SiliconANGLE » Amazon

Android’s Google Play Faces Rising Competition from Amazon, Facebook and China

Saroj Kar — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:04:37 +0000

Android’s open nature allows its users to find thousands of applications not only on Google Play, but also through alternative markets that offer different services and promotional offers. And Google Play’s main rival, the Amazon Appstore, has made a name for itself by doing things differently than Android’s official market. The Appstore offers daily deals, curated apps and other interesting features not found on Google Play, and this week Amazon began rolling out its Test Drive feature, which will allow users to try out apps before downloading or buying.

The Appstore currently supports testing of more than 5,000 Android apps, and is enabled for more than 16,000 Web apps. If users have a compatible smartphone, they can first try simulating the app on their phone before deciding whether they want to buy it.

“The more we remove friction for customers who want to try apps, the more apps they will try. Those customers are more likely to find apps they are excited to download,” Amazon said in a post on its Appstore developers blog. “In this way, Test Drive helps customers understand the value of premium apps and helps drive downloads of freemium apps.”

Amazon said the test drive feature will be activated on selected compatible smartphones, and will be available for free for users who upgrade their phone with the latest version of Amazon Appstore for Android.

“Amazon brings the Test Drive experience to Amazon.com and Android phones using the massive server fleet that comprises the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), a web service that provides on-demand compute capacity in the cloud for developers,” Amazon said. “When customers click the Test Drive button, we launch a copy of the app on EC2. As customers interact with the app, we send those inputs over the phone’s Wi-Fi Internet connection to the app running on Amazon EC2. Our servers then send the video and audio output from the app back to the customer’s computer or phone. All this happens in real time, allowing customers to explore the features of the app as if it were running locally on their mobile device.”

The blog post goes on to note that apps requiring Java Native Interface (JNI), keyboard, multi-touch, microphone, camera, gyroscope, near-field communication or GPS are not part of the test drive feature, but soon will be included in the upgraded test drive releases.

Google doesn’t offer such lucrative services and deals or app testing to the emerging mobile platform; they are just concentrating on the increased availability of Android applications. Users can ask for a refund only once within 15 minutes from downloading the app from Google Play. We can only hope that Google Play soon introduces more consumer-centric features, which they’ll have to do if they want to remain competitive.

Facebook Upgrades App Center for Mobile

Shortly after its IPO filling Facebook announced the latest development in its forthcoming App Center for mobile apps. The company blog post said that developers can now use the Facebook App Center platform to place their apps, and iOS and Android users have streamlined options to install apps via the platform, either through their computer or mobile devices.

“Facebook sends over 160 million people to mobile apps each month through news feed and timeline,” Facebook software engineer Brent Goldman wrote in a blog post this week. “Soon, with the App Center, it will be easier than ever to drive mobile app installs and reach the over 500 million people using Facebook on mobile devices.”

The App Center is available from Facebook’s iOS app, Android app and mobile website m.facebook.com.

The move will allow developers to better integrate mobile apps with the Facebook platform, and will also provide them a stage to incorporate Facebook login on their apps. This will give the Facebook app experience some structure, as users will have the control to download apps, rate apps and get to know some detailed information about the apps before buying or downloading.

This could also help Facebook’s larger mobile strategy, as the social network could add more mobile users, which will help the company to target monetization through a budding ecosystem across mobile devices.

For installing apps from a mobile device, you can follow Goldman’s instructions as posted on the blog:

“All apps built for iOS, Android, and the mobile web have a “Send to Mobile” button on their app detail page. Once people click “Send to Mobile,”” they’re logged into your app and we immediately send a Facebook notification to their mobile device. By clicking the notification, they’ll be redirected to your mobile web app or the respective install page in the Apple App Store or Google Play.”

China Mobile App Store – An alternative to Google Play

Google Play service isn’t yet available in China because of censorship concerns, despite the fact that more than two-thirds of the smartphones sold in China run on Google’s Android OS.

China Mobile Ltd. saw that as an opportunity, opening its Mobile Market store for Android apps in 2009. Since then, the app store has gained 158 million registered users and more than 630 million apps have been downloaded, making it world’s largest carrier-operated app store.

“Without having to compete with the official Google store, China Mobile has an opportunity that operators in other countries don’t have,” said Kent, a London-based analyst. “China Mobile’s relationship with subscribers leaves it well- placed to take advantage.”

China is a huge market for any mobile vendor. Smartphone shipments are projected to increase 52 percent this year to 137 million units, according to a March estimate from market researcher IDC.

China’s censored web content and online stores selling apps, games and e-books are helping local players to drive and promote their other businesses.

“If a developer makes a very good app, then it will help boost traffic on our network and help our growth that way,” said China Mobile’s Chief Executive Officer Li Yue.

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Pinterest Joins the List of $1 Billion Dollar Enterprises

Saroj Kar — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:58:27 +0000

Call it the Facebook effect in the wake of the largest hi-tech IPO offering. Pinterest is the lastest to enter the exclusive club of companies valued at $1 billion dollars thanks to the recent investment led by Rakuten. The social network has raised $100 million from Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten along with Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital along with angel investment, putting the startup’s value at $1.5 billion.

Rakuten said that this investment helps the site grow in the U.S. and its 17 overseas markets, including entry into Japanese market.

“While some may see e-commerce as a straightforward vending machine-like experience, we believe it is a living process where both retailers and consumers can communicate, discover, and curate to make the experience more entertaining,” said Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani. “We see tremendous synergies between Pinterest’s vision and Rakuten’s model for e-commerce. Rakuten looks forward to introducing Pinterest to the Japanese market as well as other markets around the world.”

Pinterest has become the sensation of recent social media history, and has positioned itself as the third largest social network in the US. Pinterest, where users can share their photos, has grown rapidly in recent months–the website has become the sixteenth most visited site in the US, according to Alexa. In April alone their user base has reached more than 20 million, up from 1 million in July 2011.

“Our goal is to help people discover things they love, by connecting people through their shared interests. Bringing Rakuten on board gives us an amazing opportunity to move a step closer to this goal,” said Pinterest CEO Ben Silberman.

A partnership with Rakuten could open many doors for Pinterest to expand its presence in Asia. The company sees great potential in markets like France, Germany, Japan, Portugal and Spain.

Pinterest Weekly – New Platform to Keep Users Engaged

Pinterest remains undefined in its business model, at least publicly, and the company has yet to disclose its revenue. But faced with such high expectations and an outstanding valuation, it’s time for Pinterest to start developing its user engagement and monetization strategies.

One step in that direction is the introduction of Pinterest Weekly, a weekly email board. The company has started sending users a weekly e-mail featuring basic account stats, like their top pins, and other popular boards in an attempt to keep them engaged between pinning sessions. This week’s feature is user George Takei’s “Cats and Dogs” as he shares “Pins You Might Like” from users’ friends.

Pinterest as a social network is more popular amongst the ladies, and has been nicknamed the “Tumblr for girls” as women trust product recommendations reviews from this social networking site. Amazon recently integrated Pinterest to their service in an attempt to drive more consumers to their retail outlet, particularly including women, and power more recommendations.

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Amazon’s Kindle In Jeopardy as Tablet Takeover Continues

Mellisa Tolentino — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:35:54 +0000

Most of us own tablets or e-readers, but these days one must wonder–has everyone shifted to tablets?

Amazon recently reported a stunning Q1 financial report, but this sparked some questions as to how the company pulled it off. Seeking Alpha notes that Amazon is the least transparent company in the industry, so much so that even their own investors have no clue as to how many products the company sold. But Amazon always told them that their e-ink readers and Kindle Fires were selling well. Now there’s proof that their e-reader line is in jeopardy.

Amazon is the top customer of E Ink Holdings, the world’s biggest e-ink display manufacturer, which, during an investors conference, stated that the company suffered a major loss.

“Our major customer was too optimistic about its sales in the fourth quarter of last year and ordered too much from us,” E Ink Holdings chairman Scott Liu said during the conference. “That made the customer order almost nothing from us in the first quarter.”

Since Amazon launched the Kindle Fire, their Kindle sales have gone down, almost to zero, so the Kindle e-readers may soon be doomed. Though little thought is being given to e-readers, their owners defend that they are better for reading e-books, and more portable than tablets since they are lighter and work well in all lighting conditions. But some still argue that it doesn’t make any sense to carry around an e-reader plus a tablet, so why not just use a tablet as an e-reader?

It seems inevitable that tablets will soon takeover the world, edging out a portion of smartphone users and a good portion of e-readers. And every major tech brand seems to know it.

Apple iPad mini?

According to some sources, Apple will launch a seven-inch iPad or an iPad mini by August, the iPhone 5 by September, and a 10-inch iPad by December. The rumor is based on the reported information that orders for the said devices have been placed at Pegatron Technology, a global electronics manufacturing company.

“Pegatron has already finished expanding its equipment and labor force for Apple’s orders,” said a report from DigiTimes. “To mainly focus on Apple’s orders, Pegatron has also internally decided to downsize its SI motherboard department and to shift resources to Apple’s orders.”

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

The 10.1 version of the Galaxy Tab 2 will be available by May 13. The news came after numerous online and offline retailers unveiled their pre-order page for the said tablet.

The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and features a serious 1GHz dual core processor, the display has a 720p resolution at 1280×800 pixels, 1GB of system memory, 16GB internal storage, a microSD card slot that can be used to expand the memory up to 32GB, a 3MP rear-facing camera, USB 2.0 port, a 3.5mm microphone jack, support for WiFi-N (802.11b/g/n) and Bluetooth 3.0.

BlackBerry PlayBook 2

Research in Motion promises that the BlackBerry PlayBook 2 will be LTE compatible but before the company reaches that point, they announced that they need developers for their BlackBerry 10 platform. RIM promised that developers would earn $10,000 in their first year on the app store, if not, the company will shoulder the check for the balance. Wow.

Nokia

Nokia’s outgoing chairman Jorma Ollila previously unveiled their tablet plans stating that what the Finnish company would bring would be different from the tablets these days and that they are looking into making a Windows 8-based tablet.

Soon after Ollila made his statement, Nokia took back what he said claiming that the media misconstrued Ollila’s statement. Nokia clarified that they are still observing the tablet market and they still have no plans or made any official announcement regarding a Windows 8 Nokia tablet.

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Re-Invent Cloud Computing with IBM Solutions [Video]

Saroj Kar — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:19:45 +0000

Randy Arseneau, Platform Strategy Consultant at IBM responsible for go-to market strategy formulation, global storage platform sales enablement, portfolio positioning and analyst relations, stopped theCube not too long ago to give his take on the future of cloud computing. He also discussed IBM’s role in the cloud, and the growing concerns around security. He shared his insight with Wikibon.org founder Dave Vellante (see full video below).

Arseneau expressed his view on the future of cloud computing in response to Vellante’s perspective on industry adoption of cloud computing. Going by the latest signs, “we believe 2012 is going to the year of the cloud,” Arseneau says. The cloud is going to be become the standard mechanism for the delivering and consumption of information.”

On his company role in providing cloud services to industries, Arseneau said IBM is capable of designing systems to bring the benefits of cloud computing while avoiding the security and risk for small, medium to large sized businesses.

“IBM thinks cloud is fundamentally about very efficient, very agile, easy to provision, easy to manage, scalable, cost effective infrastructure that can be adapted at very granular level, can be optimized for workload, policy driven across wide user cases and workload and can be managed very easily.”

Arseneau noted that early cloud adopters were not very knowledgeable and most believed public cloud services from companies like Amazon, Rackspace and others were commercial and consumer oriented platforms that lack security, aren’t scalable and are tedious to implement. But with the evolution of the technology, people’s mindsets are changing.

The interview then turned to the concerns on security of cloud computing, a key concern for businesses looking to adopt cloud tools and services.

Looking at an IBM initiative to solve this problem, Arseneau note’s Big Blue’s expertise in introducing new technology, and is now providing the “best and most comprehensive” cloud service offerings to date. IBM is now offering enterprises of all sizes a way to host enterprise-class, cost-saving and security-rich cloud solutions that aide in business growth and productivity.

IBM plays a major role as cloud architectures and usage models. For one, IBM SmartCloud allows users to create, update, maintain and even scale an enterprise-wide system in a cost effective way without the need to purchase new hardware. And the new PureApplications System provides more automation for the network based computing devices.

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Amazon Seeks Their Own Sitcom Television Programs

Saroj Kar — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:42:33 +0000

The pioneer of e-commerce is going to greatly expand their range of video content. Amazon on Wednesday announced plans to launch its own comedies and children’s television programs to digital transmission, and requested contributions from developers.

The Internet giant also said that their division Amazon Studios now aims to develop comedies and children’s series. Amazon has started to create television programs for their own online distribution system, but its latest announcement realizes its plans to include sitcoms comedies and children’s programs.

“Amazon Studios wants to discover great talent and produce programming that audiences will love,” said Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. “In the course of developing movies, we’ve heard a lot of interest from content creators who want to develop original series in the comedy and children’s genres. We are excited to bring writers, animators and directors this new opportunity to develop original series.”

Due to increasing competition from Netflix in the U.S., Amazon is forced to expand its library of multimedia materials. Amazon Studios was launched less than two years ago and has already received more than 700 movies from various film distributors, 7,000 pilot scripts, and currently 15 ongoing film projects.

The series will be distributed through Amazon Instant Video, the digital video streaming service from Amazon. Amazon Studios is asking content developers and writers to submit a five page details of the show along with 11-minute pilot scripts for a children’s show or 22-minute script for a comedy show.

“We’re now developing original programming for Amazon Instant Video. Submit your children’s series or comedy series idea — it could be the next hit show,” says a message on the company’s Web site. “Within 45 days of submission, Amazon Studios will either extend an option on the project for $10,000 or invite the creator to add the project to the Amazon Studios site. If a project is not optioned, creators may remove their idea from the Amazon Studios site or leave it to get community feedback.”

Each new project will be tested for a month and if the idea is selected for production, the creator will receive a payment of $55,000, and up to 5 percent of Amazon’s net income by licensing toys and t-shirts, and other royalties and bonuses.

The accessibility of streaming devices like smartphones, tablets and game consoles and the rise of cable and satellite have pushed streaming demands to the hilt. Amazon competitor, Hulu, the free-for-all model Internet TV provider, is moving towards a new model where paid TV customers can only watch their favorite shows. Viewers would have to log in with their satellite TV account number or cable to stream shows and other content. The move is aimed at keeping cable companies and networks to profit and protect their contents and creating a revenue sharing model among cable and free TV providers.

The sudden entry into the world of sitcoms can open new possibilities in this market, suggesting to a rivalry with the major studios. Amazon does have a distribution network and already a publisher of media and all the capabilities to make Amazon Studios a big success.

Amazon’s rivals Netflix announced plans to launch its first original episodic show, Lilyhammer, earlier this year. Last month, Hulu presented four original shows, including The Awesomes, an animated series from Saturday Night Live; Endgame or The Booth at the End. YouTube is investing in original content providers to create a digital content ecosystem.

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Are You Ready For The Next Galaxy?

Mellisa Tolentino — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:48:57 +0000

Today’s mobile news roundup features more speculation about the Galaxy S3 expected to launch today, Apple and Samsung asked to lower patent dispute, Ericsson gaining traction in South Korea, a cool Mother’s Day surprise from Sprint and more.

Samsung Galaxy SIII today

Today’s the day that Samsung will be unveiling their next Galaxy device, dubbed as the Galaxy SIII. Ever since Samsung announced their event at London’s Earl’s Court, speculation’s been on the rise as to what the South Korean company will be unveiling today.

The speculation range from a new Galaxy S smartphone, a new Galaxy Tab, or a Galaxy Phablet. Samsung fans are abuzz on Twitter and Facebook, expressing their excitement over the next Galaxy device. Someone even correlated today’s date to the name of the device: May 3 = 5 3 = S3, get it?

Right now, we still have to wait a few more hours before we get to see what Samsung has to offer. The Samsung Unpacked event is set to start at 7PM BST. Tune in at Samsung’s official site for TheNextGalaxy for live coverage of the event.

Apple-Samsung given ultimatum to settle patent dispute

Apple and Samsung were given a deadline, coming up on Monday, by Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to reduce the number of patent claims they have against each other to make it more manageable for a jury.

A joint statement from Apple and Samsung stated that they both agreed to drop some claims, but the lack of cooperation from the two parties prevented further streamlining. Though the lack of cooperation, the Samsung-Apple case is now down to 16 patents, six trademarks, five “trade dress” claims, and an antitrust case, with 37 products accused of violations. Both parties will have 25 hours to present their cases to a jury.

Still, the number of claims was considered high by Judge Koh and it will be quite impossible for both parties to present their cases in just 25 hours each to a jury, which could have trouble understanding the underlying technology and patents in such a short period of time. Apple’s lawyer Harold McElhinny of Morrison & Foerster wanted to know the number of cases they can present in court that the judge deemed feasible, but Judge Koh won’t budge.

“I think that’s cruel and unusual punishment to a jury, so I’m not willing to do it,” Judge Koh said. “If you’re going to trial in July, this is not going to be acceptable.” If the companies don’t present a more workable set of claims, the trial date could be pushed back to 2013.

Ericsson solidifies partnership with SK Telecom

SK Telecom, South Korea’s leading operator with more than 26 million mobile subscribers, reached 2.4 million LTE subscribers by the end of April 2012. To accommodate the strong demand for LTE, they have selected Ericsson to extend their LTE offering and become one of their main partners.

“As a result of this expansion, SK Telecom will be able to offer its users broader network coverage and an enhanced mobile-broadband experience, ensuring continued loyalty among its customers and continued market leadership,” said Martin Wiktorin, President and CEO of LG-Ericsson. ”LG-Ericsson will provide the LTE network including LTE RAN and Evolved Packet Core as well as support services including engineering, design, deployment and support services. The LTE radio access network will make use of Ericsson’s Operation Support System for Radio & Core (OSS-RC) and RBS 6000 base stations.”

Mother’s Day surprise from Sprint

On May 13, the whole world will be celebrating Mother’s day – a special day when kids surprise their moms with little trinkets or special gestures like breakfast in bed or a peaceful day at the spa. But if you want to keep in touch with your mom, Sprint has the perfect gift. You can choose from a variety of phones or treat your mom to tons of apps available on Sprint’s unlimited data plan.

“Sprint’s diverse device portfolio offers something to fit every mom’s lifestyle — from the tech-savvy to the eco-friendly mom, there is a device and apps to match her personality and keep her busy lifestyle organized,” said David Owens, vice president-Product Development, Sprint. “With our affordable rate plans, moms don’t have to worry about data plan overages. They can make the most of their time checking emails, scheduling appointments and browsing the Web, all at a price that makes sense for their family.”

Nokia’s tablet plan

Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila said that the company is very interested in launching a tablet based on Microsoft’s Windows 8 OS, as they are very intrigued by the Metro user interface. Though he repeatedly stated that they aren’t working on a tablet right now, he kept reiterating that tablets are important.

“Tablets are an important one, so that is being looked into, and there will be different hybrids, different form,” Ollila stated.

“We are very interested in the Metro user interface and Metro is clearly the big bet for Microsoft… But again, no specific announcements … but [it is] something we are interested in.”

In other mobile news

Target Corp. is phasing out Amazon’s e-reader Kindles in their more than 1,700 stores and website. The move is said to be the effect of Target’s decision to put mini-Apple shops in 25 of their stores this year.

And if you’re looking for a projector accessory for one of the devices purchased at the rumored mini-Apple stores, Pop Video may just be the device you’re looking for. It features a 30-pin dock connector for your iPhone and throws a 960×540 image, supporting up to two hours of video play. It has its own rechargeable battery so it won’t drain your iPhone’s juice, and it’s compatible with the iPhone 4/4S, 3rd/4th generation iPod Touch. Available for $99.

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AmazonLocal Upgrade Addresses “Daily Deal Fatigue”

Mellisa Tolentino — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:17:51 +0000

I’m an avid fan of daily deals sites. I just love getting great deals on spas and restaurants. But the one thing I hate about offers from daily deals sites is that they aren’t target specific. I really don’t like getting deals for power drills and I doubt that guys enjoy getting offers for bikini or armpit waxing.

Good thing Amazon listens to their consumers.

Targeted deals

Amazon is bringing their famous recommendation technology to AmazonLocal, their daily deals arm. AmazonLocal now lets users create a profile where they can denote preferences (like, dislike, neutral) for a number of categories, ranging from entertainment and travel to health and beauty and shopping.

“We are reasonably new to to the deals space, but we aren’t new to the personalization experience,” said Mike George, Amazon’s VP of local. “This is a logical extension of a competency.”

The integration of the recommendation technology to AmazonLocal could lead to a much richer shopping experience on the daily deals site. For now, the addition may not be too exciting, it just offers a way to bring you better deals – deals that you really like. But in the future, shopping on Amazon could also be integrated in their daily deals offers. For instance, you bought an iPhone on Amazon, you could be getting an offer for discounted iPhone accessories because of your iPhone purchase. Simply put, your Amazon choices could help AmazonLocal offer better discounts to daily deals fans.

“It’s an interesting thing to think about — the intersection of consumer products and services that are fulfilled by local merchants,” George said. “There are some things that are logical that I believe we will discover that we would never have really thought about. This part is very new to us.”

Daily deal fatigue

Amazon’s new effort with regards to AmazonLocal is that it addresses the “daily deal fatigue” experienced by a lot of consumers. The daily deal phenomenon used to be such a hit, but now, consumers are complaining that they hate getting e-mails from daily deal sites that don’t interest them. They still love the idea of bargain shopping, they just hate getting junk mail.

And because of daily deal fatigue, daily deal sites are now suffering – less people are buying. Even Groupon, the daily deal giant that went public last year, is said to be losing customers. Their stocks plunged by more than half since their IPO.

Groupon’s beer-laced meeting

Speaking of Groupon, they held a closed-door town hall meeting to discuss their plans for the next six months, addressing their questionable financial report which led to a Securities and Exchange Commission probe, and caused a shareholder to sue the company.

During the candid meeting, Groupon employees were given the chance to ask questions of Groupon executives. Beer was also available for everyone who attended the meeting. Unfortunately, the free-flowing beer resulted in an overly candid meeting with an intoxicated CEO.

Groupon CEO Andrew Mason delivered comments such as “We’re still this toddler in a grown man’s body in many ways,” pertaining to the controversial financial revision as “the latest in a string of just us making an example of how bad we are at being a public company. We have to get good at this,” and stated that the company needs to slow down by “not taking stupid risks,” then at one point, he apologized when his voice broke stating, “Sorry, too much beer.”

Mixing beer and meetings isn’t a great idea. So I guess a town hall meeting with beer is one of the “stupid risks” the company would avoid in the future.

Location-based deals

Amazon is certainly on the right path with its location-based deals. In TNS’ annual “Mobile Life” study conducted among 48,000 people across 58 countries, it was revealed that 19% of mobile users are keen on using location-based services.

“It is the combination of time and context – directing people towards a deal when they can easily redeem it – that unlocks a powerful tool for marketers to develop precise targeting approaches,” said TNS’s head of digital and technology practice, James Fergusson.

The study states that 46% of users use GPS in adopting location-based services while 13% use Facebook and Foursquare’s check-in feature. Users are fond of using location-based services to look for entertainment venues and restaurants at 26%, while 19% use the service to check transportation schedules.

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Early Amazon Cloud Marketplace Rivals

Saroj Kar — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:00:39 +0000

Amazon continues to strengthen its offering in cloud with an app store for cloud applications, the AWS Marketplace. The new portal allows customers to buy the Amazon’s cloud applications as well as third party software towards the development of their business.

The Marketplace has pre-configured software and technical services, and a shopping cart and list feature. Amazon made it easy and fast with its proprietary 1-Click purchases for software, and will use the monthly payment structure for customers.

The available software ranges from general applications designed to manage servers and databases, to software applications specifically designed for the business world, and developer tools for issue and bug tracking solutions to name a few. Amazon has grouped the AWS marketplace categories in to three groups – Software Infrastructure, Developer tools and Business Software.

The applications come from a number of known suppliers, including SAP, Zend, Microsoft, IBM, Canonical, Perforce, Couchbase, Acquia, Check Point Software, and 10gen, and open-source vendors such as WordPress, Drupal and MediaWiki.

The new service aims to further monetize the company’s cloud offering and promoting the development of the online business of its customers, using tailored made tools as per the needs of companies.

Rise of Enterprise App Stores

Understanding customers’ needs helps companies define new market opportunities and drive innovation. Amazon’s new Marketplace is one such concept where the service provider will generate revenue through the provision a single platform ecosystem for users’ business needs.

As enterprises and users are rapidly adopting smartphones and tablets in their work and personal lives, the fast-moving mobilization trends are intensifying the demand for enterprise-ready app stores and marketplaces.

Apple sets the trend for consumers, with Google’s Android and RIM following closely behind. Complementary to the major providers, the marketplace model is changing the way users and developers buy and create software.

Industry biggies and business service providers have come up with some answers for app stores of their own, trying to create new ecosystems with customers, partners and users. Let’s look at some of the leading marketplace providers in the industry.

Appcelerator Titanium Platform Open Mobile Marketplace

Mobile cloud platform company Appcelerator, which provides cross-platform Titanium platform for building mobile, tablet and desktop applications, offers the Appcelerator Open Mobile Marketplace.

The open mobile store includes mobile app modules, templates, design elements, and other cloud component extensions for the developer community. Moreover, the Marketplace has an open system of tools for publishers that allow them to upload their own content, integrating with existing services.

The Marketplace is available for any developer or business who wants to publish a native or HTML5 mobile module, app template, or mobile cloud service.

Cisco Developer Network Marketplace

Cisco offers users the next generation hosted, community based marketplace called Cisco Developer Network Marketplace (CDN). The marketplace enables developer to validate, market, and sell complementary product offerings – from mobile applications to end-to-end business solutions.

The CDN marketplace features a unique searchable, centralized repository feature, Cisco AppHQ, which transforms the way developers communicate, collaborate and connect using Cisco devices. The client version of AppHQ is also available on mobile and other fixed Cisco devices.

Cisco provides a single platform for developers to license and distribute their products to end users. The network giant also offers App store for independent software vendor, systems integrator and Android developer.

Google App Marketplace

Whether you need a CRM application, accounting or project management apps, you can find, purchase and install high quality web applications that integrate with Google Apps in Google Apps Marketplace.

The marketplace extends the offerings of other third party Software-as-a-Service applications that work with Google’s cloud applications.

All applications of Google Apps Marketplace offer single sign-on integration. In addition, they also offer additional features such as data synchronization with Google Apps and gadgets to enjoy enhanced functionality.

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The Top 15 Cloned Android Apps and Games Posing as Trojans

Mellisa Tolentino — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:20:11 +0000

Malware authors are cashing in on the Instagram-Facebook craze with their fake Instagram app for the Android platform.

The fake Instagram app is actually a Trojan in disguise, dubbed as “Andr/Boxer-F” by Sophos, who discovered the malicious apps. The malware authors made fake websites that advertised the fake Instagram apps. What the evil apps do is secretly send international texts, which generates a lot money for the malware authors, and empties out your wallet.

An article in ZDNet features the photo of a man, whose identity is unknown, which could be the author of the malware, a relative, a friend or just some random Joe. The photo is said to be included multiple times in the .apk file of the malicious app. Sophos believes that the inclusion of the photo in the file multiple times is to change the fingerprint of the file so that it will not be detected by antivirus softwares.

This is the hazard of having an open platform as there are many stores that offer their apps. Instagram is a free app, so I’m not really sure why people would be downloading this outside of Google Play. The only reason I can think of is that their device isn’t supported by Google Play. But if you have Google Play, better get your apps from them. It will save you a lot of money. And for those interested in downloading Instagram for Android, click here for the official app.

The fake Instagram app is just one of the fake apps that recently surfaced. Last week, Sophos warned that a fake Angry Birds Space was spotted in unofficial Android stores. Just like the Instagram app, the Angry Birds Space app is also a Trojan, identified as Andr/KongFu-L. It appears like a fully-functional version of the game but uses the GingerBreak exploit to gain root access to the device, and installs malicious code. The Trojan then communicates with a remote website to download and install further malware to the compromised device. Authors of the malware send instructions to the compromised device to download more codes or push URLs to be displayed in the smartphone’s browser. The compromised device becomes a botnet controlled by the author.

McAfee recently published that malware-laced apps are also found in Google Play, uncovering 15 apps capable of stealing users’ data. Carlos Castillo of McAfee stated that the Trojan targeted Android users in Japan, masquerading as apps offering to display trailers of upcoming Android video games, anime or Japanese adult videos.

In January of this year, Symantec published a list of infected apps that users should definitely avoid as they allow remote accessing of user data. The list featured the following apps:

Counter Elite Force
Counter Strike Ground Force
CounterStrike Hit Enemy
Heart Live Wallpaper
Hit Counter Terrorist
Stripper Touch girl

From Ogre Games

Balloon Game
Deal & Be Millionaire
Wild Man

From redmicapps

Pretty women lingerie puzzle
Sexy Girls Photo Game
Sexy Girls Puzzle
Sexy Women Puzzle

Cybersecurity experts are predicting that these incidents are just the start of malware invading the Android platform. They’re expecting a widespread attack in a couple of months.

“In the next couple months, I’d expect a big Android attack that’s going to be very widespread,” Jacques Erasmus, chief information security officer with Webroot, a cybersecurity company, said. ”It’s going to be Android, because it’s an open platform–there’s much less regulation in terms of the app store that makes it much easier for criminals to target. Obviously, the Apple user base is massive, but I think that attack is going to come later.”

So what are we going to do when a huge wave of Android malware hits?

If you’re an Android user, be sure to get your apps from legit stores; go to shady markets and expect that you’ll get not only the app you wanted but a bonus bit of malware as well.
Amazon, which has their own Android store, suggests code obfuscating to developers, which modifies the source and machine code of the app so it would be difficult for a human to understand if your app gets decompiled, and it also eliminates the possibility of reverse engineering apps and cloning them.

Amazon recommends Proguard – a code obfuscation tool – provided once the Android SDK has been downloaded. Proguard shrinks, optimizes, and obfuscates the source code of the app.

The Top 15 Cloned Android Apps and Games Posing as Trojans is a post from: SiliconANGLE
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In the same vein:

Pinterest Goes to Amazon, BBM Friends Facebook and Twitter

Mellisa Tolentino — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:36:19 +0000

You know what I love about the Internet and everything on it? It never fails to surprise me. Companies are always innovating, coming up with new products or enhancing their products and services for consumer appeal. And the most social of web users will be very glad at these recent updates, which include Pinterest buttons on Amazon’s website.

RIM updates apps with BBM

Research in Motion just ironed out the kerfuffle they had over sideloading Android apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook, and aside from adding extra security measures on the next PlayBook update, they’re also upgrading their Facebook and Twitter apps for BlackBerry smartphones for BBM integration.

The update will allow users to share status updates and chat with their BBM contacts from inside the apps via a “Share with BBM” button. The BlackBerry travel app will also have the BBM integration so you can easily share your whereabouts to your BBM contacts. The 3.0 update will start rolling out in the next 10 days.

Amazon reaches more people with Pinterest

Online retailer Amazon is trying a new strategy to entice more people to use their service and gather more consumer data on purchasing intent: they’ve integrated Pinterest to their service. So aside from sharing Amazon products via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter, shoppers can now share on Pinterest.

Pinterest, the online pinboard that lets users organize and share photos of the things they love, recently updated their terms of service and dealt with the growing number of spammers on their service, as it tries to keep up with astounding growth and the development of a true business model.

You can’t deny how huge the impact of Pinterest is on businesses. Recent studies showed that women trust product reviews from social networking sites such as Pinterest and Facebook. So the Pinterest integration on Amazon is expected to drive more consumers on their site, and power more recommendations.

YouTube offers pay-per-view

In celebration of YouTube Live’s first birthday, YouTube launched some new features including Wirecast, new publishing flows and real-time analytics, and pay-per-view, for their partners.

Wirecast allows partners to produce and stream professional-looking live events directly to YouTube from their desktop. The new software allows capture and switching between multiple video and audio sources, roll in of media files and images and add live effects and overlays.

The new guided flow will allow you to preview live events before you set them to go live. and the addition of real-time analytics provides insight as to how many viewers are tuning in, or how many times your video had been viewed. But the feature people are most excited about is the ability to monetize your videos. Users can either earn through ads or by pay-per-view or paid programming.

Pinterest Goes to Amazon, BBM Friends Facebook and Twitter is a post from: SiliconANGLE
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