Relation Between Games and Studies

Co-produced by :Game Period & Alvin Foo

How Do We Use Cell Phones

$10bn spent on Apple App Store in 2013

Over $1bn worth of sales in December alone to make it the most successful month EVER!

Fresh from its announcement that Beyonce's album was the fastest-selling to ever hit iTunes, Apple has revealed its devout customers spent over $10 billion on the App Store in 2013.

Sales passed $1 billion in December alone as users downloaded more than three billion apps to make it the most successful month in the history of the App Store. The phenomenal figures mean developers have now earned $15 billion on the iOS marketplace.

Apple's Appstore revamping its app ranking criteria

With more apps going into Apple's AppStore, it’s getting increasingly important to rank apps properly, highlighting the titles that are better than the others. Apple knows this and is working to improve ranking algorithms as we speak.

According to app-marketing firm Fiksu, the Cupertino-based company has been revamping the criteria it uses to rank digital products. They have apparently discovered two very important changes to the ranking algorithm: Rankings now take into account user ratings, and a change in how often the App Store updates the top-seller lists.

The first tweak is arguably more important as it will push apps and games with better reviews up to the top. On the other hand, if an app under-delivers (compared to what’s promised in the app description), users will take notice, give it a low rating and make it slide down the rankings.

The second change alters how often the App Store updates its rankings from every 15 minutes to every three hours. In other words, if an app scores a bunch of downloads in 15 minutes, it won’t fly up the top quickly. Rather, the algorithm will take notice and keep following the number of downloads for up to 3 hours before doing anything about it. It is believed that these two changes alone will help recommend better apps and games to the end users.

Complimentary FREE trial for 6 months on Sage One

Sage One small business invoicing, accounting and project management. Sage One was launched in the United States in the spring of 2012.  Since then it has seen several enhancements. Among the added enhancements is the ability to accept mobile payments and electronic payments  on invoices, as we reported in February.

The company also added bank integration this year.  Customers can now download transactions from over 10,000 banks in the United States and import them into the Sage One online system (avoiding manual keying of data for each banking transaction).

Here are the instructions of how to register for complimentary access :

1. Sign up for a free trial at https://mysageone.na.sageone.com/signup?product=sage_one&wizard_step=0

2. Once your account is activated, go into Sage One, under "Settings", "Subscriptions", enter the promo code, WELOVEBLOGGERS 

3. Your account will be updated to a from a 15-day trial to free 6-month account.

7 Dos and Don’ts of Mobile App Marketing [Infographic]

I wanted to share a simple infographic on App Marketing thanks to the guys at Dotcominfoway. They had simplified the 7 Dos and Don'ts on what developers should and should not do on app marketing.

The drop test : iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S4

Protect Your Bubble, a gadget insurance company has carried out a series of drop tests on the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 in an attempt to figure out which phone is more durable. Which one you reckon will survive the fall from various heights? Check out the video below for the outcome.

iOS 7 - Biggest Revamp done by Apple so far

The new iOS 7 update gives the mobile operating system a radical new look and some first-for-Apple features for iPhone and iPad fans, like quick-access system controls, automatic app updates, and Apple's AirDrop file-sharing system.

The visual overhaul is a clean sweep that changes absolutely everything, from the typography and color schemes to the typical icon and button shape across the entire platform.

Below are some of the notable features added :

• Control Centre is among the 'hundreds of new features,' providing users with access to Airplane Mode, wi-fi, Bluetooth, screen brightness and more. It's accessible with one upwards swipe from the bottom of the screen.

• Notification Centre is available from the lock screen to offer users an overview of their alerts. The new Today feature offers a summary of events for the day ahead, such as meetings and so on. 

• Multitasking is also reportedly improved, with developers able to integrate functionality that offers their creations the ability to run in the background. 

Airdrop is a sharing solution that detects when contacts are close by, allowing the user to select content and make a P2P transfer without network or set-up required. The likelihood is that this is designed to eliminate demand for NFC.

Camera app features filters inspired by Instagram. Users will be able to make real-time photo effects and switch between four camera options with a swipe. 

Photos app features Moments, a function that organises media based on time and location. It comes with iCloud sharing which allows family and friends to share and connect their collections in one place. 

Safari redesign supports full-screen browsing, while iCloud Keychain stores all passwords and credit card details securely across all devices. Parental Controls are enhanced to block access to adult material and other sites. 

Siri has new male and female voices and Twitter search integration, so users can ask what people are saying on the social network. Wikipedia and Bing are also integrated. Integration with Bing is definitely a smack in Google's face. 

Music app comes with iTunes Radio internet steaming service, which features over 200 stations. Available across iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, PC and Apple TV. 

• App Store now comes with more than 900,000 apps and features a new Kids category. 

Developers can immediately access the iOS 7 beta software and SDK via developer.apple.com, while iOS 7 will be available as a free update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation) this autumn.

For the WWDC keynote video, you can check out the video below :

You can also check out the official iOS 7 promo video below :

Feel free to comment and tell me whether the new features are game changing. Has Apple done enough to stay ahead of the game or they are going to play catch up to Android?

May 2013 : Mary Meeker's Latest Internet Trends Report on Mobile and others...

KPCB Internet Trends 2013 from Apps4All

Check out the video of her presentation below :

App Annie: Apple App Store revenues still 2.6x higher than Google Play

Apple's App Store generated revenues 2.6x greater than the rival Google's Play store front during the first quarter of 2013, down from a multiple of 4x during the fourth quarter of 2012, analytics provider App Annie reports.

The US continues to lead all international markets on iOS app downloads, unchanged from the previous quarter. Here are the top 5 :

1. US
2. China
3. UK
4. Japan
5. France

China has started to gain momentum in the iOS App Store and was the leading contributor to the increase in iOS downloads from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013. While Games were the top category for downloads growth in China, gains were seen in many other categories as well. All together, these four key countries have been driving roughly half of total iOS downloads.

The top 5 by revenue for iOS are :

1. US
2. Japan
3. UK
4. China
5. Australia

U.S. and Japan together are responsible for close to half of all App Store revenues.

The U.S. tops all markets on Google Play downloads as well. The top 5 are :

1. US
2. South Korea
3. India
4. Russia
5. Japan

China is not listed as the Play Store was not launched in China otherwise I reckon China should also be high up on the top 5 list. The top four countries represented roughly 40 percent of Android installs during the first quarter, compared to about 50 percent for iOS.

Top 5 by revenue for Android :

1. Japan
2. South Korea
3. US
4. UK
5. Germany

The top 3 countries dominate Google Play, covering approximately 70 percent of its worldwide revenue. Their revenues are largely driven by games than any other countries' with South Korea  surpassing the 95 percent mark, while Japan has exceeded 90 percent.

Games continue to drive the overwhelming majority of worldwide revenues in both the App Store and Google Play, App Annie added. As of the first quarter, the category accounts for 70 percent of iOS revenues and close to 80 percent of Android revenues.

In short, its a still a gaming economy on both App Stores and it will continue to be driven by Games. The Play store is definitely catching up very quickly thanks to the exponential Android OS take up rate. Apple has to buck up quickly if they want to continue to dominate the space. 

FREE Subscriptions Giveaway on Zinio

In collaboration with Zinio, I will be giving away 10 magazines subscriptions for free to the FIRST 10 readers who respond back to me! All you need to do is to download the award winning app from App store, provide me your first and last name, title of choice and your email address. Here are just a few sample titles : PC MAGAZINE, POPULAR SCIENCE, and MACLife.

About Zinio

• Thousands of top magazines from around the world. You can browse and purchase subscriptions or single issues instantly from your computer or mobile device to read wherever and whenever you like 
• Explore section lets you read - even without a subscription - thousands of articles from your favorite magazines and share them with friends 
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• For use on Kindle Fire, follow these steps: http://imgs.zinio.com/faq/fire.html

Flurry: 1.76bn Android and iOS apps downloaded in last week of 2012

Happy Belated New Year and apology for the long hiatus as i have been busy wrapping up quite a few things and making plans ahead for 2013. 2012 has definitely been a huge mobile year for everybody and I m expecting 2013 to be another record breaking mobile year. The ride ahead is going to be an exciting one as i m certain the forecasted growth will surely be overwhelmed. 

2012 ended with a bang as Flurry had just released jaw-dropping figures showing 1.76 billion Android and iOS app downloads were made during the Christmas week from December 25th-31st, while 328m downloads were made on Christmas Day itself. 

 

Comparatively, 1.2 billion apps were downloaded during the last week of 2011, while 242m were downloaded on New Year. The download surge was stimulated as more than 50m new devices running on Google and Apple's respective operating systems were activated in the final week of 2012, while around 17.4m were brought to life on the 25th. 

In fact, Flurry says the period accounts for the highest number of device activations and app downloads of any week in history. Meanwhile, the US, China, and the UK all broke past 100m downloads to account for 604m, 183m, and 132m, respectively. 

Flurry predicts that one-billion-download weeks will become the norm in 2013 and break past a two-billion download week during Q4.

Facebook back on track after growing 6 fold on mobile ads revenue in one quarter

Facebook reported a respectable quarter at $1.3bn/$0.12, beating most analysts consensus. While the payment business was soft due to Zynga (dropping almost 20%), the surprising strength in advertising more than offset that weakness.

Mobile was the key driver to the outperformance, contributing 14% of ad revenues and yielding a run-rate of 6x over last quarter. Current daily mobile run-rate is about $3 million and this is mostly coming from the sponsored daily feed on the mobile.

Management attributed the success to three factors: (1) users are more engaging on mobile and spending more time on Facebook; (2) the company introduced more ad products on mobile, increasing audience reached by advertisers and (3) mobile ads yield higher performance, on average 8x more than the desktop.

The company is getting better on mobile monetization, which alleviates a major investor concern and thus improves sentiment going forward. Facebook is well positioned over the long term for the multi-screen environment due to its larger base of socially connected users and its ubiquitous reach on the web and apps. With the roll out of their mobile ad exchange, I m bullish of the future prospects in the mobile ads space. Well done to the team at Facebook and this would certainly put pressure on Google to step up to continue their domination in the same space. I wont discount Apple iAds as they can easily get back into the game having access to so many iOS devices and customers data out there. 

Apple launches iPhone 5 but without the WOW factor

Apple launches the new iPhone 5 last night, a thinner and lighter version of its iconic device capable of running on 4G/LTE networks. Much of the speculation in the run up to the launch proved correct (Apple isnt very good at keeping secret these days especially with Steve Jobs not around) : the new device has a larger 4-inch Retina display, enough room for a fifth row of icons but is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than its predecessor, the iPhone 4S.

It is powered by Apple’s new A6 chip, which the firm claims can provide up to twice the CPU and graphics performance, while at the same time improving battery life. It also sports an 8MP iSight camera, improved audio and microphones (including a redesign of Apple’s famous white earbuds); and as widely expected a new connector known as ‘Lightning,’ replacing the 30-pin cable used for many years on Apple gadgets. This newly designed connector is going to be a pain for all iDevices manufacturers as they either had to replace the connector or bundle it together with the devices or the iPhone 5 users have to pony out $25 for the adapter.

It will run the previously-announced iOS6, which includes 200 new features to the software, notably new mapping and navigation (by Apple rather than Google) and deeper Facebook integration. Although the general view from analysts was that the iPhone 5 is an evolutionary rather than revolutionary step forward, many are predicting it will contribute to record iPhone sales in the upcoming holiday quarter.

Apple’s current iPhone sales record is the 37.04 million shifted in the quarter following the launch of the iPhone 4S a year ago. The iPhone 5 will retail in the US (after subsidy) for US$199 (16GB), US$299 (32GB) and US$399 (64GB).

It will ship in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on Friday 21 September with pre-orders taken from tomorrow (14 September). The device will rollout to 22 more countries on 28 September.

Mashable did a nice blog by comparing 3 other similar devices to iPhone 5 and you will see how it will stack up against the rest. This will help you to decide which devices to buy. iPhone 5 unlike before really have to work a lot harder to compete these days as there are many other devices out there that are either just as good and sometimes even better like the Samsung Galaxy S3. The only thing that is of no comparison is their superior iOS platform which most Apple users are used too.

Just in case if you havent seen the video of the iPhone 5's product launch, Apple has posted the video online at here. 

The reality of wealth - "RICHNESS IS WHEN YOU NEED NO MORE"

While reading, i came across a good story or reminder that i wanted to share with all my readers.

The story goes like this...

In 1923, eight of the wealthiest people in the world met. Their combined wealth, it is estimated, exceeded the wealth of the government of the United States at that time. These men certainly knew how to make a living and accumulate wealth. But let's examine what happened to them 25 years later. 

1. President of the largest steel company, Charles Schwab, lived on borrowed capital for five years before he died bankrupt.

2. President of the largest gas company, Howard Hubson, went insane.

3. One of the greatest commodity traders, Arthur Cutton, died insolvent.

4. President of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, was sent to jail.

5. A member of the President's Cabinet, Albert Fall, was pardoned from jail to go home and die in peace.

6. The greatest "bear" on Wall Street, Jessie Livermore, committed suicide.

7. President of the world's greatest monopoly, Ivar Krueger, committed suicide.

8. President of the Bank of International Settlement, Leon Fraser, committed suicide.

They were money making machine but what they forgot how to make a good and meaningful life with all their wealth!

Money in itself is not evil! Money provides food for the hungry, medicine for the sick, clothes for the needy. Money is only a medium of exchange.

We need two kinds of education. One that teaches us how to make a living and one that teaches us how to live. There are people who are so engrossed in their professional life that they neglect their family, health, spiritual life and social responsibilities. If asked why they do this they would reply that they were doing it for their family. Our kids are sleeping when we leave home. They are sleeping when we come home. Twenty years later, we'll turn back, and they'll all be gone.

Without water, a ship cannot move. The ship needs water, but if the water gets into the ship, the ship will face problems. What was once a means of living for the ship will now become a means of destruction.

Similarly we live in a time where earning is a necessity but let not the earning enter our hearts, for what was once a means of living will be become a means of destruction. So take a moment and ask yourself....has water entered my ship? RICHNESS is not Earning More, Spending More Or Saving More, but "RICHNESS IS WHEN YOU NEED NO MORE".

And the first person that came to mind was Bill Gates. All his wealth are being put to good use, helping others and most importantly i think Bill is enjoying his life. Why carry on making more money when you cant even keep any of it at the end of the day. We work to live and not live to work...

China's Dianping - Mobile Apps Usage surpasses PC

According to the first mobile lifestyle report recently released by China's leading local platform which connect people with local businesses, Dianping (a chinese version of Yelp), daily views of Dianping's mobile apps have shown explosive growth, exceeding those of its PC.

Views of Dianping's mobile apps have grown over 100 times since early 2010, with the number of its mobile apps' unique users jumping over 110 times, according to data from Dianping.

Through Dianping mobile apps, users can have access to extensive information about restaurants, beauty, leisure, shopping, hotels and lifestyle services. In addition, the demand is increasing as pharmacies, banks, parks, Internet cafes, cinemas, gas stations, nail salons and table games, among others, are becoming the most commonly used search keywords in some cities, which reflects the diverse characters of mobile lifestyle.

Information search and having access to discounts remain the two core needs of mobile lifestyle. Over 70 percent of Dianping mobile apps' users prefer to use the three functions: keyword search, neighboring businesses search and group buying.

It appears in the report that iPhone users are more apt to prefer a lifestyle that is "elegant" and "romantic". Not so the ordinary Android users who prefer a more "common" lifestyle. Illustrating the difference Dianping notes that over half (54%) of iPhone users choose restaurants costing at least CNY80 ($13) per head, compared to 46% of Android users selecting restaurants that cost CNY50 ($8) or less.

As of Q2 of 2012, Dianping has more than 48 million monthly active users, over 20 million reviews, and more than 1.5 million local businesses covering approximately 2,300 cities across China. As of Q2 of 2012, Dianping (including Dianping.com and Dianping mobile apps) has nearly one billion page views monthly, out of which, over 50% comes from mobile users. And mobile apps have more than 33 million unique users.

Its not surprising that Dianping's total view on mobile had surpassed that of PC, its just a matter of time where most eyeballs will be focusing largely on mobile. 

China - Mobile Internet Users surpassed Internet Users on desktop

The latest data from the Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) shows that China has more than 538 million Internet users, of which 388 million are mobile Internet users. This is the first time that the number of mobile internet users has surpassed desktop users indicating that China's internet users are relying more and more to smartphone to get online. With more affordable and accessible mobile devices, smart phones are now the top choice for on line surfers.

A bi-annual statistical report says that by the end of June, 2012, the number of websites had risen to 2.5 million. Meanwhile, the number of mobile internet users reached 388 million, accounting for 72.2% of total web users.

The popular usage for mobile internet is mobile video, mobile searches, communication and e-commerce.

The report also finds that on line video users are growing rapidly. Over 100 million people watch videos on their mobile phones, accounting for 27.7% of total mobile internet users.  And more than 210 million people made purchases through e-commerce sites. 

SMS revenues is still massive and will hit $722.7bn by 2016

New data from Informa Telecoms & Media shows SMS isn't as dead in the water as reports would have you believe, as traditional text messaging is set to generate $722.7 billion in revenue between 2011 and 2016.

The report expects a small decline in P2P SMS revenues in some developed regions and countries, though total global SMS revenues will increase at 3% the next five years.

Meanwhile, Western Europe will lead SMS revenues with $174.1 billion, followed by developing APAC regions with $173.8 billion. It's an impressive sum, as smartphone OEMs have begun to adopt the trend of preloading their devices with mobile messaging apps such as BBM, Samsung ChatOn, iMessage and WhatsApp. 

Transition China 2012

I will be speaking at Transition China 2012 event on May 11. Transition China 2012 features Asia's leading business thinkers, entrepreneurs, innovators and 'transitional' businesses. With leading key note addresses, interactive panel discussions, a live debate and spotlighting 'transitional' companies in China, T12 will deliver an incredible experience for sponsors and guests.

If anyone of you are in the city, drop by to get the best business vibes in China. Check out the promo video below....

Venue : Shanghai Centre, Shanghai, China
WWW.TRANSITIONCHINA.COM

Samsung is No 1 mobile handset manufacturer overtaking from Nokia

Nokia’s 14-year stint as the world’s largest handset-maker had finally came to an end in Q1, according to a Reuters poll of analysts, which suggests the Finnish vendor has been overtaken by Samsung.

Based on average estimates, the poll shows that Samsung is expected to have sold 88 million devices in the period, compared to 83 million for Nokia. Samsung is not due to release its official Q1 numbers until 27 April.

Nokia became the world's largest handset maker in 1998 when it overtook Motorola at a time when Samsung had just entered the industry. The Finnish vendor maintained a 40 percent share of the market for some years prior to the launch of Apple’s iPhone in 2007. Nokia was still the smartphone leader at the beginning of 2011 but has since been surpassed by both Apple and Samsung.

Losing the top spot would be a blow to Nokia, but would have little impact on its attempt to turn around its fortunes. Regardless of where they are positioned, they are as good as screwed and its just a matter of time where others will over take them. Nokia's decision to go Microsoft has certainly been miscued by its CEO, Stephen Elop and I don't see how the launch of the new Nokia Lumia would change anything.

At Nokia's current market cap of under $12B, they are certainly a target for acquisition but i wonder who would like to pick up a huge luggage of liabilities. Perhaps they should just copy Samsung's track and adopt Android but even then i think its a little too late....