Samsung, Xiaomi plus 12 Android smartphone brands are shipping with Opera Max

Norwegian browser maker Opera has struck agreements with 14 Android smartphone makers including Samsung and Xiaomi to embed its data-saving Opera Max app on new devices.

Opera now expects its Max app will have shipped with 100 million Android smartphones by 2017, thanks to the new deals.

Other well-known companies on board with Opera besides the two largest Android smartphone brands include Acer, Hisense, and Oppo. It also has deals with a handful of regional brands in emerging markets, such as Cherry Mobile, Evercoss, Fly, Micromax, Mobiistar, Prestigio, Symphony, Tecno, and TWZ.

Opera launched its data-saving app in August to reduce mobile data consumption when watching videos and streaming music, as well as to block apps that consume data in the background.

Given Opera's other businesses include a mobile ad network, it's not surprising the app doesn't offer to block ads.

With fewer than five million installs from Google Play today, Opera Max is less popular than its better-established Opera Mini browser, which also offers a data-saving feature.

Opera promotes its Opera Max app within the Mini browser's dashboard, which displays data savings. The key promise is that it will save data used by other apps, such as Vine, Vimeo, and Chrome, rather than just for content viewed through the Mini browser.

Opera says the Max app reduces data consumption from most Android apps by up to 50 percent, and up to 60 percent for heavy users of Instagram, YouTube, and Netflix. "Many users are wary of using mobile data for fear of spending too much or exceeding their data caps. We see OEMs responding to this and stepping up to lower the barrier to mobile internet access by providing a data-optimization solution on their devices," Opera Max head of product Sergey Lossev said.

Although Opera Max is available as a distinct app, the other way it's appearing in Android smartphones is by supporting existing built-in data-saving features.

For example, the Norwegian company teamed up with Samsung researchers in India to deliver the Galaxy J2 'ultra data-saving' feature, which is integrated with Opera's Max technology.

As Google and Facebook ramp up efforts to grow emerging markets through connectivity projects such as Loon and Internet.org, Opera sees its data-compression technology as a key component of bringing the next billion internet users online.

Opera is scheduled to report its third quarter 2015 earnings tomorrow, its first update since flagging a strategic review of its business and a possible sale.

Twitter Inc. Loves Big Brands

During Twitter's third-quarter earnings call, CEO Jack Dorsey pointed out the importance of brand advertisers to Twitter: "We built our business on the back of those advertisers, unlike other Internet companies, really delivering great value to them." Indeed, the company makes the majority of its ad revenue from big brands.

But the opportunity to grow its number of brand advertisers is shrinking as Twitter saturates the market, particularly in the United States. "We're seeing less growth in advertisers now than we have been in the past, given this tremendous penetration," Dorsey told analysts. To continue growing, Twitter will have to increase its share of ad spend at those big companies. Twitter's latest tool for brands, Brand Hub, aims to do just that.

More traditional brand metrics
Many of the new ad tools from both Twitter and rival Facebook have focused on things such as conversion and more detailed measurements of specific ad campaigns. Brand Hub takes a more holistic view, giving businesses a better idea of how people are talking about their brands on Twitter.

One feature, called TrueVoice, tells a business how its brand stacks up against competing brands in conversation share. This information is updated in real time, so brands can measure the immediate impact of something like a television commercial during the World Series. Theoretically, this would also help businesses see the impact of a Twitter ad campaign over both short and long periods of time.

Brand Hub also provides audience insights, similar to a feature Twitter started providing all advertisers this summer. The new tool includes additional information, including when key influencers tweet about a brand. That information could be useful for brands, and Twitter could capitalize on interest in brands connecting with influencers through Niche -- a social-media talent agency it acquired earlier this year.

Lastly, Twitter is offering insights into conversation details. Brand Hub can tell businesses the top phrases associated with its brands and how many impressions a tweet received both on and off Twitter. Twitter has been touting its off-site reach lately, claiming 1 billion total viewers per month, so this may remind brands how valuable Twitter can be. The new feature can also break out things such as brand loyalty, purchase intent, and more.

Combating Facebook
As I mentioned, Twitter's business has always been heavily reliant on big brands to drive revenue. Offering them new insights into how their ads affect real-time conversation, reach, purchase intent, and other important metrics might provide brands incentive to increase ad spend on Twitter.

On the other hand, none of these insights requires a brand to spend any more money on Twitter. A business could view the impact of an ad on another digital platform, for example, to measure the impact it has on Twitter's audience.

Facebook is always a threat to attract more brand advertising with its 1.5 billion users, which beats even the largest number Twitter has thrown out for its total audience. Facebook's users are also more engaged, providing more opportunities for brands to spread and reinforce their message.

What's more, Facebook also owns Instagram, which has flown past Twitter in total users, and skews toward a younger audience, which is more valuable for brand advertisers. Instagram opened up its ads API this summer to significantly more advertisers, and it has the benefits of Facebook's targeting capabilities. With a larger audience, Instagram stands to attract more ad spend than Twitter in the near future. New analytics tools won't do much to change that.

Considering direct ad sales to brand advertisers make up the majority of Twitter's ad revenue, growing those advertisers' spend is key to continuing to grow revenue at the rate Wall Street expects. Unless Brand Hub offers details on metrics brands originally made incorrect assumptions for, it won't have a major impact on how much they're willing to spend on Twitter. The only thing that will really move the needle with brands is a larger audience -- and Twitter has fallen flat recently when it comes to that metric.

Why Simple Brands Win

The greatest brands make life simple. Think Google, Amazon, or even Dunkin’ Donuts. They cut through the clutter by delivering what consumers want, when they want it, without hassle. By simplifying customer experience in a complex world, these brands win customer loyalty, which drives business results and creates value for shareholders.

For the past six years, Siegel+Gale has published its Global Brand Simplicity Index — a study based on a survey of thousands of consumers from around the globe — that ranks brands according to their perceived simplicity or complexity, and the overall simplicity rating of a brand’s industry. This year’s index, derived from the responses of more than 12,000 consumers in eight countries, provides a definitive measure of which brands excel at providing simple experiences – and reveals rising brands that could threaten these incumbents.

It also confirms how simplicity can drive performance: a portfolio of the publicly traded companies in the global top 10 brands has beaten the average global stock index by 214% since we first started conducting the study in 2009, and this year’s top 10 continues the trend.

Let’s look closely at the 2015 top 10 brands in the U.S. Each fulfills a consumer need quickly – sometimes instantaneously — and with minimal friction.

Google shouldn’t be a surprise and indeed it’s ranked in the top 10 for the past five years. Netflix gives instant access to a universe of entertainment with a mouse click, and Amazon and Zappos have perfected streamlined discovery, purchase, and delivery. The grocery retailer Publix is consistently praised by customers and industry insiders for its convenience, superior store design, consistent quality, and customer-service orientation. And this year’s fast food and fast casual dining brands excel at keeping the in-store experience simple, fast, and reliable in part by offering a narrow but satisfying menu. (Chipotle’s recent struggle with an E. coli outbreak came after the survey was completed.)

Brands like these benefit in many ways from their simplicity. In addition to strengthening customer loyalty, we find that simplicity reduces price sensitivity and drives positive word of mouth. Our 2015 survey found that 63% of consumers are willing to pay more for a simpler experience, and 69% are more likely to recommend a brand because it provides simpler experiences.

Threat of Disrupters

While these top performers may seem to be secure in their positions, our survey sheds light on a set of simplicity-oriented brands we call “Disrupters,” newcomers gunning to overthrow the existing powers in their respective industries, or create completely new ones. Disrupters are given simplicity scores but are not included in the regional rankings as they have not yet reached a comparable level of national awareness. These are the 2015 top 10 disrupters in the U.S.:

Dollar Shave Club, the #1 ranked disrupter in the U.S., is in many ways a paragon of brand simplicity. With its delightfully clean branding, uncomplicated product, and reliable service, Dollar Shave Club has thrown down the gauntlet to Gillette and other established players.

In fact, were the disrupters included in the full rankings, the top 10 would look very different — only the top four incumbents would avoid being supplanted.

Disrupters serve as a reminder that even brands with the highest simplicity scores cannot stop innovating. These leading companies must maintain their commitment to simplicity, as disrupters in every industry are ready to take their place if given the opportunity.

A new battleground 

Customer experience is the new battleground for loyalty. Years of findings in the Global Brand Simplicity Index demonstrate that when brands build cultures of simplicity, all parties benefit. Employees have the clarity to innovate and deliver superior customer service, consumers have better brand experiences, and ultimately reward brands with their loyalty.

Growth is welcome and inevitable for any successful company—but complexity is an unavoidable side-effect of growth. Companies must be on the lookout to simplify processes and create fresh and clear brand experiences. A commitment to simplicity starts at the top. Senior management must be committed to implementing practices that encourage simplicity. Brand purpose—what a brand does and why it does it—should be articulated in a way that is easy for employees to internalize, and customers must view a brand and its services in a manner consistent with this purpose. While it is necessary to look inward to refine and simplify, ultimately the customer’s perspective matters most.

Achieving simplicity is not easy, but the brands that harness its power stand to reap a multitude of both reputational and financial rewards.

VW to offer U.S. diesel car owners $1,000 'goodwill package'

 Volkswagen AG's (VOWG_p.DE) U.S. marketing operation said on Monday it will offer $1,000 worth of credit cards, of which half may be spent at VW dealerships, to owners of certain diesel models the company has admitted do not comply with government emissions standards.

The automaker said eligible U.S. owners of Volkswagen and Audi models equipped with 2.0 liter TDI diesel engines can apply to receive a $500 prepaid Visa card and a $500 dealership card, as well as three years of free roadside assistance services. Volkswagen has said about 482,000 cars with four-cylinder diesel engines had software installed that allowed the engines to pass government tests for smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions, but pollute at levels far above government limits in normal operation.

Myanmar’s People Joyful in Voting, Final Results Days Away

YANGON, Myanmar — Among the voters braving long lines at polling places across Myanmar on Sunday, there was a sense of jubilation at taking part in what many described as the first genuine elections in their lives.

“We’ve been suppressed for a very long time by the government,” said U Saan Maw, 63, who voted Sunday and made sure his friends and family did, too. “This is our chance for freedom.”

After five decades of military rule and a series of rigged or canceled elections, Myanmar’s nationwide electionsappeared to proceed without violence, raising hopes that the country’s five-year transition to democracy had reached another milestone.

Though the official tally may not be known for days, early results on Monday showed the opposition, led by the Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leading in Yangon, Mandalay and the capital, Naypyidaw. On Monday morning, the speaker of the lower house of Parliament, Thura Shwe Mann, conceded defeat to a member of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. He posted the message to his Facebook page.

Much remained uncertain about the outcome and how the results will be received by the military establishment that still retains the reins of power.

By many measures the elections have already been less than free and fair. Hundreds of thousands of people from the country’s Muslim minority were disenfranchised by being taken off the voter rolls.

Yet those who voted Sunday said they felt a thrill knowing that their country might be guided by the will of the people after so many years of military domination. More than 32 million people were registered to vote.

“This is the first time I have voted,” said U Okkar Oo, a betel-nut seller in Yangon. “Of course I am excited.”

Mr. Okkar Oo entertained passers-by with a song, “Mama has to win!” It was an ode to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of the country’s independence hero, Aung San, who was assassinated just as the country was emerging from British colonial rule. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has brought star power to the elections that her rivals in the military establishment lack. She is 70, is seen as a semi-deity among many of her followers and is often called “Mother Suu.”

“Her father’s work was unfinished, and she has always felt it was her duty to finish it,” said Bertil Lintner, one of her biographers. 

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is a member of Parliament, a post that she assumed after a by-election victory in 2012. She voted on Sunday at a school near her home in Yangon, surrounded by reporters and photographers.

Coming to power would mean overcoming many obstacles that the generals have put in her way. Under the Constitution, the military retains control over three crucial ministries that oversee the police, army, border affairs and a vast bureaucracy across the country. Twenty-five percent of seats in Parliament are reserved for the military, which effectively means that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, must win two-thirds of the vote to secure a simple majority of the seats in Parliament.

More than 90 parties were registered to participate in the elections, including many from ethnic minority groups that may play an important role in postelection haggling over a president, who will be chosen by the upper and lower houses of Parliament early next year.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi must overcome the skepticism among the elites in Myanmar about what many describe as a domineering management style and a lack of experience in an executive role.

The generals wrote a clause in the Constitution that bans anyone who is married to a foreign citizen or whose children are foreigners from becoming president. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was married to a British citizen, and her two children have foreign nationality. But she said last week that if her party won, she would run the government and be “above the president.”

That comment drew the ire of the ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which serves as the political wing of the military.

“The president is head of the country — no one is above the president,” U Htay Oo, the head of the party, was quoted as saying in The Nikkei Asian Review over the weekend. “It would be violating the Constitution to appoint and direct the president.”

The Myanmar news media has predicted a “roller coaster” of negotiations and back-room dealings in choosing a president. Many in Myanmar say they are not fully convinced that the military will hand over power if it loses — the generals canceled election results in 1990 after Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won in a landslide.

Last week, President Thein Sein said the government and the military would “follow and respect the results of a free and fair elections.” The president described the elections as “the most meaningful and important in Myanmar history.”

On Sunday, voters said their main focus was more immediate: to make sure no one cheated.

More than 10,000 election monitors registered with the country’s election commission, including members of delegations from the United States, the European Union and Japan. Voters themselves were also vigilant, posting suspected irregularities to social media. No major irregularities had been reported as of 4 p.m., when polls closed, but the counting was only beginning.

Mr. Saan Maw canceled his classes Sunday and took what he said was his first day off in three years. He plans to monitor the counting process at his neighborhood polling place. 

“I’m just a citizen,” he said. “But I will be watching.”

Iran deal: Obama, Netanyahu set for first talks

 U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet on Monday for the first time since the Israeli leader lost his battle against the Iran nuclear deal, with Washington seeking his re-commitment to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu, who infuriated the White House by urging Congress, in an address in March at the Republican leadership's invitation, to reject an emerging accord with Iran, hopes the talks will help outline a new 10-year military aid package for his country.

While that issue will be on the agenda of Netanyahu's talks with Obama, U.S. officials said the president would also press Netanyahu for steps to keep alive the possibility of a future Palestinian state alongside Israel.

U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014. The eruption of a wave of violence between the two sides last month has made an end to that bloodshed a more immediate priority.

In public remarks to his cabinet on Sunday about his Washington visit, Netanyahu spoke only in general terms about "possible progress with the Palestinians, or at least, stabilising the situation when it comes to them".

He said the Syrian crisis and U.S. military aid for Israel would also be discussed in his first meeting in 13 months with Obama. The Democratic president and the conservative Israeli leader have little personal chemistry and have clashed often over the Iranian and Palestinian issues.

In a conference call with reporters last week, Rob Malley, the U.S. National Security Council's coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf region, reiterated Obama's view that he would leave office without an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Given that reality, Malley said, Washington wanted to hear ideas from Netanyahu on how to stabilize the current situation and sought a signal from both sides that "they are still committed to and moving towards a two-state solution".

During Netanyahu's re-election campaign earlier this year, the right-wing Likud party leader vowed there would be no Palestinian state on his watch. Even when Netanyahu backtracked and insisted he was not reneging on long-time policy, the White House was unconvinced.

Seeking a boost in U.S. defense aid, Israel argues that sanctions relief agreed by world powers under the July deal that curbs Iran's nuclear program will allow Tehran to invest more heavily in its missile development, while redoubling funding for Hezbollah and Hamas guerrilla allies on its borders.

Israel now receives $3.1 billion from the United States annually and wants $5 billion per year for 10 years, for a total of $50 billion, Congressional officials have told Reuters.

One U.S. official predicted the sides would settle for an annual sum of $4 billion to $5 billion.

Africa apps give BBC a leg up

TWO applications (apps) developed in Africa are set to help the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) consolidate its position as one of Africa’s most trusted and used news sources, BBC digital development editor Dimitry Shishkin said on Friday.

BBC research released at mid-year showed the corporation’s weekly global audience is around 308-million people. The BBC World Service’s audience increased by 10% in its first year of licence fee funding and now stands at 210-million. The research showed the countries where the audience increases for World Service English were highest were Nigeria, Tanzania, the US and Pakistan.

The two apps were developed at "hackathons" — events at which computer programmers and others involved in software and hardware development, collaborate intensively on software projects in competition with other teams — in Cape Town and Nairobi, Kenya. Both apps were developed in conjunction with the broadcaster’s digital innovations team, Connected Studio, and are to be piloted via BBC Taster, an innovations test site.

"We need to take up to the fact that people on digital (platforms) consume news differently," said Shishkin. The two apps — both "light" in data use — were created to appeal to the young, and take advantage of the way in which African audiences have "leapfrogged" to digital-first news consumption ahead of their developed world counterparts.

BBC Minute CatchUP, developed by social enterprise lab RLabs at the Cape Town hackathon, is a simple media player designed to "sit within any online page that will let users hear and share the latest version of BBC Minute", the BBC said in a statement. BBC Minute is a news website providing 60 second news bulletins. It is updated half-hourly.

BBC Drop, developed in Nairobi by technology start up Onagir, is a responsive website showing users news content specifically tailored to them. "It works sort of like (online dating service) Tinder," said Skishkin, demonstrating that users can swipe left or right to indicate their news preferences. The app will "learn" a user’s specific tastes and begin to tailor the news feed accordingly.

The BBC wanted to increase its global audience from 2011’s 308-million to 500-million by 2022, said Shishkin. This year the BBC had already launched its Africa edition of the bbc.com website, and the Africa Live page on the BBC News website. Both provide dedicated "digital spaces" where those interested can find African news, in English, French, Arabic, Hausa, Swahili, Somali, Kirundi and Kinyarwanda.

"We have 150-plus people on the ground," said Shishkin. "Instead of running a stream of editorial content (only), they Tweet, post pictures and video…. It’s going very well, we have doubled our audience since our launch in April."

Users’ activities online offered the BBC unprecedented insight into how much people tend to read of any one article, how many pictures are optimal, and what type of news people want to consume.

"I am a great believer in mixed content and format," said Shishkin. "If you want to cover something and the audience is not usually responsive to it in print, why not cover it in pictures?"

An example of this, flighted on BBC Taster, was a five-part series that used cartoons to tell the story of how West Africa’s Guinea-Bissau is used by South American drug cartels as a route to smuggle cocaine to Europe, and the impact that trade has on the people of Guinea-Bissau. "We are always on our toes, finding out new ways to reach our audience. That is what will differentiate us from the rest," said Shishkin.