Google Adwords goes mobile
September 13, 2007
Google (GOOG) are getting quite subtle in announcing new products developments these days. They’ve added a new FAQ to the Adwords Help Center which discusses search adverts appearing on mobile devices. I’m surprised this didn’t get shouted about on the Adwords blog…
They’re going to be running ads for free on mobile until 19th November, so your ads could be on the small screen right now. Of course you do have to have a mobile viewable landing page linked to from the ad for it to work (which is something I’m glad Google have done so they aren’t displaying pointless ads).
You’ll be able to opt out at that date.
Mobile payments are go!
September 4, 2007
So maybe Gpay is going to be too late for Google to take advantage of mobile payments (as I blogged about yesterday)…
Today, the biggest mobile phone operators in the UK have all switched on a new mobile payments system called PayForIt. It’s been designed for those who want to buy products or services up to the value of £10 using their mobile phone and bill. PayForIt will appear as an option on participating sites and services, at first just on mobile sites but soon it will be a standard payment option for goods on the wider internet.
It’s a good first move in getting us all towards a digital wallet type scenario, it could become a standard very quickly, is safe and trusted and much more preferred to the old way of paying by premium rate SMS.
It’s not quite the same as Google’s patent but has the potential to get adopted very rapidly.
Google want to patent the world
September 3, 2007
Of SMS billing it seems…
This patent filing alludes to a new mobile billing tool powered by SMS. The patent has been filed for by Google (GOOG), it makes perfect sense for mobiles to become a mobile electronic wallet, it’s a natural step for anyone who hates cash and always carries a phone.
Couple this with the Gphone news and it’s beginning to look like Google could step into the mobile arena with a very powerful offering very soon!
Gphone rumours abound!
August 29, 2007
Since I posted the other day about the rumours of a forthcoming Gphone from Google Inc. (GOOG) the blogosphere has gone wild with more unsubstantiated facts.
Rumours range from an HTC exec confirming the forthcoming phones existence, to the fact that Yahoo are heading on a parallel tack and developing their own, to rumours that Google are just looking at the operating system side and linking up with phone manufacturers.
I reckon the most likely is the third rumour that Google will concentrate on the software and integrating their own services into someone elses phone and leave the hardware to those who know. As for Yahoo; it’s quite likely they are working on phone apps as well, but whether that would be a whole OS or just another version of Yahoo Go who can tell…
The GPhone commeth?
August 24, 2007
I’m really not sure of the validity of this but thought I’d post anyway as it’s bound to be a hot topic and generate some buzz over the next couple of weeks…
Rediff News, a well respected source of technology news and views from India, has a story stating that Google Inc. (GOOG) will be launching the GPhone in two weeks. Apparently talks are underway with carriers in India to get an exclusive launch on one of their networks and it should be launching simultaneously in the US and Europe.
It’s said that any GPhone that does launch will be 3G compatible and have GPS built in for use with Google Maps. I’d also expect to see GMail integration and IM of some sort.
Google refused to comment. Obviously they will be launching a phone in the future either alone or with a partner, but is it this close to launch? I’m not so sure!
Google says: Mobiles hot!
August 23, 2007
In the news today Google has come out to say that usage of it’s mobile services have soared during the summer months. Usually the summer months can see a dip in web usage and perhaps this is evidence that users are getting more comfortable with the small screen so continuing to use it when on the move.
Visits to Google’s maps, Gmail and mobile searches on mobile phones and wireless handheld devices rose 35 percent between May and June. Thats a reverse of last years pattern which saw a decline at that time of year.
They attribute a jump in use of 40 percent to the launch of the iPhone. However I know that it’s widely used in the UK too and we don’t have the iPhone yet.
This is definitely all about better handsets being available, more people having decent handsets and the public at large getting more savvy with ways of accessing the web. I’d expect it to keep rising rapidly. For the UK, we’ve had such a poor summer weather wise that I’m surprised that usage hasn’t shifted back to PC’s, the test will be when we have a decent summer (we can pray that may be next year…).
Text for pizza? Now you can!
August 20, 2007
Domino’s Pizza, the UK based pizza chain, are well known as being a forward thinking tech savvy company. They started online ordering of pizzas at a time when a lot of retailers weren’t even online.
Now they’re trailblazing again with the launch of their SMS for pizza service. You register your details and phone with them and set up a menu of meals, then you can just text them the name of one of your set meals and they’ll text you back to confirm. Confirm the order and it’ll be delivered to you from your nearest shop.
Great use of SMS in my opinion, and the pounds will no doubt ring the tills and go round my waist!
SpinVox in acquisition mode!
August 20, 2007
No not buying competitors, rather in acquiring reams of new customers! This is really good news about one of my favourite little apps called SpinVox. It’s a service that, and I quote ‘SpinVox converts voice messages, from any phone, to any screen: making messaging natural and accessible for everyone’. They also convert voice to text to allow you to blog from anywhere and are working on more services.
Anyway, the great news for SpinVox is that they’ve signed a deal with U.S. telecoms carrier Alltel Wireless. The Arkansas mobile operator will offer SpinVox to its 12 million subscribers making it a huge acquisition win for SpinVox.
It’s a great little service too! I was lucky enough to get a free account a while ago and have found it really useful, especially being able to get voice mail details texted to me when in meetings.
Well done SpinVox!
Here’s a useful link from Apple’s Developer Connection which tells you all you need to know to get your web site or application ready for use by iPhone users.
To be honest it should be fairly straightforward as it’s the Safari 3 engine under the hood of the iPhone so if it works in Safari it should be fine in iPhone. Of course you may want to look at serving up a different version scaled to fit the iPhone as I for one find the zoom browse of modern phones a pain in the neck*. I’d much rather use a web app that sizes itself to the device I am using, it makes the browsing experience so much easier.
Anyway, the link above has all you need to know and some handy hints on how to utilise mail and maps on the iPhone. If you’re in any doubt about whether your app will work on iPhone then read the above.
*Of course, AT&T’s lousy 2G connection speeds make the browsing experience a pain in the neck anyway at the moment for anyone who owns an iPhone.
