Shazam Brings in Big Bucks: Mobile music identification app Shazam has just raised $32 million in venture financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield, Institutional Venture Partners. Some more impressive figures: Shazam has almost 150 million users; more than four million songs are tagged each day using the app; and Shazam, which offers the option to buy the songs it identifies, said it drove more than $100 million in revenue to iTunes and other merchant partners. NYT
Nokia N9: Nokia’s MeeGo handset is here, almost. Turns out PocketNow’s leaked press shot is definitely Nokia’s N9. The new device is entirely buttonless (except for a volume rocker and camera shutter button). Watch the video and check out the rest of the specs on TechCrunch.
iPhone 5: Apple says it will release its new iPhone in September (Apple pushed back the release date to coincide with the release of iOS 5). The iPhone 5 will be faster thanks to a stronger chip, the A5 processor. Bloomberg
Asia App Craze: Data from analytics firm Distimo shows that iPhone app dowload volume in Asia is on the rise, especially in China. However, it is important for developers to note that even though the numbers of downloads are increasing in Asian countries, the number of paid downloads and overall revenue are lower than in the U.S. and Europe. RWW
BlackBerry Comic of the Day: BlackBerry BFFs.All Things D
More in Media
Meta AI rolls out several enhancements across apps and websites with its newest Llama 3
Meta AI, which first debuted in September, also got a number of updates including ways to search for real-time information through integrations with Google and Bing.
Walmart rolls out a self-serve, supplier-driven insights connector
The retail giant paired its insights unit Luminate with Walmart Connect to help suppliers optimize for customer consumption, just in time for the holidays, explained the company’s CRO Seth Dallaire.
Research Briefing: BuzzFeed pivots business to AI media and tech as publishers increase use of AI
In this week’s Digiday+ Research Briefing, we examine BuzzFeed’s plans to pivot the business to an AI-driven tech and media company, how marketers’ use of X and ad spending has dropped dramatically, and how agency executives are fed up with Meta’s ad platform bugs and overcharges, as seen in recent data from Digiday+ Research.