As the days count down and Verizon gets closer and closer to acquiring the iPhone on its network, AT&T is doing everything in its power to make sure customers stay and don’t switch to its rival’s service. You may be asking yourself, “What can AT&T possibly muster up that could trump Verizon’s superior network?” The answer surprisingly has nothing to do with AT&T improving its own network. To combat Verizon’s iPhone, AT&T instead plans to brand a large chunk of their apps, turning this upcoming winter into the central battleground of an all out app war.
Right now, AT&T has roughly 20 iPhone apps, but it also has a stable of branded apps in other categories. There are utility apps that track user’s minutes, network-specific apps that track family members, and entertainment apps that provide up to the minute updates. There is also a branded banking app that helps customers manage bank, credit union, and credit-card accounts from the convenience of their phone. AT&T is racing to create compelling and branded iPhone apps that it hopes will help retain customers once the Verizon floodgates are open.
“I think we’re all seeing the writing on the wall that eventually someone else is going to have the iPhone too, but if AT&T has five or six apps that a customer really likes and those are only with AT&T, it will at least give them pause when thinking about switching to another carrier,” said In-Stat analyst Frank Dickson in a recent interview with Advertising Age. “Customized apps that you use every day create stickiness. Customers don’t know what 4G is or what those coverage maps really mean, but they do know they’ve got three apps that they use every day and they know they want to keep those.”
What do you think? If you have an iPhone, will you be switching from AT&T to rival Verizon? Also, is there any app that you MUST have and can’t live without? We want to know!
Japanese car manufacturer Honda is just one of the latest companies to get behind the social media wheel and take it for a spin around the block. In connection with the U.S. launch of their latest sport hybrid coupe, the CR-Z, Honda is taking the same road as many companies these days are taking and advertising through social media gaming. Honda is rolling out a two-month advertising campaign in Car Town, a newly released Facebook game that allows players to use virtual currency to purchase, customize, and store hundreds of vehicles in their own virtual garages. Players can then use these vehicles to take road trips and complete challenges to earn points to purchase additional vehicles and car-related products and services.
Don’t think it’s all fun and games with Honda; during the two-month stretch, clickable ads featuring a digital Honda CR-Z will appear on all in-game billboards. These billboards are located right next to player garages, where gamers start each and every journey. To go along with the game and the promotion, Honda will also be one of the game’s “Featured Garages,” and be another place players can watch the CR-Z commercial.
This is the first time Honda is test driving social media as a major promotional strategy, and company spokesperson Jessica Fini explained the decision to make the jump to a new medium. “We felt connecting with gamers are their point of passion — which, in the case of Car Town, is all about cars. This would be a good way to reach the target CR-Z buyer, who is a 25-30-year-old male.”
As of this past Friday, Car Town has more than 3.5 million users, more than double what it reported just a week ago. Honda is betting that social gaming advertisements are an effective draw, and you can be sure other major brands are considering making the investment as well. Whether Honda’s campaign earns them the checked flag or sputters out will go a long way towards determining whether other advertisers hop in the driver’s seat for social gaming advertising.
It may be difficult to imagine now, but suspend your disbelief and take a trip back in time to the early 2000’s when Dell was a PC powerhouse. There was a time when the character Steve, the face of Dell marketing was everywhere you looked; billboards, television ads, parodies on SNL, there was no escaping Steve, and more importantly, Dell. Unfortunately for Dell, it’s 2010 and a lot has changed. Dell is old news and the tech buzz today is about Apple and what new, earth-shattering invention Steve Jobs and his team are coming out with next. With the release of Dell’s first ever U.S. smartphone this past Tuesday, Dell is hoping that it can conjure up some déjà vu in the minds of the consumers.
On Tuesday, Dell launched its smartphone, the “Aero,” and joined the hit parade of technology powerhouses tossing their hats into the increasingly competitive smartphone arena. The Texas based company said its 3.5-inch touchscreen phone runs on Google’s Android operating system and is available for $99.99 with a new two-year contract from AT&T Inc. and $299.99 without. It can be ordered directly from Dell’s website. Dell has confirmed “Aero” will support a version of Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash, a key software program that powers most Internet video and advertising. For anyone with an iPhone, Flash is a bit of a sore subject since Apple publicly announced it would not support the software in its iPhone and iPod tablet computer devices.
However, this isn’t Dell’s first time entering the squared-circle, late last year the company got their first taste of the smartphone industry by releasing the “Mini 3i,” in China. Since then there has been constant speculation and rumors about the “Aero” and its U.S. release date.
Dell is a latecomer to the smartphone arms race, but they certainly have the resources to be a major player within the industry if they can develop sufficiently compelling hardware. Apple, RIM, HTC and others won’t give away marketshare, so the Aero must be competitive enough to take it from them. Dell thinks the Aero will help bring the brand back in vogue, but do you?
Google, Yelp, Patch, odds are that you have used one of these services or a similar one to look up reviews for a restaurant or bar. However, one major issue recommendation sites like Yelp have is trying to cater to a wide user base that is composed of individuals who can have distinctly different opinions about the same restaurant/bar/location. Hunch, a localized and personalized recommendation engine may be just what Yelp and other review sites need to effectively deal with that problem.
Yelp’s already successful service uses a given location to bring up a list of rated Yelp destinations near that position, allowing you to select from a variety of popular categories like bars and restaurants. Sure it’s great that Yelp has millions of reviews and locations, but in reality the only opinion that matters at the end of the day is yours, and that’s where a service like Hunch comes in handy.
The issue with Yelp is that if you disagree with a review or rating of a location your only recourse is to write a conflicting review. If you love a place that has a lot of mediocre reviews, the glowing review you write will get lost in the shuffle and not do much to move the star level for the location. Enter Hunch, the self-described recommendation engine, which generates personalized suggestions based on your preferences. Through a series of quick and fun questions at hunch.com, Hunch begins to develop a profile of what your interests might be using a machine algorithm that is constantly learning and evolving…. Welcome to the future!
Hunch’s web application as a standalone is a cool way to find personalized recommendations for magazines, music, restaurants and other interests, but the service’s real potential lies in partnering with Yelp and other review sites to offer a more personalized experience. An integration of Hunch with Yelp would give you a personalized recommendation alongside of each one of Yelp’s general reviews. Review sites like Yelp have grown so large that while all the reviews are user submitted, a rating can still feel like it is coming from a faceless mob. Hunch’s extra layer of personalization is appealing as a great companion product to balance the general opinions given by review sites.
Hunch is set to announce a number of review partnerships and we can’t wait to take a look at how integration with review sites like Yelp will work.
September 1 is the recently announced date for Apple’s annual and much anticipated “special event,” where the company reveals their latest product developments. Techies around the world have their calendars circled as they have come to expect big announcements from CEO and ringmaster Steve Jobs each fall over the past four years.
Last year’s September 9 festivities were all about the new iPhone 4 and the much anticipated return of a healthier CEO Steve Jobs. This year, speculation on what Apple and Jobs plan to unveil is rampant, but the possibilities range from an updated Apple TV to new iPod touches to an overhaul of the iTunes store. As we’ve come to learn, anything and everything is on the table when Jobs gets on stage.
Whatever products are unveiled on the first you can be sure they will be ready to hit stores in time for the holiday rush. If history is any indication, Apple will again hit the jackpot with costumers this holiday shopping season. The stage is set, and on Wednesday we will finally find out what Apple has to offer.
We’re looking forward to Wednesday, so let us know what you think might happen.
When RIM decided to name their new flagship smartphone the “Torch,” they likely imagined reading puntastic headlines like, “New BlackBerry Torches Competitors,” and “Torch Sales Are Hot.” However, (staying on the pun train) it seems like the only thing RIM torched with their latest phone is their loyal customer base. Sales for the Torch were around 150,000 on its opening weekend and not much more in the following week. The reason? RIM tried to design the Torch to be all things for all people but in doing so ended up with a product unable to differentiate itself from the crowd of competitors.
Before we get to where RIM went wrong, let’s give credit for what they got right. First, RIM gave their operating system a long overdue upgrade with the release of OS 6. One very welcome improvement in the new OS is the addition of the WebKit browser. The BlackBerry browser has always been behind the pack when it comes to usability when compared to competitors, and WebKit represents RIM’s first concerted effort to challenge Android and iPhone browsers. WebKit still runs slower than the browsers on iPhone and Android devices, but RIM has worked to narrow that gap significantly.
Additionally, while the BlackBerry App World is anemic in comparison to the iTunes App Store and the Android Marketplace, RIM is eager to drive developers to build applications for their new platform. Should RIM have done both of these things earlier? Of course, but it is still good to see them doing it now. Working to keep up with Android and iPhone browser speeds and app catalogs was a necessary decision for RIM, but striving to top all of the other available Android and iPhone features left the Torch with a serious identity crisis.
The Torch comes with a 3.2” touchscreen display which is not very big when comparing it to other smartphones on the market. The iPhone has a 3.5” screen, Samsung Galaxy S devices feature a 4” screen, and the Motorola Droid X has a massive 4.3” screen. The same touchscreen technology that has failed RIM in the past via the two Storm devices on Verizon is again present on the Torch, which is not a positive sign. And the reason the screen is so small? The slideout keyboard. The keyboard on the Torch is in every way a step backwards from the keyboards we have come to know and love on other BlackBerry devices. The defining feature of BlackBerries has always been their excellent keyboards, but the keys on the Torch are scrunched together, feel cramped and almost seem added as an afterthought.
BlackBerry is synonymous with business, but that hallmark certainly does not hold true with the Torch; RIM attempted to design a phone that would attracts both businesses and consumers, but in the end failed to do either. The light is quickly diminishing for the Torch despite its anticipated release two weeks ago. RIM may have wanted to develop a sleek hybrid, but the unwieldy combination of dissociative parts in the Torch makes the device more like Frankenstein. Dismal sales have already led Amazon to cut their price of the Torch to $99.99 with a two year contract, but even at that price it may prove difficult to find many takers.
People are all familiar using Facebook to share links, pictures and interests, but in the near future Facebook users will need to get used to people sharing their physical location as well. Facebook Places, the just-announced addition to the social network, lets you tell your friends where you are, and connects the places you go with your Facebook wall. Like Foursquare, Gowalla, and Yelp, Places uses your phone’s GPS to figure out where you are, lets you “check in” to a place, and broadcasts it to your friends. You’ve probably heard of Foursquare, a location-based start up with around three million users, but Places has some unique capabilities that could set it apart – and some which could even get you hooked.
The obvious first question for users is, “Why?” Why would you ever want to tell a faceless mass of people where to find you? The simplest answer is that it allows you to check your phone and see if friends are nearby so you can drop in on them. (Whether you are welcome to drop in is a whole other issue.) Check-ins also create a virtual ‘passport’ of places you’ve been, so you can get conversations going and reminisce about favorite hangouts.
Facebook Places does break from the other location services in a number of significant ways. Foursquare and Gowalla are designed to be used solo – they’re set up like games, and get you to check in by tempting you with virtual merit badges. Facebook Places is built from the ground-up for meeting with friends. Unlike the others, Places lets you check in others along with yourself, so you and your friends can all check-in together without everyone needing to pull out your phones. This means that even friends who don’t have app-capable smartphones can be checked in with you. The Facebook iPhone app, which has just updated to support Places, notifies you when friends are nearby, so you can link up.
More intriguingly, Facebook is positioning Places as a sort of long-term conversation. When you check in, you can see what you and your friends said about the venue through the ages. While comments on Foursquare and Yelp are from strangers and will tell you what to order at a restaurant, comments on Places are exclusively from people you know and will remind you of times past. In a particularly emotional part of the presentation, a Facebook engineer imagined his child checking into a park and discovering that his parents shared their first kiss in that very spot.
While Places’ main use is telling others where you are right now, it’ll be just as good for remembering what happened long ago. Just as you can flip through Facebook photos, reread the comments, and reminisce about old friends, you’ll be able to retrace your steps and relive the places you’ve been. This is what Foursquare and Gowalla can’t match – while Places doesn’t have the spiffy badges and addictive game bits, it could be better at tying your virtual Facebook network closer to the real world.
The question is, where will Facebook Places go from here? Will your friends use it enough to make it as useful as Facebook’s status updates and photos? Could Facebook integrate it into Events so you could check-in to parties and movies? Will they tie it in with Photos so you can see what friends did in the area? Perhaps even integrate it with games, so your Farmville field can have a real-life location? Facebook places is quickly being deployed from the West Coast eastward, so it might be online in your area now. Try it out now with the iPhone Facebook app, on Facebook’s mobile site, or on the upcoming BlackBerry and Android versions. Be sure to check back here – as soon as we can check in at our favorite New York places, you’ll know!
If you use apps, chances are you use games – nearly every bestselling app in the iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace is a game. Sure, many of these are mindless time-wasters, but there are a select few that do more than exercise your thumbs. These games teach you skills, get you exercise or train your brain, and they do it so subtly that you may not even know it.
For those interested in the art of mixology there is the Nimble Strong app: Bartender in Training. This iPhone title puts you in the shoes of a rookie mixologist, using the touchscreen to pour booze and ice, pantomiming tools like the muddler and shaking the iPhone to make James Bond’s drink of choice. It’s all very fast-paced and fun, but the kicker is that the game’s ‘levels’ are real drinks. While you’re working through the story and racking up in-game tip money, you’re learning the recipes and techniques of real-life bartending.
For some healthier gaming, you could load SpecTrek on your Android phone. The goal is to track down and catch “ghosts” using your phone’s GPS , accelerometer, and augmented reality functions. To catching a ghost you locate in on your map, run to the ghost’s location and capture it using a Augmented Reality screen. It is such an exhilarating experience you won’t realize that you’ve just ran a quarter-mile to get the “ghost.” You can get some serious exercise with this app – increasing the game’s radius to a mile or more is a fun challenge for jogging or biking.
If you’ve played a role-playing game (RPG) you’ve probably been told that you’re wasting time toiling away for no purpose. EpicWin, an upcoming release for the iPhone, turns this notion on its head. A bizarre hybrid of an RPG and a to-do list, EpicWin challenges you to do your everyday chores – checking off a completed task gives your character experience points and items. Getting more done means leveling up and raking in the loot. Cleaning the garage will never be more exciting!
There are games that drill you on SAT vocabulary, teach you to field-strip an AK47, coach you on algebra, and help you memorize people’s names. The advanced hardware in your phone makes these new game concepts possible and easy to develop, making the most esoteric ideas a reality. Keep an eye out next time you’re playing a game on your phone… it might be good for you!
With approximately 100,000 Android phones activated each day, Samsung has wisely decided to jump into the mix by releasing four new Android phones. HTC’s “super phones” have gotten the majority of press coverage when it comes to Android devices, but these four promising devices from Samsung aim to change all that. Samsung will release its Galaxy S phones across the four largest carriers in the US; Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Here’s what device each carrier will get and some of the relevant info for each:
Verizon
Coming to Verizon this fall is the Samsung Fascinate. This device will be loaded with Android 2.1 and will feature a large 4” Super AMOLED display. Under the hood will be a now standard 1GHz Hummingbird processor built by Samsung for optimal performance. As far as storage capacity, the Fascinate ships with 2GB of internal storage with a 16GB microSD card that can be expanded up to 32GB. You can expect the Fascinate to cost $199.99 with a 2 year agreement when it launches this fall.
AT&T
Just released, AT&T’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S, the Captivate, is already making waves. We can assume this name was chosen due to the 4’ Super AMOLED display shipping on this model. Again, we will see the 1GHz Hummingbird processor as well as a 5-megapixel rear camera. The European version of the phone has a front facing camera but unfortunately it has been removed on the US version. One reason could be due to mobile carriers increasing charges for data usage. However, with this 5-megapixel camera you will be able to record HD video at 720p which is a nice alternative option when considering between this or an iPhone 4 on AT&T. The Captivate retails for $199.99 with a two year agreement.
T-Mobile
The first of the Samsung 4 to hit US soil when it was released, the Vibrant debut was pushed up to attract potential buyers away from the Motorola Droid X, which was released for Verizon at the same time. Regardless, the Vibrant, which get its name from the Super AMOLED screen like its cousins, is no slouch. Loaded with Android 2.1 and the 1GHz Hummingbird processor it zips right along at incredibly smooth speeds. T-Mobile is also including a fully customized version of EA Games’ The Sims 3 as well as a special edition of James Camerons’ Avatar pre-packaged with the phone. Both of these add-ons again highlight the phone’s sharp display. The Vibrant ships with 16GB of internal storage as well as a 2GB microSD card that can be expanded to 32GB. These features put the Vibrant’s memory capacity above that of the introductory iPhone 4. Much like the Captivate, the Vibrant has a 5MP rear camera capable of shooting 720p HD video. The Vibrant also costs $199.99 with a two-year agreement with T-Mobile.
Sprint
Rounding out the pack of Galaxy S super phones from Samsung is the Epic 4G for Sprint. As expected the 4” Super AMOLED screen is present as well as the 1GHz Hummingbird processor running Android 2.1. What sets the Epic apart from its brethren is the addition of a slide out physical keyboard. Now this can be seen as a good or a bad thing as many users will like the presence of a keyboard they can touch, but others will lament the added weight and thickness of the device. Included on the Epic is a front facing camera for video phone calls in addition to the rear 5MP camera standard on all four. This device will certainly give the HTC Evo a run for its money when it launches on Sprint this fall.
There you have it, the rundown on the four Galaxy S super phones from Samsung. Also keep in mind that Samsung has announced all four phones will be receiving software updates to Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ by the end of the year. Samsung is not a name typically associated with smartphone leadership, but these four phones are certainly capable devices that may help the Korean device manufacturer elbow its way into the crowded marketplace.
With summer coming to an end, the inevitable is upon college students: it’s almost time to head back to school. Along with expenses for tuition, housing and meal plans, the cost of textbooks is always a painful one. Unfortunately there have not been many ways of getting around shelling out big bucks for books each semester, but Barnes & Noble thinks they may have come up with an answer. The B&N NOOKstudy is a unique application that allows students to compile all of their textbooks into one central location, their computers. Students will have the ability to download and organize their textbooks as well as keep their notes and syllabi in one easy to access place.
There are a few very cool features that come with NOOKstudy, the first being the ability to highlight and take notes directly in the eTextbook itself. You are also able to tag these notes and then search for them later directly from the application. The NOOKstudy means no more frayed notebooks and no more time spent sifting through pages to find what you need for your upcoming exam. Additionally, it is possible to have multiple books open at the same time so you can switch effortlessly between them with a click.
Barnes and Noble already has over 1,000,000 textbooks available to purchase as well as over 500,000 free textbooks to download. The best part of this entire program is that it is entirely free to download and you do not need a Nook to use it. It is available now and you can download it onto any Mac or PC to get an early jump on the upcoming school year: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nookstudy/index.asp
Will eTextbooks ever fully replace hard copies? The NOOKstudy sure makes a strong argument that hard copy textbooks may be on their way out the door…
