Mobile ad network Millennial Media has acquired San Francisco-based mobile analytics firm TapMetrics to bolster its application-tracking capability, the companies announced Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Through the acquisition, Millennial says it will give developers the ability to keep track of key performance metrics, sales and crash reports across mobile platforms like the iPhone and Google's Android in a unified dashboard. TapMetrics' system also integrates buzz reporting on apps and app reviews. "This is an app analytics suite. We didn't have one," says Millennial CEO Paul Palmieri. "The idea here is to provide developers even more value than we do. Through TapMetrics, we can offer business intelligence on apps within one console in which we already provide ad mediation and monetization." Palmieri didn't say what proportion of Millennial's business is derived from in-app advertising compared to the mobile Web, but stressed that working closely with developers has long been an important company goal. With Google bidding $750 million for rival ad network AdMob and Apple buying Quattro Wireless for a reported $247 million, Millennial is also striving to better compete as an independent company against major tech players entering the mobile ad space. And with Millennial rumored to be an acquisition target itself, the company at the same time is making itself more attractive to would-be buyers through the TapMetrics deal. Palmieri, however, downplayed such strategic maneuvering. "We're committed to a path that says we're going to be very successful as an independent company, if that's the path we take," he says. "We don't do things to position ourselves one way or another." With a 12% share of the $287 mobile ad market in 2009, Millennial would be second only to the 24% share of a combined Google/AdMob entity, according to an estimate by market research firm IDC. That makes it a potentially attractive target for another big Web player like Microsoft or Yahoo aiming to keep pace with Google and Apple. Millennial did acknowledge that the TapMetrics acquisition is part of a broader growth strategy following its closing of an additional $16 million in venture capital funding in November. To that end, Palmieri suggested the company's next move may be outside the U.S. "For us to acquire share in different geographies would be a strongly considered category of acquisition we would look at," he says, mentioning Asia and Latin America as possible regions for expansion. Buoying the company's confidence is the rapid growth of mobile advertising in the last year. Millennial on Tuesday also released data showing its revenue from brand advertisers increased 756% in 2009 and average deal size increased 353% over 2008. It also said impressions from outside the U.S. had more than doubled, mainly because of increased traffic in Europe.
Reflecting its shift over the last year from mobile content aggregator to mobile entertainment agency, Moderati has rebranded as skyrockit. Best known for creating Zippo's hugely popular Virtual Lighter app for the iPhone, skyrockit will offer a range of mobile services from strategy planning to creative to marketing and research. "We see the worlds of media, technology, and brands morphing in very exciting ways in the coming years and we're positioned to help partners take advantage of those new opportunities," said skyrockit CEO Jon Vlassopulos. He explained that the company's new name derives partly from that of its parent, Japan-based Bellrock Media Company, and what it believes is the upward trajectory of mobile media and advertising. The firm can only hope it isn't confused with similar high-tech company names including Icerocket, Rocket Fuel and app developer Bottle Rocket. Started in 2001 as a ringtone seller, skyrockit has gradually evolved into a mobile-focused agency, working brands to develop ad campaigns, branded apps and other mobile projects. The transition was accelerated with its release of the Zippo lighter app in 2008, which has since been installed 10 million times by iPhone users and earned various accolades including "Best Mobile Globally Display Campaign" in 2009 from the Mobile Marketing Association. Among other high-profile projects, skyrockit also created a branded iPhone app on behalf of vitaminwater that allowed users to create their own versions of rapper 50 Cent's track "Baby By Me" using the company's own remix platform called Romplr. Other skyrockit clients include NBC, Virgin and A&E Television. While skyrockit hasn't yet created any apps for the Android platform, Mobile Roadie Tuesday separately announced extending its do-it-yourself apps platform to the Google mobile operating system. The company is launching on Android with new apps for performers including Madonna, Dolly Parton and Ashton Kutcher. Mobile Roadie promises that its software will allow anyone to create their own Android app in minutes without any programming knowledge and make updates via its content management system. "Offering support for both iPhone and Android means that brands no longer have to choose which popular platform to be on, their work in building and managing their app instantly applies to both platforms," said Mobile Roadie CEO Michael Schneider, in a statement. The Los Angeles-based startup is one of several companies including AppMakr and Appcelerator that provide tools that let brands and others create their own apps quickly at much lower cost than the typical $20,000 to $300,000 in development costs. AppMakr, for instance, charges $199 and $499 for app templates and boasts publishing more than 3,000 iPhone apps since launching as a separate brand from technology consulting firm PointAbout in January. How much of a threat these turnkey app-building services represent to the likes of agencies such as skyrockit remains to be seen. But it's likely that major brands will still turn to digital agencies and mobile experts to help develop sophisticated apps.
In a victory for Web publisher Boing Boing, a judge in California has dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by Magic Jack, a company that offers a USB dongle for Voice over Internet Protocol service. Marin County Superior Court Judge Verna Adams ruled that Magic Jack's complaint -- about a Boing Boing item that accused Magic Jack of being a "snoop" because it planned to serve ads based on phone numbers users called -- was barred by California's broad anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) statute. That law provides for a quick dismissal of lawsuits that are aimed at squelching debate about matters of public interest. Adams also ordered Magic Jack to pay Boing Boing more than $50,000 in attorneys' fees and court costs, the Web publisher announced today. The dispute began in April of 2008, when a writer at Boing Boing took a close look at the license agreement for Magic Jack, which was offering a VoIP dongle for just $20 a year. The writer found that Magic Jack's business plan included targeting ads to users based on the phone numbers they called. The company will "snoop on your calls to target ads more accurately," Boing Boing published in an April 2008 post. Unhappy about being characterized as a snoop, Magic Jack filed a defamation lawsuit against Boing Boing. The company alleged that any statements about spying were false, arguing that it had not yet begun analyzing the phone numbers dialed by customers. In subsequent legal papers, Magic Jack also argued that the post wrongly suggested that it "regularly eavesdrops on its users' calls." Magic Jack also attempted to argue that recording phone numbers doesn't in itself violate consumers' privacy. "Every telephone company from time memorial has done this to charge customers for their calls. Ad-targeting is also a common practice that is useful for both sellers and consumers. A trier of fact would likely find that there is nothing nefarious about such a policy," the company argued. But Adams agreed with Boing Boing that its original post was protected under California law. She also specifically rejected Magic Jack's assertion that the post falsely accused the company of listening in on phone calls. "As to the statements based on the EULA, such statements, read in context, do not imply that [Magic Jack] is eavesdropping on its customers' calls," Adams wrote. "Instead, the statements clearly constitute the opinion of the author that analyzing phone numbers for purposes of targeted advertising amounts to 'spy[ing],' 'snoop[ing],' and 'systematic privacy invasion.'"
I'm not sure that Google does itself any favors by releasing some of its "lab" tests into the wild before they have been shaken out. Yesterday the Google Shopper app came onto the Android platform, and I actually had a harder time with it than I did with the Google Goggles experiment that drove me a little batty months ago. None of this starts well. There is an explanatory video at the dedicated Web page, but the home page for this new app is cursory at best. In fact, the site is done in such "if-you-don't already-understand-this-then-what-are-you-doing-here" Googledy-Geek shorthand that the pop-up mobile scan code (which I gather pushes the app to your phone) comes with no instructions. I already know this stuff, but I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do on the code, or for what reason. Google Shopper is designed to let you scan a retail product for which it performs an image search. The result brings back pricing, product info, product specs, reviews, etc. It is supposed to work especially well with flat media like book, DVDs, and CD game covers. Anyone who has used the Amazon or Barnes and Noble apps will find this familiar. Google is trying to widen the breadth of products it can recognize, and it has added voice search to the optional input modes. I am not entirely sure why Google decided to separate this product from the Google Goggles general image search. It seems to me there should be a toggle between two modes, general and product search, in the same app. Now you have three discrete Google search apps on the Android deck. And oddly enough, Goggles, which I am not thrilled with anyway, seems to do a better job at image recognition than Google Shopper. I am being puckish, I know, but the Shopper app I was using on the Verizon Droid phone couldn't recognize the Verizon Droid package itself. It couldn't (or wouldn't) recognize an iPhone. It shrugged over several vitamin bottles and a very recent Playstation 3 game box. Generally, I needed to go to the UPC code to do the scan, and even then some items like the vitamins just didn't register. Goggles got me closer faster to most queries. Voice recognition actually worked better than the scan modes. In many cases even when the engine did get a hit, the information was incomplete, especially reviews. Arguably, ShopSavvy on the Android, RedLaser on the iPhone and Amazon and B&N apps deliver more reliable results, and certainly more orderly experiences and content. Must everything in Google resemble a messy Google search engine result? ShopSavvy, for instance, parses out local vendors, but the Google results are just pushing you to order online from the usual suspects. Really, there is a physical world beyond the digital domain, the ghost in the Google machine seems to be saying to us. What I find curious about the Google Shopper model is how poorly it integrates with the rest of my Google existence. Yet Google can partly get away with underperforming its predecessors in the market here. At least it has the opportunity to knit a mediocre app into a broader history and online relationship than I have with any of these other mobile-centric app developers -- not a small thing at all. Still, one of the strengths of the Amazon apps is that I can recall the image search history on the Web when I log into the Amazon account. This is the way most people really will do product research -- across the platforms. At the very least, Google Shopper should be logging me into my account and synchronizing my searches so that my product search history is available to my online experience. Why should I have to email a search hit to myself so I can research it more thoroughly back on the desktop? I am using the same search engine in both places, after all. And talk about an opportunity to proliferate its Google Checkout payment system. I already rely on my micro-payment account on the Android OS to make app purchases, a process that works out as seamlessly as the iPhone's billing system. If Google is looking for a revenue model for the Shopper app, then it should try planting some of those blue shopping cart icons next to the results. When I ran a desktop search on the same game found via the app (but only after a few scans) the "shopping" results all had Google Checkout vendors available for a one-click purchase. I am not sure what Google is up to in some of these early mobile app experiments. If its strategists are aiming to own mobile, then why squander their natural advantage and let so many large and small players in the market look so much better at it? In this case, maybe Google is the new Microsoft.
A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices by the end of Q4 2009. According to a new survey recently announced by Ruder Finn, Americans are spending an average of 2.7 hours on the mobile Internet, connecting socially, managing their personal finances, and even as a means for advocacy. 91% of mobile phone users go online to socialize compared to only 79% of traditional desktop users. Mobile phone users are 1.6 times more likely to manage finances compared to traditional desktop users. Mobile phone users are 1.4 times more likely than traditional desktop users to rally support for a cause. According to the Mobile Intent Index, mobile phone users do not access the mobile Internet for educational purposes or for creative expression, as the transitory nature of mobile intent goes against spending time to engage in discussions about personal issues. Usage by gender and age differ, with men accessing the mobile Internet 'to escape,' and women to entertain others. Kathy Bloomgarden, Ruder Finn co-CEO, says "Mobile phones have become the way people organize their lives... and this trend will... accelerate... the faster businesses can adapt their services... the more rapidly they can... understand their customers to drive growth." The Mobile Intent Index asked respondents how frequently they use their mobile phones to go online, and the results show that immediacy is the primary factor driving behavior. Marty McGough, director, Ruder Finn Insights says, though, that "Mobile phone use goes beyond instant gratification... people use their mobile phones... for instant access to conduct business with the most recent information or advocate on the spot on issues of pressing concern and breaking news." Michael Schubert, Chief Innovation Officer overseeing digital strategy at Ruder Finn added, "... people are taking advantage of (mobile technology)... to do their core work while using desktops to navigate longer format and higher bandwidth content and tools... resulting in huge... opportunities across industries... making mobile an essential channel in keeping businesses competitive." Key results from the Mobile Intent Index Survey, include: Mobile phones are a social connector, says the report. 91% of mobile users go online to socialize, compared to only 79% of traditional users. The top socialize intents are:
Wanted: Tall, blue, handsome site with over 100 million friends who will invite me to your party. -- A. Marketer There have been so many big numbers tossed out about Facebook lately, you'd think the site was in the lottery business. Fellow columnist Cathy Taylor last week mentioned how Facebook provides nearly 8% of the traffic to Google and Yahoo, and how people spend more than three times as long as Facebook as on any other site. Days earlier, Facebook celebrated crossing the 400 million user mark. The number that stands out the most to me is this one: 100 million. That's how many mobile users access Facebook across a range of devices -- actually, it's more than that, and growing daily. The safe bet is in time that the mobile user base will nearly mirror the overall user base, and that most of its usage will derive from mobile users. Facebook is in an especially strong position to benefit from the mobile boom, as mobile measurement firm Ground Truth noted this month that 61% of mobile Web pageviews are served by social networking sites. Facebook is second to MySpace on Ground Truth's January list of top ten mobile sites ranked by page views, with other entries including Mocospace, FunForMobile, AirG, Cellufun, Mbuzzy, and Myxer (Google and Yahoo made the list too). The firm noted, "Just as eBay, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter popped up seemingly out of nowhere to join the top ranks of the wired Web, there is no doubt that some of the mobile Web startups from today or tomorrow will be standalone companies in the top 10 mobile Web sites of 2020." Some of that reasoning's a stretch. I talked to one mobile vendor recently whose business was largely based on feature phones, the catch-all category for anything that's not a smart phone. He said that they'll milk the much larger feature phone user base for the time being, and when that dries up and everyone's on smart phones, they hope to adapt to the new marketplace. Many such companies won't make it. The feature phone market will be alive and well for some time, in the U.S. and abroad, and Facebook even just launched Zero, a completely scaled-back mobile site for those with bandwidth issues. That has to rattle marketers a little. The whole promise of mobile was that it would open up new audiences who could be targeted wherever they were. Yet Facebook offers nothing like that. How dare Facebook scale down its site even more for mobile users! It's not like users could see ads or even easily access Pages before. Where are the homepage ads? What about geotargeted mobile alerts? Come on, Zuckerberg, give us something! Lisa Foote, commenting on Cathy's article, summed it up well: "Making the hill even steeper to climb is consumers' increasing use of Facebook via mobile devices... Marketers who are already late to the social media party are going to find it's not a static target --- making it even harder for them to catch up in 2010." It's especially hard when there's no proscribed way to market to these users. That's going to change, of course. It might not change for Zero anytime soon, which is more of an issue for global marketers, especially in emerging markets where the need for Zero should be strongest. The most lightweight versions of Facebook's mobile site won't appeal to its frequent users who appreciate many of the features available on the Web. So what about Facebook for iPhone, with 27 million active users, or Facebook for BlackBerry, with 15 million monthly active users? What's taking Facebook so long? First, they're biding their time and growing their user base. No one's forcing their hand here, as they've gotten to 400 million users without caring too much about what others think of them. The second is that they're waiting to pull the trigger on an ad model that makes sense for their specific site and how it's used. Facebook just dropped Microsoft's banner ads on its site because they weren't contributing to the Facebook experience. The engagement ads and self-service ads running currently are customized to work for Facebook, not anyone else, creating a new experience for consumers without totally reinventing the wheel on the back end for marketers. Expect Facebook mobile ads to be built from the ground up. No matter how long Facebook takes, marketers with mobile applications can currently take advantage of Facebook Connect. Any app that incorporates content sharing, messaging, or finding friends can use Connect to grow the app's audience and increase users' engagement with it. In some cases, Connect will be the predominant reason an app gets any social traction. Beyond the app scene though, marketers have to go stag. Facebook's perfectly happy expanding its audience of 100 million mobile friends and doesn't want any chaperones butting in yet.