Posts tagged Market
Wow Market – SEO And World Of Warcraft Gold Marketing Analysis – PR Urgent (press release)
Apr 16th
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Wow Market – SEO And World Of Warcraft Gold Marketing Analysis
PR Urgent (press release) As a marketing strategy for increasing a site's relevance,what is the effect of SEO toward world of warcraft (Wow) gold marketing. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search … |
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Can’t Decide What Search Engine Keywords to Pursue? Ask Market Samurai – PCWorld
Apr 10th
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Can't Decide What Search Engine Keywords to Pursue? Ask Market Samurai
PCWorld Market Samurai is a large application, divided into eight modules: Rank Tracker, Keyword Research, SEO Competition, Domains, Monetization, Find Content, Publish Content, and Promotion. Some of the modules display tabular interfaces brimming with arcane … Analyze Keywords for Search Engine Ranking With Rank Tracker |
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Report: Search Engine Market Share, March 2012 Update
Apr 5th
The search engine market remained relatively stable in the month of March. Google solidified its position as market leader with a gain of 4.8% in share, propelling it to control over 75% of the overall market. Yahoo’s share fell by 5% in March, although it still remains the second most popular search engine. Ask and [...]
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In an Exploding Web Market, Nginx Gaining Against Apache
Apr 4th
Any way you look at it, this month’s Netcraft Web Server Survey has some astounding numbers. The competition between Web servers is always interesting, but more so is the fact that the number of sites surveyed since April 2011 has more than doubled. Netcraft’s April 2012 survey received responses from 676,919,707 sites – more than double the number of sites from 2011, a mere 312,693,296.
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With that kind of growth, it’s difficult for the major players not to pick up sites. Apache led the pack by picking up 22.8 million sites. Nginx picked up a total of 4.5 million, which is nothing to sneeze at – but it’s less than 20% of what Apache garnered.
Microsoft picked up 3.5 million sites, but that wasn’t enough to keep IIS from slipping in total market share. Microsoft now has 13.66% of the overall market, while Nginx is nipping at its heels with 10.32%. Google keeps plodding along, adding less than a million sites since March 2012, and dropping to 3.26% of the market.
If you look at the figures from 2010 through now, Nginx’s growth is particularly impressive. Nginx had nearly 13 million sites in April 2010 and more than 23 million a year later. This year, Nginx claims nearly 70 million. Will Nginx overtake Apache? It seems unlikely, but the company seems to have a good shot at claiming the second spot by overtaking Microsoft IIS.
Million Busiest Sites
If you look at the million busiest websites, the numbers are pretty similar – though Microsoft actually picked up market share in that category. Microsoft now has nearly 15% of the top sites, while Nginx has picked up enough share to give it just more than 10% of the sites.
Apache actually lost ground, slipping from 62.39% to 62.08%. Likewise, Google slipped from 3.01% to 2.89%.
If you look at the April 2011 survey, you’ll notice that the gain is almost all Nginx. Apache held 66.17% of the million busiest sites and Microsoft had 16.01%, while Nginx was at a mere 6.52%. Google held 2.12% of the busiest sites.
This is good news for the Nginx folks as they hope to sell commercial services to companies deploying Nginx. Many of the sites being counted by Netcraft are parked domains and other sites that aren’t likely to be run by organizations in a position to buy support. The top million, on the other hand, look to be more lucrative.
With Apache 2.4 out, it will be interesting to see how it affects the overall numbers throughout 2012. It will be some time before sites start deploying Apache 2.4 in large numbers – but by late this year, I’d expect to see Apache 2.4 adoption starting.
But, again, take a moment to marvel at the overall growth of the number of sites since this time last year. Since April 2011, more than 364 million host names have been added to the Net. That’s 52 million more sites than were online last year total.
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How the Nokia Lumia 900 Will Attack the U.S. Smartphone Market
Apr 3rd
There is no question. The Nokia Lumia 900 is one of the finer pieces of mobile hardware ever created. That does not necessarily mean it will sell well. Nokia, Microsoft and AT&T can only control so much when it comes to consumer sentiment. Hundreds of millions of dollars will go into marketing Windows Phone over the next several years, but the key indicator to future success rests with the Lumia 900. The assault on the mobile market to get Nokia’s flagship into the pockets of consumers will be intense.
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Ground Level
For the most part, the United States is unique in how it sells smartphones. The carriers have almost all of the power but work in heavy consort with the manufacturers when it comes to subsidizing devices. We asked an AT&T executive how much the carrier is subsidizing the Lumia 900 but he would not give us an approximation. An unlocked Lumia 800 goes for about $549 on Amazon, so a good guess would be that AT&T picks up about 80% of the cost of the phone, perhaps with a discount from Nokia for selling it for only $99.
At $99 on a two-year contract, the Lumia 900 is priced to sell. It is almost amazing how a phone with that kind of hardware quality can be priced so low. This is a lesson that Amazon has taught the mobile ecosystem: Beat them on Price with decent quality and you will make a dent in the market. Look at sales of the Kindle Fire for proof. While it did not usurp the iPad as the industry leader (it was never intended to), the Fire made its mark and is the top-selling Android tablet on the market.
Nokia believes that its combination of excellent hardware and price can give the Lumia 900 momentum. It also knows that price and specs are not necessarily overcoming factors when a consumer enters a store to buy a new phone.
There have been rumors that Nokia is paying AT&T to make sure that every rep uses the Lumia 900 as a personal device. The idea is that consumers trust sales reps to steer them in the right direction. Even as an advanced early adopter and mobile technology reporter, I often trust sales reps to tell me what the best device is and what is coming out (sometimes I quiz them to see how much they actually know about the ecosystem because I am that type of jerk).
AT&T VP of mobile device portfolio Michael Woodward told us last week in Boston that the Lumia would also get center billing in AT&T stores. That jives with what AT&T executives said to reporters in New York City last week where Jeff Bradley, AT&T’s head of devices, said that the Lumia 900 will be the carrier’s biggest launch ever, including the iPhone.
Microsoft and Nokia realize that the carrier is the key to entering the U.S. market. For its part, AT&T is happy to play along.
Creating the Hype Cycle
One thing is for sure: Nokia knows how to throw a party. Its bashes at Nokia World 2011 as well as at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show indicate that the company has a flare for the dramatic. Seriously, there were ballerinas on stilts parading the after-party at Nokia World and the crowd was treated to some crazy Cirque du Soleil-like shows in London. This penchant for gaudy fiestas informs the way the company approaches marketing.
The Lumia 900 will come in three colors: black, white and aqua blue. Nokia will not release different colors at different times the way other OEMs do to give a device more life in the market. Blue (they are calling it cyan) is an interesting choice for the U.S. market and points to the fact that Microsoft and Nokia think that they can target younger consumers off the bat. The idea for Nokia and Microsoft is to target users that are purchasing their first smartphones and parents that are buying smartphones for their children (that is another point where the $99 point is beneficial). U.S. consumers are not used to multicolored smartphones. Most devices come in black and white with a few exceptions. The U.S. has a vibrant cell phone case market for consumers that want a differentiated experience (see: all those mall kiosks with cases) but the phones themselves tend to not come in colors.
The hype cycle for the Lumia 900 will come from three different directions. Microsoft has been behind the “Smoked by Windows Phone” marketing campaign that challenges Android and iOS users to complete tasks before a Windows Phone does. AT&T sales representatives will be made aware of the campaign but it will not employ it at its stores. The carrier does still sell Android and iOS devices as well, after all. Microsoft will continue to push Windows Phone as a platform in concert with other OEMs that make devices for Microsoft. Nokia will buoy Microsoft’s marketing by showcasing what the phone can do, the application ecosystem and in general trying to create excitement. AT&T’s contribution will come on the store level as well as in advertisements akin to what the carrier does when it launches any other popular device.
There are three very motivated companies that will be pushing the Lumia 900 into consumers’ pockets. Will it work? Or will the consumer’s greatest weapon – choice – ultimately win out against Windows Phone and the Lumia 900? Let us know in the comments.
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Google Chrome Loses Market Share to Internet Explorer
Apr 2nd
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has started regaining its share of the browser market at the expense of rival browsers, particularly Mozilla’s Firefox and Google Chrome. Chrome has been losing users and now sits at 18.57 percent of the market.
View full post on Search Engine Watch – Latest
Senator Al Franken Claims Free Market Incapable of Regulating Facebook and Google
Apr 2nd
U.S. Democratic Senator Al Franken, who is the chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, recently accused Google and Facebook of blatantly disregarding users’ privacy. Franken stated that he believes Americans’ privacy is an antitrust issue and feels that some technology companies have become immune to normal market pressures. Since consumers [...]
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How a Google Nexus Tablet Wins in a Crowded Market
Mar 30th
The natural inclination of the tech punditry upon hearing that Google is going to sell a tablet through its own online store is to say, “This is going to be a disaster; didn’t it learn anything with the original Nexus debacle?” This is the wrong conclusion. While we are still in the general realm of mobile technology, the difference between the way consumers purchase tablets and the way they purchase smartphones is completely different. Google may be onto something.
Think about it. Where can you get an iPad? Everywhere. Online. In the Apple store. At Target, Best Buy, Verizon, AT&T. Part of the beauty of Apple is its ubiquitous sales strategy and its ability to meet demand. The Kindle Fire? Available at Best Buy and through the largest online retailer in history. Google has the clout, the wherewithal and, hopefully, the product that could truly make a dent in the market by selling its own Android tablet.
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Smartphone Versus Tablet: Big Difference
Why did you buy your current smartphone? Chances are, you found a good one, thought it was a good price through your carrier and signed the next two years of your life away. The way carriers subsidize smartphones is conducive to buying the product. You are going to need cellular service anyway and it is easier to get a smartphone for $199 or less and not deal with the hassle.
There was probably a good chance you were looking at some type of Android tablet at one point or another as well. The Motorola Xoom was (theoretically) sexy when it came out. But, to get a good price and data plan on it you had to sign up for a contract with Verizon. Even at that, the Xoom was still too expensive. That doesn’t even take into account that it did not live up to consumer expectations.
Image: Motorola Xoom, the original Android tablet
I like a tablet with a data plan. I am in the minority of tablet-buying consumers when I say that, but it is convenient. Most people use their tablets at home over Wi-Fi. They buy a $499 iPad because it is reasonably priced and does what it promises (Apple’s marketing also helps).
The Kindle Fire has sold millions of units because it is A) a cheap tablet that B) did not require a contract with a data plan. Like Apple, it also helped that Amazon is a brand that consumers trust and can generate a great deal of excitement. Amazon proved that a tablet can become a consumer hit sold primarily through online retail. Amazon does not release Kindle sales figures (of any kind), but it is likely that the vast majority of Fire sales went through Amazon.com.
Most people do not buy smartphones online. Amazon and several other resellers do a fairly brisk business, but that is still usually done through a contract to one of the major carriers. The thought of buying a smartphone, off contract, for $500 or more turns consumers off. That is one of the reasons that the original Google Nexus smartphone ultimately failed. Tablets are a different entity altogether.
How Google Wins With a Nexus Tablet
There are several factors that will make a branded Google tablet sold online and through brick-and-mortar suppliers a success. Foremost, it needs to be a fully functional device at a good price. The rumor now is that it will be made by Asus, which may not be one of the sexier equipment manufacturers these days but does have the ability to make quality electronics.
The goal for a Nexus tablet at $199 will be to make it a better device than the Kindle Fire. This needs to be the device that other Android OEMs look to and say, “this is how it is done.” That is what Google has done with its Nexus smartphone devices. The Fire, while a quality device for its intended purpose (to get you to buy digital Amazon products) is a relatively weak piece of hardware. It strips out much of the goodness of Android. Google will not do that. If Google needs to subsidize Asus (or whatever OEM makes the Nexus tablet) to reach margins on a device that has a dual or quad-core processor, GPS, camera, quality accelerometer, data connectivity and everything else that the Fire lacks, it behooves Google to do it.
At this point in the game, the only way that Google can beat Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire is to create a top-notch tablet with a great user interface and a price point that makes sense to consumers. Then, Android developers will get on board to develop actual tablet apps as opposed to reformatting smartphone apps for larger screens. Great hardware and the software to match. In theory, the tablet would sell itself.
It is not that easy, though. Google needs to then take a page out of the Amazon playbook and sell the device aggressively online. What the Kindle Fire teaches us is that tablets can be successful as a product sold through an online store. It just has to be the right tablet, at the right time.
The rumor is that the Nexus tablet will be announced at Google I/O in June. From there it will be a race to market as Microsoft’s Windows 8 devices will start going on sale this fall. If Google truly wants to box Microsoft out of the tablet market, the Nexus has to beat it to market, be the right price and get developers working to create great tablet apps.
That is a lot of factors to create a distinctive product that can win in the market. Google could have done this a year ago but allowed Android partners to take the lead. Now, Mountain View realizes that it needs to be the leader, or Android tablets will always be overrun in the market.
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63 Free (or Almost Free) Ways to Market Your Business
Mar 30th
We’ve dug deep into our bag of marketing tactics from over the years to pulled together 63 free (or almost free) marketing tips and tactics that any business on the planet can use big or small to generate publicity, buzz and awareness on the cheap.
View full post on Search Engine Watch – Latest
Home Security or DIY Big Brother? Sensr.net Tests The Market…
Mar 28th
There were only about 15 people at the Smart Homes Meetup at SXSW, which took place in a meeting room at the Hilton Austin. Ironically, the air conditioning didn’t seem to be working. Not much smart technology in this room, I thought, mopping my brow and pouring myself a glass of iced water. But as I began working my way around the room, I discovered plenty of human smarts among the handful of Smart Home companies in attendance. I also found out that many of these startups are focused on home security. Turns out that’s where a lot of the initial commercial activity is happening around the Internet of Things – where real world objects are connected to the Internet.
Adam Beguelin was one of the smart startup founders I met. He already has a successful track record in Web 2.0, having sold his video search startup Truveo to AOL for a cool $50 million in 2006. Beguelin’s latest venture, Sensr.net, is a cloud-based video monitoring service. Using relatively cheap webcams, users can monitor video footage of their homes (or anything else) over the Internet.
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Sensr.net processes 1.1 terabytes of data every day and is growing 15% every month in active cameras.
Beguelin came up with the idea while on a one-year sabbatical in Vietnam with his family. Wanting to keep an eye on his California home while he was away, he set up two webcams and piped the footage to the Internet. (Note that a photo or video camera is still the best ‘sensor’ on the market, because it sees so much.)
Those humble beginnings led to a fast growing business. Sensr.net is currently processing about 1.1 terabytes of data per day and the service is growing 15% every month in active cameras.
With the tagline “watch your stuff,” Sensr.net continuously monitors and archives data from its users’ webcams. The initial use case is a kind of DIY home surveillance, enabling users to watch out for suspicious or unusual activity in their home or office. If such activity is detected, Sensr.net notifies users immediately via text message or email.
The business idea is compelling for Sensr.net: professional video surveillance is expensive and Sensr.net is a low cost alternative. For the user, they just need to buy a webcam or two ($100-200). For Sensr.net, it’s low cost to run because of cloud computing – which these days is relatively cheap. Also, Beguelin informed me that Sensr.net has a 20% conversion rate from fermium to premium users (plans range from $3-29 per month).
While home security is the driver for Sensr.net, Beguelin is also hoping to tap into another current trend: the Social Web. Beguelin figures that a lot of interesting or fun footage is among the 1.1 terabytes of data being uploaded to Sensr.net every day, so why not enable users to share it with friends. So like almost every other online service nowadays, Sensr.net connects to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networking sites. In the words of Beguelin earlier this year, “Sensr.net is about security, but also socializing your network camera.”
How Sensr.net Manages 1.1 Terabytes of data Per Day
How does Sensr.net manage so much data? The company was founded in 2009, so it already has years of video on its servers. Beguelin told me that Sensr.net is smart about how it stores data, because it only saves about 1/10th of the video that is uploaded. That’s about 100GB for each 1.1 terabyte it uploads every day. Sensr.net aims to keep just the good bits, by scanning an hour’s worth of video footage and saving only a few interesting parts. In Beguelin’s words, the software “summarizes videos and picks the right frames” to keep.
For example, if a webcam is monitoring a garage, most of the time nothing will be happening. It’s just video footage of a garage door. However if a car enters the garage, that is an activity that Sensr.net will save – for later viewing, in case it becomes relevant later.
Future plans for Sensr.net include implementing face detection technology and branching out into areas such as storing home-made family videos. It will also publicly release an API (currently in alpha).
I’m impressed by the market opportunity that Adam Beguelin is already exploring – mixing home security with cloud computing. With a hint of Big Brother too, which may cause Sensr.net problems if it becomes very popular. Regardless, I’m intrigued by Beguelin’s willingness to experiment and pivot if necessary. Who knows what Sensr.net will eventually become, because one senses that home security is just a foot in the door for the company. Plus, with a name like Sensr.net, the company has in-built flexibility to go into other areas. My spidey senses are tingling with Sensr.net, it’s one to watch.
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