Christian Louca
Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for May 2011
Posted: July 6, 2011 in Digital Trends, Industry News, Internet, Mobile Internet, OnlineTags: ComScore, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mobile phone, SCOR, Smartphone, Twitter, WordPress
Image via CrunchBase
Posted By: ComScore
Spotlight on France Reveals Seasonal Growth in Tax, Car Rental, and Flowers Web Properties
London, UK, July 6, 2011 - comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of Internet usage in Europe, showing 366.9 million unique visitors went online in May 2011 for an average of 24.2 hours per person. This study draws its data from comScore’s research panel, which measures Internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated under the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Among the reportable markets, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Turkey showed the highest average engagement with users from these markets spending an average of more than 30 hours online in the past month.
| Overview of European Internet Usage by Country Ranked by Total Unique Visitors (000) May 2011 Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix |
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| Location | Total Unique Visitors (000) | Average Hours per Visitor | Average Pages per Visitor |
| World-Wide | 1,373,976 | 23.9 | 2,161 |
| Europe | 366,862 | 26.8 | 2,752 |
| Germany | 49,993 | 24.1 | 2,638 |
| Russian Federation | 48,294 | 24.0 | 2,618 |
| France | 42,335 | 27.8 | 2,682 |
| United Kingdom | 36,660 | 33.9 | 3,079 |
| Italy | 23,210 | 18.3 | 1,762 |
| Turkey | 22,900 | 31.8 | 3,448 |
| Spain | 21,450 | 26.8 | 2,449 |
| Poland | 18,193 | 26.9 | 3,061 |
| Netherlands | 11,963 | 35.2 | 3,467 |
| Sweden | 6,161 | 25.0 | 2,423 |
| Belgium | 5,944 | 20.5 | 2,085 |
| Austria | 4,676 | 14.1 | 1,485 |
| Switzerland | 4,666 | 19.6 | 1,923 |
| Portugal | 4,146 | 21.5 | 2,034 |
| Denmark | 3,649 | 21.7 | 2,256 |
| Finland | 3,349 | 26.0 | 2,396 |
| Norway | 3,227 | 26.5 | 2,156 |
| Ireland | 2,079 | 21.5 | 1,953 |
Top Web Properties in Europe
Google Sites ranked as the top European web property in May with 333.4 million unique visitors (up 9 percent from a year ago), reaching 90.9 percent of the total European Internet audience. Microsoft Sites continued to rank second with 270.9 million visitors (73.8 percent reach), followed by Facebook.com in third place with 240.0 million visitors (65.4 percent reach). Among the top properties for May, the biggest gains versus April came from The Mozilla Organization (up 52 percent), WordPress (up 13 percent), and VKontakte (up 12 percent).
Europeans continued to spend significant time on social networking sites, with Russian social network VKontakte exhibiting the highest average engagement among the top 30 properties at 496.7 minutes (8.3 hours) on the site. Facebook.com overtook Russian web property Mail.ru Group in May with an average of 326.0 minutes (5.4 hours) spent by visitors on the property, up 15 percent from the prior month. Mail.ru Group visitors spent an average of 315.1 minutes (5.3 hours), up 7 percent. Facebook.com also continued to account for the highest number of page views at 139.8 billion in May (up 21 percent), representing 12.8 percent of all pages viewed in Europe during the month.
| Top 30 Properties in Europe by Total Unique Visitors (000) May 2011 Total Europe Audience, Age 15+, Home and Work Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix |
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| Properties | Total Unique Visitors (000) | Total Pages Viewed (MM) | Average Minutes per Visitor |
| Total Internet : Total Audience | 366,862 | 1,009,540 | 1,605.2 |
| Google Sites | 333,436 | 99,147 | 188.6 |
| Microsoft Sites | 270,859 | 27,218 | 193.0 |
| Facebook.com | 240,010 | 139,769 | 326.0 |
| Wikimedia Foundation Sites | 161,311 | 2,449 | 13.0 |
| Yahoo! Sites | 141,054 | 9,682 | 73.9 |
| eBay | 107,689 | 14,324 | 59.5 |
| Amazon Sites | 91,475 | 2,658 | 15.9 |
| The Mozilla Organization | 78,079 | 493 | 7.3 |
| VEVO | 77,670 | 774 | 11.8 |
| Apple Inc. | 69,872 | 514 | 4.8 |
| Mail.ru Group | 69,005 | 31,990 | 315.1 |
| AOL, Inc. | 64,278 | 1,664 | 28.5 |
| Glam Media | 63,892 | 937 | 11.5 |
| Viacom Digital | 56,952 | 537 | 10.4 |
| Ask Network | 56,945 | 526 | 4.1 |
| Yandex Sites | 55,720 | 7,817 | 64.7 |
| Dailymotion.com | 53,936 | 755 | 14.3 |
| WordPress | 52,269 | 430 | 5.3 |
| VKontakte | 52,123 | 38,151 | 496.7 |
| CBS Interactive | 51,950 | 538 | 8.9 |
| Adobe Sites | 48,473 | 229 | 3.3 |
| Axel Springer AG | 48,162 | 1,851 | 17.3 |
| Orange Sites | 41,138 | 4,609 | 62.0 |
| NetShelter Technology Media | 40,712 | 407 | 6.1 |
| Deutsche Telekom | 40,290 | 2,501 | 34.1 |
| Technorati Media | 39,621 | 206 | 3.1 |
| Twitter.com | 36,877 | 656 | 14.6 |
| BBC Sites | 34,962 | 1,440 | 34.0 |
| Schibsted (Anuntis-Infojobs-20minutos) | 34,259 | 5,068 | 77.2 |
| Skype | 33,817 | 139 | 51.0 |
Spotlight: Travel, Taxes, and Flowers Draw Visitation in France
In May 2011, a total of 47.4 million users in France (age 6+) went online, up 3 percent from the previous year. Users in France stayed an average of 1,571.8 minutes or 26.2 hours online in May, 2 hours more than the European average for the month and up 12 percent from May 2010. Google Sites ranked as the most visited property with 44.5 million unique visitors, followed by Microsoft Sites (40.8 million visitors), and Facebook.com (32.5 million visitors). Luxury retailer Groupe PPR, which attracted 18.2 million visitors, was the fastest gaining property with a 17-percent increase from a year ago.
| Top Properties in France Ranked by Total Unique Visitors (000) May 2011 Total France, Age 6+, Home and Work Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix |
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| Properties | Total Unique Visitors (000) | % Reach | Average Minutes per Visitor |
| Total Internet : Total Audience | 47,374 | 100.0% | 1,571.8 |
| Google Sites | 44,530 | 94.0% | 175.9 |
| Microsoft Sites | 40,823 | 86.2% | 245.9 |
| Facebook.com | 32,480 | 68.6% | 308.8 |
| Orange Sites | 23,310 | 49.2% | 99.8 |
| Yahoo! Sites | 22,070 | 46.6% | 60.6 |
| CCM-Benchmark | 20,844 | 44.0% | 10.5 |
| Wikimedia Foundation Sites | 20,656 | 43.6% | 14.2 |
| Iliad – Free.fr Sites | 20,520 | 43.3% | 22.0 |
| Groupe Pages Jaunes | 19,889 | 42.0% | 13.9 |
| Groupe PPR | 18,181 | 38.4% | 12.2 |
As there were a string of bank holidays in France in May, the fastest growing web category was Car Rental (up 69 percent from the previous month), driven by the growth in monthly visitation to Paris-based European rental car company property Europcar, Hertz.fr, and Priceline subsidiary eLocationdeVoitures.fr. In preparation for an annual income tax filing deadline at the end of May, properties in the Taxes category also saw an increase in visitation of 50 percent. Finally, as Mother’s Day approached for France, properties purveying flowers, presents, and e-cards in the Flowers/Gifts/Greetings category saw an increase of 43 percent.
| Fastest Growing Categories in France* Ranked by Percent Change in Total Unique Visitors (000) from April 2011 May 2011 Total France, Age 6+, Home and Work Locations Source: comScore Media Metrix |
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| Categories | Total Unique Visitors (000) | % Reach | % Growth from April 2011 |
| Total Internet : Total Audience | 47,374 | 100.0% | 0.1% |
| Car Rental | 2,620 | 5.5% | 68.8% |
| Taxes | 633 | 1.3% | 49.6% |
| Flowers/Gifts/Greetings | 5,540 | 11.7% | 43.2% |
| Humor | 7,395 | 15.6% | 38.4% |
| Health Care | 2,426 | 5.1% | 38.0% |
| Beauty/Fashion/Style | 13,480 | 28.5% | 36.6% |
| Lotto/Sweepstakes | 8,498 | 17.9% | 34.3% |
| Government | 19,081 | 40.3% | 33.2% |
| Information | 6,545 | 13.8% | 29.8% |
| Airlines | 7,529 | 15.9% | 28.7% |
*Excludes Platform and ISP categories.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.
Berit Block
comScore, Inc.
+ 44 (0) 203-111-1758
worldpress@comscore.com
So Much For Apple Working Out That Deal With Facebook
Posted: June 7, 2011 in Business to Business, Handset manufacturers, Industry News, Information communications technology, Internet, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Applications, Mobile Conference, Mobile Developers, Mobile Handsets, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Platforms, Mobile Social Media, Mobile Social networking, Smartphones, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology, TelecommunicationsTags: Apple, Bret Taylor, Facebook, iOS, iphone, iPhoto, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Twitter, Windows Phone 7
Posted By ] Dan Frommer
Apple and Facebook don’t appear to be any closer to working together on the iPhone.
Today in San Francisco, Apple unveiled a new relationship with Twitter, where Twitter sign-in and sharing features will be built right into Apple’s iPhone and iPad operating system. (A very rare thing for Apple, which is hesitant to rely on third party services for anything.)
Sounds like the sort of feature that would be just as good — if not better — with Facebook, which has many millions more users than Twitter? Indeed. But Apple had nothing to say about Facebook today.
While Apple has been able to integrate Facebook into some minor products, such as iPhoto, for whatever reason, the companies haven’t been able to figure out a deal for major mobile integration. Last September, for example, Apple had to remove Facebook support from Ping, a social network, at the last minute.
Why? Because Facebook insisted on “onerous terms that we could not agree to,” Apple CEO Steve Jobs told All Things D’s Kara Swisher at the time.
Several weeks later, Facebook CTO Bret Taylor told reporters in New York that he was “very confident” that Facebook and Apple would figure out a way to work together on Ping.
But, publicly at least, nothing seems to have changed since then. Meanwhile, today, Apple just announced a big partnership with Twitter, one of Facebook’s biggest rivals.
This leaves the door open for Facebook and Apple to potentially work something out between now and the fall, when iOS 5 ships to consumers, so Apple can announce Twitter and Facebook integration for the final product. Facebook, after all, is built into many other phone platforms, including Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, some Android flavors, etc.
Even if Facebook doesn’t need Apple, and Apple doesn’t need Facebook, it would be better for all of their users if they worked together, after all.
Or maybe they just aren’t going to play nicely together.
Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs obviously both know that they run two of the most important tech companies in the world. They don’t need each other if they can’t come to terms they can agree on. And maybe that’s going to keep them apart.
Either way, watching this relationship evolve is only going to get more interesting over the years.
Via: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-facebook-twitter-2011-6#ixzz1OZvlAXYl
An In-Depth Look at Safari and Mail in iOS 5
Posted: June 7, 2011 in Developers, Handset manufacturers, Industry News, Information communications technology, Internet, Mobile Handsets, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Mobile Platforms, Mobile Technology, Smartphones, Tablets, Technology, Telecommunications, Wireless TechnologiesTags: Apple, iOS, iOS 5, ipad, iphone, iPod Touch, Safari, Twitter, Web browser
Posted By ] Juli
As you probably know, the details of iOS 5 were released today at the Wordlwide Developer’s conference, and while we’re covering all of the new features that are coming, we wanted to give you a more in depth look at Mail and Safari, both of which are getting exciting new changes.
iOS 5 won’t be released until the fall, but we’ve got a lot to look forward to. Safari is already a very popular web browser, and 2/3rds of all mobile web browsing is done with Safari. It’s always lacked some necessary features, and I’m pleased to say that iOS 5 changes all of that.
Currently, we can’t open tabs, which is possibly the most frustrating thing about using Safari on a mobile device. In iOS 5, tabbed browsing is fully supported and lightning fast. When fall rolls around, you’ll be able to browse the Internet on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch in the same way you browse on a PC or Mac.
Safari Reader is another new browser function that will make reading news articles more enjoyable. It strips out all distractions and excess content, presenting only the text of a web page. It even combines multiple page stories into one flowing piece. This feature will be accessible from a new button in the address bar.
A built in Reading List will allow you to mark pages that you want to read later, much like bookmarking. Your Reading List can sync across multiple devices, so you’ll always know just what you wanted to read, regardless of which device you’re using. Full story and website content can be emailed to anyone (instead of just sending a link), and Twitter integration is included.
Mail, like Safari, is one of iOS’s most used applications. In iOS 5 Mail will be receiving some significant changes, making it more user friendly. There is a new ergonomic split keyboard option, which can be accessed by dragging the keyboard up. This keyboard is smaller, and perfect for typing with your thumbs. Bringing up your Mail inbox in portrait mode is simple – it just takes a single swipe.
There is a new system-wide dictionary that functions like the one in iBooks. In Mail, if you don’t know a word, you can tap it and get a dictionary definition. Searching has been changed and enhanced, allowing you to search through entire messages as well as subject titles. I wasn’t aware that search wasn’t already doing this, but thinking about it, I haven’t always gotten great search results, so this should beef up searching quite a bit.
Messages can be flagged and marked unread, email addresses can be dragged from one field to another (such as to, cc, bcc, etc.) controlled indentation is supported, and most importantly, rich-text formatting has been added so that you can now use functions like bold, underline, and italics to emphasize your messages. Good news for exchange customers: S/MIME has been implemented, and a lock will appear when you’re sending an encrypted message.
These updates of Mail and Safari include some must have features that I have been sorely missing on my iDevices. In fact, a lot of these are things that should have been added years ago, and I’m certainly excited to welcome iOS 5. Are you happy with the feature set being added with iOS 5? Did Apple leave out anything you were expecting?
Via: http://www.padgadget.com/2011/06/06/an-in-depth-look-at-safari-and-mail-in-ios-5/
New TV and social media trend among the youth – study
Posted: March 10, 2011 in Digital Trends, Industry News, Marketing, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Social Media, Social Media, TelevisionTags: Digital Clarity, Facebook, Howard Stern, Private Parts, Social Media Trends, Social television, television, Twitter, United States
Image via CrunchBase
Young Britons have taken to a new television and social media trend which could have far-reaching consequences for the worlds of broadcasting and advertising, according to a new study.Skip related content
Specialist digital marketing agency Digital Clarity (http://www.digital-clarity.com) on Tuesday published a survey of 1,300 mobile internet users below the age of 25 which showed that most use a mobile device to talk to friends about the show they are watching.
The Social TV trend exposed by the study could change the landscape for broadcasters and advertisers chasing youthful eye for on-screen attention, Digital Clarity said in a statement.
Eight out of 10 respondents to the poll said they used Twitter, Facebook or other mobile applications to actively comment on shows and chat with their friends as they watch.
“Up until 12 months ago, TV was struggling to reach the younger market as more and more channels were becoming available,” Digital Clarity founder Reggie James said. “Social TV has changed this completely by turning programmes into online events where you have to watch them as they happen.”
The significance of Social TV is not lost on the television networks which have found themselves with a new marketplace and a different pitch for advertisers, Digital Clarity said.
A joint Nielsen and Yahoo study in the United States last year found that the trend was already well established across the Atlantic with over 86 percent of mobile internet users choosing to communicate with each other in real time during broadcasts, Digital Clarity said.
Last month, the U.S. HBO channel re-ran the Howard Stern film “Private Parts” with Stern simultaneously providing live commentary, which resulted in ratings far higher than could have been forecast for a 14-year-old movie.
Now second screening, as it is referred to in the United States, has become commonplace in Britain too.
“The audience have already taken their seats and are ready to join the conversation,” James said. “It’s now up to the TV companies to tap into this huge and lucrative market.”
One of the key findings of the study was that Social TV is popular because it allows young people to instantly comment on their favourite shows to friends in different locations via the web or mobile phones.
Survey respondent and 20-year-old student Ashleigh Foulser said he loves being able to keep in touch this way with his friends while he is away from home at college.
“They are in different towns to me but it’s like having them round to watch TV,” he said. “We share a lot of jokes and if I comment on something funny or stupid I get replies almost immediately.”
The British survey discovered that the most common way to communicate is to use Twitter (72 percent), followed by Facebook (56 percent) and mobile applications (34 percent), while 62 percent of Social TV users like a combination of all three.
The study found that 34 percent of respondents described the trend as “fun,” 32 percent said it made television “more interesting” with 42 percent mentioned the “community” aspect of Social TV.
Certain shows such as “X-Factor,” “Skins,” “Glee,” as well as soap operas “Coronation Street” and “Eastenders” are particularly popular in Britain generating very high Twitter traffic and Facebook messages as they are broadcast.
(Reporting by Paul Casciato, editing by Patricia Reaney)
Via: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110308/ttc-oukin-uk-digital-social-tv-fe50bdd.html
INFO Graph – How are mobile phones changing Social Media
Posted: January 11, 2011 in Digital Marketing, Digital Trends, Industry News, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Internet, Mobile Social Media, Mobile Social networking, Social Media, Social NetworkingTags: Facebook, mobile statistics, mobile trends, MySpace, social media, Twitter
Info Graph ] Games are top of the list for mobile app downloads
Posted: September 10, 2010 in Industry News, Information communications technology, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Applications, Mobile Gaming, Mobile Handsets, Mobile Industry News, Mobile Phones, Mobile Social Media, Smartphones, Technology, TelecommunicationsTags: Facebook, mobile application trends, Mobile Apps, Research, The Nielsen Company, Twitter
Games are the most-downloaded mobile application among both smartphone and feature phone users, according to new data from The Nielsen Company.
Games, Weather Top Two Apps
Games continue to be the most popular category by far, with 61% of smartphone owners and 52% of feature phone owners reporting downloading a games app in the past 30 days. Weather apps are the next most popular category, downloaded by 55% of smartphone users and 39% of feature phone users.
Tastes Diverge Slightly
While smartphone and feature phone users both favor games and weather apps in that order, after the top two app categories, downloading habits of the two types of mobile phone users show some small differences. For example, music is the third-most-downloaded app by feature phone users (36%), followed by social networks (32%), and maps/search (30%). In contrast, maps/search is the third-most-downloaded app among smartphone users (50%), followed by social networking (49%). Music ranks fifth among smartphone users (42%).
In addition, while all categories of applications are more popular on smartphones than on feature phones, the difference is more pronounced in categories such as maps/search,where more computing power, larger screens and touch interfaces deliver a more satisfying experience.
Facebook Leading Individual Smartphone App
Facebook is the most popular individual app on all three of the major smartphone operating systems. Twitter is among the top five only on the BlackBerry, perhaps because the device’s physical keyboard is optimized for typing. And while YouTube is popular on Android and Windows Mobile, it doesn’t make the top five on either the iPhone or BlackBerry operating systems.
Average Number of Apps on Smartphones Rises
The average number of apps that smartphone app downloaders have on their phones is now 27, up from 22 in December 2009. Broken down by the three major operating systems (Apple’s iOS, Android and Blackberry), owners of iPhones have the most apps with an average of 40 on their phones, up from 37 last December, while Android owners report having 25 apps on their phones (up from 22 last December) and BlackBerry owners report having 14 (up from 10).
Mobile Twitter Use Explodes
Mobile usage of the Twitter social network has increased more than 60% in the past five months, according to data from Twitter. The total number of mobile Twitter users grew 62% between April and September 2010, according to statistics compiled by Twitter.
In addition, since that time, the number of Twitter users who start out using Twitter via mobile device has risen from 5% to 16%. Furthermore, close to half (46%) of all Twitter users at least occasionally access the network via mobile device.
About the Data: Findings based on an August 2010 survey of more than 4,000 mobile subscribers who reported having downloaded a mobile app in the past 30 days.
Snaptu joins YOC media network
Posted: March 10, 2010 in Display advertising, Industry News, Information communications technology, Internet, Media & Entertainment, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Applications, Mobile Internet, Mobile Technology, Technology, Telecommunications, YOC newsTags: Accuweather, Blackberry AppWorld, ESPN, Facebook, Flickr, Moblica, Ovi, Play Now Arena, Snaptu, The Guardian, Twitter, YOC
Latest addition to the YOC network extends advertising opportunities into social networking
London, UK – 10 March 2010: Full service mobile solutions provider YOC today announced that Moblica owned Snaptu, the first truly successful manifestation of cloud-based “virtual” applications has joined the YOC media network. As part of the partnership, YOC will provide brands and advertisers with advertisements across the Snaptu mobile application portal which includes Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, AccuWeather, the Guardian, ESPN Cricinfo and other major news and sports outlets. YOC will work with Snaptu across Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and the UK.
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Snaptu’s free, fast and intuitive suite of services runs very quickly and simply on most GPRS/3G mobile phones. Snaptu will sit alongside a number of other publishers in the YOC premium media network including 3 Favourites, Getjar, PC Advisor, Macworld, Stuff.tv, Perez Hilton, Elle UK and Digital Spy.
Simon Davies, Managing Director of Europe at Moblica said of the partnership: “YOC came highly recommended by every reference we took. We were impressed by their experience working with brands and advertisers across Europe and its track record in providing high quality inventory to its customers. Growing at over 1million users a month and topping the bill on most quality app stores such as BlackBerry’s AppWorld, Ovi and Play Now arena, Snaptu can offer YOC’s advertising clients not only great reach but also access to a number of specifically targeted demographic groups.”
Since its launch in July 2008, YOC’s UK media has grown significantly and now receives more than 600 million monthly page impressions and reaches over 35 million unique mobile users.
“Snaptu’s access to a number of hugely successful social networking applications, portals, news sites and content is very attractive to our brand and advertiser customers,” said Christian Louca, Managing Director of YOC UK. “Working with Snaptu, one of the most exciting applications in the market, we can help advertisers to target several million mobile users on a number of devices all across Europe.”
About YOC Group:
YOC Group is one of Europe’s leading full service providers of mobile advertising, mobile marketing and mobile internet services. YOC Group’s mobile services span an extremely broad client base across global brands, media owners, social networking businesses, mobile phone manufacturers and networks, retailers and financial service providers. YOC Group employs over 180 employees across the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Belgium. Clients include: Coca-Cola, News International, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Kraft Foods, Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures, Motorola, BILD, Guardian Media Group, IDG Media, Haymarket Consumer Media, and Bacardi Global Brands.
For more information about the YOC Group, please visit http://en.group.yoc.com/
About Snaptu:
Snaptu’s flagship product, Snaptu, is one of the most popular applications on the mobile web. Growing at over 1m users a month it has users in more than 100 countries. Using groundbreaking virtual application technology, Snaptu provides a fast and elegant user experience in partnership with various media brands such as Sky, ESPN, Guardian, Teletext as well as most of the top handset vendors and operators. Launched just over a year ago and backed by Sequoia Capital, Snaptu is headquartered in Israel, with offices in London and Silicon Valley.
For more information, please contact:
Becca Daniel or Robert Haslam
Mi liberty Ltd
P: +44 20 7751 4444
CES 2010: Ford plans to let drivers tweet from the road
Posted: January 8, 2010 in Automotive, Industry News, TechnologyTags: 3G connection, CEO of Ford, Chrysler, Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford, General Motors, in-car Sync entertainment system, lan Mulally, Microsoft, next generation of Ford's, Twitter, wireless internet
Posted By, Bobbie Johnson, Las Vegas, guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 January 2010 09.30 GMT
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lan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford, delivers his keynote speech at the 2010 CES. Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters.
A century after it first revolutionised the car industry, Ford plans to make its vehicles more hi-tech – by letting drivers listen to internet radio, conduct web searches and even send Twitter messages straight from the dashboard.
Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford chief executive Alan Mulally unveiled the next generation of Ford’s in-car Sync entertainment system and said that it would be able to do everything they expected from a computer or mobile phone.
“We are actually now bringing the internet to the car,” he said. “We’re going to bring all the applications you can get on mobile phones today, we’ll bring in the car – absolutely hands-free, voice activated, and focused on the road – but you can get access to all your cool stuff.”
The system, called Sync MyTouch, is based around a pair of dashboard touchscreen computers that allow drivers and passengers to carry out a number of activities while they drive thanks to a wireless internet or 3G connection.
The touch or voice activated systems can be synchronised with mobile handsets like the iPhone – they can use any one of hundreds of applications specifically designed for Sync, such as built-in satellite navigation and local search.
The technology, which was developed in conjunction with Microsoft and was first unveiled in 2007, is currently only available in 12 of the company’s north American models – but Mulally said new Sync modules would be integrated into 80% of the company’s US cars within five years.
Last year it said there were plans to launch the system in European models later in 2010,
Despite concerns over safety, the company says that using Sync should be no more – as long as drivers to the same rules about using other in-car devices, such as satellite navigation systems and mobile phones.
“The whole process of interface design is also more critical in a vehicle, because the driver is dealing with so many more inputs,” said Ford vice president Derrick Kuzak. “We have to keep interfaces simple and intuitive. And they have to minimize driver distraction.”
The world’s fourth-largest car maker says it hopes that providing extras like internet connectivity can help boost its fortunes as the American auto industry struggles to cope with the effects of the recession.
Although Ford suffered substantially during the depths of the financial crisis – posting record losses of $14.6bn (£9.1bn) in 2008 – the company appears to be on the up. Unlike its Detroit rivals, General Motors and Chrysler, the company did not file for bankruptcy and $2.3bn (£1.4bn) in profit for the second quarter of 2009.
Mulally said that improving the technology inside its cars was an important part of turning around the company and making it a leader once again.
“We believe these features have a place in every Ford vehicle, not just our luxury models,” he said.
URL Link to the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/08/ces-2010-ford
