Source: GDS Infographics
Big week in mobile app downloads
According to Mobilewalla, as of this week there are more than a million apps in the market. And, Apple’s developers are adding about 1,000 new apps a day while Android developers are uploading about 1,400 a day.
Even though ComputerWeekly.com says games is the “most popular” form of mobile apps when it comes to high engagement, games isn’t #1 in overall categories for top downloads. Find out which kinds of apps are the most downloaded. (Side note: games may not be #1, but they do sometimes inspire fashion.)
It was a big week for Google, too. The company announced that the Android Market had passed its 10 billionth app download. Apple may have hit that milestone first (and faster), but Business Insider says that Google is hot on Apple’s heels. Should Apple be concerned?
Microsoft isn’t even close, but it hopes sweetening a deal with mobile app developers will help it play catch-up. Here’s a cool infographic on the apps race.
Back in June, social gaming behemoth Zynga sued social gaming startup Vostu over claims that Vostu had violated its copyrights with several games that ripped off Zynga titles, but the two have now buried the axe.
It’s no surprise many gaming companies try to reproduce Zynga’s success. The company has been a huge hit with its suite of addictive games; it says it’s because it takes a different approach to gaming. Zynga SVP of Product Development Mark Skaggs shares his thoughts on what makes a good game developer.
On a related note, Alec Baldwin and American Airlines have waged a war of words on the blogosphere. Baldwin was kicked off an AA plane for continuing to play “Words With Friends” when he was instructed by airline staff to turn off his mobile device.
Angry tweets from Baldwin ensued; AA fired back on their Facebook page. Zynga, creator of WWF, added fuel to the flames with this clever picture.
Congratulations to Instagram. The photo-sharing app was named Apple’s #1 of 2011. Instagram is used by 14 million people who have posted nearly 400 million images since it was released to the App Store earlier this year. An Android version of the app should be out soon.
GREE’s bid for world domination
Japan’s leading social network plans to get ONE BILLION users on its new global social gaming platform–it’s almost entirely focused on mobile social games for the Japanese consumer.
Got a new product? Reach out to your social users
Eye Track Shop makes eye-tracking software for webcams, and they’ve “put it to use to research how people actually see Facebook profiles and what catches their attention.” Turns out, those annoying ads attract a lot of eyeballs.
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About the author: Catherine Mylinh is a member of Kontagent’s storytelling team, where she is head of PR, brand and content marketing. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of kScope. In her former life, Catherine was a news anchor for CBS and NBC. She credits her journalism and computer science roots—she was once a programmer!—for her love of learning and writing about all things high tech. You can contact Catherine at @cat_mylinh.