Sunday Night Football was the most-watched show on TV last year even though millions of fans were also able to stream the big game on their smartphones. Now the NFL is going a step further and will offer up Sunday afternoon games on smartphones as well.

The NFL’s new $1 billion, four-year deal with Verizon Wireless will help make this happen, expanding the number of games being streamed to smartphones from just the evening games on Sunday, Monday and Thursday to all of the games in a customer’s home market, the Wall Street Journal reports. The broadcasts will begin next year after Verizon’s current four-year, $720 million contract concludes.

"I can see viewers for NFL games on mobile continuing to double for the foreseeable future," Lee Berke, a media consultant who has worked with Verizon Wireless, told the Journal. "At this point, nobody knows where the upper limit is, and that's why these deals are being done. In the 1970s people predicted cable would reach an inflection point at 30 percent penetration, but now we're at 80-90 percent with pay television."Continue reading...

The first personal computer, 1957’s IBM 610 Auto-Point, only cost $55,000 to purchase. If you wanted to rent one of the 180 that were produced, it would run $1,150 a month.

Times have changed, obviously, and personal computer prices, like many other consumer electronic prices, have fallen into a much more affordable realm. Smartphones may finally be heading in that direction, thanks to the folks at Google who want to put a big dent in Apple’s iPhone business.

According to the Financial Times, “Google is preparing an attack on Apple’s iPhone with a device that is more aware of its surroundings and smart enough to anticipate how it will be used next.” Google purchased Motorola back in 2011 and the subsidiary has apparently been working on creating a device called the Moto X—or the 'Hero' phone—that will cost a lot less than the iPhone but pack a ton of advanced technology, like being able to sense whether it's in a car, where it will likely be asked to produce mapping, or on a mountain, where it might activate a camera.Continue reading...

Two unlikely global titans have partnered on a “mobile only” media deal whose footprint covers 16 countries, from developed markets in North America and Europe to emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Mondelez International, the CPG giant behind billion-dollar brands like Oreo and Cadbury, announced today that it has inked a landmark deal with Google: a one-year partnership that will include mobile search, display and websites. While financial terms were not released, the deal will include branded mobile websites, training and mobile capability building, analytics and opportunity to opt in to Google's mobile beta programs.Continue reading...

Jennifer Lopez may be the most powerful Hispanic in the entertainment business. Selling more than 75 million records and appearing in films that have grossed more than $2 billion can do that for a person. Recently, J.Lo has been taking her star power over to the business world. 

Her latest title is as the majority owner of a new chain of 15 cell phone stores aimed directly at Latinos, Variety reports. Viva Movil will sell Verizon phones and services, with the first retail outpost opening in New York on June 15.

Other cities with large Latino populations will follow after that. This isn't just another brand ambassador gig for Lopez; she’s the majority owner and chief creative officer. No stranger to cozying up to brands, Lopez will be even busier than usual as she also signed on as chief creative officer of Nuvo TV, a new English-language TV network targeted at U.S. Latinos in addition to continuing her clothing line for Kohl's.Continue reading...

It turns out the smartphone heir apparent is Samsung, as the global leading smartphone maker received quite the blessing from Consumer Reports:

“The Samsung Galaxy S 4, one of the most advanced Android smart phones ever, is our new top-rated smart phone. The S4 delivered top-notch performance in the most critical areas of our tests, including the camera. It dethrones the LG Optimus G, which occupied the top spot in our Ratings for several months.” 

The Optimus G is now ranked No. 2, followed by the HTC One, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Apple iPhone 5. The ranking is yet another blow to Apple's diminishing confidence and a boost to Samsung, as the two smartphone providers have been at each other's throats for a while. Samsung's latest ad was only the most recent in a long line of mud-slinging spots targeting the once dominant company.Continue reading...

For years, Apple has sold itself as the young, hip counterpart to the old fuddy duddies in the PC and mobile phone market. Now, Samsung is taking a page from the master’s book—and it's helping it gain some serious mobile market share.

When Samsung launched its Galaxy S3 last year, its "Next Big Thing" advertising took direct jabs at Apple’s iPhone and all the supposed earbud-wearing lemmings that bought the device—echoing the Apple-bashing theme of its Galaxy S II campaign. Now, as it releases its highly-anticipated Galaxy S4, it looks like the marketers at Samsung have decided to sit back on their heels and let the Apple bashing continue—and why not? 

According to Ad Age, Samsung’s market share in the fourth quarter of 2012 went up to 30% from 21% in 2011. Meanwhile, Apple’s share fell from 41% to 39% in that same window.Continue reading...

Microsoft's Windows Phone may lag behind Samsung and Apple in the battle for America’s mobile-phone patronage, but the company seems to think that being in the lower spot isn’t always a bad thing.

Its most recent commercial, which debuted on NBC's “Today” show on Monday, features fans of the top two mobile phones attacking one another at a wedding while two folks working at the nuptials enjoy the pleasures of their Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phones. That sure beats going negative, like it did with its Scroogled ads. 

“We have our own fans, of course,” Microsoft writer and editor Michael Stroh said in a blog post, AllThingsD.com reports. “And while they may be outnumbered (for now), they’re no less proud and routinely urge us to do more to get the word out about Windows Phone … There are choices. iPhone and Android Smartphones aren’t the only—or even best—options out there for all Smartphone buyers.”Continue reading...

T-Mobile may be in fourth place when it comes to cell-phone carriers in the United States, but it is making a big move on April 12th in an attempt to change its position.

That's when T-Mobile will finally become an iPhone distributor, and it is asking current iPhone owners to come turn theirs in and upgrade to the new phone. The incentive to switch phone companies? For those who trade in their iPhone 4S or iPhone 4, they can get a iPhone 5 for $0 down plus monthly payments, according to a press release. If the phone is in decent shape, the consumer will get a $120 credit to apply to the payments, buy accessories with or pay off a T-Mobile bill.

Couple that with T-Mobile’s recent acquisition of MetroPCS and its announcement that it wouldn’t hold consumers to annual contracts and the company is clearly doing all it can [update: including new ads, below] to pull itself up into the ranks of Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.Continue reading...