Google’s Mystery Announcement is a mystery no more!

Well folks today our fearless internet overlord Google made some fresh announcements.

NEW Nexus 7 tablet  will be available in 3 models: the 16gb Wifi for 229, the 32 GB wifi model for 269, and 32 GB LTE model for 349. The Wifi Model will start shipping on July 30th, with the LTE model shipping in “coming weeks”.

Upgraded specs from the last one (which ran pretty damn nice for the $$):

Also announced today brand new version of jelly bean.  Version 4.3 is available today for all google devices and the samsung galaxy.

Key Features:

  • New to Android 4.3: advanced multi-user support, bringing in “restricted profiles”. Restricted profiles lets parents limit what their child’s account can do. (Same thing the kindle has recently been advertising.  Why you say? Cause kindle is android based silly.)
  • Bluetooth Smart, or Bluetooth low-energy.
  • OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics system, allowing for considerably more detail in games; according to Hugo, they’re the first to support it.
  • Watching 1080p content on a tablet is great, but most of the content you get today is actually standard definition. This is because the lack of DRM. With Android 4.3, Google’s introducing hardware-level encryption for DRM. The first group Google’s partnering with this is Netflix, allowing you to stream 1080p netflix content to your Android device.
  • The original Nexus 7, the nexus 4, the galaxy nexus, and the nexus 10 will start to get Android 4.3 today.

Another important update comes to the Google Play store which will begin carrying a comprehensive collection of text books from all 5 major publishing houses. Books can be purchased, or rented for 6 months at a time. Text books will be available in early august.

BUT, the biggest announcement is Chromecast.  Chromecast is a tiny, itty-bitty dongle that runs a simplified version of Chrome OS.  Chromecast integrates into the apps you already use on your tablet, phone, or PC. You push a chromecast button, and it pushes that video to your TV. It’s like Apple’s airplay.  Chromecast will play friendly with the iPhone, not just Android.  You can continue to use your phone independently; once the video is playing on your TV, you can use your phone for other tasks. Even if you sleep the phone, the video keeps playing. You can pause/skip videos from the lockscreen.  If you’ve got multiple devices all connected to Chromecast, Chromecast won’t be tied to any of them. You can pause on your iPhone, for example, pick up your tablet, and immediately take control and begin playing from the same place.

On a side note to the Chomecast stuff.  Myself and another of other dev’s I work with spent a good hour today chatting about this part of the announcement.  The conversation was a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride.  At first we were all stoked simply because we had postalized that Google might announce this type of functionality because its been sorely missing for far too long.  But as we spoke more about how it worked and read in between the tech lines our excitement faded as a feeling of “MEH, its pretty cool but what about this, what about that..” set in.  Its a HUGE step up from the ill fated Google Q that was a major POS but the Chromecast is still missing actual screen mirroring.  WHY GOOGLE WHY!!!!!  So at this point your gonna have to wait for ALL of your favorite app developers to add the Chrome Play button to their apps BEFORE you can play Angry Birds on the big screen but hey for $35 its worth it if you don’t already have a smart TV, playstation, Xbox or Apple TV hooked up (Which covers about 90% of the population).

All that being said, I will let you know in three days time after mine arrives….HA

 

 

This Week’s Must-Read Mobile Headlines // June 24

Once again your weekly collection of Mobile News is brought to you by our friend over at Mutual Mobile

This week, Instagram integrates video to its app in an attempt to defend itself against Vine. But is it a smart move? Plus: new data from Forrester on Glass, a first look at iOS 7, and more.

News and Insights

Video Killed The Instagram Star – TechCrunch, In an attempt to overcome Vine, Instagram has added video. But is it a smart move?

Forrester: Google Glass Will Be the Next iPhone (But Now it’s Just a Newton) VentureBeat, A new report says roughly 21.6M Americans would buy Glass.

A Week With iOS 7: The Search for Innovation Amid Renovation – BGR, Does Apple’s bold new mobile vision pave the way for innovation?

Think ‘Mobile Unique’ To Deliver Mobile Delight – CMO, Move beyond “vanilla” mobile apps, and personalize the experience for users.

Disruptions: Mobile Competition Shifts to Software Design – New York Times, Software, not hardware, is allowing mobile companies to leap over competitors.

Gauging the Natural, and Digital, Rhythms of Life – New York Times, The Big Data health impact of wearables is going to be significant.

Apple Scores $30M iPad Deal With L.A. Schools – Mashable, Los Angeles public schools plan to equip every student with the device by 2014. (If you wanna get a better understanding of what this means to education http://www.redefiningliteracy.com/what-is-ilit)

Research

Smartphones And Tablets Have Revolutionized Consumer Connections – MediaPost, 45.3M US consumers watch video on their mobile phones.

How Mobile Is Shaping Global Digital Behavior – eMarketer, Comparing most popular activities across smartphones, tablets, and PCs.

Online Customer Experience Still Easier to Understand Than Mobile, Say E-Commerce Execs – Marketing Charts, Many execs believe it’s simply harder to deliver positive mobile experiences.

88% of Smartphone Shoppers Have Negative Experiences – Mobile Commerce Daily, “If you don’t do it right, customers will go to a competitor.”

Connected Car Market to Take Off – Mobile Marketer, Over 35M car shipments in 2018 will come with embedded mobile technology.

Your weekly dose of must read mobile headlines for june 10th

As always, we bring this to you from our good friends over at Mutual Mobile.

As Apple’s WWDC kicks off this week,  Ive-inspired flat interfaces in iOS 7 abound. Is this the end of skeuomorphism? Plus: why mobile web is top of mind for digital customer experience initiatives (spoiler answer:  cause it needs ALOT of help).

News and Insights

WWDC 2013: What Will We See, Not See? – The Push, Apple gives its WWDC Keynote this Monday, June 10. What can we expect?

Why Jony Ive Is Flattening iOS 7 – Fast Company, Let’s reconsider what we talk about when we talk about skeuomorphism.

Why Mobility Matters For Professional Services – SAP, Today, employees are driving how they want to interact with information.

Google Glass: 5 Industries It Will Change Forever – ReadWrite, Which industries can most benefit from wearable technology?

iPhone and Android are Different, So Stop Trying to Compare Them – GigaOM, iPhone and Android are on two completely different trajectories.

Christian Cantrell’s Review of Google Glass – Living Digitally, Thoughts and observations on why the world is ready for wearable computing.

The App Wars Come To Wearables. Consumers Will Be The Winners – ReadWrite, Why apps are the keys to the future of wearables.

The iPad-ification Of America’s Small Businesses – ReadWrite, Why Square, PaylPal and others are turning to iPad for POS technology.

 Research

Survey Shows Mobile Web Gets Priority Over Mobile Apps in 2013 – Forrester, 59% of organizations are prioritizing building mobile web experiences.

Roundup Of Mobile Apps & App Store Forecasts, 2013 – Forbes, A collection of great stats showing how enterprises, consumers are using apps.

Affluent Shoppers Make Mobile an Essential Stop in the Purchase Funnel – eMarketer, One out of five affluent consumers make mobile purchases on tablets.

56% of American Adults are Now Smartphone Owners – Pew Research Center, Ownership is particularly high in the 20-30 year old bracket.

For the First Time, a Third of American Adults Own Tablet Computers – Pew Research Center, What are the demographics most likely to own a tablet?

Android Edges Closer to iPad as Enterprise Tablet Adoption Grows – TabTimes, Good Technology reports Android tablet activations have nearly doubled in the enterprise.

This Weeks Mobile round up

As always, brought to you by our friends at Mutual Mobile

Bold predictions ran amok in this week’s mobile headlines: from brain-computer interfaces, to Google Glass being chastised for “dorkiness”, to Blackberry’s CEO claiming the death of the tablet (for the record, we think he’s wrong).

News and Insights

Guys Like This Could Kill Google Glass – WIRED, Will Glass’ inherent dorkiness kill the concept before it gets off the ground?

Brain Computer Interfaces Inch Closer to Mainstream – New York Times, Soon, we might interact with our devices simply by using our minds.

Apple’s iOS 7 Team in Deadline Crunch Mode, Adding Engineers – All Things D, iOS 7 is scheduled to ship on time for WWDC, with massive UI updates.

Web Apps vs. Native Apps Is Still a Thing – Daring Fireball, John Gruber discusses the pros and cons of each app type.

Top Challenges for Brands in Mobile – Digiday, What mobile challenges are brands like Unilever, Mastercard, and others facing?

Mobile Games Are Leaping Into the Real World – WIRED, Mobile games are starting to incorporate aspects of the real world into their virtual one.

What Walmart Likes in Mobile – Digiday, Four mobile technologies the world’s largest retailer has set its sights on.

Bank of America: Mobile Payments Need to Create Value before Coming to Market – Mobile Marketer, “Customers are adopting mobile banking at a faster pace than other channels.”

Car Tech: Users Aren’t the Problem – The Push, When it comes to cars, mobile technology should simplify, not complicate.

Research

Sorry, Blackberry: Tablets Won’t Be Dead in 5 Years – Forrester, Blackberry CEO Thorsten Hein’s claim is bold, but not accurate.

By 2017, Half of Employees Will Be Required to Supply Device for Work – Gartner, The firm predicts a significant decline in BYOD programs.

Schools are Starting to Spend Big on iPads and Other Tablets – TabTimes, K- 12 tablet sales are expected to to reach close to 7 million in 2013.

Forrester: 75% of Consumers Access Smartphones In-Store – Mobile Marketer, Analyst Julie Ask on key differences between smartphone, tablet use in retail.

Microsoft a Top 5 Tablet Vendor … With 1.8% Market Share – All Things D, Apple is still the clear global leader in the tablet market.

Tablets Will Outsell Laptops 6 to 1 by 2017 – VentureBeat, NPD: Tablet shipments will reach a massive 579.4 million in 2017.

This Week’s Must-Read Mobile Headlines // April 29

Brought to you by the letter M, and our friends over at Mutual Mobile

This week IDC announced that smartphones outnumbered feature phones in worldwide shipments: a true turning point for the mobile industry. Plus, Apple’s WWDC sold out in under 2 minutes. What are iOS developers most excited for this year?

 News and Insights

Apple’s Next Big Product Will Not Be A Gadget – Business Insider, Why are developers excited for WWDC this year? Software, not smartphones.

The ‘Smart’ Trend in Hotels – New York Times, Hotels are using mobile to speed up and personalize services for guests.

Mobile Centers Of Excellence: Stupid Name, Smart Enterprise Idea– ReadWrite, IDC outlines how enterprises should coordinate mobile efforts across the business.

How CIOs Can Navigate the Mobile Hyperbole – ComputerWorld, Six tips to keep in mind as your company takes on mobile.

Starbucks Generates 10% of US Revenue from Mobile – Mobile Commerce Daily, Every week, Starbucks sees close to four million mobile payment transactions.

Apple’s WWDC Set for June 10-14, Hints at Fall Launch of Next iPhone – CIO, Apple will give developers previews of the next versions of iOS and OS X.

Your App’s Next Interface: Tracking Spatial Controls And “No UI” – Fast Company, The way we interact with devices is about to change dramatically.

Why On Earth Would Apple Sign Onto The Volkswagen iBeetle? – Fast Company, VW’s new ride is a perplexing addition to the iFamily.

Mobile’s Role in Lead Generation Grows as Conversions Blow Past 25% – Mobile Marketer, “Mobile is becoming increasingly important for lead generation.”

Research

As Smartphones Reach A Global Tipping Point, Leader Samsung Shipped 71M Devices In Q1, Nearly 2X As Many As Apple – TechCrunch, For the first time ever, more smartphones shipped than feature phones.

Android’s Leaky Bucket: Loyalty Gives Apple the Edge Over Time – All Things D, 91% of iPhone owners intend to buy another iPhone, which gives the platform a leg up.

iOS is Leader in Both US Smartphone and Tablet Browsing– Adobe, iPhones have re-emerged as the dominant web browsing smartphone.

Smartphones, Tablets Drive Faster Growth in Ecommerce Sales – eMarketer, This year, 15% of online retail sales will take place via mobile devices.

Apple’s Tablet Market Share Plummets in Q1 as Android Gains – BGR, Apple holds 48.2% of the tablet market globally, Android with 43.4%.

This weeks round up of mobility tech. The wearable market continues to dominate tech news

Original post brought to you by our friends at Mutual Mobile

The wearable market continues to dominate tech news and consumer interest. This week, we dive deeper into the bewildering smartwatch market, and learn more about Google Glass. Plus: whose responsibility is mobile?

News and Insights

There’s Something About Smartwatches – New York Times.  Everyone’s entering the market, but will consumers actually buy the device?

Why Google Glass Is Far More Important Than Any Smartwatch – ReadWrite,  Smartwatches will reinforce existing mobile ecosystems, Glass will disrupt them.

What Will Google Glass Do to Our Brains? – Mashable.  Health implications, shorter attention spans, and more.

Is Mobile the Responsibility of the CIO or CMO? – The Guardian Mobile has changed internal structures and responsibilities within organizations.

Google Emulates Apple in Restricting Apps for Glass – New York Times.  Google recently released extensive guidelines for developers interested in Glass.

Why Today’s Tech Companies Are Still Going iOS First – TechCrunch,  52% of mobile users are Android, so why do apps still prefer iOS at launch?

Yahoo’s Future is Mobile, Wearable, & Gorgeous, Execs Say – VentureBeat,  The company’s latest Mail and Weather apps have beautiful UI.

Why LinkedIn Dumped HTML5 & Went Native for its Mobile Apps – VentureBeat,  LinkedIn’s Senior Director of Mobile Engineering weighs in.

‘Mobile Mind Shift’ Will Change Digital Marketing – MediaPost,  “Customers demand mobile utility, will dump companies that don’t give it to them.”

Why ‘New’ Apple Products Won’t Happen Anytime Soon – Forbes, We’re not likely to see the rumored iTV and iWatch before 2014.

 Research

Wearable Computing Market Estimates Are All Over The Place – Business Insider.  The future for wearables is a confusing mix of skepticism and hype.

Who’s Winning, iOS or Android? All the Numbers, All in One Place -TIME.  A close investigation of statistics comparing the two platforms.

Tablet Sales Will Climb to $64B This Year, ABI Says – CNET. “The tide is definitely turning toward Android-based tablets.”

More Than One Million Smart Watches will be Shipped in 2013 – ABI. The devices are moving beyond a mere smartphone accessory.

The Increasing Needs of the Mobile Shopper – MediaPost.  47% of shoppers say they would delete or stop using an app if it is hard to use.

49% of Consumers Desire Seamless Store, Digital, Mobile Experience – Luxury Daily.  Consumers today want more out of the shopping experience, across all platforms.

Gartner Recommends a Hybrid Approach for Mobile Apps – Gartner.  Hybrid apps will be used in more than 50 percent of mobile apps by 2016.

(Comment by Amcr:  I don’t agree with Gartner on this one.  Yes hybrid is handy, and yes it makes for a single code base to work with however like a digital recording versus an analog one,  native is best.  There is a gap in the functionality, flow and performence of hybrid apps.  You often need to use all kinds of silly frameworks in order to have some of the cool elements that are present in a native application.  The bottom line is this.  If you dont have two piles of cash to spend on native apps (one pile for IOS and one pile for android) than a hybrid application is the choice.  If on the other hand, you have the cash, and want performence then native is the way to go.  The outside of your budget, the next major variable that will determine which route is best for your app is function.  What does your app do?  Is it a simple information consumption app?  Lots of query’s, list views  and general business logic sort of stuff?  If so then yes hybrid might be a good choice. BUT!!  If you are looking to push the boundaries of what a user interface can be or how data might be transformed, then native is place to be.)

 

 

QR Codes and Your Business

QR code for the URL of the English Wikipedia Mobile main page

In the social media age a greater emphasis has been placed on interacting with customers as opposed to selling them on your products. One interesting way that people are doing this is with QR codes. If you’re not familiar with QR codes,which are also known as Quick Response Codes, they’re small postage stamp sized pieces of code which were initially developed in order to help track vehicles during the manufacturing process. But businesses outside the automotive industry have been using them for sometime now. They’ve become popular in the restaurant industry as a way to engage with customers, as restaurant pagers had before them. A recent Nation’s Restaurant News article provided five tips for getting the most out of QR codes. Continue »