LinkedIn BlackBerry App: What Took So Long? by Mark Walsh

With companies of every kind racing to launch mobile applications, what took LinkedIn so long to introduce a BlackBerry app? The social network for professionals this week released an official app for BlackBerry devices that syncs with native email, contacts and calendar features. ...Read the whole story

  • Greystripe Launching iFlash Ad Format For iPad by Mark Walsh

    It looks like Flash is coming to the iPad after all. Mobile ad network Greystripe is bringing its technology that allows Flash-based ads to run on the iPhone to the iPad, starting in May. Like the iPhone, the forthcoming Apple tablet won't support Flash, much to the consternation of digital advertisers and publishers that widely use the Adobe platform to power rich media ads, animation and video. ...Read the whole story

  • Starbucks Extends Mobile Payments To Target Stores by Mark Walsh

    Starbucks has expanded its mobile payment option for iPhone users from a small trial group of stores to Starbucks outposts in more than 1,000 Target retail locations nationwide. The coffee giant launched the Starbucks Card Mobile App for the iPhone last September, allowing people to buy products by swiping an on-screen barcode scanned just like their plastic Starbucks card. ...Read the whole story

  • New Mobile Audience Segments Aimed At Targeting by Mark Walsh

    Are the consumers you're trying to reach on mobile phones part of the Mobirati or Social Connectors? And which is more likely to switch service providers or want advanced phone features? Those are some of the questions Experian Simmons seeks to answer through a new set of demographic and lifestyle segments it has devised for mobile based on the research firm's syndicated national consumer and Hispanic surveys. ...Read the whole story

Would An Apple/Google Deal Mirror Microsoft/Yahoo? by Laurie Sullivan

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster has become the latest analyst to suggest Apple needs to build a long-term search strategy to protect the data it generates from the more than 74 million mobile devices it has already shipped. ...More

  • A Gadget Too Far? by Steve Smith

    I am not sure exactly how this happened, but after a pleasant interregnum, we seem to be back in the throes of gadget lust. The iPad, of course, is the poster child for unreasonable tech cravings, but recent gushery over 3D TVs, eBook readers and smart phones real and promised underscores the return of the toy. Perhaps I just wasn't paying close enough attention during the recession, or maybe gadget porn was humbled by the downturn, but it smells like Tech Spirit again. ...More