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Posts Tagged ‘Rollout’

First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card

Continue reading First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card

First Data and Tyfone announce partnership for NFC payments by microSD card originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7’s European browser ballot screen revealed, rolling out next week

Microsoft is putting the finishing touches to the famed “browser choice screen” that the European Commission forced it to include as part of its antitrust investigation settlement, and today we get to see it for the first time. Users who have Internet Explorer as their default browser (meaning none of the savvy Engadget readers) will be alerted that there is “an important choice to make” and directed to the above decision making assistant. We actually think the randomized order of the top five browsers makes a ton of sense, and would express some cautious optimism that the ballot screen could really do its job of informing people of the alternatives out there. Users in the UK, Belgium and France will get to try it out next week, and a phased rollout will begin across Europe on March 1.

Windows 7’s European browser ballot screen revealed, rolling out next week originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T selects LTE equipment suppliers, ‘commercial deployment’ planned for 2011
Aw, snap. We knew good and well that the iPhone’s exclusive home in America (cue groans) was planning to hopscotch right around HSPA+ and move straight to LTE, but it’s always good to see a little confirmation from the carrier, you know? AT&T has today confessed to selecting its two LTE suppliers (Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson), and better still, that it will begin its LTE rollout in 2011. As expected, field trials are slated to get going later this year, and for those of you concerned about the outfit’s (admittedly lacking) 3G network, we’re hearing positive things on that front as well. Purportedly, 3G equipment delivered to AT&T by the suppliers starting this year will be “easily convertible to LTE,” and Ma Bell has assured us that it “plans to make the nation’s fastest 3G network even faster in advance of LTE networks and devices scaling.” Shame that whole “plans” thing can change without notice, but we won’t jump to any conclusions just yet.

AT&T selects LTE equipment suppliers, ‘commercial deployment’ planned for 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inaugural Sky 3DTV soccer broadcast received warmly, hooligans opt for Michael Jackson & the Grammys instead

While U.S. audiences suffered through yet another anaglyph 3D broadcast as the Grammys presented Earth Song in traditional red/blue format courtesy of Target-distributed glasses, Sky kicked off its first true 3DTV broadcast across the pond during a Man. U/Arsenal match. Distributed to a few select pubs ahead of a wide rollout due in April, patrons slipped on passive 3D glasses and caught the entire match live from Emirates stadium. Luckily this experiment went over far better than the Dallas Cowboys disaster, though several criticized the need to remain more directly in front of the monitor to see the action and that the effect was less pronounced on long shots. However the new tech excelled the most during close ups and slow motion, as Pocket-Lint quoted viewer Kate Cobley “It’s brilliant, the corner and back of the goal views are just amazing. It makes the game so much better. If it’s in 3D then I would definitely be more likely to come to the pub to watch sport.” We figure the real test will come during the World Cup this summer, if ESPN’s 3DTV broadcast can get U.S. audiences tuning into the beautiful game, then 3D may actually live up to all the CES hype, until then check the read and more coverage links for a few more impressions, or the video embedded after the break.

Continue reading Inaugural Sky 3DTV soccer broadcast received warmly, hooligans opt for Michael Jackson & the Grammys instead

Inaugural Sky 3DTV soccer broadcast received warmly, hooligans opt for Michael Jackson & the Grammys instead originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New standard could pave way for higher capacity Blu-ray discs

Already feeling the pinch of a mere 25GB per layer on a Blu-ray disc? Neither are we, but it looks like Sony and Panasonic have been busily working on ways to boost capacity nonetheless, and they’ve now devised a new method that seems to be on the fast track to becoming a standard. The best news is that it doesn’t involve a change in Blu-ray optics, but rather something called the Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation evaluation index (or i-MLSE — the “i’ is just for kicks, it seems), which is a new means of estimating the read error rate of discs on the fly that has apparently be made possible thanks to “recent hardware advancements.” According to Sony and Panasonic, that should now allow discs to hold up to 33.4 GB per layer, but it’s not exactly clear what that means for existing Blu-ray players (a little firmware assistance seems to at least be a conceivable option, though). There’s also no timeline for a rollout just yet, but Sony is reportedly now set to propose widespread adoption of i-MLSE to the Blu-ray Disc Association, of which it just so happens to be the leading member.

New standard could pave way for higher capacity Blu-ray discs originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The start-up chronicles: Experiments with Twitter

(Editor’s Note: The Start-up Chronicles is a weekly feature giving an inside view of the trials of a bootstrapped start-up – The Cost Savings Guy. CEO and founder Bruce Judson is also the author of “Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building A Successful Business on Your Own” and a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management.)

As a direct marketer, I am a strong believer in experiments – even when I expect them to fail.

The ideal test is small, involving limited time or resources, and providing an indication of whether I should invest further time and energy.  It is, in some ways, an iterative process, where each piece of learning leads me to effectively increase my commitment to a specific strategy – or lets me know that my time is better spent elsewhere. Ultimately, there’s no substitute for first-hand experience.

I bring this up because I’ve started using Twitter lately. This is a service that never appealed to me.  It always seemed it was primarily a way to monitor what others are saying about your company online. And while that’s valuable, it’s possible to monitor this activity without participating in the service itself.

In connection with the rollout of The Cost Savings Guy, I did not believe that Twitter would prove to be a significant source of valuable traffic. But, not knowing this definitively, I decided to set-up an account and make a small effort (15 minutes a day) to build a following and join the conversation.

As part of this test, I also read several articles and skimmed one book by self-described Twitter gurus. Ultimately, I found most of this advice to be valueless or simply wrong.

My initial reaction was that Twitter was not a place for conversation, but the world’s largest souk, with millions of people proclaiming their wares. I decided to push forward, though (certain that this would simply confirm my initial lack of interest.)

I started identifying people with interests in small business and entrepreneurship, following them, and offering my own Tweets. I also attempted to engage in several conversations. My results were, as expected, uninspiring.

A few weeks later, we started developing our next phase of The Cost Savings Guy, which will involve implementing some innovative ideas geared toward creating a paperless office. (Note, the design of this effort reflects the learning described in earlier columns on inertia and sales hurdles).

This effort led me to think about Twitter again.  I wondered if I could use the service to start building an audience that would be receptive to what we were planning.  In this second round of tests I started identifying people with an “eco” or “green” interest. At the same time, I moved from random “Tweets” to a clearly defined series: 100 services that save money and help the planet. Each day I added a new service to the list and each Tweet had the same format which began “#(insert number) of 100 services that save money and help the planet.”

After a few days, this more focused effort starting to lead to encouraging results. My followers count started to increase by 10 percent or more per day. So, while my total is still relatively small (about 450 followers as I type this) it was at 400 or so yesterday and 360 the day before that.

More significantly, an average of 14 people clicked on my messages when I had roughly 350 followers.  There was some re-tweeting of one of the messages, but I still view this as effectively a 4 percent click-through rate in relation to my number of followers. And as we all know, a 4 percent click-through rate on anything is a real success – and this is a free medium.

These highly preliminary results – even though the numbers are very small, may be meaningless, and I don’t know enough about the value of these visitors – lead me to a few initial conclusions:

First, my mantra that it’s worth testing initiatives you are certain will not work, provided you can do it with very limited resources, remains worth keeping. There may be something valuable here.

Second, both the evidence and logic suggest that the more targeted your interest group, the more likely you are to engage with the right Twitter audience.

Third (and probably most significantly), my numbered list strategy seemed to be a valuable means of demonstrating authority and expertise that allowed me to engage Twitter users. I had something of real value to these users, and communicated it appropriately.

Per my experiment strategy, it’s clear that these results warrant a jump in my efforts in the Twitter arena. Here are the next questions:  If I grow this group of followers, or groups of followers with other interests, will these same results hold and improve? And will this growth come easily? My models from other media (which may or may not apply to Twitter) suggest that with 10,000 targeted followers, an optimized effort, and minimal Tweeting, I should generate 500-1000 click-throughs a day.

In addition, the marketing value of the vocal Twitter audience could also be high.  If users coming from Twitter have a good experience, will they Tweet about it? This needs to be tested as well.

I’ve said before that what really matters is actual experience. Today, I believe even more strongly in this guiding principle.

Previous Start-up Chronicle columns:

• Learning to listen to unpleasant truths
• Newton was right: Inertia matters
• Who is invested in your success?
• Deadly sins that destroy Web sales – Part 1

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The Start-up Chronicles: Who Is Invested in Your Success?

(Editor’s Note: The Start-up Chronicles is a new weekly feature giving an inside view of the trials of a bootstrapped start-up – The Cost Savings Guy. CEO and founder Bruce Judson is also the author of “Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building A Successful Business on Your Own” and a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management.)

In business books, you read a lot about the ‘eco-system’ that surrounds successful companies. Generally, this consists of smaller companies that arise around (and feed off of) massively popular entities such as Google or Twitter (which are, in turn, enhanced by the smaller firms). For example, there are now a number of services that offer platforms to help businesses connect with potential customers through Twitter.

For smaller companies, though, the eco-system is made up of other companies—ranging from suppliers to business partners—that will benefit from their success. For a start-up, a motivated eco-system can be a significant way to jump-start awareness – as well as the value of its products and services.

As we approached the launch of “The Cost Savings Guy” (CSG) a few weeks ago, I gave this area a lot of thought.  For a start-up, the dynamics of engaging an eco-system are far different than those faced by larger companies. Established companies create them by enabling other entities to work with their products or services – often making their API’s available, so that developers can integrate valuable new products and services.

In contrast, a start-up needs to aggressively motivate its eco-system. It’s unrealistic to think anyone will instinctively act on your behalf. Nothing happens unless you make it happen.

In launching CSG, I realized that the central issue for this rollout was not who constituted the eco-system of the business. (CSG is built on partnerships.  We have a relationship with every company whose cost-saving services we recommend.) The real issue was what we could reasonably expect it to do to enhance our launch.

From experience, I knew there were at least three hurdles in motivating an eco-system to take action:

The need for specificity.  When working with busy people, broad requests for aid don’t cut it. You are far more likely to get action with a very specific request.

Your request needs to be easy to implement. If you’re not creating work for others, you’re ahead of the game.

Ask for something special. Articulate why your requests have benefits for everyone involved.

With all this in mind I put together a plan and started making active requests.  As objections occurred, I met them.

In some cases, I simply said, “I will write the first draft of what I am talking about and send it to you. Then, you can decide. “  By taking this approach, I made the request tangible and far more real, demonstrated I knew exactly what I wanted, eliminated as much of the work for the recipient as possible and showed that I was serious when I said “I will do all the work to make this happen.”

At launch, the eco-system responded and awareness of our service is quickly climbing. Right now, The Cost Savings Guy is ranked as the number #1 startup in November on KillerStartUps.com , and I am starting to get calls from press contacts initiated by our eco-system.

This effort also opened the door for discussions of joint initiative that can enhance CSG’s chances of success. Many of our partners have large, ongoing e-mail communications with customers in our target market. The right e-mail initiatives from these trusted providers, discussing CSG’s service, could quickly build a large customer base for the company.

These last benefits were unanticipated – and they underlined what’s probably the most important lesson of all.  The best opportunities are rarely the ones that you predict ahead of time. They arise as you move forward, and often surprise you. But, they never happen unless you act first.

Photo by AndyRob via Flickr.

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Gartner: iPhone has 17.1% of worldwide smartphone sales

Filed under: Retail, Surveys and Polls, iPhone

iPhone sales are up more than 4% from a year ago, while the leading smartphone seller, Nokia, is down 3% from a year ago. That’s the word from Gartner Research today as they survey 3rd quarter sales.

According to Gartner research:

Apple’s worldwide smartphone share reached 17 per cent as iPhone sales totalled 7 million units in the third quarter of 2009 following the continued rollout of the iPhone 3GS in new countries. Its ASP (average selling price) is holding steady and sales in the fourth quarter should be even stronger as Apple starts selling in China, through one additional carrier in the UK, and in an additional 16 countries.

Sales of Windows smartphones had another quarterly decline, with Windows Mobile 6.5 appearing too late to factor into the accounting.

For a company that was dismissed two years ago for not having any experience in building phones, Apple seems to doing more than just OK. By the same token, the competition from the new Droid from Verizon should keep Apple innovating.

TUAWGartner: iPhone has 17.1% of worldwide smartphone sales originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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