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BlackBerry Claims BBM Is Still Coming To Android And iPhone, But Has Given No Timeline
Amid dire financial results and an oddly-timed smartphone launch, BlackBerry’s big BBM for iPhone and Android launch seemed lost in a murky grey purgatory with little chance of escape with each passing minute its release was held up. The app made it to some lucky New Zealand and Australian App Store users, but BlackBerry halted the rollout when a leaked Android .apk set its servers on fire. Today, it finally provided an update on the state of the balked launch – sort of.
A tweet from the official BBM account (set up just prior to the planned cross-platform rollout) today reveals that BlackBerry is “[s]till 100% committed to bringing #BBM to Android and iPhone,” so presumably teams are still working to block users of the leaked .apk in order to bring sever load back to a manageable level before proceeding with the launch as planned.
Still 100% committed to bringing #BBM to Android and iPhone. Sign up at BBM.com to know when #BBM4All—
(@BBM) September 30, 2013
Not provided today was a timeline of when to expect the BBM for iPhone and Android launch. Last Monday, BlackBerry EVP of BBM Andrew Bocking said in an update that it didn’t anticipate being able to launch the app that week, but the only mention of when it might arrive instead we’ve had since is the repeated instruction to sign up at the BBM website for notifications.
BlackBerry Messenger creator Gary Klassen was quoted by The Mobile Indian as saying BBM would be coming to platforms beyond iOS and Android in the future, too, which has led to speculation that Windows Phone could be next in line. The Canadian smartphone maker also recently showed how BlackBerry 10 software could be extended to desktop environment, including Windows and Mac OS using a mirrored interface, and BBM is one possible application of that tech.
We’ve reached out to BlackBerry to see if they could provide additional information about BBM and the iOS and Android apps, and will update with any response.
Resisting The Deadpool, Turntable.fm Focuses On Live
In the past year, Turntable.fm has gone from a force in the digital music world, with around 420k MAUs and a Fred Wilson-helmed board, to a near-Dodo-level bird.
On September 11 of this year, the company shut down Piki.fm, which was meant to provide a more laid-back, asynchronous experience complementing Turntable.fm’s real-time, community driven environment, and took away the ability to upload music, which founder Billy Chasen says saves the company $20k a month.
According to comScore, Turntable is seeing 89K uniques, with a 52.9 percent decrease in uniques from August of 2012.
So what now?
I got a sneak peek at Turntable’s pivotal plan, and it all comes down to live performances. The idea is to replicate the live performance experience as closely as possible, from feeling like you’re surrounded by others to hearing the nuances of someone’s singing or playing live.
I witnessed a test performance, and it works a little bit like this:
Artists visit Turntable’s Soho office/studio and set up in front of a green screen. A camera records the performance live to viewers who have purchased tickets to the show. Turntable is requiring a minimum ticket price of $5, but artists can choose their own ticket price as long as it’s higher than the minimum. Artists generally spilt the profit 70 percent/30 percent with Turntable, but that is negotiable.
Where users are concerned, it’s a very different experience from the Turntable you’ve come to know. What once was a laid-back, play-in-the-background situation is now a live experience. You can snap pictures of yourself with the computer’s webcam, which are sent directly to a big screen in front of the audience. The artists can also see a real-time chat that’s happening among viewers, as well as direct questions posed from the audience.
This allows for real-time interaction between artists and their fans in a way that’s impossible during a concert.
Turntable aggregates the ambient noise from listeners’ mics (including applause) to play at the end of every song, so that users really get a sense of community while watching the performance.
Take a look at the UI:
But will this be enough?
Mimicking a live performance experience inside a computer screen is a huge, daunting task. Watching last night, there’s definitely an excitement that takes the viewer beyond an animated club or stadium with bobbing heads, but does it match that of a live show?
Red cups and sweaty bodies everywhere, the vibration coming from the speakers, the palpable energy of being in the same room as an artist you adore… These are the things that make concerts worth the price. Whether or not that will translate to a chatroom-esque environment remains to be seen.
However, there are advantages. When in your life will you have the opportunity to ask Justin Timberlake if he prefers boxers or briefs, or Lady Gaga what happened to her meat dress after she wore it? With Turntable Live, that possibility is, well, alive and well.
Chasen says that, financially, the company is alright to continue operation for now, with the majority of focus on Turntable Live. With the shutdown of Piki and reduced expenses from pairing back Turntable.fm (which will live on as a sort of in-between-shows lounge), the company will make it through the end of the year.
If Turntable Live picks up, that should create a valuable revenue stream, but if not, the company will be looking for funding by early next year. Chasen wouldn’t go into any more detail on financials.
Luckily, the new Turntable Live product doesn’t have a whole lot of competition in the space, as Turntable.fm did with Pandora, Spotify, Songza and others. Spacebar, a company that launched at Disrupt, has a similar proposition for consumers, allowing them to hear a live stream of a concert for a relatively cheap price.
However, Turntable Live requires that artists step out of their routine and schedule and enter the Turntable office downtown, shoot a live concert, interact, and all for ticket prices that viewers are willing to pay. That said, Turntable goes live unencumbered by competition, but this could be a bad thing as well.
It could be that nobody’s tried this because it’s possibly a bad idea.
Turntable Live launches on September 30, when the first headliners and prices will be announced. Chasen says the company plans to have at least one show per day from then on.
Here are some pics/Vines from the test performance:
Bring Your Hardware To TC Disrupt Hardware Alley In Berlin This October
Sexy Bill wants you! Hardware Alley is my favorite part of Disrupt and we’re bringing the festivities to Berlin on October 29 when 30 lucky hardware companies can show off their wares. It is a crowd favorite and I’d love to feature your gear.
What is Hardware Alley? It’s a celebration of hardware startups (and other cool gear makers) that features everything from robotic drones to 3D printers. We try to bring in an eclectic mix of amazing exhibitors and I think you’ll agree that our previous Alleys have been roaring successes.
We’d like you to register as a Hardware Alley exhibitor. You’ll get to exhibit on the last day of Disrupt Europe, Oct. 29, to show off your goods and get access to some of the most interesting people (and most interesting VCs) in the world. We’d love to have you.
All you need to demo is a laptop. TechCrunch provides you with: 30″ round cocktail table, linens, table top sign, inclusion in program agenda and website, exhibitor WiFi, and press list.
You can reserve your spot by purchasing a Hardware Alley Exhibitor Package.
If you are Kickstarting your project now or bootstrapping, please contact me at john@techcrunch.com with the subject line “HARDWARE ALLEY.” I will do my best to accommodate you but understand we have a limited number of discounts available so act quickly.
We want startups from across Europe so please let me know what you’re up to and if you’re coming. I’m very excited to see the great hardware coming out of the Old Country.
Rocket Internet's HelloFresh Says Hello To $7.5M, As The Meal Prep Service Sets Its Eyes On The U.S.
Berlin’s Rocket Internet has of late made a big business out of incubating and growing e-commerce startups in emerging markets, far away from the U.S. where the competitive field is much more crowded. But today comes news of a funding round for portfolio company HelloFresh that will be used to invest directly in the eye of the storm. The meal-prep company — which assembles ingredients for a dish, and then delivers them with a recipe to your door — has picked up $7.5 million led by Phenomen Ventures, a Russian VC that focuses mainly on e-commerce investments (other fundings include rounds in Fab.com and Uber competitor Hailo).
HelloFresh’s CEO Dominik Richter says will be used to help the company expand into the U.S. market.
“After interest from a wide range of investors, the decision to select Phenomen VC was influenced by their experience in supporting truly global businesses – aligned with our ambitions to become a global leader in the online food space and establish HelloFresh as a global online food brand,” he said in a statement. “It is our aim to use this funding to increase our market share in the US market and expand our very clear market leadership in all other markets by continuing our double-digit month- over-month growth.”
The fashion e-commerce and online marketplaces that Rocket Internet has established and grown in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa are well-trodden in the U.S., where companies like Amazon and eBay dominate the scene, with dozens of vertical-specific players vying for a place among them. In fact, Rocket Internet has had to live down many an accusation that its moves in these areas are shameless clones — athough co-founder Oliver Samwer makes a decent argument for why this is not true.
However, in the area targeted by HelloFresh, the market is still in its early days, which may have been one reason that it decided to make the steps to come to the U.S. and build up partnerships there instead of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America that have been such a focus for the group.
Currently, HelloFresh competes not against Amazon or even giant U.S. retailers, but startups like Blue Apron and Plated, with the latter recently extending its coverage from selected cities on the eastern side of the U.S. to the West Coast.
(Indeed, you might think that the fact that large food retailers are not yet doing much in the area of meal-prep focused deliveries spells an exit opportunity for startups like these; hence Rocket Internet’s interest.)
HelloFresh is priced similar in pricing to Blue Apron, with pre-made boxes and recipes for non-vegetarian meals priced $9.94, six cents (!) shy of Blue Apron’s $10 tag (take $1 off for the vegetarian option). Plated comes in at a bit more expensive $12 for members and $15 for non-members with minimum order requirements.
Other markets where HelloFresh is currently active include Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Australia, and combined with the U.S. the company says it has shipped “several million meals” in total and quadrupled revenues and doubled margins since first opening for business in January 2012; it doesn’t provide specific numbers for any of these.
Digital Ads Will Be 22% Of All U.S. Ad Spend In 2013, Mobile Ads 3.7%; Total Global Ad Spend In 2013 $503B
Global ad spend in 2013 will see steady growth of 3.5% to reach $503 billion by the end of the year, and the amount going into internet advertising will continue to get larger, according to figures out today from Publicis-owned ad agency ZenithOptimedia. In the U.S. — disporportionately the largest single ad market — digital in 2013 will account for 21.8% of all ad spend ($109.7 billion), up from 19% the year before. Meanwhile, mobile remains a solid minority of activity: in the U.S., mobile ads will account for 3.7% of all ad spend ($6.2 billion).
When it comes to what is driving the most growth in advertising at the moment, mobile continues to lead the way, growing by 81% this year in the U.S. market, with that rate slowing down to 61% in 2014 and 53% in 2015, when mobile will make up 8.4% of ad spend. Compare that to Internet advertising, which is growing by around 16% and will account for 27.8% of all U.S. ad spend by 2015.
The figures are no less impressive outside the U.S. market. On a global basis, mobile advertising was worth $8.3bn in 2012, or 9.5% of internet expenditure / 1.7% of advertising across all media. “By 2015 we forecast this total to rise to $33.1 billion, which will be 25.2% of internet expenditure and 6.0% of all expenditure,” the analysts write.
ZenithOptimedia’s analysts say that mobile is growing seven times faster than desktop Internet spend, with mobile ads growing by 77% in 2013, 56% in 2014 and 48% in 2015., driven by the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets. Globally, internet advertising will grow at an average of 10% a year.
The rapid growth of mobile ads should come as no surprise. On top of the fact that some believe sales of tablets are set to overtake those of PCs by the end of this year, for many consumers in the U.S. — and perhaps even more so in other markets — smartphones are becoming the primary way that they go online. In that regard, this is really just about the sometimes-slow-moving ad industry catching up — not just in terms of media buyers following eyeballs, but (maybe more importantly) the ad tech and publishing industries coming up with more compelling ways of proving that those advertisements are actually making an impact.
ZenithOptimedia does not break out who is leading the charge in mobile ads, although for years now the outsized leader in the space has been Google, which dominates both in mobile search and display ads. However, things are slowly changing and opening up. The acquisition of JumpTap by Millennial Media, Twitter’s acquisition of MoPub, and Facebook’s growing mobile ad revenues are three examples of how we are seeing increasing consolidation of resources, and sharper focus on the mobile ad space.
“After years of hype, mobile advertising has finally arrived. Its importance will only grow over the next few years as advertisers and agencies get to grips with the opportunities it offers, and improve its ability to measure and deliver return on investment,” writes Tim Jones, CEO, North America, ZenithOptimedia, in a statement. Yes, I’m pretty sure I’ve read this statement in years past, too; but moves like Twitter’s, and the actual billions in revenue, give some weight to those words at last having some actual meaning.
There is still a long way to go. Although we have all heard about the decline of print and how many old-school publishers are feeling the crunch, and how people are turning off the radio to listen to services like Spotify, the knock-on effect on advertising is taking longer to emerge. If you look at 2012, the combined ad spend for newspapers and magazines still outweighed that of Internet spend. If you add in radio to that, by 2015 they will still outweigh Internet spend.
And while we talk about the rise of Internet video and OTT streaming services like Netflix that bypass commercials, television advertising is still by far the biggest piece of the pie — 40% in 2012, and declining by a mere 0.5 percentage points by 2015. That says a lot about why Twitter is focusing so much attention on how it plans to grow its advertising and marketing services in tandem with the TV industry.
ZenithOptimedia focuses largely on what is happening in the U.S. because today and for the next several years, it will remain the biggest market for ad spend. In 2012, there was some $161 billion spent in the U.S. market, which will go up to $182 billion by 2015. The second-closest market is Japan at less than one-third the value and growing more slowly ($52 billion in 2012; $55 billion by 2015).
China and Brazil are the only two emerging markets that cracked the top 10 of top markets last year, but by 2015 it will also include Russia. Among the BRICs, China is the biggest, with some $37 billion in ad spend in 2012, rising to $50 billion in 2015 and almost certainly overtaking Japan the year after, if not sooner.
Meanwhile, in Internet advertising, search continues to be the biggest proportion of revenues, although advances in rich-media technologies and improving broadband speeds and processors on devices are helping display to further narrow the gap between the two, with classified a distant third.
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