There's Money in Virtual Goods

Virtual goods might be a viable revenue model for games developers. Tapjoy began testing out a freemium model for one of its mobile games "Tap Defense" a year ago and found that within a week, it was making six times more money going freemium than paid, based on revenue earned from sales of virtual goods or premium digital goods.

Eventually, the game was making 10 times what it was before. The market for freemium mobile apps went from about 20 a year ago to about 2,500 today, of which he said 90 percent use Tapjoy.

Tapjoy provides monetization, distribution and publishing services for social games, mobile applications, virtual worlds and other social publishers.

The Tapjoy platform includes a turnkey software library that enables mobile developers to embed fully functional virtual goods storefronts with the ability to process microtransactions. The library also comes with a built-in "pay-per-install" user acquisition program, an ad optimization layer and application analytics.

https://www.tapjoy.com/press/tapjoy-closes-21-million-funding.html

Klout says it can Measure "Influence"

Measurement is why marketeers like online, mobile and other Internet-mediated advertising and marketing channels. Klout now claims it can use the same tools to measure influence.

Facebook Valuation

You can decide for yourself whether there is a bubble building (again) in the Internet app space.

Global mobile data subscriptions to double in 2011

During 2010, mobile broadband subscriptions surpassed the half-a-billion mark globally. But Ericsson estimates that this number will double before 2011 ends. The greatest number of subscriptions, around 400 million, is expected to be concentrated in the Asia Pacific region, followed by North America and Western Europe with more than 200 million subscriptions each.

Mobile broadband adoption has accelerated with strong growth of smartphones, connected laptops and tablets, supported by the introduction of high- performance networks. Smartphones' users are increasingly using applications and internet services on the go. Global mobile data traffic continues to grow rapidly, with Ericsson announcing in August 2010 that it had tripled in just one year.

Global mobile data has nearly tripled in the last year, growing more than 10 times faster than voice, according to Ericsson measurements. According to Ericsson statistics, global measured mobile data traffic stands at nearly 225,000 terabytes per month as of the second quarter of 2010.

Mobile broadband currently accounts for only 10 percent of total mobile subscriptions but a rapidly increasing majority of the traffic, Ericsson says. Mobile data traffic continues to grow exponentially even after the historic cross over point in December 2009 when data first exceeded voice, as reported by Ericsson earlier this year

Global mobile data traffic nearly triples in 1 year - Ericsson

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Mobile-broadband-subscriptions-to-hit-one-billion-mark-in-2011-NASDAQ-ERIC-1378254.htm

Groupon Expands Local Commerce Platform to India, Israel and South Africa | Business Wire

Groupon has launched of Groupon India, Groupon Israel and Groupon South Africa by means of the firm's acquisitions of daily deal sites SoSasta, Grouper and Twangoo.

Groupon negotiates discounts with popular businesses and shares them with subscribers by means of free daily emails. The deals are activated only when a minimum number of people agree to buy, encouraging subscribers to share the promotion with family and friends.

By guaranteeing a large number of new customers, Groupon has created a new marketing vehicle for local merchants, and also has pioneered a new channel for mobile and local advertising.

Groupon Expands Local Commerce Platform to India, Israel and South Africa | Business Wire

Google Goggles "Reads" Ad Images

The Google Goggles 1.3 client for Android can scan barcodes almost instantly. But all versions of Goggles can now recognize print ads in popular magazines and newspapers.

"The next time you're flipping through the pages of your favorite magazine, try taking a picture of an ad with Goggles," Google says. "Goggles will recognize print ad and return web search results about the product or brand."

This new feature of Goggles is enabled for print ads appearing in major U.S. magazines and newspapers from August 2010 onwards.

Official Google Mobile Blog

IPhone May Cost Verizon $5 Billion in Subsidies in First Year

Verizon Wireless, set to get Apple Inc.’s iPhone Jan. 11 after four years of waiting, may spend $3 billion to $5 billion to subsidize customer purchases of the device in 2011 alone, based on the expected $400 per iPhone subsidy Verizon will absorb.

While the smartphone will help Verizon add more subscribers this year than rival AT&T Inc., currently the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone, it will also crimp profits, said John Hodulik, an analyst at UBS AG.

Hodulik said Verizon may sell 13 million of the devices with an estimated $400 subsidy this year, which would add up to a total of $5.2 billion. Of course, some observers say Verizon Wireless will not sell nearly that many devices.

Verizon will sell only five million to seven million iPhones in 2011, argues Dan Hays, PRTM director. Still, a hit to earnings of $2 billion to $5 billion in a single year suggests significant competition in the mobile business. Executives in non-competitive industries do not willingly sacrifice $2 billion to $5 billion in earnings.

IPhone May Cost Verizon $5 Billion in Subsidies in First Year - BusinessWeek