News Byte
Lauren Goode in News on February 3 at 6:27 am PT
Just yesterday, it was reported that Peek Inc. was killing its email-and-Twitter-friendly handset devices. Today, VentureBeat says that Peek has raised $15 million, confirmed by CEO Amol Sarva, to help fund an aggressive expansion of its cloud platform for low-end feature phones in Asia.
Ina Fried in Mobile on July 29, 2011 at 5:00 am PT
In two recent onstage interviews,
AllThingsD‘s Ina Fried had a chance to put top mobile executives from AOL and Google in the hotseat.
And just like the NFL, we have video replay.
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on July 13, 2011 at 10:46 am PT
According to Laura Chambers, the senior director of PayPal Mobile who appeared at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat conference in San Francisco today, the company has doubled its mobile payments projections to $3 billion this year, and is investing heavily in new ways to make it easy to pay with the phone.
Ina Fried in Mobile on April 26, 2011 at 9:17 am PT
AT&T Chief Technology Officer John Donovan said the $39 billion deal offers one of the few short-term ways to improve use of limited spectrum, a key driver for innovation.
Ina Fried in Mobile on April 25, 2011 at 6:33 pm PT
The early speed bumps have been few and far between, Verizon Wireless VP Nicola Palmer said, speaking on Monday at the VentureBeat Mobile Summit.
Ina Fried in Mobile on April 25, 2011 at 6:04 pm PT
The changes that Cupertino has made to its App Store rankings have thrown it for a loop, but CEO Mihir Shah said he is convinced his company will find a way for its promotion mechanisms to peacefully co-exist with Apple’s desires to keep people from gaming its system.
“I think we are very early in the market,” Shah said. “We are going to have to tack a few ways.”
Ina Fried in Mobile on April 25, 2011 at 5:19 pm PT
Speaking at a conference on Monday, Twitter engineering VP Michael Abbott says that after spending last year trying to improve overall reliability, one of this year’s main thrusts will be improving its various mobile applications.
Abbott also hinted that the company plans to offer third parties new ways to work within Twitter and not just by developing on top of the microblogging service.
Peter Kafka in Media on April 19, 2011 at 9:23 pm PT
The 99-cents-a-week service looks like the kind of thing that could drive the New York Times and the Associated Press batty. Instead, they’ve signed on for a piece of the action.
Peter Kafka in Media on February 4, 2011 at 6:21 pm PT
Tencent, the giant Chinese Web holding company, has bought Los Angeles-based Riot Games for about $400 million. Yet another big-dollar deal in an industry that’s seen a lot of M&A in the last year, and one of the biggest investments by a Chinese company in an American digital property.
News Byte
Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 17, 2011 at 12:20 pm PT
CrowdStar, a social gaming company that competes with Zynga, Disney’s Playdom and Electronic Arts’ Playfish, has appointed Executive Chairman Peter Relan to the position of CEO. He succeeds Niren Hiro, who is stepping down after less than a year.
VentureBeat reports that it is an amicable parting, although the two had different opinions on how to scale the business. CrowdStar, which has funded its growth through its own revenues, expects to double its headcount from its current 75 over the next year. It has game titles on Facebook such as Zoo Paradise, Happy Aquarium and It Girl.
