1）ABI Research最新报告预测，2012年底全球移动应用收益（包括付费下载、IAP、应用内置广告以及订阅模式）将超过300亿美元，几乎比2011年的数据翻倍增长。

其中苹果iOS占据最大市场份额，谷歌Android排名第二，微软和RIM分别位居第三和第四。

mobile-apps-globes(from vectorblog.org)

2）BIA/Kelsey最近报告预测，2016年美国本土移动广告收益将达58亿美元。

得益于用户通过移动访备访问Facebook、Twitter等社交网站的趋势，社交移动广告收益则将从2012年的5亿美元增长至2016年的15亿美元，复合年增长率达28.5%。

mobile-advertising(from imgrind.com)

与此同时，社交媒体在美国整体收益将从2012年的46亿美元增长至2016年的92亿美元，复合年增长率为19.2%。而美国本土社交媒体广告收益则将从2012年的11亿美元增长至2016年的30亿美元，复合年增长率达28%。

3）据pocketgamer报道，Rovio联合创始人Niklas Hed在上周于芬兰召开的Slush大会上表示，在《愤怒的小鸟》发布之前，他们曾濒临绝境，被迫裁员许多人，并打算出售公司。

Niklas Hed(from slush.fi)

在2008年他裁掉了20多名员工，而更简便的方法就是出售Roivo或并入更大的公司，《愤怒的小鸟》项目也几乎夭折。当时他们曾考虑放弃这款游戏，因为感觉游戏仍然有问题，那时的小鸟在空中飞行和弹射的样子并不自然。

在这款游戏发布后，Rovio终于绝处蓬生，看到希望的曙光，因此他们决定继续在《愤怒的小鸟》中投入精力，把赌注押在这个游戏品牌上。

4）在上周的Slush大会上，芬兰开发商Supercell首席执行官Ilkka Paananen预测，平板电脑将在未来数年成为主导游戏平台。

在他看来，平板电脑就是终极游戏平台，多数游戏在未来三五年都可能运行于平板电脑。他称Supercell奉行平板电脑优先原则，他们在创业初成立相对较小的开发团队（4-6人），并在无外部机构支持的情况下独立运营。

Ilkka Paananen(from thenextweb.com)

他并不认为团队规模越大就越有利于行业发展，因为这样可能导致行业丧失“创新性”。

Paananen还建议开发新手学会果断否定一些想法，例如“我现在有50个创意，但却得否定这些不成熟想法。”如果开发团队希望成为某个类别中排名第一的公司，那么他们就得先明确游戏的内容，这样才好定义自己瞄准的市场以及竞争对手。

5）据pocketgamer报道，谷歌日前宣布Google Play绑定Google+服务，并且只有拥有Google+页面的用户才能发表应用评价。

这意味着Google Play将推行实名制的用户评价，匿名评价将无法生效。原先用户可以随意选择名称发表应用评价，但现在其评价将链接至其Google+资料页面（其中包括用户姓名和头像）。

Google_Play_Reviews(from pocketgamer)

与此同时，用户原先的评价名称也已经被移除，取而代之的是“一名谷歌用户”这种通用占位符。

此举表明谷歌有意整合旗下所有产品，同时又可以帮助用户找到自己所信赖的评价来源。

值得注意的是，这一举措还将有助于开发者找到发表负面评价的用户Google+页面，并与之取得个人联系。

据AndroidPolice报道，目前仅有Nexus 7手机以及网页版Google Play已经设置这种Google+登陆需求，但这一设置不久也将覆盖其他Android移动设备。

6）爱立信最新报告指出，2012年第三季度，国际移动用户已达64亿，移动覆盖率达91%；智能手机在该时期手机销量中占比达40%。

报告还指出，有54%用户在观看视频和电视的时候，使用手机登陆社交论坛或聊天工具。

mobile report(from Ericsson)

植入广告的免费应用更易消耗移动数据流量，并且含有更多访问网络的请求。例如免费版多人游戏平均消耗流量为140KB，而付费版本则仅为12KB，免费版单人游戏平均消耗流量为220KB，付费版本则是1.3KB。

此外，含有广告的免费应用的电池耗量也比付费应用高25%。

（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）Total mobile app revs to pass $30bn by 2013

by Zen Terrelonge

Apple hailed as the key driver behind app monetisation.

New data from ABI Research says cumulative global mobile app revenues will pass the $30 billion mark by the end of the year. The result is almost double 2011 figures and will comprise profits from premium downloads, in-app purchases, in app-ads, and rolling subscriptions.

Aapo Markkanen, senior analyst at ABI, said: “Consumers’ high interest in apps has for long time been obvious from download volumes, but it’s 2012 that will go down in history as the year when the economic side of the business finally took off. We’re no longer talking only about a short-term gold rush. Apps have become a major digital industry.”

Apple is praised as becoming the catalyst behind app monetisation, a result of a ‘compelling OS and well-executed distribution and billing mechanisms’. However, Markkanen also commended Android, adding: “Google deserves a lot of credit for rehabilitating its proposition as an app distributor in the past year or so.

“If the old Android Market was a garage sale of the industry then the new Google Play has begun resembling a respectable department store. We estimate the Android developers’ share of the annual app revenues to set around one-third.”

With Apple and Google occupying first and second spots, Microsoft and RIM are left jockeying for third place. RIM has announced a release date for its BlackBerry 10 OS, and operator billing for BB App World with more than 50 networks, while Microsoft has already launched Windows Phone 8 on Nokia, HTC and Samsung devices.（source：mobile-ent）

2）US social-mobile ad revenues to hit $1.5bn in 2016

by Zen Terrelonge

Smartphones and tablets to become key growth area for social media marketing.

Media advisor BIA/Kelsey recently claimed that US-based mobile local ad revs will hit $5.8bn in 2016 and now adds that mobile will be a huge boon for marketing through social media channels too.

The firm reports that social-mobile ad revenues will increase from $500 million in 2012 to $1.5 billion in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate of 28.5 per cent. This is to be driven by the rising use of mobile users accessing Facebook, Twitter and the like from their devices, as well as brands becoming more experimental with new advertising verticals.

Meanwhile, overall social media ad revenues in the States look to reach $9.2bn in 2016, up from $4.6 billion in 2012, a CAGR of 19.2 per cent. Comparatively, the local portion of US social media advertising revenues will grow from $1.1bn in 2012 to $3bn in 2016 at a CAGR of 28 per cent.

Jed Williams, program director, social local media, BIA/Kelsey, said: “The year 2012 can be viewed as social advertising’s ‘coming of age’.

“The continued development of native ads, such as Facebook’s Sponsored Stories and Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, and the acceleration of mobile monetisation will be the primary drivers of social advertising growth through 2016.”（source：mobile-ent）

3）Rovio: Angry Birds was almost cancelled

by Chris James

It’s seems fitting that, at a time when Angry Bird’s rise to prominence has been highlighted on these very pages, Rovio should detail just how close the game came to being scrapped.

Speaking during last week’s Slush Conference in the Finnish capital Helsinki, co-founder Niklas Hed said before the launch of the game, Rovio had been forced to let many staff go, with selling the company a real prospect.

A matter of magic

“In 2008 I had to lay off 20 of my friends, in the end I always knew that we’d show the whole world we could do an Angry Birds,” said Hed.

“Easier solutions would have been to sell the company or join a big company.”

Asked whether Angry Birds was almost cancelled as a result, Hed admitted the game’s formative stages weren’t easy.

“It was two months down the line and it was my summer holiday. The magic from initial screen seemed to have gone,” he added.

“At that point we considered going with another game as it didn’t feel right. How the bird was flying and bouncing didn’t feel organic at that time.”

Going ‘all in’

Nevertheless, the eventual launch of Angry Birds saw Rovio propelled into the limelight, with the company now standing as one of the most successful game developers on the planet.

“When most developers have a hit they think they know how to do it,” added ‘Mighty Eagle’ Peter Vesterbacka.

“They think ‘let’s do another one’. We decided not to do that and to go all-in on Angry Birds – let’s bet the company on one brand.

“I’m never happy and want to do more. The thing I worry about is are we doing things fast enough and at a big enough scale. We’re off to a good start. At the time I said we’d have 100 million downloads, nobody believed me.”

Game on?

But getting bigger still doesn’t necessarily mean a continued focus on games for Rovio.

“In a few years more than half our businesses will be physical,” Vesterbacka added, building on comments he’d previously made suggesting he’s looking for half of Rovio’s revenue to come from the sale of physical goods.

“Not quite 50/50 yet, but all our businesses are growing at a good click. We stopped viewing ourselves as a gaming company a few years ago. We’re really concentrating on how do we surprise and delight our fans. Want to be active in all parts of entertainment and improve the experience.

“As long as people willing to give us their hard-earned money then we’re doing the right thing. We don’t worry if we can really do 50 percent or 60 percent – let’s just make sure that all our businesses grow very very fast.”（source：pocketgamer）

4）Supercell: Tablets will dominate gaming within 3-5 years

by Chris James

Supercell’s ‘tablet first’ strategy is well documented, though the Finnish studio – which recently enjoyed bundles of success with Clash of Clans and Hay Day – has now gone even further than before.

Speaking on stage during last week’s Slush Conference in Helsinki, CEO Ilkka Paananen predicted that tablets will be the dominant games platform within the next few years.

Tablet tales

“We have a strategy that is tablet first,” said Paananen.

“Tablet is the ultimate game platform. Most of the gaming three to five years ahead will happen on that device.”

Focusing on tablets, he suggested, will be key to a developer’s success in the future, though Paananen had plenty of other tips, suggesting that studios need to think both big and small at the same time.

“We’re big-small,” he offered.

“By thinking really small can achieve big things these days. Set up a relatively small development team – four to six people – operating independently without bureaucracy. Organise them into cells = ‘supercells’.”

Definition

Paananen went on to dismiss the idea that the industry will get better if teams get bigger – you can “lose innovation”, he added.

“These new platforms are perfect to rethink how games are made,” he continued.

“Touch user interfaces are still a relatively new thing. We try to go as deep as possible on the social side. For most companies social equals marketing tactics. We don’t do that – roughly 90 percent of users come from organic sources.”

In terms of advice for newcomers, Paananen claimed developers have to learn to say no – “Right now I have 50 ideas I have right now and have to say no to all of them,” he added.

“What really helps us is to start from a target setting. If you want to become the number 1 company in a category, then define what the game is. It forces you to define your category and how you’re competing.” （source：pocketgamer）

5）Google integrates Play reviews with Google+, no more anonymity for reviewers

by Matthew Diener

Anonymity has always been a mixed blessing for online interactions, and now thanks to Google it no longer has a place in the Google Play store.

On Tuesday, Google changed the way in which ratings and reviews work on Google Play and now requires users to have a Google+ page in order to leave a rating or review.

Additionally, where reviews previously displayed an arbitrary name chosen by a user, they will now display a link to a user’s Google+ profile along with their name and picture.

Meanwhile, the names from all previous reviews have been removed and replaced by the generic placeholder “A Google User”.

This change comes as a result of Google’s decision to integrate all of its products and will ostensibly help users find and follow reviews from reviewers that they trust.

One added – and interesting – side effect of this new login requirement is that offensive or overly critical reviews will now be tied directly to a user’s Google+ page, and that developers will be able to respond reviewers personally if they choose to.

Nonplussed

Some mobile users are reporting that they’re still able to comment via their devices without logging in via Google+, but this is likely to change by the end of the week.

At current, AndroidPolice reports that the Google+ login requirement is only live on Nexus 7 phones and browser-based access to the Google Play store, but it is expected to roll out to all other mobile Android devices soon.（source：pocketgamer）

6）INFOGRAPHIC: Mobile subscriptions reach 6.4bn in 2012

by Daniel Gumble

Global mobile penetration hits 91 per cent in Q3.

According to a new report published this week by Ericsson, international mobile subscriptions have reached 6.4 billion, with mobile penetration hitting 91 per cent in Q3 of 2012.

The report also revealed that 54 per cent of people who use social forums or chats while watching video and TV do so using a smartphone, while the advertisements in free versions of apps lead to higher data volumes and an increased number of requests to access the network.

Furthermore, the Ericsson report also showed that adverts in the free version of an app increased battery consumption by 25 per cent compared with the premium version.

Meanwhile, 40 per cent of all mobile phones sold in Q3 of 2012 were smartphones.（source：mobile-ent）