PageFlakes Low Pageviews & Out Of Gas (cash)

Personalized web page startup Pageflakes is running out of cash and is desperately seeking a buyer reports Gigaom. Pageflakes aggregates RSS feeds and widgets in a customizable AJAX-based personal web page.

Pageflakes has around 1.5 million visitors a month and over 200,000 registered users. However that pales in comparison to their closest pure competitor Netvibes. However, the real competitors are Google's iGoogle, Yahoo's 360, Microsoft and AOL which too offer personalized web pages. The cost of these services is borne by their core offerings.

However, Pageflakes's personalized page is their core offering and it is much harder to monetize. Further to garner premium ad dollars the site needs serious traffic, which costs money. Again the majors can acquire traffic simply by putting up a "tab" to their personalized web page offerings.

According to Gigaom Pageflakes is just the tip of the iceberg and many 2005-2006 consumer web startups that rely of on VCs money will find life increasingly tough once the money stops flowing (See Crash 2.0 Coming). At least Pageflakes has interested buyers, even if they are not big spenders.

SaaS To Account For 18% of Software Sales In 2013

The Software as a Service or SaaS market is reportedly growing but is still relatively small. 6% of the software sales in '07 was SaaS and this is expected to grow to 15-18% in 5 years - which is still small. This, according to the OpSource Summit. Gartner expects SaaS to grow at 22.1 percent until 2011 for the aggregate enterprise application software markets and predicts that 63 percent of products in the software infrastructure market and 56 percent in the software application market will support Web services.

A panelist at the summit described SaaS as the thin edge of the web for utility computing. They went on to say that objections to SaaS in the enterprise are still quite high despite it being an important way to deliver critical functionality without having to maintain the apps internally, being able to push out upgrades on a continuous way, and having a low TCO.

Some of the top SaaS providers include:

• Salesforce.com - CRM solutions provider
• Adobe - looking at bringing Photoshop online
• Netsuite - another CRM solutions provider
• SuccessFactors - talent management solution
  
• Axentis - governance, risk and compliance solutions provider

Somewhat surprisingly, Microsoft is also in the Saas space. Other companies in this space are Oracle, IBM, and SAP. There are also others that provide web-based content management systems and analytics solutions. Clearly, this area has a lot of teeth. There is nothing worse than teams using different versions of the same software giving rise to file incompatibility issues.

Hidden Power of Online Forums As A Marketing Tool

I was at the Opsource SaaS Summit today and sat in on a preso from the Lithium SVP, Amy Lewis, who talked about the value of online forums to companies. Some of the key points were as follows.

Why have an online forum:

• Forum-ize your product line as part of your Web 2.0 marketing
  
• Forums can be used for customer support as well as for marketing
• Building a forum allows you to identify who your super users and because they are passionate, they represent a critical user group, a tribal base that are influencers.
• Consumer groundswell can be positive or negative which a forum can help manage. As a vendor, a forum allows you to be involved and make it a two-way dialogue and manage conversations happening on the blogosphere otherwise outside of your control.
• Communities can provide a powerful real-time vehicle:
• enhancing customer care
• enhancing brand loyalty
• providing support provided by users to users
• content is raw and unfiltered
• immediacy of great info
• value of having users talk to each other eg. customers share workarounds
• foster demand generation
• can serve as an online focus group eg. an setup private communities to help with product design
• value of happy comments being viewed by many users has a nice halo effect for branding
• professionalism and tone of forums have improved. Forum moderator should respond where appropriate and establish rules of conduct.
  
• ROI on support forums is a great place to start eg. call deflection
• suppport forum helps to build up critical mass
• lot to learn from customers

Adobe Launches Platform For RIAs

Adobe announced today the launch of AIR and Flex 3 software for creating rich internet applications (RIAs) that can run on the desktop and on most browsers and across operating systems. "The ROI of RIAs is real. A more engaging product visualization experience in eCommerce applications for example, helps customers understand what they are buying, which leads to less online abandonment and increased average order size through cross-sell and up-sell visualization" according to Al Hilwa, Program Director at IDC.

Windows and Mac OS versions of AIR and Flex 3 and their SDKs can be downloaded for free at www.adobe.com/go/air and www.adobe.com/go/flex. The standalone version of the Flex Builder 3 is US$249 for the Standard edition and US$699 for the Professional edition.

SaaS - A Growing Trend in 2008

All things SaaS is a growing trend again. According to Accenture, software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is among one of the major trends occurring this year. "Software as a Service (SaaS) is emerging as a strong alternative to traditionally licensed software enabling new business models to buy and use software. Now, software is no longer a product to buy, but itself a service to use to deliver other services."

This model is not new. Since around the late '90s and onwards, the ASP or application service provider model of hosted web-based software solutions were all the rage. Of course, Gartner, McKinsey, and IDC and others have been predicting that Saas is a comeback kid for the last few years. In the early years, it may have been too much of a new new thing but some internet years later after this model has been more vetted, tried, and tested, the economic and business value are evident. The plug-and-play capability which allows for quick deployment and the cost savings of renting a service versus a costly outlay for purchasing software makes a lot of sense. And, for the big but - what about security?! That is a major concern for companies considering a SaaS solution - the security of their data and where it is being stored. Advances have been made in this area as well paving the way for SaaS to make a re-newed run for it in '08.

The Future of Web Apps Event

The WebGuild's kickoff event for the new year on The Future of Web Apps was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who attended and to everyone who contributed to making it a success. Many thanks to the speakers: Brad Neuberg, Google Gears; Raju Vegesna, Evangelist, Zoho; Bill Scott, Director of UI Engineering, Netflix; and John Rowell, Chief Technology Officer, OpSource. The video will be available shortly.


more photos!

SocialMedia: Wannabe Mecca of Social Apps and Widgets

SocialMedia is a well chosen name for a startup which in their words is aiming to be provide services to Manage, Market and Monetizing apps to developers on platforms like MySpace and Facebook. Managing here refers to a developer being able to track their apps while Marketing means SocialMedia providing services which will enable a developer's application to grow (virally). As we know, in a viral platform like Facebook or even Digg, to attain popularity one needs an initial base of users after which growth is pretty much spontaneous. This is where SocialMedia has stepped in to help apps become viral. Note also here a viral calculator which claims to predict the cost of each new user. Of course, its quite low mainly because of the Facebook referral effect due to its feeds and thats why developer love it most for.

SocialMedia is also an ad network helping developers monetize their ads. Other players in this arena are startups like Lookery, Rockyou, Cubics etc. This ad network was launched back in late August. While giving developers about $1-$3 for every thousand users, as mentioned, developer Greg Thompson who developed Aquarium Application had earned $100,000 in the first 3 months of his joining the network. You can have a look at their Appsaholic application if you are interested in the popularity and growth of some of the popular Facebook apps.

SocialMedia was one of initial developers for the Facebook Platform. It launched Food Fight and Happy Hour applications which attained quite a bit of popularity. Now, in their own words Social Media has developed as a way of providing services to applications after they felt a need for managing, marketing, and monetizing the apps themselves. It is a good strategy which has payed off well till now. There have been some apprehensions about this kind of advertising on Facebook apps which involves one application advertising other applications, so I am going to be very interested in how advertising is handled in the Facebook apps context.

Time Magazine's Top 50 Sites

Time Magazine has come out with its annual top 50 websites of the year. Here is the list.

50 Best Websites 2007

• Wotartist.com
  
• FunnyOrDie.com
  
• INGDirect.com
  
• StumbleUpon.com
  
• Mozy.com
  
• More
  

25 Sites We Can't Live Without

• Amazon.com
  
• BBC.co.uk
  
• Citysearch.com
  
• Craigslist.org
  
• Del.icio.us
  
• More
  

5 Worst Websites

• eHarmony.com
  
• Evite
  
• Meez.com
  
• MySpace.com
  
• SecondLife.com

Marketing with Widgets

It’s raining widgets! But we knew that already. They have taken over Facebook, are being adopted by Facebook’s competitors, and now media companies are catching on and starting to use them as ads known as Google Gadgets. A few months ago I posted some ideas and examples and even in just a few months the widgets have advanced and are being used in even more creative ways so I'd like to add to that original list with by expanding on the idea of a microsite widget.

Like the Google Gadget examples this type of implementation can go a long way beyond just advertising. I see this particularly useful for large websites where you can cross promote sections of your website. For example you can create a microsite of your products area and place it on the solutions area of your site. A product widget may include product shots, product datasheets, customer testimonial videos and news or reviews about the product. Mash it! You can also mashup the idea of a widget with an online game and include a game in the widget. This enhances the experience of your user who will not have to toggle back and forth between different sections of your site while at the same time making your site more interactive. Partner or office locators are other examples where this would be valuable.

Assuming you include an embed code in your creation, you can then leverage this same widget in your Social Media Release. Publishers and bloggers are then equipped with an easy way to enhance their story with an interactive widget. Partners and resellers who also promote your products can easily use the embed code to include the widget on your site.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can you track it? Yes, it is hosted on your site so you can track impressions, interactions and embeds.
• Can you update it? Again since it's hosted on your site when you update the content it is broadcasted to all of the sites that have picked up the widget.
• Is it proven? No, it's new - there is little data to say the people prefer widget over traditional approaches but there's certainly a lot of buzz around widgets and there are always bigger returns for first movers. Go out on a limb in 2008 and see what happens!

Portability of Applications and Widgets

Talk about portable widgets is not new. After all, 2007 has been proclaimed "Year of the Widget" by Newsweek. Though what I intend to discuss here is more about portability aspects and efforts in this direction rather than about widgets themselves. One of the early entrants in the market was Knofabulator (remember anyone?) which was bought by Yahoo. Then it seemed that they didn't know what to do with it and rebranded it but added no extra functionalities. A few days back it was in the news that Yahoo was releasing version 4.5 of its Konfabulator widget. The new version includes things like HTML and Flash support as well as a better user interface. However, Yahoo widgets are still only for desktops like Vista or XP. However, with Google releasing widgets for Mac a few days back, as well as Mac having widget support and Microsoft supporting widgets in Vista, Yahoo may find itself facing tough competition in a comparatively small market. Such widgets are important if we see them in the light of what is expected of applications in future. Application virtualization is gaining ground and also to be noted is the following vision of Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt.

Netvibes is a company which had initially announced a widget platform to make widgets that can work on Vista, Google, Mac, and even Yahoo widgets. It is called Universal Widget API and has the aim of "build your module once, deploy everywhere". Other companies in this space are Musestorm and Clearspring. Musestorm enables non-programmers to develop rich media widgets and Clearspring specializes in distributing widgets as well as analytics and API. The next step, of course, would be for these applications or widgets to run on mobile as well. For instance, I am sure Google's Android which is to be released next year with Open Handset Alliance will soon be integrated with their Web ToolKit so that applications can run over mobile, computer, and web. And won't that be cool?

23andMe To Use Web To Map Genetics

23andMe today announced a web based service that will help individuals map and understand their own genetic information. The site will offer web based tools and the latest advances in DNA analysis to enable individuals to gain deeper insights into their ancestry and other inherited traits which are marked in an individual's genetic code. The service will allows individuals to:

- Search and explore their genomes;
- Learn how the latest research studies relate directly to traits identified in their genome;
- Compare their genomes to family and friends who are also 23andMe participants;
- Discover their genetic roots and find where they sit on the tree of human genetic history; and
- Give individuals the option to actively participate in a new research approach.

Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of 23andMe, said, "23andMe is designed to provide our customers with scientifically accurate, high-quality information about their own genetic code in a format that is easy to understand and use. We believe this information provides intriguing insights into an individual's genetics, with the goal of expanding the collective knowledge base by enabling active participation in research."

23andMe sends individuals a saliva kit containing a barcoded tube for saliva collection. Customers then use the enclosed mailing materials to send their samples to 23andMe's contracted laboratory. The DNA is then extracted and exposed to a microchip-like device that reads more than half a million points in the individual's genome, including a proprietary set chosen by 23andMe scientists, to produce a detailed genetic profile. Once the analysis has been completed, individuals will be able to use their own private login to access their data via 23andMe's secure website. Using 23andMe's web-based tools, individuals can explore their ancestry, see what genetics research means for them and compare themselves to friends and family members. Ultimately, they will become part of a community that works together to advance the overall understanding of the human genome.

Popular Apps on Social Networks

OpenSocial Earthquake Felt On & Offline (Magnitude: 5.6 - Epicenter: Google)

The OpenSocial earthquake rocked Northern California Tuesday night. It was the largest earthquake in nearly two decades to rock the San Francisco bay area. The reverberations could be felt at far as Sacramento and Oregon, however online it was felt worldwide.

It registered 5.6 on the Richter scale. The witness said online properties such as Facebook suffered the most damage with no casualties reported so far.

OpenSocial, allows developers to learn one API and then write a social applications for any OpenSocial partner site. It is built on web standards like HTML and JavaScript. Thus developers don’t have to learn a custom programming languages. They no longer have to write seperate applications for MySpace, Gruuve, hi5, Friendster and many other sites. OpenSocial combines the user bases of all the partners sites which is estimates at 400 million users. The OpenSocial API allows developers to write once and use many times across many sites.

The timing of OpenSocial could not have been better. Facebook had hijacked the word "OPEN" to mean its closed proprietary programming language and network. The company was trapped by its advertising deal with Microsoft and needed a deep pocketed partner to buy it out. However, Microsoft had first rights of refusal on any future investments in the company. Facebook insiders figured if they raised the price high enough Microsoft would bail instead Microsoft kept matching all offers. Today Facebook if stuck with Microsoft as its advertising partner in the U.S. and internationally. Also, the insane valuation that the deal was consumated at has priced the stock options so high that it is getting harder for the company to hire new people.

There will be many aftershocks to come from this earthquake.

The Web Is Better When It's Social

Maka maka. It's official! Google's platform agnostic API OpenSocial is live. Per its Product Managers:

"OpenSocial is a set of common APIs that will work on many different social websites, including MySpace, Hi5, Ning, orkut, and LinkedIn, among others. In addition, this allows developers to learn one API, then write a social application for any of those sites. Learn once, write anywhere, if you will. And because it's built on web standards like HTML and JavaScript, developers don't have to learn a custom programming language." (like Facebook's proprietary ftml maybe?!)

"Perhaps most interestingly, we will see social capabilities move into new contexts. OpenSocial will also work in non-traditional social contexts, such as on Salesforce.com and Oracle. With a common set of APIs, it will be even easier to extend social functionality. Beyond the many fun and entertaining social applications we already have seen, we think we'll see a number of social applications emerge in business contexts."

The business applications and adaptations of this should very interesting.

Next Gen Social Networks

The video of the October event on the Next Generation of Social Networking featuring Socialzr, RockYou, and Appfuels is now available. If you missed the event or simply want a re-cap, check it out to hear what the panelists had to say on this hot topic.

Google's Gmail Rolls Out IMAP

Google's Gmail, (Nasdaq: GOOG) announced that Gmail users will have access to IMAP. IMAP allows users to synchronize their e-mail across multiple devices.

This will be good news to users of iPhone and third party email clients that utilize the Gmail service. With IMAP if you delete an email from one device that action will be synced with Gmail so that you do not have to delete the same message twice. Presently Gmail uses POP which downloads the email to the device however actions performed on the device are not synced with Gmail. So if you access you email via multiple clients you end up preforming the same task again.

A Google spokesperson said, "One of our core philosophies at Google is we don't want our users' data ever to be held hostage. We want them to be able to take their data and do whatever it is they want to do with it. In the case of e-mail, that means taking their contacts to various devices, accessing their e-mail from any device or any e-mail client that they choose."