Snowcrashing

Droid, AdMob and Android

Posted on 11. Nov, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

Is the Droid the Iphone killer? Is it not? How do 100,000 Droids sold in one weekend compare versus the 1 million Iphones? Frankly, it is not relevant.

Iphone and Droid

Questioning the supremacy of the Iphone sounds like an heresy today and it will be for a few more months (maybe 12, maybe less). But who is creating a healthier and open-source  application store eco-system for developers, OEMs and carriers ?

If you doubted the answer was Google and Android, Monday’s announcement on the Google acquisition of AdMob for $750million will make you think twice.

Continue Reading

Mobile: The Inbound Marketing Missing Chapter

Posted on 08. Nov, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

HubSpot, a Boston based start-up, is on a roll to conquest the Long Tail of small and medium–size businesses to digital marketing, and help them convert visitors into leads and sales.

The founders, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, recently published a book, not surprisingly titled Inbound Marketing: Get Found In Google, Blogs, and Social Media, which spells out the basic techniques to make the Internet an efficient business driver. As with HubSpot itself, the book’s innovative nature is not to be found in new or unheard of marketing principles, but in its attempt to empower everyone with the right knowledge. And since knowledge is power only when applied, the Inbound Marketing book is all about execution. Just as a text book, the book break inbound marketing up into 4 fundamental parts: decide who you are and why your story is remarkable, get found, convert, analyze & repeat. Examples and to-dos aim at making the reading easy and actionable.

Continue Reading

The FastFood Nation Goes Mobile

Posted on 04. Nov, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

Fast-food, eating out, are in the DNA of this country.  Food is everywhere, 24/7, accessible, inexpensive. And now also at your fingertips.

Not a day passes without a new “food” app making the headlines. Gluttony meets GadgetsMania. It’s fun. It’s as fast as it can get,  thanks to store locators and in-app ordering. It’s convenient, even more convenient thanks to special discounts and coupons. Soon, apps will also allow you to pay for your fast-food fix within the app!

-Make it Fun: The PizzaHut case

Continue Reading

The March Of The Droids: HTML5 and Android 2.0

Posted on 28. Oct, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

The end of the Iphone monopoly is not going to happen in one day and with one single device. Don’t expect the masses to suddenly drop their I-cult and let them rant about the misses of the Droid, as Motorola and Verizon Wireless unveil their new creation to the world. Because they will.

Why I don’t care of what they’ll have to say?

It’s no secret that the iPhone App Store has been a walled garden. Mobile platform developers like Apple can and do control what runs on their devices in various ways: prohibit plug-ins (Flash),  keep their live video SDK secret, or simply forbid the app (Google Voice).

Continue Reading

Google Voice: Building An Open Network World, One Disruption At A Time

Posted on 27. Oct, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

Picture an open network world with open devices, where carriers are mere pipes, that only run the network and charge for the bandwidth, and consumers are free to pick their devices, applications and calling mechanism. This world is getting closer every day, thanks to the continuous innovations of Google Voice.

Google Voice

Recently Lifehacker reported how users have been using Google Voice to make unlimited wireless calls. Indeed, most carriers have plans that allow to call certain favorite numbers without eroding minutes. So what happens when your Google Voice number becomes one of them?
This is exactly the threat that has been terrorizing the carriers this past summer, when Google voice mobile app started showing up. The Android version is the one to look at: it tightly integrates with the address book, allowing you to make ALL calls through Google Voice.

Continue Reading

Nike Mobile Marketing – Just Right!

Posted on 26. Oct, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

If there’s one company that never fails to wow its audience with its mobile marketing initiatives, that company is Nike.

The Nike Id Iphone App

Take their new IPhone app, Nike Id. It could have been just another app to customize a pair of sneakers and locate the nearest store. But there is more than that. The app doesn’t just put colors in the right places on trainers designs, it also allows users to create new ones, by using iPhone images or pictures from the phone.

Continue Reading

Mobile Game Changers

Posted on 18. Oct, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

It’s been a week dense of potentially game-changing facts for the mobile industry.

MOBILE AUGMENTED REALITY BECOMES MORE REAL

Until now, the development of mobile augmented reality apps for the Iphone has been hindered by Apple’s decision to keep the API for the analysis of live-streaming private.

The Game Changers: Visual Media Lab at Ben Gurion University and HIT Lab NZ.

The scientists from the two computer teams have released a software  that lets anyone perform on-the-fly analysis of live streaming video on the iPhone and they have made it public through AR specialist GamesAlFresco.

Continue Reading

Proximity Marketing 101

Posted on 08. Oct, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

What will users do with their cellphones three years from now? Always more industry insiders are ready to bet that Search will be a killer application.
It’s also true that one could build a parallel universe with all the fancy predictions about mobile and there’s probably one out there where users are holed up in their homes, fearing to go outside where they’d get bombarded by local coupons and nearby strangers looking to hook up in an otherwise deserted world….But the leap of faith in this case is not an impossible one. So let’s assume that the future is really going to shape up as a proximity marketing playground.

Continue Reading

The Day The Iphone Stopped Ruling The World

Posted on 06. Oct, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

About time! Google’s attack to the Iphone brainwashing of the masses has started. This morning, Google and Verizon Wireless announced an agreement to deliver mobile applications and devices. The companies will develop several Android-based devices preloaded with apps.

The first new phones are expected at market within weeks. Two will be released before the end of the year and they will support Google Voice and have Google’s Android Market preinstalled.

Continue Reading

App Store Users: The Good, The Bad and The Quitters.

Posted on 28. Sep, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci.

Another App Store Day is on us. With lots of numbers to dive into.

According to Apple’s official press release, 2 billion apps have been downloaded in just over a year. Itunes took 6 years to sell 8.5 billion songs.
But….
-$0.99 is not $0.00.
-Buying a song is a conscious act- you really want it, you want to listen to it over time, you want it on your Ipod. Apps are an impulse driven “purchase”.
-Many apps come with the price tag $0, which makes the impulse of downloading even more irresistible.

Continue Reading