Kelly Web Sales

Archive for February, 2010

There’s encouraging news for Google in the Android vs. iPhone war.? A company that’s delivered more than one billion applications, games, ringtones, videos, and wallpapers to mobile users claims Android has topped the iPhone in terms of user concentration in eight states. As the map below shows, these eight states are Arizona, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.? Then another five states are considered swing states, leaving the last 37 under Apple’s control. Obviously, these findings don’t represent a true victory for Google even if they’re absolute facts.? The states associated with Android aren’t all chockfull of people, and eight to 37 isn’t a good ratio.? Apple fans are sure to point out that Myxer is relatively new to the stats game, as well. Still, the data indicates that Android’s gained a lot of ground within a certain sample group, and that it’s done so at a more than reasonable pace.? What’s more, Myxer’s promised to update the map every quarter, meaning we’ll get a better idea of how things are trending as time goes by. According to Myxer , “A total of one million unique users from both the Android and iPhone operating systems were used to make this comparison.”

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Stats Put Android Ahead Of iPhone In Eight States

Going online in many countries, including developed ones is far from universal according to a new report by the World Internet Project (WIP). The report was carried out by the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, it found only half of the 10 reporting countries had more than a majority of Internet users. Both developed and less-developed countries reported relatively low percentages of Internet users, including Mexico (32 percent), Portugal (37%), Cyprus and Colombia (45%), Czech Republic (51%), and Chile (55%). Only three countries and regions report more than 60 percent of respondents as Internet users: Macao (61%), the United States (78%) and Sweden (80%). “These findings reinforce that the Internet is not yet part of life for hundreds of millions of people around the globe — even in technologically advanced countries,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future , which created and manages the World Internet Project. “And we are seeing large numbers of non-users even in countries with high levels of education and employment, long histories of Internet use, and high percentages of broadband installation.” The report found notable differences between men and women and their use of online technology. In six of the WIP countries, eight percent or more men than women use the Internet (Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Italy, Macao, Mexico). The gender gap is the largest in Mexico (16% more men than women are Internet users) and Colombia (15% more men than women. In four of the WIP countries, the gap in Internet use between men and women is four percent or less, with the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, and the United States reporting only slightly higher percentages of men than women as users. “Countries that reported an average of five or more years of Internet use found key disparities in access to online technology,” said Cole. “For example, many countries have a long way to go to increase Internet equality among men and women.” ? ?

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Global Internet Use Not Yet Universal

Google Buzz has been a magnet for skepticism, controversy, and criticism since it launched earlier this month. The skepticism is a result of past Google social media efforts not having the greatest track record. Much of the controversy and criticism has been the result of privacy, and more recently copyright concerns from users. Google Buzz launched with auto-following, and among countless other complaints, that led to one woman complaining about being re-connected with her abusive ex-husband, just because they had previous correspondence through Gmail. Google addressed this, and has made various changes to Buzz since launch based on user feedback. This week, blogger Jesse Stay raised the issue of content being shared on Buzz without the ads that go with it, while Google shows its own ads. Google quickly responded to this as well, saying that they expected to have the issue fixed by next week. For all the criticism, there are still plenty of people out there that view Buzz as a good tool, and a step in the right direction from?Google, with regards to social media. Some even think the extensive criticism has gone a bit further than Google deserves. “As a big company, Google has an incredible microscope focused on their every activity,” Silicon Valley blogger Louis Gray tells WebProNews. “Those people who are naturally distrusting of large companies with high market share are aggressively looking for ways to highlight weakness or issues with Google Buzz. While Google no doubt made some early missteps, and has apologized for them, the reaction has far outweighed the potential issues.” A common sentiment seen throughout the Blogosphere is that Google simply rushed Google Buzz out a little quicker than it should have. Even many of Buzz’s critics have no problem admitting that Buzz has a great deal of potential to thrive. I discussed this potential at length upon the launch of the service . Right out of the box, it seemed clear that Google was onto something with Buzz that it had not been able to tap into before – a way of taking its existing services and building its own social network in and around those – a strategy some of us have been expecting for quite some time. Buzz quickly drew in users (some didn’t have much of a choice if they were Gmail users). It’s important to consider that Buzz hasn’t even been around for an entire month yet. It’s already gotten tons of publicity (even though some has been negative, Google has been pretty good about turning much of that around). Publishers and bloggers have been quick to jump on the Buzz bandwagon and promote their Buzz profiles. How long did it take people to “get” Twitter? Some people still haven’t gotten there. Google will be integrating Buzz into more of its products, and will no doubt be adding more useful features as time goes on, most likely making it more appealing to users. It’s just in Google’s nature to crank out new features for its products. The biggest advantage Google has with Buzz is that Google already has so many users among all of its products, and ultimately, it can put Buzz wherever it wants. I have a feeling Buzz has barely scratched the surface of what it will be. But we’ll see.

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Does Google Buzz Deserve All the Criticism It’s Gotten?