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Editor’s note: Gordon Ritter is a founder and general partner at Emergence Capital, focused on cloud companies.  In the days before the cloud, on-premise software providers that focused on selling into a vertical market were considered second-class citizens to the “big guns” selling into the broader horizontal marketplace. The real “win”—in market share, wallet share and ultimately, profits—was the broadest approach. The notion of specializing in solutions that serve a market niche or specific industry was considered limited unless it was just the start of something more horizontal. However, with the advent of the SaaS model, the tables have turned. Focusing on niche verticals or specific functional areas may be one of the most successful strategies of the enterprise cloud software era. While there are still a few providers for whom the “all-things-to-all-people” approach is quite successful (Microsoft, Oracle), the vast majority of successful cloud solution providers have struck go...

Whenever you see the same ad for a shopping site you just visited pop up across the web, chances are that’s not a coincidence but a remarketing effort by that site. These sites often offer users who abandon their shopping carts, for example, a discount to lure them back. The only way to get a hold of them once they have left the site, however, is to target ads to them on other properties around the web. Starting today, setting up these remarketing campaigns is going to get a bit easier for advertisers who use Google Analytics. Google just announced that it is bringing its Google Analytics and Google Display Network closer together to give advertisers an easier to use option to remarket to very specific audiences who have previously visited their websites. This new service, says Google, simplifies the remarketing process and gives its advertisers more flexibility and “new ways to connect with [their] target audience.” Until now, website owners had to use at least two different tags on...

The Apple iOS is surging ahead of the Google Android platform for enterprise development, according to survey results from Appcelerator, the mobile platform development company. In the largest survey of its kind, Appcelerator developers were asked what operating system is best positioned to win the enterprise market. Developers said iOS over Android by a 53% to 38% margin. Last year, in its second quarter survey, the two companies were in a dead heat for the enterprise market, tied at 44%. In a surprise of sorts, Windows showed some life as 33% said they would be interested in developing apps on the Windows 8 tablet. Each quarter, in conjunction with IDC Research, Appcelerator surveys its community of 340,000 developers. It is the largest survey of mobile developers. This quarter, more than 3,600 developers participated in the survey. Apple’s dramatic push ahead is in part attributed to developers perception about Android. When asked what interests them, developers said the size of t...

Finally, somebody figured out how to make any audio device wireless. Check out the EarTop Flow, a small Bluetooth device that plugs into the 3.5mm cable jack of just about any audio equipment. Pair it up, and suddenly, you’re wireless. The company is showing the EarTop Flow on a pair of Beats headphones at the moment, but it will work on home theater systems, your car if it has an auxiliary input, or any audio device with a 3.5mm input — in case you’re wondering, that’s pretty much the standard audio input on smartphones and other devices these days. Music and volume touch controls are built in, and there’s a couple of noise-canceling mics on board so you can use it with your phone, too. EarTop Flow is now available for preorder for $59.99. View the original article here This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Sarah currently works as a writer for TechCrunch, after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to becoming a professional blogger, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software. ? Learn More How appropriate. That crazy Android personal assistant app called Friday is debuting today, on a Friday. Marketing genius! Friday comes from a startup called Dexetra, the same folks who previously launched the Siri-like Android app Iris. With Friday, the idea is to provide a history of your communications, like calls, text messages, emails and more, and combine those with other events your phone is able to record, like photos snapped and battery drops, then mush it all together with data from third-party services, like Facebook and Foursquare. The end result? A search engine for your life. If the concept sounds vaguely familiar, that’s because other startups have previously attempted to play in this same space – at least to som...