Across the Universe: Yelp Adjusts; Apple Upgrades; Ad Spend Upswings

Today brings an assortment of topics of interest. Following recent news (see my post from March 21) of multiple class action suits against Yelp alleging that representatives of the online review giant offered to remove or modify placement of negative reviews in exchange for advertising dollars, BrandChannel reports that the site is now making filtered-out reviews visible.

Yelp has also removed the option for companies to push their favorite review to the top of their company’s page. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman posted on his blog that “Lifting the veil on our review filter and doing away with 'Favorite Review' will make it even clearer that displayed reviews on Yelp are completely independent of advertising – or any sort of manipulation."

The controversial review filter exists--according to Yelp--in order to protect business owners from unwarranted, unfavorable reviews by competitors, but the algorithmic process does at times eliminate legitimate reviews. Some have speculated that the yanked reviews were pulled by Yelp because the subject did not want to pay for advertising on the site, but in a recent NY Times article, Yelp denies this allegation.

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After resisting for several years, a friend of mine recently bought an iPhone. Within a week, he declared it "the greatest thing I've ever owned."

Being an iPhone devotee myself, and noting this JD Power Marketing Chart ranking Apple tops for Smartphone satisfaction, this is far from shocking.

And now, just days after the high profile launch of the iPad, which utilizes much the same technology, Apple has announced its biggest iPhone software update ever, to OS4.0. It promises more than 100 new features and over 1,500 new developer tools. Likely the most significant upgrade for the end-user is the ability to now multi-task, meaning you will no longer have to log out of listening to Pandora in order to check your email, and can utilize myriad other features simultaneously.

The upcoming software upgrade only applies in full to the iPhone 3Gs, with older versions like mine lacking the necessary hardware to accommodate it. But a fourth generation iPhone is rumored to be released in conjunction with the 4.0 software this summer, so perhaps it may be time for me to upgrade.

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Finally, as someone still waiting for the economy to truly recover for those of us on Main Street, and with
advertising spending an important indicator from--and for--the industry in which I've longed made my living (and hope to again soon), this chart from today's e-Marketer article is encouraging.

While ad spend was down across all media in 2009, indications are that nearly all avenues will be on the upswing in 2010 and 2011. Keeping in mind that forecasts are far from facts, this is far better news than the alternative.