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  yichanliu 9:44 pm on October 29, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 5 

  What’s next for Google?

  Google, which runs the world’s most popular internet search engine, recently conducted a crazy plan that is to send Google balloons into the stratosphere. This project fits Google’s evolving strategy, as Google has always been changing how people find information and do business. The initial mission of Google is to organize the world’s population, and now it’s making efforts to automate and simplify people’s daily interactions. There is a serious business purpose behind this project. Although Google is the most successful internet company and has dominated the web search, it relies on advertising to pursue revenue at a large extent. However, internet advertising businesses are facing long term challenges. Last week, Google posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, with revenue of $14.9-billion, sending its stock price soaring past the $1,000-a-share mark. The solid results masked some troubling trends. Google received a large boost in ad volume, which itself was due to a surge of mobile advertising, but while such ads are quickly becoming a major portion of all Internet advertising, they tend to generate less revenue. Actually, the ads at the very heart of Google’s business model for the past 15 years are slowly losing value, and no company has figured out how to reverse that trend. At the Google campus in Mountain View, there’s a sense that virtually all these projects are part of a wider, more ambitious effort by the company to expand its role as the chief middleman of Internet search into a variety of other areas. That takes new technology, a stomach for risk and big ideas. According to the director of engineering at Google Canada, the unifying theme at Google is the bigness of it all, and it makes huge bets in areas that can be dramatically impactful in the future. Indeed, part of the lure of the company to engineers is the deep uncertainty and grand potential of Google’s many big bets – with little indication which will fail, and which will end up transforming parts of society.

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  References:

  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/growing-plans-inside-googles-expanding-world/article15096740/

   

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  yichanliu 3:00 pm on October 6, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 4 

  Social networks in a battle for the second screen

  After “Breaking Bad” drew 10.3 million viewers to one of the most crowd-satisfying finales in television history on Sunday, Twitter and Facebook raced to tell the news media about the throngs who shared their instant reactions to the show on the social networks. They both see the social conversation around television is a good way to increase use of their sites and win a bigger piece of advertisers’ spending. Sorting out which site deserves the crown, however, is tricky. Each company uses its own standard for determining social TV conversation, and unlike other types of Internet traffic, there is no neutral arbiter. Twitter said about 600,000 people had posted more than 1.2 million messages, or tweets, while Facebook said three million people had chimed in on its service.

  Still, there is little question that television is a favorite topic for users. About half of Americans visit social networks while watching TV, and one in six Americans posts comments about shows during their broadcasts, according to a coming report by eMarketer, which found that people in some countries like China and India are even more active in their chatter. The research firm has found that the average audience for Twitter messages about a TV show is 50 times the number of people posting messages about the show. If 2,000 people are posting messages about a show, for example, an average of 100,000 people are seeing those messages. Also, it appears that heavy Twitter activity around a popular broadcast can drive more people to both the show and Twitter.

  Twitter, considered by many to be the leader in social conversation around live TV, has spent much of 2013 courting networks like Fox and MTV and consumer brands like Heineken. Such partnerships have created a significant new revenue stream for Twitter. Facebook, whose social platform is built more around each individual’s web of relationships than rapid-fire conversation, has a more complicated relationship with TV.

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  References:

   
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  yichanliu 5:35 pm on October 5, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 3 

  Canada’s middle class feels the brunt of the income inequality squeeze

  After Canadian income inequality getting worse in the 1980s and 1990s, it remained stuck at a relatively high level during the 2000s. Median family income has increased since 1998, leading some commentators to reach the conclusion that the middle class is doing better now than in the late 1990s. However, that is only part of the story. The increase in median income masks the shifts occurring in and among different income ranges. Dividing the population into five income groups, real average after-tax income grew most strongly in the top group – those with the highest income levels. The bottom group grew second fastest, while the middle group – the true “middle class” in statistical terms – grew the most slowly. In fact, this middle 20 per cent of Canadians receive less of the total income pie today than it did in the late 1990s. In the 1980s and 1990s, the gap between the top and the bottom income groups increased the most. The top 20 per cent got relatively richer, and the bottom 20 per cent got relatively poorer. The gap between richest and poorest groups grew more slowly in the 2000s, but it clearly did not shrink. The top income group increased its share of total after-tax income from 43.4 per cent in 1998 to 44.3 per cent in 2010. The share going to the bottom income group remained the same (4.8 per cent), while the share going to the three groups in between (which could be broadly defined as the middle class) fell. It is statistically accurate to say that the middle class – at least as defined by having a mid-range income – is being squeezed in Canada.

  There is no easy solution to income inequality. Investment in education – from early childhood through postsecondary – offers the greatest potential payback. Increasing access to the labour market also needs consideration. Both measures would also bolster Canada’s already good record on income mobility – the ease at which people can move among income groups. However, a good record on income mobility does not override the social issues associated with high income inequality. Thus, measures to reform the tax system should focus on improving the incentives to work for people trying to get off social welfare support – by lowering the “welfare wall” currently preventing entry into the work force. A guaranteed annual income system merits examination as a way to meet these goals.

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  References:

  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/canadas-middle-class-feels-the-brunt-of-the-income-inequality-squeeze/article14635779/

   
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  yichanliu 11:29 am on October 5, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 2 

  How do free apps make money?

  Currently, the number of apps in Apple’s appstore has reached 1.25 million, and nearly one third of the apps are free for download. Then how do the free app developers make money? This widely disregarded topic deserves attention given that free apps clearly trump paid in terms of download numbers. The fact is that when developers have apps priced at $0.99, they make a little less money than they do from in-app purchases when it’s free. The other difference is that they can get about 10 times the download number when it’s free.

  The freemium upsell is one of the ways that developers make money from free apps. Many free apps have links that users can click that drives them to the “regular” or “HD” version. It’s kind of a feeder system – users can download free apps and get a sense of what they offer, then they can easily purchase the full version (which will have lots more functionality and game play.) The second one is in-app purchases, which allow users to unlock features or purchase more of something, maybe coins in a game like Tap Zoo or gold in a game like Infinity Blade. In this way, it is possible for the developers to drive millions of dollars in sales, even though the app was free. Mobile ads can also help developers generate money. Incorporate mobile ads in apps can even earn much more from advertising than charging users for the apps.

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  References:

  http://www.forbes.com/sites/tristanlouis/2013/08/10/how-much-do-average-apps-make/

  http://www.bluecloudsolutions.com/blog/5-ways-free-apps-money/

  http://blog.smashapp.com/2011/06/15/developers-how-to-earn-money-from-your-free-mobile-app/

   
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  yichanliu 12:27 am on October 1, 2013 Permalink | Reply  

  blog post 1 

  Releasing cheaper iPhones might not be a wise decision

  Apple Inc. recently released two new iPhones, including iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C — the former one has a faster processor and a fingerprint sensor for security, while the latter one has colorful cases and a cheaper price. However, the low cost iPhone can probably cheapen the brand of iPhone, although it may generate additional sales. IPhone was one of the most successful new products ever launched for it belongs to a new category called “touchscreen smartphones” which was considered more advanced than existing keyboard smartphones. The next development, a development that happens to every new category, is that the category divides into two categories — high end and low end. Any brand that tries to both ends of the market is bound to suffer. Also, it is possible that we cannot see throngs of budget-conscious consumers to line up for the iPhone 5C. That is because the supposedly cheap iPhone 5C is not really cheap. The 16GB model retails for $99 with a two-year service contract, and $549 without a subsidy. Tack on an additional $100 for the 32GB model. The rationale is that the more affordable model would better compete in markets where consumers don’t sign contracts and pay an unsubsidized rate for their smartphones. It’s in these markets where the flagship iPhone struggles, and where Apple has to try harder to win over consumers.

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  References:

  http://www.firstpost.com/business/by-introducing-cheaper-iphones-apple-will-lose-its-high-end-position-1103013.html

  http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57602328-37/apples-iphone-5c-misses-the-low-cost-mark/