In This Update:
• Mobile Ad Firm AdMob Closes $15.7 Million In Third Round
• Amazon Picks Up Casual Games Provider, Reflexive Entertainment
• Report: Apple, HP Demand Slows
• Report: Linux in Mobile Devices to Displace Windows
• ComScore’s Latest Move Signals Russia’s Market Promise
• Bain Capital Invests in Blip.tv’s Second Round
• AOL Quietly Launches One of the World’s Biggest App Platforms
• Xbox Song Downloads Topping 3.8 Million Monthly
• Network Audience Keeps Eroding
• Like.com Raises $32 Million Series C Round
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Mobile Ad Firm AdMob Closes $15.7 Million In Third Round
PAIDCONTENT
The recession and AdMob haven’t been formally introduced it seems. The mobile ad firm just closed $15.7 million in a third round of funding and says it has become cash-flow positive. The funding was led by Sequoia Capital’s Growth Fund with Accel Partners also participating. Sequoia also led first $4 million round of funding and Accel led in the company’s second round of $15 million. AdMob has now raised a total of $34.7 million in three rounds in about two years. The new pool of money is being used to recruit sales and other staff in markets that have grown faster than expected like India and South Africa.
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Amazon Picks Up Casual Games Provider, Reflexive Entertainment
PAIDCONTENT
Kindle owners, you may be able to get some gaming time in between reading the WSJ and Proust very soon, as Amazon.com has acquired Reflexive Entertainment, a privately held casual games developer and portal founded in 1997. The Lake County, Calif.-based developer announced the deal on its blog, though terms were not disclosed. Reflexive distributes PC, Mac and mobile games like Big Kahuna Reef and the Ricochet series through its own arcade, as well as on platforms like Xbox LIVE Arcade.
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Report: Apple, HP Demand Slows
RED HERRING
U.S. demand for personal computers slowed in September, sales tracker NPD reported, with Apple’s showing the second straight month of deceleration in unit growth.NPD reported that Apple, which is scheduled to report its fourth quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon, posted an 11.4 percent year-over-year increase in revenue and a 14.5 percent hike in units sold.That compared to a 19.5 percent increase in PC revenue in August, a 38.2 percent increase in July, and a 21.2 percent increase in September 2007. Apple’s PC unit increases registered 22.4 percent in the year-ago month and 42.9 percent in July 2008. Shares of Apple fell $4.23, or 4.3 percent, to $94.21 in afternoon trading Tuesday.
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Report: Linux in Mobile Devices to Displace Windows
DIGITAL LIFESCAPES
The market for ultra-mobile devices (UMDs) is already complex, and will become more complicated as it grows. A following forecast insight may serve to guide vendors and investors as they negotiate this multifaceted landscape. According to ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis, “Total revenues earned by vendors in the UMD market are expected to increase from $3.5 billion in 2008 to nearly $27 billion in 2013.” This year, retail sales account for only 14 percent of shipments, while UMDs provided by mobile operators stand at nearly 30 percent — the balance are sold directly by manufacturers.
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ComScore’s Latest Move Signals Russia’s Market Promise
CLICKZ
The Russian market looks good to comScore. As part of the measurement firm’s global expansion, its presence in Russia has grown significantly. Last week, comScore announced it has more than doubled the number of sites it reports on globally, and has added more advanced and granular reporting services to its enhanced reporting offering. As a result of the expansion, the firm can now report on 45 percent more properties in the U.S., 95 percent more in China, and 125 percent more in Britain. The most notable increase, however, comes from the Russian market, which experienced a 244 percent growth in the number of site tracked.
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Bain Capital Invests in Blip.tv’s Second Round
PULSE 2.0
Blip.tv has raised their second round of funding, led by Bain Capital Ventures. Blip’s first round was led by Ambient Sound Investments, a VC firm started by the 4 founding Skype engineers.
Blip plans on using the new round of funding to grow their team. Blip is also planning on using the funding to increase their tools and better their interface. Blip will also be increasing their attention to advertising sales.This month, Blip.tv also served 51 million video views and hosts 37,000 shows. These shows release about 3 episodes per month.
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AOL Quietly Launches One of the World’s Biggest App Platforms
READ WRITE WEB
AOL announced the new developer site for MyAOL today to almost no fanfare, but at a time when some are declaring the Facebook platform “dead” – AOL’s new platform warrants some serious attention. The new MyAOL platform is an OpenSocial container based on the gadgets.*API, meaning developers shouldn’t have to do much to get their widgets up and running on it. A fair number of MyAOL gadgets already have millions of users, so the new developer site seems like a real opportunity.
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Xbox Song Downloads Topping 3.8 Million Monthly
DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS
Microsoft is selling 3.8 million songs a month through Xbox Live, according to information released by the company. The sales rate comes from both Rock Band and Guitar Hero, in various editions. In total, Xbox gamers have purchased 45 million songs, based on Microsoft numbers.The figures were used by Microsoft to support the assertion that Xbox is the “preferred stage” for both games. Microsoft claimed that two million copies of Rock Band are Xbox-compatible, or “almost one million more than the competition combined.” The competition is most notably the Sony PS3, at least when it comes to the titles in question. Additionally, Microsoft noted that 80 percent of overall song downloads are coming through the Xbox.
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Network Audience Keeps Eroding
WALL STREET JOURNAL
This fall, broadcast-TV shows such as NBC’s “The Office” and Fox’s “Fringe” are seeing their audiences jump by more than a third when counting people who record the shows and watch them later on digital-video recorders. But the rise in delayed viewing isn’t enough to offset a broader trend: Fewer people are watching the big broadcast networks. During the first two weeks of the TV season, an average of nine million people watched prime-time programming on the top five English-language broadcast networks, according to Nielsen Media Research, including an average of 1.5 million who watched recorded shows within seven days
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Like.com Raises $32 Million Series C Round
TECHCRUNCH
Like.com is a visual search engine that matches pictures of things to items for sale that look similar. The service launched in November 2006, and revenue has steadily grown. The company took a year to reach a $1 million annual run rate. Today, we’ve heard, they are over a $20 million revenue run rate.The company is launching a UK version of the service this week at like.co.uk. They also have an iPhone application called LikeThis that lets users take a picture of an item and receive an email with results for similar items for sale.
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