Studies Show iOS Generates More Sales

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Analyst firm Localytics has been tracking how often an app is used on both Android and iOS, and its data shows some interesting trends. The data, going back four years, shows that the number of apps that have been used only once is decreasing, down to 20 percent of all apps (from 26 percent). The drop has been more pronounced on Android devices, with only 16 percent of Android apps being used only once, compared to 23 percent of iOS apps that are used only once.

On the flip side of app usage, Localytics data shows that Android apps used more than 10 times have jumped to 45 percent, compared to 36 percent of iOS apps. Localytics believes the difference may be due to iOS users having more apps, or perhaps because Android smartphone users have larger screens — which may make using a particular app a better experience.

Regardless of the difference in app usage, iOS devices still lead when it comes to making money, according to data from Monetate. The firm tracking revenue from shopping across different platforms, and found that the iPad is still the leader when it comes to getting shoppers to open their wallets. The iPad generated the highest revenue for tablets at $160 per order, while the Kindle Fire tablets pulled in $122 in the March 2014 quarter — not surprising given Amazon’s strength as an online store. Android tablets brought up the rear at $107 per order.

On the smartphone side, Apple’s phones still led the competition with an average order size of $118, with Android smartphones coming in at $112 and Windows smartphones at $101 per order.

It goes to show that market share isn’t everything, given the lead Android phones have worldwide in new phone sales. With Apple’s new iPhones coming soon, most analysts predict that Apple will nab a larger market share in the coming months, as the larger devices will compete better with the bigger screens common on Android phones. Will larger iPhone screens mean bigger sales when users go shopping That will be something e-commerce sites are going to be watching very closely in the coming months. What do you think?

Source: Forbes

New Mega-Tivo Introduced

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There’s binge watching, and then there’s binge watching, where people go to great lengths to catch up on their DVR recording, just so they’re in time to catch the season premiere of their next show. But conventional DVR’s may not get the job done, with their limited recording space. However, the folks at TiVo have an interesting solution, with the introduction of its most expansive gadget to date – the Mega TiVo.

This new peripheral comes with a humongous 24 TB of storage across a RAID 5 arrangement, with hot-swappable drives. With that, you’ll be able to store 26,000 hours of recording, which roughly translates to three years. That’s normal SD recording, however – but 4,000 HD hours of recording isn’t too shabby.

In addition, the Mega TiVo features six tuners for recording, so users don’t have to worry about overlapping shows that come on in succession or against one another. The device will also provide the ability to stream both live and recorded television to smartphone and tablets, although the company didn’t provide specifics on what kind of network is required to do so.

There’s no word yet on a release date, but the device itself is set to sell for roughly $5,000, a much larger-than-usual price compared to other TiVo and streaming devices out in the wild. However, if you’re one of those customers that absolutely loves programming and can’t miss a single second of it, this could very well be the set-top box for you. Just make sure you leave plenty of room for it, because the Mega TiVo is quite hefty.

What do you think Do you believe there could be a demand for such a large, stream-worthy device Or do you believe that the regular TiVo is useful enough by its own means, letting you catch the necessary program you want to watch at a later time

Source: The Verge

Spotify Brings Video Ads to Desktop and Mobile

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After making available a more premium-like music streaming product, Spotify continues to ramp up its ad-supported service by launching video ads for both desktop and mobile today. The spots will be either 15 or 30 seconds long and kick off with Spotify’s long-time advertising partner Coca-Cola.

Although Spotify has focused on audio-only music streaming, this addition of video capabilities inspires visions of promoted music videos, movies and game trailers that would fit appropriately on the platform.

The service’s premium users will continue to listen ad-free, however a new option for free users begins, where users can choose to see a 30-second ad and receive ad-free streaming for 30 minutes thereafter.

It will be interesting to see how many users elect to view the longer ads and what ads will be appearing on Spotify in the near future.

 

Source: AdWeek

Gamescom Becoming One Hot Game Show

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Every year, game shows are held around the world to celebrate the art form of video games, as well as harbor new announcements from developers and publishers that excite the game community in general. Usually, the big announcements are kept for the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, which is held every June. However, it appears that the popular Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany is successfully playing catch-up.

Held last month, Gamescom was the home for many game announcements, as well as opportunities for players to get hands-on with upcoming games. The show drew around 335,000 consumers, compared to about 48,900 industry folks at E3. Gamescom also drew quite a bit of gaming press, according to a report from PR and online analytics company ICO Partners.

The company monitored the output of both specialist and mainstream online media from Gamescom, and found that the PS4 harvested the most column inches with a total of 10,929 articles. The Xbox One followed closely behind with 8,043, while the Wii U was in a distant third with only 1,563 articles, despite the presence of heavy hitters like Super Smash Bros. and Hyrule Warriors.

The chart shows the details between the events, and while E3 continues to be a big draw overall, Gamescom is slowly but surely catching up in coverage. At the time, E3 harvested 16,000 pieces for PS4, 11,433 for Xbox One and 6,271 for Wii U.

Meanwhile, the Sony and Microsoft Gamescom events also drew in big articles, with Sony achieving 4,195 articles (compared to 3,435 the day after) and Microsoft gaining 2,580. Both companies had big announcements during the show, including special system bundles and exclusive reveals.

While E3 is likely to be the bigger draw for a while with its local accessibility and ease of attending, Gamescom is no doubt making its mark when it comes to game shows. Even with its overcrowded audience, companies are no doubt getting the most out of attending the show.

Source: GamesIndustry International

Activision And Red Bull’s ‘Destiny’ Promotion

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Activision’s Destiny continues to get a huge marketing push as it heads to its retail and digital release tomorrow, and the latest move that’s been made is bringing in energy drink/sports squad Red Bull into the mix.

Activision has announced that it, along with Destiny developer Bungie, has teamed up with the Red Bull Air Force Elite Skydiving Team to celebrate the launch of Destiny tomorrow, with a special promotional event that will take place in Bellevue for this evening’s launch.

A member of Bungie’s development team will join in with an OpTic Gaming Performance Coach and the Red Bull Air Force to skydive to the location on Monday evening. Following the jump, the team will join fans in playing the sci-fi shooter before its midnight release, in which they’ll be able to pick up a copy for themselves.

As part of the promotion, Red Bull will produce programming based around the special activity, creating a special called Destiny Drop Zone: OpTic Gaming Takes To the Sky, which will be a three-part series covering the preparation and execution of the skydive. It will be available to view on both the Red Bull YouTube channel and its eSports network.

“We love Red Bull’s passion for adventure and exploration and are excited to kick off this partnership with the launch of Destiny. As partners, we can’t wait to see what awesome moments we dream up together,” said Pete Parsons, COO for Bungie.

The promotion is just part of the latest push by Activision for the game, which also includes a live-action trailer, various pre-order promotions (including pre-download for the game on consoles) and even a fake fragrance lampooned by Microsoft’s European division. In addition, Bungie has announced a promotion where people who purchase the digital PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game can upgrade to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at no extra charge.

Destiny will arrive on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox 360 tomorrow.

Source: Gameranx

Cross-Channel Marketing Not Hot Yet

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Tracking customers across platforms as they utilize different devices (TV’s, mobile units, tablets, game systems) around the house isn’t as easy as some marketers would like to think it is, and that may be why the idea of cross-channel marketing may not be picking up as rapidly as some were hoping. It’s an ideal strategy, especially when it comes to gained interest from seeing an ad in more than one place, but it’s also a bit tiring when it comes to establishing the process. At least, that’s what a May 2014 study by Econsultancy, in association with Oracle Marketing Cloud, has revealed.

Cross-channel is a priority for certain companies, but not everyone has picked up on it yet. The report shows that 43 percent of those polled believe that they could understand consumers’ journeys and adapt their marketing planning as a result, while an estimated 30 percent have put together teams to work on the marketing. However, out of those polled, less than 20 percent could actually measure the financial impact of cross-channel promotions, as well as the ability to determine customer retention through integrated marketing.

Out of those polled, only a startling seven percent believe their organizations were fully prepared to execute cross-channel marketing. 35 percent believed they just weren’t ready to tackle it at all. And 62 percent confirmed that their efforts with messaging, execution and delivery strategies had nothing to do with alignment across touchpoints. 10 percent disagreed with the statement by comparison.

Mobile plays a big part in the process, with marketers focusing on integration of the channel into their overall planning. 76 percent of those are doing it this year, a change from 60 percent in the previous year. That said, only 23 percent in general had integrated mobile messaging in some form, and even less, 16 percent, did the same for push notifications.

It looks like cross-channel marketing has a ways to go before it’s accepted as the norm.

Source: eMarketer

Harmonix Bringing VR Music To Samsung

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With the official announcement of Samsung’s virtual reality headset last week, developers are lining up to create unique experiences for the device. Harmonix, the developers of the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises, is the first out of the gate, with the announcement of a new “music experience” for the device called Harmonix Music VR.

The project utilizes the company’s Music Analysis Engine to create audio visualization events based on the tracks chosen by the user. What happens next is a “musically responsive environment,” said the company, explaining its deep interaction with the music itself.

Publicist Nick Chester hinted at the project earlier this week, tweeting that Harmonix was working on ‘developing software” for Samsung’s device, while stopping short of announcing any official name. Harmonix’s Dawn Rivers, who works in the lighting department of the company, followed up with her own tweet, stating, “I can’t wait for folks to see the crazy project I’ve been on at Harmonix for Samsung’s Gear VR.”

Using Oculus VR technology, the headset utilizes the Galaxy Note 4 as its main display. It’s an ideal choice with its 5.7 inch quad HD screen, 3 GB of RAM, and strong CPU and GPU system.

The game wasn’t given a specific release date, but Harmonix Music VR is expected to launch later in the year, alongside the Galaxy Note 4 itself. A price wasn’t yet given.

This would be yet another notch in the belt for Harmonix, which is having a stellar year between the development of Disney’s Fantasia: Music Evolved (releasing this October for Xbox One and Xbox 360), the release of the downloadable Dance Central: Spotlight for Xbox One, and the success of its returning Amplitude series on Kickstarter. Despite a small round of layoffs earlier in the year, things are on the up-and-up for this developer.

Realistically and virtually, at that.

Source: Polygon

The Effects Of GamerGate

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Controversy is easy to stir up on the Internet, whether it’s leaked pictures of celebrities or reporters facing trouble within the city of Ferguson. Video games are a nice release from the stress, but even in that world, there’s uneasiness.

Such is the case with GamerGate, an ongoing argument between certain female gamers and certain critics that will stop at nothing to jab at one another, unable to reach certain terms with equality.

The controversy started a while ago when a jilted ex-boyfriend wrote a lengthy blog post about his former flame, game developer Zoe Quinn. In that same letter, many members of the video game industry were mentioned.

As a result, many felt that certain members of the press were corrupt with their coverage, indicating that some may have received sexual favors for positive coverage on products. The resulting argument has led to GamerGate, which has been hashtagged across Twitter and become the subject of many articles. It’s brought out many of the worst people lurking in the shadows, complaining about women in gaming, game journalism, and other favorite targets of wrath.

Many people have commented on the matter since then, including several reddit and 4Chan posters, as well as YouTube channel owners. Some have been outlandish, to the point that they’ve been removed due to sexism or, even worse, death threats.

YouTuber TotalBiscuit lent his two cents on the matter, but was immediately called out by several members of the indie game scene with his comments, adding fuel to the fire of an already troublesome debate.

This was not the first time that Quinn had been in the midst of controversy, as she and PR rep Maya Kramer spoke out against a game jam/charity group known as The Fine Young Capitalists, a group that hires women with no game experience as part of the development process.

The battle has been going on for days now, with some accounts hacked (including those of Fez developer Phil Fish, who has since offered to sell his company Polytron to “serious” buyers), and has raised the arguments even further between feminists, certain gamers and fanboys.

The argument has called for more ethical journalism and, in some circles, fair treatment, but it seems that not everyone is on the same page. Fortunately, some people have decided to not take part in GamerGate at all and instead turn to the things that matter. Like, in this particular case, video games.

Video games continue to be a large industry, and several big releases intend to make a big impact this fall, including this Tuesday’s release of Destiny. However, there still seems to be those who find it necessary to boast opinions about systems, the preference of having female gamers in the industry, and so forth, instead of enjoying said games.

More details about GamerGate are available at this link, but it isn’t a pretty sight. You may be better off playing Madden instead. The games matter, not the politics. However, death threats and hateful comments hurt everyone involved with games, and we all should do what we can to eliminate that where we see it.

Source: Forbes

Samsung’s Risky #thatsucks Campaign

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On occasion, companies like to try something innovative – and a little bit edgy – when it comes to their advertising campaigns. Sometimes it pays off; other times, it blows up in their face and creates a problem.

So the question now goes to Samsung’s UK division, which has launched a new Twitter campaign this week as a tie-in with its new vacuum cleaner. The campaign, with the hashtag #thatsucks, is meant to be a promotion that deals with timely jokes and short videos, but it could very well run into problems with the way it’s worded.

So far, Samsung UK’s tweets have been interesting, to say the least. “When you try to combat nerves by ‘imagining the audience naked’ and realize you’re giving a talk to the Naturist Society, #thatsucks,” reads one tweet. “Dusty Springfield never used a Samsung Vacuum, and #thatsucks. She’d have been called Cleany Springfield otherwise.”

As you can see, the jokes are playful little jabs, but they have led to some rather realistic replies from consumers. Said a Twitter user named @Mdrewey, “@SamsungUK 130 days without a working phone and being told I have to send it away for the 7th time. #thatsucks”

At the very least, some of the tweets have been gold, such as “#Thatsucks when your phone battery dies while writing a twe” (meant to be cut off early). In addition, the company has also been using certain animations with its tweets, like crumbling three-dimensional biscuit art.

The promotion, which is a combined effort between the Cheil agency, the company’s marketing team and TV comedian David Schneider, obviously expect it to take off from humor alone. Said Cheil’s head of social Jonathon Buckley about those who hate it, “We think we’re on the 3 or 4 scale right now, and we’re hoping to move to the 6 or 7 space in time. We couldn’t have gone in too strong from the off. It’s about building it up and deciding what we can and can’t say. With the on-the-fly stuff, we rely on good communication and team work – and good legal training!”

No word yet if Samsung’s US division will launch a similar campaign, but it may not be likely, even with the comical jabs.

Source: Digiday

Activision’s Stunning Live-Action ‘Destiny’ Trailer

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Activision’s Destiny game is headed to stores and digital release in just a few days’ time, promising an unheralded video game experience from the team that brought us the Halo franchise, Bungie. To further illustrate just how awesome the single player/multiplayer experience is, the publisher has introduced a new trailer to get people excited for the release.

The trailer, directed by Tron Legacy and Oblivion helmer Joseph Kosinski, is an impressive two-minute piece that features a trio of hunters working their way across the solar system, working alongside the cybernetic assistant Ghost to blast evil aliens to kingdom come and restore peace to the planets.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9ZyQK6kUdWQ

This video does an impressive job showcasing the many locales available within the universe of Destiny, from traveling to the Moon to eradicate a number of nasties to trekking around on Mars to put a gun-toting behemoth in his place with a pair of well-placed grenades.

Abilities are also put on full display with the live-action piece, including a ground slam that knocks enemies for a loop, and a teleportation trick that makes it easier for certain players to get around a map. Activision spared no expense in making the game look like a big-budget film. Hopefully, Bungie will see its way about approving the script for one.

Best of all, the live-action trailer adds a contemporary touch with an interesting soundtrack. Rather than using an epic theme as previous commercials have, the action in this Destiny video play out alongside rock band Led Zeppelin’s classic “Immigrant Song,” after one of the hunters requests to play something “classical.” Easily, it’s a good fit for the video.

This is the latest in the long marketing push for the game, a push that’s likely to continue throughout the Christmas season, even with the release of Activision’s other big behemoths, Skylanders Trap Team and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, which will arrive in the next few months.

Source: Variety