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How Addicted Are We To Facebook Mobile? (IDC via AllFacebook)
We know that Facebook has roughly 618 million mobile users, but how are they interacting with the social network from their smartphone? A comprehensive study by Facebook and IDC shows that most users on mobile check their News Feed frequently. Several users copped to checking Facebook from their phone at the movies and while they’re at the gym. Facebook and IDC polled 7,446 iOS and Android users, who were 18 to 44 years old, finding that 70 percent of them used Facebook’s mobile application (61 percent used it every day). Facebook was found to be the third most popular activity on mobile, with 78 percent saying they used the phone to check email and 73 percent using it for Web browsing. Read >>
Consumers Are Using Mobile To Bank, But Not To Buy (WSJ)
Americans are increasingly using their phones to avoid a trip to the bank, but they still have little interest in having mobile devices replace their wallets. The cellphone users tapping into banking services increased 33 percent during 2012, according to a Federal Reserve survey. Nearly half of those with smart phones accessed a banking app or mobile website in the past year, the survey of 2,600 consumers found. Only 6 percent of smart phone owners used their device to make a purchase in the past 12 months, and less than a quarter say that they’re even interested in such services, the Fed said. Read >>
Samsung Leads The World In Mobile Patents (TechCrunch)
Samsung lost out big to Apple last year in a mobile patent blowout in the U.S., but it’s been slowly building up an arsenal of patents that potentially will keep it from falling into the same situation again. Samsung received the most mobile patents in 2012, and it now holds the most mobile patents of any company worldwide, according to the latest patent report out from mobile analyst Chetan Sharma. Sharma looked at more than 7 million mobile patents awarded in the U.S. and Europe, the two biggest markets for patents globally at the moment. The U.S. accounts for nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of all mobile patents across the two regions. Read >>
Twitter Ad Revenue To Near $1 Billion, 60 Percent Mobile (eMarketer)
eMarketer has raised its forecast for advertising spending on Twitter for 2013 and 2014, estimating the company will earn $582.8 million in global ad revenue in 2013 before nearing $1 billion next year. According to the new forecast, more than half of Twitter's ad revenues — about 53 percent — will come from mobile advertising this year, up from virtually no ad revenue from mobile in 2011. Advertising on mobile devices will be where Twitter sees the most incremental growth over the next two years. By 2015, Twitter is expected to pull in $1.33 billion in worldwide ad revenue, more than 60 percent of which will come from mobile advertising. Read >>
Windows Phones Outselling iPhones In Emerging Markets (The New York Times)
The New York Times asked IDC to qualify the research behind Windows Phone stats from Frank Shaw, the head of public relations at Microsoft. According to Kevin Restivo, an analyst at IDC, the countries where Windows Phone shipments exceeded those of iPhone during the fourth quarter were: Argentina, India, Poland, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine. A seventh "country" where Windows Phone shipments beat iPhone is actually a group of smaller countries, including Croatia, that IDC lumps together in a category called "rest of central and eastern Europe." Mr. Restivo provided some context, though, that slightly diminishes the scale of Microsoft’s success in those countries. Three of the markets — Ukraine, South Africa and "rest of central and eastern Europe" — are small enough that there were fewer than 100,000 Windows Phone unit shipments in the fourth quarter in each of them. Read >>
BlackBerry's Android Bet Is Paying Off (TechCrunch)
BlackBerry’s App World now touts 100,000 BB10 applications. An impressive number for a platform just months old. But out of those 100,000 applications, roughly 20 percent are Android apps, simply ported over rather than being coded specifically for BlackBerry 10 (BB10). Still, this is a win for BlackBerry. Android or native, it shows that BlackBerry is successfully pulling developers into its fold. Even without the Android apps, App World still has roughly 80,000 native BB10 apps. As it sits right now, the Android ports are simply holding seats for big apps. BB10 is still missing key apps, with Instagram and Netflix being two of the biggest holes. But don’t worry, there are Android ports available. Read >>
Watch Baidu As China's Mobile Advertising Market Matures (Seeking Alpha)
Baidu is in an interesting transition right now. While it does boast good numbers and a lion's share of the PC search market, its journey into the mobile market will dictate a lot of its revenue in the future. Baidu has two legs in this search advertising revenue model: PC searches where it boasts an 80 percent ownership of the market, and the growing mobile market where it has about a 35 percent market share. The latter is not expected to significantly grow because competition is a little fiercer and fragmented. There are other players like Tencent (23 percent market share) and Easou (22 percent market share). Read >>
What Works In Rich Media Mobile Advertising (celtra via Cool Infographics)
A well designed rich media experience that uses a store locator, games or social media has a direct and positive impact on consumer engagement and return on investment. In fact, rich media mobile advertisements drive double-digit engagement rates (12.8 percent on average) across all devices types, platforms and ad placements. Read >>
