E-Piphanies

Facebook Developing Mobile Payment Future

There’s no doubt that Facebook is developing a Web payment platform to rival those of Google, Amazon and eBay (PayPal). But Facebook may also be looking to crack one of the biggest nuts in the online payment world, which is mobile. Facebook spokesperson Kathleen Loughlin confirmed reports that the social networking site has hired Prashant Fuloria, a former Google employee who worked on Google Checkout; given Facebook’s obvious focus on mobile Web applications, Fuloria’s direction is clear.

The principal roadblock to facilitating mobile payments is the mobile carriers themselves. In order to charge customers, sites can pick from two equally deadly poisons: allow customers to charge products or services to their wireless bill, which is transparent and easy but costs the vendor close to 30 percent of the transaction price; or else they have to ask customers to pick a payment method like a credit card or a PayPal or Google Checkout account.

To read more please see Facebook Developing Mobile Payment Future on my BNET Technologies blog.

Realizing Government 2.0

One of the most compelling attributes of Web 2.0 is that it transformed the static Interweb from something pushed at us to something that includes our inputs. The coincidence of Howard Dean's intelligent use of the Web, the rise of Facebook in public consciousness and Barack Obama's very technologically-savvy campaign has led to the expectation that Government 2.0 would quickly follow.

That hasn't happened, in part for many of the reasons our Mitch Wagner noted earlier this month, but most notably because of the huge numbers of people involved.

To read more, please see Realizing Government 2.0 on my Digital Life blog at InformationWeek.

Will Nokia Put Moblin In The Middle?

Nokia is rumored to be planning to introduce a netbook in 2010 running on Google’s Android operating system. I wonder how that would sit with Intel, with whom Nokia just got in bed. Do they have an open marriage?

To read more, please see Will Nokia Put Moblin In the Middle? on my BNET Technology blog.

Will The Real Smooth Operator Please Step Forward

Wireless network operators have an unprecedented opportunity to jump off their churn and burn treadmill and create valuable and lasting relationships with end users, handset makers and application vendors and, if they really play their cards right, could even wean themselves off the handset subsidy habit that is further debilitating their businesses.

To read more, please see Will The Real Smooth Operator Please Step Forward on my BNET Technologies blog.

Broadband Stimulus Might Disappoint Thousands

The ball might finally get rolling tomorrow for the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus funds, not a moment too soon where operators and Internet-starved rural communities are concerned.

Worse, though, than the fact that many projects won't actually get started until the spring of 2010, is the number of groups and communities that are going to come away from the process empty handed and potentially discouraged.

To read more, please see Broadband Stimulus Might Disappoint Thousands on my Digital Life blog on InformationWeek.

Google Lost In Real-Time Space

Here is a parable about Google that its executives seem to have forgotten: There once was a Web site so good that although all it ever did was send people away, they kept coming back, over and over and over again. Only to be sent away again.

In fact, the only reason people keep coming back to this site is because it does such a great job of sending them away. This site has been so successful at sending people away, that it’s been able to do very well with advertising: ~$15 billion.

But Google has become so preoccupied with matching Twitter’s real-time search capabilities that it is losing sight of its primary mission, which is to provide meaningful search results. While none of its traditional competitors like Microsoft and Yahoo are likely to shave many points from its lead in search market share, Facebook (which suffers from its own form of Twitter-envy) may actually be in a better position to capitalize on the resurgent chaos of Google’s search results.

To read more, please see Google Lost In Real-Time Space on my BNET Technology blog.

Smartphones Get Killer App

A killer application has finally emerged that should allow smartphones to overtake conventional PCs and laptops as the computing device of choice: it’s called augmented reality, and as absurd as that sounds, that’s exactly what it is.

Mobile consultant Tomi Ahonen wrote on his mobile developer forum that, “this is one of those game-changer types of innovations.”

To read more, please see Smartphones Get Killer App on my BNET Technology blog.

Separating SAP From Chaff

My recent post accusing Oracle of lying about its chief rival was close enough to the mark to get under Oracle’s skin. Still, it had some holes I couldn’t fill, not least of which because of different reporting periods for the two companies. But if I had half the accounting skills of my colleague at ZDNet, Dennis Howlett, I could have done a better job of proving my point. I shall endeavor to learn at the master’s feet.

At issue, Oracle took a largely specious shot at SAP, contending in the press release accompanying its earnings report this week that it “took market share from SAP in every region around the world.” My point, however awkwardly expressed, was that Oracle is comparing its entire revenue to that of SAP, while the companies don’t actually compete in all areas; the numbers, which don’t lie, show that Oracle’s growth is fueled chiefly by database and middleware, not business applications, which is the only area where the two companies compete.

To read more, please see Separating SAP From Chaff on my BNET Technology blog.

Palm Takes Seat At Smartphone Table

Palm CEO Jonathan Rubinstein doesn’t think he has to beat the brains out of former employer Apple, or any other smartphone vendor, in order for Palm to succeed. It’s a remarkably calm assessment from the leader of a company whose future depends largely on the success of a single product launch, and even more so in the context of the testosterone-driven culture we inhabit, where from sports stadiums to Silicon Valley we’re more accustomed to hearing macho posturing than reasoned discourse. According to Rubinstein, the smartphone market has so much growth in store for it that “there’s room for three to five players to win in this space. We don’t have to beat each other to prosper.”

Yesterday’s earnings report didn’t include figures from the release of Pre, the hook on which Palm is hanging its only hat, so Rubinstein prefaced his comments with a few nuggets about the company’s prized new handset. The most impressive factoid, given that the Pre launched less than a month ago, is that customers have already downloaded over one million apps, even though Palm has been very slow bringing them to market and only offers eighteen apps to date.

To read more, please see Palm Takes Seat At Smartphone Table on my BNET Technology blog.

Microsoft Ignores Twitter Outlook Complaints

Microsoft has seen the fury of the masses and like Atlas, shrugged.

A Twitter campaign astroturfed by email marketing campaign vendor Freshview is asking (or is it begging?) Microsoft to reverse course on a key technology decision made for Office 2007 in its next release of Outlook, slated for next year.

To read more, please see Microsoft Ignores Twitter Oulook Complaints on my BNET Technology blog.