1）据Techcrunch报道，苹果App Store最近的搜索算法似乎出现变化，应用名称及关键字的搜索权重有所下降。例如，在过去用户若输入“traffic”进行搜索，就会发现搜索结果显示出大量含有traffic字眼的游戏或应用，而现在若采取同样操作，则会看到更多真正的交通/导航应用，其中夹杂一些与此有关的游戏。

BestParking.com网站旗下产品Best Parking应用在多次检索（游戏邦注：包括：“芝加哥停车”、“dc停车”和“sf停车”等字段的检索）中位居前列，该公司创始人Ben Sann认为，苹果现在可能更重视应用下载量，所以BestParking才会在搜索结果中排在其他拥有更匹配关键字，但下载量更少的应用之前。

而应用调查及数据分析公司Xyologic联合创始人Matthäus Krzykowski则另有看法，他认为苹果搜索排名的真正变化在于“主题监测”性能，也就是说苹果现在更善于通过检索字段发现用户真正需要寻找的内容。例如，用户输入“gas”一词，可能意在寻找加汽站或者与低没价相关的内容，而非标题中含有“gas”一词的赛车游戏或应用；此外，应用评价及用户评论等人气指标也开始成为苹果搜索排名的关注点。

观察者认为，苹果所收购的应用检索服务Chomp的专有算法侧重的是应用的功能和主题，支持用户根据应用功能而非名称搜索内容，而苹果的主题监测性能若果真得到改善，则很可能是Chomp检索技术在发挥作用。

来自MobileDevHQ的开发者Ian Sefferman日前发表博文称，他发现应用名称中的关键字搜索权重降低，但总体下载量的权重上升，而应用评价对搜索排名影响不大。还有一些开发者指出App Store检索算法的变化使其业务受到影响，开发者Derek Clark称自己产品的销量下滑30%，而Justine Prat则表示自己每天销售额下降约30美元。

2）appMobi最近宣布目前约有5万开发者使用其HTML5技术，这一数据在过去12个月中增长了5倍，其中有25%开发者已创建至少3款HTML5应用。

其他调查结果包括：

*在这些开发者创建的应用中，40%属于传媒内容，35%是游戏，15%是零售产品。

*多数开发者同时向iOS和Android应用商店投放产品。

*开发者创建一款HTML5混合应用的平均时间为8周。

3）市场调研公司Newzoo最近报告指出，波兰游戏玩家约1180万（波兰人口为3840万），其中手机或平板电脑玩家占比67%，Facebook、Google+及本土社交网络Nasza Klasza等社交游戏玩家达59%，而掌机游戏玩家仅占43%。

有81%波兰玩家在休闲网站上玩游戏，休闲网站是最具人气的波兰游戏平台。

从消费水平上看，虽然手机、MMO、社交游戏人气最高，但掌机游戏玩家消费能力更强。

预计2012年波兰用户在游戏中的投入将达3.5-4.5亿美元，其中有25%将流向掌机游戏。MMO在用户游戏投入中将占比18%，PC/Mac盒装游戏所占比例也是18%，PC/Mac下载游戏所占比例则是12%，而手机游戏仅占11%，社交和休闲游戏分别占比8%。

Newzoo指出智能手机在波兰比掌机更能体现用户身份，玩家在手机游戏上的投入时间超过掌机游戏。

4）手机游戏公司NaturalMotion日前宣布融资1100万美元，在旧金山设立总部（游戏邦注：该公司原先位于牛津），并将在当地聘请包括工程师、美术人员和产品经理在内的一批新成员。

5）据The Sunday Times报道，日前有传闻称RIM准备将公司业务一分为二，保留其通信及数据网络，将向出价最高者出售表现不济的黑莓业务。

尽管黑莓曾是智能手机领域的佼佼者，但自2007年iPhone出世后，黑莓市场份额开始在全球节节败退，甚至导致了RIM高层的人事变动。有消息Facebook和亚马逊最有可能成为黑莓的买主。

6）据Information Week报道，针对微软将推出自己的平板电脑Surface，业内猜测该公司是否也将自主研发智能手机的问题，微软Windows Phone高级营销经理Greg Sullivan日前明确表示，公司目前并无推出智能手机的计划。

7）手机应用开发服务供应商Marmalade日前宣布聘请Harvey Elliott任首席运营官，后者之前在EA Games任副总裁和总经理，曾负责监管《哈里波特》系列游戏等项目开发。（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）Apple Chomps At App Store Search? Developers See Shift In Search Results

Anthony Ha

Apple is making potentially significant changes to the search algorithm in the App Store, at least according to some app developers. If you’re a developer or publisher counting on a well-chosen name to help with visibility, things could get tougher from here on out. But if you’re a popular and well-reviewed app, things might be looking up.

This could be an early step in the general revamp of App Store search and discovery that MG Siegler heard about when he broke the news in February that Apple had acquired app discovery startup Chomp.

Basically, it looks like App Store search is now weighting app names and keywords less heavily in its search results. Previously, if you were searching for something like “san francisco parking”, apps whose names included those search terms would rank more highly. Or if you searched for something like “traffic”, you’d get a bunch of games with names like Traffic Rush.

Now, you’re more likely to see apps that aren’t just a simple keyword match. In traffic, for example, you see more actual traffic/navigation apps — and yes, a few games thrown into the mix.

We’ve heard a couple of possible explanations about why this is the case. Ben Sann, founder of BestParking.com, first tipped us off to the change, because he noticed that the Best Parking app had suddenly jumped to the top of a number of searches, including “chicago parking,” “dc parking,” and “sf parking”, in each case ranking ahead of apps that were a closer match for the search term. Sann’s theory: Apple is now putting a heavier emphasis on app downloads, so that BestParking has pulled ahead of apps with better names (at least, for a given search) but fewer downloads. If Sann is right, that could mean developers who built localized versions of their apps to target different search terms are going to get screwed, while more generalized apps that serve multiple geographies (like BestParking) will benefit.

Matthäus Krzykowski, cofounder of app search and data company Xyologic, has another explanation. He says that Apple has been incorporating download numbers into its rankings for a while now, and he suggests that what really changed is that Apple has gotten better at “topic detection”. In other words, it’s now better able to infer what you’re looking for when you type in a search term, so if you type in the word “gas”, you probably want apps that help you find gas stations or low gas prices, rather than driving games or apps that happen to have the word gas in their title (like fart apps). His team also says that the search rankings seem to be looking at other indicators of popularity, like ratings and comments.

That theory seems to be backed up by Chomp’s description of its technology: “Chomp’s proprietary algorithm learns the functions and topics of apps, so you can search based on what apps do, not just what they’re called.” In other words, if Apple is getting better at topic detection, it’s plausible that Chomp’s technology played a role.

And the change doesn’t seem to be rolling out in every country. It’s hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison for different geographies, because they have different apps and different languages, but our own Ingrid Lunden says she’s seeing similar changes in the UK’s App Store search results. And Krzykowski sent along screenshots of a search for “gas” or “benzin” (German for gas) in Germany and Poland. He notes that in Germany, the results include a lot more navigation apps, while Poland’s results include more random games, suggesting that the change has happened in Germany but not Poland.

In other categories, the change seems to be more subtle. I spoke to one mobile app developer who said that his apps seemed to be ranking higher in multiple categories, with some low-quality apps removed from the rankings, and the search results now matching up more closely with the App Store rankings. However, the change wasn’t dramatic enough that he could say for certain.

We’ve contacted Apple and will update if we hear back.（source:techcrunch）

More Evidence Shows Apple Store Search Changes (Including Some Sad Developers)

Anthony Ha

We now have more information about the changes to Apple’s App Store search algorithm, thanks to a blog post from Ian Sefferman at MobileDevHQ.

TechCrunch broke the news about the change on Saturday, but our story was based on the impressions of individual app developers and some searches of our own. Sefferman, however, actually crawled App Store search results, and offered this summary of his findings:

The headline of the Chomp Update is that there is a big change happening that affects a widespread number of search results. Keywords in app title’s now matter less, overall downloads matter more, but there appears to be no change in how app rating affects search ranking.

More specifically, MobileDevHQ says that on June 21, its crawlers started seeing changes to search results “in a magnitude that was not previously seen.” And since then, those crawls are showing a drop in the correlation between app titles and search terms — put another way, there are fewer apps in the search results that include the search term in their title. Sefferman sounds less confident in assessing which factors have become more significant, but, as mentioned above, the early results suggest that it’s more about downloads than ratings. (Another caveat: There hasn’t been any definitive evidence saying that the changes stem from Apple’s acquisition of Chomp, which is what we and others have speculated.)

The blog post also points to the accounts of individual developers whose businesses were affected by the change. The first, Derek Clark, saw sales go down 30 percent. The second, Justine Pratt, says sales have gone down by about $30 per day. And I received an email from another developer who was worried about the impact this could have on their about-to-be-launched app.

All those stories are a big contrast to the developers I interviewed initially, who were excited about the change, because it meant they weren’t being outranked by less popular apps that happened to have better-chosen names. As a consumer, I suspect the new search rankings will make it easier to find good apps. Nonetheless, it’s hard to blame developers who tried to game the old system, any more than I’d blame websites that use SEO to get more traffic from Google. In both cases, however, you’re vulnerable when the algorithm changes.（source:techcrunch）

2）appMobi: users have run 100m HTML5 web apps

by Tim Green

50,000 developers have built at least one app using the platform.

appMobi is one of the most eager flag-wavers for HTML5; its tech allows mobile app developers to support HTML5 and native app platforms with one code base, and to deploy across multiple platforms and – of course – the web.

It now says there are 50,000 developers using the service, which is a five fold increase in 12 months. It says 25 per cent of this base have created three or more HTML5 apps.

Other highlight stats include:

* 40 per cent of these apps are media, 35 per cent games, 15 per cent retail.

* The majority of developers published their apps to both iOS and Android app stores. (Facebook was just added in Q1.)

* The average time needed to complete an HTML5 hybrid app is eight weeks.

* Over half of the developers from a year ago have worked on new apps in the last 30 days.

appMobi is optimistic of sustaining its growth, not last because of Facebook’s support for the HTML5 platform. It offers access to a potential 900 million users with Facebook credits as the payment medium.（source:mobile-ent）

3）67% of Polish gamers play on mobile, compared to 43% on console

by James Nouch

Market research firm Newzoo has been investigating the gaming population of Poland.

It’s discovered the country is home to more than 11.8 million gamers out of a total population of 38.4 million.

Of those 11.8 million gamers, 67 percent play on their mobiles or tablets, and 59 percent play on social networks such as Facebook, Google+, and local equivalent Nasza Klasza.

Meanwhile, only 43 per cent of Polish gamers play on consoles.

And with 81 per cent of Polish gamers playing on casual websites, they’re far and away the most popular way to play in Poland.

Spending power

In terms of spending, though, it’s a very different story. Although more Polish gamers play mobile games, MMOs, and social games, it’s console gaming that attracts the most spending.

Polish consumer spending on games is expected to come in between $350 and $450 million in 2012, and 25 percent of that sum will be spent on console titles.

MMOs will account for 18 percent of consumer spending – as will boxed PC and Mac games. Downloaded PC and Mac games will attract 12 percent of spending, and mobile games will receive 11 percent.

Show-off

Newzoo also notes that smartphone ownership is seen as a status-symbol in Poland – more so than console ownership. Its survey shows that gamers spend more time playing on their mobiles than on console titles.

However, the high price of console games, combined with downloadable content sales and second-hand trade, means that console spending currently outstrips mobile and social spend combined.（source:pocketgamer）

4）NaturalMotion raises $11 million in funding, sets up office in San Francisco

By Dant Rambo

NaturalMotion, the company behind iOS hits like My Horse and NFL Rivals, has acquired the necessary funding to set up a U.S. headquarters in San Francisco. An Oxford-based company, this new location will see them branching out quite a bit, as well as hiring a league of new people – many of which will be engineers, artists and product managers.

The funding was acquired via Benchmark Capital, and the company’s General Partner, Mitch Lasky, will serve on NaturalMotion’s board in the future. Their goal? To keep investing in “revolutionary mobile technology” and making mobile games that feature console-esque production values.

“Tablets and mobile devices are on a collision course with traditional game consoles, not just for share of customers’ day, but also in terms of the quality of the interactive experience,” said Lasky in a press release. It’s a point of view many developers would agree with, and prior remarks about the iPad from Epic and EA certainly do a lot to stoke the flames.

NaturalMotion will certainly be in good company, as San Francisco is also home to offices for Zynga, GREE and DeNA. If you’re in the area and looking to work for a mobile games company, they’re currently hiring talent here.（source:gamezebo）

5）RIM rumoured to be splitting into handset and services companies

by Keith Andrew

RIM is preparing to split its business in two, with the Canadian firm looking to hold on to its messaging and data networks while selling off its beleaguered BlackBerry business to the highest bidder.

At least that’s according to a report by The Sunday Times, which claims the decision has be made following a strategic review carried out in conjunction with RBC Capital and JP Morgan.

Split to succeed

Though still a notable player in the smartphone scene, BlackBerry has been losing market share in most major territories around the globe ever since the launch of the original iPhone back in 2007.

Its fall from grace has resulted in heads rolling – most notably the removal of former co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis.

Indeed, before his departure Balsillie reportedly proposed licensing its proprietary network to carriers in order to generate extra revenue for its business – a strategy The Sunday Times suggests could yet be employed by current CEO Thorsten Heins.

Regardless, it’s now suggested RIM’s entire handset business will be set loose, with the likes of Facebook and Amazon cited by the paper as “potential buyers.”

A final decision will reportedly be made at some point this summer.（source:pocketgamer）

6）Microsoft Confirms They Won’t Be Making Their Own Windows Phones

Chris Velazco

When Microsoft announced their intentions to jump into the hardware space with the unveiling of their new Surface tablet, the next logical question seemed to be whether or not the folks at Redmond would do the same for smartphones.

After all, the model seemed to be doing well enough for Apple — was Microsoft considering adopting a similar approach to help give their Windows Phones a new leg up?

The answer, it would seem, is no. Information Week spoke with Windows Phone senior marketing manager Greg Sullivan, and when he was posed the question, he was quick to confirm that the company had no such plans.

“We have a strong ecosystem of partners that we are very satisfied with,” Sullivan went on to say.

It goes without saying that Microsoft has quite an ecosystem of hardware partners churning out Windows-powered PCs too, but it seems as though their focus on cracking the smartphone space has put their relationships with companies like Nokia, HTC, Samsung, and Huawei on another level entirely.

After all, PC players like Dell, HP, Toshiba, and the like don’t have much of a choice — if they value their stake in the traditional computing business, they’re going to continue to push out laptops and towers that run on Windows. What else are they going to do, switch to shipping Ubuntu on their products?

Things are much hairier in the mobile realm, with multiple platforms continually duking it out for dominance (though some clearly have an edge over others), and Microsoft knows they have plenty of lost ground to make up when compared to rivals Apple and Google. As such, Microsoft can’t really afford to alienate their mobile hardware partners, and revealing that they would create their own Windows Phone device to compete alongside those of their partners would certainly ruffle some feathers.

That’s not to say that Microsoft will never do it. They managed to keep the Surface wrapped up very tightly prior to its launch, so it’s clear that they still have the ability to pull off some surprising stunts. If they do venture into creating their own branded mobile hardware though, it’s going to be way, way down the line, after they and their hardware partners have established Windows Phone as a viable player in the smartphone space. Though some analysts see that as a matter of when and not if, Windows Phone isn’t quite there yet.

And that’s assuming they get to that point — for now, one of Microsoft’s big jobs going forward is to help build market momentum around their platform, and ensuring that their buddies push out timely, solid hardware is going to be a crucial part of that.（source:techcrunch）

7）Marmalade appoints former EA exec as new MD and COO

by Zen Terrelonge

Ex-Harry Potter head plans to work some magic for cross-platform app service.

Mobile app development service, Marmalade, enables cross-platform app and games production across smartphones, tablets, and connected devices.

The firm has now appointed Harvey Elliott as its new managing director and chief operating officer – effective immediately – as he joins from EA Games, where he acted as VP and GM, across titles including the Harry Potter series.

Elliot, said: “I am delighted to join Marmalade at a pivotal moment for the app economy. By embracing cross-platform development, Marmalade is democratising the innovation of app developers and unleashing creativity.

“Developers must be able to spread apps and games cross-platform without compromising performance. It is clear that the Marmalade technology provides an extremely valuable solution to all mobile, game and app developers and I am excited about building its reach around the world.”（source:mobile-ent）