1）据Online Social Media报道，以复活节为主题的《愤怒的小鸟节日版》最近更新版本有一个异常现象，如果用户点击暂停按钮后想重新开始玩游戏时，就会发现暂停屏幕上的“Rovio News”会显示新版游戏《愤怒的小鸟：里约》的广告。有人认为，如果是Android用户看到这种情况并不奇怪，毕竟Android版本是广告赞助的免费版游戏，但iOS用户已付费99美分或者1.99美元下载无嵌入广告的版本，那就不应该出现这种情况。有些用户在苹果iTunes App Store留下了差评，“就是因为不想看广告，我才花钱下载这款游戏！你们已经有广告赞助版本了，就别在付费版添加广告了。”

Angry-Birds-Seasons-Easter-Edition

这个交叉广告出现在iOS版本的《愤怒的小鸟》以及《愤怒的小鸟节日版》，但未并出现于《愤怒的小鸟：里约》。这三款游戏在iPhone、iPod Touch售价均为0.99美元，其iPad版本则是1.99美元。

2）移动分析公司Flurry观察称苹果App Store有可能正在调整应用排名算法，其关注重心从原来的下载量转向了用户黏性（游戏邦注：本月初已有Android开发商称Android Market可能在调整应用排名算法）。他们的根据是，Facebook手机应用去年在美国App Store大部分时间是排在前10名之外，但最近却突然蹿升到了榜首。另一家移动服务公司W3i的欧洲业务开发主管也表示，他发现免费版《愤怒的小鸟：里约》在德国App Store突然被逐出排行榜前15名，而Taschenlampe 4和Handy Sicherung这类商务型应用的排名却明显上升。假如App Store果真按照用户黏性调整手机游戏、应用的排名算法，就有可能对Flurry、W3i等公司的业务造成重大影响，因为他们的主要作用就是帮助开发商攀向排行榜前列，获取更多曝光率。

top-free-apps

3）Developers Cooperative宣布推出锁定HTML5应用开发者的应用商店Openspace。虽然其创始人Robert Reich称他们的宗旨是让开发者自由创建并发布应用，但Openspace在本质上与传统的应用商店并无差别，仍然实行营收三七开分成的原则。该应用商店将供应Android、iOS、台式电脑和基于浏览器的应用程序。目前约有150万用户，产品数量超过480种。

4）吉尼斯世界纪录最近面向iOS和Android平台发布了一款应用The Guinness World Records Gamers’ Edition Arcade，鼓励玩家在规定时间内完成六款游戏的任务，并由此创造一项全新的世界纪录。这些游戏包括《Monkey Country》、《Mental Gears》、《Chest Of Destruction》、《Hoover’s Hot-Air Escape》、《Adventure Mode》、《Rupee Roulette》。玩家可以通过Facebook或苹果Game Center晒出自己的得分，并在2012年吉尼斯世界纪录游戏玩家版本中排出一个名次。该应用在苹果App Store售价0.99美元。

5）据Kantar Worldpanel ComTech数据显示，Android已成为英法德三国的手机操作系统冠军，在英国市场份额为38%，在法国占35.9%，在德国是35.5%。调查还发现，Android在日本市场份额高达58.3%，在美国则是54.7%。

黑莓手机销量占英国智能手机市场的25%，在德国市场份额却仅有3.4%。而Symbian在德国销量仍占四分之一左右，并以46.9%的市场份额持续领先。该报告还预测，iPhone在美国将通过与威瑞森的合作夺回被Android分食的市场份额（iPhone手机在3月份的销量占全美市场的30.1%）。

市场调研公司Gartner则在上周预测2012年Android手机销量将达3.15亿部左右。

Figures from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech

6）Turner broadcasting公司旗下的Adult Swim电视频道所推出的iOS游戏《彩虹独角兽》（Robot Unicorn Attack）证明，基于影视作品授权的手机游戏比原创游戏利润更低。据该频道数字游戏副总裁Jeff Olsen所称，授权游戏并不一定会获得良好的声誉，休闲游戏用户基本上只青睐原创游戏，“根据我的经验判断，如果根据一个电视节目开发游戏，那就可能是在驱赶而不是吸引用户。”该公司打算从中汲取教训推出一款新游戏，并计划在4月19日发布《彩虹独角兽》的Android版本。

Robot Unicorn Attack

7）手机应用分析公司Localytics日前融资250万美元。该轮融资由Launchpad Venture Group和New York Angels主导，Localytics将使用这笔资金扩大业务范围，争取处于中端市场的发行商客户。除此之外，该公司还宣布推出一个新型服务平台，支持开发者根据自己的需求，自定义创建信息图表。这项付费工具可用于Android、黑莓、iPad、iPhone和Windows Phone平台，每月费用是95美元。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

1）We here at Online Social Media love Angry Birds. Whether it be the most recent Angry Birds Rio, or the original smash hit, Angry Birds is a popular game and you can usually find it at the top of the charts on your Android phone, iPhone and Windows Phone 7 application marketplace of choice.

For those who have previously purchased Angry Birds Seasons (originally Angry Birds Halloween), simply go to your device’s app store and check the update section to download the free update to this application, which adds a whole new 18 levels as well as a special Easter Egg which looks as if it will open when you have achieved three stars on all stages.

However, when you click the pause button in-game in order to restart the level for the umpteenth time, you find yourself looking at a pause screen with ‘Rovio News’, which currently displays an advertisement for the new Angry Birds Rio. The problem that users who are playing on their Apple device have with this is that we paid for the explicit purpose of having an ad-free game.

Whilst Android gets Angry Birds for free with advertisements in-game, iOS users pay 99 cents/$1.99 for the game and this new addition of advertisements has annoyed some users. On the Angry Birds app page in the iTunes Store several angry users have left negative reviews. One user who goes by the name Adrian Swingler says that “I paid $ for this app so I do not want adds!

There already is a version with adds so don’t add it to the paid version”, and I agree with him.

These new adverts appear on the iOS versions of Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons, but they do not appear in Angry Birds Rio. All three cost 99 cents on the iPhone and iPod Touch and $1.99 on the iPad, which comes to 69p and £1.79 respectively in the UK.（source:onlinesocialmedia）

2）Apple tweaks App Store algorithm; shift from downloads to activity reckon Flurry and W3i

It’s being reported that, following a supposed similar shift to Android Market’s ranking system earlier in April, Apple has altered its own algorithm for the App Store.

The observation has been made by app analytics specialist Flurry, which claims to have monitored a change to the various weightings that determine how the chart positions are calculated.

The suggestion is the role of pure download figures is being downgraded, with more emphasis being placed on user activity within games and apps.

Charting the charts

“We’ve been noticing changes in the Top Free rankings for at least three days now,” Flurry VP of marketing Peter Farago told Inside Mobile Apps.

“From our point of view, Apple is absolutely considering more than just downloads, which we believe is the right direction go to measure true popularity of an app.”

Though it’s not clear what changes may or may not have been made, the alleged alteration to the algorithm appears to be backed up by a reshuffling of the apps making it to the top of the App Store’s charts.

In the US, the official Facebook app – which has spent the vast majority of the last year and a half outside of the top 10 – has suddenly jumped back to the top spot. This would certainly make sense from an activity point of view.

Angry Birds Free-fall

“I believe there was a tweak in the algorithm,” Stefan Bielau, head of business development in Europe for W3i, told PocketGamer.biz.

“There are only four games left in the overall top 10 in Germany.”

Germany’s App Store rankings have seen movements aplenty, with Angry Birds Rio Free having suddenly fallen out of the top 15 as productivity apps – such as Taschenlampe 4 and Handy Sicherung – have climed the charts.

If true, it’s a change that could impact on many businesses operating on the App Store, with many firms – such as Flurry and W3i – offering services that allow developers to pay for donloads to propel them to the top of the charts to gain the apps extra visibility.

By shifting the goalposts, such forms of marketplace manipulation could be made more difficult, although they, in turn, are shifting from pure download incentivisation towards requiring users to play the opening level of the content they download. （source:pocketgamer）

3）Developers Cooperative launch HTML5 app store Openspace

It may be a significant step forward for the HTML5 development community, but those behind new app marketplace Openspace aren’t billing it as a specialist platform – more as an overall solution to the industry’s wider ills.

The store, which has been set up the Developers Cooperative, has the ambitious aim of becoming the largest app store on the planet.

The plan is, by uniting developers together under one banner, their aims – rather than those of the platform holders – will come first.

Developers first

“Often corporate rule making and platform-specific policies of large marketplaces prevent app developers from having the freedom to create and distribute apps the way they want to,” said founder Robert Reich.

“We are creating something new in the world of app development: a fair and representative process to make decisions about our store based on the input and interests of developers.”

Openspace isn’t all about revolution, however. Much of its structure falls back on industry staples – the marketplace opting to employ the somewhat traditional 70/30 revenue split, for instance.

That said, of that 30 percent cut, 5 percent is pumped directly into the cooperative, giving developers who sign up an additional – if small – revenue stream.

App democracy

There are also other areas where the Developers Cooperative is promising change: most notably, app visibility.

While anyone can list their apps for sale without charge, those who join the co-op will be afforded ‘enhanced distribution opportunities’.

Indeed, as a whole, member studios are set to be given a greater hand in the manner in which their apps are sold.

“The truth is, we as developers and consumers don’t have to be limited by the rules of the big app marketplaces,” the co-op says on the store’s website.

“We can break out of the constraints of device-centric limitations and corporate rules. We can reclaim the spirit of freedom that made us want to get into this business in the first place.”

Openspace will offer up apps for Android, iOS, desktop and browser add-on apps.

Currently sporting almost 1.5 million users and over 480 apps, developers looking to jump on board before launch should visit the Developers Cooperative’s website.（source:pocketgamer）

4）Play games to make a Guinness World Record

Guinness World Records has launched a new application for both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating system. The application features six games and all you need to do to make a Guinness World Record is complete them in record time.

The six games include ‘Monkey Country’, in which you need to save as many primates from crazy gorillas as you can in one minute. The second game called ‘Mental Gears’ engages your fingers and brain in picking a series of locks, opening as many as possible in 60 seconds.

‘Chest Of Destruction’ is a game that involves bomb disposal against the clock! Cut the correct wires before they blow.

‘Hoover’s Hot-Air Escape’ has you racing your balloon up a treacherous canyon, avoiding the overhanging cliffs. While in ‘Rupee Roulette’ you need to tilt the treasure chest to swipe the Rupees before the clock hits zero.

The last one is ‘Adventure Mode’. It is the ultimate challenge, with Thomas Braider, a famed archaeologist, guiding gamers on a full-on record-breaking romp through all five challenges.

Scores can be shared via Facebook or Apple’s Game Center, and one person is guaranteed a place in the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2012. The app also features selected content detailing some of the top gaming achievements in history.

The Guinness World Records Gamers’ Edition Arcade app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store for $0.99 (around Rs 45).（source:themobileindian）

5）Android is top OS in UK, France and Germany

More stats attesting to growing power of Google OS.

Figures from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech show that Android is now top in the UK (38 per cent), France (35.9 per cent) and Germany (35.5 per cent).

It’s also at 58.3 per cent in Japan and 54.7 per cent in the US.

However, away from Android, there are significant differences in smartphone platform shares.

In the UK, BlackBerry is responsible for nearly 25 per cent of all smartphone sales because of consumer crossover, while in Germany its market share is just 3.4 per cent.

However Symbian still bags a quarter of all sales in Germany, and In Italy its continues to be the leading OS with a 46.9 per cent market share.

Kantar Worldpanel ComTech believes the iPhone will claw back share from Android in the US because of the recent deal to make it available on Verizon, for which it bagged 30.1 per cent of all phone sales in March.

Last week, Gartner predicted that Google-powered phones will account for nearly half of the 630 million handsets to be sold in 2012.（source:mobile-ent）

6）Adult Swim rejects limitations of licensed games for an explosion in original content

Big film or TV licences are often seen as a quick and easy way for publishers to score a hit, as they either hook into existing audiences or parallel marketing.

But an increasingly savvy audience is aware such games aren’t focused on quality; in face it’s often the opposite.

That’s one of the reasons Turner’s Adult Swim channel – most recently behind Erasure-obsessed unicorn fest Robot Unicorn Attack on iOS  – has concluded that games based on licences are often far less lucrative than original content.

License to sell?

“License games don’t have a great track record,” Jeff Olsen, VP of Adult Swim Digital and Games, told Joystiq.

“The audience for a casual game based on completely original IP, in my experience, is almost unlimited. If you’re basing it on a show, you’re probably shutting more people out than letting them in.”

As a result, after initially releasing games based on franchises such as Cartoon Network’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Hanna-Barbera character Harvey Birdman, Adult Swim has shifted to publishing original content.

Faster, faster

“We’re trying to get to the point where we can release a new mobile game a month,” he said of the firm’s current strategy to accelerate its footprint.

The firm is also currently in the process of targeting Android, with Robot Unicorn Attack set to hit Google’s platform on April 19.（source:pocketgamer）

7）Analytics provider Localytics raises $2.5 million in latest funding round

Mobile app analytics specialist Localytics has raised $2.5 million in its latest investment round, the company has revealed.

Led by existing investors Launchpad Venture Group and New York Angels, fresh funding was also contributed by newcomer Hub Angels in a round that’s set to be used to increase the firm’s sales capacity.

Aiming for expansion

The idea is to expand from Localytic’s existing base in serving enterprise-level customers to include mid-market publishers, too.

“The need for mobile app analytics is exploding, fueled by continued growth in smartphones and the huge impact of Apple’s iPad and other tablets,” said CEO Raj Aggarwal.

“This new financing will enable us to better meet that demand and expand our product portfolio to meet the needs of the mid-market.”

Paying for premium

Along with the investment, Localytics has also announced the launch of a new premium variant of its platform.

The new service allows developers to create custom, free-form charts that deliver the information tailored in a manner that suits their needs.

Localytics Premium is available on Android, BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone and Windows Phone 7 for $95 a month.（source:pocketgamer）