Consumers under 35 - that is, those in Generations X and Y, the latter also referred to as "millennials" - tend to prefer using mobile applications over Web browsers on smartphones, as compared with older mobile users, a new study shows. Data collected by market research and consulting firm Parks Associates, found that this young demographic is starting to ditch the Web browser in favor of apps, and are especially put off by mobile websites not designed for the small screen.
According to a study of over 16,000 mobile YouTube users conducted by Google, 75% of respondents said that mobile is their primary way of accessing YouTube. At first glance, that figure may come as no surprise - after all, how shocking is at that a survey of mobile users finds that they watch a lot of YouTube Mobile? However, it's actually a rather telling number.
For some of us, watching YouTube on a mobile device is an additional way to watch video, not the primary way. But as it turns out, for a large majority of mobile video users, it's completely the opposite.
RIM's Blackberry smartphones are no longer the default choice for corporate employees, a pair of stories released today seem to imply. Computer manufacturer Dell is planning to move its 25,000 employees from RIM smartphones to its own Dell Venue Pro - a phone running the new Windows Phone 7 operating system. Later, the company will permit Android phones as an alternative.
And Dell isn't the only RIM-switcher making headlines today, either. Two of the biggest U.S. banks, Bank of America and Citigroup, are seriously considering the iPhone, it's being reported.
Pew Internet & American Life Project is out with its first report on the use of "geosocial" services - that is, mobile location-based services that allow users to "check in" to a particular venue and see which of their friends are nearby. According to the researchers' findings, only 4% of online adults are using a location-based app like Foursquare or Gowalla on their mobile phones. And on any given day, only 1% of Internet users have checked in.
I have to admit, I read with fascination this morning the latest Techmeme headline from Techcrunch: "Yep, Apple Killed the CD Today." Of course, a headline like that is meant to cause a reaction - and it did, by the number of tweets, Diggs and comments. In my gut, I agree with the general trend (as it applies to computers) - the optical drive is becoming passé in favor of smaller portable storage options like USB flash drives and even file-sharing via Web-based tools.
However, optical media itself is not dead yet - far from it, mostly thanks to Blu-ray. So perhaps the headline should have read "optical drives in computers are not really all that important anymore, but Blu-ray is doing well." But that wouldn't have been as catchy.
Mobile video optimization firm Bytemobile has just released its most recent "Mobile Minute Metrics" report, a look at wireless users' video consumption trends and behavior based on metrics from a cross-section of nearly 2 billion Bytemobile customers in 58 countries around the world.
According to the new report, which focuses on Q3 2010 mobile traffic, mobile operators are seeing "unprecedented" levels of mobile data traffic, an increase heavily impacted by increased demand for video. Some interesting stats were revealed, too - like whether it's Android or iPhone users who watch more video, what sites get the most views and more.
New data from The Nielsen Company shows that Google's Android mobile operating system is now the most popular OS among those who bought a new smartphone in the U.S. during the last six months, with a 32% share of recent acquirers.
Blackberry and Apple are meanwhile tied for second place, in a "statistical dead heat," says Nielsen.
Facebook and Twitter don't have the power to change the world, says notable author Malcolm Gladwell, whose book "The Tipping Point" detailed how little things can make a big difference. He made this controversial, counter-intuitive argument via an article published in The New Yorker titled "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not be Tweeted."
As you may imagine, the Internet is already abuzz with its reactions.
There was an interesting article recently in The Wall Street Journal by Isacc Arnsdorf that discussed how art gallery and museum patrons are studied as they move through art exhibits. The objective is simple: measure how people navigate through and engage with the art. When I read the article, I immediately thought of some of the things that we're doing at MindTouch, but really there's a broader lesson to be learned here.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking to the audience at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco this week, said that his company expects mobile to dominate search at some point in the future. "Eventually, we think mobile will be the majority of the searches and the majority of the revenue," he said. But that future could take a long time to get here, he added.
Schmidt also touched on the future of search in general, at least as Google sees it, speaking of a time when Google searches become automatic and autonomous, leading to "serendipitous" discovery of the world around you.
