Mike Butcher

On the eve of its launch, courtesy of Frukt Music, comes an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the iPhone:

Strengths:

- Apple approach: a)great product, b)simple usability, c) clear communication

- Dual-contact touch screen, twice the resolution of average computer screen, full-detail web pages with easy zoom-in feature, easy-view photo software, extra Google maps functionality (traffic details, fake GPS), easy music/phonecall switchover via headphone button, integrated email, phone and web features and other technological advancements will appeal to early adopter Apple fans

- Relies on tried-and-tested iTunes software – already a hit with consumers

- Easy to activate iPhone at home using iTunes

- YouTube link-up allows users to view videos over WiFi

Weaknesses:

- Apparently no way to record video – so no instant uploads to YouTube

- Sealed-in battery. Must send it back to Apple for a replacement.

- No memory card slot

- Over-the-air content delivery not part of initial iPhone plan (although not a critical concern: for every iPod bought, only 20 tracks on average are iTunes purchased, most are transferred from CD or illegally downloaded)

- Strength/Weakness: High price point ($499/$599 at launch) will only attract early adopters (J.D. Power: Typical U.S. phone user in 2006 paid $94 for a mobile). Although, for the initial model, perhaps early adopters are the sole target market (modest Apple sales targets of 10M globally by 2008, less than 1% of the mobile handset market)

Live blogging notes from Essential Web 2007.

Startup showcase notes:

Parkatmyhouse.com

Parkatmyhouse.com has 1000 uniques per day and has a had a lot of press coverage. Partnered with Zipcar and which is helping them to move to the US market. The founder claims to have had a sudden amount of adoption by users in London. The future is increasing the user base and syndicating content around restaurant web sites. Also extending the brand into: Liveatmyhouse, Sleepatmyhouse, Holidayatmyhouse.com and is looking to raise investment.

Seedcamp.com launches

New initiative for starups launches. Here’ the blurb form their site:

“Seedcamp is where Europe’s top young founders can come together in one place. From securing funding to developing the right network, young entrepreneurs in Europe face challenges in building globally competitive technology businesses. Through the provision of seed capital and a world class connection of mentors, we are providing a catalyst for Europe’s next entrepreneur generation. We welcome Europe’s brightest and most ambitious young entrepreneurs to take part in Seedcamp.”

More to follow…

The BBC reports on research by Danah Boyd which found that Facebook users come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college while MySpace users tend not to have gone on to further education. While “class” in the US does not map directly to income it is more about social life and networks. Hence Facebook users tend to be white and education oriented while MySpace teenager tend to come from families from immigrant backgrounds.

This rings true in my view, and maps to my view that in the future the really powerful networks will be closed ones. You can’t get to a Facebook profile unless you are registered and it’s not open to the Web. On MySpace anyone – logged in or not – can reach you, and it also reflects a teenager’s general “posture” to the outside world much more because of its public nature.

About-nokia.com: According to Finnpanel 1.6 million Finns (older than 9 years) have a radio on their cell phone. That’s 36 % of the finnish population (in 2005 the figure was 17%).

From Brand Republic: “The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and 10Duke have launched the first specialist tennis-dedicated online network, claiming that vertical communities will displace the likes of YouTube and MySpace. The ATP is using 10Duke’s technology platform to take its existing offline community online. Users can upload footage to 30Love.net via online and mobile to show off their tennis skills. Tennis fans can access behind the scenes clips from the pro tennis tour, view exclusive player video clips and share photos, videos and personal profiles.”

Again, from Brand Republic: “Sky is in talks with Facebook about launching a permanent branded presence on the social-networking site created for students. The satellite broadcaster is running its first ad campaign on the site to gauge whether the site’s 3.7m monthly unique users are willing to interact with its brand. If the trials are successful, Sky intends to invest in the development of a Facebook group to promote its premium subscription services, flagship programmes and bundled TV, broadband and telephony package.”

Comment: Somewhere along the line the plethora of social networks will break and users will rebel. They don’t want to log into 10 social networks before breakfast just to pick up every single “poke”. Either OpenID will work as a concept (although it’s sorely in need of a re-brand, since who wants their ID open?) or they just won’t join a niche networking site, prefering instead to set up their own Tennis group inside Facebook, et al. And guess what? Sky is getting in there early and setting up its own. This seems like the smarter move.

As described in Wired Magazine today: “TechCrunch Blogger Michael Arrington Can Generate Buzz … and Cash”

“Michael Arrington was sound asleep in his bedroom in Atherton, California, when three men burst in. Naturally, he was startled. His first reaction, he recalls, was to tell them to “get the fuck out.” But he quickly realized they meant no harm. Clad in white business suits and speaking English with a Dutch accent, the apologetic men looked more like dandies on their way to a garden party than criminals.”

The BBC reports on research by Danah Boyd which found that Facebook users come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college while MySpace users tend not to have gone on to further education. While “class” in the US does not map directly to income it is more about social life and networks. Hence Facebook users tend to be white and education oriented while MySpace teenager tend to come from families from immigrant backgrounds.

This rings true in my view, and maps to my view that in the future the really powerful networks will be closed ones. You can’t get to a Facebook profile unless you are registered and it’s not open to the Web. On MySpace anyone – logged in or not – can reach you, and it also reflects a teenager’s general “posture” to the outside world much more because of its public nature.

It’s all very well for Facebook to be smug about it’s new found success but a new report suggests that the latest vogue for social networking is built on the same shaky ground as any other site on the Net which is but a click away.

In particular, MySpace users are chronically unfaithful, according to Parks Associates‘ “Web 2.0 & the New Net,” a new report that focuses on the social networking market. Nearly 40% percent of MySpace users keep profiles on other social networking sites such as Friendster and Facebook. Loyalty among the smaller social networking sites is even lower, with more than 50% of all users actively maintaining multiple profiles.

The report also found that nearly half of all social networkers regularly use more than one site; one in six use three or more. The end result is mish-mash of sites, blogs and profiles tied together by links, widgets, and the users themselves. “MySpace is a growing ecosystem and one that ironically now extends beyond MySpace itself,” said John Barrett, the lead author of the report, “Web 2.0 & the New Net.”

Indeed. Some might say it’s either an “ecosystem” or it’s part of a diaspora to other networks. The jury is out.

Although Parks calls this trend a “fertile ground for new social networking sites and application providers”, the reality is that Facebook is getting all the media airtime at the moment, and one wonders how long MySpace can continue with its tendency towards a walled garden (promoted by aging News Corp. executives) strategy in the wake of such extreme competition.

It’s highly timely that today we learn that the BBC has sent journalist Ben Hammersley to cover Turkey’s upcoming election using blogging, del.icio.us, Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook as a means of distribution. Because I’m working with two entirely independent journalists, who don’t have the BBC’s resources, to do almost the same thing during a three month trip to two Latin American countries.

We have dubbed the project “Letters from Latin America” “The Motorcycle Blog Diaries Project”, in a nod to the movie about Che Guevara (Update: we are still working on the project name). We are looking for a commercial partner - it might be a brand or an online service with social media services, a technology company or perhaps a media company – to sponsor the project.

Here is the brief:



Using words, pictures and video, journalist Deborah Bonello and photojournalist Tom Parker will combine reportage with ‘bearing witness’ in an odyssey around Latin America, updated, virtually live, as they travel. Initially, the pair is proposing this as a trial project running from July until the end of September, taking in Mexico and Guatemala.

- What will the project do?



Bonello and Parker plan to use every social media and blogging tool available to them to tell the stories and record the experiences of both the human narrative and the real-life stories from Latin America. They will showcase the incredible new potential of the newest forms of new media. In fact, The BBC just launched a similar project.

- What will the project’s content be?



Using words, pictures and video, Bonello and Parker will combine reportage with ‘bearing witness’. Armed with a laptop, microphone and digital video and camera, the pair will tell stories via the experiences of individuals to show a global audience how people in the region live and are affected by the situation in their countries.

What is it really like to live in Mexico City, one of the most populous and polluted cities on earth? Why is Guatemala the adoption capital of the world, where British couples get their babies? What is life like for the refugees of the conflict in Columbia?

Reflecting the changing nature of journalism in today’s world, their blog posts and photo essays will cover the stories that the main media channels miss, wandering off the beaten track to record the lives and experiences of people in the region.

The editorial focus will be on honest, in-depth and insightful pieces covering everything from human rights issues, through to music and culture. Taking a primarily journalistic approach, the content will be transparent and factual.

- Who is it aimed at?



The site will generate a conversation with its audience and encourage others to blog about their lives. The team will also will also take requests from audiences who want the team to investigate particular issues or areas in the region, in a collaboration with the online audience.

- What a partner will get out of this project?



The site will generate a conversation with its audience and encourage others to blog about their lives. Any site offering a social media application, such as blogging, photosharing, video or audio would benefit from the PR and press attention around this project and thus communicate the possibilities of online media. Also, a site which wanted to highlight what life is like to live in the South America of today would also benefit.

- Who are these guys?



Deborah Bonello has been a journalist for the last decade, working for UK business magazines as well as the Guardian and the FT. She spent eighteen months working as a freelance foreign correspondent in South America, filing for the BBC, CNN Traveler and the Guardian, amongst others. She is currently studying for a Masters in Human Rights, and continues to work as a journalist.

Tom Parker has contributed to TIME, Marie Claire, Living etc, The Times, The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, the Mirror, Emirates Open Skies, Portfolio Magazine, BBC, Sri Lankan Airlines Magazine, Etihad. He has undertaken commissions for Redux Pictures and NGOs Action Aid, TUC, Save the Children and Aid Sri Lanka.

Mike Butcher, a social media expert and online journalist, is acting as an advisor on the project and will help with online support from the UK.

- What will the site look like?



The team is modeling the project roughly on the “Kevin Sites Hotzone” project with Yahoo But generally speaking it will be a blog web site with photos, video, RSS feeds, widgets and content which is shareable across the web.

- Where does it get posted?



This depends on the partner the team secure. This trip will happen anyway, the question is simply do they build their own blog or do they offer the opportunity to a sponsoring partner? This is an opportunity for a partner to be involved from the start.

- How much does it cost?



The team is budgeting for a figure to cover the costs involved and the time of the two main journalists and one support person in the UK to oversee the site daily. When compared to what it costs for a site to create buzz online via SEO, PR and marketing the costs are significantly lower. This project could generate significant traffic and press attention for its exploits.

CONTACT DETAILS:



Deborah Bonello

Email: dbonello[at]gmail.com

Mobile: +44 (0) 7904 079929

or Mike Butcher

Qualcomm’s MediaFlo says it will beat DVB-H installations by year end. MediaFlo expects to overtake its TV-to-mobile rivals by the end of the year, helped by distribution and take-up on two main US wireless networks (Verizon and AT&T), a surge in Italy and its Korean DMB system. Speaking at BroadcastAsia, Omar Javaid, VP/business development for MediaFlo said MediaFlo also has a commitment from Japan’s KDDI to start transmissions, while Nokia’s patent counter-suit against Qualcomm, alleging it had infringed six patents in its MediaFlo mobile TV technology and in its Brew technology, had not had impact on the business.