1）据应用搜索引擎Chomp四月份报告显示，97%通过Chomp搜索引擎下载的Android应用属于免费产品，同比3月份增加了2%。

chomp_android_april(from readwriteweb.com)

Chomp调查还发现，该月售价定位于4.01至5美元的Android应用下载量保持在0.3%左右，但所有付费应用下载量均已下滑。与之形成对比的是iOS平台，该平台四月份的付费应用下载量比三月份增长了3.8%，其中增势最明显的付费应用售价区间是0.99美元（增长1.9%）、1.99美元（增长0.7%）、2.99美元（增长0.6%）。

chomp_ios_april(from readwriteweb.com)

另一个有趣的调查结果表明，四月份仅有12%的Android用户通过Chomp的“免费”过滤功能搜索应用，而高达33%的iOS用户使用了这一过滤功能，有观察者认为出现这种结果的原因是，Android应用的“免费”概念已经深入人心，所以多数用户认为无需这一功能就能轻易搜索到免费的Android应用。

2）位于西雅图的游戏开发商Z2Live宣布旗下手机游戏《MetalStorm: Online》自5月12日发布以来，已收获230万以上的用户，目前在美国免费手机游戏排行榜上位于第45名。该游戏采用了应用内置付费功能，其虚拟货币售价在0.99至49.99美元之间，目前共有120万美国用户，中国用户约33万，日本用户是30.8万，英国用户是21.6万，德国用户是17.7万，法国用户是15.4万。

MetalStorm Online(from insidemobileapps.com)

3）Glu Mobile、Unity Technologies和索爱三家公司最近联合举办了一场针对全球3D手机社交游戏大赛，为独立游戏开发者提供总额为50万美元的奖金，凡是采用Unity工具开发原创3D版iOS和Android手机社交游戏的开发者均可报名参赛。

大赛截止时间是7月24日，将从亚洲、欧洲、美洲三地中筛选出九名获奖者，并从中挑出一名总冠军（游戏邦注：总冠军将获得价值22.55万美元的发行签约合作），主办方将在2011年9月28至30日的第五届Unity Technologies年度开发者大会上公布获奖名单。

glu-competition(from intomobile.com)

4）谷歌Android Market日前将热门电子游戏模拟器N64oid以及其他带有-oid的应用程序移除，这一系列的应用均出自同一家开发商之手（游戏邦注：该系列应用支持用户在手机平台体验任天堂娱乐系统、世嘉Genesis、雅达利、Game Boy等平台的原版游戏），与此同时，该应用开发商的帐号也在毫无通知的情况下被谷歌取消。观察者称由于Xperia Play的问世将吸引更多人关注Android平台的品牌游戏，游走于灰色地带的游戏模拟器仍将出现在第三方应用商店，只是其生存处境将比以往更加艰难。

Android-Mariokart(from intomobile.com)

5）应用搜索服务公司Appsfire日前宣布在A轮融资中通过法国投资者Idinvest筹得360万美元，并将利用这笔资金加强与发行商、开发商的业务合作关系。Appsfire在全球共有200万用户，使用Appsfire推广应用的客户包括Barnes & Noble、派拉蒙电影和Spotify等公司。该公司在去年夏天发布了其首款应用，在今年1月份收获了100万用户，在5月中旬增长至200万用户。

appsfire(from gigaom.com)

6）手机游戏公司Glu Mobile日前推出一款结合了地理定位、音乐和社交元素的应用Tunity，它相当于Foursquare、Digg和iTunes的合体，支持用户使用iTunes的音乐为世界任何有邮局和邮政编码的地方贴标签。观察者称Glu有可能意在借Tunity进军音乐搜索工具市场，该应用由HTML5技术开发，将在8月份推出iPhone和Android版本，随后会发布桌面浏览器版本。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）97% of Android App Downloads in April were Free, Says Chomp

By Sarah Perez

Last week, we cited a study from mobile analytics firm Distimo that stated the majority of paid Android applications were downloaded less than 100 times. On Android, folks like the free apps, it seems. Now, to back up that report with additional data, we have mobile search firm Chomp’s report for the month of April.

During this past month, 97% of all Android downloads throughout its search properties were free apps, and that number has increased by 2% over March, the company says.

If the Distimo study didn’t make the Android developer’s heart sink a bit, Chomp’s new pie charts surely will.

97% of Android Downloads were Free

On Android, Chomp found that apps in the $4.01-$5.00 range stayed consistent with 0.3% of the download volume since March, but all other paid apps declined. And, as noted above, the large majority (97%) of Android downloads were free apps.

Paid Downloads on iOS Increased 3.8%

To put this in perspective, developers with paid apps on iTunes saw downloads increase by 3.8% over March. Price points showing the most growth included the $0.99 group (1.9%), $1.99 group(0.7%) and the $2.99 group (0.6%). Of apps priced over $14.99, the $23.99 price point took 37% of the market share.

Maybe even more telling was the use of Chomp’s “free” filter in April, a filter which allows you to see just the free apps. Android users applied this filter 12% of the time, while 33% of all iOS queries used the “free” filter. Perhaps this is because Android users already expect the apps to be free? That would be our guess.（source:readwriteweb）

2）Z2Live’s MetalStorm: Online Racks Up At Least 2.3 Million Players in Two Weeks

By Kim-Mai Cutler

Seattle-based developer Z2Live looks like it has two solid hits on its hands.

MetalStorm: Online, the company’s follow-up to casual city builder Trade Nations, has pulled in at least 2.3 million players since its launch on May 12. The aerial combat app is free so these numbers reflect a decent debut. Plus, the app’s ranking hasn’t declined too dramatically since launch. It’s at #45 today in the U.S.

Z2Live is one of handful of venture-backed mobile developers, with a recent second round of funding led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson. At the time, it had a single hit, TradeNations, which was developed with the help of Canada’s Bight Games and is perennially on the iOS list of highest-grossing apps.

With MetalStorm, the company’s moving into more hardcore games. But it’s still sticking with the freemium model with monetization through in-app purchases. MetalStorm: Online sells coins in packs ranging from $0.99 to $49.99 and it’s been consistently ranked in the top 50 highest-grossing title in the U.S.

The app has 1.2 million players in the U.S., 330,000 in China, 308,000 in Japan, 216,000 in the U.K., 177,000 in Germany and 154,000 in France.（source:insidemobileapps）

3）Glu Mobile, Unity Technologies and Sony Ericsson launch contest for mobile game developers

by Dusan

Glu Mobile, Unity Technologies and Sony Ericsson have teamed-up to launch a global 3D social mobile contest for independent game developers, offering $500k in total prizes for winning submissions. Developers from all around the world are invited to create an original 3D Social Mobile video game built on the Unity platform and playable on iOS and Android devices.

The Glu 500gs 3D Social Mobile Development Contest has already started and will last until July 24th. It will feature a total of nine winners in three regions (Asia, Europe, Americas) as well as a Grand Prize winner chosen from one of the three regional first prize winners. The Grand Prize winner, which will get a publishing contract worth up to $225,500, will be announced at Unite 11, Unity Technologies’ 5th Annual Developer Conference on September 28-30, 2011 in San Francisco, California.（source:intomobile）

4）Google pulls gaming emulators from Android Market

by Simon

Over the weekend, Google has pulled a batch of popular video game emulators from the Android Market, including N64oid, and all other -oid apps made by the same developer. The apps would allow you to play games for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Atari, Game Boy, and others. There are still plenty of other emulators available, but another popular option, PSX4Droid was recently pulled as well, indicating there’s a Market-wide purge in progress. The developer of N64oid said his apps were pulled and his developer account removed without any warning or explanation from Google.

With the Xperia Play bringing more attention to brand-name commercial games on Android, publishers no doubt have a vested interest in claiming legitimate turf in the Market. Of course,emulators were at best in grey legal territory to begin with, but that’s not going to stop developers from finding workarounds in third-party stores or simply hosting the files personally; it just means they’ll have a harder time making money from it. Lesson? Get your quality video game emulators now while you can.（source:intomobile）

5）Appsfire Scores $3.6M As App Discovery Demands Grow

By Ryan Kim

Appsfire, which works on both iOS and Android, catalogs the apps on a user’s phone and suggest apps on an Appstream, a live wall of apps that identifies recommended, featured and hot apps.

Users are able to create their own streams based on their interests. Appsfire has hit 2 million users worldwide, hitting the top 10 rankings in the U.S., France, Spain, Germany, Austria and Turkey. The platform is also able to be used by developers and publishers to market their apps to users. Barnes & Noble, Paramount Pictures and Spotify have used the Appsfire platform to promote their apps. The company, which launched its first app in last summer, hit 1 million users in February and zoomed to 2 million by mid-May.

With Apple’s App Store hitting the half billion app mark and Android Market  poised to overtake it later this year, it’s a busy time to be in the app discovery business. Appsfire, a France-based startup, is reaping the benefits, scoring $3.6 million in Series A funding from French investors Idinvest. The funding will help the company accelerate its growth as it looks to strike more partnerships with publishers and developers and build up its team of seven employees.（source:gigaom）

6）Glu unveils innovative social-location-music mash up Tunity

by Jon Jordan

Of all the games Glu detailed during its press day, there’s no doubt Tunity was the biggest surprise as well as its most ambitious title.

The brainchild of chief creative officer Giancarlo Mori, it mixes up location, music and social aspects: think of it as Foursquare meets Digg meets iTunes.

The basic interaction is you can tag any location in the world that has a postal or zip code (i.e. is listed on Google Maps) with any music track from iTunes.

You can do it in situ – for example, automatically tagging the cafe you’re in with the tune playing on your iPhone – or, more likely, selecting music and locations as you see fit.

Obviously Glu is also hoping it will be work as a music discovery tool, with people buying tunes they enjoy, as well as finding and adding friends with similar musical taste.

Developed using HTML5, Tunity is expected to be released as an app, initially for iPhone and Android during August, following on desktop browsers. （source:pocketgamer）