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EBay Wants to Be a Digital Magazine of Things

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EBay Wants to Be a Digital Magazine of Things

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"We're now in the content business," Wenig said. "So, for the first time, eBay has a voice. We're telling stories. We have an editor. We have curators. And we have writers on-staff. You'll see that evolve to some longer-form stories, some really beautiful pictures... It's media-like."

EBay plans to publish the same kind of content that a news organization might want to publish about the company-data-driven stories about the items people are most searching for, infographics depicting surprising top sellers, and so on. This intersection of retail and publishing makes sense to Wenig, who was previously CEO of Thompson Reuters Markets. Just as online communities flourish around ultra-specific sets of interests, eBay will tailor its articles to the niche users who are already the driving force behind eBay.

This strategy will make for a mix of mainstream and targeted content, stories told for a broader eBay audience and for more specific demographics-say, the fixie bike enthusiast or the person who checks the site for rare Invisible Scarlet O'Neil comics. "There are very passionate sub-categories on eBay," Wenig told me. "We want to bring in people from those communities who are influencers, and allow them to begin to tell stories about what they love about eBay, the things that they do, and almost create a community dynamic in some of those verticals."

This content push is based in part on the auction site's plans for adapting to the mobile Internet age. As more and more eBay users flock to mobile, the company wants to encourage people to check eBay every day-and from everywhere-rather than just visiting the site when they're searching for something specific.

And there's no question that eBay's mobile moment has arrived. Half of the sales that happen on the site are-at some point during the transaction-happening on mobile. People now use mobile devices to buy some 12,000 cars via eBay a week, Wenig told me.

"We're entering a post-mobile age now," he said. "Mobile is so important that it's almost silly to talk about mobile."

Adrienne LaFrance is the editor of TheAtlantic.com. She was previously a senior editor and staff writer at The Atlantic.

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EBay Wants to Be a Digital Magazine of Things

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"We're now in the content business," Wenig said. "So, for the first time, eBay has a voice. We're telling stories. We have an editor. We have curators. And we have writers on-staff. You'll see that evolve to some longer-form stories, some really beautiful pictures... It's media-like."

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The modern album is more than just music...

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The modern album is more than just music...

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American Interior is the latest solo album by Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals, but it's much more than that. It's a documentary film, a book and an app for iOS and Android devices.

None of these things are promotional: instead, each of them tells - in a different, ideal for their medium way - the same story: explorer John Evans' journey across North America in the 1790s, in search of a fabled tribe of Welsh-speaking native Americans.

American Interior is Rhys' second travelogue film project following 2010's Separado, which saw him exploring Argentina in search of a long-lost uncle: 1960s balladeer René Griffiths.

John Evans is an even more distant ancestor, fired up by the legend of Welsh prince Madog ab Owain Gwynedd (Madoc for short) discovering America three centuries before Christopher Columbus, in 1170. Evans' journey is quite a tale, as Rhys told The Guardian in March, before giving a talk about American Interior at the SXSW conference in Austin.

"He got jailed during an extremely harsh winter, he was put in the stocks in St Louis as a political prisoner, he caught malaria, and was walking through the wilderness naked, along the Mississippi seeing aligators and snakes and things for the first time," said Rhys.

"He was hallucinating from malaria to the point where he was blinded temporarily, and he lived with a series of tribes up the Missouri basin who were at the height of their civilisations, so he would have seen elaborate ceremonies. And he was a straight-laced methodist guy, so it would have been extremely intense."

Along the way, Evans managed to produce the first accurate maps of the Missouri river - maps that were later used by the Lewis and Clark Expedition that first explored the western half of the United States. Oh, and Evans also, in the words of the book's coverline, "accidentally annexed a third of North America" for the Spanish crown.

American Interior is a wonderful film tracking Rhys' recent "investigative concert tour" following in Evans footsteps, telling his story to American audiences through a mixture of music and slideshow.

It's humorous, quirky and occasionally surreal, but also thought-provoking, with a real emotional punch when Rhys reaches the Mandan tribe - not Welsh-speaking, as Evans found out - and finds out how their language is in real danger of dying out.

"It's an aspect of history that slipped through the cracks, maybe because he was on the losing side. He was on the Spanish side, and they withdrew from what is now the US," said Rhys.

"It's a tragicomic piece of history that is really sad and beautiful and damaged as well. It's not all glory: John Evans was working for a colonial power. There are lots of harsh lessons in it."

American Interior is also an interesting project because each of its four elements works on its own terms. The book, for example, has serious historical chops.

It's not surprising that Rhys has a fine, original turn of phrase, but his research shines through too, drawn from a host of primary and secondary sources. "It's the most comprehensive book about this guy, drawing together the Welsh-language and English-language sources," said Catryn Ramasut, who produced both the Separado and American Interior films.

The album is his best solo effort yet, which sounds like faint praise. Actually, it's up there with his best work for Super Furry Animals and Neon Neon too. And the app ties everything together neatly: tracing Evans' journey through 100 bits of content: text, photos, animations, videos and music.

"Separado was an experiment and a learning curve: we learned from that what we could have achieved, because we had 100 hours of footage that we had to condense down," said Ramasut. "We thought 'we need to plan this better next time we do this."

The app thus tells some of the stories that didn't make it into the film's 90-minute narrative. For example, the building of the Garrison Dam between 1947 and 1953, which flooded a huge area of the Fort Berthold Reservation, displacing the Mandan tribe.

"Some of the most emotional pieces of the story are on the app: two-minute long video essays, for example, about the flooding of the reservation to create that 180-mile lake, which destroyed the Mandan language," said Rhys.

"It wasn't relevant to the John Evans story because it happened so much later, but it's extremely powerful and emotional. I was in tears watching the clips, so I think it's a really powerful side to the project. I'm glad those videos found a place in the app."

Rhys and Ramasut worked with publisher Penguin on the book and app. Digital product development director Nathan Hull said the four-pronged storytelling strategy was there from the very first meetings about the project.

"We didn't want the app just to be convergence: the best of each one of the parts. We had a mantra of the four platforms telling the story in a way that was unique to all of those platforms," said Hull.

"The documentary isn't the making of the album, the book isn't the making of the film, and the album isn't the soundtrack to the film. With the app, we've tried to create something that conveys the story as a beautiful piece of publishing in its own right."

The American Interior app is available on iOS and Android.

The juxtaposition of a slick tablet and smartphone app in 2014 with the tale of an 18th-century explorer who didn't even have an image of himself preserved for posterity - Rhys, illustrator Pete Fowler and "Felt Mistress" Louise Evans created a puppet-like representation of him for the tour and film - is interesting too.

"He existed before digital surveillance and before selfies, so we've no idea what he looked like," said Rhys. "He wasn't from a class of people who would be painted, so we've had to invent him in a way and create this visual representation of him to help people imagine the real person."

Will people still be able to use the American Interior app in 200 years' time? It's hard to imagine. Rhys talked about his experience visiting Seville to dig through what's left of Evans' correspondence in the Spanish archives.

"There were these ornate boxes tied together with calico strings, and these 200 year-old documents in remarkably good shape, and you could leaf through them. They're housed in a huge building," he said.

"It's interesting whether hard drives will deteriorate, and what the lifespan of these [digital] things are. When I started recording in the 1980s and early 90s, everything was mastered on DAT tape, but those recordings have deteriorated to the point where when I tried to remaster an old record, the information - the digital information - had all disappeared.

"I had to remaster from cassette. It's interesting to think how much of this information we collect will survive..."

As a technology writer who's spent a lot of time covering apps in the last five years, my favourite thing about the American Interior app is the way it helped me get lost (again) in the John Evans story rather than thinking too much about the format in which it's being delivered. It's not a whizzy app: it's a great story.

That's why when I met Rhys again in London this week, midway through a run of music'n'slideshow concerts in the city, most of the interview is spent talking about that story rather than the digital aspects of delivering it.

"I was fairly ignorant to a lot of aspects of the story. I certainly didn't know much about the fluid nature of the occupation of America by the colonial powers, and I had very little knowledge of the first nation tribes of America," said Rhys.

The film shows the enthusiastic reception by audiences on the US concert tour, who appear to have been a mixture of people who'd never heard of Gruff Rhys or the Super Furry Animals, or diehard fans happy to hear the story of John Evans - and in some cases, contribute their own small bits of knowledge about his journey.

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Gruff Rhys performing in London, May 2014. Photograph: Tom Watkins/REX

"I find America in general to be a very welcoming culture, and people were intrigued to see what was going on," said Rhys. That included the Omaha tribe, who invited him to play a gig in Macy, the capital of the Omaha Reservation.

"I did the slideshow about John Evans, and people were intrigued, even though he was working for a colonial power. We're not trying to canonise him in any way: I'm more interested in making an accurate portrait of him existing in a time where the future of America could have gone a few different ways," he said.

Evans' role in that future is one of the aspects of the film and book that have stayed with me. After falling in with the Spanish authorities, Evans - or "Don Juan Evans" as he was by this point - secured large swathes of territory for his new paymasters by taking down Canadian flags and replacing them with Spanish flags on forts along his journey.

However, his Missouri maps were also later a factor in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, when the US (under president Thomas Jefferson) bought vast tracts of American land from France.

"At that time, they were the only accurate maps in existence of the upper Missouri," said Rhys. "The present-day border of the 49th parallel of Canada and the US seems very solid, but arguably the Canadian border could have been much further to the south, which leads to more questions."

Such as? "My brother has a theory that had Canada kept control of that area, which would have included North and South Dakota and Montana, the outcome of the [2000] George Bush election could have been very different, because Bush would have had five less electoral college votes than Gore, who could have become president," said Rhys.

That's not the only link between John Evans' journey and modern-day politics, according to Rhys. His book outlines a theory that the Madoc myth was enthusiastically encouraged by Elizabeth I and her adviser John Dee, because if a Welsh prince had discovered America three centuries before Columbus, it bolstered British claims to territory there over the Spanish.

"There are analogies with Iraq, and mythmaking, and the dodgy dossier which led to the eventual invasion by Bush and Blair of Iraq - based on a document of myth!" said Rhys.

"The myth of Madoc was largely a political construct to aid colonisation. Ultimately, John Evans was only interested in truth: I think he was a straight-up guy. And when he discovered the truth, it wasn't what people wanted to hear. he was ostracised by everyone!"

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A scene from Gruff Rhys' American Interior

That's the tragicomic finale of Evans' story: he found the tribe he'd been searching for - the Mandan - and realised that they had no connection to Wales whatsoever. Not a message that people back home (Welsh and English alike) wanted to hear.

"At the end, he said there was no Welsh-speaking tribe, and they were like 'You're a traitor!'," said Ramasut. "It's a really sad story: he gets sent off on his own, creates this legacy, then gets rejected because he hasn't come back with what they wanted to hear."

The film's most affecting section comes when Rhys visits the Mandan tribe and meets Edwin Benson, the last fluent speaker of the Mandan language. Born in 1931, he's trying to pass on the language to younger people before he dies.

For Rhys, it's another spur for the ongoing efforts to not just preserve the Welsh language, but to help it grow again. The film sees him cheerfully pointing out a Welsh-language shopfront for Richer Sounds and chatting to a Welsh-speaking NHS psychiatrist, as well as academics.

"Welsh is my first language, and I've always been fairly flippant with it: it's just the language that I speak," he said. "In the film, I want it to come across that it's just a normal European language, rather than some oddball language shrouded in Celtic mythology. My experience of it is as a really organic, living thing."

Meeting Benson and his young student Cory Spotted Bear for the film has reinforced Rhys' desire for more action to ensure that state of affairs continues.

"Meeting the physical manifestation of a dying language in one person was incredibly moving, because the Welsh language is in crisis. The areas where it's spoken as a first language are disappearing with every census," he said.

"The areas where, say, 80% of people speak the Welsh language have become very few, and some areas where it was always taken for granted - 'Oh, that's a Welsh-speaking area, there's no problem' - some of them have gone under 50% and it's a huge shock for people."

Rhys estimates that there are around half a million Welsh speakers, but points out that because of efforts to preserve the language, more of those are coming from urban areas in Wales - people learning it as a second language - rather than in those heartlands.

"The figures don't seem as unhealthy as the evidence on the ground suggests. Because Welsh is half a million speakers, it's got an amazing opportunity to survive, but it's not an unlimited opportunity," he said.

"There needs to be some kind of emergency planning and education policies to address it, or statistically it'll just disappear, y'know. It needs a concrete strategy for it to not die out. So that's what I took from it [the film]. And, of course, it's a huge contradiction that I'm relaying all this information in the English language! But that's something I have to live with."

That brings us neatly back to the American Interior app, which is completely bilingual: a tap of a button flips its menus and content between English and Welsh. "I'm so happy that Penguin were so open to it being bilingual: they were really encouraging and didn't see it as an issue whatsoever," he said.

"It's a huge company, and it's rare. I suppose that's another aspect of how languages survive: if people like Penguin care for them. It's really significant, I think."

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Gruff Rhys' American Interior: a story told across film, music, book and app

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American Interior is the latest solo album by Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals, but it's much more than that. It's a documentary film, a book and an app for iOS and Android devices.

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Why The Apple-Beats Deal Makes Sense, And Why It Doesn't

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Why The Apple-Beats Deal Makes Sense, And Why It Doesn't

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Rumors are flying about the imminent purchase of headphone maker and streaming music service Beats Electronics by tech giant for a reported $3.2 billion, which has caused a lot of head scratching in both the tech and music communities. Should this deal come to pass, a number of questions come to mind.
Why Is Beats A Fit for Apple?
Apple sees music downloads from its iTunes store diminishing, and if it reads any of the reams of research on the subject, knows very well that downloads may be more endangered than the CD. Apple dipped its toe into the streaming waters last year with iTunes Radio, which seemed like a half-hearted effort at the time and even more so now, as the subscription numbers have never really taken off and have been stagnant for the last two quarters.

That said, a non-interactive service like iTunes Radio doesn't appear to be where music's future lies, at least financially. already has a huge lead in this part of the market, but relatively few paying subscribers. It's thought that eventually most users will want to move to an interactive service like Spotify where they get more choice over what they're listening to, which is where Beats Music is and iTunes would eventually like to be.

Beats Music provides a ready infrastructure for Apple and already is integrated with mobile partner . Plus, if it's true that the company has accumulated between 10,000 and 20,000 subscribers (which can't be verified since Beats doesn't report these numbers), that's actually a huge jump over every other service already in terms of paying subscribers. Even if the subscription numbers aren't quite to that level, it's still pretty good for a service that only just launched and is yet to be available outside the US.
Why Is Beats Not A Fit?
A good deal of the purchase price of Beats is based on the consumer electronics market share that the company now enjoys. Consumer electronics are the heartbeat of Apple too, but the one thing that is an integral part of its brand is a superior quality product. Unfortunately Beats headphones are more of a fashion statement and are nowhere near the overall quality one would normally associate with Apple, so you have to wonder how the electronics portion of Beats even fits into the equation of the deal. Beats does have plenty of urban appeal thanks to hip hop producer and co-founder Dr. Dre, but its not like Apple has been lagging in this area, so you'd have to figure that's not a factor either.

Apple has some brilliant audio minds (Tomlinson Holman, who's in charge of the company's audio direction, is one of the world's foremost audio scientists and inventor of the THX theater audio we all enjoy as well as one of the creators of 5.1 surround sound) and you can't say the same for Beats, so it wouldn't be buying the company for its engineering skill.

There's some speculation that Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine and Dre would come along with the Beats acquisition to help Apple's music initiatives of the future, but does this make sense? Neither exactly fits the Apple culture, and while Iovine is certainly a forward-thinking music industry mover and shaker, why would he even be interested after the big payday that would come from the acquisition? There's a big difference from owning the company and being responsible for its direction to being just a piece in a larger one, and most creative types aren't that fond of the structure involved with real corporate (meaning not an entertainment company) life.
Why Now?
Apple could have swooped in and purchased Beats much sooner for a lot less money, but you get the feeling that they weren't totally sold on either the technology or the business model of the music service and needed some proof before it would make a serious offer. If the rumors are correct, it didn't take long for that to happen; a mere three and a half months after the Beats Music service launched.

That said, Apple is quite aware that its leading position in digital music is slipping, with Spotify making major market inroads and new streaming service competition from Amazon and on the horizon. Apple certainly has the resources to launch its own service, but you get the feeling that might take too long to come to fruition if left to the company's internal devices. It would seem that Beats, or one of the other streaming services reported available, is a way to get into the market more quickly than with a home-grown product.

Keep in mind that Apple doesn't need Beats or iTunes for the revenue that music generates. Although that's significant, the real money for the company has always been from selling hardware. The strategic place that music holds is that it has been an essential key to selling that hardware in the past. That's not so much the case anymore though, as consumers don't buy a new device just to stream music on it, unless of course Beats has a new unknown consumer device in the works that might drive that.
Was This Really The Beats Exit Strategy All Along?
The timing of this transaction feels odd in that Beats Music only recently launched in late January, making one think that perhaps the grand plan of Iovine/Dre was to prove the music service as viable, then sell to Apple at some point down the line. Iovine reportedly held talks with Apple execs before the service even launched, which makes one wonder if a tentative deal was in the works even then. Perhaps Apple was given a chance at the purchase before The Carlyle Group extended its most recent round of capital to the company, which now might have cost the company twice as much by waiting.

If Apple's acquisition of Beats goes down as reported, it will remain a deal that is both obvious and curious at the same time. As with many tech acquisitions, it may take time before the results become clear, which gives us plenty to speculate on in the meantime.

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Why The Apple-Beats Deal Makes Sense, And Why It Doesn't

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Rumors are flying about the imminent purchase of headphone maker and streaming music service Beats Electronics by tech giant Apple for a reported $3.2 billion dollars, which has caused a lot of head scratching in both the tech and music communities. Should this deal come to pass, a number of questions come to mind.

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Yahoo tops list of most active tech aquirers for 2013

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Yahoo tops list of most active tech aquirers for 2013

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John Lewis is marking its 150th anniversary with a TV ad that celebrates the role the department store has played in people's lives across the generations.

John Lewis is marking its 150th anniversary with a TV ad that celebrates the role the department store has played in people's lives across the generations.

The TV ad, entitled "Never Standing Still", will be shown on Saturday during Britain's Got Talent and has already been launched on YouTube.

The ad features scenes from different decades in recent British history to the soundtrack of a cover of The Kinks' This Time Tomorrow by Gaz Coombes.

The ad is part of a campaign designed to tell the story John Lewis has played in people's lives since the first store opened on 2 May 1864 on London's Oxford Street.

The ad's closing titles read: "For 150 years you've never stood still. Neither have we."

The campaign was created by Adam & Eve/DDB, the ad agency behind last year's "The Bear and the Hare" Christmas campaign and the "Always a Woman" ad from 2010.

Craig Inglis, the marketing director at John Lewis, said: "This campaign celebrates how our customers' lives have kept moving over the last 150 years."
* To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".* To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on and . Topics

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John Lewis 150th birthday ad celebrates customers' changing lives

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John Lewis is marking its 150th anniversary with a TV ad that celebrates the role the department store has played in people's lives across the generations. John Lewis is marking its 150th anniversary with a TV ad that celebrates the role the department store has played in people's lives across the generations.

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Could be fun to tell this story using screenshots of Tweets and responses

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Music app Bloom.fm has closed after its main investor TNT pulled its backing for the channel, although a search has begun for a buyer in order to save the service. After 15 months in operation, the music streaming service released a short statement yesterday to say: "We'll keep this short because we're pretty shell-shocked, it's game over for Bloom.fm."The company explained: "Our investor, who's been along for the ride since day one, has unexpectedly pulled our funding. "It's come so out of the blue that we don't have time to find new investment. So, with enormous regret, we have to shut up shop."This is a poetically crappy turn of events as our young business was showing real promise. Our apps and web player are looking super-nice and we had 1,158,914 registered users in a little over a year."

We'll keep this short because we're pretty shell-shocked. It's game over for Bloom.fm http://t.co/LX9rR3TxK3 pic.twitter.com/083H3o1Bq2
- Bloom.fm (@bloomfm) April 30, 2014

Update: down but not out! If we find a buyer in next week we can #saveBloomfm Interested? Mail hello(at)bloom.fm RT! pic.twitter.com/BUc1jnOoJd
- Bloom.fm (@bloomfm) May 1, 2014

The campaign to find a new investor or buyer for the service, which amassed over 1 million listeners, has begun on Twitter using #savebloom.

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#savebloomfm campaign begins as music streaming site bloom.fm closes suddenly

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Music app Bloom.fm has closed after its main investor TNT pulled its backing for the channel, although a search has begun for a buyer in order to save the service.

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Consumers less likely to ‘opt in’ to marketing than to ‘opt out’

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Consumers less likely to ‘opt in’ to marketing than to ‘opt out’

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When new EU data protection rules come into place next year, consumers are likely to be required to 'opt in' to marketing messages from brands or third parties, usually by ticking a box, instead of the current action of opting out. But according to new research, consumers may be more reluctant to 'opt in' than they would be to select the opt out box.

The study shows that 29 per cent would opt in to emails and other messages, compared with 51 per cent who say they would not opt out. When asked more specifically for their permission, the rate is even lower. If a brand wants to share information with 'carefully selected companies' that will send offers, only 18 per cent say they would tick the box to receive emails; 82 per cent say otherwise.

The report, based on the responses of 1,175 people ( see Methodology, below), was compiled by fast.MAP in partnership with agency Tangible and consultancy Opt-4.

The reforms, which began with proposals in January 2012 to shake up the EU's 1995 data protection rules and strengthen online rights, aim to ensure that people have more effective control of their personal data while making it easier for businesses to operate in a single market.

Due to be passed in 2015, changes will strengthen standards of data protection by establishing a single pan-European law. A supervisory authority will ensure the same rules apply to all companies operating in the European market. However, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is pushing for a more 'business friendly' version of the regulation, warning that current proposals "should be ringing alarm bells in every business involved in one-to-one communications."

David Cole, managing director of online research specialist fast.MAP, says: "The majority of marketing and advertising is data-driven and as more digital contact routes become mainstream, access to personal details becomes more vital.

"If indeed the General Data Protection Regulation does become law, the main effect will be to replace the current opt-out requirement, for further contact and sharing of data with third parties, with an opt-in permission."

He adds: "This will require a massive change in culture for most marketers. At present the aim of some is to make the opt-out statement as low-key and invisible as is possible within the law, so that as few people as possible tick the box."

In March, the European Commission announced that progress on EU data protection reform is irreversible, regardless of how this month's elections affect the European Parliament.

Any breach will come at a price. Under the proposed legislation, any fine will depend on the size of the corporation and the extent of the breach. It could be up to €100m or 5 per cent of annual global turnover, whichever is greater.

Cole cites an example from January, when a French data protection watchdog fined Google €150,000 for failing to amend how it tracks and stores user information in line with national law.

Rosemary Smith, director at Opt-4, says: "When the EU legislation becomes law, it will be a game-changer for all data-driven organisations. Permission will be harder to get and will have to be explicit. The wording of opt-in statements will be crucial to encourage data exchange."

Not only is the wording an issue but so is the time it takes a consumer to consider the options, according to research by language consultancy The Writer. In a study of more than 2,000 adults, in partnership with ICM, it found that Britons spend four-and-a-half minutes reading terms and conditions when signing up for products and services online. However, an analysis of 30 well-known brands finds that on average it takes 28 minutes to read such a document thoroughly.

Neil Taylor, managing partner of The Writer, says: "Businesses are legally required to treat customers fairly, so while asking a customer to read a complicated document for half an hour may well protect you against a lawsuit, it could cost you that customer."

The study also shows that younger audiences are more relaxed about opting in. Caroline Kimber, vice-chairwoman of the Direct Marketing Association's Data Council, believes that "young people have grown up with sharing information online via social media and are therefore much more comfortable with it".

fast.Map reveals that younger people are more likely to say yes to sharing information compared to older demographics. For example, 23 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds would say 'yes' to opt-in, compared with 13 per cent of 55- to 64-year-olds and 18 per cent of 45- to 54-year-olds.

"Far more is involved in achieving high permission rates than a simple change from an opt-out to an opt-in statement," says Opt-4's Smith. "A one-size-fits-all approach is not the most effective. Different opt-in statements work best with different age groups and in different parts of the country." Geographically, people in the Midlands are much more likely to say yes (21 per cent) than those in Ireland (8 per cent), and there are slight gender differences too, with 16 per cent of females and 21 per cent of males claiming they would say yes to sharing data.

Differences between the age groups also occur when analysing the types of companies people are comfortable sharing their data with. Banks top the list at 73 per cent, followed by utilities (46 per cent), online retailers (35 per cent), supermarkets (34 per cent) and telecoms companies (23 per cent). Broken down by age group, only 66 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds are comfortable sharing information with banks, compared with 82 per cent of 55- to 64-year-olds. A similar trend emerges with utilities, with 37 per cent of the younger bracket saying they are happy to share compared with 50 per cent of 55- to 64-year-olds.

People are least likely to be comfortable sharing information with publishers (8 per cent), software/gaming companies (8 per cent), car manufacturers (9 per cent), quangos (12 per cent) and charities (14 per cent).

The research also looks at why people give permission. It shows that 28 per cent would give access to their data for a specific reason, 29 per cent if it is easy to revoke that access and 40 per cent in return for something of value.

Nick Banbury, data strategy partner at Tangible, says: "Companies need to start thinking differently about customer data and realise that access to it is a privilege, not a right. Brands need to make their offerings more personal and tailored to each individual's needs.

"They need to provide relevance and they need to make themselves more attractive, more interesting, sexier, cooler and more engaging."

The changes to data protection laws and increased power of the consumer pose a growing challenge to brands. It is vital that any communications concerning the gathering of data be interesting and of value. If they are not, the customer is unlikely to share.

Marketers' Response
Caroline Kimber
Vice-chairwoman

DMA Data Council

When thinking about opt-in and opt-out options in marketing communications, it's important to think about the context in which the question is asked. Opt-in requires consumers to actively do something: read terms and conditions and tick an opt-in box. For time-pressed consumers, this is a big issue. We've seen the same issue with cookie notices. Consumers dismiss them without actively agreeing to them, because they're in a hurry to get to the information they want.

Also, it's crucial that consumers feel they are getting value from sharing their information. If it benefits the consumer to share data, for example, to get more relevant offers or a better level of service, then they will share data. It's all about the value exchange.
Sara Bennison
Marketing director

Barclays

As the results show, the trust customers have in banks on a day-to-day transactional level proves that we can use their most personal information in the right way.

That fundamental trust means we are well placed to help people get the most from information-driven services.

That can only be of benefit to us as a company and to the broader economy, though, if we continue to demonstrate that our first concern is to act in the best interests of our customers.

It's also important that we make it very transparent how we are using customer data, which is why we pay particular attention to
the way in which our privacy policies are written and presented.

Methodology

The data protection survey was conducted in February 2014 by fast.MAP in partnership with Tangible and Opt-4.

In all, 1,175 people were interviewed from fast.MAP's consumer panel, nationally representative of the UK population. Questions were submitted via an online self-completion questionnaire.

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Consumers less likely to 'opt in' to marketing than to 'opt out'

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When new EU data protection rules come into place next year, consumers are likely to be required to 'opt in' to marketing messages from brands or third parties, usually by ticking a box, instead of the current action of opting out.

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Apple's iPhone 6 Rumored to Launch in August

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Apple's iPhone 6 Rumored to Launch in August

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Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple typically releases its next-generation iPhones in September of each year, but a new report suggests we might see the iPhone 6 a little earlier this time around.

According to sources cited in Taiwan's Economic Daily News (spotted by Reuters), the iPhone 6 is expected to launch in August, one month ahead of the company's normal product cycle schedule.

The report says only the 4.7-inch iPhone will launch in August, with Apple debuting a larger 5.5-inch or 5.6-inch model in September.

Earlier this year, an alleged leaked document of what was believed to be a schematic of the iPhone 6 provided hints that the new Apple smartphone could be in the 5.5-inch range. This would be Apple's first foray into larger handsets, often referred to as "phablets."

Samsung kicked off the bigger smartphone market in 2011 when it announced the original 5.3-inch Galaxy Note phone. Other manufacturers such as HTC, Nokia and LG rolled out similar sizes soon after.

The iPhone 6 is rumored to have improved maps and a strong focus on fitness.

BONUS: 10 Fan-Made Apple Product Concepts We Wish Were Real

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Apple's iPhone 6 Rumored to Launch in August

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Apple typically releases its next-generation iPhones in September of each year, but a new report suggests we might see the iPhone 6 a little earlier this time around. According to sources cited in Taiwan's Economic Daily News (spotted by Reuters), the iPhone 6 is expected to launch in August, one month ahead of the company's normal product cycle schedule.

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Grocery retailers need to catch up to consumer expectations on mobile: stats

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Grocery retailers need to catch up to consumer expectations on mobile: stats

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As shopping habits change in line with the availability of better technology, faster connectivity, improved usability and the proliferation of responsive web design, the standard for what consumers consider a satisfying ecommerce experience on mobile is becoming a high one to match.

Savvy Marketing has recently published a report on the digital shopper landscape in which it surveys 1,000 consumers on their ecommerce habits.

It reveals the technology and functionality that shoppers expect retailers and brands to provide currently or in the very near future.

71% of UK shoppers currently own a smartphone and 78% say that they will own one by the end of 2014. The smartphone is of course the key enabler of our expectations.

We have the whip-fast and super-smooth technology, so it's frustrating when we don't get the complimentary experience from the online stores we visit.

Consumers believe they should be able to perform all basic shopping tasks with their smartphones, including collecting and storing vouchers to searching for product information.

Tablet ownership is also expected to continue its sharp rise in ownership in 2014, with 71% of consumers expected to own one by the end of the year (the same figure that currently owns a smartphone). This is up from the current figure of 59%.

Currently more than 40% of online adults are multi-device users. Tablets are the go to online device in the home, thanks to its large screen, quick start-up and always-on connection.

Smartphone use is principally focused on finer detailed, practical tasks such as finding stores, opening times, product information and prices. Tablets are typically used for longer periods of inspiration and research.

As smartphones and tablets are reaching mass penetration, the generation that only knows the world with the internet is reaching maturity and will comprise the entire mainstream shopping audience.

These shoppers understand the full potential of smartphones and tablets, and are able to see the benefits that digital technology could offer to make their lives easier when planning and buying their food and groceries. This is where disparity and frustration arises.

In terms of what shoppers find the most appealing, 65% find the idea of receiving targeted vouchers to their phones attractive.

Digital vouchers or coupons have the extra appeal of being highly personalised, timely and much more convenient than paper vouchers.

64% of shoppers would also find the concept of receiving vouchers while they are actually shopping in-store appealing. This will become a large part of the shopping experience with the introduction of iBeacon technology to stores.

The research seems to suggest that shoppers trust retailers more than brands when it comes to being sent targeted promotions directly to their smartphones.

Shoppers already trust grocers with their personal information through various loyalty schemes and they are used to being targeted by them. There's also the natural relationship that's built from shoppers who visit a retailer's store on a regular basis.

Digital initiatives are gradually finding their way into grocery retailers' stores. As well as the standard necessity of in-store Wi-Fi, many are experimenting with other technologies.

Sainsbury's has introduced a Scan & Go service, where customers can scan their shopping with a smartphone along the way and pay for it after scanning a checkout QR code. Tesco is also trialling iBeacons technology in its Chelmsford branch.

Now more than ever it's imperative for grocers to catch up with other retailers in the mobile digital world. Especially with the fact that entirely online based retailers such as Amazon are introducing increasingly convenient ways for us to shop from our own homes.

Check out these 10 possible implications of Amazon Fresh and Amazon Dash.
To see more stats from the report, check out Shopper marketing at a crossroads.

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Grocery retailers need to catch up to consumer expectations on mobile: stats

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As shopping habits change in line with the availability of better technology, faster connectivity, improved usability and the proliferation of responsive web design, the standard for what consumers consider a satisfying ecommerce experience on mobile is becoming a high one to match.

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Start Me Up! BLAP for painless mobile conference calls

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Start Me Up! BLAP for painless mobile conference calls

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Conference calls are boring and what almost makes them interesting is how painful they are. Except it doesn't make them interesting, it makes them painful.
Pain is not interesting. That's why I thought it would be good to feature a conference call app in Start Me Up.

The app calls participants, it isn't VoIP, gives you local numbers and can be used on your network minutes or as PAYG with the platform. That makes it worth taking a look at.

It's called BLAP, and you can read on for more info, or to find out what it's like working in a startup in this competitive arena.

In one sentence, what is your product/service?

BLAP is the easiest and quickest way to make instant or scheduled conference calls from your mobile phone.

What problem(s) does it solve?

Outside of the cost savings the main focus was on ease of use and trying to rid the world of the pains with conferencing - dialling in, pin numbers, crap quality calls, international charges etc.

The functionality that we've managed to build in to the app means that a few clicks enables you to set up an instant or scheduled call and the app will call you and the other call participants at the designated time (if a scheduled call).

On the side of dialling in and pins, because the app dials you instead we've done away with the need for pins. From a quality perspective, it isn't VoIP like a lot of other conferencing apps on the market which means you don't need a constant data connection like 3G or WiFi and you therefore get better call quality.

Looking to call international colleagues, suppliers or partners? The beauty of the system means that both the call originator and participants use the equivalent of local phone numbers and we take care of the rest.

For example, I want to call a team in the USA. I get the app to dial them on a designated landline number while the App also calls me.

Here in the UK the app uses an 0203 number to call me while in the USA my team see an incoming call from a 001 US number so both "end legs" of the call are classed as local calls. The magic in the middle means nobody gets hit with super-size international charges on their phone bill.

What are your immediate goals?

We're still effectively in BETA at the moment and so are looking for more people to come onboard and trial the app (iPhone or Android).

We've got a few large corporate trials underway but the best way to get accurate user feedback and be able to refine the system is by talking to active users.

To that end we're offering free trials and if anyone wants to test it within a corporate environment and with their team (nationally or internationally) we'd love to hear from you.

What were the biggest challenges involved in building the tech or your team?

One of the biggest challenges with the tech has been fitting all the pieces together.

We've got some crazy ideas of what we'd like the app (and backend systems) to do so now we need to understand how and when those things can fit together. As example, we've gone from building a standard integration with Salesforce to now looking at a deeper integration with OEM partner status and we're now planning on building elements on the Force.com platform.

That meant needing to understand the differences from both a tech perspective and a commercial perspective.

On the team side we've been quite fortunate in that the core team members each have their respective areas of expertise and a good track record. The CEO has a background in finance and stock portfolios an has already started and sold several businesses.

The CFO has a history of securing some sizeable financial raises while the CTO has devised, built and scaled some incredible systems. From an advisor perspective we've got the ex-CTO of Vodafone and another telecoms luminary and their combined insight and guidance has been instrumental in shaping both the app and the general proposition.

How will the company make money?

There are a couple of ways we are planning on doing this almost in a stepped system. At the moment the core proposition is subscription based. For app-to-app calling you need to subscribe but the beauty of that is that the system then taps in to your contract bundled minutes from your network provider.

For example, I've got 800 minutes on my monthly contract. Once I've subscribed whenever I participate in a BLAP call I'll be using those 800 minutes, almost "all you can eat" style.

However, we are looking at a base level where premium numbers may be used in a way that means you could forgo the monthly subscription.

When calling non-app mobiles or landlines, regardless of where they are in the world, we use a system called "BLAP Credit". This works on a pre-loaded basis, similar to how PAYG mobiles work at the moment - top up £10 and then whenever you make calls you deduct X amount from that £10.

We're working on the philosophy that if you really want to talk to a group of people instantly you'll be willing to agree to bear the costs associated with the call for the people who aren't app users.

So, if I go back to my USA example above and the team on a landline, if that call was to a single landline in the USA it would cost me roughly two pence per minute of my pre-loaded BLAP Credit. If I was calling one of the team on their mobile and they had the app, it wouldn't cost anything as I'd already subscribed and it would use some of my 800 network operator contracted minutes.

Who is in your team?

Lee is the CEO and has overall responsibility for the business. He's been building it largely single-handedly over past two or so years.

Rupert submerses himself in the financial modelling as the CFO, Jason has responsibility for the platform architecture, infrastructure and our development team in his role as CTO and then I round out the core team.

My responsibilities vary from day-to-day with me constantly switching hats. Some of the time I'm looking at the reporting from digital channels and potential marketing opportunities. Other times I'm managing corporate trials and interpreting user feedback or I'm creating wireframes and user stories to help Jason understand my crazy ideas.

We've then got a handful of advisors, contractors and angel investors who all contribute as well.

Where would you like to be in one, three and five years' time?

If you look at the financial model in one year we'd like to be at breakeven.

After that we definitely have goals for three and five years with one of them being that we're recognised in the market as the quickest and easiest way to make conference calls and the tool of choice for business users.

Other than your own, what are your favorite websites / apps / tools?

Econsultancy is still one of my favourite sites due to the varied nature of the content and the expert opinions provided by marketing peers. I also regularly check TechCrunch to see what's going on in the world that I now find myself - tech startups.

Tools - Hootsuite is great for managing social accounts and I like the new PiQ tool from PeerIndex for identifying social influencers.

Apps for me would be Twitter, a great way to read what's going on and stay connected. Outside of that I'm a Windows Phone user so having Office on my phone and being able to sync documents is really useful.

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Start Me Up! BLAP for painless mobile conference calls

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Conference calls are boring and what almost makes them interesting is how painful they are. Except it doesn't make them interesting, it makes them painful. Pain is not interesting. That's why I thought it would be good to feature a conference call app in Start Me Up.

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Instagram '58 times more engaging than Facebook'

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Instagram '58 times more engaging than Facebook'

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Radio has a more certain future than the music industry

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Radio has a more certain future than the music industry

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Radio has a more certain future than the music industry

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Richard Marks argues that BBC's Playlister service reflects the blurring of the lines between radio and music streaming services - but these do not have as defined a role as radio or even a successful commercial model...

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Leica Camera "the most boring ad ever made" by in-house

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Leica Camera "the most boring ad ever made" by in-house

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It seems so obvious now, doesn't it? Every brand under the sun is trying to stand out by being more interesting and attention-grabbing than everyone else. Make something that deliberately pushes the boundaries of tedium and you wrong-foot the market. The world is yours. Leica Camera figured it out and released a 45-minute online ad of someone hand-polishing the aluminium frame of its new Leica T model. Of course, no-one is going to watch the whole thing; no-one we'd like to be friends with, anyway. But that's not the point. Leica has created something that people want to talk about and, as a bonus, it defines the brand well.

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Leica Camera "the most boring ad ever made" by in-house

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It seems so obvious now, doesn't it? Every brand under the sun is trying to stand out by being more interesting and attention-grabbing than everyone else. Make something that deliberately pushes the boundaries of tedium and you wrong-foot the market. The world is yours.