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Retail Industry Is Ripe for Mobile February 12, 2011 A strong candidate for mCRM solutions is the retail industry -- an enormous business worldwide that includes apparel, restaurants, department stores, pharmacies, grocery, home and hardware, discount and speciality stores, hotels, malls, airports, convenience, and even telecoms. One American guide claims a database of 698,000 retail chains in the U.S. and Canada.

9 Ways to Turn Up the Ringer on Mobile Marketing January 21, 2011 While marketers have long pursued the mobile or "third" screen, this channel is just now becoming a realistic option for most brands. Meeting consumer demand at the precise moment of that demand is not just push marketing, either. The new mobile environment empowers consumers to initiate the interaction.

Apple Lets Mobile Trackers Have a Field Day, Alleges Consumer Lawsuit December 28, 2010 Apple and several app creators have been passing along mobile device users' personal information to advertisers without their permission or knowledge, alleges Jonathan Lalo of Los Angeles in a lawsuit filed in Northern California's federal district court. App creators named in the suit include Pandora, Dictionary.com, Toss It, Text4Plus, The Weather Channel, Talking Tom Cat, and Pimple Popper Lite.

iAds' Growing Pains: Irritation or Agony? October 06, 2010 Pressure is mounting on Apple from the outside -- and from within. The company is rumored to have lost yet another major customer for its iAds mobile advertising platform: sporting apparel giant Adidas. Scuttlebutt has it that Adidas pulled its ad campaign, worth more than $10 million, because of dissatisfaction over the tight control Apple CEO Steve Jobs insists on exerting over the creative process.

NYTCo Dons Software Vendor Cap: Q&A With News Services Director Christine Topalian September 14, 2010 It's no secret that newspaper companies are seeking new sources of revenue as readers -- and the advertising dollars that typically follow them -- migrate to electronic media. The New York Times Co. was among the first newspaper publishers to deliver its content to mobile devices. Now, it's hoping to turn a profit by helping other publishers to do the same.

What Sort of Game Is Google Playing? August 31, 2010 Google continued its shopping spree through the social networking marketplace on Monday, agreeing to purchase SocialDeck, a 2-year-old company that develops games for mobile devices. This marks Google's third purchase of a social networking company during the month of August. These purchases have fueled widespread speculation that Google ultimately hopes to unseat Facebook.

RIM Hankering for Mobile Ad Deal August 19, 2010 Research In Motion, maker of BlackBerry mobile phones and the new Torch handset, is looking to make a play in the mobile ad market. RIM reportedly has held talks with mobile ad firm Millennial Media, but they broke down over acquisition price. Millenial was said to be asking between $400 and $500 million, a price that RIM executives felt was far too high.

Who Would Have Thought Verizon Would Ape AT&T? July 23, 2010 Rumors are swirling that Verizon may phase out its unlimited data plans. The catalyzing factor could be the launch of the Motorola Droid X, which is widely considered to be Verizon's answer to the iPhone. The Droid X brings many of the data-intensive elements of current-generation smartphones to the Verizon network, including video streaming, a wide range of music apps, and social networking.

Apple Defends Opt-Out Privacy Policies in Letter to Congressmen July 20, 2010 As if it didn't already have enough problems explaining why the iPhone 4 has reception issues, Apple also finds itself trying to convince two high-ranking members of the U.S. Congress that it's not invading its customers' privacy. Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, asked Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a letter dated June 24, to clarify recent changes to Apple's privacy policy.

FTC May Probe iOS as War Over Mobile Customer Data Heats Up June 11, 2010 Accusations have been flying for months about mobile ads. Various companies' attempts to acquire AdMob caused all sorts of commotion. Eventually, Google won that round with the feds backing off the transaction. Now, though, it's Apple's turn to take the heat, as rumors circulate that federal authorities are looking into its newly proposed terms for developers.

Google Hot Under the Collar Over Apple's Revised iOS Dev Terms June 10, 2010 In response to a recent revision to Apple's developer agreement for its iOS mobile operating system, a Google executive on Wednesday lashed out at the company, arguing that the new terms are "not in the best interests of users or developers." The change drawing Google's ire apparently prohibits some third-party ad networks from collecting ad performance data on the iPhone and iPad.

Google's Caffeine Perks Up Search June 09, 2010 Google has sped up its search engine with the introduction of its Caffeine Web indexing system. This will provide 50 percent fresher results for Web searches than its previous index and is the largest collection of Web content the Web search giant has offered in search results, Google software engineer Carrie Grimes said.

AAPL Dragged Down by the Weight of the World June 09, 2010 Apple shares were trading at $245.83 at one point on Tuesday, down $5.10 from Monday's close. However, they recovered to close at $249.33, down $1.61. Still, that's the third business day in a row, including Friday, that they've been trimmed. It's all the more surprising because Apple announced the new iPhone 4 and iOS 4 Monday in a blaze of media coverage.

Android and iOS: Neck and Neck With Plenty of Road Ahead June 08, 2010 The battle between Apple and Google in the smartphone market heated up further Monday with the introduction of the iPhone 4 and new information about iOS 4, the next-generation operating system for iPhones, iPod touches and iPads. In the other corner of the ring stands Android, and it's fired up as well.

Shazam! Jobs Illuminates Shape of iPhones to Come June 07, 2010 Apple on Monday unveiled the iPhone 4 at its World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Describing it as the "most precise thing and most beautiful thing" Apple has ever made, the company's CEO and chairman Steve Jobs compared its design to those of old Leica cameras. Jobs also revealed details about the new iPhone operating system, now dubbed "iOS."

Google Wraps AdMob Deal - Mobile Apps Onslaught Ahead? May 28, 2010 Google has completed its acquisition of mobile advertiser AdMob, after what was apparently a very close decision by the Federal Trade Commission, which had been vetting the buy for antitrust purposes. With the legalities finally over, the speculation shifts from "will it happen?" to "what happens next?"

Will the Feds Sour Apple's Juice? May 05, 2010 The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are reportedly discussing an antitrust probe of Apple. This was spurred by a complaint from Adobe, whose Flash technology has been barred from certain Apple products, according to a Bloomberg report. Whether or not the government will launch a probe is not yet certain.

iAd for the Win as iPhone 4's Biggest Blockbuster April 13, 2010 While Apple announced more than 100 new user features for its iPhone OS 4 that will run on iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads this summer -- in addition to adding 1,500-plus new Application Programming Interfaces for developers to make it easier to build cool apps -- one new feature towers over all the others: iAd.

Apple Lobs First Grenade in Mobile Ad Wars April 09, 2010 Acquistions are one thing, and rollouts are quite another. This week, in the world of mobile advertising, Apple beat Google to the punch in its demonstration of new mobile advertising platform iAd as part of its iPhone OS 4 announcement. Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed developers how iPhone and iPad app users won't have to leave their apps to view ads that include features such as movie trailers and even games.

FTC May Put Kibosh on Google's AdMob Deal March 11, 2010 Google's proposed $750 million acquisition of the mobile ad network AdMob may be subjected to a protracted period of regulatory scrutiny. The FTC reportedly is seeking sworn declarations from at least two of Google's competitors. Google announced its intent to buy AdMob in November 2009, in a stock deal that would make it the company's third-largest acquisition.