Facebook taking a reactive step has added HTTPS access to their site, this as hijacking has been a problem for some time. There lack of notification to WiFi users
at Startbucks and other public locations speaks to this indifference.
It will take some time to make third-party apps compliant and people
should be diligent how they use the platform.
Facebook security engineer Alex Rice warns, however, that speed and third-party applications could be affected.
"Encrypted pages take longer to load, so you may notice that Facebook is
slower using HTTPS," Rice said in a blog post. "In addition, some
Facebook features, including many third-party applications, are not
currently supported in HTTPS. We'll be working hard to resolve these
remaining issues."
Personality I have totally
locked down but each person has to decide for themselves what level of
risk they want to take with their personal data be it by employers,
current or future, advertising trolls or criminals.
Yahoo! has come up with an interesting and novel use of fixed space to turn San Francisco bus shelters into interactive gaming terminals. By connecting twenty shared terminal sites together, people can play against not only different games but different parts of the city, I gather for neighborhood bragging rights.
One could envision not only the interactive screens as pictured above, but also live video between of all players along with the ability to enter peoples names and email, this for future game offerings. Play a game, get a coupon from GameStop for a discount off a future purchase.
Yahoo! needs to do more then play with the technology for the sake of experimenting and take some bold moves by partnering with companies like GameStop, Starbucks or perhaps McDonalds, who has been active of late in New York City making some of its restaurants friendly for WiFi users..
Gaming locations in San Francisco
Yahoo! was innovative in the past with their technology platform like FinanceVision, this back in 2000, the question is if this is just an experiment or the company has a business idea to leverage the excitement in the gaming market coupled with location based gaming?
Its not news that Starbucks have been walling up their power connections of late however, my favorite location tucked inside a building off Vanderbuilt & 43rd Avenue in New York City had yet to be effected, until today. I gather the columns that are part of the foundation for the building (where the outlets are located) are paid for by Starbucks, perhaps not but not worth an argument with the manager who advised me of the new policies on power and food consumption.
When in the area I usually stop by and sometimes bring a sandwich as much of what Starbucks has to offer does not conform to my diet, I do purchase their teas and coffee's and as such don't feel as I am squatting in their space. In fact, the company has encouraged this behavior over the past several years, or at least with respect to food ignored it, at least in New York City where people might spend hours conducting business, surfing the web or just hanging out, why the sudden shift? It's the cost of revenue lost per seat and not the cost of electricity.
The cost of electricity is nominal (the average cost of electricity in 2010 in the U.S. is 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.) and the company has implemented 258,000 LED and CFL bulbs in the U.S. and Canada saving the company millions of dollars, these savings could offset the cost of people plugging in their devices.
From: Starbucks 2009 Year in Review Report
Its really unfortunate that Starbucks has taken this about face. Many freelancers, entrepreneur's find the service of great benefit to their start-ups or soho businesses and perhaps other businesses will step in and fill the void though its hard to match the ubiquity of having over 170 locations in Manhattan.
With the news today that the company has released a mobile app just hope you don't have to charge your SmartPhone before you order, you could always resort to standing on a long line and well just ordering like in the olden days...
Kate Bird, Director, Digital Communications Policy, External Affairs & Communications, Pfizer today announced the launch of a mobile version of the Pfizer.com site today at the Mobile Healthcare Communications Conference. According to Ms. Bird, the company has been focused on the iPhone platform and yet to embrace Android as a platform to address though she indicated there stats indicated the need to address.
Questions about patient conversion are to early to tell according to Ms. Bird. The company also has several apps for the Canadian and Hong Kong markets which have yet to come to the U.S.
Does Starbucks have a responsibility to its customers to communicate the dangers of using WiFI at their stores with the advent of the Firesheep plug-in for Firefox? Can AT&T create and deploy a more secure network architecture at Starbucks locations and should it also be advising customer about safe surfing? Are the issues with creating more secure connections too complex or expensive for either company to mount the effort?
In an email to the Starbucks press office, I asked those very questions, there was no reply.
With The recent CNBC special, The Facebook Obsession, why wasn't there any coverage about the dangers of using WiFi when so much time was spend on security holes that have cropped up with Facebook?
It is a new year... the time when we are told this is "The year of
mobile advertising." However, despite Google and Apple collectively
doling out more than 1 billion dollars for mobile ad networks, the $650
million spent in the US on mobile advertising in 2010 is still a mere
2.5% of online ad budgets. The appropriate question should be what if
"The Year of Mobile Advertising" never actually comes?
It is time to acknowledge that direct response on mobile is a
failure. However, mobile's singular advantage compared to other
platforms can be distilled into a single word- engagement. In the UK for
example, Facebook users spend one third longer per visit on the mobile
version. Mobile's potential as a marketing platform, more than any other
factor, has helped make it the fastest growing advertising medium in
history.
It may be helpful to review successful campaigns from one market where
the percentage of advertising budget has surpassed five percent- Israel.
Unlike the US, all of the major carriers offer the iPhone. In fact,
ARPU (average revenue per user) exceeds the US and Western Europe. Below
are a few recent campaigns with relevant lessons for the US.
Lesson I: Customer Relationship Management, not Direct Sales- Microsoft Recruiting
Microsoft used a dynamic billboard as a fun tool for recruiting computer programmers. Located on the highway between the Haifa - Herzilya tech corridor, a series of complicated math equations were displayed. Responding via SMS, the campaign netted 60% more applicants than usual.
Lesson II: Bring the Customer Back, Again and Again- Gilette Racing Game
Gillette, the razor brand from Procter & Gamble, created a branded mobile racing game with world-class gameplay. To encourage consumer discovery, Gilette promoted the game online, at the point of sale and on mobile. More importantly, once the game achieved a sizable user base, Gilette learned from the success of Angry Birds by consistently updating the game every few weeks.
Lesson III: Mobile as Part of a Consistent Marketing Experience and Message- Doritos Raffle
Doritos customers expect a consistent experience and message regardless of entry point. The brand combined two original, made-for-digital video series with an instant raffle related to a mobilecode on 25 million bags. Integrated with online and in-store efforts, mobile permitted a consistent, cross platform experience for more than 300,000 paid customers. The result was 21,000 Facebook Fan Page "Likes" and a substantial increase in sales.
Lesson IV: Mobile as Consultative Service Tool- Ben Leumi Bank (Talk to an Advisor)
Mobile is more than just a commerce opportunity. It is a chance to learn more about customers and better serve them. In this Click 2 Call campaign, Ben Leumi Bank tested frequently, adjusted rapidly and scaled appropriately. Wisely, their campaign evolved from a lead-gen approach to a consultative, CRM focus. The high response rates among women ages 25-45, permitted the bank to learn more about their target customers and individualize the marketing message.
Lesson V: Leverage the Lower-Cost and Social Nature of Mobile- Tuborg (Live Concerts)
Tuborg has long used music to engage its target, young male demographic. The beer company held a ticketless music concert in which customers purchasing a 6 pack received a mobile concert ticket via MMS. The mobile tickets helped spur product sales while drastically reducing event production costs. Another concert, available exclusively for those who had joined the Tuborg Fan Page on Facebook, used a similar mobile ticketing approach.
The US is nowhere close to crossing the 5% ad budget threshold. In the interim, it may be worthwhile to bench-mark best practices from countries like Israel that have already surpassed that figure. Consider activities like investing across platforms, using mobile as a consultative CRM tool, establishing your own campaign metrics, testing frequently and adjusting rapidly and thinking through the post-click experience. In the meantime, enjoy yet another "Year of Mobile Advertising."
More than 24 million tablet computers are projected to be sold in the United States this year, up from 10.3 million in 2010, according to Forrester. IDC, expects to see 42 million tablet sales worldwide in 2011.
Drastic changes in many of the largest NCAA Division I conferences have altered the
landscape of college sports. Schools long associated with particular conferences are
realigning themselves. Not surprisingly, money is driving the trend--primarily from the
development of regional sports networks (RSNs), which provide growing revenue to
conferences and schools.
Revenue generated from television isn't the only factor--some schools are seeking to
improve their academic image by associating with a particular conference--but it is the
primary factor. The launch of the Big Ten Network in 2006--the first internationally
distributed network dedicated to covering a single college conference--marked a
dramatic turn in college sports. Today, the Big Ten Network reaches approximately 40
million households across the Midwest and Canada. The Big Ten receives an estimated
88 cents per month for every subscriber to the network, and in 2008-09, the network
alone was responsible for distributing $6.4 million to each of the schools in the Big Ten.
The SEC, considered by many to be the strongest conference athletically, also boasts
extremely lucrative TV deals. While it does not yet have a RSN, the SEC's two 15-year
agreements with ESPN and CBS are worth more than $3 billion. What does that mean to
the SEC's member schools? Earlier this year the conference divided a staggering $209
million among its 12 member schools.
When the Big Ten announced earlier this year that it was seeking to expand, the effects
were felt throughout the collegiate landscape. Nebraska's decision to align with the Big
Ten caused a scramble that nearly spelled the end of the Big 12 Conference. Its ultimate
survival was due in large part to a restructuring of the conference's television agreement
that greatly increases the revenues guaranteed to each member school, while also
allowing Texas to pursue the establishment of its own RSN.
Expansion also gives conferences a footprint in markets where they may not otherwise
have a presence. When the SEC flirted with Texas A&M earlier this year, bringing an
untapped market into the conference was a primary motivator. Adding the fifth largest
and tenth largest television markets in the U.S. (Dallas and Houston, respectively) would
have allowed the SEC to generate more money by guaranteeing more viewers. Currently,
the Big Ten is eyeing Rutgers University as a possible addition to give it a presence in the
New York Metropolitan area. Expansion may also allow a conference to host a
conference championship game, which also guarantees increased revenues. Such
developments may ultimately lead to the development of a college football playoff at the
Division I level, which also has the potential to increase revenues dramatically, especially
for schools in the so-called "super conferences" that would likely have the most
participants in such a playoff.
Conference realignment, while benefitting the schools that move and the conferences that seek to expand, also has adverse effects, particularly on the conferences that are left behind. The Big 12 initially sought exit penalties from Nebraska and Colorado, which is also leaving the conference, of $20 million from each school and recently settled with Colorado for $6.8 million and Nebraska for $9.2 million, respectively, to allow the schools to leave the Big 12 one year earlier than initially expected. The Western Athletic Conference recently sued Fresno State and Nevada to keep the schools, which have decided to join the Mountain West Conference, in the WAC through the 2011-12 season.
The WAC felt that by attempting to hold these schools to their conference obligations, they could minimize disruption to the WAC and lessen the damage to its arrangements with sponsors and television partners.
The impact on sponsors and conferences of schools changing conferences can also be significant. While national brands may be able to adjust more easily to the new college landscape, regional sponsors, who may enter into certain arrangements based upon rivalries or matches that will no longer exist (e.g., Nebraska vs. Oklahoma), may be severely impacted. Realignment can also have the effect of shifting more power to the conferences, particularly stronger conferences like the SEC and Big Ten, which may seek better terms from sponsors and television networks. An expansion of the SEC, for example, would allow the conference to renegotiate its TV deal, which would likely provide even greater revenue to the conference. Sponsors and other entities involved in collegiate sports should continue to monitor these developments, since the game of conference musical chairs does appear to be over quite yet.
2. Impact of Globalization and Technology on Professional Sports
Technological advances are bringing sporting events to more people than ever before. Mobile devices, net books, laptops and satellite televisions have increased international viewership of sporting events. For the 2010 World Cup, ESPN3 (ESPN's broadband network for live sports programming) clocked nearly 7.4 million viewers, generating 15.7 million hours of viewing. The network's World Cup application was downloaded more than 2.5 million times and accessed by an average of one million users per day.
Though the World Cup may be seen as an outlier in terms of revenue generated and
number of viewers, the international fan base continues to grow--even for smaller scaled local sporting events--with the aid of ever-advancing technology. This is due in part to athletes playing abroad, which may generate interest in a player's native country, and in part to the relatively new ability to watch games taking place anywhere in the world through live web stream or satellite television. Cross-border deals are also part of the equation as foreigners increasingly purchase interests in local teams, such as Mikhail D. Prokhorov recently becoming the first foreign owner of an NBA team. The potential sale of Liverpool, a soccer team in the English Premier League, has drawn the interest of potential purchasers from across the globe. This influx of interest creates opportunities for local and foreign sponsors and advertisers. The increased globalization of sports has also increased the value of many sport properties as evidenced recently by the $2 billion price tag--double the previous contract--for overseas television rights for the next three years of Premier League games.
Globalization of the NBA is not a new phenomenon, but technological advances are
helping it continue. Today, the NBA finals are televised to more than 200 countries in
over 40 languages. More than half of all NBA.com traffic comes from outside of the U.S.
Due to its enormous popularity in China and because of high-profile players Yao Ming
and Yi Jianlian, the number of Chinese sponsors and advertisers in the NBA is growing.
Recently, the NBA announced a multi-year marketing partnership with the BBVA Group,
a leading Spanish bank. As part of the partnership, BBVA will serve as the official bank
of the NBA, WNBA and the NBA D-League in the U.S., Spain and Puerto Rico. MLB is
also seeing its brand grow. Thanks to players such as Ichiro Suzuki, a significant number
of Japanese sponsors, including Nintendo, MasterCard Japan, Ajinomoto, Sanyo Electric
and Hitachi, can be seen throughout MLB stadiums. The benefits of globalization are not
limited to foreign companies; many U.S. companies are also getting in on the action. The NBA's popularity in China is a significant reason for Nike's revenue growth in that
country, which rose 22% in 2009.
Many sports are using advances in technology to expand, driving an increase in
opportunities for advertisers and sponsors. Because international games are so easily
accessed, they reach more people in more countries than ever before. Sponsors and
advertisers are no longer limited to local markets or traditional forms of advertising and
should explore different markets and media to reach as many "local" sports fans as
possible.
Yahoo! was innovative in the past with their technology platform like FinanceVision, this back in 2000, the question is if this is just an experiment or the company has a business idea to leverage the excitement in the gaming market coupled with location based gaming?
