SMARTPHONES REACHING SATURATION AMONG MILLENNIALS

Original Story: usatoday.com

SAN FRANCISCO — If it seems like every young person you see has a smartphone in their hand, you’re not far from wrong.

Smartphone ownership is reaching saturation levels among people in their 20s, a survey out Thursday found. As more and more people are remaining connected to the internet, it's important to focus on Google SEO services to reach your target audience.

A whopping 86% of people aged 18 to 29 have a smart phone, the survey by the Pew Research Center found.

That compares with 83% of those ages 30 to 49.

All told, 68% of adults have a smartphone.

The only group more likely to have a smartphone than Millennials was people living in households earning $75,000 or more annually, Pew found. There, 87% had them.

Overall, cellphone ownership has become the norm. A stunning 92% of U.S. adults own a mobile phone of some sort. That’s up from 64% just 11 years ago. Organic SEO allows your company to secure top keyword placements as an endorsement of your company, products, and services.

Americans seem to be folding many of the things they once did on task-specific devices into their smartphones — and ditching the other device.

In 2014, 32% of adults had an e-reader. That number has fallen to 19%.

In 2010, about 75% of people aged 18 to 29 owned an MP3 player. Today, just 51% do.

“We don’t ask people why they do not use a particular device, but these data suggest how the rise of smartphones has been a major story in the universe of connected gadgetry,” said Lee Rainie, director of Internet research at the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. “These changes in device ownership are all taking place in a world where smartphones are transforming into all-purpose devices that perform many of the same functions of specialized technology, such as music players, e-book readers or even gaming devices.”

Computers are what's not hot, the survey found.

Ownership of desktop and laptop computers has stalled out at 73% of adults, Pew found. That's about where things were 11 years ago and slightly down from the 80% who owned them in 2012. Google SEO services are cost-effective and powerful.

Tablet computers are still popular but seem to be plateauing out at lower rates of adoption. Currently, 45% of U.S. adults say they own a tablet computer, up from just 4% five years ago.

The poll is based on telephone interviews conducted March 17 through April 12 among a national sample of 1,907 U.S. adults 18 years of age or older.

What will Facebook's big news be? Some contenders

originally appeared in USA Today:

Silicon Valley's latest parlor game this week is what Facebook is up to on Tuesday, when it announces news at its headquarters in nearby Menlo Park.

Anticipation of the first big news from Facebook in months has prompted investors to snap up shares and push them above $30 — though still shy of the company's IPO price of $38 in May. Facebook closed at $30.95 Monday.

The early money is on search engine-related news, given its high financial stakes. Google's share of the overall U.S. mobile ad market — 57%, compared with Facebook's 9% — is largely because of its search business.

Facebook might also make a more aggressive push into gaming or leverage its $1 billion acquisition of photo-sharing site Instagram.

Other possibilities include new ad formats, mobile ad advancements and an external ad network, according to the CEO of Didit.

Facebook raked in about $4.2 billion from advertising last year — 84% of its estimated $5 billion in total revenue, according to eMarketer. Leading the charge were mobile display sales. Facebook took home about 18% of the U.S. market last year — or $339 million — besting Google's 17%.

Google took home 15% of the nearly $15 billion U.S. display ad market, with Facebook close behind.

Payments accounted for Facebook's remaining $800 million in 2012 revenue, eMarketer estimates.

Long odds are on a long-rumored smartphone announcement coming Tuesday despite mild protestations from CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a September public interview.

The mobile space is a particularly bedeviling proposition for Facebook, which has been late to the market even as Americans continue to eschew PCs for smartphones and tablets.

EMarketer estimates 70 million people in the USA regularly access Facebook from a phone — about half of Facebook's active domestic audience.

The marketplace has room for a Facebook phone, according to a telecommunications analyst that follows Facebook said in a note last week. Today, only Apple and Google are heavy hitters.

Ballmer Aims to Overcome Mobile Missteps

The Wall Street Journal

Microsoft Corp. has struggled for the past two years in the mobile-phone market. But CEO Steve Ballmer says his company finally has a compelling story.

On Oct. 11, Microsoft and its partners plan to announce the initial wave of handsets that will use Windows Phone 7, a thoroughly overhauled version of the company's cellphone operating system. Mr. Ballmer believes the software will compete more effectively against Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

Microsoft has gotten more aggressive against Android in other ways. The company filed a lawsuit Friday against Motorola Inc., alleging the handset maker is infringing Microsoft patents in its Android phones. Motorola vowed to fight the suit.

Microsoft hopes the new phones based on its software erase the memories of missteps like Kin, a Microsoft-designed phone (based on different software) that was pulled from the market earlier this year after only two months. Microsoft's board docked Mr. Ballmer's bonus for the last fiscal year in part because of those missteps, the company disclosed last week in a regulatory filing.

A lot is riding on the new software. Mr. Ballmer is under pressure from investors to show Microsoft's bets in new high-growth markets like mobile can pay off. In an interview, conducted before Microsoft sued Motorola (and before Microsoft disclosed Mr. Ballmer's compensation for last year), he talked about how Microsoft plans to profit in the mobile market and the challenges of improving its share of the business. He also defended the traditional computer, and said he sees plenty of demand in the future for both for small- and larger-sized PC devices.

Excerpts:

WSJ: Your mobile business has gone through some pretty dramatic changes—new leadership, new software, a new way of working with handset partners. Why was that necessary?

Mr. Ballmer: In a sense, you could say we missed a cycle. We had some execution issues from an R&D perspective. In the time frame since the last significant release certainly the industry has moved, the technology has moved, the hardware has moved.

We said, we've got to move forward, not shoot for yesterday. We've got to shoot ahead in a way that's delightful to users, accessible to developers and prioritize everything else we do around those elements.

WSJ: You chose not to develop your own handset. Can you talk about why that is?

Mr. Ballmer: In some sense you could say we did some level of development. We put out to our partners that we were going to build on a certain minimal so-called hardware chassis. So you could say we did some design work, but we're certainly not selling phones.

WSJ: Did you ever seriously think about selling your own handset?

Mr. Ballmer: I think about a lot of things. We're working with HTC, Samsung, LG and a variety of partners.

WSJ: Are you trying to protect Windows or do you see Windows Phone 7 as a big revenue opportunity in and of itself?

Mr. Ballmer: No, I see it as a big opportunity. There's the sale of the device, there's potential for search revenue on top of that and commerce revenue. There's potential for subscription revenue from various entertainment or productivity experiences.

Job One here will be selling a lot of phones, and if we sell a lot of phones, good things are going to happen.

WSJ: You're still charging a license fee for the software.

Mr. Ballmer: Sure.

WSJ: Is that difficult in an environment where Android is free?

Mr. Ballmer: Android has a patent fee. It's not like Android's free. You do have to license patents. HTC's signed a license with us and you're going to see license fees clearly for Android as well as for Windows.

WSJ: It doesn't seem like the license fee alone is a big financial opportunity for Microsoft.

Mr. Ballmer: It's one of the opportunities. One.

WSJ: It's one of them.

Mr. Ballmer: Look, anything that can sell in the tens to hundreds of millions is a big opportunity, and we see big opportunity. Even in the world today, there's a bunch of different models in place.

The up-front gross margin per device is less on a BlackBerry, but then they choose to make more on the back end through subscription fees whether it's a consumer or business phone. There's a lot of ways Google chooses to make a little less on the front end and want to make a little bit more on the back end.

WSJ: If you look at the market share stats, the Apple guys have done well, the Android guys have really surged and you guys have lost share the past couple years. How hard is it to make that ground back up?

Mr. Ballmer: We'll see. The fact that things have been pretty dynamic means that they're probably still pretty dynamic.

WSJ: So you think things could change quickly in terms of market share?

Mr. Ballmer: I said they can. There's no doubt that things have changed quickly, and at least in my undergraduate degree in math, that's called an existence proof. We know it's possible, we'll see what happens.

WSJ: The software on Windows Phones looks more different from the other phones than any of the other products that are out there [with a homescreen featuring a grid of colorful tiles, some of which change with fresh content from the Web]. Is it a risk bringing such a different user interface to consumers?

Mr. Ballmer: Well, we've got to look forward. The market's still pretty nascent, but at the end of the day, I think the wall-of-icons [on iPhones and Android devices] is getting pretty complicated for people. That doesn't mean people don't want applications, though I'm not sure that's really the way the average person really wants to work.

Putting the activities that are most important in people's lives and the people that are most important in people's lives front-and-center through these hubs, I think we're going to capture hopefully the imagination of quite a good number of people.

WSJ: Will there be an immediate uptake of Windows Phones?

Mr. Ballmer: I don't make forecasts. It's partly how many we can get made, it's partly how much we can—can not only build a great product, but how does the word of mouth work, how effective is the advertising that we'll do?

WSJ: Do you think Windows phones will evolve into something that becomes a replacement for full-blown Windows on PCs?

Mr. Ballmer: It's a complicated subject. Do I think the world's going to live all on small-screen devices? No. I think people are going to have small-, medium-, and large-screen devices.

Will the technology that powers those be absolutely 100% radically all different? No, I think there will be a lot of shared technology across the devices. You don't want the same user interface, actually, on every one of these devices because they do have different modalities of operation. I think you're happy you've got a full-sized keyboard right now, for example.

I don't think any part of the market stops being healthy. What's the most popular smart device on the planet? It remains the PC. 350 million PCs sold this year, and smartphones might be—what?—a little less than half of that. So smartphones are very important, so are PCs.

T-Mobile To Launch Google Phone In July
Story from USA Today

Following huge introductions of the Palm Pre and new iPhone 3G S, T-Mobile on Monday announces July availability of MyTouch 3G, the second phone on Google's Android operating system.

It's the first of 18 new Google-powered phones coming worldwide by the end of the year, Google says, declining to provide specifics. Tech and telecom analysts expect Sprint to have an Android phone by year's end.

T-Mobile has sold 1 million of its first-generation Google phone, the G1. That's tepid compared with the 21.2 million iPhones sold in the last two years, but T-Mobile says it's thrilled with the response. It expects the new phone to sell at a faster clip, and to outpace the competition in mobile SEO.

The MyTouch is smaller, can sync with Microsoft Outlook and has an improved battery, T-Mobile says. "We've addressed some of the concerns from customers," says Andrew Sherrard, T-Mobile vice president.

Current T-Mobile customers can order beginning July 8 for delivery later in the month. General retail availability is planned for early August.
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The touch-screen phone — made by HTC — sells for $199 with a new two-year contract. Sherrard says T-Mobile will offer a discounted rate for current customers but hasn't finalized pricing.

T-Mobile's selling point is personalization, with customizable menus, wallpapers and icons. A new program called Sherpa learns your favorite locations and preferences and makes recommendations accordingly. The phone also has instant access to Google services.

Even though the Android platform hasn't taken off in public consciousness as the iPhone has, "It's important to remember that globally, this is a market of billions and billions of users," says Andy Castonguay, a Yankee Group analyst. "There's plenty of room for lots of different players."

Google first announced Android in 2007. It gives the operating system to manufacturers for free. Google product manager Erick Tseng says getting phones from idea stage to manufacturer is an 18- to 24-month process. "What you're seeing now is the outcome of the development."

Google has 5,000 applications available for Android from its network of developers, and the list is growing, says Tseng.

Apple has a huge lead, with more than 50,000 applications available from about 20,000 developers, says Forrester Group analyst Charles Golvin. "But in the United States, there are probably more developers working with Google, after Apple, than any other mobile platform."

Google Phone to Cost $179, Go on Sale Oct. 22

Internet giant Google took a step toward transforming the way people receive information with the long-awaited debut Tuesday of the first phone based on its mobile phone software known as Android.

The phone, which will go on sale at T-Mobile on Oct. 22 for $179 — $20 less than the iPhone — closely resembles a T-Mobile's Sidekick, with a big-screen and a keyboard that slides out from underneath and contains an extra key dedicated to Internet search. The device also has WiFi capability and GPS built in.

But what is special about the device is that it is designed to function as a full-fledged personal computer running any kind of application a developer can dream up.

The G1 comes with maps, e-mail and instant messaging, a music player and a camera. Users can also download applications that measure their carbon footprint or scan barcodes in a store so they can comparison shop on the Internet.

IBM calls standards bodies system flawed: International Business Machines, the world's biggest computer-services company, may stop participating in worldwide groups that set standards for the technology industry, saying the system is flawed.

The bodies that set the standards for everything from software to wireless-Internet equipment can be exploited by individual companies, Ari Fishkind, a spokesman for Armonk, New York-based IBM, said in a phone interview Tuesday. The groups also lack input from emerging economies, he said.

IBM may be seeking to reform current standards processes or come up with a competing regime, said Andy Updegrove, a Boston- based attorney who works with standards groups. In April, IBM criticized a decision by the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization that made Microsoft's Office Open XML file format a worldwide standard. IBM in April said the XML approval will stifle innovation and hinder interoperability.

Netflix reaches pact on CBS, Disney TV shows: Netflix, the largest U.S. mail-order movie service, reached agreements with CBS and Walt Disney to add current episodes of television series including "CSI" and "Hannah Montana" to its library of shows that can be seen instantly.

"CSI: Miami" and "CSI: NY" episodes that can be watched on computers and televisions will be available this week, the Los Gatos company said Tuesday in a statement. Streaming video of "Hannah Montana," staring Miley Cyrus, will be available in November.

The agreements mean Netflix is able to show instantly about 12,000 of the more than 100,000 titles it has available. Blockbuster, Apple and Amazon.com offer competing services as the companies seek to attract customers who want the convenience of watching movies on demand.

Netflix charges monthly subscription fees for its service, many of which offer unlimited video streaming.
Genentech's cancer drug linked to risks, deaths: Genentech's cancer drug Tarceva was linked to liver failure and deaths in patients who already have damaged livers, U.S. regulators said.

Genentech and partner OSI Pharmaceuticals warned doctors to monitor patients with liver trouble in a notice posted today on the Food and Drug Administration's Web site. Tarceva's prescribing information has also been updated to include new information about liver risk.

Mercurynews.com; September 23, 2008

ComScore Buys M:Metric Inc.

ComScore Inc. said it acquired M:Metric Inc., which, through surveys and on-device meters, offers services to measure mobile-phone use, mobile Internet behavior and tracking services for mobile advertising. ComScore, a Reston, Va., Internet-use tracking company, will pay $44.3 million for M:Metrics, and the deal also involves the issuance of about 50,000 options to buy comScore common shares to certain M:Metrics unvested option holders. M:Metrics expects revenue in 2008 to be about $11 million to $12 million.