There’s confusion about what Apple’s Passbook actually offers. It’s an amalgamation of loyalty cards, promotions, tickets and mobile payments, among other things. The advantage it has is its central position at the operating system level and the ability developers have to build Passbook functionality into their apps. This “unification” aspect is important in an app […]

Foursquare’s co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley spoke at PandoMonthly in New York and shared the key for his company’s monetization: specific discounts for specific customers. Crowley said that it’s taken a while to get to the point of monetizing the product, but that now is the right time. He had this to say regarding precision-based […]

According to an Ad Age report, Groupon is pondering its selection of an ad agency to help with an upcoming ad campaign to help the daily-deals giant repair its image and stock price. Word is that the company is even considering something related to this year’s Super Bowl. How serious Groupon’s consideration of this move […]

A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends that the U.S. government work with stakeholders to create guidelines to protect consumer privacy and prevent companies from sharing their location information without the consumers’ permission. The GAO’s report found that consumers are mostly oblivious about mobile app developers and wireless carriers sharing or selling their […]

Monetate, a company offering conversion and optimization solutions for brands, generated a helpful infographic recapping last year’s e-commerce holiday season. Among the bits of information shared are: A total of $816 million was spent online in the U.S. on Black Friday last year, up 26 percent from the $648 million spent in 2010 $1.25 billion […]

By Jonathan L. Pompan, of counsel, Venable LLP

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) will host a one-day summit, “Robocalls All the Rage,” on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, “to develop solutions to the rapid rise in illegal robocalls.” The summit comes on the heels of reports that complaints about unwanted calls are on the rise, and a request by some U.S. senators to investigate lead generators.

Groupon’s Breadcrumb point-of-sale application for restaurants acts as a replacement for cash registers and gives users the ability to do other things. Combine this shift with its acquisition of Savored and it’s apparent that Groupon is placing itself in the ring with OpenTable. But this could be a mistake, since restaurants are already cozy with […]

Fab, a fast-growing flash-sales site, is expected to get 8 million users in a few days, is seeing a third of its daily visits and sales coming from mobile apps on Android and iOS devices. That figure is expected to hit 50 percent during the holiday season and even higher early in 2013. In response […]

PunchTab touts itself as “the world’s first instant loyalty platform.” Flush with $5.25 million in venture funding, the company is expanding into the mobile realm with a giveaways iPhone app called “PunchTab Giveaways.” The app will enable consumers to take part in publishers’ contests on their mobile phones. To give you a better idea of […]

Last week we took a look at why marketers should blog to generate leads, so it makes sense to follow that up with a discussion of what marketers need to keep in mind as they build out their blogs. After all, you wouldn’t convince a friend to embark on a big adventure without telling them […]