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Facebook Home Will Be Great For Ad Data (AdWeek)
Weaker app presence for brands, and stronger data for Facebook. Those are two key reactions to Facebook's home screen replacer "Facebook Home," which was ceremoniously unveiled yesterday. Third-party apps will be accessible — but now tucked away and requiring a couple of swipes to access. It creates less clutter for the phone owner, but less presence for those competitive third-party apps. This year, per eMarketer, more than 64.3 million people in the U.S.— or 46 percent of smartphone users — will use Android phones. Agencies weighed in on how Facebook's home screen data would likely improve its ad-targeting prowess. Read >>
Mobile Local Ad Revenues Will Grow To $9.1 Billion In The Next Four Years (BIA/Kelsey via Marketing Land)
Local media analyst firm BIA/Kelsey forecasts U.S. mobile local advertising revenue will grow from $1.2 billion in 2012 to $9.1 billion in 2017, experiencing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.3 percent. "Though inventory growth currently outpaces advertiser demand, we believe the latter will begin to accelerate," said Michael Boland, senior analyst and director of content at BIA/Kelsey. The outcome of such acceleration will be increased overall mobile ad spending along with increased mobile ad rates, including CPMs and CPCs. Defined as advertising that is targeted based on a user’s location, local mobile ads represented 38 percent of the $3.2 billion national mobile ad revenue for 2012. BIA/Kelsey predicts national ad revenues will grow to $16.8 billion in 2017 with mobile local ad growth representing 54 percent of overall growth. Read >>
Android's Openness A 'Way Better' Experience Than iOS (MacRumors)
Following the introduction of Facebook Home, Fortune has published an interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in which he discusses a number of topics including the rivalry between Apple and Google in the mobile market. In Zuckerberg's view, the open nature of Google that has allowed Facebook to build Home offers a great opportunity for advances in the user experience that are considerably more difficult to achieve within iOS given Apple's control over the platform. Apple and Facebook have at times had a strained relationship, as evidenced by difficulties related to Apple's now-defunct Ping social networking feature in iTunes, although the two companies have recently been working more closely together. Read >>
Apple's U.S. Market Share Continues To Grow (comScore via MacRumors)
comScore released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the December-February period, revealing that Apple's smartphone market share rose 3.9 points from November to February. Last month's report demonstrated similar growth for Apple. Samsung was the hardware manufacturer with the second largest share of the market at 21.3 percent, up from 20.3 percent. HTC, Motorola, and LG all experienced slight drops in market share. Google's Android is still ranked as the top smartphone platform with 51.7 percent of smartphone platform share, though it experienced a significant drop from 53.7 percent in November, which was absorbed by Apple. Read >>
Apple Is Preparing To Go Where Samsung Can't Follow (BGR)
Though no announcements have been made at this point, Apple is currently working on a smartwatch. "Perhaps the most crucial element of wearable computers, in fact all mobile devices, is the cloud," Ernie Varitimos at TheStreet wrote in a recent article. "People are overlooking the incredible infrastructure that will be necessary to support true mobility. Apple has established a presence in the cloud, and it has the resources to dominate it, to an extent that Samsung can only watch. Samsung will remain a follower, and may even be forced to eat Apple’s breadcrumbs." Apple has a huge lead on Samsung when it comes to in-house cloud-based services. Whether or not these services will play a major role in the emerging wearable device market remains to be seen. Read >>
The iPhone Is Too Pricey For Europeans (CNet)
There may be a reason why Android devices are more popular in Europe than Apple's iPhone: they're cheaper. The CEO of one of Europe's largest wireless carriers said that European customers are becoming increasingly more penny wise, which is putting a damper on sales of costlier mobile phones. Hence, this should sound as a warning call to Apple. "Customers are more focused on price," France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard told Bloomberg. "Except for a few hundred thousand people who will buy the latest iPhone — except for that category of people — the majority of the market will be difficult." Read >>
The Real Reason Windows Phone Is Failing (readwrite mobile)
It's no secret: Windows Phone sales stink. Microsoft's bold, attractive platform has an install base of a meager 2 percent of the global smartphone market and still sits below 5 percent in the U.S. smartphone market. The CEO of Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker, has publicly stated that Windows Phone sales are "lackluster." The big question is why the widely praised platform isn't catching on. The failure of Windows Phone is a problem that may ultimately prove unfixable. Perhaps the real reason why Windows Phone has failed is because there is no good reason for it to exist. Read >>
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