• Apps No Miracle Grow For 1-800-Flowers
    People may be spending most of their mobile time in apps, but don't tell that to Chris Taylor of 1-800-Flowers.com. The retailer's digital marketing head on Monday pointed out that its mobile customers still mostly come through the Web. That's partly because people tend to buy its main products -- flowers and small gifts -- infrequently, which doesn't lend itself to regular app use.
  • Mobile Apps Revive The Paid Content Model
    While the majority of mobile users have never paid for an app, the smartphone's mobile content model has helped overcome stubborn resistance to paying for content online. Gee, maybe it was the terrible desktop experience that was holding us back.
  • Apple's Very Weird Week
    Apple, and its iPhone 6 especially, have had a roller coaster ride in the press this week. Curiously, however, no major negative narrative has attached itself to these woes, leaving the brand insulated still from enduring damage.
  • The Selfie As Ad Format
    If mobile has contributed a unique art form to the culture, it's the selfie. So why not turn them into a new kind of native advertising for mobile? That's the thinking behind the new Selfie ad format from Opera Mediaworks and Celtra that allows users to insert photos of themselves in display ads, which they can then share with friends via Facebook and Twitter. The unit includes features like layered drawings, filters and picture-in-picture effects that advertisers can choose from.
  • Video Ads Come To Rewards Network Kiip
    Mobile video advertising is expected to rise sharply this year from a small base. Ad revenue in the category is expected to more than double to $1.44 billion this year, making it the fastest-growing area of advertising, according to an eMarketer estimate in July. Among the platforms responding to that demand is mobile rewards network Kiip, which has added video advertising as an option for marketers beyond image-based ads.
  • Tapping Into iPhone 6, iOS 8 Updates
    With Apple yesterday announcing that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus topped 10 million in sales the first weekend, there is clearly already a healthy demand for the larger handsets. And that's on top of the 4 million pre-ordered the week before. The rollout of the new iPhones, along with the formal launch of iOS 8, also means changes for developers and marketers. Analysts and marketing experts have recently outlined how companies can take advantage of some of the updates.
  • Can We Still Tawk? Joan Rivers Endorses iPhone 6...From Beyond
    Someone forgot to turn off the real-time social media robots last week. The late, great Joan Rivers appeared to post to Instagram an endorsement of the iPhone 6 on its launch day. You know Rivers is laughing her ass off somewhere out there right now.
  • iPhone Opening Day Maintains Media Fascination
    The wrapping-around-the-block lines at Apple Stores right before release of a new iPhone model -- and accompanying media coverage -- have become a familiar ritual by now. It might be the closest equivalent we have to the Running of the Bulls. The long queues awaiting the arrival of the latest iPhone have become a global phenomenon too, with the scene repeated in Paris, London, Hong Kong, Sydney and New York.
  • TV Anywhere...But The Desktop
    For A&E Networks -- and likely many others -- the mobile tipping point has arrived for video, with more people accessing streaming media from devices and set-top boxes than from the Web. As an entertainment platform, the desktop Web has always been a horrid experience that no one in the industry wanted to admit, even if consumers always knew it.
  • More Travel Booking Going Mobile
    New research from retargeting ad platform Criteo reveals that mobile is playing a growing role in the travel booking process. At the Mobile Insider Summit last month, Megan Hughes, director of product, mobile at Orbitz, noted that a third of the travel site's hotel bookings now take place via mobile compared to only 3% four years ago -- among the trends she highlighted that show how the consumer mobile shift is affecting Orbitz and major travel sites as a whole.
« Previous Entries