Website design newsletter
Every month we publish interesting news articles relating to website design, search engine trends and other exciting changes happening online.
Current issue: May 2008
Contents
Google optimistic about chances of deal with Yahoo
First NZ TV channel to be viewable "live" online
Internet shopping increased 40% globally over two years
Yahoo tests Google’s Adsense
Google optimistic about chances of deal with Yahoo
28 April 2008
Yahoo is exploring alternatives to Microsoft's US$42.7 billion ($54.09 billion) takeover offer, which the web pioneer has rejected for being too low.
The United States Justice Department was questioning the companies about potential competitive issues raised by a partnership, sources said last week, as Yahoo completed a two-week test of Google's system for selling ads alongside Yahoo's own web search results.
Google believed such a partnership would not be anti-competitive because it would be a deal in which Yahoo would use Google's more profitable search advertising platform to make more money for itself, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A deal would be no different from partnerships Google had with other web companies including Time Warner's AOL and IAC/InterActiveCorp, the source said.
By contrast, Google thought a takeover by Microsoft of Yahoo would raise far more anti-trust concerns because the combined company could corner large chunks of multiple markets, from web mail to instant messaging, the person said.
Google and Yahoo have said they co-operated with the Justice Department and told it about the test.
When Yahoo said two weeks ago that it had begun testing Google's AdSense system, it drew outcry from critics who see Google's domination of the market as a barrier to a deal.
Google is the top search engine, and a tie-up with No 2 search engine Yahoo would give the two companies more than 80 per cent of the market, according to ratings company Hitwise.
Neither company has disclosed the results of the test, under which 3 per cent of US Yahoo searches carried ads using AdSense. Yahoo president Susan Decker said last week it was "premature" to speculate on options Yahoo might pursue with Google.
The source said Google remained open to more talks with Yahoo on hammering out a deal because no final decisions had been made.
Microsoft has said a Yahoo-Google partnership would make the market for web search far less competitive.
Aaron Edlin, who teaches antitrust law at the University of California at Berkeley, said: "Collaboration that comes short of merger is much more apt to pass muster before antitrust authorities."
Source: www.nzherald.co.nz
First NZ TV channel to be viewable "live" online
28 April 2008
From May 1 the Auckland-based TV channel, ALT TV, will stream live and free on the internet 24 hours a day.
Alt Creative Director Oliver Driver says the new service will enable viewers to "bypass the big old TV sets entirely".
"This is a first for New Zealand television," says Driver.
"For the first time viewers of a television channel will not be chained to bunny ears or set-top boxes and by using a simple internet connection will be able to bypass the big old sets entirely."
Internet Service Provider Orcon have promised high-quality images and sound for the new service, while APRA & RIANZ have provided the necessary licenses to enable Alt to screen New Zealand music.
Alt's internet streaming will be launched on May 1 with a week of continuous local music coverage to mark the start of New Zealand Music Month.
The independently owned station currently broadcasts nationwide on channel 65 on Sky Television.
Source: www.nzherald.co.nz
Internet shopping increased 40% globally over two years
1 May 2008
More than 85 percent of the world’s online population has used the Internet to make a purchase - increasing the market for online shopping by 40 percent in the past two years - according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Survey on Internet shopping habits. Globally, more than half of Internet users have made at least one purchase online in the past month, according to Nielsen.
"The Internet is no longer a niche technology - it is mass media and an utterly integral part of modern life. Almost no aspect of life remains untouched by online media. As our lives become more fractured and cluttered, it isn’t surprising that consumers turn to the unrivalled convenience of the Internet when it comes to researching and buying products," said Jonathan Carson, President, International, Nielsen Online.
"When The Nielsen Company conducted its first global survey into Internet shopping trends two years ago, approximately 10 percent of the world’s population (627 million) had shopped online," said Bruce Paul, VP, Customized Research, Nielsen U.S. "Within two years, this number has increased by approximately 40 percent (to 875 million)."
Among Internet users, the highest percentage shopping online is found in South Korea, where 99 percent of those with Internet access have used it to shop, followed by the UK (97%), Germany (97%), Japan (97%) with the U.S. eighth, at 94 percent. Additionally, in South Korea, 79 percent of these Internet users have shopped in the past month, followed by the UK (76%) and Switzerland (67%) with the U.S. at 57 percent.
Globally, the most popular and purchased items over the Internet are Books (41% purchased in the past three months), Clothing/Accessories/Shoes (36%), Videos / DVDs / Games (24%), Airline Tickets (24%) and Electronic Equipment (23%).
Among New Zealand Internet users, 44% said they bought Airline Tickets/Reservations, 33 percent had bought Books and 29% Clothing/Accessories/Shoes and Event Tickets (second in the Asia Pacific region after Australia) in the past three months. Seven percent had purchased groceries.
Source: www.nz.acnielsen.com
Yahoo tests Google’s Adsense
10 April 2008
Yahoo! is to test Google’s online ad platform Adsense, dealing a major blow for Microsoft’s bid for the Internet giant in the process.
In an official statement released on Wednesday, Yahoo said that it will test Google's AdSense for two weeks on just 3% of its search queries.
The deal will see ads from Google’s Adsense appear on a small portion of Yahoo! search results. Yahoo’s own search marketing system for advertisers was a major rival to Google's AdSense.
Source: www.netimperative.com
