Tablets gaining (more) ground

Sales of tablet, such as Apple's iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab, are increasing rapidly. According to a new forecast from research firm Canalys, tablets are expected to account for half of the personal computer market next year.

In the overall market for personal computers Canalys adds up both desktops, laptops and tablets. Using this broad definition, overall sales are up 18 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period the year before. The total increase is due to the fact that tablets sales have increased, while desktop and laptop sales declined .

Canalys also expect the tables to continue to grow in popularity. In 2014, the forecasters believe a total of 285 million tablets is going to be sold in the world, and it then increases to 396 million tablets in 2017.

The two major suppliers of tablet are Apple and Samsung, and they will, according to Canalys, maintain their lead in the near future. But Canalys also notes that competition is increasing rapidly, and a number of other companies are working hard to grow their individual tablet development. Above all, these companies use Google's Android operating system, the same system that Samsung uses. It is calculated this OS will be used as the basis for 65 percent of all tablets sold .

Canalys also expect that Microsoft will increase its share in the tablet market. Microsoft recently bought Nokia's mobile operations, and thus have their own production of both mobile phones and tablets, to complement Microsoft's current tablet Surface. Microsoft is expected in 2014 to account for 5 percent of all tablets sold.

NES drinking

Still searching for that perfect Christmas gift? Well, look no further – I give you the gift of the century!

Regardless if you’re spending the holidays with your boyfriend or girlfriend, long lost family or drunk in-laws, crazy cat ladies or that weird hippie neighbor who “doesn’t believe in material possessions” this is the obvious gift of choice!

As kids of the 80tees we all know what a NES is, remember that special moment when first unboxing the system, and although we ourselves never fought him, we all knew that one guy who reached and beat Mike Tyson in Punch-Out. We know how to find the warp-zone in level 1-2 in SMB, we can all recite the Konami code in our sleep, and we all know the theme to the Moon in Duck Tales. Long story short - we´re all of the NES generation.

As we have grown up, we may have left the NES behind, but the nostalgia never leaves. And as we beers and whiskey replaced soda as the drink of choice, so must also these new bereaves adapt to our living memories. Enter the extremely stylish Ink Whiskey Concealable Entertainment Flask – the first container that truly matches your retro gaming fandom.

Matt Cornell, the inventor behind the flask and founder of Ink Whiskey LLC, wanted to make this canteen a concealable flask instead of a flask that was just shaped differently. He wanted the product to look and feel exactly like the game cartridges we all grew up with. Therefor it looks like an NES game cartridge, right down to the classic dull-gray color.

Outside of being a handy little way to be sneaky, the team also created some awesome alcohol-themed parody art labels of some classic video games that we all know and love. Here's a quick sneak peak at the five labels available to choose from:

The funding goal for this KickStarter project has already been topped off. You can get a Drunk Hunt-labeled flask for $15 or choose from one of the other labels at the $20 level. So, go ahead: Raise your flask to retro gaming and make a toast to the perks of adulthood.

Mobile Marketing a 1960

I found an interesting picture while surfing that Internet thing today. It is two old, Ericsson labeled busses on what seems to be the Island in Toronto, circa 1970. Since my girlfriend is Canadian, and used to live in Toronto, the CN Tower is a very easily recognizable landmark to me. The added bonus of the Swedish vehicles sparked my interest and I decided to do some digging into this picture and its origins.

Ericsson opened its first Canadian office in Montreal in 1953, selling telephones and intercoms systems to telephone companies and to private businesses. As the Canadian market and business continued to flourish, in 1976 Ericsson came up with an innovative way of meeting its customers – on wheels. So in 1976, Ericsson in Canada introduced the Eribus, a customized motorhome developed and designed for visiting clients for on-site product presentations and meetings.

The Eribus was a fully equipped mobile meeting space with a conference table, projector, various product demonstrations and a small kitchen to host customers who were unable to visit the Ericsson showrooms. In a country as large, and scarcely populated as Canada, the Eribus proved to be an excellent take on an early virtual office.

Today this idea seems rather stone age, virtual meeting rooms are a given at any modern office, but it is a interesting idea that it all started with a pair of busses.

Snapchat Playing it Cool

I recently wrote about how SnapChat may spell the fall ofFacebook. Now I don’t want to pat my own back here, but it seems as though Mark Zuckerberg is reading my blog and taking notes (probably not, but fun still) since Facebook recently announced plans for acquiring SnapChat.

However, since founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy also seem to be avid subscribers to the Social Gnome, they coldly, shrewdly, and wisely turned down that offer. What happened next? Zuckerberg upped the ante. But Spiegel and Murphy would not have any of it, turning down the 3 billion dollar offer.

23-year-old Spiegel, has yet to comment on the information, but according to the Wall Street his plan is to start bringing in bids from potential buyers first next year. It is hoped that Snapchat will have grown even larger at that time, and thus have become worth more money. Snapchat has today only been around for about two years, and if the net-worth increases along the same tangent it has so far, it would be worth (crude calculations) an estimated 3,75 billion in May and 4,5 in November of 2014.

This however is all conditioned on several things but the two most important factors would be;

1.  Facebook themselves just copying the app and incorporating their “FaceSnap App” into their existing library. We all know they do have the resources, and building such an app is NOT a 3 billion dollar investment. What Snapchap is offering Facebook here is a kick start, where Facebook would not have to invest in building a community nor brand awareness.
2. Fad dying off and users leaving SnapChat. And if this happens SnapChap will not even be worth the time of day. It has happened before with immensely popular sites and applications. The social Internet is moving fast, and so is its users.

However, Facebook are not alone in trying to acquiring Snapchat; several different companies have shown interest. As of right now Snapchat has no sales what so ever, simply relying on its users. No ads, nothing; just investors and evaluations. With such a volatile income base, it shows Iceman guts to pass by an offer that would make the founders economically independent. 

And as of right now, Speigel and Murphy are playing it cool.

Innovative bike products

Scandinavians have a long history of outdoor activities, something that often is reflected in the innovations we produce. Companies like Fjällräven, Haglöfs, and Helly Hansen are all from the Nordic region. Also often mispronounced Husqvarna (hʉ:s kva: rn –a: [long a- and u-sounds]), can be added to this list since it’s both Swedish and belonging to the outdoorsy activities, even though it may not be fit the clothing brand formula.

Lately, there has been two bike-related innovations that have caught my attention. These are two products that I have developed a strong “must have” craving for, one of which is developed by two young Swedish entrepreneurs. Some of you may already be familiar with Anna Haupt’s and Terese Alstin’s new type of bike helmet called “Hövding”. Born out of the introduction of a law on mandatory helmet use for children, the idea of developing a whole new type of cycle helmet emerged. The result was the airbag helmet which is hidden in the riders color, but inflats as soon as the bikes starts tipping over. Please see the video below to be amazed!

The other bike product, may not be of Scandinavian origin, but is never the less no less impressive! Still in a Kick-Starter project phase the Smart Wheel from FlyKly is a small electric, wheel mounted motor, that helps you up those pesky hills on your morning ride to work. The motor turns on when you start pedaling and begins accelerating to your desired speed, which you quickly and easily control using your smart phone. You can even remotely lock the motor and track the bike in case it gets stolen!

As always please let me know what you think in the comments below. Are these your new X-mas gift wishes as well?

Firebird TWTR

I wrote yesterday about the introduction of Twitter to the New Your Stock Exchange. Now 24 hours later, the results are astonishing!

A strong pressure to buy was probably the greatest factor, throttling the rate to $45 at closing compared to an introductory price of $26 - an increase of amazing 73%. Considering how most companies pop the bubbles if they break even on their first day of launch, this cannot be called anything but a huge victory for Twitter.

Twitter released 70 million shares at the IPO and, in case of oversubscription, an additional 10,5 million shares where going to be released. The shares were oversubscribed 30 times, which testifies to a colossal interest, and the price for the stock followed suit. At its peak, the stock price reached $50.

So how will Twitter fair in the future on the stock market? I think the first couple of months will now be wobbly. This in an uncertainty that has many factors, but I think the best one is reflected in the analysts' price targets that were ranging between $29 and $54. What this tells us is that the market has a extremely hard time valuing Twitters assets, and thereby also its market potential.

Twitter has 230 million users, including celebrities, politicians and journalists, and this is the main reason why investors are enthusiastic about the company. But Twitter has also never shown a profit, and how they are going to turn this around is still an unanswered question. The injection of money that Twitter now gets from the stock introduction is well needed, but without a solid plan ahead this is just a time saver.

Launching TWTR on a Thursday is also controversial; today is Friday, and the markets will now close for two days, possibly cooling what could have been a further increase. A lot of the initial 73% is a inflated value, and it will drop within the upcoming week, but giving it a few more days would have created a greater buffer softening the drop. Investors will now have two days to go home and rethink their decision to buy, and if there is something that is ALWAYS bad for stock prices it is investors rethinking.

Twitter's new business plan will most likely include an increase in ad, and sponsored tweets. When Facebook released its similar to the public, there was an outraged. People were arguing that Facebook would be too commercialized, however having lived with the ads for quite some time now, I cannot really say I notice them. Neither does the rest of the users (it would seem) since we are not hearing any complains, and the user count hasn't dropped either.

My take on this is that TWTR will flatten out during next week, and then drop some leading in the two weeks that follows. By the start of December, Twitter will most likely release a X-mas campaign, again sparking interest and the stock is going to go up. This is also the time to get on the wagon. TWTR will by then have found its place in the market, Twitter will have released their long-term plans for the company, and X-mas sales will fuel the increase!

Mark Dec 2 for acquiring TWTR!

Enter TWTR

The big new of the day is without a doubt the addition of yet another social media company on the New York Stock Exchange.

Following in the footsteps of big brother Facebook, and the more conservative cousin LinkedIn, Twitter is now making its trading debut. Pricing the shares at $26 on Wednesday, the total company would value the at around $14 billion - a fraction of Facebook's 122 billion.

A more relevant comparison would then be LinkedIn, which was listed on the NYSE in 2011. The stock
was priced at $45 on its initial public offering, but then roared out of the gates rising as much as 171 percent in their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange, and closed at $94.25, a total increase of more than 109 percent. The stock has since risen even more, valued today at $25 billion. 

A significant difference exists, however: while LinkedIn earned $ 3.7 million during the last quarter, Twitter has still some way to go to show a profit. For the year 2012 Twitter had a total revenue of $317 million, but still reported a net loss of $79 million. 

However, a lot of Twitter's attraction lies in the appeal of some of its users, rather than in its accounts. Every seems to be tweeting; form politicians and opinion leader, including President Obama, the Dalai Lama, the Pope Francis, a number of Nobel Prize winners to each celebrity with self esteem, keeps an active Twitter Account. Twitter is today a place for any exchange of opinion, both comical as controversial. 

For Twitters experts are predicting that the company's total revenue may increase to reach $620 million already this year. Operating profit is predicted to be $ 40 million, according to USA Today. The listing also adds a well needed $1.7 billion to Twitter's own financing. 

The real question of whether the listing will be profitable or not ties into what Twitter will do next to generate money. Is has speculated that mid-tweet ads are the future here. The fact that Twitter's core business is ads, means there's potential for Twitter to help marketers sell stuff, not just when users shop online or in stores after leaving Twitter, but right in the moment, within Twitter.com or a Twitter mobile app. Twitter has made it public that it sees huge potential here. In August they hired former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard as its first-ever head of commerce.

So, how would Twitter commerce work? Twitter could use information about users' location and interests to offer products or deals. Eventually we can expect Twitter to allow users to link a credit card to their account for one-click purchases within Twitter. Twitter could also partner with the likes of eBay, Amazon or Etsy to link accounts, so users could make a purchase without inputting credit card information.

So, in or out? My best best is to get in as early as possible. By all accounts it seems as the stock is undervalued, and missing the train now may mean that you cant get on it at all later. 

What do you think of the Twitter stock? Leave your comments below.

WeChat overtaking Facebook?

What is WeChat?

Reading the first news of this social challenger giving Facebook a run for its users, your first question will probably be; What is WeChat? And why haven't I heard of it before?

We know it's not Twitter, Google+ or LinkedIn. In fact, it’s a company that most people in the west never heard of. WeChat is a smartphone app, developed by Tencent in China, to send voice messages, snapshots and emoticons to friends.

Something that is already done by most smart phone, you might say, but that has not stopped the app from gaining massive ground.

WeChat's popularity has grown dramatically since its launch in 2011. Tencent announced in September 2012 that its users had increased about to 200 million. The vast majority are in China, though WeChat has since been launched across Asia, and have already established subscribers in both the US and the UK.

So what are is Tencent doing to sail past Facebook? First, it has managed to differentiate its product with some killer features that keep users coming back for more. On the messaging side, users can “hold-to-talk” and send free walkie-talkie style messages that bypass the need for voicemail. Yet what keeps its network growing are fun discovery features that can connect users locally and across continents.

WeChat has neatly fused together the open approach of social networks such as Twitter, where anyone can follow anybody, and more closed networks such as Facebook, which rely on mutual friend connections. Another neat option with WeChat is the ability to talk to any WeChatter around the world by simply shaking the phone. The app will then connect to another user also shaking their phone at the exact moment. That feature alone is enough for me to want to try it.

So will this knock of Facebook as the prime social network of choice? Mobile use is up, and by 2014 more people will connect to the Internet from their phones, than from desktops. Also, China is on a broad technological advancement, which surly affects the development of social technology. 

However WeChat will overtake Facebook is to early to tell, but it is clear to me that Facebook needs to react. Othewise the king just might fall.