Archive for the ‘Mobile Applications’ Category

Study: More than a third of users want mobile coupons

Thirty-six percent of smartphone users express strong demand for receiving grocery coupons via their handsets, according to a new consumer survey issued by market research firm Compete. Among subscribers asked what kinds of advertising efforts they would most be interested in seeing on their devices, coupons were the most warmly received, followed by scanable barcodes at 29 percent, “offers you can save and pursue at your leisure” at 26 percent and movie theater offers and promotions, also at 26 percent. Ads received via SMS were least desirable, with just 15 percent of respondents expressing favorable interest.

Compete reports that 74 percent of smartphone owners now use their devices primarily for personal reasons, as opposed to professional purposes. Half indicate they use their smartphones at home for up to an hour each day, with 26 percent using them at home for one to three hours daily. Fifty-nine percent spend up to an hour each day on their smartphones while waiting in lines or for appointments, and another 53 percent use their phones for up to an hour while shopping. The daily commute to work is when smartphones are least frequently used–53 percent of respondents said they don’t use their smartphones at all in transit to and from the office.

For more on the Compete survey:
- read this blog entry

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Google adds local inventory to Product Search for mobile

Google announced the addition of local inventory results to its Product Search for mobile application, identifying in search results whether items are in stock at nearby retailers. First demonstrated late last year, the local inventory tool adds blue dots to search results to distinguish whether a participating merchant carries the item in question–”If you see a blue dot, you can tap on the adjacent ‘In stock nearby’ link, and you’ll be taken to the seller’s page where you’ll see whether the item is ‘In Stock’ or has ‘Limited Availability’ near you,” write Google product managers Paul Lee and Yury Pinsky on the Official Google Mobile Blog. “You’ll also see how far away the stores are from you–as long as you’ve enabled My Location or manually specified your location.”

The enhanced Product Search tool is available on Android-powered smartphones along with iPhone and Palm webOS devices. Users can also access the Google.com “Shopping” tab via their mobile browser.

For more on the Product Search for mobile upgrade:
- read this Official Google Mobile Blog entry

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NBC turns the camera to mobile

NBC Universal executive Alan Wurtzel touts the growing convergence between television and mobile. Article

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FLO TV tunes in to CNN Mobile

Qualcomm’s FLO TV mobile broadcast subsidiary announced the addition of Turner Broadcasting System’s CNN Mobile to its channel lineup. According to FLO TV, CNN Mobile–first launched in mid-2008 via the AT&T Mobile TV service–includes live political, health and entertainment news programming from CNN’s U.S. flagship network, CNN International and HLN, as well as content from CNN.com. The dedicated FLO channel also features series like Anderson Cooper 360, Larry King Live, Amanpour, Backstory and Morning Express with Robin Meade.

CNN Mobile will now be available via the FLO TV Personal Television and FLO TV Auto Entertainment platforms. However, the channel will not extend to the FLO-powered Verizon Wireless V Cast Mobile TV service–per terms of the agreement signed two years ago, CNN Mobile remains exclusive to the AT&T network.

For more on the FLO TV/CNN Mobile deal:
- read this release

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AT&T trims FLO TV pricing to $10 a month
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debuts dedicated handheld device

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Turner Sports debuts SportsNOW app for iPhone

Turner Broadcasting System’s Turner Sports broadcast unit announced the introduction of SportsNOW, a new iPhone application Turner Broadcasting app SportsNowpromising scores, statistics and game recaps as well as social media tools. SportsNOW–Turner Sports’ first branded iPhone app–promises real-time news, information and in-game updates powered by Stats LLC, complete with a host of alert and personalization functions including a “follow feature” enabling users to target an upcoming game, team or player. Users can also talk smack with friends, other fans and sports analysts via direct Facebook and Twitter access. SportsNOW spans NBA basketball, NCAA basketball and NHL hockey at launch, with additional sports coverage on tap.

Ram Truck is the free SportsNOW application’s charter sponsor. Turner Sports Executive VP and COO Lenny Daniels tells SportsBusiness Daily that apps optimized for Android and BlackBerry devices are currently in the pipeline–in addition, he said that while SportsNOW does not presently include licensed video content, that could change in the future.

For more on SportsNOW:
- read this SportsBusiness Daily article

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YouTube adds advertising to mobile website

Google-owned video aggregator service YouTube announced the addition of advertising services across the home, search and browse pages of its American and Japanese YouTube mobile websites. According to YouTube, advertisers including L’Oreal and Land Rover have already launched test campaigns: “[The ads] showed strong results related to click-throughs, user experience, and brand awareness, and we’ve learned a lot in the months since then,” writes YouTube strategic partner development manager Taylor Cascino on the YouTube Biz Blog. “As a result, ads on the YouTube mobile website will be banner ads sold on a full-day basis (like with the YouTube homepage on the web), making a mobile buy an easy and valuable addition to any YouTube campaign.”

YouTube notes that traffic to its mobile site grew by over 160 percent in 2009, and adds that consumers worldwide are now streaming tens of millions of mobile videos each day.

For more on YouTube’s mobile advertising efforts:
- read this YouTube Biz Blog entry

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AT&T’s de la Vega talks smartphone success, data dilemmas

AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la VegaFierceWireless Editor in Chief Sue Marek recently visited the AT&T Mobility offices in Atlanta and sat down with President and CEO Ralph de la Vega to discuss how the operator is battling the competition in advertising, dealing with its data capacity challenges and planning for the next phase in its network migration. Feature

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Motorola taps Bing search for Android phones in China

Motorola announced an agreement with Microsoft to deploy the software giant’s Bing search and mapping services across Android-powered smartphones sold in the Chinese market, eschewing Android creator Google’s own mobile search engine in the process. The move follows in the wake of a censorship dispute between Google and Chinese officials, with speculation Google could withdraw its services from the country–Reuters reports that according to analysts, offering search alternatives on Android devices effectively reduces Motorola’s dependence on Google, in China or elsewhere. Motorola earlier offered Chinese consumers the option to select Baidu as their primary Android search service.

Earlier this month, the Motorola Backflip–the first AT&T smartphone based on the Android mobile operating system–hit stores with Yahoo as its default mobile search engine instead of Google. Most if not all previous Android devices launched in the U.S. have arrived at retail with Google installed as the default search option. Days later, T-Mobile USA instituted Google as the default search engine across its handsets, replacing longtime search partner Yahoo.

For more on the Motorola/Bing deal:
- read this Reuters article

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Apple to split iBookstore into over 150 sub-categories

With Apple poised to introduce its iPad tablet device on Apr. 3, the computing giant is taking steps to guarantee the accompanying iBookstore does not fall prey to the discovery issues hampering its App Store, dividing titles into more than 150 subcategories in an effort to improve consumer browsing. According to data released by mobile media research firm Busted Loop, the iBookstore will split ebooks into 20 to 30 top-level groupings, similar to how iPhone and iPod touch applications are organized in the App Store–those groupings will include Fiction & Literature, Reference, History, Cookbooks and Comics & Graphic Novels. From there, the iBookstore divides each category into multiple sub-categories–Busted Loop reports that the Sports & Outdoors grouping alone contains classifications for 15 different sports, while the Computing category is segmented among nine different sub-categories. Forbesreports that Apple did not respond to a request for comment on the Busted Loop findings.

Apple’s iBooks app for iPad, which includes iBookstore, will be available as a free download from the App Store in the U.S. in conjunction with the device’s retail release, with additional countries to be added later this year. The iBookstore will feature titles from the New York Times Best Seller list, with selections from both major and independent publishers including Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Penguin Group and Simon & Schuster. The iPad will also offer access to Apple’s iTunes Store and App Store, enabling consumers to browse a content catalog boasting over 12 million songs, more than 55,000 TV episodes and over 8,500 films as well as some 142,000 iPhone OS-based applications.

For more on the iBookstore launch:
- read this Busted Loop blog entry

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Opera Mini 5 beta expands to Android

Opera Software announced its Opera Mini 5 beta mobile web browser is now available for smartphones running Google’s Android operating system, promising a PC-like mobile web experience. According to Opera, the Mini browser accelerates speed and page loading by up to 90 percent by compressing data before sending content to the phone–the firm first issued Mini 5 in Sept. 2009, promising a more advanced look and feel. Opera Mini 5 also adds tabbed browsing, enabling users to browse several mobile sites simultaneously, as well as touchscreen and keypad browsing, password manager and speed dial, which offers pre-selected websites once the browser is loaded. Opera adds that Mini now boasts more than 50 million users worldwide.

For more on Opera Mini 5 for Android:
- read this release

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