BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: Tim Cook On Mobile Payments — 'It's In Its Infancy'

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Tim Cook On Mobile Payments: 'It's In Its Infancy' (MacRumors)
Tim Cook was asked during today's earnings call about his feelings regarding the mobile payments market. While he didn't address the topic directly, he did note that mobile payments were "just getting started" and still "in its infancy." In a different part of the call, Cook said Apple would continue to augment the existing "iTunes ecosystem with new services and make existing ones even better." Read >

Ad Networks’ Dominance In Mobile Is At An End (Internet Retailer)
Mobile site and app publishers including Facebook, Pandora and Twitter are rapidly taking over the mobile display advertising market in the U.S. “Mobile ad networks are losing market share to publishers, and we expect them to lose even more going forward,” says Karsten Weide, vice president of media and entertainment at IDC. “Networks, especially independent ones, are entering a difficult phase, in which, with an ever smaller share of revenue, they’ll have to compete with publishers, which will only grow in strength.” Read >

Can Google Stop The Drop In Mobile Ad Prices (Fortune)
An important metric for Google tied to ads is called "cost-per-click." It measures the average amount advertisers pay Google each time a user clicks on an ad. Last quarter, the company announced it would reduce the number of ads on its mobile search page to preserve the user experience and predicted a higher cost-per-click. The latter didn't happen. In truth, mobile ads still command lower prices than desktop ads do. Read >

Eyeballs Are Moving To Mobile (GoMo News)
Victor Malachard, CEO and co-founder of Adfonic, says “the eyeballs are moving to mobile” and the mobile advertising is going to be the sector to watch – not just in digital and online advertising but in terms of advertising in its entirety. But in the present mobile advertising market, “the reality is that there is more supply than demand,” Malachard revealed. In other words there is more inventory than advertisers. This is just one of the reasons why, in the current advertising climate, Real Time Bidding (RTB) has become so important. Read >

Why Pandora Is Crushing It In Mobile (iMediaConnect)
Pandora made more than $229 million from mobile display ads in 2012, according to an IDC study that came out last week — on par with Facebook ($234 million), and double that of Twitter, which netted $117 million. That's a pretty penny from a medium that until late last year, marketers were still unsure about. Mobile traffic in the music, video and media category (Pandora among others) continues to soar, and has consistently been number one in terms of impression volume. And revenue has definitely caught up with impressions. Read >

Nintendo's Plan To Make The 3DS Stand Out From The iPhone (Kotaku)
Over the last few months, the library of 3DS games available has reached some sort of critical mass, and it seems there's a well-made, fun game for just about every type of gamer. But the spectre of the iPhone and Apple's App store lingers. Can Nintendo really hope to compete long-term with such popular, widely used competitors? The points of comparison are familiar now: Both the 3DS and the iPhone allow users to access a digital store and download games directly to their device. But games on the Apple app store are regularly free, and some very good ones cost as little as a buck or two. Read >

AT&T Loses Subscribers (Reuters)
AT&T reported a net loss of cellphone subscribers in the first quarter as it lost market share to bigger rival Verizon Wireless, sending its shares down about 2%. As a result AT&T's revenue missed expectations as its subscriber growth was driven by tablet computer users who pay lower monthly fees than phone users. Since most U.S. consumers already have smartphones, the number two U.S. mobile service provider and its rivals are rushing to put wireless connections in everything from tablet computers and consumer electronics, to medical devices and home security systems. Read >

Judge Clears The Way For Mobile Taxi Apps To Launch In NYC (TechCrunch)
New York City is one step closer to having regulator-approved e-hail apps, thanks to the end of litigation against the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC). That’s because a judge today dismissed a controversial lawsuit filed by the black car industry against the regulator. The lawsuit, which was designed to block the TLC from starting a trial of mobile apps that would allow users to hail a cab electronically, claimed that the pilot program would have violated several local ordinances. Read >

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