1）Imangi Studios创始人Keith Shepherd日前通过Twitter宣布，热门智能手机游戏《Temple Run》Android版本发布仅3周就突破1000万次下载量（游戏邦注：pocketgamer报道称，这意味着该游戏平均每天下载量达50万次，每周下载量为350万次）。

temple-run(from androidcommunity)

该游戏去年是以付费版本+IAP模式登陆iOS平台，转向免费增值模式后其营收增长4倍，在该平台下载量超过3600万次。

2）Zynga近日宣布旗下手机游戏《Draw Something》植入社交元素，支持玩家通过Facebook和Twitter分享自己所画的杰作，并将其保存到自己设备上的相册中。该功能目前仅限于iOS版本，之后才会向Android版本添加这种支持。

Draw-Something(from-technobuffalo.com)

该版本还添加了iOS的“下拉刷新”功能，以及可清除最近笔画痕迹的撤销按钮。据Zynga所称，用户至今已通过《Draw Something》创造了60亿张图画。

3）Viacom最近针对8-54岁的美国用户展开的调查显示，平板电脑是移动领域中最适合看电视节目的设备，是仅次于电视的第二大视频播放设备，而桌面PC及智能手机的视频用户支持率却有所下滑。

有趣的是，平板电脑用户最常看的是喜剧和音乐节目，这类节目也是桌面电脑用户的最爱，而真人秀、戏剧和科幻片则是电视用户常看的节目。

有50%用户满意平板电脑的表现，49%受访者称平板电脑是有效安排生活的工具。40%用户称平板电脑让自己感觉良好，39%称平板电脑可激发创意。

4）韩国开发商Com2uS日前宣布将在今年发布43款iOS和Android游戏，立志通过免费增值模式转变为世界顶级的智能手机游戏公司（该公司成立于1998年，原先主要针对功能性手机开发Java游戏）。

Com2uS在2011年智能手机游戏营收比2010年增长159%，达到2020万美元；从总体上看，Com2uS在2011年有64%收益来自智能手机业务，而2010年的这一比例仅29%。预计2012年其智能手机游戏收益将占比88%，达到4790万美元，同比增长51%。

Revenue Composition (from Com2uS)

revenue composition(from Com2uS)

该公司美国总经理Don Lim表示，得益于便捷的运营商计费系统，Android用户在韩国盈利性相对更高（游戏邦注：其计费系统有利于非信用卡Android用户无障碍购买游戏中的虚拟商品）。Com2uS旗下游戏《Tiny Farm》在韩国的用户付费转化率为10%，在日本为6.5%，但在美国的Google Play仅为3%。

据其所称，Com2uS认为拥有资源、经验和灵活性的大型开发商有望在这个平台分裂化的Android市场中赢得先机，Android手机游戏市场与过去由运营商主导的J2ME平台时代相似，但开发者在此拥有更多自由。

5）据The Verge报道，有匿名知情者透露微软最新手机操作系统Windows Phone 8可能不会问世，也就是说所有Windows Phone设备（包括诺基亚Lumia 900）都将停留在Windows Phone 7版本。

而微软对此传闻的回应则是，“所有的Marketplace应用程序都将支持运行于下一代Windows Phone平台，除此之外我们无可奉告”。

观察者称如果微软不能有效控制这种流言传播，可能会导致Windows Phone设备丧失一些潜在用户。

Windows 8(from chipchick.com)

6）据pocketgamer报道，微软近日宣布任职5个月的Windows Phone产品营销总经理Shane Kim“由于个人原因”而离开岗位。Kim此前曾是三星用户及企业服务部门副总裁，他在去年11月份加入微软，主要职责是“为Windows Phone规划未来发展方向”以助微软赢得用户、运营商、设备制造商、开发者及其他合作伙伴的支持。

虽然Windows Phone之后推出了诺基亚Lumia系统产品并获得一定影响力，但不久前的路透社报道称，欧洲运营商对Windows Phone智能手机并无好感，而从最近关于Windows Phone 8不会发布的传言来看，Windows Phone平台发展前途未卜。（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）Temple Run on Android sees 10M downloads in 3 weeks

by Mike Rose

The Android version of Imangi Studios’ popular free-to-play smartphone game Temple Run has been downloaded more than 10 million times since it launched just over three weeks ago.

The game launched as a paid download with in-app purchases for iOS devices last year — however, it was when the studio removed the price tag and made it free-to-play that it really took off, with revenue from the game quadrupling and over 36 million downloads on iOS.

Imangi founder Keith Shepherd said today via Twitter than the Android version has also found success, with 10 million downloads already recorded.（source:gamasutra）

2）Zynga adds new social features to Draw Something, raises streak cap to 999

Sebastian Haley

Zynga adds new social features to Draw Something, raises streak cap to 999Trials Evolution hits the throttle and never lets up (review)Starting The Players can now share their masterpieces on Facebook and Twitter, as well as save drawings to the device photo library. This functionality is only available on iOS and to be added to Android at a later date.

Other new features include short messages up to 100 characters that can be attached to drawings. I wonder how many of these will say, “It’s a monocle! Please guess right I need coins lulz!”

The standard iOS “pull down to refresh” feature has been added, as has an undo button that erases the most recent stroke. Streaks have been increased from 100 to 999, allowing you to play in the same session much longer.

According to Zynga, 6 billion illustrations have been created worldwide in Draw Something, with the “most popular” words being: table, airplane, bubbles, starfish, and birthday.（source:venturebeat）

4）Tablets are the most used mobile devices for viewing TV shows

by Zen Terrelonge

Platform accounts for 15 per cent of the total time users spend watching full-length shows.

Media network Viacom surveyed Americans aged between eight and 54 to achieve the data. While tablets lead the mobile market for full-length TV show viewing, the devices have also become the second choice overall for show viewing, trailing behind TV itself.

The rise of tablet streaming use has come at the expense of desktop PCs and smartphone, which have both declined.

Interestingly, tablet users view comedy and music the most, which are genres favoured by desktop users, while reality, drama and sci-fi are the most viewed choices on TV.Colleen Fahey Rush, exec VP and chief research officer, Viacom, said: “We found that the tablet is a jack of many trades – it offers video and social experiences, it’s a source of information and it’s portable.”

Results also show that tablets make 50 per cent of users feel happy and relaxed and 49 per cent said the tablets are effective for life management.

Meanwhile, 40 per cent said “my tablet brings out the best in me” and 39 per cent said tablets boost creativity.

Despite the praise for their multi-functions, 65 per cent of users said they would replace their laptop before their tablet because it lacks work functionality, while 77 per cent would replace their iPhone before their iPad.（source:mobile-ent）

4）Will South Korea’s Com2uS be the next Asian developer to conquer the west?

Kathleen De Vere

South Korean developer Com2uS is betting a transition to free-to-play gaming will make it a global smartphone gaming leader. The company is releasing 43 games this year on iOS and Android, spanning a variety of styles and genres in order to find broad, international appeal.

Com2uS got its in start in 1998 making Java-based games for feature phones, but was an early adopter of smartphone gaming. In 2011, the company reported smartphone game revenues had risen 159 percent year-over-year from $7.7 million to $20.2 million. Overall, 64 percent of Com2uS’ 2011 earnings came from smartphones, up from just 29 percent the year before. As of 2012 the company is predicting 88 percent of its income will come from smartphone games with overall revenues predicted to hit $47.9 million, up 51 percent year-on-year.

With the profits and revenues increasing, Com2uS’ goal now is to expand globally with a library of free-to-play games, explains the company’s U.S. general manager Don Lim. Although fourth quarter earnings of $7.2 million were not as high as they could have been due to the cancellation of some paid game projects, Com2uS is confident the switch in tactics will help it in the long run.

“Paid-download games are more of a hit-or-miss model, but free-to-play games are a service-and-fix model,” says Lim. He goes on to explain that if a free-to-play game doesn’t succeed at first, Com2uS will tweak the game until it does. The company is also betting that free-to-play games will improve its long-tail monetization, offering gradually increasing returns rather than a “waterfall of income” that drops off quickly after the game’s release.

Aiding in the transition is the 10 million user strong Com2uS Hub. Acting as the company’s internal social network, it allows Com2uS to connect users with one another and provides the company a large cross-promotion network to work from. That said, a cross-promotion network can only go so far, especially when trying to make games that appeal worldwide, something Lim acknowledges.

“It’s a hard line to walk, appealing to audiences all around the world who have very different cultures of play, not to mention consumption,” he says. “South Korea has a longer history of consuming mobile content, especially games, and [they’re] more used to hardcore game elements, even on a casual platform. This is in contrast to the U.S. market and play culture, which doesn’t pay for mobile content as much and also sees less time invested in many titles.”

Of the 43 titles Com2uS is releasing this year, 20 are being developed by other studios. The company is working with developers from China, the U.S. and Europe, releasing games that range from casual-social titles like the Korean-developed Magic Tree to the U.S.-developed hardcore sports title SummitX Snowboarding. “If our catalog can appeal to many sub-genres, then that’s good in our book,” says Lim.

The company has been making progress too — almost half of Com2uS’ 2011 income came from outside South Korea. However, looking forward, the company also has to factor in billing and monetization, a huge issue outside South Korea.

According to Lim, Android users monetize at a much higher rate in South Korea because telecom providers offer carrier billing. A low-friction purchase option, it allows users without credit cards to purchase digital goods and boosts conversion and monetization rates in the South Korean Android market. Com2uS’ game Tiny Farm has a 10 percent conversion rate in South Korea and a 6.5 percent conversion rate in Japan. In the U.S., where all billing is run through Google Play, just 3 percent of users pay.

Com2uS is bullish on the prospects for Android, even outside of its lucrative home market. “We see a bigger potential in Android this year for a couple of reasons,” says Lim.  “There are more devices worldwide and the market is more suited for free-to-play. Although there are many issues such as market fragmentation, device fragmentation and billing, it could be an opportunity for larger developers who have the resources, experience and scalability. It’s similar to J2ME platform days managed by the wireless carriers in the past but with more freedom to developers.”（source:insidemobileapps）

5）No Windows Phone 8 update for existing handsets, claims insider

by Keith Andrew

With Windows Phone only now beginning to gain some momentum, an anonymous source has told The Verge Microsoft is preparing to press the reset button, blocking owners of existing handsets from installing the forthcoming Apollo update.

Said source has claimed the new version of the platform, better known as Windows Phone 8, will come with ‘no upgrade path’ from Microsoft, in part due to its closer logistical links to Windows 8.

Closing Windows

To put such a claim in context, that means anyone with an existing Windows Phone device – including the flagship Nokia Lumia 900 – would be stuck with Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft’s reply to the rumour has, bizarrely, been to confirmed that “all apps in our Marketplace today will run on the next version of Windows Phone.” The company added, “Beyond that, we have nothing to share about future releases.”

Whether true or not, the fact the rumour is now spreading across the web at pace is a big PR slip-up for Microsoft, with potential customers likely to be put off buying current Windows Phone handsets if the next major upgrade is likely to be unavailable to them.

The news comes after WMPoweruser reported a Microsoft evangelist had, in contrast, claimed Windows Phone 8 would be made available for all existing handsets.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft for clarification.（source:pocketgamer）

6）Windows Phone marketing manager Shane Kim quits post after 5 months

by Keith Andrew

Much lauded at the time of his appointment, Microsoft has announced Shane Kim has quit his role as general manager of Windows Phone product marketing little over five months after taking up the position.

Microsoft claims Kim, who joined after serving as VP of Samsung’s consumer and enterprise services division, is leaving the company outright due to a “personal reason.”

Hello Ho

“We feel very good about the work he has done to set the team, and its new lead Eugene Ho, up for success,” said Microsoft in an email.

“We wish him all the best.”

Kim joined Microsoft in November, claiming he would look to “set the future direction for the Windows Phone platform” and, crucially, “accelerate Microsoft’s trajectory to win the hearts and minds of consumers, carriers, device manufacturers, developers and partners.”

Since then, Windows Phone has managed to gain mind share thanks to Nokia’s Lumia range, though Kim’s departure comes at a particularly turbulent time.

European carriers are reportedly unhappy with the performance of Nokia’s Windows Phone smartphones to date according to a report by Reuters, while rumours also suggest existing handsets running the OS will miss out on the upgrade to Windows Phone 8.（source:pocketgamer）