With so much news re the growing mobile market circulating these days, here are a few news items that took our eye:
- A total of 64.8% of marketers and publishers in the U.S. reported that they’re planning to invest in mobile apps this year, according to a Dec., 2009, survey conducted by DM2PRO [1], a membership site for digital media and marketing professionals, and Quattro Wireless [2], global mobile advertising company based in Waltham, Massachusetts (and acquired by Apple [3] in Jan., 2010).
- Apple sold over 300,000 iPads in the U.S. in the first 24 hours of the iPad being available. In addition, iPad users downloaded over 1 million apps from Apple’s App Store and over 250,000 ebooks from its iBookstore during the first day.
- And more on Apple: The brand now controls 89% of mobile developers’ mindshare, according to Flurry Inc. [4]‘s Analytics, San Francisco. Of 3,000 mobile app projects begun Q1, 2010, 67% were for iPhones and 22% for iPads – more than for Google’s Android and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry combined. However, although Android’s share (10%) is smaller now than it was in 2009 (18%), the number of new apps being written for Android devices has actually increased. According to Flurry, 300 new Android projects were begun in March, up 50% from February.
- Navigon AG [5], Hamburg, Germany-based provider of mobile phone on-board navigation has launched an update 1.5.0 for MobileNavigator, which the company claims is the most feature-rich navigation app available on the iPhone platform. The new update delivers three innovative features: Connection to Facebook [6] and Twitter [7]; Panorama View 3D with 3D terrain views derived from NASA [8] data; and personalized route recommendations via Navigon MyRoutes. Navigon MyRoutes analyzes driving habits, patterns, location, time and day to provide up to three routes clearly displayed in-map with ETA, distance and driving times for each. Up to three recommendations can be suggested, one primary, and up to two alternatives provide the user with options to choose the preferred course.
- MétéoMédia [9], the French-language equivalent of The Weather Channel [10] in Canada, has launched updated versions of its application MétéoÉclair Mobile app and its mobile website. The improvements offer numerous advertising placement options for advertisers, and allows advertisers to send targeted messages to communicate more efficiently with consumers.