- 300M active users a month
Pretty large population….

- People spend 8 billion minutes online on Facebook every day.
Hence Facebook next to Youtube/Google being the top 2 destinations on the Internet

- There are 2 billion photos uploaded each month and 20 billion total.
Consumers want to share Images and Videos to stimulate conversation and interaction

- There are 15,000 other partners accessing Facebook data through its Connect service.
Identity is proving an important element. Facebook connect is now available for mobile sites too.

- Yesterday, the company serviced over 5 billion API calls. Facebook Platform is growing at a much faster rate than the web site.
The impact of Facebook opening their API’s in 2007 is still underestimated. Twitter for that matter too. This changed the economics of the web and is the “dawn of the application economy” to quote Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga

- Facebook now has over a million developers working on its platform
The importance of building the developer ecosystem only encourages a platform, be it Twitter, Itunes, Android etc.

- 250 applications now have a least a million users each.
confirms the point above. But it’s important to provide developers transparency , tools and API’s and support with visibility and opportunities to make monetize

- Facebook’s multi-feed system that can calculate 50 million operations per second pulling data and updates from hundreds or thousands of friends and condense them into the 45 most interesting updates in between zero and 20 milliseconds.
Check out this site just to find out the infrastructure they have in place to support this….http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/20921/

- The company has 1.2 million users for every engineer

The real-time web is often described as the latest iteration, the new Web 2.0 or the next evolution of the internet largely due to the adoption of internet across PC’s, mobile and net books.

To get a better understanding of real time web we just need to step back and put things into perspective. New or Non users of Facebook/Twitter or other social media site commonly dismiss status updates like, “About to have a coffee” “Going to see a movie.” “Getting ready for my 3K swim”. However when someone says he’s going to see a movie in the office pantry this is not seen as trivial or a waste of time. They separate the real-time experience of conversation from the indexed, archived Internet.

And that’s exactly it. The value of the real-time web is valuable only in the moment it’s being experienced. The real-time web compliments your existing traditional internet experience. We are already using the internet in 2 different ways but the lines are “blurred”.

Twitter, Friendfeed, Posterous, Blogs, Facebook etc all provide real-time information, and there is a steady trickle of information throughout the day. It’s like you are really there in the office pantry, at the conference or in the middle of the riot. We’re already familiar with such analogies: Live video of a mid-day car chase, the evening news’ coverage, YouTube’s recent ranking of what’s hot at the moment;

http://pro.gigaom.com/members/edgubbins/profile put’s it real nice: Real-Time feeds our intrinsic need for simultaneously shared experiences, adding a feeling of connectedness to the entertainment value — a feeling that diminishes over time.

Add to this the power of mobile and the location information it offers to real-time. In a mobile world, location is often linked to the present moment. There are ever-increasing numbers of applications tapping into the API’s of mobile networks enabling the creation of useful real-time applications eg Locatrix .

Already today there are location aware mobile applications available for finding ATM’s, Mcdonalds, Pacific Coffee’s, now when adding real-time you’ll be able to know where the next nearest available taxi is, when that bus is coming around the corner etc etc.

This is creating an increased amount of volume Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. A company like Locatrix acts as the gateway and Layar provides the client application and interface. The mobile coupled with this type of interaction will increase the amount of location data about mobile user preferences and habits which in turn provides a significant source of immensely rich data for understanding consumer behaviors. Macrosense translates that data and anticipates customer needs in order to deliver accurate recommendation, personalization and discovery – better than ever before – without retaining customers’ original location data.

Real time will bring tradeoffs though…basically think gossip. The real-time web will follow trends instantaneously which can lead the way to news and information but at the same time can spread confusion and misinformation.

But it’s entertainment. Check out the most popular blogs, magazine, programs on TV…..

Read more: http://pro.gigaom.com/2009/09/the-real-time-web-isnt-the-new-internet/#ixzz0SfqxoQMs

Last year we met with a number of consumer and retail banks on the shift on the internet and offered some options on how this might effect their online customer propositions. Below is an extract from those presentations.

We sort of stopped pitching this after the financial crisis broke out in full swing, but with this acquisition it sort of makes me want to bring it out again and see if we can find some takers :).

Wouldn’t it be great to get such interaction with your online bank? We manage multiple accounts and internet banking whilst brilliant in terms of service, ease of use etc, still has a long way to go. Banks have just really “overlayed” their legacy processes and systems onto the web, rather than looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes on how to adopt the processes and systems to support customer service goals, especially when it comes to servicing small and medium businesses.

Currently there are some 15M software developers in the world. Of these there are a number of opportunities for them to developer their applications
1 Embedded
2. Enterprise
3. mobile
4. web

Mobile Developers are at the heart of multiple different programs

If you then look at mobile developers only, competition for these developer is extremely fierce…. handset manufacturers (nokia, sonyericsson, motorola, huawei, samsung, apple etc) software vendors (java, android, adobe, microsoft, LIMO, etc), application stores (handango, getjar, etc) and operators (betavine, orange, sprint, at&t, etc) all looking to win the hearts and minds of developers.
Developers go where the money is and charging them is only going to turn them away.
The VC market funding developers focussed on network centric applications is pretty dry at the moment due to lengthy sales cycles and tight exit windows.

There are a number of alternative means of monetizing the network assets and the operators have a lot of strong asset. We have worked with a number of operators on revenue approaches adding value to their franchise whilst contributing to the bottom line.

This morning I received an email newsletter from Chris Brogan. He has a great newsletter, frank and straight to the point yet with a certain subtlety. As I am going to take some of his content i thought it only fair to point you to his newsletter or twitter feeds @chrisbrogan.

What Your Boss Needs Most From You

A boss needs actionable solutions. - Bringing problems to the boss is a mess. It’s important that information flow, and it’s important that the bad parts aren’t washed over, but it’s HOW you deliver the information that matters. Bring the identification of a problem to the boss, but also bring your ideas and your intentions for solving the issue.

A boss needs brevity. - Bullets and numbers and simple sentences are your friend. It’s okay to provide the “payload and background” information, but put that down low in any printed message. Start with the bullets. This gives the boss a chance to get a bird’s eye view fast. (There’s a reason For Dummies books start with that first page.)

A boss needs you to have two perspectives. - The sooner you can learn how to see the game from both your spot in the trenches and from a potential leadership point of view, the sooner you can deliver even more value to the operation.

If you’re the boss, talk to your teams. Employees aren’t mind readers. Bosses are supposed to be, so you have to go first.

Singtel just announced their app store, sorry app zone http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2009/07/14/singtel-to-launch-its-own-app-store/

The twist Singtel is offering is is interesting and it’s always great to learn about another distribution for developers. However I miss some of the additional strategic elements for Singtel not to be disenfranchised and left out of the greater revenue pie.

In our experience linking an API story for application developers with a strong App store proposition will provide operators with a strong differentiator. Not only does this give developers access to network resources with a D2C offering but it is also something the device manufacturers can’t offer developers.

Furthermore when reading through the article I can’t help thinking about the commercial model which always come up in the developer communities when associated with the appstore. Developers, particularly in Asia, are very interested in the underlying commercial appeal. Again linking a developer community with to API’s and the appzone further enhances the “commercial appeal”.

Developers are heavily courted these days both across the web and on the mobile. Singtel clearly has a lot to offer developers across it’s Group of companies in addition to just the editorial input and elevating applications for local relevance and content.

Elevating the ranking of applications is actually evolving into a premium service for some app store operators whilst other offer this as a “most popular” feature. In fact Apple is rumored to be looking at USD 1,875.- per day for a ranking in the top 100…. http://moconews.net/article/419-whats-it-cost-to-be-a-top-iphone-app-1875-a-day/

We are involved in a number of conversations across the most popular developer communities around mobile and online, but don’t seem to find much further insights into this. Generally just some of the questions that might arise when reading the article.

- How easy is it to upload apps

- What is the certification process

- What is the revenue share

- How big is the market? Does the appzone apply to the whole Singtel Group

This is a great opportunity for Singtel to build out their developer community and truly provide thought leadership and technology innovation across Asia where the thumb culture truly  rules.

Look forward to hearing more about this.

I wasn’t able to get to the Mobile Money Summit last month in Barcelona. But did check in with folks that were there and got both the good news as well as the behind the scenes “not-so-good” news.

Good news is the stuff we are hearing and reading everywhere – lots of growth, lots of companies investing heavily in the space, lots of great ideas plus an ecosystem that is developing rapidly, competing players now working together to grow the market, etc.

However, almost all of the folks I talked to validated that mobile money is now hitting a wall and that the current ecosystem model and design characteristics, while still effective and “workable” today, inherently limit the ability to grow and scale and be even lower cost and more sustainable in 5 or 10 years time. Therefore, m-money doesn’t look like it will be successful in achieving its aggressive goals of maximizing financial inclusion and delivering basic financial services down to the bottom of the population pyramid. Several factors including the policy framework, the current business model, the absence of a path to sustainable scale, and the reliance on manual and “high touch” processes, collectively act as virtual quicksand for mobile money.

Will be sharing our thoughts in this blog on what needs to change and how to make the change happen. Been shopping this around, first, at the Mobile Financial Services a few months ago in Singapore. Great attendance with some of the best minds and most experienced implementers around the table.  Was on stage in a particularly high impact panel with Janine Firpo of IFC and Brad Jones of Wing Bank, moderated by Dave Byrch. Now that was pedal to the metal and tons of fun.

Will share more in upcoming blogs so stay tuned…

Downloads
2009 MFS - Regulation opening keynote - (EXICON).pdf
MONEx and Next-Gen Microfinance whitepaper (Final).pdf

One of the main reasons this conference is so inspiring is the purity of everything. The deep understanding, the brilliant minds present, and true passion for technology create a whirlwind of ideas that is just awe inspiring and continually pushes the boundaries.

This year was a special year for JavaOne due to the pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle. The opening keynote was given by Jonathan Schwartz who then invited Scott McNealy up on stage.

There was a clear mood shift, and Scott did his stuff as only Scott can. You can follow the whole event on http://java.sun.com/javaone/

The highlight of the event, however, was Larry Ellison joining Scott on stage, which is really what prompted me to write this, and I have included comments from the various conversations throughout the week.

• Larry is not shying away from a challenge.
• Oracle will take on Google, Microsoft and parts of Adobe
• Oracle is going to invest and resource JavaFX mobile to go up against Android for both mobile and netbooks.
• Android is Java, and Oracle will invest in Java.
• Oracle promoted James Gosling to win the hearts of the Java developers and the Java community to build out applications on top of their fusion software stack and SQL database
• Tools for JavaFX are impressive. Watch for a lot of investment from Oracle to build this out even further
• It’ll be interesting to see the monetization of the tools to take on Flash and AJAX
• Oracle will take Sun’s OpenOffice, couple it with JavaFX and take on Google docs and Microsoft
• You will see a drastic decline in investment and resources supporting open source activities
• However support for “OPEN” will be focused on open API’s, open community and global standards
• Oracle sees the telecommunication industry as predominantly software driven and is keen to leverage the back-end software stack to couple this with the client. They are likely to compete against the Network Equipment Providers
• Oracle is going to be bumping heads with the Telecommunication Equipment Manufacturers, trying to marginalize them to hosting, systems integration and outsourcing as the telecommunication and media industry become more software driven.

Larry Ellison and Scott McNealy at Java One video