Am I going crazy or is the digital world going crazy? Skype is down, Wikipedia is down, Facebook is down……. at least for me anyway. Is it the travel rush… We all know that the Bird-flu travels in planes, does this H1N1 or should I say HN11 ( Happy New Year 11 virus) traveling during the Holiday season going to put us all at home off our computers and spending time with the family

….ahh yes an analog experience for once.

As we all gear-up to fly out for the 2010 end of the year holiday season, are we grabbing that large guidebook and throwing into our suit case or travel bag? Are we getting the iPhone App, iPad App, or even Kindle version instead.

I saw this article on how Tourism Thailand ( TAT) is moving over to mobile and it brought back a nostalgic moment for me any my life.  In 1984 when  I was a third year Engineering Student at the University of Illinois,  I had the chance to study/ teach abroad in Thailand.  For me the Lonely-Planet Book for Thailand- written by Tony Wheeler ( at that time)  was a bit of  Bible  or sorts for my survival.  Back in the  Bangkok summer of 1984, it was like the wild-wild west for me.  I actually did contract Typhoid Feaver, and had many unique stories to tell, but that Lonely-Planet guidebook was something special in my overall discover and journey of the Thailand countryside.    The guide book lent it self for shoe-string travelers like myself to take notes, tear-off pages to share, and send in information that would better the book.  It was one of the first collaborative community projects of its time.  What happened Lonely Planet? I guess you lost the Tony Wheeler type characters of that day? Times had changed as well with global digital communications and the Internet of the 90′s, but it is something for me in my late teens to experience that was a slice in time right before the global World-Wide-Web.

Now as see all of this going Digital, that distant feeling of going to such a far away different place at that time has really changed as we  experience tourism/travel and back-packers of the day….  I remember reading about this unique noodle place tucked in the back-alleys off of  Sukumvit Road, and getting there with this diagram map to a Tuk-Tuk driver only to find the exact description of the Snake-charmer and old man siting on the corner adjacent to that Noodle shop.

Now we will be navigated with Google maps on our iPhone Lonely Planet App…. Not much Analog left in that experience…..:(

Apple has finally rolled out a way for app makers and content providers to build their own specialized ads for apps and the iAd Producer could help boost its mobile advertising network.

Advertisers will need to use this tool to create proprietary ads for iPhone, iPad, AppleTV?  and all in the Orchard I guess….?

Apple rolled out its advertising network as part of iOS 4.0 and it promised to give ads all the functionality of the app itself – this included 3D graphics, multitouch, video, gyroscope and more.  The goal was to create ads which deeply engage the user with experiences  brands could create only mobile… Yahoo took some stabs at it and beyond the Nissan Leaf campaign, we haven’t heard of too many success cases.

In fact, Chanel dropped its plans to advertise with this network after Apple meddled with the creative process.

Could this  iAd Producer change this slow start for Apple to get involved creating the ads,  yet now giving the creators a bit more flexibility.  As it appears these tools seems it make it fairly easy for user to create.

According to Apple:

iAd Producer makes it easy for you to design and assemble high-impact, interactive content for iAd. iAd Producer automatically manages the HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript behind your iAd to make creating beautiful, motion-rich iAd content as easy as point and click.

For advanced developers, iAd Producer offers sophisticated JavaScript editing and debugging, along with a powerful extension mechanism that enables them to create and re-use their own page templates and components.

We all know that Google is fully integrating AdMob into its business and you know that the search giant is going to be putting a lot of effort into the mobile advertising space. Besides there foray into Voice, Operating Systems and new advances to Search that was recently stated by Google’s Marissa Mayer- ” Contextual Push”, this is not going to be a straight forward process for Apple to get the agency and brands mind share that easily, but with these tools it is definitely a good way to start…

Google announced today that this free calling from the U.S. to anywhere in the States and Canada would be extended through all of 2011! (Back in August, it said it wouldn’t charge for those calls “for at least the rest of the year”-Liz Gannes “All Things Digital”)

2010 was a good year for Google and Android.  Besides the fact that the media coverage seemed more pro-Android than Apple  ( iPhone4 Antenna problems, Apples lack of variety (  the white version was not even launched) , and the constant push that Apple is not closed) they did get amazing growth and start to become the dominant player in the Smartphone market in North America.   We started to see even Android Devices being given away for Free with basic data plans making  it clear that in 2011 Android will eat quickly into the feature phone market and continue in that dominance mode as just the smartphone being the status-quo.

So to add some nice icing to the cake, not only did they use the momentum to thier advantage with the Google-to-Google Free  talk services as in Skype-to-Skype calls for Free, but they just make a defining blow to the Carriers by now offering a Google-to-Land line Free service.   This has in someways even has trumped Skype that has offered a low-cost service, but not completely free.  Skype charges pennies.minute  for this service that makes it cheap and addictive to end-users ( including myself that has been enjoying and using it over the years).

In my mind this is a big Wow.  Make the Operating System Free, Make the Calls all Free, Make all their content and services  Free, make the Wifi Networks Free and focus on building up local advertising and targeting.  Google did have some great patents in the Pay-per-Call for merchants, so with this Free service of users calling shops and making reservations is even more incentivised when Free…

With their power and position making everything Free is definitely a disrupter to this market where competition between companies is difficult without the economies of scale of Google and their Ad network network as well.   It is going to be interesting to see how Carriers respond to this when more and more users are leveraging Wifi for their data connections and calling as well.

Just learned about this and found it very interesting.

Apple to Improve App Purchasing & Sharing — A release from the US Patent & Trademark Office has revealed a new patent for Apple and the purchasing of applications at places such as the App Store. According to Patently Apple, the system will utilize an “Application Seed” methodology, which means that when users download an app, they will be able to share it with others, allowing them try it, for free, and effectively helping to mitigate the over-saturation of apps on the market.

About 3 months ago we were all saying the Smartphone market size was about 20~25%.  Now in a recent release by Nielsen, they show the US Smartphone market approaching 30% ( 1/3rd the market).  We are looking like we are on track to hit the 50%  by the end of 2011….. Big changes in 2011 for smartphones and mobile with the Media Tsunami now here! Lets all hope the Carriers get the new LTE roll-out right and on-schedule.

In a recent article by Nielsens, “The Smart Phone Battle heats up….”

they show the market for iPhones a bit skewed toward Women… Is this really the case? The stat that I find interesting is that even though 30.9% perfer iPhones, 23.8% are unsure….. This leaves an interesting opportunity for the Market.

As Motorola releases its series of cute smartphones, what is going to be the next killer design for Apple in their next move.  They have been quiet since the iPhone 4 release that was definitely very masculine focused in design. We still have not heard when we will see the White iPhone4, and indications show something to do with Verizon potentially…

In another article by Techtree, they say that women should adopt Android for Three-reasons.

1) Qwerty Keyboard makes for easier input…… no worry about the nails

2) The come in all kinds of sizes and shapes…. easy for the handbag

3) They are cost effective…..or does this really relate to women? More related to the transition from Feature phone to smartphone I would say.

To sum this up, I do not think that Android vs. iPhone will be a mans vs. a women’s thing…..Lets really see what Apple launches next.

In a recent article by Geoff Ramsey, President of eMarketer ( See below), he definitely hit the nail on the head! In the wake of  the financial crisis, will we see a similar media crisis spurred on by the overflow of more and more content, while users still expecting to downloading it for free? We are in an age where everybody is creating, and the world has become  flat for media.  There is just so much out there and it is really becoming more and more available as we envisioned….the on-demand via multi-screens scenario.  I do believe in social recommendations of compelling content, but the market is there for the taking if you do something stimulating and original that really catches the eyes of the consumers. This then could potentially propel it with immense social velocity.

This is why it is critical to have all of your media ducks in a row.  As I say, your RIOTPM ( Radio, Interactive, OOH, TV, Print, Mobile) all working like a purring Ferrari ready to hit the road with your creative “eye-catching, ears-ring”, “Taste buds-swelling” “Fingers-itching” campaigns. The industry word has been coined “Earned-Media”, but I like to think of it as “Emotional-Earned Media”.

If as a marketer you can deliver on this kind of compelling promise to consumers, the last thing you want is for them to try to open that campaign on their mobile phone and the site does not work due to lack of preparation, or poor layout….. Mobile has to be there as well as Social media with the right strategy in place from the start, with its own creative twists….

2011 is the dawn of the new media creative that maps across all the different screens in that unique special contextual way… we are excited  to be part of this…

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2011 Trends: Content Marketing Is Critical

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Geoff Ramsey—CEO, Co-Founder

Next year, marketers will need to rethink their approach to advertising and marketing and intensify their focus on creating magnetic content that will naturally attract consumers, rather than relying solely on the interruption model of advertising, which consumers are responding to less and less. Think pull vs. push.

Magnetic content can include anything created on behalf of a brand—be it an ad, YouTube video, online game, Facebook page, Twitter promo or mobile app—that consumers genuinely want to engage with and pass along to others. This content entertains, amuses, informs, serves a function or satisfies a consumer need. It’s welcome instead of annoying or interruptive.

Marketers, especially those working in social media, have seen the proven value of branded content, sometimes also referred to as “earned media.” Nearly three-quarters of US companies with a social media strategy used such content in their campaigns, making it the most common type of content used, according to a June 2010 study by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42.

Creating effective, breakthrough advertising has always been a challenge for marketers, as well as for the agencies charged with the task. But the classic interruption-disruption model of advertising is moribund. Marketers should ask themselves five questions about the magnetic content they are seeking to create to determine whether it will be truly attractive to their audience:

Is the content unique?
Is the content useful?
Is the content well executed?
Is the content fun?
Does the content make good use of the channel in which it appears (e.g., social, mobile, video)?
Marketers should base their magnetic content ideas on well-researched customer behaviors, attitudes and lifestyles. This entails altering your emphasis in marketing from “selling product” to identifying and solving a consumer need or want that transcends or complements the physical product or service you are selling. Ask yourself this critical question: Besides your product, what can you do for the consumer?

I learned about Delta’s decision to add WiFi now to its regional Jet Service. It appears the Virgin domino strategy has worked!  This is big news for all of us that like to work when we are flying.  I do not know what they will do about Skype or video calls over Wifi, but being connected during those several hours when flying is exactly the service I like as a business traveler.

This will bring a new breath of fresh air to iPad, smartphone Apps as now we will start to see the in-flight entertainment services moving to those opportunities as well.  Just think of the future shopping potential? Duty Free when you fly with one-click of the button….

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Here are some of my favorite links to either help you through the Thanksgiving Holidays or just Apps of Thanks!

1) Top Thanksgiving Survival Apps ( PCWorld)

2) 5 Apps to be Thankful for if you are Flying this Thanksgiving ( RRW)

….more Apps for traveling

3) Some of the top iPhone Thanksgiving Apps ( MacWorld)

4) Great music to listen to over the Holidays ( CareyOtt)

5) Top Apps for Cooking (Blog)

6) Epicurious App

7) Vegetarian Cookbook App