Mobile Ad Spend Going To iOS
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The booming mobile advertising market grew from $1.4 billion in 2011 to $4.1 billion in 2012, and it’s projected to hit a massive $7.3 billion in 2013. And almost all of it is spent on Apple’s ecosystem. There’s a reason that even though Android has almost caught up to iOS in downloads, it’s still way behind in monetization. Partially, it’s because iTunes has a long and successful history of commercial transactions, so people feel comfortable clicking and shopping and buying on iOS. Partially, it’s because Apple was the leader in mobile for so long. Read >
Android's Growth In The U.S. Has Stalled (Benedict Evans)
First, Android isn't really growing at all in the U.S., at least at the big two operators. All the growth is coming from iPhone.
Second, there's near-zero seasonality in Android phone sales. Third, there seems to be a complete disconnect between Android and iPhone purchasing. One can understand iPhone sales per se going up in a launch quarter, but why don't Android sales go down in those quarters? It looks like a new iPhone launch doesn't tempt in Android buyers at all. Read >
Google Shows Progress In Mobile Ads (San Francisco Chronicle)
Google's latest quarterly results provided further proof that the Internet search leader is figuring out how to make more money as Web surfers migrate from personal computers to mobile devices. The first-quarter numbers released Thursday show that a recent decline in Google's average ad prices is easing. That's an indication that marketers are starting to pay more for the ads that Google distributes to smartphones and tablet computers. The company expects that trend to continue as it changes its pricing system and as mobile devices emerge as the most effective way to reach consumers. Read >
BlackBerry 10’s share of BlackBerry traffic has grown to 5.3% as of April 11th. This represents an approximate doubling in usage share since the Z10’s U.S. release 20 days prior. The launch of the smartphone on Verizon (Day 51) also coincided with the Z10’s largest sustained jump in usage share. As a comparison, North American iPhone 5 users generated 5.5% of all North American iPhone traffic 15 days after its release. While the iPhone 5 launched across multiple carriers in both the U.S. and Canada on September 21st, 2012, it is also worth noting that the total volume of BlackBerry traffic is significantly smaller than that of the iPhone, meaning that many more new iPhones were needed to impact overall share figures. Read >
Facebook Brings Free VoIP Calling To Android (Engadget)
Facebook is bringing free VoIP calling to users of its Home and Android Messenger apps in the U.S. The social network's VoIP for iOS has been available in the U.S. for a few months now, and Android users are already enjoying the service in 23 other countries, including Canada. Stateside, the VoIP for Android will roll out over the course of the day, and it shouldn't require a manual update. From Chat Heads, starting a call requires tapping the "more info" dots next to a friend's name to jump into the Messenger app. Read >
Why LinkedIn Dumped HTML5 For Native Mobile Apps (VentureBeat)
LinkedIn has just launched the latest versions of its mobile apps, and in a stunning reversal, it has gone from mobile Web-based apps back to fully native. Less than a year ago, the company was touting its iPad app as fully mobile Web-based, with just one screen, the home screen, running natively. Now, all that’s gone, as is some of the optimism about the current capabilities of the mobile Web. Kiran Prasad, LinkedIn’s senior director for mobile engineering, said performance issues weren’t causing crashes or making the app run slowly. What he did say shows that HTML5 for the mobile Web still has a bright future — but only if developers are willing to build the tools to support it. Read >
Do Mobile Marketers Understand Teens And Social Media? (Right Mix Marketing via Mobile Marketing Watch)
Right Mix Marketing published a fascinating new infographic that presents valuable information for mobile marketers and advertisers with their sights trained on social media. Read >
