1）Fiksu日前发布的4月份报告显示，iOS应用下载量连续第三个月呈现下滑趋势，平均每日下载量为423万次，降幅为4.9%。

index-competitive(from Fiksu)

美国前200名免费应用日均下载量自1月份以来下降了37.7%（游戏邦注：1月份日均下载量为679万次），同比去年下降8.24%（2011年4月份美国免费iOS应用日均下载量为461万次）。

Fiksu认为这种现象应归咎于两个因素：苹果在此期间并非发布新产品或展开重大活动；苹果制裁刷排名的应用开发商这一事件所产生的持续效应。

index-loyal-user(from Fiksu)

尽管如此，4月份的忠实用户获取成本（指至少开启应用三次的用户）却显著上升，从3月份时的1.3美元增长至1.46美元，涨幅达12.3%，同比去年增长43%（2011年4月份时这一数据为1.02美元，但需注意的是，当时苹果尚未限制奖励安装下载模式）。

2）ABI Research今年第一季度报告显示，三星在最近十年来首次取代诺基亚，成为全球最大的移动设备制造商。

诺基亚目前占据全球23%的移动市场份额，落后于占比26%的三星，而苹果则以10%市场份额位列第三。

mobile manufacturers(from abiresearch)

ABI指出，诺基亚手机出货量同比去年下降24%，诺基亚在今后几个季度中有可能难以维持前10名移动设备制造商的地位。

三星将进一步扩大其影响力，而苹果若能维持目前的发展速度，就有可能在2013年成为全球第二大移动设制造商。

3）据venturebeat报道，苹果全球开发者大会（WWDC）最近已排出具体时间表，并邀请与会者通过苹果WWDC应用或者网站报名注册。

apple-wwdc-2012(from venturebeat)

已注册参会者现在可以查看与iOS、OS X、游戏、应用服务、图像等内容有关的100多项的会议流程。

WWDC起始时间是6月11日，将在加州旧金山莫斯克尼会议中心举行，其门票已在发售几小时内告謦。

4）Backflip Publishing与Phobic Studios最近推出新款iOS通用版游戏《Glow Bugs》，这款免费增值游戏在上周成为发展最快的iOS免费游戏。

glow_bugs(from applenapps.com)

《Glow Bugs》是一款使用倾斜控制方式的纵向卷轴游戏，玩家在其中要扮演一个瓢虫，在黑夜中不断快速奔跑和飞翔，在这一过程中还要持续消耗蚜虫和花朵。

如果玩家点击屏幕，瓢虫就会短暂飞翔，可以借此跳过障碍物并避开地面的臭虫。该游戏植入了Game Center功能，但并未充分利用积分排行榜功能以鼓励玩家展开挑战。

目前该游戏排在免费应用榜单第393名，免费iPad应用榜单第91名，免费游戏榜单第143名，免费iPad游戏榜单第40名。（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）Fiksu: iOS app download volume down 8% year-on-year, but user acquisition costs rise

Kathleen De Vere

iOS app downloads in April were down for the third month in a row, declining 4.9 percent to an average of 4.23 million apps a day, according to user acquisition company Fiksu.

According to the company’s App Store Competitive Index, the volume of daily app downloads for the top 200 free apps in the U.S. has has fallen 37.7 percent since the all-time peak of 6.79 million downloads per day in January. App download volume is also down 8.24 percent year-on-year. In April 2011 Fiksu reported U.S. consumers downloaded an average of 4.61 million free apps a day.

Fiksu attributes the continued decline to two factors — first, lower public interest in the absence of a major Apple event or product launch; second, the continued fallout of Apple’s decision to punish developers who use download bots to artificially inflate their app’s chart position.

Although downloads were down, user acquisition costs rose significantly April, increasing 12.3 percent to $1.46, up from $1.30 in March, pushed up from competition in the social networking and games categories. The cost to acquire a loyal user — defined as someone who opens an app at least three times — is up 43 percent year-on-year, from $1.02 in April 2011, but at that time Apple still allowed offer walls, a pay-per-install practice that developers used to incentivize downloads.

Overall, user acquisition costs appear to be creeping up again, and are now at the same level they were when the iPhone 4S launched in October 2011 — bad news for developers competing for what is now a much smaller pool of (legitimate, non-bot) downloads. Higher user acquisition costs cut into profit margins and can also reduce the overall lifetime value of a user if the company isn’t able to offset the cost with increased monetization through in-app purchases and advertising.（source:insidemobileapps）

2）Nokia ‘on death watch’ as market share slips to 23%

by Keith Andrew

With shipment figures for Q1 2012 in, ABI Research has – like others before it – proclaimed Samsung the world’s top mobile manufacturer, replacing Nokia at the top for the first time in a decade.

Such new territory is second spot for Nokia, in fact, that the firm claims the firm’s very existence is now in doubt, stating the Finnish firm should now be put “on death watch.”

Down and out

Nokia boasts a 23 percent share of the global mobile market according to ABI Research’s numbers, putting it behind Samsung on 26 percent but well ahead of Apple on 10 percent.

Nonetheless, the firm claims Nokia’s handset shipments dropped 24 percent year on year – a fall it cannot sustain for too much longer.

“To put it in perspective, Nokia’s single quarter shipment decline is equal to ZTE and LG combined shipments this quarter,” said ABI Research’s Michael Morgan.

“Two more quarters of this and Nokia will have to struggle to remain in the top ten. ABI Research believes it is time to put Nokia on death watch.”

Two horse race

As for Samsung, ABI Research believes the Korean giant may now pull away from the competition, with the company having extended its lead over Apple during the last quarter.

“With pre-orders of the Galaxy S3 already in the millions and the continued success of the Galaxy S2 and the 5-inch Galaxy Note ‘phablet’, it appears that Samsung will only widen its lead over competitors in 2012,” added Morgan.

“If Apple can maintain its current rate of growth with its upcoming iPhone, ABI Research believes Apple could become the No. 2 handset OEM by 2013.”（source:pocketgamer）

3）Apple unveils WWDC 2012 schedule and official app

Devindra Hardawar

If you’re lucky enough to be attending Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference this year, which kicks off on June 11, you can now start planning which sessions to hit.

Apple released the full schedule for WWDC 2012 attendees this morning, as well as an official app for the iPhone and iPad.

This year’s WWDC sold out just a few hours after tickets went on sale. And while we don’t expect the company to show off the iPhone 5 at the event, we will hear more about iOS 6 and the upcoming OS X Mountain Lion. Apple says there will be more than 100 sessions and labs, as well as six technical tracks: Essentials; App Services; Developer Tools; Graphics, Media and Games; Safari and the Web; and Core OS.

In addition to letting you schedule your WWDC time, the official iOS app includes a map of the Moscone West conference center, photos and daily news. And of course, keep an eye on VentureBeat for all of the breaking news coming out of WWDC.（source:venturebeat）