Much has been made of the mobile risks that Facebook laid out in its S-1 IPO filing earlier this week. Essentially, it’s seeing/pushing massive growth in mobile, but it still hasn’t tried out advertising, its most effective route to revenues, on this platform. That’s not to say it won’t. But meanwhile, there is another area...
More Android Forking? Disney Teams Up With Japan’s Docomo For 2 New Phones
Disney (NYSE: DIS) Mobile, the short-lived U.S. MVNO that found a new lease of life in Japan through a Softbank JV in 2008, has now launched two new Android handsets in partnership with NTT Docomo, the country’s biggest carrier.
Virtual Pet Owners Sue Google Over Lost ‘Gold’
Angry game owners are demanding Google (NSDQ: GOOG) compensate them for wiping out their investments in online pets. The loss of a virtual kitty may seem like a trifle to some but, in the big picture, the new lawsuit could be a bellwether for how the law treats what is an exploding market...
Industry Moves: ESPN; Yahoo; Wikia; AdoTube
—ESPN: The sports network is seeing a reorg: John Kosner has been promoted to EVP, digital and print media, from SVP and GM of the divisions. Marie Donoghue has been promoted to SVP, global strategy, from SVP, business affairs and business development. Meanwhile, longtime leaders John Wildhack and Norby Williamson will switch roles. Wildhack is...
Microsoft On Target In Fourth Quarter But Windows Sales Still Sliding
Microsoft’s fourth-quarter earnings came in about where Wall Street had expected, but the decline of its Windows business continued during a holiday quarter when it seems pretty clear other gadgets dominated shopping lists.
Updated: Zynga Confirms Recent Purchases Of Six Mobile Gaming Companies
Now that it’s a public company, Zynga can start throwing more cash around. The online gaming company has recently acquired four small mobile gaming companies, according to a report, as it tries to build a line of business that isn’t completely dependent on Facebook.
Sweet Success For Cut The Rope: An Interview With ZeptoLab’s CEO
Games rank as the most popular form of mobile content today—with some 68 percent of U.S. consumers downloading a game app to their device in the last 30 days, according to Nielsen. And ZeptoLab’s Cut The Rope—a game of physics, boxed spaces and candy—has been one of the biggest of them all, with...
@ CES: Microsoft Mails In Last Keynote Appearance, Wasting Everyone’s Time
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) used its hallmark spot on the CES 2012 schedule to prove just how pointless it is to put on a million-dollar keynote address in the modern media era when you have nothing to say, reiterating its performance over 2011, talking up Windows 8, and hiring Ryan Seacrest and a tweet-singing...
Report: Sony’s Hirai Promoted To President, Stringer Still Chairman And CEO
In a move that further sets up Kazuo Hirai as the heir apparent at Sony (NYSE: SNE), the company has promoted him to president, taking that title away from Howard Stringer but keeping Stringer in place as CEO and chairman of the board, according to a report.
Updated: Facebook Timeline And Ads: Real Estate For The Highest Bidder?
A report out today, taking its cue from the new Timeline feature that is now getting rolled out to Facebook’s 800-million-plus users, alleges that Facebook will be using its new homepage format as a new vehicle for selling advertising. The question, however, is whether this is actually a development beyond what we already...
News Corp. To Give Sunday Times The Free Treatment For Christmas This Year
Last year, News International made The Times and The Sun newspapers free on Christmas and used the opportunity to promote their respective iPad apps to all those folks who got them as presents. This year, the UK publisher, owned by News Corp. (NSDQ: NWS), will give the same treatment to its last remaining...
