Adobe drops Flash for phones in bow to Apple.

Airbus delays A350 plane or parts shortages.

Caterpillar buys Chinese mining-machine maker.

Google chief returns to trim bloated ship.

Groupon holds on to cash, griping merchants.

J.C. Penney taps into talent from Apple.

James Murdoch insists he wasn't told about hacking evidence at News Corp.'s News of the World.Continue reading...

With 13 years of e-commerce payments and processing more than $10,000 per minute in mobile payments, PayPal is jumping offline. The company plans to introduce PayPal Wallet next year as a service to merchants, and to replace credit cards burning a hole in consumers' wallets.

The pitch: PayPal Wallet is NFC-free and only requires that participating merchants upgrade software instead of investing in a hardware change. Users pay at PayPal-enabled terminals with a PayPal credit card and PIN – or down the road, an NFC-enabled tap. It's also competing with competitors like Square and NFC solution-based wallets from cell phone carriers and Google Wallet, and even social check-in services such as Foursquare and group discount providers such as Groupon.

Unveiling the service in New York for the official opening of PayPal’s Shopping Showcase this week, where the brand is wooing local businesses to check out its mobile payments, PayPal President Scott Thompson blogged: 

“Over the next 12-24 months, we’ll introduce technologies that give consumers the choice to “swipe, enter, or tap” when they pay… And no matter how you pay, you can go back and change the payment terms, even after the purchase…In short, we’re not just making a smarter wallet, we’re making money smarter.”Continue reading...

Groupon prices IPO as executives see hope in parallels to Amazon.

DeBeers now controlled by Anglo American.

MF Global Holdings CEO Jon Corzine resigns amid firm's implosion.

AMD to cut 1,400 jobs.

Apple fights discounts tooth and nail.

Church's Chicken focuses on family in new ads.

Columbia Sportswear uses outerwear "anti-spokesperson."

FOX to push envelope (and advertisers' buttons) with Glee episode featuring sex between gay teens.Continue reading...

Ten years ago, brandchannel quoted a Google spokesperson as saying “It seems counterintuitive to the concept of stickiness, but the point of Google is to allow people to find information as soon as possible and get on their way.” Ten years later, it appears Google would prefer its users to stay in its realm for as long as possible.

Google has come a long way since Sergey Brin and Larry Page started a research project at Stanford in 1996 that would eventually grow into a company employing 30,000 and producing nearly $30 billion in revenue each year. In doing so, Google has expanded its offering from a search engine to a full-fledged suite of services including email, social networking, cloud storage for files and music, and daily deals. Google even recently opened its own branded products store in London.

Google has always been an innovative company, but it has seen some of its innovative thunder stolen by others such as Facebook and Groupon. In order to remain the first-in-mind internet destination for its users, Google has decided to take to some of its web competitors on their own turf. Google+ takes aim at Facebook, and Google Offers is targeted at daily deals sites Groupon and Living Social. As it keeps rolling out new products, Google seems content to throw its brand's name in front of just about any serve it's offering: Google Voice, Google Docs, Google Maps, etc.Continue reading...

Alfa Romeo launches Aquabatics social campaign.

AOL plays catch-up in mobile.

Buick is paying dividends for GM.

CNN said to be revamping its morning lineup.

DirecTV takes dispute with Fox to the web.

Disney leads big brands on apps front, while Disney-ABC extends Netflix and Amazon content deals.

DreamWorks' Puss in Boots wins the weekend box office by a whisker.

Facebook changes mean "reach" is up but "frequency" is down.Continue reading...

Absolut launches gay pride campaign.

Amazon creates new name and URL for China.

Apple is 'sizzling' in Asia.

China moves to restrict social media and bloggers, which doesn't stop one NBA star.

Facebook to build server farm near Arctic Circle.

Google reveals massive spending spree.

Groupon culls its sales staff.

Iconix acquires Sharper Image brand.

Nokia's Lumia smartphone translates badly in Spanish.

Pontiac owners are staying loyal to GM.

Samsung granted expedited hearing against Galaxy Tab ban in Australia.

Sony buys Ericsson out of mobile phone venture.

Sprint needs billions to cover iPhone investment.

Warner Bros withholds films from Blockbuster, matches Netflix and Redbox 28-day release window.

YouTube is preparing to launch celebrity and branded channels to promote original content.

In the last few months, Groupon has had its COO resign and had to restate its first half revenue as $688 million rather than the originally stated $1.5 billion. Not great PR for a company planning its IPO, right? (Although the brand's tie-ins, including the Halloween stunt above, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show have proved a PR coup.)

The company is plowing ahead and plans to go public on Nov. 3rd, according to the Wall Street Journal. Before then, the Chicago-based deal aggregator is traveling across the nation to convince big investors to throw oodles of cash their way.Continue reading...

Amazon faces profit squeeze from rollout of Kindle Fire.

Caterpillar signals U.S. export expansion with higher profits.

Coca-Cola plans to unveil white can to promote polar-bear protection.

Groupon battles perceptions that it's still valued too high.

Kodak talks with hedge funds about rescue financing.

McDonald's launches McRib nationwide once again.

NASCAR goes to college to cultivate fans.Continue reading...