This is the week that was: When the web changed
As Harry rolls innocently out of the dock and potentially into the seat of England manager, and the bank of England pumps more money into the economy to fund the whole affair, we collate and distil the outpouring of knowledge from the B2B marketing community – from the new kid on the block Pinterest taking over everyone’s Twitter feed through to the differing opinions on blogging (we of course are still in favour). Enjoy.
Technology debate of the week:
Since the dot com boom of the late 90s the web has changed the way the whole world functions – from how businesses operate to how people communicate with each other on a day to day basis. A brand without a website that is dynamic and user friendly is consigned to failure and with the rise of social networks over the last four years the shift from traditional to digital advertising has been one all marketers have had to keep on top of. There is however another shift coming…the rise of the app. Whether these are desktop or mobile, apps are changing the way consumers interact online. For the Forrester CEO this means the death of the web – with applications offering faster and more efficient usability than we are all used to at the moment. Is he right…or, as many of those who disagree, serving up some wild speculation?
Trend decline of the week:
With content being so important to your social media efforts, we feel there is nothing better than the old faithful blog – both to share interesting and engaging content with your followers but also to give your own insight and opinion on issues in the industry. This week, however, research showed that a number of companies are giving up on the blog for the likes of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. It might not just be down to a perceived change in the channels consumers are using… research shows that the shift away from blogging is largely due to the lack of time and resource that needs to go into it. Have you seen a decline in blogs or importantly interesting and engaging content in blogs that is so important?
Customer trust building exercise of the week:
While we believe blogs are still a good and reasonably easy way of getting content out there, all forms of content – from videos to whitepapers – are important for any marketing strategy today. This week Michael Stelzner in a video interview explains how good content helps build trust and engagement with your customers – with good story telling and a focus on ‘real time’ content being key to building the relationships.
Search conundrum of the week:
Traditional SEO and PPC technique have proved invaluable for online marketing strategies. The rise of Google has meant your page rank can make or break your success as a company. The concept social search has added to the mix of what is needed to ensure you are found online…but what is more important? This week B2B Communicators gave their views…
New kid on the block of the week:
It seems that for far too long now the likes of Twitter and Facebook have ruled the waves of the social uprising. Google plus and many others have put their hat in the ring to take the crown, but to no real avail. This week however the new kid on the block, Pinterest, was the talk of the town across the blog and twittersphere with comments and opinions a plenty (mostly hugely positive). If you missed it, Pinterest is a network that allows you to create your own pin boards, posting images and videos that you find most interest for others to discover. It is too early days to see how relevant and useful the site will be for B2B marketers but certainly a very big space to watch carefully…
Infographic of the week:
Mobile app stores have been instrumental in the epic rise of mobile and how businesses and consumers interact with brands. The growth of the app store has been central to the success and growth of Apple, whilst a poor version being the thorn in the side for RIM and Blackberry. This infographic shows the development and rise of humble app store…
That was the week that was. Anything we missed? Let us know…
Earnest about B2B 
Very nice Infographic except that NTT DoCoMo Japan invented the app store in 1999 and then had several 10s of thousands of official apps within a few years – like about 5 years before your chart started. They had 100s of thousands of “unofficial” apps which were those apps which people could build according to the specs issued by DoCoMo but which were not in the app store and did not use the telco billing system.
In response to the success of the app store DoCoMo’s key competitor, KDDI, invented and launched the Music store in 2001 which is what iTunes is now. That allowed single track downloads and also a PC management console, not a very sophisticated one but where Apple also saw the idea. DoCoMo immediately copied this, as did KDDI the DoCoMo app store.
Apple took all these ideas, which they studied in detail, and didn’t invent them in the slightest. But Apple did innovate in many ways especially commercially in their dealings with the record companies and the telcos. In fact their main innovation was to take all this out from under the dead hand of the Western telcos. There’s no doubt that DoCoMo and KDDI had no chance of taking their inventions to the rest of the world – their international marketing skills were woeful especially DoCoMo. There’s also no doubt that what we no see in iTunes and the app store is a lead ahead of what DoCoMo started – that’s the result of continuous innovation, and some bright ideas from Apple’s huge experience base.
The myopic view of what was invented by the West is common enough. But the history of app stores was written in the main before 2008 and the rest is just variations on a theme. DoCoMo was the visionary.
Walter @adamson
Walter,
Fascinating insight. This infographic is of course only a history of the ‘mobile app store’, which naturally developed from the likes of NTT DoCoMo Japan and its service just before the turn of the millenium!
It is interesting, as you pointed out, that through their marketing savvy Apple, in the mind of the wider consumer, has managed to take the credit for the uprise of the app store and all the branding benefits that have gone with it.
Surely there is another infographic that is needed to show all services Apple provides today that were developed in the eye of another company long before any of us consumers were thinking about it.
Thanks again for the wisdom, Walter.
Earnest.