Daily Bits

Mobile

Smartphone Phone Users Want More Freebies

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Here’s another interesting statistics from comScore, this time regarding the behavior of smartphone users. According to the report,  smartphone users’ behavior has been changed, whereas before smartphones were used to access email, calendar and contacts while on the go, now more smartphone owners are using their devices as much for personal productivity as for entertainment purposes.

Around 74% of smartphone owners are using their mobile devices for personal use. And when asked how much time they spent using their smartphone at various times of the day, the result showed that smartphones are being used practically all through out the day.

So, what’s the point of these findings?  It is definitely very important if you are managing a brand campaign or even if simply running mobile advertisements. This opens up a huge audience base for your product and could result to sales if you can handle it pretty well.

But of course, businesses wanting to engage in mobile advertising would want to know how much of these smartphone users will be potential customers. In other words, how perceptive are they with mobile ads.

Surprisingly, comScore found out that there are quite a number of smartphone users who are willing to partake of what’s being offered on mobile ads.  Smartphone users are more than willing to take on grocery coupons, barcodes that can be scanned by the smartphones, savings offers on consumer products, movie theater offers and more.

Given this fact, if you’re planning to take on the mobile ad space for your products, be sure to make your ads engaging enough to merit a click or tap on your link from smartphone users. The mobile ad industry is still young and is bound to grow leaps and bounds in the coming days.

Foursquare Ties Up with Starbucks, Free Barista Badges for Every Check-in

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Foursquare continues its quest for media hype dominance with yet another interesting feature. It just launched a new promotional gig that ties it up with Starbucks. So, on Thursday, the next time you visit a Starbucks outlet and check-in to your Foursquare account, you will be rewarded with a barista badge.

The Starbucks barista badge can be earned if you’ve checked-in to five Startbucks outlet. Although, there’s no physical reward yet is given if you earn the barista badge, I’m pretty sure Starbucks and Foursquare will come with something to give out some form of physical rewards in the future. A free tall Cappuccino perhaps for every barista badge earned? This may sound appealing for frequent Startbucks customers, but Starbucks’ Chris Bruzzo, vice president for brand, content and online said that the company is eyeing different rewards set, not just free Starbucks drinks.

This is a rather unique gig and both companies stand a chance of getting positive gains from this deal. Starbucks can use Foursquare to gather feedbacks from clients and perhaps gain new clients as well since Foursquare members can easily share their feedback to their network of friends on Foursquare.

For Foursquare, it already gained from the deal since Starbucks is planning to use the Foursquare business analytics tools that it recently launched.

So, the next time you visit a Starbucks outlet, don’t forget to check it in to your Foursquare account. You might be the first person to earn that “prestigious” barista badge.

Would-Be Buyers of E-Book Readers Want to Get the iPad

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Hot on the heels of the just announced pre-order and availability dates of the Apple iPad, here comes an interesting report from a survey conducted by  ChangeWave Research. According to the report – 40% of would be e-reader buyers would like to get the iPad than the Amazon Kindle, Sony E-Reader or Barnes and Noble’s Nook.

ChangeWave surveyed 3,171 consumers right after Apple announced the iPad sometime in February.  Respondents were presented with the features and capability of the iPad before they were asked if they are keen on getting it.  The results showed that 4% respondent that they will most likely buy the iPad, while 9% answered somewhat likely.

Quite interestingly, the percentage of those who answered that they are most likely to buy the iPad is almost the same percentage as those who plans to buy it prior to the iPad’s launch. This means that after knowing about the specs and features of the iPad, those who wants to get it remains the same.

To make more meaning to their data, ChangeWave also compared pre-launch demand of the iPhone and the iPad and found that the pre-launch demand for the iPad is greater than the pre-launch demand for the iPhone.

Another interesting findings of the report showed that current Kindle and other e-book readers replied that they would have bought the iPad if it were already available when they purchased their current e-readers. So, this somehow shows how the iPad will affect sales of existing e-books since potential buyers might also consider getting the iPad instead.

So, let me now turn the table to you our dear readers. If you are planning to get an e-book reader, will you consider getting the iPad or the other e-book readers available in the market today?

Vlingo iPhone App Adds Voice Command for SMS and Email Messaging

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While voice search and voice-to-text have  been default features  of Google’s Nexus One, Vlingo which pioneered voice control app for the BlackBerry last year believes that this technology can be extended to email messaging. As such, Vlingo has updated it’s iPhone app by adding the ability to send e-mail and SMS messages using voice commands.

Vlingo is offering these two new features as in-app upgrades which you can choose to get by paying $6.99 for each feature or $9.99 for both. This may seem a pretty fair deal for email messaging but not for SMS especially if you’ve use the Nexus One’s free voice-to-text app.

While I have no plans of getting Vlingo with these features for my iPhone, Mashable’s Christina Warren notes that the app’s voice-activated web search lets you select your default search engine although you can still use other search engine if you wish to.

She also noticed that voice recognition is pretty good as well. Hopefully better than the Nexus One’s poor voice recognition feature. Now, I’m beginning to get interested with this app. You know what, I think I will get this as soon as I’ve checked if my iPhone still has some room for another app.

In addition to this, Vlingo has also updated its iPhone app’s interface by making it more streamlined and easier to select what options you want to use.

I’m currently downloading Vlingo (iTunes Link)  from the Apps Store right now. Will update this post as soon as I test out these features.

Update: Alright, I agree, Vlingo’s voice recognition is pretty good. It was able to recognize what I said the first time I tried it. Yes, it’s better than the Nexus One’s voice recognition feature. I’m getting the paid features now.

It’s Gowalla Vs. FourSquare, Which Side are You On?

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Undoubtedly, location-based or location aware services, be it on the web or mobile is the next big thing to watch out for. And if you haven’t jumped into the bandwagon, you might want to check out Gowalla or FourSquare, two of the hottest location-based social networking tool which are fighting it over the right to become the market’s number 1 service.

And these two services just might officially spark up their unavoidable rivalry at the upcoming SXSWi 2010 gig next week. Both FourSquare and Gowalla are said to be bringing more innovative features in the said event.

So, which side are you on? Are you using Gowalla or FourSquare? Have you checked what new features each of them are preparing to unveil?

I actually have both, and several of them. I have FourSquare on my iPhone and BlackBerry Bold while Gowalla both sits on my iPhone and Google Nexus One phone. But I don’t get to use them that much since there are very few people in my area who uses these applications.

In terms of features, Gowalla recently revamped its Passport pages by using Big icons to show places you’ve visited. It is also now easier to spot if you’ve got new friend requests. Design-wise, Gowalla has also made some improvements, specifically eliminating the prevalent dark green hues of its interface and replacing it with a light green look. Overall, Gowalla is ahead of its competitor, FourSquare in the looks department.

If FourSquare is lacking on the looks department, it is however prepping up some functionality enhancement. One of these is the “categories” element to plaes. This new feature simply lets you put places you’ve visited into various categories to make browsing easier.

Of course, these two location-aware services would only thrive if you are using them. So, which side are you taking? Have you used either of the two on your mobile devices?

Apple iPad to Hit Stores on March 10, Not for Sale Yet Though

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Rumor has is that Apple stores will start getting iPad units on the 10th of March.  According to the Examiner.com, an Apple Store manager in Southern California confirmed this. The said date was of course earlier than what was previously announced during the iPad launch which was supposed to be on March 29.

Now, before you get all too excited and starts preparing to camp out of your nearest Apple Store on March 9, sorry to disappoint you folks but those iPads were being shipped in preparation for Apple Store employees’  training.

So, when is the iPad going to be available for sale really? Actually, there is still no definite date yet, but the report said that March 26 is the most likely date. Of course, we all know that the iPad units that will be available that day are the Wi-Fi enabled ones only. The iPad 3G versions won’t be coming out until April or May.

Now, for those who are anticipating the usual Apple commercials for new products, expect the iPad commercials to start airing on March 15.

And finally if your camping out on the eve of the iPad release, if in case the actual date is already announced, well Apple is giving you a special gift as a token of appreciation for your enthusiasm in getting the iPad on release date.

Hopefully, all things go according to Apple’s plan, and that production will go on smoothly without further delay.

So, are you excited about the release of the iPad? Are you lining up outside Apple Stores? Are you getting the iPad or will you wait for the next version?