Opera launches Opera Mobile Store

OSLO, NORWAY: Opera Software, a leading provider of mobile browsers around the world, has announced that the Opera Mobile Store is now open and available at mobilestore.opera.com. 11 Mar 2011 06:30

Emerging auto insurance and aggregator sites attracting meaningful market share

RESTON, US: comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, has announced the availability of an expanded competitive set of insurers and aggregator sites for its online auto insurance benchmarker. In Q4 2010, these additional sites accounted for 724 000 submitted quotes, making up 8% of quotes submitted online. 8 Mar 2011 09:58

mig33's mega sales

BURLINGAME, US: mig33, one of the world's largest mobile-first communities, has announced that its members purchased more than 40 million virtual gifts in 2010, with sales more than doubling in several countries during the year's final six months. 2 Mar 2011 08:48

Fees could alienate online bill pay users

CHICAGO, US: Online banking continues to grow in popularity, and according to Mintel, 79% of consumers visit their banks' online website on a daily or weekly basis. However, it seems that loyalty to online banking would vanish if the service wasn't complimentary, as just less than 80% of consumers would stop using their banks online bill pay services if their financial institutions charged a monthly fee. 24 Feb 2011 08:22

Financial services CEOs look to emerging markets to feed growth aspirations

LONDON, UK: Financial services companies need to look far beyond their domestic markets if they are to achieve their ambitious growth aspirations. This is according to the 14th annual PwC Global CEO Survey, which shows CEOs of financial services companies believe emerging markets are more important than developed markets to their organisation's future. 16 Feb 2011 11:21

Marketers look to newer platforms

NEW YORK, US: To reach multicultural consumers, more than half (56%) of marketers are increasing their investments in newer media platforms, according to an ANA (Association of National Advertisers) member survey. Another 35% are holding their spending at the same level, while only 9% are reducing their investments in newer media. 8 Feb 2011 11:30

Global SMS traffic to reach 8.7 trillion in 2015

LONDON, UK: According to the latest forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media, SMS will remain a significant source of revenues and traffic for mobile operators on a global basis until at least 2015. The company reckons SMS traffic growth will be driven by enterprise, emerging markets and social networks. 27 Jan 2011 08:28

[2011 trends] It's a Wild. Wired. Wellthy. World!

[Gisele Wertheim Aymes] The recent global recession has changed our world forever. In a new digital age, characterised by oversupply and too many product types in almost every market, the challenge for companies will be to locate and capture pools of high-profit demand and be able to move with speed and flexibility to take advantage of them. Here are 11 trends for 2011. 18 Jan 2011 14:17

Accenture, comScore, dunnhumbyUSA announce initiation of breakthrough study

RESTON, US: Accenture, comScore, Inc., and dunnhumbyUSA have announced a groundbreaking initiative to help consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers better understand the link between consumers' usage of brand websites and their in-store brand buying behaviour. 11 Jan 2011 13:02

2010's top PR stories

PHILADELPHIA, US: A survey of public relations professionals around the globe indicates that the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the October rescue of the trapped Chilean miners ranked as the top PR stories of 2010. 6 Jan 2011 06:42

Training essential in IT sales environment

[Daniel Silke] I am a good example of a connected, discerning customer who already has done most of his research even before entering a store and I usually shop around looking for the best deals from different vendors. Therefore, I was armed with all the information I needed and I knew the different offerings from the two major outlets selling the new Apple iMac. I was setting the outlets up for a bit of healthy competition by visiting both just before making my decision where to lay down my credit card. 29 Dec 2010 16:25

Christmas shopping helper

LONDON, UK: Marks & Spencer UK High street retailer helps online shoppers avoid the stress of Christmas shopping. The aim is to help the retailer gain a bigger share of the online retail market. 1 Dec 2010 11:16

comScore forecasts 11% growth for 2010 holiday e-commerce spending

RESTON, US: comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 21 days of the November-December 2010 holiday season, as well as its official spending forecast for the season. For the holiday season-to-date, US$9.01 billion (about R63 billion) has been spent online, marking a 13% increase versus the corresponding days last year. 29 Nov 2010 08:40

German consumers in the mood for pre-Christmas spending

NUREMBERG, GERMANY: Consumer sentiment again improved significantly in November, with the economic expectations remaining consistently high. Income expectations and the propensity to buy both picked up tangibly following the downturns recorded in October. As a result, the overall indicator is forecasting 5.5 points for December following a revised 5.1 points for November. 24 Nov 2010 10:45