SearchEngineUpdate with Vanessa Zamora - 06-23-2008 Part I
Abstract: 1. Google Android-Based Cell Phone Plans Delayed, 2. Startups SocialMedia Networks and 33Across Target Friend Popularity
Vanessa Zamora
Video Content Producer, SearchEngineWorld
4:52 pm on June 23, 2008 (utc 0)
Transcript
Monday June 23, 2008
Google Android-Based Cell Phone Plans Delayed
Google’s foray into the cellphone industry is off to a rocky start. Mobile phones being developed by Google and more than 30 partners announced last November based on software called Android -- which includes an operating system and programs that work with it – are having trouble meeting a launch originally set for the second half of 2008. Reportedly, T-Mobile expects to deliver an Android-powered phone in the fourth quarter, however Sprint won’t make the deadline. China Mobile, the world's largest wireless carrier with almost 400 million subscribers, is looking at a delayed launch of early 2009, according to various sources. Along with the delays, Google also faces challenges in recruiting hardware, service and software providers to support its technology platform.
Startups SocialMedia Networks and 33Across Target Friend Popularity
Social Networking sites have yet to accomplish the task of figuring out how to monetize their massive audience with effective advertising methods. Two startups, Social Media Networks and 33Across, hope to resolve the challenge with the development of ad technology that aims to analyze which people are most influential to their friends on social networks so that they can target those people with marketing messages. In a recent announcement, SocialMedia Networks is rolling out social display banner ads powered by a patent-pending algorithm called FriendRank. FriendRank is like Google's PageRank, but instead of ranking pages for their popularity, it ranks friendships. The biggest challenge for SocialMedia Networks and 33Across in reaching their goal of becoming advertising players of the social media age will be first conquering privacy concerns, which have continued to plague similar past efforts.
