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Basic specifications:  GSM 850/900/1800/1900UMTS 2100/900Average display -
240 x 400 pixels microSD/microSDHC slot, Bluetooth, 3G Photos: Photos:
When Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) announced its Nook e-reader in October, the ability to pursue a dual in-store and online sales strategy appeared to be one of the clear advantages it might have over Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN). But, as we first reported then, the chain didn’t plan to sell Nooks to go in all its stores for the 2009 holidays—and, as it turned out, the combination of demand and distribution issues kept the device from store shelves. Instead, most people who bought Nooks at B&N stores were placing online orders for delivery weeks or months into the future—not buying them for same-day use. I watched in one store as someone changed his mind pre-Christmas about buying a Nook because he wouldn’t get it until February. But B&N says that’s all about to change now, at least in some stores. Hoping to get a retail boost from Valentine’s Day, the chain plans to stock most stores with Nooks by mid-week—even promising to update an in-store locator chart daily starting Wednesday. The popular themes in response to the news? Too little, too late or Nook meets Godzilla aka iPad and inevitably loses. Both are short-sighted. Barnes & Noble stumbled with software and distribution but the Nook is still a potentially appealing device, especially to those more interested in a dedicated e-reader than a multi-purpose tablet. Fanboys, fangirls and early adopters may not flinch at the iPad’s price range but $259 leaves wallet room for a Kate Spade cover and a lot of books. In-store sales should also help when it comes to competing with the Kindle, which can only be ordered online. Amazon plays matchmaker for people who want to try a Kindle; B&N has working hands-on displays in every store. If people can try, buy and start reading the same day—or get instant gift gratification—Nook should have an edge, at least for the next few months. —Software update: As for the software knocks, B&N says users should see improvements with new release Nook v1.2. Devices are being updated automatically over the air this week or users can download it themselves. Among the promised changes: Better in-store access to free WiFi, easier to find which books can be shared, and, a personal favorite that covers a multitude of sins, “overall system improvements and battery optimization.” —Keeping connected: About that enhanced WiFi access. B&N wants owners to see the Nook as an in-store device, encouraging users to bring their devices into stores for access to exclusive content or offers through the store’s free WiFi. That push begins in earnest now with a free short story, a cupcake recipe, a 10 percent discount on CDs if the user shows the clerk the Nook, and more. Related
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Reports regarding the sale of stake in the Pakistani telecommunications operator Warid telecom, owned by the Abu Dhabi Group, have been denied by the company.
According to Bashir Tahir, the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Group, Warid Telecom Pakistan is not being sold off but rather is on course with its expansion plans.
Earlier it [...]
Editor’s note: Is Apple going too far with its restrictions on developers? Alistair Goodman thinks so and explains why in this guest post. He is the CEO of 1020 Placecast, a location-based mobile advertising startup. Apple’s recent behavior bears an increasing resemblance to carriers with respect to the walled garden they are creating around the iPhone. Restricting applications, restricting the use of location on the device, blocking Flash, and now potentially taking advertising in house—these moves are taken from the carrier’s playbook with the hope of locking out meaningful competition. Ironically, Apple may very well become the barrier to open innovation in mobile in much the same way as carriers have been before the iPhone came along. What is clear from the announcement to developers last week about plans to deny some apps that deliver location-based advertising is that Apple intends to control the flow of marketing dollars on the iPhone. Less clear are their plans for sharing the wealth with the ecosystem—but if you look closely at acquisitions like Placebase, key hires and patent filings, what emerges is a potentially more ominous view of a company that can only compete in the direct advertising business head-to-head with Google by seizing control of location-based advertising. Location is now widely understood to be the key to successful mobile advertising because where a consumer is in the physical world and at what the time they are there is such a strong predictor of consumer behavior and intent. “If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store,” says Apple. While they have yet to entirely exclude developers and ad networks from the equation, their broader strategy around location-based programs certainly has the potential to do just that. Consider the following:
So what is missing from Apple’s strategy? Location intelligence —meaning the ability to return content (and advertising) on a consumer’s iPhone that is always correct, and always relevant for where they are and when they are there. As others have noted, just because a phone has a GPS on it that can locate a user does not mean that what is returned to them is meaningful. Location intelligence is the problem of returning relevant information based on place and time. It is actually pretty complex—this is something that both Apple and Google are only discovering as they begin distributing their apps to millions of consumers. And doing it at scale—meaning always returning customized content and advertising to millions of consumers in real time—is an extraordinary challenge because it requires managing location data and content at a level of accuracy that today’s online search algorithms are just beginning to grasp. Apple’s continued march down the path of the walled garden will become harder and harder as Google’s open Android ecosystem grows and the mobile ecosystem as a whole moves towards the more open Internet-like model. Meanwhile carriers will continue to use SMS to deliver location-based marketing across any open smartphone device or any feature phone. If Apple thinks the carriers are going to lie-down and settle for nothing from a new revenue stream in location-based advertising, they should think long and hard about the implications of this choice. Because as much as they are acting like the new carriers, they don’t actually own any wireless bandwidth or cell towers to carry all that data going to and from their phones. Photo credit: Flickr/Paul Englefield.      
Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has lowered its “equipment recovery fee” to $150 from $350 when customers drop its Nexus One phone before their contract with T-Mobile USA officially expires. The change occurs just after the FCC formally sent letters to various operators and Google about wireless early termination fees. In this case, the Google fee is a bit confusing because it is in addition to the $200 fee that T-Mobile charges when users break a contract early. The WSJ reports that a Google representative said the company had been working with T-Mobile to lower the equipment fee. The change was posted officially on Google’s terms of service page for the Nexus One. While the fee was changed, Google was clear that it doesn’t represent a change in its financial philosophy. It said. “We make no profit from commissions from operators or from equipment recovery fees, and our recovery fees are based on operator charges to Google for early termination of service,” the company said in a statement. Related
Yahoo has hired Jeff Bronikowski, who until a year ago was SVP of global digital initiatives at Universal Music Group, as the new head of Yahoo Music, according to Billboard; he is replacing Michael Spiegelman, who is now the senior director of global entertainment and lifestyles products at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). Since leaving Universal Music Group, Bronikowski has worked as an SVP at Classic Media, the firm behind brands like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Where’s Waldo, according to his LinkedIn profile. Under Spiegelman, Yahoo Music opened up its artist pages to third-party services from companies like Pandora, Last.fm and iTunes—an initiative which has been credited with boosting the site’s traffic. Bronikowski tells Billboard, which first reported the hire, that while Yahoo “has declined a bit from its prominence as the No. 1 music destination, I think there are tremendous assets there and Yahoo is committed to making it a premier music destination again.” Bronikowski was promoted to the SVP job at Universal Music Group in May 2007, tasked with leading digital efforts to grow the businesses’ consumer-facing initiatives. On his LinkedIn page, he says he led efforts to syndicate Universal Music Group video content to third-party websites, “led deal negotiations and business development efforts” with partners including Yahoo, ClearChannel (OTCBB: CCMO) and Napster, and participated in various acquisitions and divestments. We’ve reached out to Yahoo to get more details and will update when we hear back. Related
Redpoint Ventures, the VC firm that has backed a long list of digital media companies, including in recent months ad provider Impact Radius and video search engine Clicker, has closed a new $400 million fund. The cash will be used to invest in early stage “social and mobile internet, cloud computing and clean technology” firms, according to a press release. This is 11-year-old Redpoint’s fourth fund and comes as the VC firm has had some big exits lately; Redpoint says that in the past six months alone four of its portfolio companies have been acquired, one has IPOed, and two have filed to go public. Related
Location-based social net Foursquare is on a roll when it comes to netting high-profile media partnerships. The latest is restaurant reviews guide Zagat, the NYT reports. By hooking up with Foursquare, Zagat may be hoping to bid up its own cool cache. The reviews site’s image suffered a bit among media industry observers when it failed to find a buyer who would meet its for-sale price. The timing of this partnership comes right on the heels of deals of Foursquare’s deals with NBC Universal’s Bravo and Canadian commuter daily Metro. The arrangement resembles the one Foursquare struck with Metro last month. Under that deal, Metro users recommend “tips” to other Foursquare users. With Zagat, users will also provide content to Foursquare, as opposed to just getting assigned a marketer’s branded “badge” when a user checks into a spot that’s marked by one of its media partners. The Foursquare/Zagat feed serves as a platform for users to share recommendations of menu items with other members. Foursquare has been hitting stratospheric levels of hype the past several months, but the flurry of media arrangements it has struck in recent weeks and upcoming deals that are still in the works have made even the most cynical observers consider that there may actually be a serious business model at work here. The collaboration with Zagat could help Foursquare refine its business model and challenge directory sites like Yelp, whose reviews and recommendations app is also fairly popular. Zagat is also bringing another content idea to Foursquare’s table. The restaurant reviews aggregator is creating a “Meet the Mayor” interviews series on its site, highlighting individual users who have signed in to a place more times than other users. Zagat hopes that the cross-promotion will drive users to its own site. Related
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