If your organization thought it could get away with prioritizing either a mobile app or an optimized mobile Web site, it risks missing either a large potential swath of iPhone users or Google-search-cultivated Android visitors.
That’s the dilemma forced by the diverging mobile agendas of Apple and Google, outlined in a New York Times feature article published over the weekend. The focus of the story is on primarily how this affects the publishing business: The Atavist Magazine, dedicated to story-telling, recently shut down its mobile app in order to prioritize sharing mobile content. “Getting someone to download an app is way harder than targeting them and sending them stories through social media,” the magazine’s co-founder, Evan Ratliff, told the Times.
The same tension undoubtedly will force tough decisions for corporate mobile developers in months to come, especially for those focused on e-commerce or customer loyalty programs.
To be clear, Americans still spend more time using mobile apps than the mobile web—Goldman Sachs data suggests people spend 60% of their online time within apps versus on the mobile app. But Google is working hard to provide a convincing alternative, which could change those numbers dramatically over the next year.
Can you believe Apple Pay is one year old? To celebrate, banks are about to make the battle for your mobile wallet more interesting. Plus, it looks like Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is losing two more senior lieutenants. Are you reading today’s newsletter on the Fortune Web site? Sign up to receive the email edition. Have a terrific Monday!
TOP OF MIND
Banks are reaching for your mobile wallet. Last week, Capital One became the first big U.S. financial services company to add "tap to pay" features to its Android mobile app. Others are poised to follow suit, which could create heartburn for the fledgling Samsung Pay and Android Pay services. For comparative purposes, the one-year-old Apple Pay service is backed by 400 financial institutions. (Re/code, TechCrunch)
TRENDING
$100 billion and counting. That's the aggregate value of mergers and acquisitions driven by a frenzy of consolidation this year among semiconductor companies. (Wall Street Journal)
So much for that U.S.-China pledge to halt corporate cyber-espionage. Since late September, there have been at least seven attempted breaches on U.S. businesses linked to Chinese hackers, according to security firms on the watch. (Reuters)
Huawei will spend $1 billion to build cloud computing business. The Chinese telecommunications company will help businesses develop and test applications that run on its computing-on-demand services. (Journal)
Two more high-level Yahoo departures. BloombergBusiness reports that corporate development officer Jacqueline Reses is leaving to take a similar position at IPO-bound Square. Plus, it looks like the Internet giant has also bid adieu to its senior vice president of marketing partnership, Lisa Licht. (BloombergBusiness, Re/code)
Eye-opening Pinterest growth ambitions. The visual social network is projecting about $150 million in revenue this year, according to documents obtained by news service TechCrunch. Within three years, however, it is shooting for $2.8 billion. (TechCrunch)
One big threat to Netflix's international expansion. Potential subscribers outside the United States can already get some of its most valuable content elsewhere. (New York Times)
Patent scorecard. It's official: Apple owes the University of Wisconsin $234 million for using its microchip technology in iPhones and iPads without permission. An appeal is expected. Meanwhile, Google prevailed in its defense of the latest lawsuit brought against it by licensing firm SimpleAir. Here, too, an appeal is anticipated. (Reuters, Ars Technica)
THE DOWNLOAD
5 important predictions about business technology spending
Spending on business technology is expected to rise 6.7% to $2.1 trillion by 2017 compared with last year, according to a Barclay’s research report released late last week. It’s music to the ears of some technology companies, but not all of them. Companies are expected buy more business software, for example. But they’re losing their appetite for hardware gear like data storage appliances and personal computers, according to the report. Read on for what you should know.
BITS AND BYTES
You may need a license for that personal drone. The Federal Aviation Authority wants to create a new air of accountability for recreational owners, too. (Journal)
Some customers aren't so happy about automatic Windows 10 updates, so they're signing a Change.org petition against them. (Computerworld)
Workers using Macintosh laptops don't call the help desk as often as those using the Windows variety. At least if they're IBM employees. (AppleInsider)
Cashing in. Newly public First Data is pushing aggressively into the crowded market for tablet point of sale systems tailored for small merchants and restaurants. (Fortune)
Watch college football while riding Uber. The service, a perk associated with elite "black car" rides, will be tested in four U.S. cities. (Verge)
MY FORTUNE BOOKMARKS
The smart home's problem is its best product is terrible and made by a bankrupt company by Stacey Higginbotham
Here's how hybrid laptops are going to save the tablet market by Don Reisinger
Google's victory in book-scanning case is a huge win for fair use by Mathew Ingram
ONE MORE THING
In case you missed it. Former Microsoft CEO and sports mogul Steve Ballmer now owns a big stake in Twitter—a bigger one than co-founder and newly permanent CEO Jack Dorsey. (Fortune)
