Here is your daily Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock news and rumors for Nov. 18, 2010. Major mobile advertising network Millennial Media presents new data that shows Google Android nipping at Apple’s heels for market share control. Meanwhile, News Corp comments on its long-rumored iPad news publication. Finally, Adobe is hard at work on a new version of Flash optimized for the new MacBook Air.
iOS Tied With Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android As Leader in Mobile Ad Impressions: Advertising firm Millennial Media, currently the largest independent mobile advertising network, Apple Inc. and Google are neck in neck in the mobile advertising race. Both the iOS mobile operating system and Google’s Android account for 37% of smartphones that ads hosted by Millennial Media reach. One month ago, iOS led Android by 8% but Google’s widely covered growth in the smartphone market has helped make their platform as attractive to advertisers as Apple’s, if not more so. After all, Millennial Media is saying they’ve seen requests for ad hosting on Android devices grow +2182% since January of 2010, while requests for Apple’s iPhone line have grown by just +32%. Millennial’s data also shows more evidence of market share decline for Research in Motion‘s (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry smartphones. BlackBerry handhelds now account for just 20% of Millennial’s ad hosting reach. While Google is gaining on Apple’s iPhone, Millennial’s data does show that the iPad is fast growing venue for mobile advertising. The tablet’s reach grew by +112% between September and October 2010.
News Corp (NYSE: NWS) Sheds New Light on iPad-only News Publication: Reuters is reporting that, while speaking at an investor conference in Spain this week, News Corp Europe and Asia CEO James Murdoch discussed News Corp’s plans for a news publication built exclusively for tablet PCs. The new publication, announced last August following last summer’s iPad boom, will be coming out “soon” according to Murdoch and it will be targeted at the United States, at least to start. “The tablet in general, it lends itself to a type of journalism that is really new. These really are becoming our flagship products, even though they’re very much in their infancy,” said Murdoch. Last August, News Corp conducted public research sessions through the Wall Street Journal, asking readers about “experiences with the iPad.” Later that month, the Wall Street Journal‘s AllThingsDigital blog claimed that News Corp had recently hired Greg Clayman, fromer head of Viacom (NYSE: VIA) digital distribution, to head up the new iPad news publication.
Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) Preps Macbook Air-optimized Version of Flash: Adobe CEO Shantau Narayen told Engadget that the software company is currently testing an optimized version of their Flash media platform for AAPL’s MacBook Air laptops at the Web 2.0 Summit this week. Adobe and Apple’s ongoing feud was intensified in the weeks following the new MacBook Air’s release as users found that deactivating Flash on the computer lengthened the laptop’s battery life by two hours. Apple had initially shipped the device without Flash installed. Narayen said that, provided access to hardware acceleration, Flash has “equal or better performance on every platform.” The newly optimized version of the software is currently in beta testing.
As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
