1）尼尔森第三季度报告指出，Android在美国智能手机市场已占据43%的份额（去年同期的这一比例为40%），苹果所占比例仍为28%。

RIM黑莓手机所占比例，则从原来的19%下降至18%，其他智能手机平台所占份额降至4%，微软Windows Mobile仅占7%。

43%的移动用户已经拥有智能手机（今年初的这一比例为40%），62%年龄在25至34岁的美国人口已经是智能手机用户。

令人意外的是，发展最为迅速的智能手机用户是55至64岁的老年群体，其智能手机用户比例达30%。

2）Pew Internet & American Life最近发布的调查报告显示，约50%美国用户的手机上有安装应用程序，去年5月份的同一比例为43%（游戏邦注：调查时间是7月25日至8月26日，共有2260名18岁以上的英语及西班牙语受访者）。

报告指出，51%的手机用户至少每周使用一次应用程序，17%的用户并不经常使用；39%的平板电脑用户每周至少使用6次应用程序，仅有8%从未访问应用程序。

游戏是最受欢迎的付费应用程序，天气、社交网络、地图/搜索、音乐和新闻应用的访问率也比较高。在这些用户中，46%受访问曾付费下载应用（去年5月份的这一比例为47%），有52%用户曾为应用程序支付不超过5美元的费用，17%用户已至少付费20美元下载应用。这些付费用户一般都是30岁左右，拥有大学文凭的城市居民。

报告还指出，非洲籍美国用户最乐衷于下载有助于亲友沟通和交流的应用；约46%用户通过手机应用制定消费决策，48%通过应用处理与工作有关的事务。

3）据pocketgamer报道，继宣布Talking系列实现2.25亿次下载量，每月MAU达6000万之后，手机应用开发商Outfit7首席执行官Narry Singh最近表示公司将推出自己的全球发行平台，帮助开发商推广老少皆宜的游戏或应用，并已经针对Fun Network这个项目进行了数次实验，但并未透露具体的发展计划。

4）据Pocketgamer报道，在《Cut the Birds》（游戏邦注：这是一款《水果忍者》与《愤怒的小鸟》合成游戏）横空出世之后，苹果App Store最近又出现一款《挖矿争霸》（Minecraft）克隆产品《Crafted》。

该游戏描述指出，玩家的任务是使用50个可安置的木块、120种不同道具和40样手工艺“建造、挖矿、制作和生存”。

观察者称官方版《挖矿争霸》将于年底前登陆苹果iPhone和iPad平台，建议广大用户耐心等待官方版本，无需急于下载这个99美分的山寨版本。

5）韩国游戏评级委员会日前终于为苹果App Store的游戏产品解禁，使韩国用户无需设置国际帐号也能接触iOS游戏。

App Store游戏之前在韩国遭禁的原因是，该委员会担忧这些游戏内容含暴力或色情元素，韩国所有游戏在发布前均需通过该委员会审核，但苹果在过去两年中一直不愿意接受这种规定。

目前暂时无法得知该委员会改变态度的原因，预计这项政策出台后，将有更多新游戏抢先登陆韩国的iPhone 4S手机平台。

6）伦敦游戏大会最近针对1000名电子游戏工作者的问卷调查显示，乔布斯和iPhone对游戏领域的影响最大。

在游戏人物调查中，乔布斯得票率为26%，居于其次的是Valve的Gabe Newell（得票率为16%），宫本茂为7%，Tim Berners-Lee为4%，Facebook掌门人马克·扎克伯格得票率为3%。

在产品领域的调查中，iPhone得票率为17%，任天堂Wii为7%，微软Xbox Live为3%，索尼PS 1为3%，在线游戏发布平台Steam为2%。

7）休闲游戏公司PlayFirst最近与美国有线电脑购物公司HSN合作，将在旗下iOS游戏《Cooking Dash》的更新版本中植入一个新餐厅，以及名厨Emeril Lagasse的虚拟形象。

该更新版本将添加一个“与HSN的Emeril一起下厨”的场景，支持玩家在游戏中通过Lagasse虚拟形象操作厨房炊具（游戏邦注：但需要注意的是，这款游戏并不是真的向玩家传授Emeril的厨艺），玩家无需离开游戏就可从HSN中直接购得刀具、搅拌机、混合器、油炸锅等所需物品。

8）三星日前宣布自其应用商店三星乐园问世以来，其应用程序下载量总计已达1.1亿次。

bada智能手机销量已经超过810万部，如果从首款bada手机于2010年6月发布算起，bada手机每月销量约50万部。

据Canalys和Strategy Analytics公司数据显示，三星在2011年第三季度的智能手机销量为2730万部，照此计算，bada手机约占三星全球智能手机出货量的6%左右。

9）手机游戏公司Glu Mobile近日公布的第三季度财报显示，公司智能手机业务收益增长至970万美元，超过去年同期的4倍（去年同期的这一收益为240万美元），但仅比上一季度增长2%（上一季度收益为940万美元）。

Glu第三季度总体收益达1690万美元，比去年同期的1550万美元增长9.3%，但由于收购Griptonite和Blammo Games，公司亏损也超过了去年同期的三倍，达到620万美元。

在这一时期，Glu游戏在iOS和Android平台的总体装载量达到1.313亿次，MAU增长33.7%，共达2210万，DAU则增长22.1%，达到210万。

该公司表示其Android收益在这个季度双倍增长，Android游戏装载量开始超过iOS下载量。最具盈利性的游戏是《Gun Bros》和《Contract Killer》，前者在第三季度实现150万美元收益，后者则创收180万美元。

Glu计划向亚马逊Android平板电脑投放多款游戏，并于2012年测试锁定中国市场的游戏门户网站glu.cn。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）Android Grows to 43%, While Apple Holds at 28% in U.S. Smartphone Market Share

Kathleen De Vere

Android may be increasing its smartphone market share, but its gains are not coming at the expense of Apple, according to the latest report from Nielsen. In the third quarter, Android captured 43 percent of the smartphone market in the U.S., up from the 40 percent it held in the last quarter. Apple, meanwhile, held steady at 28 percent market share.

The overall smartphone market is bigger than it was three months ago, as 43 percent of mobile phone users now reporting that they own smartphones, up from the 40 percent who said they owned the devices earlier this year. This means that while Apple is being buoyed on a rising tide of smartphone ownership, it isn’t growing its overall market share. This is despite consumer surveys in the second quarter indicating that one-third of consumers who said they were likely to get to get a new smartphone wanted an iPhone. One-third said they wanted an Android device, while the remaining one-third were undecided.

Android’s rapidly growing market share seems to come mainly at the expense of RIM, which saw market share for BlackBerry devices dip slightly from 19 percent to 18 percent. Other platforms dropped to a four percent market share. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile also failed to capitalize on the growing market, sitting in a distant fourth place with 7 percent penetration.

While the smartphone penetration rate has increased in every demographic group Nielsen surveyed since the second quarter, the most enthusiastic adopters are still adults between 25 and 34. Sixty-two percent of consumers in that age group reported owning a smartphone in the survey. The fastest growing group of smartphone users were those between the ages of 55 to 64, where 30 percent reported owning the devices. That’s up five percentage points from July.（source:insidemobileapps）

2）50% of U.S. Cellphone Users Have Apps, Pew Survey Says

By Dan Rowinski

The Pew Internet and American Life project released details of a new survey today showing the trends in how U.S. adults download apps to the smartphones and tablets. Including those that have downloaded and app or have apps preloaded to their devices, about 50% of all U.S. cellphone users have an app on their devices. That correlates to about 42% of all U.S. adults.

The amount of U.S. cellphone users that have apps on their devices rose from 43% in May 2010. Pew points out that the demographic has not really changed, there are just more people from those demographics downloading apps. For smartphones, they tend to be young, have higher incomes and college degrees and live in urban and suburban areas. How do you fit in these demographics?

Pew reports that half (51%) of users who have apps on their cellphones use them at least once a week. Less than a fifth (17%) do not use apps on a regular basis. For tablets, 39% use apps six or more times a week with 8% reporting no app activity.

In terms of paid apps, games are the leader. That comes as no surprise as game developers are the ones that are pushing the bounds of what these devices can do. People will pay for a good game. Weather, social networking, maps/search, music and news were the next highest on the list of apps usage. Of app users, 46% have paid for an app at some point, which is no different from the 47% that said the same thing in May 2010. About 52% said they paid $5 or less for apps with 17% have paid more than $20 for an app. Those that pay for apps tend to be aged 30 or above with college degrees in urban areas.

Let us know in the comments how much you are willing to pay for an app.

Check out the chart below breaking down what apps that users are downloading by age demographic. The results are pretty interesting. African-Americans are more likely to download apps that help them communicate with family and friends. About 46% of people use mobile apps to help them make decisions about purchases and 48% of users use apps to help them with work-related tasks.

A note from Pew on the survey results:

The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has begun to explore the contours of this relatively new digital phenomenon. In August of 2011, the Project conducted its most recent national survey of the state of apps culture. The survey was conducted from July 25-August 26 among 2,260 adults ages 18 and older in both English and Spanish, 916 of whom were interviewed on their cell phones.（source:readwriteweb）

3）With 60 million MAUs, Talking Friends company Outfit7 looks to open up its distribution network

by Jon Jordan

A mark of how quickly the smartphone ecosystem is expanding, it was in April when Talking Friends studio Outfit7 claimed it was out downloading Rovio, being the fastest company to go from zero to 100 million mobile downloads.

Since then, the three Angry Birds games have strapped on the afterburners, passing the 500 million mark.

Still, Outfit7′s no slouch. Its various character apps have now been downloaded 225 million times across iOS and Android, with executive chairman Narry Singh pointing out that the second 100 million was racked up almost twice as fast as the first.

Network effect

Yet, he places more significance on the company’s 60 million monthly active users, especially thanks the apps’ family-friendly focus and its global distribution.

“There’s huge value in a distribution network with such scale,” he explains.

“There are only a handful of companies that can offer this, and we think this is a sector that going to see a couple of companies dominating and the rest fighting over the crumbs.”

Pile ‘em high

Of course, Outfit7 also has plenty of plans in terms of building out what might be labelled more conventional lines based on the back of Tom Cat and his chums. For example, it signed a deal with William Morris Endeavor in June for IP extension into books, TV, film etc.

However, just as we’re been hearing off-on rumours that Rovio is preparing to become a game or app publisher, similar thinking has clearly been undertaken at Outfit7.

Indeed, it’s already run a couple of experiments under the brand Fun Network, although Singh’s currently tight-lipped about saying too much about the company’s plans.

He is happy to reveal something about Outfit7′s userbase.

“We have users in over 100 countries, around half of our audience is in Asia and we’re seeing growth biased towards Android that’s consistent with its scale in that market,” he says.

And it’s this reach, combined with the promise it can help developers to finance and distribute their games, that suggests this is topic we’ll be returning to very soon. （source:pocketgamer）

4）Minecraft clone Crafted slips past App Store approval team to dig its way onto iPhone

by Anthony Usher

We’re no stranger to App Store clones here at Pocket Gamer, with the likes of Cut the Birds (a mix of Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds) consistently making it through Apple’s approval process.

The latest game to somehow creep past the App Store’s defences is Minecraft clone Crafted, which – as you might expect – sees you take up residence in a randomly generated open world constructed from different types of blocks.

As the game’s description points out, your aim is to “build, mine, craft, and survive the night!” You do this with the help of 50 placeable blocks, 120 different items, and 40 crafting recipes.

An official version of Minecraft is expected to hit Apple’s iPhone and iPad before the end of the year, so we’d advise you to just wait for that.

If you’re one of those impatient beasts, though, you can grab Crafted right now for 69p / 99c.（source:pocketgamer）

5）South Korea lifts ban on iOS games ahead of iPhone 4S launch on November 11

by Keith Andrew

Almost two years to the day after South Korea’s Games Ratings Board blocked the sale of games on Apple’s App Store in the country, the ban has finally been repealed.

The news comes just days ahead of Apple’s iPhone 4S launch in the region – bound for shop shelves on November 11 – with Korean consumers now able to get their hands on games on the platform without setting up international accounts as workarounds.

Board back down

The ban on games had originally been enforced by the board as a result of concerns surrounding the suitability of their content.

All games in the country have to be vetted by the board for possible violent or sexual content – a luxury not afforded by the App Store set up.

“We asked Apple to open its games category and get its games rated, but Apple shows no signs of doing so,” an official of the Game Rating Board said at the time.

No reason has been given for the board’s change of heart, though games are currently a particularly rare beast in South Korea thanks to the ban.

It’s expected a host of new games will now hit the platform in the region in run up to iPhone 4S’s roll out.（source:pocketgamer）

6）Steve Jobs and the iPhone voted biggest influences in video game industry

by Anthony Usher

According to the 1,000 video game industry workers who recently filled out a London Games Conference survey, Steve Jobs and the iPhone have been the biggest influences in the gaming field.

That puts Jobs – who received 26 per cent of the vote – ahead of Valve’s Gabe Newell (16 per cent), Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto (seven per cent), Tim Berners-Lee (four per cent), and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (three per cent).

Product-wise, the iPhone (17 per cent) managed to topple Nintendo’s motion-controlled Wii (seven per cent), Microsoft’s Xbox Live service (three per cent), Sony’s rather excellent PSone (three per cent), and online distribution platform Steam (two per cent).

46 per cent of all those polled in this survey included Steve Jobs somewhere in their top five influences, with 53 per cent including the iPhone.（source:pocketgamer）

7）Cooking Dash joins forces with Emeril. BAM!

By Mike Thompson

PlayFirst is kicking things up a notch with its popular game, Cooking Dash. The publisher has announced that it’s teaming up with HSN to provide an update for the iOS version of the game that will give players a new restaurant and an avatar of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.

The new update will add a new venue called “HSN Cooks with Emeril” and will let you use the Lagasse avatar as you interact with virtual versions of the chef’s cookware and kitchen electrics line. Addtionally, the venue will actually let you purchase those exact same products from HSN without leaving the game.

So exactly what Emeril products are we talking about here? Well, to name a few, there’s the chef’s knife, the blender, the mixer, and —my personal favorite— the deep fryer.

“Cooking is so popular today because it’s the perfect mix of food and fun,” said Emeril in regards to the announcement. “I’m excited to partner with HSN to set up shop on Cooking Dash so viewers can cook along with me in the studio and try their hand at running their own restaurant. If you love cooking then you’ll absolutely love this new feature.”

Alright, let’s be honest about something: Playing Cooking Dash won’t really teach you how to cook like Emeril. But at least now it’ll give you the opportunity to buy everything you need to make Deep Fried Twinkies. Except, you know, for the Twinkies themselves.（source:gamezebo）

8）Bada app downloads break 110 million as global shipments pass 8 million

by Keith Andrew

Overlooked by many – especially those who trumpeted a possible buyout of HP’s webOS business a few months back – Samsung has released a bevy of stats detailing the performance of its own platform, bada.

It might not be challenging Android at the top of the table, but during the firm’s bada developer day in London, Samsung revealed a total of 110 million apps have been downloaded from its Samsung Apps store to-date.

The bada battle

That’s spread across 8.1 million devices, with 5.3 million app downloads – around 4.8 percent – having been made in the UK.

Given the first bada handset launched in June 2010, that means the platform is shifting around 500,000 units every month, with Samsung claiming it expects the OS to make up 17 percent of its output in the UK in 2012.

According to figures released by Canalys and Strategy Analytics, Samsung shipped a total of 27.3 million smartphones or more in Q3 2011.

At its current rate, that means bada makes up around 6 percent of Samsung smartphone shipments worldwide, though it’s believed bada enjoys particular strength in Asian markets.（source:pocketgamer）

9）Glu Mobile’s Smartphone Revenues Climb to $9.7M in Third Quarter

Kim-Mai Cutler

Glu Mobile said its smartphone earnings climbed to $9.7 million in the third quarter, up more than fourfold from a year earlier when it brought in $2.4 million in the same quarter. Smartphone revenues were nearly flat quarter-over-quarter, however, with 2 percent growth from the $9.4 million seen in the second quarter.

Overall, total revenues were up 9.3 percent year-over-year to $16.9 million, higher than the $15.5 million it earned at this time last year. Glu Mobile’s losses deepened to $6.2 million for the quarter, up more than threefold from a year earlier because of costs associated with acquiring Griptonite and Blammo Games. The company’s shares were flat on the day at $3.66.

Glu said it may bring in between $16 and 17 million in revenue this quarter, based on non-generally accepted accounting principles. Smartphone revenue may come in at between $11.5 and $12 million while Glu’s net loss may widen to between $6.3 and $7.2 million. The company said the two acquisitions will start to pay off next year, when Griptonite will bring six titles to market in the first half. Blammo will start shipping games around the turn of the year.

Glu Mobile’s shares have seen the best of times and the worst of times this year, swinging to a four-year high of $6.10 during the summer when many mobile gaming companies were benefiting from speculation around forthcoming Zynga’s initial public offering. At that time, the ramifications around the loss of offer walls also weren’t fully understood. Glu said today that the loss of offer walls, which make it cheaper to acquire new customers and easier to bring in revenue for users who don’t like to pay for virtual goods, created a “$3 million headwind” on the iOS platform this quarter.

Since the summer, Glu has had major executive level changes, with a major restructuring in August that saw its head marketing executive and chief creative officer leave. It also took a major bet in acquiring Blammo and Griptonite for stock and earnouts that are potentially worth more than $50 million.

Glu now has to prove that those two deals are worth their risks and that it can compete with a coterie of young gaming companies like TinyCo, Pocket Gems and Storm8 that have done well in the casual and RPG genres. Having gone public before the original Apple iPhone launched in 2007, Glu has had to make a necessary, but risky, leap from feature phone to smartphone gaming.

Overall, Glu Mobile’s saw 131.3 million cumulative installs in the third quarter on iOS and Android. Glu’s monthly active and daily active usage also grew. The number of monthly active users or MAU rose 33.7 percent to 22.1 million while the number of daily active users climbed 22.1 percent to 2.1 million users.

The company said Android revenues doubled this quarter. While installs on Google’s platform are beginning to outpace iOS downloads, Glu is still predicting that Apple’s app store will be more lucrative in the short term, but Glu is “optimistic that Android will be outstripping iOS to a great extent by next year, even if users do not achieve parity.” (They told us back in May that Android revenues were one-eighth to one-tenth of what they were on iOS.)

Glu said its most lucrative games were Gun Bros and Contract Killer, which brought in $1.5 and $1.8 million respectively in revenues during the third quarter. Contract Killer’s zombie themed spin-off, Contract Killer: Zombies was also Glu’s most successful launch to date, both in terms of downloads and gross revenues. The size of an average in-app purchase also rose to $6 from $4 due to higher prices on virtual goods.

The company also revealed new plans to support Amazon’s Android appstore by supporting the new Kindle Fire with half a dozen titles. It also showed off nine titles it plans to debut in the fourth quarter, ranging from casual titles like Boo Town and Toy Village to games in the hardcore genre like Frontline Commando. The company also plans to beta launch its China-focused gaming portal, glu.cn, in 2012.（source:insidemobileapps）