6 minutes estimated reading time
Mobile data
Consumers Want More Mobile Data, But Simply Don’t Want to Pay | Parks Associates – this analysis of mobile data makes me think that mobile providers have failed to articulate the benefits of mobile data. Secondly it is probably also a symptom of the way mobile devices are used a lot in the home and tethered to the home wi-fi. The visions of mobile lifestyle used to sell mobile data have little utility and value to customers. This attitude to mobile data likely won’t likely change until horizontality changes in the mobile device and service stack. For instance differentiated high quality voice calls
Beauty
SK-II promotes pop-up skincare studio via geo-targeted mobile ad
Business
How to tell if a merger rumor will come true – Quartz – or how good are journalists?
4 reasons why Asian tech companies are using flash sales to sell their stuff
Microsoft Ventures GM: ‘There will not be a WhatsApp-style acquisition again’ | VentureBeat – a bit harsh, I don’t think that you can categorise WhatsApp as pre-revenue or a dogs shit company – but the valuation is indicative of bubble behaviour
Consumer behaviour
54% of tablet users share their device with others | GlobalWebIndex
Nearly half of Arab youth keen to embrace modernity | Burson-Marsteller – presumably in conjunction with PSB
Infographic Snapshot: The Real Story of LGBT and Millennials | Ypulse
China’s Unstoppable Gold-Buying ‘Aunties’ Move Onto Bitcoins | Jing Daily
Rise of the tech-savvy mother: who says their place is in the kitchen? | Techinasia – I am middle-class, hear me roar
Design
Jing Daily: Zaha Hadid’s next high-profile China stop: Macau
INTERNET OF CARING THINGS | trendwatching.com – emotional design
Asian Champions of Design: Tiger Balm | Campaign Asia – strident classic design that it seems to shy away from on new products (paywall)
Home · enyojs/mochi Wiki · GitHub – design resources on user experience by the WebOS design team
Economics
There’s a Class War Going On and the Poor Are Getting Their Butts Kicked | TIME – interesting Time has written a piece on what would be considered social democrat leanings
China PMI edges up to 50.3 | South China Morning Post – (paywall)
Ethics
Nobody Cares What You Think Unless You’re Rich | Mother Jones
FMCG
Rethinking Carbonates: Potential in Un-Soda – Euromonitor International
Gadgets
Samsung S5 Teardown: Loaded With Sensors | EE Times
Qualcomm’s newest mobile chips offer a clear glimpse at 2015′s killer gadgets | VentureBeat
Wearables: one-third of consumers abandoning devices | theguardian.com – this seems to be an issue of design as much as technology as the form factor doesn’t match the use case
Office for iPad: There are no incumbents in mobile | VentureBeat – interesting comparison between the original MacWrite programme and Office for iPad
Germany
German companies and China: Mittelstand and Middle Kingdom | The Economist
Innovation
Twitter CEO’s China Visit Is Interesting, but Not for the Reason You Think – China Real Time Report – WSJ – looking for Chinese innovation to emulate
Japan
Japanese manufacturers focused on high performance – Deloitte Perspectives
Toyota is becoming more efficient by replacing robots with humans | Quartz
Journalism
The Army v. The Press | Time.com
Korea
DATA POINTS: Adspend trends in South Korea | Campaign Asia – Ad spending in the country edged up 2.2 per cent in 2013 led by a doubling of mobile spending, according to Cheil Worldwide
Luxury
Watchmakers woo women to boost flagging sales | Reuters
Jing Daily | China’s Sketchy ‘Daigou’ Luxury Market Is A Hotbed For Fakes
Beware of Normcore | Slate – desperately wanting to be average
David Beckham Wants to Launch a Clothing and Lifestyle Brand | Vanity Fair – interesting that Li & Fung are being linked with this
Michael Kors Beating European Brands on Their Home Turf – Bloomberg
Airbnb Becoming a Stronger Competitor to Hotel Brands | L2 Think Tank
Jing Daily: Chinese Blogger Peter Xu Brings Us Baselworld’s Hottest China Trends – focus on fashion amongst younger consumers
Marketing
China Email Marketing Industry Report in 2013 | ChinaInternetWatch
How Real-Time Does Real-Time Marketing Need To Be? Sysomos Blog – according to marketers surveyed. It does beg the question what does real time marketing actually mean to them first of all
STB defends promotional video for Filipinos | Marketing Interactive – how much do you localise a campaign when the content ends up online whether you want it there or not?
‘No Pain’ McFlame fronts social campaign for Zippo | Marketing Interactive
Media
Mobile adspend doubles to break £1bn barrier, says IAB report
Users Engage with Major Social Networks Predominantly via Mobile | comScore
Mobile adspend rockets in Korea | WARC
Media Publications Database | We find the best Media/Advertising publications for you. – great research resource
Weibos, WeChat & Renren: how to approach social marketing in China | Econsultancy
How China is trying to get its citizens to censor themselves | Quartz – is this any different to how western governments try to interact with media to influence consumer opinion?
Payments
Here are 3 ways you can pay using smartphones in the Philippines | Techinasia
Retailing
How mobile is contributing to show rooming | Marketing Interactive
As competition heats up, retailers urged to innovate | Marketing Interactive
Jing Daily: How Lane Crawford’s ‘unique’ business model defies China’s anti-graft drive
Security
The NSA Archive | American Civil Liberties Union – Snowden leaks become searchable
Software
BlackBerry Ends Licensing Agreement With T-Mobile – WSJ.com – surprised BlackBerry is cutting off its nose to spite it’s face unless T-Mobile are consumer customers and they are trying to focus on the enterprise??
Microsoft’s open sourcing of .Net: The back story | ZDNet
Technology
Telecoms
Cisco, Nokia: Huawei a ‘Growing Challenge,’ Say Raymond James, UBS – no real surprise
Vietnam
VNG’s quest to build a mobile ecosystem for Vietnam | Techinasia
Web of no web
Here’s Google’s Smart Plan To Sell Its Computerized Glasses To Businesses (GOOG) | Business Insider – I would still be unhappy seeing Google Glass in a frontline customer services role like Virgin Atlanti
Five examples of how marketers are using iBeacons | Econsultancy
Bosch Plans Connectivity Push to Challenge Google’s Lead – Bloomberg
Meet Microsoft’s Cortana, a More Personal Siri – NYTimes.com – no comparison with Google | Android eco-system, interesting
WiFi Chip Tracks Indoor Location | EE Times
Wireless
Is Qualcomm losing its edge in the application processor market? | TechRadar – interesting that this question is being asked