CHART OF THE DAY: Apple Dominates Smartphone Growth In Q4 (AAPL, NOK, MOT, RIMM)

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/X1HCZwcS1Vw/chart-of-the-day-smartphone-market-share-2008-2009-2010-2

Apple's worldwide iPhone shipments grew by 98% in the fourth quarter on a year-over-year basis, giving its market share a nice bump, according to new data from IDC.

The iPhone's marketshare went to 16% last quarter from 11% in the year-ago quarter, while rivals Research In Motion and Nokia were basically flat.

Notably, smartphone pioneer Palm is absent from IDC's data. Maybe the addition of Verizon will give it a boost this quarter.

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Google Wants to Add Store Interiors to Maps [Google]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/IA8WZnq_EW0/google-wants-to-add-store-interiors-to-maps

It probably won't result is as many hilarious candids as Street View, but the rumored "Google Store View" sure sounds handy. Presumably, it will eventually let you check out the interior of any participating retailer through Google Maps.

The report comes from Search Engine Land, which was contacted by a New York company called Oh Nuts. Apparently the almond-monger recently got a visit from camera-toting Google guys, who photographed their entire store, six feet at a time, in every direction.

So essentially, you'd be able to see a storefront in Street View, click on it, and check out the interior for inventory, cleanliness, layout, etc. Not bad! Although a project of this scale would take a looooong time to roll out.

Google's officially issued a no-comment non-denial of the sort that early-stage projects like this usually get. We'll find out eventually, I suppose, especially if any other nut stores out there come forward with tales of Google guy visits past. [Search Engine Land via Consumerist]

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Happy 6th Birthday, Facebook!

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Mashable/~3/ORhdd3W2xHs/

According to Wikipedia and their Info page, Facebook was launched exactly six years ago, on February 4, 2004. Back then it was called “Thefacebook“, and it was originally located at thefacebook.com, but it’s definitely the same project.

Founded by Mark Zuckerberg, together with his college roomies Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, Facebook was originally intended to be a network only for Harvard students, but was later expanded to other universities and finally to everyone.

Intelligent design, a lot of smart business decisions and gradual expansion made Facebook what it is today: by far, the biggest social network on the Internet.

For a lot more on Facebook, we recommend reading our Facebook Guide Book, a collection of some of our best resources, how-tos and guides on Facebook.

Tags: facebook, social media, social networking

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iTunes Preview Now Available For iPhone, So You Can Browse Apps Online [Apple]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Z5rKSmdQjZE/itunes-preview-now-available-for-iphone-so-you-can-browse-apps-online

Very quietly, Apple has slipped a new feature into the iPhone and iPod TouchiTunes Preview, which we saw last November for the desktop.

It allows you to click on an App Store link and be taken to a website showing the app's details, so you know what to expect before downloading. A picture, description, price, rating, reviews and screenshots are included in the app profile, but in order to download it you will have to revert back to the App Store.

While it won't change your life, it's certainly a more intuitive way to browse apps, and bodes well for a future where we could see the entire App Store taken online. [TechCrunch]

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Foursquare Plots Its Business Model

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/wFPVusHfPJU/foursquare-plots-its-business-model-2010-2

Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai of foursquare

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Don't look now, but big brands are checking in on Foursquare. Pepsi, frozen-dessert chain Tasti D-Lite and cable network Bravo are all attempting to harness the power of the mobile game/social network.

The question is whether they'll pay for the privilege. Or whether Foursquare, which has 300,000 users now voluntarily "checking in" at locations, and broadcasting that to their followers, will transcend its current "it" status among the technorati and become a lasting consumer phenomenon -- and a marketing tool.

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Sun Microsystems CEO resigns on Twitter

A final tweet from Sun Microsystems chief executive

Jonathan Schwartz let the world know about his resignation as the chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems via Twitter.

The New York Times said that Scwhartz was the first Fortune 200 CEO to tweet his resignation. Schwartz did so in a haiku as he exited Oracle, which finished its $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun last week. He  wrote, “Financial crisis/stalled too many customers/CEO no more.”

Schwartz was also an early blogger as a CEO, pushing the Securities and Exchange Commission to recognize the blog as an official press release for disclosure purposes. Schwartz had been CEO since 2006, when he took over from Scott McNealy, who remained chairman and who is also expected to resign. Schwartz said he planned to spend time with his family in the short term and get back to work in an Internet-based business in the long term.

JooJoo Tablet Strikes Back: A Web App Store and Full Production Is GoGoGo [Joojoo]

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/2ZHGCzU_x5o/joojoo-tablet-strikes-back-a-web-app-store-and-full-production-is-gogogo

After the iPad was announced for $499, (a few) people asked, "What about JooJoo?" the first $499 web tablet, formerly known as CrunchPad. Well, it's on. JooJoo's now in full production, and plans to open a web app store.

I talked to Fusion Garage CEO Chandra, who said they're not only getting another round of investing, they've struck a deal CSL Group, Malaysia's largest OEM—they make fabulous BlackBerry knockoffs called Blueberrys—to cover their full outgoing manufacturing cost in exchange for revenue sharing. In other words, CSL's covering the cost to make the tablet (which is being made by one of the "top three or four" Taiwanese OEMs, according to Chandra), and CSL gets a slice of cash from every JooJoo sold. The upshot is that they're expecting to hit their target of shipping JooJoos within 8-10 weeks of taking pre-orders—so like, end of this month—with enough produced to "meet demand," though Chandra wouldn't reveal specific numbers.

The other big news is that they're planning on opening a web app store. Chandra says that one of the iPad's advantages over JooJoo was the App Store, which made app discovery easy through categorization. The JooJoo take is that "the internet is the largest app store," and what they'll be doing is categorizing all kinds of web apps in an "app store" to make them easy to find. (Personal aside: The app store concept must diiiiiiieeeeee.)

To that end, the other thing the iPad has over JooJoo is that app developers can tap into the hardware natively, which is why Fusion Garage is introducing APIs to let web developers get at the JooJoo hardware, like to use the accelerometer for gaming. Chandra says that the APIs are "unique, but standards driven," and easy to extend current web apps with their relatively simple APIs. We'll see.

Asked what he thinks about the iPad more broadly, and Chandra said that he's amazed Apple's jumping "into a category that we've defined." He points out that JooJoo is African for "magical," which is exactly how Apple described iPad, and that the iPad even comes in at the exact same pricepoint of $499. (No, I'm not really sure how "African" is a language.) But, despite Apple being, uh, Apple, he thinks JooJoo has a few advantages: They're launching first; they've got a bigger screen (12.1 massive inches); and it's an "uncompromised" web experience, since they'll have Flash, and you'll be able to use sites like Facebook in their full glory, not miniaturized app form.

Them's is fighting words, for sure. I'm glad to see them pushing on in the face of crushing odds, actually, to keep things interesting, if nothing else.

FUSION GARAGE MOVES INTO FULL PRODUCTION OF BREAKTHROUGH JOOJOO WEB TABLET
Innovative Manufacturing Agreement and Investment from CSL Group Helps
Reinvent Consumer Electronics Business Model

SINGAPORE, February 3, 2010 – Fusion Garage today announced that its category-creating JooJoo Internet tablet has moved into full production with initial shipments expected to reach consumers at the end of February. Helping fuel the JooJoo's arrival and Fusion Garage's next phase of corporate growth is an innovative manufacturing agreement and strategic investment from mobile device OEM and distribution giant CSL Group of Malaysia.

Fusion Garage is expected to announce a second round of investment within the next two weeks which would augment today's investment from CSL and the company's initial round secured in November 2009.
CSL, established in 1998, has rapidly grown to a major conglomerate, with sales of nearly $300M USD, and the organization is one of the largest manufacturers of cell phones, mobile devices, netbook and notebook computers in SE Asia.

The strategic relationship between the companies calls for CSL to absorb all up front manufacturing costs associated with JooJoo production. This agreement virtually eliminates the normal high cost of mass market entry - often in the tens of millions - for any emerging Consumer Electronics (CE) hardware developer. In exchange, CSL will receive a revenue royalty from each JooJoo sold globally. Additionally, CSL has made a strategic venture investment in Fusion Garage which will help the company to move to the next phase of its corporate growth and product development.

"This is landscape changing manufacturing agreement in the CE hardware market in much the same way Dell changed the PC business model with its direct to consumer sales approach back in the 1990s," said Fusion Garage founder and CEO, Chandrasekar (Chandra) Rathakrishnan. "CSL's confidence in JooJoo and strategic investment enables us to concentrate on the expansion of our organization, software development and, ultimately, building a world class CE company."

"We are justifiably bullish - not only on the promise of the JooJoo and the Internet tablet market's potential but also on Fusion Garage's forward looking vision," said Dato Eric Chuah, Chairman of the CSL Group of Companies. "We have an opportunity to expand our business via this relationship, enter a hot market with a trusted partner and turn the traditional CE hardware manufacturing model on its head. We are betting on volume here and firmly believe our bet will be a winner."

About JooJoo
JooJoo, officially introduced in December 2009, is the category-creating Web tablet that provides near instantaneous Internet access and the best online experience. The African word "joujou" means magical object and Fusion Garage's JooJoo brings users into an online world where everything on the Internet is just a single touch away. Powered by Fusion Garage's innovative browser-based operating system, JooJoo enables users to quickly and easily tap into Internet applications, news, music, high definition video, social media and web services. JooJoo has revolutionary hardware, including the largest capacitive touch screen of any device on the market – 12.1 inches –providing full screen content viewing. Its ultra-portable, ultra-thin design offers the best Internet experience anywhere – on the couch or on the go, standing or sitting. JooJoo's gesture-based user interface allows easy transitions between Websites and turns pages in a digital publication via the movement of a finger. A full-size touch keyboard appears when users need it, and disappears when viewing content or paging through digital content. JooJoo is available directly from Fusion Garage at www.thejoojoo.com.

About Fusion Garage
Fusion Garage enables the best Internet experience through innovative software and hardware devices. Founded in 2008, Fusion Garage's core browser-based operating system provides near instantaneous Internet access and has spurred the development of an entirely new category of consumer electronics devices dedicated to online usage. Fusion Garage is based in Singapore and is privately funded.

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Apple iPad: What Happened in Social Media

http://infegy.com/buzzstudy/apple-ipad-what-happened-in-social-media/

Last week, Apple confirmed many speculations of the release of a computing tablet after announcing the launch of the Apple iPad. In wake of the news, social media felt a massive influx of iPad related posts, tweets, mashups as Apple endured praise and criticism from all over the world. Here’s a look at the social media buzz surrounding the iPad:

ipad social media traffic

Activity surged on the day Steve Jobs unveiled his precious new product and nearly 400,000 bits of content were generated on the interweb on this day alone!

ipad categories

Apple must be doing something right upsizing the iTouch because people seem to be really into this new product. Without even getting a chance to sample the actual device, 75% of social media references have been positive.

ipad key words

Here we see a word analysis that shows the to terms associated with each sentiment. “Lack” was the most popular negative term and it seems that the deficiency of the usual computing features and abilities (can someone say Flash?) really tickled some nerves.

ipad word cloud

This is what it looks like to put all iPab conversations into a word cloud. Here you see that Steve Jobs was a big part of the chatter as were alleged product features. So here it is, straight from the horses mouths. People dig the iPad. Are you going to get one?

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Facebook Puts Email Addresses on User Profiles Back Into Plain Text

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InsideFacebook/~3/ztE7eXRHk1A/

Facebook has been investing in tools to detect and block automated systems and scripts created by spammers heavily in recent years. When it comes to user email addresses on Facebook profiles, Facebook for years has taken the extra step of listing user emails in an image format in order to make it harder for scripts to scrape massive numbers of email addressess. However, it has recently switched to providing them in plain text. Why?

A Facebook spokesperson told us today:

Showing email addresses in plain text makes it easier for people to use the information to connect with their friends.  We’ve improved our tools for detecting and preventing profile scraping over the last few years such that this additional precaution is no longer necessary.

For the average user, the change’s impact is only that they can now copy and paste email addresses from Facebook profiles.

OCR, or optical character recognition, has become a more widely understood technology in recent years. Formatting text within an image, as Facebook has done, does not necessarily provide meaningfully greater security. In fact, some companies have used such tools to scrape email addresses from within Facebook (that didn’t work out for other reasons).

Facebook is also trying to make email sharing easier in other ways, like allowing users to provide emails or email aliases to developers on the platform.

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