iPhone OS 4: Five Takeaways

Today Apple announced iPhone OS 4 - which ships in the summer for the iPhone and iPod Touch and in the winter for the iPad. Lots of incremental and much needed changes (ie App Folders) but a few significant updates for consumers AND developers:

1. Multitasking. ... and ... 2. Background Tasks (consumers) We have asked for it essentially since Pandora's app launched... you will be able to run background services for: - audio (ie Pandora - a huge winner today) - voip (ie Skype) - location (ie directions, maps)

3. Enhanced Mail (consumers) This is particularly important for iPad users: multiple Exchange accounts, threaded conversation, improved attachments, etc.

4. iAd (developers) We knew this was coming with Apple's recent Quattro acquisition... and it arrived today. Apple will become an ad platform for the app ecosystem: selling and hosting the ads on a 40/60 split (40 to Apple). Ads are fully interactive and done in HTML5 (another big win for HTML5).

Not only is this an opportunity for HTML5 developers and web marketers, it is an opportunity for app developers to reach new users and drive downloads. Powerful.

5. Game Center (developers) Traditionally, mobile apps have not been as 'viral' as Facebook apps... with iAd and Game Center there are new ways for developers to drive adoption. Game Center is Apple's take on Xbox Live: a gallery for players, leaderboards, achievements, etc - effectively a heightened platform to foster game mechanics and drive usage.

More reviews at: Gizmodo / Engadget / TechCrunch / VentureBeat

iPhone and iPod Touch Account for +42% of Mobile Advertising Calls in US

Each month, I look forward to reading AdMob's detailed 'Mobile Metrics' report. It is a comprehensive report of mobile usage by geography, device, OS, and so forth - and based on the size of AdMob's network, the report is as interesting as it is powerful. The June report focuses on global iPhone and iPod Touch usage. The most striking data (and something I have written about before) is how important the iPod Touch has become from a device and advertising perspective:

* We estimate that 13 million iPhones have been used in the US. More than 1 million iPhones have been used in Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. * We estimate that 12 million iPod touches have been used in the US. More than 1million iPod touches have been used in the United Kingdom and Canada.

In the below graphic, notice how the split between iPhone and iPod Touch users in North America is roughly 63% / 37%.

But, despite that ration - iPhone and iPod Touch devices represent a more even percent of ad requests: 22.6% vs. 19.8% respectively.... suggesting that iPod Touch users are more actively browsing the web and using applications.

Also notable, the #3-#20 US devices account for 31% of ad requests... Apple's two devices alone account for over 42%:

For 40% of Users, Mobile Web has Replaced the Regular Web

It is time to start thinking of mobile devices as netbooks or, for that matter, laptops. Data from AdMob suggests that users of the iPhone and iPod Touch are highly captive consumers of content and entertainment. The most remarkable statistic: 43% of iPhone and iPod Touch users spend more time on the mobile web than on a computer or laptop.

More than 40% of users of both devices reported using the Internet on their mobile device more often than using the Web from their computers or listening to the radio.

Sony PSP Go Launches... But the Time has Passed

Let me preface by saying that, while I do not consider myself a video game buff, I am the proud owner of a Sony Playstation 3 (used both for Blu Ray and infrequent gaming). It is important to say this because my remarks about the PSP Go - Sony's latest version of their portable gaming device - are neither rooted in a dislike for the hardware nor the for the gaming content.

Simply put, the PSP Go is entering the market at a time dominated by mobile devices. Its two core usages are for gaming (leveraging Sony's content and game developers) and high quality video. But unless Sony's device is staggeringly better than what can be done on the iPhone (and others like the Palm Pre), users will not:

- carry another, heftier device - pay premiums for content and titles - change their viewing habits (how much better would video need to be to turn in your iPhone or iPod Touch for another small viewing screen?)

Perhaps if the Sony Go was introduced two years ago, it could have won market share during a time when consumers did not believe everything (work, phone, gaming and video) could be done in a single device. But today - we know it is possible and we know that the trend will continue:

- devices are getting better - gaming content is dramatically improving (just look at Zynga) - major gaming titles and developers are focusing their attention on mobile (currently the primary reason for gamers to want a PSP Go) - in the near-term economic climate, users appear willing to sacrifice quality for pricing (ie a <$10 game via the App Store vs. a $40 Sony title) - Apple and others are opening up to allow peripheral development / integration... which could significantly enhance gaming quality

All We Need is Connectivity: Why the iPod Touch & Netbooks Matter

We have three computers in our household: one desktop and two laptops. Right now, I'm on my desktop with two wide-screen monitors. Every inch of real estate is covered in applications.... all web-based: - Gtalk and Skype - Gmail - Google Docs - Pandora - Dropbox - Twhirl - About 15 tabs within my browser (Chrome)

My computer usage is entirely online - from content to applications. In fact, the only three programs that I use on a routine basis that aren't web-based are Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Powerpoint and Microsoft Excel. There simply aren't powerful enough equivalents at this point. And for every PSD, PPT and XLS file, I move it between computers via Dropbox.

Here's why this is important:

First, while I am not the typical internet user... this is occurring more and more frequently. For me it started with smaller transitions such as from Microsoft Word to Notepad and Notetab... and from those two to Google Docs.

And it's not just the consumer: corporations are also making the shift. Supposedly one-million companies now use Google Apps. At Widgetbox, we are one of those companies. We also use web-applications to track our product process, backlog, QA, business development flow, and so on. It's a remarkable movement.

I think the shift (for consumers and corporations) reveals as much about portability as it does about lightweight, comparable functionality... which when combined, allow me to access content and applications on lighter-weight hardware - such as my iPhone. And this is precisely why the iPhone, the iPod Touch and Netbooks are the future of computing: I don't need a huge processor to do my day-to-day work. Rather, I prefer portability and form factor.

The only thing I need is visual real-estate. If I could my monitors into a netbook.... I'd be more than happy.