Author: David Kaplan

The app announcements have been rolling out all morning in anticipation of tomorrow’s iPad release. Among the initial iPad apps now in Apple’s online store is the WSJ’s app, which is free to download, but costs users for $3.99 per week for access—compared to the $2.69 a week charge for online and print subs. While that iPad app charge could be off-putting to some consumers, the Dow Jones (NYSE: NWS) paper’s current subscribers can get access for “a limited time.” The WSJ isn’t just relying on paid content to support the effort. The paper’s iPad app launch also comes with a wide range of advertisers, including Buick, Capital One, Coca-Cola, iShares, FedEx and Oracle. Whether the app price will hold—a WSJ rep tells us that the app will cost “$17.29 plus tax if/where applicable” per month—is something that will likely be determined quickly.

In addition to the ABC (NYSE: DIS) Player hitting the iPad App Store, its parent Disney has a number of special items for the iPad’s release on Saturday. Aimed at affluent, first-adopters with kids, Disney Publishing Worldwide has built two original Toy Story read-along apps for the iPad. These iPad “books” come with video from the related feature films, as well as karaoke and voice-record tools, original games, and—welcome to the future—an interactive coloring “book” that lets kids finger-paint with up to 10 fingers on the screen. There is a free Toy Story app as well as separate Toy Story 2 app for $8.99 and comes. The paid app comes with a one-month free subscription to disneydigitalbooks.com too, as the company hopes that it can extend interest beyond the device. Disney will rolls out more free and paid iPad apps later this spring.

In addition to the apps, Disney Online has also built a custom iPad version of its flagship website, which focuses on exclusive video content. iPad videos featured at launch include new scenes from Disney classics like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and newer films like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, along with full-episodes of Disney Channel and Disney XD series Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place.

Staci adds: ESPN is also stepping up with two paid apps: a larger-scale—and paid version—of highly popular ESPN ScoreCenter, appropriately tagged ESPN ScoreCenter XL, for $4.99. ESPN ScoreCenter, which has been downloaded more than 5 million times for iPhone and iTouch, stays free and should work fine on iPad, continuing to provide what ESPN’s John Skipper calls a “brand halo.” The changes that make ESPN feel comfortable charging include personalized news and video. There’s also ESPN Pinball, pinball “tables” with sports themes, starting with basketball. The app costs $3.99 and includes play-by-play from SportsCenter host Jay Harris.

Related

• iPad Rush: CBS, ABC Create Special Stream Formats; Madison Ave. Scrambles

Bloomberg has created a new post to oversee its worldwide mobile strategy and has hired Oke Okaro from ESPN (NYSE: DIS) for the role. Okaro was most recently VP of mobile for ESPN and he had been at the Disney sports content unit for roughly six years. As Bloomberg’s global head of mobile, Okaro will be charged with developing mobile products and striking deals with content distributors and wireless carriers. Okaro will report to Bloomberg Multimedia CEO Andy Lack.

The move is part of Bloomberg’s work to create a more of “consumer-facing” business alongside its primary terminal business. For the past few years, Bloomberg has been looking to build up the individual assets such as Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Radio and Bloomberg Mobile and foster while fostering an interlocking cross-platform strategy. The focus on mobile couldn’t have been better timed.

In addition to this weekend’s much-hyped debut of Apple’s iPad on store shelves, Bloomberg’s efforts to expand comes as rivals Reuters (NYSE: TRI) and the AP have been increasingly aiming their digital offerings directly at consumers as well. Release

Related

• Bloomberg Ties Up With Another Daily; Partnering With SF Chronicle On Biz Section

In the short term, Google’s likely to remain as the default search option on Apple’s devices, Barclays analyst Doug Anmuth says in a research note, but that doesn’t mean the search giant can afford to take that for granted. With all eyes are focused on Apple’s iPad debut on Saturday, there has been some speculation that Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) might choose Microsoft’s Bing as a search option for the new device. By itself, Anmuth doesn’t place too much importance on that decision. Given that 48 million iPhones have been sold to date, iPhone searches are likely to be more incremental than iPad searches. Plus, iPhone searches should be more location-based than iPad searches. However, the selection of a default search provider for the iPad will demonstrate which way Apple is leaning for its other products over the next few years and that could have implications for both Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and Bing, especially as Apple and Google grow more competitive on devices and, soon, for mobile advertising dollars.

On the device front, the iPhone has little to worry about from Google’s Nexus One, Anmuth says, as sales have been slow out of the gates due to the online-only distribution model, customer support issues, and lack of carriers with subsidies. But sales are ramping up and the Google device should see a boost from additional distribution on both Verizon and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD). Furthermore, sales of Android phones are also gaining, Anmuth says.

In the case of mobile advertising, Google and Apple surely competed for the acquisition of mobile ad net AdMob—which Google bought in November, followed by Apple
eventually acquiring Quattro Wireless in January. “Both seek to use their extensive data to deliver the most relevant and targeted ads through mobile devices,” Anmuth writes. “For Google, winning in apps advertising is particularly important given that apps have the potential to reduce the amount of time directly spent on mobile internet URLs and on URL-based searching.”

Despite the increased competition between those two, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) isn’t all of sudden positioned to be a great partner of Apple’s either. And with Apple focused on the user experience, it still has more reasons to favor Google over Bing. But that doesn’t mean Apple won’t be able to find subtle ways of exploiting Google’s first real threat to its search dominance as the battles over mobile devices and advertising dollars heats up.

Related

• Updated: Android’s Secret Sauce? Google’s Advertising Rev-Share Deals With Carriers
• Is Apple Gearing Up For War With Google?
• Confirmed: Apple Buys Quattro Wireless

Mobile marketer Vibes Media has acquired text-messaging ad server Zeep Mobile. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Zeep’s technology will be folded into Vibes’ platform and all Zeep employees will become part of Vibes Media. Additionally, Zeep President and CEO Scott Robertson has agreed to relocate to Vibes’ headquarters in Chicago. The company’s engineering team currently based in Vancouver, Canada, will joining Robertson there as well. Those Zeep staffers will work under engineering head Rishi Bhatia, the head of AOL’s former mobile marketing unit Third Screen Media. Bhatia and his Third Screen Media team defected from AOL (NYSE: AOL) to Vibes earlier this month.

Zeep claims to have a network of over 10,000 developers, which will also be added into Vibes, which had seen substantial revenue growth the past few years. As mobile advertising heats up, especially in support of apps, that could help boost 12-year-old Vibes’ fortunes significantly as the competitive space becomes more crowded. Just over a year-and-a-half ago, Vibes raised a $15 million first round funding from Fidelity Ventures. Release

Related

• Mobile Marketing Company Vibes Media Raises $15 Million In First Round

Looking expand its virtual payments operator more deeply into mobile apps, Offerpal Media is buying ad net mediator Tapjoy. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Last summer, Palo Alto-based Tapjoy, along with other mobile ad net optimizers like AdWhirl, found itself threatened with being cut off from AdMob’s network, after the mobile ad net cited “glitches” related to ads served by companies that had been handling unsold inventory across its system. Aside from working with mobile ad nets, Tapjoy has also been venturing into the virtual goods business that Fremont, CA.-based Offerpal is focused on. Offerpal has raised $19.6 million since its founding three years ago from D.E. Shaw Ventures, which led its $15 million second round in December, as well as InterWest Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. Release

Related

• Offerpal Adds RockYou Vet As New Chief Revenue Officer
• Offerpal Media Raises $15 Million For In-Game, Social Media Ads

With pre-orders for the iPad off to a fast start in preparation for the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) product’s release next month, the Audit Bureau of Circulations has modified its guidelines for counting sales of a digital magazine in the U.S. and Canada. The old standards have always required that in order to be considered as part of a periodical’s circ, the e-paper version must include an exact replica of a print edition’s full editorial content and advertising. The change is that an e-paper edition no longer needs to be presented in a layout identical to the print version. Replica digital editions will continue to be included in a magazine’s circulation guarantee, or rate base.

So far ABC (NYSE: DIS) has confirmed that Conde Nast’s Wired was the first publication to seek review of its iPad version and it will qualify as a digital replica edition under the bureau’s new guidelines. Its Conde Nast sibling GQ has offered an ABC approved replica app for the iPhone and iPod Touch since December 2009.

The Newspaper Association of America, which formed a joint task force with ABC on the issue of e-edition circ, sounds particularly gratified by the changes, which could help boost pubs’ ad rates by showing greater circ beyond print.

“The changes announced today, combined with the move toward a ‘total circulation model’ that has already been approved, will provide our advertising customers with more transparency and more market data than ever before,” said NAA president and CEO John Sturm in a statement. “The modifications define the concept of total circulation to include all the elements reported today: paid and verified circulation, electronic platforms and branded editions.  Newspapers will have the opportunity to report new products and distribution patterns in a report that also contains traditional paid circulation and audience information for their flagship publications.” Release

Related

• Esquire, GQ Apps To Be Sold Monthly; Hearst, Condé Nast Look To Apple As Another Virtual Newsstand

Hearst has about 70 apps under its LMK banner in the iTunes App Store right now and it just plans to keep adding more and more. Most of the LMK apps sell for about $1.99, while a handful cost $0.99 per download. The LMK initials stand for “Let Me Know” and are devoted to news and photos about a single Hollywood stars and sports teams and figures, as well as hobbies and general topics like cupcakes and Barbie dolls. The apps run the gamut from Lady Gaga to Metallica to Tiger Woods to the NY Yankees and feature photos and news updates.

Back in the fall, Hearst Entertainment EVP George Kliavkoff and LMK head Michael Gutkowski unveiled their plans for the LMK.com aggregation site, which were predicated upon the idea that SEO tactics will get searchers to visit the special topic sites, while the constant flow of updates would drive return visits. As it expands the LMK strategy to mobile, Kliavkoff tells the WSJ that he believes users obsessed with their favorite stars or teams will be willing to pay to get these automated updates on their phones.

In immediately charging for the apps, Hearst also believes it can avoid what major online publishers now perceive as an early mistake; that is, relying primarily on ad-support instead of transferring the newsstand price structure to the internet. “Unlike the web, we’ve always trained people that everything on the mobile device costs money,” Kliavkoff says. While the iTunes Store has sold more than $2.7 billion of apps, the WSJ says, citing stats from mobile measurement firm Flurry, it’s unclear how much the sales of the apps will mean to Hearst’s business. All the the downloads provide a one-time charge that Hearst can benefit from, the company will slowly begin adding advertising once it feels the individual apps have reached enough mass.

In terms of creating so many apps for a single topic, Hearst believes that with a haystack as large and growing as the App Store, you’re going to need a lot of needles if you want consumers to find your product. Plus, it allows for greater ad targeting later.

The focus on the apps also shows Hearst’s increasing emphasis on mobile. It followed Conde Nast’s paid app representation of GQ magazine by putting an app version of Esquire for sale on for $1.99 per issue in the App Store as well.

Also, at the start of the year, Hearst promoted Sophia Stuart from her role as head of Hearst’s mobile unit to the post of executive director, digital for Hearst Magazines International, a move that was seen as giving mobile a more central role in the company’s thinking.

Related

• Hearst Debuts Automated Topics Site LMK.com
• Esquire, GQ Apps To Be Sold Monthly; Hearst, Condé Nast Look To Apple As Another Virtual Newsstand
• Hearst Moves Mobile Head Stuart To International Digital-Mag Post

Smartphone ad network Todacell has added another $1 million in funding to an existing $1 million round the Tel Aviv-based company raised back in June. Israeli VC AfterDox, which provided the last $1 million, also ponied up the same amount this time as well. In addition to the $2 million total funding from AfterDox, which is comprised of current and former execs from mobile tech company Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), Todacell has also received $350,000 seed funding from the Fore Group when it first opened its doors nearly three years ago.

The company plans to use the new funds to set up five new sales offices in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and Bombay. Todacell boasts that it only works with a small number of mobile publishers, including Fring, MobiLuck, Mocospace and TuneWiki, and that it allows them to better optimize the respective pubs’ ad inventory.

That said, Todacell is also looking beyond the smartphone. Its ad network extends to placement on non-phone devices, including hand-held gaming consoles by Nintendo, Playstation and Sega. Todacell is now planning to make ads available for the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPad and Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) Kindle. The Kindle’s broadband service is hardly used by the majority of its owners, though MediaMemo speculates that Amazon may be revamping its approach, making it more appealing to users, publishers and advertisers that Todacell caters to.

Related

• Mobile Ad Network Toda!Cell Raises $1 Million

Online ad vet Eric Bader (image) is coming back to the traditional agency business after leaving that segment three years ago to help found mobile ad and marketing consultant Brand In Hand. Interpublic Group media shop Initiative has hired Bader as its first worldwide digital strategy officer. He’ll report directly to Initiative CEO Richard Beaven. John Hadl, founder and CEO of Brand in Hand, told paidContent that Bader will not be replaced.

Before heading to Brand In Hand in January 2007, Bader was the top digital executive Initiative’s rival MediaVest, which is owned by Publicis Groupe. He was replaced in the role of MediaVest’s SVP, director of digital connections, by Amanda Richman, who had been serving as the digital group client director on the media agency’s Procter & Gamble account.

In his new post, Bader will work with three of Initiative’s worldwide leaders, who will chart strategy across the network. The team will comprise three areas: strategic planning, digital and performance. Bader will be closely aligned with Sarah Ivey, Initiative’s director for Communication Planning Worldwide, on the further development of Initiative’s end-to-end planning approach Exchanges. He’ll also work with Bant Breen, Worldwide President, Digital Communications to drive the network’s fully-integrated digital capabilities.

Lastly, Bader will join Jeffrey Graham, Worldwide Director Performance, as Initiative rolls out its performance-led approach to communications around the network. Graham is also a recent addition, joining Initiative last year and is working with all CEOs and functional leads to ensure that clients see the benefits of the network’s performance approach.

Before his time at MediaVest, Bader built and led the online business at CSTV before it was purchased by CBS (NYSE: CBS) to form CBS College Sports. He also spent seven years at Ogilvy, where he was Senior Partner, Executive Director, Interactive Marketing & Strategy.

Bader will leave Brand In Hand on March 30, Hadl said. In a note to the company’s clients, Hadl noted that Bader exits Brand In Hand at a fairly good time for the consultant.  Brand In Hand was just tapped by BestBuy to manage its mobile ad strategy. Hadl is also working on staffing up the agency’s media group, putting together its first mobile “upfront” event and is opening a Minneapolis office within its local partner agency, Frwd.

Commenting on Bader’s decision to leave Brand In Hand to become Initiative’s global digital head, Hadl told clients, ” As you can imagine, a job of that caliber is a great honor for Eric.  This is the first time a leading agency has ever named a career digital person to lead all strategy services (not just digital) — a sign of true ascendance of digital as the future of the advertising industry.”

Mobile ad campaign manager Adenyo has raised a large $26.9 million round, consisting of both institutional and private placement funding. The company, which has offices in Dallas and Toronto, plans to use the proceeds to promote an international expansion. Formerly known as Silverback Media, Adenyo provides a range of services, including marketing and mobile ad serving, mobile storefronts, coupons and payments, and analytics. The financing includes a $17.2 million institutional round led by Genuity Capital Markets as well as $9.7 million in private placements since July 2009.

The significant amount of capital is also designed to help it fend off an increasingly crowded marketplace, as mobile advertising starts to take hold. Just this past week, mobile ad network aggregator Mobclix  acquired iPhone app analytics provider Heartbeat from New York-based Enormego. Also on the analytics front, in December, Flurry merged with Pinch Media to combine the two mobile analytics companies. 

Meanwhile, the mobile ad network space is also pretty hot. At the start of the year, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) bought Quattro Wireless in an attempt, at least in part, to counter Google’s $750 million purchase of AdMob. With all that money in the bank, it’s very likely that Adenyo, which is trying to position itself as a one-stop mobile marketing shop, will pursue some smaller companies around the globe as well. Release (PDF)

More legal wrangles for Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) over patents as the smartphone market continues to heat up. The iPhone maker is suing rival handset maker HTC, which makes devices using both Android and Windows platforms, for infringing on 20 Apple patents related to the device user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.

Apple did not offer any other specifics about how HTC may have been using its patented technology. In a statement, Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, said, “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” The case was filed concurrently with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and in U.S. District Court in Delaware. Release

This is not Apple’s first visit to the ITC. Apple and Nokia have each filed cases against each other for patent infringements over the last couple of months. These cases are still pending.

This most recent suit against HTC doesn’t come as much of a surprise. HTC was the first phone maker to develop a device using Android, and it has been gradually ramping up its product line with other Android devices, including Google’s Nexus One launched in January.

Then last month, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC launched its newest device, the Legend, to much fanfare. With its sleek aluminum design and most up-to-date version of HTC’s Sense user interface, some are hailing it the biggest device since…the iPhone. This suit confirms that HTC may well be a competitor to be reckoned with.

Related

• Nokia Sues Apple: iPhone Maker Accused Of Infringing Mobile Patents

What a difference a year-and-a-half can make. That was the view presented by NBC Universal’s research head Alan Wurtzel regarding the contrast in the number of mobile users accessing the network’s Winter Olympics coverage. “We knew going into Vancouver that mobile would be ready for primetime,” he said during a conference call with reporters on the research the company’s gleaned half-way through the current games. “Not only is the growth huge, but it’s mainstreaming.”

Among the main stats:

—11 million mobile visits in Vancouver in 11 days versus 8 million for the complete Beijing games.
—55 million mobile pageviews for NBCU’s Olympics coverage this time out versus 35 million total pageviews for Beijing.
—1.4 million mobile video streams versus 300,000 for Beijing.
—7 out of 10 users who are now employing mobile to watch the Olympics didn’t use their phones to view the Beijing games.

“The difference is that just 18 months ago, the quality of the experience of watching mobile video was so poor. But now, one out of four handsets is a smartphone and the experience is greatly enhanced.” In addition, Wurtzel credited the popularity of mobile apps for the increased mobile viewing. There have been 1.1 million mobile app users to date for the Olympics. Of course, NBC anticipated that mobile would perform better, and in return invested more heavily in the platform for the Vancouver games, by adding two iPhone apps, a smartphone version of the NBC Olympics mobile site, and new social media features.

Some other app-related stats:

—60 percent of those who downloaded the Olympics app have rated it “very good.”
—Mobile users are also more likely to use the app than the website. So far, two-thirds accessed the mobile Olympics coverage via the app.
—67 percent of mobile users accessed the site and the app from their home, not on the go, as would have been assumed, Wurtzel said.

Apple’s ban on some sexually-suggestive content in the iTunes App Store was due to an increasing number of complaints from women’s and parent groups, a top exec tells the NYT. But the policy is selective, as not all apps featuring scantily-clad women have been bannished. For example, Sports Illustrated’s free Swimsuit app is still available for download—though Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) asks that users certify they are over 17 years of age before loading—as is a related game app. Playboy (NYSE: PLA) has several paid apps still on sale in the App Store.

Philip Schiller, Apple’s head of worldwide product marketin, explained to the NYT why those apps remain available, while others, such as On the Go Girls’ 50 adult-themed apps, have been blocked: “The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format.”

In the meantime, makers of other banned Apple apps such as Dirty Fingers and others of that ilk still have a place in Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android’s app store, allowing users to flag certain items. Google also reserves the right to remove apps that violate its terms, but at this point, considering the Android app store is still much smaller than Apple’s, it will exert a much lighter touch on what sort of material gets removed.