How Do People Shop for Mobile Phones?

Demand for mobile phones shows no signs of slowing down. Google teamed with Compete to gauge the impact of digital on mobile shoppers, and discovered that online has fundamentally changed the purchase path. With wireless related searches up 82%, and four times as many shoppers using online video to research, brands need to raise awareness and inform shoppers’ decisions online.

Source: google

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What I learned about mobile in China

In China I met several entrepreneurs and others at the Bluetooth World conference there. China has a very different mobile culture, so thought I'd share what I learned here:

1. Facebook and Twitter and many other sites don't work. Neither do their mobile apps. Yes, you can use a VPN or a proxy server, but most sites are very slow compared to when I use those sites in the US. (The government blocks those sites. Most of the entrepreneurs I talked with said the government does that to protect local businesses and their own pocketbooks).

2. Almost every high-end user had an iPhone. Others had Android. I never saw Windows Phone or Blackberry's being used. Android is coming on strong, everyone admits.

3. Every iPhone was jailbroken. Why? Because using the Apple App Store is painful at best and totally unusable at worst. Why? The speed of downloading apps from Apple is horrid. So, everyone makes their phone have a Chinese app store so they can download apps fast. That means Apple will see lower revenue per device than it does in the states, where it can sell movies, music, and apps directly.

4. Every service has a Chinese copy. In the shot I took below there is a YouTube copy. Actually several copies. 

5. The Chinese hate the firewall too, but they say it just means you gotta be "entrepreneurial" to get around it. Either by using Chinese copies of services you like, or by using VPNs.

6. There isn't LTE in Shanghai yet. That I thought was totally shocking, given how modern and wealthy the city is. My phones, back in San Francisco, are dramatically faster on videos and things like Waze. Everyone says that LTE finally got approval from the government and should be showing up by the end of the year.

7. There is a strong mobile culture. It felt a lot like San Francisco, with lots of apps for local food, transit, etc. Plus, the people i met with knew exactly how the local apps compared with things like Yelp or OpenTable.

8. Many apps have "offline" features. Baidu maps, for instance, aren't as accurate as Google's maps, but they work offline, which matters because of lack of LTE and also pricing plans that charge you per megabyte downloaded.

9. There are lots of low-cost Android phones and systems coming out. Think about how Facebook's new Home App takes over app launching and you are close to how these new Chinese phones take over your notifications and app screens. They also strip out all Google stuff and add in their own apps and search. 

10. Everyone knows how to get their phones customized. You can pay people to root your phones for a few dollars and load you up with the apps you want. This lets people who buy very low-end phones get similar experiences you'll get on more expensive phones.

For those of you who have visited China, or who live there (Google+ was the only social network I could use directly -- the others I used through Flipboard just fine) what other things have you noticed about how Chinese use mobile phones vs. how people in US and Europe use them?

Author:- Robert Scoble

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Google Drive Now Comes With More Options for Android Apps Storage and Sync

One of the advantages of Apple’s storage in the cloud service iCloud is that it allows the developers to user their available storage as a secure environment for synchronizing and backing up data and settings. Google’s Drive was inferior until now, as the options provided to the Android app developers were limited, but the Mountain View-based company announced the inclusion of new options that make Drive a more powerful service.

Until now, the Android app developers had two options. The first one was BackupManager, which allowed them to save a small amount of data and settings, but it didn’t come with sync between terminals, nor access on demand. The second option was the Google Drive storage itself, but it only allow the users to simply store data, which were easy to delete, just like any other personal file stored in the cloud.

Google has announced tat the Google Drive API options are now richer allowing the users to create special folders that will not be accessible directly. Therefore Google Drive will allow the devs to use generous and secure storage that can now be employed for backup and sync.

Source: .android.gs

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Facebook Android-powered Smartphone To Run Facebook Home UI

It seems that Facebook will announce its own smartphone this week, one that will allegedly run a new Android UI, which will be named Facebook Home.

The name of the users interface comes from two different sources, according to which Facebook Home is going to be the appellation of the new Android UI. According to 9to5 Google, Facebook has already sent invitations to the press members for its media event, invitations which read “Come See Our New Home on Android”. At first glance, one might think that the company will unveil a new Facebook application experience for Android OS, but it seems that Facebook Home is the actual name of the product.

Facebook Home is suggested by Twitter tipster @evleaks, as well. He says that the current version of the Facebook app for Android OS has to be updated in order to support Facebook Home. The company will hold a media event, which will take place on April 4. We will be right here to cover it for you.

Source: android.gs

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