The Innovation Index tracks and reports on the Top 20 Innovators in North America. Here are the Top Ten announced innovations for the week ending March 28, 2007.
Innovator: Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)
Innovation:
Strategic partnership with McClatchy providing access to global news and views; Strategic partnership with Virgin Mobile to provide Yahoo's mobile services available to Virgin Mobile's more than 4.6 million customers; Yahoo! Mobile Publisher Services, a suite of services designed to enable publishers to increase the discovery, distribution and monetization of their content on mobile phones.
Summary:
Yahoo! and McClatchy: Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) signed a deal to feature foreign news from McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI) towards a project to be called "Trusted Voices”. This will put traditional news and feature stories as well as exclusive blog reports from McClatchy foreign correspondents based in places like the Middle East, China and Latin America on Yahoo's news portal, the most visited news site on the Internet.
Yahoo expects McClatchy's content to help satisfy that reader appetite, particularly by providing perspective on the news beyond breaking-news coverage from wire services, now the backbone of its "World News" section. World News is consistently among the site's three most-visited categories, he said.
McClatchy, which owns 31 daily newspapers, including The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, should benefit from a significantly wider online audience. -- Dow Jones Newswires
Yahoo! and Virgin Mobile: Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger will be available through Virgin Mobile's Email & IM offerings in early April 2007. These applications will be available for download on several of Virgin Mobile's handsets including the Switch_Back and Cyclops and will be preloaded on selected future phones. Yahoo! Mobile Web will also be prominently featured in Virgin Mobile USA's Surf the Web service beginning in April 2007. Finally, additional mobile services from Yahoo! will be available on Virgin Mobile handsets in the coming months, including Yahoo’s range of SMS services such as search and messaging.
Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services: Yahoo! Mobile Ad Network, Mobile Content Engine, Mobile Media Directory and Mobile Site Submit.
- Yahoo! Mobile Ad Network
The Yahoo! Mobile Ad Network will allow mobile publishers to have syndicated advertising served on their mobile content and services. Publishers will be able to select the ad formats they want to have run, such as display, sponsored links, video or in-game placements. - Yahoo! Mobile Content Engine
The Yahoo! Mobile Content Engine will enable publishers to bring their content to Yahoo’s mobile audience. It will also help enable publishers who do not have a mobile site or only have a limited mobile offering to distribute their content to consumers on their mobile phones. - Yahoo! Mobile Media Directory
The Yahoo! Mobile Media Directory will allow publishers to make their mobile media content accessible directly through Yahoo! oneSearch. Publishers could submit a catalog of their content such as ring tones, games, video and applications. - Yahoo! Mobile Site Submit
The Yahoo! Mobile Site Submit will allow publishers to provide information about their mobile site, such as a description and relevant tags, to ensure that their sites are accurately indexed and available to consumers through Yahoo! oneSearch.
Insight:
Yahoo's World news content expansion beyond breaking news, providing global news to global audiences; Yahoo's mobile expansion in the youth and young adults markets where Virgin Mobile primarily caters to; Yahoo's expansion in mobile market by enabling publishers to grow their own mobile businesses through Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services.
Opinion:
McClatchy partnership: Yahoo News is the most visited news site on the Web with 36.2 million visitors in February 2007, up 37% year over year, according to research firm comScore Networks Inc. McClatchy's also has 6.6 million online news visitors, almost triple a year ago, before McClatchy purchased and began operating most of Knight Ridder's newspapers.
This partnership will further entrench global readers to World News on Yahoo News. It will also bring a cross-section of new newsreaders to Yahoo. It will not only further Yahoo News' leadership position, but also generate incremental revenue from global advertisers as well. McClatchy also wins through royalties that Yahoo will likely pay for "clicked readership" which in turn will fund McClatchy's foreign news division.
Virgin Mobile partnership: Yahoo! is consolidating and solidifying it's mobile leadership and strategy; Yahoo possibly won this partnership wherein both Google and Microsoft competed. Did Yahoo! pay Virgin Mobile to get included on the Virgin Mobile handsets, or did Yahoo! and Virgin Mobile create a win-win partnership wherein both companies are working towards shared revenues and shared risks? Yahoo gets a potential market of 4.6 million users, which is small compared to AT&T or Verizon's market of cell phone subscribers. Yahoo will need to create larger deals with the market leading wireless carriers in order to gain a solid footing in the mobile market of e-mail, messaging, search and more.
Yahoo! Mobile Publisher Services: The Yahoo! Mobile Publisher Services went live across 19 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, US and Vietnam. Yahoo! seems to have scored a home run with the Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services. Will Mobile content providers embrace Yahoo! Mobile, and begin converting their content on Yahoo Mobile? Yahoo! is providing everything a mobile content owner can ask for: a ready ad network to monetize the content (first ads go live in Q2, 2007), a content engine to convert their content to mobile, and mobile directory and site submit. Yahoo! has partnered with MobiTV, the global leader in mobile and broadband television and music services, Opera, the leading provider of Web browsers for mobile devices, and go2, the leading location-enabled mobile content network in the U.S. By bringing together the global audiences of Yahoo’s popular mobile services with those of participating publishers, Yahoo! will create a combined pool of valuable inventory. Yahoo! wants to sell this valuable inventory to leading advertisers through its proven ad-serving technology...Yahoo is playing the right cards; now its a matter of time before the mobile content, search and ad business takes off.
Innovator: IBM Labs
Innovation:
An outsourced "Innovation Factory" that accelerates the innovation process from ideas to commercialization, and cuts process time from years to days.
Summary:
IBM (NYSE: IBM) opened its "Innovation Factory," a Web 2.0 solution that manufactures ideas and new products and services for business growth.
Innovation Factory uses a blend of Web 2.0 social networking technologies including blogs, wikis, social tagging, surveys and polls, to help companies rapidly conceive and test new products and services, accelerating a launch process that often takes years down to mere days.
IBM Innovation Factory for Telecom is designed to capture the innovation process from ideas to commercialization, speeding up co-creation (link) among employees, partners, software developers and subscribers through online communities.
Innovation Factory for Telecom can play a central role in the launch of new service trials, provide online documentation and support for the trials, and capture feedback about the trials from the innovation community. This process brings service providers closer to their subscribers by more accurately creating products that meet subscriber needs and spotting market trends through early and direct subscriber interaction. -- IBM press release
Insight:
A new product (service) "Innovation Factory" and a new process for Innovation that could find adopters in industries being commoditized
Opinion:
IBM announced that Sprint Nextel is among the first Telecom clients piloting the "Innovation Factory." Although the concept of "Innovation Factory" and Web 2.0 technologies sound great on paper, and IBM has found an early adopter, it remains to be seen whether a larger segment of the Telecom industry will begin calling IBM for this. IBM needs to perhaps take a page from its own book, and showcase how the "Innovation Factory" is helping IBM and its key partner using co-creation and Web 2.0 technologies.
Innovator: Microsoft
Innovation: Product and Business Model Innovation - Xbox 360 Elite, a premier new model of the video game and entertainment system; Xbox Live: TV series and movies from A&E Network, ADV Films, National Geographic and TotalVid.com will add to the more than 1,500 hours of downloadable entertainment content in the U.S.
Summary:
Xbox 360 Elite:
Distinguished by its black finish and signature metallic detailing, Xbox 360 Elite will come packed with components and accessories for the ultimate high-definition entertainment experience:
-- Xbox 360 Elite console. The console is equipped with a premium black finish and three powerful core processors capable of producing the best in HD entertainment (up to 1080p), 16:9 cinematic aspect ratio, anti-aliasing for smooth textures, full surround sound, HDMI output and DVD playback with upscaling capabilities right out of the box.
-- Xbox 360 120GB hard drive.
-- Xbox 360 Wireless Controller (black). This features the Xbox(R) Guide Button for quick, in-game access to friends and music, range of up to 30 feet and a battery life of 30 hours on two AA batteries.
-- Xbox 360 headset (black).
-- Xbox 360 HDMI cable. New to Xbox 360, HDMI allows consumers to get HD video (up to 1080p) and multi-channel surround sound, all from one cable.
-- Xbox LIVE Silver Membership.
-- One-month subscription to Xbox LIVE Gold.
Xbox Live:
Paramount Pictures, for the first time on Xbox LIVE, will offer its feature films for download in high definition. Available titles will include "Braveheart," "Team America: World Police," "World Trade Center" and "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut." Also, for the first time, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing its direct-to-video movies exclusively in high definition on Xbox LIVE simultaneous with their availability on DVD, starting with "Sublime" and later "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales." Also:
-- A&E Network. "Dog the Bounty Hunter," "King of Cars," "Gene Simmons
Family Jewels," "Driving Force" and "Criss Angel Mindfreak"
-- ADV Films. Top offerings from the No. 1 producer-distributor of
Japanese animation ("anime") outside Japan
-- National Geographic. The television series "Is It Real?" and "Taboo" as
well as programs such as "21 Days to Baghdad" and "Air Force One"
-- TotalVid.com. A broad action-sports offering including extreme skiing
and snowboarding, skateboarding, motocross, surfing and mountain biking
Insight:
Creating Product Innovation for the high-end market, and competing against the latest Sony PlayStation with Xbox 360 Elite; Expansion of premium content on Xbox Live furthering Xbox's strength in the living room.
Opinion:
At an estimated retail price of $479.99 (U.S.), Xbox 360 Elite is well equipped to compete against the high-end Sony PlayStation at a time when Sony is trying to establish ground with its latest product. Xbox 360 Elite will find a market of gaming buyers who want the best there is within the Xbox line; also ten to twenty percent of existing Xbox owners will upgrade to the Elite version. This is solid strategy by Microsoft Xbox team to go after the high-end market.
Xbox LIVE community has grown to more than 6 million people comprised primarily of gamers; with more content and movie downloads, more gamers will use Xbox 360 for their movie and TV entertainment programs. Another fact is that downloads on Xbox LIVE have grown in double-digits, month-over-month, with a 400 percent increase since the service began offering TV shows and movies late last year (as per Microsoft). Free content is adding to the growing viewership on Xbox LIVE. For instance, Comedy Central recently offered the first-ever high definition episode of the No. 1 show on its network, "South Park." "Good Times With Weapons," available for a limited time on Xbox LIVE, has been downloaded more than 380,000 times to date. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment offered promotional clips from the blockbuster hit movie "300" that have been downloaded more than 477,000 times. Can Xbox Live compete well against iTunes, or Amazon's Unbox and CustomFlix? Netflix has also begun offering movie downloads. And even Wal-Mart. AppleTV just got launched last week. The biggest thing going for Microsoft is the growing number of Xbox 360 gamers; the key to success for Microsoft though would be to convert these gamers to TV, Movie and music show viewers, and find a cross-section of the consumer segment who will buy Xbox 360 for entertainment, and not just gaming.
Innovator: P&G (Proctor & Gamble) (NYSE: PG)
Innovation:
Product Innovation through Strategic Partnership: Duracell(R), a P&G company (NYSE: PG) to Offer New Portable and Backup Power Products for Consumers On-The-Go created by Xantrex Solutions
Summary:
Duracell will introduce a new line of Duracell-branded portable power products including inverters, power packs and battery chargers to meet the needs of a rapidly developing mobile culture that relies on power anytime, anywhere. The new line, which will be introduced through a business alliance with Xantrex Technology Inc. (TSX: XTX.TO) beginning in June 2007, will provide retailers and consumers with high quality portable power products from one of the world's most recognized and trusted brands.
An innovator in portable and backup power products, Xantrex solutions allow customers to operate and charge mobile electronic devices such as laptop computers, PDAs, cell phones and more, so they can stay productive when on the go. The new line of Duracell-branded products will be available in June 2007 in North America and in 2008 in Europe at mass retail, consumer electronics, automotive and specialty retail chains.
Insight:
Launching new product innovation delivered by an outsourced supplier, and leveraging strong brand and distribution presence.
Opinion:
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, approximately 54.1 million people own a portable digital media device, making the demand for portable power stronger than ever. In addition, electrical outages due to extreme weather conditions and grid instability have increased consumer awareness of the value of backup power products, while reinforcing the need for a brand that consumers can trust to keep them connected during emergencies.
Duracell is matching an unmet need of its customers globally: backup portable power. Duracell is a brand that most customers trust because of its high quality; Duracell also has a massive, worldwide distribution network. This partnership is a win-win-win: Xantrex Technology will now be providing its innovative products to Duracell, albeit under strict quality requirements; Duracell will be able to launch the new portable power product line with Duracell brand in a matter of months (as opposed to years if Duracell had to create this product from scratch); Duracell customers will finally get portable power backups from a brand they trust and buy. If the new portable power products are successful, Duracell will likely buy Xantrex within a couple of years. P&G is not shy about meeting the growing customer needs through outsourced innovations.
Innovator: Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM)
Innovation:
Product innovation: New BlackBerry API's to support growth in mobile applications
Summary:
Research In Motion (RIM) is adding additional Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to the BlackBerry(R) Java Development Environment (BlackBerry JDE) to enable the next wave in mobile application development.
The new APIs available for BlackBerry smartphones are:
- Mobile Multi-Media API for Java (JSR 135) allowing developers to embed custom audio and video content into applications; invoke the BlackBerry Media Player to play video or audio content; record audio or voice and save recorded files to the handset or send it over the Internet
- Camera APIs that allow developers to invoke the camera application and access pictures taken with the camera; support for registering listeners with the Camera application that enable an application to be notified when a new picture is taken
- Support for MP3, WAV, WMA, AAC and AMR audio formats with support for routing audio playback to the external speaker, connected headset and Bluetooth(R) headset
- XML and Web Services support to help simplify communications with existing Internet applications
- BlackBerry Messenger APIs allowing access to presence and contact information and the ability to send peer-to-peer messages
- File System Access APIs (JSR 75) to provide access to documents and other files stored locally on the smartphone or on the microSD expansion memory; support for registering listeners with the file system that enable an application to be notified when a new files are added or removed
- GPS APIs (JSR 179) that provide access to location information from local GPS chip or external GPS receiver connected over Bluetooth
- BlackBerry Maps API providing access to the map application to display an address or a route with BlackBerry Maps providing all of the geo-coding and mapping data for free
- Wallpaper and Ringtone Customization Java APIs to enable custom applications to add new wallpapers and ringtones to the smartphone
- Planned support for 3D Graphics API (JSR 184) and SVG API (JSR 226) to enable more powerful gaming and rich-media content
- Planned support for MMS Java APIs (JSR 205) to complement the existing SMS and Phone APIs which enable third party applications to listen for incoming phone calls and SMS messages, invoke the phone application to place a call, and compose SMS messages for peer-to-peer messaging
Insight:
Potential expansion of mobile applications on Blackberry in areas such as Social Networking, Multi-Media, eCommerce, News and Information Services, and Location-Based Services
Opinion:
Over 500 software organizations have joined the BlackBerry(R) ISV Alliance program offering hundreds of business solutions and thousands of lifestyle applications. Blackberry has 8 million subscriber accounts, 100,000 BlackBerry Enterprise Server installations, and broad availability on over 225 networks in over 100 countries around the world. More than 125,000 registered developers have downloaded the BlackBerry JDE, which exposes thousands of Java APIs that developers can utilize to create powerful and innovative applications on the BlackBerry platform.
Can Blackberry give Apple's announced iPhone a run for the money in the consumer segment? Would the Blackberry ISVs and registered developers create new applications that make the Blackberry a "cool" mobile phone for the high-end or suave consumer? RIM is now providing the necessary APIs and support. Whether the ISVs and developers can go about creating cool apps for the Blackberry remains to be seen. One thing is certain: RIM is going to make a play versus Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone strategically to defend its own turf and customer base, as well potentially expand into the high-end consumer segment. Perhaps RIM may actually create a new wireless phone to compete head-on versus the iPhone and launch it this year.
Innovator: General Electric Company (NYSE: GE)
Innovation:
Product innovation, Green innovation, Strategic partnership: Development and commercialization of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) devices for lighting applications in a partnership with Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc., Konica Minolta Technology Center, Inc. (collectively KM) to be launched within 3 years.
Summary:
OLEDs are thin, organic materials sandwiched between two electrodes, which illuminate when an electrical charge is applied. They represent the next evolution in lighting products. Their widespread design capabilities will provide an entirely different way for people to light their homes or businesses. Moreover, OLEDs have the potential to deliver dramatically improved levels of efficiency and environmental performance, while achieving at least the same quality of illumination found in traditional products in the marketplace today.
KM has successfully developed a white OLED with a world record power efficiency of 64 lumens per watt at 1,000 candela per square meter--a brightness which is appropriate for lighting applications. Prior to this development, KM developed its own highly efficient and long-life blue phosphorescent materials. Applying these material technologies, along with multi-layer design technology and innovative optical design technology, KM succeeded in developing an OLED having a practical light emission level of approximately 10,000 hours.
In addition to material technology and optical design technology, KM has been developing the ultra-high barrier film fabrication technology to enable high productivity. Superb coating technology nurtured through the development of photographic film and display materials also plays an important role in the development of highly productive OLEDs. Currently, research and development for its commercialization is under way.
GE, as part of its ecomagination initiative, has made substantial investments in OLED research that have resulted in world records for OLED lighting device size and efficiency. In 2004, GE researchers were able to demonstrate an OLED device that was fully functional as a 24 inch by 24-inch panel, which produced 1,200 lumens of light with an efficiency on par with today's incandescent bulb technology. This was the first demonstration that OLED technology could potentially be used for lighting applications. Since then, GE has more than doubled the level of OLED efficiency using device architectures that are scalable to a large area and can be produced cost-effectively.
In addition to increasing efficiency, GE has focused on developing all the requirements--ranging from plastic film substrates, ultra-high barrier coatings, and fabrication processes and equipment to enable the high speed, cost-effective "roll-to-roll" manufacturing--required to produce large-area OLED lighting.
In the coming months, KM and GE will further accelerate research and development of OLED lighting by sharing technologies and knowledge. KM's technology center will lead the research and development activities for KM. GE Global Research, GE's centralized research and development organization, and GE's Consumer and Industrial business division will lead research and development for GE.
Insight:
OLED lighting, coming to your homes within three years or less, through product innovations created by strategic partnership between GE and KM.
Opinion:
GE Consumer & Industrial Vice President Michael Petras said, "In a world demanding higher standards for energy efficiency and environmental performance, OLED lighting has the potential to become a major lighting source on both fronts. And because OLED lighting is soft and diffused, it will create some exciting application opportunities for designers and specifiers. The applications are numerous, ranging from ceiling lighting for office and residential applications to interior automotive and aircraft lighting to many specialty lighting applications such as task lighting, sign and various forms of interior retail lighting."
In ten years or less, OLED lighting will become commonplace, and GE will be lighting our homes with OLED innovation. GE is once again leading the world in creating innovative lighting solutions through global partnership with another innovator, Konica Minolta.
Innovator: Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Innovation: Product Integration through Strategic Partnership: LG Handsets to integrate Google Search, Google Maps for mobile, Blogger Mobile and Gmail for mobile
Summary:
LG Electronics, South Korea's global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications, and Google announced a global collaboration to pre-install Google's services on millions of LG mobile phones. Mobile users around the world will now be able to easily search for information, find locations, update blogs and manage email while on the move.
Select LG handsets, pre-installed with Google™ products and services will be shipped globally including North America, Europe and Asia starting in the second quarter of 2007. These handsets will create a more dynamic user experience, including one click access to Google search through an icon in the application menu. More features of LG-Google handsets include:
Google Maps™ for mobile, an application that enables users to view maps and satellite imagery, find local businesses, and get driving directions
Gmail™ for mobile, a Java-based application that brings more speed, convenience and functionality to the mobile Gmail experience
Blogger™ Mobile, an application to upload/download images and text to blog from mobile devices (www.blogger.com), keeps avid bloggers upwardly mobile.
Through this new partnership, LG and Google will jointly market LG-Google handsets, then further extending their collaboration to develop digitalized home in the future. LG plans to launch mobile handsets pre-installed with Google and products and service for the next few years with at least ten new handsets in 2007.
Insight:
Google has found a solid global partner in LG to befit its mobile strategy and expand its mobile market share. By embedding Google Search and key applications such as Maps, Gmail and Blogger into LG mobile phones, Google and LG are going to provide mobile phone users easier ways to access the applications they use most often and care about. Mobile phone users want simplicity and ease of use when it comes to searching, e-mailing, locating and blogging - Google applications provide one click access to these apps, and ease of use. This partnership and product integration is a win-win-win for LG, Google and mobile users.
