November 13th, 2008

MySpace comes to Blackberry

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 8:57 am

Categories: Mobile, MySpace, Social Networks

Tags: RIM BlackBerry, MySpace, Smart Phones, Handhelds, Channel Management, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Marketing, Steve O'Hear

It was only a few days ago that I noted how Facebook and social networking as a whole is fueling the mobile web. And news comes today that RIM have released a native MySpace client for its Blackberry line of smartphones. A move that also reinforces the company’s push to take the Blackberry brand beyond its enterprise roots to also target consumers.

Key features of the new MySpace client include the ability to:

• Send and receive MySpace mail
• Update your Status and Mood
• View and send Bulletins
• Add comments
• Post your photos

The new MySpace for Blackberry app is available at www.blackberry.com/myspace or m.myspace.com via the Blackberry’s web browser. Notably, RIM list ‘social networking‘ as a ‘device feature’ alongside email, organise, browser, media playback etc., with MySpace listed together with applications for Flickr and of course Facebook.

November 13th, 2008

Microsoft gives Windows Live a social networking makeover

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 8:15 am

Categories: Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Mobile, Social Networks, Twitter, Yahoo

Tags: Network, Microsoft Windows Live, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows, Social Networking, Operating Systems, Software, Online Communications, Marketing, Advertising & Promotion

Microsoft have announced a major overhaul of its Windows Live service that, similar to Yahoo’s ‘Open Strategy’, rewires the company’s suite of consumer web-based products — e-mail, instant messaging, photo sharing, blogging and more — to turn them into one interconnected social network. To do that, Microsoft is leveraging a user’s existing Windows Live Messenger contacts to create an instant friends list across all Windows Live properties.

And in a feature that borrows directly from Facebook, which Microsoft invested in last year, the new Windows Live includes a a “what’s new” feed that aggregate a user’s activities on Windows Live and third-party site across the web. Initial partners include Flickr, LinkedIn, Pandora, Photobucket, Twitter, WordPress and Yelp — though no sign of Facebook yet, despite that hefty investment.

See also: Yahoo wants to be your social web ‘control panel’ too

The strategy Microsoft is adopting is simple and a rather familiar one. The company wants to become a user’s one stop shop for all things social on the web. And conceding that it isn’t the market leader, and will probably never be, when it comes to the majority of social web products — aside from IM where Windows Live Messenger is number one — the new Windows Live is also attacking the social networking aggregator space, putting it in direct competition with singly-focused products such as FriendFeed or the social networking aggregator features of monolithic networks e.g. Facebook Connect. Read the rest of this entry »

November 11th, 2008

Is Facebook the mobile web's killer app?

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 8:29 am

Categories: Facebook, Mobile

Tags: Web, Facebook, Mobile, Killer Application, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Steve O'Hear, INQ, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics

Active users of Facebook’s various mobile products has grown from 5 million to 15 million since the beginning of the year, says the company. In particular, the ability for users to not only update their ’status’ while on the go but also to comment on their friends’ updates, has spurred mobile use of the site.

“When we recently added the ability to comment on your friends’ status updates to the Facebook mobile site, we didn’t expect that we would receive nearly a million status comments in the first 24 hours”, writes Facebook’s Wayne Chang on the company’s official blog.

While that particular tidbit is interesting, it should be no surprise that mobile versions of Facebook are proving popular. Not when you take into account that Facebook offers two browser-based mobile versions of the site — one for low-end feature phones and another for ’smart phones’ — as well as native Facebook clients for Blackberry, Palm and iPhone. Notably, the Palm version runs on the smartphone maker’s entry level consumer offering, the popular and affordable Centro. While television ad campaigns that aim to push the Blackberry beyond its business roots and into the hands of consumers pitch Facebook access as a major selling point. Ditto some of the most recent ad campaigns for Apple’s iPhone. Read the rest of this entry »

September 23rd, 2008

Gphone and Android will fuel the social web

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 6:11 am

Categories: Google, Mobile

Tags: Google Android, Mobile, T-Mobile Sidekick, Social Web, Social Networking, Advertising & Promotion, Online Communications, Marketing, Steve O'Hear

We’ve already seen the iPhone become a fertile ground for social networking applications and other forms of social software, thanks to its public Software Development Kit and modern standards-based web browser, but arguably Google’s Android mobile platform will have an even greater impact on the social web.

See also: Gallery: 25+ social networking apps for iPhone and iPod touch

The first so-called ‘Gphone’ powered by Android will be officially unveiled later today by T-Mobile, and based on leaked photos, combined with what we already know about Android, the handset (called the G1) shares a lot with Apple’s iPhone but also, unsurprisingly, takes a few cues from the T-Mobile Sidekick. The Sidekick is designed by Danger Inc., a company previously co-founded by Android head Andy Rubin, and was one of the first smartphones targeted at the consumer market by pitching Instant Messaging and non-corporate email as the centerpiece of the device. (Hence the slide-out QWERTY keyboard which the Android-powered G1 shares). Read the rest of this entry »

August 14th, 2008

Snap2Face: Facebook lands on Windows Mobile

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 12:28 pm

Categories: Facebook, Mobile

Tags: Facebook, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Mobile, Friend, Photograph, Snap2Face 1.0, Microsoft Windows, Advertising & Promotion, Operating Systems, Construction

Just like their iPhone, Palm and Blackberry brethren, Windows Mobile users now have a native Facebook client for their cellphone. Snap2Face isn’t an official effort but comes courtesy of New Jersey-based Magnifoca Inc.

Although I haven’t had chance to test the application as I don’t currently have access to a Windows Mobile device, here is a quick list of supported features:

• Set your status while on-the-go
• View friends’ status and detailed information
• View friends’ friends and send friendship requests
• Get notified of events like wall post, message,
  poke, and friend request
• View your pokes, wall, inbox, and friend requests,
  all in full text
• Poke friends, send message to friends, and post
  on friends’ wall
• Access you and your friends’ photo albums
• Ability to view, zoom in/out, and pan full-sized
  photos, and play slideshow
• Upload photos from built-in camera or file folder
• Import friends’ profile photos to Outlook Contacts
• (photo Call ID)

Magnifoca says that Snap2Face has proven very popular during its beta period, and that the application meets pent up demand for a native Facebook app due to limitations of Pocket IE, the mobile browser that ships with most Win Mobile devices.

Snap2Face 1.0 is compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0/6.x (Pocket PC or smartphone), and is available as a free download from Magnifoca’s website.

August 11th, 2008

BlueWhaleMail: Facebook messages "pushed" to your cellphone

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 10:17 am

Categories: Facebook, Mobile, Social Networks

Tags: facebook, cell phone, bluewhalemail, cellular phones, e-mail, instant messaging, consumer electronics, personal technology, online communications, internet

I’m not a fan of Facebook’s messaging system, but for many it’s fast replacing email.

This maybe in part due to the convenience offered by Facebook by aggregating all of a user’s social interactions online in one place. Another possible reason being that Facebook’s system goes someway to eliminating spam since you have much greater control over who can and can not send you messages. It’s not surprising then to see a company targeting this trend by offering a “push” solution for Facebook messaging on a cellphone.

Blue Whale Systems’ BlueWhaleMail app now includes Facebook functionality, reports ReadWriteWeb. Think Blackberry meets Facebook as your friends’ status updates, wall posts, and news items are automatically pushed to your cellphone. In return you can also send pokes, create wall posts, and email messages. Read the rest of this entry »

July 14th, 2008

Last.fm app debuts on iPhone and iPod touch (video)

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 7:26 am

Categories: Mobile, Music, Social Networks

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, Video, Apple iPod Touch, Music, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Steve O'Hear

On the opening day of the App Store, a number of competing music streaming applications were available, including major brands AOL Radio and Virgin, along with a favorite of mine, Pandora. However, one notable admission on day one was the music social network and ad-supported streaming music service, Last.fm. That all changed today.

Developed by Last.fm’s Sam Steele, the new free app for iPhone and iPod touch brings much of the site’s core functionality to Apple’s mobile platform. Read the rest of this entry »

July 10th, 2008

Gallery: 25+ social networking apps for iPhone and iPod touch

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 8:44 am

Categories: Facebook, Instant Messenger, Mobile, MySpace, Social Networks, Twitter

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple iPod, Network, Apple iPod Touch, Social Networking, Online Communications, Marketing, Advertising & Promotion, Steve O'Hear

At launch, there are over 25 social networking applications available for iPhone and iPod touch on the official App Store.

Bit hitters such as MySpace and Facebook are included, along with an AIM Instant Messenging client, as well as dedicated mobile social networks such as Loopt and Zintin. There is of course more than one Twitter client too!

CLICK HERE to visit the image gallery I created, which includes many screen shots and official application descriptions.

July 10th, 2008

Official: MySpace app for iPhone (screenshots)

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 3:45 am

Categories: Mobile, MySpace, Social Networks

Tags: Apple iPhone, MySpace, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Steve O'Hear

With the App Store for iPhone scheduled to role out later today, a newspaper report confirms the rumored official MySpace client is true.

Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, told USA Today that the new native app makes accessing and updating MySpace a lot faster than browser-based mobile versions. “You do more of the work on the device than over the Net, so the load time should be quicker,” he says.

After a bit of digging around on the iTunes Store I located the iPhone MySpace application for download, along with the app’s description. Below are details including screenshots. Read the rest of this entry »

July 1st, 2008

Could Twitter become the next PayPal?

Posted by Steve O'Hear @ 9:24 am

Categories: Mobile, Twitter

Tags: Mobile Messaging, Payment, Mobile, PayPal, Twitter, Advertising & Promotion, Operational Accounting, Marketing, Finance, Steve O'Hear

“Twitter’s not going to make their money with advertising. So how can they be a Billion Dollar Company in a year?”, writes Nate Westheimer over at Silicon Alley Insider.

The answer, he says, is for Twitter to get into the P2P mobile payments space.

It’s an interesting idea and one that merits some consideration.

Imagine the scenario: you’re out at a restaurant with friends or colleagues and it’s time to divvy up the bill. You open up your favorite mobile Twitter client or use Twitter via SMS to reimburse the person who is going to settle with the waiter. Instead of the @ (reply) or “d” (Direct Message) machine code, a “p” for payment is used instead.

Say something like “p @sohear $30″ (thanks very much!) Read the rest of this entry »