1）移动广告网站InMobi最新报告显示，2012年2月份Android在该网站欧洲市场的广告印象占比33.7%，苹果iOS则比去年11月份增长5个百分点，达到28.4%（游戏邦注：但在北美市场，iOS在该网站广告印象于2月份首次超过Android）。

OS share of impression(from inmobi)

报告指出RIM市场份额仍占比16.6%，几乎与11月份数据相同。但在北美市场，黑莓广告印象在同一时期已下降4.1个百分点，仅占13.1%。

handset share of impression(from inmobi)

从移动设备来看，苹果是最大赢家，iPhone 4在InMobi欧洲市场所占广告印象达9.3%，而第三名iPad也占比6.1%。

黑莓8520手机同样表现强劲，在该时期占比7.4%。最为领先的Android手机是三星Galaxy SII，该设备位居第四，占比5.1%。

该时期InMobi广告网络在欧洲市场份额增长63%，每月广告印象达152亿次。

2）分析公司iGR最新报告预测，2016年智能手机在美国手机销量中将占比96%（2011年的这一比例为76%，2009年为33%）。

报告称美国智能手机市场份额提升与功能性手机用户更换移动设备、4G和NFC等技术的普及有关。

3）PopCap最近发布新款iOS游戏《Zuma’s Revenge》（游戏邦注：一个是仅限iPhone手机的版本，一个是针对iPad进行优化的高清通用版本），玩家在游戏中要控制一只口吐彩球的青蛙，将3个或更多同色彩球组合起来，就可以消除这些彩球。该游戏只有一种简单的控制方式，支持iOS用户划动屏幕进行操作。

Zuma Revenge(from insidemobileapps)

《Zuma’s Revenge》是PopCap向iOS平台推出的首款Zuma品牌游戏，据AppData数据显示，该游戏目前位居付费应用榜单第3名，付费游戏榜单第2名。其高清版本位居付费应用第196名，位居iPad付费应用第5名，付费游戏第102名，付费iPad游戏第4名。该游戏的成功部分归功于苹果在部分地区市场将其评为“当周推荐游戏”。

4）据pocketgamer报道，Android欧洲应用开发者最近通过谷歌官方论坛声称，谷歌原本应该通过Google Wallet向开发者支付其产品2月份在Google Play的收益，但他们的款项至今仍未到帐。

google-play(from hothardware.com)

有名开发者表示，谷歌一般是每月2号向开发者支付款项，在5至7号左右就可以看到款项到帐。许多人咨询了谷歌团队但却没有得到任何回复。

据Phandroid报道，使用谷歌AdMob和AdSense的开发者也遇到了同样的情况。受此影响的开发者主要来自葡萄牙、法国、西班牙、荷兰和英国等欧洲国家。

5）手机游戏开发商10tons总裁兼首席执行官Tero Alatalo最近通过公司博客指出，苹果新款iPad的Retina屏幕是一把双刃剑，虽然2048 X 1536像素的分辨率为高质量的应用带来了发展机遇，但这也会增加额外下载成本，同时也增加了开发者制作产品的工作量。仅仅在Photoshop中放大图片像素并不能使游戏在这种屏幕中呈现细节效果。

new_ipad(from macdailynews.com)

此外，开发者目前还找不到可满足2048 X 1536像素的显示器来模拟新款iPad，即使是Apple Cinema Display这种高端显示器也无法达到这一要求。10tons还发现iMac平台上的iOS模拟器难以运行如此高像素的游戏，画面运行帧率极为缓慢。

6）Facebook游戏开发商King.com近日宣布收购手机游戏公司Fabrication Games，以便拓展iOS和Android手机游戏市场。

KingCom_Logo（from en.wikipedia.org)

Fabrication Games位于瑞典，共有12名成员，已向发布《Bugfest》和《The Game Trail》等数款游戏，但尚无较有影响力的大作。有传言称King.com将于2013年在纳斯达克上市，这项收购交易或许与其IPO有关，因为同时扮演Facebook和手机游戏发行商这两个角色更有助于提升股市行情。（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）iOS chasing down Android’s ad impression lead in Europe, claims InMobi

by James Nouch

Apple’s iOS is gaining ground on Android across Europe according to the latest Mobile Insights report for the month of February published by ad network InMobi.

According to the paper, Android remains the dominant platform in the region with a 33.7 percent share of impressions on the network, though its market share is gradually being eroded by iOS.

InMobi claims Apple’s hand rose by 5 percentage points from November, finally resting at its current 28.4 percent share in February.

Impressionable

It’s the start of what looks to be a similar trend observed by InMobi in North America, where iOS overtook Android for the first time in January, thanks to a surge in demand for Apple’s iPhone 4S.

Outside of the big two, however, InMobi states RIM’s share of the market is holding strong on 16.6 percent – almost the same share as the firm amassed in November.

This stands in contrast to North America, where BlackBerry fell back by 4.1 percentage points over the same period, finishing up on 13.1 percent.

Breaking it down

When it comes to individual handsets, Apple rules the roost. iPhone 4 alone counts for 9.3 percent of European impressions on InMobi’s network, with the original iPad holding third spot on 6.1 percent.

RIM’s BlackBerry 8520 was also a strong performer in February, accounting for 7.4 percent of impressions.

The highest placed Android handset was Samsung’s Galaxy SII in fourth spot on 5.1 percent.

“We expect to see continued growth in iOS, driven by last week’s unveiling of the new iPad, as well as the reduced pricing of the iPad 2,” said VP and MD for the EME region Rob Jonas, looking ahead.

“The iOS growth on our network and increased adoption of tablets overall align with the results of our recent Mobile Media Consumption Study, which reveals that European mobile consumers are already spending more time on mobile connected devices than TVs.”

In all, InMobi’s network across Europe grew by 63 percent during the 90 day period, equal to 15.2 billion monthly impressions.（source:pocketgamer）

2）Smartphones to account for 96 per cent of US mobile phone sales by 2017

by Zen Terrelonge

Up from one-third in 2009.

The smartphone space is growing at phenomenal speeds, with all manufacturers rivalling in the hope of becoming one of the big three market vendors.

Now, new research from analyst iGR expects smartphones to account for 96 per cent of mobile phone sales in American by the close of 2016, which is up from 76 per cent in 2011 and just 33 per cent in 2009.

The report claims the swift rise of US smartphone adoption is down to feature phone users converting during upgrades and replacements, mass enterprise use, and tech improvements such as 4G and NFC enticing data-hungry consumers.

Iain Gillott, president and founder of iGR, says: “The growth in the US smartphone market has been very strong in the last few years. But as the market becomes saturated, smartphone sales growth will slow.

“For OEMs who are hoping to gain, or regain, market share in the US, the time to act is now. By 2014, we believe the majority of the smartphone sales growth will be over.”

Additionally, iGR believes the market has hit a design wall as each firm trying to outshine Apple, inevitably means that all phones look pretty similar.

With the likes of Apple, Samsung, Nokia, Sony, BlackBerry, LG, ZTE and Huawei on the market to name just a few, it’s unlikely anymore competition that enters after 2014 will succeed, according to the report.（source:mobile-ent）

3）PopCap officially brings Zuma to iOS with Zuma’s Revenge

Pete Davison

Zuma’s Revenge is a new release for iOS devices from PopCap. It comes in two versions — an iPhone-only version, and an HD Universal version optimized for the iPad and Retina display devices to run the game at its full resolution.

In Zuma’s Revenge, players have control of a frog which spits out colored balls. Similar balls roll slowly around a track on their way towards a hole, and by matching groups of three or more balls together, the player is able to make them disappear. Certain balls carry special abilities which are unleashed when matched, such as exploding and destroying adjacent balls, or temporarily giving the frog the ability to destroy balls without having to match colors. If the balls fall down the hole, the player loses. To win, on the other hand, players must first score enough points to fill a progress bar at the top of the screen, at which point no further balls will emerge. When this has happened, the player must then eliminate all balls on the screen to complete the level. Bonuses are given at the end of a level according to how quickly it was completed and the biggest combos that were created.

The game is played using simple touch controls. Unlike the computer and console versions, where players must control the frog’s rotation and aim its shots themselves, the iOS version allows players to simply tap on the screen where they would like the ball to fire. This makes for a much more fast-paced game, but still leaves margin for error if the movement of the balls is not taken into account. The game also includes a number of twists on the original Zuma’s level design, which always involved the frog being at the center of the screen and rotating — in some levels on Revenge, the frog moves back and forth across the bottom of the screen firing upwards instead, making for a slightly different play style.

Alongside the main Adventure mode, which tasks players with progressing through a series of increasingly difficult levels (including boss fights), completing the tenth level unlocks Challenge Mode. This is a series of one-off levels in which players are given three minutes to score as many points as possible in an attempt to beat two target scores. The game does not, however, feature a Blitz mode based on the popular competitive Facebook incarnation of Zuma, nor does it include any social features run through Game Center, OpenFeint or even EA’s own Origin service, which is something of a surprise.

Zuma’s Revenge isn’t the first game to carry the Zuma title on iOS, but it is the first Zuma-branded game which actually comes from the game’s developer PopCap. Coincidentally, the numerous “fake” Zuma apps that have been visible in the charts in recent weeks now appear to have vanished from the App Store, though titles which play similarly but do not carry the Zuma name are still present. This includes Zuma’s direct inspiration Puzz Loop, published by Hudson Soft. Zuma was accused of being a clone of Puzz Loop upon its original release, with developer Mitchell even going so far as to say that PopCap had infringed on their intellectual property. PopCap responded that Zuma was “not an exact clone” but rather an elaboration on Mitchell’s original idea, and the two titles have coexisted since.

According to our tracking service AppData, Zuma’s Revenge is currently the No. 3 top paid app and the No. 2 top paid game. Meanwhile, the more expensive HD version is the No. 196 top paid app, No. 5 top paid iPad app, No. 102 top paid game and No. 4 top paid iPad game. The game’s success is likely partly due to Apple’s featuring of the game as Game of the Week in certain territories (though not in the U.S., where that honor currently belongs to Mass Effect Infiltrator) but also positive associations with the PopCap name and past experiences of the Zuma brand.（source:insidemobileapps）

4）European Android devs complain of missing Google Play payouts

by Keith Andrew

Android developers from across Europe have taken to Google’s official forum to claim they’re yet to receive Google Play revenue from their titles for the month of February.

Google was meant to have paid studios all cash generated from their titles on the newly rebranded marketplace through Google Wallet at the start of the month.

However, scores have claimed the money is yet to be deposited in their bank accounts.

Money matters

“Developers are usually paid on the 2nd of the month, arriving in bank accounts between 5th and 7th,” a well placed industry source told us.

“All have been marked as ‘paid’ on the 2nd, but not received so far. Most people have contacted Google Merchant team but nobody has had anything other than an automated response so far and there’s no comment from Google on the forum thread dedicated to this problem.”

Phandroid reports developers using Google’s AdMob and AdSense are also reporting problems with payouts, though Google is yet to acknowledge the problem even exists publicly, let alone proffer a solution.

“There are lots of indie developers with cash-flow problems, and lots of disappointment at being treated this way by Google,” our source added.

Most of the developers involved are located within Europe – Portugal, France, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK a few territories popping up repeatedly – though one developer from the US claims he’s yet to receive payments owed to him from January.（source:pocketgamer）

5）Retina-equipped iPad proving problematic for devs, claims 10tons

by James Nouch

Adding to the reaction of iOS developers already on record, 10tons president and CEO Tero Alatalo has detailed the difficulties his studios will face adapting to development on Apple’s forthcoming third generation iPad.

Speaking via a post on the studio’s blog, Alatalo claimed the device’s Retina Display is something of a double-edged sword.

“The 2048×1536 resolution is huge. Insanely huge. 4x more pixels,” he said in the entry.

“Making high quality universal apps which support all four iOS resolutions will make the app bundles massively large compared to last week.

“While the extra pixels come with extra download cost, they also require extra work for developers carefully crafting them. Simply scaling up the images in Photoshop doesn’t add in more detail.”

A lotta pixels

As well as hefty downloads and extra work for developers, there are practical problems to overcome when developing an app for such a high resolution display.

Alatalo explains, “the problem with simulating the new iPad is that we haven’t got an external display with large enough resolution to fit the 2048×1536 pixels on screen. Even the best Apple Cinema Display doesn’t have enough resolution to fit it in!”

What’s more, 10tons has found that iOS simulator on iMac struggles to run 2048×1536 games, with frame rates slowing to a near standstill.

Alatalo also questioned whether the new iPad’s A5X system-on-a-chip will be powerful enough to handle the massive jump in resolution.

Under the hood

10tons isn’t the first developer to raise such concerns.

Ste Pickford, co-founder of Zee-3, expressed similar doubts, stating, “I suspect the machine won’t quite match the performance of the iPad 2 for games, with the improved hardware probably not quite up to the job or pushing around four times as many pixels.”

Similarly, Byron Atkinson-Jones, the founder of Xiotex Studios confided to us: “Yes, I’m excited about the increase in resolution, but at the same time I wonder if the graphics chip is going to end up realistically being the same speed as the iPad 2 is currently.”

10tons’ Alatalo take isn’t entirely negative, however.

He also expressed excitement at the new hardware’s possibilities, and appears optimistic that developers will overcome the challenges of working with the new iPad.

“All those problems are mostly minor nuisances that will go away with time,” he concluded.

“The next iPad after this will most likely have even more horse power much like iPhone 4S had over iPhone 4. The display makers will start selling wallet-friendlyhigh resolution displays. We will all have unlimited amount of lightning-fast bandwidth. And flying cars.”（source:pocketgamer）

6）King.com getting into mobile with Fabrication Games acquisition

By Brad Hilderbrand

News has just broken that Facebook power-player King.com has acquired mobile developer Fabrication Games in an effort to establish a presence on iOS and Android devices. Don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize the Fabrication name, they’re a smaller studio (only 12 employees) based in Sweden. The company has published a few smaller-scale games such as Bugfest and The Game Trail, but are still looking for their first big App Store hit.

In many ways the acquisition looks to be a “me too” move by King.com as they watch competitors such as Zynga and EA move into the mobile space. King.com has a very strong Facebook presence, largely due to the success of Bubble Witch Saga, which we assume will be the first mobile game published under the new arrangement. It helps that both King.com and Fabrication are based in Sweden, which should make collaboration a bit easier than if this were an international partnership. Still, partnering with a largely unproven team to create games on a new platform is quite a bold move.

Then again, King.com’s foray into mobile might be an attempt to inflate the company’s upcoming IPO, planned for some time in 2013. Rumor has it King.com has their eye on a NASDAQ listing, and we’re guessing that being able to say you’re both a Facebook and mobile publisher does wonders for your stock price. In any case, we send out our congratulations to both companies and wish them well as they attempt to crack the iOS and Android code.（source:gamezebo）