market

SecondMarket, which runs a market for shares of private companies, took a big hit when it lost Facebook as a customer, even letting go of 10 percent of its staff.

So who will replace Facebook, which since SecondMarket got into this business has been its most actively traded stock? That's a tall order, and it's unlikely that any one company will make up for all the trading that went on with Facebook.

Moreover, it's hard to assess what's going on with SecondMarket since the company doesn't disclose much. It won't say, for instance, which … Read more

T-Mobile USA is shaking up its marketing strategy, which includes the departure of veteran executive and chief marketing officer, Cole Brodman.

Brodman, who has held various positions and has been with T-Mobile for 17 years, will step down, effective May 25, according to the Dow Jones Newswires.

His departure comes as T-Mobile looks to retake its position in the wireless industry as the upstart and disruptive challenger. The carrier, a unit of Germany's Deutsche Telekom, recently took its once sweet television spokeswoman, Carly, and put her in leather and on a motorcycle, signalling a more aggressive, competitive stance.

Brodman … Read more

April means lots of new first-quarter market share numbers. And research firms are stepping over each other to show that Samsung is faring well vis-a-vis its nemesis Apple -- which isn't doing too badly itself.

ComScore said today that Samsung is the top handset supplier among the 30,000 mobile subscribers surveyed in the U.S., with a 26 percent share in the three-month period ending in March. (see chart below).

In that period, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices, according to ComScore.

LG was No. 2 with 19.3 percent and Apple third with … Read more

The 1Mobile Market for Android offers a curated selection of fun, useful, and otherwise interesting apps, all of which are free. It's unique because it's managed by a team of actual editors, rather than a set of algorithms that try to home in on what you're looking for.

First thing you'll notice is that 1Mobile's main panel looks a bit like a cheap knock-off of Google Play, with its large tiles and similar color scheme. For some, this might be comforting, but for me, it feels a little tacky.

While looks may not be 1Mobile'… Read more

Samsung's smartphone shipments soared over the same period last year, allowing it to easily grab the lion's share of the global market, while Nokia's share plummeted, a market researcher said Thursday. Another market researcher put Samsung No.1 in the overall cell phone market.

The South Korean electronics giant's share went from 12.2 percent in the first quarter of 2011 to a whopping 30.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to Strategy Analytics (see chart below).

Apple's growth isn't too shabby either: it jumped from an 18.1 percent … Read more

Tablets are quickly becoming the consumer device of choice, threatening to disrupt the PC market, according to a new report.

Sales of tablets are expected to hit 375 million by 2016, representing a compound annual growth rate of 46 percent, according to a report from market researcher Forrester Research. Additionally, the market researcher predicts that there will be 760 million tablets in use by 2016.

"Over the next four years, tablets will gain new sensors, processing power, and better wireless capabilities for connecting with nearby devices," Frank Gillette, principal analyst on Forrester's business technology futures team, wrote … Read more

Google today announced that it is now offering unlocked Galaxy Nexus handsets directly to consumers.

On the company's mobile blog, Android chief Andy Rubin wrote that the company has added a new Devices section to its Google Play store. Initially available only to U.S. consumers, the GSM Galaxy Nexus carries an attractive $399 price tag.

"We've worked with developers and content partners to launch Google Play, offering more than 500,000 apps, millions of songs and books, and thousands of movies. And we've implemented new customer support services to improve the purchasing experience on Google Play," Rubin wrote. "We've taken all of this into consideration in designing Devices on Google Play." … Read more

I'd like to discuss a new trend in online marketing that will make you exceptionally wealthy and be in a position to buy Facebook with your own personal funds.

But first could you answer this question: When you are in the bath, do you a) read a book about fangless vampires? b) smoke substances of an illegal nature and then get annoyed when a little hot detritus falls onto your naked chest? Or c) plot how you will murder your boss without anyone noticing?

I am, you see, homing in (as I so often do) on the latest marketing trend … Read more

Research In Motion introduced its latest low-cost BlackBerry for developing markets in India today as it tries to keep pace with its Google Android competitors.

The new BlackBerry Curve 9220 is an upgrade to a previous low-cost version of the BlackBerry and will soon be rolled out all across Asia. The phone itself is basic when compared to smartphones sold in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. It runs BlackBerry OS 7.1, has a 2-megapixel camera, and only operates on a 2G network. But the big deal about this phone is that it's affordable. At a retail price … Read more