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Pew Internet who recently conducted a survey of American adults who use mobile phones showed some pretty interesting data:

• 28% of cell owners use phones to get directions or recommendations based on their current location—that works out to 23% of all adults.
• 55% of smartphone owners have used a location-based information service
• Geosocial services and automatic location-tagging are most popular with minorities.
• 25% of Latino smartphone owners use geosocial services.
• 31% of Latino social media users enabling automatic location-tagging.
• 59% of white smartphone owners get location-based information on their phones.
• 53% of black smartphone users get location-based information on their phones.
• 44% of Hispanic smartphone users get location-based information on their phones.
• Smartphone owners ages 18-49 are more likely than those over 50 to use either geosocial or location-based services on their phones.

Smartphones in context

• 83% of all American adults ages 18 and older own a cell phone.
• Of these cell phone owners, 42% own a smartphone, which translates to 35% of all adults.
• 59% of smartphone owners use their phone to access social networking sites

Localization marketing strategy takeaway

Google’s recent purchase of Zagat, according to Wired “The acquisition strengthens Google’s position in local search, helping it compete with web-native companies like Yelp, particularly for high-volume searches for restaurants and hotels. Google gets a company that isn’t just steeped in tradition and brand cachet, but is also more or less already fully baked for digital. That makes it a natural partner for mobile and local search and recommendations.”

While the internet provides a global landscape, the smartphone trend is moving strongly towards instant and local data. Google’s purchase of Zagat and the launch of its mobile homepage shortcuts shows that its focus will be towards the localization of its searches — and will also be competing head on with local crowd-sourced pioneer, Yelp.

From local reviews on Google to Yelp, your local online paper to QR codes, your customer already has all the information about you — unless you have not made yourself easily found online.

If you happen to operate a Sushi restaurant in an urban setting like San Francisco, your competition is going to be stiff. A new potential customers with a smartphone is going to do the following:

1) Look for a sushi restaurant closest to them.
2) Read the reviews.
3) Take a look at your menu or check-in (maybe).

So take a look at your restaurant or business from the consumer’s perspective and take a look at your business that can come from a smartphone — Can your customer find you easily? do you have good reviews? Are you offering any check-in discounts or promotion? Are your business hours and phone number clearly stated? What would make you stand out from your competition a block or two away? – The idea is to answer any and every question your customer may have before they are even asked.

With more than half of smartphone users using their devices to get directions or recommendations, localized information will become the key to driving business in stores as more consumers will expect to have information at their fingertips.

While you depend on the front and back of the house to ensure your customer is happy and the food is consistent and good, you will also need localization strategies just as much to bring those customers in.

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Just two months after plans and announcement to ditch the PC market and selling off its WebOS TouchPad for $99, HP has announced its comeback to the tablet market with a Windows 7-based Slate 2.

The Slate 2 is aimed squarely at business and vertical markets such as education, healthcare, government and retail. Starting at $699 the Slate 2 will make its worldwide debut later this month.

Specs of the HP Slate 23

• 1.5 pounds, 8.9-inch diagonal capacitive multi-touch display for touch and pen input.
• Swype keyboard.
• Intel® Atom Z670 processor with mSATA SSM technology.
• Battery life of up to six hours on a single battery charge.
• 3-megapixel back camera.
• Front-facing VGA camera for video calls.
• Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity.
• 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
• SD card slot.
• 2 USB 2.0 ports.
• HDMI port.
• Headphone/mic jacks.
• The Slate 2 measures 9.21 x 0.61 x 5.9 inches.
• Optional accessories include an all-in-one Bluetooth Keyboard and Case and an HP Retail Mobile Point of Sale Case with an integrated magnetic stripe reader and barcode scanner for retailers.

According to Dan Forlenza, vice president and general manager, Commercial Managed IT Segment for HP, “The HP Slate includes the right mix of rich features, support for custom-built applications, and the security and connectivity needed for today’s highly mobile and rigorous day-to-day professional environment.”

This entry into with a business focused Windows-based tablet shows a new business to business strategy since Meg Whitman (former eBay CEO) took the helm of HP. Since then, Whitman has decided to keep HP in the PC business. However there has been no indication that the fate of the webOS and TouchPad will be reversed as well — a decision to can the WebOS business was made by former HP CEO Leo Apotheker.

HP’s introduction of a Windows based tablet certainly makes it more interesting. However, based on Gartner’s prediction of tablets for the next three years, MeeGo, WebOS and others (which include Windows) – will have a minute 4.2% combined market share.

It will be interesting to see the development of HP’s tablets into the business-focused vertical — a move that could potentially serve to revive its low margin product line of its mobile O/S business.

Images courtesy of Google Images.

Chart courtesy of Gartner.

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The share of adult cell phone owners who have downloaded an app to their phone nearly doubled in the past two years – rising from 22% in September 2009 to 38% in August 2011 according to an August 2001 Pew Internet report.

What’s interesting to see in this report is the demographics with the most significant increase in app downloads in the last year is comprised of three main groups:

1) The 30-49 year olds.

2) College educated

3) Those who make $75,000 or more a year.

This shows that while the mobile smartphone market is experiencing growth overall, accessibility is still limited to the more educated and higher income earners.

As the sales of mobile devices gains popularity over the desktop, the inevitable direction and growth of mobile will be in the following areas and also across a wider demographic.

• Price and affordability — As with any electronic device, the price of consumer electronics will only decrease. The recent unveiling of the Kindle Fire by Amazon for $199 is an indication of the industry shifting to be more competitive. Hardware maker HP has also announced plans to re-enter the tablet market with the Slate 2 tablet after it changed its mind about exiting the business recently. The drop in price of smartphones and smartphone plans across mobile carriers will have a huge impact on the adoption rate overall.
• Mobile apps — To date there are 500,000 apps on the Android market and almost 600,000 apps on iOS. This number is only set to increase as demand for apps increase. New apps will increase the demand for smartphones and competition overall and a drop in prices will be inevitable.
• 4G LTE penetration — The adoption of global 4G LTE standards will increase media consumption through mobile phones. This development will affect the way users share content on their mobile phone. This will keep narrowing the gap between a computer and mobile phone making the mobile phone an indispensable device.
• Mobile Commerce and Mobile Wallet — More and more brands are adopting mobile commerce and mobile wallet as part of their multi-channel strategy. As this area develops more at the point- of-purchase for hardware and software — the convenience and seamless shopping experience will help spur the mobile adoption rate across the board.

Download the full report here.

Chart and graph courtesy of Pew Internet

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According to China’s chief of the Information Office of the State Council, Wang Chen — China’s Internet users has exceeded 500 million, an Internet penetration rate close to 40 percent. At 500 million users, China’s internet population alone has exceeded the entire population of the United States of just over 300 million.

Wang said rural Internet users total 130 million, accounting for 27 percent of all users in China. He added that “China’s Internet industry has been expanding in scale and has become an important emerging strategic industry.”

China remains the largest Internet market in the world with this number, followed by U.S. with 245 million and a penetration rate of 78.2 percent, and India, with 100 million account for 8.4 per percent of its population.

Based on the numbers, more staggering growth of the China and India market is to be expected. In China, if 40 percent is the current internet penetration in China, then an 80 percent penetration rate would mean at least another 500 million more people to connect, reach and interact with.

Is your business ready for global reach and growth? If you would like to learn more on how to reach China’s internet market, join us next week as we host some of China’s top internet influencers for an event in San Francisco.

You will get to network and learn what you company should or should not do in order to go after the China Market and lots more.

Chart courtesy of China Internet Information Center

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Typically, comments posted on Facebook have never shown in search results. All this is changing as Google has revealed that it now indexes comments on Facebook. Google is also able to index commenting engines like Diqus and Intense Debate.

According to Launch, a Google spokesperson said, “What you’re seeing is a result of Google increasingly being able to crawl JavaScript and AJAX content. We have steadily been increasing our ability to index richer content such as JavaScript/AJAX. If users can see something in their browser, our goal is to be able to index that content irrespective of its language or format.”

As confirmed by Matt Cutts.

Here is an example of a restaurant page I like on Facebook. The comments and name now show on Google’s search results.

This was also confirmed by Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration who said “Googlebots, or the spiders that crawl web pages,  are now reading Facebook comments on websites just like any other text content and the more interesting part is that you can also search the text of these comments using regular Google search.”

To start with increasing your brand’s visibility, you may want to consider using more keywords on your Facebook posts when interacting with your fans. This will help the relevance realm as users search Google for information related to your product/service through keywords.

This will also level the playing field for small businesses competing for search engine rankings with the big players. By being more interactive and engaging with your fans on Facebook, this is an area you can help affect your search results. The more comments and keywords related to your product/service, the more Google will index and show in its Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

With this development, Google is now taking social search to a whole new level since its release in 2010.

However, what remains to be seen is Google passing on link juice to the brand/website of the links posted on your Facebook page by the people who comment.

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As the world still reels and mourn the loss of Steve Jobs, here are some interesting facts and figures on the company he built – The products which Apple creates and designs are undoubtedly world changing and revolutionizing.

However, here is the flip side to the coin with an overview of  Apple’s impact on the world’s largest production factory: China.

Industrial Impact

• Only 1/3 of factories pass Apple’s supplier code of conduct.
• $8.8 billion in revenues for first three quarters of 2011.
• 137 workers poisoned at a Chinese firm making Apple products.
• $10 is the daily pay of 300,000 workers assembling iPhones.
• 27 suspected suppliers with severe pollution problems.
• 330% China revenue growth since 2010
• 13 employees at high profile supplier Foxconn who committed suicide.

Retail Expansion

• $70B revenue opportunity. iPhone is only officially available on China Unicom.
• 25 retail stores Apple plans to open in 2012.
• 2008 Apple launched its first retail store during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• Apple’s global empire: 325 stores, 11 countries, 2.5 million square feet of retail space = $3.19 billion quarterly revenue.

Legal

• Copycat phones like the HiPhone are sold throughout China.
• Wang Hai vs Apple: Well known consumer rights group alleges Apple is selling refurbished phones as new in China.
• At least 24 fake Apple stores have been reported. They sell Apple products, wear Apple t-shirts and pretty much pretend to be Apple employees.
• John Theirault: Ex FBI superstar who led Pfizer’s fight against fake Viagra now leads Apple’s fight against Chinese counterfeiters.
• Apple’s lawyers serve notice to China-based Fangguo Food Co. Next stop Chinese Apple stands.

Here is the infographic to give you a pictorial guide of the facts and data presented above.

Infographic courtesy of Sortable

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Connect with real influencers from the China Internet industry and meet some of China’s top internet entrepreneurs, CEOs and investors next week.

One of the best ways to learn is to hear from those who have been there and done that. If you are in the internet, security, gaming or mobile space — you don’t want to miss this event.

There are over 500 Million Internet Users in China. That’s why we want to bring the Chinese internet influencers together.

On Nov 7 (next Monday), explore the latest Chinese internet trends, understand the online behaviors and network.

Join us for an open, informative and fun gathering to explore the China-USA internet, gaming and mobile landscape.

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

When: Monday, November 7, 2011 from

Where: 543 8th Street San Francisco, CA 94103

Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (PT)

Who will be attending:

• Lei Jun, CEO, Xiaomi – Ron Conway of China and CEO of China’s “most ambitious startup”
• Wang Jian, CTO, Alibaba – The world’s largest online B2B trading platform for small businesses
• Michael Song, CEO, Skymobi – China’s largest Android marketplace and recently IPO’d in the US
• Yu Lin, CEO, Netqin – China’s largest mobile security company and recently IPO’d in the US
• Liu Shuang, CEO, iFeng (Phoenix New Media) - Internet and mobile portal and recently IPO’d in the US
• Yu Yongfu, CEO, UC Web – China’s largest mobile browser and expecting to IPO in the US this year
• Joe Wu, CFO, Netdragon – Top internet and mobile gaming company – IPO’d in Hong Kong in 2007
• Sheng Bi, CEO, Letao – Top apparel eCommerce company
• Wang Qiangyu – CEO, Duanqu

Agenda

6:00 pm — Networking

6:45 pm — Introduction

6:55 pm – Meet the Chinese Giants – 5 minute company introduction by 4 companies

Alibaba, Xiaomi, Netqin and Skymobi

7:15 pm — Panel Discussion - Meet the Capitalists: Red Versus the Yankees (Moderated by Edith Yeung)

Jonathan Siegel – RightVentures

Dave McClure – 500Startups

Lei Jun – Ron Conway of China

Wang Jian, CTO of Alibaba

8:00 pm — Meeting ends

Click here to attend

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The Occupy Wall Street movement across the nation is something that’s been a long time coming.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement’s (OWS) motto: We are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. This OWS movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up.

At the very core of the problem are the money managers of the nation – Big banks and institutions in charge of people’s money.

• List of America’s worst banks in 2011 by The Daily Beast — Despite these and other unpardonable sins, banks showers tens of millions of dollars in bonus money on top executives.
• List of 10 highest paid bank CEOs in 2010 by CNN Money — Jamie Dimon, CEO of Chase made $20.8M in 2010, a 1,541% increase from 2009.

According to the American Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO), CEOs of the largest companies received, on average, $11.4 million in total compensation last year of 299 companies in the S&P 500 Index. Overall, CEOs of the 299 companies in the Executive PayWatch database received a combined total of $3.4 billion in pay in 2010, enough to support 102,325 jobs paying the median wages for all workers.

In contrast, this is has been the reality of the 99% of Americans for which Occupy Wall Street’s support is coming from — a great chunk of them are from small businesses and employees of small businesses.

In Seattle, David Meinert, owner of a pizza and cafe has been donating pizzas to the protesters everyday. He said, “small businesses don’t need more tax giveaways for the rich. We don’t need more money spent on bank bailouts, subsidies for oil companies, corporate agribusiness and the wars. We need money reinvested in American infrastructure, education and people.”

On a personal note, I visited a Chase bank last week to seek investment information and advice. The Certified Financial Planner of the branch I visited told me point blank that it’s consumers walking away from their homes that are causing all the economic and financial problems we are facing today — the sheer audacity and ignorance, not to mention insensitivity of that comment.

This is the reality of big bank employees — pressured by sales metrics and focused on the payout. Hence, the strategy of big banks selling sub prime mortgages for years as standard which caused the housing meltdown.

A Chase bank employee posted this comment on an anti-Chase bank blog:

The reason they are so pushy, and recommend specific things are because we make what are called “Personal Value Credits” or PVC’s. That is our commission. We open a checking account: 5 PVCs, we sell a Debit Rewards card: 7 PVCs. Credit cards: 17.5 PVCs. Loans and investments pay the most. Loans are 0.7 PVCs for every $1000 , so a $100,000 loan = 70PVCs.

This is why customer service is horrible… there is a tremendous amount of pressure for each banker to make at least 1150 PVCs. That is 100% payout. Over 1500 PVCs = 125% payout, and over 2,000 PVCs = 150% payout. If we don’t reach our goal of 1150, we get less than 100% of our PVCs.

What Small Businesses Can Do:

• Move your money — the big bailouts the big banks have been receiving are being distributed to all the wrong areas especially executive pay. As a small business owner, you have the choice to bank with a smaller institution who actually cares and know about you and your business needs.
• Move Your Money Project — here is a great resource on who, what and how you can participate and move your money so that it works for you and your business.
• Reinvest in Main Street — the vast majority of which avoided the banquet of greed and corruption that created the toxic economic swamp we are still fighting to get ourselves out of are struggling.

Why Do This:

1. You can make a difference – while you may not have the time and resources to join an OWS protest, you get to make a difference. According to the Huffington Post, “If enough people who have money in one of the big  six banks move it into smaller, more local, more traditional community banks, then collectively we, the people, will have taken a big step toward re-rigging the financial system so it becomes again the productive, stable engine for growth it’s meant to be. The big six banks are: Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
2. Big banks not lending – Despite the big banks government bailouts (from taxpayers money) and increase in fees, from June 30, 2008, to June 30, 2009, outstanding loans in this category dropped 2%. From June 30, 2009, to June 30, 2010, they fell an even faster 6.4%.(source: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco).The big banks have also cut lending by over $100 billion since 2009 while executive pay of big banks have been on the rise.