MobileCrunch |  |
- Millennial: Android Tops iOS For The Eighth Month With 61 Percent Of Mobile Ad Impressions In July
- One Year Later, Facebook Killing Off Places …To Put Location Everywhere
- Failbook Phone: AT&T Already Looking To Ditch The HTC Status, Says Source
- Rumor: Sprint To Sell iPhone 5 In October
- Windows Phone Reaches 30,000 Apps, Opens Marketplace to Mango Submissions
- Ask.com Brings Mobile Q&A Platform To Android Devices
- Touchanote Adds NFC Support to Evernote
- Ustream Shutters Live Mobilizer, Partners With Mobile Roadie To Allow Broadcasters To Create Mobile Apps
- Microsoft Asks For An Import Ban On Motorola Smartphones
- Rumor: Apple Preparing Discount iPhone 4 For September
| Millennial: Android Tops iOS For The Eighth Month With 61 Percent Of Mobile Ad Impressions In July Posted: 24 Aug 2011 02:45 AM PDT  It’s no secret that Android is growing at a fast clip, especially over the past year. As Millennial Media, one of the largest mobile ad networks in the U.S., reported recently Android’s mobile ad impression share went up from 6 percent in March to 2010 to 54 percent of ad impression share in June 2011, eclipsing iOS. July’s report shows similar growth patterns, with In July, Android showed particularly strong growth, with its mobile ad impression share by OS increasing by 15 percent in the month, taking 61 percent of the impressions on Millennial’s network. This is the eighth straight month Android has topped iOS. iOS share actually dropped on Millennial’s network in July, taking 21 percent of mobile ad impressions, down from 26 percent in June. RIM trailed with 14 percent of share in July, down one percentage point from June. Globally, iOS and RIM impressions were relatively flat month-over-month, but Android impressions grew 31 percent month-over-month. Symbian impressions grew 11 percent in July, but Windows Phone 7 impressions grew a whopping 71 percent month-over-month. Millennial reports that smartphone mobile ad impression share grew 5 percent month-over-month and continued to top the device list with 68 percent of the impressions in July. Connected Devices (i.e. iPads) and Feature Phones were tied with 16 percent of impressions. For the first month, Millennial broke out Wi-Fi enabled devices, and in July, Wi-Fi accounted for 33 percent of the Carrier Mix. Within Wi-Fi, Smartphones make up over half of all Wi-Fi impressions on the network and connected devices, including Tablets, gaming devices, and eReaders, accounted for As reported in the company’s SMART report a few weeks ago, manufacturers Apple, HTC, and Huawei all more than doubled their impression share in the past two years thanks to the growing popularity of smartphones. Millennial says that in 2009, its first Top 20 Mobile Phones list featured a mix of feature phones and smartphones, including seven BREW devices, three Java devices, two BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices, the iPhone, and one Google Android device. In Q2 2011, the same list consisted entirely of Smartphones (with many more Android phones). In July, Apple continued to be the leading device manufacturer the network, representing 26 percent of the Top 15 Manufacturers impression share, and the iPhone maintained the number one position on the Top 20 Mobile Phones ranking with 13 percent of the impression share. Samsung actually so the most growth month over month, up 28 percent from June, taking the number two manufacturer spot for the sixth consecutive month. Millennial also breaks down ad spend from applications on the network, and Android passed iOS for ad spend. According to the report, 48 percent came from Android apps, while 43 percent of ad spend came from iOS apps. By genre of app, gaming apps made up 29 percent of app impressions the network, and increased 35 percent month-over-month. Another category that saw large growth was Health and Fitness app, whose impressions grew 13 percent month-over-month (calorie counting and recipe apps made up two thirds of this category). Millennial Media is the leading independent mobile advertising and data company. Millennial Media commands an impressive share of the mobile display advertising market. The company's technology, tools and services...
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| One Year Later, Facebook Killing Off Places …To Put Location Everywhere Posted: 23 Aug 2011 01:27 PM PDT  It was almost exactly one year ago that Facebook launched Places, their location-based offering. Reading the press at the time, you would have thought it was going to be the Foursquare-killer, the Gowalla-strangler, the Loopt-beheader, etc. Nevermind that Facebook partnered with all of them for the launch — those guys were done. Fast forward to today: Foursquare recently raised a large round of funding valuing them at $600 million. And Facebook is killing off Places. To be clear, Facebook is not ducking out of the location game itself. In fact, you could say that they’re doubling-down on it. But they are moving away from the game that the “check-in” services have been playing. And a result of that is Places being killed off and being replaced by new “Nearby” area, as Jason outlined along with the bigger privacy changes today. Reading over Facebook’s own post on the location changes, it wasn’t entirely clear what these changes meant for the concept of the check-in itself. But this page appears to make it a little more clear. As I read it, check-ins will remain as a part of the product, but they’ll no longer be emphasized. It seems that the hope is that people will move away from thinking of location in terms of “checking in” and instead think about it in terms of tagging your location to what ever it is you’re doing — sharing a thought, posting a picture, etc. As the new location page makes clear, Facebook now views location usage in three main ways:
Past. Present. Future. This is smart, as it’s something none of the other location services have really nailed yet. And now that location is being emphasized on every Facebook action (though it can easily be turned off) — and not just on mobile — a lot of people are going to use it. Location as a layer of context is about to get a big upgrade. All of this is also smart from a location-based advertising strategy. It’s more data and more strong signals. What I’m not yet clear on is what this means for Facebook’s location-based deals service. Launched alongside Places last year, it would seem that this never really took off. And Facebook doesn’t mention it today. I’ve reached out to them to clarify. The video on the location info page details how location tagging will work. The default on facebook.com appears to be city-level, and there’s a secondary location button to add an actual venue (which is then inserted into your status message). You can also add location to photos you’ve already posted. The video also points out that on mobile devices there will still be a check-in button, but the functionality will be different. It apparently will only exist as a part of a status update and there will be no more big blue “Check In” button that inserts your check-in into a stream of other check-ins (and again, no more Places area itself). Instead, once you select a place, it will simply be tacked on to the end of your status message. Location sharing will also be tied to the more direct and simplified privacy changes Facebook outlined today. Update: Here’s what Facebook has to say on the check-in deals:
Below, find the flow diagram of how it will now work. Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 500 million users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It...
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| Failbook Phone: AT&T Already Looking To Ditch The HTC Status, Says Source Posted: 23 Aug 2011 01:10 PM PDT  Surprise! Even a clever little gimmick like a dedicated Facebook button can’t save a bad phone from an early demise. After just 36 days on the shelves, a trusted source close to AT&T tells us the carrier is already prepping to ditch HTC’s so-called “Facebook Phone”, the Status. The reason? The thing just isn’t selling. Since the initial tipster came forward, we’ve confirmed with multiple sources that sales of the Status are considerably lower than anyone expected. AT&T declined to comment. To say we foresaw the Status’ fate would be something of an understatement. The Status originally launched as the ChaCha back at Mobile World Congress, where I pointed out that ChaCha (the real-time answer company) likely wouldn’t take too kindly to the name — and sure enough, ChaCha turned around and filed a lawsuit against HTC within the week. When AT&T announced plans to carry the device (now renamed Status), we predicted it wouldn’t succeed due to a lack of interest… and here we are, just over a month post-launch, hearing that the death knell is being prepped for a ringing. For what it’s worth, even Facebook has never seemed all that interested in HTC’s efforts. Mark Zuckerberg phoned it in with HTC’s original announcement, providing a short, generic video in lieu of an actual appearance. Even with a fair amount of time spent at Facebook HQ, not once have any of us here at TechCrunch seen a Facebook employee carrying a Status. They all seem to use iPhones. Update: AT&T has now agreed to go on record with a comment, saying “The HTC Status is a great product and our plans for it to be part of our portfolio haven’t changed.” HTC Corp, (TAIEX: 2498) produces smartphones running the Android and Windows Mobile operating systems for themselves and as an OEM to other manufacturers. Since launching its own brand in... AT&T is the largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services, and DSL Internet access in the United States and the second largest wireless service provider in...
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| Rumor: Sprint To Sell iPhone 5 In October Posted: 23 Aug 2011 12:53 PM PDT  As we once again enter the iPhone 5 breach, one would do well to keep their grains of salt at the ready, but the Business Insider reports that Sprint will be among the few carriers to sell the iPhone 5. The news is something of a coup for Sprint, the nation’s third largest wireless service provider. If true, it could provide a stay of execution for a company that would otherwise be facing Verizon and AT&T/T-Mobile without a Cupertino trump card. Sprint’s stock has already jumped due to the news, although at last glance it seems to be returning to pre-announcement levels. Like Verizon, the backbone of Sprint’s network runs on the CDMA standard. Rather than manufacture a different iPhone for each carrier, the possibililty of Sprint selling the iPhone 5 lends a bit of credence to news of the device’s dual-network nature. Sources also report that instead of the hoped-for September release window, the iPhone 5 may instead see the light of day later in October. This story is currently developing, please refresh for updates as they happen. Update: The Wall Street Journal’s article has gone live, and has fleshed out a few of the more salient details: the iPhone 4 will reportedly be sold alongside the iPhone 5 on Sprint. Additionally, what scant details WSJ has on the iPhone 5′s appearance indicate that the new handset will “be thinner and lighter with an improved digital camera.”
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| Windows Phone Reaches 30,000 Apps, Opens Marketplace to Mango Submissions Posted: 23 Aug 2011 10:35 AM PDT  There are now 30,000 mobile applications available for Windows Phone, Microsoft’s newest mobile operating system. That’s a huge jump from the 11,500 apps Microsoft reported back in March, but still far short of industry leaders, iOS and Android. For comparison purposes, there are 425,000 iOS apps and over 250,000 on Android, at least according to the latest official reports. But 30K apps isn’t bad for an operating system that’s not even a year old yet, we’d argue. All of the existing Windows Phone apps will work on Microsoft’s Windows Phone “Mango,” Microsoft says – the latest update to the mobile operating system due out sometime next month. No fragmentation here! Mango is a major update which will introduce a number of new features including background audio, fast app switching, multiple and double-side Live Tiles, better Search integration, and hundreds of other features. Windows Phone SDK Hits RC Status On Monday, Microsoft opened up its Windows Phone Marketplace to accept developers’ Mango app submissions. And it has now also updated the Windows Phone SDK (software development kit) 7.1 to Release Candidate (RC) status. The SDK is available in both English and Japanese, says Microsoft. Included in the SDK is a “Go Live” license that allows developers to publish their Mango-ready apps to the Marketplace, after they’ve been recompiled. In addition, the SDK includes the final version of the “Marketplace Test Kit” and a new profiler, which lets developers test their apps for certification requirements prior to submission. This helps to speed up the approval process – meaning the apps will hit the Marketplace sooner. The Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows Phone has been included in the new SDK, too, for those developers who want to include ads within their mobile apps. Microsoft is also giving developers the green light to cross submit their games to the newly supported Mango countries, along with any game ratings info via App Hub. The RC version of the SDK is not the final SDK, however – that’s still set to arrive this September, presumably alongside Mango’s public launch. But there is a little bit of bad news: even though the Mango apps will arrive in the Marketplace’s back-end systems, those of you running a pre-release Mango build won’t be able to run them yet. You’ll have to wait until September, just like everyone else! Update: Android now has 250K apps, a Google representative tells us. Update 2: We see that Microsoft’s blog post states there are “nearly” 30,000 apps. For what it’s worth, the statement we received from Microsoft prior to the post going up read as follows: “…all 30,000 Windows Phone app and game titles will run on Mango. (This is the first time we've shared the 30k figure publicly).” Whether it’s “nearly” or exactly 30,000 is probably splitting hairs a bit, but good to note. Windows Phone 7 is the successor of the Windows Mobile 6.5 mobile operating system in development by Microsoft, scheduled for release by October 2010. Microsoft’s goal is to create...
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| Ask.com Brings Mobile Q&A Platform To Android Devices Posted: 23 Aug 2011 09:30 AM PDT  As we heard last year, Ask surrendered its search operations to its competitors and refocused on building out its Q&A platform. This seems to have paid off somewhat—the company has seen over 1 million downloads of its iPhone app. Mobile, specifically, has been a growth area for the Q&A platform, with a 100 percent increase in visits to Ask.com from smart phones over the last year (mobile is 10 percent of total usage). Today, Ask.com is bringing its Q&A platform to Android devices. Ask says that the Android app is now available in the Android Marketplace and Amazon AppStore for Android. Includes all of the functionality of its iPhone application including voice to text features, the ability to get web results as well as top-voted published answers from other Ask.com users. You can also specifically send a question to a real user, and activate push notifications to alert you to when a new answer has arrived. One of the Android-specific features is the ability to filter Q&A by topics that match your profile. You can also follow users who provide interesting answers, and personalize your Q&A experience with content from these connections. Ask says that iPhones currently make up about 55 percent of Ask.com smartphone mobile traffic while Android makes up about 40 percent. Android traffic to Ask.com has skyrocketed 60 percent so far this year, so an Android app makes sense.
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| Touchanote Adds NFC Support to Evernote Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:26 AM PDT  Touchanote is a new Android application that ties together NFC technology with the popular note-taking and organizing software Evernote. Created by the Montreal-based startup Wiseleap, the app took home the $50,000 grand prize at Evernote’s recent developer conference in San Francisco. At the time of the conference, the results of the developer contest were overshadowed by the much larger news regarding Evernote’s acquisition of image-sharing app Skitch. But Touchanote, despite its niche appeal, is worth a second look. Through a combination of NFC stickers and this mobile application, both of which are available via Touchanote’s website, you can easily associate a note in Evernote with a particular NFC tag. So, for example, you could place a sticker on your fridge that’s associated with your grocery list in Evernote, enabling you to launch the list on your phone just by tapping or waving your device near the tag. Or maybe you could stick a tag on your suitcase that’s associated with your packing list. A tag that launches your “to-do” list could be stuck to something on your desk at the office. You could tag boxes you’re planning to store or move to a new house with a list of their contents. You could tag devices with links to their online user manuals or support pages. These are just a few ideas, of course. You can probably think of more. The only problem, of course, is that NFC technology is currently limited to a small number of handsets. Most notably, Google’s flagship phone, the Nexus S, offers NFC, as do some variants of the Samsung Galaxy S II, select Nokia devices (like the newer Astound), RIM’s BlackBerry Bold devices (9900/9930) and its newer Curve models (9350/9360/9370), among others. But for those of you out there who are just starting to experiment with NFC and its potential use cases, this seems like a practical way to take advantage of the functionality that such a technology provides. Evernote allows users to capture, organize, and find information across multiple platforms. Users can take notes, clip webpages, snap photos using their mobile phones, create to-dos, and record audio....
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| Posted: 23 Aug 2011 07:50 AM PDT  Last year, popular live video platform Ustream launched a mobile app development platform called Ustream Live Mobilizer that offered brands, celebrities, and bands a customizable iPhone application that featured Ustream's live steaming capabilities. But today, Ustream is shutting down Live Mobilizer and announcing a partnership with Mobile Roadie, which allows anyone develop and create sleek, rich media iPhone and Android apps. Mobile Roadie will work with Ustream broadcasters to create mobile apps that showcase their Ustream live channels as well as a number of of other complimentary features. For example, Mobile Roadie’s Ustream apps will send push messages automatically when a broadcaster goes live, will allow visitors to "Check in" to a stream and share to Facebook and Twitter, will collect real-time analytics and location data on broadcaster live streams, and will allow users to chat with each other as they view a live stream. Broadcasters will also be able to monetize the app, and can charge a one time or monthly fee for users to their Ustream content. Mobile Roadie says that existing Ustream clients using Live Mobilizer will have the option to migrate to the new platform. Outsourcing mobile app development to Mobile Roadie makes a lot of sense for Ustream, who can focus on doing what they do best—live streaming. Mobile Roadie has become a defacto mobile app development platform for a number of high profile brands and celebrities using its platform, including Taylor Swift (see the example of the Ustream integration in this post), Madonna, Live Nation, Levi's, Twilight, and Vera Wang. In 2009, Mobile Roadie also developed the official iPhone app for LeWeb,, struck a deal with Random House to power iPhone apps for authors, and Sony Music to develop mobile apps for the music label’s network of artists. Ustream has created a network of diverse channels providing a platform for lifecasting and live video streaming of events online. Its platform empowers any individual, public figure or brand... Mobile Roadie allows anyone to create and manage their own iPhone and Android apps. Founded by Brock Batten (Creative Director) and Michael Schneider (CEO) in 2009, they have created...
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| Microsoft Asks For An Import Ban On Motorola Smartphones Posted: 23 Aug 2011 07:47 AM PDT  Exhausted from a couple weeks in the European litigation ring, Apple has tagged in Microsoft to pick up the fight against Android. And it would seem that the divide-and-conquer strategy is panning out quite nicely for the duo we never thought would be. Microsoft today filed a suit accusing Google’s betrothed, Motorola Mobility, of infringing on seven of Microsoft’s patents that just so happen to cover Android. Before the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, Microsoft requested an import ban on a number of Motorola smartphones. A few of the features Motorola phones are allegedly infringing include email synchronization, calendars and contacts, scheduling meetings, and a way to alert applications of a change in signal strength and battery power. Microsoft calls these things “essential to the smartphone user experience.” Then again, Microsoft argues that all Android devices make use of its technology. Motorola phones listed in the complaint include the Droid 2, Droid X, Cliq XT, Devour, Backflip, and the Charm. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft is “confident that the ITC will rule in [its] favor.” Meanwhile, Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said in an email to Bloomberg that Motorola is “vigorously defending [itself] against Microsoft’s patent attack business strategy.” And a business strategy is exactly what it is. We’re all aware that Google is scooping up Motorola for one very key reason (although there are other great ones) — Motorola holds almost 15,000 granted patents, with nearly 7,000 applications. So I guess it’s actually 22,000 key reasons, although only about 18 of them will make a true difference in patent brawls. Still, that may be enough to solidly defend Android through the next few years, leaving iOS and Android far ahead of every other OS in the market. Though Apple and Microsoft have long been bitter, hateful rivals, Microsoft has been forced to choose the lesser evil. For the next few years at least, Windows Phone will not take the throne by any stretch of the imagination. But with webOS dropping out of the race, along with Symbian falling way behind in North America, Windows Phone has a good shot at stealing away the number three spot from RIM, whose market share continues to drop. But if you think beyond the near future, Windows Phone has even greater potential. Nokia may be struggling, but the company has proven time and time again that it knows how to build a phone. Mango represents something fresh and intuitive, and with Nokia hardware, Microsoft may even be ready to grab a number two spot eventually. But it has to kill off one of the big boys first. Since Apple’s platform is completely closed and contained to its own devices, the wide reach of Android seems like a more productive target. Apple is already throwing punch after punch at Samsung, with a few jabs saved here and there for HTC. That means Microsoft can focus on what’s left of the Android hardware makers — Motorola. Administrative Law Judge Theodore Essex will release his findings to the public on November 4. Company: MICROSOFT Website: http://www.microsoft.com Launch Date: 4/4/1974 IPO: 13/3/1986, NASDAQ:MSFT Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, is a veteran software company, best known for its Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of... Company: MOTOROLA MOBILITY Motorola is known around the world for innovation in communications and is focused on advancing the way the world connects. From broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility and public safety...
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| Rumor: Apple Preparing Discount iPhone 4 For September Posted: 23 Aug 2011 05:47 AM PDT  Déjà vu, much? Like Apple’s original strategy for the aging iPhone 3GS, a new report states that Apple is working on an 8GB iPhone 4 to be sold at a discount while the iPhone 5 will sell at a higher price with contract. According to Reuters’s sources, Apple has contracted a Korean firm to manufacture the discount iPhone’s flash drive. Samsung was previously one of Apple’s vendors of choice for flash memory (the other being Toshiba) but it’s possible that recent patent unpleasantness may have soured that relationship. The device, which is expected to launch within the next few weeks, is being looked at as Apple’s attempt to capture customers looking to transition into their first smartphone. Given the amount of mileage that Apple has gotten out of the 8GB iPhone 3GS that launched alongside the iPhone 4, such a device would probably give Apple some extra traction among first-time smartphowners. The anonymous sources also come bearing news of the iPhone 5: it is reportedly slated for a late September release, but sans the cosmetic changes early renders and case designs have alluded to. The device is said to pack “a bigger touch screen, better antenna and an 8-megapixel camera,” but would otherwise look identical to the current model. Hon Hai and Pegatron, the two companies outed as working on the new iPhone, have been told to be ready to produce a total of 45 million units — nothing to sneeze at, for sure. Summer is almost over, and the rumors are swirling at a faster pace than ever. The closer we get to the iPhone 5′s supposed launch, the more I hope some unrefutable evidence trickles out, but the scenario outlined above may well be what Apple has planned for the weeks to come.
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