1）手机应用搜索服务Chomp最近发布的2011年应用搜索分析报告显示，Chomp通过其每月100万次应用搜索数据意外发现，Android平台的游戏下载量正呈下降趋势，而iOS平台的游戏下载量仍在持续增长。

例如在2011年12月份，游戏在iTunes下载量中占比36.1%，而在Android平台仅占比22%。

在iTunes应用商店，音乐和健康应用人气正不断上涨，而办公类应用则出现下滑现象。

从应用价格来看，iTunes应用售价上涨50%左右，而Android应用则多出现降价情况。在12月份，iTunes平均每款应用售价为0.67美元，而Android应用平均售价仅0.09美元。

但有趣的是，Android付费应用平均售价（3.17美元）却高于iTunes付费应用（平均2.41美元），出现这种结果或与iTunes庞大的0.99美元应用下载量有关。

Android付费应用下载量仅占比5%，远逊于iTunes付费下载量（占比22%）。

Chomp根据自己的应用检索情况列出了Android、iOS十大热门应用名单（游戏邦注：其评判标准取决于Chomp检索数据，与应用商店下载量无关）：

Android平台十大热门应用：

1.Pandora

2.Facebook

3.Lookout Mobile Security

4.Zedge Ringtones

5.Advanced Task Killer

6.Handcent SMS

7.Dolphin Browser

8.The Weather Channel

9.TuneIn

10.GasBuddy

iOS平台十大热门应用：

1.《愤怒的小鸟》

2.Facebook

3.Dropbox

4.IMDb

5.Pandora

6.《愤怒的小鸟节日版》

7.SoundHound

8.Netflix

9.《愤怒的小鸟：里约》

10.Instagram (它也是苹果评选的年度热门应用)

2）《Triple Town》开发商Spry Fox近日宣布起诉6Waves Lolapps侵权，声称后者游戏《Yeti Town》“公然剽窃了《Triple Town》”。

6Waves Lolapps于上月向iOS平台发布了免费游戏《Yeti Town》，Spry Fox代表David Edery通过其个人博客罗列出了他们决定起诉6Waves Lolapps的主要原因。

他认为从游戏机制、新手教程语言、UI元素和商店道具售价等方面来看，《Yeti Town》“几乎完整复制了《Triple Town》”，并表示6Waves曾私下与Spry Fox商谈将《Triple Town》发布到Facebook的事项，6Waves曾获准接触《Triple Town》的开发过程，6Waves发行《Yeti Town》之后该项合作就不了了之。

3）据games.com报道，手机游戏公司Glu Mobile最近向加拿大App Store发布一款风格类似《Tiny Tower》的iOS游戏《Small Street》，玩家在其中的任务就是在街道上建设商店、房屋等供市民居住，他们可以储存和出售商品，以便赚更多钱建设房屋。

观察者认为，尽管Zynga最近在加拿大测试的《Dream Heights》也被指责模仿《Tiny Tower》，但《Small Street》从玩法机制上看与《Tiny Tower》相似度更高。

4）Strategy Analytics最近报告显示，苹果在2011年第四季度的iPhone出货量为3700万部，超过三星智能手机的3650万出货量。

尽管苹果在第四季度占据优势，但从整个2011来看，三星才是市场领军力量，其2011年全球智能手机市场份额达20%左右，而苹果则是19%。

2011年全球智能手机出货量接近5亿部，第四季度出货量为1.55亿部，同比增长54%。

诺基亚智能手机市场份额已从20140年的33%下滑至2011年的16%。

5）芬兰开发商Rovio首席营销官Peter Vesterbacka近日通过邮件表示，公司将在2012年情人节（2月14日）在印度尼西亚雅加达发布《愤怒的小鸟》Facebook版本（游戏邦注：印度尼西亚的Facebook用户规模庞大，共达4100万）。

《愤怒的小鸟》自2009年12月发布以来，下载量已超过7亿次，预计今年将突破10亿大关。该游戏将预装到诺基亚Asha功能性手机，以及三星Smart Tv设备。

该游戏Facebook版本将支持全屏播放模式，并引进更优质的动画效果，售价99美分、功能更强大的小鸟，并植入积分排行榜等社交功能。

6）谷歌移动广告平台Admob近日添加了一项自动转化追踪服务，以便开发商查看其广告活动是否提升了应用下载量。

在此之前，应用发行商只能通过植入特殊代码来观察其下载转化情况，但现在所有的AdMob Android广告项目均可自动显示Android Market的转化数据。在AdMob仪表盘中新增了一个“应用转化追踪”栏目，它可以显示下载数据以及每次下载成本。（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）Games Decreasing In Popularity On Android, Entertainment Apps On The Rise

Sarah Perez

The mobile app ecosystem is growing so quickly – exponentially, even – that sometimes it’s hard to see the larger trends occurring in the space. To really gain insight, it helps to look back over a longer period of time, like a year for example, in order to take stock of the changes taking place.

To that end, I reached out to mobile app search company Chomp, who kindly obligated my curiousity by packaging together its first ever annual app search analytics report. The report digs into the data from Chomp’s 1 million app searches per month, to reveal trends in app prices, category share, top apps and more.

Note: The data below is conclusive for 2011, but Chomp’s Android app was only released in February. Chomp felt the graphs looked better starting from May, when data stabilized on both platforms.

To begin, Chomp took a deep dive in category share trends. The very first finding was a bit surprising. Chomp found that games are now seeing a decreasing number of downloads on Android. That’s interesting because we’ve come to think of the mobile gaming market as this booming space, which is defining itself as the top category driving mobile app download growth. But, based on Chomp’s data at least, this is only true for iOS. Over the course of the year, games became an increasingly large percentage of iTunes downloads, but have been decreasing on Android.

In December, for example, games were 36.1% of iTunes downloads and 22% of Android downloads.

So if not games, what’s growing in popularity on Android? I would have guessed Utilities but would have been wrong. It’s Entertainment apps. This includes apps like Netflix, Talking Tom, Crackle and Flixster, to give you an idea.

Meanwhile, on iTunes, music and fitness apps have been seeing increased popularity, and utilities are decreasing. Again, this goes contrary to popular belief that normal users (the non-technical/non-early adopters) are looking for more mobile tools – things that help them get a specific task done. Clearly, they’re also enjoying apps Spotify, Mog, RunKeeper and Nike Fitness, too.

In terms of app pricing, iTunes has seen purchase prices rise by 50% while Android prices have dropped. During December, the average iTunes app purchase price was $0.67 while the average Android app purchase price was only $0.09.

But here’s another interesting twist: the average purchase price for just paid apps is higher on Android ($3.17) than on iTunes ($2.41). This is due to iTunes’ large number of $0.99 downloads, however, which throw off the average.

It also has to be noted that Android sees a really low number of paid downloads (5%) compared with iTunes (22%), according to Chomp.

Finally, Chomp revealed its top 10 iTunes and Android apps of the year. These are different lists than what the app store itself would show, as they’re based on Chomp’s searches, not raw download numbers.

On Android, the top apps were:

1.Pandora

2.Facebook

3.Lookout Mobile Security

4.Zedge Ringtones

5.Advanced Task Killer

6.Handcent SMS

7.Dolphin Browser

8.The Weather Channel

9.TuneIn

10.GasBuddy

On iOS, they were:

1.Angry Birds

2.Facebook

3.Dropbox

4.IMDb

5.Pandora

6.Angry Birds Seasons

7.SoundHound

8.Netflix

9.Angry Birds Rio

10.Instagram (also Apple’s pick for “app of the year”)

These lists really help to showcase the differences between the two mobile platforms. Although Entertainment apps may be on the rise, Android users are still focused on tools and utilities, from mobile anti-virus programs and task killers, to things that will enhance or replace stock apps, like Handcent SMS or the Dolphin web browser. It will be interesting to see if, by next year, these trends will have changed at all, allowing the increasingly popular Entertainment-focused apps to emerge on the top Android apps list.

On iOS, there’s definitely more focus on having fun, with three versions of Angry Birds, music and photo apps, and Netflix, making the cut. The only remotely “utility-like” app on iOS’s like would be Dropbox.

Overall, the most interesting thing about this report was how it helped reframe some common misconceptions – that Android users only like utilities, for instance, or how cheap the paid Android apps are. They may be few and far between, but they’re not necessarily cheap.

Chomp’s full report includes its own Staff Picks section and a look into Chomp’s traffic search trends, too. (Contact the company if you’re in need of a copy). And may I just say: more data like this, please.（source:techcrunch）

2）Triple Town’s Spry Fox sues Yeti Town dev 6Waves Lolapps

by Mike Rose

Triple Town developer Spry Fox has filed a copyright infringement suit against casual game studio 6Waves Lolapps over its latest release Yeti Town, which Spry Fox claims is a “blatant copy of Triple Town.”

Last month, 6Waves Lolapps released Yeti Town as a free app for iOS devices. When asked whether the game was too similar to Spry Fox’s Triple Town, 6waves Lolapps chief product officer Arjun Sethi said that taking criticism of this sort was “just part of a natural process.”

However, Spry Fox’s David Edery revealed today via his personal blog that the company has sued 6Waves Lolapps, citing numerous reasons why he has decided to go ahead with the lawsuit.

His first claim is that Yeti Town is “a nearly perfect copy of Triple Town,” with game mechanics, tutorial language, UI elements and the prices of store items all very similar to Spry Fox’s game.

He also claims that 6waves was in confidential negotiations with Spry Fox to publish Triple Town on Facebook, and that 6waves was given private access to Triple Town while it was being developed. 6waves then broke off negotiations on the day that Yeti Town was published, he claims.

A personal Facebook message from 6waves’ executive director of business development Dan Laughlin, allegedly sent to Edery on the day that Yeti Town launched, is filed as evidence in the court documents, and reads, “I need to back out of any further discussions on Triple Town.”

“We’ve just published a game on iOS that you’re not going to like given its similar match-3 style. Wish this wasn’t happening, but it is, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it, despite my attempts.”

Edery says that it was when 6waves’ Sethi discussed the issue with Gamasutra, as mentioned previously, that he finally decided to do something about it.

“We are not enthusiastic about the prospect of spending our time in court as opposed to making games,” Edery said. “And in general, we believe that only in the most extreme circumstances should a video game developer resort to legal action in order to defend their creative works – the last thing our industry needs is frivolous lawsuits.”

“Unfortunately, it is our opinion that 6waves has behaved in a reprehensible and illegal manner, and we can not, in good conscience, ignore it… We believe that there is nothing ‘natural’ or ethical or legal about 6waves behavior.”

He concluded, “What they did was wrong. And if they get away with it, it will simply encourage more publishers to prey on independent game developers like us. We refuse to sit back and let that happen.” （source:gamasutra）

3）Glu Mobile releases Small Street for iPhone, consider Tiny Tower flattered

by Joe Osborne

The (Tiny Tower) Clone Wars have begun. Glu Mobile, best known for iPhone hits like Gun Bros., has unleashed Small Street onto the Canadian App Store for iPhone and iPad through its Glu Games label. And whaddya know, this free-to-play mobile looks a helluva lot like NimbleBit’s Tiny Tower … but sideways. It may sound like a stretch, but not according to TouchArcade.

Small Street, which is in the middle of testing on the Canadian App Store, employs the same concept found in Tiny Tower. Players build up a street with residences, businesses and citizens to inhabit them. Players then stock and sell goods through the buildings to raise enough cash for even more buildings to line the street. Screen shots of the street simulator display management windows that do look quite similar to NimbleBit’s Tiny Tower.

However, you can see where this sort of “cloning” can easily become a slippery slope situation. While the similarities between both the play hooks and the design/art of Zynga’s recently Canadian-tested Dream Heights and Tiny Tower are unmistakable, Small Street is more similar in its play mechanics than anything. Regardless, it’s clear that (all three of) Tiny Tower could easily become the next “Ville” of mobile gaming. But whose fault is that, and is it a good or bad thing?（source:games）

4）Apple named as top smartphone vendor in Q4 2011 as Nokia’s share halves to 13%

by Keith Andrew

Samsung may have decided to withhold its shipment figures for Q4, but Strategy Analytics still believes the Korean giant has lost its spot at the top of the smartphone table.

It’s apparent slip has come at the hands of former king Apple, with the firm’s Q4 shipment of 37 million iPhones pushing it ahead of what Strategy Analytics believes was the 36.5 million Samsung shipped to market.

The top two

“While Apple took the top spot in smartphones on a quarterly basis, Samsung became the market leader in annual terms for the first time with 20 percent global share during 2011,” said executive director Neil Mawston.

“With global smartphone shipments nearing half a billion units in 2011, Samsung is now well positioned alongside Apple in a two-horse race at the forefront of one of the world’s largest and most valuable consumer electronics markets.”

Indeed, it was Apple that Samsung replaced to take top spot back in Q3, with the two firms likely to tussle it out for some time to come.

Samsung now holds 33.5 percent of the market to Apple’s 33.9 percent.

Both firms helped drive record smartphone shipments of 155 million units across the quarter – up 54 percent.

Knocking Nokia

But it wasn’t good news for everybody.

“Nokia’s global smartphone market share halved from 33 percent in 2010 to 16 percent in 2011,” said director Tom Kang.

“A lackluster touchscreen smartphone portfolio and a limited presence in the huge United States market caused Nokia’s shrinkage last year.

“Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft will be very much in focus during 2012, and the industry will be watching closely to see how swiftly the two companies can expand in the high-value 4G LTE market that is rapidly emerging across the United States, Japan and elsewhere.”

Nokia will no doubt be cheered by the news that Lumia shipments have already passed 1 million units since launch.（source:pocketgamer）

5）Angry Birds will hit Facebook on Valentine’s Day

Dean Takahashi

Angry Birds fans may be staying home without a date on Valentine’s Day, but at least they can hang with a few hundred friends. That’s when the popular mobile game will debut on Facebook for the first time.

Angry Birds is the most successful mobile game in history with more than 700 million downloads since its launch in December 2009. To keep growing, it has to expand to just about every platform on the planet.

Peter Vesterbacka, the Mighty Eagle at Finnish game maker Rovio, confirmed in an email that the launch is set for Feb. 14 and the company will hold a formal launch in Jakarta, Indonesia, which has a huge Facebook following with 41 million of Facebook’s 800 million users.

“We are going after the emerging markets in a big way this year,” Vesterbacka said.

Vesterbacka also said that every Nokia Asha feature phone comes with Angry Birds preloaded on it. Rovio aims to cross 1 billion downloads this year. Angry Birds will be pre-installed on every new Samsung Smart TV (pictured at Samsung’s CES press conference above).

Vesterbacka said to Penn Olson that the Facebook game will be able to run on a full screen and have better animation quality. Rovio will introduce new powerups like an earthquake or stronger birds which you can buy for 99 cents or earn while you are playing. Angry Birds will also have social features on Facebook such as leaderboards where you can earn bragging rights.

Rovio will have a Year of the Dragon update to Angry Birds Seasons for the Chinese New Year.（source:venturebeat）

6）Google’s Admob adds automatic conversion tracking for mobile ad campaigns

Kim-Mai Cutler

Google’s mobile advertising network Admob added automatic conversion tracking yesterday to make it easier for developers to figure out whether their campaigns have actually produced downloads.

Before, app publishers would have to configure special code to see how their spending actually translated into downloads. Now all AdMob Android campaigns will automatically show conversion data from the Android Market. Inside Admob’s dashboard, there’s now a new section called App Conversion Tracking, that will show the number of downloads and the cost per download. Google didn’t say anything about conversion tracking for iOS.

As marketing costs have gone up over the past year, developers have told us they’ve struggled with finding the right balance between many different channels from install networks to display ads to free-app-a-day products. Many of the biggest game developers rely on using paid marketing to bring in users at a lower cost and then earn revenue through in-app purchases and advertising. They keep the split between spending on user acquisition and virtual currency revenues.（source:insidemobileapps）