By some measures, e-commerce is doing very well. This past year, US retail e-commerce hit $186.2 billion, according to comScore. The firm added that Q4 was the first $50 billion quarter, which was also the "ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth." However, things are not all smiles and good cheer in e-commerce land. Relatively soon, sales tax for online purchases will be commonplace (as it now is in California), removing one of e-commerce's key advantages over traditional retail. Taxes are coming because e-commerce is now perceived as relatively stable, strong and mature (no l [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Retail | E-Commerce | Google: Business Issues | Google: Partnerships | Google: Shopping | Google: Wallet

There were several reports from late last week indicating that Google is negotiating with major labels in anticipation of the launch of Spotify-like music streaming service. As part of these negotiations, according to the LA Times, "Google is proposing a premium subscription service" on YouTube that would encompass music videos and perhaps audio-only songs. The suggested launch window is fall 2013. A well-executed streaming capability would potentially threaten smaller services such as Spotify or MOG. Apple is also rumored to be preparing a streaming Internet radio competitor to Pand [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Google: Business Issues | Google: Critics | Google: Legal | Google: Partnerships | Google: YouTube | Legal: Copyright & Trademark | Top News

Google has tried its hand over the years at couponing and loyalty marketing. It has done so using a number of different approaches: Google Coupons, Google Offers, Google Offer Ads, Google Wallet and the now-defunct Punchd. Some of these programs have been directed toward small businesses and some more broadly to brands and national marketers. Now comes Zavers, a digital couponing and redemption solution for retailers and manufacturers. Zavers is aimed at large brands and national retailers and intended to help them create and distribute coupons and incentives online and streamline redemp [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: AdSense | Google: Business Issues | Google: Maps | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships | Top News

Although in most respects Google Wallet is still waiting for consumer liftoff, that company is taking it into the cloud. Today Google announced that it was adding a number of new features, including the ability to pair the service with any credit or debit card. Having launched in September 2011 with Citi MasterCard exclusively, Google Wallet will now be compatible with any Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Credit card numbers can now be entered by consumers online, in Google Wallet (formerly Google Checkout), or the Google Play store. Additional benefits of operating in t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships

After government approval from China, contingent upon Google's agreement to keep Android "free and open" for at least five years, Motorola Mobility is now part of Google. European and US approvals happened some time ago. The deal is worth $12.5 billion -- Google's largest acquisition by far -- and includes some 17,000 patents that Google can use to defend Android against litigation and threats of litigation from Apple, Microsoft and any others who might go after it. Some have questioned whether the value of those patents justified $12 billion. Yet Google also gains a hardware business that [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships | Top News

Google has been very aggressively promoting mobile website development for enterprises and small businesses. The company launched the howtogomo.com portal last year and has been doing a series of webinars on going mobile. Google has also made having a mobile optimized site or landing page part of its ad quality ranking factors. Now it's offering free mobile sites to small businesses for a year. The "DIY" offer is through a partnership with DudaMobile, which enables merchants to build a mobile site very quickly based on a series of templates. DudaMobile's existing basic program is free bu [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships | Mobile Marketing

As you may have seen by now there were some new iOS screenshots showing maps that don't look like they are from Google. Below are a couple of the shots in question (via 512Pixels and The Next Web). See update below regarding OpenStreetMap. There was also the discovery of code that suggested these maps were being generated by Apple internally. We reached out to Google for a comment but didn't receive any sort of statement. John Gruber has apparently been given an answer by his sources about what's going on: Gruber says, "What I'm hearing now is that Places still uses Google Maps, [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships | Top News

Android Market is dead. Long live Google Play! Today, Google announced that it is changing the name of its Android Market to Google Play, a move it hopes better reflects that the marketplace now offers more than apps, with content like books, video and music available even to those who aren't using Android. "This is really an acknowledgement that these experiences are relevant not just for a mobile environment but across the web," said Jamie Rosenberg, Google's director of digital content. Google's March To Selling Content Over the past year or so, Google has been ramping up how i [...]

Related Topics: Amazon | Apple | Channel: Retail | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Google: Google Play | Google: Partnerships | Top News

For years Google Maps were the standard for publishers and developers wanting to integrate maps into their sites. Google Maps were part of the original "mashup." Google's early API, consumer popularity and easy (read: free) licensing terms fueled rapid adoption of Google Maps by third party publishers and developers. But last November Google announced that it would be charging its heaviest maps users starting January 1, 2012 for map views/impressions over 25,000 per day. Each additional 1,000 page loads would cost $4. Google estimated that roughly 4,000 customers would be affected. Short [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Foursquare | Google: Business Issues | Google: Partnerships | Top News

Two recent cases of AdSense publisher bans highlight publisher discontent about Google's mysterious methods for determining when to ban (and when to reinstate) participants displaying its Content Network ads on their sites. Acme Dropped, Reinstated After Public Attention In the first case, well-respected netizen Jef Poskanzer, who runs the acme.com site, was banned from AdSense on January 15. Google's explanation, in a form letter, was that "... we've determined that your AdSense account poses a risk of generating invalid activity. Because we have a responsibility to protect our AdWords adve [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Google: AdSense | Google: Display Advertising | Google: Partnerships | Top News

At the end of last week Google was on the receiving end of accusations that it had scraped a local directory site in Kenya (Mocality) and then perpetrated a scam using that site's name in cold calls to local businesses. Last night new allegations from the people behind Google Maps competitor Open Street Map claimed that one of the same Google IP addresses was responsible for vandalizing OSM data in several locations: [U]sers from Google IP address ranges in India deleting, moving and abusing OSM data including subtle edits like reversing one-way streets. Two OpenStreetMap accounts have been v [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Google | Google: Partnerships | Legal

Think Google exercises super-powers over Android? Think again. One of the jobs Googlers are doing this week at the CES is to spot new Android products out in the wilderness. Not to close them down, since Android's free for anyone to use. Just to help catalog the population. "We have a couple of people who are walking the show floor. What's interesting about CES is that there's always Android products that we don't know about, because they don't need to tell us," said Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, when I spoke with him on Monday. As you'll see in the video below, he seemed pre [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships | Top News

How important was it to Google to remain the default search engine in Mozilla's Firefox browser? Important enough that Google agreed to pay three times more in this deal than it did in 2010. AllThingsD is reporting that Google's new deal with Mozilla is costing a cool $300 million per year. That's about triple what Google paid in the previous deal: According to Mozilla's 2010 annual report, Google accounted for about 84% of Mozilla's $123 million in revenue, which comes out to about $103 million. Why did Google agree to triple its costs on Firefox when it has Chrome, its own growing web [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Firefox | Google: Chrome | Google: Partnerships | Search Marketing | Statistics: Web Browsers | Top News