Apple's environmental care, IMGA international award, Google Play success - and other news of the week for a mobile developer

In Germany, Google Play bypassed the App Store

What many have been waiting for, while others have been afraid, is starting to come true. The first big market in which Google Play revenues exceeded the App Store revenues, and this is not just anywhere, but in Germany! Last year, it became the sixth market in the world in terms of total revenues from the App Store and Google Play. And in Europe only Great Britain surpasses it in terms of revenue.



Judging by the dynamics and the fact that the number of downloads on Google Play has exceeded and is actively breaking away from the number of downloads on the App Store, it can be assumed that the trend will continue and will increase.
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What is interesting, but not surprising: 85% of the income comes from games, and what is especially interesting and surprising is the distribution of income from these games according to their place in the top. The largest contribution is made by games from 11th to 100th place, and very significant contribution is made by games from 100th place and higher. This have not happened before.

View the full report on the App Annie website.

Apple Green Data Centers

Apple announced an investment of 1.7 billion euros for the construction and launch by 2017 of two data centers in Europe. Like all Apple data centers, new buildings will be fully provided with clean renewable energy from the first day of launch. Apple will also work with local partners on new renewable energy projects, for example, using wind energy and other sources to generate electricity.

The impact of new buildings on the environment will be the most minimal of all Apple data centers operating today. Located in Irish County Galway and the central Danish region of Jutland, the centers will provide Apple online services, including iTunes Store, the App Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri, for users across Europe. Both data centers with a total area of ​​166,000 square meters are designed way to bring added value to the community at locations.

As part of the project in Irish Athenry, Apple will restore land to plant native tree species in the Derridonnele Forest, which was previously used to grow alien species of trees. The project also includes an open educational space for local schools and a walking path for residents of the area.

In the Danish city of Viborg, no additional generators will be required, taking into account the location near one of the largest electrical substations in Denmark. The complex is designed to absorb excess heat from the equipment inside the center and direct it to the local heating system to heat nearby houses.

Quick start Viber Games

One of the most popular instant messengers in Russia, Viber launched its gaming platform Viber Games in late February. And already two of the three games that appeared on the showcase turned out to be in the Russian Top 6 App Store.


At the moment, the Viber game showcase features: three-candy-in-a-row Viber Candy Mania, a bubble breaker with a red cat starring Viber Pop and slots at the Wild Luck Casino. Of these, Viber Pop came in 5th place in the TOP-6, Viber Candy Mania - on the 6th.

Google swallowed up a startup Toro

Startup Toro , which helps developers promote their mobile apps on Facebook, was acquired by Google, which confirmed this message. The Toro team will join Google’s mobile advertising department, but the financial terms of the deal are not disclosed.

The startup will continue to work with its old customers, will continue to optimize their advertising campaigns and send reports, but does not seek new ones, and perhaps even cease, advising them to look for other ways to optimize.
It should be noted that earlier Toro raised $ 1.5 million from a number of investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, SV Angel, General Catalyst and others.

In the announcement on their website, Toro co-founders write that the absorption by the Internet giant will give the startup the necessary resources and opportunities that will positively affect their mission: “Make the life of developers better!”.

Winners of the XI Annual International Mobile Gaming Awards

Last night in San Francisco was held the annual IMGA Award, awarded for the best mobile games in different categories. For the first time, IMGA was held back in 2004, when there were such nominations as the “Best Java game” and “The best game of up to 1MB size”. Since then, much has changed, but now it can hardly be called the “Mobile Oscar” - specialized editions hardly write about it, and the intrigue is not the same. But who knows, mobile igrostroy is developing rapidly - and, perhaps, all the best of this prize is still to come.

We present you the list of winners:

The Grand Prix
Monument valley

Best fast game
Crossy road

Guilty pleasure:
2048

The name of this nomination can be translated as "shameful pleasure." It fairly accurately reflects the meaning of the category, given that the competitors to 2048 were Flappy Bird, Kitty Powers' Matchmaker, Desert Golfing and Goat Simulator. The prize in this nomination is awarded for the first time.

Best story line
80 days

Best game play
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

Technical achievement
Vainglory

Best sound and graphic design
Tengami

The best game with meaning
Papers, Please

Best Multiplayer Game
Soccer physics

Tapjoy will predict user behavior.

Tapjoy launches a new analytical and monetization platform. It will allow you to use IAP monetization and advertising tools.

The platform’s innovation is the Future Value Map tool, which can, by analyzing large data sets, predict user behavior. On the basis of these data, it will be decided which approach will allow to get more revenue from the user: advertising or IAP.

“Freemium - developers understand that the main income comes from a very small percentage of users. Using the Future Value Map, you can predict the LTV (life time value) of each customer and personalize it to its IAP, ”says Steve Wadsworth, CEO of Tapjoy.

The platform will not be free, but Tapjoy promised to return part of the amount if the number of advertising demonstrations is 4 times the monthly audience of the application.



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