On yesterday's AT&T earnings call, CEO Randall Stephenson opened the door to the possibility that the telecom giant would sell off its directories business. Here is what Stephenson said on yesterday's earnings call: "That's one area that we're going to…
U.S. directory and local search player The Berry Co. has scooped up defunct search marketing firm WebVisible's Geneva platform from a liquidator in the wake of that company's collapse. "This acquisition will dramatically enhance our presence and capabilities in the…
The focus for vertical sites is likely to shift in coming months. In addition to regular features, such as listings, many vertical sites will also begin to blend personalized or on-demand “maintenance” information with various social media features such as…
As you probably heard, Apple today announced first-quarter earnings (its first fiscal quarter is Sept.-Dec.). And you probably also heard that it was a blowout quarter -- beating even the most aggressive analyst estimates. Here are the main bullets. More…
Shopkick, the location-based shopping app, announced today that it has more than 3 million active users since it launched over a year ago and that more than a billion of its in-app deals and offers have been viewed. Shopkick's app…
I just heard from our friends at WillowTree Apps about their most recent iPhone app, "Likes." Utilizing the growing number of Facebook Likes out there, it will look at your friends' and friends of friends' activity and make local recommendations…
Gilt Groupe confirmed today that it is eliminating 10 percent of its staff, including Gilt City chief Nathan Richardson and Park and Bond CEO John Auerbach. The luxury-but-discounted goods provider will close several Gilt Groupe offices, including Atlanta, Seattle and…
Verizon, the global broadband and telecommunications company, invested $370 million to develop a streaming video content delivery system and video ad platform designed to reach Web and mobile users. Verizon Unicast Content Delivery Services will use a variety of content…
The Home Depot is set to significantly boost its home contractor leads network with today’s acquisition of Redbeacon. No price was announced for the acquisition. The deal puts Home Depot in the same boat as Sears, which has been quietly…
Following Peter's post about the developing lineup for our upcoming ILM East conference, we recently shot some video to give a little more color on what we're in the process of building. Below are the first two. We'll shoot more…
Constant Contact, an email marketing company, announced its acquisition of mobile app developer CardStar this week. CardStar developed a mobile app where consumers are able to store all of their existing loyalty cards, rather than having to carry multiple, physical…
ILM East is coming back to Boston March 26-28 with a lineup of doers and innovators who are transforming and redefining the local space. Highlights include a featured keynote from industry legend Ted Leonsis (Groupon vice chair/AmEx board member/sports team…
Local Corp. has branched out in several directions in an effort to leverage its local platform. It has recently acquired Krillion (retail and product search) and Rovion (rich media platform and integration). Another major effort is its development of Spreebird,…
Foursquare announced today that it has partnered with SinglePlatform to add Menus to its Explore tab. The Explore tab, as many of you know, allows users to discover places around them -- as governed by check-in history, social behavior and…
Apple can thank the high-profile launch of last fall's Apple iPhone 4S for iOS closing the gap on Android as the leading platform for new smartphone purchases. According to research released this week from Nielsen, 45 percent of new smartphone…
The decline of newspaper readership opens a door for other media to head the news cycle, with everything else trickling down to the TV and radio stations and websites that feed off the original content. That’s the premise for GoLocal24,…
John Donahoe, eBay CEO and interim PayPal CEO, projected soaring numbers for new mobile payment forecasts. During his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Association, Donahoe predicted that eBay would reach $8 billion in mobile gross merchandise volume (GMV) this…
Thumbtack, which has set itself to compete against Angie’s List and ServiceMagic in the SMB leads space, has raised $4.5 million from Javelin Venture Partners, with MHS Capital and Tim Draper participating. The eight-person San Francisco company, founded in 2009,…
A few years ago, the location of businesses became a big question mark, as well as a strategic issue, as people wanted to shop or dine nearby. These “geo-fencing” issues were especially important for Yellow Pages companies. Since then, search…
AT&T Interactive is launching a contest today to encourage online and mobile application developers to use its APIs to build new uses for local business data. ATTi is trying to tap into the collective creativity and brainpower of the developer…
