ImaginativePRO Blog

FACEBOOK REPORTS IMPRESSIVE Q1 2014 REVENUES AND EARNINGS, BUT THE SOCIAL GIANT ENTERS A PERIOD OF SLOWER GROWTH

Facebook CEO an co-funder Mark Zuckerberg (Click Image To Enlarge)

Two seemingly contradictory things are happening at Facebook right now, we learned from the social network's Q1 2014 earnings call on April 23.

The company is growing really fast — revenues were up 72%, and ad revenue was up 82%.

But growth in key areas is slowing, or about to slow, dramatically. The desktop side of Facebook looks like it may have entered a terminal decline (forgive the pun). And the rate of ad revenue growth is about to decline precipitiously, CFO David Ebersman warned, due to tough comparable numbers from the year before. (Business Insider has been warning about this for a while.)

The new "slow growth" era of Facebook will be compounded by the fact that both CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg said that autoplay video ads and ads on Instagram — both sales products that analysts had presumed would add hundreds of millions in new revenue — won't be happening any time soon. Both those products will be slow to monetize as Facebook is moving very slowly on them, Sandberg said.

The fact that both video ads and Instagram won't add meaningful revenue any time soon was a surprise. Observers have been expecting ads in those products for more than a year now.

So the takeaway seems to be, that revenue until now has grown really fast. But in the future? Not so much.

Here are the highlights:

• Revenues: up 72% to $2.5 billion (analysts expected $2.36 billion) that's a nice beat.
• Earnings per share: $0.34 (analysts expected $0.24) that's a huge beat.
• Revenue from advertising was $2.27 billion, up 82% vs Q1 2013.
• Mobile advertising revenue was 59% of ad revenue, up from 30% in 2013.
• Payments revenue was $237 million.
• MAUs: 1.28 billion
• CFO David Ebersman stepping down later this year; will be succeeded by David Wehner formerly of Zynga.
• Cash was $3 billion - looks like those recent acquisitions of WhatsApp and Oculus have yet to hurt the balance sheet.

The stock went up more than 5% on the news after hours.

Now for some charts!

Note that Facebook's desktop business is essentially stagnant, maybe even in decline.

All its growth is coming from mobile. This chart from analyst Ian Maude shows that:

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Maude attributes that mobile revenue growth to mobile app install ads — and we'd agree. These are the poorly understood ads that drive app downloads. Most people just see the non-app ads for brands and local businesses — but app ads, because they monetize instantly, are more valuable.

This chart from Maude backs up the case that on desktop, Facebook is essentially over:

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These users are U.S. only. But the U.S. trends ahead of everyone else when it comes to Facebook because the company was born here and its highest percentage of user penetration is here.

This chart, also from Maude, shows that revenue per user is also down on desktop:

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Revenue: 

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Here's the ad revenue split over a longer timeframe (from BI Intelligence):

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Here are the monthly active users:

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The mobile monthly active users:

 

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And The Mobile-Only Users:

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And here's how those users split, from Business Insider Intelligence:

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Here's Zuckerberg's formal statement on the numbers:

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO said. 

"Facebook's business is strong and growing, and this quarter was a great start to 2014.  We've made some long term bets on the future while staying focused on executing and improving our core products and business. We're in great position to continue making progress towards our mission."

Now some highlights from the Q&A with Wall Street analysts.

(Facebook chose some rather stuffy classical music for those of us on hold for the conference call.)

The call begins ...

Zuckerberg: Starts with the user numbers. Then the acquisition of WhatsApp, Oculus and the Internet.org effort.

"These are important efforts that will help us achieve our mission over the long term."

"Our core FB app has an audience of over 1 billion people."

Next set of apps such as Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp: IG reached 200m MAUs this quarter.

"Monetization isn't our near term priority here."

Wants 100 million users on each new app before revenues are attached. Paper is an example.

Internet.org: Basic update on progress.

Next, "Understanding the world." Says FB has unique data that others don't. More to come at F8 developers conference.

"Our mobile app install ads have been one of our best performing products to date. Launched in January of last year."

"Advertising and the ability to reach people more broadly is one of the most important" things FB does.

He thanks CFO David Ebersman who is stepping down after five years.

"I've learned a lot from Dave both personally and professionally and I'm grateful for everything he's done."

Sandberg: Also thanks Ebersman.

"Great people build great teams and that's what David has done."

Ad revenue growth 82%, strongest ad rev growth rate in 3 years.

Saw growth from existing advertisers as well. Particular strength with SMB and DR. And packaged goods.

Sandberg touts Canadian advertiser Sport Chek that pulled all its paper coupons in favor of Facebook ads — and saw positive ROI.

Ad targeting will improve. 10 times more advertisers are using custom audiences than last year. Ben & Jerry's is an example.

Simplifying ad tools: Self-serve ad tools are now available to SMB's. Buy now and install now buttons improve responses.

Ad network test is positive - but won't have meaningful results this year.

Ebersman: Made a personal decision to get back into healthcare where he worked before Facebook.

Now we're into the nitty-gritty numbers. Desktop rev up 8%.

Decrease in ad impressions due to cont'd shift in mobile use. Price per ad went up as fewer ads are seen in mobile.

Shift to desktop is a significant headwind to payments because payments in games business are mostly desktop.

Neither WhatsApp nor Oculus deals are yet closed, and haven't his FB's numbers yet.

Bad news! "Our y-o-y comparables will get more challenging from here. Over the rest of 2014 our y-o-y ad revenue growth rates will decline ... and be meaningfully lower y-o-y."

Questions!

Expenses:

Ebersman says Q1 is lighter on expenses that usual quarters. Benefits from one time events.

Browser tech and native apps, HTML5:

Zuck:

"Timing matters a lot.  There's nothing wrong with the standard of hmtl5 technically. ... both Apple and Google have made it easier to build hi quality experiences in their proprietary formats than in open web formats ... our bias would have been to push on html5 ... we haven't walked away but a large no. of people have accessed FB on the open web but ... we see the best path .... in the native app experience."

Messaging:

Zuck: People want experiences to be defined to one medium or app.

"You'll see us do more things in private content. ... growing.  The Facebook app by itself is the furthest along. The core of our business."

Messenger, IG, and WA: M and IG are both greater than 200 million MAUs. WA: The immediate priority will be getting them to 1 billion people.

Facebook Creative Lab apps are just getting started. Those are further along than IG was.  

"IG is a few years away from being an important business for us."

Re-engaging lapsed users and user overlap:

Zuck: decline to answer ... no sign of user fatigue on FB. 63% of MAUs use it every day.

Where will growth in app install ads come from?

Zuck: We saw more diversity in clients now. Not just games. Anyone who needs an app, we're the no.1 delivery vehicle for that.

Sheryl: Mobile app install ads prices are up. No specifics.

Where the heck are the premium video ads?!

Sheryl: Really big opportunity ... also a lot more video from consumers in news feed ... we have a current product in the mkt it's a click to play video ad ... going really well ... we're in early conversations for a cpm autoplay video ad ... we want to see autoplay videos be pretty common in the news feed before we push hard in the ad biz ... we won't see a material contribution from it this year.

Another Q about app ads:

Sheryl: Our mobile ad rev is v. broad based. DR, brands, SMB, developers ... we're pretty distributed there.

When will IG be monetized?

Sheryl: Passing 200m, it's also a great ad product, tons of demand because pictures themselves are so visually appealing ... we've seen some great results .... Levi's running beautiful pics targeting 18-34 in U.S., reached over 7m people. drove 24% lift in ad recall, which was 3X control group. "We're v focused on consumer growth and we're moving v slowly on monetization ... we really want to grow it slowly and deliberately."

Sheryl: Nearby Friends is being rolled out slowly.

Did an analyst just suggest that WhatsApp was based in Russia? It's based in Mountain View, Calif.! So no, turmoil in Russia won't affect that app. [Analyst may be confused that Russian Facebook clone VK was recently taken over by Putin allies.]

Payments, whats happening?

Sheryl: We've had a payments biz for a while ... nothing new to announce there.

How low will this y-o-y decline in ad rev growth be?

Ebersman: 82% growth caused by ramp in news feed ads ... meaningfully different ... newsfeed ads really ramped in Q2 ... but there are lots of things that will drive growth: users, more mktr demand.

And we are out!

The context:

It was a huge quarter for Facebook. In the last three (fiscal) months the company has bought messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion and virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR for $2 billion. It has opened the door for video advertisers, and begun carving out its messaging business into a separate app, Messenger. Lastly, the company has begun rolling out an off-Facebook advertising network.

At the same time, Zuckerberg has begun to outline his vision for the future of Facebook, "unbundling the big blue app."

Courtesy of an article dated April 23, 2014 appearing in Business Insider

GOOGLE+ HEAD VIC GUNDOTRA LEAVES GOOGLE, MEDIA CRITICS CALL GOOGLE+ A 'GHOST TOWN', BUT THIS IS FAR FROM TRUE

It’s that time again. Google Plus Ghost Town from the media and reporters. This round is brought to you because Vic Gundotra (the guy behind the Google plus project) announced today that he would be leaving Google. Vic is a great guy and I’m sure has many reasons for leaving Google. Family time, additional opportunities and projects come to my mind. But immediately the media once again, has resorted to posting nothing but articles talking about how his leave can only lead to graveyards, walking dead, and ghost town.

Vic Gundotra head of Google+ (Click Image To Enlarge)

Know what the common theme is between all these “ghost town posts”? No interviews. No named sources. Lots of reporters who never used it. A quick search usually shows that the reporter has not used Google+ themselves. Sadly, to not even post the article they just wrote about the platform, to the platform. In fact most have less than 20 people circled and more often than not… have never even posted, ever. Awesome. Good reporters generally go out and interview people who are involved with something before they write a story, if they themselves do not happen to have first hand experience. This is fringe opinion piece media. Yet tons of these garbage articles keep getting posted on major tech publications presenting like it’s the facts.

I figured it was time I wrote a letter to these reporters. Please media… realize that I have tried to reach out and talk to many of you, do interviews, and help you get these points, but too many times you tell me “your company doesn’t care about writing about the positive sides of Google+” or that “other stories are more important than G+ success”. Yet whenever anything could possibly be seen as negative about G+, all of your websites light up with a million ghost town posts. It’s time the users of G+ spoke out…  I’ll start. Here are my thoughts for you.

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I know this is going to be hard for some of you. You have been a good tech writer, involved in social media probably for awhile, and spent time building up your Facebook account and Twitter profile. When Google+ came along, many of your company Tech websites had already done things like integrate Facebook comments or sometimes heck, even invest in Facebook themselves! You certainly didn’t have time to get involved in another social network, and come on.. “Google has never got social”. Your mom isn’t there. Google+ is obviously a ghost town. Right?

Wrong.

Google Plus Has Never Been A Ghost Town

Google plus is still a baby on the social media scene. But since day one, there have been active, engaged users… and LOTS of them.

Statistics of the Top Six Social Networks - December 2013 (Click Image To Enlarge)

SOME FACTS:

Facebook was launched in 2004. Early adopters got access to Facebook in 2006/2007, your mom probably did not get involved until sometime in 2009 or 2010.  2010 is also the year that the Facebook like button was launched. A full 6 years after Facebook officially launched. 1

Google+ is not even 3 years old yet.  2

(See those tiny numbers Reporters? Those are footnotes. They are used to add credibility to your posts when you make bold Claims and Facts)

Comparing to Facebook life cycle, this is about the time that “mass adoption” will start, and everything points to that exact thing happening right now on plus. Every day companies, celebrities, brands, and regular people around the world are joining and playing around with Google+ when they “didn’t have time” before.

But alas, real fact are not good for the media…  Death, DOOM! DESTRUCTION! ANY DAY NOW…Ghost town.

But what about those “Active User” numbers? Just how many people are actually there?

Sure Google has released stats saying there are 300 million users 3 and there are lots of debates about exactly what that means… but here are some real facts. I personally have over 983,000 plusses, 239,000 shares, and 224,000 comments and 172 million views on my posts. 4 I have 4 million people who are circling me, Which media like to tell me is  often tell me is full of “ghosts” but several million interactions have happened on my personal posts on google plus in just under 3 years. Compare that to roughly 20,000 @ mentions and 6,000 RT I have received on Twitter, in the 7 years I’ve been using that. People are on G+.and they interact. If you my dear reporters are getting zero interaction, hate to be the bearer of bad news…. Its not Google+, It’s you. Deal with it.

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I know this is confusing reporters… but please try and keep up…

There are 2 products/ideas called Google+…

1. Google+ The background account… You use this to log into all Google products. This holds your security info, passwords, apps, location history … you know.. your account. Same as an Apple Id, or Microsoft Live Id. No difference. Including the “forcing” of these companies for you to create and use one when you interact with any of their services or products. Zero difference.
2. Google+ the “social stream”.. this is where people post what they are eating for lunch, The latest science news article they found, and their thoughts on the latest movie they watched.

Google Is an Advertising Company…

Google+ your account.. ties all the many many Google products you use every day together, and allows google to share that information between them. 5 This allows better results in their search engine AND allows better ads to appear when you are using google products. (because they know you live in LA, California for example and can show local results). This… dear readers, makes Google Money. In fact 97% of Google’s revenue 5 … comes from advertising. And that advertising is tied to the most valuable thing Google has besides their insane index of the Interwebs… Information about the Users who Use Google via… Google+.

Yet I've read at least 5 articles today talking about how Google might be shutting G+ down. One even got an official Google PR’s response on the possible shut down.  

“Today’s announcement has no impact on our Google Plus strategy—We have an incredibly talented team that will continue to build great user experiences across Google plus, hangouts and photos”.

But facts and real quotes? Naw. You as a Reporter obviously know whats up from unnamed sources. You don’t realize how uneducated it makes you sound when you state G+ is closing down?  Let me spell it out nice and clear… Is Apple going to cancel their Apple ID because Steve Jobs passed away? Are Microsoft Live accounts being terminated and called failed because Steve Balmer left the company? That… IS.. how ridiculous you reporters sound with these posts today to that vast majority of the world that gets this concept Google has been saying for 3 years.

Here’s another one that might be a shocker to some of you reporters….

Google+ Is NOT Made to Be a “Facebook Killer”

As one of G+ largest and most popular users, In my very humble opinion, Google does not care if you post cats on Saturday on G+ the social stream or not. They still know what city you now live in, that you are male or female and maybe even what school or where you work. Their advertising has become way more useful than it was 5 years ago. If you post cats on the social stream, Google also knows you like cats in some way. Rock on. Better advertising for me. I personally don’t mind trading that small amount of personal data to Google so that I can have free email, look at every single street in the entire world, and have an amazing customizable android phone. Many do, so Google allows you to turn all that off and be anonymous after you create the account. And its not crazy insane rocket science like Facebook privacy settings are. Who also by the way,actually are selling your soul and everything you ever post there to every company that walks by. If you are mad at Google for using your info to advertise better, you better be just as mad at Facebook, Twitter and oh pretty much most other websites today, who are doing it too. 8  In fact you should probably log off the internet right now forever.

COMMENTARY:    According to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Google was too late entering the social media market.   Facebook was founded on February 4, 2004, while Google+ was founded in late June 2011.  This has given Facebook a seven-year head start, and to its credit Facebook has capitalized on this start to grow its membership and active user base.  

In spite of its late start, Google+ now has 1 billion registered users, 359 million active users, grow in users is 33% per annum and 45-54 year olds are the fastest growing segment (growing by 56% since 2012).   These are numbers that cannot be ignored.    What is important is not the sheer number of members or active users, but the how Google+ is utilized in the overall scheme of things.  It serves as a platform where users can engage with each other, but more importantly, serves as a transit point of origin to Google's other platforms.  

The real value to the user is Google+'s ability to improve search results.  If you are an active Google+ user, your posts appear in search results especially if you include prominent keywords in your post headings and hashtags (similar to Twitter) within the text.   It used to be that Twitter was able to improve the search results for its users, but Google no longer includes Twitter updates in search results like in the past.   Therefore, any brand that wants to multiply its reach outside its ecosystem, must incorporate keywords in its update headings and hashtags within the text.  

It is Google+'s ability to create earned advertising for a brand where its strength lies.  For example, if you post videos on YouTube or make comments there, they will bounce back to Google+ and appear in your  news stream.  It's a one-two punch that many brands may not even be aware of.  

If Google+ has a weakness is user engagement is even lower than Twitter -- about 3% of users engage.  But, young users between 17 and 29 are joining Google+ at a faster rate than Facebook. New users tend to lean toward the techy side and they appreciate its value in knowledge discovery especially when it pertains to technology.  This is the principal reason why I have reamined a loyal Google+ users and will continue to use Google+ to increase my blog traffic.

Courtesy of an article dated April 24, 2014 appearing in Amanda Blain Blog

STRATEGY ANALYTICS: GLOBAL ANDROID TABLET SHIPMENTS UP TO 65.8% IN Q1 2014, iOS FELL TO 28.4%, WINDOWS REACHED 5.8%

Global tablet shipments in Q1 2014 reached 57.6 million units, up 19 percent from 48.3 million in Q1 2013. Breaking those numbers down, Android secured 65.8 percent global share, iOS grabbed 28.4 percent, and Windows secured 5.8 percent.

Here’s the full breakdown:

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The latest figures are from Strategy Analytics, which says Google is making steady progress as it now commands two thirds of the tablet market share. Apple, meanwhile, has changed its product release cycle to the holiday timeframe, so iPad losing share is to be expected until the final months of the calendar year.

In short, the Android-iOS war is far from over, but ever since Google surpassed Apple, it doesn’t look likely to lose its lead. Yet much more interesting will be watching to see how Microsoft’s numbers change in the next few quarters.

Here’s what Strategy Analytics believes is likely:

There may be an uptick in Windows following Microsoft’s decision to offer Windows for free for sub 9-inch devices. We may see a new batch of 8-inch Windows based Tablets with reduced prices; they will still not be as inexpensive as Android, but it will enable them to be more competitive and appealing to a wider audience. The shortage of apps continues to be a problem, with seemingly little incentive for developers to work on the platform.

Frankly, we don’t think there will be much growth for Windows tablets in 2014. Microsoft is making another long-term play, and until the company’s Windows Phone and Windows RT strategy is solidified, most of the market won’t be considering anything aside from Android or iOS. Google’s and Apple’s duopoly is likely to continue for quite some time.

Courtesy of an article dated April 28, 2014 appearing in TheNextWeb

APPLE SLIPS IN U.S. MARKET SHARE, ANDROID MAKES SIGNIFICANT GAINS IN MARKET SHARE WORLDWIDE

Every quarter we get new data from a number of different market research firms who specialize in tracking sales data and trends in the technology industry.  Kantar Worldpanel ComTech is one of said companies, and it delivers data based on 10 different countries and regions each quarter to show how the makeup of operating systems is changing all the time.  For years now Android has ruled the roost in worldwide marketshare, commanding in upwards of 70% depending on the quarter, trouncing rivals like Microsoft and Apple.  

The first quarter of 2014 is already behind us, and as such we’ve got some great sales data to look at.  With no surprise Android has yet again built worldwide marketshare, now reaching 80% in China, 70% in Europe and nearly 60% in the US.  The Chinese market saw a whopping 8.1% growth over the 4th quarter of 2013, with phablets (large display phones) being the rising start among phone sales in the country.  If you’ve noticed a trend among Chinese manufacturers making more and more devices that are larger than 5 inches you’re not dreaming it up, and there’s a great reason for it.  These larger devices are lovingly referred to as phablets, and they now make up more than 40% of all smartphone sales in China, bridging the sizes between smaller smartphones and tablets by providing the functionality of both in many cases.

Europe has also seen some gains, but it has also seen some significant marketshare losses in specific countries too.  Italy is Windows Phone’s strongest marketshare region, with almost 14% of all Italians purchasing Windows Phones over other competitors.  Android made some big strides there this past quarter though, with 8.2% growth in the country, bringing the Android marketshare up to 70.7% there.  Spain and Great Britain weren’t as favorable though, with marketshare losses for the platform in both countries bringing the total numbers down a bit, but still reigning supreme wherever you look. All this adds up to just a 1.5% growth rate of Android between the 5 European countries studied: Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain.  Windows Phone was the biggest winner here, pushing 1.6% of growth in the same period, while iOS only grow 0.1%.  Japan continues to remain iOS land, and is the only major country at this point to continue to adopt Apple’s OS in record numbers.  iOS actually grew 8.6% in Japan, while Android fell 4.5%.  iOS now owns 57.6% of marketshare in Japan, with Android all the way down at 41.5%

The US is the biggest story here though, with iOS losing a significant amount of marketshare after many subsequent quarters of growth.  In fact iOS is now at its lowest point in quite some time, with only 35.9% of new smartphones sold running iOS.  Android on the other hand has completely picked up that marketshare loss and more, now retaining the crown and eclipsing iOS by well over 60%, now sitting at 57.6% of all phones sold in the US.  The real question here is what has made the change?  The Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 were not out at the time of this study, but many phones like the Galaxy S4 went on heavy sale, with many carriers giving it away free on contract during this time period.  How does this bode for Android’s marketshare this next quarter?  With many top-tier phones coming out in the next 2 or 3 months including the incredibly cheap and well-specced OnePlus One, we expect to see Android grow in marketshare once again.

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Courtesy of an article dated April 28, 2014 appearing in AndroidHeadlines

T3 SAYS THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 IS BETTER THAN THE S4, BUT S5 OUTPERFORMED BY HTC ONE M8 AND iPHONE 5S IN BENCHMARKS

It's finally here (launched on April 11, 2014), the Samsung Galaxy S5.  A couple of months after its unveiling to the media at MWC in Barcelona, Samsung's latest contender has ditched the bloatware in a bid to take on the likes of the HTC One M8, Apple iPhone 5S and Sony Xperia Z2.

We've been playing with the new handset day and night for the past few days and we've been terrifying ourselves with the new heart-rate monitor and scanning our digits with the fingerprint scanner. We'll be updating our review shortly with more thorough testing including how it works with the Samsung Gear 2 and Samsung Gear Fit.

As we've mentioned, Samsung's latest offering is facing some stiff competition. Last year, we named the HTC One our smartphone of the year and this year HTC has produced and ever better phone, Apple's iPhone 5S is still going strong and who knows what 2014 could bring in the form of the rumoured iPhone 6 (rumored to have a 5-inch display).  Plus there's the Sony Xperia Z2 which is due to land shortly and looks set to be its best smartphone yet.  So let's get down to it and find out if the Samsung Galaxy S5 is up to the challenge.  

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Samsung Galaxy S5: Size and Build

Previous iterations of Samsung smartphones have been criticised for being too plasticky and for those looking for some metal, you're going to be disappointed.

The S5 is made entirely from plastic apart from the dappled leatherette back. Samsung seems to love making things that look like other materials - the sides look metal but they're plastic. The back looks like leather but it's leatherette.

Having said all that, it's a step up from the Samsung Galaxy S4 and we quite like the design. We expected the back to look cheap and tacky but it is, in fact, a pleasing texture and, dare we say it, premium - a word not often used to describe Samsung smartphones.

Vital statistics are 142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm making it a smartphone on the larger and thicker end of the scale. Its weight comes in at 145g, making it lighter than the robust HTC One M8 (160g) and the difference is noticeable when holding both phones. It's heavier than the S4, which tipped the scales at 130g, and dwarfs the iPhone 5s with a heft of 122g.

As with the S4, there are physical buttons to complement the touchscreen. You'll find the home button still in tact and this also now acts as the fingerprint scanner - more on that later. There's also a volume rocker and the on/off switch.

The headphone jack remains at the top of the device alongside an infared port. On the bottom you'll find, under a hatch, the sharing port. The reason for the hatch? The Samsung Galaxy S5 is IP 67 water and dust resistant. Note: resistant, not proof.

The new Samsung Galaxy S5 is available in four hues; charcoal, blue, gold and white. The blue and gold look a little on the tackier-side of the spectrum but each to your own. We'd recommend the charcoal.

As we've already mentioned, this is a large phone. Testament to this is the fact that on our first run we managed to drop it. Take a tip from us, get a case.

Samsung Galaxy S5: Screen

At 5.1 inches, the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S5 is slightly bigger than the 5-inch screen on the Samsung Galaxy S4. Resolution is, again, top of the range at 1080 x 1930 with 432ppi. Although it doesn't match the HTC One M8, Nexus 5 or the Sony Xperia Z2 when it comes to pixels, it far outstrips the iPhone 5S with its relatively meagre 326ppi.

It's a dazzling screen. Icons appear pin-sharp, menus pop out from the screen and although it has fewer pixels than the S4, it appears sharper and crisper. Videos are pixel-perfect, stutter free and super-smooth. In short, the screen's a joy.

However, the graphics processor of the HTC One M8 and iPhone 5S ranked higher than the Samsung Galaxy 5 in a graphics benchmark test conducted by  Anand Lal Shimpi and Joshua Ho of AnandTech.

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As with the S4, Samsung has stuck with AMOLED tech and, as with its predecessor, the screen is the biggest drain of battery but it's a pay-off we're happy with for the quality of the screen.

Samsung Galaxy S5: Features

The S4 Samsung was guilty of excessive bloatware and we're happy to report that this isn't the case with the S5. Samsung Hub has been removed as have the apps that once came out of the box.

The UI has had the spit and shine treatment - the main difference you'll notice within the settings. It's a much cleaner interface with a very 'Apple' feel about it. It's all colours and pretty icons and we like it.

Elsewhere you'll find subtle updates to the notifications pull down - it now includes S Finder (Samsung's answer to Spotlight search) and Quick Connect (Samsung's answer to AirDrop). There's also multi-windows ported over from the Samsung Galaxy Note Range.

You'll still find some of the gimmicks from the S4 still lurking like Smart Stay, Air wake up and Smart Pause but these are easily switched off and we'd recommend you do so.

There's also Kids mode and Private mode along with our personal favourite Geo News, an app that tells you if you're in the vicinity of an active wildfire, avalanche, dust storm or extreme cold. We're yet to see what happens if you do happen to be near one of those - thankfully, we've still got still got the smiley face icon that tells us we're OK.

Samsung's tried to address the power issue with a beefed-up version of Sony's Stamina mode named ultra power saving mode. Switch the mode on and it'll change the colour of the screen to black and white and restrict applications to just the essentials.

It'll also turn off mobile data when the screen is off and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are a no-go. Handy if you're teetering in the 10 percent area of battery life and just need that extra bit of time to make it to the plug socket.

Samsung Galaxy S5: Camera

Unlike the HTC One M8, Samsung has upped the pixel count on the Galaxy S5 to 16 megapixels from 13 megapixels on the S4.  Pictures are detailed and this time round can compete with the HTC One M8 with its ultrapixel snapper.
 
On the S4, low light was not your friend but thanks to the new low light HDR feature on the S5, it's not such a problem.  Pictures are not fantastic but they're certainly an improvement.

New to the mix is the super-fast autofocus which lives up to its claim. There was no lag whatsoever when taking pictures, it was almost instant.  Also new is the selective focus feature. Turn the mode on, select a focus point and take a picture. It's simple and easy and does produce some interesting pictures. Unlike the HTC One M8, you select the focus before taking the picture but you can choose from three focus options once you've taken your snap. It's not quite Lytro but it's a nice feature.

As with the bloatware, Samsung has also cut-down on the number of camera gimmicks. Gone is sound and shot but it's been replaced by virtual tour; a feature that lets you take multiple images and stitches them together to create a 'virtual tour' video. Dual camera and beauty shot remain and you'll also get the usual catalogue of effects from vignette to the lesser-used 'moody'.

Video-wise, Samsung ticks the 4K box with the ability to capture 3840 x 2160 UHD clips. It's really only future proofing at this stage, but if you have the tech, why not put it in, eh?  There's also, of course, a front-facing camera coming in at 2-megapixels.

Samsung Galaxy S5: S Health

S Health is one of the biggest updates to land on the Samsung Galaxy S5. If the S4 was the phone that was made to make you walk around, the S5 is the phone that makes you think you should be running a marathon and tells you you're having a heart attack, at the same time.

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Essentially, S Health is Endomondo mixed in with MyFitnessPal. On the fitness side, the app will measure running, walking, cycling and hiking. You can set your goals based on distance, time or calories and it'll track all of this and award you medals once you've reached your goals.

It's a great interface with large icons and buttons that are essential if you're mid-run and want to check how well you're doing.

On the pedometer side of things, it's as you'd expect; it tracks your steps. Out of the box your goal is 10k steps a day but you can change this, as we did.

Where things get a little more interesting is with the heart rest monitor. Place your finger over the sensor on the back of the phone and you'll be given a reading. During our time with the phone it worked around 60 per cent of the time and it wasn't always accurate; at one point we were given a reading of 222 bpm - we're pretty sure that's heart-attack territory.

Samsung Galaxy S5: Fingerprint scanner

As we mentioned earlier, a fingerprint sensor is built into the home button of the phone, much like Apple's Touch ID. To set-up you'll need to scan your finger 14 times and once you're done, you're in.

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Unlike Apple iPhone 5S, you need to swipe your finger down the home button and not simple hold your finger on top of it. This is a pain. You have to get the angle completely right or it's a no-go. As with the heart rate sensor, it worked 60 per cent of the time.

Samsung Galaxy S5: Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S5 features the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad core processor, with clock speed of 2.5GHz which makes it a touch faster than the HTC One M8. In everyday use, it's lightning fast and we certainly didn't see any noticeable lag.

Whizzing around Android KitKat 4.4.2 was a breeze and we couldn't get any slowdown playing high-graphic games or streaming HD videos.

Along with 2GB of RAM, there's either 16GB or 32GB memory options that can both be expanded up to 128GB thanks to the micro SD card slot.

The microprocessor speed of the HTC One M8 ranked higher than the Samsung Galaxy 5's Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 microprocessor in a CPU benchmark test conducted by Anand Lal Shimpi and Joshua Ho of AnandTech.  However, the iPhone 5S A6 microprocessor ranked third.

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Samsung Galaxy S5: Battery

The new handset has a 2800mAh battery on board - a slight boost compared to the S4's 2600mAH. Everyday use isn't a problem for the S5, we'd easily make it to the end of the day with the screen on mid-birghtness, browsing the web and watching the odd video.

Samsung Galaxy S5: Verdict

We called the Samsung Galaxy S4 a thing of beauty and the S5 is even better. It feels better, looks better and does more than its predecessor.  S Health is a great addition and a genuine alternative to other fitness and health apps out there. What's more, the camera is much improved and the interface feels cleaner and less cluttered.

Is it the best smartphone out there? We said that the S4 couldn't match the HTC One's gorgeous and demure styling, it remains the case with the S5 and the HTC One M8 although, Samsung is getting closer and in terms of innovation and power,  the S5 narrowly takes the crown.

As with the S4, the S5 is undoubtedly going to be a very, very popular phone and deservedly so - it's the best Android smartphone yet.  Over to you, Apple.

Overall, where's how the Samsung Galaxy S5 rated:

Love

• Updated design
• Camera innovation
• Cleaner UI

Hate

• Too big for some
• Slightly delicate
• Unreliable sensors

COMMENTARY:   This is one of the better, "getting-to-the-point" reviews of a smartphone that I have seen so far.  I definitely agree with the overall review.  I disagree that the Galaxy S5 is too big.  In my opinion, big is better, and that is where the growth in the overall smartphone category is going.  And, according to some rumors, and pressures from its existing users clammoring for a larger phone, Apple is entering the big phone category with a new iPhone 6 with a 5-inch display. I just used the Galaxy S5 that a friend purchased, and the biggest "unreliable" is the fingerprint sensor.  It simply doesn't work very well.  However, the Apple iPhone 5S has similar problems, so it might behoover smartphone makers to adopt a more reliable security system other than fingerprints.  Having said this, I would definitely get a Galaxy S5 for the display and faster processor.  My Google Nexus 7 2nd generation tablet uses the Snapdragon 800 processor, and has a 7-inch display so I mostly use it for all my apps now, so I have decided to stay with my older generation mobile phone for now.

Courtesy of an article dated April 4, 2014 appearing in T3 and an article dated April 10, 2014 appearing in the International Business Times    

TWITTER'S NEW DESIGN LOOKS A LOT LIKE FACEBOOK, AND THAT'S A GOOD THING

 

UNVEILED TODAY, TWITTER'S NEW DESIGN IS ALL ABOUT MAKING YOUR STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS SEEM LESS SCHIZO.

After months of testing, Twitter has announced a new design that makes the popular micro-blogging service look a lot more like Facebook. But don't let that fool you. Twitter's as dedicated to being a digital stream of consciousness as ever. The redesign just makes it easier for others to track your thoughts. If your old Twitter was Finnegan's Wake, the new Twitter design integrates CliffsNotes inside the text.

Rolling out to new users today (and gradually to the rest of us), the most obvious change in the new Twitter design is the aesthetic. While previously a user's Twitter profile was a rather austere two-paned list of tweets, statistics, and hashtags, the new Twitter opts for a flashy, Facebook-style profile, with wide horizontal header images, bigger user pictures, and tabs for photos and videos, followers, and more. It looks nice and clean.

New Twitter Profile Page (Click Image To Enlarge)

Twitter was experimenting earlier this year with presenting a user's tweets as a series of cards aligned in a grid, but it looks as though the company's designers have opted to not pursue that approach (we reached out to Twitter for comment, and we'll update the post if and when we hear back). That's a good move. We've previously argued that Twitter should never abandon its news river format; the format sets Twitter apart from the likes of Pinterest and gives the micro-blogging network a sense of immediacy.

New Twitter Home Page displays tweets in larger and wider format (Click Image To View)

The best part of the new design is it doesn't muck with what makes Twitter great. Your Twitter profile is still a digital stream of your online consciousness: It's just that some of your thoughts are more prominent in that stream than others.

The new Twitter emphasizes those thoughts in a couple of key ways. The first is by leveraging engagement: the number of replies, retweets, and likes that any of your tweets get. Twitter always tracked these metrics, but now, the company will be using them to influence formatting. This means that a particularly popular tweet ("Just kicked @justinbieber in the groin! #betterbeliebit") will have a slightly larger font size in your stream than, say, your tweet lamenting the loss of a gym sock. It's Twitter's way of surfacing the flotsam and submerging the jetsam.

The other big change is the ability to pin a single tweet to the top of the page. In Twitter's new design, this acts as almost a supplement to your bio: while the latter tells people information about you, the pinned tweet is a snapshot of what you're all about now.

In addition to the new tweet-surfacing features, Twitter has rolled out one more feature to make the platform more user-friendly. Like on Facebook, users can now filter what they see when they look at a profile: tweets, tweets with photo or video, and tweets and replies.

Between Twitter's new Facebook-like look and a recently announced feature that lets you tag people in pictures, some are wondering if Twitter is losing sight of what makes it great. But nothing is really different here; the new design simply makes what is otherwise an unordered stream of your thoughts easier for other people to follow. And if you follow some of the borderline personalities I follow, you'd thank Twitter's designers for it.

COMMENTARY:   Twitter's new design includes a Discover page that includes a sprinkling of interesting, pre-selected Tweets from other Twitter members which have gained traction based on your followers' interests.  These Discover tweets offer expanded images similar to those in a user's timeline on Facebook.

Twitter's new layout includes a Discover page with expanded images (Click Image To Enlarge)

Like Facebook, Twitter offers a Notifications page which lists new followers, direct messages you may have sent to followers or received from them, and followers who have favorited one of your updates.

New Twitter Notifications page lists new followers, messages, followers who have favorited you, suggested followers and what's trending on Twitter (Click Image To Enlarge)

Courtesy of an artcle dated April 8, 2014 appearing in Fast Company Design

NEW SURVEY DATA SHOWS THAT TEENS ARE LEAVING SOCIAL NETWORKS FOR SOCIAL APPS AND OTHER SOCIAL SITES

Data from a number of surveys suggests that teenagers are leaving social networks like Facebook in favor of social apps.

The latest study comes from Project Tomorrow, a non-profit organization focused on digital technology for education, which recently released the results of its 2013 survey of 325,279 K-12 students across the U.S.

According to the Project Tomorrow survey, in 2013, just 30% of middle school students 39% of high school students said they are maintaining a profile on a social networking site (read: Facebook). That’s a decrease of approximately 40% since 2009, the report notes. The drop in social network use has been accompanied by a rise in social apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine, which are now used by 44% of students in grades 6-12.

• Text messaging is also on the rise, according to Project Tomorrow, used by two thirds of students in grades 6-12 in 2013, up 37% from 2008.  
• 28% of middle school students said they are making and posting videos.
• 12% said they have their own blog.
• 38% of this age group said they stream online TV shows.
• 23% of middle school students regularly play massively multi-player online games.

As noted, these data echo the results of some other surveys.

• Piper Jaffray Teen Survey - Last week I wrote about a survey of 7,500 teens by Piper Jaffray which found that 30% of teens ranked Instagram their most important social network, ahead of Twitter at 27% and Facebook at 23%. These are all big changes from the results of a previous Piper Jaffray survey a year ago, when 33% of teen respondents chose Facebook as their most important social network, compared to 30% for Twitter and just 17% for Instagram.
  
• iStrategyLabs Facebook Teen Survey - In January 2014, drawing on data from Facebook’s social advertising platform, iStrategyLabs found that the number of Americans ages 13-17 using Facebook declined 25.3% from 13.1 million in January 2011 to 9.8 million in January 2014, while the number of users ages 18-24 declined 7.5% from 45.4 million to 42 million over the same period.
• USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz, Inc. - This teen survey found that roughly one in three (30%) Facebook users believe they will be using the service less within the next five years. Within this group, 40% say they use Twitter, while Instagram is also growing fast, especially among millennials.

COMMENTARY:  

Here's Where Teens Are Going Instead of Facebook

In November 2013, Facebook’s chief financial officer, David Ebersman confirmed a worrying, but long-suspected trend for the world’s biggest social network: teenagers, perhaps the most important demographic for a modern-day communication tool, were becoming less active on the site.

Ebersman admitted, referring to usage numbers from the second to third quarters of 2013.

“We did see a decrease in daily users, partly among younger teens.”  

Researchers at GlobalWebIndex, a syndicated study on digital consumers in 32 markets, recently confirmed this decline.

Having surveyed teenagers in 30 countries, they revealed that the number of teenagers claiming to be active on Facebook (ie. doing more than just “liking” a separate page on the web) had dropped to 56% in the third quarter of 2013, from 76% in the first.

The biggest decline in active usage (by 52%) was in the Netherlands; there was a 16% fall for American teens.

Where are they going instead? Not surprisingly, it’s mobile chat services like WeChat, and photo-sharing apps like Instagram and Snapchat.

What’s truly startling though, is how quickly global teenagers are taking up the services instead:

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The latest research from GlobalWebIndex, out Tuesday and with the accompanying graphic above, shows that Chinese messaging platform WeChat has seen the most rapid growth in active users aged between 16 and 19 — by an incredible 1,021% — between the first and second quarters of this year.

The other big wins have been for video sharing app Vine, owned by Twitter, and the mobile app for photo-sharing app Flickr. Active teen users for Vine grew by 639% and for Flickr by 254%, according to research group’s estimates.

The ephemeral photo-sharing app Snapchat is also growing strong; GlobalWebIndex only recently began surveying its use, but have already surmised that 10% of teens globally are using the service, making it bigger than Pinterest, Vine, WeChat, Line and LinkedIn among that demographic.

Tom Smith, CEO of GlobalWebIndex, said.

“There is a very clear story with the big winners being closed messaging and video-and-photo sharing apps.  This is something that could be particularly harmful to Facebook because its core value lies in peer-to-peer community, messaging and photo sharing.”

Even Facebook Messenger is seeing more active usage (an 86% increase), than Facebook itself, where teenage active users fell by 17% in the same period, according to the estimates. Instagram saw an 85% increase in active users and messaging tool WhatsApp saw an 81% growth. Tumblr also saw some growth in active users, but by a relatively-low 30%.

Smith said.  

“There is a clear, definitive shift to mobile in general, underlined by a large rise in Facebook’s mobile app,  [up 69%], so the composition of Facebook is changing.”

The teen trend towards mobile chat apps should have less of an impact on Twitter, Smith added, because Twitter plays a greater role in accessing real-time news, interacting with TV or following celebrities. Even Google seems to be better insulated than Facebook because it is associated with broader networks and content.

Despite the huge growth in active users of WeChat, most teens in the U.S. and Western Europe still aren’t using it, though anecdotally, it is said to be popular among young people in Chinese communities. The real growth for the service is in China, where WeChat is based, and parts of South East Asia. The messaging app, which claims more than 250 million monthly active users, is owned by the Chinese Internet giant Tencent, which claims 800 million active users for its instant messing service for desktops. WeChat is the English-language version of the company’s original Chinese-language chat app, WeiShin.

Tencent President Martin Lau while on stage at the GMIC mobile conference in San Francisco in October 2013, adding that Tencent was customizing WeChat for local audiences in each country.  

“We launched different branding and different back-end servers in other locations.”

Lau, who was previously one of the key bankers at Goldman Sachs that helped take Tencent public in 2004, said WeChat was targeting Italy, Mexico and Brazil as key areas for expansion, and that the U.S. was “a tough market.”

He added.  

“But we do have an office here and a team who are trying to think about how we can do [things] differently in the U.S..”

How is WeChat capitalizing on its popularity with teenage users?  One way is by setting up physical vending machines, selling soft drinks. It’s all part of a broader experiment by Tencent to set up a payment mechanism within WeChat. Tencent partner Ubox recently set up 300 WeChat vending machines in Beijing’s subway stations where WeChat users could get discounted drinks by paying with their chat app.

Lau said.  

“Those are experiments at this point, but over time as the mobile Internet ties in with people’s lives more closely there will be more opportunities.”

Still, Lau doesn’t see mobile messaging platforms like WeChat canabailizing social networks like Facebook in the same way social networks ate through instant messaging. Mobile messaging through platforms like WhatsApp or KakaoTalk involve communicating with a smaller group of people that end users typically already know in real life; they’re privy to their mobile numbers after all.

He said.  

“They’re both social, but address two very different user cases.  They can actually coexist.”

NOTE:  In a blog post dated February 20, 2014, we reported that Facebook had acquired text messaging app Whatsapp for the phenomenal price of $16 billion in stock and cash.  The move to acquire Whatsapp was prompted by a decline in Facebook usage by teens who were spending their time on Whatsapp.  This was a protective strategy to recapture those teens even if it meant acquiring Whatsapp for quite a premium.    

Courtesy of an article dated April 14, 2014 appearing in MediaPost Publications The Social Graf and an article dated November 12, 2013 appearing in Forbes

STUDY: 34% OF MARKETERS DID NOT HAVE A DOCUMENTED MARKETING PLAN IN 2013

Just over one-third of marketers (34%) did not have a documented marketing plan last year, according to a recent report from Marketo.

However, that percentage varies significantly by company size, with the smallest companies (fewer than 50 employees) least likely to have a documented marketing plan (only 56% reported having one for 2013) and the largest (1,001-5,000 employees) most likely to have one (81% reported having one).

Having a documented marketing plan seemed to be linked to overall satisfaction with a company's marketing team, Marketo found in its analysis: Over three-quarters (77%) of respondents who were extremely satisfied with their marketing team had documented marketing plans.

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Below, additional key findings from the report, which was based on data from a survey of 493 B2B and consumer marketing professionals.

Goals

• 16% of respondents say they always meet their marketing goals, and 55% say they usually do.
• However, 22.5% say they don't have measurable marketing goals.

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Marketing Programs

• 42% of respondents run five or fewer marketing programs per month.
• Small companies (50 or fewer employees) are the most likely to run fewer than five marketing programs per month.

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Email Frequency

• Most marketers surveyed (67%) say they email their database fewer than 10 times each month, and 45% say they send emails fewer than five times each month.
• However, marketers using marketing automation software are more likely to email more frequently, with only 27% sending less than five emails per month. Moreover, just 15% of marketers who have been using marketing automation software for over a year send fewer than five emails per month.
• Marketers with documented marketing plans also send emails more frequently.

About the research: The report was based on data from a survey of 493 B2B and consumer marketing professionals.

Courtesy of an article dated April 21, 2014 appearing in MarketingProfs

15 STATS TO HELP DRIVE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

What have savvy brand marketers and social media strategists learned recently? Here’s a quick wrap-up of significant network trends, consumer behaviors, and brand results.

SOCIAL NETWORK TRENDS

Although Facebook continues to dominate; we are seeing significant growth in the visually
focused sites such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

1.  Facebook is still #1 in time spent per month. Users spend 6.35 hours monthly on Facebook — that’s nearly twice as much usage as on Google+. Mobile Facebook usage is on the rise, but most users are on their desktops. (Facebook)

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2. Instagram has grown to 150 million+ active users.  Now a part of the Facebook family, Instagram expanded exponentially, adding roughly 50 million users in the second half of 2013. This underscores the growing interest in creating and consuming visual content.  (Instagram) 

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3. 15% of Internet users are on Pinterest — that’s nearly 1 in 6 people.   Also noteworthy: the typical Pinterest user is well educated, and 18% have an annual income of $75,000 or more. (Pew)

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4. Users spend more of their time on Tumblr and Pinterest vs. Twitter and LinkedIn.  Twitter and LinkedIn do have larger user bases. But when you compare the percentage of their time that users spend on these sites, Tumblr and Pinterest win. (ComScore)

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5. Pinterest drives twice the website referral traffic of Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ combined.  Conversions are a marketer’s best friend. Last year, Pinterest proved its power in driving users from the social network directly to corporate websites — second only to Facebook. (Shareaholic)

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SOCIAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

What are people doing on social these days? Discovering new brands, sharing found content, expecting more customer care, performing work tasks, and apparently starting to respond more to social advertising.

6. One in three consumers say social is a way to discover new brands, products, and services.   This may not lead to direct attribution on the brand side yet, but it shows the power of brand awareness and reputation in the social consumer lifecycle. (eMarketer)

7. Nearly half (47%) of Internet users share photos or video they found online.  If your content resonates with your audience’s interests, they are likely to share and propagate it for you. (Pew)

8. 25% of consumers who complain about products on Facebook or Twitter expect a response within 1 hour.  Merely listening is no longer an option. If you don’t respond, you risk disappointing a customer (at least) and may create a negative brand perception. (American Express Open Forum)

9. 100% of business decision-makers use social media for work.  According to Forrester, statistically every business decision-maker is using social media and doing so at least
partly for work purposes. (Forrester Research Inc.)

10. 60% of users have clicked on an ad in LinkedIn.  We’ve seen much discussion on social advertising’s effectiveness. If LinkedIn’s performance is any indicator, relevant social advertising is starting to truly drive action. (lab42)

BRAND INTENTIONS AND RESULTS

Social media is now firmly in the integrated marketing mix, as brands expand their programs and budgets to reflect its growing importance.   

11. 79% of marketers have integrated social media into their traditional marketing activities.  Going beyond Paid, Owned, and Earned social, brands are now actively integrating social with traditional marketing and creating a full view of social’s integration within CRM systems. (Social Media Examiner Industry Report)

12. 91% of executives plan to use a more programmatic approach to audience segmentation.  Two trends are highlighted here: the rise of audience segmentation and the intent to scale social media through a programmatic approach. This should result in more personalized content and a greater emphasis on building internal infrastructure to insure  repeat-able success. (eMarketer)

13. 70% of marketers say that content marketing has increased their brand awareness.  Social is an always-on medium. If brands want to reach and resonate with audience members consistently, they must create compelling content all the time. According to iMedia, content marketing is really working to drive brand awareness. (iMedia)

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14. 65% of marketers planned to increase their social advertising spending last year.  Advertising on social here to stay. Two out of three marketers planned to increase their social advertising budget last year. And with greater stringency placed on Facebook’s Newsfeed placement, this number will likely rise. (Nielsen)

THE BOTTOM LINE

15. Social media is the top driver for building relationships.  52% of enterprise brands say social media is the top driver for relationship-building and brand engagement. Email was cited half as much, and corporate websites only a quarter as much. Why is this significant? More marketers now realize and embrace social media’s inherent value — building relationships — and are working to create programs that deliver great experiences. As a result, they’ll see happier, more loyal customers; higher awareness; and increased demand. (Spredfast)

Are you ready to make the most of your social strategy and build lasting relationships this year?
Contact [email protected] to get started today 

Courtesy of a study conducted by Spredfast

THE CONFIDENTIAL INTERNAL SLIDES THAT SHOW WHY APPLE IS MAKING A BIGGER iPHONE

A new iPhone 6 concept shows a beautifully rendered iPhone 6 with a 4.8-inch display, no home button and an iPad mini inspired design

There has been no shortage of rumors that the iPhone 6 will have a big screen ranging from 4.7-inchesto over 5 inches. But why is Apple doing this? They just changed the display size from 3.5-inches to 4-inches and another screen size increase could present a headache for developers, casemakers and the whole ecosystem.

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The answer, from Apple’s own research/presentation, shows they have to. There is no growth in the 4-inch phone market for devices that cost more than $300. In fact, that market is shrinking overall.

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Why?

Below is the slide that shows how Apple ended up in this predicament. It isn’t just consumers wanting big screens for less. Carriers also have it out for Apple, according to the internal slides released (via Re/code) during the current Apple v. Samsung patent trial. Citing the iPhones high market share, subsidy premium, ‘Unfriendly’ policies and lack of alignment, Apple believes the carriers have a strong interest in capping iPhone sales. Finally, according to Apple, competitors are improving their hardware and ecosystems and spending ‘obscene’ amounts of money to gain traction at carriers. That is Samsung more than anyone else.

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So what can Apple do?

Apple can sell a 4-inch iPhone for under $300, either forgoing their historically huge margins and/or making a cheap device. Neither of which are very likely. You can currently buy an iPhone 5c at Virgin without a plan for just over $300 but those are likely still subsidized because they are locked to Virgin. It is hard to find a 4-inch iPhone for under $500 on the open market.

The much more likely scenario is that Apple sells a bigger iPhone 6 for its current market price and margins addressing the growing market. At the same time, its current lineup could drop in price and come close to hitting that magic sub-$300 price point.

In short, Apple must make a bigger iPhone.

COMMENTARY:   A new iPhone 6 concept shows a beautifully rendered iPhone 6 with a 4.8-inch display, no home button and an iPad mini inspired design.

The iPhone 6 concept shows us what an iPhone 6 prototype tumored back in December might look like. According to Jeffries analyst Peter Misek, Apple is working on a large screen iPhone 6 with no home button and a quad-core processor.

Steve Hemmerstoffer of nowhereelse.fr teamed up with talented designer to design the iPhone 6, and a larger iPhone 6 that could take on phablets and smartphones with increasingly large screens.

This iPhone 6 concept isn’t quite as large as the Galaxy Note 2, but would compete nicely with the rumored 4.99-inch display on the Samsung Galaxy S4, the 4.8-inch display on the HTC One and the 5-inch display on the Sony Xperia Z.

In a photo heavy post, Hemmerstoffer shares two new iPhone 6 concepts which show another look at how Apple could deliver a large screen smartphone without dramatically increasing the size of the iPhone. The idea is simple, and their solution to controlling an iPhone with no home button is also simple; incorporate the trackpad design from the Macbook to deliver a clickable touch screen.

The solution certainly looks more elegant than the side-mounted home button we saw on an iPhone 6 concept with a massive display earlier this month. By removing the home button, the iPhone 6 is actually smaller than the iPhone 5, and the iPhone 6 with a 4.8-inch display is nearly the same size as the iPhone 5.

A new iPhone 6 concept shows a beautifully rendered iPhone 6 with a 4.8-inch display, no home button and an iPad mini inspired design. (Click Image To Enlarge)

This design would solve many of the complaints of large smartphones, allowing Apple to offer an iPhone with a bigger screen, without burdening users with a phone that is too large to carry or too large to hold, at least in the eyes of users accustomed to 3.5-inch and 4-inch screens.

Another shot of the iPhone 6 concept. (Click Image To Enlarge)

The idea to replace the home button with a click pad is interesting, especially with the idea that users can use it higher up on the screen. This would offer a larger touch target, but could prove troublesome for gamers who mash down on a games’ on-screen buttons.

In this iPhone 6 concept we see an overall look like the iPad mini and the new iPod touch. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 with a 4.8-inch display feature anodized aluminum backs with 4-inch and 4.8-inch clickable displays.

We expect the iPhone 5S release before the iPhone 6 arrives, and current rumors point to an iPhone 5S release in June or late summer, though nothing is set in stone.

Other rumors suggest Apple is planning an iPhone 5S and an iPhone 6, both set for a release in 2013. This wouldn’t be the first time Apple announced two iPhones in one year (Verizon iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S), but it would mark the first time the company announced 2 completely new iPhone models in one year.

Be sure to check out the rest of the iPhone 6 concept renderings.

Courtesy of an article dated April 6, 2014 appearing in 9to5Mac.com and an article dated March 4, 2014 appearing in GottaBeMobile.com