You may have heard by now that eBay has acquired WHERE for an undisclosed sum -- continuing an acquisition streak of companies that appear to triangulate a mobile local strategy (Milo, RedLaser, WHERE). There is lots to talk about here…
This week, we release a report that takes a closer look at some of the content that was shared on our ILM East stage last month. This is part one of a three-part series that plucks the biggest and best…
Local display ad provider iPromote has launched a new demand side platform meant to streamline ad placement for SMBs. Known as iPromote Local DSP, it will employ real time bidding to optimize placements and provide SMBs with easier access to…
Yellow Pages Group CEO Marc Tellier thinks the next three years will bring more change for the Yellow Pages industry than the past three. And that's why he says he has built an organization that "isn't complacent." Tellier sat for…
The Yellow Pages Association is now the Local Search Association. The industry group unveiled the widely anticipated identity change today at its annual conference in Las Vegas. The logic behind this dramatic move is the association's members are repositioning themselves more broadly, and less…
Readers of this blog know we hang our hats on all things local -- search, social, mobile, Yellow Pages, newspapers, radio, TV, etc. But an entirely different (though related) form of local was brought to my attention yesterday as I…
Today at the AdTech show in San Francisco, Ariana Huffington's opening keynote focused on local as the venue where the best of social media and new journalism meet. This comes at a time when social connections are the construct of…
A few weeks ago I mentioned GoldRun briefly when talking about a panel I moderated at Mediabistro's Socialize conference. CEO Vivian Rosenthal opened my eyes to the possibilities for her flagship app that blends mobile, local discovery, augmented reality and game…
Actually, Hotpot isn't going anywhere, it's just shedding its name and being swallowed by Google Places. According to the Official Google Blog: It’s been incredibly exciting to watch Hotpot grow—the community has quickly expanded to millions of users who are…
A BIA/Kelsey case study will publish soon for subscribers about the much-vaunted, much rebuked launch of Color. I've been traveling and avoiding the discussion until I got to actually use the app. For those unfamiliar, Color is a location-based photo…
Crushed by a "perfect storm" of debt and declining revenues, TMP, once the dominant player in the Yellow Pages agency (CMR) space, will cease to exist within a few days. However, we have learned that several of the agency's more valuable…
At first I thought this has to be an April Fools' joke. But hitting my inbox today, the date seems to be off. So as far as I can tell, it's real. Mobile Ad network Adzookie is offering to basically…
Since iAd arrived last year with much fanfare, there have been surprisingly low incidents of actually spotting the ads within iPhone apps. This has provided some evidence to support reports that Apple is having trouble selling them beyond marquee brands.
Apple today released an app (an appropriate vehicle) that showcases all iAd campaigns in one place. This might seem strange: an app just for ads … who would want to just view ads? It’s a good question but it almost fetishizes iAd while also providing a good research tool.
The latter could apply to brands that want to see what is possible with iAd. For reporters or analysts, it’s a good tool to finally find and view iAd campaigns on demand. They’re all in one place in a gallery format. The app is in fact called iAd Gallery and can be downloaded free here.
My first reaction is that the ads are very robust, and offer a lot beyond pushing products. There are often games, videos and other interactive features that utilize the touch screen, GPS and other hardware specs. This isn’t new — something we’ve covered — but it’s good to see it in action.
I’d recommend checking out the app and playing with some of the ads. This goes especially for publishers or advertisers wondering how iAd applies to you and the cool things you can do with it. I get questions like this all the time so I know you’re out there.
In the meantime, see below for a series of screenshots I took of one of the campaigns on display within the app: A BMW campaign with interactive tours of the X3, videos and a dealer locator. It’s all pretty slick, as expected.
Of course, today is seeing the requisite flow of April fools antics around the interweb. I admit I was duped by Techcrunch's Google Places Filed as Spam post. But in defense, it was a day early and is actually more feasible than…
A panel I moderated at Mediabistro's Socialize conference in NYC espoused the virtues of innovating mobile products with realities of the technology in mind. Similar to a theme at last week's ILM East conference, this includes developing features at the intersection of…
Facebook announced today that it has turned the corner on 250 million active mobile users. This is a big leap from the 100 million it announced about a year ago. At that time, it had 400 million total users. So when…
In a move that can be seen as a victory for the Yellow Pages industry, the San Francisco board of supervisors decided to delay a vote on its contentious Yellow Pages opt-in ordinance, seeking a study from the city economist…
The San Francisco board of supervisors (the city council, essentially) today will consider a phone book opt-in ordinance that directory publishers believe will be devastating to their business. The measure, supported by announced mayoral candidate David Chiu, has drawn urgent…
We've posted short video clips from the Q&A portions of some of the sessions from our recent ILM East conference in Boston. You can check them out by going to the original posts: Here you can see Yipit's Jim Moran…
A question that's stuck with me since ILM East is whether the Web, in its current form, lacks humanity. Maz Sharafi, Facebook senior manager of local monetizationm raised the question during his keynote, channeling his admittedly Luddite (and local merchant) father. The…