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Tag: Brazil

  • Free-To-Play FIFA PC Game Coming to Brazil & Russia

    Publisher EA this week announced that it will soon release a free-to-play version of its popular FIFA video games – but only for Brazil and Russia. FIFA World will be out for PC in those countries sometime in November.

    FIFA World will have more than 600 clubs from more than 30 licensed leagues, including the Russian Football Premier League and 19 officially licensed clubs from Brazil. The game will include the “Ultimate Team” mode found in FIFA 14, and will be built around it. Players will be able to create their own teams, presumably purchasing top players to fill out their squad.

    “Brazil and Russia are priority markets for EA Sports and especially our FIFA brand,” said Matt Bilbey, group general manager at EA Sports. “We are excited to bring to these markets a custom-built, free-to-play PC experience developed around FIFA Ultimate Team. FIFA World will be a fun new way to play FIFA for new fans.”

    EA has also announced an closed beta for FIFA World has begun. The game will not feature the graphics quality of FIFA 14, as it has been tooled to be accessible for “average spec” PCs, including laptops.

    EA has already experimented with a successful free-to-play FIFA game in South Korea, FIFA Online 3. Access to that game will soon be expanded throughout southeast Asia and China.

  • Decapitated Referee: Soccer Ref Beheaded in Brazil

    A soccer match in Brazil has ended badly.

    Long story short: A referee flags a player; player gets ticked off and fights the referee; the referee breaks out a knife and stabs the player in self-defense; the player dies; the fans storm the field, decapitate the referee, and stake his head at mid-field.

    Short story long: In the Brazilian state of Maranhao, an unlucky football referee, Otavio da Silva, expelled otherwise well-behaved player Josenir Abreu. The two began to fight, and da Silva pulled out a knife (soccer refs pack knives in Brazil, I guess) and stabbed Abreu. Abreu died on his way to the hospital.

    After the stabbing, fans stormed the field and stoned da Silva to death (again, because Brazilian soccer fields are littered with stones), then those fans removed da Silva’s head and staked it at midfield (once again, because they have stakes available for head-staking in Brazilian footie matches).

    This occurrence is unwelcome publicity for a nation that is gearing up to host the next World Cup and the next summer Olympic Games.

    Brazil is getting ready to host the 2014 World Cup for soccer and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Rio has already faced heavy criticism in light of its longstanding crime problems. While the country has made attempts to cope with the drug issues in its favelas, it has also had logistical problems with the construction of new facilities for the events, as well as maintenance of existing facilities. The country has faced substantial troubles in recent weeks as protesters have taken to the streets to oppose the expenditures related to the upcoming World Cup events.

    Police have arrested a 27-year-old man in conjunction with the beheading and are investigating the incident further.

  • Brazil, India Smartphone Markets Grow as China Eclipses U.S.

    China is expected to overtake the U.S. at the top global smartphone market sometime in 2013, and some metrics show that it has already happened. Now, analysts are predicting that other emerging countries could rise to become top smartphone markets later this decade.

    Analyst firm ABI Research is now predicting that Russia will be rise to become the 7th-largest smartphone market by 2018, up from a predicted 11th-largest this year. In addition, Brazil and India are predicted to be in the top four largest smartphone markets by 2018.

    “With room to grow, the emerging BRIC nations are displacing established markets such as the US and Japan as market leaders in terms of smartphone shipments,” said Michael Morgan, senior analyst with ABI.

    ABI also predicts that Brazil, Russia, India, and China will account for 33% of smartphone shipments by 2018, matching the predicted combined 33% share of North America and Western Europe that same year. North America and Western Europe currently account for an estimated 39% of smartphone shipments in 2013. The cause of this rapid rise, say ABI analysts, is low-cost Android smartphones that have been developed and risen in quality in the past few years.

    “When you look at operating system share in emerging markets, you tend to find that Android has been busy fulfilling its mission to bring the Internet to consumers who can’t afford a traditional PC or Laptop,” said Jeff Orr, senior practice director at ABI.

  • This ‘iphone’ From Brazil Runs Android, Much To Apple’s Chagrin

    Most of us know the iPhone to be Apple’s prized smartphone – the device that ushered in the current mobile era we’re experiencing. Unfortunately for Apple, a different company has the rights to the “IPHONE” name in Brazil.

    That company is IGB Eletrônica SA (Gradiente), and it applied for the “IPHONE” trademark all the back in 2000. Apple released its first iPhone in 2007. The Wall Street Journal reports that the agency who oversees patents in Brazil said that it denied Apple’s trademark application because of IGB’s rights to the name. Matthew Cowley and Loretta Chao report:

    Marcelo Chimento, spokesman for Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property, or INPI, said Apple is contesting the decision, charging that Gradiente failed to make use of the trademark within a five-year window, as required by Brazilian trademark law. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

    Apple Defends Proxy in Response to Greenlight Suit Unlike in the U.S., Brazilian trademark regulations stipulate that registrations be rewarded on a first-come, first-served basis, regardless of which party used the trademark first, or which party brings more value and recognition to the brand.

    The company, according to the Journal, only utilized its “iphone” power a few weeks before the deadline for when it was required to actually use it to keep the trademark. They used it to put out a device running Android, called the “iphone neo one”. Here’s a look:

    iPhone Neo One

    iphone neo one

    Apple released its iPhone 5 in Brazil in December.

  • Carnaval Celebrated With Google Doodle in Brazil

    Google has a doodle on its Brazil home page today, celebrating Carnaval (Carnival).

    Google regularly celebrates Carnaval from Feb 7-12. For the third year in a row, YouTube is streaming events. In a post on February 4, Google wrote:

    What better way to experience a party the size of Brazil than by connecting to the rhythms and local traditions of six different cities—from Rio de Janeiro’s samba and Salvador’s axé to southern Brazil’s frevo. This year, you’ll be able to enjoy the festivities of Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Olinda, São Luís do Maranhão, Ouro Preto and Pirenópolis.

    Pick from a series of live feeds, camera angles and performances from the city of your choice, right in the middle of the party. Channel feeds are made possible by a combination of YouTube Live and Google+ Hangouts. In total, you can access a total of 150 hours of live Carnival feeds—from your laptop, tablet or smartphone.

    Google has also joined with photographers to upload pictures of “Carnaval’s best moments” from 20 different Brazillian cities at Google+ Carnaval.

  • Twitter Plans New Office in Brazil

    Twitter Plans New Office in Brazil

    Twitter is planning a big move to the eighth largest city (by population) in the world.

    According to a report from Reuters, Twitter is planning on opening up an office in Brazil’s biggest city, Sao Paulo.

    “We believe our new office in Brazil will allow us to get closer to the users and show the value of our platform,” the company’s new country manager for Brazil, Guilherme Ribenboim, told Reuters. “Brazil has rather mature Internet and advertisement markets. Our audience is very big and active. We are going to try to monetize it.”

    Twitter isn’t lying about their audience being big. Brazil is the social site’s second-biggest market in terms of total accounts and fifth when it comes to usage stats. The only other country with more Twitter accounts that Brazil is the United States.

    Ribenboim is already talking about why Brazil presents such a good opportunity for Twitter. Not only will the move put them closer to one of their largest user bases, but upcoming world events like the World Cup (2014) and the Summer Olympics (2016) are taking place in Brazil.

    And we know how popular Twitter can be during these sort of global events.

    “It is already happening. We are talking (to advertisers) looking for opportunities, strategies,” said Ribenboim.

    Brazil has seen Facebook use surge over the past year, and Google+ has also grown significantly in the country. Although Brazil is one of Twitter’s biggest locations, having operations there will make it easier for them to expand in the emerging market.

  • IPHONE Launches In Brazil As An Android Device

    The iPhone 5 just recently launched in Brazil last week as Apple’s flagship device made its way into 50 more countries around the world. At the same time, a local Brazilian electronics manufacturer is going to compete with the iPhone 5 by selling the IPHONE.

    IGB Electronics SA announced this morning that the company will begin selling the IPHONE in Brazil as an entry level Android device. The first device to be sold under the IPHONE name is called the Gradiente Neo One. It runs on Android 2.3, and features dual-sim capabilities, 3G, Wi-Fi and bluetooth.

    So, how is IGB able to sell a product called the IPHONE in Brazil while Apple currently sells the iPhone? The company had applied for the IPHONE name in 2000, and finally secured the rights in 2008 from a patent regulator. The company hasn’t used the name until now because its previous focus was getting through a restructuring period and getting back to selling products. Now it can focus on selling the IPHONE to consumers who may just want an iPhone.

    Selling the phone to the less knowledgable should be pretty easy as well. The IPHONE will be sold at a ridiculously low price of 600 reais, or $286 USD. The iPhone 5 sells at 2,400 reais, or $1145 USD.

    It should be pretty easy to tell the difference between the IGB’s IPHONE and Apple’s iPhone though. That being said, Apple is fiercely protective of its trademarks and will most likely file a lawsuit against IGB by the end of the week. For its part, IGB knows a lawsuit is likely coming and says that it will “adopt all measures” to preserve its right to the IPHONE name.

    If it does end up going to court, it will be interesting to see what the Brazilian courts say. Is IPHONE different enough from iPhone? Is IGB’s trademark application legitimate? In any case, it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

    [h/t: Macworld Brazil]

  • Amazon (Appropriately) Opens Up Kindle Store in Brazil

    Today, Amazon makes another move in global expansion with a launch in one of the biggest countries in the world (and their likely namesake destination) -Brazil.

    Starting today, amazon.com.br is the new home to 1.4 million Kindle books priced in Reals. Of these 1.4 million titles, Amazon says that over 13,000 of them are in Portuguese.

    Amazon is also bringing free Portuguese Kindle Reading Apps to the country, as well as opening up Kindle Direct Publishing for Brazilian independent authors to get their work published worldwide.

    It’s important to note that as of now, the Kindle Store is the only Amazon operation that the company is taking to Brazil – no physical sales. Reuters previously reported on the reason for this type of launch, saying that “the all-digital approach will allow Amazon to minimize the risks that a bigger retail launch would imply in a country with notorious infrastructure shortcomings and a complex, costly tax system.”

    Basically, Amazon is trying to not bite off more than they can chew in Brazil at the time, and an ebook-only launch seems like the way to do it.

    So, Brazilians can now download Kindle books for their Android and iOS devices, as well as their Macs and PCs. And coming soon, the latest Kindle device will make its way into the country:

    “We are excited to launch this new Kindle Store for Brazilian customers, offering the most popular best-selling books from many great Brazilian authors, all priced in Reais,” said Alexandre Szapiro, Vice President of Kindle, Amazon.com.br. “We’re also bringing our latest generation Kindle—the best-selling e-reader in the world—to Brazilian customers at a suggested retail price of R$299 in the coming weeks. With the launch of free Kindle reading apps in Portuguese, anyone who has an Android phone, Android tablet, iPhone or iPad, PC or Mac, can start reading Kindle books today.”

  • This Terrifying Corpse Prank Guarantees I’ll Never Ride an Elevator in Brazil

    Remember that terrifying elevator prank that went mega-viral last week? With over 40 million views to date, that creepy screaming girl has definitely caused some nightmares.

    Now, those pranksters are back with an even more terrifying elevator prank. This time, unsuspecting riders are shocked by a reanimated corpse. Yeah, it’s pretty brutal. Remind me to never ride an elevator in Brazil. Ever.

  • Does Google Even Need Newspaper Publishers?

    In case you haven’t been following, Google has been battling traditional media publishers in a number of countries for years. Publishers want Google to pay to license their content so they can point to it in search results. In Brazil, 90% of the country’s newspaper circulation pulled out of Google News entirely. In France, Google faces a potential law which would require it to pay publishers to keep pointing to their content.

    We’ve discussed this situation numerous times, but Frédéric Filloux, GM for digital operations at Les Echos Groupe and based in Paris, has put out an interesting article looking at how traditional media fits into the Google equation, and the data he shares doesn’t make it seem like Google would miss these publishers too much.

    He looks at Google Trends data to look at the most searched terms in the U.S., France and Germany.

    “Except for large dominant American news topics (‘Hurricane Sandy’ or ‘presidential debate’), very few search results bring back contents coming from mainstream media,” he points out. “As Google rewards freshness of contents — as well as sharp SEO tactics — ‘web native’ media and specialized web sites perform much better than their elder ‘migrants’, that is web versions of traditional media.”

    He then brings up monetization, and how media contents contribute to Google’ bottom line. He looks at the most expensive keywords, which include things like: insurance, loans, mortgage, attorney, credit, lawyer, donate, degree, hosting, claim, conference call, trading, software, recovery, transfer, gas/electricity, classes, rehab, treatment and cord blood.

    “By construction, traditional media do not bring money to the classification above,” writes Filloux. “In addition, as an insider said to me this week, no one is putting ads against keywords such as ‘war in Syria’ or against the 3.2 billion results of a ‘Hurricane Sandy’ query. Indeed, in the curve of ad words value, news slides to the long tail.”

    He talks about all that Google has done and continues to do to deliver results to users for various types of search itself (as in not having to send users to other sites), such as shopping, flight search, etc., the Knowledge Graph, and concludes that as far as Google is concerned, having newspaper articles is just “small cool stuff”.

    In other words, Google can get by just fine relying more on “web native” media, if traditional media publications want to pull themselves out of the mix.

    This all comes at a time, mind you, when social media is playing an enormous role in breaking news (look simply to Twitter and Instagram’s roles in Hurricane Sandy news last week). Google has a whole other issue to worry about on that front.

    Losing any source, whether that be a newspaper or real-time access to tweets, does set Google back in its stated mission – to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible, but it’s looking less and less likely that Google will ever truly be able to accomplish that mission. Not only would this require cooperation from competitors, Google also faces potential regulation from various governments.

    As far as the traditional media, if Brazil is any indication, they may be in no worse shape without Google. The publishers that pulled out don’t seem to be missing the Google referrals too much, even if their traffic is a bit lower. On the other hand, that is a country where Google News has been deemed “irrelevant”.

  • Google vs. Publishers: Who’s Right?

    The story is old, but it is ongoing. It’s the same argument that’s been around for years, but it’s reaching a boiling point, and it’s doing so at a time when the flow of news is coming from more directions than it ever has before. Hurricane Sandy is just the latest in a long line of examples proving that point. Publishers want Google to pay them for the right to point to their content, and Google does not wish to do so.

    Should Google have to pay to link to content in Google News? Tell us what you think.

    The battle continues in Europe. This week, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt met with French President François Hollande, who according to a report from Bloomberg BusinessWeek (in an article that I did not find by using Google News), “demanded Google reach a deal with publishers”.

    Google responded to the French point of view even before Schmidt’s meeting. Here’s what the company said in a blog post a couple weeks ago:

    The web has led to an explosion of content creation, by both professional and citizen journalists. So it’s not a secret that we think a law like the one proposed in France and Germany would be very damaging to the internet. We have said so publicly for three years.

    Google’s point about the “explosion of content creation” is very valid. Google has been pretty consistent in that it will not pay publishers to link to their content in search results. The question is whether Google users will noticeably suffer if Google stops including content from certain publishers.

    This is currently being put to the test in Brazil, where 90% of the country’s newspaper circulation has pulled its content out of Google News. The publishers seem to be getting by fine without Google News (they haven’t pulled out of Google Web Search). The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas reported that these publishers have only seen a decrease in web traffic of 5%. Isabela Fraga and Natalia Mazotte report:

    “The (newspapers) themselves believed that the 5-percent loss was a price worth paying to defend our authors’ rights and our brands,” said Ricardo Pedreira, ANJ’s executive director in a phone interview with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

    “The fact is, Google News is absolutely irrelevant in Brazil,” said Carlos Müller, ANJ’s communications advisor. “If you go into Google News now and search for (Brazil’s) President Dilma, you’re going to see that none of the websites of the main newspapers in the country are there.”

    “It’s important to point out,” he added, “that the portals of some news companies are still (in Google News).”

    That doesn’t mean, however that publications everywhere could get by as well without Google News. The Bloomberg article quotes Ricardo Pedreira, executive director of Brazil’s National Association of Newspapers, as saying, “Every country has a specific reality, and I think there will probably evolve different models in each nation.”

    Google is already facing turbulence in Germany and Italy, in addition to France, so we may very well see publications pulling out of Google News in these countries as Google refuses to pay. Google has made the point in the past, that without said publications, users would be able to find information from other sources.

    In September, Google revealed that Google News is currently available in 72 editions in 30 languages, and counts 50,000 publications among its news sources.

    “Linking to a diverse set of sources for any given story enabled readers to easily access different perspectives and genres of content,” Google said recounting the product’s history. “By featuring opposing viewpoints in the same display block, people were encouraged to hear arguments on both sides of an issue and gain a more balanced perspective.”

    If publishers pull out, they face having their viewpoint lost from users’ view. However, that certainly does not mean that they will not be able to reach audiences via different means, thanks in some part to that explosion of content Google refers to.

    Social media has rapidly emerged as a major source of news consumption in recent years. People don’t have to rely on Google News (or search in general) as much as they might have in the past. People have news driven to them via Facebook, Twitter, and numerous other channels all day, every day, right to the phones in their pockets.

    In a recent article, I made the case that Google is even risking pushing more news seekers to Twitter specifically thanks to its lack of real time search. Twitter is the place to go if you want to find up to the second updates about anything, like say, a hurricane.

    While Google has certainly offered some valuable resources related to Hurricane Sandy, it wasn’t Google that all of the journalism articles were talking about over the past week, with regards to how the news was coming out. There was a lot more talk about Twitter and Instagram (pictures from which were often surfaced via Twitter).

    Sure, Google News has continued to serve its general purpose, but the news, as it often does, was breaking on Twitter. Google’s right. There’s an explosion of content, and that’s not going to change. People will find ways to get their news with or without publications in Google News (many of these same publications will be easily found via social media).

    So who needs who more? Google or publishers? Google will want to make sure it has enough quality sources in its results, but it is unlikely that they will have to pay many publishers to do so, because thousands simply want to be discoverable in Google, and are happy to be there without demanding fees. Google does have an agreement with the AP for hosted content, and it’s possible that Google could look to plug any potential holes with similar arrangements, but it’s unlikely that Google will submit to such deals with a sizable number of publications. They simply don’t need all of that content that badly. Do they?

    Well, I would say no they don’t, to be a useful service. Readers can get by without a lot of the sources currently in Google News. But, on the other hand, losing a significant amount of publications would also be a continued failure at Google’s mission, which is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible. It seems that this mission is not worth paying publishers as far as Google is concerned.

    What would you do if Google News lost 90% of newspaper publications in your country? Would you miss them? How would you consume your news? How do you consume it now? Let us know in the comments.

  • The Latest On Google’s Battle With Publishers Who Want To Be Paid For Links

    A week ago, we wrote about the battles Google is facing with publishers, specifically in France and Brazil. In France, lawmakers have poposed a law which would require search engines like Google to pay publishers to license content just so they can link to it in Google News search results Google threatened to stop linking to publishers. In Brazil, the majority of newspaper publishers simply pulled out of Google News.

    A new report from Quartz says that Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is traveling to Paris next week “to discuss the issue”. The publication spoke with France’s minister of technology Fleur Pellerin:

    “We don’t want to appear as a country that is anti-Google,” Pellerin told me in Boston today. “Obviously Google is a wonderful tool and Google is a major actor of the digital ecosystem.”

    “What I would suggest—and what I’m going to suggest to Google and to the press–is to start negotiating, to start discussions for maybe three months, and try to find an agreement on a negotiated basis,” Pellerin continued. “And if they don’t, well we’ll see.”

    Meanwhile, in Brazil, the publishers who have pulled out of Google News seem to be getting by just fine without it. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, which originally reported on the issue, is now reporting that these publishers have only seen a decrease in web traffic of 5%. Isabela Fraga and Natalia Mazotte report:

    “The (newspapers) themselves believed that the 5-percent loss was a price worth paying to defend our authors’ rights and our brands,” said Ricardo Pedreira, ANJ’s executive director in a phone interview with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

    “The fact is, Google News is absolutely irrelevant in Brazil,” said Carlos Müller, ANJ’s communications advisor. “If you go into Google News now and search for (Brazil’s) President Dilma, you’re going to see that none of the websites of the main newspapers in the country are there.”

    “It’s important to point out,” he added, “that the portals of some news companies are still (in Google News).”

    Irrelevant. Ouch.

    It will be interesting to see if this influences publishers in other parts of the world, and if so, how much that really hurts Google, which always has thousands more sources and an entire blogosphere at its disposal, not to mention YouTube and Google+.

  • Google Caves, Will Block Contested YouTube Video in Brazil

    After running out of appeal options, Google’s Director in Brazil Fabio Coelho has announced that Google will in fact block access to certain disputed videos in the country.

    Coelho had a pretty personal stake in the drama that played out over the last few days. Earlier this week, a Brazilian judge ordered his arrest after Google failed to removed the videos, which the court claimed defamed a local mayoral candidate dring election season. Originally, Google held that they were not responsible for the content of the videos posted to YouTube, saying:

    “Google is appealing the court’s decision to remove a video from YouTube because, as a platform, we are not responsible for the content uploaded to our site.”

    But those appeals hit a roadblock, and Google has decided to block the “offending” videos.

    Coelho has posted a lengthy statement on the decision, in which he speaks regretfully on the decision.

    “Late last night, we learned that our final legal appeal has been denied and so now we have no choice but to block the video in Brazil. We are deeply disappointed that we have never had the full opportunity to argue in court that these were legitimate free speech videos and should remain available in Brazil,” he says.

    Here’s the full statement:

    You may have read articles in the press over the last couple of weeks about YouTube videos in Brazil. Given all the interest, we wanted to explain what has happened, and why. First of all some basic principles about the service. Our goal is for YouTube to be a community that everyone can enjoy, as well as a platform for free speech around the world. This can cause real challenges, because what is OK in one country may be offensive or even illegal in another.

    So we have clear community guidelines about the kind of videos that are unacceptable–and when they are flagged, we review and if necessary remove them. If a video is illegal in a particular country–and we have a local version of the service there, as in Brazil–we will restrict access to it, after receiving a valid court order or government complaint. Because we are deeply committed to free expression, we often push back on requests that we do not believe are valid. For example, we were recently in court in the US arguing that videos were perfectly legitimate and should stay on YouTube.

    Now for what’s happened in Brazil. As usual during an election season, we have had a lot of court orders to remove videos that are critical of political candidates. As always, we have reviewed them all– and pushed back on the many legal complaints that we believe are invalid. For example, last week, we appealed a court order to remove videos from YouTube. While we were waiting for that appeal to be heard, an arrest warrant was issued for me as country director of Google Brazil.

    Late last night, we learned that our final legal appeal has been denied and so now we have no choice but to block the video in Brazil. We are deeply disappointed that we have never had the full opportunity to argue in court that these were legitimate free speech videos and should remain available in Brazil.

    Despite all this, we will continue to campaign for free expression globally—not just because it’s a key tenet of free societies, but also because more information generally means more choice, more power, more economic opportunity and more freedom for people. As Article 19 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

    Ironically, the user who published one of the videos has now removed it and closed their account– showing just what a chilling effect these episodes can have on free speech.

    Sadly, I guess we have to score one for censorship. Bad on you, Brazil.

  • Google’s President of Operations Arrested in Brazil over YouTube Spat, According to Reports [UPDATED]

    UPDATE: Google has not commented on Coelho, but a spokesperson told me that they are taking action on the ruling to remove the aforementioned videos:

    “Google is appealing the court’s decision to remove a video from YouTube because, as a platform, we are not responsible for the content uploaded to our site.”

    ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Well, that didn’t take long. Less than two days after a Brazilian Judge ordered the arrest of Google’s President of Operations in the country, he has been arrested.

    Fabio Jose Silva Coelho was arrested on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the Federal Police (obtained by Brazilian news site G1). The site reports that he will not stay incarcerated, and will be release later considering he agrees to obey a subpoena.

    Coelho was arrested on charges that Google failed to remove certain YouTube videos that were determined to be defamatory. These videos contained disparaging remarks about a mayoral candidate in the city of Campo Grande. According to G1, the candidate Alcides Bernal calls the videos lies, and said they are part of an “electioneering strategy” designed to undermine his campaign.

    Brazil and Google have clashed before on the issue of “offensive content,” as Google was sued in country for content hosted on Google’s Orkut social networking site.

    Google has stated that they are not responsible for any offensive content. Google has complied with takedown requests in the past, however. In fact, Brazil submitted 418 separate takedown requests last year alone, and Google says that they complied with just over 60% of them.

    We’ve reached out to Google and will update this article when we hear back.

    [G1 via The Next Web]

  • Buscapé Implies Google Breached Ruling From Brazilian Court

    According to a court document, a Brazilian court recently rejected claims by shopping comparison site Buscapé that Google is a monopoly, and essentially does not conduct its business in a way that is fair to competitors. We talked about this here, linking to a Search Engine Land post, which shared the actual document via Scribd.

    Today, a spokesperson for Buscapé reached out to WebProNews to share the following statement about a private lawsuit. The company has posted to its site:

    “The 18th Civil Court of the São Paulo Central Jurisdiction is processing, under court secrecy, a civil claim for loss and damage filed by Buscapé against Google.

    Interestingly, and in spite of the confidentiality ruling handed down by the applicable Judge at the request of Google itself in its defense, the lower court decision has been posted, in English, on Search Engine Land, a website specializing in Internet searches. The document comprising the entire decision was also posted, apparently by the same author of the mentioned article, on scribd.com. The document’s properties show the name of Google Brazil’s General Counsel as the author of the file, possible evidence of a breach of the ruling handed down by the Brazilian court.

    Buscapé regrets the disrespect to the Brazilian legislation, to the court ruling, and the fact that a lower court decision has been treated as final or misrepresented as if it were the formal compliant being examined by CADE, the Brazilian competition authority.”

    Buscapé is currently requesting that the judge take the appropriated measures regarding the leak of information.

  • Brazil Judge Orders Arrest of Google President of Operations over Video Removal Request

    In another international case of countries attempting to hold companies responsible for “offensive” content hosted by one of their sites, a Brazilian judge has actually ordered the arrest of one Google employee.

    On Monday, Judge Flavio Peren ordered the arrest of Google’s President of Operations in the country, Fabio Jose Silva Coelho. The order came after the failure of Google to remove a couple of YouTube videos that contained “disparaging remarks” about a mayoral candidate in the city of Campo Grande. Although the arrest order has been given, police say they’ve yet to receive any such orders, according to the Washington Post.

    This isn’t the first time that Google has been involved in content removal disputes in Brazil, with some previous scuffles involving Google-owned Orkut. Earlier this year, Google was sued over “offensive content” posted by users on the older social networking site.

    “Government requests for content removal are high in Brazil relative to other countries partly because of the popularity of our social networking website, orkut,” says Google in their 2011 Transparency Report.

    Last year, Google received 418 separate content removal request from the Brazilian government which covered 1,246 individual items. Google says that they fully or partially complied with just over 60% of those requests. The number of YouTube videos that Brazil requested removal due to “defamation” was 217.

    Google has said that they won’t appeal the ruling, as they aren’t responsible for the defamatory content.

  • Court Finds That Google Is Not A Monopoly. Agree?

    In June, we asked readers if they think Google is a monopoly or if people just prefer it. We got quite a range of answers. The argument hasn’t gone away. In fact, if anything, it’s ramped up more than ever. The company is facing scrutiny at one level or another all over the world, but things keep happening to add to the discussion, including court rulings, acquisitions, and even shifts in market share.

    We’ll ask again: Do you think Google is a monopoly? Let us know in the comments.

    A court in Brazil has rejected claims by shopping comparison site Buscapé that Google is a monopoly, and essentially does not conduct its business in a way that is fair to competitors.

    As described in a legal document, the complaint is that Google “manipulates its search service, that controls 95% of the market,” for the purpose of:

    1. Allowing only Google Shopping to display images of the searched merchandise, which is not permitted to Buscapé and Bondfaro;

    2. Embezzling and usurping the database of reviews – clients’ evaluations of the purchases gathered along more than 10 years by Buscapé, Bondfaro and E-Bit sites;

    3. Artificially including Google Shopping in the first ranks of the search results, whenever a consumer conducts a query for the purchase of products in Google Search, thus harming the other competitor sites owned by Plaintiff.

    Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land shares the summary judgment ruling it what appears to be a big win for Google in a not-so-highly publicized case.

    In a nutshell, the court found that Google is not a monopoly, as people can easily go to other sites to conduct searches if they like, including other search engines, or the sites like those of the plaintiff.

    Interestingly, Google has also been sharing a New York Times report indicating that people are actually beginning more product searches at Amazon.com rather than Google.com. The Times reports:

    In 2009, nearly a quarter of shoppers started research for an online purchase on a search engine like Google and 18 percent started on Amazon, according to a Forrester Research study. By last year, almost a third started on Amazon and just 13 percent on a search engine. Product searches on Amazon have grown 73 percent over the last year while searches on Google Shopping have been flat, according to comScore.

    This is exactly the kind of threat that Google faces when it comes to diminishing search market share, and in fact, is one that Google has indicated in the past is its biggest threat.

    While Microsoft’s Bing poses some threat, Google is likely more worried about losing market share piece by piece in different verticals – more product searches going to Amazon being a prime example. I wonder how many other searches are being lost to Amazon by way of IMDB. Not to mention all of the countless apps that find their way into users’ lives on a daily basis via smartphones and tablets.

    We look at the search market share reports each month, comparing Google to Bing and Yahoo, but in reality it’s about much more than that. Google has to worry about Amazon, Yelp, Facebook, Siri, and every other app/site with a search function (or a notification function), collectively, making the need to search Google a thing of the past – at least for these apps’ respective verticals. This is no doubt why Google is also trying to get you information before you search for it with Google Now, which recently got an update of its own, by the way.

    As Google likes to say, competition is just a click away, and that is something that will not be changing in the foreseeable future, other than perhaps the replacement of the word “click” with the word “tap”. It’s an argument that Google has leaned on for a long time, but a lot of businesses are not satisfied with that, and along with government agencies, continue to express concern with Google’s market domination and its effects on competitors and consumers.

    The Brazilian court also found that Google can basically deliver its results anyway it sees fit, that Google Shopping (and presumably other verticals) is simply a type of result, and not a shopping comparison site like those of the plaintiff, and that Google’s use of the plaintiff’s reviews are simply within the realm of fair use.

    Again, it’s a big win for Google, and will no doubt be mentioned in ongoing discussions and legal battles with other entities around the world (like the European Commission and the Federal Trade Commission).

    Are you buying the court’s findings? Tell us what you think.

  • Google+ Is Getting A Lot Bigger In Brazil

    It wasn’t that long ago that Google ruled social media in Brazil with Orkut. Recently, Facebook overtook Orkut in the country, and dominated the landscape there like it does in most places.

    Don’t count Google out just yet, however. New data from Experian Marketing Services shows some pretty impressive growth for Google+ in Brazil. According to the firm, Google+ saw a 5,750% increase in market share of visits (to all sites) between July 2011 and July 2012. In the UK, Google+ saw 476% increase.

    Instagram and Pinterest are he major stars of the firm’s new report. In North America, Pinterest grew 5,124% and Instagram grew 17,319% between July 2011 and July 2012.

    Take a look at this chart showing growth of the two networks in key countries:

    Instagram and Pinterest growth

    Bill Tancer, Head of Global Research at Experian, commented: “The growth of both Instagram and Pinterest over the past year has been phenomenal. The reason for their success is that they haven’t tried to be ‘another Facebook’ to reach consumers. Both networks are image based which people love – we all relate better to pictures than just words.”

    “For brands that are retailers for example, a site like Pinterest presents a fantastic opportunity to promote products in a compelling and organized way to a wide group of people across the world,” added Tancer. “Over the next 12 months, we expect to see a proliferation of niche social networks. Offering deeper functionality combined with a lower technical barrier to entry will mean new leaders in social media being created in a matter of days versus weeks and months.”

    Here are the other highlights of Experian’s research:

    Experian Highlights

    As far as Pinterest is concerned, we can probably expect to see a great deal more growth as the service is now available to users without an invitation, it now has mobile apps, and it is expanding into more languages.

  • Google Street View Adds Brazil And Mayan Pyramids To Its Digital Vacation Destinations

    Google’s Street View is one of the best things that the Internet enables. It allows those of us who can’t afford trips around the world to see what the rest of the world looks like. It’s gotten even better over the past year as Google began to add more exotic locales to Street View like the Amazon and Antarctica.

    This week’s update is an archaeology fan’s dream as Street View explores the ancient pyramids of Mexico. It also adds more Street View data from Brazil for good measure. Both locations have some impressive sites to show off to the world.

    Here’s a particularly lovely part of Rio where you can see the famous Christ the Redeemer statue on top of the mountain to the North. It’s unfortunate that Google doesn’t have Street View imagery from on top of the mountain with the statue yet, but it will get there someday.


    View Larger Map

    More impressive, however, is the Street View data from 30 archaeological sites in Mexico. The Mayans were behind some really impressive architecture. You can see it up close thanks to the efforts of the Street View team. Check it out:


    View Larger Map

    Like with all Street View updates, it’s tantalizing to think what might come up next. Personally, I think Google needs to take Street View to space. It would be awesome to get some good color photos from the surface of the Moon. With Larry Page investing in space ventures, it may only be a matter of time before Google realizes my dream of comprehensive moon coverage.

  • Mozilla Bringing Cheap Smartphones To Developing Countries In 2013

    We’ve known since February that Mozilla was working on a mobile OS for smartphones. The non-profit had a goal of creating cheap smartphones that were targeted at markets in developing countries. Those plans are now more concrete as Mozilla has announced the carriers that will distribute Firefox Mobile OS phones around the world.

    Today, Mozilla announced that seven carriers have thrown their support behind the open source Firefox OS that will be powering cheap smartphones in the near future. Mozilla will be using the Firefox brand for the name of its new OS for brand recognition and to signal its commitment to HTML5. The first companies to offer Firefox phones include Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Telenor.

    TCL Communication Technology and ZTE will be the companies manufacturing the hardware that will power the new phones. The only hardware specs we know so far is that the phones will be equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. Since these are supposed to be cheap phones, my money is on the S4 Play.

    The really exciting thing about the Firefox Mobile OS is that it’s built on Mozilla’s Boot to Gecko project. It will allow HTML5 applications to access all the power the phone has to offer. On Android and iOS, applications must be built natively to have access to that same power. Mozilla will also be building all of the essential phone capabilities (calling, messaging, games) on HTML5.

    “The introduction of the open mobile OS continues the Mozilla mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web for users and developers. As billions of users are expected to come online for the first time in the coming years, it is important to deliver a compelling smartphone experience that anyone can use,” said Gary Kovacs, CEO, Mozilla. “The large number of operators and manufacturers now supporting this effort will bring additional resources and diversity to our global offerings.”

    You can expect to see the first Firefox Mobile OS-powered devices hitting the market in 2013. Unfortunately, they will only be available in Brazil at first, but they will definitely spread beyond South America. Remember, this is Mozilla’s goal to help get more people connected to the Web through cheap devices. The devices will probably not be super popular in developed countries where iOS and Android already have a presence, but I would love to get my hands on one nonetheless.

    With that being said, I’m sure it will launch at some point in the U.S. The scalability of Firefox Mobile OS means that it can run on just about any hardware as it’s based entirely in HTML5. We might see some really powerful smartphones hitting the U.S. market completely powered by the Web by the end of 2013.

  • HTC Pulls Out Of Brazil, Terminates Plans For HTC One Line

    I have a HTC phone and I like it well enough. It’s a good Android phone and has served me well. It seems that Brazil doesn’t have as many fans.

    A representative from HTC has confirmed to AndroidPIT that the company is shutting down their operations in Brazil. This isn’t one of those strategies where HTC hopes to recoup their losses and try again at a later date. HTC is completely dismantling their Brazilian business and will be moving out of the country for good.

    Why such a drastic turn of events for what’s looking like a great market for smartphones? According to HTC, their phones just aren’t selling in Brazil. They analyzed the sales numbers and found that it wasn’t worth their time or money.

    Unfortunately, HTC pulling out of the country has apparently killed all plans of releasing the HTC One line of smartphones in the country. That leaves Brazilians unable to purchase the beloved HTC One X that has already garnered plenty of five-star reviews.

    It’s highly unlikely that this move will have any effect on their international markets as HTC is still a major player in the US Android scene. It is somewhat worrisome for other markets like Brazil though. Will HTC pull out of similar markets like in the Middle East and Southeast Asia? We’ve reached out to HTC and will update if we hear back.

    Fortunately, consumers who already own an HTC phone in Brazil will be able to receive support in the form of replacement and repairs. The company doesn’t mention how long that will last though. When a tech company pulls out of a market or discontinues a product, service on said product only lasts for so long. HTC customers in Brazil may just want to switch over to a new phone.

    UPDATE: HTC has provided us with the following statement:

    After careful analysis of our lines of business, HTC is closing our office in Brazil. We will continue after-sales support for our products so this should not result in a change in service for current customers. This decision does not have an impact on HTC’s business outside of Brazil.