Can Google make the transition from web 2.0 dominance to the mobile world? That’s the real question. Is Google in jeopardy of becoming the next Yahoo!? What will their future revenue look like and where will it come from.
We would be remiss if we didn’t hold UNTETHER.talks to the same standards we hold other companies on WTM. So this week, we dive deep into #Utalks: were the lunches delicious, why did the Wi-Fi suck, was it weird to still hear the speakers from the Glenn Gould washrooms, how the hell did two guys put on a two-day conference… Well not quite. Instead, we’ll tackle some of the overarching themes that became part of the conference conversation, and try to understand how they’ll affect business across the tech space.
Rob and I attempted to say focused on the smaller questions (“how does Google respond to Apple’s maps service?”, “which apps are in danger of having Siri drink their milkshake as we move from ‘search’ to ‘find’?”) but eventually we explode into full on future speculation (“is the mobile land grab over?” “is Apple to big too fail?” “can Apple stave off disruption by continuing to disrupt?”). This may smack to some of Apple fanboyism, but to the haters I pose another question: what app/product/service could be so compelling as to loosen Apple’s grip on the industry? Apple is the gatekeeper to tech users, and we all live in their beautiful crystal prisons. Kneel before Zod!
We’re not happy about it, but it had to happen. The clustercuss surrounding Facebook’s IPO, Mary Meeker’s apology (in the Classical sense), the world waking up to Facebook’s mobile problems, people like Walt Mossberg continuing to get it wrong talking about mobile ad revenue, people like Steve Gillmor getting it totally right talking about the mobile Push Level Agreement…. it’s all too juicy to not ask the big questions.
Is this the right revenue path for the location kings? Has foursquare focused too much on serendipity and not enough on social? Why aren’t they acquiring Localmind? Are they seeking to become the feature of someone else’s product? If every mobile app is becoming an LBS app, is it possible that location is simply too big for any one company or service? These are the questions we seek to answer on WTM, while posing a few new ones to you, the audience. Check it out and don’t forget to post your thoughts in the comments.
Today we talk Paper, the hot new iPad app from FiftyThree, the brains behind Mircosoft’s vaporware Courier project. Two weeks after its release, Paper has already surpassed 1.5 million downloads and 7 million created pages.
Paper represents a new breed of apps built for the post-PC era, as tablets evolve from content consumption to content creation devices. These post-PC apps come with post-PC business models. Rob and I dig deep into Paper to understand if content creation apps can also create money.
Instagram Week on UNTETHER.tv culminates today with a action packed look at biggest mobile story of 2012. Digging deep, we cover the stories around the story: Twitter’s mistake, Facebook’s new mobile strategy, and whether a billion dollars for a free photo-sharing app is sign of the next tech bubble.