Internet Marketing Blog by Tilak

Apple’s much-hyped iPhone finally goes on sale in the US today.

The opening cost of the phone is $499 to $599 for the 4GB and 8GB models respectively. Apple said the iPhone’s battery was good for eight hours of talktime, six hours of net use or seven hours of video watching. The gadget - which melds a phone, Web browser and media player - is the best thing to happen since the iPod, say tech gurus. Apple also said it hoped to sell 10 million iPhones by 2008 and grab itself a 1% share of the mobile phone market.

The iPhone going on sale on 29 June is likely to be just the first of a long line of gadgets with future models adding the features and software lacking in the original.

AT&T has confirmed that the iPhone will be available in all 1,800 AT&T phone stores at 6 p.m. sharp on June 29, according to an interview with USA Today. “We fully expect one or more of our stores to run out of stock on the first or second day — my guess is the first day,” says Larry Carter, senior vice president of sales for AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. distributor.

Google Desktop is now available for Linux users. Few months back it was available for Mac users too. Google Desktop for Linux can be used for finding important documents as well assearch through emails saved in Gmail or other applications. With this launch Google Desktop is available for Linux, Mac and Windows as well.

It also features the Quick Search Box ,which you can call up by pressing the Ctrl key twice. You can get results instantly after typing a words in the search box. It is available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

SprightlyMedia has launched a new 247WebLog on 24th June. This blog will provide information on technology, online marketing and development and other related industries, simultaneously also cover other useful topics like Travel, info on interesting useful resources and the topics.

I personally wish them Very Good Luck!

Update: SprightlyMedia is closing this blog on 28th September due to lack of time and resources for maintaining it.

Google’s payments specialist, Amrita Kamat talked about Goggle Adsense payment related issues specific to India.

Here are the 5 points mantra for Indian publishers, which she had mentioned:

1- Write correct and complete address - Here is the way:

2- Choose INR checks over USD checks - INR checks will reduce the bank charges levied also easy to process.

3- Set a self hold - If you’ve reached $100 in unpaid earnings and would like to get paid once in 2 months or once every 6 months, we have an option to set a self-hold. Accumulate your earnings and receive a bigger check in the future. Don’t forget that you’ll need to remove the hold before the 15th of the month to be paid in that month.

4- Prefer Secured Express Delivery - It is tension-free delivery of hard earned money. It will cost US$25 for DHL charges and check will be delivered at doorstep within 10 days.

5- Understand the payment cycle - Please go through the Payments Demo to understand when payments are processed. It’s an 11-minute demo that is well worth your time!

Why do checks and PINs take longer to reach Indian publishers? What are the other options?

This can happen because of incorrect mailing addresses and the postal service. While nothing much can be done about the postal service at this time, I’d again recommend that you update your physical address — an accurate house number and/or house name can make a big difference to how a postman will locate your house. If you’re relocating, feel free to place a self-hold on your account until you’ve completed the relocation process. Please ensure that your address is updated before the 15th, and the address doesn’t exceed the 35-character limit in each line. Finally, the only alternative for receiving checks right now is to choose Secured Express Delivery checks over Standard Delivery checks.

Its a good brief information, which she has mentioned. Normally most of the people don’t take seriously these stuffs until they get the late payment.

Yahoo has posted that Yahoo Search Ads are now limited to 70 characters descriptions for their advertising clients. Longer descriptions will be cut off in US results. Michael Mattis of Yahoo said “The optional 190-character long descriptions may still be displayed on some of our distribution partners’ sites.”

In April 2007 he wrote about the forthcoming changes in description. “We’re doing this (to quote myself) because ‘we’ve found that ads written more concisely give users a better experience and perform better for advertisers’.”

India’s leading mobile service operator Idea Cellular Wednesday entered into a strategic tie-up with global Internet brand Yahoo! to provide mobile search services. Yahoo!oneSearch is now available in 14 countries around the world.

Yahoo!oneSearch, launched in Asia in May, gives access to news, web images, financial information, weather conditions and navigating other websites. Information on Yahoo! oneSearch in India is available at in.mobile.yahoo.com.

“Our partnership with Idea Cellular is helping to extend Yahoo’s clear leadership in search for mobile users in India,” Yahoo Vice-President and General Manager (Connected Life Asia) David Ko said.

Idea Cellular’s Chief Marketing Officer Pradeep Shrivastava said: “Yahoo!oneSearch provides Idea with a competitive advantage by offering a reliable and easy-to-use mobile search offer to consumers in India.”

Yesterday, YouTube has announced international versions of web video services. It has launched nine versions across Brazil, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK.

“Video is universal and allows people around the world to communicate and exchange ideas,” said Chad Hurley, YouTube co-founder.

“Our mission is to entertain, inform and empower the world through video.” More than half of all viewers on YouTube were now from outside the US, Mr Hurley also added.

“We want to create a YouTube experience that is a local experience,” said Steve Chen, the service’s other co-founder.

“It’s not just about translating, it also about creating content unique to certain countries.”

I hope YouTube will launch in many more countries in the near future.

Google would consider keeping search data for longer than 18 months in an opt-in scheme. Here you can find more details.

According to NewYork Times Terry S. Semel stepped down on Monday and handed the reins of the struggling search company to co-founder Jerry Yang after six years on the job. The company announced co-founder Jerry Yang will take his place, with Executive Vice President Sue Decker taking on the role of president. The following is a letter sent from Semel to Yahoo’s board of directors.

Mr. Yang and Mr. Semel said they had been considering the changes for some time, after Mr. Semel notified the board that he wanted to step down sooner rather than later. “I saw myself much more as a coach than a player going forward,” Mr. Semel said in a conference call.

Mr. Yang said in an interview Monday that some of his primary functions would be to reinvigorate the company and attract top talent, not to overhaul its strategy. “We have a very clear strategy in place and we are executing on it,” he said.

Jerry Yang has also posted a blog post about his new role.

Updated: You may also check out:

The Official Press Release

Letter from Terry Semel to Yahoo! Board of Directors

Letter from Yahoo! Board of Directors to Terry Semel

Google has decided to turn to a new way to display their search engine and search results. Google plans to blend in results from news, videos, images and local results. Furthermore, Google decided to approach a cleaner look by cleaning up the links displayed above their search box and simply placing a sitewide navigation bar with all the required links.

These new additions to Google’s search algorithm shows that Google is setting a new standard for search engines everywhere (mainly Yahoo! and Live at the moment).