Until now much of the discussion around app store platforms and developer communities has been a technical one focused on primarily on APIs (which ones to open to third-party developers when and why), toolchains and toolkits (the optimal level of integration and how to achieve it) and development costs (value for money and how to...

In brief: The MSG special report on content/advertising personalization continues with ChangingWorlds, an Amdocs company, and includes a review of the company's recent road test of personalized mobile advertising across more than 200,000 people over a four-month period. In preparation for my own industry report on personalization and recommendation I have spent the last weeks interviewing a who's who of industry p...

In brief: A summary of October thought leadership events and a preview of the cool companies (AmbiSense & GeoVector, to name a few) you can look for soon on MSearchGroove. While MSG prepares to unveil a string of new projects and media solutions for our growing roster of clients, I am wrapping up my own presentations for two exciting industry events. First on the agenda: a half-day session on Tuesday (Septe...

In brief: In line with MSearchGroove's ongoing and in-depth look at smart toolbars, personalized portals and the players that set the bar for these technologies, regular columnist and contributor Jim Levey shows a robust economic system (and new content distribution model) is emerging with personalization at its core. It is no secret that the success of well-known Internet portals, whether they’re oriented towar...

TAPTU MOBILE SEARCH GENERATING 1 MILLION MOBILE SEARCHES a day. The exclusively mobile search engine has revealed new statistics in preparation for the launch of its iPhone application. With 3.4 million unique users in April, generating a million searches a day, Taptu offers users results from sites that have been optimized for the mobile Web. The company's blog reminds us that when Taptu started out, it counted som...

Another day, another apps store. Following on the heels on Apple (App Store), Google (Android Marketplace) and Handango, the blogosphere is buzzing with rumors that Nokia has jumped on the application store bandwagon, and is gearing up to launch an app store for its Symbian platform just in time for next week's Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. At the other end of the spectrum, The Wall Street Journal tells u...