6 Reasons WHY Feature Phones need some loving too (Building reach for digital content via feature phones)

"Think about feature phones, they need some loving too ... " I heard this over presentations by Digi and AIS in the 2010 AppXchange Asia event. Granted 3 years have elapsed since the event and all the spotlight these days are given to impressive numbers of smartphones and tablets replacing feature phone users, there are strong reasons for us to think about feature phones and why they need some loving.

(1) Market for feature phones still overwhelm smartphones today

• According to Mary Meeker's Internet Trends 3 Dec 2012 report, whilst there were 1 billion smartphone users globally, that pales in comparison to the 5 billion total mobile phone users worldwide - that's still 4 billion feature phone users worldwide today!
• In emerging markets like Southeast Asia, where the Internet is largely and increasingly experienced via mobile, smartphone penetration is less than 25% on average. 
• Indonesia with its population of 250 million, more than 150 million unique subscribers, has only about 10% smartphone penetration - so, go figure~

(2) Innovation in Mobile Internet Services had existed with feature phones, way before smartphones

• Remember Japan's I-Mode which was a huge success case study in the late 90s to early 2000s?
• In South Korea, even with feature phones then, there were a number of successful case studies and innovation with the likes of mobile loyalty point system OKCashBag, mobile gift voucher system Gifticon from SK Telecom (now SK planet runs this; disclosure: I am now at SK planet).
• It is the developer ecosystems and digital content value chain partners which have been driving the mobile internet service innovation in the era before smartphones, with feature phones (albeit smart as they were already then).

(3) My First Internet, My First Email in emerging markets happened with Nokia (Ovi) feature phones

• Nokia Ovi services which was launched 28 August 2008 (disclosure: I was managing the Nokia Ovi services for Southeast Asia then), provided a number of emerging markets globally with their first Internet, and first email experience.
• A suite of mobile internet services - contents and calendars sync, photo and video sharing, files sync across PC and mobile, maps and navigation, mobile music, mobile social gaming and mobile apps downloads (sound familiar?) were made available already in those earlier years, to users of Nokia feature and Symbian phones (in those days, the N-series (with Maps, Mobile TV services etc), E-series (Push email, mobile device management and PIM sync services) as well as the iconic Nokia Communicator were the smartphones).
• Nokia Life Tools, a sms-based information subscription service for the emerging markets (China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria etc), with more than 95 million users to date, has provided agricultural, educational, healthcare and entertainment service offerings to Nokia feature phone users.

(4) eBooks are thriving and growing with feature phones

• In China, people have already been reading ebooks on their mobile phones and now increasingly on low-cost tablets (more than 75% feature phones - Mary Meeker's Dec 2012 Internet Trends report) with a market size of about $90 million (PwC data). Anecdotally, this figure could well be worth more than $300 million, given China consumers subscribe to ebook stories on sms and mms packages on their mobile - given more than 75% are feature phone users - Mary Meeker's Dec 2012 Internet Trends report).

(5) Social chat messaging is also gaining support and growing via feature phones

• Nimbuzz who has 120 million users today, largely in India and Middle East, is expanding into Singapore, Indonesia and other Southeast Asia markets with its social chat supporting feature phones and smartphones, through partnerships with mobile operators.
• NHN Japan is partnering with Nokia to push their Naver Line social chat service to the next 200 million in 2013, via Nokia's best selling Asha feature phones line-up.

(6) Cloud will enable "smart" feature phones

• biNu is Your Smartphone in the Cloud cloud-based software platform that delivers popular internet services and digital content fast and with low bandwidth for an efficient mobile experience to both feature and smartphones. It is backed by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt's TomorrowVentures.
• In fact, through biNu, romance publisher Harlequin (refer to first demo video below) and Worldreader (refer to second video below) will be offering eBooks through cloud-based eBook reader apps on feature phones who are now made "smart" by the biNu efficient cloud-based service platform. 

Well, 2 more areas to look out at for feature phones are in mobile social gaming with Migg33 (huge in Indonesia, South Africa etc) and mobile advertising (Buzzcity).

Are you convinced yet on the why feature phones today still need some loving attention if businesses are looking to grow and expand their mobile internet business globally?


Let's engage,
Nelson Wee
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonwee
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.com/nelsonwee
Twitter: @nelsonwee

Photo credit: vernieman / Foter.com / CC BY

What does today's Cloud mean for tomorrow's Digital Life?

Today, the ubiquity of "cloud" and its computing, platform and infrastructure opportunities are offering new ways of offering value to consumers from both a business to consumer (B2C) or a business to business (B2B) perspective. Consuming content via the cloud is not new - we have in the last couple of decades been accessing data and applications via private networks (via VPNs, EDI etc) and later public networks (via the Internet).  However, it is the increasing (need for) digitisation of contents and pervasive mobility offered via low-cost PCs, tablets and smartphones or mobile devices, which is leveling the playing field in terms of availing the media creation and consumption globally - bringing forth the new order of Digital Life.  A recent article which I came across "Digital cloud devours our books, CDs, DVDs, photos" evidenced the changing content consumption behavior with the digital cloud.

So, how will today's cloud impact on tomorrow's digital life?  I have put down the following 3 areas for further discussion.



(1) Big Data becomes Action Data

• 1 of the 2012 trends I highlighted in my earlier post was Data Science.
• Operators, over-the-top (OTT) players and other ecosystem players start collaborating in various forms and work to reach their (global, local) glocal customers.
• From cloud, voice and big data, petabytes of customers' consumption data will be turned into shared insights and soon, customers could get told of what they would want next - cool huh?
  

(2) Building Symbiotic Ecosystems

• Through partnerships and collaborations, content partners become excited with their soon global, regional, local (i.e. glocal) play and cross-platform reach.
• The value chain of media-commerce-data start getting stitched together in the digital life  ecosystem.
• Ecosystem players develop a symbiotic cross-platform play in mobile (from feature phones to smartphones to tablets), broadband (PC, Ultrabooks), TV (with triple play!) as well as retail and other associative online (eShop, social media, online portal) touch-points.

And the beauty of it? The ecosystem could be scaled in the cloud - be it public or private.



(3) Connecting People to a new World of Entertainment

• The downtime of consumers will never be the same again.
• Consumers can read an ebook (local or international bestseller), or go hunting for treasures online, offline or a hybrid of both, with a mobile social game.
• Jurassic Park can suddenly come alive from your mobile device.

And the most beautiful part?
The Digital Life ecosystem will be developing transmedia offers with ancillary product and revenue opportunities in packaging mobile games, trading cards, ebooks, print books (via screenplays), movies, VOD, DVDs, online communities, celebrity endorsements, TV shows ... you get the drift. 

Here are some examples:

1. "Adventures of Tin Tin" (from graphic novel to screenplay movie, novel)
2. Animal Kaiser trading card game - see pic above. 
3. mobile social games from Gree.

And yeah, marketing and selling becomes loads more fun than before!  Have a look at how a  popular Gree mobile social game Doliland (which is making a tune of US$50million/mth in Japan!) is being promoted via TVCs with a local Japanese band.




What are your thoughts on what the new Digital Life will herald?


talk soon,
Nelson Wee
engage with me via @nelsonwee

Beyond Hardcovers & Paperbacks - Is Evolution Necessary? (All In! Young Writers Media Festival 2012)

With the opening of skoob, Singapore's 1st local eBook Store in November 2010, I, a self-professed book (print, digital and all) lover myself, have achieved my life-long ambition in opening a book store and entering the books business.  Awesome tick mark there!

It's also has been an honour for me to have been invited by the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) for the 18 Feb opening keynote address for the All In! Young Writers Media Festival 2012, entitled "Beyond Hardcovers and Paperbacks - Is Evolution Necessary?" This event acts as a platform for young writers in Singapore from the ages of 16 (Secondary 4) to 25 (Junior College, ITE, Polytechnic, Tertiary institution), who are interested in writing and publishing (print, digital).

In my previous posts on the market trends on eBooks and digital publishing, I had started to put together about a number of related topics leading to my presentation:

• Consumer are buying time - time is a premium in today's time-starved marketplace
• How content consumption is going mobile - media consumption is changing as your mobile is near and personal
• 1-2-3 to the eBook market - where I introduced the eBooks growth trends, multi-screen consumption, opportunities as ancillary channels
• Why the Rise of eBooks (and opportunities to expand ancillary channels)? - where I discussed the promising market growth in eBook market regionally and in Singapore
• Introducing skoob, Singapore's 1st hyperlocal eBookstore - the launch of skoob
• Poll: Changing Reading Habits? - changing reading habits of American readers in today's e-reader age

Given the adoption of ebooks growing fast globally, the market landscape for content consumption has been transforming over the last couple of years with the advent of a myraid of mobile devices beyond the laptops and feature phones. In fact with today's "touch generation" and the increasing number of available options to access digital content (e.g. eBooks), today's on-the-go consumers are starting to go beyond printed books and consuming books via multiple screens and devices. As such, we start to see today's authors and content publishers starting to recognise the opportunities availed via mobile devices as ancillary channels to their target consumer segments - be where your audience will be.

(Extended version) Beyond hardcovers & paperbacks is evolution necessary? 1st Day Keynote at the All In! Young Writers Media Event 18 FEB 2012

View more PowerPoint from Nelson Wee

The 2 day event showcased a very engaging agenda, which included interesting topics from audience management with social media engagement to your content, new media creative writing experiences and techniques, to the final day closing panel around "Fate of the book stores - are death bells ringing for the brick and mortar book retailers".

I look forward to hear your comments on the eBook and e-reading market phenomena.


Talk soon,
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee

8 link trend-mapping on eBooks and edtech opportunities

I introduced in my last post about edtech's market opportunities in education enrichment.  Here is a quick 8 link trend-mapping on eBooks and edtech today and moving forward, which would be shaping the digital consumption of eBook content, associated rich media and education content.

Key trends in ebooks & education enrichment

View more PowerPoint from Nelson Wee

There are ancillary products and channels which could arise, e.g. for children, education enrichment market opportunities.

I look forward to your inputs on my views above as well as engage with you on your take in your markets.

Talk soon,
Nelson Wee
Twitter: @nelsonwee
Photo credit: dianecordell / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

5 Hot Trends to watch in 2012

It is at the point of the year​ when market experts and watchers, silicon valley VCs alike, put forth their points of view on what could be the top and hot trends to look out for in the upcoming year.  Cloud, social and mobility are the easy 3 to mouth out and these will indeed be the key drivers in enabling both existing and new industry sectors to expand into new growth areas.






And so, without further ado, here are my pick (some read, some my added views) on 5 hot trends to watch for in 2012.

(1) EdTech

The Education industry has never been hotter. Every market and government (emerging, mature markets alike) are looking to leverage the pervasive computing devices like smartphones and tablets and bringing the education journey into the classroom and beyond. eBooks (children storybooks, self-improvement books), eTextbooks, eAssessments etc are in the markets and will take to the next level of growth in 2012 with increased interactivity and rich media to attract the new generation of learning minds.


(2) Data Science

In a market research conducted by MasterCard on Singaporeans recently, Internet surfing came in 3rd amongst the top fav activities of Singaporeans, behind eating (dining) and shopping.

Whenever our consumer fires up their browser and visits our sites or others, there're a huge load of behavioral data which could be harnessed and studied for our profiling and future use.


(3) Collaborative Consumption

With the price of cars going through the roof, and the rental car market coming up, will there be an opportunity for a peer to peer time-sharing opportunity here in Singapore? In the US, ZipCar appears to be successful. Perhaps apps or content rental could come into the fore as consumers and small enterprises are getting used to cloud-based services and move on to new experiences with other contents and media.


(4) Content grows more pervasive, being available online/offline

Global players like Google are looking to enter both emerging and their mature markets with solutions which cater to all segments. Take for instance Google Books, which will now be also availed offline. I see a not too distant future when Google Maps will be availed as a hybrid (online and offline) solutions.


(5) Merchants grow out of daily deals and look for tangible business models and relationship with their customers

Loyalty cards companies like Perx are looking to get a piece of the market being thrown away by the Groupons of the world who have sown disillusionment into a large number of disgruntled merchants who do not see repeat customers coming and revenue growing, after the daily deals effect have worn off.

Could loyalty card companies like Perx or social content feed marketing companies like Taggo or companies who could market and promote time or inventory limited offers (much like how airlines deal with revenue management), form the next wave to watch out for in terms of merchant e-commmerce?

What are your top trends for 2012?


Happy 2012 in advance and look forward to hear from you.

Nelson Wee
or engage with me at @nelsonwee

References:
Silicon Valley VCs predict top trends for 2012

Poll: Changing Reading Habits?

According to a 19-SEP 2011 Harris poll conducted on American readers, the following findings were made:

1. 1 in 6 Americans use an e-reader and will likely get an e-reader in the next 6 months.
2. Users of e-readers will more likely both read more and buy more books than non e-reader users.
1. 16% of non e-reader users read 11 to 20 books a year, compared with 32% of e-reader users
2. 10% of non-e-reader users buy 11-20 books in the past year as compared with 17% of e-reader users.
3. Most popular genres for fiction​ comprise Mystery, thriller and crime.
4. Most popular genres for non-fiction comprise biographies, , history and religious/spirituality.
5. 79% of Echo Boomers (18 - 34 years) read fiction whilst 68% read non-fiction in the past year.
6. 73% of Gen X (35 - 46 years) read fiction whilst 82% read non-fiction in the past year.

What are your reading habits like?
a) how many print books do you read in a year?
b) how many print books do you buy in a year?
c) do you read ebooks with your smartphone, tablet or PC? And if so, how many do you read and buy in a year?

I look forward to hear your views.

Nelson Wee
connect with me on Twitter @nelsonwee

Introducing skoob, Singapore's 1st hyperlocal eBookstore

The ebook market in Singapore is in its early stage of growth. From my previous 2 posts "1-2-3 to the eBook market" and "Why the rise of eBooks (and opportunities to expand ancillary channels)?", the ebooks market is seen to be gathering momentum globally and having an impact to the market here in Singapore.

The US is leading the charge in the market for ebooks globally (with the introduction of the Amazon Kindle), where according to a survey by BookStats on the US publishing industry, that:

• In 2008, ebooks comprise 0.6% (or US$156M)) of the total trade books market. Publishers made net revenue of ~US$26B in 2008.
• In 2010, this number grew to 6.4% of the total trade books market, or US$1.8B (sales of 114M ebooks). Publishers made net revenue of ~US$28B in 2010.

The PWC report on "the future of ebooks" projected that share of consumer books sales by ebooks will grow to more than 22% in 2015.


From the local Singapore context, there have been also encouraging signs on ebook take-up seen from the following reading habits of Singaporeans:

(1) Sales of books in Singapore (according to Datamonitor report) in 2008 is SGD $190M and to grow to $215M in 2011, $232M in 2013 (CAGR ’08-’13 of 4.1%).

(2) From the Singapore Journal of Library & Information Management,

• 27.5% of Singaporeans placed reading as their most preferred leisure time activity.
• While average reader in Singapore reads about 5 books a year, about 10% of readers do read more than 30 books a year.

(3) From an IDA study done in 2009 on infocomm access in households, it was gathered that the primary activity for ~3% of Internet users (110k out of total number of Internet users in Singapore, more than 3.7M) were on reading online magazines and electronic books.


To augment the above in terms of market potential, in Singapore, there are 3 more reasons why the eBooks or mobile books market is set to take off here in Singapore.

1. There is more than 145% in mobile penetration in Singapore (encompassing smartphones and tablets).
2. The vast majority of consumers here have data-enabled plans.
3. Many consumers here have multiple devices (smartphones, tablets) today.
   

Now with the launch of skoob, Singapore's 1st eBookstore (disclosure: I lead the team in the launch of skoob eBookstore), the eBook market in Singapore looks set to grow from strength to strength. And the below listed benefits for consumers celebrate this moving forward.

1. Firstly, skoob aims to meet the digital lifestyle needs of Singapore's increasingly on-the-go consumers with its multiplatform, multi-device stores. You could access skoob on your PC, Mac, laptops, iPads, Android Tablets, iPhones and Android smartphones! No more having to wait for your book to arrive at your door-step!
2. Furthermore with personal space being at a premium in Singapore, going digital is not only green but also frees up space in one’s living areas for other needs. With skoob, consumers here can also access, buy and download their eBook(s), each on up to 5 devices (PCs, Mac, laptops, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, Android smartphones).
3. Previously, consumers in Singapore had to jump over many hoops to buy ebooks. To read ebooks on a Kindle for example, consumers had to order a Kindle via post (Kindle is not shipped directly to Singapore) and get an Amazon gift card or a US credit card to pay for the eBooks. Now with skoob, consumers in Singapore can buy eBooks from their PCs, laptops, tablets (iPad, Android) or smartphones (iPhones, Android) etc and pay via their Singapore local credit cards or via their monthly operator bill if they are SingTel mobile customers.
4. Previously, there was no local e-bookstore to cater to the tastes and needs of Singaporeans. But now with skoob, Singapore consumers can now get hold of more than 50,000 e-books from international bestsellers such as “A game of thrones” by George Martin or “Aleph” by Paulo Coelho to important sought after local content such as "Giants of Asia: Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew", Mr. Midnight series of children’s stories, and of course, the essential study and assessment guides from Popular Books.

I look forward to hear from you on your feedback on the eBook market trends in the world, Asia or even in Singapore and of course, your feedback on skoob as well. Never stop reading, whenever, whereever~


Later,
Nelson Wee
find me on Twitter as well

References:
1. CNet Asia - SingTel announces "skoob" eBook store in Singapore
2. Channel NewsAsia - Flip Skoob to read and study
3. ZDNet - Singapore telco offers country's first e-book app
4. AsiaOne - Singapore's first e-book service launched
5. The Register - SingTel launches e-reader
6. TODAY online - Too cool for Skoob

Why the Rise of eBooks (and opportunities to expand ancillary channels)?

In my previous post on the "1-2-3 to the eBook market", I discussed about:

1. how eBook adoption is growing fast globally
2. how ebooks could and are being consumed via multiple screen sizes and devices (i.e. PC, laptops, tablets and smartphones)
3. how eBooks and eMagazines could provide opportunities as ancillary channels (and revenues)

It's with no surprise that with the market trends and opportunities in digital publishing that we are seeing today globally (e.g. in the US, UK) that digitization of books and mobile consumption is on the rise in Asia Pacific as well.  In China, sales of digital content ran up sales of US$1B in 2009.  Annecdotally, I have heard from a China publisher (who deals in both print and digital eBooks in China) that sales of eBooks in China (including probably mobile comics) have grown to about SGD $200-300M - now, that's HUGE!

In Singapore, the market landscape is posturing nicely for digital publishing as well:

• with 3.7M Internet users,
• accompanying market growth in the mobile internet, with the proliferation of tablets, and smartphones rapidly replacing feature phones,
• 185k consumers or ~5% of all Singaporean Internet users, 15 years old and above have purchased eBooks, eMagazines or eNewspapers (source: IDA 2009 Infocomm survey of households).
• An average reader in Singapore will read up to 5 books a year whilst a heavy reader (10% of all readers) will read about 30 books a year.

It is hence with this market momentum that I have finally achieving my life-long ambition in being part of the launch of a book store, albeit an eBookstore here in Singapore (with my current employment in SingTel).  Have a look at the introduction video below on skoob at http://www.skoob.com.sg/ , probably Singapore's 1st eBookstore!

Look forward to hear your feedback. 

Til later, Nelson Wee
Connect with me on Twitter @nelsonwee

References:
1. Why Cell Phones will Dominate the E-Book Market in China?
2. My slideshare presentation on "How Digital Publishing Can Expand Ancillary Channels"

How Digital Publishing Can Expand Ancillary Channels

View more presentations from Nelson Wee

1-2-3 to the eBook market

In my previous post, I wrote about how content consumption is going increasingly mobile as mobile devices are personal and always near you.  In this day and age of the Mobile Internet when time is now compressed more than ever, consumers are adapting their lifestyles in various activities like reading.  With the introduction of the Amazon Kindle in 2007 in the US and rest of the world in 2009, eBooks and eMagazines are now changing the ways consumers are interacting with the book media.

Here is a quick 1-2-3 to the eBook market:

(1) eBooks Global Market adoption: US leads, followed by the UK, emergent in Rest of the World

• Books business is BIG BUSINESS - around the world, people spent US$108 billion on books in 2009.
• In the US, eBooks have grown from 0.6 percent in 2008 of the total books trade  market, to 3% in 2009 and more recently to 7% in 2010.  Expect to see eBooks to have a market share of 22.5% of consumer books in 2015!
• The UK while lagging behind the US with 1.5% market share of consumer books in 2010 is expected to see this share rise to 14.2% in 2015

(2) eBooks can be consumed across multiple screens and ways

• eReaders (Amazon Kindle introduced in 2007) as the dedicated  eReading device which ensures a real book reading experience.
• Tablets (iPad in introduced in 2010) as the multifunction alternative reading devices, while on the move, e.g. with eMagazines.
• Smartphones for short mobile sequels read during daily commute.
• PCs, laptops which are great for reading special interest group eBooks, reference, education books.

(3) eBooks and eMagazines provide opportunities as ancillary channels

• Publishers can look forward to reinvent themselves in the book publishing value chain as content providers.
• With eBooks, publishers now have in their hands ancillary channels to market with potentially lower costs and higher margins.
• Publishers could earn ancillary revenues by going beyond the text in the books and repurposing the content to audio, video and even games.

Just like music, tv and video, the books industry has been experiencing disruptive changes in differing degrees around the world - led by the US and impacting the rest of the world through the proliferation of the mobile internet and multimedia consumption devices.

If you are a publisher, are you looking into eBooks?  If not, why?

If you are a consumer, how would you see eBooks changing your reading behaviors, now and in the future? 

Look forward to your views.


warm regards, later~
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee

How content consumption is going mobile

How people have been used to consuming content before and how they are doing so today have changed dramatically over the last 20 years.  Content consumption has become more portable as mobile devices (smartphones, tablets etc) become more personal and always near at hand.

Mobile is Personal
It probably all started when we could start personalize the ring tone of your Nokia mobile phone in the 90s.  With that one feature sprang forth a large following and business for downloadable ring tones.  Thereafter with the advent of iTunes, there was no stopping music going portable.

It was also in the late nineties that the Snake game in Nokia mobile phones enraptured a community of Nokia loyalists into mobile gaming.  The mobile games business grew from strength to strength since then and ever more so today with the proliferation of smartphones and games with richer game-play.

The mobile has become ever more so personal with your favourite music and games mobile and portable, by your side.

Mobile is always near
Newspapers have not been spared.  The time has come to a pass when Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has published the digital copy of the Straits Times as an iPad, iPhone app.  With time looked upon as a premium by the current Gen-X professionals and Gen-Ys not known to read physical print, SPH is looking to engage these lost readers through the other more in-their-face screens, i.e. tablets (largely iPads today) and smartphones.

Besides newspapers, more screen time on tablets and smartphones with digital versions of magazines and books have also encroached upon our daily lives.  Bookstores are disappearing one by one. In Singapore, I bade a sad farewell to the landmark Borders bookstore at Wheelock Place recently.  With the mobile internet always in your hand whether from your tablet or smartphone, you now have easy access to your favourite magazine or book, whereever you are.  Never stop reading.  Never stop learning.  No more downtime. No need to think about which book or magazine to bring along.  It is also said that consumers now buy eBooks or eMagazines without thinking, more spontaneously so, as they require physical storage and are with you all the time!

For devoted readers of novels, people who sometimes voraciously consume several books in a single week, eBooks are a natural fit.  With this new transitionary digital age, eBooks are now availed on the first day the physical book is published and can be about the same price as well (at times, more affordable too!)  It comes with no surprise that eBook best-seller lists are now packed with the genre novels that have traditionally dominated paperback best-seller lists.

I have not yet touched on video but with YouTube being the world's second largest search engine and third most visited site, I reckon you get the drift on where's video going. [Added 7-OCT 2011]: According to a Nielsen India study, Indian Smartphone Users are now seen to be moving towards Data, Games and Content, and Away From SMS.
With content consumption habits changing with content consumption going more mobile, mobile apps with content could provide us with a number of ancillary channels and ancillary revenue opportunities. Although the type of content, (shorter) length of attention of your audience on your content from the mobile devices would need to be pondered upon, it has also been observed that consumers who read eBooks (not replacing books) are consuming more books - Amazon Kindle users buying 3.3 times more books after owning a Kindle.

What are your thoughts and observations?


Look forward to hear from you,
Nelson Wee
engage with me at @nelsonwee

Reference links:
1. Is “stickiness” a thing of the past?
2. The Dog-Eared Paperback, Newly Endangered in an E-Book Age
3. Indian Smartphone Users moving towards Data, Games and Content, and Away From SMS
4. The ABCs of E-Reading (new devices are changing habits)

3 Trends in Social Media & Web 3.0 (Part 2)

For those of you who have kids, you probably will be able to associate lots with the never-ending "barrage" of demands of your kids on why is the PC so slow or has no sound (my son cannot wait for the sound driver to load up) or hey dad, have you booked movie tickets to "Percy Jackson and the ..."?  Utterly useless to try reasoning that your kid is too impatient or that you need some time to wind down before proceeding with the tasks at hand.  And so, I see ...

(2) My Life Needs to be Served by a Click (and Quickly)
In a previous 2009 post, I wrote about how kids nowdays multi-tasks more and more.  Kids, youths, innate (or evolved) Digital Natives as they are, live and order their lives with clicks at a PC, with a mobile phone, with a TV remote and so on.  To get to the required information and service, there is hence an increasing focus into the semantic relevancy in search.  You see this in Microsoft's positioning and development of their new search engine, Bing, as a decision engine.
A number of partnerships and integration between Google and Twitter integration with Social Search, Bing Search in Facebook, Bing and Twitter integration in search etc, have also sprouted in the recent months

GPS-enabled mobile phones have recently also introduced and increasingly started the market proliferation of location-based apps, with free maps (with Google Maps, Nokia Ovi Maps), augmented reality (e.g. Point and Find), cloud-based tags (wikipedia information, bookmarks, information of points of interests) and social sharing.  Apps like Wikitude or Yelp showcase this capability.

E-book readers are increasingly also moving into color as well as supporting more multimedia content formats other than ebooks like games, with the recently announced Amazon.com Kindle development to launch its own apps store, and moving beyond ebook contents leading this market trend.

Enterprising developers are also looking to attract consumers with a richer ebook experience with Vooks (refering to Video Books) which comprise of ebook, great videos and further augmented with social comments, and available for both PCs and Mobile devices.

The Zip Cars service in the US is a great example of an end to end "click and mortar" or online-offline hybrid service.  A consumer could find a nearby car to rent, unlock the car with an app and zip off quickly to his appointment venue.

Examples are aplenty.

Next coming (3) Privacy is but a window away.

til later,
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee


Photo credit: NA.dir / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

More reading reference links:
1. Google flexes Twitter integration with Social Search Lab
2. Google Social Search, and Twitter integration
3. HUGE: Microsoft Inks Deals With Twitter and Facebook to Put Status Updates in Bing
4. Google Social Search, Bing Twitter Integration, Yahoo Site Explorer
5. [Updated 17-FEB] and now MySpace Goes Real Time With Google Search
6. [Updated 17-FEB] Google's Social Search and Discovery