News Byte

Microsoft Names Exec to Top Skype Post

Microsoft has named Gurdeep Singh Pall to replace the departing Mark Gillett as corporate VP for Skype, as well as its Lync communications product. Gillett, who took a job as head of value creation at private equity firm Silver Lake, had been responsible for Skype’s product, engineering and operations worldwide, duties that will now fall to Pall. An experienced engineer, Pall was most recently CVP of Information Platform & Experience in Microsoft’s new Applications and Services division. Before that, he was CVP of the Office Lync & Speech group.

News Byte

LinkedIn Brings Job Applications to Mobile

LinkedIn on Monday updated its iOS and Android applications, allowing users to directly apply for jobs listed on the network via their phone. After searching for job listings on the site, LinkedIn’s new feature takes information from a user’s profile and uses it to auto-complete a job application (though only for those listings that do not redirect users to a third-party application site hosted by the company). The new feature will roll out globally to all English-speaking LinkedIn users immediately.

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Facebook Snaps Up Team Behind Mobile Startup Spaceport

Facebook announced a small “acqhire” on Tuesday afternoon, bringing aboard the team members behind Spaceport.io, a startup focused on giving developers tools to bring Web-based applications to mobile devices. “Ben Savage and the Spaceport team are a talented group of mobile engineers. We look forward to building products that people love together,” Facebook said in a statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Facebook will not acquire the Spaceport technology — just the team.

When Mayer Called Yahoo’s Mobile Revenue “Nascent,” She Wasn’t Kidding (And Here’s the Actual Number She Left Out)

The Silicon Valley Internet giant makes a paltry $125 million in annual mobile revenue. Can the new CEO turn that around?

eBay Reorganizes Its Mobile Group and Releases New Apps

It’s clear the online shopping giant is preparing for 2013 to be another banner year for mobile.

News Byte

Google and Apple Dominated App Installs on Android and iOS Last Year

Nope, it wasn’t Instagram or Electronic Arts. While most publishers complain about how hard it is for customers to discover their apps, here are two companies you won’t hear a peep from: Apple and Google. In 2012, the top app publishers by download were Apple on iOS and Google on Android, according to a year-end report published by Distimo, an analytics provider from the Netherlands. Apple, which has a half-dozen apps, earned an average of $7.43 per paid download, the report found, whereas Google made zero from its catalog of 60. In the case of Google, downloads included apps that were preinstalled on the handset.

eBay to Stop Advertising Inside Mobile Apps: “It’s Not Worth It.”

“We aren’t happy with the user experience and we don’t need the money,” said Devin Wenig, eBay’s president of global marketplaces.

The Latest Long Apple Line: Developers Waiting for App Approval

As volume spikes for the holidays and submissions surge to take advantage of new product releases, iOS app approval wait times grow.

Microsoft Woos Windows 8, Windows Phone Developers at Build 2012

MIcrosoft gives third-party developers the hard sell on why they should be developing applications for the Windows 8 platform.

It’s an iStorm: Scott Forstall Out at Apple, Along With Retail Head, as Other Top Execs Get Promotions

Apparently, there are storms in the West, too.