Shoppers’ use of the Alexa voice assistant more than tripled during the 2018 holiday season from a year earlier. Read more…
Category: Industry
Blind, an anonymous community app, surveyed tech employees to see how many would identify themselves as depressed.
- 38.78% answered with ‘True’ to a question asking if they were depressed.
- Amazon led the way with 43.4% of employees answering with ‘True,” Microsoft (with 41.58%) and Intel (with 38.86%).
- Apple had the lowest percentage of employees answering with 30.61%.
- The two other companies with the lowest percentage of employees answering with ‘False’ are Google (with 33.11%) and Cisco (with 34.69%).
The survey ran from Nov 20 through Nov 28, 2018, and was answered by 10,081 users of the Blind app. Users could only answer once.
| Company | True | False | Count | % True | % False |
| Amazon | 447 | 583 | 1030 | 43.40% | 56.60% |
| Microsoft | 380 | 534 | 914 | 41.58% | 58.42% |
| Intel | 68 | 107 | 175 | 38.86% | 61.14% |
| 55 | 87 | 142 | 38.73% | 61.27% | |
| 149 | 257 | 406 | 36.70% | 63.30% | |
| Uber | 80 | 143 | 223 | 35.87% | 64.13% |
| Oracle | 50 | 92 | 142 | 35.21% | 64.79% |
| Cisco | 51 | 96 | 147 | 34.69% | 65.31% |
| 148 | 299 | 447 | 33.11% | 66.89% | |
| Apple | 45 | 102 | 147 | 30.61% | 69.39% |
Source: Blind
The National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., admitted it coordinated with the Trump campaign to make an illegal hush payment, federal prosecutors disclosed. The disclosure came the same day former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was sentenced in federal court to three years in prison.
The double whammy of the Cohen conviction and the AMI admission gave ammo to Trump critics, but for now, it doesn’t really change the calculus of an impeachment. Read more…
Zulily is urging consumers in select markets to tweet to its @zulily Twitter account with the hashtag #zulilygiftsweepstakes. Read more…
Burger King is rolling out a “Whopper Detour” stunt that relies on mobile geofencing to steer customers away from rival McDonald’s. Read more…
Apple has reportedly moved marketing staff from other projects to focus on boosting sales of the iPhone, while testing generous trade-in deals to spur demand during the crucial holiday buying season. Read more…
Fashion rental service Rent the Runway (RTR) partnered with Jonathan Van Ness, one of the stars of Netflix’s “Queer Eye,” on a social and charitable campaign, according to a statement shared with Mobile Marketer. Read more…
Google posted a video on YouTube to remind publishers about its policies against dangerous and derogatory content. Publishers may get blocked if they aren’t careful about what appears on their websites, such as unmoderated comments from users. Read more…
Global sales of smartphones to end users grew 1.4 percent to 389 million units in the third quarter from a year earlier, according to Gartner Inc.
Worldwide Top 5 Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 3Q18 (Thousands of Units)
| Vendor | 3Q18Units | 3Q18 Market Share (%) | 3Q17Units | 3Q17 Market Share (%) |
| Samsung | 73,360.1 | 18.9 | 85,605.3 | 22.3 |
| Huawei | 52,218.4 | 13.4 | 36,501.8 | 9.5 |
| Apple | 45,746.6 | 11.8 | 45,441.9 | 11.8 |
| Xiaomi | 33,219.7 | 8.5 | 26,853.2 | 7.0 |
| OPPO | 30,563.4 | 7.9 | 29,449.2 | 7.7 |
| Others | 153,960.0 | 39.6 | 159,742.0 | 41.6 |
| Total | 389,068.2 | 100.0 | 383,593.4 | 100.0 |
Source: Gartner (December 2018)
Madison Avenue forecasts ad spending will grow modestly next year. Publishers will be challenged to boost digital ad sales amid growing competition. The saving grace for many publishers will be mobile ad sales. Read more….