In today’s Signal, Microsoft’s new Windows tablet, Surface, could change the tide; our own John Battelle on Google’s Transparency Report and moving ourselves into a digital realm; FB mobilizes in ways that might cause investors to smile again; Yahoo’s got a new Chief of Revenue; and more.
To the links…
Microsoft Finally Has A Tablet Business Model With Surface (SplatF) Microsoft just unveiled its new Windows tablet, Surface. Clearly, MS has learned that the best business model in today’s mobile industry is to the sell the actual hardware to consumers, not just license an operating system. Whether this tablet will make enough money to compensate for any potential decline in the Windows-for-PC business is anyone’s guess. But the folks at Gizmodo seem sure that Surface just made the MacBook Air and the iPad look obsolete.
Google’s Transparency Report: A Good And Troubling Thing (Searchblog) Included in the release of Google’s latest “Transparency Report” is its bi-annual report of government takedown requests. The number of takedown requests from governments is on the rise — up about 100% year to year for the US alone— but what’s more interesting than the actual report is the role that Google (and other companies) play in all of this. As we move our public selves into the digital sphere, we seem to be also moving our trust from the institutions of government to the institution of the corporation.
They Work! Facebook Mobile Ads Are Clicked 13X More, Earn 11X More Money Than Its Desktop Ads (TC) New studies by TBG Digital, AdParlor and Spruce Media, three of Facebook’s biggest Ads API partners, reveal that Sponsored Stories will help Facebook monetize the shift to mobile advertising. This news could make investors more optimistic, especially when you factor in FB’s announcement that it’s working on a location-based mobile advertising product that will allow companies to target users with real-time data showing their whereabouts.
It’s Official: Michael Barrett Named to New Job as Yahoo Ad Czar (AllThingsD) The hiring of Michael Barrett signals that Yahoo is about to make major changes to its ad business. According to ATD’s numerous sources, Yahoo is again mulling a plan to abandon or sell large parts of its ad tech business and rely on third-party vendors, including Google.
What Took Us All So Long to Figure Out the Fatal Flaw in Zuckerberg’s Law? (AdAge) Mark Zuckerbergs’s law — “…next year, people will share twice as much information as they share this year, and next year, they will be sharing twice as much as they did the year before” — seems destined to be trumped by the Law of Diminishing Returns. Beware the over-share!
Twitter Flies into the Cannes Limelight (FT – reg required) This week, Twitter’s co-founder Jack Dorsey will receive the Cannes Lions “media person of the year” award at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. There to greet him, and other attendees, is a billboard adorned with Twitter’s new logo. Escalation of Twitter’s plans for international expansion into continental Europe and Latin America is in full gear.
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