Are middlemen a luxury, or necessity?
Joe Hewitt is the Facebook employee responsible for the super-popular Facebook iPhone app. But thanks to Apple, he's decided to move on.
On Twitter, he announced that he "handed the Facebook iPhone app off to another engineer". Soon after, he revealed the reason why: the tyranny of Apple.
There's a lawyer for that: AT&T sues Verizon over new commercials
Telecom giant AT&T may be more than happy to partner with Apple, who makes fun of its top competitor daily with the now infamous Mac vs. PC ads, but the company is a little thin skinned when it comes to getting mentioned in its competitor's ads.
Today AT&T sued Verizon over the company's "There's a map for that" Droid ads. AT&T is asking for unspecified damages and a temporary restraining order to keep Verizon from running the ads, which say that AT&T customers are "out of touch" in places that do not have 3G capabilities.
Unfortunately for AT&T, the allegations aren't off base.
Be afraid cable companies: Apple is at work on an iTunes version of TV Everywhere
For those of you following the saga of authentication, rumors from Apple today may bring a refreshing new twist to the effort to bring cable television content online.
According to sources who spoke to AllThingsD, Apple is trying to talk the networks into streaming their content in the iTunes store and charging users $30 a month. The monthly subscription service would not be tied to any hardware like Apple TV, but deliver televiswion programs through iTunes' multimedia software. The news should shake the cable companies in their boots a little.
Google's iPhone Killer doesn't need to kill anyone to succeed
In the war against the Jesus phone, Motorola has a new contender. The cellphone provider has manufactured the latest Google phone, set to hit Verizon stores next week. Droid ads take on AT&T's iPhone directly, explaining functionality the iPhone does not have and what Droid does right, making it look like Verizon's trying to make a big play for the iPhone's business.
But Droid doesn't have to knock the iPhone off its popularity pedestal to pay off for Verizon, Motorola or Google. It just has to do better than the rest of the competition.
Windows 7 launch parties doubled Microsoft's expectations. But were they a good idea?
The idea that consumers would be excited about — let alone throw a party for — the launch of a new Microsoft operating system may be laughable to some (Engadget, Gizmodo, CNBC, AllThingsD, etc), but a day after Windows 7 launched, it looks like the campaign beat Microsoft's expectations.
Microsoft says that double the number of sponsored parties they expected were thrown. The question remains: Was the party idea and video embarrassing or genius?
Adobe looks to extend Flash dominance to the mobile
When it comes to the desktop, Flash Player is one of the more dominant plugins. Adobe claims it's "the world's most pervasive software platform...reaching 99.0% of Internet-enabled desktops". There's just one problem: internet-enabled mobiles are where much of the internet's future growth is usage is expected to come from.
But Adobe is trying to make sure that Flash Player is as dominant on the mobile as it is on the desktop and is making lots of announcements about its Open Screen Project at the Adobe developer conference in Los Angeles today.
Embracing the 'app store' model
Apple's success with the App Store is no secret. 50m+ iPhone and iPod Touch customers have downloaded apps more than 2bn times. More than 85,000 apps and 125,000 app developers compete for a piece of the action.
So it's no surprise that more and more companies are trying to find ways to replicate the 'app store' model in some fashion. From Twitter to Intel, the model is being embraced.
How can you get your iPhone app featured by Apple?
The number of apps in the App Store now exceeds 80,000, and though it's safe to assume that there is a fair amount of dross there, it is still a daunting task to get your app noticed by users, however good it is.
This makes an appearance in one of the App Store's featured apps lists, or even better in a print or TV ad for the iPhone, all the more valuable. There is no guaranteed way to achieve this, but what can app developers do to maximise their chances?
Google Sidewiki: Brands under attack
Internet users have started to use Google's new Sidewiki feature to abuse brands on their own websites:
- Microsoft is described as "useless" and "crap" on Microsoft.com
- Apple is slammed at apple.com for lying and shipping products with "severe bugs"
- The Daily Mail's home page is labelled as "sad toss"
Apple starts marketing paid apps
Today's big announcement from Apple had to do with the new iPod's video capabilities, but the company has also made a small tweak that could be incredibly useful to those trying to earn revenue from iPhone apps. Apple is launching a new section in the iTunes store that highlights paid apps.
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Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
