Michelle Megna

Nokia may be considering a plan to allow U.S. advertisers to customize its phones with marketing messages — like logos and promotional multimedia content — that would potentially lower the phones’ costs to end users. Under such a plan, which follows some success with a similar program in Brazil, advertisers would pick a Nokia (NYSE: […]

New guideline issued today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) are aimed at reconciling what constitutes a legitimate click in terms of online pay-per-click campaigns, in which advertisers pay publishers for each time a user clicks on an ad. To an Internet user, a click is a simple action, but for online advertisers who pay […]

Online retailers looking to cut costs during a recession while still improving the online customer experience are advised to switch their e-commerce software to non-customized platforms and funnel the savings into functions such as search engine optimization (SEO), according to research released today by Gartner. E-commerce firms should consider commercial, off-the-shelf, or open source software […]

With all the news recently on the Kindle front — the new large-screen [DX launch last week](/ec-news/article.php/3819046/Amazon+Enlarges+EBook+Play+With+Kindle+DX.htm) and today’s launch of a Kindle Store optimized for the Safari Web browser on iPhone — one can almost forget that the Kindle 2 was just released in February. Indeed, Amazon’s push into the e-reader market is in […]

It’s not the traditional birthstone ruby, but sapphires that may mark the month of July this year in terms of coveted gems. Wal-Mart may be selling the HTC Magic, a.k.a. Sapphire, in July for $179, with the standard two-year contract, according to the latest unconfirmed report from the blog [Boy Genius Report,](http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/05/08/t-mobiles-walmart-roadmap-t-mobile-g2-with-a-surprise/) which posted what […]

Apple recently saw its billionth app download and just ended a standoff with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails over its approval policy for iPhone apps. Still, the iPhone maker isn’t the only big player in smartphone app news recentlly — Microsoft’s new Facebook mini-program debuts and PayPal introduces a mobile Android program. Microsoft announced […]

Despite the beating that the e-commerce industry is taking during the downturn, a handful of firms managed to stand out or improve their customer satisfaction — positioning themselves for a greater share of the market once the turnaround hits, observers say. Yet there have been some upsets as well in ForeSee Results’ latest e-commerce satisfaction […]

It’s deja vu for many online store owners as etail e-commerce sales remained flat in the first quarter, checking in with no change year-over-year, according to comScore’s Q1 2009 retail e-commerce sales estimates. Still, that’s better than year-over-year loss for the fourth quarter of last year, which was down by three percent compared to Q4 […]

Bad news for iPhone app developers just about done with their current projects — Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced that applications must now support the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 to receive approval. Beginning today, any app submitted for the iPhone App Store must be compatible with the latest beta, version 5, of the iPhone’s software, the […]

Click to enlarge Nokia may be betting on more than the popularity of texting by having AT&T be the first U.S. carrier to subsidize one of its smartphones — the Nokia E71x, available today for $99 with the standard commitment of a two-year contract. The move by the world’s largest mobile phone maker could signal that Nokia […]

A new online storefront for social networking sites from [ToldYa.com](http://www.toldya.com) debuts today and claims to outshine other widgets designed to cash in on the social media craze by keeping the transactions at the original site and by not requiring merchant accounts. The ToldYa eStore is a three-by-four-inch mini store that can be embedded and posted […]

As reports circulate suggesting that electronics retailer Best Buy will get a limited supply of Palm Pre units June 7, one industry analyst weighs in on Palm’s launch strategy. Based on the limited information at hand, he says Palm needs to focus on capturing Sprint customers — and on apps. It’s not clear if June […]