Google’s Smartphone Gains Should Create Some Buzz

All the online world is buzzing about the introduction of Google’s Buzz yesterday. The competitor (or death knell) to FriendFeed has everyone wondering just how much of the social media market can Google ‘control’ by playing the intermediary. Considering how far reaching their other services are I think it looks more and more like Google could end up in the driver’s seat after all of this.

Another prong of their attack on Facebook, Twitter, Apple and the online world in general relates to the move into smartphones / mobile devices which are becoming a critical component of the social web. As more and more chances pop up to tell everyone about everything, those who feel the need will want to do this at any time so being able to use these services ‘on the go’ is critical. Google’s Android movement is now looking to be more and more important as the likelihood for Google apps to best work on, you guessed it, a Google device makes good business sense.

According to comScore and ars technica Android devices are making their move but still have a ways to go to catch up to RIM (BlackBerry) and Apple’s iPhone. My guess is that by the end of this year this chart may look considerably different in favor of Google’s plan.

Oh, by the way, a note to Palm and Microsoft. That object in your rear-view mirror that is getting bigger very fast is going to catch you so move over and start planning another route.

I have written here about my iPhone dilemma. I am a Verizon customer in the middle of a contract with a BlackBerry Storm. I am squeamish on AT&T issues but realize that greater adoption of Android devices could make Verizon’s network act like its competitor’s. While I am close to making a change on the phone (sorry BB, game over) I am more and more convinced that the Android device is the better choice. It’s not nearly as sexy as an iPhone, but considering the importance of Google to my daily existence it will be much more practical. Google has already exhibited its willingness to roll search related features out to Android devices only and my guess is that it will be a trend in the future.

We have heard from other readers about their choices in the smartphone market. In the past it has been the ‘wow factor’ that has driven many moves. If Google continues to do the things it has been doing it may be just as important to consider the ‘now factor’ which is less about being entertained and more about being efficient and effective right now.

Any thoughts on the matter?

Now That Everything Is Known, Will The Google Nexus One Phone Launch Generate A Collective Yawn?

The way that the “Google Phone” rumors and later Nexus One blogging played out probably mean that when Google finally announces the device on January 5 (in all likelihood) there won’t be much news. I could be quite wrong of course. Regardless, I imagine the event will be interesting — something like “a year of [...]

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AT&T’s Struggles With Reputation Continue

You don’t have to look very far, especially in the online space, to find a disgruntled AT&T wireless customer. If you would like to increase your likelihood of finding a seething AT&T wireless customer just ask around in New York and San Francisco for iPhone users. This, in and of itself, is not news. As a result though, AT&T faces reputation issues that are extending beyond the initial complaints about service. As the company struggles to maintain some positive buzz it is running headlong into the ‘perception is reality’ of today’s world.

When there are article headlines on CNNMoney.com like this one, “AT&T: The Most Hated Company in iPhone Land”, it’s hard to not cringe no matter how you feel about the company, its service or anything else. One thing that the article does point out is that AT&T may be a victim of its own iPhone success.

Analysts say AT&T’s problems would have happened on any network that carried Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone because of the overwhelming amount of data downloaded by iPhone users. Over the past three years, AT&T’s data traffic increased 5,000% because of the iPhone.

“The challenges that AT&T has are being faced by a lot of operators around the world: Very rapidly growing usage coupled with dense populations,” said Daniel Hays, wireless expert and partner at consultancy PRTM. “Would it have been different on Verizon? Probably not.”

Now, of course Verizon would dispute that position and they have been doing so with their “There’s a map for that!” campaign. Verizon’s ‘first to market’ ads had to be responded to, in a sense, by AT&T which put AT&T on the defensive. The results are some pretty weak ads using a B-list celebrity that don’t do much to fight off the perception that AT&T is just a poor service provider.

I was enlightened to some degree by the CNN article despite the headline. It pointed out some of the cold hard realities of being the network for iPhone users. The biggest is that iPhone users have increased the data traffic on the network at the incredibly large percentage noted earlier. AT&T admits that service in two of the most important metros for the wired set, New York City and San Francisco, are below their standards so they at least admit that they have issues.

Regardless of that admission though the following is the reality they face:

It’s not just New York and San Francisco iPhone users who are grumbling. An annual Consumer Reports study recently rated AT&T (T, Fortune 500) the worst in customer satisfaction in 19 cities across the country. (Rival Verizon Wireless rated No. 1 in the study.)

This stuff spreads like wildfire online and becomes bigger and bigger if not handled well. To this point it appears as if AT&T has not been doing such a good job of turning that perception around. A perception that may have some cold hard reality attached to it might come off better if addressed proactively rather than having the current reactive stance (My opinion of course and we would love to hear yours )

So how do you know that the ‘you know what’ has hit the fan with your company’s reputation online and offline? You become the butt of a Saturday Night Live joke.

“It was reported this week that Google would soon launch its own cell phone as a challenge to the iPhone,” said “Saturday Night Live’s” Seth Meyers on Dec. 19. “Also a challenge to the iPhone? Making phone calls.”

So, all of you online reputation management experts out there what do you think AT&T should do? Is there anything it can do? A little end of the year exercise in applying all that theory might do us all some good. Let’s hear it.

Android to Make Waves by 2012

This is interesting timing for me personally regarding the release of a report from Gartner regarding its predictions for the future of smart phones once Android finds its stride. I have noted here before that I am a BlackBerry Storm user on the Verizon Network and I am underwhelmed. I like the network and chuckle regarding the AT&T lapses in service that I hear iPhone users gripe about. At the same time the Storm is just not that great.

It’s so ‘not that great’ that I went out and bought a 32GB iPod Touch just so I could enter the world of apps. At the same time Verizon announced its offering of Android phones in the near future. I got a little giddy at the thought of having the Touch for Apple apps and then the Android phone for all things Google because I suspect that the offering will be on par if not better than Apple’s.

Well, along comes Gartner and makes me feel like some kind of prophet (in a pretty insignificant way but a way nonetheless)! According to Computerworld

While the Google-backed Android mobile operating system currently runs on less than 2% of all smartphones, Gartner Inc. predicts it will surge to 14% of the global smartphone market in 2012 — ahead of the iPhone, as well as Windows Mobile and BlackBerry smartphones.

In that year, Gartner forecasts Android will actually rank second globally, behind the Symbian OS, which is used in Nokia devices that are highly popular in Europe and many countries outside the U.S. Symbian now runs on about half of all smartphones, but will fall to 39% in 2012, Gartner says.

As I surmised prior to this report, since Google is behind the Android there is a serious likelihood that it is going to be integrated near seamlessly into a lot things I already do with Google. Trouble is that just as I typed that last sentence I got the chills. I felt like I was being assimilated into the Goog. It wasn’t even as if I gave it a second thought. I just went along with the fact that I, like millions of others, are somewhat owned by the collective computing conscience that is Google. Well, I’m over it.

Bring it on I say. Competition is good and now some of the iPhone glitterati will have to see if hey really do have the coolest toy on the playground.

The Gartner forecast gives Android such an enormous surge in popularity because of a variety of factors, but chiefly because of Google Inc.’s backing of Android and the range of cloud computing functions and related applications that Google will make available in coming years.

Right now the market is split with the Symbian OS currently has 50% share world wide due to the popularity of Nokia devices in Europe (does anyone in the US still use a Nokia phone?) with Blackberrys and iPhones taking the next spots. What Android phones look to do is provide some of the best features of it’s competitors in a more all inclusive platform

And because Android and Google operate in an “integrative and open environment, [they] could easily top … the singular Apple

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The final indicator of the potential game changing influence that Android could have is the prediction that BlackBerry OS’s will drop from number 2 today to 5th as of 2012. If that holds true there are going to be some interesting times ahead for the smart phone world and the folks like us that depend on them.

Top CEO’s Appear to be Anti Social (Media, that is)

With all the talk of social media this and social media that, it’s hard not to feel some pressure to be involved in some way or another. That is unless, of course, you are one of the CEO of some of the biggest companies in the world, as TechCrunch reports on a survey conducted by UBERCEO. Apparently the Top 100 companies of the Fortune 500 have CEO’s that are not getting in the game. Considering some of the press these guys and gals get these days that may be a good idea.

The highlights

• Only two CEOs have Twitter accounts.
• 13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, and of those only three have more than 10 connections.
• 81% of CEOs don’t have a personal Facebook page.
• Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information.
• Not one Fortune 100 CEO has a blog.

So is this a problem? Of course, that is a question that is open to opinion so let me chime in with mine. CEOs who run companies of any real influence should tread extremely lightly in the social media space. If the company is publically traded the risks involved, at least on the surface, seem to far outweigh the potential upside.

Let’s be realistic as well. Does anyone really think that they are going to become a “bff” of a CEO just through social media? Is this the new way to get from the mail room to the boardroom in today’s corporate world? Not likely.

Also, there is a better than fair chance that when a CEO is actually involved in this kind of medium, many would suspect that it wouldn’t really be the CEO doing the work. You can’t turn around without hearing the cries of “There are not enough hours in the day to keep up with social media!” so the likelihood of a busy CEO carving out some time to tweet or post or update anything is not real high. One side effect of the ridiculous amount of information that is available to everyone today is the increasingly high level of skepticism that comes along with it. Why have to try to prove that you (if you are that CEO actually making the social media effort) are really the one sending tweets and updating their Facebook page?

Social media efforts have to be careful to not run too far ahead of themselves. There needs to be a lot of crawling before a full sprint social media effort by anyone is undertaken. Based on that, it might be wise to keep the CEO’s to their regular jobs. A lot of good work can be undone real quickly by one bad moment from the C-suite that is broadcast to the world via social media channels. Why risk that?