Credit card issuer American Express Co. said Wednesday it has hired former Sprint Nextel Corp. executive Daniel H. Schulman to lead a new business growth group ...

Schulman, 52, will be responsible for business development, mergers and acquisitions and global strategy to expand alternative mobile and online payment services and build revenue streams outside card and travel businesses. He will oversee online payments unit Revolution Money and the global prepaid business.

The new group he will head "is designed to extend our leadership into the world of alternative payments and create new fee-based revenue streams for the post-recession environment," Chairman and CEO Kenneth I. Chenault said in a statement.

I could have called it something else. But let's face it... alternative payments these days are related to mobile. There are other kinds (are there?) but we are mostly interested in the evolution of mobile as a vehicle for economic transactions. So AMEX is doing just that. Getting more serious about it and ensuring that their mobile strategy includes a way to purchase goods (and services?) while mobile and to make money off that service by charging fees.

Nothing new here. Keep moving along.

Longtime Internet pioneer, AOL today matured its mobile platform with a two new applications for Android handsets and an HTML5 version of the AOL Mobile website for smartphones. The new site — still found at http://m.aol.com — now supports richer content and media on handset browsers supporting HTML5. While it’s not surprising that AOL is looking to support advanced devices such as smartphones, the selection of Android over iPhone for the new software title is notable.

Speaking of Mobile Strategy...

It is an interesting choice and certainly not a bad one specifically due to the momentum of the Android platform. They can follow this with an iPhone app and not even miss a beat.

I like it because they are not following the crowd. It shows both leadership and independent thinking... Although we don't have visibility into all the reasons why AOL chose Android over the iPhone it does put a marker on the ground and shows they are thinking things through and not bowing down to the buzz.

I like it.

A few years ago in speaking with customers their priority for development was:
- BlackBerry
- iPhone

Then it became:
- iPhone
- Android
- BlackBerry

Will it soon become...
- Android
- iPhone
- ... and maybe BlackBerry?

SAP’s mobile strategy involves developing business apps for specific platforms such as Google Android and Apple iPhone. The company remains close-lipped about its Sybase acquisition.

Following SAP’s acquisition of mobile-technology provider Sybase, some have been wondering how the deal is going to affect the company’s mobile strategy going forward. While SAP executives are remaining close-lipped about the deal itself, and their intentions with Sybase’s assets, at least one was willing to talk to eWEEK about SAP’s mobile philosophy with regard to burgeoning platforms such as Google Android and the Apple iPhone.

“In the past 18 months, what we’ve been noticing is that device-specific experiences are the ones getting huge amounts of adoption,” George Mathew, SAP’s general vice president and general manager for Business Intelligence; In-Memory Analytics, said during a July 22 interview with eWEEK. “There is a real compelling strategy for us to create a minimum baseline for how BI content is more actively shared between devices; that’s the starting point for creating device-specific experiences.”

SAP’s $5.8 billion acquisition of Sybase, announced May 12, was widely regarded as the start of a major shift in the enterprise-software landscape. In addition to allowing SAP to stay competitive with Oracle via new revenue streams, it also opened the door for the company to consolidate and expand its mobile offerings via Sybase’s mobile technology.

“On first glance, this is clearly a strength-to-weakness deal. SAP’s annual sales and its market cap are both [more than 10] times the size of Sybase’s,” Pund-IT Research analyst Charles King wrote in a May 13 research note. “While SAP develops and delivers a wide range of enterprise business software solutions, Sybase’s offerings are skewed towards the global mobile market.”

The deal also marked the largest acquisition for SAP since its $6.7 billion purchase of business intelligence software producer BusinessObjects in 2008. Sybase had been an SAP strategic partner prior to the deal. When creating previous applications for BlackBerry, SAP had previously layered functionality atop a Sybase platform; if and when the acquisition is completed, Mathew suggested, functionality and platform will be consolidated under one roof.   

Mathew has noted a number of businesses incorporating both the iPhone and the iPad into their IT mobile infrastructure; to capitalize on that, SAP created a BusinessObjects Explorer for the iPhone, which Mathew claims had 80,000 downloads since its release. “We’re seeing an uptick for the iPad optimized version,” he said. “Now that we’re seeing adoption of Android devices into the enterprise, we’re going to be looking at a similar investment.”

When asked about the upcoming Windows Phone 7, though, Mathew seemed to take more of a wait-and-see approach. “It’s the same way I felt about Android last year,” he said. “I knew there were compelling reasons why it would make sense to invest in Android, but I was holding until there was reasonable momentum. Once there’s factual evidence about the market, then you’re able to move quickly.”

Even for larger companies such as SAP, then, it seems to come down to careful use of developer resources. “It’s not a question of how quickly you can build a mobile app,” Mathew said, “it’s about being judicious about where you make your investments. I’d rather make the ones for well-adapted devices.”

I was watching Nexus One very carefully especially it's direct to consumer implications considering my emphasis on the Open Gardens philosophy. By all accounts, the reception has been luke warm and as the fierce wireless article says, when it is available, Nexus one is not in its original incarnation (through a direct to consumer web site), rather it is sold and distributed through Operators - making it similar to any other phone

So .. What does it mean for the industry as a whole?

Nexus One put Google directly in competition (and indeed conflict) with other handset vendors who adopted Android. So, in that context, I see Nexus One as an experiment and in Google showing what is potentially possible. This is similar to Google strategy of acquiring spectrum Google: Spectrum bid goal was openness, not winning.

These goals are commendable but also commercial in keeping up with the Google business model of advertising(more people use more content and more that content is linked- annotated , the better the advertising model works as long as Google can capture meta data for that content). That philosophy applies to spectrum as it applies to phones .. Others benefit (and some lose) and the customer gets services which they could never dream of before(example Google maps and Google street view)

Whatever you can say about that vision, it certainly works .. And it customers like it ..
This last bit 'customers like it' probably explains the Nexus One status ..
In other words, I see it as an experiment which customers(as of today) did not get (and don't like as such) since they had nothing 'special' to look forward to

Remember that the Web players like Google , Facebook, Twitter and Apple are nothing without their customer fan base(a lesson telcos learnt only too late after the proverbial horse had well and truly bolted from the stable)

There are many factors already discussed such as 'support' by email only for Nexus one, iPhone comparison, not understanding the consumer device market and the experimentation angle ..

However, I would like to add two things to this:

a) Apple succeeded to some extent by the direct billing (through iTunes) which is a sort of direct to consumer strategy. That worked because they had the customer on their side by providing a truly superior product in the iPhone. To get concessions from Operators, we need a truly superior product - which Nexus One was not and nor were the many offerings from Nokia(which explains Nokia's current soul searching).

In other words, the customer is the main driver. If you want to get Operators to change their strategies, get the customer on your side first.. That did not happen with Nexus One.

b) The second point is more subtle. There needs to be ONE main factor for the switch. It's hard to convince customers about MANY benefits. One BIG benefit which MATTERS for customers will do. Most of us had hotmail accounts. Many of us(including me) switched to gmail in a big way. Why? It was more than 'Google'. For me, gmail has one BIG feature which literally gave me something very valuable .. TIME .. And that's the SPAM filter. Nothing else comes even close to it. That alone was enough to justify the move.

So, to conclude, I see Nexus one as an experiment .. But a valuable one in Openness where we can all learn the value of serving the customer.

Mobile Strategy Done Right

Many Coca-Cola Enterprises employees are on the road engaging with customers every day, so the company developed an enterprise strategy for mobilizing business apps, instead of doing them as one-off projects. The strategy's first tenet is device independence, developing an app once that'll run on different devices, such as Windows Mobile and BlackBerry. Second, the goal is to be real time, using connectivity to monitor and react to events in the field. Lastly, the strategy is source system independent, leveraging SOA to tap multiple systems for a transaction and letting Coca-Cola Enterprises turn legacy systems into mobilized platforms.

As the publishing industry wobbles and Kindle sales jump, book romanticists cry themselves to sleep. But really, what are we shedding tears over?

We’re losing the throwaway paperback.
The airport paperback.
The beachside paperback.

We’re losing the dredge of the publishing world: disposable books. The book printed without consideration of form or sustainability or longevity. The book produced to be consumed once and then tossed. The book you bin when you’re moving and you need to clean out the closet.

These are the first books to go. And I say it again, good riddance.

Once we dump this weight we can prune our increasingly obsolete network of distribution. As physicality disappears, so too does the need to fly dead trees around the world.

You already know the potential gains: edgier, riskier books in digital form, born from a lower barrier-to-entry to publish. New modes of storytelling. Less environmental impact. A rise in importance of editors. And, yes — paradoxically — a marked increase in the quality of things that do get printed.

From 2003-2009 I spent six years trying to make beautiful printed books. Six years. Focused on printed books. In the 00s.

And I loved it. I loved the process. The finality of the end product. I loved the sexy-as-hell tactility of those little ink and paper bricks. But I can tell you this: the excitement I feel about the iPad as a content creator, designer and publisher — and the potential it brings — must be acknowledged. Acknowledged bluntly and with perspective.

With the iPad we finally have a platform for consuming rich-content in digital form. What does that mean? To understand just why the iPad is so exciting we need to think about how we got here.

I want to look at where printed books stand in respect to digital publishing, why we historically haven't read long-form text on screens and how the iPad is wedging itself in the middle of everything. In doing so I think we can find the line in the sand to define when content should be printed or digitized.

This is a conversation for books-makers, web-heads, content-creators, authors and designers. For people who love beautifully made things. And for the storytellers who are willing to take risks and want to consider the most appropriate shape and media for their yarns.

The entire piece is a very interesting read. If you are in any way interested in mobile technology or the future of the printed word you should head over there and read it... the future is defined by content.

...buried in yesterday's Pew Internet report, "Understanding the Participatory News Consumer” it appears that Ballmer has cleared a way to score a future goal. The survey indicated that more than half of US consumers already get news and other real-time information wirelessly via laptops. This is a field which Steve still has a lot of control.

When Ballmer's boys release Windows 7 for the Mobile it is likely to improve the links between the desktop and the the PC. Not only making the OS more attractive for business but also for those who want news on the move. It is starting to look like Windows 7 will be able to mimic a lot more PC behaviour on a mobile and thus Steve can use established behaviour on the desktop and put it onto mobile by offering similar capabilities.

Consumers should be able to sync capabilities and their behaviour from mobile Windows desktop to Windows Phone. "On-the-go-news consumers" are a better demographic for Redmond than say the iPhone user. According to Pew Internet: "The typical on-the-go news consumer is a white male, age 34, who has graduated from college and is employed full-time." It is the same demographic which is likely to buy a bleeding edge phone.

Apple's demographic is much younger and less interested in news or anything other than shiny objects and listening to Coldplay.

The original title on this post at Fudzilla is somewhat of a misnomer. Or perhaps it was done like this as as an attempt to draw traffic (we all do it don't we?).

However, it does bring up one good point.

Microsoft has had success in mobile longer than what most give them credit for. Where am I clipping this from? What am I using?

I am at a Starbucks three hours from home... and I am on my Windows Laptop.

More than we would like to admit... Microsoft already has many of our hearts and minds while mobile. Some (at least more than 50% of you) are also reading this from a Windows desktop or laptop.

How many of you are reading this on a laptop? Away from your desk? Away from home?

We should never underestimate the sleeping giant... no matter how many missteps it takes it is still there and close enough to get back into the game.

Or am I wrong?

A new report published yesterday by the UN indicates that 67% of the world’s population, or two-thirds total, are mobile subscribers- far outweighing Online access.

67% of the world’s population represents around 4.6B people, up from only 1B in 2002, indicating staggering continued growth.  In developing nations, however, the uptake is even more substantial with 57% of the total population in these nations being mobile subscribers, even though other technologies are scarce.

What's your Mobile Strategy?

Regardless of what you do... you need to think through this. How does it affect your business? Your constituents? Your congregants? Your members?

You don't have to be a business to have a strategy... you just need to understand that you have them right there. They all have mobile devices ... what are you going to do about it?

What's your call to action?

Visualize this: A woman is pushing a loaded grocery cart through the frozen-food aisle when she gets a mobile phone alert. Her checking account balance has dropped to $100. Uh-oh, the food will be well over that amount.

But wait. Up pops a clickable ad, offering her the chance to sign up - right now - for overdraft protection.

That might be a marketing no-brainer, but it's still wishful thinking in mobile banking. "Banks are starting to ask for this capability," said Drew Sievers, co-founder and CEO of mFoundry, a Larkspur, Calif., technology firm that creates software for mobile banking and mobile payments. "But security risks are a big concern."

Sievers says current mobile marketing strategies have great potential for helping banks gain a greater share of customers' wallets. For one thing, financial services firms can partner with other businesses that want access to their customers, as Visa has done with Starbucks. A mobile gift card application that mFoundry created for Starbucks features a Visa advertisement. Those who use their mobile devices to reload Starbucks cards get an extra $5 added, if they pay with a Visa card.

Mark Schwanhausser, a senior analyst with Javelin Strategy & Research in Pleasanton, Calif., likes this type of partnership strategy. "Banks have incredible insights into how individual consumers spend their money," he says, "and they sit in a spot where they can play an instrumental role in directing coupons, offers, rewards and other savings to consumers."

Sievers says banks also should be looking to drive traffic to their own products and services by connecting with mobile users. Someone seeking real estate information on Zillow.com is a prime candidate for a bank's mobile mortgage ad, for example. "The banking industry has only barely begun to tap into this potential," he says.

Banks' mobile opportunities are different from those of other industries. A bank is unlikely to add new customers via a mobile ad, but it can grow revenue from existing customers, and this is what Schwanhausser predicts will blossom this year.

After all, connecting advertising to the deep demographic and financial information banks already have on customers is powerful marketing, he says.

Couple of issues here with respects to privacy and security... please Mr. Banker don't share my name with any of your 'partners.'

However as I have been telling some of my clients for a while now... the entire mobile banking landscape will succeed only through partnerships. Banks partnering with other service providers... (but to what extreme? And at what cost to the customer?).

A very important partnership is the one between those that provide services to the banks... Enterprise software providers, mobile app developers, system integrators - the best way to break in and go deep in mobile with a bank will be based on your partnerships with others. This is especially true for startups in the mobile space - go out and seek partnerships with providers who already have entrenched relationships with the big banks.

By David Goldman, staff writerFebruary 4, 2010: 2:32 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the fanfare over Apple's new iPad reaches a fever pitch, Google is not standing idly by.

The search giant has already unveiled concept designs for its own version of a tablet, though it's unlikely that a Google tablet will hit store shelves until at least 2011.

Developers of Google Chrome OS, an open-source operating system that is set to debut in the second half of 2010, recently posted a mock tablet design on the developers' Web site chromium.org.

The design was actually unveiled two days before Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave the world its first glimpse at the iPad. But it wasn't widely noticed until this week.

According to chromium.org, Google's operating system would be optimized for a tablet that has a 5-inch to 10-inch screen, but it could work on larger devices.

The designs showed a user interface that includes large, square icons and controls, navigation tabs on the side and the ability to run multiple programs in separate, side-by-side windows at once.

The tablet running Google Chrome OS would also include a virtual keyboard at the bottom of the screen or a keyboard that could be opened in a separate window that could be placed in different areas of the screen. Applications would be placed at the bottom edge of the screen and could be opened with an upward dragging motion.

When Google first announced that it was building an operating system, the company said it was focusing on the netbook market. Though Chrome OS' developers said they are still primarily focused on netbooks, the operating system "could eventually scale to a wide variety of devices," including an iPad-like tablet computer.

"Google Chrome OS is still in development and we are constantly experimenting with various user interfaces to determine what designs would produce the best user experience," said a Google spokesman.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) probably won't design the tablet hardware itself. Instead, as with its Nexus One smartphone, which is made by HTC but runs Google's Android operating system, Google would probably look to partner with one or more hardware makers.

Google too...