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July 30, 2019YouTube TV will be caring PBS and PBS Kids sometime this year for selected local areas. PBS member stations who choose to participate will have their programming streamed live YouTube TV and will be available on-demand as well. This is the first streaming partnership for PBS and represents PBS expansion into digital media going forward no word yet on if they will partner with Sling, DirectTV Now or others. In the press release PBS Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Ira Rubenstein said “We’re excited to launch our very first local Livestream on YouTube TV,” going on to say “Our goal is to reach as many Americans as possible with content that educates, inspires and entertains. As a broadcaster that is rooted in communities, we appreciate YouTube’s commitment to local content, and we are pleased that this service provides audiences with access to programming that is produced and distributed by our member stations.” While you could already stream episodes some shows on the PBS’s website or through the PBS Video app. YouTube TV will have live access to the entire channel, including any of the 330 PBS member stations that choose to participate, including the PBS Kids channels. No word yet on when this will roll out just that it’s coming later this year.
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July 29, 2019Google posted a strong quarter this past week the company is reporting revenue of $38.9 billion, up 19 percent year-over-year. Microsoft reported revenue of $33.7 billion, net income of $12.4 billion, and an operating income of $12.4 billion. Google profits hit $9.9 billion, up 201 percent over a year ago. Google went on to say on their earnings call that the launch of Pixel 3A in May, there much cheaper of the flagship Pixel phone series is part of the reason Pixel unit sales in Q2 grew more than two times from the previous year. Googles hardware division which is boosting revenues up 40 percent to $6.2 billion. Which covers all of the Googles outward-facing consumer services is bigger than Microsoft entire Surface hardware business as Microsoft Surface revenue has grown by 14%, totaling $1.3 billion. Microsoft does not release Xbox numbers often, but my guess is Microsoft entire hardware business of Surface and Xbox do not even come close to Googles entire consumer market share even with Xbox live. Google’s Cloud generated revenues of about $2 billion in the quarter, a far cry from the $8.4 billion that Amazon AWS generated and Microsoft $11 billion in the same time period. Google is a distant number three after AWS and Microsoft Azure in the cloud market. Google did not mention any more Gsuite subscription numbers they are still reporting 5 million paying users and 70 million G Suite for Education users. I would like to point out Google or Microsoft for education customers do not pay. Microsoft is boasting 180 million active Office 365 users and 1.2 billion people paying for some form of Office365 service. Microsoft Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased by 14%, with Office 365 Commercial revenue growing by 31%. Office Consumer products and cloud...
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June 13, 2019The version of Google Chrome76 will display an install button when a Progressive Web App (PWA) is available. The move by Google is expected to help drive further adoption of the PWA platform being pushed by Google, Microsoft and other web browser developers. Google explains on their blog “In Chrome 76 (beta mid-June 2019), we’re making it easier for users to install Progressive Web Apps on the desktop by adding an install button to the address bar (omnibox). If a site meets the Progressive Web App installability criteria, Chrome will automatically show an install icon in the address bar. Clicking the button prompts the user to install the PWA.” Google goes on to explain to developers “If your PWA has use cases where it’s helpful for a user to install your app, for example if you have users who use your app more than once a week, you should be promoting the installation of your PWA within the web UI of your app.” Google explains there are three key ways you can promote the installation of a PWA app Automatic browser promotion, Application UI promotion and Inline promotional patterns. Google as of late has been very aggressive with changes to Chrome announcing they will be taking away adblocking apps, auto-playing ad videos and now adding PWA installs by default.
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June 10, 2019There is much speculation as to why Google put out the Pixel 3a but here are the most noticeable reasons that I picked up on as to why Google released the Pixel 3a. Apple Success Apple has had major success in the sales area of the iPhone XR. There is no hiding the fact that while the iPhone XS is a great phone it’s very expensive and Apple needed something in that sweet spot price point that they have had so much success with over the years. Google just like Apple went up with the price of the Pixel 3 to $999 for a base model and there is no phone by Google in that sweet spot of 400-700 dollars. The Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL put them in that sweet spot to be competitive with Apples XR series. Pixel 3 Quality Issues The Pixel 3a is much cheaper than the Pixel 3 but unlike the Pixel 3, the Pixel 3a comes with 4 gigs of ram and not 3 like the first gen Pixel 3 this gives users incentive to trade in their phones and upgrade to a cheaper phone with fewer issues and more ram. Google Fi Google is desperately trying to get people onto Google Fi offering 50 percent off sales on the flagship Pixel 3 phone from $1000 to $500 dollars. The Pixel 3a will allow them to offer deals on Google Fi using a cheaper phone and offering better deals to get on Google Fi. Leftover Hardware No one has said this but I think part of the reason Google is doing Pixel 3a is they had extra hardware from the Pixel 2 launch. The Pixel 3a has very close to the same hardware specs as the Pixel 2 and I wonder if this...
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May 15, 2019If you have been reading my G Suite vs Office 365 Series Round 1 and G Suite vs Office 365 Series Round 2 have key points you should read as well. When it comes to comparing G Suite vs Office 365 in education you cannot even compare these two products. Both Google for education and Office 365 for education are free for all schools K-12. Google Classroom’s document sharing, data collection, communication channels, and closed environment are great benefits. It’s very easy to start a classroom helpful instruction guide you through the entire process. Once you add students, sharing is even easier; you just send resources to the entire class. Googles tight app integration, ease of use, people’s familiarity with Gmail and Android have pushed education towards Google. Googles well-designed chrome browser and a huge selection of apps in the chrome apps store makes G Suite for education an easy pick for schools. Microsoft partnered with PowerSchool’s largest student and education manager in the industry to help them gain ground on Google who is dominating this market in the united states. Microsoft Office 365 for Education gives educators access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive and all the core features of Office 365. Microsoft Teams also helps teachers collaborate on lesson plans and school events. Microsoft’s built-in video conferencing tools for Teams gives teachers another way to connect across schools and districts. Skype is another powerful tool allowing school districts to communicate with other districts across the world which is something I don’t see anyone doing with Google Hangouts. Google puts out cheap Chromebooks which are very cheap compared to traditional computers while Microsoft tried to compete with the cheap Chromebook by putting out Windows S, but it failed due again to Googles well-designed chrome browser and a huge selection of apps in the chrome apps store. Google has taken things to the next level with Chromebooks offering integration with printing using cloud print and...
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May 2, 2019When you compare to G Suite and Office 365 you can’t compare in house business apps at all for the simple fact Google really does not make any. While Google supports many more third-party apps then Office 365 hands down they do not make anything comparable to Office 365 Invoicing and Booking in house. While G suite has support for thousands of apps they are all third party none of them are made in house by Google. Microsoft makes Customers, Invoicing and MileIQ. Googles G Suite has not competitor they build internally but they do compete in with Microsoft in other areas. G suite comes with Google Sites which is a very close competitor to Microsoft SharePoint and is at times easier to use than Microsoft SharePoint. When it comes to basic apps G Suite has Docs, Sheets, Slides, Keep, Forms and Drive which is a direct competitor to Microsoft Word, Excel PowerPoint, OneNote, To Do, Forms and OneDrive. When you start getting into more advanced features of Office365 like Microsoft StaffHub, Sway, Dynamics and Planner Google G Suite has no competitor in this market unless you pay for a third-party app. Microsoft Flow and PowerApps which is a very easy way to get apps to work together between Microsoft Office 365-third-party apps or to build custom apps. Microsoft made everything very easy and visual and drag and drop. While Google does have a very open API platform that works with all their apps Microsoft Flow and PowerApps does work well and is very easy to implement with no programming or technical knowledge. Microsoft has Stream which is a great way to stream events for up to 10,000 attendees. Whether at home, work, or on the go everyone has a seamless video experience across web and mobile apps. But to be honest as great as this is for Microsoft, I know very few companies that use it and a YouTube just has...
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April 19, 2019Office 365 and G Suite both have their strong suites but there are places they fall short. To start with Office 365 and G Suite are both strong in the email area both Office 365 and Gmail both do well when it comes to email where the two differ is messaging. To start with Office 365 has Skype For Business and Microsoft Teams. While Google has Hangouts, Google Voice and Meets. While I have to say Hangouts is great and I have used it many times for podcasting it lacks the professional meeting and messaging features that Skype for Business offers its users. Google Meets while easy to use lacks the collaboration piece that Microsoft Teams has and offers, which is more of a competitor for Slack while Google has no real program like Slack or Teams Google Hangouts and Meets is a competitor for Skype For Business. Google lacks the professional features of Skype at times but beats Skype hands down in ease of use for users. Skype for Business users can set up and record online meetings for up to 250 people and broadcast meetings to up to 10,000 attendees. Skype streamlines caller management with its call forwarding and auto-attendant features. It also has a Skype Translator, a plugin that instantly translates voice and text. Google Meets supports between 30 – 100 people per session and lacks broadcasting and voting capabilities. When it comes to SMS messaging it’s not even a contest for the simple reasons is Skype for Business or Teams cannot do SMS messaging. Why Microsoft? Is the question I ask? Google Voice offers both unlimited voice and SMS messaging. But Google Voice does lack an enterprise level solution where Microsoft can offer an enterprise level cloud-based phone system with Skype for Business, G Suite has...
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March 13, 2019Google said back in December that the messaging service Google Allo would be shut down at some point in March, and a banner across the official Allo website has confirmed that March 12th, 2019, was its last day in operation. A message on the home page is saying “Allo is signing off. Learn how to export your chats and more. We’re saying good–bye to Allo in March, 2019. During our time together, we brought you a smarter way to chat, with features like the Google Assistant, Allo for web and selfie stickers. We’re working to bring your favorite features to the Messages app so you can have richer conversations with all your friends. If you have an Android phone, we hope you’ll try Messages!”
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February 15, 2019Creating an app is only half the battle because it doesn’t matter how excellent your vision is if nobody downloads it, or even knows it’s there. Nothing is more disheartening than putting all that time and effort into your work only to not see it bear fruit, so it’s important to know how to get the word out. Marketing anything can be a time-consuming and frustrating task, so let’s look at some of the most tried-and-true methods of marketing your app and driving downloads. Get in Touch Don’t wait for your app to hit the market before you start marketing it. Before your team starts designing your next great app, start talking to customers. Tell them about the app, how it will benefit them, and why it’s going to be just right for them. Incentivize it for them to make it worth their time–offer them a discount for taking the time to discuss it with you. After you’ve chatted with them, take a few minutes to discuss their preferences–find out what they’re looking for in an app. this can help you manage expectations and get an idea of what people’s real needs and wants are. Keeping the customer engaged throughout every step of the process is critical for your business. Retain your customers by letting them know about your app’s idea and ask them what they would really like to see in it. How can you make the app more savvy and beneficial for them? Remember, your customer has their own audience and if you’re able to convince them, you’ll be hitting all the right notes to bolster your success and staying power. Leverage Facebook advertising to reach your ideal target audience. One of the most effective ways of marketing anything these days, app or otherwise, is Facebook marketing. First,...