• Christmas 2012 saw record iOS and Android device activations, while industry reports show App Store downloads soared by 87 percent.
• Both the Apple App Store and Google Play saw healthy revenue gains in 2012, with more monetization and potential for global growth ahead in 2013.
• 2012 was (finally!) the year of mobile – from the launch of the iPhone 5 to Android device supremacy. But some say we’ll look back on 2013 as the year of the tablet.
• Will Apple unveil a new iPhone in 2013? This is just one of many predictions industry experts are making for the new year.

TheNextWeb reports that Christmas Day 2012 saw a record 17.4 million iOS and Android device activations – or 2.5x more than Christmas Day 2011 – according to Flurry. And new stats from Distimo indicate that daily downloads in the Apple App Store increased by 87 percent on Christmas Day, while revenues increased by 70 percent. This data “supports the common idea that developers should make a point to take advantage of the holiday season by updating and tweaking their apps in the weeks leading up to the 25th of December,” writes TheNextWeb’s Emil Protalinski. The 2012 holidays also marked a turning point in the history of mobile marketing, with more campaigns and shopping conducted on smartphones and tablets than in years past. If you’re interested in learning which holiday mobile marketing strategies worked well this year (and which ones didn’t), we invite you to join our free Mobile Marketer webinar on Jan. 24 – register here.

TechCrunch reports on the latest findings from ABI Research which show that mobile apps hit 43.6 billion downloads worldwide between September 2011 and September 2012, with Apple’s App Store leading the pack. In fact, all the app stores felt the boom of the mobile economy during 2012. Daily revenue in the Apple App Store grew 21 percent in 2012, while Google Play’s app revenue increased 43 percent, reported Steve Smith of MediaPost. Android’s operating system also realized remarkable gains in the latter half of 2012 with its improved user experience and scale of penetration. Device-wise, international growth also surged – the iPhone in Japan, China, and Russia; and Android devices in Korea, Japan, and France.

While pundits have been proclaiming "the year of mobile" for a few years, now, 2012 actually lived up to those expectations in several ways. But what will be shaking the industry in 2013? Greg Sterling of Marketing Land predicts that a year from now, we’ll look back on 2013 as “the year of the tablet.” According to a recent Nielsen survey, the gadget children and adults desired most this holiday season was the iPad, and many unwrapped Apple’s tablet Christmas morning. In fact, of the 17.4 million devices activated Dec. 25, 51 percent were tablets.

And what will make headlines in 2013? Will it be a new iPhone from Apple? A new flavor version from Android? Will Motorola make its first official flagship device for Google? Dan Rowinski of ReadWrite makes some bold predictions on what’s to come for mobile in 2013, especially after a year of tremendous industry growth.

It’s been a busy few weeks for Fiksu! Last week, in between stops at the Game Monetization Summit, Mobile Gaming Europe, and AppNation, we debuted FreeMyApps for Android. Today, we’re introducing a number of innovative enhancements to our flagship Fiksu Platform that make it the first and only platform to provide comprehensive tracking, centralized media buying access, advanced optimization, and detailed reporting for mobile app marketers. Put simply, it's a high-performance platform for mobile app marketing.

At the center of these updates is our new powerful reporting and analytics dashboard for tracking mobile app advertising performance and media spend. Our platform also now features the most technologically advanced approach to attribution and tracking for real-time bidding (RTB), removing the guesswork from bidding and buying decisions and solving the historically difficult problem of mobile targeting.

We recognize that a robust mobile advertising platform is the future of mobile app marketing, and we're committed to leading the charge. We’ve already seen impressive results for our customers’ user acquisition programs, including up to 60 percent reduction in media costs, up to a three-time increase in loyal user acquisition, and significant revenue for 30 of the top 50 grossing gaming app publishers.

Here’s a quick look at the new and enhanced features:

• New analytics dashboard: The new Fiksu dashboard provides full transparency into mobile advertising performance including detailed statistics on post-download behaviors such as purchases and registrations. It equips marketers with deep, customizable analysis into loyal user acquisition and monetization tactics by ad network, campaign, country, and device, moving targeting beyond CPI to focus on what really matters: finding users that engage and monetize.
• Tracking and attribution: With five patents pending around mobile ad tracking and app marketing, our platform delivers the most accurate, measurable results and the greatest buying power. A multitechnology approach, including UDID, Advertising Identifier, Digital Fingerprinting, HTML5 cookies, and MAC Address tracking, enables access to more than 225 billion global monthly impressions across hundreds of ad networks, real-time bidding exchanges, social networks, and premium publisher sources.
• Broadest campaign tracking: Our platform now allows marketers to track all their campaigns by providing tracking links that can be used to monitor and report on social media, email, QR codes, and other campaigns — all in one central location within the Fiksu dashboard, regardless of the campaigns’ origins.
• Centralized media buying: We can now connect app marketers to more than 95 percent of all available iOS and Android inventory. Our platform’s ad buying capabilities are fueled by recent enhancements to our demand-side RTB platform, enabling the most value through targeted, highly cost-efficient media buying. Unparalleled technology advances give us access to this valuable RTB inventory without the need for UDIDs or identifiers.
• KnowledgeBase: Our platform draws upon 59 billion tracked app events, with an additional 1.7 billion added every week, to deliver unprecedented insights that drive precise targeting, removing guesswork from bidding and buying decisions.  

We are truly excited to launch the new platform and looking forward to continued growth in 2013. 

On the heels of the iPhone 5 release, Apple is expected to unleash the iPad Mini at an event on Tuesday, Oct. 23, according to invitations the technology giant sent to the media.

• Reports also suggest the iPad Mini will be available in 24 different configurations and two colors – and many bloggers are speculating on other yet-to-be-announced enhancements.
• Meanwhile, for Android app developers looking to “cash in on the Google Play gold mine,” an industry visionary outlines six best practices.

Reporters have now received invitations from Apple to an Oct. 23 event at 10 a.m. PT, where the company is expected to unveil the highly anticipated “iPad Mini,” according to CNET. The invitation’s tagline read “We’ve got a little more to show you,” and the event is being held at the California Theatre in San Jose, Calif. As always, Apple is keeping mum about the new tablet’s overall features, but experts believe that it will boast a “7.85-inch liquid-crystal display and a Lightning connector,” reports AllThingsD. And, of course, it’s expected to be thinner. Aren't they always?

According to AppleInsider, the iPad Mini is expected to retail in 24 different configurations and two colors. There is also speculation that Apple could debut an entry-level, 8-gigabyte model, the iPad’s smallest storage capacity yet. Rumors will continue to swirl as the countdown to next Tuesday begins.  

In Android news, Google Play continues its rapid growth, and Android developers across the globe are looking for ways to make their apps stand out. In a TechCrunch piece, Oliver Lo, vice president of marketing for App Annie, recommends six “crucial” steps to help developers create successful apps for Google’s app store, which has seen a nearly 140 percent growth in the first seven months of 2012. These factors include testing apps, knowing how to properly set up apps in Google Play, including colorful screenshots and clearly written app descriptions, strategically marketing apps, providing exceptional user support and tracking app performance. At Fiksu, we’ve also discussed the compelling opportunities the Android market offers and how it can benefit your app business in exceptional ways. To arm you with the information needed to improve Android app discovery, drive more installs and generate long-term, loyal usage, we’ve also developed an e-book, which you can download here for free. 

Coffee lovers, rejoice! Smartphone users can now pay for their cups of joe at Dunkin’ Donuts via a new mobile app. A new study reveals that tablet sales will balloon in the next four years, while other industry research suggests that mobile ads are viewed most favorably on iPhones. And, in advance of the fast-approaching Sept. 12 iPhone 5 announcement, Apple fans are voicing their “wish lists” for the new device.

While “America Runs on Dunkin’,” consumers can now run the brand’s new mobile app on their smartphones. The donut and coffee retailer debuted its app for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices, allowing breakfast fans everywhere to connect and engage with the brand, pay for their coffee virtually, score promotions and interact with Dunkin’ social communities. In a MediaPost interview, John Costello, Dunkin’ Brands’ chief marketing and innovation officer, said Dunkin’ built the cross-functional app to develop deeper relationships with its customers. The free app is now available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play store.

In tablet news, annual sales are expected to surge to 450 million by 2016. While tablets may never completely replace personal desktop computers, they are supplementing larger-screen experiences, Business Insider reports. According to BI Intelligence, there are several drivers to this anticipated tablet explosion – average sales prices are dropping, increased penetration in existing markets, disruptive technologies, and multiple emerging markets ripe for the tablet opportunity. Tablet costs have dropped substantially in the past year – the iPad, for example, is down more than 11 percent from its 2011 price tag – making it more affordable for the masses. Tablets also provide myriads of apps and content such as music, movies, TV shows and magazines, allowing for greater media consumption.

Consumers are exposed to hundreds – maybe even thousands – of ads each day, and as advertisers struggle to optimize app visibility, they’re increasingly turning to Apple’s iPhone. According to a new survey from the Online Publishers Association, iPhone users are more favorable to mobile ads than those on Android. Industry experts, however, advise advertisers to take this research with a grain of salt, saying they shouldn’t be swayed to one platform or another. “This places Android and iOS as equal peers and, given these ads are typically delivered inside apps or through the Web, it is likely advertisers will treat both dominant platforms equally,” technology analyst Rob Enderle said to CIO.

And with the calendar quickly racing toward the rumored Sept. 12 iPhone 5 and iOS 6 reveal, Apple enthusiasts are voicing their desired “wish lists” of features. In particular, gaming enthusiasts are hoping for a bigger screen (the single most important way to enhance the gaming experience,) more gigabytes for more storage, haptic technology, improved graphics technology and support for an external controller, reports MODOJO.