More than half of marketers are already using 2D codes as part of their overall marketing strategies and 86% plan to use the technology in the future, according to a new study by mobile barcode technology provider. The findings were based on a survey of more than 100 marketers across a range of industries by barcode technology provider Scanbuy. The top three placement choices for 2D codes were magazines and newspapers, direct mail, and product packaging. The top types of content codes link to were product details, promotions and coupon offers.  When it comes to 2D barcode formats, the bulk …

S&P Capital IQ today laid out a dozen Internet and mobile predictions for 2012. Among the highlights: -We expect Google to experience further legal and regulatory problems in the U.S. and around the world, and foresee the potential for over $1 billion in fines and penalties.  -We believe 2012 will be an important year for mobile payments, but that Google and Google Wallet won't be leading the way.  Rather, we expect eBay's payments business, led by PayPal, to become much more of a force in the mobile area and bolster its presence in retail locations.  We also think eBay could …

Laura Nelson has joined Current TV as senior vice president-communications. She was managing director of The Gilbride Group. Before that, she was a senior executive at a number of major cable TV networks.

eMarketer, the research, analytics and publishing company specializing in digital media, marketing and commerce, has sold a minority stake to private investment firm Stripes Group for $25 million. The companies did not disclose the size of the stake, but said it was equity held by early eMarketer investors, including the company's major shareholder, Beehive Ventures, and the company's founders. eMarketer said the funding would be used to provide "liquidity for long-time shareholders" and to help accelerate eMarketer's growth.

In its final benchmark report for the holiday season, IBM said mobile sales in December doubled to 11% of digital sales from 5.5% a year ago, while mobile traffic nearly tripled to 14.6% of all sessions on a retailer’s site from 5.6% during the year-earlier period. Driving the most mobile traffic to retail sites were the iPhone and iPad, which accounted for 5.2% and 4.3% of visits, respectively. Meanwhile, the iPad proved to the be the leading to device when it came to m-commerce, with conversion rates reaching 6.3% versus 3.1% for all other mobile devices. Online retail sales overall …

Since launching mobile ticketing last fall, Fandango says up to half its users are bypassing ticket booths and kiosks to buy tickets via mobile at the 1,200 screens where the service is available. The offering allows customers to have movie tickets sent to their phones as mobile barcodes, which they then can then take directly to a theater ticket-taker for scanning. Fandango said it plans to roll out the service to another 1,000 screens this year. The company sells tickets to 16,500 screens overall. “Mobile Ticket is turning out to be one of our most popular products,” says Jessica Yi, …

Comcast Tuesday formally launched its live TV streaming service for the iPad called AnyPlay. The new offering, whose development was reported on last September, allows Comcast customers to watch cable channels live on multiple screens around the home through the company’s Xfinity TV app for the Apple tablet, and soon the Motorola Xoom (in case someone has one of those).  “This means that while someone else watches a program in the living room, for example, you can watch another show on your iPad from the backyard deck, kitchen or other places around the home,” stated a blog post today …

Fresh & Easy says it will temporarily close 12 underperforming stores. "Like any retailer, we are always evaluating our store portfolio," says a spokesperson for the El Segundo, Calif.-based company, owned by the British megaretailer, Tesco. He adds that it will also open 25 new stores between now and the end of March. "At this time, there is simply not enough growth in sales and customers at these stores to keep them open," he says. "We will re-open them when economic and business conditions warrant." In its most recent quarterly financial report, Tesco says "we continue to be encouraged by …

Phil Cowdell, North American Chairman at GroupM's Mindshare is leaving the company in March to become president of R2C Group, an independent direct response agency Group based in Portland. Cowdell moved to chairman of Mindshare after serving as North American CEO of Mindshare for two-plus years until last summer, when the agency brought Antony Young, former CEO at Optimedia in to succeed him. In his latest Mindshare role, Cowdell was charged with expanding Mindshare's North American business with multinational clients, such as Ford, Unilever and Pepsi. Cowdell, a 10-year Mindshare veteran, was named Mindshare's North American CEO in May of …

James Kreckler has been named vice president of advertising sales for iVillage responsible for driving revenue and developming marketing programs across online, mobile and social media for the women’s network. For the last five years, he led digital ad sales at Rodale. His background also includes stints at AOL and DoubleClick. In his new post, Kreckler reports both to Scott Schiller, EVP of NBCUniversal’s digital advertising sales, and to Jodi Kahn, iVillage president.