Google issue Memo in response to Statement of Objection (SO) from European Commission for Competition

Google has responded to the European Commission's Statement of Objections (SO) which is to issued soon. It has issued internal memo, Google has issued statement and asked it Googlers not to comment on the pending legal issue but to do well on the usual work of producing quality products and services.

Google, along with data form ComScore MMX, Google data, desktop traffic, unique visitors, has supported it arguments against the SO that is to be issued by European Commission. In memo, it has released the data analysis from various sources and indicated searches in France, Germany , UK. Those analysis were made on search on Shopping and travel in the respective countries. 

Google has stated that such SO issued by European commission is not a final findings. It is just initiation of process. It is a document in which the commission staff sets out its preliminary arguments so that the company in question can respond. Google has also mentioned that SO are modified or settled the case by the commission. If the settlement is remote, the commission issues an infringement decision, which can be appealed in court.

Google has assured that it has strong case. It, further, cited that commission has previously opened and closed an inquiry into iTunes few years ago. 

"we have a very strong case, with especially good arguments when it comes to better services for users and increased competition." - Memo to Googlers.

Google has acknowledged increased quality and competition in the search market. Google has took preemptive steps as the company anticipates proceedings against Android shortly from the European Commission for competition. It has set out that Android comes with apps with no restriction. Many devices are sold with other competitors apps such as Facebook, Microsoft Office, Amazon, etc. And further stated that consumers have a lot of choice and they are exercising it.

'Finally, we know the upcoming announcements will be distracting. But you can help in two ways. First, by not commenting on pending legal issues, internally or externally. And second, by focusing on what you all do best... building great products that serve our users and customers.' - Memo to Googlers.

Update:

'Since Google Shopping is all ads, Google could just close the standalone service in EU, keep running ads in main results & maybe be fine' - +Danny Sullivan  on Twitter.

European Commission for Competition has initiated antitrust proceedings. Google must place it rebuttals before the commission. 

Is your Website mobile-friendly? Test your website with new tool.

Google Adsense has made an announcement today that test your website for mobile-friendliness. 

'You can check your site by testing your pages with the Mobile-Friendly Test tool. This tool shows how Google Search sees your pages. To get a list of mobile usability issues across your sites, log in to your Webmaster Tools account and use the Mobile Usability Report.' - Google Adsense

Google has launched a new tools to check websites for mobile-friendly version. The website may be internet blog or business website. Making your website mobile-friendly will help increase your presence on mobile Google search.

See also: Make money online with this simple steps

With increase of Smartphone market, most internet traffic is driven by the mobile networks. Most people who use Smartphone such as Android, Microsoft, iPhone prefer to place orders from Smartphones. The use of PC, laptops has reduced when it comes to browsing information. Though you need PC, laptops, workstation for your work, people tend to use smartphone for most of the personal work such as Google Search, buying or selling, location, etc.

With e-commerce penetration, purchases made through smartphones may surpass orders placed through PCs. One important factor is convenience. Just a tap over the screen, brings home the product. This make smartphones most preferred device than PCs. 

With Google Adsense making announcement for optimizing websites for mobile, the update which was made recently to the mobile search will provide advantages to sites which are mobile-friendly. 

Yet, Google has made advisory for mobile-friendly sites. It has called for further optimization. Go mobile today to provide your visitors a good user experience and to make use of your mobile traffic. Check the new tool here.

Bing SERP: Good news we have got, Bing is mulling to implement its own ranking algorithm for mobile friendly websites! Day by day responsive design play vital role. Designing for mobile takes the top most priority than desktop. With smartphone penetration, mobile friendly websites take pivotal role in business penetration. 

See also: Myntra Shuts down website

For bloggers, implement one of the best responsive web design to stay on top of results. With wordpress, blogger, hubpages, blog.com, the default themes are mobile friendly. But people who have implemented own theme or paid theme has to make sure theme is responsive and support different dimensions of screens. For mobile ranking will play critical role for generating traffic. 

If you like the post, share or tweet to provide your support.

Make Money from Internet

Best ad network for your blog to make money from internet

Did you ever wonder how make a blogging successful? As you would observe, most blogs are Wordpress blog hosted on Linux box. How do that webmaster could sustain hosting charges? That's where the ad networks come into play. If you have a blog which qualifies with unique content then ad networks are ready to play. This method reduce your burden on selecting best ads that are displayed in your blog as the better related ads are placed by the network. All we have to do is to provide a exclusive space for the display. Rest is taken care by the ad network.

See also: Effective and simple steps in marketing strategy 

Now comes the interesting part, which is the best ad network to start with. With all popularity, Google Adsense stand at podium. But reality is most websites, especially, blogs fail to get well with Adsense. Though Google Adsense be like godfather of ad network, you have alternative to get income from your blogs. 

For them who find difficulty to get into popular ad network may try infolinks. Infolinks approval is quite easy. Those who use any blogging platform like blogger, wordpress, drupal, joomla, integration would take less than a minute. 

Though it may take couple of days for the approval, you will not find any stringent conditions as we might find in other ad networks.

I was able to monetize my first blog within a week. The ads started flouting with an hour of approval. 

Sign up for an Infolink account today, start earning money through your blog. 

Get Ready To Pay for WhatsApp, Viber, Hike, Blackberry,etc

Airtel, a leading telecom company, which advocated for separate charges for (Over-The-Top)OTT has turned huge tide. The Regulatory authority has moved consultation paper to levy separate charge for OTT. The deadline to submit suggestion is April 24, 2015. This move have challenged the very net neutrality in India. If the regulatory authority approves such move, then get ready guys, we have to pay for all video and voice calls in messaging services. Apart from data charges we have to shell out extra charges in the OTT charges. No more chit chats!

OTT (Over-The-Top):

1. 'In broadcasting, over-the-top content (OTT) refers to delivery of audio, video, and other media over the Internet without the involvement of a multiple-system operator in the control or distribution of the content.' - Wikipedia
2. Until now telecom operators don't distinguish OTT and other browsing data. But the regulatory authority was forced move which will prompt a distinction which will lead to hefty phone bills in future. 

Save The Internet!

An online campaign has started against the TRAI move to allow telecom operators to levy charge on OTT. Visit savetheinternet.in to lodge your protest today. Click on 'respond to Trai now or edit answer' to lodge your protest.

If not now, as a user of internet, we will lose our rights forever. Our free and neutral internet will be under the grip of telecom operators. The choice of network will depend on the choice of service offered. The leading telecom operators lobby for favoritism over other networks, concession for using particular service over their networks. 


We are under pressure to decide our future internet. If we lose now, you will lose it forever. Stand against the move to uphold net neutrality. 

It may appear as a simple move. But soon it may outrun us. One day, apart from exorbitant charge for data connection which we pay today, we will be forced to pay for every single message which are sent and received through internet messengers. It is high-time to lodge your response to maintain net neutrality in India.

My humble request is to lodge your response by visiting savetheinternet.in and send an email to TRAI protesting against the proposed move.

The first day saw a 27,000 emails in response to the consultation paper. But considering the number of internet users in India, we need more people to respond to the consultation paper to uphold net neutrality. Provide your support today! Have a happy future!

Update as on April 28, 2015: The crisis worsen as the Telecom operators like Airtel, vodafone, Idea has appealed with the Government to charge for OTT services today. Once TRAI grants approval then next target would be preferred content network by telecom operators. The Airtel Zero will get it's rigor back and will engulf user experience with sponsored contents based on Zero ratings.

If corporate lobby extends to the TRAI consultation then all is lost for Indian Internet users. Than the widely publicized broadband connection in 2003, mobile data cover vast majority of the internet users. The easy to setup and use network now faces challenge posed by the service providers. As no concrete net neutrality law is in place, which now making telecom operator to encroach upon mobile internet as and when they need to. Most prime target of these move is the internet messaging application whatsapp. As Indian user base vast, tapping the minimal charge over this OTT service will boost revenue of those telecom companies. With gross profit on mind, service providers started muddling with OTT service.

One day, telecom operators will invade your privacy if such trend gets approval from TRAI. Whatever these telecom operators dictate will be the laws of internet if not nipped in the bud.  TRAI, telecom regulator of India, yet to respond on the consultation paper on OTT services. Stay tuned for the updates. 

NOTE: To add insult to the injury, TRAI, listed 1 million user name and email id of those who sent reply to the consultation paper on OTT services. Well, a Telecom regulator of a country provides 1 million email id for spammers and marketers to solicit. Have you seen such a pathetic situation in any other country? Please share your opinion through comments. (Source: Times of India, link: 1 million email id exposed)

Whatsapp Marketing: New Marketing Strategy

How many of you reading this post is without smartphone? I would like to know what is your popular and most used personal messenger! If was early 2000, I would presume Blackberry messenger is the most used personal messenger which topped the list of best personal messenger in smartphone. That was the time when word Smartphone would only mean Blackberry or HTC device. Rarely Microsoft Window found itself in few pockets. But such devices are often seen with either a business executive or top executive of any organisation. The aim was to make sure that vital assets of the company or organisation are in the boundaries of the corporate even off the work.

Now, the definition of smartphone was redefined. The Advent of Android OS has reached wide range of world population than expected. With Apple iPhone, Google Android devices vied for the market share, the then popular Blackberry Smartphones were sidelined by the corporate. The Apple and Google raced against each other to attract large user base. Being Open Source, Android gained popularity. Than being a premium device, Android catered to the need of budget smartphone specification which augmented the Android User than the competitors such as Apple, RIM, Windows, Symbian.

See also: Who uses Whatsapp Marketing?

But the penetration of Smartphones has brought the pleasure of personal messenger to all its users without any discrimination either they work for corporate or doing the homework. The smartphones have provided unlimited choice when comes to selecting software and service compared to the traditional cell phones which are limited to SMS, MMS and voice calls. The Technology has brought 3G, 4G which added value to messenger service unlike the conservative data packs of early 2000. 

Why Whatsapp so Popular?

If we have to install a most popular and well used messenger service into our smartphone, it would be 'Whatsapp'. The popularity was Whatsapp is well known among any smartphone user. Whoever don't have Whatsapp are frowned by their colleagues or business partners.  The very success of the Messenger Service is due its policy towards end-users. Whatsapp had policy not to display or provide with pop-ups to the end-user and to provide clean and neat intelligible interface unlike other free application available on the store which are supported by ads for revenue. 

Though, Whatsapp free service is limited to first year, it charges about $1 or so per year to avail the service for the subsequent year. Yet, users find no fault with the service. An application which understands requirements of end-user find its place in the podium of the market. To our surprise, many users are willing to pay advance subscription for the subsequent year use of the world's most popular Smartphone Messaging Service. It had surpassed many other messenger. Even Google's Hangout opined to have less popularity than Whatsapp when it comes to Smartphones.

Whatsapp Marketing: A New Way To Find Customers

For World's Most Popular Messenger, one must have register one's phone number with Whatsapp. Once done, we can start directly pinging our friends and family or the one who is in our contact list. The idea of Group messaging help us connect with friends and families. We can have light moment virtually through Internet without any hindrance. Whatsapp identify us using our phone numbers. So anyone who posses our phone number could contact us through the Whatsapp service. It will open for all whoever have your number and whatsapp installed on smartphone to contact you at their will. So do the marketing companies have started campaigns to market product through Whatsapp. 

Worst part is marketing companies which have previously collected large list of mined data regarding targeted users have now vast array of phone numbers at its disposal. With Whatsapp service and unlimited WiFi connection from Internet Service Providers (ISP), marketing through whatsapp is walk in the park. Either you like or not, they will be sending queue of messages. 

The traditional SMS marketing was limited by the telecom operators and controlled by the regulating agencies of the concerned country. But with Whatsapp which uses internet as the medium of communication is unregulated. If it to be regulated, it must be done either by Facebook or the Regulating Agencies of State. In this case, both are nonviable options as Facebook regulation would spark contention over privacy issues while state regulation will cause concerns over net neutrality.

Whatsapp policy was not to store messages that are through its servers. And it does not monitor activities of its users. With huge broadcast list, Ad companies send unlimited messages for small annual subscription fee.

Economical Marketing:

It is economical and innovative strategy to use Whatsapp to advertise business and product. Some really benefited from the marketing. With less than $2, you can make your product ad reach thousands of users. It is most viable than the SMS marketing. Whatsapp marketers charge pennies for 1000 messages while traditional SMS marketing could escalate cost. 

Moreover, Whatsapp is not limited by territorial boundary of state unlike SMS or MMS. This strategy was availed by email marketers which is a cheap option if one decides to market beyond one's own state boundary. So if your target is local or international audience, the charge for using the service remains same irrespective of the locality. 

The era of smartphone has brought world under single roof. Message across the seas are free and reliable considering the advancement of technology and abundant bandwidth under sea Fiber optic cables. For marketers, it is a boon. And with Whatsapp web, composing and drafting a marketing message make simple.

Drawbacks:

Though, Whatsapp is viable and economical marketing option for those experienced and new start-up Ad agency, it is not free from defects. With Facebook and founders of the Whatsapp have turned against advertisements, such ad free experience is taken away by these marketers. 

Blocking Ads in Whatsapp:  

Those unsolicited message if you find annoying, user have option to block those numbers from which such ads were sent by the Whatsapp marketers. As user don't have other known mechanism to stop ads being send from unknown numbers, it is a make shift solution to stop receiving ad messages from known advertisers phone number. Further, users can block any other numbers from which user receive messages.