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AND Chief Executive Officer Maarten Oldenhof says the company experienced a challenging start of 2011. “We are in close contact with various big companies, however we depend on the decisions of these parties and their long approval procedures. We see opportunities in the strong growing Smartphone market and social networks, such as Facebook, Groupon and Twitter. Social media on the smartphone is very powerful and location-based services are a must.” Revenue in the first four months of 2011 has declined, which has led to a loss in the first four months of 2011. Given the current size of AND, the development in revenue and results are greatly influenced by whether or not closing orders in a given period, both large and small. Further, big companies in the market are very careful with making decisions because of quickly changing market developments and especially the influence on their business models.

Outlook for 2011 The economic climate, market developments and business models are all very uncertain in the market for digital maps. The development of the results in 2011 will depend on the strength of the economic recovery and developments in the market for navigation and location based services. Therefore, AND is not in the position to provide an outlook for the full year 2011.

(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f92935/global_mobile_br) has announced the addition of the "Global - Mobile Broadband - Location Based Services Insights" report to their offering. Despite the hype regarding this technology since around the year 2000; we have just recently begun to see applications for this technology become available to mass audiences. This is thanks to services like FourSquare and Facebook Places offering users the ability to check-in. The future of mobile Location Based Services will continue to emerge as handsets with smarter capabilities, new apps and user interfaces continue to permeate the market. This report provides a broad global overview of trends and developments in the mobile location based services industry, including a brief overview of GPS.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f92935/global_mobile_br

IDC’s Q1 scorecard for smartphones in western Europe is out. Nokia’s sales are sliding 10% year-on-year in a market for all phones growing at 5%, while the smartphone sector grew 76% (how long before we stop using the word smartphone, you might well ask). Nokia’s smartphone market share has gone from 57% to 19.6% in two years. Europe’s biggest handset maker is now Samsung and the fastest growing is HTC. The biggest platform is Android, with 35.7%, followed by Apple iOS on 20%, and then Symbian and BlackBerry OS.

4 out of those 5 companies are heavily committed to Android, and two are also committed to Windows Phone,

In the Android sphere, Sony Ericsson has announced the latest lot of Xperia phones. They’re keeping the Xperia Mini brand from the hit X10, and the Mini Pro gets a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Both run Android 2.3/Gingerbread and get a new Facebook app.

A common mistake for those seeking to cope with this profound disruption is to confuse technology with innovation. Algorithms, apps and search tools help make data useful but they can’t replace the value judgements at the core of journalism.

Genuine innovation requires a fundamental shift in how journalists think about their role in a changed world. To begin with, they need to get used to being ‘curators’; sorting news from the noise on the social web using smart new tools and good old fashioned reporting skills.

I find it helps to think of curation as three central questions: * Discovery: How do we find valuable social media content? * Verification: How do we make sure we can trust it? * Delivery: How do we turn that content into stories for a changed audience?

Waze launches its social sat-nav app for traffic-mad UK drivers “For those unaware of Waze, here’s how it works. Just by using the app (on Apple iOS, Android, Nokia, RIM), drivers generate a real-time map of the traffic ahead and can even share live road reports on accidents, hazards, speed cameras and roadworks (though typing is disabled while driving, in case you were wondering). A recent feature enable drivers to create voice-based hazard reports by recording a quick voice message – this then alerts other Waze drivers behind them. This is potentially much more accurate that having a road organisation like the AA try and feed real-time information into the system via old fashioned means like road cameras. Waze’s real-time traffic news is even being fed to some local TV stations in the US. And I daresay the speed camera aspect will go down a storm in the UK. In addition, ‘driving groups’ let users to connect with other nearby drivers such as fellow commuters, friends etc heading in the same direction. It can also be used by taxis or delivery trucks and connects to Twitter accounts and Facebook pages.”

As Groupon prepares for its IPO, critics are circling the daily deals site wondering whether it's worth the hefty $25 billion valuation it currently holds. Key to the future of Groupon's success is its ability to woo merchants, with the promise that participating will boost business and draw new customers.

But recent story in TechCrunch highlighted the hesitation that some merchants may feel about getting involved with the site. TechCrunch revisited one merchant who proclaimed that signing up for Groupon was the "single worst business decision" she had made. Her story echoes other merchants who have claimed that Groupons actually result in unprofitability, administrative nightmares, and, to cap it all off, that they don't result in new regular customers.

Jessie Burke, owner of Posies Cafe in Oregon, first told her story in September 2010. According to Burke, Groupon pushed her to offer a deal that would let users buy $13 of product for $6. Groupon originally wanted 100 percent of the money (what it usually takes when consumers pay less than $10 on a deal), but relented, revising their percentage cut of the deal price to 50 percen

We’ve changed how we use RSS

The simple truth is we’re less likely to use RSS or email subscription now compared to our RSS usage in the previous era of the Web.  We’re just less into RSS readers and start pages.

We’re using real-time web & social networking more

We observed the emerging trend of online dating among today’s tech savvy generation and in order to simplify it, we decided to launch Dates Near Me, a free mobile dating service which caters towards the requirements of today’s generation. The iPhone dating application works by broadcasting the location of users based on GPS signals that permit them to find nearby singles and meet up right away if they desire. “Begin your search to find a like-minded companion, friend, lover or date using DatesNearMe mobile phone dating application on your iPhone and Google Android. With the singles showing an ever increasing desire for on the spot gratification, we realized the importance of mobile dating technology”, remarked the CEO of DatesNearMe.com Few reasons that make DatesNearMe better than any other mobile dating application are: 1. Highest level of privacy and security settings so that you can flirt with comfort. 2. Find singles around you with the help of our map view or list view. 3. 100% Free. Definitely no charges or catches. 4. Filled of features with high user friendliness. 5. Create your profile in less than no time. Just a few clicks if you update from Facebook. 6. Add users to your hot List, and see who has added you to theirs. 7. Easily flirt with hotties with winks, smiles and live messages.

The infographic which outlines who does and doesn’t use location-based services and why, states a number of concerns regarding the use of these services. First, 50 percent of users don’t have smartphones (I was once among this group and have since been unable to imagine life without it). 48 percent of non-users cited privacy concerns, which is very understandable because it was at the root of my apprehension until I realized I control my own privacy when using these services, and 49 percent had no motivation.

Motivation to use location-based services like Facebook Places, which is utilized by 90 percent of people who “check-in” anywhere online, shouldn’t be waning. Companies should be offering more promotions to bring in local costumers because it’s basically free advertising! 54 percent of current users use the services for discounts and coupons and 44 percent of non-users would consider using a location-based service for discounts and coupons. Why aren’t they converted? There’s just not enough good deals, in my opinion.

What’s also interesting is users are more likely to check-in with large brands (perhaps this is because those are the ones that often offer promotions) but less likely to share those check-ins with friends. When it comes to the social aspect of sharing your location, who cares if you went to Panera for lunch? Friends want to know about the cool mom-and-pop places they’ve never heard of.

Since location-based check-in app Foursquare was launched at South by Southwest in 2009, the app has seen exponential growth, reaching over 7.5 million users this year.

Apart from gamification through leaderboards and badges (or stickers, or pins), the motivation for users to participate in location-based networks is severely lacking.

1)make it easy and 2) create value. Users want to put in less effort and receive more value.

Third-party apps are the weakest link in user privacy on smart phones. They often get access to large quantities of user data, and there are few rules covering how they must handle that data once they have it. Worse yet, few third-party apps have a privacy policy telling users what they intend to do. That was the message delivered at a hearing of the U.S. Senate committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held yesterday. Companies and regulators are struggling to find ways to ensure that user data is handled properly by apps installed on smart phones, but the way apps are designed makes this difficult.

This week, Facebook joined Google and Apple on the hot seat. But all three companies run platforms that support thousands of third-party developers, and how to make sure those apps respect users' privacy, and explain their rules, is a major question. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) said at the hearing, "It's not clear that Americans understand how their information may be shared or transferred."

Customer support rules are rapidly changing, as unprecedented numbers of customers use social media channels to express options, seek assistance and purchase products. Customers have quickly adopted Facebook, Twitter and Google, as their primary means for gathering information regarding a company’s products and services. In many cases social media customers receive support from multiple departments within a company but are isolated from the contact center. This is because the traditional contact center is generally not ready for reaching out to the social customer or will only provide secondary support when its telephone agents are free. Regardless of how companies choose to market and support their social media customers, they should apply the same basic procedures found in contact centers to positively engage their customers

they sho

Wal-Mart’s social and mobile plans are starting to take shape only two months after acquiring Kosmix of Mountain View, Calif.

When Kosmix was purchased, it was building a database called the social genome project, which kept track of what people were interested in and what products people were talking about.

the executives say they are hard at work defining how the mega-retailer — with $419 billion in sales and 1.5 billion online visits a year to its Web site — will address the two very disruptive platforms: social and mobile.

while workers want autonomy and flexibility, they also want social connection. In an interview, Yosh Beier of Collaborative Coaching summed this up, saying, “people want to have control over the where and when of their work experience, but they don’t necessarily want to isolate themselves.” How will this tension be resolved in the future?

Many point to technology to keep people connected across physical distance, tools “that will make the remote less remote,” in Beier’s words. He points to the mania for Foursquare in the consumer space as an example of people who are physically distant but use tech to “locate themselves.” The same is true for Facebook, which provides a virtual social connection and is a bit like a remote social gathering. Beier sees this trend of using tech to overcome the social isolation of web-enabled distance moving from consumers to web workers:

But instead of substituting virtual spaces for real ones (the Matrix model), some folks are focusing on substituting virtual selves for physical presence and meeting in real spaces (the Avatar model). Just look at our recent piece on robot avatars you can send to work or events in your stead and control over the Internet. Commenters on the post were skeptical, but Trevor Blackwell, CEO of Anybots (he’s also a partner in Y Combinator), which makes the robo-avatars pictured above, insisted in an interview that the idea wasn’t science fiction:

The problem with conversations is that they are more important than not reading that great article... Conversations are with people that I work with, that I meet at conferences and events, potential business partners, friends, family, readers, supporters, and more. I want these conversations because I respect these people. But I don't want it to seem that I'm ignoring people or that I'm arrogant in some way, but I have to admit this -- I can't keep up! And I bet many others can't keep up too.

Now they have to do this across a fragmented landscape of social networks and messaging platforms.

I'm hoping that people understand that it's not personal.

In a blog post on its site, the brains at Experian Hitwise claim startling information: there is one subsection of society where Google+ is gaining affection.

This subsection might be described as "miserable married people, stuck at home in the 'burbs with children." Naturally, Experian Hitwise doesn't describe them that way. It calls them the "Kids and Cabernet" group--"prosperous, middle-aged married couples living child-focused lives in affluent suburbs."

The study contrasts another societal subgroup--"Colleges and Cafes"--which appears to be gaining some disaffection for Google's new social-networking foray.

First Facebook, then Twitter and now Foursquare; Obama sure gets around (social platforms). As announced today on the White House blog, Obama will be checking in to the location-based service as he hits stops on his economic bus tour in the Midwest. Of course.

there are very few executives, only a fraction, who are actually creating next-generation social experiences for their companies like Jeff Schick. The IBM executive doesn’t just leverage social business solutions, he and his team create them. “We started well over 15 years ago. We’ve been thinking about how to better connect people with people and people with information in terms of IBM itself,” Schick says, “the idea of getting the right person over the right opportunity at the right time to yield the right result was genuinely a business imperative at IBM.”

At Big Blue, the company encourages the use of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogs to support their sales, communication, marketing and recruiting efforts.  While employee’s social interactions are not under a microscope, the experiments in social on a massive scale have led to a set of social business conduct guidelines that govern their employees’ social interactions. Schick advises that you need to establish behavior standards for employees to follow.

So why do they do it? Since they are both an early adopter and creator of social technologies, they’ve learned that content management, business process management, collaboration, commerce and analytics must all be combined with a social layer to create a universal and unified solution.

This week, Hewlett-Packard (where I am on the board) announced that it is exploring jettisoning its struggling PC business in favor of investing more heavily in software, where it sees better potential for growth. Meanwhile, Google plans to buy up the cellphone handset maker Motorola Mobility. Both moves surprised the tech world. But both moves are also in line with a trend I've observed, one that makes me optimistic about the future growth of the American and world economies, despite the recent turmoil in the stock market.

In short, software is eating the world.

More than 10 years after the peak of the 1990s dot-com bubble, a dozen or so new Internet companies like Facebook and Twitter are sparking controversy in Silicon Valley, due to their rapidly growing private market valuations, and even the occasional successful IPO. With scars from the heyday of Webvan and Pets.com still fresh in the investor psyche, people are asking, "Isn't this just a dangerous new bubble?"

I am very skeptical about gamification in enterprise software and deeply suspicious about the hype around it in my company and outside. I have been searching for a while for a good introduction to behavioral mechanics that engage people. I found this talk by Amy Jo Kim very useful for the kind of work I do. She has worked in areas where social media and game mechanics intersect. Game mechanics change people's behavior Games engage us in flow, unfolding challenges over time to the player The 5 foundational elements of game mechanics are Collecting The power of completing a set Points Game points are points given by system Social points are given by other players. They drive collaboration. Redeemable points drive loyalty in those who care Leader boards drive player behavior such as competitive behavior Levels are short hand of points earned. Feedback Feedback accelerates drive to mastery. Feedback is fun Social Feedback is more powerful than system feedback Exchange Structured social interaction Explicit exchanges Adding a friend in facebook Implicit exchanges Are more powerful than explicit exchange Gift exchange Customization Character customization Customization engaged players and makes them stick Social media trends influencing game mechanics Accessibility Social media is making games more accessible to more people Recombinant Syndicated