Firefox/Planning/2014-10-29

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Planning Meeting Details

• Wednesdays - 11:00am PT, 18:00 UTC
• Mountain View Offices: Warp Core Conference Room
• Toronto Offices: Finch Conference Room
• irc.mozilla.org #planning for backchannel
• (the developer meeting takes place on Tuesdays)

Video/Teleconference Details - NEW

• 650-903-0800 or 650-215-1282 x92 Conf# 99696 (US/INTL)
• 1-800-707-2533 (pin 369) Conf# 99696 (US)
• Vidyo Room: ProductCoordination
• Vidyo Guest URL
• AirMozilla: for broadcast and saved recordings

REMEMBER

These notes are read by people who weren't able to attend the meeting. Please make sure to include links and context so they can be understood.

Market Insights from the Market Strategy Team (Kev)

Something to Think About

• Lifehacker posted an article this morning around all the things you can do with Chrome's address bar. Firefox can do a number of the same things, but it's interesting to see the continual improvements the Chrome team makes around search integration, and also the productivity hacks (like searching drive without going there) that people come up with to make a feature more useful than it's intended design.
  

Why we should care: Chrome's modifications to the address bar aren't ground-breaking, nor are they changes that came about all at once. They are a series of iterative changes that work well with Google's external services, and focus on increasing utility which, not coincidentally, increases the value and stickiness of the Google experience as a whole. Continued improvements to features is a good thing, and is something to consider as part of our general product upkeep, particularly around the opportunity to do more with services (both ours, and others) that promote the open web as a platform.

Worth a Read

• Benedict Evans updated his popular "Mobile Is Eating the World" presentation, and posits that mobile effectively is technology today. He's also put together a post on Tablets, PCs and Office that goes a little bit into technology cycles, but the important bit he pushes in both places is the concept of screens being the window to your stuff, and the platform under the screen being a commodity (e.g. processing power is becoming less of a limiter) that is really simply the interface that better fits the task at hand.
• Ars Technica has an overview of some of the more interesting changes in Lollipop which focus on unbundling apps and APIs to mitigate fragmentation risk, an enhanced setup process focusing on user experience, and the shift in the Nexus brand from a market-share builder to a premium offering.
• Google's Sundar Pichai was promoted last week in a move that solidifies Google's movement towards a unified, backend-anchored, multi-screen experience. Pichai was originally fronting Android and Chrome OS (and a couple other related services), and now takes on Google's most important web properties, including Gmail, Search, AdSense, and the infrastructure that runs it. This gives business units inside Google better alignment around company goals, and shows the confidence Google has in Pichai. Expect further alignment in Google's unified experience movement through products like Inbox and moving more Google Account data in the cloud, where it doesn't rely on a client app.

Notes

• re/code's Code Mobile event is on, as well as WSJD Live (read/watch the Jack Ma interview) and there's lots of good stuff to be had. Check back often, and I'll summarize next week.
• Microsoft announced this week that they'll be supporting WebRTC, opening the door for browser-based services that make use of Skype.
• Following some arewefastyet tweets, the Chromium Dev team mentioned that they had landed a bunch of changes that will improve layout times by around 10%.
• Google launched its Inbox mail app to consolidate Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo! mail in one place. Chrome-only for now, and it needs an invite. Positive feedback from most, and another way to bring more content into the Google lens.
• Amazon added to the pile of HDMI-connected streaming sticks with it's Fire Stick, and Google's updated the hardware in the Chromecast, but no new features announced yet.
• Google launched its Fit product, aimed squarely at competing with Apple's Healthkit.
• Apple's pushing Safari to non-Safari users on Yosemite, including Firefox users.
• Microsoft is opening up the service (via APIs) to Android, iOS, and third-party web sites/apps (and, at the same time, offered unlimited OneDrive storage to 365 subscribers - double whammy).
• Lots of discussion over the last week on Apple apps like Spotlight that phone home and send info back even if you don't actively do anything.
• Opera updated its Coast browser, adding iPhone 6(+) support, widgets, and the ability to open links from other browsers in Coast.
• Youtube is looking at ways to offer a paid subscription service which would (likely) all but eliminate pre and post roll ads. If this rolls out, expect even more ads on the free service.
• Walmart joined CVS and Rite Aid in disabling Apple Pay in a move that's likely linked to their membership in the Merchant Customer Exchange. While you're hear a lot around what's best for the customer, this is around the multiple billions to be had in transaction fees and, more importantly, who gets the user data behind it.
• Interesting interview with T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere who pushed unbundling contracts and iPhone support for the network, which continues to show strong subscriber growth (but are still struggling with making a profit) at the expense of the 800-pound gorillas.