Research group Gartner expects the mobile advertising market to expand by 78 percent to $1.6 billion in 2010. The iAd mobile advertising platform was announced as part of iPhone 4.0 just a few days after the release of the iPad. Apple's new platform eschews Flash for HTML 5. This Tech Crunch post from Brightcove founder Jeremy Allaire sheds light on the past and future of Flash, HTML5, video, and rich media on the web and mobile platforms. AvatarLabs is ready to bring more fun and engaging experiences to the growing legions of Apple mobile device users.

Expectations were exceeded and stores sold out as 450,000 iPads were sold during its first week in the marketplace.  As of April 9, users downloaded 600,000 digital books and 3.5 million applications for the device.   There are 3,500 native  apps available for the iPad with hundreds more coming online daily.  A large number of iPhone apps also run on the iPad, many of which will be updated to take advantage of the higher resolution screen.  AvatarLabs is ready to help our clients take advantage of this new device that promises to enhance the ability of consumers and movie fans to connect with brands in unprecedented ways.  We have mulitple iPad apps in the pipeline already and look forward to the exciting challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.  Feel free to stop by our office if you'd like to play with one of these new toys!

AvatarLabs has several iPad apps in development, and we're excited to bring this amazing new opportunity to our clients.  In addition to developing apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch, we are concepting and developing new apps that take advantage of the iPad's unique, larger format.  The iPad also promises to be a powerful platform for mobile rich media advertising, as it can accommodate a Brightcove video player and "iFlash" ad units.  The iAd mobile platform being unveiled on April 7 will be huge news, and AvatarLabs will be keeping close watch on all developments.  We are dedicated to helping our clients profit from all things iPad.  Stay tuned!

Susan Lambert shares insights gleaned from AvatarLabs' experience with the development process and the iTunes App Store over the last year.  Read her article at Gamasutra.com. Additional insight on the iPhone approval process can be found in this story from Business Week that features in interview with SVP of Apple Phil Schiller.

Hundreds of millions of real dollars are flowing in and out of virtual economies, creating fun ways for people to interact via social games.  Some of those millions having been flowing into the pockets of the unscrupulous, putting legitimate companies and advertisers at a disadvantage .  We attended the Virtual Goods Summit in San Francisco and enjoyed immensely the panel discussions and conversations about this exciting and rapidly growing sector of the social web.  Being pioneers in the creation of engaging games and activities as part of larger marketing efforts, it's exciting to watch this industry mature, albeit not without some growing pains.  Overshadowing some of the innovations and success stories presented at VGS at the end of October, have been the ongoing "ScamVille" posts on Tech Crunch that lead to the replacement of a founder/CEO at her own company, and possibly to class action lawsuits against big players like Zynga, and even Facebook.  Hopefully the outcome will be a high-quality channel for advertisers to find and engage consumers, and for those consumers to be able to play safely.  This may happen quickly if all the players in the space follow the lead of new Offerpal CEO George Garrick who has moved quickly to admit wrong-doing and implement a quality rating system for advertisers.  Read the whole thread on Tech Crunch here.  Whether or not you agree with Michael Arrington's approach to journalism, it is entertaining reading.

Slippage continues in TV land, while online continues to grow opportunities: "... unlike television consumption, which mostly happens during hours of 8 pm to 11 pm, people across all demographics are watching online videos consistently throughout the day and night, with the exception of dinnertime... this fundamental shift in consumer behavior opens up opportunities... [to] leverage online video to reach target audiences more often than just once a week." Read the full report here.

We aren’t partying like it’s 1999, but we are seeing a shift. From this article “Online ad pricing is turning the corner, possibly leaving the worst days behind us…”