The Good NET Guide

Posts Tagged ‘north’

An independent study released this morning by neutral app store GetJar indicates that the market for mobile apps should grow to a whopping $17.5 billion within the next three years.

This would basically mean that the value of apps sold would be greater than the value of CDs sold in 2012 ($13.83 billion).

According to the same study, downloads of mobile apps to handsets will leap from slightly more than seven billion in 2009 to nearly 50 billion in 2012, representing a YOY growth of 92%.

The figures are pretty much in line with other forecasts, such as research2guidance’s prediction that the worldwide smartphone application market will grow from $1.94 billion in 2009 to $15.65 billion by 2013.

GetJar had commissioned independent consulting firm Chetan Sharma Consulting to look into the global mobile apps market, in order to analyze the potential and real value of the mobile apps market worldwide, using first-hand data.

According to the study, by 2012, off-deck paid-for apps will be the biggest revenue generator, accounting for almost 50 per cent of all apps revenue. By comparison, in 2009, on-deck apps available from mobile operators accounted for over 60% of all apps revenue, but this will fall significantly to just under 23% by 2012.

The average app selling price for apps in North America was $1.09, significantly higher compared to that in developing markets such as South America ($0.20) and Asia ($0.10).

According to the study, revenue opportunities in Europe are set to soar from $1.5 billion in 2009 to $8.5 billion in 2012, while in North America the figure will rise from around $2.1 billion to around $6.7 billion in 2012.

Currently, apps are most popular in Asia, with the region accounting for 37% of global downloads in 2009. However, while Asia had the highest number of downloads, users in North America spent the most money on apps, accounting for over 50% of revenue.

GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs first presented the results of the study at my conference, Plugg, last week. The full video is embedded above, or you can jump straight to the Vimeo page.

As for the presentation slides:

If you guys weren’t terrified of North Korea by now, here’s more evidence that the country is absolutely nuts: they’ve developed their own Linux distribution! It’s called Red Star OS , and we can thank a Russian student for unearthing it for us. I now fully expect to see knee-jerk reactions like, “Down with Linux!” even though that makes no sense at all

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North Korea develops its own Linux distro called Red Star OS

Twitter: 2006-2010. No, the site isn’t shutting down, unfortunately, but it might as well be, for Sunderland striker Darren Bent has quit

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Darren Bent has quit Twitter! Alert the media!

Say what you want about it (too expensive, too small etc.), but I’ve always liked the world’s first commercially available OLED TV, Sony’s XEL-1 . It’s just an 11-inch screen and costs $2,200, but the picture quality is just gorgeous. Today, however, Sony announced they won’t produce and sell the device on the Japanese market anymore.

Originally posted here: 
No web filter: Sony to stop offering the XEL-1 OLED TV (in Japan)

Jabra wasn’t going to be left out of the MWC fun and so the Clipper was announced. The little Bluetooth device features a novel clip for securing to an article of clothing and a 3.5mm jack for your favorite earphones. Bluetooth 2.1 A2DP, EDR, and AVRCP technology gives the clipper everything it needs including the ability to automagically pause media playback when a phone call comes in

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The Jabra Clipper gives the gift of Bluetooth to any 3.5mm headset

Get ready to spend some Gil – it looks like Square isn’t going to ignore the US this time.

The rest is here:
Final Fantasy XIII bundle coming to America

Sorry Nooka, you’re probably not going to like me much. Taking a look at this wallet, I see several issues. First off, it’s made from silicone rubber.

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Nooka “Asset Organizer” seems like a bad wallet

In less than six months, online restaurant reservation site OpenTable has seated an additional one million diners via its mobile apps. In late October, OpenTable had reached the milestone of seating one million diners via its mobile offerings, a year after its iPhone app launched. It took only four and a half months to seat another million diners. Additionally, the site says that based on an estimation of a $50 average check per diner, OpenTable claims that diners using its mobile applications have generated more than $100 million in revenue for its restaurant partners.

OpenTable allows diners to find and book reservations at more than 11,000 different restaurants in multiple countries via mobile applications for the iPhone, Palm, Blackberry and Android. Other smartphone users can book reservations through OpenTable’s mobile-optimized Web site.

The company also reported strong earnings this afternoon, with Q4 2009 revenue coming in at $19.2 million, representing a a 32% increase over Q4 2008 revenue, which was $14.5 million. OpenTable’s total revenues for 2009 were $68.6 million, up 23% over 2008 revenues of $55.8 million. In 2009, OpenTable increased its number of participating restaurants in North America by 17%, with a total of 10,850 partners by the end of 2009. The number of international partners also increased, rising by 44% to 1501 participating establishments. Total number of diners in North American were 11.8 million, a 39% increase from Q4 2008.

Last year, OpenTable filed for a healthy IPO, despite recessionary conditions in the markets. OpenTable is a solid internet company that has a viable business model. On the restaurant side, OpenTable delivers reservation management software to establishments through a Web browser and collects monthly subscription revenues, similar in theory to the offerings that software companies like Salesforce sell to clients.

Right off the heels of filing for a $100 million IPO, electric car company Tesla Motors this morning announced that it has hired former Toyota production engineering GM Gilbert Passin to lead the company’s vehicle manufacturing operations as Vice President of Manufacturing.

Passin has 23 years of international automotive experience under his belt, most recently serving as general manager of production engineering for Toyota in North America.

Previously, Passin was vice president of manufacturing at Toyota’s plant in Cambridge, Ontario, which produces over 200,000 automobiles per year.

Passin regards his jump as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’.

In a statement, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Passin’s recruitment fits in the company’s plans to significantly ramp up its production capacity (at present, it has produced some 1,000 cars), particularly with respect to the planned Model S sedan. Musk added that his new VP will also help recruit new employees for Tesla’s California manufacturing team.

(Via press release)

Glam Media, a vertical advertising network, has raised its fifth round of venture capital – $50 million from aeris CAPITAL, a Switzerland and Silicon Valley based private equity fund. The company is not disclosing the valuation of the round, but it is rumored to be around $750 million.

Glam’s last major funding was a $85 million combined debt and equity round in early 2008, two years ago, that valued the company at around $500 million.

$10 million – $15 million of this new round will be used to purchase stock from existing employees/founders as well as early venture investors. The rest of the round will be used for investment in the business and strategic acquisitions.

Profitable and Rolling

Glam is also announcing EBITDA profitability on North American operations and break-even results globally for Q4 2009. 2009 revenue was likely around $55 million, up from $40 million in 2008.

The company attracts nearly 160 million unique monthly worldwide visitors to the sites it controls and represents, putting it at no. 14 on Comscore’s top 100 worldwide Internet properties. Those visitors racked up over 2.5 billion page views and 2.5 billion minutes spent on the site. The network includes over 1,400 publishers and other content sites.

Glam attracts around 72 million montly U.S. visitors to its site, more than double competitor iVillage’s 33 million. The company, which is headquartered in Silicon Valley and New York City, is clearly gearing up for an IPO in the next 12 – 18 months.