Mobile notifications company Urban Airship also pitched new consumer-targeting features at the conference. It announced two new tools to help companies deliver push notifications to phones only when consumers want to see them.

Using technology it acquired through its purchase of SimpleGeo last October, the company announced Urban Airship Segments, a feature that lets companies apply more criteria on top of a user's location before they interrupt the consumer with a notification. It can take into consideration factors such as where the user is coming from, where they are going and what activity they are involved in.

Developers of mobile apps need to be careful with the ability to send notifications to cellphones, he said.

"This device has permission to interrupt you," Urban Airship CEO Scott Kveton said, holding up a smartphone. "You'd better think hard about how you're going to do that, or you're going to get turned off."

Urban Airship Segments lets app providers go beyond the proverbial coupon that automatically pops up when a frequent customer happens to walk by a coffee shop, he said. For example, a mobile app for the New York Times could offer a New York nightlife guide to a user of the app who has traveled to New York from another city. Or a pharmacy could send a notification that a customer's prescription is available if that customer is near the drug store.