游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

每日观察:关注App Store免费游戏盈利超过付费游戏(7.8)

发布时间:2011-07-08 12:00:34 Tags:,,,

1)苹果日前宣布App Store在iPhone、iPod touch和iPad下载量已超过150亿次,目前共有42.5万款应用程序,其中包括10万款iPad原生应用;该应用商店自2008年上线以来,总共为开发者创收25亿多美元;使用iOS移动设备的用户突破2亿。

apple_appstore(from toptechreviews.net)

apple_appstore(from toptechreviews.net)

2)移动分析公司Flurry最新调查结果表明,在过去半年中,采用IAP(应用内置付费功能)的手机游戏盈利能力大为上升;从美国前100名综合iOS游戏来看,免费模式所创收益已超过付费模式。

revenue generated,US App Store Top 100 grossing games(from Flurry)

revenue generated,US App Store Top 100 grossing games(from Flurry)

Flurry总经理Jeferson Valadares(前Playfish成员)通过分析统计发现,在美国前100名综合iOS游戏中,将近三分之二的收益来自采用免费模式的游戏,而半年前的这一比例尚不足40%。

采用这种模式的典型开发商代表包括Pocket Gems、Capcom旗下工作室Beeline Interactive、Storm8、TinyCo、Playforge和Glu Mobile。与社交游戏领域一样,仅有0.5%至6%的手机游戏玩家愿意掏钱购买虚拟货币。

3)游戏发行商EA于近日展示了最新发布的数字下载平台Origin的iOS移动版本,支持用户跨平台使用在PC端的同个Origin ID登录该服务。这个版本的Origin应用可查看用户好友列表,以及对方的动态消息,分享彼此活动内容,更重要的是它支持iPad、iPhone、Android和Facebook等多个平台的用户共同体验《Scrabble》等多人模式游戏。因为游戏资料存储于云系统,所以玩家可以在任何平台启动游戏继续体验剩下的环节。

Origin(from joystq.com)

Origin(from joystq.com)

据EA所称,Origin手机应用将支持在iPhone、iPad和Android平台运行,但尚未宣布具体可行日期。

4)任天堂总裁岩田聪日前通过展示其玩家数据表示,手机及社交游戏的兴起,并没有重挫任天堂DS游戏市场,这类玩家也可以是任天堂游戏用户。

他声称作公司最近的内部数据表明,社交游戏玩家仍在继续体验任天堂DS游戏,日本Mobage和GREE平台上的付费玩家,比一般的DS用户更经常使用DS设备玩游戏——这些用户确实喜欢玩游戏,他们在Mobage、GREE和任天堂DS平台投入的时间比其他用户更多。

active user ratio of Nintendo DS in Japan(from Nintendo)

active user ratio of Nintendo DS in Japan(from Nintendo)

日本的手机和社交游戏玩家平均每年会购买1.5款任天堂DS游戏,这一数据甚至超过了一般的DS用户(平均每年1.2款游戏)。

active user ratio of Nintendo DS in US(from Nintendo)

active user ratio of Nintendo DS in US(from Nintendo)

岩田聪称美国市场也出现了类似情况,Facebook游戏玩家也同样比一般任天堂DS用户更喜欢玩任天堂DS游戏。另外,美国智能手机用户也同样比普通大众更青睐任天堂DS游戏。

他最后强调,用户并不会因为体验手机及社交游戏而放弃任天堂游戏。

5)手机社交游戏平台OpenFeint日前宣布聘请Playdom前高管Ethan Fassett担任公司产品副总裁,负责监管免费手机游戏业务,帮助OpenFeint平台开发新沟通渠道以及获取用户的新功能。

Ethan Fassett(from insidemobileapps)

Ethan Fassett(from insidemobileapps)

目前共有6000多款Android和iPhone游戏采用了OpenFeint服务,这些游戏用户多达9000万人。Fassett之前曾在Playdom参与《Market Street》项目开发,另外还曾为Gaia Online公司效力。

6)据insidemobileapps报道,eBay日前以2.4亿美元收购移动支付公司Zong。Zong主要提供运营商计费服务,目前与45个国家和地区的250多家运营商建立了合作关系,这两者的联姻有助于PayPal支付系统扩大在新兴国家市场的影响力,为那些非信用卡用户提供便捷服务。

zong-logo(from digitaltrends.com)

zong-logo(from digitaltrends.com)

Zong投资者Matrix Partners成员之一、PayPal及谷歌前高管Dana Stalder表示,在数字商品交易中,使用运营商计费服务的交易量约占15%至50%。而在移动领域,这一比重甚至超过了70%,他看好这两者的结盟。

7)加州法官Phyllis J. Hamilton 日前宣布“Apptore”并非苹果商标,亚马逊Appstore并不存在侵权行为,后者可继续使用该名称。

Apple Sues Amazon(from technobin.com)

Apple Sues Amazon(from technobin.com)

法官在审判文件中指出,尽管苹果确实投入大笔资金进行宣传和推广,提高了“App Store”这一商标的知名度,但“app store”一词也经常被其他公司用于描述应用程序销售渠道。除此之外,目前也尚无证据显示亚马逊有意使用该词汇使其Anroid应用与苹果应用扯上关系,至于亚马逊Appstore如何损害苹果名誉这一点也同样无据可考。

8)美国移动咨询公司Chetan Sharma Consulting group最新报告指出,全球移动市场总收益已达1.3万亿,将近世界GDP的2%,其中有3000亿美元来自移动数据渠道。使用手机上网的用户增速比以往更快,美国人是全球第一移动网络使用大户,印度和中国则是发展最快的移动市场。

global mobile industry growth(from Chetan Sharma Consulting group)

global mobile industry growth(from Chetan Sharma Consulting group)

到2011年底,全球将有60亿以上的手机用户,全球市场实现10亿连网移动设备用户时共花了20年时间,而50亿用户飞跃至60亿用户则仅历时15个月。

全球智能手机用户已占目前所有手机用户的26%,预计美国将成为第一个智能手机市场份额超越功能性手机的移动市场。

报告指出苹果是平板电脑市场冠军,而智能手机市场的前两强则是Android和iPhone,第三名席位有可能是诺基亚/Windows Phone或者RIM。在移动设备制造领域,诺基亚仍是世界第一主导力量,但过去几年的销量已经有所下滑。

9)移动分析公司Localytics指出,尽管AT&T比威瑞森领先8个月就推出iPhone 4,但却并不妨碍后者收获美国32%的iPhone 4市场份额。威瑞森的iPhone 4市场份额已从2月份的20%上升至5月份的26%,在7月份则占据美国三分之一的市场份额。

verizon-growth(from venturebeat)

verizon-growth(from venturebeat)

Localytics认为许多用户选择威瑞森iPhone主要是直奔该运营商推出的无限数据流量套餐而来,不过据称威瑞森已打算停止向新用户提供这一服务。AT&T则在去年就停止供应同类服务,但仍会向之前的iPhone用户提供这一优惠。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

1)Apple’s App Store tops 15bn downloads

by Stuart Dredge

Company says it has paid out $2.5bn to iOS app developers since its launch in July 2008.

Apple has announced that its App Store has now generated more than 15 billion downloads across iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices.

The company has also paid out more than $2.5 billion to developers since the store’s launch in July 2008. The store now has a catalogue of more than 425,000 apps – including 100,000 native iPad apps – with an addressable base of 200 million iOS devices.

“In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen,” says SVP of worldwide product marketing Philip Schiller. “Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads.”

Three developers shared the limelight with Apple in its press release to mark the milestone: Smule, Epic Games and Callaway Diital Arts.

“We knew the iPad was going to be a revolutionary storytelling device, but never could have anticipated it would become so popular, so quickly,” says the latter’s CEO Nicholas Callaway.(source:mobile-ent

2)Freemium Revenue Surpasses Paid App Revenue Among Top 100 Grossing Games, Flurry Says

By Kim-Mai Cutler

Free-to-play games that earn revenue through in-app purchases have made a distinctive rise up iOS grossing charts over the past half year.

Now the free-to-play revenue model is earning more than the paid app model – at least among the U.S.’s top 100 grossing iOS games – according to mobile analytics and monetization company Flurry.

Jeferson Valadares, who became Flurry’s general manager of games after leaving Playfish, looked at the top 100 grossing games last month and in January. He analyzed each app’s revenue model (e.g. whether the game was given away for free and whether consumers could purchase virtual currency in the app.). Then, because Flurry tracks about 90,000 apps, the company can estimate revenue by chart ranking.

Using those two pieces combined, Valadares estimates that nearly two-thirds of the revenue earned by the U.S.’s top 100 grossing iOS games came through the freemium model, up from just under 40 percent six months ago.

The most prominent developers using this model include companies like Sequoia-backed Pocket Gems, Capcom’s studio Beeline Interactive, Storm8, Andreessen Horowitz-backed TinyCo, Playforge, and Glu Mobile. EA has mostly stuck to a paid app approach, although rumors of a PopCap acquisition might move the company into freemium mobile gaming in a serious way. Even Rovio Mobile, which catapulted to success by charging $0.99 for Angry Birds, has been using virtual goods like the Mighty Eagle, which helps players pass levels. The biggest social gaming companies like Zynga and Crowdstar are also starting to make headway into the grossing charts through free-to-play games.

Like in the social gaming world, only a small number of players — between 0.5 and 6 percent — will actually pay for virtual currency in a game.(source:insidemobileapps

3)Origin coming to iPad, iPhone and Android; cross-platform Scrabble coming to Android next week, for free

by Christopher Grant

While EA insists that its new (-ly rebranded) download service Origin has “never been about” competing with Steam in the PC space, the same can’t be said for Origin and Apple’s mobile Game Center service. During its Summer Showcase event, the megapublisher just demoed a mobile version of Origin running on iOS (through an iPad app in this instance, pictured above) promising a cross-platform experience using the same Origin ID you (may or may not) have on your PC.

While originally announced alongside the PC application, today was the first time EA demoed the mobile offering. The Origin app will let you see your friend list and its accompanying news feed, sharing what your digi-friends are doing in Origin, regardless of platform. The EA rep then launched a new version of Need for Speed on iOS directly from Origin; this version uses Origin to push your friends’ leaderboard data into the game, a feature EA dubiously claims wasn’t possible before Origin. More relevant was the Scrabble demo showing the game being played simultaneously across four platforms, including iPad, iPhone, Android, and Facebook. Because your games are stored “in the cloud” (read: Origin) you can start your game on any platform and continue it on another. EA says the game will be available on Android next week for free, and should support “almost every device at launch.”

The Origin mobile app will support the iPhone, iPad and Android platforms, though EA hasn’t said when it will be made available. We’ll update this post when we’ve got more information. (source:joystiq

4)Iwata: Rise Of Social/Mobile Games Hasn’t Hurt DS Usage

by Kyle Orland

With many industry watchers wondering how Nintendo’s portable business will weather the growing popularity of cheap and free-to-play mobile and social games, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata presented data showing players of such games are still playing games on the Nintendo DS as well.

At a recent presentation to stockholders, Iwata acknowledged that Nintendo’s performance peaked around the same time that social games began their rise, but emphasized that the two phenomena are not necessarily linked directly.

“If there is a causal correlation, those playing both Nintendo DS and social games will play with Nintendo DS less frequently or become less likely to purchase Nintendo DS software,” Iwata proposed.

Iwata then presented internal survey data showing that social game players continue to use the Nintendo DS at rates similar to those who don’t play social games. In Japan, in fact, Nintendo’s data shows that paying users on the popular Mobage and GREE networks are actually more likely to actively use their DS than the overall population of DS owners.

“The only explanation I can find is that these users love games,” Iwata suggested. “They are spending more time both on Mobage or GREE and Nintendo DS.”

Paying mobile and social gamers in Japan also purchase more Nintendo DS titles (1.5 games/year on average) than the general population of DS owners (1.2 games/year average), Iwata said.

The situation is similar in the U.S., Iwata asserted, with Facebook game players slightly more likely to be active Nintendo DS players than all adult Nintendo DS owners. Additionally, U.S. smartphone game players were not significantly less likely to play their DS than the population at large, Nintendo’s survey showed.

While Iwata admitted that this data doesn’t mean Nintendo “will be all right forever,” he stressed that “so far, consumers have not stopped playing with Nintendo DS because they are using these services or playing social games.”(source:gamasutra

5)OpenFeint recruits game developer to lead free-to-play focus

Dean Takahashi

OpenFeint has hired a game development leader to help its customers focus on making free-to-play mobile games.

The move reflects the growing importance of free-to-play, the business model where users play for free and can purchase virtual goods with real money.

Burlingame, Calif.-based OpenFeint has hired Ethan Fassett, a former Playdom executive with expertise in free-to-play Facebook games. Fassett will lead the development of next-generation social networking features with distribution channels for free-to-play developers.

OpenFeint, which was purchased in April for $104 million by Japan’s Gree, makes tools that developers can use to make their games more social. The company’s tools are used by 6,000 games on Android and the iPhone, with a total of 90 million players for those games.(source:venturebeat

6)eBay’s $240 Million Acquisition of Zong Will Increase PayPal’s Virtual Currency Capabilities

By Kim-Mai Cutler

In what may help PayPal deepen its strength in supporting mobile payments for virtual goods, eBay bought Zong for $240 million in cash.

Zong specializes in mobile carrier billing, where users can put charges on their monthly phone bills, and the company has relationships with more than 250 mobile carriers in 45 different countries. So this could help PayPal serve consumers in emerging markets, where people may not have easy access to credit.

The acquisition also comes at a time when smartphones have overtaken feature phones as the majority of mobile device purchases in the U.S. Yet Apple controls billing for digital goods on its platform while Google strongly encourages the use of Checkout in Android Market, which could limit Zong’s potential in terms of smartphone billing revenue in developed markets.

“Most of e-commerce will shortly become m-commerce,” wrote Zong’s CEO David Marcus in a blog post on the acquisition. “I am so excited by the unique combination of PayPal’s 8 million merchants, brand power, risk management expertise, and financial stability, with Zong’s Carrier DNA, its largest direct carrier payments network, product innovation, and best-in-class carrier billing technology.”

Dana Stalder, who is one of Zong’s investors at Matrix Partners and a former executive at PayPal and Google, said that carrier billing accounts for between 15 and 50 percent of payment volume for digital goods. This figure rises to more than 70 percent when you look at purchases initiated on mobile devices. He brokered an introduction between the two companies about a year ago.(source:insidemobileapps

7)Judge says Apple App Store name not “famous,” lets Amazon continue using Appstore name

Greg Lamm

Amazon can continue to use the term “Appstore” for now.

A California judge had rejected a motion from Apple seeking a temporary injunction to block Amazon from using “Appstore” as part of a trademark infringement case.

In a 19-page order (pdf) District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California said that Apple has not established that its App Store trademark is “famous.”

Here is part of Hamilton’s order, which was reported by ComputerWorld:

The court finds that Apple has not established a likelihood of success on its dilution claim. First, Apple has not established that its “App Store” mark is famous, in the sense of being “prominent” and “renowned.” The evidence does show that Apple has spent a great deal of money on advertising and publicity, and has sold/provided/furnished a large number of apps from its AppStore, and the evidence also reflects actual recognition of the “App Store” mark. However, there is also evidence that the term “app store” is used by other companies as a descriptive term for a place to obtain software applications for mobile devices.

With regard to the statutory “blurring” factors, the marks are similar, but “App Store” is more descriptive than it is distinctive. Apple did have substantially exclusive use of “App Store” when it launched its service a little over three years ago, but the term appears to have been used more widely by other companies as time has passed. The mark does appear to enjoy widespread recognition, but it is not clear from the evidence whether it is recognition as a trademark or recognition as a descriptive term. Moreover, there is no evidence that Amazon intended to create an association between its Android apps and Apple’s apps, and there is no evidence of actual association.

Hamilton also said that it is “not clear” how Amazon’s App Store will damage Apple’s reputation. Apple has said the Amazon App Store will allow inappropriate content, viruses, or malware to enter the market. But Hamilton pointed out in her order that Amazon does not offer apps for Apple devices.(source:techflash

8)Mobile Industry is Now 2% of the World’s GDP, Analyst Reports

By Dan Rowinski

Researchers for the Chetan Sharma Consulting group have put together a 2011 State of the Global Mobile Industry mid-year assessment and have come up with some very interesting results.

The entire global mobile market weighs in at about $1.3 trillion or close to 2% of the world’s gross domestic product. Of that giant $1.3 trillion pie, about $300 billion is expected to be

through data revenues. That means that people are starting to use data at much higher rates and Americans are on the forefront of data usage even as India and China are the fastest growing mobile markets in the world.

The report notes that mobile is fundamentally changing the way people interact with the world and is a heavy influence on how people buy goods and services. Here is the money quote concerning mobile applications in the report.

“Mobile is fundamentally reshaping how we as consumers spend from housing and healthcare to entertainment and travel, from food and drinks to communication and transportation. Mobile not only influences purchase behavior but also post purchase opinions. When the share button is literally a second away, consumers are willingly sharing more information than ever before.

Mobile is thus helping close the nirvana gap for brands and advertisers who seek to connect advertising to actual transactions. The long-term battle is however for owning the context of the users. Having the best knowledge about the user to help drive the transaction is the simply the most valuable currency of commerce.”
There will be more than six billion mobile subscriptions by the end of 2011. According to the report, it took 20 years of mobile development to reach one billion connected devices. The jump from five billion to six billion took 15 months.

The global market for smartphone users stands at 26% of all phones (which are a subset of total “mobile devices”). The U.S. recently passed the threshold of 50% of every new phone purchase is a smartphone and the Sharma group predicts that the U.S. will be the first market to eclipse 50% smartphone ownership (it stands at 38% currently).

Here is a graph of the largest telecom operators by revenue.

The Sharma group notes that Apple is dominant in the tablet space and that is not going to change any time soon. This, as we know, is not news and the report does not say anything that we do not already know (a Windows 8 tablet could make inroads and cheaper Android tablets will eventually gain market traction).

In terms of smartphones, the report says that the battle is now on for third place behind Android and iPhone, respectively. Nokia/Windows Phone and Research in Motion are the contenders for third place, which actually is being very kind to Nokia/Windows and bearish on RIM’s prospects. HP Palm gets a nod for finally bringing products to the market but also says the “lack of an effective ecosystem means lack of traction in 2011.”

When it comes to actual devices made, Nokia still has the global lead, tough its numbers are down from the last several years when the Swedish cellphone maker was absolutely dominant. (source:readwriteweb

9)Study: 32% of all US iPhone 4s are on Verizon

Devindra Hardawar

AT&T had an eight-month head start with the iPhone 4, but Verizon has still ended up with a healthy 32 percent of the U.S. iPhone 4 market, according to a study by the mobile analytics company Localytics.

The study, if accurate, proves that there was indeed considerable pent-up demand for an iPhone on Verizon’s network. The carrier only sells the iPhone 4 on its network, and it announced in April that it had sold 2.2 million iPhones in its first quarter.

AT&T, which sold 3.6 million iPhones in its first quarter, also offers cheaper models like the bargain-priced $50 iPhone 3GS. AT&T hasn’t offered up any recent details on the amount of iPhone 4s on its network.

Verizon’s iPhone 4 market share jumped from 20 percent during the device’s launch week in February to 26 percent in May, according to Localytics’ study (see chart below). As of July, the carrier housed a third of all iPhone 4s in the country.

Judging from the study, there seems to have been a big jump in Verizon iPhone 4 sales between May and June. Localytics believes many consumers jumped to Verizon to take advantage of its unlimited data plan, which the company is scheduled to stop supporting today for new customers. AT&T dumped its unlimited data plan last year, although it’s still offering unlimited service to previous iPhone users.(source:venturebeat


上一篇:

下一篇: