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Oonagh Reidy

Forget ‘Likes’: Facebook “Wants” F-Comm

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Facebook “Wants” to get a foothold in the ecommerce market by offering retailers (and consumers) a new window.


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With one billion consumers looking in (ok including a few pets).

Facebook is testing a new feature with retailers, allowing Facebookers to ‘want’ consumer items and create “wishlists” with images based on preferences a la Pinterest.

The feature could allow The Social Network to make a major entry into the F-comm (Facebook commerce) market it so desperately craves, and with its 1 billion strong audience, it has a lot of consumer eyeballs at its disposal.

Facebook is testing its new ecommerce tool with several US retailers, including Victoria’s Secret, Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics, and Fab.com, it confirmed this week.

“Collections can be discovered in news feed, and people will be able to engage with these collections and share things they are interested in with their friends. People can click through and buy these items off of Facebook,” the network said.

“We’ve seen that businesses often use pages to share information about their products through photo albums.”


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Retailers can share info on products via a “Collections” tool which will be featured in user newsfeeds, which Facebookers can then ‘want’, add comments, like and share with friends.

The goodies can then be purchased via the social network, and also opening up a massive new online marketplace for retailers.

However, one major retailers aren’t convinced of the merits of F-comm platform, so far.

“At this stage, Facebook offers limited empirical benefit as a desktop commerce platform for large, low cost retailers who already have strong brand consideration, good online and instore traffic and e-sales growth,” a leading Aussie retailer told Channel News today.

“Facebook, as we currently understand it, and environments like eBay have very punitive commissions they charge 3rd party sellers.”

However, although social networks may not drive sales directly, it does help retailers get an “uninhibited” picture of consumer product ‘likes’ and attitudes towards the company.

“As a brand engagement medium Facebook is a useful source of feedback and indicator of uninhibited attitudes towards our brand, particular products, services and categories….and does help us form views about execution.”

“Twitter is also a great source of real time feedback,” the retailing exec believes. 

 

The ‘Want’ button is a “smart move” by Facebook and one that “makes sense,” Telstyte analyst, Sam Yip, told Smarthouse. 

“Facebook is now adding another P to the 4P’s of marketing – People – which will activate the online consumer.”

‘Wants’ is the next evolution of the wishlist and generally is a positive development for retailers if it is rolled out, and a good source of consumer intelligence.

Over the past two years the real online retail success stories have been the one with the “potent mix” of e-commerce sites connected to social media, like Groupon and other group buying sites, says Yip, which share offers with friends via social media, use Facebook ‘likes’ and other tools. 

Steve Jobs’ Dad Fury At iPhone Ban

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Steve Jobs’ father is furious after the Syrian government banned use of Apple’s iPhone, following

violent protests in the country.
Abdulfattah John Jandali, a Syrian native and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ estranged father, took to YouTube to express his solidarity with those involved in the anti-government protests in Beiruit looking to change regime under President Bashar Assad.

Apple’s iPhone appears to be the only smartphone device banned under the government decree, issued by the Customs Department of the Syrian Finance Ministry.

Up to 4,000 protesters have already been killed as part of the government crackdown, which kicked off early this year.

“The authorities warn anyone against using the iPhone in Syria,” the government order states.

Anyone who possesses an iPhone may be treated as a spy, according to the Next Web.

Foreign media have already been banned from staying in the country and the government now fears the Apple device may be used by protesters to communicate with the outside world about the violent atrocities occuring there.

“I am in solidarity with the Syrian people,” said Abdulfattah John Jandali on a YouTube video dated December 01.

“I reject the brutality and killing that the Syrian authorities are committing against the unarmed Syrian people.”

“And because silence is participation in this crime, I declare my participation in the Syrian sit-in on YouTube,” he added. 

 

This isn’t the first time technology has been used in the battle against oppressive regimes.

Facebook and Twitter were used by Egyptian protesters earlier this year as was BlackBerry’s instant Messenger in the UK, seen as a core tool used by rioters there.

iPhone 5 Cloak And Dagger ‘Secrets’ By Optus, Telstra

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Aussie telcos are jumping fast on iPhone 5 bandwagon. As Vodafone launched pre registration for the “biggest release of the year” Telstra are opting for a similar “secret” tack.
“Shhh it’s a secret… Register and you’ll be amongst the first to know at,” urged the Telstra Facebook page yesterday.

“Be among the first to know when the latest hot new phone becomes available,” the telco teased and although like Apple itself did not specify anything, you can bet your bottom dollar it is the cult device, which has a confirmed launch date of October 04.

Read Lets Talk iPhone 5: Apple FINALLY Reveal All 4 Oct Here

i5 will hit the shops just weeks later, although no exact release dates for Australia have been given away yet but judging by telco’s enthusiasm it looks to be soon. Telstra are also looking to rid itself of old stock, flogging its iPhone 3GS 8GB for $429 on pre pay.


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And not to be left behind, Optus have also jumped aboard the iPhone gravy train, writing a teaser on its Facebook page: “Getting Excited? Register for the Latest Updates on New Optus Smartphones!”, and goes on to say “Optus gives you 5” – a less subtle approach than rivals Voda and Telstra.

 

However, one unenthused Facebook user wrote in response to Optus: “Sounds like iPhone 5 but might just be deceiving so they can send you more crap, and before you know it you’ll have bought an android rather then the iPhone 5”.

And on an unrelated note, we couldnt help but laugh on discovering a Facebook page called “Have you been to India? Na, I’ve spoken to Optus” with over 36,000 ‘Likes’.

IFA 2012: Samsung Galaxy Camera On Android 4.1

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As Samsung lick their wounds over Apple’s patent victory, it strikes back with an Android camera.
The first ever Android camera of it kind, Samsung’s 16 Megapixel Galaxy Camera running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has just been unveiled at IFA 2012.

The socially connected cam runs on WiFi, 3G and 4G, which lets users shoot, edit and share images to Facebook, Twitter et al any time and “easily outperforms any smartphone camera” says Samsung.

Well that wouldn’t be hard considering the highest quality camera seen on a smartphone  in OZ is 12MP on Sony Xperia S, but Sony unveiled a 16MP on one of its new models at IFA yesterday.


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The Internet ready Galaxy Camera, boasts a 21x super long z optical zoom lens (controlled by either button or touchscreen), 23mm aperture lens for wide-angle shots and a super-bright 16M BSI CMOS sensor.

It also has a 4.8″ HD Super Clear LCD to edit and view pictures, and a clever ‘Voice Control’ feature which allows user to command the cam to ‘Zoom in’ and ‘Shoot’ through voice.

Under the bonnet, the Android camera is powered by a quad-core processor.

Andy Rubin, Google’s Senior Vice President of  Mobile hailed the new Galaxy cam as “innovative” and takes digital photography to the next level.


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Image: PocketNow

The Galaxy Camera features ‘Smart Pro’ technology for professional-looking shots, boasts 35 photo editing features through ‘Photo Wizard’, and Movie Wizard’ to edit videos.

Its Smart Content Manager creates folders, tags faces and even suggests which pictures to delete when they don’t come out as desired.

It also features the usual slew of Android and Samsung apps pre-installed, so you can browse the web and make phones calls on VoIP.

 

You can also save your photos in the cloud on ‘Auto Cloud Backup’ via Samsung’s AllShare tool or share photos as you shoot with ‘Share Shot.’ and share with other Galaxy devices including the SIII and the newly announced Galaxy Note II.

“With the growth of social networks and the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, people today communicate faster than words,” says said JK Shin, President Mobile at Samsung.

 “As we increasingly articulate our experiences through pictures and videos the GALAXY Camera has been created to lead the way in this new era of visual communication. Communication becomes more vivid and lively with high-quality images and instant sharing anywhere, anytime,” 

Ouch: Telstra’s $30M Bill Whopper

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Thought your recent phone bill was high? Well, Telstra have been forced to stump up a whopping $30m to fix its faulty billing systems, which saw a multitiude of errors.


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This major bill was in part to clean up the mess created by Telstra’s “error riddled” Siebel billing system according to The Australian, which cost millions to install under previous boss, Sol Trujillo.

The Siebel billing system, which helps the telco process millions of customer bills is still subject to problems despite its best efforts and has now been forced to use Oracle’s Identity Management system, at a cost of $30m, to remedy the situtation.

So, rather than the multiple layers of architecture used by Siebel, the Oracle system is more seamless using a single layer of access and will improve the billing process for all Telstra customers.

It allow users with multiple bills be recognised as a single user, thus will give users access to all their separate accounts online, simultaneously.

“The investment in this technology will allow us to be much faster in service and capability. And it will also get us closer to the holy grail of separating individual and user roles,” said Gerd Schenkel, Telstra’s digital boss.

“So if you order a mobile phone through a corporate contract you will have different access privileges in that application than you do with your own consumer product. In the new system we will have much better access and visibility to that and we will be able to attach identity and access credentials to a single person.”

 

This comes as Telstra announced its first Facebook app yesterday, meaning customers can log onto the social network 24/7 and get rep response within the hour. The Facebook app is to go on full release this June.

Vodafone also uses the Siebel system although it too ran into trouble last year after claims its billing and call records for up to four million customers were openly available online.

PC ‘Weak’ as Microsoft Admit ‘Post-PC’ World

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Global PC demand is falling as consumer lovingly embrace iPhone and tabs.

Can Windows 8 save PC market?

That’s according to Gartner analysts, who predict Worldwide PC shipments are to total 368 million units in 2012, a 4.4% jump on last year.

However, Australian PC shipments are set to decline 2% this year, with desktops expected to drop 12%, although notebooks will rise 2%.

However, this dreary forecast is set to reverse in 2013 as shipments are predicted to hit 400m by year end, according to the PC forecast just released.

But the PC market will have to play catch up in bringing “a new level of innovation that consumers want to see in devices,” said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner.

“The real question is whether Windows 8 and ultrabooks will create the compelling offering that gets the earlier adopter of devices excited about PCs again.”

And speaking of good old PC lord, Microsoft, its former tech guru, Ray Ozzie, admitted the post-PC era is firmly upon us at a tech conference Wednesday. Ozzie left the company suddenly in 2010.

“People argue about ‘are we in a post-PC world?’. Why are we arguing? Of course we are in a post-PC world,” he said at a conference in Seattle, Microsoft home turf, reports Reuters.

“That doesn’t mean the PC dies, that just means that the scenarios that we use them in, we stop referring to them as PCs, we refer to them as other things,” he said.

Microsoft has come a long way since his departure, he admitted.

“I’m happy about some things and I’m impatient about other things,” he added.

 

And while the bad world economy and supply issues with SSDs played a key part in the weaker market, changing consumer dynamics was of “far greater” to vendors, say Gartner.

2011 redefined the landscape of the device market with the advent of mobile computing on tabs like iPad, Apple and Android smartphones, say analysts.

The use of e-mail, social networking and Internet, traditionally the domain of the PC, are now being used across mobile devices, making them in some cases more attractive propositions, said Atwal.

Consumers will now look at a task that they have to perform, and will determine which device will allow them to perform such a task in the convenient way, rather than the other way around. 

Ultrabooks will garner greater attention in the latter half of 2012 as the industry looks to reinvigorate the market.

However, PCs will face even more competition from Android and Microsoft media tablets, as well as the new iPad, unveiled yesterday, Atwal noted.

“Moreover, we expect the shift to the personal cloud will also accelerate as consumers increasingly adopt cloud-based services as part of their digital ecosystem,” he added.

And of the declining Aussie PC market, local Gartner analyst, Eileen said:

“Consumer spending is getting slower in mature markets like Australia, and Gartner foresees this situation will continue in 2012. Meanwhile, the impact of the HDD shortage that occurred during Q4 2011 will be somewhat delayed, we think most serious in 1H 2012.

 

“We also don’t foresee good performance in the desk-based PC market. The fast adoption of media tablets is having a heavy impact on traditional PC market growth.”

Emerging markets, which currently have low PC penetration rates, are key to worldwide growth in both the short and long-term, and Gartner expects market share increases from just over 50% in 2011 to nearly 70% in 2016.

iResign: Apple Shares ‘Bruised’ 2% After Jobs But Is He Really Out?

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No Jobs, but the show must go on. That’s what the US market appears to be saying today, with shares falling 2% upon opening this morning, after CEO Steve Jobs gave his shock resignation yesterday.


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Steve Jobs with his brainchild the iPad.

Apple Chief Operating Office (COO) Tim Cook is now to take over the top job at Cupertino. 

Read Tim Cook The New Boss Has A Tough Gig Ahead Here

 Company shares fell 5% on close of markets on Wednesday, after Jobs’ announcing he can no longer meet his “duties and expectations,” described by TheStreet.com as getting a “bruising” but not much more. 

 This show must keep going attitude, despite losing the cult personality and innovator that is Jobs, was reflected by one of the company’s major shareholder funds, Capital Advisors Growth Fund. 
 “We don’t have any concern about the company messing up or there being some operational setback,” Channing Smith, fund manager. 
“As we go into the holiday season, Apple continues to have the most innovative products in the marketplace. The product pipeline is set and the roadmap is there for the next six to 12 months.” 
 He also expressed full confidence in the abilities of Cook, who has been acting Chief for months.
“It’s a matter of the company executing, which new CEO Tim Cook has proven he can do.” 
“Investors should be very optimistic,” Smith added. iPhone 5, iPhone 4 budget version as well as rejuvenated AppleTV and iPad 3 are all on the cards either for later this year or early next. 
Apple announced a stellar quarter season last month, with revenues up 82%, profits up 125%, cash flow up 131% topped by a bumper $8 billion dollar profit. 
And it was also revealed Steve Jobs’ giant was richer than its home country with $76.4bn cash reserves compared to US Treasury’s $73.7bn. Now that’s success. 
It appears Jobs himself also believes the only way is up for the company he co-founded in 1976. Throughout his career he left the company once, returned, rescued it from the brink of collapse and turned it into the technology powerhouse it is today. 
Also, it is very likely the notorious perfectionist will maintain a strong role in product development and company direction as Chairman of the board. 
“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role,” Jobs said in his a letter addressed to the Apple board of directors yesterday. 
“I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee. ” 
 

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Jobs pictured in 1985.

The Wall Street Journal said people familiar with the situation say Mr. Jobs continues to be active at Apple, despite taking a leave of absence earlier this year and is closely involved in the company’s product strategy. 

 Apple watchers don’t expect that to change even after Mr. Cook takes over. 
Jobs, diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant, has been on leave since January last to focus on his health.

HTC Charm Offensive For ‘Sublime’ Rhyme

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HTC are pulling out all the stops for the Oz launch of Rhyme – its new chick phone. 3.7″ WVGA super LCD HTC Rhyme runs Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread with 4 GB onboard memory, 768 MB RAM, 8 GB microSD pre-installed, 5 Mp front camera with auto focus and power LED flash, HD 720p video recording.


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HTC’s new slimline Rhyme has serious charm, apparently.

“Attached to your bag, the Charm alerts you of calls, missed calls, and messages. It also keeps your phone within easy reach and goes with anything,” purrs the Taiwanese creator.

Other than that not much is known about pricing or availabilty although the device does appear on one Aussie mobile site Mobicity, on pre-order for $629 outright.

But here’s another one for the ladies: put Rhyme into a docking station and it turns into a picture frame.

“Rhyme is the ultimate stylish device so what better way to celebrate so what better way to celebrate, than with a sublime experience in a world class spa and salon,” HTC Australia wrote in an launch invite this week.

 And what’s more, HTC are treating attendees to “a relaxing range of 30 minute express spa treatments” at exclusive Hair & Day Spa next Thursday, offering attendees manicure & pedicure, massage, facial or scalp and even hair treatments in a bid perhaps to attract the female contingent. (I can’t see the male journlists falling over themselves for a mani/pedi).

 

Attendees of the launch taking place next week will also be buttered up with canap_s and refreshments. (Will let you know if the charm works, next week).

What A DoDo! Telstra, iiNet Network Crash

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Telstra and iiNet customers are not happy campers this afternoon after both networks suffered a severe network outage, forcing potentially millions offline.


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Telstra’s entire network suffered an outage which began around 1:55pm this afternoon- from its Next G mobile service, fixed line broadband, BigPond mail service as well as connection to international sites. 

And its all Dodo’s, fault, apparently.

The CEO of ISP Dodo, Larry Kestelman, said one of its (minor) network routers “was causing an issue between ourselves and Telstra, that’s had larger ramifications than it should have with other providers,” he told Gizmodo.

“Even though everything is up and running now, the two companies are still investigating the root cause of the problem.” 

Disgruntled Telstra users were met with ‘No Internet Connection’ according to Whirlpool community bloggers, who began posting problems just before 2pm today, and the service outage hit all main metro areas including Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Gold Coast.

Telstra phones were showing 3G data connected, but there was no data movement.

“Not working in Canberra either it seems.. Both iPad/iPhone no workies :-(“, one Telstra user said.

Another said: “Next-G down, Cable down, adsl down. Nationwide.”

“Telstra is down. No data,” another forlorn Internet-less user declared. (Check out #Telstra Outage on Twitter for more tweets).

Optus and the Commonwealth Bank were also said to be hit by the network problem.

“Telstra lost connectivity progressively to its international data network at around 1.40 this afternoon meaning customers could not access international websites from either their mobile or fixed services,” a company spokesperson confirmed.

“Customers who couldn’t access international sites were then overloading domestic sites causing major issues in accessing Australian sites as well.

However, the “vast majority” of customers have been progressively coming back on line since 2.25pm this afternoon and Telstra’s engineers are continuing to monitor the network and identify the cause, the spokesperson added.

“We are also experiencing a high volume of calls to our customer service centres which means some customers may be having difficulties getting through at this time.

“Customers accessing our online services may also be experiencing difficulties. We will continue to keep our customers updated.”

And across at Perth based telco, iiNet, it too was experiencing similar issues related to the Telstra outage, across its network since 10:52am Western Standard Time.

 

“Customers trying to access external websites and services may experience delays and timeouts. iiNet Upstream provider is currently investigating.” according to a notice posted on the company website.

However, it is unclear how many users were affected.

Engineers are working on the “majority of issues and estimated time of restoration is today at 17:00:00 WST”, it confirmed.