BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: Twitter To Top Facebook In Mobile Ad Revenue This Year, But Won't Last Long

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Twitter Tops Facebook In U.S. Mobile Ad Revenue (eMarketer)
Twitter will take home more U.S. mobile advertising revenues this year than Facebook, according to a new forecast by eMarketer. Twitter will earn $129.7 million in mobile advertising revenues this year in the U.S. Facebook, which rolled out mobile ads for the first time this year, will come in at just over half that amount, at $72.7 million in the U.S. The increasing focus on mobile by both Twitter and Facebook, as well as other major digital advertising publishers, will contribute to growth in the overall U.S. mobile advertising market, which eMarketer estimates will reach $2.61 billion this year. By 2016, the U.S. mobile advertising market is expected to near $12 billion.

Android Owns More Than 80% Of The Chinese Smartphone Market (The Next Web)
Android is continuing its impressive run in the Chinese smartphone market, soaring to 83% market share in the second quarter of 2012, according to Analysys. Nokia’s Symbian and Apple’s iOS have each been left with 6% share. Analysys International’s Enfodesk tracker shows Android eating up significant share of device sales from Symbian over the past year. In the second quarter of 2011, Google’s mobile OS had an estimated 47.6% of the market, compared to Nokia’s 32.3%. Over the past year, Symbian’s share of Chinese smartphones dropped over 26%, while Android rose by roughly the same amount. Windows Phone and Windows Mobile remain largely irrelevant in China.

Apple Owns 65% Of Mobile Web Traffic (Chitika via Cult Of Mac)
Apple devices currently account for over half of all mobile web traffic in the U.S. and Canada, according to Chitika. During August 2012, Apple’s share of web traffic on mobile devices grew from 63.75% in July to 65.03% in August. Samsung trails behind at a distant second place with a 12.47% share. “With the iPhone and iPad, Apple dominates the mobile market when it comes to web usage,” reports Chitika. Google and Samsung are also growing when it comes to mobile web traffic, but Apple clearly dominates everyone else right now.

web traffic sources

Google-Backed NFC Payments Company Launches Terminals (The Next Web)
LevelUp finally announced NFC (near field communication) support, courtesy of a shiny new piece of hardware. The company says that it plans to support any and all ways consumers want to pay with their smartphones, including QR codes, NFC and ultrasonic signals. Though it remains to be seen, evidence increasingly suggests that the new iPhone 5 may include NFC technology when it launches next week. And even if the new iPhone doesn’t support NFC, anyone with an NFC-enabled Android can still pay using LevelUp’s new terminals.

Gingerbread Still The Top Android OS (TechCrunch)
New data on the state of the Android ecosystem shows Gingerbread, the version of the Android mobile operating system released back in December 2010, is still leading with 57.5% of Android OS share. Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is at 20.9%, and Android 2.2 (Froyo) has 14%. As for the newest version of Android, aka Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), it’s now installed on 1.2% of Android devices, up from 0.8% a month ago. Since Google only revealed Jelly Bean in late June, promising roll-outs to Nexus handsets and the Motorola Xoom in mid-July, the number of Jelly Bean devices can also help paint a picture of new Android device sales, and perhaps most importantly the early traction the Jelly Bean-based Nexus 7 tablet is seeing.

40% Of U.S. Mobile Users Will Click An Unsafe Link This Year (Lookout via Mashable)
Mobile security company Lookout has revealed its State of Mobile Security Report 2012, which analyzed threat detection rates for its user base over a 12-month period, and found that the likelihood of contracting mobile malware is 41% in Russia, compared to about 5% in the U.S. Meanwhile, the percentage is significantly lower in Japan (0.04%). Lookout partially attributes this to mobile behavior endemic to certain regions, such as clicking on suspicious links and downloading untrustworthy apps. In fact, 4 in 10 mobile users in the U.S. will click on an unsafe link on a mobile device this year, the report said.

mobile malware

Amazon Announces New Wave Of Kindles (CNN)
Following explosive growth, Amazon rolled out a new, high-definition Kindle with a lighting system and a bigger Kindle Fire tablet yesterday. The Kindle Paperwhite e-reader will feature 62% more pixels than the Kindle Touch, Bezos said. It will have a touchscreen and be lit with a fiber-optic lighting system that has been in development for four years, he said. Bezos predicted users will "leave the light on all the time" and said the device will have eight weeks of battery life, even with its light on. It's slightly thinner than the Kindle Touch and, at 7.6 ounces, the same weight. A new feature called Time to Read will estimate, based on the reader's speed turning pages, how long it will take to finish the current chapter or the entire book. Here's how it stacks up to the iPad.

Gannett Buys Mobile Consumer Rewards And Loyalty Platform (TechCrunch)

Gannett is on a shopping spree. After the media company snapped up advertising company BLiNQ for $92 million a few weeks ago, Gannett is announcing the acquisition of Mobestream Media, maker of the Key Ring consumer rewards mobile platform, Key Ring. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Key Ring is a mobile app that allows consumers to consolidate all of their loyalty and rewards cards and coupons into one spot. Consumers can access their digital coupons, digitize their loyalty cards, join new loyalty programs, manage their accounts online and share their cards and offers through their social networks and email. Users also receive location-based mobile coupons and other promotional offers.

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