It would be fair to estimate that Yahoo is likely to expect some migration in the wake of the acquisition. Tumblr is seen to be cool and popular while Yahoo is regarded as out-of-touch, old fashioned and square. Indeed it seems that this is one of the main reasons Yahoo has made the acquisition; to appeal to a younger audience and revamp it’s dull image.

Tumblr has reportedly received a mixture of both support and disapproval at the purchase, although the decision to let Tumblr remain a separate entity has been applauded.

The 72,000 migraters from the day of the announcement though represent a tiny number of Tumblr’s estimated 117 million unique users and with Yahoo determined not to ‘screw up Tumblr’ the site’s popularity is certainly assured in the long term.

The new smartphone will support 4G, be Google Android apps compatible and have features that include a 4.5 inch screen and an 8 mega-pixel camera.

Also features-wise the mobile will have an interchangeable coloured back allowing the user to change the operating system.

Company head Antti Saarnio picked up the ditched IBM/Nokia venture, which had intended to create an operating system to rival Apple and Google, along with other employees who left the company at the same time.

Reports suggest the new company will be open to other smartphone makers, including ex employer Nokia, to use Sailfish.

Among the findings GfK has revealed that:

• Nearly a half of businesses, (44%), find a shortage of skilled workers is the biggest challenge they face
• Over three quarters (77%) say a lack of skilled workers is restricting their growth
• A third (33%) believe a lack of access to capital is hindering their business.

GfK interviewed, this April, over 100 founders, CEOs and MDs of companies with turnovers of between 200k and 10million based mainly in London and the UK to collect the data for their report.

In terms of the recruiting problem, they found that most of the Tech City current businesses have unfilled positions for coders, developers, user testing experience staff, PR & marketing and web design, along with R&D and business development professionals. Over 90% of the business leaders are filling the skills gap with temporary workers and through intern appointments, although ideally few of them would choose to operate this way and when they do find the right people to fill positions they have difficulty retaining them.

In addition to the recruitment headache, Silicon Roundabout and other tech businesses are experiencing a lack of capital investment which is holding them back from securing significant business opportunities. In addition, business leaders complained that Government support for the technology sector is amounting more to ‘hype’ than reality. Almost a third of the interviewed businesses say as a consequence of the lack of capital their company is missing significant business opportunities to expand.

The full fascinating report can be read on the GfK website online.

http://www.gfk.com/uk/news-and-events/press-room/press-releases/pages/tech-city-growth-stunted-by-talent-shortage-and-lack-of-access-to-capital.aspx

The aim of the change is to make results more relevant so that anyone executing a search can choose whether they want the most up to date information or historical news and data.

As Google fellow Amit Singhal explained “The under-the-hood changes sought to understand whether a searcher wants results the last week, day or even minute.”

In contrast to rival Microsoft who’s Bing search engine emphasises social search, the updated Google algorithm is expected to be able to offer a better guess of how recent or ‘fresh’ the results should be.

Current news stories that are continuous such as the Euro crisis for instance will need to be distinguished from searches for regular events such as company reports, as Euro news updates are constantly being added. A search on ‘the Euro Crisis’ therefore would bring up the latest news items that are literally minutes fresh.

Other types of searches such as looking up a recipe, could call on older results of a few months or even years old, further explained Singhal.

Although the change will allow Google to keep its indexing up to date and add new sources quicker, there is a disadvantage to be noted of this shift in that relevancy could be diluted by spammers uploading light content.

Using the Microsoft Windows operating system, the new Nokia smartphones can finally offer an alternative to the preponderant iPhone and Google Android based devices. The dependability of the Windows software, along with sleek handset design and a favourable price should begin to readdress a balance.

To distinguish themselves from their rivals, the phones contain applications such as a navigation system for drivers, using Nokia’s maps, public-transport information over 400 cities worldwide and free streamed music, with new features to be added as future versions of Windows appear. The biggest innovation, though, is thought to be the Nokia Pulse, a service that combines elements of social networking with location services

In addition, just this week it exhibited four new ‘feature’ phone models aimed at the sociable young in developing countries. Although Nokia still sells the largest number of less elaborate ‘feature’ phones, it’s market share in America has virtually disappeared and these models will not be sold in the USA or Canada.

Amazon opened its online doors to SPAIN on Sept. 15th. This is good news for a country where e-commerce is way behind the times. That said, Spaniards have been using the co.uk/com sites for quite some time now and the figure quoted for Spanish visitors to the Amazon website stood at one million per month before the September Amazon.es launch.

The security, efficiency and excellent customer service offered by Amazon may go a long way to encourage an increased confidence in online shopping for a nation that credits less than five percent of his shopping habits to online purchases.

The site is expected to be in instance success but worries of how this success will impact on off-line retailers are not unfounded. The Spanish culture of shopping with local shopkeepers at independent stores still strongly exists but the lure of cheaper goods, particularly electronic goods, might be too great for the ash-strapped population.

We look forward to seeing just how successful Amazon.es will be in the coming months.

As internet companies form a non-orderly queue to register an Initial Public Offering (that is first sale of stock to the public) some claim we have entered into a new tech bubble. They justify the claim by citing recent valuations of Facebook, Linked-In and Groupon and warn from this that investors should not assume that every big internet company that goes public will be a success. As for the public, as more and more money pours in on the back of an investment opportunity of a lifetime ‘impulse’, prices rise higher and higher until the valuation becomes unrecognisable from the original value. The fear that valuations are simply backed up by hype and most will decrease over the coming years, leaving just a few winners, is the main critical standpoint.

Opponents stress that to hark back to 2001 dot.com crash would be putting forward an invalid argument given that so much has changed within internet technology since the dot.com crash. The most important change being that the market is now atleast four times bigger than it was in the late nighties – it is estimated that over 2BILLION people worldwide now use the internet, and mainly via Broadband connection. Added to that astounding figure is the fact that cost of running an application has reduced dramatically and that programming skills have advanced considerably.
With internet businesses taking over the supply of radio, film, music and books the logic behind technology companies trading at Price-Earnings multiples of between 15 and 25 times seems to some to be wholly justified, and in fact, compared to industrial stocks, stocks in technology are currently trading much lower.

So, what do you think? Is this talk of a new tech bubble really justified?

Value of Internet Companies – Hype v Reality?

Social media is also playing a role within Kia’s digital strategy. In 2010 the company launched a YouTube channel, and the number of views the company’s videos generated exceeded all expectations, with more than 40,000 views in two months. The success of these videos was attributed to that fact that the content is factual, rather than entertaining, where viewers are able to gain valuable information about Kia’s vehicles.
“One thing we have noticed is that if we ask people to watch a video, or try to push product-related messages to them, interaction with those posts is a lot less than if we ask for user-generated content, such as ’where did you take your Kia this weekend?’,” said Bache.
With regard to Facebook, the Kia Motors UK Facebook page currently has around 3,700 ’likes’ but has said not yet seen the success they hoped for, but the page remains a work in progress, looking at regularity and content of postings.
Of course, mobile is now firmly on Kia’s radar as consumers increasingly embrace smartphones. January 2011 figures showed that 5% of all Kia’s web traffic was coming in via mobile devices. Kia intends to have a fully-optimised mobile website in the near future.
It goes without saying that traditional media will still keep its place in Kia’s marketing strategy and in order to ensure the various types of media can be aligned, Kia relies on MPG Media Contracts (part of Havas Digital) to fuse offline and online ideas across all types of media channels.

For information on how to help your business grow through search engine marketing and to discuss other strategies such as lead generation and affiliate programs within the field of online marketing, get in touch with us here at Panovista Marketing.