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Posted by on Mar 29, 2013 in Apps, Mobile | 0 comments

In-App Purchases (IAP)’s Generating Record Revenues

In-App Purchases (IAP)’s Generating Record Revenues

According to app analytics company Distimo, in-app purchases generated a record 76% of total App Store revenue in the U.S. in February.  The report only tracks revenue generated through the app store, so this does not include ad revenue. In Asia, at least 90% of all revenue came from in-app purchases according to Distimo.  Interestingly, freemium apps were found to generate the least amount of revenue per download, with just 93cents per download (based on the top 250 apps in the U.S.’s) Apple App Store.   Meanwhile, paid iPhone apps w/o in-app purchases generated on average, $2.25 per download.  Paid apps with in-app purchases generate even more revenue. iPad paid apps averaged $4.04 in revenue per...

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Posted by on Mar 28, 2013 in Apps, Mobile | 1 comment

Puzzle & Dragons Publisher GungHo Online Made $106 million in February

Puzzle & Dragons Publisher GungHo Online Made $106 million in February

Puzzle & Dragons publisher GungHo Online has just announced that it’s generated 10 billion yen in sales last month, in February.  This amounts to a little over $106 million.  Mobile gaming consultant Dr Serkan Toto (who resides in Tokyo) estimates that Puzzle & Dragons alone likely accounts for between 59 and 81% of GungHo’s total sales.  With this in mind, he assumes that Puzzle & Dragons grossed somewhere between $62 million and $86 million in February.   Toto also expects this figure to increase.  With the $106 million figure last month,  GungHo has substantially surpassed its $92 million it grossed in January by about $12 million. Given Puzzle & Dragons passed the 10 million download mark in early March, (only 19 days after passing the 9 million milestone) things are  looking good for GungHo’s sales for this month.   In an interview with PocketGamer.biz, when asked “How did the company achieve such remarkable success?” CEO Kazuki Morishita said,  “It had a lot to do with luck.”  Gungo is also in the processes...

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Posted by on Mar 28, 2013 in Apps, Marketing, Mobile | 0 comments

February App Downloads and Marketing Costs Drop | Fiksu Index

February App Downloads and Marketing Costs Drop | Fiksu Index

Fiksu has released their ‘Cost per Loyal User Index‘ concluding that February had a decline in in marketing costs at $1.29 (down 17%) from January’s $1.56.  This clearly represented a bargain period for mobile marketers who may have held back on holiday advertising, and instead chose to spread their spending across the several month to follow to maximize impact.   Additionally, Fiksu’s App Store Competitive Index showed a decrease of 13%, or 810,000 downloads each day, to 5.2 million daily downloads, from January’s 6.01 million.  It’s important to note that much of the downloads that came in January were a result of spill-over from Power Week, with the Holiday season in the last month of December.  This 1 week period saw over 1.2 billion app downloads.   With no major events or device launches occurring last month the Indexes provide early indications of what we can expect the “new normal” to be for marketers this year. That is  until, the next big splash (event, product release, major OS update) which will...

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Posted by on Mar 27, 2013 in Apps, Marketing, Mobile | 0 comments

Facebook updates Mobile Ads to Allow Developers to target Wi-Fi Users and Specific OS Version

Facebook updates Mobile Ads to Allow Developers to target Wi-Fi Users and Specific OS Version

Pretty cool if  you ask me. Most of us who are ‘up to speed’ with things know that FB CPI campaigns have proven to be extremely effective.  Maybe not as effective as a CPE (Cost Per Engagement) campaign, but still very effective nonetheless.  In Facebook’s most recently update the company is allowing Developers to specifiy whether or not they want their ads only showing up when the users are on Wi-Fi (increasing the probablility of them installing the app).  Facebook has said to have seen a 3x increase in ROI compared to “other advertising channels”.  On top of that, its user acquisition (CPA) cost has gone down 30%.   Great job Facebook.  I may consider buying some of your stock if  you keep stuff like this up.  Facebook notes in their blogpost that this could be, “a particularly good fit for apps that require significant data usage.” In addition, Developers can now target based on operating system as well (not just iOS vs Android, which wasn’t previously possible).  This...

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Posted by on Mar 27, 2013 in Apps, Marketing, Mobile | 0 comments

Mobile Marketing No Longer an Option

Mobile Marketing No Longer an Option

For those of you thinking that the “Mobile Revolution” is coming, sorry, but –  it’s already here.  The thing people seem to forget is, the early adopters in this space aren’t the ones that got started earlier this year, or even last year – but instead back in 2008. They’re also the same ones who now have the know-how to disrupt a market place, steal market share, and optimize mobile monetization.  Many large brands have already invested in their mobile presence. Coca-Cola for instance, invested $10M in Spotify and Starbucks $25M in Square. There’s no time to waste.  Needless to say, mobile apps have become the go-to source for news and entertainment.  Along the way replacing TV, radio, and the ‘traditional web’.  According to Apigee, 82% of smartphone users say they couldn’t go a day without their apps.  With that being said, Mobile Apps should be centric to your business strategy, more so – not just a box to be checked as having ‘completed’ or ‘obtained’.  CEO of Starbucks...

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Posted by on Mar 26, 2013 in Apps, Mobile | 0 comments

App Annie Index reveals Top 2 Games – Temple Run 2 and Puzzle & Dragons.

App Annie Index reveals Top 2 Games – Temple Run 2 and Puzzle & Dragons.

With GDC just around the corner, App Annie has presented its followers with the hottest mobile games in the past month over both the Apple App Store and Google Play.  Today we’re going to talk about  a tale of two extremely successful game publishers with outstanding games from February 2013. As you may have guessed, we’re talking about the endless running game Temple Run 2 and the puzzle role-playing game Puzzle & Dragons: Temple Run 2 having only been released in the 2nd half of January, has already become the top-downloaded game across both the iOS App Store and Google Play. As a result, Imangi Studios (creators of Temple Run), own the first and second publisher spots for game downloads in Google Play and Apple App Store.   All the while, Puzzle & Dragons continued to top the revenue rankings across both iOS App Store and Google Play, as it did in January, thanks to the unbelievable success in Japan. As a result, GungHo Online Entertainment takes first spot...

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Posted by on Mar 25, 2013 in Apps, Marketing, Mobile, Startups | 0 comments

Heyzap Mobile Gaming Network and Now Ad Network?

Heyzap Mobile Gaming Network and Now Ad Network?

With it’s newest SDK update (today) Heyzap is allowing developers and publishers to introduce Heyzap ads to their games.  This will give Developers a opportunity to make more money, or to promote their games in other Heyzap games. As seen in the image below, the company suggests games that are of similar interest to the one’s you’re already playing. Since users are  sharing their information with friends on Heyzap, it allows the system to make reasonable suggestions as to other games the user might be interested in. Despite the fact that the ads program is officially launching today, Heyzap claims it has already run ads from Zynga, TinyCo, Storm 8, Gree, Kabam, and Com2Us as part of a “secret alpha.” In total, Heyzap ads are already running in 350 games (out of the more than 4,000 in Heyzap’s network).   In the press release announcement earlier today Co-Founder Jude Gomila said, “There are three components to the life cycle of a game that developers are concerned with: user acquisition,...

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