Time to get paranoid about Android?

Posted on by John Helmer
Android logo Followers of this blog will have read quite a bit about Apple products for which we make no apologies. After all, Apple has been making most of the running in developing both the smartphone and the tablet computer as serious platforms for publisher content. Up to now, that is. Recent reports show Apple is facing some stiff competition from Google’s operating system, Android. In the smartphone category, Android has been ‘surging’ since last year according to Wired. Last October, Neilsen reported that Android was the most popular operating system among people who had bought a smartphone in the previous six months, with Blackberry RIM and Apple iOS tied for second place. When it comes to tablets, Wired has quoted a Wall Street analyst as saying: “Long term, we believe Android could surpass the iPad in tablet market share”. Now Android looks to be winning the content battle as well. Distimo’s report said that Google’s Android Market eclipsed Apple’s App Store for iPhone in terms of free applications. At current rates of growth, Google Android Market looks likely to beat Apple into second place for overall number of apps available later this year. Those who dislike Apple’s ‘closed’ model and the tight control the company exerts may well be cheering at this news. Android is open source after all: isn’t it? Well, up to a point. Some think that Android is becoming less and less open source, and for publishers this might not be bad news. Continue reading →

The IPL and the end of the web as we know it

Posted on by Rob Yates
IPL cricketerWatching the Indian Premier League cricket the other evening (and loving how they have branded the language: a 6 is not a 6 any more but a ‘DLF maximum’ and a half-century a ‘Citibank moment of success’) I was struck, in the numerous ad breaks, by the stream of brands that drive consumers straight to Facebook, dispensing (in their advertising) with their standard URLs. Coke, Lucozade and Dulux all employ the Facebook.com/brand URL; and the Army simply suggest that one Googles ‘Army Jobs’. Though we can’t quite yet tell who will be the victor in the so-called platform wars, we know that someone will, and we can probably predict a date when the idea of a ‘corporate url’ will become anachronistic. I am not surprised by this trend. In the 15 years I spent working with consumer brands online, the mantra (from New York to London to Mumbai to Beijing) was always ‘experience’: define moments when the consumer is open to brand communications and then create experiences that meaningfully intersect those moments with the brand. Continue reading →

With one bound, the publisher was free: social media to the rescue?

Posted on by John Helmer
Satirical cartoon about Google, Apple, Twitter, Facebook leaders A major irritant for publishers in recent times has been the emergence of new gatekeepers in their supply chain, principally Google, Amazon and Apple. Now help in derailing these tech behemoths seems at hand, albeit help from an unlikely quarter. Many forward thinkers in publishing see social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) as a way of bypassing the Glamazons of this world – offering an opportunity for publishers to forge a more direct relationship with the customer. However, are publishers really ready to embrace this challenge? Do they possess the requisite skills, knowledge and abilities to grasp the opportunity offered by social networks such as Facebook? Continue reading →

Content too dynamic to go native? Hybrid Apps might be the answer …

Posted on by Eoin Dunne
Things move quickly in the world of mobile content delivery. Less than a year ago it seemed that publishers faced two routes when it came to developing resources for users to access digitally through their PC, Mac, iPad or Android device: either they chose to go down the mobile-optimised website route (web apps) or they could develop an app (native apps). We outlined the pros and cons of these two approaches in one of our most popular blog pieces of 2010, Publisher choices for mobile delivery – apps vs websites. However, since then a third choice has emerged – and one that looks set to be the future for apps. Continue reading →

Fame in print …

Posted on by Megan Toogood
cover of logos 21, journal of the world publishing communityA report from the first Semantico Online Publishing Symposium can now be found in Logos, the journal of the world publishing community. If issue 21 has just hit your desk look out for Issues in Mobile and Cross-platform Content Delivery by John Helmer. We’re pleased the event generated some great discussion and we’ll be holding more dinners, accompanied by wine. Write-ups will follow here on the blog.