Pinterest's Eventual Monetization Strategy Should Focus On Mobile

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Over Three-Fourths Of Pinterest Usage Comes From Mobile (All Things Digital)
Pinterest revealed it is raising a Series E round of funding worth $225 million, to bring its total funding to $564 million since 2010.

On top of this, the latest valuation sets Pinterest as a $3.8 billion company.

Along with this news, Pinterest also shared a few new stats:

It's mobile audience has grown 50% during 2013 and now makes up three-fourths of total Pinterest usage.
Pinterest's international audience grew 125%, and the company plans to launch in 10 more countries before the end of the year.
They will expand their monetization program from test phase into a global program.

With mobile usage soaring, it would behoove Pinterest to target its mobile platform first when expanding the next phase of its monetization program. Pinterest also struck another beneficial deal for its mobile platform — Latin American and European carrier Telefonica will pre-install Pinterest on all Google Android phones sold in those regions. Read >

In other news...

Microsoft released its third quarter earnings. Its Surface line of tablets generated $400 million in revenue. (TechCrunch)

Twitter announced it will offer 70 million shares at $17-$20 per share to raise up to $1.4 billion in its IPO. (TechCrunch)

Zynga's earnings are out, and its monthly active user base fell 57% year-over-year to 133 million in another disappointing quarter. (CNet)

Instagram posted a preview of how its ads will look. The company will roll out a test phase in the U.S. next week. (Instagram)

Google's new banner ads for brands push actual Google search results to the very bottom of the screen. (ARS Technica)

The 2 1/2 year old iPad 2 made up almost one-quarter of Apple's iPad sales in the third quarter, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. (All Things Digital)

Same Old Amazon: All Sales, No Profit (Bloomberg Businessweek)