HTC Mondrian stars in leaked AT&T ad campaign, jump-kicks lesser smartphones? (video)

Would you believe that after months of leaks, this is the first time we’ve allegedly seen the HTC Mondrian? It’s true — though from this angle, it’s a dead ringer for the Mozart, which looks just like the Shubert, too. The above picture comes from what appear to be a pair of mostly complete ads for AT&T’s Windows Phone 7 push, which if real make the Mondrian look like it might be a flagship device. Perhaps those rumors of a 1.3GHz Snapdragon inside weren’t too far off. You won’t find real phones demonstrated in the videos after the break, but don’t let that stop you from clicking through — you do like watching oblivious folks flying through the air, don’t you?

Continue reading HTC Mondrian stars in leaked AT&T ad campaign, jump-kicks lesser smartphones? (video)

HTC Mondrian stars in leaked AT&T ad campaign, jump-kicks lesser smartphones? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 02:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Phone 7 slides into TV spot, Rachel Zoe’s life

If you knew anything about The Rachel Zoe Project, you’d know that dear Rachel never, ever leaves home without her BlackBerry. Apparently, her comforting hubby — known affectionately as Rodger Berman — isn’t going far without his unbranded Windows Phone 7 device (and a little help from Bing, naturally). Curiously enough, the date on the screen shows July, so there’s a halfway decent chance the software they’re playing with is of the pre-production variety… particularly since he’s wielding a Samsung Omnia i9810-based prototype. Oh, and as you can see above, we’re guessing he’s relying on WiFi or some off-camera magic to actually pull anything up. Hard to get 3G in Los Angeles, especially when your phone is missing its SIM card. At any rate, the spot in full is embedded just past the break, and just between us, we get the feeling this is just the first of many more to come.

[Thanks, Michael]

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 slides into TV spot, Rachel Zoe’s life

Windows Phone 7 slides into TV spot, Rachel Zoe’s life originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM tries to patent billboards that adjust to roadside traffic

Looks like our pals at Research In Motion are taking the company name literally this week — they’ve got a pair of patent applications target ads to automobiles and pedestrians on the street by dynamically changing their information density. By taking a page out of Google’s book and measuring the relative position of GPS-equipped phones (or using traditional sensors should that fail), RIM wants to create digital billboards that automatically add details the slower traffic gets. In one example, a “Road House Restaurant” could display only the name and exit number of the joint in giant letters when traffic moves quickly, but pitch that delectable pecan pie more thoroughly when it’s stop and go — but RIM’s thinking a bit further than that, suggesting that when vehicles are particularly slow, you could pull out your phone and get a coupon by photographing a projected QR code. The future, ladies and gentlemen.

RIM tries to patent billboards that adjust to roadside traffic originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Click-Happy Android Users Flock to Mobile Ads

Apple’s iPhone users may be buying more apps but when it comes to mobile ads, it is Android customers who are click happy, says an online advertising network.

Android users click on ads 81 percent more often than those who have an iPhone. That makes Android users much more valuable to advertisers, says online ad network Chitika. But here’s another interesting data point. Apple’s iPad did better than the iPhone when it comes to ad click-through rates. The data is based on a sample of 1.3 million impressions across Chitika’s network.

“iPad users are much more likely to click ads than their iPhone-using contemporaries.  This may be chalked up to the difference in display size,” says Chitika on its blog.

The numbers from Chitika are similar to those from another mobile ad company called Smaato in June. Android devices are more friendly to mobile ads compared to the iPhone, says Smaato.

The data about how smartphone users react on different platforms comes as Apple has started rolling out its iAds mobile advertising platform. So far, only five of the 17 iAd launch partners have managed to roll out their advertising campaigns since Apple introduced iAds in April.

Though early advertisers have said they are happy with the results they have seen so far, data from companies like Chitika and Smaato is not an encouraging sign for Apple.

It is not clear why Android devices are ahead of the iPhone when it comes to getting consumer attention for ads, says Chitika. Android users show a click-through rate of 1.187 percent compared to 0.654 percent click-through rates on the iPhone. The lack of iPhone-like elegance in the Android’s interface could result in more user clicks–including those on mobile ads, says Gigaom.

But that alone can’t explain why the Android platform is ahead of the iPhone in getting consumer attention for mobile ads. It’s something that Apple may also be trying to find the answer to.

Chart: Chitika


Android developer anecdotally claims AdMob brings home the bacon

In February 2009, Arron La’s $0.99 Advanced Task Manager was one of the first paid apps on Android, allowing T-Mobile G1 users to do what was then a novel thing — close applications. (We immediately bought a copy.) Today, the app is all but obsolete, its functionality baked right into Android’s core, but Arron’s still making thousands of dollars a month. Why do we bring this up? Because nine months after Arron released the pay-first version, he unleashed an ad-supported variant as well… and since that day, each has contributed about the same amount ($30,000) of money. It’s not exactly an object lesson in what’s possible on the 70,000-application-strong Android Market, as this gentleman obviously had quite the head start, but it does show that when it comes time to monetize your best-thing-since-sliced-bread app, there’s more than one option — ads can be an equally good revenue source. Find rays of hope for indie development (and several stormy clouds for comparison) at the links below.

Update:
Did we say 50,000 apps? We meant more like 70K and counting as of July. Thanks to the astute commenters who pointed this out.

[Thanks, Shannon G.]

Android developer anecdotally claims AdMob brings home the bacon originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola takes another shot at the iPhone 4, says Droid X is ‘no jacket required’

Well this is getting good. Motorola was one of the first to take a subtle swipe at Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna dilemma with an ad saying you could hold the Droid X “any way you like,” Apple came right back with a video purportedly showing the Droid X suffering similar attenuation issues when held in the right hand, and now Moto’s responded with this cheeky ad that plays off Apple’s free iPhone case solution by saying the Droid X can make calls “without a bulky phone jacket.” Yeah, it’s pretty good — particularly because unlike most other phones, we haven’t been able to death grip the Droid X with any noticeable effect on 3G reception. (Although, truth be told, we can drop the WiFi signal by a few bars pretty easily.) Either way, we’re certainly enjoying this little slice of swagger from Moto — check a larger version after the break.

Continue reading Motorola takes another shot at the iPhone 4, says Droid X is ‘no jacket required’

Motorola takes another shot at the iPhone 4, says Droid X is ‘no jacket required’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raytheon’s pain gun finally gets deployed in Afghanistan

It’s been six long years since we first got wind of the Pentagon’s Active Denial System, and four since it was slated to control riots in Iraq, but though we’ve seen reporters zapped by the device once or twice, it seems the Air Force-approved pain gun is only now entering service in Afghanistan. The BBC reports the device — which generates a targeted burning sensation in humans — is now deployed with US troops, though a military spokesman is assuring publications that it “has not been used operationally,” and that the armed forces have yet to decide whether to actually use it. Wired reports the unit was plagued by technical and safety issues for years, not to mention political concerns, but as to that last we have to imagine even a semi-damaging heat ray beats the pants off lead-based alternatives.

Raytheon’s pain gun finally gets deployed in Afghanistan originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Droid X gets cinematic ‘See You Tomorrow’ trailer (video)

Yeah, we said trailer. The Droid family has seen its fair share of atypical ads, and while this one won’t tug on your heartstrings, it’ll definitely captivate. Unless you’re already three sheets to the wind and well on your way into an early weekend. Either way, you should really have a look after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Motorola Droid X gets cinematic ‘See You Tomorrow’ trailer (video)

Motorola Droid X gets cinematic ‘See You Tomorrow’ trailer (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AdMob CEO says Apple isn’t enforcing mobile advertising restrictions

They prompted some public outcry from competitors and a preliminary antitrust investigation from the US government, but it looks like Apple isn’t even enforcing those new rules on outside ad networks — at least not yet. That’s according to none other than AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui himself, who said at the MobileBeat conference this week that “they haven’t been enforcing” the new regulations yet, and that he’s “very appreciative of that.” If enforced, those regulations would prevent companies like AdMob from collecting some analytic data on ads placed in iOS applications — data that Apple itself could collect with its iAd platform. Of course, it’s not clear when or if Apple will start enforcing the rules, but Hamoui seems to be content with the current situation, and even went out of his way to praise Apple’s own advertising efforts, saying that “anybody getting advertisers interested in mobile is a good thing. It’s not at all a zero-sum game.”

AdMob CEO says Apple isn’t enforcing mobile advertising restrictions originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple turns on iAds for iOS 4 devices in North America, right on schedule

Steve himself noted at WWDC that iAds would go live for “all iOS 4 devices” on Canada Day, and sure enough, they look to be popping up today. One eagle-eyed tipster has already found one within the ‘Mirror: for iPod and iPhone’ app, shown above. It’s certainly quite a bit more visually soothing than some other ads we’ve seen, but we aren’t here to judge — instead, we’d love to hear your take on it. Have you seen any iAds creep into your apps today? Whatcha think of ’em? Let us know in comments below.

Update: Looks like a Nissan Leaf iAd has debuted as well; the vid’s after the break of that one.

Update 2
: Oh, and this is just for North America for now. Everyone else will have to wait. Crushing, we know.

[Thanks, Spencer]

Continue reading Apple turns on iAds for iOS 4 devices in North America, right on schedule

Apple turns on iAds for iOS 4 devices in North America, right on schedule originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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