Weekly Review - Facebook, Privacy, mCommerce and Freemium Apps

This week we’ll look at four topical items:

1. Changes to Facebook
2. Privacy Peering Forward
3. Mobile Commerce (mCommerce)
4. Freemium Apps

(1) Changes to Facebook

Last Friday we highlighted the changes being made to Facebook today relevant to developers and Facebook users, and the launch of Facebook “Places” last week.

“Places” has created a wave of new interest in the existing location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla. Here’s an interesting comparison with comments from users as to which service they’d use for such services. Certainly arriving at a big event on Sunday, as a last-minute decision, it would have been good to find out quickly which of my friends were also there.

(2) Privacy Peering Forward

So much of our daily lives is being recorded publicly on the likes of Facebook, and recorded privately (we hope) every time we use a credit card or loyalty card. No wonder Google’s CEO Eric Schmitt this week talked about youngsters needing to change their name to escape their on-line past.

He also spoke prophetically about a whole manner of possibilities as we increasingly use apps on smartphones and other mobile devices to carry out our daily lives. For example, Google will be able to start reminding us of things we probably need to do, especially when passing shops and other premises. Spooky?

(3) Mobile Commerce (mCommerce)

Which takes me back to 2006.

Some of you know that my serious interest in the internet started as 1999 turned into 2000, and the availability of broadband speeds provided a rapidly expanding array of internet-based applications – a period usually described as the “dot com bubble”.

I ran 30 events between 2000 and 2006 called the “Thames Valley Internet Business Forum” (TViBiz), later known as the “BizTech Forum”. These events took a business-person's view of the internet. So I invited a lawyer to cover the latest legal aspects, and at least two guest speakers at each event on business topics such as eProcurement . During this time the dot com bubble burst and the internet became embedded in so many systems it was no longer a separate topic. As interest evaporated, the one area that looked anything special was mobile. But there wasn’t enough then. It has taken a couple of years, with the likes of the iPhone and iPad now hitting the headlines with an astonishing variety of “apps”. Whilst many are purely for fun, an increasing number have a sound commercial basis. For example apps are required to use Facebook Places and FourSquare on your smartphone.

The CMO of Pizza Hut US, Brian Niccol , is quoted as saying this week that mobile orders have actually surpassed orders via the Web from home, and mobile will account for more than 50% of orders. No surprise when you think about it, but it provides a strong reminder that if your business isn’t taking appropriate advantage of the power of mobile devices, your competitors certainly will!

(4) Which brings us to the power of “Freemium”

Everyone likes getting something valuable for free. “Free” is one of the most powerful words in marketing. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, is there?

Well there is in the world of “freemium”. Not a new concept, but one which is becoming the norm for PC software and especially now mobile apps.

The concept is that users are allowed to use a Lite version for free, which does a reasonable job, and may carry advertising. Users are then encouraged to upgrade to one or more paid-for Premium versions, eithe to lose the advertising and.or to gain funcationality. Getting the functionality balance and pricing right between the Lite and Premium versions is an art, to ensure the Lite is good enough, but a goodly proportion of users upgrade .

This isn’t the only method using a free element. Often users are given a full version on a free trial, and the author then hopes they will so want to keep it they pay the licence fee (the good ol' "puppy-dog close"). A good example of this in the PC arena is the dashboard gauges add-in for Excel.

For mobile apps, it’s only recently that Apple has cottoned on and is reported as providing apps on a free trial basis through the AppStore. However although many apps are free, as I write those apps on a free trial are not yet obvious.

So whether you are user or developer, the future’s bright, the future’s freemium.

I hope you have enjoyed this free Lite article. Do contact me for the customised Premium version, on +44(0)1628 632914 or by email to challisc @ camwells.co.uk (please remove blanks first)

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