• Gavin O'Malley, Jun 23, 2010, 1:50 PM
  • Bing Out-Blings Google Businessweek et al. Further distinguishing itself from Google, Bing is rolling out upwards of 100 new features, the most remarkable of which fall into a new "Bing Entertainment" category.

    Quite simply, Bing Entertainment will include "better ways to search for music, movies, TV shows, and games," reports TechCrunch. The new offering will also serve as an entertainment hub, allowing visitors to consume all manner of content from one central location.

    "We did travel, health, shopping and local last year," said Yusuf Mehdi, SVP of Microsoft's online audience business. "Now the Web has unlocked all of this entertainment, but for many people they are spending too much time looking for what they want to do instead of enjoying it ... You should be able to watch a show, listen to online music, or play a game with a few clicks."

    Nearly 10% of all searches are entertainment related, according to Mehdi, while about 90% of people do at least one entertainment search a month. As such, "The features may help Microsoft gain ground on Google Inc.'s dominant search engine," proposes Bloomberg/Businessweek.

    Using Microsoft's Zune music service, Bing will provides one-time access to 5 million full-length songs, and then 30-second clips afterwards. Listeners will also be able to buy the track, read the lyrics and find concert information. "The service also lets users watch 1,500 TV shows and 20,000 full-length episodes of programs posted at Hulu.com, YouTube.com and at the Web sites of cable and TV networks, without ever actually leaving the Microsoft Web site," adds Bloomberg/Businessweek.

    And the Hollywood Reporter calls the new entertainment offering "visually intense," and the focus on content sampling "wise."

    "Rather than taking on Google head-on, Microsoft has tried to position Bing as a better alternative for accomplishing certain kinds of online tasks," writes The Associated Press. "The strategy seems to be working. Bing is still the No. 3 search engine behind Google and Yahoo, but its share of U.S. Web searches is creeping up."

    "Those inroads have been encouraging, with Bing gaining market share," notes BoomTown. "But it has also been costly, with the Online Services division bleeding cash."

    Read the whole story...
  • Zuck Foresees 1 Billion Facebookers The Guardian (UK) All the criticism recently directed toward Mark Zuckerberg doesn't seem to have humbled the young CEO. On the contrary, Zuck is boldly predicting it is "almost a guarantee" that Facebook will reach 1 billion members -- up from more than 500 million, today. In slightly more measured words, according to the Guardian, Zuck said this week at Cannes: "If we succeed [in innovating and remaining relevant] there is a good chance of bringing this to a billion people... it will be interesting to see how it plays out."

    By Zuck's calculations, "We are down to just four countries where we aren't the leading social network." Those countries include Russia, Japan, China and Korea. In Russia, Facebook had just 1 million users, but member numbers are "doubling every six months," according to Zuckerberg. As for whether Facebook will ever get around to filing for an initial public offering, Zuck said: "At some point, sure." Read the whole story...
  • Survey: Developers Bet Long On Android ReadWriteWeb Developers view Apple's near-term outlook favorably, given its App Store, large market share and device line up, according to A recent survey of 2,733 mobile application developers conducted by mobile app development company Appcelerator. Yet, developers see Android and its broad adaptability beating out Apple over time. "It should come as no surprise that developers overwhelming picked Apple's iOS (formerly iPhone OS) mobile platform for near-term success, given its market dominance," writes ReadWriteWeb.

    But when asked for more details, 69% of developers said that Android's potential for long-term success was greater due to its ability to extend to other devices, including tablets, e-Readers and set-top boxes." Regarding the downsides to the two leading operating systems, developers said that Apple's worst "con" was its closed and controlling nature. "iPhone (and iPod/iPad) applications aren't immediately accepted into the iTunes Application Store -- they're 'curated,'" notes ReadWriteWeb. For developers, the big downside to Android is its "fragmentation." Read the whole story...
  • Analyst: Apps 1% Of Apple Profit Fortune To date, Apple's App Store has generated $1 billion for developers, estimates Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster in a report issued to clients on Wednesday. App pricing data suggest that 81% of apps are free, and 19% are paid, with an average selling price of $1.49. Apple's gross margin on the App Store is about 44%, according to Munster, assuming 70% goes to the developer, $0.20 plus 2% of the average selling price to the credit card company, and 1% for storage and delivery. Meanwhile, Apple has generated a total of $33.7 billion in gross profit since the App Store launched, to which the App Store has contributed $189 million, or 1%.
    ,br />Over the same time period -- the fourth quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2010 -- the entire iTunes store has generated $3.6 billion in revenue, to which the App Store has contributed $429 million, or 12%. "Of course, the purpose of the App Store is to drive sales of Apple hardware, and in that it is succeeding admirably," notes Fortune. Munster's calculations also suggest that iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users download more than 16.6 million apps per day -- nearly double the 8.9 million daily rate of iTunes tracks downloaded. Read the whole story...
  • Data: Twitter Flourishing On Facebook TechCrunch How many uses does Twitter's Facebook app have? Nearly 7 million, according to newly revised data from Inside Network's AppData measurement service. "And the app still appears to be growing pretty fast," notes TechCrunch. "This information is interesting because it shows just how big an app made by Facebook rival Twitter is on Facebook itself." Its 6.7 million monthly active users makes it the 40th most popular app on Facebook, according to AppData's numbers.

    TechCrunch also suggests that Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg might find the data interesting, particularly since he's telling anyone who'll listen at Cannes how "simple" a service Twitter is. The Twitter app still trails far behind the likes of Zynga's FarmVille, with its 63.9 million monthly active users, and Texas HoldEm Poker, with its 28.5 million monthly active users. Also of note, Android's Facebook app now has 4.7 million monthly active users. Read the whole story...
  • Virgin America Flying Top Tweeters Free Mashable Who says Twitter is a pointless pastime? In Toronto, Virgin America is giving free flights to Twitter users whom it deems "influencers." To determine a user's influence, the airline is relying on Klout, an analytics service that tracks users' influence on Twitter based on variables like the quality and number of followers and retweets. The offer includes free round-trip airfare (Wi-Fi included) between Toronto and San Francisco, or Los Angeles between June 23 and August 23.

    As Mashable notes, Virgin isn't requiring influencers who take the free flight to "do" anything, be it tweet the experience or participate in press coverage. "We do not want to 'buy' your tweets," Klout writes in a blog post. "You are receiving the product because you are influential and have authority on topics related to the product. This is a more targeted form of receiving a sample while shopping at the grocery store. You are welcome to tell the world you love the product, you hate the product or say nothing at all." Read the whole story...