How popular is it? The site’s attracting 10 million unique viewers a month online. It’s addictive to the folks who use and contribute to it. It’s Facebook on steroids.

The premise is simple: Users create a portfolio of pictures on the site and encourage their friends and followers to view the contents. There’s a “Pin It” extension that can be added to the user’s bookmarks bar so they can easily click images they find on the Web and post the to their Pinterest scrapbook.

And yes, there’s an iPhone app that can can do the same.

Pinterest takes a real-life phenomenon — scrapbooking, which became a multi-billion dollar industry among mostly housewives — and turns it into a simple, online activity. No books, no glue, no scissors necessary.

Users simply add the visual image of something they fancy to their Pinterest board, perhaps with a comment or two. Others view the image, make their own observations or ask questions. For business, it’s a way to let your customers or fans do the advertising for you.

By pinning an object’s image, the users essentially endorse it — it remains up to the viewer to like, re-pin or comment on what’s been posted.

For now, the site’s blissfully uncluttered by ads and other commercialization. Which may be why it’s so appealing to users, inundated at every turn with online pitches, pop ups and advertising.

The sites roots are in the midwest and the style and tenor of its set up and execution are pretty straightforward and no-frills. It remains to be seen if the folks who run it can keep it that way.

For a more detailed analysis of Pinterest, read the deconstruction of it here.

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Network coverage — long a weak spot for AT&T — will likely get better as the two link up. Customers of both get the network resources of the combined company.

But now that there will be only three big U.S. carriers, there will be less competition for service and that usually makes for higher prices. It’s likely, say most analysts, that data charges will jump now that there are only so many places a customer can go for service.

That means higher revenue for the company, but if it makes customers abandon the new joint venture, that’ll hurt the bottom line.

The post What do consumers get from AT&T/T-Mobile deal? appeared first on Finance Tech News.

What do they pay for? The study, part of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, found Internet users are willing to pay for content ranging from music to games to news articles to adult material.

Music, software and apps are the most popular content that Internet users have paid to access or download, although the range of paid online content is enormously varied and widespread.

The survey in October and November of 755 web users asked the following question: “Please tell me if you have ever paid to access or to download any of the following types of online content?” They found:

• 33% of Internet users have paid for digital music online
• 33% have paid for software
• 21% have paid for apps for their cell phones or tablet computers
• 19% have paid for digital games
• 18% have paid for digital newspaper, magazine, or journal articles or reports
• 16% have paid for videos, movies, or TV shows
• 15% have paid for ringtones
• 12% have paid for digital photos
• 11% have paid for members-only premium content from a website that has other free material on it
• 10% have paid for e-books
• 7% have paid for podcasts
• 5% have paid for tools or materials to use in video or computer games
• 5% have paid for “cheats or codes” to help them in video games
• 5% have paid to access particular websites such as online dating sites or services, and
• 2% have paid for adult content.

You can access a full report on the study here.

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They’re looking online.

The latest research on consumers shows that the internet has been key in helping consumers search out the best deals with three quarters of shoppers doing some form of research before making holiday purchase decisions.

And they’re finding them. The big retailers have been showering shoppers with deals early this season and they’ll be driving volume with big promotions.

The good news: Consumers are expected to spend at levels similar to last year, despite the fact that most don’t feel more financially more secure than they did 12 months ago.

James Flower of Verdict Research says: “Precision is the watch word for many consumers. They are prepared to spend but it’s about getting value for money through buying the right thing at the right price. The internet comes into its own both as a research tool and a buying channel enabling consumers to browse, compare and buy products at the most competitive prices.”

The key for retailers big and small: Keep an eye on what the competition is offering and make sure you’ve got something better, cheaper and faster than it does.

The post How to avoid a profit-free holiday season appeared first on Finance Tech News.

The average number: a whopping 3,385.

And who’s bearing most of the burden of this fraud? Business.

Most fraud occurs on existing card accounts, and Regulation E of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act limits the liabilities of consumers in the case of unauthorized electronic funds transfers — as long as fraud is reported in a timely manner.

What’s important to note about the report is what this level of fraud prompts victims to do: While plenty of folks install anti-virus or firewall software and avoid online registration of personal info, more than a quarter of them decide just to spend less money.

And that’s not good for anybody’s business.

Being a victim of fraud also makes lousy attitudes about buying things online even worse. The study data shows that more than a quarter of consumers these days see shopping online as unsafe; another quarter are uncertain about its safety.

As more and more businesses depend on online revenue to drive their profits, online fraud protection is going to be key to getting and keeping customers.

The negative perceptions signal the need for merchants not just to educate their customers on how to protect their personal information, but to be extraordinarily active in showing them how the business is working to secure payment information, especially online.

The post $300 billion in retail fraud, and about to get worse appeared first on Finance Tech News.

At least, that’s what the folks at Deloitte are saying after a survey of nearly 2,000 consumers this summer.

According to the study, a survey of folks ages14 to 75 in June and July, 58% said a smartphone’s size, quality, keyboard style, and price factor into their smartphone buying decisions. Only 18%t of respondents cited the apps available for a particular phone as a decision factor.

Deloitte also found that when consumers finally get a smartphone, only 65% actually use a mobile app.

That being said, the Deloitte survey also found that the smartphone is beginning to eat away at consumer use of things like MP3 players and game systems. It’s also taking a bite out of the radio listening audience.

The post Apps, schmapps … Smartphone buyers focus on features appeared first on Finance Tech News.

The Morpace poll  found that nearly a third of consumers would buy an iPhone if it was available from Verizon.

As successful as the Apple iPhone has been, many mobile consumers who have been attracted to an iPhone have not switched to the AT&T network simply based on the popularity of Apple’s smart phone.

Along with this, a sizeable percentage of AT&T’s iPhone customers are known to have become dissatisfied with its carrier’s service and/or data plans, including network coverage, dropped calls and other issues. Rumors have been swirling for months that the iPhone may indeed be heading to Verizon or a different network in the coming months.

Based on a recent Morpace Omnibus study, it is clear that if the iPhone does become available on
the Verizon network, it will impact the phone and carrier decisions of many consumers.

The study found that 29% of consumers are very likely or somewhat likely to purchase an iPhone if it is
made available to Verizon.

A whopping 51% of Verizon customers say they’d buy an iPhone if their carrier offered it.

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While it might be the most popular U.S. website, consumers are saying they don’t much like the social networking giant, according to the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Business Report (it’s free for download).

Facebook grade: 64% on ACSI’s 100-point scale. At most schools, that would be a low D or D-.

This lousy score put satisfaction with the site below that of the ever-unpopular IRS. It places Facebook in the bottom 5% of all measured private sector companies and in the same range as airlines and cable companies, two perennially low-scoring industries with terrible customer satisfaction.

Of course, customer dissatisfaction doesn’t mean a company or organization doesn’t make boatloads of money off its business. Airlines and cable companies prove that.

Even the IRS rakes in plenty of cash despite its unpopularity. (Being able to threaten jail time might have something to do with that, however.)

Social media websites are measured for the first time by ACSI, which took a look at Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia and YouTube.  Twitter wasn’t included in the category because many of its users access it through third-party apps other than Twitter.com.

Wikipedia leads the category at 77, followed by YouTube at 73, Facebook at 64 and MySpace at 63.

In the search engine category, there was also some surprising news about the ever-popular Google. The site Google plunged 7% this year. Still, it continues to lead the portals and search engines industry with a score of 80.

It’s also just the second time that Google hasn’t held the top spot, as the “all others” category of search engine competitors jumped 5% to 82.  Microsoft’s Bing search engine makes a strong first showing with a score of 77, trailed by Yahoo! (76), AOL (74), and Ask.com (73).

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A recent study by mobility experts at Sybase found the No. 1 reason most buyers have for purchasing the iPad is to be able to work on the go.

Those who analyzed the data from the Sybase study believe it points to a growing appetite among consumers for more access to information and work apps on mobile devices — something business IT groups are going to be called on to budget for and support.

The study also pointed to the two things mobile users say they are looking for in a device: a wide array of functions (the iPad will have more than 100,000 applications available to users) and extended battery life (the tablet computer’s battery has a 10-hour life).
Everybody’s been debating the usefulness of the iPad since it was announced weeks ago. Critics point to its entertainment functions — movie watching and game playing — as evidence that the portable computer is little more than a toy.

However, in the Sybase survey, work-related tasks ranked at the top of users’ lists of anticipated tasks:

• More than half of smartphone users polled claimed they are most likely to use a new tablet device like the iPad to conduct work (52.3%).
• The idea of using an iPad or tablet device for work garnered the most interest from smartphone users, while watching movies and television programs, and playing games placed a close second and third respectively (48.2% and 35.4%).
• Three-quarters of smartphone users surveyed believe that smartphones and forthcoming devices like the iPad make people more productive at work, with one-third of those feeling that the productivity impact is significant.

While there are thousands of mobile apps available these days, consumers told Sybase they still have limited access to common enterprise applications they need for work:

• Access to both personal and work information continues to be lacking for most consumers.  For respondents who have data on their mobile devices, the study shows that almost two-thirds estimate they have access to less than 10% of their personal data and work data (59.8% and 69.4% respectively). Access to work applications is also lacking, with almost three-quarters of respondents claiming they have access to less than 10% of the applications they need to do their jobs (72.3%).
• 67.6% of respondents with smartphones felt that if they could access twice the amount of information and applications they do today, it would make them more productive.
• When asked about what functions they wished their smartphones had, the ability to connect with work systems, and the ability to watch streaming television shows or movies topped users’ wish lists (27.1% and 27.2% respectively).

Regardless of studies and predictions from industry watchers, the iPad’s already proved to be something of a cultural phenomenon. Units available for purchase online — with in-store pick up scheduled for Saturday, April 3 –  sold out well before that date.

Apple’s stock has also catapulted to record highs in the weeks since the iPad was announced. Just this week, Apple shares hit a 52-week high and analysts are expecting the price to climb to as high as $284 this year.

Overall, the company’s stock has exploded in the past year. It’s up 118% since last spring and climbed to over $237 a share last week. Back in January, share price had languished at below $200.

All this while other tech darlings — like Google — are struggling. Google’s stock is down 10% this year to date, while Apple’s is up the same amount since January 1.

Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray believed Apple would sell 200,000 to 300,000  iPads in its first weekend, bringing his total unit estimate to 2.7 million in 2010. He also thought his estimates may be conservative, given the extraordinary initial demand. Munster’s been quoted as saying he believes the breakout year for the iPad will ultimately be next year (calendar 2011) with 8 million iPad units estimated to be sold.

The iPad’s made such a splash that a popular new ABC sitcom — “Modern Family” — built an entire episode around one character’s obsession with getting (and eventually cradling and stroking) his brand new iPad.  It should also be noted that other computers in the show were also Apple products, indicating a pretty active product placement deal.

Does this mean that the iPad will be the “game changing” technology some have predicted it will be? User reviews so far have been fairly glowing (read the New York Times assessment here) both for the tablet computer’s speed, ease of use and graphical display..

If consumers do use it primarily for work — and abandon their smartphones — it really could be game changing.

Last minute update:

According to Bloomberg,  sales of iPad in its debut weekend will likely be double what was originally estimated.

Piper Jaffray predicted 200,000 to 300,000 units would be sold. Sanford C. Bernstein & Company predicted 300,000 to 400,000. However, the first day has seen an estimated 700,000 of the tablets out the door. (See ReadWriteWeb’s ongoing coverage of the iPad launch.)

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A massive Nielsen survey has asked consumers the burning question many Web site content providers are dying to hear the answer to: Will you pay for the news and entertainment you now get online for free?

The answer probably isn’t going to help anyone. The overwhelming response: Maybe.

Nielsen asked this question of more than 27,000 consumers across 52 countries.

As expected, the vast majority (85%) prefer that free content remain free. But there are some opportunities to be culled from the results.

Asked to focus on specific types of content, survey participants were more willing to at least consider paying for particular categories, especially if they have done so before: for example, games, music, movies and video.

Consumers are least likely to pay for content that is essentially homegrown online, often by other consumers at fairly low cost. These include social communities, podcasts, consumer-generated videos and blogs.

In between are an array of news formats — newspapers, magazines, Internet-only news sources and radio news and talk shows. This content is generally created by professionals, relatively expensive to produce and, in the case of newspapers and magazines, sold in paper form.

Yet much of their content has become a commodity that’s readily available elsewhere for free.

What’s got to happen to content before consumers will pay for it:

• More than three out of every four survey participants (78%) believe if they already subscribe to a newspaper, magazine, radio or television service they should be able to use its online content for free.
• At the same time, 71% of global consumers say online content of any kind will have to be considerably better than what is currently free before they will pay for it.
• Nearly eight out of every ten (79%) would no longer use a Web site that charges them, presuming they can find the same information at no cost.
• As a group, consumers are ambivalent about whether the quality of online content would suffer if companies could not charge for it –- 34% think so while 30% do not. The remaining 36% have no firm opinion.
• But they are far more united (62%) in their conviction that once they purchase content, it should be theirs to copy or share with whomever they want (a lesson the music industry learned the hard way).

Despite growing consensus that the media may only be able to generate appreciable online revenues by charging consumers for content, there’s not much agreement on how to do that.

Companies are experimenting with a range of payment models, from full service subscriptions to individual transactions, or micropayments. Among those surveyed by Nielsen, about half (52%) favor micropayments, although they have proved cumbersome to implement.

But a more manageable system may be no more enticing. Only 43% say an easy payment method would make them more likely to buy content online.

Regardless of what systems they choose, media companies will almost certainly not abandon advertising, and consumers will doubtless still see ads along with paid content.

For the 47% of respondents willing to accept more advertising to subsidize free content, that may be tolerable. But it will probably not sit well with the 64% who believe that if they must pay for content online, there should be no ads.

The Nielsen study is by no means the last word on the subject. And it remains to be seen if consumers are saying one thing but will wind up doing another.

The survey likely serves as confirmation of what most of us already knew. That’s because we’re all consumers as well, and most of us have an aversion to paying for stuff that we’ve usually gotten for free.

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