901am

New Media News Every Morning

Last.fm expands mobile offering with Android platform

By

Last.fm has launched on the Android platform, offering an ‘on-the-go’ music application enabling users to access all the best of Last.fm from their mobile phones.

Features include similar artists and genre-specific streaming radio stations, personalized streaming radio, up-to-date concert information and the ability to track users’ listening habits to their Last.fm profile. The launch of Last.fm on Android marks the latest step in Last.fm’s expansion into the mobile music space.

Using the Last.fm application, users can listen to streaming radio stations such as personal recommendations, similar artists, and genre-specific tracks. Users can also share tracks with their friends on Last.fm and stream other users’ stations. The new ‘Background Playback’ feature enables users to listen to Last.fm’s streaming music while accessing other programs, such as email, without interrupting the music experience.

Last.fm users can view an on-the-go version of their personal music profiles that includes mobile versions of Last.fm Charts page and Artist pages, with biographies, tags, similar artists and top listeners, all optimized for the Android platform. Users can access Last.fm’s Events listings to browse artists on tour, search for events, view Last.fm recommendations and view mapped directions to music venues.

Originally posted on January 23, 2009 @ 11:49 am

iPod Touch requests triple in December- AdMob

By

Mobile advertising marketplace AdMob has highlighted the explosive iPod Touch growth and smartphone Operating System (OS) market share in its December 2008 Mobile Metrics Report.

iPod Touch requests more than tripled worldwide from November to December, with a particularly large spike in requests the week after Christmas. The iPod Touch is now the second device in the AdMob Network with 4.7 percent share. While 70 percent of iPod Touch requests in December came from the US, it experienced strong growth across other major markets including Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, and France. Combined, the iPhone and iPod Touch represent 15.5 percent of all worldwide requests.

Other highlights from the December 2008 report:

· Smartphone share increased from 22 percent of total requests worldwide in May to 33 percent in December.

· Symbian is the top smartphone OS worldwide with 41 percent share. In Asia and Africa it has more than 90 percent share, however the iPhone is challenging its dominance in Latin America and Europe.

· The iPhone OS had 32 percent worldwide share in December, up from 6 percent in May.

· Worldwide RIM has 10 percent and Windows Mobile has 9 percent OS share. Both are strongest in North America and Latin America.

· Palm has 4 percent of smartphone OS share worldwide with more than 95 percent of its requests generated in North America. In the US, Palm had 9 percent share in December, declining from 20 percent in July.

· Android already leads Symbian in North America with 2 percent of OS share.

Originally posted on January 8, 2009 @ 6:00 am

CityWatch by Zannel keeps you abreast with what’s happening in your city

By

citywatchZannel has launched CityWatch, a new location-based iPhone application which allows users to instantly see, share, and talk about what’s going on around them.

Now available at the Apple App Store, CityWatch enables users to select a location on an easy-to-maneuver map which shows the latest multimedia and text updates, including pictures imported from Flickr. CityWatch users can also post their own geo-tagged updates to start real-time discussions around them via threaded commenting.

In addition to CityWatch, the Zannel community uses their “channels” to instantly and visually communicate what’s happening in their lives across mobile and the web, including all major social networks. People use Zannel to capture and share authentic moments in their lives, tell their stories, debate issues, and communicate with their community.

Zannel.com is available online and on all mobile phones in the US. Instant-membership is available by texting “Join” to 58888 to start creating your own mobile channel.

Originally posted on December 30, 2008 @ 3:08 pm

The Sports Network, Contec to offer mobile sports services

By

The Sports Network and Contec Innovations announced the upcoming availability of their new global mobile sports service in early 2009.

The new global mobile sports service provides unprecedented mobile access to all things sports. Covering more than 50 sports and hundreds of leagues and events from around the world, this initiative allows mobile users around anywhere to access up-to-date news, photos, results, statistics, live action and more.

Available via mobile Internet, SMS and MMS, the service has three distinctive audiences in mind at present: mobile operators seeking to enhance their sports offering, mobile service providers that wish to add new services to their portfolios and media companies/brands that sponsor mobile Sports content in their local markets or on a global basis.

Originally posted on December 30, 2008 @ 12:40 pm

Mobile phone market set for slowdown next year

By

The impact of the global economic crisis will spread to the mobile phone market resulting in a downturn in shipments in 2009. According to IDC, total mobile phone volumes will be 1.9% lower in 2009 than 2008 levels, the first downturn in annual shipment volumes since 2001 when shipments declined 2.3%. Over the past several years, the mobile phone market has enjoyed double-digit annual growth due to an increased emphasis on emerging markets. However, emerging market growth has been steadily slowing as these markets mature. IDC now expects worldwide growth to be just 7.1% in 2008 before slipping into negative growth in 2009.

The economic crunch has also affected consumer behavior, particularly consumers’ plans to purchase new devices. With less disposable income available and other expenses competing for attention, consumers may choose to hold on to their current devices rather than replace or upgrade them at the next possible opportunity, usually when a service contract expires.

IDC does not expect the downturn in mobile phone shipments to stretch past 2009. By 2010, the worldwide mobile phone market will show signs of improvement as economic recovery plans will have taken effect.

Originally posted on December 19, 2008 @ 4:18 pm