Troubled online giant AOL just swallowed also-ran social networking site Bebo for close to $900 million. Given the volatility of the online ecosystem these days you have to give AOL credit for placing such as huge bet on a social networking site that mainly the Brits seem to love, and to Bebo for taking […]

Apple’s recent unveiling of a software developer kit (SDK) for its iPhone is further confirmation that this company is in serious contention to catalyze the mobile ecosystem and disrupt the operator-centric model that many believe has stymied the growth of mobile-phone based businesses in the United States and much of Europe. The SDK has […]

Randall Stross’s comments on the Kindle in today’s New York Times reminded me that I’ve been meaning to review the Kindle which I bought myself as a pre-Christmas present in early December. Unlike Randall, I kept my wife’s paws off of mine and I’ve been happily using it for about six weeks. It is a […]

Steve Jobs has taken a lot of flak since his speech at MacWorld on Tuesday. Of greatest concern is whether Apple’s streak of luck in the digital media space has run its course. The content providers that make its iTunes store valuable and get people to buy those pricey iPods have been bailing in […]

People went a-browsing when they unwrapped their iPhone gift, leading to a spike in Google searches from iPhones on Christmas Day. One takeaway from that is that having a great browser is the secret of the iPhone and the future of mobile. That’s just a piece of it though. The iPhone points the way […]

Now that the barrage of 2008 predictions are behind us, we thought we’d take the next couple of weeks to focus on the “realities” behind what some pundits have predicted. This week, we’ll tackle mobile, advertising, and publishing.
Advertising
Predictions: Online advertising will be resilient in 2008, with growth in online video ads, social networks and […]

Google Gets Ready to Rumble with Microsoft according to a long Sunday New York Times article by the usually insightful Steve Lohr and Miguel Helft. They describe an epic battle where Google is pushing its vision of everything happening on remote servers and Microsoft wanting to keep their desktop software in the center. […]

Verizon and other mobile carriers should make the leap into having open networks if they don’t want their clocks cleaned by Google according to a provocative op ed in Saturday’s New York Times. There’s lots to agree with here. O’Reilly is probably right that by opening their networks and encouraging the development of applications […]

A Microsoft executive points out that lots of pieces in the mobile ecosystem need to fall into place before the promise of mobile payments takes off (full news story here). Like others he recognizes the need for an open ecosystem—the kind that has proved so important for the development of the personal computer ecosystem […]

The iPhone accounted for almost 1 out of 1000 web page views according to a report in today’s Wall St. Journal and Ben Worthen’s post in the WSJ blog. That seems small but is remarkable given the still small number of iPhones out there and how recently it was introduced. It is evidence […]