Uncool Mobility

Web 2.0 implosion begins; FB Connect signals end of two social networking startups

As FaceBook starts its marketing & PR for Connect, smaller social networking startups (whose ability to post and read across SN platforms was a main differentiator) are folding. FB is aggressively moving to control the social addressbook / social graph and the plunging economy will aid its efforts.

"Facebook Connect--the service launched last spring that lets members log on to other Web sites using their Facebook profile--appears to be entering a new phase. The New York Times, in a big-picture story Sunday about the social network's plans to extend its reach across the Web, notes that the Facebook Connect service is gearing up for expansion: In the next few weeks, a number of prominent Web sites will weave this service into their pages, including those of the Discovery Channel and The San Francisco Chronicle, the social news site Digg, the genealogy network Geni, and the online video hub Hulu"

The reaction:

Pownce closed, team members are going to blogging provider SixApart

TruTap, a UK mobile social networking aggregator, lays off 80% of staff while looking for exit

Zune phone rumours again

Sounds like another mis-reading of Microsoft's stated intent to layer web services directly into WM OS, but who knows maybe there really is another partner killing move coming from Microsoft mobile.

Microsoft's Zune To Evolve Into New "Pink" Smart Phone? - Tech Check with Jim Goldman - CNBC.com.

Boston-based startup OnePIN's CallerXchange Social Address Book Getting Momentum

A startup out of Boston is having success selling white-label social networking services based on mobile device address books. I believe this startup is correct in identifying the address book as the battle ground for the next generation of mobile services.

OnePIN's CallerXchange Social Address Book Solution Gains Global Momentum - WebsiteGear News.

The challenge for OnePIN and similar companies will be to extend services deeply enough to provide revenue-generating value while FaceBook (with its Connect strategy) and established players rapidly add similar features.

Social networking transforming to mobile social address book?

This article about the lack of true solutions for how business users actually use their mobile address books and manage contacts has attracted a lot of attention. I think he gets it right in his "key features" list.

I love this quote from the article: "Facebook is working on something in this area, but won't say what. Yesterday at the GigaOM Mobilize conference in San Francisco, an audience member pointed out to a panel that a phone's address book in fact is that person's social network. Facebook VP Chamath Palihapitiya responded with: "That's a great observation. Stay tuned." That sounds to me like Facebook will be announcing something in this area soon."

CTIA Wireless wrapup from San Francisco

I spent last week in San Francisco at CTIA Wireless. The biggest takeaways I had were:

Apple dominated the show. The extent to which the iPhone has shaken up both service and device aspects of the industry was widely evident as the not-present Apple was constantly mentioned.

Business as usual for RIM. RIM had formal product announcements and booth appearances for the new flip phone and Bold, both of which have been extensively picked over in blogs. RIM also announced content partnerships in the form of specific applications to be natively built BB with MySpace, Ticketmaster, and a streaming audio startup called "Slacker" which I'd never heard of. Microsoft will also have Live search bundled on the RIM OS. As other service providers focus on creating a platform (and specifically an appstore) RIM seems determined to keep with a one-by-one approach of selecting partners to co-develop applications. Will this scale as a model?

Search is rapidly being co-opted into the same structure as web-based search.  I had thought mobile search would see different UIs, different ontologies/taxonomies driving definitions, and a new vertical within internet search but clearly that will not happen. The need to drive growth rates in ad spending has stomped all the smaller players as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft invest to extend reach to mobile. Search is also becoming a trojan horse to package and/or pull related applications (such as Google apps or Windows Live Hotmail) onto devices.

Operators continue to struggle with "open" and by resisting concepts of openness for so long are now deeply in the hole trying to launch app stores. Verizon and ATT in particular are scrambling to catch up on this front but will not be able to move quickly enough to overcome iTunes + AppStore, the Android app store, and RIM's selected partnering model. Waiting in the wings: Microsoft Mesh.

Yahoo had the only significant new play. Blueprint and its integration into the new OneConnect is an interesting system that will dig into in a future post. Is it too late for Yahoo as a company despite innovative new products and services?

Firefox gets Zuned

Chrome Strong Against Firefox And Safari, IE Untouched - The Channel Wire - IT Channel News And Views by CRN and VARBusiness.

Article citing early claims that Chrome will indeed take share from partners rather than the market share leader, IE.

Microsoft bundles subscription Office software, Live services; brands as "Equipt"

Microsoft announced it is launching an annual subscription package called "Equipt" bundling Office Home and Student 2007 suite with Windows Live Services, Office Live Workspace, and Windows Live OneCare, for US $69.99 annually. It can be installed on up to three PCs.

The included software suite averages about $125 retail price if purchased as shrinkwrapped software, the included OneCare is priced at $49.99/yr as a standalone service.

This package bundles some of Microsoft's less successful online services with a stripped down Office suite. The combination of the world's most common productivity software with online storage, messaging, and malware protection raises the bar for competing services such as Google docs. Bundling one of its strongest cash contributors with free services indicates Microsoft will continue to wrap existing free online assets as value-added components to SaaS offers targeting both mobile and desktop. This is Microsoft's most substantial step toward "software plus services" and the first signal Microsoft will sacrifice cannibalizing existing revenue streams.

Note also the selection of storage and security as the first services to bundle.

The service will be sold initially through Circuit City and will expand to other distributors and suppliers.

Product/service components:

Office Home and Student comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote but not Outlook.

Windows Live Services include Messenger, Photo Gallery, Live Writer, and Live Toolbar and will also provide the mail component of this suite (Windows Live Mail, not Hotmail).

Windows Live OneCare is an annual subscription service which installs a PC client to scan for viruses and automatically seek the latest security updates to Microsoft software. It is pitched as "pro-active, anti-malware subscription service".

Office Live Workspace enables remote storage and sharing of Office documents.

This isn't going to get any coverage (who's the genius launching this mid-week two days before a huge summer holiday in the US?) but it's a huge move.

Nokia takes Symbian open source (cross-posting)

Cross posted at my other blog, big news today that Nokia is buying out Symbian and taking it open source.

Microsoft Live comes to Blackberries: Coopetition at its best

Microsoft and RIM announced Blackberries will support Live services (Hotmail, Messenger). That must have been a fun set of discussions!

This shows the struggles of even the largest portals in leveraging online assets to the mobile world.