Zynga Aims For ‘Hypergrowth’ As IPO Nears
photo: Zynga / FarmVille
Pushing regulatory rules has become de rigeur when American internet firms prepare to go public. The infamous Playboy interview with Larry P… Read more »
Sony Hacked Again, But This Time, Comes Clean Quickly
photo: Tetra Images / Corbis
*Sony* was lambasted last spring after it took seven days to disclose that an attack on its video game network had led to what some called t… Read more »
Zynga Hopes ‘Project Z’ Can Be Its Facebook-Free Second Act
Zynga wants to be seeing as a gaming destination in its own right, but it’s not quite ready to explain how it intends to achieve independenc… Read more »
Jobs’ Legacy: An Actual Consumer Model For Digital Content
photo: Getty Images / Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was the man who halted one media sector’s slide in to oblivion. Bringing others to a 21st Century cast in his likeness is a proje… Read more »
Random House To Develop More Movie, Video Game, TV Properties
photo: Blacklight
Publishers see transmedia–storytelling across a variety of platforms–as a key part of their future strategy: With many types of entertainm… Read more »
Angry Birds Aside, Think Globally, Act Locally When It Comes To Mobile Apps
photo: Barnes & Noble
There’s no question that apps have become a global phenomenon in the mobile world — and who doesn’t want to catapult a cute red bird onto s… Read more »
Amazon’s Kindle Fire Will Sell Millions, But It Won’t Threaten Apple’s iPad
photo: Amazon
Today Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) revealed its new Kindle lineup, including a touchscreen E Ink eReader and Amazon’s first color touchscreen tablet,… Read more »
Netflix Gains DreamWorks Animation But Faces Stiffer Competition In Brazil
I don’t know many video subscribers — TV or or streaming — who make decisions based on whether or not their package includes Shrek 2. But… Read more »
Mobile Interactive Group Buys Digital Jigsaw, Seeks More Cross-Platform Biz
Some more consolidation in the digital marketing space, with one of the UK’s bigger mobile specialists, Mobile Interactive Group, showing th… Read more »
Is Apple iOS Usage Flattening Out? Millennial Media’s Figures Suggest Yes
photo: Flickr / Jan Tik
The stock market loves Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), and so, it seems, do consumers falling over themselves to get news about the latest iPhone. But i… Read more »
@ F8: Facebook Unveils New Class Of Social Apps And Redesigned ‘Timeline’
photo: Tom Krazit
Facebook unveiled a new version of its social-media platform Thursday designed to help media companies and social-application developers enc… Read more »
Cloud Gaming’s OnLive Launched In UK With BT And Game Group
OnLive, which lets consumers play remotely-hosted games on multiple client devices, launches in the UK on Thursday through Game Group online… Read more »
How Plugged In Will Adobe’s New Flash, AIR Versions Be In 2012?
photo: Adobe
Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) has little choice but to press ahead with its Flash and AIR products, even as operating system vendors start to move away… Read more »
Japan’s E-commerce Giant Rakuten Buying Play.com For £25 Million
It’s not all about online content distribution, you know?
Play.com, the UK site that sells games, movies, music and more on ye olde plastic… Read more »
Sony Swaps Future’s Paid Playstation Video For Free Alternative
After apparently achieving low take-up for FirstPlay, the £0.99-a-week video magazine it launched on PS3 last year, Future is on Wednesday… Read more »
Netflix DVD-Streaming Split Extends To Brand: Meet ‘Qwikster’
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings thought separating his company’s DVD and streaming business would be straightforward. Turns out it was a lot like… Read more »
Angry Birds Watch Out: Club Penguin Puffles Launching On An iPhone Near You
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and games like ‘Angry Birds’ are some of the most popular applications on smartphones today, b… Read more »
Symbian Lost As Many Users As Android Gained In Europe, Says ComScore
photo: Cape Town, Western Cape Province, South Africa
Interesting stats out today from comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) that underscore just how clear the threat is to Nokia (NYSE: NOK) from Android: the r… Read more »
KIT, PlayJam Gain More Connected TV Traction
photo: Corbis / Simon Marcus
As the connected TV wave begins to surge, operators are trying to capitalise on the opportunities it will bring to shore… Read more »
Gamestop Planning Android-Based Tablet With Controller For Mobile Gaming
photo: Flickr/Adam
We’re not so sure that people want to buy tablets from newspapers, but would they consider buying a tablet from video game retailer? Gamesto… Read more »
Judge: Video Game Maker EA Can Use NCAA Players’ Likenesses For Free
photo: AP Images
Many fans say college sports are about the game and not the money. One New Jersey judge appears to agree, ruling that Electronic Arts (NSDQ:… Read more »
It’s Time To Stop Using Downloads As The Key Metric For Apps Success
The mobile apps industry is suffering from download-milestone overkill. Developers and publishers boast about how many times their apps have… Read more »
Zynga Mobile Hires Away Disney Interactive Publishing Exec Sussman
Pre-IPO Zynga continues to lure execs from competitors. The latest, paidContent has learned: Adam Sussman, who is leaving Disney (NYSE: DIS)… Read more »
Blast From The Past: Interactive Fiction Games Come To Kindle
The year is 1603, and you are in Elizabethan London. When you receive an invitation from an old acquaintance, you expect nothing but an ente… Read more »
New Mobile Gaming Startup Fingerprint Seeks Growth By Linking Kids, Parents
A new company from ex-Leapfrog executive Nancy MacIntyre aims to give parents better insight into the educational mobile games their kids ar… Read more »
Chinese Game Firm Perfect World Puts Up $100 Million For Investment
It only seems like yesterday online games were investment targets themselves. Now Chinese online game operator Perfect World (NSDQ: PWRD) is… Read more »
Mobile Lowdown 9-2-11: AT&T; Patent Suits; Nook 2; Nokia N9; Bitbop
photo: paidContent
A look at some of the big stories in mobile today:
» AT&T looks like it is prepping for a “no” on its deal to buy T-Mobile, now d… Read more »
The Latest App Store, From China’s Search Giant Baidu: ‘Baidu Yi’
photo: Corbis
Baidu (NSDQ: BIDU), the search-portal provider and “Google (NSDQ: GOOG) of China,” has made a key move into the world of mobile today: it is… Read more »
War Games Offset Music Decline For Vivendi
French entertainment and telecoms company Vivendi (EPA: VIV) has reported a strong first half, with record sales of its Activision (NSDQ: AT… Read more »
HTC, Sony Launch Tablets In Bid To Take A Bite Out Of Apple’s iPad Reign
The Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPad controls around 80 percent of the tablet market, which has seen just in the last month one high-profile casualty… Read more »
ITV Signs Game Deals For Cowell’s New Game Show
ITV (LSE: ITV) has signed deals with two companies to produce a range of free and paid-for games based on Simon Cowell’s new big-budget prim… Read more »
Fox Mobile Vet Stalbow Joins Rovio As GM, North America
At our paidContent Mobile conference in May, Andrew Stalbow and Peter Vesterbacka paired up to tout the value of a major studio partnering w… Read more »
Mobile Lowdown 8-17-11: Kodak; Samsung/RIM; Nokia/China Mobile
A look at some of the big stories in mobile today:
» Kodak: Looks like Kodak investors might really have something to smile about… Read more »
Conspicuous Consumption In Mobile Games Is The Rule
Mobile game developers are finding increasing success with the concept known as “freemium,” or games that are free to download but require p… Read more »
Mobile Lowdown 8-16-11: Tablet Discounts; Googorola Fallout; FusionGarage
A look at some of the big stories in mobile today:
» Cheap tablet explosion: Prepare for a rush of reduced-price tablets come Sep… Read more »
The Morning Lowdown 08-12-11
photo: Corbis / Patricia Curi
» If the current events of the world are scary for all of us, they’re particularly horrifying for news publishers. (Ken Doctor/Ni… Read more »
Mobile Lowdown 8-11-11: Riots/BBM; Android/Adobe; Sprint; OpenFeint
photo: Getty Images / Chris Jackson
A look at some of the big stories in mobile today:
– BlackBerry/London riots: As Prime Minister David Cameron considers whether social med… Read more »
Industry Moves: Everything Everywhere; Stoke; Mobile Posse; Zipline Games
– Everything Everywhere: Mark Horrobin is the director of transformation for Everything Everywhere, the merged JV between T-Mobile and Oran… Read more »
Theory: Only Ultra-Competitive Americans Care About ‘Check-Ins’
From location, to TV viewing, to beer drinking, a growing number of social connectivity services are trying to drive real-world behaviours b… Read more »
comScore Acquires Analytics Firm AdXpose
photo: social media today
Audience analytics firm comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) is acquiring ad campaign effectiveness firm AdXpose for $22 million in a mostly stock-based tr… Read more »
