The Latest from TechCrunch |  |
- Opera/Chrome Rivalry Gets The Hitler Video Treatment
- Everything You Need To Know About The Fragmented Mobile Developer Ecosystem
- New Quick Charger For Electric Cars Is Really Quick
- Two Takes on the Mac v. PC Debate
- Distimo: 57% Of Android Apps Are Free Vs. 28% Of iPhone Apps
- Get Your Virtual Pen Out And Sign The Google Voice Desktop Petition
- My-Wardrobe Secures $9 million Series A Lead By Balderton Capital
- Get A White iPhone 4 Right Now — If You Have Money, Steady Hands, And No Fear
- The $700 Million Travel Search Deal And Google’s Shift In Strategy
- Tasting Table Is The Daily Candy For Foodies
| Opera/Chrome Rivalry Gets The Hitler Video Treatment Posted: 05 Jul 2010 08:33 AM PDT
When Opera Software last week released the final version of its Opera browser (version 10.60), it titled its press release ‘What is faster than the fastest?’. The company touts other features, like built-in geolocation and webVM support, as well but not nearly as much as it boasts about its browser’s speed. By doing so, the software maker aims to challenge claims that Google’s Chrome browser is, in fact, speedier than Opera and other popular browsers such as Firefox, Safari and IE. In the midst of the browser wars, an Opera-employed copywriter has now turned to one of the most over-used but still amusing Internet memes, and has come up with some custom subtitles for the famous Hitler outburst scene from the film ‘Der Untergang’ (via Download Squad).
Some choice – fake – quotes:
For the record, Lifehacker ran some speed tests on both the Windows and Mac platforms, and concluded that Chrome and Safari still beat Opera’s latest on the latter OS, while the latest stable version of Chrome also beat Opera 10.60 on Windows. Furthermore, DailyTech tested Opera 10.6 against the upcoming Internet Explorer 9, and while they concluded that the browser outranked it in all 3 benchmarks, the Opera browser only came out on top in one of them, with Chrome beating them in the two other ones. Ah well, as long as they all keep getting faster and we get to have some laughs from time to time, all is well in the world despite all this virtual warfare.      
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| Everything You Need To Know About The Fragmented Mobile Developer Ecosystem Posted: 05 Jul 2010 06:41 AM PDT
Considering the immense fragmentation that characterizes the mobile apps industry, it’s good to see decent research help us try and make sense of what’s going on in that particular part of the digital economy, one that is consistently growing in size and importance across the globe. Hence, I invite anyone with a vested interest in the mobile developer ecosystem to check out VisionMobile’s extensive research report (sponsored by Telefónica Developer Communities) on that very subject, because it’s easily one of the most profound I’ve read to date. Dubbed Developer Economics 2010, the free research report delves into all aspects of mobile application development, across 400+ developers from around the world, segmented into eight major platforms: iOS (iPhone), Android, Symbian, BlackBerry, Java ME, Windows Phone, Flash/Flash Lite and mobile web (WAP/XHTML/CSS/Javascript). The report, which is based on extensive research conducted by a team of three researchers, five interviewers, and eight mobile application developers between January and June 2010, provides insights into all the touchpoints of mobile app development, from platform selection to distribution and monetization. Some of the key findings: MARKET PENETRATION AND MINDSHARE- Market penetration is hands down the most important reason for selecting a mobile platform to develop for, chosen by over 75% of respondents across each and every platform. Clearly, developers care more about addressable market and monetization potential than any single technical aspect of a platform. - Based on its sample of 400 respondents, VisionMobile found that most developers work on multiple platforms: 2.8 platforms per developer on average, even. Among iPhone and Android developers, one in five releases apps in both the App Store and Android Market. - In the last two years, a mindshare migration has taken place (see details here), with mobile developers moving away from "incumbent" platforms, namely Symbian, Java ME and Windows Phone. The large minority (20-25 percent) of Symbian respondents who sell their apps via iPhone and Android app stores reveals the brain-drain that is taking place towards these newer platforms. - According to VisionMobile, the vast majority of Java ME respondents have lost faith in the “write once, run anywhere” vision. Moreover, anecdotal developer testimonials suggest that half of Windows Phone MVP developers (valued for their commitment to the platform) carry an iPhone, and would think twice before re-investing in Windows Phone. - Android stands out as the platform most popular among mobile developers. Survey results suggest nearly 60 percent of all mobile developers recently developed on Android, assuming an equal number of respondents with experience across each of eight major platforms. Second in terms of developer mindshare is iOS (iPhone), outranking Symbian and Java ME, which were in pole position in 2008. - Platform characteristics reveal a disconnect between developer mindshare and addressable market for each platform. For example, the Symbian OS is deployed in around 390 million handsets (Q2 2010), and claims over 6,000 apps, while Apple's iPhone has seen 30x more applications while being deployed at just 60 million units over the same period. - Evidently, most developers have a strong affinity towards the platform(s) they have invested time in; across all eight major mobile platforms surveyed, respondents felt that the best aspect of their platform was the large market penetration, even if the actual market penetration was relatively small.
(Click for a larger-size image)
MARKETING, SALES AND MONETIZATION- Market channels that were mainstream a couple of years back take only a small chunk of the go-to-market pie for mobile apps today. Operator portals and ondevice preloading through OEM or operator deals is the primary channel to market for fewer than five percent of mobile developers surveyed. Research findings show that developers resort to either 'native' app stores, or to direct download via their own websites – in addition to the traditional model of bespoke app development. - App stores have reduced the average time-to-shelf by two thirds: from 68 days across traditional channels, to 22 days via an application store. Moreover, app stores have reduced the average time-to-payment by more than half; from 82 days across traditional channels, to 36 days via an app store. On average, it takes 55 days to get paid via an operator channel, or a staggering 168 days when on-device pre-loading via a handset manufacturer. - There is little use or availability of app stores outside the Apple and Android platforms. Only five percent of Java and just over 10 percent of Windows Phone respondents reported using an app store as a primary distribution channel. - The key challenge reported by mobile developers is the lack of effective marketing channels to increase application exposure and discovery. Moreover, half of respondents are willing to pay for premium app store placement. - The most important challenge in app certification is its cost; more than 30 percent of respondents who certify their apps report the high cost of the certification process as the number one challenge. The economics do not work for low-cost apps, but only for megaproductions. - The gold seems over-hyped: only five percent of respondents reported very good revenues, above their expectations. Moreover, nearly 60 percent of iPhone respondents had not reached their revenue targets. - Ad-funded models are only secondary revenue sources for developers employing app store and portal-based channels, lagging behind tried and tested pay-per-download models. Subscription models, meanwhile, mainly apply where the application is distributed via an operator or content aggregator portal; they have made limited inroads into app stores. - Mobile developers view network operators as bit-pipes. Nearly 80 percent of respondents think that the role of network operators should be to deliver data access anywhere/anytime, while only 53 percent considered their role to be delivering voice calls.
TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS- The learning curve varies greatly across mobile platforms. On average, the Symbian platform takes 15 months or more to learn, while for Android the average reported time is less than six months. Moreover, Symbian is much more difficult and time consuming to program than iOS (iPhone), Android or Java ME; benchmarks show that for developing nine different typical applications, a Symbian developer needs to write almost three times more code than an Android developer, and twice as much code as an iPhone developer. - From a technical perspective, top pain points for mobile emulators and debuggers are slow speed and poor target device mirroring. Top pain points for development environments (IDEs) are the absence of an app porting framework, and poor emulator integration. - In terms of debugging, ourbenchmarking shows that Android has the fastest debugging process, compared with iPhone, Symbian and Java ME. Debugging in Symbian takes up more than twice the time it takes on Android. - Ability to build compelling UIs is still far from the reach of most mobile developers. Around 50 out of 100 Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Phone per platform respondents are annoyed with the difficulty in creating great UIs. - VisionMobile’s research indicates that the majority of developers – more than 80 percent of respondents – rely on community or unofficial forums for support during software development, while websites are used for support by only 40 percent of respondents. - Access to unpublished or 'hidden' device APIs is a control point for platform vendors, but it is also what developers seem to be willing to pay for – in fact, more so than any other type of technical support. Hence, platform vendors could benefit from tiered SDK programs, where privileged SDKs are available to developers on a subscription plan. - Operator network API programs have so far failed to appeal to developers. Only five percent of respondents thought that the role of network operators should be to expose network APIs. Yet more than half would pay for billing APIs, followed by messaging and location APIs. - On average, 86 percent of respondents who use open source at work use it within development tools such as Eclipse. Android and iPhone developers are three times more likely to lead open source communities, compared to Symbian, revealing the contrasting pedigree of the developer communities. The single key drawback to open source reported by 60 percent of respondents was the confusion created by open source licenses. The full report is available for free at DeveloperEconomics.com.
     
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| New Quick Charger For Electric Cars Is Really Quick Posted: 05 Jul 2010 06:40 AM PDT
     
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| Two Takes on the Mac v. PC Debate Posted: 05 Jul 2010 06:38 AM PDT
The Three Mac Features I Want On My Next PC The Three PC Features I Want On My Next Mac      
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| Distimo: 57% Of Android Apps Are Free Vs. 28% Of iPhone Apps Posted: 05 Jul 2010 03:46 AM PDT
App store analytics provider Distimo last week published its report for June 2010, and zoomed in on the pricing of mobile applications across a variety of platforms once more. The startup found that more than half of mobile apps are priced below or equal to $2 in Android Market, Apple’s App Store for iPhone and iPad, Nokia’s Ovi Store and Palm’s App Catalog. The exceptions to the rule: BlackBerry App World (which doesn’t allow apps priced below $2.99) and Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The latter also boasts the smallest share of free applications for all stores researched (22% to be exact), and notably, five out of the ten most popular free apps in Windows Marketplace for Mobile are actually published by Microsoft. Android Market sticks out with a 57% share of free applications, way more than what the other stores average. Most of them clearly circle around 25% free vs 75% paid, according to Distimo’s research findings. In fact, the only other app store with a share of free apps larger than 1/3 is Palm’s App Catalog. Distimo points out that while Android Market is available in some 46 countries, users in only 13 of those are able to download paid apps, while developers from only 9 countries can distribute them in Android Market (much to the dismay of developers and users around the world). (You may notice the sum of the proportion between free and paid apps for some stores exceeds 100%, which is due to apps switching pricing models during the reporting period.)
As mentioned earlier, Distimo found that more than 50% of apps get priced below or equal to $2.00 in most stores. Zooming in on the different App Store versions, Distimo’s research shows that the percentage of applications priced $0.99 ($0 – $1) is much higher in the App Store for iPhone than in the App Store for iPad. The percentage of applications priced $1.99 ($1 – $2) is similar between these two stores, while the percentage of applications priced higher than $3.00 and below or equal to $10.00 is higher in the Apple App Store for iPad than in the Apple App Store for iPhone. The average price of all paid applications and the 100 most popular paid applications in the Apple App Store for iPad ($4.65) is higher than in the Apple App Store for iPhone ($4.01). However, the average price of the 100 top grossing applications is higher on the Apple App Store for iPhone.
     
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| Get Your Virtual Pen Out And Sign The Google Voice Desktop Petition Posted: 05 Jul 2010 02:09 AM PDT
The only problem is this isn’t just about waiting until Google finishes it off and ships it. There’s a real possibility that Google will never release a Skype-like soft phone for the desktop – they clearly want to build these types of applications in the browser. But the experts we’ve spoken with, including Skype execs, say browser technology just isn’t ready to run high quality VoIP calls at scale. Even with advancements in HTML5, it’s still at least a year away, say people who know:
So when we see Google Voice exec Vincent Paquet say that their product effort is focused on a browser version feels like decisions are being made based more on internal Google politics than reality:
Google could of course just build Google Voice directly into Chrome. In January we wrote about a Google Voice Chrome extension that lets users do just about everything except make or receive a call through their computer. It wouldn’t be hard for them to add in the soft phone code as well, particularly since we’ve seen it demo’d so well already. In the meantime, though, and for everyone that may not want to switch to Chrome, we think a Google Voice Desktop application makes a lot of sense. For Google. And for Google’s users. So we wholeheartedly endorse this petition which popped up two days ago to show support for a Google Voice Desktop application. I’ve signed it, and I command you to sign it too. Right now. And then get all your friends to sign it. Because as much fun as it is for me to have an illicit copy running happily on my computer, I want to share the love. And sadly my lawyers seem quite insistent that I don’t distribute it broadly on the Internet. Sign here: GiveUsGVDesktop.com      
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| My-Wardrobe Secures $9 million Series A Lead By Balderton Capital Posted: 05 Jul 2010 01:12 AM PDT  E-commerce continues to provide a rich seam of businesses for European tech investors and this is represented today by a series A funding in an online retailer of 'affordable' designer fashion. My-wardrobe.com today announces a $9 million Series A investment round led by Balderton Capital, the first institutional investor in the company, supported by existing angel investors. Dharmash Mistry, partner at Balderton Capital, will join the board joining existing members: Nick Wheeler, CEO of Charles Tyrwhitt; Carol Duncumb, former Intimas CEO; Jean-Marc Bouhelier, executive chairman of my-wardrobe.com; and founder and CEO Sarah Curran (pictured). 
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| Get A White iPhone 4 Right Now — If You Have Money, Steady Hands, And No Fear Posted: 04 Jul 2010 03:02 PM PDT
The site WhiteiPhone4Now.com is promising to make you “one of the first in the world to own the white iPhone 4.” How? They have a DIY kit they’re selling to convert your black iPhone 4 into a white one. The $229 kit includes the following:
Now, I have no clue if this is simply a bunch of parts from the black iPhone painted white, or if this site has made their own new parts to house your iPhone in a white case. (I assume the former if they’re including a Retina display — or at least, I hope that’s the case.) Hell, I don’t know basically anything about this site. But if you’re really, really desperate to get that white iPhone first, this may be your best bet. The site includes a link to an iFixit guide for disassembling your iPhone 4 — this is how you’re going to have to build the phone around these new parts yourself. While the site promises that these are “easy to follow instructions,” the whole process involves some 30-plus steps including unscrewing a bunch of things, and using special tools for others. And that doesn’t include putting it back together. Yeah, it basically sounds like a big pain in the ass. But for an extra $54 + shipping, WhiteiPhone4Now.com claims that another site, BrokeMyiPhone.com, will do the entire process for you (you include the iPhone 4 and these white parts). The “Terms of Conditions” page on the WhiteiPhone4Now.com also notes at least one big caveat:
So obviously, this is very much try-at-your-own-risk. But if you’re desperate, this may be a way to go. Or you can just wait a few weeks and save yourself $229 and potentially one giant headache. WhiteiPhone4Now.com promises to ship the first unit July 8. They’ll be doing so on a first-come-first-serve basis. After WWDC this year, I got a chance to play with the elusive other color. It’s just like the black iPhone 4, but white!
     
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| The $700 Million Travel Search Deal And Google’s Shift In Strategy Posted: 04 Jul 2010 12:38 PM PDT
Last Thursday, Google placed a major $700 million bet on a new strategy. It announced an agreement to purchase ITA Software, a leading provider of flight information (fares, schedules, availability) to most of the key online travel sites, travel search engines, and airlines. ITA’s existing customers include Bing, Orbitz, Kayak, Expedia’s Hotwire, Continental, US Airways, American Airlines, and Southwest. Google was careful to note that it would “honor all existing agreements.” Indeed, if Google wants the deal to pass regulatory antitrust scrutiny, one requirement will very likely be a prohibition, or at least a promise on Google’s part, not to cut off ITA’s flight data to the competition. This deal is not primarily about denying other travel search sites access to this data. Rather, it signals a much more subtle and profound strategy shift for Google—towards more customized search experiences in different categories, starting with travel. In other words, it is moving in the same direction as Bing, which has built out vertical search across not only travel, but also health, shopping, local, and, most recently, entertainment. To put this deal in perspective, it is roughly the same size as the $750 million AdMob deal, which represents Google’s entry into mobile search. Drilling down into different categories of search could be just as important to Google as mobile search. For the most part, up until now Google search philosophy has been to show the best results from the Web and get people off of Google as fast as possible to other Websites. But for certain types of searches, Google could do a lot more to filter and organize results. Travel is one obvious area where Google could do more to show available flights and prices. Google wants to create a deeper vertical search experience around travel so that people can find what they are looking for more quickly. Does this mean that Google is becoming more of a destination portal? Not exactly. For a hint at what Google Travel might look like, take a peak at Bing Travel. Bing licenses ITA’s data, making it easy to search for flights by entering the cities you want to fly between. It gives you most of the data you need to make a decision (price, airline, departure and arrival times, number of stops), but then sends you to Orbitz or directly to an airline Website to make the purchase. (See screenshot below). This kind of purchase-oriented, data-driven search opens up new ways to make money for Google. In addition to running cost-per-click (CPC) search ads in the margins, it could also possibly start charging airlines or travel sites on a cost-per-action basis, where it gets a higher fee for every reservation made. Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth thinks this is exactly what will happen. In a research note on Friday, he wrote:
Such CPA ads are generally higher margin than classic CPC ads. But Anmuth notes that Google has so far stayed away from vertical search because it didn’t want to alienate certain advertisers who use Google to drive traffic to their sites. But Google is feeling pressure as “core search growth slows” and may now be more open to picking off specific vertical search categories such as mortgages, credit cards, insurance, and healthcare. If Google does start to go after vertical search in the same way that Bing does already, search results will look a lot less uniform than they do today. Those much-maligned “ten blue links” just don’t cut it anymore. Photo credit: Flickr/Luis Argerich
     
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| Tasting Table Is The Daily Candy For Foodies Posted: 04 Jul 2010 12:33 PM PDT
Launched in October 2008, Tasting Table provides free daily emails with local recommendations of dining, wine, cocktails, cooking or food travel. Currently, Tasting Table has editions for New York, LA, San Francisco, Washington DC and Chicago. Emails are sent out right before lunch in each city, says CEO Geoff Bartakovics, as to appeal to users when they are hungry and thinking about food options. In 20 months of operation, the site has 300,000 subscribers and according to Pittman, is the fastest growing email publication he has backed given Tasting Table’s age. And Tasting Table has other verticals besides local editions. Bartakovics says the National Edition (food and and drink recommendations you can enjoy anywhere in the country) and a Chefs’ Recipes editions (unpublished recipes from top chefs, which Tasting Table staff modifies for the home cook) are growing fast. In terms of the business model, Tasting Table’s revenue is mainly based around advertisers who buy ad space around its editorial content. Advertisers include, LVMH, American Express, Le Creuset and Heineken. In year one, Tasting Table’s revenue was just under $1 million and the startup was profitable. This year Bartakovics says Tasting Table is on track to earn $3 to $4 million in revenue. Of course, for any food oriented review site, a knowledgeable staff is crucial to establish credibility. Of the 17 time full time employees, six of the staff have degrees from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan and many hail from mainstream foodie media publications such as Food and Wine. Bartakovics says that what separates Tasting Table from its competitors, like Urban Daddy and local food blogs, is that its writers try the establishment, whether it be a bar or a restaurant, several times, and then sends along recommendations based on their experiences. Every recommendation on the newsletter, says Bartakovics has been tested by a staff writer. While consider myself a fledgling foodie and am already a fan of Tasting Table after only receiving the emails for a few days, I reached out to the most serious foodies I know, the folks over at WinedAndDined, a rapidly growing local New York food blog started by two lawyers, Jill and Andy Freedman. Wined and Dined concurs that the newsletter’s restaurant and bar offers and content makes it a must-read for any epicurian. For example, Tasting Table recently partnered with Wines of Rioja to promote the Wines of Rioja Restaurant Week featuring special menus and deals at restaurants in New York City. And Tasting Table’s content has even caught the attention of startups for partnerships. For example, popular location-based mobile social network Loopt integrates Tasting Table-approved restaurants and bars and reviews within Loopt Pulse on Loopt's mobile app, joining content from Zagat and Citysearch. As traditional food publications like Gourmet Magazine shutter, there is an opportunity for startups to provide quality food content with the feel of immensely popular review sites like Yelp and Citysearch. Of course, the challenge is in scaling this to cities across the country and even outside of the U.S. But it seems that Tasting Table is on track to perhaps turning into a Yelp for foodies.
     
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