1）分析公司Gartner日前预测2012年底全球平板电脑销量将达1.189亿部，几乎是2011年6000万部平板电脑销量的2倍，预计这一数据在2016年将达3.693亿部。

iPad users(from techcentral.my)

Gartner指出，苹果硬件仍将成为今后数年的市场领军力量，而微软及Android平板电脑只能勉强占据一席之地。

2）美国消费电子协会（CEA）最近报告指出，2013年将有22%的美国家庭要购买智能手机，该设备已成为最受欢迎的消费电子产品。

居于其次的是高清电视及数码相机，这两者的支持率分别达17%和15%，还有14%的美国家庭用户将购买平板电脑。

3）据Marketwatch报道，亚马逊Appstore最近开始正式支持IAP功能（游戏邦注：该服务也将采用三七开的营收分成原则），社交手机游戏公司Storm8则宣布旗下免费增值游戏在今年3月份已通过该应用商店IAP技术测试版本创收超过70万美元。

Amazon IAP(from engadget.com)

在Storm8向亚马逊Appstore发布的10款游戏中，有4款跻身该应用商店热门免费游戏榜单前5名。

4）德国游戏发行商HandyGames近日宣布旗下游戏在Google Play下载量已超过2500万次。该公司向Google Play发布了20款游戏，其中包括35个免费和付费版本。其中下载量最高的是《Clouds & Sheep》（超过500万次），《Guns’n'Glory》、《Super Dynamite Fishing》和《Aporkalypse》也分别超过了100万次下载量。

5）休闲游戏公司PlayFirst最近宣布自1月份将旗下Dash系列iOS游戏改成通用版本（即通过于iPhone和iPad平台）之后，《Diner Dash》下载量增幅超过85%（突破200万次）。

diner dash(from blog.games.com)

而《Wedding Dash》和《Hotel Dash》也有不俗表现，《Cooking Dash》则在2月份晋升至美国iPad免费游戏榜单第5名；PlayFirst目前有80%的收益来自IAP功能。

6）《Draw Something》官方论坛信息显示，目前有超过3366名用户在论坛上向Zynga纽约工作室（即之前的OMGPOP）“请愿”，要求后者向Windows Phone 7设备发布《Draw Something》。

windows correct(from games)

但该游戏团队成员Joseph Alminawi的回复并不乐观（游戏邦注：需注意的是，Zynga至今未向Windows Phone 7平台推出任何一款游戏），他称Windows等其他平台的表现仍然有待观望，团队目前主要关注iOS和Android版本的优化，市场需求越大，他们才越有可能向其投入游戏开发资源。

7）Jump Tap最近调查结果显示，《愤怒的小鸟》玩家多为共和党人，而《Words with Friends》玩家则更为富有。

Angry-Birds-Space(from cnet)

《Words with Friends》玩家年收入超过10万美元的比例更高，他们多为智能手机用户，而《愤怒的小鸟》玩家相对更支持共和党，其中拥有平板电脑的用户比例比一般移动用户高2倍。

8）德国黑莓博客BlogBerry.de近日发布应用商店信息图表显示：

黑莓App World目前应用数量仅超过7万（其中PlayBook应用超过1.5万款），每日下载量近600万次，至今已实现20亿次下载量。

有13%黑莓开发者通过开发应用创收10万美元以上，其收益比Android开发者多40%。从目前下载率来看，平均每名黑莓用户一年要下载30款应用。

2011年2月份，App Store有66.2%下载量来自付费应用，这一比例比2010年8月下降了5%；从2010年8月至2011年2月，App Store应用数量仅增长44%。2011年最畅销的iOS应用是《愤怒的小鸟》，营收榜单冠军是《Tap Zoo》，年度最佳游戏是《Tiny Tower》，年度最佳应用是Instagram。

Google Play目前应用数量超过40万，从2010年8月至2011年2月其应用数量增长127%；但下载量超过50万次的Android付费应用仅有2款，79.3%的Android付费应用下载量不足100次，仅有4.6%付费应用下载量超过1000次。

howtheapp_stores_infographic(from BlogBerry.de)

（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）Tablet sales will see a dramatic rise in 2012, says analyst

by Tom Curtis

Newsbrief: With Apple’s iPad and various tablet devices gaining traction by the day, technology analyst firm Gartner expects global tablet sales to reach 118.9 million units by the end of 2012, almost double the 60 million tablets sold as of 2011.

The firm predicts that total will double again by 2016, with the number of tablets sold reaching 369.3 million. If Gartner’s estimates prove accurate, tablet developers would have quite a large consumer base for which to develop games and apps.

According to Gartner, Apple’s hardware in particular is expected to lead the market for the foreseeable future, as Microsoft and Android tablets have struggled to gain a solid foothold relative to Apple’s success. （source:gamasutra）

2）Smartphones are the most desired electronic items this year

by Zen Terrelonge

Almost a quarter of US households plan to buy one.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) claims 22 per cent of American homes will buy smartphones in the next year, which makes the device the most popular consumer electronic.

The next most popular items are HDTVs and digital cameras with 17 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

Additionally, tablets will experience its highest sales increase to date, as 14 per cent of homes buy one alongside notebooks and laptops.

Chris Ely, CEA’s manager of industry analysis, said: “Consistent with past research and trends we are seeing, tablets and smartphones will continue their dominance in the marketplace over the coming year.

“As consumers continue to integrate these mobile connected devices into their everyday lifestyles, we expect to see an increase in ownership of all-in-one devices and related content.”

Results show that almost 31 million homes – 26 per cent – will stream content online, which supports our report that more films are streamed than watched on DVD, VHS and Blu-ray.（source:mobile-ent）

3）Storm8 calls Amazon Appstore world class as it generates $700,000 in IAPs during March

by Jon Jordan

Amazon has now formally released in-app purchases for its Appstore for Android.

And it hasn’t taken long for developers who have been using a beta version of the technology for the past couple of months to highlight their success.

Social mobile publisher Storm8 (which also includes the TeamLava label) has announced that during March its free-to-play games did over $700,000 of IAP sales on the store.

Top slots

The company says that of the 10 games it’s released on Amazon, four are in the top five spots in terms of the most popular free game chart.

“We’ve found the Amazon Appstore for Android to be a world-class service for marketing and merchandising,” said Perry Tam, Storm8′s CEO.

“We were impressed with how quickly we were able to integrate our games with the Amazon Appstore, and we saw the revenue benefits immediately.

“Revenue for the first title we tested quickly grew more than 1,000 percent and the more recent titles have done even better. We’ll be bringing much more of our catalog to Amazon in the near future.”（source:pocketgamer）

4）HandyGames does 25 million downloads from Google Play

by Jon Jordan

German publisher HandyGames has announced its games have been downloaded over 25 million times from Google Play.

It has around 20 titles available on the appstore, over 35 versions including all paid and free games, and it’s the free games that have really boosted its performance.

Building up

Most downloaded titles include Clouds & Sheep with over 5 million installs, and Guns’n'Glory, Super Dynamite Fishing and Aporkalypse all over a million.

Its next release is the much anticipated iOS and Android version of its Java strategy franchise Townsmen.

Back in December 2011, the company also announced it was hosting over 300 million in-game ads a month across its iOS, Android and Ovi games.（source:pocketgamer）

5）PlayFirst’s iOS downloads up 85% after it goes universal

by Keith Andrew

PlayFirst’s decision to make its Dash series of games universal on iOS – i.e., one app for both iPhone and iPad – has been vindicated according to stats released by the company.

Since the change was made in January, PlayFirst claims downloads of the series’ flagship, Diner Dash, have risen by more than 85 percent – equal to more than 2 million downloads.

Other games, such as Wedding Dash and Hotel Dash have also benefited from the change, while the firm states Cooking Dash climbed to #5 in the top free games charts on iPad (presumably in the US) after going universal in February.

Dash for downloads

The result is that 80 percent of PlayFirst’s revenue is now generated by in-app purchases.

“By taking advantage of new platform opportunities we’re seeing a surge in demand for games that are, in the case of Diner Dash, over two years old on iOS,” said VP of products and strategy Chris Williams, who spoke about the company’s approach during his GDC 2012 talk.

“This proves that when a great game is delivered in a way that feels native on the device, players will respond. Our universal Dash apps deliver a high quality experience to users regardless of which iOS platform they are on.”（source:pocketgamer）

6）At least 3,300 people want Draw Something on their Windows Phone 7

by Joe Osborne

Zynga and the Draw Something team have a golden opportunity to avoid a PR snafu. On the hyper popular game’s official forums, 3,366 people have signed an online petition for Zynga New York (formerly OMGPOP) to make Draw Something available for Windows Phone 7 devices as of this writing. The team’s response doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that it will happen. (Not to mention the fact that not a single Zynga game is available on Windows Phone 7.)

“Windows and other platforms are something we are examining,” Draw Something team member Joseph Alminawi wrote in the forum thread. “Right now we’re focusing on fine tuning the existing apps on iOS and Android. The greater the demand and the larger the market, the higher the appeal for us to put our resources into making a game on a platform. So by all means, please continue to express which platforms you’d like to see Draw Something on – we are listening!”

Even if you’re not a Windows Phone 7 fan, you likely already know that Microsoft’s phone operating system hasn’t received widespread love from big time app and game developers. Recently, it looked as if Rovio didn’t even intend on bringing Angry Birds Space to the platform until the developer’s CEO stepped in and set things straight.

Of course, for most game makers it’s an issue of resources versus returns. Let’s face it: The amount of Windows Phone 7 gamers pales in comparison to iOS and Android. In most cases, studios are better off making sure games with the most exposure look and play the best, rather than dedicate a whole team to bringing games to a smaller platform. That said, the customer is always right, no?（source:games）

7）Angry Birds players tend to skew Republican, while Words with Friends players tend to make more money.

That’s according to a recent study by JumpTap, which provides targeted mobile advertising and collects trending data.

Another finding: the new iPad has exceeded sales expectations, even if its traffic levels are lower than prior versions of Apple’s hit tablet.

The results — particularly from the mobile games — provide some interesting insight into the patterns and preferences of players. Words with Friends players are more likely to have an annual income over $100,000 and tend to use smartphones. Angry Birds players, meanwhile, are more likely Republican than their Words with Friends counterparts. They are also twice as likely to be on a tablet as the average mobile user, according to JumpTap. （source:cnet）

8）Infographic: How the App Stores Really Stack Up

by Zen Terrelonge

BlackBerry App World bags 6m downloads a day.

German BlackBerry blog BlogBerry.de has compiled the app store infographic, which casts a look out across BlackBerry App World, iTunes and Google Play.

Apple leads with over half a billion apps on offer, while Android has 400,000 as BlackBerry trails with just 70,000.

However, despite the lack of choice for BlackBerry users, the platform is currently receiving over six million daily downloads.（source:mobile-ent）