platforms

“Own Your Code”: Facebook’s Engineering Shift Tackles the Problem of Mobile

Mike Isaac in Social on November 9, 2012 at 8:04 am PT

Facebook’s plans to be a “mobile first” company start with a massive structure shift in its engineering teams.

American Express Swipes Neal Sample From eBay for Digital Payments Push

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on April 2, 2012 at 10:31 am PT

American Express has lured Neal Sample away from eBay to become SVP of technologies of its digital payments initiative.

Will Secretary of State Clinton's "Internet Freedom Agenda" Finally Get Traction?

Kara Swisher in News on February 16, 2011 at 7:09 am PT

Yesterday, in a major policy speech in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton jumped on the Internet bandwagon again, unveiling a $25 million government investment for entrepreneurs to allow dissidents to thwart “thugs, hackers and censors.” Since that’s about the amount a third-string social photo-sharing site gets while walking down University Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., from venture capitalists with bags of money to spend, let me just say the money is, well, underwhelming. Clinton’s speech, thankfully, was much better.

Exclusive: Web App Publisher Conduit Expands Into Mobile

Ina Fried in Mobile on February 7, 2011 at 3:00 am PT

With publishers facing a crunch trying to develop apps for the many mobile platforms out there, Web app creator Conduit sees an opportunity to expand beyond the browser. The company is announcing this week a plan to help publishers create mobile versions of their content.

R&D Spending: Nokia Vs. Apple Shows Size Doesn't Matter

John Paczkowski in News on February 4, 2011 at 8:41 am PT

Some additional perspective on Nokia’s massive mobile R&D spend and a point of comparison for its market return. Extrapolating from Bernstein Research data that estimates Nokia spent $3.9 billion on mobile research and development, Asymco’s Horace Dediu has calculated Apple’s mobile R&D spend, and there’s an astonishingly wide gulf between the two.

Not Seeing Much Return on That Massive R&D Spend, Are You, Nokia?

John Paczkowski in News on February 3, 2011 at 4:10 am PT

Nokia spent scads of cash on research and development last year, but didn’t see much return on it. Certainly, the investment did little to slow the continuing deterioration of its competitive position.

Drippings from the Honeycomb: Google’s Barra on the iPad, Android In-App Purchasing and More

Ina Fried in Mobile on February 2, 2011 at 4:48 pm PT

After the big Android event, Google executive Hugo Barra fielded questions on a range of topics, including just how big a dent Honeycomb could put into iPad sales, as well as how the company will roll the changes from Honeycomb back into versions of Android for smaller devices. He also promoted the addition of in-app purchases and noted that, unlike with Apple, developers can opt to use Google’s payment system but are also not having it forced down their throats. “That’s the beauty of an open platform,” he said.

Rupert Murdoch Introduces the Daily, His iPad Newspaper

Peter Kafka in Media on February 2, 2011 at 7:40 am PT

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, along with Apple’s Eddy Cue, rented out the Guggenheim Museum to show off their newest creation: A newspaper built for the iPad.