Tag: mobile

Are You Ready for the New Mobile Gold Rush?

“Are you ready for the new mobile gold rush? Of course you’re not,” said Jim O’Leary, Sr. Manager Mobile Solutions Marketing at Cisco. “Though truth be told, the pending growth in mobile video may be more like a video tornado and only a handful of mobile operators are prepared.”

What Jim O’Leary is talking about is the rapidly changing landscape of content viewing. Multi-device viewing is now the norm and the dumping of the old cable content bundle is well under way. Over-The-Top content (OTT), where content is consumed without going through the traditional gatekeepers such as the cable or satellite provider, is bringing complete and utter disruption to the cable and broadcast companies.

(Related: How Google Measures Cross-Device Ad Conversions)

However, with disruption comes opportunity.

Video now accounts for the majority of global mobile data traffic and is forecast to be the key driver of data traffic growth globally. To date, mobile video (and the ability to monetize the content) has been dominated by Internet players, such as YouTube, Netflix, with the operator role simply one of connectivity provider.

However, a number of operators are developing their own content delivery platforms. Singtel, Verizon and PCCW are three prominent examples of this trend, with their HOOQ, Go90 and Viu video platforms respectively. While HooQ and Viu are variants of the subscription-based model, Go90 more closely resembles the Internet business model, with a reliance on advertising for revenues and a focus on millennials. – Jim O’Leary, Cisco

“Mobile operators across the world face the same twin challenges of slowing growth and ongoing disruption of core services by new Internet & OTT players, even as the broader mobile ecosystem continues to see significant revenue growth,” O’Leary posted. “So if you are tired of being just an operator that carries mobile video and prefer to be able to monetize it, read on.”

Mobile Video Watching is Booming!

O’Leary sees a significant monetization opportunity for mobile operators with video for a very good reason, the exploding growth in using mobile devices to watch videos. An On Device Research study commissioned by the IAB in 2015 (Download PDF) confirmed the changing landscape for mobile globally, with 35% watching more video on their smartphone versus last year.

In February 2016 Cisco released a study predicting that by 2020 there will be 5.5 billion global mobile users which is up from the 4.8 billion currently, and those millions of new mobile users will be watching video too!

More astonishing, the study says that by 2020 there will be 11.6 mobile-connected devices! This is indicative of another emerging trend, connecting ALL devices to the internet via mobile operators where internet content and data can be consumed and sometimes produced on and by these devices.

Gartner estimates that the Internet of Things (IoT) is currently connected to 6.4 billion devices and will connect to 20.8 billion “things” by 2020. Some of these “things” will be video enabled devices as well. For instance, watching a video of how to make vegan scrambled eggs on your refrigerator door!

Mobile Operators Can Play “Central Role” in Content

So mobile operators have massive connectivity with virtually everyone 12 years old and up having a smart phone and if they can play a central role in providing content they can benefit from the “emerging online video value chain.” It’s about using great content to boost usage of their mobile broadband service. O’Leary believes that Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and others should take advantage of this “content opportunity” in order to cash in and drive business growth.

The biggest impediment for mobile phone companies entering the video content space is their tendency to charge high rates for large bandwidth consumption. Mobile broadband carriers should eventually come to the realization that their businesses are tied to consumers needing them and it is in their interest to provide inexpensive ways to consume high bandwidth mobile content or they will by bypassed by new mobile broadband competitors that get it.

Mobile is the New Video Distribution Platform

O’Leary predicts that OTT, where the internet is used to bypass traditional content middlemen like cable, is the driving motivation that should entice broadband providers to enter the content space more aggressively over the next few years. He advocates mobile operators creating a “cloud based platform” and then partnering with content producers in order to “scale their video infrastructure efforts and deliver high-quality, live video and on-demand content to consumers on any device — be it their smartphone, tablet or connected television.”

Content producers will likely consist of a wide variety of players from traditional sources like ESPN and Disney to well funded content upstarts such as such as Amazon, Apple, YouTube and Netflix. Content alliances between mobile operators may also include more direct deals with talent such as successful independent internet based content stars on YouTube, Vine and even Snapchat. Mobile is already the primary platform used to consume video content so the next step is to cut out the middleman and partner directly with popular content providers.

“In growing numbers, consumers are replacing their traditional cable and satellite TV packages with smaller, more customized, and often less expensive mixes of programming, cobbled together from an array of online and on-demand services,” said O’Leary. “As more consumers replace their big-bundle TV packages with à la carte online offerings, an opportunity is emerging for mobile operators and other service providers to combine mobile broadband (MBB) packages with compelling “over the top” content.”

Mobile operators should realize that they are the distribution platform for millennials, they are the network and they are the new cable and satellite companies. With that in mind, they don’t need the networks or cable to drive viewership and usage of their platform, they simply need great content however they can get it, even if it means becoming content creators themselves.

July 13, 2016
How Google Measures Cross-Device Ad Conversions

Google recently conducted a live video hangout discussing cross-device measurement, which is extremely important to advertisers to properly attribute which ads are leading to sales. “With the proliferation of mobile devices we all know that user behavior has changed quite significantly over the past few years,” said Meghan Lee, Agency Development Manager for Google AdWords. “It’s very natural for marketers to start to think of new methods and new ways to measure mobile more accurately. The challenge is that measuring mobile really isn’t easy with consumers constant connectivity via mobile creating many new touch points.”

“When we look at how people traditionally measured advertising, if you go back and kind of look at other mediums like the billboard, print, TV, radio, it was always difficult to measure the exact return on ad spend,” commented Matt, who didn’t provide his last name, but who is a Product Specialist at Google that works with Meghan Lee. “People invested a lot of money on these platforms but they had to have good faith that it actually led to bottom line conversions.”

“I used to work in the TV space and although we have these measurement tools such as Neilsen ratings, it really is very difficult to pinpoint which ad led to a sale,” Lee said.

“In 2000 Adwords was born, and the whole point is that digital marketing completely revolutionized the way we think about measurement,” Matt said. “We have this kind of spectrum of accuracy and it was the first time that we could accurately measure the return on investment right from a click to an actual conversion and part of the reason for it being so revolutionary at the time was because it was a one device world. Because cookies lined up across desktop we were able to easily match the research and discovery with that final purchase.”

“Over 90% of people use multiple devices sequentially to accomplish a task,” says Lee. “Adwords advertisers are used to a very simple and clear way of measurement and they have that same expectation on mobile.”

“Mobile has been fracturing the consumer journey and it has made things more difficult to measure, but the hard part is the growing pains of having to rethink how we measure things more accurately,” said Matt. “Part of the reason it is difficult is because if we do the same comparison to what we looked at before cookies don’t line up right across mobile and desktop and so it has become more difficult to match the research and discovery with that final purchase. Although it has made things more complicated and it’s important to admit that, we do offer a solution that when pieced together can give you a holistic view of your mobile performance.”

The two solutions that Matt is referring to are “cross-device conversions” and “attribution modeling with cross-device.”

Here’s how a Google White Paper (Download PDF) describes calculating cross-device conversions:

The consumer journey has become more complex, spanning multiple devices, channels, and media types. Because 90% of people start an activity on one device and finish it on another, it’s especially important to capture how marketing influences actions across phones, tablets, and desktops.

Cross-device conversions start as a click on an ad from one device and end as a conversion on another device (or in a different web browser on the same device). In order to measure cross-device conversion statistics, we use aggregated and anonymous data from users who have previously signed into Google services.

We start by looking at a marketer’s ad clicks that led to cross-device conversions from users who have previously signed into Google services. Next, we expand the model to show how many cross-device conversions a marketer would report if all of their AdWords clicks and conversions came from previously signed-in users. We can do this by customizing our cross-device calculation model based on several factors unique to each marketer to optimize the accuracy of the model for each campaign and ad group. Finally, we only surface the reporting if we are 95% confindent that it reflects the real cross-device user behavior.

Watch the full Google Hangout video on cross-device conversions below:

July 10, 2016
All Websites Should be Using AMP

John Mueller, a Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google in Switzerland, confirmed what everybody is thinking, Google and the AMP Team ultimately intends for almost all sites to display AMP versions for mobile devices. “If you ask the AMP team, they will tell you that all websites should be using AMP, “Mueller said in replying to a question from a Hangout participant. “So to some extent, I can see that making sense. It’s definitively one way to make really fast websites, or websites that load almost instantly.”

“If you’ve been holding off because you’re saying, well, my website doesn’t need this, then maybe it makes sense to take a look again and see what it does now,” Mueller said. “So at the moment, we only show it for the kind of in the news, carousel on top, the top stories and that’s something where I expected to kind of expand to other parts of the search results as well.”

Meuller was also asked about the recent news about eBay adopting AMP, “I think with the eBay one, even though it was an AMP, they couldn’t add to cart, or something like that,” responded Mueller. “They didn’t have that functionality on the site.”

“There’s definitely some things that don’t work so well with AMP at the moment,” says Meuller. “But it’s an open source project, so I think people from eBay are active there as well, making new components and that’s something that I expect to evolve over time.” The Webmaster Trends Analyst added, “I am really happy that someone like eBay is taking the time to do these kind of experiments, because even if they’re not showing in search yet, we can’t get there without people actively trying things that kind of go past what’s possible now.”

“I imagine if someone like eBay can get it to work for their site, which is really dynamic, which requires a lot of interaction, then that’s something that’ll be possible for a lot of other sites as well,” concluded Meuller.

Check out the discussion in the Google Hangout video below:

Ebay clearly believes that AMP is for more than just publishers and thinks it would be great for all kinds of websites and especially for ecommerce. “The speed aspect was very critical for us, and we wanted to do more for speed,” stated Senthil Padmanabhan, Principal Web Engineer at eBay. “That is when we ran into AMP.”

The AMP project was announced around the same time we started the initial brainstorming for browse. It seemed to resonate a lot with our own thinking on how we wanted to render the new experience. Although AMP was more tuned towards publisher-based content, it was still an open source project built using the open web. Also, a portion of the traffic to the new browse experience is going to be from search engines, which made it more promising to look into AMP. So we quickly pinged the AMP folks at Google and discussed the idea of building an AMP version for the browse experience, in addition to the normal mobile web pages. They were very supportive of it. This positive reaction encouraged us to start looking into AMP technology for the eCommerce world and in parallel develop an AMP version of browse.

Today we are proud to announce that the AMP version of the new browse experience is live, and about 8 million AMP-based browse nodes are available in production. Check out some of the popular queries in a mobile browser — Camera Drones and Sony PlayStation, for example. Basically adding amp/ to the path of any browse URL will render an AMP version (for example, non-AMP, AMP). We have not linked all of them from our regular (non-AMP) pages yet. This step is waiting on few pending tasks to be completed. For now, we have enabled this new browse experience only in mobile web. In the next couple of weeks, the desktop web experience will also be launched.

“We are excited to partner with Google and everyone else participating on the AMP Project to close the gap in launching a full-fledged eCommerce experience in AMP,” says Padmanabhan. “We have created a combined working group to tackle the gap, and we will be looking into these items and more.” The items Padmanabhan is referring to include smart buttons, input elements, advanced tracking and A/B testing. “With items like these in place, AMP for eCommerce will soon start surfacing.”

“We will also be looking into creating a seamless transition from the AMP view to a regular page view, similar to what the Washington Post did using Service Workers.” Padmanabhan added. “This will enable users to have a complete and delightful eBay experience without switching contexts.”

“We are on our path to making eBay the world’s first place to shop and this is a step towards it,” concluded Padmanabhan.

July 7, 2016
Facebook Will Be All Video In 5 Years

At Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women International Summit in London, Nicola Mendelsohn, VP EMEA at Facebook, predicted that the Facebook newsfeed will be all video in 5 years. “It will definitely be mobile. It will probably be all video,” Mendelsohn said. “I just think if we look, we already are seeing a year on year decline in text. We’re seeing a massive increase as I’ve said on both pictures and video. So yeah, if I was having a bet, I would say video, video, video.”

“I think that’s also because it helps us edit,” added Mendelsohn. “You talk with your business about how this is an era of storytelling. The best way to tell stories in this world where so much information is coming at us actually is video. It commands so much more information in a much quicker period. So actually, the trends help us to digest more of the information in a quicker way.”

Pattie Sellers, Assistant Managing Editor of Fortune Magazine who interviewed Mendelsohn remarked, “I don’t want writers to go out of business though!” Mendelsohn had the perfect retort, “You have to write for the video!”.

June 15, 2016
Facebook Comments Can Now Include Video

You can now add video to Facebook comments or a video can simply be the comment. This feature is now available to Facebook users worldwide. According to Facebook, “You can upload them as replies to posts by people and pages, as well as within groups and events. It’s supported on desktop web, iOS, and Android. To try it out, click the camera icon next to the comment field!”

Baldwin also announced it via video from the new Facebook Seattle offices. We tried to embed it in the article, but it appears that the embed function for videos in comments is buggy. (Update – Bob Baldwin replied to our comment about this saying, “As I said in a different comment, we’re rolling out over the next few days. Thanks!”)

Bob Baldwin, a product engineer at Facebook, said:

At Facebook’s 50th Hackathon early this year, we prototyped the ability to upload a video into comments and replies on posts, because we wanted enable more engaging and immersive conversations. This adds to the suite of multimedia features within comments including: links, photos, stickers, emoji, and starting this week video.

At the hackathon, we coded as quickly as we could all day, and by the evening we could feel the pieces starting to come together. A little past midnight, we had the feature mostly working on both desktop and mobile apps. And when we demoed our hack to fellow employees the following week, they absolutely loved it! Over the past few months, we continued to refine and stabilize it, as a side project we all were eager to ship.

This was no small feat to add support across interfaces and within two heavy traffic services, like comments and videos. That’d be a challenge in a month, let alone a single day. We were fortunate to have enough shared interest from the ideal engineers to get the it done.

June 10, 2016
Dark Social Sharing Is Out Of Control!

Global Dark Social sharing is now 84% of all consumer sharing of publisher and marketer content according to a new study by RadiumOne. Dark Social activity is considered to be sharing of content via private channels such as email or messaging.

According to the study, Dark Social shares as a percent of on-site shares rose from 69% to 84% globally since December 2014 when RadiumOne released its original Dark Social report. Dark Social shares happen mostly on mobile devices which makes sense since that’s where most messaging happens. Clickbacks of Dark Social shares come 62% from mobile and 38% from desktop computers. In December 2014 Mobile accounted for 53% of clickbacks, following the overall trend of increased internet activity via mobile devices.

The study notes that that it is worth taking the effort to convert Dark Social activity into a marketing opportunity. RadiumOne provided an example of a luxury retailer that captured Dark Social activity on website and then used that data to inform paid media and, “As a result, the retailer tripled its site traffic and beat its CPA goal by 71%.” RadiumOne offers sharing software which helps capture the Dark Social marketing opportunities.

The Dark Social study offers this advice on how to convert Dark Social activity into a marketing opportunity:

With the right software can gather and activate Dark Social data on your behalf, every time visitors to your owned media assets share your content or links into private messages. These tools also ensure that your Dark Social data is rich with intent by capturing information about how audiences respond to the content that has been shared with them.

In addition, since Dark Social shares are personalized to the recipient, Dark Social data provides an accurate representation of consumers’ interests and intent, and the ability to target a highly qualified and intimate network of connections. This representation makes it worthwhile to harness Dark Social on owned and earned media because it can be used together with data-driven media buying to capture the attention of consumers at just the right moment in their increasingly complex consumer journeys.

June 10, 2016
Google Launches New Android Feature ‘Nearby’
Google launched a cool… and I think very useful feature to Android today called Nearby. Nearby uses Bluetooth to seek out nearby beacons that are connected to Android apps on your phone. Developers of ecommerce or in-store related apps are going to be staying up late working to incorporate Nearby because of its potential to bring in more sales.

Nearby was announced back in May:

Nearby can be used for any app that communicates provides the mobile phone user with real-time data. For instance:
- New information and multi-media can open in a museums app as a person passes each exhibit. such as when a person at a museum getting further information and media related to the exhibit they are standing in front of.
- As you walk down the aisle at Kroger’s a Kroger app can offer you app-only deals as you pass by items on the shelf.
- As you stand in line at the DMV in California it could ask you to feel out certain forms in the app and then direct you to a line number that handles your type of need such as renewing your cars registration.
- At the car dealership, an app from the dealer could offer you a deal that isn’t on the sticker, possibly timed by how long you stood close to a particular car.
The Google Android Blog offered some additional examples:
- Print photos directly from your phone at CVS Pharmacy.
- Explore historical landmarks at the University of Notre Dame.
- Download the audio tour when you’re at The Broad in LA.
- Skip the customs line at select airports with Mobile Passport.
- Download the United Airlines app for free in-flight entertainment while you wait at the gate, before you board your flight.
Google says that to use Nearby, just turn on Bluetooth and Location, and they’ll show you a notification if a nearby app or website is available. According to Google Nearby has started rolling out to users as part of the upcoming Google Play Services release and will work on Android 4.4 (KitKat) and above.

The Google Developers Blog also provided information for developers to incorporated Nearby within Android apps:

Getting started is simple. First, get some Eddystone Beacons- you can order these from any one of our Eddystone-certified manufacturers. Android devices and and other BLE-equipped smart devices can also be configured to broadcast in the Eddystone Format.

Second, configure your beacon to point to your desired experience. This can be a mobile web page using the Physical Web, or you can link directly to an experience in your app. For users who don’t have your app, you can either provide a mobile web fallback or request a direct app install.

Nearby has started rolling out to users as part of the upcoming Google Play Services release and will work on Android devices running 4.4 (KitKat) and above. Check out our developer documentation to get started. To learn more about Nearby Notifications in Android, also check out our I/O 2016 session, starting at 17:10.

For all the information that developers will need go to the Google Nearby Developer site.
June 9, 2016
Google In Deal With U.S. Cellular For More ‘Project Fi’ Speed And Coverage

Google has partnered with U.S. Cellular to increase both speed and coverage area of Project Fi. Project Fi is Google’s to program to deliver a fast, easy wireless experience by forming close partnership with leading carriers, hardware makers, and subscribers.

Google’s Android Blog described the benefits of Project Fi expansion…

How does this work?

In most areas, multiple cellular networks are available — in fact, the majority of Project Fi usage occurs in areas where more than one of our partners offers LTE coverage. But factors like obstructions from nearby buildings can meaningfully impact the speed and coverage available from each LTE connection. By analyzing speeds from each network, Project Fi is able to predict the fastest network at your location — down to the city block — and automatically connect you. We’re constantly adapting to consider how factors like new cell towers and newly-available radio frequencies are impacting real-world speeds.

Part of Project Fi’s promise is to ensure you have connection when you need it, even in areas with poor speeds or limited coverage. Your Fi device recognizes when your connection is weak and adjusts in real time. By accessing multiple cellular networks, Fi users have a connection nearly 99% of the time, and spend about 95% of cellular time on LTE — which will improve even further with the addition of U.S. Cellular.

Learn more about Project Fi from the videos below:

June 9, 2016
Google To Rank Mobile Page Speed Separately

According to Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes, Google is planning to rank mobile site speed separately from desktop. This means that if your mobile site loads quick and the desktop version of your site is slow you will rank better for the same query in a search done on a mobile device than you would on a desktop Google search.

[subscribelocker]Jennifer Slegg of The SEM Post noted that Illyes mention of this at Search Marketing Summit Sydney was the first time that Google confirmed that it indeed plans to make page speed a factor in its next mobile friendly update. Illyes told Jennnifer that the update will be in a matter of months. Illyes has been hinting at mobile friendly sites ranking higher for months.

Google added a mobile friendliness to their search ranking algorithm well over a year ago, but this is the first time that they are actually going to use mobile speed as a factor in their ranking and specifically for searches occurring on mobile devices.

Google offers a rich amount of information on how webmasters and web developers can make a site speedier and mobile friendly in general. Start here.[/subscribelocker]

June 3, 2016
Google Taking on iPhone with New ‘Find Your Phone’ Tool

Google is taking on Apple’s iPhone with a new feature called ‘Find Your Phone‘. It is a new feature of Google’s ‘My Account‘ hub, which was launched a year ago today. My Account puts all of your privacy and security tools in one spot and can be accessed on any device. The current tool let you change Ad and Privacy Settings and run Security Checkups. Google says that more than 1 billion people have logged into their own ‘My Account’ hub.

With ‘Find Your Phone’ Google is competing with Apple’s ‘Find My iPhone’ feature that is part of its iCloud service. With ‘Find Your Phone’ you can locate your phone geographically on a map, lock, call it, secure your account and leave a callback number on the screen.

Best of all, unlike with ‘Find My iPhone’ you can use this new feature with both Android and IOS phones and other devices such as the iPad or Android tablets. And coming soon, you’ll be able to simply search “I lost my phone” in Google to instantly access the features options.

Google also announced the ability to simply use your voice to get to ‘My Account’ features. Just download the latest Google app to your phone and say, “Ok Google, show me my Google account,” and they’ll take you there. This is currently available only in English, with other languages to follow.

Google added in a blog post: “We’re also making it easier than ever to find My Account by searching Google. Coming soon, you’ll be able to simply search for your own name, and if you’re signed in, you’ll see a shortcut to My Account.”

All very cool Google!

June 1, 2016
Google Introduces Rich Card Mobile Search Results

Attention webmasters, you now need to make sure that your site is Rich Card friendly so that you can gain more Google search referrals. Google has already launched Rich Cards for two search categories, recipes and movies. More content topics will be added over time.

Rich Cards are Google’s latest version of its enhanced mobile friendly search results that from a site owners point of view can lead to more visitors and business if you follow the Rich Card protocol. Rich cards are a new search result format building on the concept of rich snippets, using schema.org structured markup to display content in a more engaging and visual format. Google believes that this approach provides the mobile Google searcher a better user experience.

Below is an example of the evolution of mobile search queries with rich cards displaying carousels where search results scroll horizontally. Carousels can contain cards all from the same site or from multiple sites.

As Google says:

“For site owners, this is a new opportunity to stand out in Search results and attract more targeted users to your page. For example, if you have a recipe site, you can build a richer preview of your content with a prominent image for each dish. This visual format helps users find what they want right away, so you’re getting users who specifically want that especially delicious cookie recipe you have.”

For developers, Google offers documentation on how to implement Rich Card’s for your site and also created a gallery with a list of various business verticals that demonstrate how various kinds of structured data can produce rich results in Google Search.

May 18, 2016
Google Launches Mobile Friendly Testing Tool

Google’s obsession with making all sites mobile friendly continues with the launch of a new mobile friendly testing tool. The tool is available for all users logged into the Google Search Console.

Google also has created a help page for you to learn more about their Mobile Friendly Test Tool. You can also reach the new mobile tool via Google’s Mobile Usability Report which has some excellent pointers on making your site more mobile friendly.

The idea is that mobile visitors are more likely to revisit mobile-friendly sites and therefore it’s in your interest to make sure that your site gives visitors a top-rate mobile experience which means fast loading, easy navigation and excellent readability and usability.

If all goes well you should see this screen saying that your site is mobile friendly like it did for WebProNews.com:

Here’s a bit more on the tool from Google:

“The Mobile Friendly test tool is very easy to use; simply type in the full URL of the web page that you want to test. The test typically takes less than a minute to run.

Test results include a screenshot of how the page looks to Google on a mobile device, as well as a list of any mobile usability problems that it finds. Mobile usability problems are issues that can affect a user that visits the page on a mobile (small screen) device, including small font sizes (which are hard to read on a small screen) and use of Flash (which isn’t supported by most mobile devices).”

May 18, 2016
Google Introduces Page-Level Ads for AdSense

Google just announced a new family of ad formats called Page-level ads, which it refers to as “AdSense’s next generation ads.” They’re designed to help publishers make money from their mobile content.

To use them, you place the same code once on each page you want to show ads on, and they’ll automatically show at the right time and in the right format. Google says this will potentially increase your earnings without interfering with your users’ mobile experience.

Product manager Matthew Conroy says, “The benefits of Page-level ads include: optimized ads that show when they’re likely to perform well and provide a good user experience; one-time set-up that only requires you to place the Page-level ad code once on each page you’d like the ads shown; ability to adjust the settings in your account and to enable new ad formats without having to change the code on your site; [and] additional ads on your site that don’t count towards your AdSense per page ad limit.”

For now, Page-level ad formats include anchor/overlay and vignette, but more will be available in the near future.

Image via YouTube

April 27, 2016
Google Releases ‘No-Nonsense Guide to In-App Ads’

Google announced the release of a new ebook called The No-nonsense Guide to In-App Ads, which is designed to give you a comprehensive overview of in-app advertising. It covers eCPM, Fill Rate, Demand, Inventory, how businesses make money from advertising, how PPC works, a basic explanation of ad networks and how they can help you monetize your app, and how to choose the right ad network.

This is the latest in Google’s “No-nonsense” series, which also includes ebooks on growing your app and app monetization. This one is obviously an extension of that.

“A clear trend is emerging in the world of smartphones – people want free apps. According to a study by Juniper Research, barely 1% of apps are now paid for at the point of download,” says Joe Salisbury, product specialist for Google’s AdMob. “While demand for free apps continues to increase, app developers are answering a very important question, ‘what’s the best way to publish my app for free while sustainably funding my business?’”

“Many of the world’s most popular apps rely heavily on in-app advertising to earn income,” he adds. “Apps like PicsArts and Trivia Crack each have hundreds of millions of downloads and use advertising as a revenue source. In-app ads are evolving and there are many options for developers to utilize which provide great experiences for users.”

The new ebook is for those just getting started with ads. You can get the guide here.

Earlier this week, Google released a guide to outsourcing your app’s development.

April 26, 2016
Facebook Messenger Gets Video Chat Heads

Facebook introduced Chat Heads for Messenger a few years ago. These are images of your friends that appear on your device when you get a Facebook message from them. They appear regardless of what app you’re currently using. The feature is optional.

Facebook announced Video Chat Heads for Messenger on Monday.

In a post on the Messenger page, the company said, “With Video Chat Heads, you can talk to your friends from a smaller chat head instead of using your full phone screen. This allows you to continue a video call while you’re messaging other people, or – on Android – even while you are using other apps.”

This way you don’t have to completely pay attention to the person you’re talking to face to face. How convenient!

The feature will be available for both iOS and Android users around the world in the coming days.

Last week, Facebook announced some additional new feature for Messenger including Messenger Codes, Usernames, and Links with a m.me[youusername] URL for people and businesses. It also announced that Messenger has surpassed 900 million monthly active users.

Image via Facebook

April 12, 2016
Reddit for iPhone and Reddit for Android Get Official Launch

Reddit finally announced the launch of official mobile apps for iPhone and Android, which are available in the App Store and Google Play Store respectively. Earlier this year, Reddit announced the apps, but users can now go download them.

The plan was to build an Android app and revamp the Alien Blue iPhone app, but they ended up just building the iPhone app from scratch too. The apps are now officially called Reddit for Android and Reddit for iPhone. Simpler and less confusing for those who don’t necessarily keep up.

The apps feature inline images, a night theme, compact and card views, and simpler navigation. Alex Le, who joined Reddit five months ago as the VP of Consumer Products (he assures users he’s been a user for 8 years), announced the news.

“This is the beginning of our journey with you, our app users,” he says. “For everyone joining us on this ride, you can expect a lot of updates and new features that we’ll be rolling out to mobile first. Our first feature releases are getting prepared now and we’ll be updating at least once a month. Of course, if you already have an app you like, you’re free to continue enjoying it. We will continue to support our free public api.”

He’s taking feedback and questions in this thread, so if you have something to say, don’t hesitate.

The apps are available in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia.

Image via Google Play

April 7, 2016
Facebook on BlackBerry Will Continue Via Web App

In what appeared to be a major blow to the already struggling BlackBerry, Facebook recently decided to discontinue WhatsApp and Facebook API support for BlackBerry. The company indicated it would end support for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS at the end of the year.

BlackBerry’s Lou Igazzola said the company was “extremely disappointed” in Facebook’s decision because many of its users use Facebook and WhatsApp. Of course they do. These are two of the most popular apps out there, and for many people, it’s hard to imagine using a phone that doesn’t support them in this day and age.

At the same time, it’s also understandable why Facebook would want to end support of such operating systems. Even BlackBerry itself has turned to Android.

BlackBerry clarified after the news made the rounds, however, that Facebook will continue to support BlackBerry 10 and BBOS with a web-based app.

Igazzola wrote, “For those just hearing about this news, we have an updated web-based Facebook app that replaces the native app for BlackBerry 10 and BBOS. The update is required because the native app will stop working on March 31. The new web-based Facebook app provides additional features not available on the native app…”

These include the ability to reply to and see replies to comments, the elimination of “News feed could not be retrieved” messages, and any features made available to Facebook web users.

No updates on WhatsApp support were announced.

Images via Facebook, BlackBerry

March 30, 2016
Google Drive for Android Gains 2 New Helpful Features

Google announced a new update for its Google Drive Android app, which should help users in the organization and productivity departments.

There are two new feature: reverse sort and the ability to instantly edit with apps.

“We’ve heard feedback that you want more flexibility in how files are sorted,” Google says. “We’re adding the popular request to allow reverse sorting. Simply tap the sort column at the top of Drive to swap the sort order.

“If you have an editor app installed on your device, you can now jump into the editor directly from the file preview in Google Drive,” the company explains. “This is great if you want to make changes on the fly and have those changes saved back to Google Drive. Some common editor apps include Google Photos, Google Docs, and more.”

The update is launching on both the rapid and scheduled releases with all end users getting access. The full roll-out should take one to three days.

This is just the latest in a series of improvements Google has made to Google Drive and associated apps since the new year. Other recent improvements include:

– new organizational features

– new file sharing control for Google Apps admins

– new notifications settings

– voice improvements

– new business templates

Images via Google

March 23, 2016
Google Photos Gets Even Better With Smart Albums

Google Photos has proven quite popular since Google dropped the Google+ element and created it as a standalone app. Much of the cool factor was already there as the Google+ incarnation. This includes things like “auto-awesome,” which automatically enhance photos in different ways, and instant upload.

Now, Google Photos is getting smarter albums.

“Starting today, after an event or trip, Google Photos will suggest a new album for you, curated with just your best shots,” explains product manager Francois de Halleux. “It’ll also add maps to show how far you traveled and location pins to remember where you went—because it’s not always easy to recall the late-night diner you hit on your road trip, or which campsite you pitched the tent in when arriving after dark.”

“You can add text captions to the album to describe the view from the small hill huge mountain you climbed, and turn on collaboration to let others add their own photos,” he adds. “Or if you want to create one yourself, any existing album can now be customized with maps, location pins, and text. Voilà: You have a beautiful album ready to share.”

The new albums are rolling out on Android, iOS, and the web starting today.

Image via Google

March 22, 2016
Google Just Renamed The Chromecast App

Google announced that it has renamed the Chromecast app to fit better with its strategy of providing cast technology across more device. When the app was first launched, the Chromecast name made sense because Chromecast was the only device that utilized it at the time, and Google had to do so some branding around that device, which has since proven pretty popular.

Since Chromecast was released, however, more devices have emerged to use Google Cast, including speakers, Android TVs, game consoles, etc.

Now, the app is simply called the Google Cast app. The updated app is rolling out this week on both Android and iOS.

Along with this announcement, Google announced support from the new VIZIO SmartCat P-Series displays and VIZIO soundbars and speakers.

“The P-series now comes with Google Cast built in, which means you can use your smartphone or tablet as your remote to cast your favorite entertainment directly to the big screen,” says product manager Adam Champy. “Simply tap the Cast button from apps like Netflix to watch Daredevil, YouTube to stream daredevil stunts, or Google Play Music to get pumped for your own stunts. You can also mirror any website from the Chrome browser on your laptop. So whether you’re planning your next vacation and looking through flights and hotels with the family, or want to share a video from your last epic trip, just look for the Google Cast extension in the corner of your desktop browser.”

“The P-Series also supports casting Ultra HD (up to 4K) and Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range content (bright, clear colors!),” Champy adds. “Included with every P-series is VIZIO’s 6” Android tablet remote, a tablet that lives in the living room and can cast all your favorite content.”

Image via Google

March 22, 2016
Microsoft Upgrades Existing Windows Phone 8.1 Devices to Windows 10 Mobile

Microsoft announce that it is now beginning the roll-out of Windows 10 Mobile to select Windows Phone 8.1 devices.

The list of supported devices for this include: Lumia 1520, 930, 640, 640XL, 730, 735, 830, 532, 535, 540, 635 1GB, 636 1GB, 638 1GB, 430, 435, BLU Win HD w510u, BLU Win HD LTE x150q, and MCJ Madosma Q501.

This list could grow in time.

“This list includes a limited set of Windows Phone 8.1 devices and does not include some devices that are currently running Windows 10 Mobile in the Windows 10 Mobile Insider program,” notes Microsoft’s Micahel Fortin. “As Windows 10 delivers significant new innovations, many older devices are not able to successfully upgrade without an impact on the customer experience. Our goal is to only offer the Windows 10 upgrade to devices that we are confident can continue to deliver a good customer experience.”

“Consistent with our approach to the Windows 10 PC upgrade, we are focused on delivering a high quality experience for our customers,” he says. “The Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor app can be downloaded from the Windows Store to see if the upgrade is available for your device.”

Microsoft provides an Upgrade Advisor app for upgrading here.

Twitter announced the launch of a new Windows 10 for Mobile app on Wednesday.

Image via Microsoft

March 17, 2016