lørdag 17. april 2010

Week in review: Android’s disruptive potential, Twitter’s new business model

Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
Could 2010 be the year Android unlocks your phone contract? — Analyst R. Scott Raynovich shares conclusions from his report “The Android Ecosystem”, arguing that Google’s mobile operating system could be even more disruptive than its wireless partners anticipate.
Philips ups ante on LEDs with 60-watt bulb replacement — Just a week after General Electric unveiled its light-emitting diode bulb capable of replacing 40-watt incandescents, Philips has already one-upped it, announcing that it will start selling an LED equivalent of 60-watt incandescents by the end of the year.
Why platforms like iPhone and Twitter are becoming control freaks — In recent weeks we’ve seen both Twitter and Apple clamp down on developers, adding new restrictions to their developer agreements. We look at the question on everyone’s mind: Exactly how much control are the platforms going to be exerting here?
The biggest mistake startups make — Your startup might have the best product or service to come dancing down the pike in years, but that hardly guarantees success, according to Liz Tinkham, a global manager at Accenture. This video shows Tinkham’s lecture at Stanford last month where she talks about the real trick to being accepted by big companies.
Startups lessons learned from Warren Buffett — Lou Hoffman of The Hoffman Agency discusses what entrepreneurs can learn from the famous investor’s latest letter to shareholders.
And here are five more stories we think are important, thought-provoking, or fun:
The details: How Twitter’s newfangled revenue model will work — The microblogging service’s business model has been a source of constant speculation, but company executives finally shared details this week at their Chirp conference for developers.
Apple tells app developers they “haven’t decided” on the new rules — iPhone and iPad app developers are still trying to find out exactly what Apple means by changes to the wording of its developer contract that appear to ban important software functions widely used by app developers. A developer who has been in touch with Apple told VentureBeat that, surprisingly, Apple’s developer support representatives don’t yet know exactly what will and won’t be banned from future apps.
How Twitter won the platform gamble — VentureBeat’s Owen Thomas takes a look at the uproar over Twitter’s decision to acquire the maker of mobile application Tweetie, putting it in competition with other Twitter developers. Of course Twitter is willing to take business away from applications built on its platform, Owen says: Like a casino, people can make money on a platform, but the house always wins.
Library of Congress offers a new home to Twitter’s full archive of tweets — The Library will soon be home to Twitter’s entire public archive of tweets. The Library’s director of communications Matt Raymond hinted that we would see an emphasis on scholarly and research uses of the data. He was particularly excited at what the data could teach us about ourselves.
Google Docs gets a major facelift — Google executives have said 2010 will be the year that most companies and consumers will finally start to see Docs as a serious alternative to Microsoft Office, and a Docs revamp announced this week could be a big part of making that happen.
Tags: Android, Google Docs, ipad, iPhone, Library of Congress
Companies: Apple, Google, Twitter
People: Liz Tinkham, Warren Buffett

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