Why Is Software Testing So Important?

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If software testing is carried out completely on the early stages in the product life cycle then software production will be more inexpensive in the long run period.

Software bugs can be found at any moment of time in the life cycle, from such early stages as conversations about the potential architecture to such late stages as a client calling the support desk regarding an error he has met.

As the time passes and the life cycle of product progresses it becomes increasingly more expensive to fix software bugs.

It is obvious that it is much inexpensive and easier to correct a sentence in a proposal document than to fix code that a lot of developers have spent weeks working on.

Tablets and Smartphones Become Holiday Shopping Assistants

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The majority of online purchases still made via desktop

This holiday season, consumers are consulting mobile devices for help checking off items on their shopping lists more than ever before. Thanks in part to the growth of tablet device ownership among US households, consumers are using mobile devices for product research, online shopping and to help make decisions while in brick-and-mortar stores. According to a Google holiday shopping study conducted by Ipsos OTX, 77% of tablet owners plan to use them this holiday season for shopping.

The Google study indicates that tablet owners have a higher likelihood of using the devices for online shopping than smartphone owners. When it comes to using mobile devices for in-store shopping though, roughly half of both smartphone and tablet users said they are very or extremely likely to use their devices—perhaps surprising given the typical tablet’s inability to fit into most people’s pockets.

Another holiday shopping study, from Prosper Mobile Insights, indicates that about 60% of smartphone and tablet users plan to use their devices for holiday shopping this season. Prosper Mobile Insights divides shopping activities differently than Google. However, the research indicates that most of the respondents who do plan to use their device for holiday shopping will use it during the planning and research phase. About 40% of those respondents will use mobile devices while out shopping, including while in a physical store.

Prosper Mobile Insights also shows that certain product categories drive more tablet and smartphone usage than others. Respondents told the research firm they would purchase books, CDs and DVDs, video games, clothing and electronics via their smartphone or tablet devices this year at rates of 50% or higher.

Todd Pollak, retail industry director for Google, told eMarketer in an interview that Google has seen a direct correlation between mobile shopping activity and ads that consumers might have viewed on TV.

For example, a consumer might see a TV commercial for a discounted item and subsequently search for that deal via tablet, which are becoming consumers’ go-to device when it comes to product research and shopping online, Pollak said. Smartphones are increasingly becoming on-the-go personal shopping assistants, he noted.

In terms of mobile commerce, Pollack said there’s still room for growth, especially when it comes to mobile-optimized websites.

“The big barrier to people using smartphones for commerce is that the browser experience on the phone is still difficult,” Pollak said. “With mobile-optimized sites, conversion values, engagement and page views go way up. Yet only a small percentage of Fortune 100 retailers have implemented them.”

eMarketer estimates that 26.8 million US mobile users will have made a purchase via their feature or smartphone by the end of this year, rising to 37.5 million in 2012.

Marketers Look Beyond Social Media Experimentation

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As budgets increase, marketers hope to understand more about social media

Marketers are becoming more mature when it comes to their social media marketing, and many in the US say they hope to move beyond the experimentation phase in the coming years.

In October 2011, at the second annual Pivot Conference, a survey found that 37.1% of marketers said their company will move beyond experimentation in social media marketing in 2012. An additional 14.6% expect to do so in 2014 and 5.6% by 2015. Nearly 8% said it would be later than 2015 and more than a third (34.8%) said they did not know when they would move past the experimentation phase.

There were many factors that marketers cited as influential in their drive for more mature social media marketing. Among the respondents who said their company would move beyond social media experimentation in 2012, 68.5% said an increased understanding on the benefits of social media was a factor that encouraged this maturation. Additionally, 60.9% cited a development of clear social strategy, 54.3% pointed to clearly defined outcomes and 51.1% mentioned metrics as having an influence.

While only 26.1% of respondents said budget increases would influence the move beyond experimentation, marketers also told the Pivot Conference that social media marketing would make up a higher percentage of their marketing budget in 2012 and beyond. While 37% of respondents said social media would be less than 5% of the marketing budget in 2011, only 27.1% expected that same low percentage in 2012 and just 18.8% predicted it would remain that low in 2013.

The combination of bigger budgets and increased sophistication will likely spur companies to go further toward reaching maturity in their social media marketing efforts and foster new examples of successful social media campaigns in the coming years.

 

Who Uses Tablets Most?

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Asian-Americans join Hispanics in early adoption of emerging devices

Asian-Americans are avid users of new devices and are among the first to buy tablets and ereaders. They join US Hispanics on the top rungs of the technology early-adoption ladder.

eMarketer’s estimate of US tablet users shows that 14.4% of Asians have used tablets monthly this year, vs. 12.6% of Hispanics and just over 10% of blacks and whites. The gap will narrow as the years pass, but it will take until 2014 for whites in the US to reach the same tablets penetration level as Asian-Americans.

Another study, by the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University, also found that Asian-Americans have among the highest penetration for both tablets and ereaders. With 14% ereader penetration rate, Asians are about even with Spanish-speaking Hispanics (15%), and a few points behind Hispanics who are primarily English-speaking (20%).

But Asians are on par with Hispanics in possession of tablets, with 17% of both groups reporting ownership.

“US Hispanics and Asian-Americans are very eager to bridge the technological gap and they are proportionately more likely to adopt these devices than non-Hispanic whites,” said Felipe Korzenny, Ph.D., who led the Florida University study.

Asians’ aspirational intentions for these devices are also high, with 35% saying they plan to have tablets within the next year. Spanish-speaking Hispanics have the highest intention to purchase tablets, at 41%. Non-Hispanic whites have the lowest intention to acquire tablets (22%).

Referring to Asians’ high intention to purchase, Korzenny said Asians should be “more interesting targets to marketers because they are much more interested in these products.”

Reasons for early adoption among Asian-Americans, who comprise about 6% of the US population, include that they are more educated than average and have higher annual incomes than other minorities. “And those two factors make them more technologically innovative types of people,” said Korzenny.

And while it’s true this demographic skews young, when Korzenny broke down the data by age, he found out that age makes no difference in emerging-device adoption among Asian-Americans.

 

US Digital Media Usage: A Snapshot of 2012

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There’s no question that the internet has reached mass media status in the US. eMarketer estimates more than three-quarters of the total population will be online by 2012, and the majority of that group is doing much more than just email or search.

About two-thirds of web users, for example, will use social networks next year, and more than 90% of that group can be found on Facebook. As social networking overall and Facebook usage in particular begin to plateau, smaller sites—including Twitter—are experiencing faster growth. Whether they can build up user bases to the hundreds of millions will help determine their value for marketers.

Audience size is also growing more quickly for professional online video content, such as TV shows and movies, as web users turn to over-the-top solutions to watch online content on TV sets in addition to their desktops, laptops, tablets and, increasingly, mobile phones.



Smartphone uptake and, in turn, mobile internet uptake, have facilitated more advanced mobile activities beyond video as well, including mobile shopping and buying, mobile gaming and more. As audiences consume more content on more devices and platforms, the chances for marketer interaction likewise increase as brands facilitate new experiences and activities for a mass digital population.

 

Source: www.emarketers.com

Top Digital Trends for 2012

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Marketers, retailers, content owners and technology firms are more focused than ever on obtaining results from investments in digital marketing. If past years were about amassing data from the touchpoints between companies and consumers, 2012 will be about curating, filtering and measuring that information to drive outcomes.

To that end, retailers are synthesizing increasingly vast and complex data streams to inform decisions about inventories, pricing and merchandising. Marketers are taking a similar approach with the data they gather from the ever-expanding social web. Content owners are also using data-centric methods to analyze how people are consuming and sharing media. No longer satisfied with collecting “likes,” fans, followers and viral hits, companies are now asking harder questions about the real value of these social network interactions.

More and more, marketers are realizing that traditional notions of interruptive advertising need to be rethought. Many are experimenting with branded videos, games, apps and online contests that blur the line between advertising and content. In some cases, these forms of “magnetic content” do a better job of brand projection than more conventional online video or display ads.

One of the keys to the success of magnetic content is that audiences are primed to consume media in increasingly diverse and fluid ways. People use smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, ereaders, game consoles, connected TVs and set-top boxes to access video and other content, and they expect that content to flow seamlessly across devices and media platforms. This presents opportunities for brand marketers and content owners that understand how to deliver to increasingly demanding customers. But it also challenges these companies to strike difficult balances between unfettered access and revenue generation, between intelligent targeting and privacy concerns, and between new and old content licensing models.

The collision of content and advertising will accelerate in the coming year as the political establishment gears up for the 2012 US presidential election. The upcoming contest promises to push the digital envelope as candidates make novel uses of viral videos, social networks, blogs and other sharing sites.

Moms Prefer Digital Shopping Over In-Store

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Digital usage and ecommerce increase when women become moms

Describe almost any mother of small children and one word comes to mind: busy.

Two recent studies verify this truism by showing that women spend less time with media outlets such as TV and magazines—but more time online—after becoming a mom. An Eric Mower and Associates survey, for example, found that more than half of new mothers spend less time watching TV (59%) and reading magazines (55%), and that 59% also spent less time shopping in stores. The percentages are similar for moms as they have more children or their kids get older.

When asked about time on the internet, however, the balance was more even: 25% of moms spent more time online while 29% spent less. For online shopping specifically, digital won out, with more than a third of mom internet users spending more time on ecommerce than before.

BabyCenter reflected these findings in an August 2011 survey, “Shopping Rituals of the American Mom,” which also demonstrated that online activities related to shopping are important to moms. New-mom status made women more aware of value and quality, both research studies indicated.

BabyCenter’s survey found that 71% of moms use websites such as shopping engines and review sites to compare prices, and 56% search for coupons or deals. Higher percentages of moms also turn to websites to compare product features and for product recommendations than to other information channels, such as retail stores or traditional media.

The bottom line for retailers? To reach moms, look online.

Source: www.emarketers.com

How the iPad Is Transforming Retail

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Apple’s iPad, which launched the modern tablet computer market, is transforming shopping behavior. The iPad’s portability, tactile screen and vivid graphics foster a casual and exploratory shopping experience that leads to product discovery, impulse buying and shared purchasing. A recent survey found that 41% of consumers who planned or were considering buying an iPad cited shopping as a primary reason for their interest. Early iPad buyers tend to be technology savvy, higher-income consumers and business travelers.

Retailers, eager to connect with this growing and potentially lucrative demographic, are taking different paths to creating customer value by developing iPad apps that accommodate this new shopping behavior. Some apps stir brand excitement and aid product awareness, while others deliver utility by showing how to use a product after its purchase.

The iPad’s most dramatic impact for retailers, though, might be its use in stores. Merchants are beginning to equip sales associates with iPads to aid customers with in-store purchasing decisions. Deloitte forecasts that in 2011, 25% of all tablets will be bought for business, and retailers will lead all industries in their adoption. But before tablets become commonplace at retail, several hurdles must be overcome.

 

One in Three Online Consumers to Use a Tablet by 2014

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90 million Americans will use a tablet device in 2014

Tablet devices, in their current incarnation, have only been available for a couple years, but the iPad has propelled them to rapid increases in ownership and usage. eMarketer estimates that by the end of 2011, 33.7 million Americans will use a tablet device at least monthly—a rise of 158.6% over last year, the year the iPad was released.

Growth will slow to double digits beginning in 2012, but the number of users will rise to nearly 90 million, or 35.6% of all internet users, by 2014.

US Tablet Users and Penetration, 2010-2014

eMarketer’s previous tablet-related forecasts have focused on unit sales and the total installed base of devices. These current estimates deal instead with usage, and account for device sharing. eMarketer believes that as tablet adoption continues, less growth will come from sharing and more from replacing older devices with new ones. Eventually, tablets may become more like smartphones, which typically have a single user and less sharing.

The iPad, which has clearly led the tablet market since 2010, will continue to do so throughout the forecast period, though its share will be slowly chipped away by competititors. The number of US iPad users will more than double between this year and 2014, from 28 million to 60.8 million. By 2014 iPad users will still account for 68% of the overall US tablet audience.

US iPad Users and Penetration, 2010-2014

The tablet audience is changing, though. Women currently account for slightly less than half of tablet users, but the disparity in tablet usage between sexes will continue to shrink. eMarketer estimates that this year, 31.5% of tablet users are ages 18 to 34, while 55.5% are 35 or older. By 2014, 18- to 34-year-olds will acount for 34.8% of tablet users, while those ages 35 and up will comprise 49.3% of the total. Usage of tablets wil also increase faster among whites than those of other races and ethnicities, growing from 60.6% of total users this year to 65.8% by 2014.

eMarketer bases its forecast of tablet and iPad users on a meta-analysis of survey data and other research on device penetration.

 

Checking our work being implemented in DiscTarra stores

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We finished this project a while ago. The project was to setup an online streaming video ads (latest DVD, latest artists, latest news, etc) from DiscTarra headquarter to major DiscTarra stores. The video is controlled and can be adjusted anytime or whatever the admin wants.

DiscTarra Online Streaming