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Showing posts from September, 2013

WhatsApp blending group messaging into social networking

Bottom line: Teens and young adults are increasingly using WhatsApp not only for traditional messaging, but also for the more general and long-term "staying in touch," including sharing status updates and pictures, that has traditionally been the heart and soul of social networking on Facebook. WhatsApp's success appears to signal a shift in social networking, from networking with big and open social networks to networking with closed groups. These groups are different from traditional message groups -- the groups last longer, they have names, and people enter and leave more dynamically.... Read the full article on the SeekingAlpha site here : http://seekingalpha.com/article/1719552-whatsapps-quiet-move-into-social-networking-and-why-facebook-should-worry 

Indoor location start-ups in Israel (article on GeekTime site)

One of the fastest-growing areas of mobile technology is indoor location positioning... Early on, most of the start-up action was in Europe, but there are now several indoor location start-ups in Israel... Based on our analysis of years of R&D by major companies and over 50 start-ups, there are 4 categories of technologies that are used to determine indoor location. Interestingly, the start-up companies in Israel reflect each of these 4 approaches.... Read the full article (free, no registration needed) on the GeekTime site here : http://www.geektime.com/2013/09/04/location-technologies-come-indoors-in-israel/  

Microsoft acquiring Nokia's phone business!

The world awoke today to the news that Microsoft is going to buy Nokia's phone business. This is obviously huge for both companies. Nokia will continue to operate as an independent company, consisting primarily of three business units: Nokia Siemens Networks, the HERE location services and mapping (including Navteq) unit, and its research center.  Microsoft will acquire the phone business and a ten year license to Nokia's research portfolio. There's a lot to say about this acquisition, and lots of articles are saying it. I particularly recommend these articles: this bottom-line summary , this perspective from Microsoft , this financial analysis , and this analysis of some of the details . Taking a longer term view, however, I have some interesting observations.  First, while everyone is looking at Microsoft's interest in Nokia's smartphone business, they must have a plan for the feature phone business as well.  Second, Nokia released a hint that they might get