Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Latest from TechCrunch

The Latest from TechCrunch

Link to TechCrunch

MS Office App CloudOn Ramps Up Productivity On The iPad With Box And Adobe Reader Support

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 09:29 AM PDT

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CloudOn, a mobile productivity app for the iPad that allows users access Microsoft Office documents in the cloud, is debuting a new version of its service that by integrating with Adobe Reader, Box and Dropbox.

CloudOn’s goal is to allow users to easily create, edit, share and save their work using only their iPad. The app connects to Microsoft Office (the company has licensed the technology from Microsoft), giving users access to their Office documents and features, including tracking changes in Word, manipulating pivot tables in Excel and viewing PowerPoint slideshows in full presentation mode. Users can also display, edit or create charts, insert formulas, change formatting, spell check, or insert comments into any Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document.

CloudOn 2.0 now features access to content on Box or Dropbox. Users with existing Box or Dropbox accounts can log in from the app, and then open, create, edit, share and automatically save their documents. Version 2.0 also provides Adobe Reader to view PDFs.

And users have access to a universal viewer for any file, ranging from raw Photoshop images to everyday image files, including: PNG, JPEG and GIF. Additionally, users can open and send emails along with attachments without ever leaving the app.

As the iPad begins to have a greater presence in the enterprise and productivity space, CloudOn has seen engagement take off. The app, which launched in January, has seen one million downloads in three months, and has seen 4 million files edited, says Milind Gadekar.

Of course, there’s the question of whether Microsoft will officially bring Office to the iPad with dedicated app. But CloudOn is looking to expand beyond Microsoft/ While initially launched as a iPad companion for Microsoft Office, CloudOn’s eventual goal is to mobilize a number of productivity apps and make them available on the iPad. “We’re going to be about more than just delivering Microsoft Office on the iPad,” he adds.



Google: Mobile And Video Research Drive In-Store Cell Phone Purchases

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 09:28 AM PDT

Curious how consumers are making decisions regarding which cell phone to buy? Google teamed up with Compete on a study examining how the online consumer shops for a wireless device and we have the results of the survey and study exclusively. Google and Compete tracked consumers online and searching patterns, analyzed the behavior of those purchasing cell phones by tracking their behavior backward from the point of purchase, and surveyed buyers as well.

Some of the results aren’t necessarily groundbreaking, it is interesting to see what factors drive in-store purchases. For example, Google says that 72% of mobile researchers purchased their phone in store (vs. 55% of non-mobile researchers).

Watching video reviews and features on phones also helps drive purchases— 39% of shoppers used video while researching; 77% watched for more than 10 minutes. And 63% of wireless shoppers use search portals throughout purchase process. After viewing smartphone product videos, 64% became interested in specific smartphone models, 44% were introduced to smartphone brands not previously considered and 36% heard about the smartphone product for the first time.

Network reliability, cost of data plans and the actual phone itself all topped consumers’ most important considerations when buying a cell phone. For the most part, upgrades and the want for the latest gadget tend to drive purchases, with 48 percent of phone buyers available for an upgrade and 31 percent purchasing because they wanted the latest phone.

Basically, 45 percent of cell phone sales were completed in-store but online research heavily influences decision-making, says Google. And users tend to research for around 3 weeks before making a purchase. More than half of shoppers visited five sites for research, and were mostly considering two different devices when making a purchasing decision.

In terms of advertising, TV ads lead to the highest recall among smartphone shoppers, followed by online ads, email advertisements and search engine listings. When examining online resources exclusively, reseller websites, online reviews, search engines and social networks all drove purchases.

Kyle Keogh, Google’s tech industry director, tell us that while carriers account for a big portion of visits for research, users tend to buy their phones elsewhere. Essentially, carriers need to do a better job with closing sales, especially online.

Get A Drink and A Job At NYC Uncubed, The New Silicon Alley Talent Fair

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 09:09 AM PDT

NYC Uncubed

What if you could down drinks at a Tumblr open bar, rock out to live music from Spotify, and battle it out at ping pong and foosball, all while finding a sweet new job? Then you’d be at NYC Uncubed, a recruiting event for those sick of awkward, traditional recruiting events. Formerly the Silicon Alley Talent Fair, Uncubed has over 70 New York City startups that are on fire and ready to hire programmers, designers, marketers, and more.

It’s all going down on April 26th from 1pm-7pm at The Altman Building, 135 W 18th St New York, 10011. Attendees and startups can both sign up on the Uncubed website.

Normally I wouldn’t write about another talent fair, but I want to encourage this informal approach to recruiting. When there’s nothing but company booths, it feels like a meat market. But like any good party, when there’s something fun going on around you, it’s a lot easier for employers and recruits to break the ice and get to know each other.

So on top of Tumblr’s open bar, Spotify jams, StackOverflow vinyl cutouts, and games from Enterproid, there’ll be speaker sessions featuring Joel Spolksy, CEO/Founder of Stack Exchange, and Kellan Elliott-McCrea, CTO of Etsy. Other cool companies who’ll be there scouting for talent include Warby Parker, Chartbeat, shutterstock, Badgeville, and Seamless Web.

And yes, in case you weren’t sauced up enough already, there’s a happy hour afterwards. Cheers to Uncubed for planning a recruiting event you might actually want to hangout at.

If you’re near New York, don’t miss TechCrunch Disrupt New York 2012, featuring Michael Arrington, former Mozilla CEO and current Greylock Partner John Lilly, and Google's Vice President of Location and Local Services Marissa Mayer.

Everyme Launches Mobile App That Aims To Get Social Circles Right

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 09:01 AM PDT

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Everyme, a Y Combinator-incubated startup with a long list of impressive investors, is launching its iPhone app today. Its goal? To create an environment where you feel comfortable sharing whatever you want with specific groups of people.

Co-founder and CEO Oliver Cameron demonstrated the app for me over the weekend. At the core of the Everyme experience are Circles — private news feeds that you create with specific groups of people. The problem, Cameron says, is that as you get more and more friends on Facebook, people who you have wildly differently relationships, the less comfortable you feel sharing updates and content.

“Two years ago, my sharing on Facebook was significantly different than it is now,” he says.

After all, the way you behave with coworkers is different from the way you behave with your family, and both are different from the way you behave with your college friends. Now you can create Circles for all of them.

Of course, Google already made Circles a central part of the experience with Google+, which Cameron calls “a step in the right direction.” However, he also says that Google+ was a disappointment, in part because “the whole experience is really strange” — for example, it’s confusing when other people put you in a Circle, but you don’t know what Circle it is.

Everyme tries to make the experience as transparent and simple as possible. Everyone can see who else is in a Circle, and they can leave a Circle (or delete it if they’re the creator) at any time. The app doesn’t allow users to share anything from Everyme to Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks — Cameron says that’s so you know that what’s shared in a Circle stays in the Circle.

The app also automates some of the sharing for you, creating some initial Circles based on its best guess as to your relationships. You can also turn on a feature called Magic Stories, which looks at your social network feeds and automatically posts important milestones, like a birthday or a promotion. Everyme uses your phone’s address book for sharing, and if people don’t have Everyme accounts, they can still see and post content through email and text messages. (It may be a little confusing that there’s another mobile startup called Just.me which takes a similar approach in a number of ways, including the emphasis on your address book as the basis of your social network.)

Everyme’s investors include CrunchFund, Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, Tencent, SV Angel, Dave Morin (who is experimenting with a another approach to private sharing with Path), Joshua Schachter, and Vivi Nevo. You can download the app here.

Please Welcome Peter Ha, Frederic Lardinois And New Co-Editor Alexia Tsotsis

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 08:13 AM PDT

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Sure, legends like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle don’t play for the Yankees now, but the team hasn’t just survived the ups and downs over the years. Hate it or love it, the franchise attracts many of the best players in baseball today, and wins championships.

That’s TechCrunch, too.

Peter Ha is returning to us with a few very solid years of editing successes under his belt. He started out as a CrunchGear writer under John Biggs, back in 2006. He went on to found the Techland blog for Time and turned it into a growth story. Then he became the tech editor at The Daily, News Corp’s ambitious tablet project.

Here’s what his previous boss, editor-in-chief Jesse Angelo, has to say about the job he did: ”Peter was one of the first editors hired at The Daily and his vision and leadership were instrumental in the creation of our excellent ‘Apps and Tech’ section. We thank him for his hard work, and wish him well in his new role.”

Starting in two weeks, Peter will be back at TechCrunch as our managing editor, working to organize the daily flood of stories we cover as well as develop new projects.

Frederic Lardinois has been developing his cred in the blogosphere, first with a great two and a half year run at ReadWriteWeb then an impressive stint with his own site, SiliconFilter.

While you may know him for his wide-ranging coverage of tech topics, his academic background is in English literature, history and Medieval Studies.

He officially started Monday but you may have noticed him sneaking in some ass-kicking last week. He’ll be using SiliconFilter as his personal site.

Alexia Tsotsis has stood by TechCrunch through both difficult and great times, and worked hard behind the scenes to build and motivate the team. And, she has the dramatic flair and fearlessness that has been a key part of TechCrunch’s success.

Our biggest long-term risk is losing this style, so Alexia is going to be joining me as co-editor, focusing on developing the team’s editorial voices.

Devin Coldewey has been working with TechCrunch since 2007, with savvy coverage of a broad range of technologies. Now he’s going to be moving on to cover consumer tech for MSNBC — but staying on as a contributor here. You can continue to expect more wonderful stories from him on this site, like his excellent Charge Of The Like Brigade.

We have a few more hires happening on the editorial and business sides, that we’ll be ready to announce in the next few weeks. But until then, it’s back to the hardcore startup coverage you’re addicted to.

And so ends our latest entry in the Drama category.

[Yankees photo via Amazon/Barewalls/whoever the original photographer was.]

Now At 4M Users, Video Startup Animoto Adds Former Aol/Yahoo Exec Brad Garlinghouse To Board

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 08:12 AM PDT

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Back in July of last year, Animoto, the startup that lets people easily create good-looking videos from user-uploaded audio, video and images, raised $25 million in venture funding, led by Spectrum Equity Investors, bringing its total outside investment to $30 million. As Mike pointed out at the time, were Animoto interested in a quick sale, they would likely have taken an exit in 2009 or 2010. However, the big Series C round seemed to be an indicator that Animoto had other plans, like the goal of turning the company into a giant.

This sentiment was echoed in a blog post today by CEO and co-founder Brad Jefferson, who said that the team is “in it for the long haul,” and although the company’s fifth birthday is sneaking up, they feel like they’re “just getting started.” In short, that means Animoto wants to stay true to its mission to bridge the gap between the high production value (and cost) of film and television and the more amateur look, feel (and lower cost) of UGC.

To make this work, Animoto developed patent-pending cinematic artificial intelligence that aimed to take the place of actual directors and editors, analyzing and mashing up user-uploaded images, video, and audio into cool videos, using the same sophisticated post-production techniques traditionally reserved for TV and film. In October, the startup re-built its creation flow for video slideshows from the ground up to make video creation smarter and easier.

This meant cutting the amount of clicks it takes to make a video in half, as well as increasing the amount of media tiles that can be viewed on screen from 30 to 300 to allow both consumer and professional users (those who use Animoto to upload dozens of photos of video clips) to get more out of the product. The team also updated search functionality, making it easier to sort through the startup’s library of music tracks by category, like title, artist, and song length.

Although growth has been measured, it is on the heels of these product upgrades that Animoto recently passed 4 million registered users and, in March, added over 200K new users, in what Jefferson says is the company’s biggest month to date. Ten percent of the nearly 1 million videos users are creating each month are now being made on the company’s new iPhone app that launched in December. In addition, over the last 12 months, the startup has doubled its staff to over 70 employees.

On that note, Animoto is also today announcing the addition of Brad Garlinghouse to its board of directors. Garlinghouse is the former President of Mobile and Consumer product teams at Aol, where he worked from 2009 until his departure in November of last year. Prior to Aol, Garlinghouse was a Senior Advisor at leading private equity firm, Silver Lake.

And, before Silver Lake, the executive spent five-plus years at Yahoo, where he was the SVP of Communications and Communities, overseeing Yahoo Mail, Messenger and Groups, among others. At Yahoo, Garlinghouse was perhaps most famous for his so-called “Peanut Butter Manifesto”, in which he outlined a smart, if not slightly controversial, vision for getting Yahoo back on track. Unfortunately for the still-struggling Yahoo, it seems that the manifesto fell on deaf ears.

As to why Animoto leadership chose Garlinghouse to join its board? In his blog post today, the Animoto CEO said:

Aside from being a great guy who shares our vision for inspiring people to share their lives using the magic of video, Brad has deep experience with the importance of web innovation in attracting and retaining a thriving user community. Brad will help make our company and products better.

For more on Animoto, check them out at home here.

Gigwalk Adds Company Work Groups, Messaging And Field Tools To Paid Task Mobile App

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 08:00 AM PDT

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Gigwalk, a mobile app that allows users to get assigned basic "gigs" or jobs from companies via their location, is unveiling a new suite of tools to allow companies to manage local work via the phone.

Gigwalk, which launched last year, basically allows companies to tap into a mobile workforce for simple tasks. Users simply download the app, enter PayPal information and get assigned entry-level “gigs” or jobs that may take just a few minutes at a time in a particular location. For example, TomTom uses Gigwalk’s workforce to snap pictures to verify certain navigation points, such as one-way streets, etc. These workers simply snap a picture, email them in and receive a few dollars for the easy task.

Gigwalk is making it easier for companies to communicate with workers. Ad co-founder Ariel Seidman tells me, the company is focused on giving businesses the tools and controls it need to collaborate with workers and get work done efficiently. New Mobile Work Groups give companies a way to maintain a network of people they have worked with in the past and want to work with in the future. Companies can post their jobs specifically to their groups, more broadly to the Gigwalk network, or to both.

Currently, Gigwalk has around 130,000 workers in its network to help businesses find the right workers for the right jobs. When evaluating a candidate, businesses can see the number of Gigs each applicant has completed, the applicant's highest level of education, his or her current occupation, and his or her on-time rate.

In order to help companies communicate with workers in real-time while they are completing tasks, Gigwalk has added instant messaging to its app. Businesses receive an email whenever there is a communication through the platform, such as when they've received a message from a worker, when an application to a Gig has been received, or when work has been submitted and is ready for review. Businesses can respond directly through the Gigwalk platform, and messages are sent to workers’ mobile phones.

The app also now includes a survey guide, a notepad, and a photo library to enable workers to more efficiently document and collect information in the field.

Seidman says that some people using Gigwalk are earning $6,000 per month for work. Since launch, over 180,000 jobs have been completed through the platform for companies like eBay, Microsoft, Chegg, and BMW. The company also now has workers in all 50 states in the U.S.

Apple Of Our Eye: Gartner Predicts 665 Million Tablets In Use By 2016, Over 45% Of Them iPad Devices

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 07:56 AM PDT

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The age of the tablet is definitely upon us: figures out today from Gartner forecast that by the end of 2016 there will 665 million media tablets in use worldwide — a counterpoint to the sluggish sales we have seen in PCs in the last couple of years. This year, Gartner says there will be sales of 118.9 million tablets, growth of nearly 100 percent on a year ago.

But while the tablet market is picking up some momentum from competitors like Amazon and its Kindle Fire, and Samsung and its many sizes of Galaxy Tab, it looks like the day will continue to belong to Apple and its iPad.

Apple will continue to be the single-biggest vendor of tablets for the next four years, holding on to more than 45 percent of the sales in that time — although that represents a significant decline from the 83 percent market share that Apple had in 2010 and the 61.4 percent that Gartner estimates Apple will take this year.

Android’s share, meanwhile, is steadily growing. Android tablets will account for 31.9 per cent of media tablet sales in 2012, with that number rising to 37 percent by 2016 — getting close to, but not overtaking, Apple. The main issue, says Gartner, is that Android tablets still do not have the same breadth of applications as the iPad. Amazon’s appstore, for example, currently has around 34,000 apps, compared to the hundreds of thousands for the iPad.

Microsoft, with the introduction of tablet-friendly Windows 8, will make some, but not much, headway in tablets. By 2016 it will not have more than 12 percent of the market, Gartner predicts. That’s still growth from 4.1 percent this year.

One opportunity ripe for the taking — not just by Microsoft but others, too — is the enterprise market. Gartner says that 35 percent of all tablets will be sold for business use by 2015, although many of those purchases will be in the vein of “BYO” devices, meaning that those sales will be done outside of corporate channels. “More of these tablets will be owned by consumers who use them at work,” the analysts say.

In all, it looks like Gartner is being very bullish on sales of the iPad. Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray believes that Apple will sell 66 million iPad tablet this year, but Gartner is putting the figure closer to 73 million worldwide:

What about usage? One noteworthy fact is that for the moment tablets are proving to be more like smartphones and less like PCs in terms of their disposability: Gartner says that about half of all tablet owners replace their devices within 24 months of buying them.

In terms of actual apps — developers should take note here — there is a very strong correlation between smartphone and tablet apps: Gartner’s analysts have found that 40 percent of apps that users have are actually the same on both devices. In other words, if you are making an iPhone or Android smartphone app, you might find you have an easy sale in the form of a corresponding tablet-optimized app.

[photo: hawaii, Flickr]

While PC sales growth has been slowing down, it looks like they will continue to be stronger than tablet sales for the next several years. According to the most recent figures from Gartner, from January 2012, the PC market will see sales of 536.3 million units in 2015, counting both desktop and laptop PCs. A spokesperson tells us that it’s actually releasing more up-to-date PC forecasts this Thursday, and these might give us more insight on how 2016 might look.

Lightbank-Backed Social Travel Planning Service Gtrot Shifts To Local Discovery

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 07:31 AM PDT

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Social travel planning service Gtrot is changing its focus and is now officially relaunching its website with a new emphasis on local discovery. Somewhat reminiscent of Foursquare’s “Explore” feature, Gtrot is working to build a platform where you can discover, save and share the best restaurants, bars, clubs, arts, events and even the best local deals from services like Groupon and Gilt City.

These changes have been underway for some time, as Gtrot has been moving away from the travel vertical since as far back as last fall. But the current version of the website you see now, was soft-launched just last week.

Why the shift? According Gtrot co-founder Zachary Smith, “we actually saw that nearly half of our users were using our technology to explore our home city. Because we did give these instant recommendations and they were personalized and social, it was a really cool tool for finding things to do this weekend,” he says. Plus, “local discovery as a space makes a lot more sense than some travel specific application that you can only use a couple of times a year,” he adds.

The new interface for the Gtrot website looks a lot like a less developed Trippy now, and both look a little bit like Pinterest. Gtrot’s functionality is similar to Pinterest, too. Instead of “pinning” items to “pinboards,” users “add” items to “collections.” Although Smith is quick to point out that Pinterest didn’t invent the image pinboard layout, when he does describe the service’s aim, it does sound a lot like Pinterest:

“Gtrot is really more aspirational, or even inspirational,” he says. “We want you to browse all this content we’ve aggregated, start creating collections of things, and start to build up things you might want to do in the future, and stuff that you love in your city,” he explains.

The site allows you to sign in via Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare, and plans to further integrate with social services to aggregate your own checkins in a list called “Places I’ve Been.” (This feature did not appear to be live at the time of testing.) It does, however, currently aggregate the number of checkins a venue has from Foursquare to indicate its popularity.

I think that having Gtrot’s data sync back to Foursquare – for example, to its lists feature – would be useful, but there aren’t immediate plans to build a tool to do that at this time, Smith tells me. That’s too bad, because Foursquare’s lists are definitely an underutilized and underdeveloped aspect to its service. Just the other day, a friend was spouting off the names of restaurants he liked, and the app I launched to record them was the iPhone’s notepad. Sad.

That said, while browsing Gtrot’s site was enjoyable, using it as more of a utility was difficult. The search function, for example, was wonky. If you didn’t have the exact name (in some cases, including the “´” in “café”), the result wouldn’t appear. There were no automatic suggestions as you typed or “did you mean?” prompts on the results page, and Gtrot hasn’t figured out to always show you a result, even if it’s some 50 miles away. A match, even if further than you thought, is always better than “no results found.”

Going forward, the plan is to add data from other content providers to the site, so users can read restaurant menus or book reservations right on Gtrot, or buy concert tickets or purchase a daily deal. The startup is also about six weeks away from the launch of iOS and Android apps.

Gtrot was originally founded by Smith and Brittany Laughlin, but Laughlin is no longer playing as active a role (she still sits on the board, though). The company currently has 15,000 users and around $1 million in funding from Lightback, from a round raised last spring.

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn Just Resigned

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 07:15 AM PDT

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Best Buy’s Brian Dunn just stepped down as the retailer’s CEO and director effective immediately. This comes just days after Best Buy missed Wall Street’s estimates last quarter and the retailer announced plans to shutter 50 large stores and open smaller, likely more lucrative Best Buy Mobile locations. Director G. Mike Mikan will replace Dunn as interim CEO while the company searches for a new skipper.

Wall Street reacted positively to the news. Best Buy’s stock price jumped over 3% with heavy trading after the announcement but seems to be dropping back towards its opening price as of this post’s writing. Update: The stock price now crashing.

The company's full press release follows below.

Best Buy Announces Leadership Transition
Interim CEO Named to Lead Company

INNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The board of directors of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) today announced that Brian Dunn has resigned as chief executive officer and director. There were no disagreements between Mr. Dunn and the company on any matter relating to operations, financial controls, policies or procedures. There was mutual agreement that it was time for new leadership to address the challenges that face the company. Director G. Mike Mikan has been named interim CEO to lead the company while a search for a new CEO is underway. Richard Schulze, the founder of Best Buy, continues to serve as chairman.

"We thank Brian Dunn for his many years of service to the company and wish him well in his next endeavors"

"I have enjoyed every one of my 28 years with this company, and I leave it today in position for a strong future. I am proud of my fellow employees and I wish them the best," said Dunn.

"We thank Brian Dunn for his many years of service to the company and wish him well in his next endeavors," said Schulze. "As we move forward, we are very pleased to have a strong leader with Mike Mikan's credentials as interim CEO."

"The Best Buy team and I will be extremely focused on successfully managing this period of transition. I want to assure our employees, customers and other key stakeholders that we will work together to achieve our company's growth and profitability goals," said Mikan.

Mikan, who will remain on the board while serving as interim CEO, has been a Best Buy director since April 2008. He formerly served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and chief executive officer of Optum, a health care services company and affiliate of UnitedHealth. Mikan has strong financial and operational expertise, as well as public company leadership experience.

A search committee of the board of directors has been created consisting of the founder and members of the nominating, corporate governance and policy committee. The committee will oversee the process for the identification and selection of the next CEO.

Amazon Takes In-App Purchases Out Of Beta: Here’s How They Compromised On Revenue Share

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 06:04 AM PDT

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Amazon is taking the wraps off a new in-app purchasing service today in an effort to make its app store competitive with what Apple and Google offer developers. That should let developers for Amazon’s appstore tap into what has emerged as the most lucrative way of monetizing apps over the past year: staying free but offering virtual currency or other items for purchase inside the app.

After undergoing testing for several months, the new in-app purchasing service is now available for everyone. It’s based off Amazon’s one-click buying experience and applies to digital content like in-game currency, expansion packs, upgrades and subscriptions from inside apps and games.

But as I pointed out last week, the interesting part of this story is not whether Amazon is doing in-app purchases. It’s obvious that the company would do this.

The question is how is it setting up the pricing? You see, Amazon has historically pushed hard for the power to set prices for books and other goods. When it unveiled the appstore last year, it had the ability to discount apps at will. Developers would either earn 20 percent of what they wanted to charge or 70 percent of whatever Amazon ultimately charged — whatever was higher. That irked developers, naturally.

With in-app purchases, it turns out Amazon still has the ability to discount in-app items. But the developers will always earn 70 percent of the list price or what they wanted to charge for it, according to Amazon appstore’s director Aaron Rubenson.

“We’re just following the paradigm that’s out there with the 70-30 split,” he said. “This is a little bit different from the revenue share that we have for paid app sales. We looked at each purchase case separately.”

This is an interesting little compromise that lets Amazon keep its pricing power, while ensuring that developers see no losses as a result of it.

It’s also my understanding that Amazon isn’t mandating that developers only use the company’s in-app purchasing service. That said, Google’s in-app purchasing technology won’t work on the Kindle Fire, according to Rubenson. For that device, developers will have to use Amazon’s system. But on other tablets and phones, developers can use any number of in-app purchasing systems. That’s different from other app stores: Apple prohibits developers from using other in-app purchasing system for digital content. Google technically has the same rule although it hasn’t really enforced it until recently.

Here is the fine print if you want to read it yourself. It looks like there is a special exception for news media products:

4. Royalty; List Price. For each sale of an In-App Product, we will pay you a Royalty equal to 70% of the List Price as of the time of purchase. However, no Royalty is due for (a) In-App Products with a List Price of $0.00, (b) Subscription In-App Products listed in our News or Magazine categories (or similar or successor categories) that we make available to end users at no charge as part of free trial subscriptions or other promotional offers of up to 30 days (or any longer period you approve), or (c) other Subscription In-App Products that we make available to end users at no charge as part of free trial subscriptions or other promotional offers that you approve. For sales of Subscription In-App Products to renewing subscribers, your Royalty will be calculated based on the lower of (i) the then current List Price and (ii) the List Price in effect at the time the applicable end user first subscribed. A Royalty is due only for sales for which we have received final payment from or on behalf of an end user. If an In-App Product is purchased using a credit card or bank account deduction mechanism, final payment will be deemed to have occurred when the applicable credit card company or bank has fully settled the payment for the applicable purchase. “List Price” has the same meaning with respect to In-App Products as the meaning set forth in the Agreement with respect to Apps. You will update the List Price for each In-App Product as necessary to ensure it meets the List Price requirements.

In-app payments are something that Amazon is very well-positioned to do as the company has had a decade to build up expertise in online transactions. Coincidentally, it’s an area that Google is historically weak in providing. And developers are noticing. With about 34,000 apps and a very attractive base of paying customers, Amazon’s app store is becoming one to watch among mobile developers.

Flurry has reported that the average revenue per user from Amazon’s store is about 89 percent of what Apple iOS platform produces. Google lags behind with a revenue per user that sits at about 23 percent of what iOS can do. Keep in mind though that Amazon’s userbase is still much smaller than the audience that Google Play can reach. So Google Play might be able to make up for its weakness in monetization through scale.

Below is a video explaining Amazon in-app purchases plus some excerpts from the documentation that show the differences between Amazon and Google’s systems:

Android On Your PC: Qualcomm Invests In BlueStacks After Beta Sees 1M Downloads In 10 Days

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 06:00 AM PDT

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If you’re an Android and a PC, you should check out BlueStacks — before hackers catch on or Chrome sneaks in this functionality, take advantage. The startup’s software has been going like hotcakes over the last few months, as it’s offering a much-needed service for Android and PC users, having developed software that allows Android users to run their apps on all Windows PCs, tablets, and laptops — without any modifications.

Thanks to this appealing concept, BlueStacks lured $7.6 million in venture funding pre-launch, before adding another $6.4 million a few months later — all from investors like AMD, Citrix Systems, Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Ventures, and more.

The startup finally released its public beta on March 27th, and so far users have been eating it up. In the first 10 days after its release, BlueStacks’ App Player racked up more than 1 million downloads, with over 12 million apps collectively being run by its users. It’s on the heels of this early traction that the company is today announcing it has found yet another investor — this time from global telecom giant, Qualcomm.

Acting through its venture arm, Qualcomm Ventures, the chipmaker invested an undisclosed amount in BlueStacks, but from what we’ve been hearing from those familiar with the matter, the round was in the seven-figure range.

The startup now has over $15 million in outside investment, which is notable both in size (relative to the age of its product) and for the fact that BlueStacks has been able to bring together (at least symbolically) two of the biggest semiconductor/chipmakers on the market — Qualcomm and AMD. Not two names one typically finds side-by-side on a startup’s roster of investors.

“Consumers are increasingly looking for computing experiences that enable them to access their apps across different platforms,” said VP of Qualcomm Ventures Nagraj Kashyap. “We believe BlueStacks is well-positioned to capitalize on the marriage of mobile and PC.”

Again, for a recap for those unfamiliar, BlueStacks’ App Player is a free software download that gives Android users the ability to get one-click access to their apps on any Windows PC, including full-screen viewing. In turn, the startup’s Cloud Connect lets users push apps from their phone onto their PC easily and remotely, turning PCs into extensions of any Android-based mobile device, using their own personal cloud-based app channel.

Obviously, the big goal for BlueStacks is to bring the some 450,000 Android apps to those billion-odd PC users out there. If done right, it’s a fairly sizable market, to say the least. The other key to the startup’s beta release was the new ability to run graphics-intensive Android apps on desktop PCs, using its patent-pending technology called “Layercake.” Essentially, as we wrote at the time, Layercake allows Android apps to run on x86-based PCs, including apps written for the ARM processor, like Angry Birds Space or Fruit Ninja, for example.

The beta release leverages the PC’s graphics card to enable apps running graphics-intensive engines like Unity to process without hiccups, and also offers accelerometer tilting and pinch-to-zoom smartphone UI features to the desktop via mouse and keyboard prompts. Users can also now download apps from within BlueStacks even if they don’t have an Android phone, and can send and receive SMS messages on their PCs.

The company partnered with the developers behind apps like Fruit Ninja, SliceIt!, Barnes & Noble's Nook, Townsmen, Evernote, Defender and StumbleUpon for its beta release. Shainiel Deo, the CEO of Halfbrick (the makers of Fruit Ninja), said that the appeal of BlueStacks’ software is that developers don’t have to port or modify apps to run them on PCs, meaning there’s no heavy lifting for those who’ve already developed apps for Android.

Of course, Android fragmentation could be a problem, as some users of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in particular have complained of trouble in syncing app data between devices and PCs — beyond simply syncing APKs — something which will be crucial for its long-term viability. It will also be interesting to see how BlueStacks deals with security, as some users pointed out that the software could become a victim of having to make repeated security upgrades as hackers catch onto loopholes.

But, in the meantime, BlueStacks could offer Android users a great way to avoid using data-time on their smartphones, reducing bills across the board. It also offers Android developers of all stripes access to the billion-user PC market, something which has previously only been offered for a select few, like Rovio and Cut the Rope.

In that sense, BlueStacks wants to become a developer platform, by which developers can build for Android and get a PC app version for free. It’s without a doubt a smart play, and with big money from Andreessen, AMD, Qualcomm and more there’s reason to believe its product will continue to improve, though it will certainly be interesting to see how sustainable the company’s concept can be in the long term. If Windows 8 tablets take off, long-term viability could be within reach.

For more on BlueStacks, check ‘em out at home here. Below you’ll find a demo video of Fruit Ninja fullscreen on a PC using BlueStacks software:

The Nokia Lumia 900 Is Now Available In Canada, Hits The UK On April 27th

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 05:54 AM PDT

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The Nokia Lumia 900 train is rocking. After its first stop in the US on Easter Sunday, the party moved north of the border where Rogers is now selling the supersized Windows Phone. However, in a few short weeks, the phone will hit the UK on April 27th through Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse. It can be pre-ordered today.

The Canadian version is nearly identical to the one hawked by AT&T in the states including the CA$99 price — expect that’s with a 3-year contract. The rest is the same though including LTE connectivity and Windows 7.5. It’s more of the same in the UK where the only major difference involves the inclusion of HSPA+ instead of LTE.

The Lumia 900 is hitting at an awkward time. It’s a fine device but those looking for a new phone might want to wait a bit longer to see the upcoming competitors. The Samsung Galaxy SIII is rumored to be announced later this month and then of course the iPhone 5 could drop this summer. Patience is a virtue, you know. That said, I’m completely enamored by the Lumia 900. Windows Phone is so efficient and the few native apps are beautiful on the large and bright screen. I just the camera was on par with the one in the iPhone 4S. If you must get a new phone now, the Lumia 900 deserves a look even if it’s on AT&T.

Symbian Gets Productivity Power-Up With New Microsoft Office Mobile Apps

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 05:51 AM PDT

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The most notable fruit of Microsoft and Nokia's close working relationship is certainly the handsome line of Lumia Windows Phones, but the deal has had its share of fringe benefits as well.

Take its impact on Symbian for instance — Microsoft announced last September that they would be giving the platform a shot in the arm with the initially Windows Phone-only Office productivity suite, and now they've made good on their word with the release of their Microsoft Office Mobile apps.

Word, Excel, and Powerpoint are all present and accounted for, and while I don't need to tell you what they're meant to do, Nokia points out a few thoughtful features on their Conversations blog. Word Mobile retains proper formatting for tables and images, for example, while Excel plays nice with formulae inputted on the small screen and Powerpoint lets users add presentation notes and skim through slides in Outline mode.

The update is limited to Symbian Belle devices, and owners of the Nokia 701, Nokia 700, Nokia 603, Nokia E7, Nokia X7, Nokia C7, Nokia Oro, or Nokia C6-01 will have first crack at them — they're but a quick software update away. Users on the run can perform the necessary update on the device itself or via the Nokia Suite on a computer when things settle down a bit. If you’re not in a huge rush to pore over your spreadsheets on the metro though, feel free to wait for the app to hit the Nokia Store in the coming weeks.

Nokia also plans to bring the productivity love to a few more handsets, with devices like the Nokia N8, Nokia E6, and the Nokia 500 currently on the shortlist. Meanwhile, those of you lucky (or crazy) enough to consider purchasing the 808 PureView won’t have to worry about software updates or app downloads at all — the full complement of Office apps will come preloaded on the hefty handset.

Photobucket Inks Editing Partnership With Pixlr, Dumps FotoFlexer, Looking For More Twitter-Like Deals

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 05:29 AM PDT

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The world of digital photography had a shot in the arm yesterday when Facebook picked up Instagram for $1 billion, and it’s perhaps a sign of how all players in that space now need to up their game. Today brings news of a development from Photobucket, the online photo site that scored a huge deal last year when Twitter announced that it would power its image service. Photobucket today announced a deal with Pixlr, the cloud-based photo editing service from Autodesk, in which Pixlr’s tools will be integrated into Photobucket’s site.

The deal will see Pixlr replace Photobucket’s current editing service, FotoFlexer, which had been working with the site since 2008.

The announcement comes one week after Flickr announced that it was picking Aviary for its photo-editing services.

Photobucket, which now has 100 million users on its platform (not counting numbers from Twitter, which it does not share), says that the new service will come in two tiers of service, a more in-depth Pixlr Editor, which looks a lot like Photoshop, and a version called Pixlr Express with more basic functions for quick edits.

The service will also give Photobucket the option of monetizing its service a bit more: advertisers, it says, will be able to create branded effects through the service for Photobucket ad packages.

The deal is a big one for Pixlr, which only has about 25 million users at the moment, and underscores how a bunch of new entrants with strong services are jumping into the vacuum created with the departure of Picnik, which shut up shop after it got acquired by Google.

While the Instagram/Facebook deal certainly points to how closely photography is becoming aligned with mobile, there is still a big market for digital camera use and editing online, according to Tom Munro, the CEO of Photobucket, who says of that deal: “I love the attention that the photo and video space is getting lately. If you go back three years it was kind of flat. But now it seems like there's something happening every day.”

At the moment around 25-30 percent of photos on Photobucket come from mobile devices, Munro says — although the proportion is growing. In the last year, he says that the amount of mobile video on the site has grown by 15-16 times. It’s a market that Photobucket is trying to grab in its own way: it has Photobucket for iPhone, iPad and Snapbucket for iPhone, as well as Android apps. One of the features Munro says it’s looking to pursue is ways of letting users create their own filters that they could then apply via apps.

(Photobucket’s mobile numbers, by the way, do not include Twitter traffic, which would probably skew it even further to mobile. Photobucket does not give out numbers related to its deal with Twitter.)

Munro says that currently Photobucket images are used across 2.5 million websites, with 4 billion images served across those sites daily.

But while Photobucket continues to expand that network and the service it offers to users on its own platform, Munro notes that the company is pursuing more white-label deals along the lines of what it has established with Twitter. “We are talking to others for Twitter-like deals,” he says. “We are having conversations. We do have an expertise in hosting photos and videos and we are seeing interest.” He notes that that interest has not extended to conversations with Pinterest.

Time Out New York Launches New iPad And iPhone Apps, Embraces E-Commerce

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 05:00 AM PDT

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Time Out New York is making a big leap into the digital world today, says Aksel van der Wal, who’s president of Time Out North America and chief operating officer of the Time Out Group. Specifically, it’s launching its first iPad app, an updated iPhone app, and a new e-commerce model for all of its properties.

As a product, the new iPad app sounds the most interesting. (I wasn’t able to try it, and also I don’t live in New York, so I’m going off the company’s description.) Time Out specializes in reviews and listings for arts, food, entertainment, and more, and now the iPad app personalizes the experience. Apparently, every time you select content in a specific category, that increases the likelihood that the app will present you with similar content in the future. In six weeks or so, Time Out plans to improve these personalization features, so that content that’s been viewed or liked by similar users is also recommended.

The personalization is based on technology from LikeCube, a semantic analysis company that Time Out acquired last year.

More broadly, van der Wal characterizes this as major milestone in Time Out’s shift from the print business into “more of a digital direction.” And that includes settling on a digital business model — the website now allows transactions, so if you read about a great Broadway show or a hot new restaurant, you can buy tickets or reserve a table. Time Out will also be offering discounts and deals. (Advertising will play a role too. In fact, MasterCard will be the first global sponsor of the iPad app.)

Apparently the new direction can be laid at the feet of Oakley Capital, which acquired a 50 percent stake in Time Out London in November 2010, followed by a majority stake in New York (which operated independently) in May of last year. Time Out says unique visitors to the website have increased 92 percent since the deal, from 967,000 in May to 1.85 million in February.

Time Out London will get a similar revamp eventually, van der Wal says.

I will update the post with a link to the iPad app as soon as I get it. (Update: Here’s the iPad link.) In the meantime, you can download the iPhone app here.

Triple Threat: Toshiba Unveils Three New Quad-Core Excite Android Tablets

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 05:00 AM PDT

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Spring has come, and like new buds springing forth from the loamy earth, so too are new gadgets constantly being released into the real world. Today’s first helping of new gear comes from Toshiba, who has just fleshed out their Excite line of Android tablets with three new entrants: the Excite 7.7, Excite 10, and the plus-sized Excite 13.

These three new Ice Cream Sandwich-powered tabs share most of the same fundamentals — they all sport NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 processor for example, as well as 1GB of RAM, a pair of rear and front-facing camera (5 and 2MP, if you’re interested). Also appearing throughout the line are the usual complement of WiFi and Bluetooth radios, which are nestled within tidy aluminum frames.

As their names imply though, each tab sports a distinctly-sized (and Gorilla Glass swathed) display that Toshiba presumably hopes will help them squeeze into a handful of niches. Take the Excite 7.7 for instance — Toshiba’s super-portable offering is the thinnest of the lot with a 0.3-inch waistline and is also the only to feature a AMOLED display.

That portability and power will definitely cost customers a pretty penny though, as the 16GB model will hit shelves on June 10 with a hefty $499 price tag. Customers looking to step up their memory game can expect to fork over a total of $579 should they opt for the 32GB variant. Heads up folks, the Excite 7.7 also has a microSD card slot, so you can probably score 32GB of storage for a little bit less.

The Excite 13 sits on the other end of the size spectrum, and Toshiba pegs the big guy as a real winner when it comes to media playback thanks to that sizable 13.3-inch 1600 x 900 display and its array of four speakers. Also on board are a Micro HDMI port for some quick TV connections and a full-sized SD card slot for additional storage. It’s also worth noting that while it may seem like the homebody of the group, it isn’t terribly tough to lug around at 2.2 pounds.

Should Toshiba’s claims pan out, the Excite 13 shouldn’t leave too many users in the lurch with a dead battery — they report that they’ve been able to squeeze an awfully appropriate 13 hours of use out of the thing. Expect the 32GB model to go for $649 and the 64GB model to retail for $749.99 when they launch alongside the Excite 7.7 on June 10.

Meanwhile, the Excite 10 (not to be confused with the very similarly named Excite 10 LE) is nestled right in the middle and purely in terms of hardware, it’s more robust than the tab that preceded it. In order to make that happen though, Toshiba had to compromise a bit on the size. While the original Excite 10 LE featured a remarkably thin 0.3-inch waistline, the new Excite 10 sports an ever-so-slightly chubbier build at 0.35 inches thick (the decision to keep the Micro HDMI port and go for a full-size SD card slot probably didn’t help).

If you’re the sort that can’t bear to wait for shiny new gear, than the Excite 10 may be the tab to keep your eye on — it’s going to be released ahead of its brethren on May 6, with prices ranging from $449 for the 16GB model, $549 for the 32GB, and $649 for the 64GB.

Jumptap: Early Days For The New iPad Show A ‘Heavy’ But Still Marginal Impact On Traffic

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 04:39 AM PDT

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The new iPad from Apple has so far smashed all of its own sales records for previous tablet models, selling 3 million units in its opening weekend, with total sales projections for 2012 at up to 66 million.

But according to some early (possibly too early?) figures from the mobile ad network Jumptap, that is not yet translating into a surge of traffic from the devices.

On the opening day, the iPad represented 0.52 percent of total iPad network traffic. That figure peaked at 2.28 percent on day three, and then declined to 1.92 percent of traffic by day six. In contrast, the iPad and iPad 2 each had 45 percent or more of total iPad traffic, Jumptap says in its latest MobileSTAT Report.

But is this too early to call? It seems that the low numbers are mainly due to the fact that even with sales going strong in its opening days, the total number of new iPad devices is still small compared to the embedded base of iPads.

In Q1 2012 alone, Apple noted that it sold 15.43 million iPad devices, a 111 percent increase over the same period a year ago. That embedded base is bound to outweigh that of 3 million-plus new owners.

What’s perhaps more notable here is where traffic appeared to decline with the introduction of the new iPad. Paran Johar, Jumptap’s CMO, notes that in its network of 107 million mobile users, traffic on the iPad 2 slightly declined after the introduction of the new iPad. That seems to run counter to the idea that the most likely people to upgrade will be those owning the first iPad. But what it might really appear to illustrate is that fanboys early adopters are simply remaining true to form, with the first buyers being those who bought the iPad 2 just when it came out.

Another noteworthy trend picked out by Jumptap in its latest report looks at how Wi-Fi is being used by smartphone owners. It turns out that just as users of the iPad tend to use Wi-Fi more than 3G and 4G connections, the same goes for iPhone consumers, who are opting for it more than Android and BlackBerry device owners.

Jumptap notes that 58 percent of iPhone users turn to Wi-Fi on their devices to use data, compared to 35 percent of Android users and 41 percent of BlackBerry users. Jumptap’s guess: no 4G on iPhones. But others might argue that it has to do with cellular connectivity simply being more patchy on the iPhone than on other devices. It could also be down to data plans still priced at a premium for iPhone owners.

Figures from Localytics last month found that only six percent of iPad traffic on its network was coming from cellular connections.

Jumptap also dove into providing some demographics on users of two comparable gaming apps, Angry Birds and Words With Friends.

While Angry Birds is significantly more popular (20 million daily active users, compared to 7.9 million on Words), Words with Friends appears to attract more monied players: 24 percent of Angry Birds’ user base have incomes of over $100,000, compared to 40 percent for Words. Words With Friends also had more Democrat users (75 percent compared to 51 percent for Angry Birds) while Angry Birds users were more tablet friendly and twice as likely to use a tablet as another user, compared to Words With Friends’ users being half as likely to use a tablet.

HTML Mobile Gaming Site Cellufun Is Now Tylted, Eyes Up “Substantial” Facebook Play, Virtual Goods, Ads

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 03:14 AM PDT

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Facebook is banking a lot on the future of HTML5 and the idea of people going web-first instead of native-apps for their mobile content fixes, and today mobile gaming company Cellufun taking one step in its strategy to position itself as a key player in that space, too: it’s announcing that it is rebranding itself as Tylted.

Tylted — a name chosen from 30,000 entries in a competition run by Cellufun (the unnamed winner got $10,000) — says that strategy also includes the launch of a new ad platform, the expansion of its virtual good business, and — as you might expect from a social gaming company doing a lot of work in HTML — plans to do a whole lot more on Facebook’s mobile platform this calendar year.

The company today also launched a new game to kick off that virtual goods/advertising push: CuBug, it says, is a “Tetris-style” tile matching game where captured bugs “hatch into virtual features like wall papers that can be gifted to other players in rainbow colors.” As for advertising, Tylted gives brands the option of integrating in different parts of the game from chat rooms, to score comparisons, customized virtual goods and so on.

Founded back in 2005 way before our smartphone world was changed by the iPhone, Tylted today attracts some 10 million monthly unique users, with half a billion monthly page views covering 33 different casual and social games, with the most popular of these currently Pocket Beanie Babies, Mobile Wars and Vampires Rising.

The big task ahead is to make sure that it changes with the times: can it remain attractive to a base of consumers that are wowed by brands like Angry Birds and Draw Something? This, says CEO Lon Otremba, was part of the logic for rebranding: “When we wanted to take the company to the next level, and we thought people might think ‘Cellufun’ looked backward.”

Tylted’s revenues are currently split 50 from advertising and 50 percent from virtual goods — both areas that the company want to grow in future. And for what it’s worth, Otremba has a background that seems to lend itself well to the tasks ahead for Tylted: among his past roles, he was EVP for AOL’s interactive marketing group, where he led the strategy and operations for AOL’s advertising and e-commerce business. And he also has background in helping legacy companies turn themselves around: another past role was as CEO of Muzak, where he took the company best known for cheesy instrumental versions of well-known songs, and helped it pivot into one of the world’s largest providers of commercial music services and custom music programming.

In virtual goods, Otremba says these need to be appealing to a “wider base of users.” That speaks to a problem other gaming companies have also found, with Kongregate noting last month that in its high-ARPU games, typically two percent of users account for 40 percent of all in-game revenue, and 90 percent of revenues come from users who spend more than $100 in games.

For Tylted, that will mean focusing on virtual goods that it has seen already gain traction with more than just hardcore gamers: these areas include anonymous personal avatars, in-game chat, and the ability to share virtual currency with other users. Otremba also says the company is looking to sell more virtual items, the kinds of things a “more casual user might buy without taking away from the interest in virtual currency for more avid users.”

On Facebook, Otremba admits that for now the company has not “done much yet” but that it is “substantially increasing our involvement with Facebook” this calendar year. “Facebook’s overall strategy of embracing the mobile web is absolutely in line with us,” he says. That move may be about the launch of new games and “new ideas that could be more appropriate” to the social network, he says. Advertising, he says, is an “explosive” area that has been relatively untouched so far by his company.

It is in the process of building up a new ad sales force, including hiring some of his ex-colleagues from AOL. He says that Tylted’s unique selling point for Madison Avenue is that it has the scale that “would matter” to them. “To establish a direct relationship with those companies is a huge opportunity,” he says. While companies like Zynga and Rovio already offer advertising alongside their games,  what is perhaps notable here is that Tylted may be willing to go much further than bigger players in bending its own branding in favor of that of advertisers.

One of those areas where you can see advertisers potentially calling the shots more is in the area of apps. That’s an area that so far Tylted has steered away from — something Otremba notes as an advantage: “We have been somewhat immune from the discovery problem that has presented itself to app developers,” he says. “Our site is one of the busiest on the mobile web and is a destination in its own right.”

But he also says: “I don't rule anything out on apps. I'm happy to say that we are looking. We are very opportunistic, and certain partners have asked us to do something different from what we've traditionally done.”

Tylted has had just under $8 million of backing to date and was profitable last year, but to accelerate growth the company has gone back into the red. “We could be immensely profitable right now if we chose not to invest in the future,” says Otremba. That may take the company into looking for more funding towards the end of this year.

Google’s Chrome OS Will Soon Look More Like Windows Than A Browser

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 09:33 PM PDT

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It’s hard to say how popular Chrome OS, Google’s browser-centric operating system, really is. There can be little doubt, though, that Google is quite serious about this initiative. Today, Google launched the latest developer version of Chrome OS and this update sports the first major redesign of the operation system’s interface since its launch in late 2010.

In this new version, Chrome OS almost looks like a traditional OS, with a full-blown desktop and window manager instead of just a browser and tabs. Aura, as this hardware-accelerated window manager is known, is Chrome’s next generation user interface framework and it is making its public debut in this new developer version of Chrome OS.

This update is quite a departure from Chrome OS’s origins. Until now, Chrome OS basically just gave users access to a single browser window at a time (you could already have multiple browser windows open on separate virtual screens) and launching new apps meant you first had to open a new tab and then look for the app you wanted to start. Now, Chrome OS features a Launchpad-like app launcher, as well as a Windows-like taskbar (Google calls it a “shelf”). Apps, it is worth noting, still start in a browser tab and not as stand-alone windows, though.

In short, Chrome OS now looks and behaves a lot more like the desktop operating systems it set out to challenge.

In a way, this almost feels as if Google is admitting defeat here. When Chrome OS launched, Google’s Sergey Brin argued that traditional PC operating systems were “torturing users.” Chrome OS was supposed to be all about “speed, simplicity and security” and Google wanted to use it to “re-think what operating systems should be.” This new version, however, does away with a bit of this simplicity in favor of greater functionality. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, and may just help Chrome OS gain more mainstream acceptance as new users will surely find it to be a more familiar experience.

While Aura is obviously the star of this update, it’s worth noting that the latest version also introduces support for files compressed in the .tar, .gz and .bzip2 formats, as well as better support for multi-monitor setups.
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