Android ran on three quarters of the smartphones shipped in the first quarter, up from 59% a year ago, according to new data released by research firm IDC today. iOS was a distant second, at 17.3%, followed by Windows Phone (3.2%), BlackBerry (2.9%) and Linux (1%). Windows Phone more than doubled its shipments to 7 million in the quarter, pushing the Microsoft platform past BlackBerry into the No. 3 spot for the first time. IDC senior research analyst Kevin Restivo said the gains help validate the approach taken by Microsoft and hardware partner Nokia. But the …

Larry Yu, Facebook’s director of communications for the last five years, is leaving the social networking giant to join startup The Pranama Collective.  In a Facebook post today announcing his departure, Yu called the company “a project-focused communications consultancy that works with cool companies.” TechCrunch, which first reported Yu’s move, noted The Pranama Collective was launched this spring by Brandee Parker, who led Facebook PR from 2006 to 2008, Brian O’Shaugnessy, who previously led communications at Skype, and Sean Garrett, former PR head at Twitter. With Yu, it adds another high-profile figure toward becoming …

Mike Sheehan is stepping down as CEO of Interpublic's Hill Holiday and is being succeeded by Karen Kaplan. Kaplan, a 30-year vet of the Boston-based agency, had been president. Sheehan will move into the role of chairman.

Karen Kaplan, president of Interpublic Group's Boston-based Hill Holliday has been promoted to CEO, the agency confirmed Monday morning. Kaplan succeeds Mike Sheehan, who has been in the role for a decade, having succeeded agency co-founder Jack Connors. Sheehan will assume the role of chairman of the agency, a post he's expected to hold for two years before exiting the agency. Kaplan has been the heir apparent since 2007 when Sheehan promoted her promoted her to president. Kaplan has spent her entire professional career at HH. She joined the agency 1982 as a receptionist, billed as "something to do before …

Mobile ad network Millennial Media on Monday announced expanding operations to Japan with the opening of a new office in Tokyo. Heading the office is John Greiner, previously president of MonkeyPaw Games, who has 18 years experience in the Japanese market. Millennial, which launched a Singapore office in 2011, said the move into Japan was a natural step as it looks to work with brands, agencies and developers across Asia. Its international presence also includes an EMEA headquarters in London, as well as offices in Paris, Hamburg and Jakarta. Millennial last week reported first-quarter revenue of …

Facebook on Thursday released a new version of Facebook Home, its software overlay for Android phones. The update was rolled out along with a new Facebook app for Android in the Google Play store.   Receiving less than enthusiastic reviews following its launch last month, Home has been installed on Android devices 1 million times to date, according to Facebook. Meanwhile, HTC has slashed the price on the HTC First—which served as a showcase device for Facebook Home—from $99 to 99 cents.   In contrast to the HTC One, the First was …

While J. C. Penney Company isn't scheduled to release its fiscal first-quarter earnings until May 16, the news is looking sufficiently bad that it's issued a heads-up to investors. The Plano, Tex.-based retailer says that a preliminary accounting shows that first quarter sales sank 16.4% to $2.635 billion, based on a 16.6% tumble in comparable-store sales. In its fiscal fourth quarter report, released in late February, comparable-store sales fell 32%. By early April, it had fired CEO Ron Johnson.

Verve Mobile has named James Smith as chief revenue officer, overseeing all sales and marketing functions for the location-focused mobile ad network. Prior to joining Verve, Smith was CRO for Warner Bros. Entertainment digital properties Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes. Before that, he held the same position at the Huffington Post. Besides Smith, Verve announced the expansion of its national sales team through through the hires of Neil Shapiro, …

Microsoft will continue to pay Yahoo a guarantee to make up for the revenue-per-search (RPS) shortfall stemming from the companies’ 2009 search partnership. The latest year-long guarantee replaces one which expired on March 31, according to a Reuters report, citing Yahoo’s first-quarter filing with the SEC. Under their agreement, Microsoft promised Yahoo it would earn a set amount for each search, or revenue per search. Since Microsoft hasn’t been able to hit the RPS benchmark, it has been paying the quarterly guarantee to Yahoo over the last four years. The company had previously extended the guarantee …

TV Guide has released an updated version of its app for Android that adds a number of features already available through its iOS app or at TVGuide.com. These include its Watchlist tool, allowing users to customize listings on a single screen by adding favorite shows, sports teams, actors and movies they want to track.