Forbes: Okay, We've Killed Our Television. Now What?

This Forbes article mentions how important mobile is today, as Nielsen data now shows that fewer Americans own TV sets.

If you are not taking mobile into account you might as well hang it up.

People may have begun watching online videos on their desktops or laptops but a lot of that content is being consumed on handhelds now.

The kicker is that, for right now at least, consumers seem to remember these ads more if they see them on a mobile screen than if they have seen them on the television. There are a lot of reasons that might explain that – we’ve grown accustomed to tuning out commercials or have the technology to skip over them. Also, by its personal nature – you are holding the device, after all in your hand, mobile videos are just more engaging.

A study commissions by Apple and executed by Nielsen hints at this. Reported by Apple Insider earlier this year, the study found that  iAd viewers were twice as likely to recall seeing the ad, three times as likely to remember its message and five times as likely to remember the brand compared viewers who saw it on TV.

This is a drum mobile ad providers have been beating for a while and no doubt will continue to do so  – that is, their ads pick up where TV leaves off or, in the case of Nielsen’s vanishing TV watchers, drops off.

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Google: Mobile Ads Driving Purchase Intent Among Smartphone Users

A study by Google Inc. found that mobile ads drive smartphone users to take actions such as visiting a Web site or making a purchase.

Google’s “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users” study found that 71 percent of smartphone users search after being exposed to ads online and offline. A whopping 82 percent notice mobile ads and 74 percent make a purchase as a result of using their phone during the shopping process. 

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Verizon Adds 2.2M iPhones, Profits Triple

Verizon Wireless posted a stellar first quarter as its earnings were buoyed by the launch of the iPhone in February and the introduction of its first LTE smartphone, the HTC Thunderbolt, in mid-March.

The company sold 2.2 million iPhones during the last seven weeks of the first quarter, about one-fifth of which were customers new to Verizon. The iPhone 4 produced the most successful first-day sales in Verizon Wireless' history when it hit shelves in February.

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Millennial: iOS apps still half of ad revenues despite Android's growth

Although Google's Android mobile operating system now powers 33 percent of all U.S. smartphones, ahead of Apple's iOS at 25 percent (according to the latest comScore data), iOS remains the driving force behind mobile advertising revenues, mobile ad network Millennial Media reports.

IOS-based applications accounted for 47 percent of Millennial revenues in March 2011, with Android at 36 percent and Research In Motion's BlackBerry far behind at 7 percent. Windows Phone, Symbian and webOS are fighting for the remaining 10 percent of revenues, Millennial adds.

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Google Activating 350,000 Android Devices per Day

During its Q1 earnings call, Google's Jeff Huber said that the company is now activating around 350,000 Android smartphones per day. Separately, Google's Susan Wojcicki said Google's AdMob mobile advertising platform is now recording 150 million ad requests per month from Android and Apple iOS devices, a figure she said has increased 50 percent during the past four months. She also said the company now counts more than half a million advertisers using the company's click-to-call mobile advertising function.

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On-The-Go Local News Readers Influence Community

According to a summary of findings from the Pew Research Center State of the News media, local news is going mobile. 47% of all American adults report that they get at least some local news and information on their cellphone or tablet computer, and what they seek out most on mobile platforms is information that is practical and in real time: 42% of mobile device owners report getting weather updates on their phones or tablets; 37% say they get material about restaurants or other local businesses.

Mobile applications, one of the newest forms of on-the-go local news, are beginning to take hold among mobile device owners, says the report. Compared with other adults, these mobile local news consumers are younger, live in higher income households, are newer residents of their communities, live in non rural areas, and tend to be parents of minor children.

Adults who get local news and information on mobile devices are more likely than others to feel they can have on impact on their communities, more likely to use a variety of media platforms, feel more plugged into the media environment than they did a few years ago, and are more likely to use social media:

35% of mobile local news consumers feel they can have a big impact on their community (vs. 27% of other adults)
65% feel it is easier today than five years ago to keep up with information about their community (vs. 47% of nonmobile connectors)
51% use six or more different sources or platforms monthly to get local news and information (vs. 21%)

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comScore: Verizon Sold 'Well Over 1M' iPhones in February

Verizon Wireless sold "well over 1 million" iPhones during the smartphone's first few weeks of availability, according to new numbers from research and measurement firm comScore. The number is perhaps the first official, independent tally of sales of the device.

ComScore obtained the figure through its monthly surveys of Americans' wireless activities. 

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