revenue

Facebook's payment platform changes its currency

Facebook made a simple announcement today -- its virtual currency, "credits," is to become real currency, such as dollars, pounds, or rupees. Despite this being a seemingly straightforward notice, a lot can be read into this plan.

It points to the social network looking for additional ways to make money besides advertising and it shows the company's goal to grow as a payment platform embarking on a similar path to Apple with its iTunes store.

The idea of Facebook credits were first debuted in 2008 when the social network changed the monetary units for its "gifts&… Read more

Web ads hit first-quarter record with $8.4B

More advertisers are flocking to the Web to court buyers, according to the Associated Press. First quarter results for Internet advertising revenue are in and they're record high -- reaching $8.4 billion.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which gathered the data, told the Associated Press that this is the highest Internet ad revenue ever recorded for the first three months of the year and it's up 15 percent from $7.3 billion during last year's first quarter. The overall record is $9 billion, which happened during the fourth quarter of 2011.

According to the Associated Press, the … Read more

Microsoft seems to be excluding HTC from Windows

Microsoft is rumored to be edging HTC out of its next version of Windows software, according to Bloomberg. The reason being that the software giant is uneasy about HTC selling enough products or having enough experience making tablets.

This doesn't bode well for HTC's revenue outlook. According to Bloomberg, HTC's second-quarter sales forecast looks to be decreased by 13 percent. On top of that the company's stock has dropped 68 percent in the last year and it is failing on coming close to competing with Apple or Samsung in software or device manufacturing.

"Every consumer … Read more

Twitter sees $1B in sales by 2014, report says

Twitter expects to post at least $1 billion in revenue by 2014 based on its expectations on the growth of its advertising business, says a Bloomberg report citing "sources with knowledge of the matter."

The growth is twice as fast as what analysts predict, according to Bloomberg. Twitter, however, could change or miss its forecast, the report today said.

The guidance would answer some critics questioning how Twitter would make money off its 140 million users. The company has increased its efforts to lure in marketers to the micro-blogging service, which relies on its users blasting out 140-character … Read more

Google announces in-app subscriptions for Android apps

Google today announced a new feature for Android applications offered through the Google Play store. Available immediately for Android developers, in-app subscriptions will allow users to pay for monthly or annual subscriptions directly inside of apps. And as detailed by Google, the feature is set to auto-renew by default with transactions managed by the Google Play store.

In addition to adding a new level of convenience, the move opens the door to added revenue streams and even new types of content through Google Play. Looking forward, today's announcement could entice magazines and news journals to offer subscriptions to consumers … Read more

Who downgraded Facebook's prospects? Maybe Facebook did

Facebook itself may be responsible for investors' tepid response to the social network's stock, which has been tanking since it went public Friday.

Initially, it looks like Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter on the massive offering, was to blame for allegedly telling major clients it had reduced its revenue forecast for the company, scaring off many big investors in the days leading up to the IPO. But no one knew why Morgan Stanley -- as well as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, which also served as major underwriters for the deal -- would revise their estimates so close to … Read more

Did Facebook underwriter spook investors before IPO?

While Facebook's underwriters have been credited with keeping the stock afloat during its first day of trading, a new report suggests that the action of one the company's bankers may have helped sink the social network's much-anticipated offering well before its first trade.

In the days before Facebook's IPO, the lead underwriter for the deal told major clients it was reducing its revenue forecast for the company, according to a Reuters report.

Morgan Stanley's revised forecast so close to the monster IPO came as a huge shock to some, likely contributing to the lackluster performance … Read more

Apple zooms to No. 17 on Fortune 500 list, tops IBM

Apple's is movin' on up the Fortune 500 list, passing computer heavyweight IBM.

Apple landed at No. 17, up from No. 35, in terms of 2011 revenue, which was a cool $108.2 billion.

To put Apple's meteoric rise into perspective, blue-chip tech stalwart IBM dropped one spot to No. 19, with 2011 revenues of $106.9 billion.

And Hewlett-Packard is also feeling the heat from Apple. Though Apple's Silicon Valley neighbor moved up one spot to No. 10, with revenue of $127.2 billion, HP is not the profit juggernaut that Apple is.

Apple was No.… Read more

Study: Apple's UDID restrictions cost developers 24% revenue

Privacy concerns have been at the top of many tech industry reports lately. Between Apple's Flashback Trojan issues, Google's faux pas with Safari privacy settings, and a myriad of other privacy-related stories, consumers, lawmakers, and the media have been pressing for greater privacy restrictions.

Partly in response to a Congressional inquiry, Apple has begun restricting access to consumers' UDID numbers, a unique identifier that individually accounts for all iOS devices Apple sells.

Ad servers, like MoPub, have been using UDIDs to serve particular ads to targeting demographics for years. Now that Apple has begun rejecting apps that continue … Read more

Apple increases developer iAd revenue to 70 percent

Though it's certainly too soon to call iAd a failure, Apple has not been happy with the adoption rate of its advertising platform it has seen thus far. In February, Apple reduced the minimum buy-in for campaigns to $100,000 (down from $1 million at the iAd launch in 2010). It was also rumored at that time that the iAd revenue share percent would jump to 70 percent for developers.

Now, according to a report by AppleInsider, that jump in developer revenue has become a reality.

According to an announcement on Apple's developer center:

We have made the … Read more