Google blends user-generated reviews with content from Zagat, TripAdvisor and even menus from Menutopia in the latest version of its Google Maps app. And with the focus on Place Pages, the app is shaping up to be a formidable Yelp competitor. The updated app should give Google (and advertisers) the perfect platform for reaching affluent, educated 18-34 year-olds when they're on the go. So should Yelp be worried?

Going Loco for Local Advertising: The local content market has been heralded as the next big sector of growth in online advertising, but has the spending actually lived up to the hype? Join publishers and brands that have experience with monetizing and advertising on localized content -- be it via desktop, mobile, and even VOD -- as they shed light on real tactics for attracting and delivering successful local ad campaigns. Our video today features a DPAC panel moderated by Richard V. Ducey, Chief Strategy Officer, Program Director, BIA/Kelsey with speakers David Dague, VP, Marketing, Localeze; Neil Salvage, EVP, Advertising, Citysearch; Mike Rothman, Director, Ad Sales, Thrillist; and Tristan Walker, Business Development, Foursquare. [...]

Consumers are letting their guard down on privacy and digital security. That’s the general conclusion from a slew of research presented Thursday by KPMG in its latest installment of "Consumers and Convergence.” The use of mobile technology, it reports, has apparently made U.S. consumers more comfortable with safeguards and less concerned about privacy and security on their wireless devices and networks.

Besides blowing away Wall Street's earnings expectations for the 2nd Quarter, in June, the Apple OS remained the leading Smartphone operating system on Millennial Media’s ad network with a 56 percent share of impressions and an 8 percent growth rate from the prior month. And, it would appear that Smartphone users are becoming more comfortable with mobile ads. Apple ad requests increased 36 percent month-over-month while iPad ad requests more than doubled, up 206 percent from May. Apple has been the number one device on Millennial’s network since September 2009, but still generated the largest share increase of 4 percent, delivering around 30 percent of all ad impressions in June. [...]

We're currently scouring the country for the best work of the best minds in Mobile advertising, APPS, social marketing and media. Enter our MOBI and SAMMY Awards, and be part of a group of award winners from the ranks of Coca-Cola, Lexus, Bausch & Lomb and even the U.S. State Dept (and the Yankees). Call for entries closes July 30!

Greystripe's Immersion Ad units -- with game functionality and video -- showed promising results in a Buick Lacrosse campaign. Click-through rates, brand awareness and brand recall stats were off the charts for mobile ads. The ad units offer the first glimpse into how Apple's iAd units might perform, but the results could also be a bit misleading.

It’s an uneasy truce that hangs between Apple and Google in the war of access to each others’ ad networks. While both appear to be cooperating for now in an effort to build a nascent mobile marketing industry – and in no small measure to keep the Feds out of their hair – there’s enough concern among app developers that the truce won’t hold, for independent networks to make a little hey at the dueling duo’s expense. Jumptap appears the first to pounce. The independent mobile ad network is set to announce today at MobileBeat 2010 in San Francisco that it is establishing a $4 million fund to entice new app developers and publishers. [...]

Anne Frisbie, the new VP & Managing Director, North America of InMobi, is experienced enough to know that there is still plenty of room to compete for mobile advertising in the expanding domestic and global market. Her company claims to be the world’s largest independent mobile ad network, and recently announced its official launch in the US market. InMobi already maintains 2 billion US ad impressions monthly following its soft launch in January 2010, most of those for global publishers who have a US footprint. [...]

AJ Rhodes, Disney's top mobile strategist, takes fellow marketers behind the scenes to reveal the Magic Kingdom's mobile strategy. How fast is mobile growing? “By 2012, 50 percent of all our eyeballs – all of our engagement – will be on mobile device. And, that’s if we continue to grow at half the rate we’re growing right now.” And, the great thing about reaching a young audience is that they’ll share it with the adults in their lives, he said.

Rich media has been a mainstay of digital display ads since the late 90s. Now Medialets is betting it will work for mobile marketing as well. It combines rich media advertising with analytics to enable publishers, developers and advertisers to deliver to iPhone, iPad and Android applications. Medialets’ ‘asynchronous’ ad delivery technology enables delivery of measurable rich media even when the user is offline, while its Universal SDK offers a flexible ad monetization platform for publishers. [...]

More than 600 brand and agency marketers and mobile technology solution providers hit the Mobile Marketing Association’s Mobile Marketing Forum at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City this week to explore how to infuse mobile into the marketing mix. In response, yesterday’s informal poll after a day and a half of intense education revealed that most marketers plan to exert the most effort this year on making mobile Web sites.

Local mobile discount program provider Mobile Spinach is blending old school marketing with cutting edge couponing. Last week is launched its “Discount For Life” program on a national scale after testing it in San Francisco. Based on radio show call-in models, the “Discount For Life” is an innovative loyalty model rewarding valuable customers. For example, the first 100 customers that sign up for a local coffee shop mobile program can become life members, receiving a ten cent discount on every purchase for as long as they use their mobile device for the promotions. [...]

As the economy officially heads into summer this weekend, the digital content and marketing business continues to be awash in the mobile tidal wave. The week ended with several significant new research reports from IDC, Millennial Media and even retailer Price Grabber.

Friday’s Federal Trade Commission's decision to permit the $750 million deal for Google to buy AdMob to move forward was hardly a shocker. As Google has argued, mobile advertising is a competitive business and not within its core business of search and Internet advertising. It doesn't put to rest Google's efforts to prove it's not a monopolist, as the DOJ prepares another Google Books review. But, it has sparked some surprising reactions that could influence Google’s future in court.

According to today’s Millennial Media SMART report, ad requests grew 77% from March to April month over month. Since January, Android has grown 282% on the Millennial network, which according to the company has more than seven billion US ad requests per month.

There are thousands of apps in the App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World -- but not all of them are worth your time or money. So how do you cut through the clutter? Every Tuesday, digiday:DAILY gives you the rundown on the app that should be on your radar. This week's app: SocialScope.

Several Wharton professors believe the hot spot for location-based applications is knowing exactly where customers are and pitching offers or offering services based on the spots customers frequent. That information makes it easier for businesses to advertise, or offer special discounts, that fit what someone is doing at a given moment. The challenge for Foursquare and other companies, it suggests, is transitioning beyond buzz and finding uses for geo-targeting that are both profitable and practical. [...]

Sports Illustrated is taking a mutli-platform approach to its 2010 football fantasy league and will include a social media presence. The brand’s digital group has partnered with Watercooler to launch an SI-branded fantasy football game on the Facebook platform that will also live on SI.com and SI mobile.

Clyde Bentley, an associate professor of convergence journalism at the school and a Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow, is urging newspapers adapt to the changing technology before they are left behind. He is basing this thesis partly on a Gartner prediction that by 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide.

Forget Mother's Day. A new survey shows 69 percent of brand marketers see teens as their most important customer segments, dominated by social media strategies.

Location-based mobile ads received a large amount of data support this past week as both Millennial Media and the Mobile Marketing Association showed that consumers are viewing and acting on this latest targeting tactic. The MMA says nearly half of all users surveyed took some kind of action when presented with a location-based targeted ad.

Conducted in mid-March, a new MMA new survey found that that 26% of mobile phone users have used a "map, navigation or some other mobile phone service that automatically determines your current location." That number skyrockets for Apple products.

OfferMobi, which bills itself as the first mobile performance marketing network launched today at ad:tech San Francisco. It launched with a partnership for tracking pay-per-call services offered through technology provider RingRevenue and will allow advertisers to compensate for leads and conversion.

There are thousands of apps in the App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World -- but not all of them are worth your time or money. So how do you cut through the clutter? Every Tuesday, digiday:DAILY gives you the rundown on the app that should be on your radar. This week's app: Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Hothand has developed a mobile platform for colleges and universities that enables them to create proprietary mobile Web sites and text messaging platforms. The patent for its platform was filed in 2004, before most predicted the current mobile landscape and before a lot of different companies tapped into geolocation and geocentric ads. While it’s impossible to predict the legal scope of the patent in the marketplace, Hothand’s lawyers weren’t exactly playing shy.

New data from content download platform Myxer shows that while iPhone and Android are grabbing the headlines, RIM and Blackberry are still showing impressive growth. Its latest monthly report, BoomBox , measures smartphone usage across its 33 million users. According to the study, RIM continues to far outpace Windows, Palm, webOS, Android, iPhone and Symbian based on mobile visits, growing from a 58% market share in March 2009 to a 63% share in March 2010.

There are thousands of apps in the App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World -- but not all of them are worth your time or money. So how do you cut through the clutter? Every Tuesday, digiday:DAILY gives you the rundown on the app that should be on your radar. This week's app: Gamefly's GameCenter

With rumors rife about Apple possibly announcing a new “iAd” creative platform for the iPad, Greystripe is taking matters into its own hands. The rich media mobile advertising network today announced its latest iFlash ad units will launch in May. a Greystripe spokesperson says the new creative platform conforms to all current iPad specs.

Despite the fanfare around application stores tied to specific mobile devices such as iPhones and BlackBerries, a new Nielsen survey finds ongoing loyalty to carrier stores. As of the end of 2009, half of all applications users were accessing carrier app stores according to Nielsen’s new App Playbook. That said, the Apple App Store was the clear leader in preferred application stores in the United States and, combined with the dedicated AT&T Application Store, devices running on the AT&T network have the most popular stores. [...]

Mobile ad service provider AdMarvel is taking on rich media through a new partnership with PointRoll. Together they will launch the iPad Advertising Platform which the companies say will be part of a broader venture for monetizing ad revenue on the industry's newest distribution channels.

Massachusetts-based LiveWire Mobile is betting that some mobile users will make the ringback an ad platform. The company announced a new premium advertising service called RingSpot that will provide wireless carriers a way to generate revenue and increase customer loyalty. Here’s how it works: Customers opt-in to replace their ringback with a marketing message of their choosing delivered by national advertisers, non-profits and local merchants.

A new Millennial Media report shows that recent disasters have showcased the power of mobile technology and trends among different age demographics in a new-found advertising vertical, Mobile Cause Marketing.

Malls are taking notice of the Point Inside app, which has been developed for both iPhone and Android-based phones, and runs an events and promotions management system which allows retailers to connect directly with shoppers based on their location.

There are thousands of apps in the App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World -- but not all of them are worth your time or money. So how do you cut through the clutter? Every Tuesday, digiday:DAILY gives you the rundown on the app that should be on your radar. This week's app: ESPN 2010 World Cup

A new report from Juniper Research claims that one-to-one marketing allied to the rapid proliferation of smartphones will be among the key drivers of a mobile retail market which is anticipated to exceed $12 billion by 2014.

The Rubicon Project announced a partnership with mOcean Mobile, an independent mobile advertising platform, to provide premium digital publishers with a unified view into monetization across their display and mobile platforms. It will be accomplished with a new product called REVV for mobile (RFM).

Does the iPad need a new content publishing platform? New ad executions? The debate is on after CondeNast voted early in the week with its pocketbook.

New York has always been proud of its newspaper diversity, but until lately only one of those dailies had a mobile app. Today The New York Daily News changed that, with an emphasis on images and ease of use.

January was a big month for the 20 percent rule. Apple took a 20 percent bite out of the OS market and M-commerce took 20 percent of all campaigns run on the Millennial network, according to its new research snapshot.

There are thousands of apps in the App Store, Android Market and BlackBerry App World -- but not all of them are worth your time or money. So how do you cut through the clutter? Every Tuesday, digiday:DAILY gives you the rundown on the app that should be on your radar. This week's app: Redfin Real Estate.

We were just starting to get our heads around terabytes when it came to measuring data. Now Cisco has announced results from its Global Mobile Data Forecast for 2009 to 2014 and we have a new data measurement to say "huge."

The jury's still out on whether the iPad will have as big an impact on online publishing as the iPhone has had on mobile content. After all, people can't even buy the device until the end of March. But a pair of online media vets is already banking on an iPad App boom--setting up a "multi-million dollar" AppFund designed to encourage development of new apps that will "support the long-term success" of the touch-screen device.

While 2009 was a tough year for some companies, “mobile marketing was on fire.” From 2008 to 2009, brand budgets for mobile marketing tripled, said Paul Palmieri, Millennial Media CEO, in accepting AlwaysOn’s “OnMedia” award for the top private company of 2009.

Last week Apple's app store reached a milestone worth celebrating: in the 18 months it's been open for business, some 3 billion apps were downloaded. The 3 billion mark came and passed with surprisingly little fanfare. With nearly 130,000 apps available for purchase, and downloads increasingly exponentially, consumers' thirst for apps-- and developers’ interest in meeting that desire-- would seem nearly unquenchable. And device-specific apps, once a playground for only the truly geeky developer, have found their way into mainstream culture. [...]

You knew this would happen. Google is using yesterday's AppleQuattro deal as prrof that competition in the ad network space exists and they won't upset it with its planned acquisition of AdMob. Google's deal continues to draw scrutiny from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and according to FierceMobile, the web services giant was quick to seize on rival Apple's agreement to purchase mobile ad firm Quattro Wireless as proof of competition in the segment. "When we announced our planned acquisition of AdMob in November, we noted that the mobile advertising space is highly competitive--with more than a dozen mobile ad networks," writes Google group product manager Paul Feng on the Google Public Policy Blog. [...]

The demographic profile and growth of the Internet may be slowing down according to a new survey conducted in December by the Pew Internet project. The survey found that overall internet use, broadband connection and even wireless access have not changed significantly over the past year. The survey does include a specific effort to include more interviews with Spanish speaking internet users. In some cases, according to the Pew report, this may have flattened some year-to-year data. Among the specific findings: • 74% of American adults (ages 18 and older) use the internet -- a slight drop from the survey conducted in April 2009, which did not include Spanish interviews. [...]

Here's what we talk about when we talk about mobile. The line between phone handsets and other mobile devices such as netbooks is about to blur. ABI Research reports that mobile device shipments will grow from 1.2 billion in 2009 to 2.25 billion in 2014. For mobile marketers, says ABI, the trend indicates that mobile marketing opportunities as more than just those designed for smartphones and other mobile handsets. “The next five years we will see a shift in the breakdown between types of mobile devices shipped,” said ABI analyst Michael Morgan in a statement. [...]

Mobile ad agency and research stalwart Millenial Media published its 2010 predictions today, and decided that this upcoming year was not going to be the “year of mobile.” The year in questions I currently drawing to a close it says The proverbial “Year of Mobile” came and went. There was no “cataclysmic tipping point that shocked industry-watchers into acknowledging mobile as a highly effective and efficient advertising medium” it says, but the agency’s report does take some bold stabs (ten of them) at the look of maturity for mobile. [...]

Lotame has a new CMO. The data-driven audience marketing platform that has made its name focusing on integrating social data with audience insights today announced that Eric Porres has joined the fast growing company as Chief Marketing Officer. “Eric will use his respected experience to explain, position, and demonstrate to brand marketers why social data revolutionizes their approach to online marketing,” says Andy Monfried, Lotame’s CEO to whom Mr. Porres will report. “He will be our leading voice to pioneer an evolutionary change in understanding the value of social data and its resulting return on marketing investment for brand marketers. [...]

AdMeld is going mobile. The ad network optimization company is adding to its online publishing solution by integrating support for mobile ad inventory. The solution applies AdMeld’s real time revenue maximization technology to the mobile space, offering premium publishers a single platform for optimizing their ad inventory across multiple channels and through dozens of demand sources. Currently undergoing beta testing, the combined product will be available to select AdMeld customers in Q1 of 2010. [...]

The DPAC AWARDS will honor the winners and finalists at The DPAC Awards Gala on 12/8 at The W Hotel Union Square, New York. The DPAC Awards judging committee has selected the finalists and winners for the awards in each category, as well as the Best in Show. This is your chance to network and congratulate the winners and finalists like American Express * IBM * Walmart * Intel Corp * The Coca-Cola Company * Visa * Publicis Modem * Subway * New Balance * Initiative * 20th Century Fox * Cadbury/ Trident * Ogilvy * Kia Soul * Oakley * PGA Tour. [...]

DM2 Events is finishing 2009 with a triple-threat event package during the month of December. In addition to the company’s second digiday:TARGET event on December 8, with the DPAC Awards to follow, DM2 is holding its first-ever Los Angeles digiday:APPS conference on December 10. “A lot of event companies treat LA as if it’s a secondary market for thought leaders and digital advertising activity,” says DM2 Founder Nick Friese. “We disagree strongly. We’ve had multiple DIGIDAY events in New York, but with digiday:APPS and we’re putting our money where our mouth is. [...]

My Favorite New iPhone App: An intuitive new iPhone application, developed by facial plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Denenberg, allows you to view hundreds of before-and-after photos, turn your iPhone around to take your own photos, and with the touch of a button, email them to the doctor with your questions - like a free online consultation - all while sipping your latte. "The iPhone app is the next powerful communication tool," Dr. Denenberg said. "Just as most plastic surgeons now have Web sites, soon most will realize the value of using this new technology to describe their practices, display their skills, and give patients easy ways to contact them. [...]

Apparently some e-commerce payers aren't feeling the need for speed when it comes to mobile marketing. In fact some are four seconds longer than others. This was the finding of a new benchmark published today by Gomez, the Web performance division of Compuware Corporation that compares and ranks the mobile Web performance of the nation's top retailers. Between November 1 and November 15, Gomez monitored the mobile Web performance of the home pages of 14 top retailers, testing from different geographies and mobile carriers to measure their response times and availability when accessed from a popular cell phone. [...]

Nielsen has seen the mobile future and the future is smartphones. It's new report out today shows that in Q3 2009, historically the slowest phone sales quarter, more than 25% of all phones sold were smartphones. It expects Q4 to have more than 40% of all new phones to be smart devices. "This is important to watch as smartphones are on track to be the majority of phones in the U.S. by 2011," the report states. "Projecting Nielsen data out through 2010, we see smartphones crossing 50% of the market by the middle of 2011, roughly equal to 150 million users. [...]

We won't tell you how this one ends. But MyRomanceStory, an imprint of Arrow Publications, reports a 40-percent increase in romance graphic novel App book sales from July to August, 2009, and a nearly 200- percent increase from August to October 2009, after Apple put into effect its parental controls ratings. Novels with mature romantic content have historically exhibited strong ebook sales. Now that they are portable this can only increase their reach to an audience that spends more and more time reading on portable platforms. [...]

The Atlantic has an excellent thread running on the future of newspapers. Megan McArdle stirred the pot last week after the Audit Bureau of Circulation published its numbers, and many readers have taken issue with her opinion that "the numbers seem to confirm something I've thought for a while: we're eventually going to end up with a few national papers, a la Britain, rather than local dailies. The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times (sorry, conservatives!) are weathering the downturn better than most, and it's not surprising: business, politics, and national upper-middlebrow culture. [...]

Meet the professional blogger. Today's installment of Technorati's State of the Blogosphere report shows thata minority of professional bloggers are making more money than ever. Bloggers can collect ad revenues related to their blogs. But they are also making money by parlaying the popularity of their blogs into speaking engagements, traditional media assignments, and running conferences. Among those who make money from blogging, 54 percent are part-timers, 32 percent are self-employed, and 14 percent work for corporations. [...]

Like the baseball playoffs it plays out over about a week on late October. This, however, is Technorati's State of the Blogoshere Report. In today's installment the company reported that 72 percent of bloggers call themselves hobbyists. About 9 percent of bloggers are self-employed, and of that group, about 22 percent say their business is their blog. Some 10 percent of the professional bloggers say that they blog more than 40 hours a week. And among professional bloggers, 40 percent said they worked in traditional media. [...]

Don’t ever tell Peter Daboll that it’s just a game. The CEO of marketing technology innovator Bunchball has taken gaming to a new level for brands and content owners, counting a big win last week with the SyFy Channel to add to a list of clients that have made 2009 a very good year. “We are having a direct effect on viewer’s behavior and giving them a reason to return to the website that they might not have revisited,” says Daboll. “We’re seeing ad responses for our solution that I have never seen before. [...]

Showtime Networks unveiled its iPhone application this week, available to customers for free download through the Apple app store. Showtime partnered with mobile ad network and mobile video optimization firm Transpera on the effort. The app, unsurprisingly, is video-focused—allowing viewers to sample full episodes or clips of their favorite Showtime programs from Dexter to Weeds; Nurse Jackie to The United States of Tara. It also offers marketers an opportunity for targeted, dynamic mobile advertising—and a way of reaching Showtime’s lucrative viewing audience on a new platform. [...]

As ChaCha founder Scott Jones remembers it, his original thinking about the mobile answers service he started included the capacity for people to text for questions such as “what is the best price on digital cameras?” Now ChaCha is better equipped to answer that question with today’s launch of ChaCha coupons. The coupon site represents several departures for a company that has defined text-based marketing and carved a reliable niche in the teen marketing space. First, ChaChaCoupons.com is a complete online and mobile coupon site that allows users to search for companies and offers by business type, neighborhood, newest offers, and more. [...]

Not a big shock, but a big development for mobile content today as Google releases AdSense for high-end mobile phones. Just as it does via online search, AdSense mobile enables advertisers to places ads beside content that is browsed on smartphones. VentureBeat calls it “a move that further highlights the search engine giant’s strategy for mobile: It wants to target high-end mobile users.It’s also significant in that it makes development of applications and content for smartphones so much more appealing. [...]

Google Mobile made a subtle announcement today about its “redesigned local search experience” that integrates with Google Maps on your computer and includes browseable categories that let you search without typing. It was announced by Joshua Siegel, Product Manager, Mobile Local Search Team on his blog. In it he described a recent vacation to Hawaii. “Before I left, I researched places to visit on Google Maps. I signed in to my Google account and starred the places I wanted to go,” he writes. [...]

Mobile video network Transpera has a new president and COO. Jason Weisberger was appointed to the newly created spot today, coming from agency Federated Media where he was Chief Operating Officer. He brings more than 15 years of technology experience to Transpera ranging from early-stage venture-backed start-ups to multinational telecommunications giants. Prior to Federated Media, Weisberger held leadership positions at Cable & Wireless, Digital Island and SoftAware Networks. “Transpera has become the clear leader in mobile video,” said Weisberger. [...]

In Praise of Zune … Two Billion Served at Apple Apps … Buy The Game; See The Movie … Working Moms Look Good to Mobile Marketers … The Worth Of Friends

The Buzz on Twitter and Crowdsourcing…How Mobile Phones Can Change the World…Smartphone Social Use Triples…WSJ Confirms Paid Mobile Plan…Positive Vibes For Web Ads

Last week John Gaffney wrote about the sheer amount of people on the panels and the amount of ideas flowing through the rooms during digiday:MOBILE/SOCIAL. It was especially interesting when John shared how a social media expert emailed him during the event to say, “my head is spinning.” Some of the panels and presentations during the Ad Week festivities might not have been as advanced as the content from digiday last week; however, it seems to take a lot less to spin the heads of most marketers. [...]

I’m biased, I know. But the coolest thing about the digiday event structure is the sheer amount of people on the panels and the amount of ideas flowing through the rooms. One attendee emailed me Thursday afternoon to say, “my head is spinning.” And this is an expert in social media who has worked with several major brands. I had to play a little catch up with myself after it was all over, so forgive the somewhat random observations here: • There is a huge gulf of creativity and effectiveness in the mobile space between campaigns that work and campaigns that don’t. [...]

There is a sense of caution surrounding mobile marketing that mystifies me. It is the most exciting and direct method of marketing in the tool kit. It is uncluttered at this point, unlike most every other media. Yet brands still treat it like it might blow up like one of those defective iPhones. They toe the water when mobile is involved and they should be diving in. This caution and balancing sense of possibility was on display at the digiday:MOBILE event in New York on Thursday. The sense of possibility, which should dominate any mobile conversation, is made possible by innovation. [...]

Apple’s App Store gets the lion’s share of press coverage in the mobile applications space. But don’t fall asleep, Steve. The Android Market is gaining momentum. Last week the Android Market quietly passed the 10,000 applications mark, a milestone that shows Android is definitely on the upswing. As Mobile Crunch’s Robin Wauters notes, “In the mobile OS world, Google’s Android is still a challenger but with the amount of devices that will be running the system that are due to come out in the coming months alone in combination with its open approach it is definitely a contestant to watch closely. [...]

The mobile application space is a little like Earth: it's getting hotter and more crowded by the day. How does a publisher or developer stand out in the throng? And once you’ve built a terrific application-- with high quality content and a streamlined interface-- the next challenge is pricing it right. Do you go for volume and slap it with a rock-bottom price to encourage mass downloads? Or is it smarter to ask a higher number for your product? Read Write Web's Dan Oshiro addresses the pricing conundrum in a short but well-written post. [...]

General Mills is tapping the power of mobile as part of its cross-channel campaign surrounding the launch of its new Wheaties Fuel cereal. The multi-million dollar effort includes an SMS call to-action running in Men's Health magazine, print advertising, online ads, direct mail, and will ultimately include TV advertising as well. As Mobile Marketer’s Dan Butcher notes, “General Mills saw SMS as a perfect channel to help reinvigorate and modernize the Wheaties brand” and reach the young, active male audience it is targeting with this new product. [...]

Join us as we celebrate the finalists and the winners at The MOBI Awards Gala (www.themobiawards.com) on 9/16 at The W Hotel Union Square, New York. The MOBI Awards judging committee has selected the nominees and winners for the awards in each category, as well as the Best in Show. Congratulate the finalists which include: * MasterCard * Benjamin Moore * Bank of America * Pizza Hut Inc. * Comedy Central * Disney * The Coca-Cola Company/Fanta/Millennial Media * Jack in the Box / Cha Cha * Zippo/Moderati Urban Daddy/Big Spaceship * And Many More!! Buy Your Tickets Today! www. [...]

The social gaming trend is white hot—and the tech players leading the space are seeing their business explode. Social gaming developer Zynga leaped past the 100 million active monthly users mark; All Facebook scooped the story, explaining that Zynga saw its user base jump 25% in mere weeks. Zynga's success is driven largely by its wildly popular Facebook games. FarmVille, Zynga’s biggest game is also the most popular gaming app on Facebook. Zynga currently boasts 12 million daily users. All Facebook’s Nick O’Neill explains, “The game continues to grow by leaps and bounds resulting in 25 percent overall growth in Zynga’s monthly traffic just in the past two weeks. [...]

It’s the end of an era, says Piper Jaffrey mobile analyst Gene Munster: the era of iPhone exclusivity. AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson is scrambling to extend ithe carrier's exclusive deal with Apple until at least 2011. However, Munster predicts the effort may be wasted: despite negotiations, their cozy courtship will end across the globe by next summer—if not before. Things are already moving that direction abroad: Apple has rolled out non-exclusive iPhone distribution in both China and France. [...]

The New York Times has launched a new series of interactive interstitial ads inside its popular iPhone app. VISA and Siemens AG are among the first brands to give the new units a try; the expandable, rich media ads were created by Medialets, the New York-based mobile advertising firm behind innovative campaigns for Dockers and other brands. As Mobile Marketer’s Dan Butcher explains, the ads “encourage users to interact with the brands by taking advantage of functionality such as tilting, which is unique to the iPhone. [...]

Steve Jobs may be a marketing genius, and one of the brightest CEOs in technology, but he’s left the Department of Justice a trail of crumbs a mile wide. What sort of trouble has good Apple/ bad Apple made for itself? It's starting to get messy. First the FTC began evaluating overly cozy ties between Apple and Google’s boards of directors. Separately, the DOJ is probing what could be a secret anti-poaching agreement between Apple and Google. Now it turns out Apple may have tried the same trick with Palm. [...]

MySpace is closing in on a deal to purchase social music service iLike. TechCrunch scooped the story—and reports the acquisition will cost MySpace $20 million. Haven’t heard of iLike? TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington explains, “It is the top music application on Facebook, Bebo, Hi5 and just about every other social network other than MySpace, which has MySpace Music.” iLike boasts around 10 million monthly downloads on Facebook alone— and around 50 million total users. In addition to its highly popular music recommendation service, iLike offers a band pages similar to those hosted on MySpace Music. [...]

The tablets are coming. And all of us who love our shiny, pretty Apple devices may not have to wait long to get our hands on one. Apple’s forthcoming tablet device has been this summer’s most discussed tech gadget. The gossip has been flying; the foreshadowing heavy. First it’s a Kindle killer. Next the tablet is going to revolutionize music. Whatever this device ends up doing, there’s no disputing that Apple fanboys (and girls) are drooling to get a look at it. It’s been widely assumed that Apple would unveil the tablet sometime next year. [...]

VC Fred Wilson is a fan of Foursquare and he’s not afraid to admit it. Rumors have been flying that the notable venture capitalist is eying the application company. Now Fred seems to be backing those rumors up by commenting about the app across the web: on his blog, A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC and quipping on Foursquare's founder’s Flickr account. Okay. So, Fred Wilson likes Foursquare—what exactly is it? Business Insider’s Nicholas Carlson describes it as an “iPhone app that lets users "check-in" to restaurants and bars and let all their friends know where they're hanging out. [...]

While marketers may still be skeptical about mobile apps, research by GravityTank suggests marketers should reconsider given consumers' engagement with mobile apps.

Hit “print” on the insertion orders. That seemed to be the operative advice for companies that want their mobile applications to rise above inert levels in the cluttered consumer marketplace. Attendees at Wednesday’s digiday:APPS conference were told that paid advertising and promotion were the keys to bringing content to the mobile audience. “We have pushed a couple of hundred apps successfully into the marketplace,” said AdMob sales VP Tony Nethercutt. “We need for more mobile apps to be advertised on our network not just because we don’t see it happening fast enough for us, but because it’s the best way for apps to get distributed. [...]

A recent survey of several hundred digital media and marketing professionals by our sister publication DM2PRO.com reveals some angst among those who haven’t tried social applications, but growing enthusiasm among those who have.

How will being 'open' allows for community driven applications?

digiday:APPS has the leaders in the APPS space coming together on August 12th in New York to share their expertise, vision and insights on the now, and the future of advertising on APPS! We have the creators of the #1 Facebook, #1 Mobile, #1 Women's Social App, #1 Branded App, and more who will share their secrets of APPS success with you...and your colleagues too! Plus, you'll hear from industry visionary Jason McCabe Calacanis during his keynote presentation titled - The 10 Best Apps That Haven't Been Built Yet (and assorted observations and insights into the APPconomy) [...]

Google’s Android operating system could make the leap from your phone to your television by next year. And your refrigerator is not soon behind. Yes, you read that right. Google designed the Android OS to be “device agnostic,” allowing it to not only run on smartphones but on many other products including home electronics and entertainment devices. Paid Content’s Joseph Tartakoff explains, “MIPS Technologies, a company which designs processors for various home entertainment devices, says it is working with partners to design Android-based platforms for set-top boxes, digital TVs, mobile internet devices, and home media players. [...]

Meredith joins the ranks of publishers thinking beyond print-- and going mobile. While print women’s magazines are a continued mainstay for Meredith, the Better Homes and Gardens publisher seems to be thinking “digital diversification,” if its investment in mobile marketing firm The Hyperfactory is any indication. Paid Content’s David Kaplan reveals Meredith Corp has acquired a 19.9% interest in the New Zealand and New York-based mobile marketing firm. Said Kaplan, “The Hyperfactory will work with Meredith’s Integrated Marketing unit, a b2b division that creates custom online and print products. [...]

J.C. Penney is targeting teens with a new multi-channel back-to-school campaign “Schooled in Style: Smart Looks for Less.” The effort looks to reach teens where they are most active: on television, and across mobile and social channels. Saatchi & Saatchi New York, Razorfish, and T3 collaborated with Penney’s on the “Schooled in Style” campaign. Mobile Marketer’s Giselle Tsirulnik explains, “The mobile aspect lets teens sign-up to receive text messages on their mobile phones about back-to-school sales and special offers at JCPenney. [...]

Mobile handset developer LG Electronics has joined the app party. The South Korea based company unveils its application store Tuesday, which will launch with 1,400 apps in international markets. The apps are available in an array of 15 languages; for now, it is holding off on a U.S. app store opening, though it should be available domestically down the road. Fierce Mobile Content’s Jason Ankeny explains: “The beta storefront, which will first launch in markets including Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, will expand to Europe and South America before the end of 2009, by which time LG expects to offer more than 2,000 applications. [...]

Please join us on August 12th for digiday:APPS! This high level event will bring together the leading executives from top agencies, blue-chip brands, app developers, mobile/social advertising networks, and content owners to discuss the explosive Mobile and Social "Appvertising" market. The App Explosion: Analysts predict that the worldwide mobile advertising market will explode from $700 million in 2008 to $7.2 billion by 2012. As the numbers of applications served is reaching 1 billion, with 50,000 applications available, and more than 30 million devices in market, will the App explosion deliver on the promise of mobile and social marketing? How can marketers harness the power of the app? And can the app platform build brands across mobile, social, and cross platform digital channels, or is it all just hype? You'll hear from App Experts - * Garrick Schmitt, Group VP of Experience Planning, Razorfish * Eric A. [...]

The Justice Department is staying busy-- and not just sniffing out possible monopolies within Google’s various businesses. The DOJ is beginning a review into telecom companies with a specific focus on the common industry “practice of locking up phones via exclusivity agreements.” Mashable’s Ben Parr offers his take on a Wall Street Journal story on the DOJ review. Apparently one key concern for the feds is “AT&T’s exclusive right to provide service for Apple Inc.’s popular iPhone in the U. [...]

Just a month ago prospects looked sunny for Palm’s new Pre smartphone. It looked like consumer demand was high. The device received generally positive reviews. The OS was zippy and intuitive. More than anything, as TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid puts it, “it was exciting to see a genuinely compelling product come out of Palm for the first time in years, and many of us viewed it as one of the first worthwhile competitors to the iPhone.” Then, a lightning bolt hit—you can call that bolt iPhone 3GS. [...]

Yahoo Advertising veteran David Karnstedt has joined the Board of Directors at mobile advertising network Jumptap. Karnstedt brings a breadth of experience in search marketing and display to his new role. Currently Karnstedt is president and CEO of Efficient Frontier. Before that he served as Executive-in-Residence for Redpoint Ventures, a VC firm that is also an investor in Jumptap. He also served as a Vice President of Yahoo’s North American sales where he “drove $3 billion worth of revenue. [...]

MSNBC.com has unveiled a mobile application designed for iPhone and iPod Touch. The app provides on-the-go readers with breaking stories, news, photos and video content. Mobile media developer Zumobi helped build the ad-supported application. Zumobi also developed NBC’s apps for The Rachel Maddow Show and The Today Show. At least for now, the app will be free to users. Fierce Mobile Content’s Jason Ankeny described the new MSNBC app’s design: it “features a radial interface offering efficient access to personalized news topics, NBC News and MSNBC Cable shows, blogs and Twitter feeds--users may share articles as well as track tweets from their favorite NBC News and MSNBC cable anchors. [...]

Want to launch an iPhone application and hope to make big money in mobile advertising from your effort? Fine—but you better have a popular app on your hands—otherwise, your profits may barely buy you large cup of coffee. Mobile ad net AdMob recently released a report that “says that 54% of the 2,300 apps that its ads appear in had fewer than 1,000 users in May.” Highly popular applications boasting 100,000 users or more made up just 5% of the app market; those with over 1,000,000 users numbered just 11. [...]

by Sarah Schoenfelder- It’s going to be a busy weekend for Apple. The shiny new iPhone 3G S goes on sale this Friday at 7am. Although it only launches in eight international markets—the 3G unveiled in 21 in July 2008-- Piper Jaffray mobile analyst Gene Munster predicts Apple will sell 500,000 units in 3G S’s first weekend. By comparison, the 3G sold twice that in its debut weekend last summer. But remember, it launched in almost three times as many markets. Palm’s pre smartphone— a touchscreen device that looks to out-iPhone iPhone-- sold “an estimated 50,000 units in its first two days of retail availability,” according to Fierce Mobile Content. [...]

Enter the MOBI Awards Today! The MOBI Awards honors overall excellence and breakthrough achievement in mobile media, marketing and advertising. The MOBI's are presented by DM2, the publishers of digiday:DAILY and the hosts of digiday:MOBILE, which includes hundreds of leading mobile media and marketing experts, journalists, insiders, marketers, publishers, and mobile technology visionaries. The purpose of the MOBI Awards is to recognize the outstanding efforts being made in mobile media and marketing. [...]

Steve Jobs may soon be returning to Apple after a five-month medical leave, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Journal, citing sources familiar with Jobs’ medical condition, says the renowned Apple CEO’s recovery is “coming along” and predicts he will likely return by the end of June. He may even make a surprise appearance at the WWDC. Jobs underwent treatment for pancreatic surgery several years ago and suffered complications this winter. Before and during his leave, he found himself at the center of much speculation over his health. [...]

by Sarah Schoenfelder- Apple’s iPhone set the bar for smartphones. Love it or hate it, there’s no disputing that iPhone was a category changer. It has shaped changes in mobile advertising, influenced application development, and launched a herd of copycat devices. Apple is expected to debut a new generation iPhone in June at the WWDC, the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in just a few weeks— and begin selling it sometime in July. Understandably, tech bloggers can barely contain themselves and are already buzzing about what it may bring. [...]

The MOBI Awards Are Now Open for Entries - Submit Your Winning Mobile Marketing Campaign Today. TheMOBI Awards honors overall excellence and breakthrough achievement in mobile media, marketing and advertising. The MOBI's are presented by DM2, the publishers of digiday:DAILY and the hosts of digiday:MOBILE, which includes hundreds of leading mobile media and marketing experts, journalists, insiders, marketers, publishers, and mobile technology visionaries.

by Sarah Schoenfelder- Apple launched its app store in 2008 as a way to build community around the iPhone and hustle more devices—not necessarily as a business in itself. The strategy paid off, driving sales of both iPhone and iPod Touch through the roof; the company reported selling 14 million iPhones in 2008 alone. But just how much did Apple make from its much-hyped billion downloaded apps? According to Jeremy Liew from venture firm Lightspeed Venture, the app store made Apple between $20 and $45 million. [...]

Following up the debut of its large-screen Kindle DX reader last week, Amazon.com rolled an e-commerce solution with a much smaller screen in mind. The online retail powerhouse unveiled improvements to its Kindle e-commerce store which optimize it for iPhone. The Kindle store for iPhone offers enhancements over the previous Kindle for iPhone app, which launched March 4th. The Kindle store is now fully optimized for iPhone, scaled for browsing and purchasing from an iPhone touch screen. Further, its improved integration with Apple’s safari browser allows mobile customers fast, one-touch access to “280,000 digital books, including 106 of 112 current New York Times bestsellers. [...]

by Sarah Schoenfelder - Verizon and Apple are in talks about forging a partnership that would end AT&T’s iPhone exclusive, as USA Today scooped Monday. BusinessWeek reveals the two companies are in discussions about collaborating to sell not one—but two—mobile devices. One is a more affordable, smaller “iPhone lite” and the other is an expanded, high-definition ready “media pad” that would also sport phone functionality. The latter sounds suspiciously like the tablet demo Apple is rumored to be developing. [...]

by Noah Elkin, PhD- McDonald's is well known for posting the number of customers served at its thousands of worldwide locations. Over the years, that number grew from 10 billion to 20 to 50, until a point at which McDonald's simply abandoned the numbers in favor of the static and amorphous "Billions and Billions Served" that now graces golden arches everywhere. Apple reached a similarly important milestone Friday, serving its one-billionth application for the iPhone and iPod Touch through the App Store, just nine months after its launch. [...]

by Noah Elkin, PhD - The venerable Wall Street Journal, one of the bastions of paywall content, has jumped on the iPhone bandwagon with an application that, surprisingly, offers free access to the Journal's vast store of articles, with the added bonus of video and radio sections - a featured not offered by The New York Times. Or maybe it's not so surprising in light of the fact that the WSJ launched a free BlackBerry application last August (a prioritization that clearly defines the paper's readership). [...]

Publishing powerhouse Time Inc., names mobile a key part of its digital strategy. Beginning next week Time Inc. is kicking off new mobile efforts including new WAP sites, retooling iPhone optimized sites, and unveiling iPhone apps for many of its publications, including CNNmoney.com and Golf.com. The publisher has already developed iPhone-optimized sites for some of its properties including Time.com and People.com and seen good results. It currently boasts 1 million monthly unique visitors to those mobile sites. [...]

The economy is bleak. All the more reason marketers should place their bet on a cost-effective, measurable strategy: mobile. That’s the message Ogilvy North America is sharing with clients eager to find a recession-conscious way of reaching customers.