admob

News analysis Apple's tweaking of the rules for which kind of ad networks can operate on its iPhone has prompted scrutiny from antitrust authorities, according to reports.

The Financial Times on Thursday said that two sources close to the situation have "taken an interest" in Apple's actions on Monday. Which agency would be charged with looking into it, isn't yet clear: either the Federal Trade Commission or the Department of Justice. But the FTC just spent months looking at the mobile-ad market from all angles for the recently closed Google/AdMob acquisition case, so … Read more

On today's show, Podfather Adam Curry joins us for gloves-off battles about everything from whether Apple should put out the iPhone for Verizon (Adam says no) to what Nokia used to produce (boots, turns out), and just what exactly is wrong with Nokia. Be warned, today's episode pushes the boundary of indeterminate length!

A familiar face might be causing a snag in Google's planned acquisition of mobile advertising company AdMob.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is currently asking Google advertisers and competitors for more information about the potential impact of the deal, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Those companies--which weren't identified--are being asked to sign sworn statements that could potentially be used against Google in a court hearing blocking or altering the deal, according to the report.

After being caught flat-footed in Washington years ago by the backlash over the DoubleClick deal and proposed Yahoo search deal, Google came out swinging after … Read more

When it comes to smartphones, men love them some Android; but women, well, they're finding love elsewhere. That's what a new study by AdMob would have you believe, anyway.

For its January Mobile Metrics report (PDF), AdMob conducted an opt-in survey of consumers using iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, and Palm WebOS devices to find out how they interact with applications. In doing so, it also found an interesting gender gap when it comes to the Android platform. As you can see from the chart, the split between men and women isn't great when it comes to the … Read more

Although iPhone and Android users download and spend time using about the same number of applications, iPhone users are more apt to buy one, according to a report released Thursday by AdMob.

Among mobile-device consumers surveyed by AdMob for its "January 2010 Metrics Report," 50 percent of all iPhone users and 35 percent of iPod Touch owners purchase at least one app a month. Those numbers compare with 24 percent of Palm's WebOS owners and 21 percent of Android users who buy at least one app each month. Results did not include Research In Motion's BlackBerry.

iPod Touch owners seem to be the heaviest downloaders in general, grabbing an average of 12 apps per month, versus iPhone and Android users who download 9 apps a month. WebOS users overall download only around 6 apps per month, which may be due in large part to the scarcity of available apps.

Touch owners are also the heaviest users, spending an average of 100 minutes each month using their apps, compared with WebOS users at 87 minutes, Android users at 80 minutes, and iPhone users at 79 minutes.… Read more

Apple is set to announce that it has acquired Quattro Wireless for $275 million, several sources confirmed.

The announcement might come as soon as Tuesday, upping the ante in the mobile advertising business significantly.

Google recently forked over an astonishing $750 million for AdMob, a Quattro competitor, which Apple had also made a bid to acquire.

Both start-ups are aimed squarely at the fast-growing market to advertise on smartphones, such as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android devices. In fact, Google will unveil the Nexus One tomorrow, a Android-powered mobile phone it designed and will sell on a Web … Read more

Two consumer groups have added their objections to Google's proposed acquisition of mobile advertising network AdMob, saying the deal would be anticompetitive and cause privacy concerns.

The Federal Trade Commission has already signaled that it wants to take a closer look at the $750 million deal, which was announced in November. AdMob runs an ad network across mobile sites and applications, and critics such as Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy are concerned that the company will give Google a big advantage in extending its dominant share of the search advertising market into the fast-growing mobile space.… Read more

The Federal Trade Commission has asked Google to provide more information about its pending acquisition of AdMob before giving that deal final approval.

Google disclosed the "second request" in a blog post Wednesday afternoon, saying "while this means we won't be closing right away, we're confident that the FTC will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive after this deal closes. And we'll be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review."

When Google first disclosed plans in early November to acquire AdMob, a leading … Read more

While it's waiting to be gobbled up by Google, AdMob isn't sitting still.

The mobile ad company announced Tuesday that it will deliver interactive video ads to the iPhone and iPod Touch devices. The ads, set to run this week, will let iPhone users surf the Web and check out other videos while the video ad is playing. AdMob believes advertisers and developers will take advantage of the video format by serving up interactive ads designed to pull in consumers.

"AdMob's new Interactive Video Ad Unit brings together consumers' love of watching videos on their mobile … Read more