Marina Mann

HTML5 is being developed as the next major revision of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the core markup language of the World Wide Web.  It’s the evolution of HTML4.1 used widely today and includes HTML and XHTML.

HTML5 proposes to replace the need for proprietary plug-in based rich media software. No need for the user to download Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight and the like to see and interact with rich media. Rich experiences can be created and displayed to the user in HTML5!

Once adopted by all the browser clients such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and the like, you’ll be able to have a Flash like experience without downloading Flash.  Wow! on very many different levels. Some believe HTML5 could kill off Flash and Silverlight.

In terms of MOBILE, currently Apple, BlackBerry Windows and Symbian don’t support plug-in based rich media software – and that includes Flash. [However, it is worth noting that many iPhone applications are mainly built in Flash.] So while Internet Explorer “won” the browser war on the PC, MOBILE browsing standards are up for grabs!

See for your self what HTML5 can do! See: Sketchpad in HTML5 http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/ and YouTube serves video in HTML5 http://youtube.com/html5/

What does Apple have to do with this? Apple has been a big supporter of HTML5 as a web standard and in so doing has banned Adobe’s Flash from all its devices.  Fewer than two months ago, Apple revealed the iPad to the world. And while the company’s highly anticipated device included a lot of features, Flash wasn’t one of them. A war of words soon erupted over the multimedia plug-in, with Flash responding to Apple and Steve Jobs ranting about Flash saying “the world is moving to HTML5.”

If you’re building your websites exclusively in Flash – stop.

While HTML5 updates a lot of things, its main focus is support for web applications. The idea is that no longer will you need to write long, horribly complex scripts or Flash plug-ins to animate your pages. Support for things like image processing, progress bars, canvases an even Ruby scripts are built in. The multimedia tags are the most compelling. No longer do you care about clients having the right plug-in installed. You use a video or audio tag and add to that a list of different formats – MP4/Theora/Flash/etc and the client will use the first one it supports. No more placeholders for “install Flashlight” and best of all, no more being held hostage to proprietary formats.

For more info on the HTML5 revolution, I recommend exploring these articles:

Behind the Adobe-Apple cold war http://bit.ly/98iHqK

Flash versus HTML5: Virgin America breaks up with Flash http://bit.ly/did8vJ

Adobe Opens Up About Apple, HTML5 and Flash [VIDEO] http://bit.ly/c339dO

Comments are open!

And… I won’t be standing in line to buy this version of the latest iProduct and here’s why:

No Flash support, just like the iPhone. I can put up with blue boxes in the place of websites on the iPhone, but not on a tablet that I’d like to use for surfing! (Not to mention Jobs single highhandedly contributing to the demise of Flash – but that’s anther story.)

No multi-tasking. You can’t have two applications open at the same time! It feels like 1994 computing.

No camera for video conferencing. No camera for taking pictures. Nada.

No widescreen mode. Movies formatted for widescreen are squished into the 4:3 aspect ratio making it unusually painful to watch.

Apple only applications. The iPad will only run applications from the iTunes store, unlike any standard mini-laptop that runs all kinds of applications.

Side loading only. Think you can download whatever you want off the Internet onto your iPad? Think again! The only way to download anything to your iPad is by hooking yourself up to another device using a cable. (Come on Jobs!)

It’s not perfect, however there are a number of wonderful things about the iPad. For everything you need to know check out Gizmondo.com

Tomorrow in San Francisco, Apple will announce to the world media their new innovation. The buzz for the new device has been deafening.  It’s been called: the super tablet, the iSlate the iPad and a few more. The speculated promise is everything from thermal paper to uber multi-touch, in-the-bathtub, under-the-pillow reading and monumental media device. Salivating for readers and media consumers and terrifying for publishers. Will the tablet change everything? Will it do for publishing what iPod did for music? And if it does, are publishers ready for the demand for digital content? Probably not.

The even bigger question goes beyond the availability of digital content, but begs the question of  paid content. Will consumers pay for content they currently get for free? Do people pay for water? We’ll see…

More about Apple’s “news” tomorrow:

Apple iTablet rumour round-up – Telegraph

The Apple Tablet: a complete history, supposedly — Engadget

Play Paywall!, the new web game sweeping the newspaper industry » Nieman Journalism Lab

Radian6 CEO Marcel Lebrun talks about the social medium. Highlights include:

• You can’t control Social Media, but you can have access to your customers directly in a real time conversation.
• The days of marketers pushing out their message is over.
• Now your brand is the sum of conversations about it.
• As a brand you can have a significant influence, but your customers have a very significant voice of changing your brand.

The Canadian government said today, Friday December 11, 2009 that it has approved a request from Egyptian-backed telecom Globalive Wireless Management Corp. to launch its WIND Mobile phone service in Canada.

This past summer I was contracted to work with the Trapeze team in the strategy and implementation of the WIND Mobile website. After many long months working on the eCommerce, eCare, social commerce, product marketing, merchandising website and Sharpoint implementation – I’m very happy to see all our work is not lost. Props must go to the talented and determined team at Trapeze ! Expect to see a lot more from Trapeze in 2010 and look for the new WIND Mobile website in the next few weeks. For more info on the CRTC ruling see http://delicious.com/marinamann/mobile. For more info on Trapeze’s work check out this Design Edge article . I’ll do more of a case study once the website goes live.

comScore’s Chairman Gian Fulgoni gave his quarterly run down of the online retail economy in the context of the state of the US economy.  Here are some of my highlights:

• Travel industry hit with the biggest drop in online purchasing by 6%, non-travel online economy dropped 1%
• Sales trends through the third quarter of 09 mirror last year and show no growth
• All income segments showing declines in e-commerce spending, however the 18-44 age group is purchasing more versus year ago, particularly in the high income segment (+10%)
• The impact of higher consumer debt means consumers have less ability to spend on discretionary items
• Unemployment/job security continues to be a top concern among all consumers (less of an issue in Canada so we may benefit from more discretionary spending)
• The Books & Magazines category was a top performer in Q3 ‘09, and will be one to watch as we head into the holiday season, followed by Consumer Electronics and Sports & Fitness (marginally up)
• Consumers buy online from 1 – 3 trusted websites (up YoY by ~2 sites)
• Pure play sites accounted for nearly six of every ten e-commerce dollars spent in Q3 2009, their highest share on record
• Invitation-only e-luxury sites are flourishing
• PayPal B2C Market Share has grown steadily over the past four years to almost 10% of B2C Transactions; 2008 Holiday-promotions drove an increase in PayPal dollar share for retailers
• Coupon sites continue to grow in importance during these tough economic times, and as we saw in Q4 2008 we‟ll likely see visits and UVs spike in Q4 2009
• Savvy Smartphone users are shopping using mobile (no real numbers available)
• Sites offering free shipping will see greatest lift in online conversion
• Busiest online shopping day of the year will be Dec 14, 2009

Dear reader, if you come across the same type of data for Canada, please comment.

Thanks comScore!

Business Insider, Chart of the Day

Apple’s Market Cap Closing In On Microsoft’s (MSFT, AAPL)

Remember when Apple was on death’s door and needed an investment from Microsoft to survive? Well, a lot’s changed since then.  In May 2000, Apple’s market capitalization was $17 billion. Today it’s $182 billion. Meanwhile, Microsoft was around $356 billion in May 2000. Today it’s around $261 billion.

Jay Yarow and Kamelia Angelova

It’s alive! About 200 of the flies, in the 17th day of their 20-day life span, had tiny signs attached to them that read: “Eichborn: Publisher with the Fly” affixed to their legs with wax. (The fly is part of Eichborn’s logo.)

The publisher was careful to tell people that the wax dissolved by itself and “no flies were harmed” in the making of the campaign, said Bernd Spamer, director of advertising at Eichborn Verlag.