Smartphones have drastically changed the way we consume news. And mobile news aggregators are the new winners of this race. But while offering an RSS feed, and in some cases, the full content without the publisher’s consent, is helpful to the end-user, it elbows news sources out of the value chain.
Unlike a few years ago when the app market was in its infancy, the main challenge is no longer making it on to the virtual shelves, but rather surviving once a user downloads the app. The store is an easy threshold to reach. Once done, two other barriers block an application’s success, leading to the 99.998% death rate among apps.
Two weeks ago, at the Apple press event, the show went on, and each single announcement of new products or new features was supported by massive applause. Journalists covering the event were overwhelmingly positive about Apple’s new offerings. Apple did its Hollywood-like show, and demonstrated, with an unbelievable consistency, its amazing and unbeatable art of launching products.
Device Fatigue: Is the rise of Larger Smartphones stifling iPad growth? 42 millions of iPads have been sold worldwide in 2014 so far, but the number of iPad users in the U.S. have remained relatively flat, growing only a humble 5 percent between January and April this year. What does this mean for Apple?
Why Are Users Tossing Facebook’s Paper Application? With only 119,000 monthly users(1) and 12 seconds of usage per user each month, Paper application gives us a lot to learn. On January 30th, 2014 a day after sharing its amazing 2013 earnings, Facebook introduced a new application named Paper.
Gilles is the CEO & Founder of News Republic, publisher of news application for smartphones, tablets, and TV. Federating more than 1,000 publishers worldwide such as Reuters, Associated Press, The Independent, CNN International, Al Jazeera, and Gizmodo … Read More
Why My Thoughts on it?
Running a media company, working directly with more than 1,000 news publishers from regions all over the world, having lived and worked on three continents, after three start ups and 20 years of experience in digital content and mobile technology, many success and mistakes, and wrong interpretations… Read More
On the settee…
Back in the nineties, Cyril started his career as an architect of embedded software. At the turn of the millennium, he created Alcatel’s first WiFi product line in partnership with the Israeli startup Alvarion. He filed three patents in the digital modulation domain.
After an MBA at INSEAD in 2001, he started a new life as an early stage investor, first for a Silicon Valley VC fund (Telesoft Partners), which taught him the underpinnings of the Venture world, and then for a German VC fund (Munich-based DVCG), where he focused on software and mobility. He joined XAnge in Paris in 2007 as a Partner and member of the Executive Committee.
Cyril holds a Masters’ degree in Engineering from Telecom Paris Tech as well as an MBA from INSEAD.
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RT @yoreekoh: A @WSJ investigation shows that some apps have been sharing user data w FB, divulging when users are trying to lose weight, g…yesterday