Native Advertising, Mobile Games

....many mobile game developers are getting far better results from native ads that give their players virtual rewards for real ad engagement. This is where rewarded multi-offer ads work well. For instance, many game developers offer their players a choice of either watching a video ad or downloading an app in exchange for in-game currency. While these are native ads, they look and act nothing like Facebook news feed-type ads, or content that’s indistinguishable from the actual game — in fact, their whole purpose is to clearly offer more content in exchange for ad engagement....(source infra)

Lessons About Native Advertising From Mobile Games: "...Typical click through rates for these kinds of units (mobile game ads) are well over 10 percent, with completion rates of 50 percent. By contrast, a typical clickthrough rate for ads on a newspaper website are closer to 0.3 percent. These reward-based ads have kept a lot of great indie game developers from going bankrupt, and even brought them enough revenue to start creating more games. Which takes me to the core realization I hope people in the media grasp: This game industry model can easily be adopted to media of all kinds — including and especially news editorial...." (read more at link above)


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Android Apps, Google Play, Surpass Apple, App Store

It was only a matter of time --

Google Play Emerges as Powerful Weapon for Internet Giant - WSJ: "....There are now more apps available in the Play store, 1.5 million, than the App Store, 1.2 million, according to market researcher App Annie. App downloads from the Play store surpassed those from the App Store for the first time in 2013. The App Store still generated more than twice as much revenue for developers last year, but that was down from six times as much in 2012. Google Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora told investors in April that Play store payments to developers quadrupled in 2013 from 2012... Android's growing popularity is enabling Google to extract bigger profits from app sales. That is a change from a few years ago, when the company kicked back a hefty share of those sales to wireless carriers... Users will spend $9 billion in the Play store this year, estimates Bank of America Merrill Lynch. If Google keeps 25% of that, the store will account for more than $2 billion in Google's annual revenue, after subtracting any remaining payments to carriers...."

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Google I/O 2014 LIVE, June 25-26

Google I/O 2014 Keynote -- roll forward to 28:00 for actual start

Google I/O

Google I/O 2014 LIVE, June 25-26

EVENT SCHEDULE:
https://www.google.com/events/io/schedule

LIVE STREAMING:
https://www.google.com/events/io/schedule#!/filter/live-streaming

VIDEOS
https://www.google.com/events/io/io14videos

more info:
http://googledevelopers.blogspot.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleDevelopers
https://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleDevelopers/channels


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Why Hugo Barra Left Google to Be Xiaomi VP (video)

Here’s Why Hugo Barra Left Google to Be Xiaomi VP: Video - Bloomberg:
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Xiaomi Early Investor Robin Chan discusses Xiaomi’s hiring of Google’s Hugo Barra on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.” Former Xiaomi Board Member Hans Tung also speaks. (Source: Bloomberg June 5th)


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Xiaomi, Selling 100K Phones in 90 Seconds (video)

Xiaomi's Rise to Selling 100K Phones in 90 Seconds: Video - Bloomberg:
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It launched in 2010, sold its first smartphone in 2011, and by 2013, sold 100,000 phones in under 90 seconds. Bloomberg's Emily Chang breaks down Xiaomi's rise from scrappy startup to smartphone power player, by the numbers. (Source: Bloomberg June 5th)


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World's Largest Mobile Pay Network, Kenya, Africa (video)

World's Largest Mobile Pay Network... Is in Kenya: Video - Bloomberg:
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How is a third world tech country paving the way when it comes to the future of mobile banking? 90 percent of Kenyans use their phones to access the internet and M-Pesa is bringing mobile banking to the nation. Bloomberg's Jon Erlichman explains. (source: Bloomberg)


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Inside the New SpaceX Dragon V2 Spacecraft (video)

Inside the New SpaceX Dragon V2 Spacecraft: Video - Bloomberg:
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SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk unveils the company's new Dragon V2 spacecraft. (Source: Bloomberg, May 30, 2014)

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How to Turn Creative Passion Into Business (video)

How to Turn Creative Passion Into Business: Video - Bloomberg:
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School for Creative Startups Director Medeia Cohan discusses the company’s startup program on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse.” (Source: Bloomberg May 30, 2014)

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The Google Play Store, better categories, boost in game revenues

Google Play gets a true mobile web interface -- Mobile market researcher Distimo released new rankings that show that the recent expansion of gaming categories in Google Play actually resulted in a gaming revenue boost, thanks to an easier experience locating those games. Gaming revenue rose 15 percent in April. Google increased the gaming categories from 6 to 18 genres.

The Google Play Store saw a boost in game revenues after creating better categories | GamesBeat | Games | by Dean Takahashi: "....In the past, Google Play had six genres. Now it has 18. It kept Casual, Racing, and Sports. And it added categories such as Role Playing and Family apps. It changed Arcade & Action to Arcade, switched Brain & Puzzle to Puzzle, and updated Cards & Casino to Card. Then it added new categories such as Music, Board, Adventure, Simulation, and Strategy.

By choosing a game genre wisely, developers can significantly boost their performance in the rankings, Distimo found. For instance, Shadow Fight 2 by Russian developer Nekki generated more than 70 times more installs after switching from Arcade & Action to Role Playing. It moved from No. 222 in Arcade & Action to No. 2 in Role Playing. Nexters’ Throne Rush moved from No. 124 in Arcade & Action to No. 5 in Strategy. That helped double its device installs...."


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Kakao Merges With Daum Communications (video)

Kakao Merges With Daum Ahead of Seoul Listing: Video - Bloomberg:
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Kakao Corp., South Korea’s largest mobile messaging service, agreed to merge with smaller listed Internet company Daum Communications rather than pursue its own planned initial public offering next year. David Ingles has more on Bloomberg Television's "On The Move Asia." (Source: Bloomberg May 26)

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Twitch A Steal For Google?

Everything You Need To Know About Twitch.tv And Why Company Could Be A Steal For Google - Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) | Seeking Alpha: "....Google owns YouTube, one of the biggest sources of traffic on the web. Susan Wojcicki was appointed to the head of YouTube to figure out a better way to monetize YouTube's traffic. Twitch has discovered a robust way of making money through content which YouTube has been trying to emulate lately. There are two reasons why the Twitch formula is potentially extremely profitable and why Google is trying to learn from them and maybe acquire them as well. The first reason why Twitch is a compelling acquisition target in the content space is because it avoids all costs associated with generating content. Traditional video content like TV shows and movies often cost millions of dollars to produce... The other factor that YouTube has been trying to mimic lately is how players on Twitch have immense individual brand power. Twitch.tv is just as much about telling the narrative of the individuals as it is about watching them play video games. On Twitch can you watch a high school student go from playing 2-3 hours per day after he finishes his homework to competing on the Staples Center stage for a million bucks, and experience all the highs and lows along the way. Some of these players have real star power among their audience...." (read more at link above)

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FTC Focus on the Mobile Arena

The FTC Continues Its Focus on the Mobile Arena | Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP - JDSupra:


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Legal issues at Wired Next Fest 2014

Interesting legal issues at Wired Next Fest 2014 | DLA Piper - IP Technology in Italy - JDSupra:



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Criminal Conviction for Modifying Videogame Console

Criminal Conviction Upheld for Modifying Videogame Console | McDermott Will & Emery - JDSupra:




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Videogame Software Store Sales Decline, Online Increase

Videogame Software Keeps Sliding While Hardware Soars - Digits - WSJ: ".... sales of traditional PC and console games sold and delivered over the Internet jumped more than 25% to $269.1 million from $214.4 million a year earlier, according to industry watcher SuperData Research. Joost van Dreunen, head of SuperData, said game publishers are focusing more on digital distribution services, like privately-held Valve’s Steam service, which often carry better margins than selling through a brick and mortar store. “Publishers love it,” he said. In addition, smaller game publishers have also begun to flood digital download stores, catching customers’ attention. Finally, he said, console gamers are increasingly downloading their games directly now too, instead of buying discs at stores...."

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Glenn Greenwald, No Place to Hide, Edward Snowden and video games

Glenn Greenwald on Edward Snowden and His New Book, No Place to Hide: "....You mention in your book that Snowden's moral universe was first informed by video games.--

"In Hong Kong, Snowden told me that at the heart of most video games is an ordinary individual who sees some serious injustice, right? Like some person who's been kidnapped and you've got to rescue them, or some evil force that has obtained this weapon and you've got to deactivate it or kill them or whatever. And it's all about figuring out ways to empower yourself as an ordinary person, to take on powerful forces in a way that allows you to undermine them in pursuit of some public good. Even if it's really risky or dangerous. That moral narrative at the heart of video games was part of his preadolescence and formed part of his moral understanding of the world and one's obligation as an individual...."

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Pac-Man, a look back (video)

The Great Works of Software — The Message — Medium: "Pac-Man was created in 1980, written by Toru Iwatani. It’s a small game, running on laughable hardware. But it gave us a shorthand for a specific kind of play—iconographic, silly. The gameplay of Centipede was better, but the story (a gnome that shoots bugs) was vague; the gameplay of Missile Command crawled but the narrative was incredibly bleak. Pac-Man was a chase, a Tom and Jerry cartoon. It presented a perfect inversion where, upon eating a certain kind of dot, the prey became predator. It took over a year to develop, and a great deal of thought went into the player’s psychology, the fact that they would empathize with the yellow circle of Pac-Man.....The mechanics of the game aligned to some primitive reptile-brain sense of narrative. Run eat run eat run eat KILL EAT KILL EAT KILL EAT KILL run eat run eat run. The music burrowed into the mind, so much so that a whole generation can hear the theme music…"


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Flaregames, $12.2M for free-to-play mobile games

Germany's Flaregames raises $12.2M for free-to-play mobile games | GamesBeat | Games | by Dean Takahashi: ".... Flaregames will use the money to hire people and market the company’s upcoming free-to-play games. The company has already released BraveSmart, a mobile game that debuted in May 2012. Since then, the company has grown revenues to seven figures per month and launched its Royal Revolt mobile game series. The latest title, Royal Revolt II, debuted in February and reached 1.5 million downloads on Android and iOS within the 10 days. That made the game profitable...." (read more at link above)

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Apple Failing to Be Apple (video)

Apple Failed to Be Apple: Wired’s Battelle: Video - Bloomberg:
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Wired Magazine Co-Founding Editor John Battelle discusses news from Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.” (Source: Bloomberg, June 3)

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Marine Black Knight Transformer, Flying Truck (video)

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Marine's Black Knight Transformer: The Flying Truck: Video: Part-truck, part-helicopter, the Black Knight Transformer can travel at 70 mph on the ground and then hover thousands of feet in the air. The modular hybrid can carry cargo or wounded soldiers from the front line. Here is what the Black Knight's first successful test flight looks like. (Source: Bloomberg May 21)

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