Instagram has 9 employees and a valuation around $500M

Instagram, the popular photo sharing app for iPhone, is about to raise $40 million, which should give a valuation of $500 million to the firm. That's for a company that at last count had only 9 employees and hasn't really started trying to make money yet. Instagram has seen spectacular growth, getting more than 15 million users in less than two years, and was adding them at a pace of a million every couple of weeks toward the end of last year.

Founder Kevin Systrom told BI that he hasn't decided exactly how Instagram will make money, but he's confident that there's an opportunity.

"The question is, is there an opportunity beyond group buying, search advertising, to make a whole lot of revenue on the iPhone, on Android. I believe the answer is yes, that's what we're going after".

Instagram has never spent a dime on marketing. It appears that Facebook has tried to buy Instagram with no success so far.

For more information and an interview with the founder see:
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-27-year-old-built-one-of-the-fastest-growing-apps-ever-without-spending-a-dime-on-marketing-2011-11#ixzz1oe9eq8EX

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-has-only-a-handful-of-employees-but-may-soon-be-valued-at-500-million-2012-3?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=10%20Things%20In%20Tech%20You%20Need%20To%20Know&utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20%28sai%29%3A%2010%20Things%20You%20Need%20To%20Know%20This%20Morning#ixzz1oe8mPQww

The potential of m-commerce (infographic)

Here is the potential of m-commerce in a Mashable infographic.

http://mashable.com/2012/03/07/mobile-commerce-outlook/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Innovation of the month: GroupMe of Skype

GroupMe is the newest member of the Skype family. GroupMe is an easy way to chat with the people and groups you really know, wherever you are. GroupMe works on almost every cell phone¹ and there’s an app available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7. You’ll be connecting with all your friends in no time at all.

What is interesting is the fact that you can chat in group among different smartphones OS owners. More people are registered to Skype than Blackberry Messenger or other proprietary applications.

The app is free if you have a WiFi connection or a mobile data plan that emables to chat with your group in-app.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

The empowerment of the social consumer

Here is an infographic from Mashable on the new empowerment of the social consumer. The online reaction of customers can play a big role of the valuation of firms.

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/02/29/social-consumer-infographic/

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

The next wave of tech IPOs: enterprise tech

According to the Wall Street Journal, the next wave of tech IPOs is coming and should contains mainly tech firms focusing on the business sector. While it takes longer time to reach break-even, tech firms focusing on the business sector have in general less volatile revenues and profits since their businees models are based on predictable revenues and recurring monthly fees.

2011 was the year of consumer Internet IPOs—from Groupon Inc., LinkedIn Corp. and Zynga Inc. 2012 is starting with Yelp Inc. and Facebook Inc. Now companies that sell technology mainly to businesses are also getting ready to hit the stock market. This new crop of IPO-ready companies are solving problems that businesses are willing to spend money on, such as improved security or better insight into customer behavior.

Splunk Inc., a San Francisco company that helps businesses capture and analyze the data they generate, and Infoblox Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif., maker of network-automation technology, in January both filed to go public in IPOs aiming to raise around $125 million each. Now other enterprise-tech makers are lining up to get out of the gate. According to people familiar with the matter, security-technology maker Palo Alto Networks Inc., online human resources software company Workday Inc. and tech-management software maker ServiceNow Inc. have picked bankers or are in the final stages of choosing and informing bankers for their IPO process. Atlassian Inc., which provides software building blocks to developers, is also aiming to file for an IPO this year, said another person familiar with the matter. Splunk is still unprofitable but its revenue rose 79% to $77.8 million for the nine months ended Oct. 31. Palo Alto Networks, meanwhile, said in August that its run rate exceeded $200 million in bookings and that it had been cash flow positive for five consecutive quarters.

Even though the IPOs may not happen until the summer, the companies are moving quickly towards a public offering to take advantage of the current IPO window that has been kicked wide open by the excitement over Facebook's filing and a rising stock market. "It's better to be ready to go when you're able to go," said one investment banker.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203986604577255452644418264.html

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Android has a collective evolution

According to Andy Rubin of Google, there are 850,000 activations of Android devices, whether mobile or tablets a day. Rubin explains the motivations behind the acquisition of Motorola: "The advantage of having a firm that makes it able to dial to where we think the future will, but it won't make anything exclusive that it may damage the rest... We believe in an open ecosystem."

As it happens, Motorola released the Android 3.0 Xoom tablet. Samsung offers version 4.0, which unifies tablets and phones. "Without balance you can not make an ecosystem. " Within this logic fits the fact that many manufacturers such as Motorola's own Motoblur, Samsung or HTC Sense Hub, provide their own equipment and adaptable interface. "I know it's controversial, some may prefer the pure system, as it comes, it also helps handled who are not familiar or want to customize. Anything to give consumers more choices seems right. "

Rubin has revealed that in 2011 12 million tablets with Google software were sold, excluding the Amazon Kindle Fire. They just doubled those sold in 2010.

First came Google Music, Google Books and later, YouTube was acquired... Just after they released Android. Now they need to combine both worlds ... "We will add more content, but for now we can not advertise. We have to improve to do business. "

Android still has some issues to solve: such as hiw you can't have good Facebook application in tablets? All board members have agreed that what is seen in the 10 inch version does not seem very consistent with the social network. "We will try to mark a path as the application of Gmail or YouTube, which detects the device and adapts, but it is a question for us, but for Facebook it does offer a version for iPhone and one for iPad" . A few hours later the head of Facebook's Technology has announced its commitment to a web-based, open mobile HTML5.

Rubin says high-end phones today will become the minimum within a window of 18 months. "The important thing is to be brave enough to set trends." When he arrived at Google, the firms invested in Android because, he says, Google knew that their business model, with free services and advertising revenue, was the only one who could succeed with their vision completely. It is unfair to think that all innovation comes from a company. The evolution is collective. "

Neither ruled out at some point a launch of a Google e-reader, but it does not seem too logical: "There is already an application in our Kindle Store."

The future, according to Rubin, is the era postPC. Once you have set in tablets and phones the next frontier is in the home, when you come home and leave the keys, mobile and work. "I feel that if we put Android at home, this will not work. We must be imaginative to join more traveling companions. If not, others will come up with another ecosystem. It is an industry that we want to lead by giving intelligence to home," he argues. It fits with the line of home automation smart labels, just a day before Sony had introduced its new handsets.

Source: El Pais

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Infographic on iPad 3

Here is an infographic on the iPad 3, about the motivations of Americans for buying the tablet. Study done by AYTM Research.

Source: AYTM Research

Source: http://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/ipad-3-infographic/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ipad-3-infographic

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @Infocomanalysis

Alternatives to SMS are cutting wireless operators revenues

According to GigaOM, new competitors such as Viber, WhatsApp, Facebook Chat and Google Voice are all alternative ways to send instant messages or texts across mobile platforms and join the usual suspects such as BlackBerry Messenger, iMessage and Skype as ways Internet businesses are again challenging the mobile carriers at their own game. The rise in third-party IM and voice applications has been noted in Europe, but reports out today show that carriers are running out of time. They need to hurry to co-opt their competition by playing to their strengths.

Ovum estimates operators lost $13.9 billion of potential SMS revenue in 2011 through subscribers using social messaging apps on their mobile phone, a loss in revenue that is both high margin and creates a virtuous cycle of use. When I sign up for a new social messaging service, I get my friends on it too, causing a loss in potential revenue that spreads virally. That’s how Viber, a social messaging service that was relatively unknown six months ago, can suddenly shoot up to consume 2 percent of mobile bandwidth six months later, according to data from Allot.

Wireless operators must build a good portfolio of innovation projects where some "winners" will emerge. Innovation is the solution to revenues loss.

Source: http://gigaom.com/mobile/random-startups-are-eating-almost-14b-in-operator-sales/

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Micro venture capital could emerge with new US bill

According to Forbes, micro venture capital relying on crowdfunding could quickly grow in the USA soon. Thus, initiatives such as the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.com–just one of many websites now dedicated to matching projects with people who have some means and desire to support them are experiencing strong growth. What Kickstarter donors got in return were things like “thank you” credits in films, DVDs, tee-shirts, flowers, cookies, and concert tickets. Federal and state securities laws prohibit these startup operations from offering equity to their investors. The good feeling that comes from supporting innovation seems to be the main reward for many people who hand over cash to support the schemes of others online.

If startups could offer stock to their small-stake supporters, some (including Amy Cortese in this New York Times Op-Ed) predict that the practice of crowdfunding would explode, opening up far more resources to entrepreneurs, spurring innovation, and creating jobs. That’s exactly what the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act (HR 2930) aims to achieve. The bill has the support of President Obama and was passed by an overwhelming majority in the House in November, but has been hung up in the Senate ever since. There is a good chance the bill will finally pass soon.

For more information: Crowdfunding Set to Explode with Passage of Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act
http://www.forbes.com/sites/techonomy/2012/02/29/crowdfunding-set-to-explode-with-passage-of-entrepreneur-access-to-capital-act/

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

The 8 industries and professions where tablets are very popular

TabTimes is a new magazine covering tablets. It is available at www.tabtimes.com. They just made an analysis of the 8 industries and professions where tablets are very popular.

Retail and sales
This much is obvious; sales members, those in the store or out in the field, benefit from having a mobile device they can use to complete transactions or check inventory. The tablet fits that bill perfectly, with the extra screen estate (compared to an iPhone, say) allowing retailers to promote their products in the best possible way. With firms such as Square and point-of-sale provider VeriFone backing T-commerce, and with the ever increasingheavyweights possibility of near-field-communication (NFC) chips coming to tablets for device-to-device payments, it's clear the newly-coined term of 'T-commerce' is here to stay.

Education
As a sector, education is widely believed to be slow on adopting new technologies, but in truth this is more often down to restricted budgets. With that in mind, it is worth noting just how many schools and universities have already taken to tablets, with most of these either funded directly by the school or in-part by parents.

Healthcare
When you consider that touch screens and first-generation Windows tablets have been in hospitals for decades, it's not surprising that healthcare is another very prominent area when it comes to large-scale tablet deployments. TabTimes has even heard of one pharmaceutical company deploying as many as 500,000 iPads in one shot.

Legal and political
Tablets are slowly seeping into the professional lives of both lawyers and politicians. TabTimes is seeing an increasing number of deployments (or rather, often through BYOD schemes) for lawyers to use tablets in the courtroom, while politicians are also feverishly getting in on the act.

Real estate
As an industry, its linked to retail and sales, but there's no doubting that tablets can help estate agents from everything from arranging and keeping track of house visits to liaising with home owners and tempting interested buyers with interactive floor plans.

Professional sports
Calling the NFL, NBA, and pro soccer "industries" feels like a bit of an overstatement, but professional sports teams around the world have discovered that iPads and other tablets are ideal devices for containing playbooks, reviewing game footage, and more.

Aviation: Pilots, cabin crew and passengers
From the cockpit, to cabin crew and even for in-flight entertainment, tablets can now be found thousands of feet up in the air, aboard both commercial and even military aircraft. Deployments have been split between big brands like American Airlines and British Airways, to invariably smaller crews. The number of units seems to be ranging from the very small to thousands at a time.

Media and marketing
Tablets are already having a massive impact on the world of publishers. That includes both publishing for content and on-screen advertisements. For content, publishers have found a new revenue stream in the form of an iPad or Android app, which also represent another way in which to expand their coverage to the masses. What makes the news even better is that the editorial process for journalists hasn't changed much. Tablets are not just a great way for journalists to keep on top of stories using productivity-enhancing apps like Evernote or Dropbox. They are also a great way to expand coverage and reputation worldwide. Beyond the written word, tablets are also giving digital agencies the opportunity to create rich, multimedia HTML5 advertisements. While tablet-specific standards have been slow to emerge, the good news is that tablet owners appear to be more willing to interact with these ads.

Source: http://tabtimes.com/feature/deployment-strategy/2012/02/24/8-industries-and-professions-most-rapidly-impacted-tablets

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis