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Retailers Pushing Sales Through Mobile Friendly Sites

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Some 55 percent of online retail professionals in Australia are now selling via mobile-accessible sites, an online retailer conference in Sydney was told yesterday

Forrester Research senior analyst Stephen Noble told the Online Retailer Conference & E-Commerce Expo Retailer interest in mobile retailing had surged to the top of the investment priority list among online retailers, overtaking the core e-commerce platform.

A Forrester survey had shown mobile was the top priority for 49 percent of online retailers already selling via the mobile Web, and a top technology investment priority for 54 percent of multi-channel retailers.

Larger retailers were leading the charge toward mobile marketing, he said. “With $1.23 billion in average local annual revenue for all channels, retailers with a mobile app are four times the size of those with no mobile presence.”

WA Software Pirate Coughs $100K

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An unnamed West Australian metalware company has paid $100,000 to settle an unlicensed software case with anti software-piracy group BSA/The Software Alliance.BSA has also paid its maximum $20,000 reward to an

informant – also unnamed  who dobbed the metalware company in for illegal

use of unlicensed copies of software programs from Adobe, Autodesk and

Microsoft – all BSA members. It’s the first time BSA has paid out the maximum

reward.

Apart from the $100K damages payment, the company involved has agreed to

purchase legitimate software licenses from Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft.

Said BSA’s Roland Chan yesterday: “While some businesses think they can

save money and fly under the radar by using unlicensed software, the reality is

they fail to consider the larger financial and reputational risks. This case

serves as a reminder to businesses everywhere of the importance of using

properly licensed software.”

Chan also urged more potential informants in other companies to speak up. To

score the full 20-grand, informants must agree to provide assistance and

evidence to support the information.

Minister Angry Over Broadband Inquiry

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Broadband and Comms Minister Stephen Conroy last night accused the Opposition of “economic vandalism” after the coalition used its about-to-disappear Senate numbers to establish a Select Committee inquiry into the Government’s plans for a high-speed national broadband network, to which it is supplying $4.7 million in funding.

The committee hearings could potentially place new delays in the way of the Government’s plans to decide on a builder/operator for the NBN, and for a start to build-out by the end of this year.

According to Opposition spokesman Bruce Billson the inquiry will examine a range of issues related to the NBN, including the nature of the public-private partnership and implications for consumers.

It will be stacked with four Opposition members to two Government and one independent. They will report back to Parliament in March 2009.

“The Opposition’s latest stunt is another act of economic vandalism. They want to set up a perennial broadband blockade,” Conroy said in a media release. “This is an extraordinary and irresponsible action, when you consider the Opposition’s track record on broadband policy.”

“The Government is in the middle of a live commercial process to determine the winning proponent for the National Broadband Network. The issues raised are clearly addressed in the objectives and evaluation criteria for the current competitive assessment process. It is futile to attempt to make findings on these matters without assessing actual proposals.”

Apple iPhone & iPad Finally Compatible With Flash

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Adobe has finally bowed to Apple with its latest Flash Media Server, able to run content on iPhones and iPads.

Apple has spurned the Flash platform on its iOS devices – though not the Mac – with Steve Jobs arguing that Flash cuts heavily into the small devices’ battery life.
 
Now Adobe will let Flash content be exported to the open-source HTML Dynamic or Live Streaming. The decision means that iOS users will be able to watch Flash videos on their mobile devices.
 
But it’s not that flash: the system won’t work with Flash animations, interactive content or games.

Lenovo Set To Topple HP

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Chinese maker Lenovo appears poised to topple Hewlett-Packard as the world’s No. 1 personal computer brand by the beginning of 2013. Figures published late last week by market research firm Gartner showed Lenovo with 14.7 percent of the global market in Q2, just behind H-P on 14.9 percent.

 

This followed a decline of 12 percent in H-P’s shipments during the quarter, according to Gartner. Not much over a year ago, Lenovo was the No 4 maker worldwide, but it overtook Acer in mid year, then passed Dell in the third quarter of 2011 to nail down second spot, which it has hung onto ever since.

Dell meanwhile has slumped to fourth place. According to Gartner, H-P shipped 13.06 million PCs in Q2, followed by Lenovo (12.8 million), Acer (9.64 million) and Dell (9.35 million). The figures include netbooks but not tablets such as the iPad.

“If the current trends for both companies continue, Lenovo should surpass H-P in Q3 or Q4,” Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT, told Computerworld. “On its face, it might not mean much to the industry. But Lenovo taking the top spot would be a huge boost for China’s IT industry as proof they can play and win in the global big leagues.”

Part of H-P’s problem has been uncertainty surrounding its future plans in the wake of continued top-level upheavals. In August last year, the company announced that it was considering spinning off the company’s PC manufacturing business. While that plan was later dumped, the uncertainty certainly stuck, and sales have suffered ever since.

Some analysts also point to another advantage enjoyed by Lenovo in that it does most of its own manufacturing and design, while H-P – like Apple and a number of other leading vendors – outsources production, and sometimes design, to Chinese or Taiwan factories like FoxConn. This means it can usually get new products to market quicker.

Adobe Creative Suite Now Only $37.99

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Adobe Australia – along with other Adobe subsidiaries globally – has unveiled its new “Creative Cloud” line of products which will see users able to download and use its usually hefty-priced Creative Suite 6 line of products for a monthly subscription.

The company believes subscription pricing and online delivery will see thousands of smaller users – unable or unwilling to stump up the $2000-plus asking price for Creative Suite – able for the first to time access its products for creating newsletters, magazines, Web sites and other publications, both physical and online.

Australian users will pay $62.99 per month, with an annual contract. A “special introductory offer” of $37.99 per month is available for current individual users of CS3, CS4, CS5 and CS5.5.

That compares with having to ante up at least $1975 for the CS6 Design Standard boxed set – and up to $3949 for the top-of-the-range CS6 “Master Collection”

The Creative Cloud suite is said to also integrate tablet applications, such as Photoshop Touch, into everyday work, synchronising and storing files in the cloud for sharing and access on any device.


 

Store Visits Swayed By Digital

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Retailers are underestimating the power of digital influence on Australian’s shopping behaviour – and the speed with which this influence is growing – according to consulting firm Deloitte.

In a new report, Navigating the New Digital Divide – Digital Influence in Australian Retail, the company found that digital interactions influenced 40 percent of in-store retail visits in Australia in 2014.

In terms of digitally influenced retail sales, Australia comes in third (40 percent) behind the US (49pc) and Canada (41pc), but ahead of Germany and Netherlands (both 30pc) and the UK (27pc).

Deloitte has also identified a growing digital divide, where consumers’ digital behaviours and retailers’ ability to deliver on those consumer expectations continue to diverge.

It also found that two in three customers use a digital device before their shopping trip and nearly a third (31 percent) use it while shopping, while 47 percent use their device to compare products, 42 percent to access product information and 33 percent to check product availability.

NBN Workforce To Double To 9000 In $40mil. Jobs Drive

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NBN will double its workforce as it sets about recruiting and training an additional 4500 workers in a bid to accelerate its target to reach eight million homes by 2020. The current construction workforce is expected to double to 9000, with NBN committing nearly $40 million for training and awareness campaigns to help attract workers.

“To bring high speed broadband to Australians faster, our delivery partners will need a bigger pool of trained, skilled workers,” said NBN CEO Bill Morrow.

The company said it will particularly look to attract more mature people, offering them flexible career options. Particularly sought are “late-stage career workers looking to balance their hours with lifestyle and family.”

NBN said roles in coaching and training for new industry entrants will harness their experience and provide valuable expertise to younger workers setting out in the industry.

“To those with telco experience, there are options to use your skills or become a teacher and coach for the next generation of workers,” said Morrow.

“To those thinking about what course or career to pursue, our partners are developing options that will include training and real job opportunities on the NBN network over the long term.”

NBN said it will establish a skills register to help record worker accreditation across the network. The company will also sign agreements with a number of TAFEs and registered training organisations, with providers in every major rollout region across the country.

The NBN is especially looking to add to its existing roster of copper cable jointers, lineworkers, cablers and telco technicians.

The majority of the new hires are earmarked to go to NSW and the ACT. Of the 4500 additional roles, 1300 positions are earmarked for deployment in NSW/ACT, while 850 will be added to the existing workforce in Queensland, another 850 in WA, 800 in Victoria, and 400 in South Australia and Northern Territory.

The workforce in Tasmania will be boosted by 200 roles.

Google To Kill Flash Ads

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Google has dealt a blow to Adobe Flash with the announcement that from this week it will turn Flash advertisements into static images to protect against potential malicious code injections. The move, forecast in June, is now rolling out to browser users.

Adobe has been on an active campaign to move people onto new alternatives like Adobe Air, but the simplicity and compatibility of HTML5 have made it a losing battle.

The Firefox browser recently blocked Flash by default, and Google Chrome users will now have to choose to animate advertising content, which Chrome will “intelligently select”, according to Google. Amazon has also banned Flash advertising.

Nokia Plans ‘Hybrid’ Attack

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LONDON – Nokia will take on Apple and a range of Android players by launching a range of tablets and “hybrid” smart mobile devices, according to the company’s chairman, Jorma Ollila.
Ollila, who is leaving Nokia after 27 years, did not, say when the mobile devices would be launched.

He told the UK’s Financial Times that Nokia had been too slow at the start of the smartphone revolution, when phones started to become Internet-connected.

However, he said that the combination of new products and Nokia services would still “make a difference”.”There will be different hybrids, different form factors, in the future,” he said.