TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap
Here is a recap of posts from last week, in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full.
Mobile Video’s Growth: A Conversation With PacketVideo
Fresh off PacketVideo‘s $45 million strategic investment from Japanese mobile giant NTT DOCOMO, I had the chance to talk with Chief Business Officer Joel Espelien. The investment brings the company closer to the existing partner, which should help it position itself better for delivering its flagship mobile video platform. (read more…)
Aloqa Joins the Quickly Growing Mobile/Local/Social Space
Mobile start-up Aloqa announced that it has raised $1.5 million from angel investors and Wellington Partners. The company sits at the growing three-way intersection of mobile, local and social. Specifically, it alerts users to interesting events, locations or people in proximity, when those things match preset preferences defined by a series of “channels” within the app (i.e., “notify me when I’m within 3 blocks of a Facebook friend”). (read more…)
R.H. Donnelley Names Greene SVP Interactive
Sean Greene is moving into a digital leadership role at R.H. Donnelley, transitioning from his most recent role as senior vice president of strategy and business development into the new position of SVP Interactive. Greene plans to move from RHD headquarters in North Carolina to Santa Monica, California, where RHD’s interactive group is based (a result of the Business.com acquisition). (read more…)
Google Brings Celebrity ‘Favorite Places’ to Maps
Following the theme of the previous post, Google has taken yet another step toward bringing together search and location relevance. Its new “Favorite Places” program asks 100 “experts” to identify their favorite places on the globe. By expert, it means various celebrities or scholars in different fields, such as Al Gore or Tony Hawk. (read more…)
Google.com Goes Location-Aware on the iPhone
Google’s home page has begun to identify users’ locations on the iPhone. This basically takes the form of a link that asks users to have Google know their location in order to get locally relevant results. As a result, local listings are given higher placement in search results. See the screen shots below, which show a before-and after-comparison of location-aware and non-location-aware searches. (read more…)
WinMo Joins the App Store Race
This week at its Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft announced the upcoming launch of the Windows Mobile Marketplace. Starting July 27, developers will gain access to the program and be allowed to develop mobile apps that will run on Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.5. (read more…)
New CEO at Hopstop Pushes for Rapid Growth
Hopstop, which provides public transit routing and schedules, plus walking directions, has brought in new leadership and expects to pursue rapid growth to 200 cities. It is currently in seven markets (or eight, if you count Long Island as a separate market). New CEO Joe Meyer, a former Quigo and eBay executive, was brought in by Hopstop’s investors, which include top leaders from Quigo, a contextual search engine sold to AOL in late 2007 for $340 million. (read more…)
Urban Mapping Seeks ‘Incremental Page Views’ to Neighborhood Maps
As noted in the above post, Urban Mapping continues to build out its neighborhoods and compete to license its neighborhood mapping API. It has 80,000 neighborhood maps developed. But it is also focusing on providing additional value with several features that add incremental page views, says CEO and founder Ian White. (read more…)
IAB: Consumers Welcome Mobile Ads With Offers
In further support that mobile advertising needs to evolve to its form factor, an IAB-funded study reports that the vast majority of consumers prefer ads that include promotions or incentives. Specifically, 84 percent of younger consumers welcome mobile ads that include some form of an offer. (read more…)
TownMe: Search Engine for Cougars (and Other Local Flavors)
TechCrunch profiles TownMe, a local search site started by ex-Googlers that has a decidedly quirky set of search categories for local info. These include searching for the best neighborhoods or hang outs for cougars, yuppies and “sugar daddies” (seriously). (read more…)
