Grizzly Analytics Blog

One of the latest rumors making its way around the blogsphere is that RIM is going to split into two businesses , one that will sell Blackberry devices and one that will sell the secure Blackberry messaging service. The article reporting this rumor is sour on the idea, thinking that neither business can survive without the other. At Grizzly Analytics, however, we've been predicting this split since May, 2011 .  Moreover, we think it's a good idea. What made us think that RIM is considering this? One indication was their acquisitions of Gist and Tungle in early 2011.  Each of these companies has technology for integrating contact and calendar data (respectively) across different devices. These acquisitions would make no sense unless RIM was targeting integration with other devices. Another indication was comments by a RIM Vice President in January 2011 that RIM was working on a cloud version of their secure service, that can operate without positioning servers inside e

New article on Seeking Alpha: Facebook's plan to monetize mobile through media http://seekingalpha.com/article/671321-facebook-s-plan-to-monetize-mobile-through-media Among the millions of Facebook status updates every day, and the billions of comments and like's every day, a huge number relate to songs, TV shows, movies & books. Facebook is researching how to turn these moments of interest into revenue.   You read on Facebook on your phone that your friend likes a new song. You might want it as a ringtone. Or as an MP3. Or on your iPod. If you could buy it and download it in one click, at a good price and in a format that your device can handle, what are the odds that you'd click? ...   Read the full article here . This is one of the seven predicted new mobile directions for Facebook that are analyzed in the new 59-page Grizzly Analytics report titled Facebook's Next New Mobile Directions : http://www.grizzlyanalytics.com/report_2012_06_fb_mobi

Significant concern has been expressed recently regarding Facebook’s apparent weakness in monetizing mobile usage. This concern is largely based on mobile users seeing and clicking on a fraction of the advertisements as computer-based users. This report shows, however, that Facebook has invested heavily in new opportunities for monetizing mobile use. Some of these research areas are extensions of Facebook’s current business, such as location-based ads and promotions . Others will deepen Facebook’s use in the every-day lives of mobile users, including finding and communicating with friends . Others would reflect Facebook’s entry into totally new business areas, such as sales of songs, videos and other media . Others are even bigger departures from classical social networking, opening up new jobs for mobile users . Taken more broadly, the predicted new mobile directions for Facebook outlined below will expand the scope of the social network services that the company offers mobi