Nuance’s new Dragon Go app dives deeper into voice activated searches by pulling up websites and apps that complete a user’s query. It’s part of the natural evolution of voice technology, which is making the move from just recognizing a user’s words to completing actions. Read more »
Apple’s hold on developers has gotten stronger with the apparent help of the iPad 2 and Verizon iPhone, cutting into gains from Android, according to Flurry. The latest numbers suggest that even with the fast advance of Android, developers still like their prospects on iOS, Read more »
LocalResponse — a marketing platform that allows advertisers to send out targeted tweets to consumers based on where consumers have checked in or where they say they are on social networks — has found that its targeting work is paying off with significant engagement from consumers. Read more »
Fresh off its $70 million funding round, Jawbone is now turning its eyes to the growing opportunity in wearable health monitors with a wrist sensor product. Called UP, it’s a wristband equipped with an application that combines tracking and analysis of movements, nutrition and sleep patterns. Read more »
PayPal today unveiled a new peer-to-peer payment functionality that allows Android users to pay each other by tapping two near field communication (NFC)-enabled devices together. The feature shows how PayPal is gearing up for NFC as part of its larger push on mobile payments. Read more »
WhitePages’ new local discovery app is launching on Android first, in part because the platform allows it the ability to better track the efficacy of location-based ads. It’s another sign that Android is appealing to more developers. Read more »
Evernote has pulled in $50 million in new funding led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Morgenthaler Ventures. The new investment, which comes after a $20 million round last year October, will be used for aggressive growth and acquisitions as the company expands its offerings. Read more »
Electronic Arts announced it is buying casual and mobile game developer PopCap Games for $750 million as it looks to speed up its evolution toward being a digital purveyor of games. EA is moving quickly away to embrace the opportunity in social and mobile gaming. Read more »
Crittercism is getting in on the booming market for app support services with its user diagnosis and support tool, that helps developers track app crashes and address user complaints and bug reports. The company announced new funding from Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures and others. Read more »
MyYearbook, a social networking site, has seen its growth soar, in part by emphasizing engagement and games with an increasing focus on mobile. The company has found a way to survive amidst larger competitors by focusing on its core offering of helping people meet others. Read more »
Pontiflex, a New York–based startup, is helping crack the code on mobile advertising with its ad platform, which lets users sign up for the kinds of promotions they want to see. The tool is now coming to the iPad after a successful launch on iPhone and Android. Read more »
For one-quarter of smartphone users, their device is the primary way they access the Internet, according to new data. It’s a sign of the growing dependence on smartphones and also shows that for a sizable chunk of users, it’s out of necessity. Read more »
Apple is ratcheting up its patent war against HTC, filing a new complaint with the ITC seeking the ban of “personal electronic devices.” The filing comes after an initial complaint lodged against HTC last year and a similar case filed last week by Apple against Samsung. Read more »
The app boom on iOS is gaining more momentum, according to new analysis, which found that App Store downloads are up 61 percent this year over 2010, to 83 apps per device, while users are paying 14 percent more per app. Read more »
The Android Express has taken Google and a number of manufacturers on dizzying ride to the top of the smartphone market. But with Android’s patent strength increasingly under fire and companies lining up for their share of licensing fees, is the platform headed off the tracks? Read more »
W3i has come up with a new alternative app discovery product that it hopes will aid game developers to push downloads. It shows how app marketing is getting more creative to meet the growing demand of developers looking to get their apps noticed and downloaded. Read more »
Free-to-play games, which monetize through in-app purchases, now account for 65 percent of revenue among the top 100 games in the App Store, overtaking paid downloads, which were the most successful revenue model six months ago. It’s another sign that freemium rules for many developers. Read more »
EBay is getting more serious with its mobile payments ambitions with PayPal, announcing today that it is buying Zong for $240 million. The move bolsters PayPal’s existing payment system and allows it to offer users an additional way to pay via carrier billing. Read more »
Facebook’s Skype integration involved a lot of slimming down of Skype’s native client and making it work in a browser, creating the back-end integration between Facebook and Skype and scaling up Skype’s network to handle the expected flood of traffic. Read more »
A new data and visualization project called the Connected States of America helps bring some focus into the way mobile phones facilitate communications and shows how conversations and text-messages bind areas and regions together, even ones that are far apart. Read more »
Google said Android is a $1 billion business. Microsoft, with its barrage of patent licensing agreements with Android manufacturers, could be on its way to making $1 billion off Android if its licensing deals pan out. That could make Android way more lucrative than WP7. Read more »
With mobile games booming beyond iOS, there are a new set of opportunities opening up for a host of enablers like Seattle-based Zipline Games, which is offering a multi-platform SDK for game development as well as a back-end cloud service for mobile games. Read more »
As the mobile app market grows, it’s creating new opportunities for app marketing companies like Tapjoy, which has raised $30 million even after running into an Apple ban on one of its products. The new money highlights the opportunities available as the app market booms. Read more »
Mobile payments have taken off in the last few years and are now poised to grow from $240 billion this year to $670 billion worldwide in 2015, aided by growing near field communication transactions for physical goods, according to Juniper Research. Read more »
While almost no one is looking forward to Los Angeles’ so-called Carmageddon, an upcoming closure of a busy freeway, crowd-sourced traffic app Waze sees an opportunity to shine. The company is teaming with the local ABC affiliate to beef up ABC’s real-time traffic information for drivers. Read more »
An Android developer is pulling its game app from the Amazon Appstore for Android, calling it a “disaster” because of a number of shortcomings. It’s the complaint of one developer, but it highlights some of the challenges in building a mature market for apps. Read more »
It looks like that “awesome” announcement next week by Facebook won’t be about an iPad app or an HTML5 platform. TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook will announce next week that it will be partnering with Skype to bring video chat to its users. Read more »
While smartphone consumers are still taking their time embracing Windows Phone 7, Microsoft appears to be having more luck with developers. The mobile platform has reportedly crested the 25,000 app mark for Windows Phone Marketplace, according to at least one tracker site. Read more »
A consortium led by Apple, Research In Motion and Microsoft has bought up Nortel’s 6,000 patents for $4.5 billion in an auction that could lead to further trouble for Google, who was outbid for the trove of intellectual property. Read more »
An open letter by a RIM executive describes the problems the company is facing and what it needs to do to come back. But it also highlights how precarious the situation is for RIM, which can’t afford to lose the trust of its employees. Read more »
It’s not quite the $150,000 offered to Y Combinator companies, but DreamIt Ventures, a Philadelphia-based accelerator program, is dangling some cash of its own to its startups in an attempt to keep them nearby and ensure that it stays competitive. Read more »
Simplee is looking to bring a Mint.com-like approach to health care expense management with a free service that lets people understand their plans, what they’re paying for and how they can optimize their coverage. The service is now available to the public today. Read more »
Skype just announced that video chat is finally coming to Android devices, though only to a few so far. The feature is part of a big update for the Android app that includes a UI redesign that adds usability to the app. Read more »
It won’t be long before most phones will be smartphones, which are outselling feature phones in recent sales, according to new figures from Nielsen. The firm said smartphones made up 55 percent of recent phone acquisitions in May 2011 in the U.S. Read more »
Autodesk is making its Inventor Publisher Mobile Viewer app available today on Android. The program allows users to view 3-D color instructions of a product, allowing them to pan around and see a step-by-step process of assembly complete with animations. Read more »
Apple’s iPhone debuted four years ago today. The phone has altered the smartphone landscape and ushered in the modern era of intelligent, connected devices. And it’s forced the industry to react. Here’s a look at the effect the iPhone has had. Read more »
For some, Apple’s $649 unlocked iPhone might seem a little steep. But it sounds like a bargain compared to the new Tag Heuer Link Android smartphone, which will set owners back at least $6,728. The Link phone shows how Android is going luxury. Read more »
Google is activating half a million Android devices a day, a major surge in just the last couple months, a sign of growing momentum for the platform. Google’s VP of mobile Andy Rubin says activations are growing 4.4 percent week over week. Read more »
Spurred on by lower prices and by growing acceptance among college graduates and Hispanics, e-reader usage is taking off with 12 percent of adults using an e-reader in May, double the rate from November, according to the Pew Internet Project. Read more »
Finding new users for apps has grown increasingly complicated with the number of apps exploding and app store owners like Apple cracking down on some download tools like pay-per-install campaigns. That has forced some publishers and developers to look at third-party companies such as Fiksu, a Boston startup, in order to wrangle new users. Read more »
