Google’s Photovine : Mobile Photo Sharing

The site for Google’s new photo-related project Photovine has gone live, but the actual product or app is still missing. Located at photovine.com, the site currently features an image of a mobile app – interestingly, the device in the image is definitely an iPhone and not an Android device – and a short description of the upcoming product: “Photovine is a fun way to learn more about your friends, meet new people, and share your world like never before.” The site also contains a Privacy Policy that says, “Photovine is offered by Slide (part of Google Inc),” as well as a support page that explains some details about the project.“Photovine is a community that’s about creating fun and unique collections of photos that we call Vines,” the support page says, explaining that a vine is “like a constantly growing family of photos connected through a common caption created by you, your friends, and people all over the world”. Google also makes it clear that it will not tolerate just any kind of photo. “As a rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t want your family to see it, you probably shouldn’t post it,” the support page says. At this point it’s unclear whether this project is connected with Google’s recently launched social networking service Google+, but it seems to be an independent product. Recent reports indicated that Facebook is working on a photo-sharing app of its own, and in March 2011, a photo-sharing app called Color piqued a lot of interest, which seems to have largely dissipated by now. The Photovine app is available in Apple iTunes store and can be used on iPhones. You can click photos on your mobile and share with your friends with a particular tag. Also, users can see photos posted by their friends under the same tag.

Google said that the Photovine version 1.3 includes:
- Invite system replaced with open signup – everyone can join Photovine now!
- Crash fix for posting a photo when the feed has a timeline break
- If user adds a note to a post, include that note as the first comment

It seems like Google, which acquired Slide, the social-media company that developed Photovine in 2010, planning to add more features to the app. Click here to download Photovine app. Stay tuned for more updates. 

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After A While, AdMob Users Should Move To AdSense Mobile

It just made sense, after Google acquired mobile ad-network AdMob November 2009 it’s just about time they integrate AdMob with their current AdSense platform.

We recently received email from the AdMob team to register for an AdSense account and start using AdSense for mobile for monetizing content. The email also indicates some sort of deadline, September 30th 2011 for publishers to go “uninterrupted”

Here’s the full email

Dear AdMob Mobile Web Publisher,

Following the acquisition of AdMob by Google, we have continued to operate parallel products for mobile web publishers on both the AdSense and AdMob platforms. To ensure we offer a single best solution for mobile web publishers, we will be focusing our efforts on the AdSense platform going forward. On September 30, 2011, we are beginning this transition to the AdSense platform and will discontinue support for WAP mobile web on the AdMob network.

All publishers who are currently using AdMob’s WAP mobile web solution are asked to register for an AdSense account and begin using the Google AdSense for mobile content. This change enables Google to offer our mobile web publishers an industry leading content monetization solution with access to advertisers interested in reaching your mobile audience.

We encourage you to use Google AdSense to monetize your mobile webpages going forward. Google AdSense for mobile provides you many of the same features with more flexible reporting tools. Implementing Google AdSense now will allow you to continue monetizing your mobile content after September 30 without disruption.

To get started using Google AdSense for mobile, visit google.com/adsense and log in with a Google Account. If you don’t have a Google Account, you can create an account for free at https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount. Once you have been approved as an AdSense publisher, simply log in to your account to create a new mobile ad unit and generate ad code for your site. If you are already an existing AdSense publisher, you can create a new mobile ad unit to start monetizing your mobile site right away.

For questions about this transition, please visit http://helpcenter.admob.com/content/admob-mobile-web-sunset. For additional support on Google AdSense, visit the Help Center at http://www.google.com/support/adsense/.

Sincerely,

The Google AdMob Team

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Square Enix Seeks Mobile Game Opportunity in Indonesia

Last week, I and some media reporter got a chance to meet people from Square Enix: Takashi Tokita – Producer, Senior Manager Mobile Business, Sachiko Takahashi – Senior Manager, Business Development Corporate Planning Division dan Hayato Sawada -Project Investment Manager Division. They attended the public lecture and introduction to Game Ideas Competition event held by Mikti in ITB.

Surely I would not discuss about game or Square Enix game development. I am more interested in startup issues in game segment in Indonesia especially Bandung, more specific in mobile gaming.

There are some mobile game studio appear recently and some of them have been existing since long time and gives enough focus not only on game product they develop but also the startup game itself. Some of them are Anantarupa, Elasitas, Onebit, and in Bandung there are Nightspade which is funded by East Ventures, and Agate with its mass production of mobile game.

There are many more game studio in Bandung and other new startup join this segment. It is possible that those game studios have the same thought with Square Enix that smartphones and other mobile device provides next opportunity for games. Users may playing games anywhere and take their favorite game wherever they go. As explained by Takashi Tokita in his presentation, smartphone penetration provides huge opportunity for games, just like what Square Enix observed. This is could be one of reason for Square Enix why they make an idea game competition in cooperation with Mikti

Square Enix is well known with their non-mobile game but they find out that there is a new trend appears together with moving gadget penetration. They would like to add new segment in their game portfolio even though they already owned game in mobile area and have cooperated with many partners in mobile gaming. This time they feel like putting more focus on their activities.

There are some points about why they are here in Indonesia. Takashi explained about Indonesia’s population, market opportunities, taste (Indonesian taste of game is similar with Japanese) and also a chance to bring Japan game to Indonesia. This becomes some kind of game localization which previously only launched in Japan for Indonesia and vice versa.

Besides giving public lecture in ITB, Square Enix also visit two studios in Bandung: one game studio and one animation studio. Takashi finds that the development there is similar to Japan 20 years ago where a studio is managed by young men and hard workers, such a nostalgic experience for him.

Will Square Enix acquired local – Indonesia game developers? Takashi said that they have not plan it yet. They choose to cooperate and there are still many opportunities even without acquisition. They would like to optimize the cooperation since they are well-experienced in working together with many people.

There is an opinion that Indonesian gamer choose to download free mobile game instead of the paid one. In this case Takashi explained that they have been dealing with this issue in many kind of market not only here in Indonesia. This will be the focus of Square Enix strategy in developing interesting games including observation in Facebook Games segment.

In the end of this article there are some tips from Takashi for game developers. Game title should be easy to understand since it is important to explain the game generally. The title may also have some local aspect. The game concept must be solid, no changes during the development process. Finally, before the end of the game development progress Takashi suggested pay less focus on the details.

This public lecturer also held for promoting Game Ideas Competition held by Mikti and Square Enix, this competition holds two categories. The first one is game idea for Android which will have 10 winners with prize IDR 3,000,000 for each winner. These 10 winners will be asked to develop game in some allocated time and the best 3 will come as the final winner with total prize IDR 30,000,000. The game will be published by Square Enix.

The second category is game competition for those who have developed games but have not published in Android. There will be three winners with total prize IDR 30,000,000. The winner’s game will get a chance to be published by Square Enix and the winner will keep the royalty. Square Enix also came to Jakarta and Yogjakarta. For further information about game idea competition, click here.

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