Facebook Purchases Instagram for $1 Billion

Facebook buys Instagram for $1 Billion making it the biggest acquisition of facebook till date. This is a great news for Instagram as it has launched recently on android with millions of downloads in a few days. Blogosphere is agog with the purchase with several speculations about the big deal. MarK zuckerburg has also emphasized that it will continue to operate as an independent company. Instagram has around 30 million members & this provides facebook with access to a great network of photo sharing community. Facebook is planning for an IPO & this purchase would give it more leverage in the social networking space. Also Instagra’s mobile ability gives facebook much needed push to move in the mobile space. Nobody had expected that facebook will purchase Instagram at such a value & for a startup in to have gone from zero to $1 Billion is a great news.

Apple App Store hits 25 Billion Downloads

Apple’s app store has hit 25 billion downloads. A statement on the site reads A Billion thanks. 25 times Over. This is a great news for Apple as the App store has continued to remain the top apps destination despite the rise of Android store. Apple is expected to announce a new iPad in the coming days. Apple was also running a counter on the site showcasing the no. of downloads. Apple has not yet disclosed who is the winner & also the the app downloaded. Apple will give away $10,000 iTunes giftcard to the 25th billion app downloader. The App Store was launched in July 2008 & it reached 10 billion downloads in Jan 2011. Apple’s shares have hit a record high in the recent days making it the most valuable company.

Tracking Mobile Analytics

With the rise of mobile devices & tablets, more & more people are browsing the net on mobile. It becomes imperative to track the mobile analytics to better reach the customers. Now many analytic packages come with tracking mobile & tablet devices. Google analytics has also introduced tracking mobile devices. Some important data include type of mobile device, java script enableled, browser, traffic, how the web page renders on the screen & others. Some of the companies have developed a very well mobile site. ipad, iphone, android, blackberry, windows & others are some of the top mobile based devices.

Apple.com goes from HTML 4.01 to HTML5 standards

Apple has moved its website apple.com from HTML 4.01 to HTML5. Apple has been a proponent of HTML5 standards & has already used it in mobileme, iad & other applications. This represents a huge support for HTML5. HTML5 standards provide an increased standard in web technologies. A new logo was also released by W3C for HTML5. Apple’s safari browser adheres to the HTML5 standards. Several new features like dynamically re sized search field have been added to the apple.com website.

Apple gets Adage’s Marketer of the Decade

Apple, the maker of iPhone, iPad & others, has won the marketer of the Decade from Adage. Apple has been very successful in creating new markets for iPod, iPhone, iPad & others. It has a cult following in the tech world. Apple has successfully overcome the dark clouds it faced in last decade to become a successful tech company. It has sold millions of devices & also the marketing principles it employs are very different from the other companies. Its PR machine surely knows how to create a marketing buzz. Till the day products are released it hardly gives any information & this helps it create a viral. Surely it does deserve to get a Marketer of the decade.

Nokia’s Brand Identity Probelm

Nokia, once the dominant mobile maker, is quickly losing its market share to the smartphones & ereaders. Its CEO & head of smartphones division also left the company recently. Its erosion of market share shows Nokia doesnt have a proper strategy. It rose to a dominant position with simple phones & became a household name. But the cheap dual phones, China sets & Smart phones eroded its market share. It still doesnt have a proper phone to compete with iPhone. Its Ovi app store is recently showing signs of increasing popularity. On one hand cheap sets is attacking Nokia & on the other side by Smartphones. At this point users are not sure what Brand identity does Nokia refer to. Also the top executives keep giving contradicting signals as to Where Nokia is headed. Also on the social media space Nokia is not as popular as iphone.

Apple’s Four Pillars – Mac, iPod, iPhone & iPad

Apple’s iPad & iPhone have given a new tool for marketers to reach a new segment of customers. Companies have released both free & paid apps for the se devices. Billions of downloads have taken place & the app store has become a new revenue source. Together iMac, iPod, iPhone & iPad form the four pillars of Apple. iPad has created a new market with many companies vying for a tablet spot. For the digital marketing, companies can create new apps tailor made for promotions, new product releases & others. Apple has been announcing many improvements in these products. It is very rare that a product by a company provides a new marketing opportunities for others. Mobile advertising targeted at iPhone users is also rising & iphone revolutionized the smart phone industry.

Apple iPhone, Google Android & Blackberry App World Mobile Apps

Apple iphone apps changed the way smart phones are used. Thousands of apps are available for iphone & this has resulted in various ways iPhone can be used. Billions of downloads have been done. Success of this led to Google’s Android store & Blackberry’s App world. But these 2 haven’t been able to match the success of Apple iphone apps. Apps provided a new medium for marketers to reach the customers. Several free informational, product based, service based & paid apps have been introduced to reach the customers. This also helped a new way of branding. Apps are also being released for promotions with links to Twitter & Facebook. Success of an app depends on the number of downloads & also the viral/word of mouth about the app.

Will it Blend? – The top Viral video of all time

Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson surely knows how to create a top viral video even if it meant destroying an iphone or an iPad. The will it blend video created a history with more than 134.2 million views. All the ads have the same music, tagline & host. No body would have thought of grinding an iphone or an ipad. However, this brilliant idea helped the Blendtec company acheive a viral status. The next top viral video is Avian’s Live Young. There have been many viral videos.

Most Active Social brands: iphone, Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike, Xbox & others

Now social media & networking has become a part of marketing mix. As Online marketing evolved, it became a part of 4P’s & now social media is also a part of it. Companies would use website & email address earlier & now one can see facebook & Twitter profile address as well. Many companies are doing social media promotion to promote the brands. Some of the brands are part of everyday social media conversation like iphone, apple, Google, IKEA, Nike, Coca-Cola, Jet blue & others. Videos, photo, status updates, twitter are some of the ways in which brands are using social media. Phone, Gaming devices, Sports, Media, automobile are some of the sectors which are using social media for promotion. Old Spice recently had a great success with social media using the youtube videos. Nestle, Dell & some other brands have also faced a lot of criticism in the social media space. Some of the top brands are iphone, Apple, Coca-Cola, Nike, Xbox, Wii, old spice, & others. With a proper social media strategy, brands can reap rich benefits for increasing the brand visibility.