1）IDC最新报告显示，2012年第二季度智能手机市场规模增长42.1%，这是自2009年底以来的最低增幅。

该时期全球智能手机出货量为4.06亿部，仅略多于去年同期的4.018亿部。三星是市场份额排名第一的智能手机制造商（占比32.6%），第二季度的智能手机销量为5020万部，比去年同期增长172%（游戏邦注：去年同期三星智能手机出货量为1840万部，市场份额为17%）。

Samsung & Apple(from dottech.org)

苹果智能手机出货量从去年同期的2040万部增长至2600万部，但市场份额则下从去年同期的18.8%降至16.9%。

诺基亚第二季度智能手机销量为1020万部，市场份额则从去年同期的15.4%降至6.6%。

2）CybgerAgent日前发布2012年第二季度财报显示，该时期公司销售额为337亿日元，同比去年增长15.9%，营业利润为34亿日元，同比去年增长8.3%，营业利润率为10.3%，但总体运营表现仍低于投资者预期，因此该消息公司后CyberAgent在东京证券交易所股票下跌22.13%。

cyberagent-results-q3-2012(from serkantoto)

cyberagent-stock-exchange(from serkantoto)

据该公司所称，该时期kompu gacha被日本政府禁用对公司财报结果产生了一定影响，预计第四季度仍将对公司游戏项目销售额造成消极影响。

CyberAgent拥有多家社交游戏公司，例如《Rage of Bahamut》就出自CyberAgent旗下工作室Cygames之手。在该季度CyberAgent旗下游戏公司共推出了20款新作，弥补了原有游戏销量下滑的缺口。截止7月25日，CyberAgent新上线的社交游戏平台已有33款游戏开放服务，并计划在今年9月推出50款新社交游戏。

3）据gamezebo报道，Zynga人事主管Colleen McCreary在最近的Casual Connect大会上分享了公司保留人才和吸引新成员的经验，据其所称Zynga在2008年1月（游戏邦注：该公司成立于2007年7月）时仅有11名成员，但现在在20多个地区已有2800多人。

zynga offices(from officesnapshots.com)

她表示适应公司规模的迅速扩展是关键问题，Zynga通过允许员工接触或参与不同项目，减少工作单调性等措施，力图确保所有成员都能开心工作。她认为所有公司都应该腾出20%的时间和精力用于培养成员和人才，并指出成员和人才并非同个概念，两者也不可互换，企业不应该只重人才而忽视成员。

McCreary称Zynga鼓励员工“取悦玩家”并“创建自己和好友喜欢玩的游戏”，同时公司也要求员工奉行“Zynga第一”的原则，让人人都为公司着想并发挥最大作用。她还指出让员工获得成长和发展空间的重要性，并称Zynga会帮助员工规划他们在公司的职业生涯。

4）据pocketgamer报道，社交游戏开发商King.com日前推出《Bubble Witch Saga》iOS版本（计划之后推出Android版本），该游戏在Facebook已有400万DAU。

BWS_mobile_iphone_ipad(from insidemobileapps.com)

该版本支持玩家在iPhone和iPad平台同步在Facebook平台玩游戏所获得的积分排行榜、分数、虚拟商品等内容。

5）EyeTrackShop（一家考察用户关注度的公司）最近发布报告显示，Facebook运营模式可能有问题（游戏邦注：EyeTrackShop报告通过网络摄像头分析了个人用户关注屏幕内容时的眼球活动，并考察了用户对Facebook网站、Facebook在iPhone和iPad应用上的广告内容的关注度）。

报告指出在Facebook在iPad应用上展示的广告效能优于在Facebook网站的广告，而展示于iPhone应用的广告效能表现最次。

visual attention level(from eyetrackshop)

comparison study(from eyetrackshop)

其他报告结果包括：

*用户较少观看Facebook展示于iPhone应用的广告。

*iPhone用户在Facebook移动广告上投入时间少于iPad用户。

*用户比较难回忆起iPhone平台上的广告内容。

*在这三个平台中，用户对iPhone平台上的广告认知度和回忆度都很不理想。

这一调查结果明显有违Facebook高管所称的Facebook移动广告虽然处于初级阶段，但已呈现良好发展趋势的说法。

6）据gagiom报道，Facebook、谷歌、苹果、微软、雅虎、Zynga等大型互联网公司的多数资本支出领域并非网络基础设施（例如数据中心和服务器），而是“资产和设备采购”。

spent on infrastructure(from infor.am)

在这些巨头公司中，苹果今年第二季度的资本支出最高，同比去年增长164%。Facebook资本支出在其收益中所占比例最高，其资本支出增幅甚至超过了苹果，同比去年增长212%。Facebook在设备租赁一项上的开销达5200万美元。

Zynga由于建设了自己的云服务基础设施，因此在资本支出一项上比去年减少了42%。（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, Samsung sell almost half of world’s smartphones, IDC study says

Ed Sutherland

There’s a war brewing. Apple and Samsung are selling half of all smartphones and the two technology giants will increasingly fight for the remaining turf, IDC researchers said Friday.

Overall, the smartphone market grew just 42.1 percent in the second quarter of 2012 — the lowest since late 2009.

Globally, 406 million smartphones shipped during the second quarter of this year,  up just slightly from the 401.8 million units during the second quarter of 2011. Samsung is the No. 1 smartphone producer, selling 50.2 million devices in the second quarter, for 32.6 percent of the market, according to IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker. That’s a 172 percent increase over the same period in 2011, when the South Korean company shipped 18.4 million smartphones for 17 percent of the market.

Apple saw its number of smartphone shipments increase, but its marketshare slide. The Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker shipped 26 million smartphones in the second quarter, for 16.9 percent of the market. That’s compared to 20.4 million units and 18.8 percent of the market during the same period in 2011.

“Samsung and Apple have quickly become the global smartphone heavyweights though both deploy different approaches to the market,” IDC analyst Kevin Restivo said. Samsung uses a ‘shotgun strategy’ producing many models for a wide range of markets, he said. Apple, on the other hand, creates only a few high-profile models. Both companies “will inevitably come into greater conflict as both try to generate additional gains,” Restivo said.

The battleground likely will be emerging markets, such as China and India, where demand for mobile phones remains high despite the economic uncertainty that has held North American and European consumers hostage. The emerging markets due to their size and growth will “continue to be strong contributors” to smartphone sales, the research firm said.

Signaling how much the mobile phone market has changed, Nokia — once the king of the hill — now has a single-digit market share of 6.6 percent. The company, which is attempting to change horses in midstream, saw a 38.9 percent drop in smartphone sales in the second quarter, according to IDC. Nokia sold 10.2 million smartphones for the quarter, it’s market share falling to 6.6 percent from 15.4 percent a year ago.（source:venturebeat）

2）CyberAgent’s Q3 Report: Kompu Gacha Ban Will Reduce Game Sales By 20% In Q4 [Social Games]

Dr. Serkan Toto

Quite a few financial results from social gaming companies are due in the next days, and CyberAgent is the first company to report (for the April-June 2012 quarter).

In a nutshell, sales and operating profit were up, but the Japanese web powerhouse missed expectations from analysts – and got hammered at the Tokyo Stock Exchange:

What’s interesting is that CyberAgent stresses that one key reason for their drop in profit (see below) is the ban of kompu gacha around May, in addition to a weak Ameba business and other factors. CyberAgent was one of the social gaming companies that relied heavily on this lucrative mechanic.

Here is the basic summary:

And here’s the reason why the market reacted to CyberAgent’s results as it did (click to enlarge):

This slide shows CyberAgent’s performance as far as social games are concerned:

CyberAgent owns a slew of subsidiaries that mainly focus on producing social games. International mega hit Rage Of Bahamut, for example, is made by Cygames, a wholly owned CyberAgent company.

In the official presentation video of the financial results, CyberAgent says that the kompu gacha shock is responsible for the dip in sales of existing sales shown above.

The company also forecasts an impact of -20% in sales for their games business for Q4 as a result of the ban, which shows how important the gacha element is in social games in Japan today (more on that here).

The good news: in the April-June quarter, CyberAgent’s gaming subsidiaries released a total of 20 new titles, which helped to overcompensate the decrease in sales of existing games.

Other interesting tidbits from the report: as of July 25, CyberAgent’s newly launched social gaming platform offers a total of 33 titles. The company plans to launch 50 new social games (across all platforms) through September this year, six outside Japan.（source:serkantoto）

3）Zynga’s CPO weighs in on how the company attracts and retains talent

By Dant Rambo

Employment in the casual gaming sector of the industry is a rocky thing. The layoffs and studio shutterings certainly don’t help, but there’s also the issue of sundry companies looking to steal or court new employees. It’s a problem Zynga knows a thing or two about, and Chief People Officer Colleen McCreary hosted a panel on how best to acquire and retain talent.

McCreary has been with Zynga for over three years, and as such has seen a tremendous amount of change and fluctuation within the company. She showed the audience a chart detailing some of what Zynga’s undergone since around the time of its inception. In January 2008 (the company was founded in July 2007), there were only 11 employees. Fast forward to now, and there are over 2,800 employees located at 20 locations.

The trick to adjusting to rapid expansion is, according to McCreary, continuing to make sure that employees are happy with what they’re doing. Zynga tackles this by fostering a model which allows employees to work on a variety of different projects. In theory, this strips away the potential monotony of working on just one thing at a time. Broadening this thought process a bit, she mentioned that she felt every company should allocate around 20% of its time and efforts focusing on its people and talent. She was quick to point out that the two aren’t interchangeable, and that it’s a bad idea to focus solely on talent and neglect your people.

Beyond that, McCreary discussed the values that make the company tick. Employees are encouraged to “delight [their] players,” and “build games [they and their] friends love to play.”

There’s also an onus on making decisions that serve the greater good of the company at large, which McCreary referred to as “Zynga First.” To put it another way, she wants employees to ask themselves how best they can help out the company.

The talk moved on to the importance of making your workforce feel as though there’s room for growth and expansion. Zynga does this by assisting employees in mapping out a career path within the company, and McCreary said she felt it’s something not enough places out there are doing.

The panel came to a close with some words of advice to other human resource workers. First, according to McCreary, it’s important to make sure people have control over the work, life, and happiness components of their life. Beyond that, she feels hiring employees with a willingness to take risks is crucial, as it puts your company in a better position to push the envelope.

And lastly, she preached the importance of being selective in what you ask in interviews. There are certain elements — personality, work ethic — that are more difficult to discover in a person, but they’re the most important things you can learn about them.（source:gamezebo）

4）King.com makes mobile move with Bubble Witch Saga

by Keith Andrew

After acquiring Fabrication Games for a mobile push and opening up a new studio in Barcelona, social gaming giant King.com has finally made its smartphone debut.

The firm has launched Bubble Witch Saga – which boasts 4 million daily active users on Facebook according to AppData – on iOS, with a further release on Android to follow.

King.com also claims it is the first Facebook game with progress fully sycned with versions on both iPhone and iPad, keeping track of leaderboards, scores, and virtual goods across all platforms.

Mobile matters

“As consumers and the industry focus more on games for mobile devices, launching a truly cross-platform Facebook game has been a top priority for King.com,” said Riccardo Zacconi, CEO, King.com.

“We’re excited to be the pioneers in making this available for our players.

“Gamers can play signed in or not and progress either way, enabling them to experience the excitement of Bubble Witch Saga whenever and wherever they wish, without losing their place in the game.”

King.com now finds itself taking on other social studios that have made the leap to mobile, including the likes of Zynga and CrowdStar, amongst others.

At the beginning of July, King.com’s Barcelona studio was unveiled to the world, with former Digital Chocolate executive Manel Sort leading the team’s march into mobile.

It’s not clear whether the Barcelona outfit has had any role to play in Bubble With Saga’s implementation on iOS.（source:pocketgamer）

5）Facebook’s Mobile Strategy is Flawed, Eye-Tracking Study Indicates

Dave Copeland

Fresh off of a lackluster second-quarter earnings release and new lows in its share price, Facebook was dealt more bad news on Friday when EyeTrackShop, a firm that measures audience attention, released a study suggesting that Facebook’s business model may be broken. The culprit? The same mobile ads that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg lauded when they spoke with analysts Thursday afternoon.

EyeTrackShop analyzes webcam imagery to track the eye movements of individual audience members while they attend to onscreen content. The firm’s study examined audience attention to ads displayed by Facebook on its website as well as on its apps for iPhone and iPad. While adds displayed in iPad apps generally did better than those on the Website, ads displayed on the iPhone performed poorly.

Among the study’s findings:

•Fewer people saw ads on Facebook’s iPhone app.

•Users spent less time viewing Facebook’s mobile ads on the iPhone than the iPad.

•Users had significantly lower recall of ads they saw on the iPhone.

•Of the three platforms tested, iPhone ads were the least efficient for brand advertisers, in terms of awareness and recall.

We’ve asked Facebook for comment on the study and will update as soon as we hear back from them.

During yesterday’s call, Facebook executives revealed that more than half of its users regularly access Facebook through mobile sites. That raised concerns among analysts and investors, as nearly 85% of Facebook revenue comes from advertising, which the company has been struggling to implement on mobile platforms. The executives stressed that while their mobile strategy is in its early stages, early tests suggest that the limited number of mobile ads that have rolled out have performed well and delivered a return on investment to advertisers.

The EyeTrackShop study calls this strategy into question, where smartphones are concerned, at least.（source:readwriteweb）

6）Chart: Apple, Facebook spending a lot on infrastructureBy Derrick Harris

This Companies doing business on the web and in the cloud must spend a lot on infrastructure to stay running and to support new services. Here’s what Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Zynga spent in the recent quarter, and what it might mean.

We’re smack in the middle of earnings season, so what better time to look at what our favorite providers of consumer cloud services spend on capital expenditures? As we pore and pontificate over revenue and income, it’s good to remember what it actually costs to keep the web up and running.

Here are a few things worth noting as you study the numbers:

◦Not all capex spending is on web infrastructure (data centers and servers) — the general category is “acquisition of property and equipment” — but much of it is.

◦Apple is making up for lost time — it spent more in its fiscal Q3 than during its entire fiscal 2010, and nearly twice as much as 2009. Its year-over-year increase was 164 percent.

◦Facebook’s capex spending as a percentage of its revenue is by far the highest, and its 212 percent year-over-year spending growth tops even Apple. Facebook also spent $52 million leasing equipment.

◦Zynga cut spending year-over-year by an impressive 42 percent. This is likely thanks in part to having completed the build-out of its private cloud infrastructure.

◦There’s little remarkable about Google’s or Microsoft’s recent spending.（source:gigaom）