1）IDC最近发布报告预测，2013年平板电脑出货量将达1.91亿台，高于IDC此前预期的1.724亿台。

值得注意的是，IDC认为用户对小型平板电脑的青睐将刺激Android设备而非iPad的销量增长。

2013年基于Android的平板电脑占比将近49%（2012年为41.5%），而iPad市场份额将从51%降至46%。

tablets market forecast(from IDC)

微软Windows 8平板电脑将占比1%，预计到2017年这一比例将上升至7.4%；而微软Surface RT则将占比3%。

2）据Techcrunch报道，谷歌首席执行官Larry Page日前宣布，Andy Rubin将不再担任Android平台主管，Chrome主管Sundar Pichai将接替其职位；Android设备（来自60家硬件制造商的智能手机和平板电脑）激活量已达7.5亿台（2012年9月的这一数据为5亿），Google Play应用下载量已达250亿次。

cumulative android activations(from Google)

从Benedict Evans的分析结果来看，谷歌Android目前是全球市场份额最大的智能手机平台；Gartner最近数据指出Android设备在当前移动设备销量中占比70%。

Evans指出，在这7.5亿台Android激活设备中，活跃设备数量约6.75亿，而iOS的这一数据仅为4亿。

分析师Horace Dediu则指出，按照当前的发展速度，Android设备激活量将在2013年8月中旬达到10亿。

3）Pew Research针对12-17岁美国青少年的调查报告显示，有78%受访者拥有一部手机，而智能手机用户比例则是37%（2011年这一比例为23%），平板电脑用户比例达23%。

american.phones(from cnn.com)

每四人中就有一者表示，现在主要通过移动设备上网。

4）据insidemobileapps报道，NHN Japan日前宣布Line平台的游戏下载量已达10亿次，该平台原先是聊天应用，于2012年6月宣布进军游戏市场，目前已有16款游戏。

Line downloads(from insidemobileapps)

Line平台有55%的游戏下载量来自海外市场，45%来自日本市场，这表明Line在海外市场的吸引力甚于其他多数热门聊天应用（游戏邦注：而中国微信、台湾M+和美国Facebook Messanger、WhatsApp及Kik仅在本地市场较受欢迎）。

5）ABI Research最近报告预测，2013年全球应用经济规模将达250亿美元，其中35%（88亿美元）来自平板电脑应用，而智能手机应用则占比65%（164亿美元）。

ABI认为平板电脑应用盈利性将超过智能手机应用，预计到2018年平板电脑应用收益会超过智能手机应用，届时全球应用收益将达920亿美元。

app_store_money(from blog.inner-active)

今年苹果在全球应用收益中所占份额将达65%，Android占比27%，Windows Phone和黑莓等其他平台则占比8%。但Android市场份额将持续增长，而苹果则出现下滑，不过到2018年，苹果在平板电脑应用收益中仍将占比57%，在平板电脑+智能手机应用收益中所占比例则是52%（预计2018年全球应用市场规模为480亿美元）。

6）据gigaom报道，亚马逊日前宣布面向美国市场对8.9英寸Kindle Fire HD平板电脑降价，并向欧洲和日本发售这一设备。

其中削价最明显的是4G LTE Kindle Fore HD设备，32GB设备原价为499美元，目前已降至399美元，而仅支持Wi-Fi网络的同一型号设备仅降价30美元（游戏邦注：16GB设备现已降至269美元，32GB设备现已降至299美元）。

Kindle-Fire-HD(from dailytech)

8.9英寸Kindle Fire HD（仅支持Wi-Fi）将登陆英国、德国、法国、意大利、西班牙和日本市场，在英国起售价为229英磅（341美元），在欧洲售价269欧元（348美元），在日本售价2万4800日元（258美元）。亚马逊表示设置不同售价与各个市场运营成本不同有关。

亚马逊已在去年秋季向欧洲和日本发售7英寸Wi-Fi Kindle Fire HD（售价199美元），这一设备并不在本次降价活动范围内。

7）据inside social games报道，日本游戏公司Namco日前宣布将于3月19日关闭《Pac-Man S》、《New Rally-X S》、《DigDug S》以及《Letter Labyrinth S》等社交游戏。观察者称关闭原因是这些游戏流量极低，其IP名气也无助于延长它们的寿命。

pacman(from gamingandbranding)

（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）IDC: Android tablets to topple iPad by end of 2013

by Keith Andrew

A surge of interest in smaller, cheaper tablets will push annual sales beyond initial estimates in 2013, and result in Android devices toppling iPad by the end of the year.

That’s according to the latest findings published by IDC, which predicts just shy of 191 million tablets will be shipped to market during 2013, up from the firm’s previous estimate of 172.4 million units.

More interestingly, however, is the fact that a wider consumer shift towards smaller tablets will, in IDC’s view, boost sales of Android devices, and not Apple’s market-leading iPad.

Smaller is better

“One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8 inches in screen size,” said research analyst Jitesh Ubrani.

“And in terms of shipments, we expect smaller tablets to continue growing in 2013 and beyond.

“Vendors are moving quickly to compete in this space as consumers realize that these small devices are often more ideal than larger tablets for their daily consumption habits.”

The end result is, Android-based tablets will reach a peak of nearly 49 percent in 2013, up from 2012′s high of 41.5 percent. In contrast, iPad will fall from a 51 percent share to 46 percent.

The rest of the market over the coming years will be made up by Microsoft’s Windows 8, which currently accounts for 1 percent of all shipments, rising to 7.4 percent by 2017.

Windows RT – which runs on Microsoft’s Surface RT – will sit stable at around 3 percent of the market.

“Microsoft’s decision to push two different tablet operating systems, Windows 8 and Windows RT, has yielded poor results in the market so far,” added tablet research director Tom Mainelli.

“Consumers aren’t buying Windows RT’s value proposition, and long term we think Microsoft and its partners would be better served by focusing their attention on improving Windows 8. Such a focus could drive better share growth in the tablet category down the road.”（source：pocketgamer）

2）Larry Page Says There Have Now Been 750M Android Activations

Ingrid Lunden

In Larry Page’s note moments ago about Andy Rubin stepping down as head of Android to be replaced by Sundar Pichai, he also provided an update on Android device activations: there are now 750 million of them, across smartphones and tablets from 60 hardware makers. This an update on the 500 million figure noted in September 2012.

From Page’s note:

Fast forward to today. The pace of innovation has never been greater, and Android is the most used mobile operating system in the world: we have a global partnership of over 60 manufacturers; more than 750 million devices have been activated globally; and 25 billion apps have now been downloaded from Google Play. Pretty extraordinary progress for a decade’s work.

And here’s a visualization of how Android has grown, courtesy of Benedict Evans.

By many estimates from analysts, Google’s Android is currently the world’s biggest smartphone platform. The most recent figures from Gartner, for example, put it at 70% of the market in terms of recent devices sold. Activations are a slightly more nebulous stat, however, because, as Evans points out, they don’t include, for example, Android devices sold in countries where Google services might get used, such as China. And they don’t count secondary-owners of devices, as you may sometimes get in developing markets.

750 million Android activations implies an active base of somewhere around 675 million, Evans says. “Plus China, of course.” As a point of comparison, iOS is at about 400 million.

Analyst Horace Dediu, based on today’s 750-million figure and historical growth, predicts that Android will reach 1 billion activations by mid-August 2013.

Last week, Google provided an update on how ebooks and music have been progressing on the platform: there are now over 5 million ebooks and 18 million songs available on Google Play, one year on after it got rebranded from its previous name of Android Market.（source：techcrunch）

3）78 per cent of US teens own a mobile phone; 23 per cent own a tablet

by Zen Terrelonge

And 37 per cent possess a phone of the smart variety.

Pew Research has surveyed a group of American teens aged 12-17 and finds that 78 per cent of them own a mobile phone. The number declines to 37 per cent for smartphone ownership, but the number is up significantly from 23 per cent in 2011.

Such widespread access to their own devices means that one in four teens say they are now mobile-mostly web users, browsing by their phones rather than desktops and laptops. Meanwhile, 23 per cent of teens own a tablet.

Mary Madden, senior researcher for the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project and co-author of the report, said: “The nature of teens’ internet use has transformed dramatically — from stationary connections tied to shared desktops in the home to always-on connections that move with them throughout the day.

“In many ways, teens represent the leading edge of mobile connectivity, and the patterns of their technology use often signal future changes in the adult population.”

The results are based on data carried out during Q3 2012.（source：mobile-ent）

4）Games on Line platform reach 100M downloads

Scott Reyburn

Line app iconNHN Japan today announced that games on Line’s platform reached the 100 million downloads mark.

NHN Japan first revealed in June 2012 that Line, which is also a messaging app, was becoming a gaming platform for other mobile game apps. Line now has 16 games on its platform, with such titles as puzzler Line Birzzle, tile-matching game Line Pop, Bust a Move-like game Line Bubble, shooting game Dragon Flight from Nextfloor, town simulator Theater Town, sea life simulator Line Easy Diver and more.

Breaking down where the downloads came from geographically, 55 percent of the game downloads on Line’s platform came from outside Japan, while 45 percent came from Japan. Line being able to show some traction outside its country of origin is interesting since most of the messaging app competitors only dominate particular regions like WeChat in China, M+ in Taiwan and Facebook Messanger, WhatsApp and Kik in the U.S.

The main messaging app Line reached the 100 million user mark back in January.（source：insidemobileapps）

5）Apple will take 65% of the global $25 billion app economy in 2013, analyst says

John Koetsier

The global app economy will reach $25 billion this year, according to new data from ABI Research. Thirty-five percent of that, or $8.8 billion, will be tablet apps, and 65 percent, or 16.4 billion, will be smartphone apps.

And Apple will have a combined 65 percent share.

The overall trend in the app economy is that tablet app monetization is outpacing smartphone apps, ABI said. By 2018, the company said, tablet apps should surpass smartphone apps in revenue. At that point, total global app revenue will reach $92 billion.

“The larger screen makes apps and content look and feel better, so there are more lucrative opportunities,” analyst Aapo Markkanen said in a statement. “One might think that the bigger installed base of smartphones would compensate for the disparity, but that notion fails to take into account the arrival of low-cost tablets, which hasn’t even started yet [in] earnest. The smartphones paved the way for them, but in the end we believe that it’s the tablets that will prove the more transformative device segment of the two.”

For 2013, ABI expects Apple to take 65 percent of global app revenues, followed by Google’s Android with 27 percent. The remaining eight percent will be fought over by the other mobile ecosystems, primarily Windows Phone and BlackBerry.

ABI didn’t comment on Apple versus Android share in later years, but you have to assume that the 65 percent share will not last. According to one measure, Android’s overall global market share hit almost 70 percent in 2012, and ABI has previously predicted that by December 2013, there will be 800 million Android smartphones to 300 million iPhones in active use.

But Apple’s market share will stay very strong for many years to come, Markkanen believes.

“Apple’s share is obviously declining as Android grows,” Markkanen told me on the phone. “By 2018 in terms of tablets it will still be 57 percent, and in terms of tablets plus smartphones, it will still be above 50 percent … around 52 percent.”

That 52 percent of the 2018 app market will be worth about $48 billion, a third of which is almost pure profit.（source：venturebeat）

6）Amazon slashes price of 4G Kindle Fire HD by $100, expands tablet to Europe & Japan

By Laura Hazard Owen

Amazon announced Wednesday that it’s dropping the price of the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD in the United States, and is also rolling out the tablet in Europe and Japan.

The biggest price cut is for the 4G LTE Kindle Fire HD. The 32 GB version, which had been $499, gets a price drop to $399. The Wi-Fi-only version of the same tablet gets a price cut of $30 — to $269 for the 16 GB version and $299 for the 32 GB version.

Amazon is also launching the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, with Wi-Fi only, in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. It will start at £229.00 (USD $341) in the U.K., €269 (USD $348) in Europe and ¥24,800 (USD $258) in Japan. (Amazon told me that the varying prices are due to different operating costs in the countries.)

The 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD, which launched last September, is Amazon’s answer to the iPad. Amazon also launched a 7-inch Wi-Fi Kindle Fire HD, which starts at $199, last fall; that tablet, which is already available in Europe and Japan, is not getting a price cut.

Dave Limp, VP of Kindle, claimed in a statement that “As we expand Kindle Fire HD 8.9” to Europe and Japan, we’ve been able to increase our production volumes and decrease our costs. Across our business at Amazon, whenever we are able to create cost efficiencies like this, we want to pass the savings along to our customers.” But the move may also be intended to help the Kindle Fire compete with the iPad Mini, which has a 7.9-inch screen and starts at $329.（source：gigaom）

7）Namco retires several Facebook games

By Dant Rambo

Closures are a frequent occurrence in the social realm, but that doesn’t make them any less of a bummer. This time around it’s a variety of Namco games, including Pac-Man S, New Rally-X S, DigDug S, and Letter Labyrinth S.

According to Inside Social Games, the driving force behind these closures was low traffic.  The games are pretty old compared to most social games, but it’s surprising that the strength of the IPs didn’t help them stay afloat longer. Don’t people still love Pac-Man? Is Taizo Hori of Dig Dug fame doomed to a life of obscurity? Perish the thought.

In any case, the games will remain playable until March 19th. If you’ve never played them, or feel the urge to give them one last go, it’s now or never.（source：gamezebo）