Smartphone sales surged both in the U.S. and worldwide, carriers struggled to cope with the ever-increasing consumption of mobile data, and the fight for spectrum remained front and center in the first quarter. Our latest quarterly wrap-up analyzes these trends and more. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Mobile users are spending more time glued to their smartphones, but advertisers have yet to figure out the best way to engage with those users. SessionM, a new startup from one of the founders of the company that led to Apple’s iAd, has a new idea. Read more »
The past year in mobile has been even more eventful than most of us would have predicted. Our appetite for mobile data grew dramatically; Google’s Android continued its march to worldwide dominance; Amazon joined the tablet bandwagon; and AT&T tried and failed to acquire T-Mobile USA, among many other things. All of that activity lays the groundwork for a very promising — and very challenging — 2012. This research note serves both as a review of the major trends and events of 2011 as well as a forecast for the coming year. Companies mentioned in this report include Millennial Media, Quattro Wireless and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full research note, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The tech industry has a new favorite sport: guessing who Apple will buy with its $50 billion-plus cash hoard. Since October 18, when Steve Jobs mentioned the company was keeping its powder dry for possible deals, speculation over potential Apple acquisitions has run rampant and even ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Tremendous changes in the global economy, the mobile and wireless industry and the VC market over the past four quarters have been significant and apparent. The U.S. stock market is recovering after touching 12-year lows. Smartphone use is exploding, while the VC industry is struggling with lackluster returns. These trends are reflected in venture capital firms’ funding activity in the mobile and wireless space. In this report, we examine venture capital investment over the second quarter of 2010 with an eye on which sectors have attracted the most attention, and which areas are likely to continue to see growth in the coming months. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In-app advertising — or “appvertising” — has quickly matured from a novel new marketing platform into a bona fide strategy for delivering pitches directly to consumers on their mobile devices, and the ever-increasing supply of apps on the market is giving advertisers endless opportunities to reach consumers. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple a couple of weeks back Apple released a “tip” for developers on how to enhance its apps using its “Core Location” framework. But while some said it signaled the death of the location-based ad industry on the iPhone, that seems very premature. Read more »
Apple is reportedly set to jump into mobile advertising with the $275 million acquisition of Quattro Wireless. The move follows Google’s pick-up of AdMob two months ago, and further sets the stage for a flurry of consolidation in the space this year. Read more »
Mobile epitomizes the shift in power to consumers, who have grown accustomed to controlling the kind of media they consume, how they consume it, when they consume it, and how they share their experiences through it. While the enormity of options available might seem overwhelming, it presents a rare opportunity for advertisers to communicate directly with the intended audience through sophisticated targeting, to precisely measure the impact of individual campaigns, to positively persuade the consumer to buy, and finally, to achieve the elusive nirvana of tying the purchase back to the advertising campaign in a scientific manner. Mobile advertising presents a unique opportunity to the media ecosystem not only to make traditional media more accountable but also to reinvent interactive advertising in the most fundamental way. Mobile ad networks play the important role of a broker between advertisers and publishers. The ad ecosystem has evolved over the last 12 months. In this report we will take a look at the value chain, the evolution and the players, and discuss some emerging themes in this segment. Read more »
