Mobile Advertising Skyrocketed Last Year
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Mobile advertising spend jumped 111% to $3.4 billion during 2012, per an Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) report today, accounting for 9% of all digital ad revenue last year. It marked the second consecutive year of dramatic mobile growth, after seeing a 149% year-over-year increase in 2011, according to the IAB. Moving forward, the study found that 2012 digital ad revenue overall hit $36.6 billion — a 15% lift compared to 2011's $31.7 billion. In addition to mobile, digital video had a huge year, marking a 29% increase ($2.3 billion total) over 2011. Read >
Has Facebook Asked To Put Facebook Home On The iPhone? (All Things Digital)
Sure, Facebook would love to put its new Home overlay on Apple’s iPhone and iPad. However, Apple almost certainly doesn’t want it there. But Facebook is integrated into iOS, and is an enormously popular application on the platform. So the two companies are perennially "having conversations." But just what are those conversations about? Has Facebook asked Apple if it can put Home on the iPhone? Read >
Now We Know Why Facebook Went With Android (readwrite mobile)
Facebook released an update to its iOS app today that brings one of Home's strongest features — Chat Heads — to the iPhone and iPad. While it may be a drag for iPhone and iPad users to have a subpar version of the Chat Heads experience, it's a start. The big unknown is what's coming in iOS 7, which is expected this summer. Will Apple allow not just Facebook but other developers to layer apps on top of each other, the way Google does in Android? Or will it maintain tight control over the experience and risk making Android the bleeding-edge playground for experiments like Chat Heads? Read >
Google Now At 1.5 Million Android Activations Per Day (Engadget)
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt confirmed that the company is now seeing 1.5 million Android activations per day, which is up from 1.3 million per day last fall and 1.4 million as of last month. Schmidt also says that the company remains on track for one billion total devices by the end of the year, which would be a sizeable increase from the 750 million that CEO Larry Page confirmed in his most recent statement last month. Schmidt further notes that the key to that future growth will be the $100 price point, something he suggests they'll quickly get to. Read >
Apple's Budget iPhone Could Nab 11% Of Low-End Market (Mashable)
Apple's so-called “iPhone mini” could grab 11% of the low-end smartphone market within its first year on the shelves. According to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, Apple’s low-cost iPhone is likely to launch in September with a price tag of around $300. This phone would carry a gross margin of 30% for Apple, compared to 55% for existing models. The budget iPhone’s rumored release is being billed as a way to satisfy customers in developing nations who wish to spend less on smartphones. We've heard quite a bit about this phone over the past few months, including various concept designs. Read >
Time Warner Cable To Offer Live Mobile TV For Apple Devices (Bloomberg)
Time Warner Cable is adding live out-of-home programming for the first time to its TWC TV application, letting customers watch shows on Apple mobile devices. The company will make as many as 11 live national news, sports and entertainment channels available outside the home starting today. They include the Big Ten Network, the Pac-12 Network, TV Guide Network and BBC America. In addition, customers will have access to some local channels, including NY1 for New Yorkers. The programming will be available for Apple’s iPad, iPad Mini, iPhone and iPod Touch. Read >
Did Yahoo Deliver On Their Mobile Promise? (VentureBeat)
Yahoo and mobile. We’ve been hearing for months now that Yahoo wants to focus on mobile. But during the company’s earnings call yesterday, did that focus shine? At the end of the day, mobile formats are still listed as a risk on Yahoo’s books. And while we did see evidence that the company is making every effort to do better at mobile with a great new look and feel for key products and some awesome acquisitions, it may still be a while before the world thinks of Yahoo as a mobile-focused company. Read >
Passing On A Surface Phone Is A Mistake For Microsoft (PC World)
Microsoft may be whipping up a smartwatch, but according to the company's Windows Phone honcho, a self-made Surface smartphone isn't in the cards. Vice president Terry Myerson said flat-out that he doesn't see a reason for Microsoft to muddy the Windows Phone waters. "It would have to be something where Nokia or HTC was not providing the consumer experience we think is possible with our platform," he said when asked about a possible Surface smartphone. Read >
Netflix Ditching Silverlight For HTML5 (WebMonkey)
Netflix is looking to ditch its Silverlight-based video player for an HTML5 version that would work pretty much anywhere, but HTML5 isn’t quite up to the task just yet. Microsoft has already put Silverlight out to pasture, to be retired come 2021.That gives Netflix and others eight years to come up with an alternative. For its part Netflix wants to use HTML5, but HTML thus far lacks some key components Netflix needs, namely a way to generate media streams for playback, a cryptography protocol and, most controversially, DRM for streaming media. Read >
Mobile To Generate Traffic Equivalent To 42 Quadrillion Tweets By 2017 (Juniper Research)
A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that the amount of mobile data traffic generated by smartphones, feature phones and tablets will exceed 90,000 petabytes by 2017, equivalent to almost 42 quadrillion tweets or approximately 7 billion Blu-ray movies. However, the report finds that only 40% of the data generated by these devices will reach the cellular network by 2017, as majority of the data traffic will be via a Wi-Fi network. Read >