Every quarter or so, another survey is published indicating many consumers are interested in mobile wallets and mobile payments. OK. I believe that mobile payments are inevitable as a mainstream phenomenon; the independent variable is time. When and in what forms will mobile payments go mainstream? That's the question that many vendors and companies like Google are asking. Another issue: mobile payments can be defined in various ways to include carrier billing, mobile wallets used at a physical POS and mobile bill paying. A relatively recent survey (n=1,155 US adults) by the Raddon Finan [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Mobile | Statistics: Mobile Marketing

When it comes to managing your mobile presence, Google currently has a preference for responsive Web design, but doesn't discriminate against mobile sites. As one of its recommended best practices, however, it strongly recommends against simply using PC sites as mobile landing pages. Google CEO Larry Page seems to disagree. A number of articles over the past 24 hours have reacted to some passing comments Page made about his personal frustration with the simplicity and limited information on many mobile websites. Below is what Page said on the Google earnings call this week. He follows [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing

Facebook can thank Apple for helping making it the top overall mobile app in the U.S. in 2012, according to new numbers out today from the comScore Mobile Metrix service. ComScore says Facebook ended the year with more than 85 million unique adult visitors -- that's on both Android and iOS. It's about 11 million more unique visitors than Google Maps. After Facebook, Google apps hold down the next five spots. Facebook and Google Maps were pretty much neck-and-neck for several months last year, but comScore says Google Maps usage saw a significant decline after Apple dumped it from iOS [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Channel: Local | Facebook: Mobile | Facebook: Statistics | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Google: Maps | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Popularity & Usage | Top News

Google has tried its hand over the years at couponing and loyalty marketing. It has done so using a number of different approaches: Google Coupons, Google Offers, Google Offer Ads, Google Wallet and the now-defunct Punchd. Some of these programs have been directed toward small businesses and some more broadly to brands and national marketers. Now comes Zavers, a digital couponing and redemption solution for retailers and manufacturers. Zavers is aimed at large brands and national retailers and intended to help them create and distribute coupons and incentives online and streamline redemp [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: AdSense | Google: Business Issues | Google: Maps | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships | Top News

This past weekend controversy erupted when someone noticed that Google was redirecting traffic from Google Maps (for mobile web) on Windows Phones to Google.com. Immediately the conspiracy theories began to fly. The claim was that Google had just won an antitrust reprieve from the FTC so now the company was sticking it to competitor Microsoft with impunity. We agree that it looked bad -- and the conspiracy theory made for a sexy and provocative story -- however it simply wasn't accurate. Danny Sullivan wrote an in-depth article about what happened. Google itself offered a number of sli [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Google: Android | Google: Critics | Google: Maps | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Top News

At this point, you may be predictioned out. But, if you can make room for one more post about what mobile marketing holds in store for 2013 (U.S. focus), I promise to make it worth your while. Mobile has started to play a huge role in marketing over the last couple of years, and this year will be no different. In fact, I am going to be so bold as to say that this is the year that mobile finally breaks out and has that hero moment that prognosticators have been talking about for the last 10-12 years. Before I dig into my five predictions though, it is probably worth looking at a little ba [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Check-In Services | Facebook: Mobile | Foursquare | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Mobile Marketing Column | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Twitter: Mobile | Yahoo: Mobile

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google's Motorola unit is hard at work on a secret "X-phone" that will "provide more potent competition for devices like Apple Inc.'s iPhone." However my suspicion is that the phone is less about competiting with Apple's device and more about providing a counterweight to the Samdroid juggernaut. This is what Google did successfully when it created the Nexus 7 with ASUS to compete with Amazon's Kindle Fire. Indeed, Amazon had the only non-Apple tablet that was selling in the market. However Amazon was using a "forked" version of Android that essen [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Top News

Google is updating both the Android and iOS versions of its Google+ app with a host of new -- but mostly minor, frankly -- features. The biggest addition to me, an iOS user, is the addition of support for Google+ Communities -- the feature that rolled out about a week ago for desktop Google+ users. The lack of community support on mobile stood out over the past week as I've been poking around and trying out some communities (and creating a few, too). It's smart for Google to get this into the mobile experience as quickly as it has. Both apps also support profile editing, as well as a ne [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Google+ | Google: Mobile | Social Media Marketing | Top News

How many times have you accidentally clicked on a mobile display ad, when you meant to hit the adjacent content on that tiny phone screen? More importantly, how many of your pay-per-click ads have been clicked on accidentally? This is the problem Google is trying to solve with new "confirmed click" functionality for its in-app mobile display ads on smartphones. When Google detects that a person clicks on the outer edge of an ad unit -- potentially meaning to click on adjacent content -- the user will be prompted to verify that he actually meant to click on the ad. The prompt will take the f [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Google: Display Advertising | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Top News

A few years ago it wouldn't have been all that strange to see Google and Apple working closely together on something like a joint patent initiative. Then the "thermonuclear" rift happened and the cacophony of bitter lawsuits. Indeed, in the wake of the global litigation between Apple and Google surrogate Samsung and the more direct (Google owned) Motorola-Apple lawsuits, it's very unlikely to see these two companies working together. Yet BusinessWeek reports that Google and Apple have teamed up to bid $500 million for bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co.'s patent portfolio: The two companies, c [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Legal | Google: Mobile

YouTube announced they have updated the iOS app they launched a couple months ago in response to Apple dropping the native YouTube app. The update brings the much requested iPad user interface support to the app, it also gives iPhone 5 users support as well. So it fills the full iPad screen as well as the full iPhone 5 taller screen. Other features include: Stream videos with AirPlay Tap logo to open your Guide of channels Add and remove videos from your playlists Clickable links in video descriptions Improved accessibility with VoiceOver You can download the app or update th [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: iPad | Channel: Video | Google: Mobile | Google: YouTube | Top News

Except for the lack of LTE support there's no question that the LG-made Google Nexus 4 is the best Android phone on the market. It kicks the Samsung Galaxy's proverbial posterior. And at $299 for the unlocked 8GB version it frees you from the tyranny of carrier two-year contracts at a terrific price. It's simply a great phone. Others appear to agree. The Nexus 4 is proving to be so popular Google is having a tough time keeping it in stock. The 16GB version is still available for $349 but the $299 8GB Nexus 4 is sold out again -- apparently. This is according to messages on the Google Pla [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus

Google's John Hanke told me that he has always wanted to create a multi-player game using the assets he developed with Google Earth. I remember him talking about Second Life and gaming at the initial Google Earth press conference years ago. He and his team at Google's mobile incubator Niantic Project have now done it with Ingress -- an augmented reality multi-player game (Android only for now) that uses Google's mapping and local data assets to connect the online and offline worlds in a JJ Abramsesque alternate reality. It's incredibly ambitious and global in scope. It contemplates peopl [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Google Play | Google: Mobile | Top News

Unless you've been hiding under a rock during the last couple months, you know that Apple announced the new iPhone 5 back on September 12, 2012. On this date, Apple also rolled out its latest mobile operating system, iOS 6, which came chock full of new features like enhanced Siri, new 3D maps and deeper integration with social networks Twitter and Facebook. Arguably, the most important new feature to arrive on iOS 6 was something called Passbook, which allows marketers to provide coupons, tickets, loyalty cards and more, all in one place on the iPhone or iPad. [caption id="attachment_26 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Local | Foursquare | Google: Maps | Google: Mobile | How To | Mobile Marketing | Mobile Marketing Column | Yelp

There are a lots of tablets in the market now and hardware-tracking firm IDC says that Android's share is gaining on Apple. However, despite the increase in "shipments" of various tablets, very few of them drive meaningful web traffic according a new study from mobile publishing platform Onswipe. Onswipe says that the iPad is responsible for a remarkable 98 percent of all tablet-based traffic to its publisher partners. All other tablets drive less than 2 percent of web traffic combined. This would be almost unbelievable if it weren't supported by other research showing similar trends. Ho [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iOS | Apple: iPad | Apple: Safari | Channel: Content Marketing | Features & Analysis | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus | Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Top News

Ad network Chitika provided us with some interesting data comparing click through rates (CTRs) and query lengths on the various desktop and mobile browsers based on millions of impressions on its network. It found that Opera (PC) browser users clicked-through more often than other browser users. Opera users are generally regarded as less mainstream and more tech-savvy than other browser users (e.g., Explorer) so it's curious that Opera's CTR would be highest. Next in line after Opera but ahead of all other browsers, PC or mobile, is mobile Safari with a 1.54 percent CTR. Chitika told me [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iPhone | Apple: Safari | Channel: Content Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Mobile | Microsoft: Internet Explorer | Microsoft: Mobile | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Statistics: Online Behavior | Top News

Nexus smartphones are not unlike concept cars at an auto show. They're ogled and admired but rarely owned. Typically cutting edge in design and software integration, they're models intended to showcase the "next generation" experience rather than necessarily become mainstream bestsellers. So it has been with nearly every Nexus handset to date. The new Nexus 4, built by LG, is in every way (but one) the best Nexus handset so far. I own the Galaxy Nexus, from Samsung, the previous "Android flagship." And it's amazing how this phone handily trounces the Samsung "Next Big Thing." The Nexus 4 [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Google: Nexus | Top News

Google's big event got washed out by Hurricane Sandy, but the company has pushed ahead with expected announcements: a Nexus 10 tablet with multiuser support, a Nexus 4 phone & Android 4.2. Google is also launching a music matching service. The news is now up on the Google Blog. Here's a fast rundown. Nexus 4 & Photo Sphere This will be the latest flagship phone from Google, built by LG, as expected. Google says: It has a quad-core processor which means it's super fast, a crisp 4.7" (320 ppi) display that's perfect for looking at photos and watching YouTube, and with wireless [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing | Top News

Google's big Android event on Monday in New York City was supposed to be the rain on the parade of Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 event happening on the same day in San Francisco. But Google's event is literally being washed out, now officially canceled because of concerns over Hurricane Sandy. The huge superstorm is expected to hit the New York area late Sunday, and Google's decided wisely it's better to play it safe than sorry. I just received this message after asking if the event was still on: We are canceling our Monday morning event in New York due to Hurricane Sandy. We will let you kn [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Mobile | Top News

Back in April, Google released new AdWords features aimed at marketers of apps, including the ability to track conversions in the Google Play store. This week, the company followed up with a similar feature for iOS, which allows tracking of iOS downloads in the Apple app store when they are generated by an ad served in a mobile app. Although Google has built the tracking into its AdMob ad serving system, there's still no tracking for iOS app downloads driven by ads served on Google search or on the Google Display Network. To implement the conversion tracking -- which will enable advert [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Mobile | Mobile Marketing