Just two months after plans and announcement to ditch the PC market and selling off its WebOS TouchPad for $99, HP has announced its comeback to the tablet market with a Windows 7-based Slate 2.

The Slate 2 is aimed squarely at business and vertical markets such as education, healthcare, government and retail. Starting at $699 the Slate 2 will make its worldwide debut later this month.

Specs of the HP Slate 23

• 1.5 pounds, 8.9-inch diagonal capacitive multi-touch display for touch and pen input.
• Swype keyboard.
• Intel® Atom Z670 processor with mSATA SSM technology.
• Battery life of up to six hours on a single battery charge.
• 3-megapixel back camera.
• Front-facing VGA camera for video calls.
• Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity.
• 2 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
• SD card slot.
• 2 USB 2.0 ports.
• HDMI port.
• Headphone/mic jacks.
• The Slate 2 measures 9.21 x 0.61 x 5.9 inches.
• Optional accessories include an all-in-one Bluetooth Keyboard and Case and an HP Retail Mobile Point of Sale Case with an integrated magnetic stripe reader and barcode scanner for retailers.

According to Dan Forlenza, vice president and general manager, Commercial Managed IT Segment for HP, “The HP Slate includes the right mix of rich features, support for custom-built applications, and the security and connectivity needed for today’s highly mobile and rigorous day-to-day professional environment.”

This entry into with a business focused Windows-based tablet shows a new business to business strategy since Meg Whitman (former eBay CEO) took the helm of HP. Since then, Whitman has decided to keep HP in the PC business. However there has been no indication that the fate of the webOS and TouchPad will be reversed as well — a decision to can the WebOS business was made by former HP CEO Leo Apotheker.

HP’s introduction of a Windows based tablet certainly makes it more interesting. However, based on Gartner’s prediction of tablets for the next three years, MeeGo, WebOS and others (which include Windows) – will have a minute 4.2% combined market share.

It will be interesting to see the development of HP’s tablets into the business-focused vertical — a move that could potentially serve to revive its low margin product line of its mobile O/S business.

Images courtesy of Google Images.

Chart courtesy of Gartner.

What’s interesting to see in this report is the demographics with the most significant increase in app downloads in the last year is comprised of three main groups:

1) The 30-49 year olds.

2) College educated

3) Those who make $75,000 or more a year.

This shows that while the mobile smartphone market is experiencing growth overall, accessibility is still limited to the more educated and higher income earners.

As the sales of mobile devices gains popularity over the desktop, the inevitable direction and growth of mobile will be in the following areas and also across a wider demographic.

• Price and affordability — As with any electronic device, the price of consumer electronics will only decrease. The recent unveiling of the Kindle Fire by Amazon for $199 is an indication of the industry shifting to be more competitive. Hardware maker HP has also announced plans to re-enter the tablet market with the Slate 2 tablet after it changed its mind about exiting the business recently. The drop in price of smartphones and smartphone plans across mobile carriers will have a huge impact on the adoption rate overall.
• Mobile apps — To date there are 500,000 apps on the Android market and almost 600,000 apps on iOS. This number is only set to increase as demand for apps increase. New apps will increase the demand for smartphones and competition overall and a drop in prices will be inevitable.
• 4G LTE penetration — The adoption of global 4G LTE standards will increase media consumption through mobile phones. This development will affect the way users share content on their mobile phone. This will keep narrowing the gap between a computer and mobile phone making the mobile phone an indispensable device.
• Mobile Commerce and Mobile Wallet — More and more brands are adopting mobile commerce and mobile wallet as part of their multi-channel strategy. As this area develops more at the point- of-purchase for hardware and software — the convenience and seamless shopping experience will help spur the mobile adoption rate across the board.

Download the full report here.

Chart and graph courtesy of Pew Internet

Wang said rural Internet users total 130 million, accounting for 27 percent of all users in China. He added that “China’s Internet industry has been expanding in scale and has become an important emerging strategic industry.”

China remains the largest Internet market in the world with this number, followed by U.S. with 245 million and a penetration rate of 78.2 percent, and India, with 100 million account for 8.4 per percent of its population.

Based on the numbers, more staggering growth of the China and India market is to be expected. In China, if 40 percent is the current internet penetration in China, then an 80 percent penetration rate would mean at least another 500 million more people to connect, reach and interact with.

Is your business ready for global reach and growth? If you would like to learn more on how to reach China’s internet market, join us next week as we host some of China’s top internet influencers for an event in San Francisco.

You will get to network and learn what you company should or should not do in order to go after the China Market and lots more.

Chart courtesy of China Internet Information Center

According to Launch, a Google spokesperson said, “What you’re seeing is a result of Google increasingly being able to crawl JavaScript and AJAX content. We have steadily been increasing our ability to index richer content such as JavaScript/AJAX. If users can see something in their browser, our goal is to be able to index that content irrespective of its language or format.”

As confirmed by Matt Cutts.

Here is an example of a restaurant page I like on Facebook. The comments and name now show on Google’s search results.

This was also confirmed by Amit Agarwal of Digital Inspiration who said “Googlebots, or the spiders that crawl web pages,  are now reading Facebook comments on websites just like any other text content and the more interesting part is that you can also search the text of these comments using regular Google search.”

To start with increasing your brand’s visibility, you may want to consider using more keywords on your Facebook posts when interacting with your fans. This will help the relevance realm as users search Google for information related to your product/service through keywords.

This will also level the playing field for small businesses competing for search engine rankings with the big players. By being more interactive and engaging with your fans on Facebook, this is an area you can help affect your search results. The more comments and keywords related to your product/service, the more Google will index and show in its Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

With this development, Google is now taking social search to a whole new level since its release in 2010.

However, what remains to be seen is Google passing on link juice to the brand/website of the links posted on your Facebook page by the people who comment.

However, here is the flip side to the coin with an overview of  Apple’s impact on the world’s largest production factory: China.

Industrial Impact

• Only 1/3 of factories pass Apple’s supplier code of conduct.
• $8.8 billion in revenues for first three quarters of 2011.
• 137 workers poisoned at a Chinese firm making Apple products.
• $10 is the daily pay of 300,000 workers assembling iPhones.
• 27 suspected suppliers with severe pollution problems.
• 330% China revenue growth since 2010
• 13 employees at high profile supplier Foxconn who committed suicide.

Retail Expansion

• $70B revenue opportunity. iPhone is only officially available on China Unicom.
• 25 retail stores Apple plans to open in 2012.
• 2008 Apple launched its first retail store during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
• Apple’s global empire: 325 stores, 11 countries, 2.5 million square feet of retail space = $3.19 billion quarterly revenue.

Legal

• Copycat phones like the HiPhone are sold throughout China.
• Wang Hai vs Apple: Well known consumer rights group alleges Apple is selling refurbished phones as new in China.
• At least 24 fake Apple stores have been reported. They sell Apple products, wear Apple t-shirts and pretty much pretend to be Apple employees.
• John Theirault: Ex FBI superstar who led Pfizer’s fight against fake Viagra now leads Apple’s fight against Chinese counterfeiters.
• Apple’s lawyers serve notice to China-based Fangguo Food Co. Next stop Chinese Apple stands.

Here is the infographic to give you a pictorial guide of the facts and data presented above.

Infographic courtesy of Sortable

Connect with real influencers from the China Internet industry and meet some of China’s top internet entrepreneurs, CEOs and investors next week.

One of the best ways to learn is to hear from those who have been there and done that. If you are in the internet, security, gaming or mobile space — you don’t want to miss this event.

There are over 500 Million Internet Users in China. That’s why we want to bring the Chinese internet influencers together.

On Nov 7 (next Monday), explore the latest Chinese internet trends, understand the online behaviors and network.

Join us for an open, informative and fun gathering to explore the China-USA internet, gaming and mobile landscape.

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

When: Monday, November 7, 2011 from

Where: 543 8th Street San Francisco, CA 94103

Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (PT)

Who will be attending:

• Lei Jun, CEO, Xiaomi – Ron Conway of China and CEO of China’s “most ambitious startup”
• Wang Jian, CTO, Alibaba – The world’s largest online B2B trading platform for small businesses
• Michael Song, CEO, Skymobi – China’s largest Android marketplace and recently IPO’d in the US
• Yu Lin, CEO, Netqin – China’s largest mobile security company and recently IPO’d in the US
• Liu Shuang, CEO, iFeng (Phoenix New Media) - Internet and mobile portal and recently IPO’d in the US
• Yu Yongfu, CEO, UC Web – China’s largest mobile browser and expecting to IPO in the US this year
• Joe Wu, CFO, Netdragon – Top internet and mobile gaming company – IPO’d in Hong Kong in 2007
• Sheng Bi, CEO, Letao – Top apparel eCommerce company
• Wang Qiangyu – CEO, Duanqu

Agenda

6:00 pm — Networking

6:45 pm — Introduction

6:55 pm – Meet the Chinese Giants – 5 minute company introduction by 4 companies

Alibaba, Xiaomi, Netqin and Skymobi

7:15 pm — Panel Discussion - Meet the Capitalists: Red Versus the Yankees (Moderated by Edith Yeung)

Jonathan Siegel – RightVentures

Dave McClure – 500Startups

Lei Jun – Ron Conway of China

Wang Jian, CTO of Alibaba

8:00 pm — Meeting ends

Click here to attend

The Occupy Wall Street Movement’s (OWS) motto: We are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. This OWS movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up.

At the very core of the problem are the money managers of the nation – Big banks and institutions in charge of people’s money.

• List of America’s worst banks in 2011 by The Daily Beast — Despite these and other unpardonable sins, banks showers tens of millions of dollars in bonus money on top executives.
• List of 10 highest paid bank CEOs in 2010 by CNN Money — Jamie Dimon, CEO of Chase made $20.8M in 2010, a 1,541% increase from 2009.

According to the American Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO), CEOs of the largest companies received, on average, $11.4 million in total compensation last year of 299 companies in the S&P 500 Index. Overall, CEOs of the 299 companies in the Executive PayWatch database received a combined total of $3.4 billion in pay in 2010, enough to support 102,325 jobs paying the median wages for all workers.

In contrast, this is has been the reality of the 99% of Americans for which Occupy Wall Street’s support is coming from — a great chunk of them are from small businesses and employees of small businesses.

In Seattle, David Meinert, owner of a pizza and cafe has been donating pizzas to the protesters everyday. He said, “small businesses don’t need more tax giveaways for the rich. We don’t need more money spent on bank bailouts, subsidies for oil companies, corporate agribusiness and the wars. We need money reinvested in American infrastructure, education and people.”

On a personal note, I visited a Chase bank last week to seek investment information and advice. The Certified Financial Planner of the branch I visited told me point blank that it’s consumers walking away from their homes that are causing all the economic and financial problems we are facing today — the sheer audacity and ignorance, not to mention insensitivity of that comment.

This is the reality of big bank employees — pressured by sales metrics and focused on the payout. Hence, the strategy of big banks selling sub prime mortgages for years as standard which caused the housing meltdown.

A Chase bank employee posted this comment on an anti-Chase bank blog:

The reason they are so pushy, and recommend specific things are because we make what are called “Personal Value Credits” or PVC’s. That is our commission. We open a checking account: 5 PVCs, we sell a Debit Rewards card: 7 PVCs. Credit cards: 17.5 PVCs. Loans and investments pay the most. Loans are 0.7 PVCs for every $1000 , so a $100,000 loan = 70PVCs.

This is why customer service is horrible… there is a tremendous amount of pressure for each banker to make at least 1150 PVCs. That is 100% payout. Over 1500 PVCs = 125% payout, and over 2,000 PVCs = 150% payout. If we don’t reach our goal of 1150, we get less than 100% of our PVCs.

What Small Businesses Can Do:

• Move your money — the big bailouts the big banks have been receiving are being distributed to all the wrong areas especially executive pay. As a small business owner, you have the choice to bank with a smaller institution who actually cares and know about you and your business needs.
• Move Your Money Project — here is a great resource on who, what and how you can participate and move your money so that it works for you and your business.
• Reinvest in Main Street — the vast majority of which avoided the banquet of greed and corruption that created the toxic economic swamp we are still fighting to get ourselves out of are struggling.

Why Do This:

1. You can make a difference – while you may not have the time and resources to join an OWS protest, you get to make a difference. According to the Huffington Post, “If enough people who have money in one of the big  six banks move it into smaller, more local, more traditional community banks, then collectively we, the people, will have taken a big step toward re-rigging the financial system so it becomes again the productive, stable engine for growth it’s meant to be. The big six banks are: Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
2. Big banks not lending – Despite the big banks government bailouts (from taxpayers money) and increase in fees, from June 30, 2008, to June 30, 2009, outstanding loans in this category dropped 2%. From June 30, 2009, to June 30, 2010, they fell an even faster 6.4%.(source: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco).The big banks have also cut lending by over $100 billion since 2009 while executive pay of big banks have been on the rise.

The study revealed that 12.7 million mobile users reported using banking apps, showing a notable increase of 45 percent from Q4 2010.

Nearly 14 percent of the total U.S. mobile audience (32.5 million users) accessed mobile banking services in June 2011, up 21 percent from Q4 2010. Mobile credit card services saw an even greater increase, with 18.4 million mobile users accessing credit card information, up 23 percent from December 2010.

According to Sarah Lenart, ComScore’s VP for Marketing Solutions. “The investments in mobile made by financial services institutions, along with the continued growth in smartphone adoption, have had a truly positive effect on the use of mobile financial services. New apps and mobile-enhanced sites have made it easier for customers to seek out financial information using mobile devices. With tablets and other web-enabled connected devices gaining popularity in addition to smartphones, financial service institutions are poised for additional growth in mobile access.”

Here are some key growth areas within the mobile industry:

1) Mobile apps and games — for app and game development businesses, the growth is a sign of better things to come. Recently, the Android app store reached 500,000 apps. The Apple store has over 600,000 apps. Our prediction on the next phase of growth is within the b2b app space.

2) Mobile and credit card transactions — The rise in mobile credit card  usage and transactions show the increase in the comfort level of consumers with mobile devices. The key is to ensure your website is optimized across mobile devices. If you run a physical store, providing mobile payment options will make it seamless for the customer shopping experience while providing another option for incoming revenue.

Here is a cool video showing the evolution and growth of the mobile phone.

We came across some staggering numbers on China’s digital landscape for internet, mobile and social media by BBH Asia Pacific Data Snapshot Series 2011.

The amazing part of all this is the continued growth spurt with no end in sight. Here are some of the numbers:

Digital

• There are 457,000,000 internet users in China.
• Every month, China’s web users grows by 10,000,000 users.
• 58% of internet users are under 30 years old.
• 56% of internet users are male.
• 88% access the web from home.
• 98% broadband penetration amongst internet users.
• Average time spent online daily is 150 minutes.
• Users between 18-27 spend 5 hours everyday on email and web.
• 87% use the internet and watch TV at the same time.
• 58% of internet users spend 3 hours daily online vs 17% of internet users spend 3 hours daily watching TV.
• Internet users spend an average of 4 hours streaming music or videos.
• 2010 saw US$60 billion in transactions on Taobao — an auction and shopping site.

Mobile

• There are 879,000,000 mobile subscribers in China.
• 66% of users access the web through their cell phones.
• 2.7 billion was the average number of SMS sent daily on February 2011.
• 70% of Chinese say they can’t live without their mobile phones.
• There are 303,000,000 mobile internet users in China — almost total the population of the U.S.
• 2 out of 3 mobile users use instant messenger apps.
• 40% of web users are content creators — that’s twice the rate compared to the U.S.

Social Media

• There are 235,000,000 social media users — a 33% growth over 2010.
• There are 636,000,000 registered users on QQ — China’s most popular instant messenger service and almost the size of Facebook’s worldwide audience.
• 481,000,000 registered users on Qzone — most people have more than one profile.
• 92% of social media users visit social media sites at least 3 times a week.
• Half of social media users are in their 20s.
• 27% have created profiles on more than 5 social media sites.
• 87% of social media users have “friended” or follow brands.
• 77% believe that social media presence makes a brand more attractive.
• There are 295,000,000 bloggers in China.
• 81% of Chinese youth check online comments before making a purchase decision.
• There 304,000,000 gamers in China — that’s more than twice the population of Russia.
• Estimated total value of virtual goods in 2009 is US$ 5 billion.

From these numbers alone, it is not surprising that Chinese internet companies wanting to expand their horizons are coming into the U.S. aggressively to list on the stock exchanges as most of them are already profitable. There were 41 Chinese IPOs in the U.S. in 2010 alone.

In the opposite direction, U.S companies want to tap into the digital market of China’s insatiable consumers. This year saw IBM, Microsoft, Oracle securing partnerships with Chinese companies to introduce its products.

Take a look at the full report here of China’s digital landscape

Data courtesy of BBH Asia Pacific Data Snapshot Series 2011.

Image courtesy of Baiduplanet.

The report mentioned that “Android market developers are most productive. Even though
 Apple 
app 
store 
has
 over
 100,000
 active 
publishers, 
Android developers 
publish
 slightly
 more
 apps
 on
 average.
 While
 both
 stores
added
 a similar 
number
 of
 new
 publishers 
in 
Q3 
2011,
 the
 number 
of 
new
 applications added
 to 
Android 
market
 was 
twice 
as 
high as 
in 
Apple
 app
 store.”

• Android Market developers publish most apps on average (4.38 active apps per active publisher).
• In September 2011 Android Market added a record-breaking 42,000 new apps.
• At
 the 
end
 of 
September,
34%
 of
 active 
apps 
were
 paid,
however,
this
 month 
that 
figure 
is 
only 
26%, 
which 
shows
 that 
developers are 
developing
 more
 free
 content
 than
 before.
• Average
 selling
 price 
in 
Android
 currently
 equals 
$3.18.
• Nearly 
50% 
of 
newly 
added 
content 
falls 
into 
four 
top 
categories:
 Games,
Entertainment,
Personalization 
and 
Music & 
Audio.

While Android developers may be more productive, 37% of its applications in the app store gets removed compared to 24% of Apple’s apps. 78% of the apps removed from the Android market are free.

The main reason for removal of apps from the Android market is largely due to malware. Something which is not as big an issue in Apple’s app store. Android’s open ecosystem is probably the main factor affecting the higher rate malware as more and more apps are developed for trials, tests, demos and malware.

Even though there are more apps in Apple’s app store, Fiksu (mobile app user acquisition platform), claims that Android app users are actually more engaged than their iOS counterparts. According to Fiksu, “Android users are more than twice as likely to open an app ten times or more.”

Download a copy of the full report on Android Market Insights 2011

Graph courtesy of Research2Guidance