Digicel Recoups, Helping Haiti Stay Connected {Week 4- Kelly McIvor}
As relief continues to enter Haiti after the devastating earthquake of January 12 the largest caribbean telecommunication company, Digicel, is slowly recovering its Haiti coverage. Nearly three weeks after the enormous quake they have restored 92% of their cell sites in Haiti. As part of their effort to bring more immediate relief to those in need, the company has sent 91,000 lbs of supplies and 20,000 lbs of medicine.
Digicel is a mobile phone company that has a huge presence in the Caribbean, Central American and Oceania markets. Digicel became the largest investor in Haiti in 2006 with a total cumulative investment of $300 million and a customer base of two million Haitian customers before the earthquake.
Week 3- Kelly McIvor Apple Challenges Google For Mobile Advertising
The battleground for mobile advertising is creating tension between search engine king Google and design innovators Apple, Inc. On January 5 Apple entered into Google’s comfort zone by acquiring Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising company.
The recent purchase is proof that the mobile phone is where many companies will be competing aggressively for digital advertising. Apple paid $275 million for Quattro and will officially enter the advertising industry hoping to make the iphone the most interactive device for application developers. Eighty percent of the three billion applications in itunes are free. With this latest merger Apple can provide a cash generating revenue for developers by selling ad space for future Apple products.
Haiti Receives Relief from Social Media & Mobile Technology
Recently I ordered a pair of Timberland boots that were in collaboration with Wyclef Jean’s foundation called Yele Haiti. The boots arrived at my door step last friday and I was happy that as a consumer purchase $2 were being donated to help reforestation in Haiti. Four days later the worst earthquake in 200 years in the Western hemisphere destroyed most of the capital of Port-Au-Prince leaving millions of people homeless, injured, hungry and without rescue relief.
Haiti has a special place in my heart ever since I visited the country in 2003 for a medical missionary trip that involved a group of nurses, doctors and volunteers. The mission was to save lives and treat people who needed medical assistance. I can assure you that even the under “normal” conditions that ability to help everyone was a difficult and heavy burden for a small group from Tennessee.
Today we can witness in real time the devastation that Haiti is experiencing. The earthquake and its 18 aftershocks have not only destroyed the Presidential Palace to crumbles but it has left thousands of people missing and unidentified. International relief efforts have been sent from other countries despite the irony that Haiti still carries a $1 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). So when Wyclef and his Yele Foundation rallied up its 1.3 million Twitter followers to make #HelpHaiti a trending topic it once again proved that social media tools are effective in building communities and movements. The constant updates from Facebook and Twitter users to donate $5 by texting YELE to 501 501 provided over $400,000 in relief.
This is the first time that text campaigns are being promoted on a wide scale through social media websites to filter donations to rescue organizations like Red Cross, CARE and the Yele Foundation spurring a viral influence marketing reaction. My boots now have a new meaning when I wear them and will remind me that even before the earthquake impacted Haiti there have been past efforts to help the ancestors of former slaves who is the first independent nation from colonial slave owners.
I will continue to write in the coming days and even post my short documentary film from my trip to Haiti on BOOKiDO TV or check out Guerrilla TechKnowledge YouTube channel.
In the meantime send a text YELE to 501 501 or go to www.Yele.org
Week 2- Kelly McIvor – Google Enters the Mobile World
For months geeks around the world have been anticipating the arrive of the Google phone or sometimes referred as the Gphone. Recently released the Google Nexus One has plenty of reviews about its software, design, mobile functions and applications making it a new competitor to the iphone.
This latest development by Google is not so much a surprising entry into the mobile business as much as expanding its ever advertising abilities and market share in Internet search engines. One of the unconventional business models that Google did this time was to make the phone available to all telecommunication carriers as an unlocked phone for a higher price. The Gphone was initially available on T Mobile but Google has now announced that the phone can be provided by Verizon, AT&T, even Vodofone in Europe.
The race for mobile advertising is quickly becoming a major priority for service providers, content producers and advertisers. So it makes sense that the largest online advertising company with over $4 billion dollars in annual profits would dive into the mobile communication industry. Reports have predicted that by 2012 mobile advertising will reach $12 billion dollars. Using Google’s own operating system Android and built by Taiwanese company HTC the phone did not excite the tech savvy market as expected. Although the phone was released one day before the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas its debut was far from non traditional. The features are impressive and the hardware seems to be the most worthy to mention function. With a 5 megapixel camera, autofocus lens, and HD video the Nexus One is challenging the iphone’s multimedia functions.
My thoughts about the Nexus One is that since it is the first of many Google phones we can expect more innovative phones and devices that will not only become cell phones but personal organizers and entertainment media collectors. With the recent proposed purchased of AdMob Google would be a force of high positioning in the mobile advertising market giving them a phone, search engine, YouTube and the largest phone advertising agency.
Maybe Apple will try to purchase Quattro Wireless and jump in to the advertising business. Wait a minute they did buy it for $275 million. What’s next Virgin laptops.
How Digital Distribution is Changing Viewers Habits {Web Strategies for storytelling}.
This paper will identify the current advancement of digital distribution channels and its viewers imminent behavior habits. I hope to prove that today filmmakers, storytellers, and documentary producers can now bypass the traditional methods of video circulation and target their own markets directly using social media websites, live streaming and video podcasting.
Introduction
The days when documentaries were only on VHS tapes and PBS TV specials are gone. Today documentaries can be produced, filmed, promoted and distributed over various digital outlets like itunes, Hulu, YouTube, or Vimeo. We are living in a digital age where technology is merging with our social lives more than ever. The explosion of the Internet and personal computers have only closed the gap between the “digital natives” and those who were digitally divided.
Social network websites are merging in our daily lives as new tools of communication and additional outlets for promoting a cause, business or artistic endeavors. In 2005 three former PayPal employees created YouTube as a video sharing website in which users can upload and share videos. Almost a year later the website was sold for $1.6 billion to Google Inc. and operates under the Google conglomerate. The social impact of YouTube on society and online interactions changed the way users viewed information and shared it as well.
Designing for the Bottom Billion
By conducting segmented market research, focussing on the unique challenges and needs of developing countries, and including local communities in the design process — mobile technologies can be successfully adapted and use of these technologies can increase the livelihood of the people in developing nations.
Introduction
The rapid pace of globalization is characterized by large scale advancements in communications technology, drawing people across vast geographies closer together. Communications “staples” such as radio and fixed line telephones are being replaced by ipods that are able to stream radio, hold downloaded music and which are more portable than older communications tools.. In the West mobile communications devices are becoming more sophisticated providing people the ability to email, text, talk, check market updates simultaneously. Our culture is converging technology use into our daily lives. Smaller chips with larger memories are making it easier to integrate these technologies.
