Lookout Warns App That Pays for Unused Text Messages Is a Big-Time Security Threat

The app, called Bazuc, proposes that users allow them to send text messages from their plan. In exchange, it offers to pay users a tenth of a penny for each message sent.

Atheer and Meta Want You to Touch Your Apps in Midair

Reach out and touch something.
meta_pro

Maybe BlackBerry Should Focus on Low-End Phones, Become the Hyundai of Mobile

The struggling device maker should focus on producing an affordable, keyboard-equipped phone for the global mass market, says Wedge Partners principal Brian Blair.

Voices

Local Heroes: The Public Companies of Tomorrow

Investors have been chanting the mantra “SoMoLo,” an acronym for three megatrends — social, mobile and local. How have these trends been performing?

QOTD: It’s-a-Me! Mobile Strategy!

We recognize that there are a lot of smartphones and tablets out there … We’re also doing a lot of experimentation of what I would call the little experiences you can have on your smartphone and tablet that will drive you back to your Nintendo hardware.

— Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Amie, in an interview with King 5 News in Seattle. Nintendo has long resisted bringing its IP to mobile devices.

Benchmark’s Mitch Lasky on App Discovery, Distribution and the Power of Chat Networks

The successful games investor chats about, well, chat.

News Byte

Twitter Steps Up Test of Local Tweet-Discovery Feature

As AllThingsD first reported in April, Twitter is continuing to test a feature that surfaces nearby tweets based on a user’s location. Spotted by The Wall Street Journal in the wild, the feature looks to be a separate swipeable timeline — and opt-in only — in its current state.

News Byte

Kontagent and PlayHaven Announce Merger, Will Join Player Data and Monetization Products

Mobile app analytics platform Kontagent and business engine PlayHaven will merge, the two companies announced today, with PlayHaven’s ex-CEO Andy Yang at the helm of the combined companies, and Kontagent’s ex-CEO Josh Williams becoming CTO and chairman of the board. In an interview, Yang said the decision was spurred by an “extremely fragmented” mobile B2B market and overlap between the companies’ customers. Over time, Kontagent-PlayHaven will integrate the two companies’ products into one suite.

News Byte

Japan Overtakes U.S. in Apple/Google App Store Revenue

Japan is now the top country worldwide in revenue from Apple’s App Store and Google Play, according to a new report from App Annie. The app analytics company attributed the surprising shift to rapid smartphone adoption over the past year in Japan — where feature phones have held on for longer — and explosive growth in Google Play spending, outpacing global trends due to the availability of carrier billing as an alternative to credit cards.

Doctor On Demand App Gives $40 Medical Consultations From the Comfort of Your Smartphone

With the Doctor On Demand app for Android and iOS, users can dial up a licensed doctor for a face-to-face appointment at a cost of $40 per 15 minutes.

LinkedIn Kicks Off Its Pulse Integration