1）支付服务公司MACH最近针对2000多名英国、德国智能手机用户的调查报告显示，29%受访者在购买应用或进行IAP付费时更喜欢使用运营商计费系统付款，有18%受访者使用信用卡，10%使用借记卡。

在选择运营商计费系统的用户中，有66%认为这种服务更方便，有50%认为该服务最大优势是交易速度快。19%的英国智能手机用户认为，如果服务供应商不提供运营商计费系统，他们可能就会切换到其他网络。

app store-payment(from windows7.iyogi.com)

2）移动分析公司Flurry日前宣布与动视暴雪旗下子公司Activision Publishing展开手机游戏发行合作，并进行盈利分成。

动视以推出传统AAA游戏而著称，但尚未向在手机游戏领域发挥重要影响力，该公司今年第一季度收益净收益达3.84亿美元，但并未区分各平台收益情况，因此目前尚无法判断动视手机游戏业务规模大小。

3）Juniper Research最近预测，2016年移动娱乐产业年收益将超过650亿美元，平板电脑市场将成为主要增长动力。

Juniper指出2011年移动娱乐产业收益为360亿美元，游戏及“娱乐类应用”（包括休闲和生活应用）未来5年的收益将翻倍增长，中国和东亚地区将在未来数年成为最主要的移动娱乐收益来源。

app-store-icons(from rocketfarmstudios.com)

4）移动广告平台madvertise与应用搜索服务Xyologic最近报告指出，2012年第一季度欧洲五国（游戏邦注：包括德国、法国、西班牙、意大利和英国）的iPhone及Android应用下载量超过6.03亿次，其中Android应用下载量占比63%，该时期下载量达3.81亿次，而上一季度则是2.62亿次。

iPhone应用该时期下载量为2.22亿次，低于去年第四季度的2.9亿次。报告指出Android应用在这五国的下载量中均超过iPhone应用。

downloads(from madvertise)

从英国市场来看，Android应用榜单第1至第10名热门应用下载量呈相对均衡的递减趋势，而iPhone应用榜单下载量差距相对更大。例如，《Design This Home》在iPhone榜单排名第二，下载量为223万次，但位居第三名的《Temple Run》下载量仅69.3万次。

5）Glu Mobile首席执行官Niccolo de Masi在最近采访中指出，虽然HTML5游戏正在兴起，但由于发展速度缓慢，所以它在未来5-10年中仍然无法与原生应用抗衡，目前最适合采用HTML5的领域是“期刊、杂志及新闻类应用”。

他指出HTML5并不适合Glu当前的发展战略，因为他们主要开发那些基于100-200-300 MB可下载客户端的应用，例如3D第一人射击游戏，而如果要使用HTML5开发这类游戏则至少需要再等5-10年时间。

他还表示Glu看好Windows Phone平台的发展，并认为苹果、谷歌和微软将成为未来智能手机、平板电脑、桌面电脑和起居室设备的领军力量。

6）据Techcrunch报道，DeNA子公司Ngmoco首席执行官Neil Young日前宣布旗下手机游戏《Rage of Bahamut》日前在Android和iOS平台实现了相同的收益（游戏邦注：而Flurry等公司最近报告都认为Android平台收益iOS的四分之一左右）。

rage of bahamut(from games-apk.ru)

《Rage of Bahamut》是出自东京开发商Cygames之手的社交卡牌游戏，它在日本名称为《Shingeki-No-Bahamut》，后由Ngmoco进行本土化处理并推向西方市场，曾有6周时间长踞谷歌Google Play游戏榜单之首，而昨日则同时在Android和iOS榜单登顶，不过Kabam游戏《Kingdoms of Camelot》今日已重返iOS游戏榜单首位。

据Neil Young所称，一般休闲手机游戏DAU平均收益最多不超过10美分，表现更理想一些的游戏也不过是15-25美分，但《Rage of Bahamut》DAU平均收益则是这些游戏的4-5倍左右（游戏邦注：据观察者所称《Draw Something》每月IAP和广告收益为500万至1000万美元左右）。手机游戏在日本的DAU平均收益为1-1.5美元，西方用户消费情况则低于这个水平，但相信欧美用户将逐渐迎头赶上。

7）据《华尔街日报》报道，亚马逊Appstore将于今年夏季向欧洲市场开放服务，并同时在该地区发售Kindle Fire平板电脑。（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）37 per cent of app users pay using operator billing

by Tim Green

Convenience and speed encourage users to ‘stick it on the phone bill’.

A survey of more than 2,000 UK and German smartphone users by MACH found a growing preference for charging payments to the phone bill rather than to cards or PayPal.

It disclosed that 29 per cent of those who have made app or in-app purchases prefer direct operator billing, against 18 per cent who prefer credit card payments and ten per cent who prefer debit cards.

Convenience and speed of use are the top reasons for choosing operator billing, with around 66 per cent and 50 per cent respectively citing these reasons.

And 19 per cent of smartphone users in the UK said that they might switch networks if their provider was unable to offer operator billing.

Michael De Jongh, head of sales, mobile billing and payments at MACH, said: “These results demonstrate that smartphone users are clearly demanding greater convenience where mobile payments are concerned.

“This presents a significant opportunity for operators and mobile content providers to differentiate themselves and offer a more compelling user-experience through direct operator billing.

Deploying a frictionless purchase process has the potential to deliver greatly enhanced transaction completion rates, providing a real shot in the arm for the entire mobile content ecosystem.”

MACH is a payments giant with global connections, which is working on signing up various OEMs to carrier billing deals. It currently powers payments for Microsoft on WinPho devices, for example.（source:mobile-ent） 

2）Another Revenue Stream For Flurry As It Works With Activision To Publish Mobile Games
 
Kim-Mai Cutler
 
So very much data. And what to do with all of it? San Francisco’s Flurry has its mobile analytics in 190,000 apps on Android and iOS. And as the mobile app ecosystem has matured with Apple now paying a cumulative $5 billion to developers, Flurry has used its data to power everything from mobile video ads to pay-per-install. Now the company is dipping its toes into game publishing.

The company is partnering with an arm of Activision, which is behind the Call of Duty franchise, to publish mobile games. Activision, which is better known for its visceral console and PC games, has yet to make a big move into mobile gaming. But this looks like it could be part of it.

Activision brings its game design know-how, while Flurry brings its distribution power. “With the advent of free-to-play games and microtransactions, games have become more like service rather than products that you buy,” said Simon Khalaf, who is Flurry’s CEO. “It’s more about managing a service 24-7 and continuously optimizing it.”

Having watched the performance and retention of literally thousands of games, Flurry says it has unique insights into what makes certain games sticky while others quickly rise and fall.

Activision and Flurry will split the publisher’s revenue share. “The indie developers will make the lion’s share of revenue and whatever is left will be shared between Activision and Flurry,” Khalaf says. They’re not disclosing the split. Developers also get to keep full intellectual property rights for their games even though the titles will be published under the Activision Mobile Publishing brand.

Activision Publishing is part of Activision Blizzard, which made $384 million in net income on $1.2 billion in revenue in the first quarter of this year. The company doesn’t break out its revenue by platform, so it’s hard to tell how large its mobile games business is. Call of Duty’s mobile apps have fared reasonably well on the charts though.

As for Flurry, the company is better-known for its analytics. But it has also built out a mobile app distribution network over the last several years, involving video ads that reward users with virtual currency and pay-per-install. They also do re-engagement ads to lure users back to apps they’ve already downloaded.

Flurry has raised about $26 million to date in three separate rounds, including investors like Draper Fisher Jurvetson, InterWest Partners, Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital and Menlo Ventures.（source: techcrunch） 

3）Mobile entertainment revenues to reach $65 billion by 2016
 
by James Nouch 

Mobile entertainment revenues will grow to more than $65 billion annually by 2016 according to Juniper Research, with the firm claiming the burgeoning tablet market will spur the surge.

The firm’s numbers peg mobile entertainment revenue for 2011 at $36 billion, but growth in games and ‘infotainment applications’ – a term which Juniper uses to include leisure and lifestyle apps – will see it almost double over the next 5 years.

Richer and richer

This is no games only revolution, however.

“For applications such as streamed TV, multiplayer gaming or casino gambling, tablets offer a richer, more immersive experience than smartphones,” explained report author Dr Windsor Holden.

“This is already translating into markedly higher usage – and consumer spend – on selected apps within these areas.”

The firm concludes the market as a whole is increasingly moving east, with China and East Asia set to account for the largest share of mobile entertainment revenues in the coming years.（source:pocketgamer）  

4）Android app downloads now outpacing iPhone across EU5

by James Nouch 

More than 603 million iPhone and Android apps were downloaded across the EU5 in Q1 2012, reports mobile targeting platform madvertise.

The numbers – published as a result of joint research with app search specialist Xyologic – suggest Android now accounts for more downloads than iPhone, however, making up 63 percent of the apps picked up across Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and the UK.

Whitewash

As detailed in the two companies’ ‘madreport’, 381 million Android apps were downloaded in Q1, up from 262 million in the previous quarter.

That puts it ahead of the 222 million iPhone apps downloaded. Indeed, downloads from Apple’s platform were actually down from Q4 2011′s total of 290 million.

The report reveals Android app downloads now top those made on iPhone in every single country of the EU5, despite the same study claiming iOS boasts a larger market share in Europe than Android – a figure no doubt boosted by the prevalence of iPad in the tablet market.

“If you’re a publisher and want to get your app noticed, Android is the one,” detailed madvertise in its conclusion.

“Android has replaced iPhone as the new choice for app publishers looking for reach.”

Rankings

Looking specifcially at the UK, madvertise claims that while Android’s app rankings show a gradual descent in number of download numbers from #1 to #10, the iPhone charts are rather more uneven.

Design This Home, for instance, sits in second place on iPhone with 2,230,000 downloads. Its closest rival, Temple Run, has only 693,000 downloads, however – a sharp drop.

Madvertise theorises that “when apps become viral on the iPhone, it leaves others trailing”, though many will no doubt question the strength of conclusions drawn from charts covering such a brief period in just one country.（source:pocketgamer）  

5）HTML5 won’t be viable for big games for 5 to 10 years, says Glu CEO de Masi
 
by Keith Andrew 

Glu CEO Niccolo de Masi has asserted that, while HTML5 gaming is on the rise, its slow progress means it won’t be a viable alternative to native apps for most publishers for another five or ten years.

The admission was made during an interview discussing Glu’s future plans, with de Masi stating HTML5 is currently the sole domain of “periodicals, magazines [and] newspaper-type applications.”

Step one

“It’s very early days for HTML5,” said de Masi.

“A year or two beyond you’ll start to see other simple apps like the Bloomberg financial apps, weather apps, that kind of stuff all makes sense for HTML5.

“Beyond that, another year or two down the line, you’re going to have simple casual games that are going make sense to be programmed in HTML5.”

De Masi said even then, it won’t be advanced enough for Glu’s games.

“Glu’s approach is to play at the exact other side of the spectrum here,” he added. “We build apps that require 100-200-300 megabyte downloadable clients. Things like 3D FPS.

“For our style of games, you’re five years away if not 10 years away from being able to deliver a comparable bandwidth and hardware experience using an app model vs. an HTML5 model. We choose to partner and build a style of games that take advantage of the latest hardware.”

Winning with Windows

Outside of specific languages, format wise de Masi said Microsoft’s Windows Phone is showing much promise, and is likely to benefit from bolstered Glu support when Apollo – better known as Windows Phone 8 – launches.

“We had something like three of the first 10 games on Windows Phone 7 last year,” he said, adding the company was “bullish on Windows Phone 8.”

He concluded, “In the long term I find it hard to believe that the three largest technology companies in the world, Apple, Google and Microsoft, will not be very significant market share leaders in the smartphone and frankly the laptop, tablet, living room platform wars.”（source:pocketgamer）  

6）The #1 Grossing Game On Android And iOS, DeNA’s Rage Of Bahamut, Has Almost Even Revenues From Both
 
Kim-Mai Cutler 
 
Here’s some promising news about Android monetization. DeNA says that Rage of Bahamut, which was the #1 grossing game on both Android and iOS yesterday, is earning about the same revenue per day from both platforms. It’s a single data point, but it goes against recent studies from companies like Flurry that say that Android lags behind in terms of monetization by a factor of 4-to-1. “Contrary to what we read, we’ve been very happy with Android monetization,” DeNA director and Ngmoco CEO Neil Young says. “There is not a big discrepancy between the two now.”

DeNA is a Japanese multi-billion dollar mobile gaming giant that has been trying to crack Western markets over the last three years. It spent up to $403 million to buy a U.S. mobile gaming company started by EA veterans called Ngmoco in 2010, and then it took about a year for the company to fully launch a global mobile gaming network called Mobage.

But Rage of Bahamut’s reign at the top of the charts is a sign that these efforts are starting to bear some fruit. The title has at the top of Google Play’s charts for six weeks. “This has never really been a sprint for us. It’s been a marathon,” Young says. The game had the top slot on both platforms yesterday, but Kabam’s Kingdoms of Camelot took back the #1 iOS slot in the U.S. this morning.

Rage of Bahamut is a trading card game from Tokyo-based Cygames. Under the name Shingeki-No-Bahamut, it was a hit in Japan so Ngmoco brought it over and localized it for Western markets. In the game, players collect and evolve cards so they can do battle with other characters in the game.

Young says Rage of Bahamut is seeing some impressive revenue numbers per day per user. In casual games, you usually see an average revenue per daily active user of a couple cents to 10 cents per day on mobile. The better games can get to 15 to 25 cents per day per daily active user. But Young says Rage of Bahamut has been able to do 4 or 5 times that. He didn’t say how much revenue overall the title is earning, but we’ve seen dual platform hits like Draw Something earn anywhere between $5 and 10 million per month through in-app purchases and advertising.

Young’s stats are promising news because there are concerns that monetization on mobile platforms (particularly through other business models like advertising) may never match what is possible on the desktop web. However, the counter-example to this argument usually involves Japanese companies like DeNA or GREE, which earn far more revenue per user in Japan that what has been seen in the West. Young says mobile games in Japan can earn $1 to $1.50 per daily active user on average. The theory is that Western markets are just behind and that U.S. and European consumers will gradually step up spending through mobile phones until they match Japanese consumer behavior.

This is certainly the bet that DeNA is taking. The company, which is worth $3.15 billion in U.S. dollars, is one of the two biggest mobile gaming companies in Japan. But as that market has become saturated, both DeNA and its archrival GREE have moved overseas to find additional growth.

Both companies are dual platform providers and game developers. That means they make their own games and also offer a network that other developers can distribution their games on. DeNA’s network, called Mobage, publicly launched last fall. The company hasn’t revealed any stats on how large the network is though.

“We’re pretty comfortable with where we are,” Young says. “We’re very fortunate that we have monetization expertise that we’ve been able to acquire from Japan and evolve from our own history.”（source:techcrunch）

7）Amazon close to opening European app store

by Puget Sound Business Journal

Amazon.com Inc. will reporteldy open its Appstore in Europe sometime this summer, and the Seattle online retailing giant is also getting close to offering its Kindle Fire tablet for sale in Europe as well.

The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D reports the European move will be the first international Appstore foray for Amazon, which launched its U.S. Appstore in March 2011.

International sales of the slumping Kindle Fire could also begin soon, tied to the European Appstore launch.

TechFlash reported demand for the Kindle Fire continues to decline, according to a new survey of potential tablet buyers.（source:techflash）