Google+ will catch up with Facebook, developers believe

About two of three developers believe Google can catch up with Facebook in the social networking scene with its upcoming social network Google+.

This was the result of a July 2011 survey of 2,012 developers by Appcelerator/IDC, which posted the results on its website.

“Two-thirds of respondents believe that Google can catch up to Facebook in social with Google+. When asked why, 68 percent of developers say that leveraging Google’s assets (eg: Search, YouTube, Maps, etc) trumps Facebook’s social graph lead. 49 percent say that Google shows more innovation than Facebook with new Google+ features like circles, sparks, hangouts, etc.,” it said.

But for now, 83 percent of developers using social in their apps say they use or are planning to use Facebook this year.

Micro-blogging site Twitter is second on their immediate priorities at 73 percent, followed closely by Google+ at 72 percent – when its API is released.

LinkedIn is fourth at 30 percent, and Foursquare at 23 percent.

Social capabilities

When asked what social capabilities are most important in their apps, developers placed features that encourage repeat usage and offer fresh content over location checkins and photo sharing.

In order of priority, developers use social networks for:

• notifications (52%)
• status updates (49%)
• login/identity (44%)
• messaging (38%)
• news (35%)
• location sharing (32%)
• photo sharing (31%)
• friend requests (26%)

iOS5 features

In developing apps for Apple’s iOS devices, developers are most interested in:

• improved notifications (58%)
• iCloud (51%)
• integrated Twitter support (40%)
• reminders (36%)
• iMessage (32%)

The survey said iCloud may “significantly disrupt” the mobile cloud computing space, with a tight race expected between Amazon and Apple.

It said developers using or planning to use cloud services over the next year see Amazon (51%), iCloud (50%), Microsoft Windows Azure (20%), VMWare (20%), and RedHat OpenShift (17%) as the top five players.

Apple, Google accelerating mobile lead

Appcelerator and IDC surveyed 2,012 Appcelerator Titanium developers from July 20-22 on perceptions surrounding mobile OS priorities, Google and Apple’s move into the ‘mobile cloud’ and application development needs.

The survey showed developers seeing Apple and Google accelerating their lead in mobile by redefining mobile app engagement, loyalty, and cloud connectivity through their new Google+ and iCloud offerings.

“Developers also indicate that they see Apple and Google gains in the consumer application space translating into significant traction in the enterprise space over time,” it said.

The survey also showed Apple and Google’s strengths in the mobile consumer space may make inroads in developer perceptions towards the enterprise arena.

“When asked which platform is best positioned to win in the enterprise, respondents were evenly divided between iOS and Android at 44 percent each. Only 7 percent believe Windows Phone has a shot, 4 percent for BlackBerry, and 2 percent for webOS.

Cautious approach to Android

The survey also showed that enterprises are taking a more cautious approach with Android at scale due to security concerns, and are looking to Apple when they go beyond BlackBerry and Windows mobile deployments.

“In the near to medium-term, despite being equivalent from a developer perception-standpoint, Apple is leading with CIOs today when it comes to mobile deployments beyond Microsoft and RIM,” it said.

Platform priorities

The survey showed the iPhone remains tops as 91 percent say they are ‘very interested’ in developing for the device, with iPad second at 88 percent.

Android was third, climbing to 87 percent from 85 percent last quarter and Android Tablets rose back to Q1 levels to 74 percent.

HTML5 mobile web, added as a new option to rank this quarter, came in fifth at 66 percent.

Others were Windows Phone (30%), BlackBerry phones (28%), BlackBerry Playbook (20%), HP TouchPad (18%), HP Palm Pre/Pixi (12%), Symbian (7%), and MeeGo (5%).

“The new addition of mobile web in the middle of the pack suggests developers are seeing the increasing requirement for both a mobile app and mobile website, though the former continues to be the number one priority,” the survey said.

Mobile leaders extend lead

With OSes and consumer expectations maturing, applications are becoming more engaging with real-time notifications, social, local context, and always-on cloud connectivity becoming the norm, the survey said.

It said “upstarts” iCloud and Google+ can challenge entrenched players Amazon and Facebook shows how quickly these new capabilities will shake up what’s possible in mobile.

“Ultimately, these changes are an evolution of the mobile engagement lifecycle. From customer acquisition/awareness to engagement, to monetization to loyalty, mobile leaders are focusing on leveraging their ubiquitous adoption levels into new areas that, in the end, significantly enlarge the overall value that’s possible on each of their platforms in the post-PC era,” it said. — TJD, GMA News

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Facebook Adds Controversial “Expected: Child” Option

Facebook has updated its user profiles to allow married couples to announce if they are expecting a child.

The update made by the social networking giant adds ‘Expected: Child’ to user profiles. Facebook is already filled with new born baby profiles, despite its age policy, so it decided to legitimise the entire thing by allow parents to add their child to their Facebook profile before even it is born.

The option can be accessed by going to ‘Edit Profile’, clicking on ‘Friends and Family’ and select the ‘Add another family member’ option. In the ‘Select Relation’ drop down menu, users can select the ‘Expected:Child’ option.

Facebook also allows users to give a name to the child when they create a profile for the unborn baby. Many believe that the new option is sort of creepy and have spoken out against the fact that a child is going to lose its privacy before it is even born.

Parenting has already grown into a billion dollar industry and people who have put up the new profile update will surely bombarded with ads related to baby products and the likes. This may well be quite a money spinner for Facebook.

This move by Facebook has raised some brows and Scott Campbell, a professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, told New York Daily News “The feature makes it a very clinical way to share what some consider very sacred information. Facebook makes listing a child announcement as casual as updating job information and hobbies.” as cited by Daily Mail.

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