The latest examples came to me from online design store Fab.com, which just launched in June and then pushed out its first mobile apps for iOS and Android in October. In just three months, it said that 30 percent of its traffic is now on mobile. MyYearbook, a social networking site that was bought by Quepasa last year, said, thanks to a big holiday push, it now has 54 percent of its traffic coming in on mobile.

Now, these are just two examples, but it shows that though they both got their start on the web, they’re increasingly running mobile services. Twitter’s mobile traffic is up to 55 percent while Pandora is up to 60 percent according to Mary Meeker, of Kleiner Perkins. That’s happening quickly with Facebook as well, which has 350 million of its 800 million users actively accessing the social network through mobile channels.

Meeker highlighted this at the Web 2.0 summit in October, showing how mobile search, payments and shopping has taken off in the last two years. Online shopping destinations like eBay are seeing more and more sales via mobile devices. IBM said that 18.3 percent of all online sessions on retailers’ sites on Christmas were initiated from a mobile device, compared to 8.4 percent in 2010.

Meanwhile, Google is increasingly capitalizing on the growth of mobile searches by encouraging businesses to think mobile first. It has said that 44 percent of last minute holiday shopping searches was expected to be by mobile and 79 percent of smartphone users currently utilize their phones to help with price comparison, product searches and locating a retailer.

The fact is, thanks to smartphones and tablets, the way people are going to services and destinations is changing. People are accessing stuff all the time on the go and that requires developers and publishers to think mobile first.

Om Malik touched on this last month when he talked about the redesign of his personal website Om.co. Here’s what he wrote:

When mulling over these changes, I began to wonder how a blog designed primarily for a mobile-first experience might fare. Of course, there would be a web-based version, too, but it would be not the primary focus. Mobile first meant — a great reading experience that allows readers to focus on things that matter — words, photos and videos — not the design flourishes and other elements such as social sharing icons.

Mobile first meant that the layouts would adapt themselves to the display. The iPad version would adapt to that device’s screen size while the iPhone/smartphone version would be even more barebones. The beauty of thinking about “mobile first” is that you get to use the latest in browsers, forget about backward compatibility and at the sometime are able to deploy newest technologies and hacks.

This is increasingly how publishers and developers need to prepare their services. There is still an obvious need for a traditional website but the shifting habits of consumption mean you can’t make mobile an afterthought. People notice if you’re not optimizing for mobile and ignoring mobile users and their experiences can cost publishers. Google quoted a study last year that found that 61 percent of mobile users won’t return to a site if they have trouble accessing it from their phone.

It also means you can’t just water down a site or gin up a simple app. It still needs to have robust functionality because people want to do a lot of things on mobile. And they look to developers to also leverage the unique capabilities of devices, which are location aware and have cameras and other sensors. Some developers may want to think twice about how they implement some web-only features if it can’t be enjoyed by mobile users.

We’re already seeing more mobile apps and start-ups that are beginning on mobile and then looking toward online. But there’s still a ways to go for traditional websites, businesses and services to embrace mobile. With smartphone penetration expected to cross over 50 percent soon in the U.S. and adoption unlikely to slow down, it’s going to mean people going online through the small screen. Those who prepare for a mobile first world are going have the jump when it comes to attracting those consumers.

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Boxee has always had a difficult relationship with PC users – the platform originated on Mac computers, but Boxee moved towards CE devices with the release of its Boxee Box more than a year ago. The company promised back then that it would release an updated version for PCs as well, but this took longer than expected, which led to some disgruntled reactions from users.

Boxee VP of Marketing Andrew Kippen explained to me today that today’s release is a way to make good on this promise. But the accompanying blog post is also making it very clear that the company won’t be supporting this platform going forward: The new 1.5 release for PCs will only be available for download until the end of January.

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Non-gaming apps on Android generated 91.5 million downloads in November compared to 33.4 million for games. Meanwhile on the iPhone, games in November generated 71.6 million downloads while other apps received 25.6 million downloads.

Android was actually even more tilted in favor of apps in 2010, with 116 of the top 150 apps being non-games. The iPhone used to be more balanced with 79 of the top apps being games compared to 71 percent for non-gaming apps.

Now, all but one of the top downloaded publishers on iPhone are gamemakers except for Instagram maker Burbn. On Android, the top 25 developers on Android were a mix of gaming and non-gaming publishers with Google at the head of the class. Google only had two apps on Android Market in 2010, Google Maps and Google Sky, but now the company has many more available on Android.

Here’s the list of the top 25 downloaded publishers on Android in 2011 according to Xyologic:
Google, Facebook, Rovio, Adobe, DroidHen Casual, Outfit7, Magma Mobile, Glu Mobile, Go Dev Team, Kittehface Software,Skype, Notes, Nikolay Ananiev, Swiss Codemonkeys, NHN Corporation, Yahoo, Handcent, Pandora, Al Factory Limited,Kaufcom Games Apps Widgets, Verizon Wireless, Runnergames, Backflip Studios, Polarbit.

And here’s the list of the top 25 downloaded publishers on the iPhone in 2011:

Glu Mobile, Gameloft, Big Fish Games, Rovio, Capcom, Chilingo, Storm8/(TeamLava), Outfit7, Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts BV, Gamevil, Halfbrick Studios, DeNa/(Backflip Studios/Ngmoco), Zynga/Newtoy, NaturalMotion, Pocket Gem/(Streetview Labs), Tencent, NimbleBit, PopCap, Playforge, Clickgamer, Com2uS, Burbn, Orangenose Studios.

This might not be news to some developers, who are aware of the relative strengths of each platform. But it’s interesting to again see how each platform differs, where the trends are going and where the opportunities lie. The iPhone is really becoming a powerful gaming device but Android is more of a broad provider of utilities and services.

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This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here’s some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of December 5, 2011:

• C Spire announced this week that it’s launching the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. The device is currently available for purchase for with a two-year commitment and after a mail-in rebate. [AndroidCentral]
• Images and specs of Philips’ first Android device, the W920, surfaced this week, and its spec sheet doesn’t look very good: Froyo, a 1GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 CPU, 512MB of RAM, a 4.3-inch WVGA display, a 5MP camera, 10.5mm thin frame and it has a 1,280mAh battery. The fun part is the rumored price tag: £400 (7). [LandofDroid]
• Ting is a new Sprint MVNO that’ll launch mid-2012. It’ll be prepaid and use a bump-up and bump-down model for pricing — in other words, going over your minutes will just bump you into the next higher plan, while using fewer minutes can bump you to a lower plan. [Cnet]
• Another prepaid provider in the news this week is PrepaYd Wireless, which launched this week. It offers a “Y Pay More” plan that will give you unlimited talk, text and 3G data for per month. If you don’t need data, you can get all-you-can-eat talk and text for . Much like Ting, PrepaYd Wireless utilizes the Sprint network. [MobileTechNews]
• If you use a BlackBerry OS 7 device on AT&T, the carrier is offering you two free months of BBM Music. Normally you need to pay a month to store 50 songs. [Crackberry]
• While we’re on the subject of BlackBerry phones, Twitter for BlackBerry just got updated to version 2.1 and now offers multi-account support. In addition to being able to view up to five accounts in the same feed, it also includes the ability to tweet one thing to more than one account simultaneously. [BlackBerry]
• Pandora and Windows Phone may never mix well, but at least the radio service can be enjoyed now through an unofficial Pandora app called MetroRadio. It’s free, and is finally available in the Windows Phone Marketplace. [WPCentral]

Mobile Miscellany: week of December 5, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Spotify has had little trouble cranking up its subscriber base so far, one feature that has notably been lacking is its radio / auto playlist feature. Today (tied in with an appearance by CEO Daniel Ek at LeWeb 2011) that’s been upgraded, as the freshest preview builds move the Radio section down among the new Spotify Apps, where it now lets you drop in any song from your library for it to automatically create a radio station of similar music around. Subscribers not interested in upgrading yet can find similar functionality tied to Spotify’s library with the EchoFi tool, but this venture represents the service’s debut of an “all-new intelligent recommendation engine” meant to dig the tracks you want out of its millions-deep library. Advertising “unlimited skips” is a clear jab at Pandora, but it’s not immediately clear if you’ll still need a premium paid-up account for truly unlimited listening (well, maybe not). Hit the source link to grab a Radio-enabled preview build and see if some algorithm can defeat even the mightiest Yacht Rock playlist crafted by our own Brian Heater.

Spotify Radio feature turns into an app, offers Pandora-like stations with unlimited skips originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 05:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The FunBox is a bedside alarm clock but it’s also a widget-running Chumby, which means it’ll let you check your twitter feeds, load up a track on Pandora or do other inappropriately stimulating activities right before catching some Zs. The device has just passed through the FCC and its paperwork reveals a 3.5-inch (possibly resistive) touch screen, a 454MHz processor, 1GB DDR memory, SD card slot and a USB port for an external drive. We couldn’t tell you price or availability at this stage, but with top smartphones increasingly coming with night dock accessories the FunBox is hardly likely to find a guaranteed perch beside our pillow.

Still awake? There’s a Chumby FunBox app for that originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the fourth edition of the conference, scheduled for September 26 & September 27, 2011 at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco, we will be talking with minds behind some of the hottest mobile services and asking them: What comes next.

I will be chatting with:

• Michael Abbott, VP of Engineering of Twitter is going to talk about how to architect a service for a mobile-heavy future. Michael is also one of the folks behind WebOS and has deep insights into the mobile web technologies.
• Keith Rabois, chief operating officer of Square will share his insights on the future of money exchange in an always on, always connected, multiple device economy.
• Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of red-hot mobile photo sharing startup Instagram will talk about what works in an attention driven app-economy.
• Tom Conrad, CTO of Pandora is going to share his thoughts on the future of entertainment in an increasingly mobile world
• Cole Broadman, CMO of T-Mobile USA on implications of the the 4g-economy.
• Josh Quittner will talk about Flipboard and how to reinvent the content business for a mobile-first world.

For a full list of speakers and schedule, visit the Mobilize website. We have a handful of tickets left. Grab them before they are gone and Hope to see you at the event.

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Had your eye on an AirPlay accessory for your iPhone or iPod touch? Well, Pioneer is looking to help you pull the trigger on one. The company has announced a new set of AirPlay Music Tap systems that enable access to your music library without being chained to a peripheral. By connecting one of these bad boys to your home WiFi or ethernet network, you’ll be able to access your entire iTunes library in various locations throughout your home — after you install Apple’s Remote app, of course. Other features include a 2.5-inch full-color LCD display, Pandora, iHeartRadio, vTuner internet radio and Air Jam, which allows for playlist sharing on your arsenal of the company’s Music Tap systems. When this pair drops in October, you’ll have your choice of the X-SMC-3-S for 0 or the more dapper, bluetooth-enabled X-SMC4-Elite for 0. You can take a peek at the Elite, along with the full PR, after the break.

Continue reading AirPlay-enabled Music Tap systems touted by Pioneer, free us from living room control

AirPlay-enabled Music Tap systems touted by Pioneer, free us from living room control originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Sep 2011 02:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, Pandora announced that it would finally be dropping its longtime support for Flash in favor of HTML5. The move is one piece of a big redesign for the site, one which will begin rolling out to Pandora One (the / year premium version) subscribers in pieces, as part of a limited testing period before being made available to the service’s entire massive user base.

The timing could have been more ideal, of course. A day after the announcement, Spotify quickly grabbed the attention of those following the online music industry by formally launching in the US. It’s important to note right off the bat, however, that these two services are not really direct competitors, in spite of how some might spin it. Spotify is an all-you-can eat subscription service, making it more akin to the likes of a Rhapsody and Napster. Pandora, on the other hand, is built largely around passive music discovery. You log-in, you enter an artist, and you let the music come to you. This redesign takes that ease of use to a whole new level. Check out our impressions below.

Continue reading Pandora Radio’s HTML5 redesign hands-on

Pandora Radio’s HTML5 redesign hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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But with all the buzz about Spotify, let’s not forget about the great music services that were born in the USA. How do they measure up to the Sweden-bred Spotify, which has amassed more than 10 million users in Europe alone, more than 1 million of whom are paid subscribers?

Here’s a look at a few of the more popular ones:

• iLike
  Headquarters: Beverly Hills, CA
  Founded: 2002
  What it is: A service that allows users to share and play songs within social networking sites.
  How big is it? iLike says it has more than 60 million registered users. In 2009, the company was acquired by MySpace for a reported million.

• MOG
  Headquarters: Berkeley, CA
  Founded: June 2005
  What it is: An ad-free subscription on-demand music service, and an online radio service.
  How big is it? MOG does not provide user or subscription figures. What we do know is that MOG has raised million in venture capital and has 11 million songs in its library.

• Pandora
  Headquarters: Oakland, CA
  Founded: January 2000
  What it is: A personalized Internet radio service available in a free, ad-supported version and a subscription-based, ad-free version.
  How big is it? Pandora has more than 90 million registered users, according to recent regulatory filings. The company collected 7 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year, and has a relatively limited library consisting of 800,000 songs. Pandorais publicly traded on the NYSE, and currently has a market cap of .8 billion.

• Rhapsody
  Headquarters: Seattle, Washington
  Founded: December 2001
  What it is: An on-demand subscription music service. Rhapsody started with a catalog consisting of mostly classical music, but now spans all genres.
  How big is it? Rhapsody has more than 800,000 paying subscribers and more than 12 million songs in its library, according to a recent PaidContent report. The company has not disclosed any revenue figures since it spun out of Real Networks in 2010 with an million initial investment, but it reportedly expects to become profitable this year.

• Slacker Radio
  Headquarters: San Diego, CA
  Founded: 2004; launched March 2007
  What it is: An interactive Internet radio service with social networking features; Slacker recently launched a paid on-demand music streaming feature as well.
  How big is it? Slacker has between 3 million to 5 million users, around 300,000 to 400,000 of whom are paying subscribers, according to a recent report by North County Times. The company has raised million in venture capital and has more than 8 million songs in its library.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but rather a snapshot of a few music services that have been available in the US from day one. If you have any personal favorites, please chime in using the comments.

Image courtesy of Flickr user mrsdkrebs.

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