The Wall Street Journal reports that the second iteration of the fastest selling Apple product of all time has begun production. After selling 14.8 million iPads in 2010, the technology giant needs to fend off an increasing amount of competitors like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, and the HP Slate. IDC,  a Global Marketing Intelligence Firm, predicts 30 million iPads will be sold in 2011. According to WSJ, here is what “people familiar with the matter” had to say about a new version coming out:

“The new device will be thinner, lighter and will come with a faster processor, more memory and a more powerful graphics processor . . . It will have a front-facing camera for the first time for features like video-conferencing, but the resolution of the new iPad’s display will be similar to the first iPad.”

iOS 4.3 is expected to come out in this week with new features for both the iPhone and iPad. The developer pack eludes to wireless syncing, Photobooth, personal wi-fi hotspot and a front facing camera for the new iPad. Another exciting feature is photo streams that friends will be able to follow, much like Instagram and PicPlz. All of these features come together to offer high engagement with our mobile devices and opportunities for brands to connect with their customers. Advertisers will have no shortage of ways to engage customers but will need to pick the ones that will increase brand affinity and potentially lifetime value.

Advertisers using the self-service ad tool for Facebook can now show friends who have liked the brand’s post(s) in the ad unit itself. In order to take advantage of this you must be targeting ads to your Facebook fan page and the new ad format is brought to you by the activity of your friends. When comparing against the Facebook Beacon incident of 2007, we don’t see a huge difference between the ads. But with a few hundred million more users and improved privacy settings, Facebook feels it is time to bring these back out.

Below are two examples of what the ads look like and how to align your customers with your marketing goals.

Another ad upgrade is that advertisers can now easily direct traffic to custom tabs. This will allow for better A/B testing to drive more efficient Cost Per Likes. Depending how advanced your site is, you can test between Events, your Wall, Photos or even custom tabs. Razorfish has built dozens of custom tabs, such as our in-app shopping experience for JCPenney. We’ve also partnered with some great developers like Buddy Media and Wildfire. These customized apps can increase engagement through surveys, contents, games, video and more. Before focusing on driving traffic to your page, find out what your customer wants!

Below is an example of how easy it is to pick a landing page. In order to execute landing page testing for each tab, you will need to create a new group per page, since you are only allowed one ad per group per page.

These new features keep users within the Facebook ecosystem, while giving them more relevant information about what their friends and family enjoy. As consumers spend more time on the Facebook site vs. being driven somewhere else, we expect conversion tracking and social CRM to evolve. If advertisers create more experiences for users to buy, sign up, and interact with their brand right on their Facebook page, profit synergies can only increase with earned and owned media alike.

Google’s Zeitgeist 2010 launched yesterday, giving us a peek into how the world searched in 2010. Aggregating data on how companies and countries search gives us a glimpse into what we care about most as human beings. The data is compiled with the help of Google Trends, which you can easily access for any time frame and subscribe to via RSS/iGoogle. The interactive infographic highlights the hottest searches in Science, Entertainment, Sports, Food and more. The report even shows you the interests that are currently rising or falling out of our collective search behavior.

The most human side of the search industry comes out in pieces like this because it transforms data into tangible points of interest or contention. Many of us at Razorfish remember when we heard Gary Coleman or Leslie Nielsen passed away, instantly making us want to watch reruns of Different Strokes, Airplane and Naked Gun. Some of us even remember where we were standing the moment we heard about the earthquake in Haiti or the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf.  The zeitgeist reveals a global state of the union that highlights how we’ve spent our time, resources and affections.

What we love about the search industry is that it is part anthropology, ethnography, business strategy, marketing, and creative. We, as marketers, are asked to capture consumer interest and align our business objectives with this existing demand vs. pushing products and services consumers may or may not need. The success of the best customer experiences hinges upon consumer reviews, company transparency, and real-time feedback.

In many ways the Google ad auction is a harmonious union between publisher, advertiser and consumer and Google’s annual zeitgeist report invites everyone, consumers and advertisers, to step back and see the mosaic of life through syntax and sexy site design.  So, while you enjoy the Google Zeitgeist this year, imagine future possibilities and what it means to Search On.

A new deal site launched on Tuesday, named Offermatic, which seeks to capitalize on the group-buying craze. The site essentially provides deals from major retailers based on your credit or debit card histories. The user interface combines the best parts Mint and Groupon to automatically reward you for selling your own data or purchasing a coupon. This passive approach to savings takes the Groupon model a step further down every marketer’s purchasing funnel.

Advertisers have been buying user purchase histories for decades. Companies like Cardlytics already use zip code, store name, and store category information from bank statements to retarget your ads. But Offermatic places the power into the consumers’ hands. Transparency actually works in the company’s favor by allowing users to self-identify themselves. I’ve already saved 50% on my next movie ticket through Fandango and 10% off my next Trader Joe’s purchase of $50+. Offermatic also leverages social by rewarding you with points for sharing each deal via Twitter and Facebook. No longer does the customer have to actively seek out deals, Offermatic makes it as if the deals are looking for you!

Local deal sites Groupon and LivingSocial are the bells of the ball this year and are being courted by Google and Amazon, but they don’t have this kind of data to work with. Neither is selling yet, in the hopes the deal craze will continue to sweep the globe and distribute the savings to consumers through multiple touch points. Since November of 2008, Groupon has saved a total of $814,883,217 and sold 18,913,160 coupons, but could reach into the billions if they were to focus on larger retail chains. Groupon has 3,000 employees in 29 countries, half of which are sales people according to Business Insider. Those employees are buying deals from a lot of mom and pop shops when they could be talking more frequently to the Walmarts and Starbucks of the world.

Last night, Facebook announced the launch of Facebook Places at their headquarters in Palo Alto, California.  Facebook Places is a location-based check-in service that allows users to share where they are, find out where their friends are and discover places in their area. Users can also tag friends when they check in, something that other services do not currently offer. The service allows businesses to create or claim Places on Facebook and encourage users to check in. Eventually this could lead to the ability to offer discounts or promotional messages to users at a location or nearby.

Location based check-in services have been growing in popularity and it’s been hard to ignore the rumors and hype surrounding the launch of Facebook’s own product. The big question has been: will a Facebook check-in service destroy competitor applications?

During the announcement, Zuckerburg joked about all the features Facebook would not be integrating into the new platform.  However in a dazzling display of netizenship, Facebook decided to play nice with Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and Booya (the makers of MyTown). While Facebook will continue to port over all your social good from the most popular location-based services, the impact on these competitors remains to be seen. According to the most recent Mashable poll, only 30% of people say they will use the service (but another 30% responded “Maybe: I’m going to wait and see”), suggesting adoption may start off slow.

Much like Social Graph, Places promises to unify even more data from across the web. It is only a matter of time before Facebook launches other services such as: peer to peer payment systems, similar to Paypal, group deal sites, similar to Groupon, and online classifieds, similar to Craigslist.

According to comScore, as of July Facebook is the third largest video site in the U.S. Last March the Private Data Equity Center valued Facebook at $35 Billion. InsideFacebook.com states they are projected to hit $1.1 Billion in ad sales revenue after hitting 700 million in 2009. With these numbers, we’re not to far away from saying, “Hey I’ll just Facebook you the money,” or “Just sell it on Facebook.”

Are you going to use Facebook Places? What’s next for Facebook? We want to hear from you!