Yahoo is drastically rejiggering its marketing division, according to an internal memo sent today to employees from its Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele. She came to Yahoo a few years ago, brought by now-fired CEO Carol Bartz, charged with reorganizing and jump-starting the unit. Some of Steele's moves didn't work, such as Yahoo's "It's You" ad campaign, and the brand is suffering. The changes, which appear to be at the behest of Steele, will shift the major marketing functions back to the regions of the Silicon Valley Internet company from its current global centralized one. She's hoping on-the-ground control of …

Verizon Wireless said it sold 5.6 million smartphones in the third quarter, half of which were devices using Google’s Android operating system. It also said 39%  of the wireless devices running on its networks are now smartphones. The nation’s largest carrier said in total it sold almost 3 million Android devices, compared to 2 million iPhones. Apple’s latest device, the iPhone 4S, did not go on sale until after the quarter ended. Also, AT&T activated 2.7 million iPhones in the same quarter, which was the lowest level in more than a year as customers waited to upgrade. As of Tuesday, …

Reader’s Digest Association said it’s exploring a sale of a second key food property, AllRecipes.com, seens as a sell candidate for a least a year. RDA bought the user-generated recipe site in 2006, and since then, it’s more than doubled its traffic to become one of the biggest food sites on the Web. Allrecipes would be expected to earn a high price, and selling it could help RDA fix financial weaknesses elsewhere at the company. RDA CEO Robert Guth said the Allrecipes announcement fits with his strategy to focus on RDA’s core brands like Reader’s Digest, Taste of Home, and …

Nokia will show off the first Nokia Windows Phones to the world at the Nokia World event on Oct. 26-27 in London. This is in line with the previous announcement that the first WP devices from Nokia will hit Europe this year, but an official date has been locked down. Nokia also plans to show more than one device, since Lees used plural — Nokia “phones.” Andy Lees, Microsoft Windows phone division president said that Nokia’s devices will “have differentiating hardware and software,” meaning we’re not just going to see Windows Phone Mango in a slightly different shell. The …

Google is deepening ties with Asian electronics powerhouse Samsung Electronics, the largest Android seller, which is also set to overtake Apple as the world's biggest smartphone vendor in the third quarter. "The Asian market is very important. Asia-Pacific, already bustling with smartphone users, will drive further growth in feature phones and smartphones over the next few years, while European and U.S. markets stagnate, analysts say. Jerry Yang, Yahoo's co-founder highlighted Asia as a "very important and growing" consumption market for Yahoo. "Southeast Asia and India, in the next three years, there will be 100 million users …

Forecast-topping results from Ericsson on Thursday showed the world's top mobile network gear maker can still outmuscle rivals even if global growth slows, reports Reuters. Smartphones and tablet computers have fuelled demand for faster, more efficient networks, driving sales for Ericsson in recent quarters.  The result was better than consensus ... and sales were better," said Mats Nystrom, analyst at SEB Enskilda. "In that sense, there it a degree of relief that is driving the share."ther analysts believe Ericsson is aggressively targeting market share, giving it a better chance at longer-term growth at a time it is facing sharp competition …

As Swedish-born Spotify continues its global rise, French streaming music service Deezer is preparing to follow suit. According to Reuters, the start-up plans to launch in more than 100 countries in the coming weeks, and is currently in partnership negotiations with a dozen or so telecom operators. Unlike Spotify and U.S.-based Pandora, however, Deezer CEO Axel Dauchez says he isn’t bothering with the U.S. market and its high cost of entry -- for now. "The minute that I tell the major music labels that I am not interested in signing for rights to the U.S., the negotiations over terms become …

Sean Parker might not think privacy is important to Web users -- or at least “power users” -- but Google does. As such, the search giant just debuted "Good To Know," as part of a broader public service initiative to increase awareness about online security and privacy. "Our goal with the Good To Know campaign is to provide people with practical guidance, like how to select a safe password or keep their online accounts secure," Google privacy policy counsel Will DeVries explained in a blog this week. As PCWorld points out, Google already offers resources in several related areas, including …

The Telegraph claims that Facebook “power users” have jumped ship for Google+ and Twitter. It’s evidence? Sean Parker -- the notoriously attention-seeking Napster co-founder and ego-driven Facebook shareholder -- says so. Power users, as defined by Parker, are those who contribute “tones of content to Facebook which is being consumed by everyone else,” as well as “important networkers’ who prop the social network up.” And why has Facebook driven away all its users of any respectable power level? Not privacy issues, says Parker. Rather, the power crowd loss patience with Facebook over lack of good controls over the information they …

Last week, word got out that Google was in negotiations with major record labels to expand its cloud music service, and open an MP3 store. Confirming the reports, Android boss Andy Rubin said this week that the service was in the works and close to completion. Google first introduced a cloud music service with limited capabilities five months ago, after negotiations with music companies for a so-called smart locker service broke down over financial terms and fears that Google wasn’t doing enough to address piracy issues. Well aware that both Amazon and Apple already sell music and offer cloud lockers, …