AKQA to develop mobile programs for Budweiser, Bud Light and Stella Artois
Anheuser-Busch has named AKQA as the lead digital agency for its Budweiser, Bud Light and Stella Artois brands, including responsibilities for mobile programs and app development.

AKQA will create digital extensions for each brand?s marketing campaigns. In addition to mobile strategies, this will also include online programs, content creation and identifying new partnership opportunities. The digital agency will work with each brand?s marketing agency of record: Anomaly for Budweiser, Translation for Bud Light and Mother for Stella Artois.

Anheuser-Busch has been active in mobile for some time, including using rich media mobile advertising, QR codes and mobile apps.

Android?s strong growth propels it to 75pc market share in Q3
Three out of every four smartphones shipped during the third quarter were an Android phone, according to a new report from International Data Corp.

Android smartphone shipments worldwide totaled 136 million, up 91.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Android?s growth rate was nearly double the overall market growth rate of 46.4 percent.

The combination of smartphone vendors, wireless carriers and end-users who have embraced Android helped drive shipments, according to IDC. Samsung led vendors in the Android space.

IOS was the only other mobile operating system to achieve a double-digit market share for the quarter. For the quarter, iOS shipped 26.9 million units, up 57.3 percent from the same period a year ago for a 14.9 percent market share.

BlackBerry?s share fell to 4.3 percent on shipments of 7.7 million units. Windows Phone was up 140 percent to achieve a 2 percent market share on 3.6 million units shipped.

Microsoft rumors of a smartphone gain steam
Microsoft is reportedly working with suppliers in Asia on its own smartphone. It is not yet clear if a product will go into mass production.

Microsoft has been inching toward adopting a business model similar to Apple?s, making both mobile hardware devices as well as the software they are powered by. Microsoft recently introduced its first tablet, Surface. The company also produces the Xbox video game consoles.

The decision to manufacture a smartphone could be an attempt by Microsoft to drive adoption of its Windows Phone operating system, which still accounts for only a small fraction of the overall smartphone market two years after it was first introduced.

Google: Mobile searches and clicks jump during holidays
New research from Google shows that when consumers have free time during holidays, they are turning to their mobile devices for quick bits of information, implying how a sound mobile search strategy will be crucial for marketers during the upcoming holiday shopping rush.

For instance, Google found that searches conducted via a tablet on Labor Day were 25 percent higher than tablet searches made on a regular Monday. Smartphone searches made during the holiday were seven percent higher than a normal day.

Not only were consumers searching more on Labor Day, they were also clicking on mobile ads more. Tablet ad clicks on Labor Day were 39 percent higher than on a normal day. Clicks from smartphones were nine percent higher than a typical Monday. The uptick in clicks shows that consumers want to connect with businesses through mobile search, per Google.

41pc of consumers pick native apps for mobile banking needs: study
In a recent survey of 200 consumers during a month-long period across its platform, Verve Wireless looked at how consumers use mobile banking.

Rounding out the mediums that consumers said that they preferred to access mobile banking on, 38 percent of users wanted to use a mobile site and 21 percent chose SMS.

When it comes to most-valued services, 63 percent of consumers said wire transfers were important and 62 percent of users wanted to pay a bill. Other top-ranking activities included receiving alerts, making person-to-person payments and locating a nearby branch or ATM.