Ryan has covered personal technology and wireless for the San Francisco Chronicle before joining GigaOM. He is based in New York and covers a number of topics including mobile development, app economies and East Coast start-ups.
The Pew Research Center reported that almost a quarter of Americans are reading ebooks. But more of the growth in ebook reading devices is happening on tablets than dedicated e-readers. Read more at GigaOM »
Even as usage of mobile devices explodes, spending on mobile ads still lags spending on online ads by a huge margin. Will that gap narrow anytime soon? Here’s a look at some of the strategies that mobile marketers are using. Read more at GigaOM »
Freemium app revenue is now dominating premium for developers on both iOS and Android, said App Annie. The analytics firm said that freemium apps generate 69 percent of the worldwide iOS app revenue and 75 percent of global Android app revenues. Read more »
Polar Mobile is rolling out its HTML5-based MediaEverywhere content distribution system with The Hockey News and Canadian Living. The tool allows publishers to build custom websites and native apps in quick and cost-effective way. Read more at GigaOM »
Somebody is probably looking for a job after the search giant unexpectedly pre-announced its financial results hours before they were supposed to be released. What’s worse, the numbers were bad. Read more at GigaOM »
Oyster, a new startup that wants to be the Spotify of books, announced it has raised $3 million led by Founders Fund. The money will help Oyster build a library that allows members to access an unlimited number of books for a monthly fee. Read more at GigaOM »
Flite, an advertising technology company, is trying to help publishers make mobile lucrative with the launch of Touch Ad Studio. The mobile tools build off the work Flite has done to help publishers create premium ads that can be updated in real-time and incorporate outside apps. Read more at GigaOM »
Cliptamatic, a new mobile video app, is designed to make sharing short premium video content easy. The app is starting with sports, election and comedy clips but will soon include TV and movie clips. Read more at GigaOM »
Amazon is taking its Appstore for Android abroad for the first time, launching it in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. The move was expected, and its eems to pave the way for an international launch of the Kindle Fire. Read more »
Sling Digital is taking what it calls the Moneyball approach to Twitter ads, letting customer buy cheap keywords that still connect to the audiences they are targeting. The service analyzes users’ conversations to find out what they’re talking about and who they’re following and sharing from. Read more at GigaOM »
Yext earlier this year started pivoting away from its pay-per-call product in favor of its PowerListings business, which syncs local business information online for customers. Now, it’s making the bet on PowerListings official by selling its Felix pay-per-call unit to IAC’s CityGrid Media. Read more at GigaOM »
The fate of cloud-gaming pioneer OnLive is in question following a report that most of the staff was laid off and the service was closing. The company has denied those reports but hasn’t provided further details. Read more at GigaOM »
Facebook is turning on mobile ads for apps, allowing developers to target users in their news feed with ads about their software. This will likely generate new revenue for Facebook and help developers. But it remains to be seen how users will react. Read more at GigaOM »
