The emergence of a commercially significant electronic book (e-book) market in the past three years has been the result of two quite-recent technological developments. The first, and most critical, has been a breakthrough in the technology for manufacturing reflective electronic paper displays (EPDs), allowing for the introduction of affordable, lightweight and portable e-book readers such as Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader.
The second has been the rollout of reliable “3G” wireless broadband networks, which have made it possible to deliver digital books directly to reading devices without the intermediate steps of downloading files to a PC and then transferring them to a reader. Direct-to-device sampling and delivery, particularly with Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPhone, have enabled impulse-driven e-commerce, which has been critical to early consumer adoption of e-books.
The technology for e-books, however, remains nascent. The Kindle and its ilk are very much first-generation devices that deliver the minimally acceptable experience. Further development of the business will be closely tied to future technological developments, including flexible and color displays, format standardization and rich-media applications. As the market grows, there are numerous opportunities for other technology players, from social networks to cloud service providers and more. This report examines the trends and opportunities ahead. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When I heard Verizon’s FiOS widgets for Facebook and Twitter had finally arrived, I did what any good consumer analyst would do: Ran to the living room and picked up my remote. As I fumbled to install the social network applications on my TV, my wife ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Updated: Yahoo has confirmed that it is indeed buying Xoopit. Yahoo, the No. 1 email company, is rumored to be buying San Francisco-based startup Xoopit for about $20 million. While the Wall Street Journal says that negotiations are continuing, Kara Swisher says it’s a done deal. […] Read more »
With a new product and new name, Rovi is perhaps one of the best-positioned companies to provide software, metadata and guide support to the various hardware and service providers looking to navigate the world of multiscreen video entertainment. The challenge will be trying to provide solutions ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In recent years, virtual worlds (also known as massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs) have shown tremendous growth in terms of user numbers and revenue. However, the market for them is currently in tremendous flux, with the most well-known sub-genre — the subscriber-based fantasy role playing games (MMORPGs) — suffering a growth plateau, due to the dominating success of World of Warcraft. At the same time, user activity in “freemium” virtual worlds continues to explode, most especially in the tween/adolescent market, which is likely to reach a market saturation point soon, though monetization prospects for all but the established players remain uncertain. The explosion of social networks, which share numerous traits with virtual worlds, have created a new potential audience for this genre, while the mass adoption of web plug-ins and smartphones like the iPhone have opened up new markets for the genre.
In this transitional period, many of the best investment and growth opportunities to watch are not the worlds themselves, but the solution providers offering developers the means to better monetize their existing MMOs. Opportunities also exist in niche MMOs that appeal to consumers seeking entertainment outside the established fantasy and kids social MMO space. However, new players that would enter this already crowded market must foster a community of users by rewarding user-created content and continued engagement, while also being architected with multiple revenue streams and play platforms. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The folks over at MySpace sure have a lot on their plate, and the pressure is mounting. It’s no secret that the News Corp.-owned social network is playing catch-up with Facebook‘s rising traffic, and the expiration date on its advertising deal with Google is looming. Now, […] Read more »
Whenever I use social media tools, I find myself communicating in two languages: English and Tagalog. I use the former to talk to international contacts, and the latter for local contacts. It’s not a strict rule, since I prefer to use English, but there are some […] Read more »
Nothing will motivate you to achieve your goals like making other people aware of the specifics of what you’re aiming to accomplish. At least for me, the threat of public shame is a great tool you can use to prevent yourself from giving up on your […] Read more »
Generally speaking, when I’m sharing recently discovered web tools, I try to organize them along a common theme, or a goal that they can be used to achieve. This time around, I just wanted to share three somewhat unusual, but genuinely useful, web tools with you. […] Read more »
The enterprise social software market is emerging as one of the fastest growing areas of enterprise applications. As a young market it is full of small and dynamic players but existing enterprise vendors in the content management, communications, and CRM markets are taking notice. Social software is poised to not only disrupt existing enterprise application markets but also organizations and markets by flattening information flows.
As users shift to new modes of communicating on the open web, they are pulling these new models into the enterprise and ushering in cultural and organizational change. This report covers the underlying technological trends, the market and its drivers, and a competitive overview of the vendors. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Given the vast and growing number of online tools available to web workers, choosing which to use can seem overwhelming. This makes it easy to obsess more about the tools themselves rather than the strategy for using them, as if by choosing the perfect tools you […] Read more »
Who says social web sites improve friendships? For while they can undoubtedly help us meet new people and stay in touch, their effect on the way we converse with one another face-to-face can be decidedly negative. And in some ways they are ruining in-person conversation. Read more »
Recently, on the OStatic blog, we covered ConvoTrack, an easy-to-use free web app that allows you to track online conversations on social media sites related to content that you post or read. (Hat tip to TechCrunch for calling it out.) There is no download required to […] Read more »
