Yahoo! has appointed Marissa Mayer as its President and Chief Executive Officer with effect from tomorrow. The company says the move signals a renewed focus on product innovation to drive its user experience and advertising revenue.

Ms Mayer had been at Google for 13 years, most recently as Vice President of Local, Maps, and Location Services.

The Mobile Marketing Association has arranged over $1 million in funding to launch new global research into the impact of mobile marketing.

The project, which is believed to be the first global research project of its kind, will test real marketing campaigns to determine the economic value of investing in mobile channels compared to traditional marketing channels. It’s been named SMoX.me: Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness.

Apps World 2012 takes place on Tuesday 2nd October and Wednesday 3rd October at the Earls Court 2 exhibition centre this year. It combines an exhibition with workshops and conference sessions designed for mobile developers, marketers, network operators, manufacturers and other mobile industry professionals.

In addition, there’s an award event - the Appsters awards - with a drinks reception and party at The Roof Gardens in Kensington on the Tuesday night.

Mark Bridge writes:

BlackBerry and bad news seem inextricably linked at the moment. RIM’s CEO admits he’s “not satisfied” with recent company performance and warns of challenging times ahead... and then the company is hit by a $147 million dollar damages order for patent infringement.

Mind you, Research In Motion wasn’t the only mobile company bringing disappointment into the mainstream news last week.

ZTE Corporation has published a preliminary announcement of its results for January to June 2012.

The company says net profit is expected to be down between 60% and 80% compared with the same period last year, resulting in an anticipated profit figure of between 154 million Chinese Yuan Renminbi (£15.5 million) and 308 million RMB.