Google+Facebook+iPhone: 08/12/11

Friday, 12 August 2011

Facebook Adds Targeting By Zip Codes To Advertisements

Up til now, Facebook Ads could be targeted by Country, State/Province and by City. Yesterday Facebook added an additional targeting type, by zip code:

This is a big deal for Facebook marketing, as it is now much more attractive for local businesses. Local business owners can now target the exact zip codes where they draw from, and can stop wasting clicks on areas in the city that are far away from their physical presence. This is currently only active in the U.S.

In AdWords user can append a radius around the zip code where ads should be shown to give users more proximity options. This is simply not feasible with the new Facebook targeting option. This means that local marketers should ensure that every single zip they draw from is included in this targeting feature.

Facebook: How young is too young?

Facebook rules say no one under age 13 should use the popular social networking site. That doesn’t stop preteens from using it.

That’s what Matt Schwartz, principal at the Adrian Middle School in Michigan, says.

“I would say it’s maybe 30 to 40 percent of our kids that are signed up on Facebook,” Schwartz said. “I know our kids are not 13 years or older, but somehow they’re doing it.”

Schwartz and other area educators say that’s not a good idea. So how young is too young for Facebook and other online networking sites?

“I think that’s really up to the parents,” said Nate Pechaitis, upper elementary school principal of Madison (Mich.) Elementary School. “I see more problems happening with it at the middle and high school levels. Honestly, I would prefer you have to be 18 to use it.”

Pechaitis said he hears of students who begin to use Facebook in fourth or fifth grades.

“I tell parents I believe they have to be 13 to sign up for Facebook, and there’s a reason for that,” he said. “Students generally aren’t mature enough to use it at such a young age. A lot of parent’s response is that ‘We use it to keep in touch with family.’ And my response is they should share a site and not give their kids their own Facebook page.”

There are two big dangers for young people using Facebook: predators who are trying to meet children and ugly online bullying or gossip that can be hurtful to teens and preteens.

Pechaitis said media reports about online predators are common knowledge. Children often don’t understand the dangers.

“They just get on and they don’t understand the privacy settings,” he said. “They just don’t realize they’re putting themselves out there, especially when they’re posting pictures, for the whole world to see.”

John Birdwell, school resource officer for the Adrian Police Department, said teens and parents need to be aware of the possibility of predators.

Read more at http://www.lenconnect.com/mysource/entertainment/kids/x181944422/Facebook-How-young-is-too-young

You won't believe what Fruit Ninja Frenzy on Facebook looks like

Unless, that is, you are able to believe the premise that it looks exactly like Fruit Ninja. In that case, it's actually pretty believable. What a relief that Halfbrick stuck to the formula of cutting fruit with a sword, instead of going into some kind of Facebook-style fruit dojo management sim.

MTV Multiplayer got exclusive video footage and details of Fruit Ninja Frenzy, the Facebook-bound version of Halfbrick's absurdly popular fruit-slicing game, which you can see after the break. Frenzy is essentially Fruit Ninja's 60-second "arcade mode" with the addition of power-up "smoothies." You can choose one at the start of each round, from a list including "Extra Time" which gives you 7 additional seconds, "Spirit Bombs" which neutralizes bombs, and "Mega Freeze" which doubles the number of fruits that appear after a "Freeze" banana.

Optionally, you can increase the number of "smoothie" slots per round with microtransactions, because Facebook.

Facebook officials announced intentions this week to work with police to keep prisoners off the social networking site. (Shutterstock)

Facebook officials announced intentions this week to work with police to keep prisoners off the social networking site.

The California Department of Corrections approached the social media giant after fielding hundreds of complaints from victims who were contacted by prison inmates, according to the International Business Times. Inmates, who are not allowed Internet access, have been using Facebook to deliver threats, make sexual advances and orchestrate crimes.

"Access to social media allows inmates to circumvent our monitoring process and continue to engage in criminal activity," CDCR Secretary Matthew Cate said in a statement. "This new cooperation between law enforcement and Facebook will help protect the community and potentially avoid future victims."

Prisons across the country have been experiencing similar trouble since smartphones hit the market, the New York Times reported. With the Internet access smartphones provide, it's easy for inmates to call up phone directories, maps and photographs for criminal purposes.

In California, a convicted child molester used Facebook to look at photos of his now-17-year-old victim, drew pictures of her and mailed them to her house, according to CBS News. The inmate had not seen the victim for 10 years but accurately drew the girl's current hairstyle and clothing. In Oklahoma, a convicted killer used the website to post photos of drugs, knives and alcohol he'd smuggled into his cell. In Maryland, imprisoned gang members used smartphones to approve targets for robberies.

"The smartphone is the most lethal weapon you can get inside a prison," Terry L. Bittner, director of security products with ITT Corp., which makes cellphone-detection systems for prisons, told the New York Times. "The smartphone is the equivalent of the old Swiss Army knife. You can do a lot of other things with it."

Read more at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700170305/Facebook-deletes-prisoner-pages-where-inmates-conduct-criminal-activity.html

Google+ Games: Google just started a price war with Facebook

Google added games to its Google+ social network yesterday, and then Facebook updated its gaming platform with a new Game Ticker, full screen support, and the ability to favorite gameslater the same day. Google+ has only 16 games right now, made by 10 game developers, while Facebook has developers from more than 190 countries building apps and games on its platform. That’s not where the ultimate comparison should be though. You see, Google has just started a social games price war with Facebook.

Wait Emil, what do you mean? Social games on Facebook and Google+ are free! Well, that’s true, at least for most games. There is one huge aspect of online games that many often forget about: in-game transactions. Virtual items are not going to necessarily cost less for you on Google+, but they will for the developer. Google knows it needs to win over developers to get games on its new social network, and it’s starting by significantly undercutting Facebook on the commission price.

Facebook charges a 30 percent commission on any transactions that use its Facebook Credits virtual currency, which is now required in all games on the company’s platform. Google has decided to start off with a 5 percent commission for Google+ Games.

Sure, Google+’s 5 percent commission is just promotional, or at least, that’s what Google+ games product manager Punit Soni told VentureBeat. Soni claims Google doesn’t yet know when the promotion will end or what the company will charge developers on a regular basis, but I’m willing to bet that Google will keep its price significantly under the 30 percent mark.

The 30 percent number may seem high, but it’s actually a standard in the industry. Both Apple and Google take 30 percent of the revenue app developers make on the companies’ respective mobile app stores.

This social games price war is nothing new for Google: when the company launches a new platform, it often makes a point to undercut its competitor. After all, Mountain View gives Android away for free. The search giant makes enough money from Google AdSense (97 percent of its revenue comes from ads) that it doesn’t necessarily need to make sure that many of its products, be it Android or Google+, are profitable by themselves.

Yahoo redesigns image search, adds a dedicated Facebook tab

Yahoo today unveiled a brand new design for its image search results page. As part of the update, Yahoo has split up the page into three new category tabs: Latest, Galleries, and Facebook.

The Latest tab automatically appears for image search results of trending topics (events, celebrities, and news), while the Galleries tab appears for image search results that include photo galleries (Yahoo News, Flickr, and OMG). The Facebook tab is where it gets interesting, at least to me.

For the Facebook tab to appear, two things need to happen. First, you need to connect your Facebook account with Yahoo image search. Second, your search results must include matches from your Facebook friends’ names, photo album names, or album descriptions.

Facebook photos have actually existed in Yahoo’s image search since last year. The new part is simply the dedicated tab that can appear if the above conditions are met. It won’t happen often, but when it does, Facebook will definitely benefit from being featured so prominently.

I don’t ever expect to see Google partner with Facebook, especially given their ongoing war, but that being said, I’m still getting used to Yahoo’s recent enthusiasm for Facebook. After all, less than a year ago (in October 2010), Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz called Facebook creepy and said it could be the company’s biggest competitor one day.

Yahoo has slowly been warming up to Facebook in the last year so, but putting the social network front and center in its image search is still unexpected. I wonder if Microsoft has helped Yahoo start to appreciate Facebook more. We know that Microsoft is a big investor in Facebook, and the software giant is also closer to Yahoo now that Bing is powering Yahoo’s search.

After Frontierville, Zynga Channels The Wild West Again For Facebook Game The Pioneer Trail

In a first for the social gaming giant, Zynga is actually launching an spinoff of one of its hit Facebook games, Frontierville. Today, the company is announcing the debut of The Pioneer Trail (which will go live today), a brand new Facebook game where players outfit wagons and travel across three distinct maps – Beaver Valley, High Plains and Avalanche Pass – all while trying to reach a single destination—Fort Courage.

As with most Zynga games, the social game mechanics are similar but with different themes and storylines. For The Pioneer Trail, the story revolves around a young boy who has been kidnapped, named Ezekiel, by the notorious Gratchett Gang and as a player, you are on a quest to complete the trail and rescue Ezekiel from Fort Courage. The plot is a bigger part of this game than any others, and The Pioneer Trail places a pretty big emphasis the story-based gameplay. The story unfolds gradually as players come across new clues.

You basically start the game by building a cabin, but instead of centralizing the whole game around this action, it only takes around five minutes to put together your homestead in the game. After your build your cabin, you load up your conestoga, staff your crew (with the hunter, doctor and carpenter) and start your way down the trail.

As you make your way down the trail you complete missions, and earn points. There are many unique aspects to The Pioneer Trail, but one of the most interesting features is a social matchmaking feature. For the first time in a game, players can opt in to be matched with other players who they may not be friends with. Based on characteristics of existing groups, players can opt in for The Pioneer Trail to match them with players outside of their core group of Facebook friends. This feature won’t be live at launch, but should be available soon after.

Zynga is also changing things up in terms of the social mechanics. Instead of accumulating as many friends as possible throughout the life of the game, players can actually select an small group of three friends to help them along the trail. It becomes a strategy games because players whose friends are more active will progress faster throughout the game.

Facebook Phone Numbers: Rumor Spreads on Users' Contacts

Facebook has been forced to fight a rumor currently circulating on -- where else? -- Facebook.

It has to do with your phone numbers. If you have a Facebook page, and you find your way to your "Phonebook Contacts," you'll find a list of friends, along with their phone numbers.

It looks harmless enough, except that you didn't put them there. Either your friends posted their numbers on their own pages -- or you added them by accessing Facebook from your smartphone. Did you know you did that?

The feature is not new, but messages about it have spread at Internet warp speed among Facebook users this week. Despite the company's denials, thousands of users have come to believe, in just the last few days, that their phone numbers are right out there in public, for all the world to see.

"I never included my personal phone number on my account," said one fairly typical message. "However, I found that phone numbers from my phone were uploaded to my FB account. I did not ask for this and hope I fixed it on my phone."

"I didn't know this was happening until today," wrote another user. "There are numbers there from my phone that shouldnt be."

Facebook Chat reverses changes made to online friends list

A screenshot of the announcement by Facebook regarding the latest change to the chat system.

Facebook announced yet another change to its chat system that will once again let users see all of their online friends -- a reversal from changes made to Facebook chat last month that only displayed those a user messaged most.

Facebook announced the change in a "status message" on its company profile page, citing "a lot of feedback that people missed seeing all of their online friends" as the reason.

"Today, we made a change so that Chat now shows the friends who you message the most, as well as the rest of your friends who are currently online," the status message read.

While many of the people who commented welcomed the change, just as many called for the chat system to be taken further back.

"If it aint broke, dont fix it," said one user in a comment.

The change comes two days after the social-networking giant announced the release of a new app for Apple's iOS (which runs on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) and Google's Android called Facebook Messenger. The app lets users send Facebook chat messages to Facebook friends, as well as to people in their smartphone's contact books as text messages.

iPhone Still Biggest Advertising Target

Despite major shifts in the smartphone market since 2009,the iPhone has managed to hold strong as the single biggest target for mobile advertising, according to quarterly studies from Millennial Media, the latest of which is being released today.

While Apple has stayed in the top spot, the studies show that the rest of the mobile market has been far from steady—and that smartphones have successfully taken over. While Millennial’s 2009 top 20 list, which ranks devices based on the number of ad impressions delivered to each, was mostly made up of feature phones, the latest list is comprised entirely of smartphones.experienced the most growth among operating systems. More thantwo-thirds of top advertising targets are Android phones, whereasthere was only one Android model on the 2009 list—the T-MobileG1. More unexpectedly, in light of Research in Motion’s recenttroubles, the company’s BlackBerry Curve is still the second biggestdeliverer of ad impressions, right behind the iPhone.

Not surprisingly, says AllThingsD, Google’s Android has experienced the most growth among operating systems. More thantwo-thirds of top advertising targets are Android phones, whereasthere was only one Android model on the 2009 list—the T-MobileG1. More unexpectedly, in light of Research in Motion’s recenttroubles, the company’s BlackBerry Curve is still the second biggestdeliverer of ad impressions, right behind the iPhone.

As for manufacturers, Apple has shown strong growth, now making up more than 30 percent of all ad impressions, up from just 11 percent in 2009. Samsung, which was the top ranked manufacturer in 2009 with 21.6 percent of ad impressions, fell to second place behind Apple with nearly 15 percent. The No. 3 spot is held by RIM at just under 12 percent of ads. In 2009, it was ranked fifth with about 10 percent.

iPhone 5 rumor roundup: Everything we know, or don’t know, so far

The iPhone 5 is coming. Maybe it’ll land in September, maybe October, maybe some time after that, but sooner or later Apple is going to release a sequel to the wildly successful iPhone 4. That successor might have a larger screen, NFC, a slimmer design, or any number of other features… if the rumors are to be believed. Before every launch we hear all sorts of rumors/leaks and some of them inevitably end up being true, so while we take everything we hear with a healthy dose of skepticism, it’s still worthing pay attention.

With that in mind, and anticipation of the iPhone 5 building, let’s review the rumors we’ve heard over the past months.

New Design vs. Old design

Though most tech pundits believe the iPhone 5 will feature an updated design, there are still some who believe the phone will keep the same body as the iPhone 4. Prior to each iPhone launch, we’ve seen a slew of third-party case leaks showing the new, revolutionary design. Either Apple has done an exceptional job at making sure the third-party case manufacturers don’t spill the beans, or the phone will actually keep the same design as the current model.

New Design: Tapered, bezel-free, metal back, and/or curved back

Suppose the iPhone 5 does have a new design–what will it feature? Some reports say that the iPhone will revert back to the a design similar to that of the iPhone 3G with a curved, ergonomic back that would eliminate the Death Grip that plagued the iPhone 4.

Other rumors suggest that the iPhone 5 will feature a tapered design, where the bottom would be thinner than the top part of the phone, angling the device when sits on a flat surface. This would be good for watching video, cut down on size, and give it an ID that matches the acclaimed MacBook Air.

The phone may have a metallic back, and not a black or white glass one like the iPhone 4. That noted, we ‘ve read rumors that Apple had also bought 300 glass cutting machines which suggests a curved glass panel for the iPhone 5.

Will Apple Play Hardball with HTC in Patent Battle?

Patent battles are hard to price. As Samsung faces its second patent setback in a week after a German court ruled to block its “Galaxy Tab” tablet computer from being sold in parts of Europe, investors in upstart Taiwanese smart-phone maker HTC will surely be feeling a bit anxious about the company’s patent litigation battle with Apple as the two jockey for market share in the U.S.The legal back and forth has thickened in the month of July with several preliminary rulings and fresh complaints against HTC from Apple. For its part, HTC has repeatedly stated that the current litigation will have minimal impact on its business operations. But investors have been less sure and HTC shares have fallen 24.2% since July 4th. While there has been some bargain hunting for HTC shares below NT$900 (it closed at NT$800 on Friday), investors look unlikely to grow comfortable with the risks associated with unpredictable and complicated patent litigation anytime soon, and analysts say the uncertainty will likely cap the upside of share prices for at least the coming months.

For now, the trouble in assessing litigation risks stems from an inability to determine how punitive Apple will actually be if it wins a final ruling, expected to be made by the U.S. International Trade Commission in December, that HTC infringed on two of its patents having to do with the recognition and storage of email addresses and phone numbers.

HTC lost a preliminary ruling on those patents on July 15.
Quite a few analysts believe Apple and HTC might come to a cross-licensing agreement that will cost HTC a fixed sum per handset. HTC has most likely already made provisions for such a settlement, these analysts say, and it would be unlikely to do excessive long-term damage to the company.

Is this what the iPhone 5 looks like? MacRumors says yes

Hello, gorgeous! If some leaked case specs are to be believed, the iPhone 5 might look very much like this.

These mockups suggest an iPhone 5 design that's closer (at the rear, anyway) to the iPhone 3G.

If the latest rumors are true, we'll find out September 7 what the iPhone 5 looks like. That's when Apple will purportedly hold a media event to unveil whatever it's been hatching all summer.

In the meantime, MacRumors has cooked up some decidedly sexy mockups of the iPhone 5. (Click either photo for a larger version.) But these images aren't based on wishful thinking; Chinese case manufacturers have already started producing iPhone 5 cases based on some design specs that were leaked last month.

Consequently, MacRumors commissioned CiccareseDesign to "create high-quality renderings made as closely as possible to the original leaked case designs. Measurements were taken against the original case design leaks, and then imported into 3D modeling software."

In other words, if those specs were the real deal, then the iPhone 5 may look very much like what you're seeing here. (That said, I'm not holding my breath for white versions right out of the starting gate.)

Read more at http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20091660-233/is-this-what-the-iphone-5-looks-like-macrumors-says-yes/#ixzz1UqfYXg5J

We may want Mario on the iPhone, but Nintendo won't slit own throat

Nintendo's investors are urging the company to bring its iconic game characters, like Mario, Luigi, Zelda, and Donkey Kong, to Apple's iPhone and iPad. The call to make games for Apple's hit mobile devices, which have fueled success for companies like PopCap and Rovio, comes after lackluster sales of Nintendo's latest 3DS handheld have driven prices of the company's stock to a 6-year low.

But despite the allure of selling millions of copies of a touchscreen-enabled Super Mario title to some 200 million iOS users, who on average play 14.7 hours of games per month, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will have none of it.

What investors want

Gaming on mobile phones is big business; it's the largest growth segment in gaming right now, and even big developers like EA and id have targeted Apple's iOS platform with top titles.

And why not? Nearly all the top-selling apps in the App Store are games, and mobile game companies are raking in millions. Rovio's Angry Birds HD for the iPad won the 2011 Casual Game of the Year award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, but perhaps more telling is that it was also nominated for Game of the Year and Outstanding Innovation in Gaming. As noted by MacRumors, bigger developers have been snapping up successful iOS developers for millions, and EA recently paid $1 billion to buy Plants vs Zombiesand Bejeweled developer PopCap.

Meanwhile, sales of Nintendo's aging Wii have begun to dip, and the company recently announced that it was slashing prices of its new 3DS handheld after admitting that sales of the new device were far lower than expected. Nintendo chief Iwata even agreed to a 50 percent pay cut, with members of Nintendo's board accepting 20-30 percent pay cuts, all in the name of helping to return the company to profitability after posting a $331 million loss for the second quarter of this year. The company also revised its sales forecast down for the fiscal year.

The bad news prompted sell-offs of Nintendo stock, with the price plummeting 21 points to hit its lowest level since August 2005. Meanwhile, investors are looking at Apple's 200 million installed base, which appears to be rapidly growing, and thinking, "Make games for the iPhone."

Report: Apple iPod, iPhone Event Scheduled for September 7

A Japanese website reports that Apple has a media event planned for Wednesday, September 7th to announce the company's new line of iPods. It also claims the iPhone 5 will ship in September or early October.

It's not clear if the new iPhone will be revealed the same time as the new iPods, according to the report, or at a separate event a few weeks later. Other conflicting rumors put the phone launch in either September or October.

The site, Kodawarsian, has accurately reported Apple rumors in past years, but I've been unable to confirm this one. The date does fall in line with Apple's pattern of releasing new iPods in the first part of September. This cycle has been a little different for Apple, however.

Normally it announces a new iPhone at its WWDC conference in June, but that didn't happen this year, further fueling the speculation of an early fall iPhone release. It would make sense to do the iPhone and iPod announcement at the same time, but it's tough to know what the logic is coming out of Cupertino is these days.

Business apps on the iPhone: Dos and don'ts

A retail manufacturer wanted to replace a 3-ring, 4-inch thick binder carried by field sales reps with an iPhone app, recalls Quinton Alsbury, co-founder of Mellmo, maker of mobile BI app Roambi. But the manufacturer fell into a common trap: Creating a monster app that is virtually impossible for users to navigate on the iPhone's 3.5-inch touchscreen.

This is just one of many pitfalls facing CIOs who want to bring business analytics and field tools to their iPhone-toting workforce.

An iPhone app that delivers a terrible user experience can spell trouble for the CIO. "The user adoption threshold is very, very thin," Alsbury says. "If it takes too long for something to happen, you'll just put the phone back in your pocket."

Business apps on the iPhone offer a stark contrast in styles, pitting a techie's love of features and functions against a business user's expectations of simplicity and speed. Here are a few dos and don'ts to help CIOs navigate these tricky waters.

Don't replicate the laptop: Too many CIOs try to replicate data and features displayed on a laptop to the iPhone. This is a sure path to failure. Just look at the highly panned user experience of the Citrix Receiver app, which basically tries to deliver a virtual desktop on the iPhone. Constantly pinching and expanding text on a phone screen and inputting data using a tiny virtual keyboard sans a mouse will turn off even the most amorous gadget lover.

Do embrace mobility: The problem with replication is that it assumes users will use the iPhone in a similar way to the laptop. But the use cases are vastly different.

Consider these three scenarios: A salesperson might be at her desk with a BI (business intelligence) dashboard open on her computer, watching data change in real-time all day. On her way to a client, she might stop off at a coffee shop, fire up her laptop, open a big spreadsheet and analyze it. While in the elevator heading up to see her client, she might whip out her iPhone to find a quick answer to something.

For CIOs, this means trying to predict where mobile users might be using the app and what kind of answers they'll be looking for. There might not be a lot of time for the user to navigate and drill down into the data. There might not be Internet connectivity. Either way, the app needs to deliver answers with lightning speed.

Is a Sprint iPhone 5 on the way?

Sprint iPhone 5 rumors just arrived. Which makes sense: Judging from recent reports, the new Apple iPhone should hit shelves in September. That's a good deal later than in past years, and the longer Apple waits, the more rumors bubble to the surface. The blog driving the most recent round of talk is TFTS, which claims a Sprint iPhone is on the way, according to a conversation with a customer relations specialist over at Sprint.

Not exactly rock-hard evidence, of course.

Still, it's worth noting that Piper Jaffray analyst Chris Larsen predicted something similar back in July. "While we remain uncertain regarding the next-generation iPhone's specs and features, we believe the most noteworthy change could be the device's ability to run on more networks, specifically Sprint and T-Mobile in the U.S," Larsen said.

Plus, everyone knows that two independent rumors make an Internet truth. No, we're just kidding.

A Sprint iPhone 5, of course, would certainly be good news for Sprint, which has been knocked around on Wall Street recently. Consider this: In the second quarter of this year alone, Verizon has activated 2.3 million iPhones, shy of the 3.6 million activated byAT&T, but a solid number nonetheless.

New iPhone Cases Raise the Bar on Severe Drop Protection

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 12, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Inventive Metals today announced a line of iPhone cases constructed from solid aluminum. The durable cases are available in six different powder-coated finishes with styles ranging from elegant to wild and are designed to protect the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3G/GS models.

While inside the case, the iPhone is completely functional with access provided to the screen, all buttons, speaker, microphone, and headphone jack. Most importantly, the cases do not interfere with cell phone reception.

"Aluminum cases provide the iPhone with a great deal of drop protection; however, enclosing a phone in metal is a challenging endeavor," says Inventive Metals' product manager Ron Benditt.

"Most of our competitors who have tried this really haven't put enough engineering into the signal-loss problem. We've studied this extensively and have tested and refined many prototypes before we were satisfied that our cases would out-perform our competitors and provide a good user-experience to our customers. Our iPhone cases are unmatched in terms of durability and signal strength."

Read more at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/12/3833175/new-iphone-cases-raise-the-bar.html#ixzz1UqbsfaHb

Should Nintendo get Mario an iPhone?

After several years of flying high with its Wii and DS gaming systems, Nintendo now finds itself struggling. The Wii is running out of steam and its replacement, the Wii U, won't be out until next year (and it remains to be seen if it will see the same kind of success the original Wii had). And of course, Nintendo just slashed the cost of its new 3D handheld, the 3DS, from $250 to $170 after the machine failed to resonate with gamers.

Investors are (unsurprisingly) not pleased, according to a post at Bloomberg, and they're calling for the company to follow that age old advice: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

The "'em" in this case is Apple. The argument goes that no one is buying the 3DS because everyone now plays handheld games on their iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads, and analysts and fund managers are calling for Nintendo to drop its policy of only creating games for its own handhelds and get some product on the App Store.

Thus far Nintendo seems to be holding firm, with President Satoru Iwata saying the policy won't change as long as he is in charge. Nintendo seems to think the price cut and some high-profile titles coming out this holiday season will be enough to re-energize the 3DS market and turn things around.

I'm a gamer, not an analyst, but it seems pretty clear that both sides of this discussion have merit. The 3DS has a very disappointing software library and more and better games should help (and gamers always love price cuts). Porting current generation handheld games to the Apple platform means leaving 3D behind; arguably the 3DS's biggest hook. Even if they could 'flatten' the games, doing so would be sending the message to gamers that they don't need a 3DS; they can play the same games on their iPhone. The same argument applies to new content created specifically for smartphones; I really do think it would be a mistake for Nintendo to show gamers that they can get fresh content on iOS (assuming Nintendo wants to stay in the hardware business).

But Nintendo has a huge backlog of games to draw on, and we've seen companies like Square Enix do very well bringing older titles to the iOS platform. Older gamers who're now carrying smart phones have nostalgic ties to the games they enjoyed when they were younger, and the instant gratification of tapping a button and having the game means (I suspect) a lot more copies of these games get sold than are actually played. But sales are just what Nintendo needs, eh?

Though I'm less sure of the argument, it's also possible this could work in the other direction. Smartphone users who play and enjoy an older game in a franchise on their iPhone might be more apt to want to play the latest iteration of the franchise on a shiny new 3DS.

Apple Launching 'iCloud iPhone' Along With iPhone 5?

The rumor about Apple launching a Cheaper version of iPhone, which was bandied out early this year, is getting stronger. The latest rumors suggest that Apple will launch a "low-cost" iCloud iPhone soon.

Trevor Sheridan wrote in Apple'N'Apps that the scenario of Apple launching a cheaper iPhone looked plausible enough. His sources told him the new version, likely to be unveiled along with the iPhone 5, would be free with a two-year contract.

The report said Apple could cut prices by slashing the on board Flash memory. A breakdown of supply costs of iPhone parts shows that the storage accounts for 15 percent of the total cost to build an iPhone. Reducing 15 percent of the cost across millions of units is a substantial savings, it points out.
"The iCloud model will be for users who will want to use the iCloud heavily for storage, and keep a lot less on the iPhone itself. This will also help Apple make iCloud a feature by itself and reason to use the entire Apple ecosystem," says the report.

Analysis: Apple going after Google in tablet spats?

An Apple store employee gives a class on how to use the new iPad 2 during the China launch at an Apple Store in central Beijing May 6, 2011. REUTERS/David Gray

(Reuters) - Apple Inc's increasingly effective patent war against rivals like Samsung Electronics may mask its real target: arch-foe Google Inc.

The maker of the iPad and iPhone has sued three of the largest manufacturers of Google's Android-based devices -- Samsung, Motorola and HTC -- for multiple patent infringements across multiple countries, pointing out "slavish copying" of design and "look and feel."

And the courts are beginning to listen: recent success in blocking sales of Samsung's latest Galaxy tablet in most of Europe and Apple's challenges to the Korean giant in Australia reflect an aggressive effort to defend its top position in the red-hot mobile market from the runaway success of Android.

While the lawsuits don't take direct aim at the operating software -- yet -- many of the features under contention are connected to and enhanced by it. Apple CEO Steve Jobs once referred to the software as being the soul of any device when he introduced the company's iOS 5 system in June.

Brian Marshall, an analyst with Gleacher & Co, said Apple is starting to flex its patent muscle with some early success but its real battle is with the Android software. "Apple doesn't really care too much about the actual OEMs."

Apple's lead is now under siege in smartphones from Google's free Android software, already the world's most-used mobile system with 550,000 devices activated every day.

Its momentum could be hampered by successful patent infringement lawsuits against adopters like Samsung.

"The way Google gets sucked into it is through the marketplace," Ron Laurie, managing director and patent consultant at Inflexion Point Strategy, said.

Any injunction won by Apple, if enforced, could mean that Android may be forced to take out the offending feature from its software design. "That would make it less attractive and people would go elsewhere," Laurie said.

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has said rivals are responding to Android's success with lawsuits "as they cannot respond through innovations."

HIGH STAKES

At stake is a booming one-year-old market that analysts are already predicting will eclipse the decades-old PC market in a matter of years, a market that Apple fears Google's software could eventually dominate the way it now leads the smartphone arena.

The tablet market is expected to grow from under 20 million tablets last year to over 230 million in 2015.

While Apple is still the leader by far in the tablet market, research firm Informa expects tablets running Android to catch up with Apple's iPad and surpass it in 2016.

Samsung, experts say, has the best chance of attacking the iPad's commanding hold on the market. Apple's 75 percent share is expected to fall to 39 percent in 2015, when Android's will grow to 38 percent, according to Informa.

Google Unleashes Native Client Into Chrome, Next-Gen Web Apps To Follow?

For well over a year now, Google has been hyping up something called Native Client. It’s an open source technology that allows a web browser to run compiled native code. In other words, it’s a potential missing link between native apps and web apps. And now it’s finally getting baked into Chrome.

As Google notes on their Chrome Blog blog today, the latest beta version of Chrome (version 14) has Native Client built-in. Their implementation allows for C and C++ code to be executed inside of the browser while maintaining the security that a web technology like JavaScript offers.

Writes Google:

Native Client apps use Pepper, a set of interfaces that provide C and C++ bindings to the capabilities of HTML5. As a result, developers can now leverage their native code libraries and expertise to deliver portable, high performance web apps.

This work has been a long time coming. It was in May 2010, that Google first started talking about the potential of Native Client at their Google I/O conference. This past February, Google noted that Native Client was getting close to reality when they announced a new SDK for developers to play around with. At this year’s I/O, the company reiterated their hope that it would be ready to go this year, ushering in the future of Chrome.

While Native Client is an open source project, it has been heavily driven by Google. Not only have they done much of the Native Client work themselves, but they’ve done much of the work on the Pepper Plugin API (PPAPI), which is an evolution of the Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI) which most current web browsers use (except IE, which naturally has their own technology). PPAPI offers better performance than NPAPI, which is key to making Native Client work.

Google adds games from Zynga, PopCap and others to Google+

Google has finally added games to its Google+ social network, the company announced in a blog post today. The first set of games includes smash hit game Angry Birds, and games from social gaming powerhouse Zynga and casual games maker PopCap.

The company is rolling out the games to its Google+ users gradually, who will see the games as an added button next to their profile, and as circle buttons on top of their main Google+ stream. Games are one piece of the missing puzzle Google needed to successfully compete with social networking titan Facebook, which features dozens of incredibly popular games like Cityville and Empires & Allies.

“Today we’re starting to gradually roll out games in Google+,” Google senior vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra wrote. “We look forward to making them fully available to everyone in Google+ soon.”

Zynga has built its business on social games on Facebook, and it currently has more than 250 million monthly active users, according to AppData. The company has been so successful that it recently filed to go public and raise up to $1 billion, and it made $90 million in income last year. Part of Zynga’s success comes from its ability to promote games virally through notifications — something Google appears to be shying away from.

“If you’re not interested in games, it’s easy to ignore them,” Gundotra wrote. “Your stream will remain focused on conversations with the people you care about.”

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Friday, 12 August 2011

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