1）Distimo最新报告显示，GungHo Online游戏《Puzzle & Dragons》是3月份全球收益第一的应用。

从3月份下载量来看，iOS最热门免费应用是King的《Candy Crush Saga》，而Google Play的最热门免费应用则是Facebook；值得注意的是，在Google Play下载量前5名的免费应用中，有4款属于通信或社交网站应用，仅有《Temple Run 2》是游戏应用。而在苹果App Store中，前5款应用中有3者是游戏，其他两款则是谷歌旗下应用YouTube和Google Maps。

从前5名付费应用下载量榜单来看，位居App Store榜单之首的是WhatsApp Messenger，其余4款皆为游戏应用；Google Play的头号付费应用则是键盘应用SwiftKey Keyboard（游戏邦注：据Digital Trends报道，有传闻称WhatsApp可能被谷歌收购，其交易额可能“接近”10亿美元），实用型应用占据4个席位，只有《Minecraft-Pocket Edition》属于游戏应用。

在苹果App Store应用收益榜单中，除了Supercell游戏《Clash of Clans》排名第一，《Hay Day》位居第三；Google Play收益榜单前5名应用包含亚洲本土应用，因此其多数收益来自日本、韩国，其中位居第一的是《Puzzle & Dragons》，有3款来自韩国，《Candy Crush Saga》是该榜单多数收益来自西方市场的唯一游戏。

top-free-ios-march-2013(from distimo)

top-free-android-march-2013(from distimo)

top-paid-ios-march-2013(from distimo)

top-paid-android-march-2013(from distimo)

top-grossing-ios-march-2013(from distimo)

top-grossing-android-march-2013(from distimo)

2）东京游戏杂志出版商Enterbrain最近发布数据显示，2012财年（截止2013年3月31日）日本视频游戏市场规模达46亿美元，增幅为1.2%。

游戏软件销售额为28亿美元，缩水1.2%；由于Wii U、新3DS设备问世及索尼主机削价，硬件销售额增长5%，达到18亿美元。

值得注意的是，尽管1.2%的增长率并不惊人，但这却是日本视频游戏行业过去5年出现的首次增长。

Yano Research于1月份发布的报告曾统计，2012年日本社交游戏市场规模为43亿美元，这一领域在2011至2012年的增长速度远超视频游戏领域。

3）据Techcrunch报道，苹果App Store日前移除了应用检索服务AppGratis（拥有700万用户，下载量达50万次）。目前尚无法得知AppGratis被移除的具体原因。

appgratis(from wamda.com)

苹果曾在去年10月份新增一项iOS开发者条款，指出“苹果将移除那些以类似于App Store或者与之相似的方式展示、推广非开发者自家产品的应用。”AppGratis主要为用户提供一些来自App Store的推荐应用，并提供简短描述，推出限时免费的应用。

苹果此前曾移除了AppShopper这款应用（游戏邦注：它提供的是与App Store相同的应用检索服务，并向用户推送应用促销信息），观察者分析称，除了苹果新政策影响之外，AppGratis也有可能是因违反了苹果其他条款所以被禁用。

4）Canalys最新数据显示，2013年第一季度来自50多个国家/地区的苹果App Store、BlackBerry World、Google Play和Windows Phone Store下载量达134亿次，比2012年第四季度增长11%。

apps-word(from digitaltrends)

与此同时，来自付费、IAP和订阅模式的应用收益增长9%，达到22亿美元。以南非、巴西和印度尼西亚为代表的新兴市场发展甚为强劲，但发达市场仍然较为领先，其中北美应用收益增长8%，下载量增长6%，西欧应用收益增长8%，下载量增长10%。

苹果和Android仍然是收益和下载量领头羊，App Store所占收益达74%，Google Play下载量占比51%。

5）据谷歌最近发布了Google Play应用商店改版设计，呈现了更为简洁、明晰的风格，以便帮助用户更快捷地找到应用和媒体内容。其中较明显的变化包括更大的图片、相似内容的群组功能， 及用户滚动应用商店时呈现的内容推荐外观。

google-play-redesign-tablet(from insidemobileapps)

google-play-redesign-smartphone(from insidemobileapps)

之前的Google Play所充斥的文本内容更多，主色调为黑色，而这次改版后的应用商店主色调更浅，更接近于网页版Chrome应用商店。

这个新版Google Play现在支持运行于搭载Froyo操作系统统（Android 2.2）及更新版本的Android智能手机/平板电脑。

6）据gamezebo报道，《口袋上帝》开发商Bolt Creative日前宣布正在开发新游戏《Ooga Jump》，但并未透露新游戏的具体细节，仅表示其风格类似于《涂鸦跳跃》。

Ooga Jump(from fans.com)

7）Super Data Research最近发布的信息图表显示，在体验社交博彩游戏的用户中，女性占比57%；21-34岁群体占比高达43.66%，21岁以下群体占比仅0.63%。扑克游戏最受欢迎，超过28%玩家喜欢扑克游戏甚于老虎机和Bingo游戏。

从收益来看，2012年主流社交博彩游戏市场分别是美国、英国、德国和法国。

2012年收益最可观的社交博彩游戏是《DoubleDown Casino》，其次是《Slotomania》。

social casino gaming(from SuperData)

（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）Puzzle & Dragons is the top grossing app worldwide, Distimo says

Scott Reyburn

Puzzle & Dragons app iconDistimo’s new monthly blog post series titled “Top Global Apps” named GungHo Online’s Puzzle & Dragons as the top grossing app worldwide as of March.

Before digging into the rest of the top revenue generating apps for iOS and Android, Distimo first listed off the top five free apps for iOS and Android based on downloads worldwide. For iOS, the most downloaded free app in March was King’s Candy Crush Saga, which is a match-3 puzzle game that was all the rage at the 2013 Game Developers Conference a couple of weeks ago.

On Google Play, Facebook was the No. 1 free app in terms of global downloads. Interestingly, four of the top five apps for Google Play were communication or social networking apps, with

Temple Run 2 as the one exception. On the other hand, three of the five apps for the Apple App Store were games, while the other two apps were Google-published apps — YouTube and Google
Maps.

Moving on to the top five paid apps for iOS and Android based on downloads worldwide, messaging app WhatsApp Messenger came in first for the Apple App Store and keyboard app SwiftKey

Keyboard for Google Play. According to a report from Digital Trends, WhatsApp is rumored to be in acquisition talks with Google, a deal that would be “close to” $1 billion. The remaining
four paid apps for the Apple App Store were games. For Google Play, four of the five apps were utility apps — including SwiftKey Keyboard — with Minecraft – Pocket Edition as the lone
game.

Aside from Puzzle & Dragons, which was already alluded to as the top grossing app worldwide, on the Apple App Store, Finnish developer Supercell’s Clash of Clans grabbed the No. 1 spot and

Hay Day took the No. 3 spot on the top five revenue generating apps chart for iOS. While apps from all of these charts generated most downloads in the U.S., the top five revenue generating
apps for google Play included apps that were localized in Asia, hence generating most revenue from countries like Japan and Korea instead of the U.S. The puzzle and RPG hybrid title Puzzle
& Dragons was No. 1, while three of the remaining four apps on the top five revenue generating apps chart for Google Play were games from Korea including WeMade Entertainment’s 윈드러너 for Kakao and CJ E&M’s 다함께 차차차 for Kakao. Candy Crush Saga was the one game that was generating most of its money from English-speaking territories like the U.S., Australia and large European countries.

All the data from Distimo’s blog post came from its premium subscription-based service AppIQ, which allows its customers to see how many downloads and how much money almost any Android or iOS app makes.（source：insidemobileapps）

2）Japan’s Video Game Market Grows To US$4.6 Billion In Fiscal 2012 (But Social Games Not Too Far Off)

by Dr. Serkan Toto

According to data released by Tokyo-based game magazine publisher Enterbrain (published in business daily The Nikkei over the weekend), the Japanese market for video games grew 1.2% to

US$4.6 billion in fiscal 2012 – which ended on March 31, 2013.

Software sales contracted 1.2% to US$2.8 billion in that time frame.

But hardware sales increased 5% to about US$1.8 billion in Japan, thanks to the introduction of the Wii U (well, OK), a new 3DS, and Sony’s recent price cuts for their consoles.

What’s interesting is that while a 1.2% plus sounds pretty modest, the overall market for video games in Japan grew for the first time in five years. Enterbrain’s numbers for the first half of fiscal 2012 were already indicating such a trend.

And what’s even more interesting is that even though different data providers use different methods, it looks like the sizes of the video and social gaming markets in Japan are now very  similar.

The latest report of note came from Yano Research in January, estimating the social gaming market in Japan was worth US$4.3 billion in 2012 (more details here).

Even though that number is closer US$4.0 billion using today’s exchange rate, that market grew faster between 2011 and 2012 than the one for video games, making the difference not that big anymore.（source：serkantoto）

3）Apple Pulls iOS App Discovery Service AppGratis From App Store

Romain Dillet

Apple pulled discovery service and daily deal app AppGratis from the App Store. So far, AppGratis is not communicating on the issue and users can only speculate about what the issue is.

Sometimes, Apple pulls an app because its latest update crashes or because the app uses a private API. Then, the developer has to submit a new release to return to the App Store. But there could be a bigger issue.

Back in October, Apple added a new rule in its iOS developer guidelines. It reads: “Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected.” As a reminder, AppGratis curates apps from the App Store, provides a short description and make paid apps free for a day.

At the time, AppGratis CEO Simon Dawlat answered that Apple was probably going after low-quality copycats, not AppGratis. AppGratis is all about discovery and helping independent developers thanks to its revenue-sharing deals.

Yet, other popular discovery apps have been affected by Apple’s new guidelines. For example, as PocketGamer.biz notes, AppShopper was removed from the App Store and has yet to make a comeback. AppShopper provided a way to search the App Store that competed directly with Apple’s own App Store. Moreover, users could be alerted when an app was on sale, effectively reducing developer revenue per user.

That’s why many other scenarios are still possible. Maybe AppGratis uses a private API or breaks an insignificant guideline and Apple won’t put the app back in the store until an updated version is submitted. As always, developers are at the mercy of Apple’s review team. The team often contacts developers to require some changes to an app in order to stay in the store.

Paris-based AppGratis has coincidentally raised $13.5 million in January. With 7 million users and the ability to lead to up to 500,000 downloads for a single app, the company is not a newcomer. If Apple wanted to stamp out AppGratis, it could have done it a few months ago.

All there is left to do is to wait for Apple’s final say. For now, existing users can still use the AppGratis app. Maybe a few UX changes or infrastructure changes will be enough to make
the app reappear in the App Store.（source：techcrunch）

4）Downloads from leading app stores hit 13.4 billion in Q1

by Zen Terrelonge

New data from the Canalys App Interrogator analysed over 50 countries to find that downloads from the Apple App Store, BlackBerry World, Google Play and Windows Phone Store hit 13.4 billion in Q1, which is an 11 per cent surge on Q4 2012.

Meanwhile, revenue from premium apps, in-app purchases and subscriptions rose by nine per cent to hit $2.2 billion. Interestingly, emerging markets demonstrated strong growth, with South Africa, Brazil and Indonesia supporting a rise as more locals adopt smart devices.

Developed markets continue to lead, however, with North America rise eight per cent and six per cent for revenue and downloads, while Western Europe rose eight per cent and ten per cent.

Furthermore, the Apple and Android battle continues, with the App Store accounting for 74 per cent of revenue, while Google Play accounted for 51 per cent of downloads.

Adam Daum, chief analyst, Canalys, said: “Apps have had a huge impact on the way consumers use mobile devices, what they value, and what they expect from smartphones and tablets. They are now central to how consumers engage with content and connected services, and how they personalise their devices around the app-enabled features that are important to them.

“This is a multi-billion-dollar growth market, with more and more consumers around the world now comfortable and confident in finding apps, downloading them and making in-app purchases, on a growing addressable base of smartphones and tablets.”

Tim Shepherd, senior analyst, Canalys, added: BlackBerry World and the Windows Phone Store remain distant challengers today, though they still should not be ignored. Each of these four
stores represents a different market proposition for developers, and remains the primary outlet to reach users on the platforms they serve.

“BlackBerry and Microsoft particularly need to continue to proactively work to attract fresh, innovative content and services to their respective catalogs, and fill gaps in their inventories. But they also need to increase device sales around BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8 to increase the addressable market opportunities on offer to developers.”（source：mobile-ent）

5）Google refreshes Google Play’s look

Scott Reyburn

google-play-logoGoogle today revealed a new redesigned look for its Google Play app store on Android smartphones and tablets.

The refreshed look is one that’s simple, clean and aimed to help users find apps and media content faster. Notable changes include larger images, grouping of similar content and the appearance of content recommendations as the user scrolls through the app store. Purchasing has also been simplified, so users can go from checkout to enjoying their content as fast as possible.

The previous look of the Google Play store was more text heavy, with black as its primary color. The redesigned store changes the main colors to lighter colors, which is more akin to the look of the web-based Google Chrome Store.

The redesigned Google Play store begins rolling out today for Android smartphones and tablets running the Android Froyo operating system (version 2.2) and above. The refreshed storefront
will roll out worldwide in the next few weeks.（source：insidemobileapps）

6）Pocket God developers announce Ooga Jump

By Dant Rambo

Bolt Creative, the folks behind a little app called Pocket God, are hard at work on a new game called Ooga Jump. If that name rings a bell to you, that’s because it’s also the title of a mini-game in Pocket God. This new game will be based on said mini-game, because if you’re going to copy someone, why not copy yourself?

Very little is known about Ooga Jump at the moment¸ but its predecessor was an endless ascension game a la Doodle Jump, so it’s probably safe to assume that’s what’s in store. In fact,

Doodler of Doodle Jump fame made an appearance in the mini-game – maybe he (she?) will make another one here!

In any case, we’ll be sure to keep you informed of any future announcements from Bolt Creative, including anything about a release date.（source：gamezebo）

7）These online gambling stats will have your head spinning faster than a roulette wheel [infographic]

By Dant Rambo

As we discussed in an article a few weeks back, the online gambling boom is fast approaching. States like New Jersey and Delaware have made significant inroads towards legalizing it in their regions, and all signs point to more states (or possibly even the federal government) following suit. So, with such massive change coming, what better time to peruse a lengthy infographic on the subject?

Created by Super Data Research, the infographic provides a variety of statistics and triumphs that relate to online gambling. 57% of those who partake, for example, are female, and a little over 28% of players prefer poker to other games like slots and bingo. Additionally, the United States is expected to reign supreme in terms of online gambling revenue well into 2015.（source：gamezebo）