FierceMobileContent

Appcelerator expands cloud capabilities with Cocoafish buy

Jason Ankeny — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:13:02 -0500

Cross-platform development solutions provider Appcelerator has acquired mobile app infrastructure firm Cocoafish. Financial details were not disclosed.

Cocoafish offers more than 25 cloud-based features designed to boost mobile user engagement, including push notifications, location, social integration, sharing, user management and photo manipulation, complete with APIs, pre-defined objects and simplified backend setup to ease integration. Appcelerator will incorporate Cocoafish's JavaScript APIs into its Titanium Studio cross-platform integrated development environment, enabling app publishers leveraging Objective-C, Java, PhoneGap, Sencha and HTML5 technologies to create and configure a scalable server-side backend and add network features without writing server code.

Appcelerator will relaunch Cocoafish under the Appcelerator Cloud Services brand early in the second quarter of 2012. In addition to integration with its Titanium Platform, Appcelerator will offer complete iOS, Android, REST and JavaScript SDKs for non-Titanium customers.

The global Appcelerator network now touts more than 1.6 million developers, with more than 35,000 applications created using Titanium resources. The Cocoafish deal is its third major acquisition in the last year, following purchases of HTML5 development platform Particle Code and web IDE Aptana. Last November, Appcelerator raised $15 million in a Series C round led by Mayfield Fund, Translink Capital and Red Hat.

For more:
- read this release

LinkedIn adding advertisements to mobile apps

Jason Ankeny — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:19:30 -0500

Professional networking platform LinkedIn will integrate advertisements into its mobile applications. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner announced the move Thursday during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call; Weiner said LinkedIn has been working to implement an advertising infrastructure but offered few additional details on the effort, stating only that the firm will "start to introduce advertising in our mobile solutions."

Weiner said mobile is now LinkedIn's fastest-growing category, generating 15 percent of all unique member visits. "We're seeing a sharp rise in activations across both [Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL)] iOS platform and [Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG)] Android," he added. "We're seeing more activations in iOS but both are growing very healthy rates." Weiner also said LinkedIn plans to invest in improving and expanding its mobile services over the year ahead.

LinkedIn launched redesigned iOS and Android apps in August 2011, concurrently introducing an HTML5-based web app optimized for all current mobile browsers. The LinkedIn app touts improved speeds across all features, including search and update streams. The app also reorganizes content into four key areas: Updates (including new developments within the user's network as well as LinkedIn Today alerts), Inbox (which combines all invitations and messages in one place), You (the user's profile, connections and information sharing tools) and Groups & More (browsing and interaction solutions as well as the People You May Know feature). Based on user feedback, LinkedIn Mobile now starts with the Update stream and adds access to millions of LinkedIn Groups discussions.

The LinkedIn network spans more than 150 million professionals across 200 countries, including executives from all current Fortune 500 companies. The company reported fourth quarter revenues of $167.7 million, compared to $81.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

For more:
- read this TechCrunch article

Microsoft rolls out MSN mobile magazine for Apple's iPad

Jason Ankeny — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:51:55 -0500

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) introduced MSN for iPad, promising Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) tablet users a magazine-like experience featuring content assembled from sites and services across the MSN digital network.

Click here to watch a video about MSN for iPad.

The free, swipe-enabled MSN for iPad is highlighted by news and video from MSNBC.com and FoxSports.com, alongside entertainment news and celebrity gossip from Wonderwall, lifestyle updates from MSN Living, and car information and advice from MSN Autos. All content is handpicked by the MSN editorial team and set up for sharing via Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger.

MSN for iPad also introduces Lasso, a new search tool enabling users who've identified a word or phrase they wish to know more about to hold the left or right margin with their thumb, circling the content in question to launch a Bing search on the subject. The app also incorporates a homepage grid to simplify content updates and supports offline reading.

MSN for iPad is the latest in a series of Microsoft applications designed for Apple's iOS platform. Late last year, Microsoft launched My Xbox Live via Apple's App Store, for the first time extending features of its gaming network to iOS. While the free My Xbox Live does not offer actual gaming experiences, the app enables iPhone and iPad users to track and compare Xbox achievements, connect with Xbox Live friends and rivals and revamp their 3D Avatars. Gamers may also review Xbox titles, discover new games and apps, access tips and tricks and read Xbox news updates. A week later, Microsoft added iPad support to the latest version of its OneNote productivity app.

For more:
- read this MSN Blog entry

Google working on fix for Wallet security flaw

Jason Ankeny — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:13:13 -0500

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is at work on a patch for a security flaw identified in its Wallet mobile payment service, urging consumers to set up a screen lock to secure their Android smartphone against hackers.

Earlier this week, security firm Zvelo revealed that the Google Wallet PIN, the code required to confirm purchases made with Android devices, can be cracked using an exhaustive numerical search. That means if a rooted Android phone without a screen lock is lost or stolen, thieves could access the encrypted file that stores the PIN and exploit the user's Google account.

Tech blog TheSmartphoneChamp subsequently discovered a second method of attack that impacts all Google Wallet users, regardless of whether their Android phone is rooted. This flaw enables thieves to access Google Wallet app settings and tap "Clear data," erasing all Wallet information stored on the device; the next time Wallet is re-opened, it offers the initial setup process again, including entering a new PIN and tying the tap-and-pay service to a Google account. The setup process also enables the thief to re-attach the default Google Wallet prepaid card to the app; as TheSmartphoneChamp notes, Google Wallet is tied to the device itself, not the Google account, it adds the same prepaid card previously attached to the phone, meaning thieves have access to all funds added by the original owner, complete with a new PIN enabling them to easily complete payment transactions.

Google confirmed the security hole, and said it is formulating a solution. "We strongly encourage anyone who loses or wants to sell or give away their phone to call Google Wallet support toll-free at 855-492-5538 to disable the prepaid card," Google said in a statement issued to The Verge. "We are currently working on an automated fix as well that will be available soon. We also advise all Wallet users to set up a screen lock as an additional layer of protection for their phone."

Introduced last year, the Near Field Communications-based Google Wallet enables consumers to make purchases by tapping their Android smartphone at 300,000-plus MasterCard PayPass-enabled merchant terminals. Google Wallet also includes support for SingleTap, enabling users to redeem coupons and/or earn rewards points.

For more:
- read this Verge article
- read the SmartphoneChamp blog entry

Why did AT&T dominate iPhone sales in Q4?

Sue Marek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:17:05 -0500

Christopher

Many people predicted AT&T Mobility would suffer greatly when its exclusive arrangement with Apple for the iPhone ended in early 2011. However, it's one year later and the company still sells more iPhones than competitors Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel. AT&T Mobility CMO David Christopher talks about how the company avoided the potential pitfalls of losing the iPhone exclusivity, why the company recently introduced new tiered data price plans and what AT&T hopes to gain from being so involved in mobile developer outreach. On the Hot Seat

Report: Google is close to launching a cloud-storage service

Sue Marek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:11:26 -0500

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is preparing to launch a cloud-storage service, called Drive, which will allow people to store photos, documents and videos on Google's servers and still be accessible from any Internet-connected device, including smartphones and tablets, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Although Google declined to comment on the report, the WSJ said that Google's service is expected to launch in the coming weeks or months and will be free for most people. The company will, however, charge businesses and consumers that want to store large quantities of files.

Google's Drive will likely compete with startup Dropbox, a 2011 Fierce 15 award winner, which also offers cloud-based storage. As of October, Dropbox had more than 45 million members who saved one billion files every few days. In addition, the service will likely rival Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iCloud, which lets people store information online but can only be accessed through Apple devices.

Many telecom operators are also getting into the cloud businesses. AT&T (NYSE: T), CenturyLink, NTT, Telstra, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Windstream all launched or invested in cloud businesses in 2011.

For more:
- see this article (sub. req.)

Foursquare updates iOS and Android app

Sue Marek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:50:23 -0500

Location-based mobile social network foursquare has updated the Explore tab on its iOS and Android app to make it easier for users to navigate and search for restaurant locations and tap into the expertise of their friends to find popular places.

For example, the Explore tab allows users to quickly access top restaurant picks and popular locations and to search beyond their current location. It also has an option that allows you to filter results to just pick the places that your friends have been.

The foursquare iOS and Android app also includes restaurant menu and pricing information-details that foursquare added to its web site a few weeks ago through a collaboration with solutions startup SinglePlatform. The two companies integrated data on more than 13 million menu items available across close to 250,000 U.S. restaurants.

For more:
- see this Venture Beat article

Path admits mistake, allows users to opt out of contacts database

Sandhya Raman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:46:00 -0500

Mobile social networking vendor Path apologized to its users and said it will allow them to opt out of its contacts database. The apology stems from a developer who found that Path was uploading users' entire mobile address books to a Path database without the users' consent.

Morin

Path CEO and co-Founder Dave Morin admitted to the slip on the company blog. "Over the last couple of days users brought to light an issue concerning how we handle your personal information on Path, specifically the transmission and storage of your phone contacts," he wrote. "Through the feedback we've received from all of you, we now understand that the way we had designed our 'Add Friends' feature was wrong."

Morin added that the company is committed to regaining its users' trust. "So, we've deleted the entire collection of user uploaded contact information from our servers. Your trust matters to us and we want you to feel completely in control of your information on Path."

The company also announced an update to the Path app. "In Path 2.0.6, released to the App Store today, you are prompted to opt in or out of sharing your phone's contacts with our servers in order to find your friends and family on Path," wrote Morin.

Users can opt out of the service at any time by emailing service@path.com, at which point the company promises to remove all of the user's contact information.

Although it seems Path's role in the controversy is over, the issue may develop legs. According to at least one informal survey of iOS developers, 13 out of 15 iOS developers said they have collected users' address book information. The situation stems from Apple's opening of its address book APIs, thereby alloing iOS developers access into users' address books.

For more:
- see the Path blog entry
- read this PCMag article
- see this MobileBurn article

Google revamps AdMob auction bidding

Sue Marek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:23:03 -0500

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is changing the way its mobile ad network AdMob handles auction bidding on cost-per-click ads. In a blog post, the company said that beginning Feb. 15 it will change to an AdWords-style auction where the winning prize is determined by the quality of the ad and the other bids on that impression. The goal of these changes, according to Google, is to offer advertisers more efficient pricing and cheaper cost-per-clicks depending upon the inventory on which they bid.

Google added that the price it charges will never exceed the advertiser's bid and said that it is eliminating minimum bids and targeting fees to allow AdMob CPC advertisers to compete for inventory according to supply and demand.

This change will occur for all CPC ads on Feb 15, however there will be no changes to non-CPC campaigns.

Research firm IDC reported late last year that Google's AdMob controls 24 percent of the mobile advertising segment, ahead of independent Millennial Media at 17 percent and Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iAd at 15 percent. Google generated nearly $40 billion in digital ad sales in 2011 across all platforms.

For more:
- see this Google blog post

MMA updates guidelines for mobile ads for smartphones and tablets

Sue Marek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:08:04 -0500

The Mobile Marketing Association released an updated version of its Universal Mobile Ad package that it says will make it easier for companies to create, buy and sell mobile ads for smartphones, feature phones and tablets. Ad networks and publishers will have until the end of April to become compliant with the guidelines. Those that are compliant will be promoted by the MMA and issued stamps that they can use on their web sites and in marketing materials.

The updated version of the guidelines includes input from the industry gathered during a 30-day public comment period that ended in mid-January. MMA CEO Greg Stuart said that the association has taken 60-plus ad unit sizes and streamlined it down to just six, making it easier for companies to develop mobile ad campaigns that span the widest variety of devices and demographics.

The MMA worked with ImServices Group to analyze hundreds of billions of mobile ad impresses delivered across the global mobile marketing marketplace in the second quarter of last year. That data was sorted and then used to determine the six unit sizes that serve as the standard in the guidelines.

For more:
- see this press release

How mobile is transforming the Super Bowl fan experience

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:13:46 -0500

A record 111.3 million viewers tuned in to Sunday's Super Bowl XLVI, watching the New York Giants outduel the New England Patriots 21-17. The same two teams squared off four years earlier in Super Bowl XLII, with the Giants again emerging victorious to cap off another miracle playoff run. If you watched both games, feelings of déjà vu were inevitable. The biggest difference between 2008 and 2012? The enormous impact of mobile services on how fans experience the Super Bowl--both at home and at the stadium. Here are five ways mobile services are redefining how we watch the biggest of big games.

Football fans are watching the Super Bowl on mobile phones. For the first time ever, NFL partner Verizon Wireless streamed the Super Bowl broadcast live via its NFL Mobile application. Verizon reports that the game was the most watched matchup on NFL Mobile all season long, with 40 percent more subscribers tuning in compared to Wild Card playoff weekend in January and more than twice as many viewers tuning in compared to its regular season streams of NBC's Sunday Night Football and the NFL Network's Thursday Night Football.

Football fans at the Super Bowl are sharing their experiences from their seats. AT&T subscribers in attendance at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium for Super Bowl XLVI created and uploaded close to 40 percent more content than they consumed, posting videos, photos and status updates in record numbers. Customers also made 75,204 calls and transmitted 722,296 text messages. In all, AT&T reports total data usage inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday was 215 GB, the highest data usage the operator has ever experienced at a single sporting event.

Verizon Wireless also experienced a surge in mobile data consumption, with customers at Lucas Oil Stadium using 2.75 times more data than at last year's Super Bowl game, held at Dallas' Cowboys Stadium. Verizon adds that fans consumed 4.5 times more data compared to the average regular season Indianapolis Colts game. Super Bowl ticketholders also made 11 times as many voice calls than Colts fans during an average game.

Football fans are sharing their excitement via Twitter. Twitter averaged 10,000 tweets per second during Super Bowl XLVI's heart-stopping final three minutes as the Giants drove for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown, scoring with just 57 seconds left on the clock. Twitter activity reached its peak at the conclusion of the game, when tweets averaged a record-breaking 12,233 per second. Compare that to last summer, when Japan rallied twice to defeat the United States in the Women's World Cup soccer final--Twitter averaged a then-record 7,196 tweets per second as the match drew to its close.

Football fans are still lukewarm on second-screen experiences. Despite growing excitement around second-screen interactive experiences, reality failed to live up to the hype on Super Bowl Sunday according to market research firm NPD Group's Connected Intelligence SmartMeter. NPD reports that branded football apps from the NFL and sports media giant ESPN experienced a downward trend compared to the conference championship games two weeks earlier, while the NFL.com website saw a dramatic increase in traffic, underlining how vital the Web remains to consumers. Not even the Giants' and Patriots' official apps showed significant usage during their Super Bowl showdown, NPD adds.

Interactive advertisements fared better. "The clear standouts for the advertisers were the Shazam and Chevy Game Time applications," NPD Connected Intelligence reseaech director Linda Barrabee said in a statement. "Both had strong ad placements relatively early in the game, and--even more importantly--both had strong tie-ins to the ongoing entertainment that helps to drive their use. Shazam's use by smartphone users on Super Bowl Sunday, for example, was more than the combined use of the app for the previous two Sundays."

Super Bowl ad campaigns also fueled mobile search queries: 41 percent of Google searches in the U.S. related to Super Bowl TV ads originated on mobile devices, the digital services giant reports. After comparing a selection of Super Bowl-related queries from during the game and the week before, Google found that searches nationwide rose 200 percent on the desktop, 970 percent on tablets and an astounding 2700 percent on smartphones--for example, in the moments after Clint Eastwood appeared in a spot for Chrysler, searches for the actor's name surged nearly 5500 percent.

Football fans prefer Madonna to mobile. Mobile app analytics firm Flurry estimates that 98 million iOS and Android users across the U.S. launched applications during the Super Bowl's four-hour broadcast window--roughly one third of the country's overall population. Overall trends indicate an inverse relationship between app usage and game, halftime and commercial events, with app activity increasing steadily during the first three quarters and declining in the late fourth quarter as the on-field excitement reached a crescendo.

"The most clearly visible change in app usage occurred during Madonna's halftime show, where app usage remained consistently low for the longest, sustained period of time," Flurry vice president of marketing Peter Farago writes on the firm's blog. "From this, we conclude that Madonna strongly held viewers' attention on the first screen and was a major draw for the Super Bowl this year." In other words, mobile subscribers were giving their fingers a rest at the exact same time Madonna's pal M.I.A. was giving her finger a workout.--Jason

The Rising Stars of Wireless for 2012

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:56:47 -0500

In today's competitive business landscape, there are many obstacles to developing a successful wireless strategy. Whether you are in charge of developing a state-of-the-art smartphone, launching an innovative mobile game, devising a successful enterprise strategy or building a reliable and spectrum-efficient LTE network, there are many challenges you will have to overcome to meet your goals. FierceWireless considered all these factors and more when selecting its list of the 2012 Rising Stars of Wireless. These are the talented people worth watching in the coming year because they have been charged with some pretty daunting tasks. Special Report

Path slammed for uploading users' mobile address books

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:53:41 -0500

Mobile social networking app Path is under fire for uploading user address books to its servers without explicit consent.

Developer Arun Thampi first discovered the issue while observing various API calls made to Path's servers from its iPhone app. "Upon inspecting closer, I noticed that my entire address book (including full names, emails and phone numbers) was being sent as a plist to Path," Thampi writes on his blog. "Now I don't remember having given permission to Path to access my address book and send its contents to its servers, so I created a completely new ‘Path' and repeated the experiment and I got the same result--my address book was in Path's hands... I'm not insinuating that Path is doing something nefarious with my address book but I feel quite violated that my address book is being held remotely on a third-party service."

Path co-founder and CEO Dave Morin soon responded to Thampi's blog post, writing "We upload the address book to our servers in order to help the user find and connect to their friends and family on Path quickly and efficiently as well as to notify them when friends and family join Path. Nothing more." Morin goes on to state that Path rolled out friend finding and matching as an opt-in feature of its new client for Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, released a few weeks back, and will also include the opt-in as part of Path for iOS 2.0.6, presently awaiting Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) approval.

Developer Matt Gemmell followed Morin's post to ask why Path is uploading actual address books instead of generating hashes of user email addresses and uploading the hashed data. Gemmell also asks why Path did not include the opt-in feature from the outset.

Morin responded by saying Path will look into data hashing options. As for why the startup did not include the opt-in feature from the get-go, he writes "This is currently the industry best practice and the App Store guidelines do not specifically discuss contact information." But iOS developer David Smith suggests Path could be in violation of App Store guideline 17.1, which states "Apps cannot transmit data about a user without obtaining the user's prior permission and providing the user with access to information about how and where the data will be used," as well as 17.2, which reads "Apps that require users to share personal information, such as email address and date of birth, in order to function will be rejected."

Launched as an alternative to Facebook (where Morin helped developed Facebook Platform and Facebook Connect), Path limits social networks to 150 contacts, a move to guarantee users are interacting solely with the people closest to them. "Path should be private by default. Forever," Path's website states. "You should always be in control of your information and experience."

Last month, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) released a discussion draft of the proposed Mobile Device Privacy Act. The act would require disclosure of mobile phone monitoring software when a consumer buys a new device; if the carrier, manufacturer or operating system later installs monitoring tools; and if a consumer downloads an app containing monitoring software. The act also calls for disclosure on the type of subscriber data that is collected, the identity of the third party to which the information is transmitted and how the info will be used.

For more:
- read this PCWorld article

Vonage Mobile app vows free texting for iPhone, Android users

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:10:04 -0500

Voice-over-IP provider Vonage is rolling out a new mobile application optimized for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android, enabling smartphone owners to make free high-definition calls and send free text messages to other Vonage Mobile users worldwide.

Vonage Mobile--which works over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G wireless data networks--leverages the device's existing mobile number and contact list, eliminating the requirement for unique user names and duplicate identities for contacts. The app also includes a multi-invite system to help consumers build out their global calling and texting network.

In the event Vonage Mobile users call contacts who've not downloaded the app, Vonage promises per-minute international rates at an average of 70 percent less than mobile operators and 30 percent lower than Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)-owned rival Skype. Consumers may also purchase calling credits from Apple's App Store or Google's Android Market in increments of $4.99 and $9.99. Vonage states that consumers do not need to subscribe to its services to the use the new smartphone app, although calls to Vonage home or business lines are also free. Users can also access free messaging services via Apple's iPod and iPad as well as Android tablets.

Vonage serves approximately 2.4 million subscribers worldwide. Its services are sold on the web and through regional and national retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, Kmart and Sears.

Vonage Mobile is the latest threat to conventional operator SMS services and established alternatives like Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) signature BlackBerry Messenger. In recent months, Apple unveiled iMessage, which lets consumers send free text messages, photos and videos to all iOS devices--social networking giant Facebook's free Messenger also enables friends to correspond directly with friends via mobile device. And in August 2011, Skype acquired group messaging solutions startup GroupMe, whose application enables users to text and make conference calls with circles of friends or colleagues across multiple operating systems.

For more:
- read this release

Report: Facebook/Bango deal points to mobile payments, operator billing

Jason Ankeny — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:33:51 -0500

Mobile payment and analytics solutions firm Bango has signed an agreement to provide payment services to Facebook. The terms of the deal were not disclosed--according to Bango's terse announcement, its board "believes it is too early in the relationship to accurately forecast the level of business which it may generate."

Multiple outlets including The Financial Times report the deal likely heralds the imminent introduction of in-app payment services and operator billing options across Facebook's growing mobile platform. Bango supplies white-label billing and analytics services for mobile app, mobile web and app store partners including Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry App World, EA Mobile and Gameloft; last year, the firm also inked a deal with Amazon.com, fueling speculation the digital retailer will lean on Bango to bring new payment options to its Appstore for Android and Kindle Fire tablet.

With more than 425 million users worldwide accessing its social networking services via mobile device each month, Facebook recently expanded its Facebook Platform APIs and developer tools to Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS, Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and the mobile web. The browser-based HTML5 platform effectively circumvents Apple's App Store and Google's Android Market, as well as associated publisher fees. Analysts say that more seamless, efficient billing options will not only improve the mobile user experience in developed nations but are even more critical to establishing a foothold in emerging markets, where many consumers do not carry credit cards.

Facebook filed IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, indicating plans to raise $5 billion. International Financing Review notes that Facebook's filing timetable indicates the IPO process likely will conclude in May 2012. Recent trading of Facebook stock on private exchanges points to a valuation of more than $80 billion; last year, the firm reported revenues of $3.7 billion, driven by online advertising and sales of virtual goods.

But Facebook acknowledges that it faces challenges monetizing its mobile efforts. "We currently do not show ads or directly generate any meaningful revenue from users accessing Facebook through our mobile products," Facebook wrote in its IPO filing. "We are devoting substantial resources to developing engaging mobile products and experiences for a wide range of platforms, including smartphones and feature phones. In addition, we are working across the mobile industry with operators, hardware manufacturers, operating system providers, and developers to improve the Facebook experience on mobile devices and make Facebook available to more people around the world. We believe that mobile usage is critical to maintaining user growth and engagement over the long term."

Reports indicate Facebook also plans to roll out a mobile advertising platform early next month. Facebook will hold an event for marketers on Feb. 29 in New York City; The Financial Times states the company is expected to introduce additional advertising opportunities as it looks to persuade brands to increase their marketing spend across the platform. Facebook declined to comment, but its IPO filing reveals "We believe that we may have potential future monetization opportunities such as the inclusion of sponsored stories in users' mobile News Feeds."

For more:
- read this release
- read this Financial Times article