Snapchat has finally responded to arguably the biggest scandal of the holiday season: the leak of 4.6 million phone numbers and Snapchat user contact information. The white-hat hackers who exploited the lax security claimed that they were releasing the information in the hopes that Snapchat would, finally, fix the security exploit that has been a problem since August. In a somewhat embarrassing response to the original exploit, Snapchat responded publicly saying that, yes, user information was insecure. Evidently they did nothing to fix the problem, as several months later these hackers utilized that original method to hack into Snapchat’s user database. Now, Snapchat has responded saying that they’re releasing an update to the app that allows users to opt out of the Find Friends feature, the focus of the exploit. Is it too little too late, however? Will people trust their private data to Snapchat? As the backlash continues, it becomes more apparent that privacy is a tenuous issue, even for an app that is supposed to pride itself on the protection of its data.
Category: Percolate
Amidst Big 2013 Figures, Mobile Spend Expected To Surpass Desktop By 2017
Based on an estimated 120% increase in spend from 2012, mobile looks to be garnering some serious budgets while desktop spend is slowing to a halt with a 1.69% growth from the year prior. Based on this trajectory, eMarketer anticipates mobile spend will surpass desktop in 2017. It appears after initial grumblings of “small screen size” and “fleeting attention”, marketers are starting to treat mobile as the next playground given its intimate connection to our lives. Expect interesting location-based engagements leveraging GPS, wifi and now bluetooth location data to increase in mobile, while custom sponsorships and branded content are likely to compete for a larger piece of desktop spend over the next year as well.
LG Appliances Integrate With Messaging App LINE
Yes, you heard it right. LG will be debuting LINE chat capabilities integrated into their smart appliances, so you can chat with your dishwasher or fridge. The partnership works to let users command their appliances within the popular messaging app, thereby embedding the internet of things into their daily routine. I chat with my friends letting them know I’ll be out of town in one thread and tell my washing machine that it should go into energy saving mode. It works a bit like Siri for text, interpreting commands using natural language processing.
The decision for LG to work with Line opposed to only a proprietary app, for instance, is an interesting one. Instead of creating new systems, LG is bringing itself into the products and service you already use, making them more natural and seamless.
Leaked: LG’s webOS TV
With days before the kickoff of CES, an image of LG’s new Smart TV interface has been leaked. It appears that LG will be using webOS, which it acquired from HP opposed to the current Google TV OS. It is not identical to webOS on smartphones, but does include a thumbnail overview of any apps that are running. While the future of the living room remains up in the air – will it be Smart TVs or set top boxes or workarounds like Chromecast – the need for an intuitive interface that lends itself to lean-back viewing is paramount.
50% Of Parents Plan On Purchasing E-Readers
The holiday season is always a big indication of technology’s popularity, and this year is no different. It appears that this year, parents will be looking towards E-Readers as the go-to item of choice; according to eMarketer, Polling found that 46% of US adults with children ages 2 to 13 who read ebooks planned to purchase a device on which their children could consume such content. As e-readers become the preferred method of consuming books, the market will be bourgeoning into the new year. If these 2013 holiday trends are anything to go by, we could be seeing new e-readers continue to take the spotlight for the foreseeable future.
Blackberry and Foxconn Agree To 5 Year Deal
Maybe Blackberry isn’t quite as a dead and gone as we thought: the company announced a five-year deal with Foxconn, who are known for manufacturing Apple’s products, as well as the ethical scandals that they’ve brought to Apple. Nonetheless, the deal with the big-name manufacturer speaks to a determination to defy their poor sales and stock numbers from this year. Whether it’s too little, too late, will have to be judged in a little while, but no matter the outcome Blackberry seems like they’re not going to go down without a fight.
Freemium Apps Make Most Profit
According to a new study, if you’re looking to make an app that’s profitable, make it freemium. In seven of the Apple App Store’s ten largest categories, the majority of revenue comes from in-app purchases. It’s not necessarily the most groundbreaking announcement, but it’s another important reminder that in-app purchases are more important, from a revenue standpoint, than the app itself, in some ways. While developing an app, or looking to come up with advertising strategies for apps, this concept is crucial to integrate.
WhatsApp Surpasses 400 Million Monthly Active Users
WhatsApp announced another major milestone today: on the heels of its October claim that it had hit 350 million active monthly users, it’s now announcing that it has surpassed the 400 million mark in the same category. It’s 50 million new users in two months, and 100 million new users in the past four months alone. Clearly, the number of people who aren’t active users but have downloaded the app is much higher, and may mean that WhatsApp is leading the charge in the third party messaging war, which, if the numbers are anything to go by, is very evidently picking up steam.
Twitter Vending Machine Gives Away Stuffed Pandas
In Canada, telecommunications company Telus sponsored a vending machine that dispenses stuffed animals. But it’s not any ordinary stuffed animal dispensing machine: passers by who tweet with the hashtag #HomeTweetHome would get a free panda bear from the vending machine. It’s not the first time real world machines have been triggered by social media, nor is the technology behind the system truly groundbreaking; it’s a reminder that campaigns utilizing social media to unlock real-world rewards, when used in the right contexts, can be very effective.
Twitter’s Conversion Tracking Tool Globally Available
Twitter announced today that its conversion tracking tool, previously only available in private beta, is now accessible to analyze promoted tweets across the twitter landscape. It’s the latest tool that the microblogging network has added to its analytics arsenal, and it works, essentially, by tracking how many users click on purchase links offered in promoted tweets. This number is then compared to the set of users who have viewed or engaged with any promoted tweet campaign, for a better idea of how the campaign is doing more broadly. It’s yet another move by Twitter to justify its profitability and existence in the increasingly crowded space of social ad networks.
