soon with a tweaked algorithm. Now that day has come, and any website without a mobile-ready version, which includes 44% of the Fortune 500 companies according to a TechCrunch survey, can expect to see their rankings plummet in Google’s search results on smartphones. This change, however, is only for organic listings and does not impact AdWords ads. If your site relies on organic search and has yet to develop a mobile version, now would be the time to make one.