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Mobile ads help grow Facebook's 1Q revenue 38 pct.

Michael Goodwin, Senior Partner for HTC, displays an HTC First cell phone wit the new Facebook interface at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2013. The company says it is not building a phone or an operating system. Rather, Facebook is introducing a new experience for Android phones. The idea behind the new Home service is to bring content right to you, rather than require people to check apps on the device. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A year ago, Facebook was just testing the waters of mobile advertising, causing plenty of headaches for investors ahead of its massive initial public offering.

It has since eased those worries.

On Wednesday the world's biggest social networking company said nearly a third of its advertising revenue came from mobile in the first three months of the year, helping to push total revenue up 38 percent to surpass Wall Street's expectations.

"They are making the transition to mobile faster than anyone anticipated," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. "It seems like they are delivering."

Facebook Inc. said Wednesday that its net income was $219 million, or 9 cents per share, in the January-March period. That's up from $205 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same period a year ago, when it was still private.

Revenue grew to $1.46 billion from $1.06 billion, above analysts' expectations of $1.44 billion.

Excluding special items, mainly related to stock compensation expenses, Facebook earned 12 cents per share, matching the average of analyst expectations, according to FactSet.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook said that its mobile advertising revenue was 30 percent of its total ad revenue in the first quarter, amounting to $375 million. That's up from 23 percent, or $306 million, in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter ? the first time it disclosed such figures ? the company generated 14 percent, or $153 million, of its advertising revenue from mobile.

Investors had been worried about Facebook's ability to grow mobile revenue since before its initial public offering in May 2012. That's because although the number of people who access Facebook on smartphones and tablet computers has been growing quickly, Facebook didn't begin showing ads to those users until last year.

David Ebersman, Facebook's chief financial officer, said most advertisers did not specify that their ads be shown only on desktop computers or only on mobile devices, "rather they put their ads into our system and allow us to show the ads on whatever device where the ads will perform best."

Bhatia thinks Facebook will fare even better on mobile devices once Zuckerberg firms up its plan to make money from the growing audience checking into Instagram, a photo-sharing service that the company bought last year for $521 million. The analyst believes Instagram will play a bigger role in Facebook's business next year.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said the results are likely to quiet skeptics who doubted Facebook's ability to mine its growing mobile traffic for revenue. He was particularly impressed by the 23 percent increase in Facebook's mobile ad revenue, even though the company's overall ad revenue for the period dipped 6 percent from the final three months of last year.

"Their mobile business is probably bigger than any mobile business on the planet other than the (wireless telecommunications) carriers and Google," Pachter said.

Facebook started showing mobile advertisements in early 2012. In the third quarter of last year, the company generated 14 percent, or $153 million of its advertising revenue from mobile. In the fourth quarter mobile ads represented to 23 percent, or $306 million.

Research firm eMarketer says Facebook's share of the U.S. online advertising market is growing. This year, the company is expected to take a 6.5 percent share of U.S. online ad spending, up from 5.9 percent in 2012. Still, that figure is far behind Google Inc.'s 41.6 percent.

On the mobile front, eMarketer expects Facebook to take a 13.2 percent share of U.S. ad revenue, up from 9.5 percent in 2012, the first year it made any money from mobile ads. Though Facebook is No. 2, it is far behind Google in U.S. mobile advertising. EMarketer expects the online search leader to take a 54.7 percent share of U.S. mobile advertising revenue this year.

The company also grew its user base during the quarter. This has also been an area of some concern to investors amid chatter of "Facebook fatigue," especially among younger users, surfacing in recent months. But Facebook said its monthly user base grew to 1.11 billion accounts as of the end of March, up 5 percent from 1.06 million at the end of December.

The number of users who access Facebook every day, on average, grew 8 percent to 665 million in March, from 618 million in December.

Gartner Inc. analyst Brian Blau said the ongoing growth of daily users suggests that the service is a tough habit to break.

"The network remains in full force," Blau said. "You have to give them a lot of credit."

That doesn't mean there won't be concerns about some Facebook users, especially teenagers, migrating to other mobile applications and digital outlets to hang out with friends and share slices of their lives, said Forrester Research analyst Nate Elliott.

"There is always going to be something new in social," Elliott said. "The question is how much of it is a threat to Facebook? All Facebook can do is keep those users coming back and make money off those users. And Facebook seems to be doing both of those things reasonably well."

Instagram now has 100 million monthly users, up from 22 million when Facebook agreed to buy the company in April 2012.

Facebook's stock rose 12 cents to $27.55 in after-hours trading. The stock closed down 34 cents on Wednesday. It is up 3 percent since the beginning of the year compared with an 11 percent increase for the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Facebook went public on May 18, 2012, at $38 per share, a price it hasn't hit since.

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-01-US-TEC-Earns-Facebook/id-41e79fb4b5f04f6e8928a5c1121b33ca

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Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos Celebrate 17th Wedding Anniversary!

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Knicks need to win on road to avoid Game 7

BOSTON (AP) ? The Boston Celtics are looking across town for inspiration as they attempt to become the first NBA team to rally from an 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series.

Needing to win four straight games to stay alive in the playoffs, Celtics coach Doc Rivers talked to his team about the Red Sox and their comeback against the New York Yankees in the 2004 AL championship series. Celtics guard Jason Terry invoked former Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar and said, "If we win this next game, then anything's possible."

"We just know every game for us is a Game 7," Terry said after beating the New York Knicks 92-86 on Wednesday night to cut their deficit in the best-of-seven series to 3-2. "It's all about being resilient. Do you pack up your things and go home or do you want to play another day? You got guys like Kevin (Garnett) and Paul (Pierce) who've been in a lot of playoff series, and every one takes a life of its own.

"Obviously being down 3-0 ... we could have folded shop," Terry said. "Nobody in here is going to quit."

The Red Sox comeback is legendary in Boston, and not only because it came against the hated Yankees. After losing the first three games of the series ? including a 19-8, Game 3 loss at Fenway Park ? Millar told anyone who would listen, "Don't let us win today."

As Millar predicted, Pedro Martinez pitched Game 5 and Curt Schilling won Game 6 and then, "Game 7, anything can happen." The Red Sox beat the Yankees and went on to sweep Colorado to win the World Series.

"We're well aware of what happened" with the Red Sox, said Terry, who has only been with the Celtics one season. "If this happens, it'll be very similar. I'm very familiar with what they did and the history they made. Is that a motivating factor for us? It helps, but that alone is not going to win the series for us."

Only three times in NBA history has a team rallied from an 0-3 deficit to even force a seventh game: the Knicks did it in 1951 against the Rochester Royals, the Denver Nuggets came back against Utah in '94 and Portland did against Dallas in 2003. All of them lost in the seventh game.

If the Celtics can win Game 6 on Friday night in Boston, the decisive seventh game in New York on Sunday. Garnett said there won't be any consolation in just making it close

"Next game we lose, this is it," he said. "So I don't know what everybody is talking about getting comfortable or feeling good. It's not like we evened it up and we're going back home. We're down 3-2. So I don't know what being comfortable is about."

The Celtics have won an NBA-record 17 titles, the last in 2008, so they don't have nearly the baggage of the Red Sox team that was trying to end an 86-year title drought. In fact, it's the Knicks who are struggling against history: They haven't won a playoff series since 2000, and their last championship came in 1973.

So most of the pressure would seem to be on them.

"We didn't get it done last night, and the mood of the team is that 'Hey, there's a sense of urgency,'" coach Mike Woodson said. "It's not going to be easy by any means going to Boston and getting a win there, but again, we still control our own destiny. We have won in Boston, so we've got to see what we're made of now."

___

AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this story from Greenburgh, N.Y.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/knicks-win-road-avoid-game-7-175547935.html

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US employers add 165K jobs; rate falls to 7.5 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. economy showed last month why it remains the envy of industrialized nations: In the face of tax increases and federal spending cuts, employers added a solid 165,000 jobs in April ? and far more in February and March than anyone thought.

The job growth in April drove down the unemployment rate to a four-year low of 7.5 percent and sent a reassuring sign that the U.S. job market is improving.

In its report Friday, the Labor Department revised up its estimate of job gains in February and March by a combined 114,000. It now says employers added 332,000 jobs in February and 138,000 in March. The economy has created an average of 208,000 jobs a month from November through April ? above the 138,000 added in the previous six months.

"This is a good report," said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. "There's a lot of strength... It's good for the economy. It's good for people's income."

The stronger job growth suggests that the federal budget cutting "does not mean recession," Silvia said. "It does not mean a dramatic slowdown."

Stock prices soared in response. The Dow was up 157 points in early-afternoon trading and briefly touched 15,000 for the first time.

The unemployment rate has fallen 0.4 percentage point since the start of the year, though it remains high. The Federal Reserve has said it plans to keep short-term interest rates at record lows at least until unemployment falls to 6.5 percent.

A healthy recovery in housing and recent increases in consumer spending are supporting healthy

The hiring last month was concentrated in services. Construction companies and governments cut jobs. Manufacturing employment was flat.

Some higher-paying sectors added workers. Professional and technical services, which includes accounting, engineering and architecture, added 23,000 jobs. Education and health services added 44,000.

But the biggest job gains were in lower-paying fields, such as hotels and restaurants, which added 45,000 jobs, and retail, which added 29,000. Temporary help firms gained 31,000 positions.

The job growth is occurring while the U.S. economy is growing modestly but steadily. It expanded at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter, fueled by the strongest consumer spending in two years.

The global economy, by contrast, is slowing. The European Union warned Friday, for example, that the 17 countries that use the euro currency will shrink by a collective 0.4 percent this year. And unemployment across the eurozone is expected to hit an average of 12.2 percent. In Greece and Spain, it's forecast to reach 27 percent.

Both Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi have suggested that governments need to focus on stimulating growth and not just on spending cuts and deficit reduction.

In April, more Americans said they had part-time jobs even though they wanted full-time work. That figure rose 278,000 to 7.9 million, reversing a steep drop the previous month.

Some economists worry that restaurants, retail chains and other companies are hiring more part-time workers in preparation for the implementation of health care reform. Companies with more than 50 full-time employees in 2013 will be required to provide health insurance to their full-time staff next year.

The revisions to the March and February figures were unusually large. Retailers, restaurants and hotels added 48,000 more jobs in February than previously reported. They accounted for three-quarters of that month's revision.

The government revises each month's job totals twice in the following two months. The revisions occur because many companies in the survey submit their responses late. Typically, about 75 percent of the 145,000 employers surveyed submit their responses in time for each month's initial report. The response rate usually rises to about 95 percent for the third and final estimate.

The average workweek for private-sector employees declined 0.2 hour to 34.4 hours, but average hourly earnings rose 4 cents to $23.87. In the past year, wages have risen faster than inflation.

The number of people who have been unemployed for more than six months dropped 258,000 to 4.4 million. Over the past year, the number of long-term unemployed has declined by 687,000.

A fire overnight at the Labor Department's headquarters shut down the building for most employees. Members of the news media were allowed in for the release of the jobs report.

___

Follow Chris Rugaber on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-employers-add-165k-jobs-rate-falls-7-124848219.html

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The Department of Defense is planning to approve Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and Apple's iPhone and

The Department of Defense is planning to approve Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and Apple's iPhone and iPad for government agency use. Maybe they'll replace some of the 470,000 BlackBerrys they currently use...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-department-of-defense-is-planning-to-approve-samsun-486742651

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NPD: More people spending more time gaming online | Joystiq

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE NPD GROUP: REPORT SHOWS INCREASED NUMBER OF ONLINE GAMERS AND HOURS SPENT GAMING

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, May 2, 2013 ? According to Online Gaming 2013, the latest report from global information company, The NPD Group, 72 percent of U.S. gamers report gaming online. This represents an increase in incidence of 5 percentage points among gamers from 2012.

Along with the rise in online gaming, there was also an increase in the number of hours spent playing games across the majority of devices surveyed. This led to an overall increase in the average number of hours played per week for gaming overall, up 9 percent, and for gaming online, up 6 percent.

"Besides the size of the gaming audience and sales performance, one of the key metrics for the industry to watch is the time gamers spend playing games," said Liam Callahan, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "This study found that the overall amount of time spent gaming, and time spent gaming online increased across virtually every type of device, and notably so, versus 2012."

Across all platforms measured in the report, the PC ranks as the top platform for online gaming with 68 percent reporting that they use a PC for online gaming. This represents a 4 percentage point decline over last year, and online gaming on mobile devices is quickly catching up. In fact, mobile devices saw a 12 percentage point increase in online gaming since last year.

Acquiring digital content seems like a behavior that would be preferred among online gamers, but when asked about purchasing a game in a physical or digital format where pricing and availability were consistent, 62 percent preferred games in the physical format. This is a 3 percentage point swing in preference towards the digital format when compared to last year.

"While many gamers prefer games in the physical format, the increased availability of digital content paired with a greater amount of connected devices has driven an increase in the number of consumers going online to access the content they want," said Callahan.

Methodology
An online survey was fielded from February 15, 2013 to March 4, 2013 to members of NPD's online panel. The survey was completed by 8,867 individuals ages 2 and older. For children under the age of 16, respondents were contacted using a parental surrogate, with the parent being asked to bring the child to the computer to answer the survey questions.

Gamers were defined as those who currently personally play games on at least one of the systems/devices measured in the report. Online Gamers were defined as those who personally play games online on at least one of the systems/devices measured.

About The NPD Group, Inc.

The NPD Group provides global information and advisory services to drive better business decisions. By combining unique data assets with unmatched industry expertise, we help our clients track their markets, understand consumers, and drive profitable growth. Sectors covered include automotive, beauty, entertainment, fashion, food / foodservice, home, office supplies, sports, technology, toys, video games, and wireless. For more information, visit www.npd.com and npdgroupblog.com. Follow us on Twitter: @npdgroup.

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Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/02/npd-more-people-spending-more-time-gaming-online/

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