marketing

Looking for alternative options for browsing and discovering new apps other than Google's Play Store? AppBrain App Market is such a tool. This extensive application gives the tech-savvy user another outlet for their needs. It combines a very detailed search tool with a clever social-networking sharing option. The combination of these elements makes this app interesting, albeit a bit cumbersome at times.

After completing the quick and painless setup, AppBrain App Market welcomed us with a clean, detailed and well designed layout. There are not many options in the settings since this software reacts to your input as you … Read more

Chipmakers are preparing for the second-generation iPad Mini and Samsung is on track for a phone with a bendable display and possibly an early intro of the Galaxy S4, according to a research note from RBC Capital Markets.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman -- who is in China visiting chip companies this week -- offered this ambiguous Apple note: "iPad Mini Gen-2: Apple's gen-2 iPad mini is getting pulled-in, and is likely to have several new suppliers, with TXN gaining content."

"Pulled in" would seem to imply that Apple is moving up introduction of … Read more

China is now the world's largest Android market, market researcher Informa said today.

Informa estimates that about 786 million smartphones will be sold worldwide by the end of the year, up 45 percent compared with 2011. Total Android-based smartphone sales this year will hit 461 million units. One-third of all of the Android devices sold in 2012 were sold in China, making it the world's largest Android market.

That figure becomes all the more staggering when one considers that the United States is in second place with 11 percent of all Android device sales this year.

The fact … Read more

Samsung is apparently not keen on letting Apple's recent Maps mishap in Australia go unnoticed, and is poking fun of its rival in downtown Sydney today.

CNET Australia has snapped pics of a little guerrilla marketing by Samsung featuring a muddied-up vehicle with a tent and other camping supplies. Next to it is a sign that says, "Oops, should have gotten a Samsung Galaxy S III. Get navigation you can trust."

The lost vehicle and signage, of course, are referring to recent incidences of people getting stranded in a wilderness area around Australia's Murray-Sunset National Park … Read more

Microsoft Security Essentials may not have done well in recent independent tests, but it's now the global leader in security suite market share for the first time since it debuted in 2009, says Opswat's latest study.

Opswat gauges usage by looking at the software installed on computers running their AppRemover program. The data came from more than 150,000 computers.

When asked about the differences between Opswat's numbers and research and analysis firm NPD, Opswat marketing manager Elisse Lockhart wrote in an e-mail, "Our data looks at all applications installed on machines and aggregates various versions … Read more

In the brave new world of connected personal computing devices, Hewlett-Packard is a distant No. 4, with Samsung and Apple leading the way.

Think of IDC's "Worldwide Smart Connected Device Market" report as the 21st century equivalent of PC maker rankings.

Personal computing today includes tablets and smartphones, not just the laptop in your father's home office.

That global smart-connected device market grew 27.1 percent year-over-year in the third quarter to a record 303.6 million shipments valued at $140.4 billion, IDC said today in a research note.

"HP, which is virtually non-existent … Read more

Call it a Microsoft holiday tradition. The annual #DroidRage Twitter campaign is back.

The general idea of #DroidRage is to "share your Android malware horror story."

And while there are some tweets supporting Microsoft, they aren't easy to find -- despite this tweet by Microsoft: "Yikes! Hundreds of #DroidRage stories already since our tweet last night."

Instead, the tweets are trending toward flaming Windows.

Here's how adamwiniecki put it: "marketing guru who came up with #droidrage actually secretly works for Google."

He's right. There is precious little about Android malware stories. … Read more

We all live with the consequences of our finest ideas.

Or the ones that seemed the finest at the time.

I am confident that when the fine minds at Square Enix created Hire Hitman they had a sense that it would prove popular with men who are boys and boys who think they are men.

After all, this little Facebook app -- launched to promote the no doubt very fine and possibly religious computer game Hitman: Absolution -- allowed you to peg a friend as the target of a virtual hit by the computer game's protagonist, Agent 47, and share a video of the friend's termination, which incorporated a photo of the friend from his or her profile. … Read more

These days, lots of folks are talking about apps and how they might join what looks like the app gold rush. Unfortunately, like the gold rush of yore, most people will come away deeply disappointed.

A recent New York Times article by David Streitfeld, "As Boom Lures App Creators, Tough Part Is Making a Living," showed the reality of trying to make it in the app-making world. In the piece, one unscientific survey of developers showed these stats: "A quarter of the respondents said they had made less than $200 in lifetime revenue from Apple. A quarter … Read more