Twitter has made some adjustments to its Android and iOS apps, and its mobile site that make things a little easier to follow. The keyword is synergy. More »
Apple’s web traffic share among mobile devices is huge, according to new numbers from Chitika. The online ad network is seeing 43 percent of smartphone web usage coming through iPhones up to the 4S, plus another 3 percent from the iPhone 5 alone. By contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S III is driving 2 percent of mobile web traffic on its network, combined with 15 percent across all other Samsung mobile devices.
Both phones are taking up a huge percentage overall, however, with other smartphones combined adding up to just 37 percent overall. Apple and Samsung account for a total of 63 percent of the mobile traffic Chitika sees through its millions of daily ad impressions. Last week, the company told us that the iPhone 5 had quickly risen to surpass the GSIII as a traffic driver on its network, but these latest figures prove there’s no doubt which two companies are battling it out for overall smartphone market dominance.
Seriously, these days you just have to have a sidebar: Facebook has one, Spotify has one, hell, even Evernote has one. Now, Google is catching up, to make its mobile web page a little more sleek. More »
Google+ has it. Facebook has it. Even Spotify and Evernote have it. “It” is the hidden sidebar, and that subtle if over-repeated interface has spread to Google’s mobile home page. Visit from an iOS or Android device and the front end will resemble the desktop web version, but with a sidebar that exposes Google’s services in a more elegant way than the top bar we’ve had to use before. The redesign isn’t showing for everyone as of this writing, so don’t be disappointed if Google’s new drive towards interface consistency isn’t available yet. Just know that there’s one less refuge from the trendiest input metaphor of 2012.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Google mobile web revamp brings hidden sidebar, feels all too familiar originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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I thought one of the first things people do when they buy a smartphone is download the Facebook App for iOS or Android and just never look back. Turns out I’m wrong! Mark Zuckerberg says people actually use the Facebook mobile website more than Facebook apps. More »
It isn’t exactly a secret that Facebook is struggling in the mobile realm, something that the company’s shareholders aren’t too crazy about. Facebook’s stock has dropped quite a bit since its IPO thanks largely to shareholder concerns about mobile users, and today, Mark Zuckerberg is tackling these issues at the the TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference. This is the first appearance by Zuckerberg since Facebook went public, and he’s using the opportunity to be honest with himself about the shortcomings of Facebook on mobile, and what the company plans to do to change that.
Speaking to Michael Arrington, Zuckerberg noted the potential of mobile as the main platform for accessing Facebook. He says that mobile users access Facebook more often than those using a computer, which means that mobile ads do better than the ads on the main Facebook page do – the problem is that mobile ads aren’t integrated as well as ads on the main site. Oh, and for the record, Zuckerberg once again quashed any rumors about an incoming Facebook phone, saying that the company’s three main focuses when it comes to mobile are mobile web, iOS, and Android.
Zuckerberg also admitted that one of the biggest problems with Facebook on mobile was that the company relied too much on HTML5. Things are looking up in that respect, however, as apparently the update to the new native iOS app has resulted in mobile users viewing twice as many stories in their news feed. That’s definitely an improvement, and Zuckerberg says that he expects a “lot of really cool stuff” to happen with Facebook’s mobile offerings in the next six months.
Finally, Zuckerberg said that mobile is the way of the future for the company, as Facebook stands to make more money on mobile than it does on desktop. While that’s true in theory, given that a large number of Facebook’s users access the site through mobile devices, in practice its proving to be much harder for the company. The question now is: how will Facebook make that significant amount of money from mobile ads? That has yet to be fully answered, but after this talk, it at least seems that Facebook is heading in the right direction. Stay tuned.
Facebook’s Zuckerberg talks mobile shortcomings, plans for the future is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Not eager to hunt and peck on a keyboard? Google Handwrite is here: the search engine’s mobile pages will now let you draw letters on the page to conduct searches with the writing method you learned before this whole computer fad took hold. There’s no special plugin required — it’s just the flick of a settings switch. As long as you’ve got an Android 2.3 or later phone, an Android 4.0 tablet or an iOS 5 device of any sort, you can immediately remind yourself of just how much you’ve forgotten about handwriting since elementary school while you’re searching for the local sushi restaurant.
Continue reading Google Handwrite lets us scribble our way through mobile searches (video)
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Internet
Google Handwrite lets us scribble our way through mobile searches (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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