The perception among younger adults is that everybody owns a smartphone. When numbers like 50% of U.S. cellphone owners have apps, the reaction inevitably comes, "only 50%?" It is easy for adults, say those from 25-44 years old, to forget that there is a significant portion of the U.S. population that does not own cellphones, let alone those of the smart variety. Mobile penetration in the United States is at 77%, which lags behind many other developed countries.
Nielsen came out with its third quarter mobile numbers today and the demographics are intriguing. The reason that young people feel like everybody has smartphones is because they do. 62% of people 25-34 years old have smartphones. Of all cellphones in the U.S., 43% of them are smart.
Last week I questioned how many active, daily users Google+ really has. We know it has a huge user base - according to Google, it's over 40 million users. But Google won't talk about how many of those people are actually active on the service. All indications are that it's a small percentage of the total user base. My post was strongly challenged by Google+ power user Robert Scoble, who said that I was missing the point. "Google+ is for finding, and talking with, the people who are interested in the same thing you are," he wrote.
So how to find those interesting people? There are a few main ways to find groups of people in Google+. One is by using the search feature on Google+, which as you'd expect from the search giant is very good. Another is to subscribe to shared circles. The third is by hunting out lists created by the community.
Yesterday, I got an email from a good friend with a subject line that needed no further explanation: "Google Reader." It was sent to a group of mutual friends, bemoaning the recent changes to Reader's interface, thereby kicking off a lengthy discussion thread. Should we move to Google Plus? Would Instapaper make a good substitute? Had anybody heard of Hivemined? What about other RSS readers?
The concerns echoed sentiments that were by then flooding Twitter and other nooks and crannies of the Web. In the process of redesigning Reader, the team decided to kill off the social features long beloved by many power users of the service. Suddenly, friending, sharing and commenting were all gone, as was the outbound RSS feed of shared items each user generated.
Google released the first native Gmail app for iOS this morning, but it didn't go over well. Not only was the app lacking in some desired features, like multiple accounts, but one of the new features didn't even work and caused a rough first launch. The app showed a big error message upon opening caused by broken push notifications.
Well, a "Googla culpa" has been issued. Dave Girouard - the "apps guy at Google" - said on Google Plus this morning: "Sorry but we pushed a bad version of our iOS app for Gmail. More info shortly - we're working on it." The app has now been pulled from the store.
Thus far, users of iOS devices have had to compromise on how their Google Web services work on their touch devices, using browser-based apps. For Gmail users, the compromise is mostly over. The native Gmail app for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch has just been approved in the iTunes App Store. It runs on iOS 4 or better.
The app adds email push notifications and sounds. It has fast inbox search, autocomplete from both Gmail and native contacts and photo uploads. It has priority inbox, conversation threading, and all the labeling, starring and archiving features that Gmail users need. And of course, its fully enabled with touch gestures. But it's a Web view. It's not a local email app (though Gmail does cache your messages offline - thanks, readers). And it doesn't support multiple accounts. Oh well. At least it's nice to touch.
Google is now indexing Facebook comments on websites, reports labnol.org. The only Facebook comments indexed by Google are the ones from the add-on commenting system. These comments are being crawled (and ranked) in Google's SERPs.
Google just launched a new layout for search results about places. To the right of the text search results, there's now a panel that shows a map view along with photos and business details. Certain businesses will have the little pegman on their images. Clicking him will take you into a 360-degree interior view of the place.
Other places in the search results have a ">>" symbol that instantly opens the same preview. The new layout and 3D features will come to restaurants, landmarks, museums, hotels and more. The features will roll out in more than 40 languages over the next few weeks. It's a flashy feature, but Google has its reasons.
Today the Official Gmail Blog posted a video and screengrabs of the new Gmail look, which will be rolling out soon. If you're jonesing to update now, click on the "switch to the new look" link in the bottom-right of your Gmail, which will appear in the next few days. News of the updated Gmail interface first hit the Web on October 20, after watchdog Alex Chitu spotted a leaked video on YouTube. This new Gmail rollout comes right on the heels of Google Reader, which got the Google Plus treatment.
Google has launched GoMo, an initiative to mobilize websites for better user experiences. It features compelling graphics, tips about why and how to go mobile, case studies and a site tester, as well as a list of featured paid vendors who make mobile sites.
Google reports that 61% of users are unlikely to return to a site that's not mobile friendly, but user engagement increases by 85% with a mobile-friendly design. That trend is appearing around the world; consumers are way ahead of businesses on mobile. GoMo is a concerted effort to help companies catch up.
Today Google Reader became the latest Google product to have Plus added to it. Now Google Reader users can +1 or share items to Google Plus, from within Reader. Google has made very clear over the past month that Plus will be integrated into all of Google's products over time, so this wasn't a surprising move. However, rather predictably, there has been a user backlash anyway. Writing on his G+ profile, Google Plus Marketing Manager and long-time RSS expert Louis Gray tried to assure everyone that they have choices: "We know that for some people, the changes to Reader will make you think differently about the product, and this may make you seek alternatives."
But are there in fact any viable alternatives to Google Reader?
