Tag Archives: blackberry

Journalisted Weekly: Liam Fox, Occupy Wall Street and BlackBerry

Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for you, the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust, a registered charity set up to foster high standards in news on behalf of the public, and funded by donations from charitable foundations. Each week Journalisted produces a summary of the most covered news stories, most active journalists and those topics falling off the news agenda, using its database of UK journalists and news sources.

Liam Fox, Occupy Wall Street and BlackBerry

for the week ending Sunday 16 October

  • Coverage of the Liam Fox and Adam Werritty scandal dominated this week’s news
  • ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests and BlackBerry outages covered lots
  • Fitch ratings downgrade, Burmese political amnesty and US troops deployment covered little

Covered lots

  • A torrid week for Liam Fox, ending in his resignation after questions about his relationship with friend Adam Werritty, 332 articles
  • Occupy Wall Street protests continue and are mimicked worldwide, including London and Rome, 141 articles
  • Research in Motion apologise to BlackBerry users after several days of outages, 112 articles

Covered little

Political ups and downs (top ten by number of articles)

Celebrity vs. serious

Arab spring (countries & current leaders)

Who wrote a lot about… the Joanna Yeates murder trial

Long form journalism

Journalists who have updated their profile

  • Liz Vercoe is a freelance journalist for AgeUK, Travel Telegraph, Sunday Times, BBC Worldwide and Reader’s Digest. She was previously deputy editor at the Radio Times and associate editor of the Sunday Mirror Magazine, as well as launch day editor of the Sunday Magazine. She has written several books, including editions of ‘Where to Live in London’ and ‘Managing Your Home’.
  • Harriet Hernando is a trainee reporter at the Stroud News and Journal. She was recently a freelance features writer for St James’s House Media and feature writer for the Argentina Independent after interning at the Financial Times. She was educated at the University of Leeds and later the University of Sheffield. You can follow Harriet on Twitter: @harriethernando

The Media Standards Trust, which runs journalisted, last week won the ‘One to Watch’ category at the Prospect Think Tank Awards

Read about our campaign for the full exposure of phone hacking and other illegal forms of intrusion at the Hacked Off website

Visit the Media Standards Trust’s Churnalism.com – a public service for distinguishing journalism from churnalism

The Media Standards Trust’s unofficial database of PCC complaints is available for browsing at www.complaints.pccwatch.co.uk

For the latest instalment of Tobias Grubbe, journalisted’s 18th century jobbing journalist, go to journalisted.com/tobias-grubbe

Ofcom report: 30 stats on smartphones and internet use

Ofcom today (4 August) released its TV, radio, broadband, telecoms and mobile industries report, noting significant changes over the “digital decade” since 2001.

Here is the 341 page Communications Market Report boiled down to a list of 30 facts and figures that are relevant to publishers.

Smartphones

1. More than a quarter of adults (27 per cent) own a smartphone;

2. Almost half of teenagers (47 per cent) own a smartphone;

3. Nine out of 10 people (91 per cent) own a mobile phone;

4. Three in 10 mobile phones are smartphones;

5. Most people with smartphones (59 per cent) acquired their device in the past year.

Internet use

6. More than a quarter of people use their mobile phones for internet access. In the first quarter (Q1) of 2011, 28 per cent of UK adults claimed to do so;

7. Those aged 16-24 are more than 10 times more likely to go online via a mobile than those aged 55+;

8. More than three quarters (76 per cent) of homes are now connected to the internet;

9. For the first time household internet take-up (78 per cent) exceeded computer ownership (77 per cent) as a small proportion of households went online using mobile phones only;

10. More than two-thirds (67 per cent) of households have a fixed broadband connection and 17 per cent have a mobile broadband (dongle) connection. In Q1 2011, 26 per cent of over-75s had home internet access, as did 55 per cent of 64-74 year-olds;

11. Consumers use a wide range of devices to access the internet at home. In 2010, 69 per cent said they accessed the internet at home via a laptop or PC, 31 per cent via a mobile phone;

12. Wifi routers were used by 75 per cent of broadband using households in Q1 2011;

13. More than half of all UK households are passed by super-fast broadband;

14. Google has more than three times the user base of any other search engine;

15. The leading blogging site is Google’s Blogger, which reached 8.2 million users in April 2011.

Facebook and other social networking

16. Social networking accounts for more than a fifth of all time spent on the internet;

17. People spend more than five times as much time on Facebook than on any other site;

18. More than 90 per cent of social networking time is spent on Facebook;

19. The most popular claimed use of the internet on mobile phones was social networking services (used by 57 per cent of mobile phone internet users);

20. Mobile users of Facebook spent an average of 5.6 hours on the site in December 2010 (11 minutes a day);

21. In Q1 2011, 46 per cent of UK adults claimed to use social networking services on a home internet connection. There are signs that the growth of social networking may be reaching saturation point: total time spent on social networking sites was just 1.3 per cent higher in April 2011 than in April 2010.

Smartphone brands

22. The Apple iPhone is the most popular brand of smartphone, but BlackBerry handsets are a favourite choice among younger consumers;

23. Apple’s iPhone has a 32 per cent share among adults. This is the brand of choice among ABC1s (37 per cent) and is even higher among ABs alone (44 per cent). But BlackBerry handsets have also taken a significant share of the market (24 per cent) and are particularly popular among younger adults and teens (37 per cent each).

Advertising and commercial

24. More than a quarter of all UK advertising spend is on the internet. Advertising spend on the internet grew by 16 per cent in 2010, to more than £4 billion, accounting for 26 per cent of total advertising spend in the UK, marginally ahead of television;

25. Mobile advertising increased by 121 per cent in 2010 to reach £83 million;

26. In 2010, the mobile advertising market was only 2 per cent the size of the internet ad market. However, driven by increasing use of internet services on mobile phones, together with more sophisticated business models (for example, fully or partially advertising-funded mobile applications), mobile advertising revenue more than doubled during 2010. Search-based advertising increased by the greatest amount (172 per cent) and increased its share of mobile advertising from 54 per cent to 66 per cent;

27. Nearly three-quarters of internet users shop online. Visitors to coupon and reward sites increased by 25 per cent in the year to April 2011, when nearly 40 per cent of internet users visited at least one such site.

Apps

28. Just under half (47 per cent) of adult smartphone users have ever downloaded an app, with one in five (20 per cent) doing so regularly;

29. Regular apps downloaders are skewed male and age 25-34. Just over half (54 per cent) of apps downloaders have paid for an app – with their mean average maximum spend on a single app being £3 – £3.99;

30. Apps downloading is higher among teens than adults; around two-thirds (63 per cent) of teen smartphone users have ever downloaded an app, with one in four (28 per cent) doing so regularly. Six in ten (60 per cent) have paid for an app. The average maximum amount of spend among teens is £3.70 and the median is £3 – £3.99.

See a further 10 facts on mobile media.

All graphs taken from the Ofcom report.

Telegraph: Review of reviews of new BlackBerry PlayBook

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet went on sale in the UK today and B2B publishers will be watching take-up closely due to the popularity of BlackBerry phones with their readership.

The Telegraph has taken a look at a few of the reviews written since its launch in the US in April, most of which are critical of the new device.

With prices starting at £399 – the same as Apple’s iPad – the PlayBook has a smaller screen than the Apple device: a seven-inch screen, compared to the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen but the same processor and screen resolution and has more memory. It can also record HD video.

The device runs bespoke apps, Android apps and existing BlackBerry apps.

So, what do US reviewers make of the BlackBerry PlayBook?

“Right now, the BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet that will come close to satisfying those users who gravitate toward the first word in its name: BlackBerry. Those who were more excited about the ‘play’ part would be well advised to look elsewhere, at least until Android compatibility joins the party. Then, well, anything could happen.”

The “herpes of tablets”, says CNN:

“One of the perks of being a tech journalist are all the new toys we get to try out – companies generally send us products for a week or two, and after trying them out they’re sent back to the company (it keeps us honest). Except for this PlayBook… every time we contact RIM asking where to send it back to we don’t get a response. It is the herpes of tablets – once you have it, you can’t get rid of it. And unlike herpes, even the person who gave it to you doesn’t want to see you again.”

The Telegraph’s full review of reviews is here.

Twitter starts to roll out new site for mobile browsers

Twitter has started to roll out a new version of Twitter.com for mobile devices. Most people who use Twitter on a smartphone opt for one of the official apps or a third-party app such as TweetDeck rather than the browser, but the the new mobile site promises to improve the experience for those without an app.

The new mobile browser is currently only available to a limited number of iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android smartphones, Twitter announced on its blog, but there will be a full roll out “in the coming weeks”.

Judging from the pictures released by Twitter, changes include the black navigation icon bar along the top.

Canada encourages MPs to tweet from parliament

The Canadian House of Commons has issued MPs with Blackberry devices and encouraged them to tweet and post messages on Facebook during their parliamentary work.

According to the Canadian Press newswire, about half of Canada’s MPs are already avid social media users and others are setting up new accounts as elections near.

It is expected that the move will improve public access to information and encourage debate.

Next Generation Journalist: Ignore the mobile app market at your peril


This series of 10 moneymaking tips for journalists began on Adam Westbrook’s blog, but continues exclusively on Journalism.co.uk from today. Adam’s e-book, Next Generation Journalist: 10 New Ways to Make Money in Journalism will be available to download in full on 20 May.

05. develop news apps for mobiles


By the end of last year more than 41 million smartphones had been sold worldwide. That’s 41 million potential customers if you can create the right product, which is why it’s one of the new career paths the Next Generation Journalist would be stupid to ignore.

The iPhone, iPad, Nexus, Blackberry and Android: there’s no doubt the mobile market is a massive one. And it’s one we’re already seeing many journalists step into. Larger organisations like CNN, the Guardian and NPR have all developed popular apps for users. We’re also seeing smaller startups move into this area too.

Apps don’t just have to deliver hard news, they can also provide useful public services such as crime data.

The business model might work like this: you take publicly available information like crime stats, authority information, traffic data etc., craft it into a useful and easy to use app and sell it. If it adds value to peoples’ lives, they’ll buy it, and that is the test your idea will have to pass.

Apps also benefit from a double sell: you can charge users a small amount for the app itself, and then if you’re providing fresh content within it, you can charge a subscription fee to use it too.

Developing apps for mobiles…

  • gives you experience in an area hardly any journalists are familiar with
  • can be satisfying to work on as a journalist if you create the right product
  • can potentially make a lot of money (it’s a huge market don’t forget)
  • once the product is created and on sale, it brings in money with zero effort (allowing you to pursue other work)

The key point I get across in the ebook is that you don’t need to know code to make an app. If you have the killer idea you can outsource the design and the coding parts to either specialist companies or talented individuals.

Click here to find out more.

BBC’s plan for mobile news apps heavily criticised

The BBC’s plans to launch mobile phone applications for its news and sports content have come under intense criticism from The Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA).

Erik Huggers, BBC’s head of future media and technology, announced the planned launch at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, telling delegates:

License fee payers are increasingly using sophisticated devices to access information. They tell us that they want to access the digital services that they have paid for at a time and place that suits them.

The NPA have urged the BBC Trust to block the release of the applications, believing that the move would damage the upcoming market for paid-for news applications on mobile devices.

Today, David Newell, director of the NPA said that “the market for iPhone news apps is a unique and narrow commercial space,  which means that the potential for market distortion by the BBC is much greater”.

“It is extremely disappointing that the Corporation plans to launch services that would throw into serious doubt the commercial sector’s ability to make a return on its investment and therefore its ability to support quality journalism,” he said.

The NPA said it would also raise this issue with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Media Select Committee.

The initial plan is to launch the apps on the iPhone, but the BBC has said it eventually wants to operate across rival platforms such as Google’s Android and RIM’s BlackBerry.

A news app is expected to be launched in April, followed by a sports app released in time for the upcoming World Cup, allowing users to watch games live on their phone.

There is also a plan to launch an app for the catch-up service iPlayer later this year.