• Aggregate Me: I Have Lazy App Syndrome
    As I reflect a bit on the evolution of my own smartphone and tablet consumption habits, and ponder recent press releases, it seems that aggregation is going to be a key feature of the next generation of mobile apps.
  • After The Magic, Then What?
    "We are two minutes into this show and we already watched a lingering death from natural causes, two vampires rip out the neck of an innocent man and now we are watching -- what, a sink filled with blood?" "It's a good show," my fiancée insists. Actually, it is a "payback show." This SyFy series "Being Human" (think "Friends" but with werewolves, vampires and ghosts) is what I had to watch the other night to make up for making her sit through her first viewing of "Jaws" the night before. Just before I am about to put my eyes out, …
  • Stop Trying So Hard To Be Loved: Utility Lures Wine Shoppers From SMS To 2D Codes
    s a number of speakers at the recent Mobile Insider Summit reminded everyone, when it comes to reach, there still is no beating SMS. Perhaps... unless you may be reaching out to wine shoppers. In an interesting in-store holiday push for Constellation Wines, Augme Mobile obtained an unexpected result. When given a choice between texting for more information and scanning a QR code for a link on in-store bottle neck hangers, published inserts and case labels, customers chose QR over texting 7 to 1. Odd, but true.
  • Apple Offers Subscription Model...Finally
    In what may be that rare example of Apple actually caving to external market pressures, the company finally announced this morning its subscription model for iOS apps. Now newspapers and magazines can offer recurring billing for access to their digital versions. According to Apple the purchases will use the same billing system as one-off purchases and Apple will retain its customary 30% of the take. Customers are automatically charged on a weekly or monthly basis and they can manage their subs from their iTunes account page.
  • Not a Phone, Not a PC: Finding the Tablet Niche
    Whether the iPad is itself a "mobile" device is a current argument that gets bogged down and likely diminished by the terminology. It came up more than once at the Mobile Insider Summit last week. I have to admit that until then I hadn't really taken the debate very seriously as it is currently expressed. I always assumed the tablet is a variety of "mobile" and certainly qualifies in my mind for coverage here. Obviously it shares an OS with a phone and even comes in 3G-enabled versions. But to get all Clinton on the issue, it all depends on …
  • Lesson From The Summit: Putting the App Before The Horse
    One of many clear messages that came from last week's Mobile Insider Summit in Key Biscayne is that marketers are following the eyeballs onto mobile platform, but they are being much more disciplined about keeping their own eyes off the bright shiny objects. My read on many of the keynotes and panel discussions was a spirit of getting the basics right.
  • A Real-Time Encounter With The Daily: Wake Me When the Revolution Begins
    I am literally writing this as I use the new The Daily from News Corp. First impressions only: It is amazing how familiar and un-revolutionary this seems.
  • Love And The Second Screen
    "You're not paying attention, you're iPadding," my fiancée argues while we watch TV. I am "missing all the good stuff." "You have your face in your laptop," I counter. <> "It is lined up with the TV screen, I can see both at once. You have your nose down in the iPad. You can't see both at once." This is where we are in America (or at least the small piece of America on which my living room resides). We bicker over who is distracted least by our media multitasking.
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