There is another new player in the daily deal sector…Yelp. The mobile application that you normally use to check reviews, hours, and to find something good nearby had decided to offer daily deals. Groupon, LivingSocial, and other similar ecommerce solutions know how important going mobile is.
Yelp offers deals that you can use right now. If you’re in Seattle, by the Space Needle and hungry, you can check out Yelp and find deals that are close to you. You can also push the deals button on the mobile app so that you can see all the deals that are being offered in your city.
Groupon is trying to do this with Groupon Now but Yelp has one large advantage: an established mobile user-base. 4.5 million people use the Yelp app every month, and many check it every day. Groupon is trying to integrate their deals through other ecommerce solutions and apps like Loopt.
Groupon requires you to buy the deal, then you can go redeem it at the business, sort of like a gift card. Yelp allows you go into the app, search for the deal you want, go to the business and show them the access code. The discount is then done on the business’ end, enabling you to keep your credit card information out of the application.
The deal service has launched in over a dozen cities, including Chicago, San Diego, and Seattle. Groupon Now is only in a few select cities currently.
Yelp Deals has a long way to go and they have their mobile bases covered, but now they need to get deals. Right now there are only one or two deals a week, not everyday like Groupon. This will take Yelp a lot of phone calls, and a lot of man (or woman) power.
Both ecommerce solutions have an advantage over the other. It’s a race for Groupon to get mobile users, and Yelp to get deals. Now, when are these new daily deal sites going to stop popping up?
A recent study by Pew showed that 8% of United States adults own a tablet. Shopzilla, an ecommerce solution that sells just about everything, recently conducted a study in the UK that showed 71% of tablets owners shop online while streaming television shows. The same thing is happening in the USA, people are canceling their Directv satellite subscriptions due to it being more expensive, and looking for cheaper options.
Users are able to shop online and stream television at the same time thanks to dual-screen technology. The study also showed that more than half of the people shopping online, prefer to do it with a friend. You have to have a second opinion on what looks good when you’re shopping. Shopzilla recently said in a statement:
“The year of mobile commerce, which has been predicted for some time, is finally here. With the explosion of the tablet market we are seeing a seismic change and the opportunity will be for the retailers who are first to get it right.”
When the iPad first made its break in the news, people were very skeptical. Questions like: “What am I going to use this for?” Or “Why do I need this? I already have a laptop.” It seems like anything that Apple sells is gold, and it’s obvious the iPad was no different. More and more companies have been releasing tablets through ecommerce solutions, helping people fill a void they didn’t even know was there. Even startups are popping up with tablet-based websites, ecommerce solutions, and apps.
It is estimated that within the next year, 20% of Britain could be in possession of a tablet. The iPad would outnumber others five to one. Shopzilla also added:
“Since their launch in April last year, an astonishing 25 million iPads have been sold worldwide, and with one in five online shoppers telling us they plan to buy a tablet in the next 12 months, this is clearly set to be a huge trend for UK shoppers”
Furthermore, almost 80% of tablet owners said that the device doesn’t replace any existing gadgets, but is just another device to add dimensions of usability to their lives. Users like to be able to carry a light, small slate around the house, instead of having to “lug” a laptop around. You probably won’t know how that feels until you’ve tried it.
Gamesalad announced today that gaming engineers using their proprietary drag-and-drop development platform can now publish titles that work with the HTML5 standard. This means that customers will soon be seeing HTML 5 games showing up in their shopping carts. Developers will also be able to embed their games for play on any of the most popular browsers which support the new standard.
GameSalad provides a platform for even the least computer-savvy person to build a game. The drag-and-drop user interface is very user friendly and has been used to create more than 8,500 web-based and iOS games. Thirty of those games broke into the iTunes Top 100 apps. At the time of publishing, Gamesalad only supports Mac OSX, with its primary focus on getting those using Apple’s iOS to add HTML 5 games to their shopping carts. Chief Product Officer Michael Agustin says that the Android Marketplace and Apple’s App Store are the primary methods of discovery for Gamesalad games.
HTML 5 is becoming the most widely adopted next-gen method for media playback and development and is expected to replace Flash. Most developers prefer the capabilities of HTML 5, which is built to handle media-rich web-based apps with ease. One of the biggest draws towards HTML 5 is the fact that it is a very mobile friendly platform. With HTML 5, web content is delivered as you are actively browsing, with little need to download content or install plugins. As the mobile marketplace becomes a larger portion of the online gaming world, developers are looking for ways to make their content more accessible on mobile browsers.
Steve Jobs and Apple have long been promoters of the HTML 5 standard, choosing to eliminate Flash support on any and all iOS devices. The transition from a heavily Flash-based mobile web to HTML 5 has been a long and painful journey, and many consumers choose Android phones explicitly for their Flash support. But as more online game and website developers move towards HTML 5, Apple will likely begin to tap into the huge potential and get more games into users’ shopping carts. Apple’s most recent mobile product, the iPad 2, features a high-powered graphics card that is nearly twice as fast as its predecessor.
A new iPhone technology developed by former AdMob employees makes entering your credit card information even easier – just take a picture and go. The software will be offered as an SDK (Software Development Kit) for iPhone developers, with future Android releases down the road. The new ecommerce solution, called “Card.io,” is currently in private beta, and is set to launch later this year.
The interface for Card.io is similar to RedLaser, the smartphone app that allows users to scan barcodes on products and see other retailer’s prices for that item. Instead of scanning barcodes, Card.io is scanning credit cards, gathering all the necessary payment information such as card number and expiration date in one photo. Just like with RedLaser, the picture is not stored on your phone, and security measures are included to thwart unauthorized usage.
Instead of being offered as a standalone app, Co-founder Mike Mettler decided he wanted to offer the technology as a developer SDK. This will allow developers to insert the code for Card.io into their Apps and offer it as a method of payment when making purchases within an in-App ecommerce solution. Card.io plans on charging on a per-scan basis initially, with plans to eventually take a small percentage of each transaction. This strategy is similar to how Square initially set up their own ecommerce solution which provides retailers with the hardware and software to swipe and process customers’ credit cards on their Apple portable devices.
Mettler said he and his co-workers are betting on the future success of software based payment services over hardware based, such as the recently implemented NFC technology that allows smartphone users to wave their device over a scanner at a retail establishment to automatically pay for purchases. Mettler believes that mobile payment software shouldn’t focus on cramming as many purchasing options as possible into a small screen. Instead, Mettler sees the future of ecommerce solutions becoming fast, simple payments. “Mobile payments are good for time-sensitive payments, like hotel reservations or Groupon Now”, Mettler said, “ and I’ll never buy a mortgage on my phone.”
The ongoing quest to overthrow the current king-pin in all things smartphone and tablet related, Apple, may soon be turning the tables on its competitors as the company was recently awarded intellectual property rights for the multi-touch technology that it first debuted in the first generation iPhone. Yes, that’s the multi-touch technology seen in just about every smartphone on every ecommerce sofware platform in the market today.
The patent, entitled “Portable multifunction device, method, and graphical user interface for translating displayed content,” details the touch and control systems Apple used in every model of the iPhone since it first came out.
What this means, competitors like Samsung may have to back down their efforts to take Apple head on. Consider the hey-day Apple lawyers will have in court with any competitor Apple may feel threatened by.
Apple has taken part in several high-profile lawsuits as of late over patent claims, most recently Apple is in a high-stakes dispute with Samsung. In the case of Apple v. Samsung, Apple sued the company in April, saying that Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets (including over 20 additional devices named in the case) infringed on many patents and trademarks. So in true Al Pacino fashion, Samsung said “I’m out of order? You’re out of order!” and counter-sued Apple for infringing on its patents.
In a rather not-so sneaky, incredibly transparent move, Samsung also filed a request for Apple to hand over unreleased versions of its upcoming iPhone and iPad as the company considered it to be “highly relevant” to its defense. In other words, the company wants to look at its upcoming products to make sure it does doesn’t copyright any of its future products. Well, it’s safe to say the federal judge was just as aware of this move and denied Samsung’s request.
Now factoring in Apple’s big win for a patent that could be a game changer in in this ongoing lawsuit battle over who is copying whom, Samsung may have to bow out gracefully and settle in court for what they can. However, no settlement has been confirmed just yet, but it seems Samsung’s last request is its “Hail Mary” pass before a verdict will be concluded.
With Apple’s patent in place, it is unclear what direction its rivals will have to take and what kind of smartphones and tablets will begin to emerge for sale on a variety of ecommerce software platforms. Perhaps Samsung and rivals alike should be more focused on developing its own signature technology that Apple may one day want to copy.
A Forrester Research report is making its rounds on the web this morning with the claim that mobile shopping is set to grow steadily over the next 5 years. Currently shopping on smarphones accounts for $6 billion, or 2 percent of total sales on ecommerce solutions. That number is expected to rise to $31 billion by 2016 with an increase of 40% per year.
So why is mobile shopping not currently were it should be? For one, the whole idea of an “ecommerce solution” on mobile is a heavily debated topic among retailers due to security concerns. Retailers are seen as hesitant because consumers see a greater risk in using the smartphone vs. a PC. Forrester however predicts that retailers will begin shortly to making the changes necessary to increase ecommerce activity via a smartphone.
Forrester analyst Sucharit Mulpuru gave her opinion saying the topic is still a hotly contested topic among retailers. “Security is one reason, as well as retail sites that aren’t optimized for mobile devices. Shopping behavior and higher-priority activities on smartphones are also partly to blame.” She added that consumers frequently use mobile phones in a retail context — but to compare prices and look up product information, rather than make purchases online.
Currently tablets aren’t included in the definition of what is mobile shopping. Using the tablet to interact with an ecommerce solution instead of a smartphone may be what many shoppers who own both types of devices are turning to. “Many of those people naturally prefer to shop on the device that has the larger screen when given the choice,” Mulpuru says.
The mobile commerce transition will also have an effects on customers’ in-store experiences at brick-and-mortar retailers. Introducing technology that allows mobile devices to check out customers, prevent lost sales and help customers search for goods, could be a beneficial future strategy for these types of retailers.
Some examples of retailers already getting involved with the mobile revolution can be found in Seattle. Starbucks has been working on its mobile capabilities by creating a digital wallet that allows consumers in some cafes to make purchases with their smartphones. Nordstrom announced it will bring in handheld check out devices within the next month.
Wireless carrier T-Mobile USA announced the launch of the beta version its new Android application yesterday, called ‘More for Me.’ The application is an aggregation of daily deals from around the country. Instead of acting as its own daily deals application, it works by collecting information from several daily deals ecommerce solutions like GoldStar, Tippr and LivingSocial and showing them to users based on location. The application does not include offers from Groupon, LivingSocial’s biggest competitor.
Mobile users will have access to thousands of deals from over 400 social buying ecommerce solutions. Offers are presented to users with a personal touch, as you can customize your information and receive deal alerts based on their location and interests. Users have the option share the deals with friends through Facebook as well as receive text message and e-mail notifications. The application is now available for free on the Android Market to anyone with a device running Android 1.6 or higher – even those who are not T-Mobile customers. Though any Android user can get the app, it is likely that T-Mobile will promote special deals for its subscribers.
The application itself is fairly easy to use. Mobile users can search deals based on their specified demographic information or just search through details that are nearby to them. All of the deals are organized into different categories such as Food and Drinks, Retail, Beauty, and Events so that users can find exactly what they are looking for. Each app has its own page showcasing the price, a detailed description of the deal and a map showing where you can redeem the deal relative to your specific GPS location. From there, purchasing or sharing the deal is as simple as clicking a single button.
T-Mobile says that it intends to bring the application to other mobile operating systems later this summer. The company also hopes to make the application available to all of its subscribers regardless of which type of phone they use, making the application the first to bring these offers to those without smartphones.
Last week it was announced that AT&T made a deal to acquire T-Mobile for $39 million, which begs the question of whether the More for Me application will be available to iPhone users in the future. Either way, the application will allow users to cut down on time spent searching daily deals ecommerce solutions for what they need as well as follow the current trend for ecommerce solutions becoming more personalized and location-based.
With Google and Ericsson battling it out to be the top mobile payments provider, Verizon has decided to join the fight too. Verizon is teaming up with Payfone, a New York based mobile payment company, to provide their own payment-on-the-go ecommerce solution for their customers.
While it’s not secret that Google Wallet is working exclusively with Sprint to get their mobile payments ecommerce solution off the ground, Verizon and Payfone are being very secretive about their relationship and what they plan to do. They have dropped a few hints, though:
“Payfone will allow Verizon Wireless customers to make online purchases from their smartphones, tablets and PCs using numerous payment methods, including charging purchases to their monthly wireless statements or using traditional payment methods through financial institution partners.”
Google Wallet is focusing on NFC (near-field communications) chips in order to physically replace your wallet with your phone, and Ericsson going the route of using text messages to transfer money. The Payfone-Verizon team seems to be working on something completely different. Which system will prevail?
It’s hard to say. Payfone is not working exclusively with Verizon. Last year it was announced that they have also teamed up with AT&T and T-Mobile to introduce a system called Isis. The Isis interface utilizes the NFC chip, similar to Google Wallet, to pay for items in your shopping cart. So while it’s not a direct competitor with Verizon, it does take a swipe at Google.
Payfone has said that it is concentrating on safety. Privacy and extremely secure encryption are going to be their main priorities. While all ecommerce solutions claim that their systems are secure and that they place emphasis on safeguarding private information, none have as public as Payfone in describing what they will do to keep their users safe. Hackers and thieves are definitely aware of the mobile payment movement, and are most likely already working on ways to infiltrate them.
As consumers we are going to have many ways to pay for the items in our shopping carts. Real world stores are going to have to determine which payment system they want to use, but it seems like NFC chips could give other payment systems a run for their money. A text messaging system sounds good for friends paying each other after you lose a bet, but for a business it may take too long to be viable. The Verizon-Payfone system is described like it will be primarily used for online shopping cart payments, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
With so many daily deal sites offering great restaurant discounts (too many to count or to keep up with), there was bound to be a daily deal aggregator in the mix who would come to put them all in one convenient place. Thanks to a little beta site called BiteHunter, that convenient place has become the newest location-based iPhone app, now available to put in any iTunes’ shopping cart for free.
The BiteHunter app is a real-time search engine that locates the closest restaurant deals in major food cities from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston to Seattle and everyplace in between.
Just like the BiteHunter main site, the app scours daily deal sites from Groupon, LivingSocial, ScoutMob, and on down the line, in addition to restaurants’ own Twitter feeds, Facebook, OpenTable, and any other channel the company can find information on the latest deal or discount.
Users also have the option of finding deals based on a filtered search criteria. Restaurants can be narrowed down by what cuisine a user is craving, neighborhood, price range, ratings, and distance from the user’s current location. Users can also view deals on a map or through a feed.
And what app is not without its social element? Users can also tweet or share the deal on Facebook to let their friends get in on the discount, which could easily shave off valuable hours from a painful debate of where to eat today.
Another great feature of the BiteHunter app is that users are not just limited to searching through daily deal sites. The app also offers local restaurant reviews, photos, menus, happy hour times, drink specials, and even allows users to reserve tables. Additionally, users can view restaurant special events and which restaurants are creating the most food buzz based on the most FourSquare and Facebook check-ins, as proper alternatives to the daily deal food scene.
The team at BiteHunter have built a rather impressive app and have done so in a short amount of time, going from 3 cities on its main site, to covering the whole nation in just 3 months on its app, says BiteHunter CEO and Co-Founder, Gil Harel. Although the company has reached a milestone worth boasting about, it is unclear how profitable the company is at this point. It may seem that the free app may something worth grabbing now before they slap a price tag on it.
In a move that adds to their already-diverse investment portfolio, Spectrum Equity has invested 50 million dollars in SeamlessWeb, an online restaurant ordering ecommerce software platform. Previously owned by Aramark, SeamlessWeb will now begin operating as its own entity. Some analysts say that this might signal a possible divestiture for Aramark somewhere down the line, once SeamlessWeb is strong enough to stand on its own.
Founded in 1999, the service has been growing steadily in users. They currently boast over a million completed orders. Their network of members includes more than 7000 restaurants in 27 global cities including London and New York. The ecommerce software system allows people to order online or via a mobile app. They stress convenience and availability. This massive influx of cash will allow SeamlessWeb to continue growing and adding capabilities. CEO Jonathan Zabusky had this to say regarding the investment:
“…As an independent organization with the benefit of additional strategic insight at the board level from the highly accomplished team at Spectrum, we look forward to taking our brand and offering to the next level by developing the most robust and integrated local, social, mobile food ordering and e-commerce platform.”
He also hinted that they’d be on the lookout for “opportunistic investments,” which could mean that SeamlessWeb is looking to bring on additional talent or features from existing ecommerce software packages to boost their own offerings.
Such diversification would certainly be no stranger to Spectrum Equity, who are already stakeholders in a wider variety of other ventures. Previous investments include Demand Media and Ancestry.com. It’s not a stretch to think of SeamlessWeb pairing up with a local/hypertargeted/daily deals program to add incentives to their model in order to get more people ordering from their service.
Programs like Google Wallet, paired with Google Offers, pose an interesting challenge to standalone services like SeamlessWeb. The more capabilities and access that SeamlessWeb can bring to their users, the more able they’ll be to keep them from being poached by competing services.
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has acquired German social game developer Scoreloop. The acquisition was seen as a way for RIM to further develop social gaming applications for its devices. So far the financial terms of the deal have not been publicly disclosed. The Munich-based company specializes in developing an “ecosystem” that aims at building communities capable of generating revenue from mobile games. RIM executives are hoping the move will have mobile gamers filling their shopping carts with purchases and provide them with a more valuable gaming experience.
RIM says on its blog that Scoreloop will “take gaming to a new level of social integration” on BlackBerry platforms. The current BlackBerry platforms are notorious within the industry for being the least developed in terms of social gaming which could be a key reason why the company made the purchase.
RIM says that Scoreloop will be “bringing expertise in creating social and collaborative gaming toolkits for mobile developers to the BlackBerry platform.” The software should allow these developers to build different social media features for their applications. Scoreloop software enables developers to add Facebook and Twitter connections as well as in-app purchases and virtual currency.
RIM’s VP of global alliances and developer relations wrote “We’re excited that the Scoreloop team is joining the BlackBerry Developer team and bringing their expertise in creating social and collaborative gaming toolkits for mobile developers to the BlackBerry platform.”
He also added “Scoreloop is a pioneer in mobile social gaming and offers a customizable and cross-platform social mobile gaming developer tool kit.” Empowering developers is one way that smartphone manufacturers make their platforms more attractive to potential partners. Apple developed a huge lead in the app department by virtue of having the largest market share and users with lots of time and disposable income. However, developers say that they find Apple’s policies somewhat exclusionary and tight-fisted. Android is rapidly closing the app-gap with its more open marketplace, as well as the fact that third parties can distribute their own apps, and the existence of other app marketplaces entirely, like Amazon’s Android App Store (and Mac Store!).
As Apple begins to threaten RIM even more with the release of a new competing service to RIM’s BBM, RIM must step up in order to survive. Apple’s new instant chat app for exchanging text messages, photos and videos is extremely similar to the service that many BlackBerry users hold on to as being unique. Whether BlackBerry’s acquisition of Scoreloop has anything to do with Apple’s newest threat is still officially unknown.
Seattle-based Digital Marketing System (DMS), Buuteeq, just closed a $3.5 million series A investment round. The round was led by Mike Galgon, co-founder of the online advertising agency aQuantive and angel investor Geoff Entress. Other angels as well as Benaroya Capital also participated in the round. With buuteeq sporting only 12 employees throughout the country the funding will surely help growth.
The ecommerce solution opened it virtual doors in January 2011, making the company only 6 months old. The company has seen rapid success and has close to $5 million in total funding. buuteeq is led by former Microsoft executives Forest Key and Adam Brownstein. The company plans to use the funding to help continue growth in other countries worldwide.
The hotel ecommerce solution enables smaller, independent hotels to have the market presence of a big hotel chain without the costs and upkeep. The company offers a free service, all the way up to a $999/month option.
buuteeq offers web, mobile, and social media advertising that only big hotel firms used to be able to afford. The service offers online booking, SEO help, and even an iPhone app for the independent hotel. The company says that users do not need any design or development background to use the content management system.
People are starting to travel and visit places more and more due to the economy turning up. However, people are continuing to search for deals, and many are not even staying in hotels. Instead of staying in hotels, consumers are using the Airbnb ecommerce solution to stay at a total stranger’s house. buuteeq is hoping to get the smaller, more independent hotels’ names out to consumers.
Independent hotels can sometimes offer a better experience to consumers at a lower cost than a traditional hotel. While there will always be those people who stay at the cheapest option (such as a Holiday Inn or a cheap room available on Airbnb) as more disposable income finds its way into consumers pockets, the market for independent hotels like those offered on buuteeq will slowly start to grow. buuteeq is there to provide ecommerce solutions for these intrepid small businesses and try to help those companies get the word out. buuteeq is currently helping hotels in 10 countries and wants to expand.
News has been whirling about whether or not AT&T will acquire T-Mobile. The $39 billion deal has to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in order to go through. It has to be shown that it will benefit us, the consumers and users, in a positive way. Now some very big name companies like Microsoft and Facebook are supporting the merger.
The companies in favor the merge have all written letters to the FCC showing their support and desire for the deal to go through. These include the ecommerce solution Avaya, Oracle, Facebook, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Yahoo!, and RIM.
Along with those companies, ten well known venture capitalist firms wrote letters as well supporting the merger. Sequoia and New Venture Partners are among that list. With so many ecommerce solutions on board we may see some progress on this merger fairly soon.
The Microsoft-led letter states that the merger will be necessary in order to feed the voracious American need for mobile broadband. It will also be a way for America to compete in the global mobile communications market.
Not everyone is in support of this deal however. Last week Sprint filed a formal complaint about the deal, stating that AT&T already is “the largest holder of unused spectrum” and they do not need T-Mobile to massively improve its network. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse argues that the merger will create a duopoly and remove competition. This would mean poorer service, higher rates, etc.
Some of the letters written state that it’s a good thing AT&T plans to move T-Mobile’s network to LTE because it will give 97.3% of the country access to such services.
“AT&T has stated that its LTE deployment will bring significant benefits to residents of rural areas and smaller communities, where the benefits of real-time video and similar capabilities are most urgently needed to fill gaps in physical infrastructure for healthcare, education, and other social needs.”
Verizon has yet to comment publicly on the issue. It will be interesting to see if any other ecommerce solutions hop onto the support bandwagon.
Electronic Arts – EA (ERTS) – has decided to step into the realm of digital game sales with ‘Origin.’ Their new ecommerce solution plans to sell games to PC owners via the web, with high hopes of inter-title connectivity between releases. The biggest competitor for EA is going to be Steam, a Valve service that does essentially the same thing.
With Origin you download the ecommerce solution one time for free and then have to shell out for each game you would like to download.
EA also intends to bring connectivity between all devices that carry the same game. Let’s say you are playing ‘Battlefield,’ one of EA’s top-selling shooters. You go on your mobile device and play it to hone your sharp shooting skills on the go (always a good idea). As long as you are signed into your account on the mobile device, those experience points will transfer directly to your PC.
Instead of just downloading your games off of the Android market or Apple App store, Origin is said to be coming to mobile devices as well. This means you will download the Origin application to your phone, then further download your games from the ecommerce solution app.
Reports indicate that the platform will start with 150 game titles come the launch date. Preview editions of Battlefield 3 and FIFA ‘12 are scheduled to be part of the roll out. Hardcore soccer fans will definitely want to be among the first to throw the preview of FIFA ‘12 in their shopping cart. The service will also allow you to communicate with friends, see who is online, and join the games that they are in as well. This is very similar to the Xbox Live platform.
Origin is only going to be available on PCs for now. Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 already have their respective online console ecommerce solutions.
EA recently reported that their revenue from digital services was $833 million. That is a little over 20% of their overall revenue. EA no doubt anticipates that their digital revenue will grow to with Origin. Since the beginning of the year EA’s share price has gone up 48%. Today (Origin release date) the stock opened at a low $23.98 due to an after-hours fall, but has quickly gone back up to $24.37.
You can check out the official launch of Origin on their website. The beginning of the end for games on disks has been coming for a long time. This is just one more nail in the coffin.
Tapjoy and other developer's revenues taking a hit due to Apple's pay-per-click ban
Well over 300 iOS app developers have experienced a revenue decline of up to twenty percent due to Apple’s ban on pay-per-install apps in their app-selling ecommerce solution. The applications that are being banned provide incentives for the user to install a different app, while the original developer takes some of the revenue for the new app installed.
The main problem with this strategy is that it sends apps into the Top 25 charts in iTunes not because of the content, but because of the promotions within the applications. This makes it possible for apps without Top 25-quality content to make it into the Top 25.
Out of 496 app developers surveyed by Tapjoy it was found that over two-thirds of the companies experienced a 20% decrease in revenues since the ban. Some developers have even said that 60% of their revenue came from pay-per-install applications. Apple has pointed to clause 3.1 in the rules and regulations to explain the ban: “Developers who attempt to manipulate or cheat the user reviews or chart ranking in the App Store with fake or paid reviews, or any other inappropriate methods, will be removed from the iOS Developer Program.”
Tapjoy has said that these incentive promotions are necessary to create a stable and predictable experience within their ecommerce solution in such a competitive and volatile market. It has been reported that Tapjoy met with Apple executives many times to try and figure out a solution. Apple has yet to publicly comment on the matter.
As expected, some developers have said that they are going to focus on offering more to the Android market which still allows pay-per-install applications. The one problem is that a Distimo study reported that it is very hard to get mass installs with the Android ecommerce solution. This is mostly due to Android being more or less a free-ecosystem. This makes it necessary for developers to monetize in a different way other than paying for the app itself.
The Apple app store compared to the Android app store are two completely different ecommerce solutions for developers. The iOS app store has many tight regulations making it hard for some developers to get their apps into the marketplace. The largest reason people jailbreak their iOS devices is to get the applications that Apple simply will not allow. The Android store is a much more lenient system. When it comes to Android it is essentially whatever goes. This lenient system has caused some problems for Google, but the kinks were worked out in those malicious apps that found their way to the marketplace.
Hopefully we will see Apple comment on this matter within the next week. Seeing that companies are losing a great deal of money because of this, it will be necessary for Apple to comment. Pay-per-install applications have positive and negative qualities. On the one hand they can help you find a great app you that you might not have found without it. But they can also shoot applications into the Top 25 that do not belong there.
Paypal has fired another shot at Google in what is turning into the mobile payments war (man, is everything a war now?). This comes only hours after Google announced its mobile payments platform, “Google Wallet,” which will allow real world businesses to process digital payments via near field communications chips installed in Android phones. This kind of mobile payments wallet, akin to the kind of stored financial information that already exists online and is used by many ecommerce solutions, has become a kind of holy grail for tech companies (along with a cloud music services, high quality eReaders, tablets of all kinds, and competing app marketplaces).
The problem is that even non-tech companies are getting into the action, as three credit card companies recently teamed up to unleash a mobile system that would allow users to effortlessly transfer money from their phones. Mobile payments can’t be far behind.
Another problem, specifically for PayPal, one of the biggest payment processors for payments through ecommerce solutions, is that one of the people who helped Google announce the Google Wallet is Osama Bedier, who used to work for PayPal. Now, that in and of itself is not so unusual. People jump from one high tech company to another in search of the next challenge or to broaden their horizons or chances for advancement. However, Bedier was a pretty high-ranking employee, with access to a lot of PayPal’s trade secrets. Also, the person who solicited him into joining Google was Stephanie Tilenius.
This is significant for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, Tilenius and Bedier were each representing their companies in negotiations to get PayPal to join up with Google to help them develop a mobile payments platform. Then the deal fell through. Then Bedier left to join Google. Then Google rolls out Google Wallets.
Bedier left PayPal on January 24 of this year. He had reportedly told PayPal as early as November of 2010 that he was possibly considering taking an offer to move over to Google to work on mobile payments.
It gets more complicated. It seems that Tilenius, while under an obligation not to try to poach PayPal employees (probably tied to her 8 years of prior service at PayPal, before leaving the ecommerce solution to work for Google), had already been trying to lure Bedier over to them.
In the end, it’s a huge mess. There’s a huge chance that Google Wallet would have gone off without a hitch even without Bedier. There’s also a chance that some people in some pretty high positions did some not-cool things. Google is fighting back, defending the right of employees to work for whomever they want. Either way, mobile payments march on.
There is another new player in the daily deal sector…Yelp. The mobile application that you normally use to check reviews, hours, and to find something good nearby had decided to offer daily deals. Groupon, LivingSocial, and other similar ecommerce solutions know how important going mobile is.
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