WebProNews

Google Buys Mobile Ad Firm For $750 Million In Stock

Google said today it has signed an agreement to acquire mobile display advertising firm AdMob for $750 million in stock. Google says its acquisition will improve its existing expertise and technology in mobile advertising, while also giving advertisers and publishers more choice in the growing new area. Highlights of Google's purchase of AdMob include:

Google Maps Adds NYC Subway Layer

Last night on "30 Rock," Alec Baldwin's character got lost within New York's subway system, and due to being covered in bedbugs, received no help from his fellow passengers.  But if the same thing happened to him (or a non-fictional person) today, Google Maps could have come to the rescue.

Google Launches Analytics for Mobile Apps

Google has launched Google Analytics for Mobile Apps. The reports that are available as a result of last week's expansion of mobile reporting features are now available for mobile apps as well.

PayPal to Take Over Mobile and Social Apps

PayPal has opened its global payments platform called PayPal X, providing new APIs, a new developer portal, and some introductory services pricing to help developers take advantage of PayPal X to build businesses. "The whole world is going digital, and the future of how we communicate, how we get information, and even how we transact, is in the hands of developers," said PayPal President Scott Thompson. "The network is the platform on which the potential of digital money will be fully realized."

Bing Gets More Mobile Features in The US

Microsoft has launched some new features for the mobile version of the Bing search engine, which is available at m.bing.com. These include features related to the NFL and to travel. The NFL feature lets the user type a team or player and see upcoming games, stats, and scores. If you use the feature while a game is being played, you can get real-time updates on the plays. The feature is only available in the U.S.

Google Search By Voice Learns Chinese (In Limited Fashion)

Many products are initially available in English, and then branch out into languages like French, Italian, German, and Spanish.  (There's even an acronym, FIGS.)  But Google Search by voice broke with tradition - and started to make its way into a huge market - by moving straight from English to Mandarin Chinese today.

Yahoo Signs Mobile Search Deal With O2 Germany

More than 15 million Germans should now have a little additional Yahoo in their lives.  Yahoo's signed a mobile search deal with O2 Germany, and the American company's search engine and a number of other services are getting promoted as a result.

Usage of Mobile Web and Apps Doubles in 2 Years

According to AdMob, which claims it is the world's largest mobile advertising platform, mobile web and application use has doubled over the past two years. In September, the firm received over 100 million ad requests from 14 countries, and over 10 million ad requests from 64 countries. AdMob released its Mobile Metrics report for September, which highlights the rapid growth in usage of mobile web sites and apps on new devices in the past year.

Google Delivers GPS for Android 2.0 Devices

Google has launched Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 devices in beta. This acts as a GPS navigation system with 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance, and automatic rerouting. "But unlike most navigation systems, Google Maps Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of your phone's Internet connection," says Google Software Engineer Keith Ito.

You Don't Need a Google Number to Use Google Voice

Google has announced that Google Voice users can now use existing mobile phone numbers. This means that even if you don't get a new Google number, you can still get Google Voicemail.