SEO Exeter News: New iPad unveiled and sold out already?
Welcome to Skyline Marketing – SEO Exeter, SEO London & SEO Bristol.
There has been much excitement in the Skyline office this week with the new iPad unveiled by Apple. The new model has a high-definition screen with 2,048 x 1,536 pixels.
Apple chief, Tim Cook claims to have:
“…redefined once again the category Apple created”.
The “3″ will not be used, but the latest model will just been known as the “iPad”. Many in the SEO world are looking forward to the gorgeous screen, however some are reported as disappointed that “Siri” – famed for its iPhone 4S introduction will not be included.
Many believe that there is nothing too spectacular to have Apple riding off into the sunset when it comes to tablets, however for all the criticism, reports are saying there will be a wait for UK users of the product, as demand is expected to wipe out all supply, as many iPad “1″ users are looking to upgrade now.
For many reasons at the moment, this is a very exciting time for Skyline Marketing, so the new iPad will no doubt be appearing on our shopping list very soon!
SEO & Technology News Roundup
Welcome to the latest SEO & Technology news from Skyline Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Specialists in Exeter, Devon.
One of the stories of the week that made us smile (although at the same time slightly concerning), was the fact that technology giant Apple, now has more cash in the bank than the US Government. (Apple is slightly more solvent too no doubt).
The figures from the US treasury showed the US treasury had an operating cash balance of just over £45bn, whereas Apple recently released results showing a little under £47bn.
In other news, BT has been ordered by a High Court ruling that the telecoms giant must block access to “Newzbin 2″ a website that provides users with links to pirated movies.
This is the very first time that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) has been ordered to block a site of this nature and has been seen as a very important victory for those in Hollywood and beyond.
The crackdown of all forms of piracy has increased over the past few months – many of our readers will remember the recent blog regarding the controversial Digital Economy Act , and this latest ruling could be the beginning of the end for pirate sites. Many comments from those we spoke to regarding this matter all seem to have the same opinion – they are happy to pay for Blu-ray movies or music, but expect it to be at a more reasonable cost – especially if it is being downloaded and saving manufacturing costs.
Finally, Alibaba has announced that it will be launching its own mobile operating software to take on their main rivals of Apple and search engine giant Google.
Alibaba’s president of Cloud Computing, Wang Jian said the following:
“Mobile users want a more open and convenient mobile operating system (OS), one that allows them to truly enjoy all that the internet has to offer, right in the palm of their hand…
…the cloud OS, with its use of cloud-based applications, will provide that…”
Alibaba has said it does not intend entering the smartphone manufacturing market. The company is only interested in developing the operating system for now. However it intends to launch a tablet PC running the new operating system by the end of 2011.
Thanks for reading, we wish you a great week from the world of SEO & Internet Marketing.
Nokia & Apple settle & Facebook losing users?
Greetings from Exeter to another SEO & Internet Marketing instalment from Skyline Marketing.
Facebook says they are “pleased” with their level of growth despite reports from “Inside Facebook” who reported that Facebook lost six million users last month in the US and 100,000 in the UK.
Facebook does not generally comment about statistics, especially from third-party analytics, however they said:
“From time to time, we see stories about Facebook losing users in some regions. Some of these reports use data extracted from our advertising tool, which provides broad estimates on the reach of Facebook ads and isn’t designed to be a source for tracking the overall growth of Facebook…”
“We are very pleased with our growth and with the way people are engaged with Facebook. More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day…”
Inside Facebook also claimed that 1.5 million users from Canada left the social media site during the month of May.
However, beyond the negative statistics, Facebook still shows growth in numbers, just 13million away from that target of 700 million users Worldwide.
Part of the reason why users are closing their accounts is down to the unofficial “Facebook fatigue” where users either move onto other social networks with the ever popular Twitter going from strength to strength, or they just take a break and do not log on from time to time. More users are also tightening their privacy settings to only allow their ‘friends’ access to their photos and comments, which makes life more difficult for Facebook in their quest to make more profits from different advertising streams.
In other news, Apple and Nokia have reached a settlement over patent litigation after a drawn out two-year dispute between the two companies.
In 2009, Nokia sued Apple over patent infringements and Apple had countersued also. Nokia says they have now agreed a one-off payment from Apple and ongoing royalties for the use of its technologies. This deal covers both sides of the dispute.
Nokia now sees this as vindication, however it now has the tougher task of moving forward and attempting to make up on last ground over the last few years from Apples iPhone. This one product sent the most popular mobile phone company crashing down and now must battle to attempt to reclaim even a small percentage of the market share it once had.
Apples Music Cloud on the horizon
A very warm welcome to the latest instalment from Skyline Marketing, SEO & Internet Marketing in Exeter and Devon.
It was announced at the end of the week that Apple has signed a licensing agreement with EMI music to allow them distribute their work via cloud internet technology. According to several sources, Apple are also on the verge of completing deals with both Universal & Sony Music Groups.
Apple already have a deal in place with Warner Music Group which will allow Apple to launch a fully licensed cloud-music service which will compete against the competing services of Google and Amazon.
Apple launches the Worldwide Developers Conference on 6th June and it is expected they may take the opportunity to launch the service or announce that the deals are done at this point.
Apple and the music labels have declined to comment thus far. Although Apple will be the third in launching a Cloud Internet Music service, they will be free to offer a wide range of features, as their rivals are restricted by legal licensing restrictions.
One advantage Apple has, is that a user can scan their computer for music they own and provide streaming access to the same songs, whereas you would have to spend hours uploading your own songs to Google or Amazons servies.
The hope of course is that by supporting Apple, the record companies are going to end up forcing Search Engine giant Google and Amazons hand into signing equivalent deals with them.
Services such as Spotify have been a success across Europe and charge a subscription fee as Apple is likely to do too. Spotify do not brand their services as “Cloud”. They have 13million+ tracks available, allowing unlimited access on and off-line. Is Cloud-Music a step backwards from this?
With either service, once the consumer stops paying the subscription, the music stops too.
Here at Skyline Marketing, we believe that the success or failure of Cloud-Music is going to depend on what the subscription costs are. The service will offer an excellent alternative to storing music safely, however a service such as Spotify offers the same protection with a reasonable monthly subscription. The jury is well and truly out for now, but if it is a success, it would appear that the third party to the table – Apple – may be the winner.
Apple is “not tracking” & Google fined
Hello again from Skyline Marketing, SEO & Internet Marketing Specialists in Exeter, Devon.
The last few days in the World of Technology & the Internet has seen a lot of pressure on Apple to comment on rumours their devices are recording details of their locations and sharing this data elsewhere.
Apple has now come out denying that either the iPhone or 3G iPad have ever tracked their owners locations and that they have no plans to in the future either.
The tech giant has now released a question and answer statement, which can be viewed online.
Apple claim that any devices that were currently or previously had stored data was merely a “bug” (a raised eyebrow smiley there), and that a fix will be shortly issued to correct the problem.
Apple have been praised though for their open and honesty about the problem and what they do with the information, so perhaps this will now put users minds at rest.
In other recent Search Engine news, Google was fined £3.2million by a Texan Court for a patent infringement of the Linux kernel.
Google use the software as part of its server platform, and want to possibly extend it to their mobile Android platform too. We will not know the full fallout of their ruling, however the “kernel” is at the centre of all operations when it comes to an open-source operating system.
More Internet Marketing & Technology news soon!
£4bn spent on Internet Marketing & Amazon in the Clouds
A new study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC, has shown that recently in the UK, Internet Marketing & Online Advertising smashed the £4billion mark and grew 12.8% in 2010. This equates to growing three times faster than in 2009.
It is widely believed that many companies having their budgets squeezed or cut in 2009 felt the relief of a more positive future in 2010 and Internet Marketing was the big winner.
The IAB report also shows that Social Media Advertising – such as Facebook Pay per Clicks saw a 200% increase during this time. This will please those at Facebook, who have developed a new system that allows advertisers to target Pay per Click adverts based on keywords within their status updates. I should add that only 1% of Facebook users are having this trialled (6 million) – however the benefit of Online Marketing can be seen here, as advertisers can choose specifically which markets they target specifically and therefore use their budgets wisely.
General advertising in print media and television also grew in 2010, however the Internet saw the biggest benefits and is once again another step in the right direction in showing companies how Internet Marketing can drive a business forward.
In other news, Amazon has launched a new service called “Cloud Player”. This is based on the current Cloud Technology and Amazon have raced ahead of Apple and Google in launching their own player that allows users to store their music files in the “Cloud” and stream or download them again via a range of different devices. Users get 5GB – which is roughly 1,200 tracks, although you can also purchase further cloud space.
Amazon has unveiled this service in the US, where copyright infringement is slightly different to that in the UK, as you can generally transfer music (copy) from one device to another and claim protection under “fair usage”. In the UK however Amazon may have a thunderstorm awaiting them when they make their way over the Atlantic. Any sort of copying totally violates copyright infringement in the UK – and while the industry turns a blind eye most of the time, Amazon would need to reach agreements with record companies if this was to be a successful venture.
So what are your views on todays news? Here in the Skyline office, we are naturally pleased to see the boost to Internet Advertising & Marketing from the IAB report – this combined with David Cameron’s push on New Businesses makes 2011 look like an exciting year ahead for us all. It is also interesting to see Amazon take the lead ahead of Google and Apple with their new service. Clearly the way we play and store music is evolving, and this looks like another nail in the coffin for hardware such as CDs.
So wishing you all a good day from Skyline Marketing, Internet Marketing Company in Exeter, Devon. Rob has been playing every air-instrument under the sun in the office today, and my ears are now officially bleeding…
