The average European startup might struggle to get the same attention as the latest hot prospect outta Silicon Valley, but some of Europe’s biggest names are famous across the globe. In our first installment of GigaOM’s Euro 20, we chose these five startups as Super Stars. Read More »
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Bobbie Johnson
Bio:Bobbie is a British journalist who has covered technology and society over a decade in London and San Francisco. He was technology correspondent at the Guardian for five years, and has written for outlets including the BBC, Technology Review and Wired UK.
My Focus
European startups
Mobile technology
Recent Posts
For years, Europe’s startup community has been painted as the undernourished younger cousin of Silicon Valley. In reality, Europe’s web scene is now thriving. and we’ve compiled a list featuring some of the best and brightest European web startups — what we’re dubbing the GigaOM Euro … Read More »
A judge in London has ruled that the country’s largest internet provide should block access to Newzbin, a filesharing service which Hollywood has been trying to shut down for years. Could the decision encourage other ISPs to institute filters against unauthorized downloading? Read More »
After endless development and lobbying from fans around the world, the BBC has finally opened up an international version of the iPlayer — its smash hit video-on-demand service — for European subscribers. But will it make the grade as other video subscription services expand? Read More »
European startups have a long history of trying to break the American market — a move that works for some but not all. Now the CEO of print-on-demand website Photobox says that Europe’s entrepreneurs should learn from history if they want to build strong companies. Read More »
Europe’s venture-backed startup industry is generally seen as smaller and less successful than its American equivalent. But new data collected by one group of German investors suggest that, pound for pound, Europe’s VCs might turn out to be a much better bet. Read More »
Two months after it launched, British book crowdfunding website Unbound has only managed to push one project to the finishing line. So what’s wrong? Is donation-based publishing a dead end, or did the service misunderstand the reasons behind Kickstarter’s success? Read More »
More Must Reads
After years of effort and a long courtship, Photobox and Moonpig — two of Britain’s most venerable startups that print photos, books and greetings cards — are joining forces, with an acquisition that will create what they claim is the world’s leading personalized printing service. Read More »
Walking the smartphone tightrope was always going to be tough for Nokia, stuck between its struggling Symbian platform and upcoming Windows Phone models. But after warnings about its performance, the company has now revealed its numbers for the last three months — and they don’t look … Read More »
Russian social network VKontakte has built a billion dollar business by cloning almost every aspect of Facebook for the local market. It seems a little rich, then, that founder Pavel Durov says his long-term ambition is to prove that Russian products can be global leaders. Read More »
The turmoil created by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has pulled back the curtain on the cosy relationship between politicians, police and the media. But those who are angriest seem reduced to stunts — hacking websites and throwing pies. Is this really the best we can do? Read More »
GigaOM readers agree that encouraging European entrepreneurs is vitally important to the long-term health of local startups. But they have differing opinions about the sharp growth of accelerator programs and bootcamps across the continent: will startups end up being fed to the sharks? Read More »
Those who questioned whether European regulators were right to open an antitrust investigation into Google’s activities last year should take a look at the data again, as the company’s dominance across the continent reaches new heights — and new depths, too. Read More »
In the last year Europe has witnessed an explosion of accelerator programs, with more and more launching all the time. But while it looks like good news for entrepreneurs, some worry whether the continent can really support such a glut of activity around startups. Read More »
EXCLUSIVE: Clio might not be the most familiar name in the world of music recommendation — but its system is one of the most intelligent. And now the Philadelphia service has strengthened its hand by signing a major deal to provide its services to Hollywood’s biggest … Read More »
With jobs still hard to come by as the downturn rolls on, British startup Adzuna says it wants to help get more people into positions with its job search service — and has ambitious plans to take on its rivals in the competitive classified industry. Read More »
Swedish company 13th Lab, a Stockholm-based startup has been working on its own augmented-reality-like system for the iPad that uses a complex computer vision technique employed by NASA. 13th Lab is looking to turn the technology into a platform that developers can use for AR. Read More »
If you can’t wait for a version of the Kindle that can run video, then you may be in luck: one enterprising developer has come up with a bizarre way to take TV programs and make them compatible with Amazon’s e-reader. Read More »
Everyone’s been trying to understand whether the newly-launched Google+ can really challenge Facebook for the Web’s social crown. So what can you learn when take one of the crucial moments in anyone’s life and compare the social networking contenders head-to-head? I decided to find out. Read More »
Even after a string of revolting revelations, the closure of Rupert Murdoch’s scandal-plagued British tabloid, the News of the World, has come as a major surprise. But the social media bandwagon is already claiming — wrongly — that it should be seen as a victory for … Read More »
Israeli startup Personyze is linking with one of the web’s most controversial data collection companies, Rapleaf, to provide new tools for website owners. Can its attempt to help ordinary website owners turn information into actions really solve the big data puzzle? Read More »
Nokia’s problems have been well-documented in recent years — but a new report suggests that its difficulties stretch back much further, starting with an incident when executives secretly splashed out $200 million to keep 45 top staff who wanted to defect to a rival startup. Read More »
Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko is the latest dictator to try and quash unrest by banning social networking sites. But whether or not his fears are accurate, the truth is simple: many countries now think the success of the Internet is indistinguishable from America’s political ambitions. Read More »
To take on more established accelerator programs, British startup bootcamp The Difference Engine has changed its identity and stumped up a tantalizing reward: more than $150,000 in funding for the 10 startups who make the cut. Can it spur on a new generation of European innovation? Read More »
Another month, another summit in Paris to discuss the future of the Internet — and another debate that ends up in the same old arguments about copyright infringement and law enforcement. Are we doomed to keep repeating our mistakes, or can we ever move on? Read More »
There’s been a storm over Skype’s private equity investors and their treatment of stock options, but is that storm a remnant of Silicon Valley’s cash-rich, founder-happy culture? Evidence from elsewhere would suggest that entrepreneurs just don’t know how good they’ve been getting it. Read More »
Arianna Huffington has made much of her ambitions to expand into Europe and beyond — but with just two weeks until the British version of the site launches, the evidence suggests it might not be as aggressive as its American parent. Read More »
Shadow Cities sounds like a car crash of trendy ideas — an iPhone game that uses your location and network to draw a playing surface onto the real world. In fact the game, which has just added 13 territories in Europe, is great fun. Read More »
The Internet has been called many things over the years, but even its most vocal supporters and critics might have been surprised by the characterization put forward today by U.S. State Department official Alec Ross. Speaking at the Activate Summit in London, Ross … Read More »
Twitter has filled out its European team with another two executive positions based in London, but its focus on sales and marketing prompts the question: can foreign markets be anything more than just another chance to score big advertising dollars? Read More »
Now that modern web browsers can make greater use of more fonts, dozens of companies are springing up to service growing demand. But turning print typefaces into web fonts is no easy task, as one of the industry’s leading figures explained at the Ampersand conference. Read More »
London search startup Duedil already provides a one-stop shop for business information and intelligence — a service it says can make a real difference to companies and consumers. Now it’s going further, by offering investigative journalists the chance to access sensitive data more easily. Read More »
With patent lawsuits flying around the mobile business like never before, it’s easy to get lost in exciting headlines about billion dollar settlements. But the reality is that the industry is playing a game of mutually assured destruction that could strangle the world’s most exciting technologies. Read More »
The success of Pandora’s public offering underscores the popularity of online music, and the thousands of ways you can listen to tracks online. But how many can claim to be as fun as new virtual turntable setup Wheels of Steel? Read More »
The web may have revolutionized video and audio, but the humble still image hasn’t altered much over the years. That could change thanks to Finland’s Thinglink, which has unveiled the latest part of its plan to turn photographs into a true multimedia platform. Read More »
After nearly two years of accusations over patent infringement, Nokia and Apple have signed a peace accord. But rather than end the rash of patent lawsuits across the mobile industry, the deal could send the Finnish company on the warpath. Read More »
The surprise death of London’s much-loved Tower Bridge Twitter account over a trademark claim has upset its fans. But with the service facing increasing demands from litigious trademark owners and well-funded businesses, should we really expect Twitter to hold a higher standard? Read More »
A Scottish man has revealed he’s the writer behind a blog detailing the life of a gay Syrian woman. But as the inquest begins into how he fooled the world’s media and thousands of readers, can we really insulate ourselves from fakes and liars? Read More »
All sorts of media have been disrupted by the online world: music, video, news, books and more. But after years of digital revolution, the rarified world of visual art remains largely untouched. Enter one British startup that thinks it can change all that. Read More »
New figures from analytics firm Flurry suggest that mobile users across Europe’s biggest markets are ravenously hungry for apps — and that even despite high smartphone adoption around the continent, there is still plenty of room for further growth in the coming years. Read More »
Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, has a huge hit on its hands — 200 million downloads and ambitious plans for toys, animated series and even a movie. But is the company really thinking about the future . . . or just trying to cash in … Read More »
The Financial Times has struck out on its own against Apple, urging subscribers to switch away from iTunes in favor of a dedicated HTML5 app. It helps the venerable newspaper break free of Steve Jobs’s iron grip — but will others follow suit? Read More »
With an IPO in the cards, two of Groupon’s co-founders are already cashing in on its success. Now they plan to use their money to build a generation of companies that can mimic Groupon’s tactic of using people — not technology — to grow. Read More »
British TV on demand site SeeSaw was meant to be a transatlantic rival to Hulu — but after launching last year, it has pulled the plug. The reasons? Political turmoil and competitive pressure that was exploited by rivals like Rupert Murdoch. Read More »
Stephen Elop’s grand plan to reform Nokia has taken a battering — from critics, from rivals and from consumers. Now the market is sticking the knife in too, as the Finnish mobile maker’s share price plummets and leaves it looks weaker than ever. Read More »
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