There is an app for check-out - Bizzy

Valley found ways of better monetizing the location information. The success of Foursquare and Gowala paved ways for other similar start-ups. The new entrant to the market Bizzy, found that users feedback about a particular place is as interesting as letting friends know where you are. Bizzy simple yet intuitive expression mechanism allows user to provide via three expressions. User can also write more details if interested. Bizzy analyzes the information from huge data sets they collect, and monetizes by sharing the info with business. With the availability of network and easy interfaces on mobile phones with location capabilities, The location based start-ups mixed with social capabilities are thriving.

Android - Number One in U.S. Smartphone Market Share

Android surpassing the other mobile OS may not be surprising, but the time it took to beat the other OS might be an industry wide surprise. Android who came late in the game after the Apple manage attract the OEMs with free OS, and developers with open approach. The only sore eye at this point for Google is the profitability; Google is yet to monetize the huge ecosystem they created. I am shocked to see that, Motorola does have only 10% market share when compared to 12% of HTC. Verizon did a big push for Motorola with droid campaign, where as HTC got limited TV exposure through Sprint. Overall, Google reached the scale it wants, its time to monetize. Here is the OEM market share reported by Neilson.

Galaxy Tab slashed to $300

I can see two primary reasons for Verizon's price drop 1) Verizon wants promote their 4G/LTE devices, even though they have some 3G devices in shelves. Motorola's Xoom is the first tablet push in the LTE space. 2) Galaxy tab is currently based on smartphone android OS Gingerbread, The xoom comes with latest android tablet OS called honeycomb. On the other hand, Samsung is planning to introduce the 10 inch galaxy tab probably as a successor to xoom.

Square Drops Transaction Fee

I recently ordered the square accessory for my iPhone. The experience of charging credit card is a breeze, it is very simple to use and receipt was sent right away via email, the money i charged got transferred to my back account same night. Square simplified the traditional credit card terminal business model to very simple mobile device. The 2.75% transaction fee without swipe may lure any SMB towards migrating to this solution. Square not only attacks the rivals SMB payment leaders like Intuit and VeriFone but slowly paving the way towards personal payments directly competing with PayPal.

HP web OS Veer pre3 and touch pad announced

I got the invite to HP's event yesterday. They announced three new devices based on Web OS platform . They also announced the new ENYO webOS framework for developers to target any screen by writing once. At first look the devices are impressive, specially the credit card sized veer attracted lots of crowd. The touchPad tablet is similar to iPad but it is no different from other tablets out there in the market. HP plans to release the devices during next summer; HP also worked with top tier app publishers to insure the apps are readily available on their new devices. As iPad2 and Motorola xoom tablets hitting the market by summer, we can only hope HP's tablet survives the competition.

Blackberry Radio app

Blackberry Radio concept looks very neat, as it tries to aggregate and simplify the process of discovering radio stations based on location and music genre. The same app provides the opportunity for user to snack the content and upgrade to premium channels and it seamlessly integrates with media experiences. Purchasing a song in Amazon Mp3 store while listening to radio is an attractive feature. It also provides an opportunity to listen to your community stations no matter where you are in the world. Blackberry radio will be expanded to other countries after the beta in US.

iPhone5 with advanced tech

The rumored iPhone5/iPad2 might have few hardware modifications, probably more memory, Qualcomm chipset, NFC and they might throw camera to iPad. But with recent acquisitions, iPhone5 might leap forward in terms of technology. Apple might embed NFC chip to capture person-to-person transactions, coupons and retail payments. Apple may add personal assistant technology powered by siri where it can keep apple head to head with Google in local search. Apple also focusing on moving to the iTunes to Cloud, with the acquisition of lala.com, Apple can deliver music streaming services. Not but least, apple can use facial recognition technology which they acquired from Polar Rose either as a developer API as well as using them in photo tagging. These are some highlighted speculations, and this mission is going to be delivered without Steve Jobs. Overall, Apple acquisition strategy may keep them ahead of their competitors.