Subway Readies Global M...

Will launch transactional mobile websites and applications worldwide.

Subway Readies Global M...

Will launch transactional mobile websites and applications worldwide.

Placecast Launches Self...

Placecast’s ShopAlerts service , which delivers retailer and merchant offers and discounts to consumers via their mobile phones, has been used by a number of high profile brands such as The North Face , and even AT&T. Today, the company is unveiling a self-serve version of ShopAlerts which allows merchants to create, deliver and track redemptions of mobile promotions. ShopAlerts Self-Serve is a white-label geofencing platform for businesses that want to deliver geo-triggered offers to their customers on their mobile phones. Consumers can opt-in to receiving text messages in a variety of ways—at the store, online, via text-message, mobile websites or on Facebook. Geofences are virtual areas set around physical locations; when an opted-in consumer is inside a geofenced area, she receives a message from a business, including a discount, notice of a sale, directions to a store or other content. The self-serve version of ShopAlerts allows merchants to upload and manage store locations and information, create geofences and promotions, track coupons and redemption codes and access analytics on participants, geofences and ROI. Users can also change messages in real-time. ShopAlerts Self-Serve is actually not directly open to small businesses, but rather larger vertical companies like mobile operators, yellow-page providers, retailers, financial institutions or deal services who can then work with SMBs and can deploy this tool for merchants. Placecast says that currently ShopAlerts can reach 268 million phones currently across the AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile networks.

CNN Claims 10 Million M...

CNN offers a lot of mobile apps on a lot of devices. There is CNN for the iPhone, the iPad, Android, and even Nokia phones. There are even different apps for international news. All in all, CNN’s mobile apps have been downloaded 10 million times, according to the company. The most popular app is CNN for iPhone, which has been out the longest—since September, 2009. And on Apple devices alone, CNN apps are the No.1 and No. 3 news apps on the iPhone, as well as the No. 1 news app on the iPad. CNN would not provide a breakdown between iOS, Android, and Nokia downloads. In addition, CNN’s mobile websites drew 201 million combined pageviews in June. CNN is making a big push into mobile, as well it should. It recently launched two new 24-hour live channels on the Web for cable subscribers, and those are also available through its mobile apps.

Digby Lands $8 Million ...

Digby, which helps retailers design, deploy and manage mobile commerce web sites and rich applications optimized for smartphones, has raised $8 million in Series C funding led by Battery Ventures with RIM’s BlackBerry Partners Fund, S3 Ventures and Daylight Partners participating in the round. This brings the startup’s total funding to $16 million. Digby’s Mobile Commerce product helps retailers create mobile websites that display rich product images and live catalogs, expands the ways they can buy from merchants and more. Digby also allows retailer to create native applications for iOS, BlackBerry and Android devices. Digby has a number of well-known retailers using its offering, including Costco, Toys “R” Us, The Home Depot, Lilly Pulitzer, and 1-800-Flowers. The startup also recently landed a deal with AT&T to power the telecommunications giant’s mobile commerce software platform for developers. The new funds will be used to expand global operations including sales, marketing, client services, research and platform development, and for new client acquisitions. As mobile commerce ramps up, there’s no question that more retailers will be looking to platforms like Digby to create a seamless mobile shopping experience for consumers. Digby could also be an acquisition target for a retail giant like eBay, so it should be interesting to see how the company performs in the coming year. CrunchBase Information Digby Information provided by CrunchBase