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The rumour tombola has been in full swing in the past week with speculation that Google will buy Groupon.
Today, the web is spinning with news from VatorNews that Google has just bought the coveted voucher website for $2.5bn, according to an unnamed insider.
Groupon offers daily discount deals to locals and has a global presence. It makes serious money in a space that has been gaining real traction and the acquisition would give Google considerable leverage in location-based services and information.
Neither Groupon or Google have commented.
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer unveiled Windows Phone 7 on 11 October – a new smartphone in an already crowded market. So, what’s the response been like in social media? In the past month, we monitored over 150,000 mentions of the Windows Phone 7 discussion, in real-time to gauge the mood around the new smartphone on the block.
Figure 1: Sentiment expressed towards Windows Phone 7 – 24/9 to 24/10
21.6% of mentions were scored as positive
2.4% of mentions were scored as negative
75.9% of mentions were scored as neutral
The great thing about our system is we’re not limited to single word phrasing in topic clouds which enabled us to pick up one of the stand-out positive conversations – ‘Windows 7 phone synch software’.
‘I am crying with joy. RT @daring fireball Microsoft Announces Windows Phone 7 Sync Software for Macs’ (Tweeted by Stephan Seidt 13/10)
There was also a buzz around handset innovation. Word from Stephen Fry on new technology is very influential and he gave big thumbs up to the new phone: “Now, they get it: that all human beings are human beings first. You don’t judge the machines you use, or the houses you live in by listing their functions. The first thing you do is say how you feel about your office; when you buy a house, you do it essentially on the feeling.”
Other positive comment included:
‘Seven Ways Windows Phone 7 is Cooler than the iPhone by @MattRosoff http://read.bi/aVLK3S’ (Tweet by alleyinsider 16/10)
‘I just got my Windows Phone 7 yesterday (I live in France) and it’s a revolutionary device’. (Forum post on Kindle Community 21/10)
Mashable’s initial response at the launch was the phone ‘didn’t suck the air out of the room like the iPhone did back in 2007, but it is a formidable adversary’.
On the flipside, criticism that Microsoft used developer Robio’s Angry Birds logo without permission was one of the key negative discussion points, especially on Twitter.
‘RT @RovioMobile: We have NOT committed to doing a Windows Phone 7 version. Microsoft put the Angry Birds icon on their site without our permission’.
Other negative issues included its advertising strategy and the usability of smartphones.
‘So, what the Windows Phone 7 ad really is saying is “If you buy a WP7 phone, you won’t bother using it”’ (Tweet by Olav Haugen 14/10)
Microsoft pegged its post firmly in Google and Apple territory with Windows Phone 7, which was lauded for its design and innovation but there were also comments on the gaps in mobile OS that Microsoft needed to fill to. Greg Kumparak on TechCrunch suggested third party app multitasking, copy and paste, and tethering: ‘If Microsoft can quickly crack away at these gaps whilst managing to not slip behind in other ways, I could quite easily see myself toting a Windows Phone in the future …’
Do believe the hype. Facebook has unveiled Places, its location-based apps service. Mashable (19/8) has described it as ‘fascinating’. Initial users will need an iPhone or log onto the networking behemoth’s smartphone site. Android and Blackberry users haven’t been overlooked and will soon be able to use the service.
Places uses GPS on smartphones and users can check-in to find places, share where you are or find your Places friends. Friends can also tag your whereabouts. Facebook has pinned its strategy on the idea that after home and work the third area of our lives we talk about a lot is where we’ve been or going.
Privacy will be controlled by the user and details only seen by friends. But one of the trending articles on Tweetmeme yesterday was advice from Gawker.com (19/8) on the downsides of being tagged, which although can be deleted, can cause all kinds of mayhem if you haven’t chosen to check-in yourself. The site recommends avoiding the function all together.
So, what’s the potential of Places and peer location services for your brand in terms of engagement and promotion? Well here’s a bit of a heads up for any businesses planning a location-based marketing campaign. There’s been a real surge in mobile users accessing such services, which has helped create a tailored customer pool for brands to engage at the point of purchase. There are 150 million Facebook followers using a mobile to access the networking site.
One of wider questions has been whether Facebook’s foray into location has sounded the death-knoll for pioneers such as Foursquare. TechCrunch (17/8) acknowledged that Facebook would no doubt be a competitor.
But, it suggested the real Achilles heel for all location players will be if the social networking site directly partners venues on loyalty deals and promotions. This could hit the revenues beyond the incumbents – and even ripple as far as Yelp and Google.
