Twitter received great placement in Sprint's latest ad campaign: The Now Network (and Twitter gets even better placement on Oprah today!). The second commercial features both Pandora and Loopt. The commercials are hip, interesting and covey the size of Sprint's network (not exactly evident to most consumers). And the best part? They are better than the old Dan Hesse campaign:
Digital Chocolate Talks iPhone Apps, Gaming
Terrific interview over on VentureBeat. Dean Takahashi speaks with Digital Chocolate's Trip Hawkins about their success on iPhone's App platform.
I encourage you to read the full article but have included two highlights:
About the odds of becoming a #1 iPhone Application and reaching 10 million downloads in 100 days:
There are 35,000 apps [competing on the iPhone]. Thousands are free. To get to No. 1, it’s pretty rare. There is a rotation where something stays at No. 1 for a week or two. The odds are very low. If there are maybe 25 products that have hit No. 1, then your odds are one in a thousand. Penguin was No. 1 through Christmas. Tower Blocks was No. 1 in February. Brick Breaker Revolution made it to No. 1 in April. That’s a mathematical freak. We have now released a fifth game, and a couple of more are coming. The first four games, in less than 100 days, hit 10 million downloads.
On deriving revenue and finding the right price point:
All five of our games are in the top 100 for revenue. Four of our games are in the top 100 by unit volume even though the prices for them are $3 each or more. If you weed out the really cheap products at 99 cents or free, then you find there are only three companies that can command a price of $3 or more and to rank high enough in the top 100 units sold.
Think Weather.com Considers Its New iPhone App Important?
Jumping out on a limb... but when a company:
1. dedicates 33% of the above-the-fold real estate 2. replaces ad inventory with in house promotions
You can consider it a strategic priority!
The question remains, however, with Weatherbug and other successful weather iPhone Apps available, why: 1. it took so long to create an iPhone app 2. what the differentiating feature set is... is there really a compelling reason to have me move off Weatherbug? (answer: no)
Zynga Releases Mafia Wars iPhone App; Printing Money?
Zynga may well be one of the fastest growing companies that you've never heard of. And if you haven't heard of Zynga, you've probably interacted with one of its Facebook, iPhone or web apps. Lots of other developers and companies compete in their space... and many do very well. But Zynga has really mastered the UI. Today, they launched Mafia Wars for the iPhone (already a popular application on Facebook). In and of itself, this isn't news. There are remarkably similar games available... I even remember playing the same game on my TI-83 calculator in high school.
What is noteworthy is how terrific Zynga's artwork, user experience and development are. The game is gorgeous. The UI is exceptional. And this is how Zynga makes a not-so-unique game stand out.
It is also how Zynga makes other games and applications stand out: they get viral behavior and they understand how it translates into gaming applications. Scramble and Poker are not huge successes because the games are so differentiated - they are successful because Zynga taps into your social graph and masterfully layers in incentives.
And that is how Zynga supposedly now makes $50 million on virtual currency (tip @VCMike):
By building terrific games that are weaved into your social graph, Zynga attracts the users. That 'social stickiness' allows Zynga to profit from the users' willingness to upgrade, advance their characters, and differentiate from the masses.
Features vs. Business; Neuvasync & Google Sync
Last week, the back of my iPhone cracked and the good folks at the Apple Store were nice enough to replace it (although I do not understand why 'appointments' are required). Switching phones used to be an enormous (and frightening hassle) - juggling between contacts, photos, data, SIM cards, etc... but between iTunes and Google Sync, it took seconds to port everything to the new device. Previously, I was using a service called Neuvasync to manage the contacts and calendaring between my phone and GMail accounts. It worked perfectly (99.9% of the time) and, while it is a free service, the blog comments suggest similar sentiments to mine: it is a service I was willing to pay for - perhaps in the $20-$50 / year range. Considering Neuvasync's simplicity and the time it saved me, I would find value at any of those subscription prices.
But that all changed... today, I used Google Sync to manage my contacts, mail and calendaring (note: this service was launched in February by Google). It too worked perfectly and in a more secure environment (after all, one less set of passwords and data exchanges to give a third party). Furthermore, it is a product that we expected Google to deliver - particularly as Google's office components grow in popularity. And Google will always provide the service for free because, unlike Neuvasync, they are certain to derive revenue from it in downstream ways.
In one product launch, Google effectively rendered Neuvasync's entire offering as redundant. Even if Neuvasync's product were better, it would be difficult to compete.
Thus bringing us to an important point:
There is a difference between features (Neuvasync) and businesses (Google). Businesses can derive value and growth from features, but features must be amazingly differentiated and compelling to become businesses. Furthermore, businesses are better equipped to deliver resources and users against features... and without the same risk.
The Next Step in iPhone Gaming: Nintendo NES
At the break of the new year, I listed 20 predictions for Digital Media in 2009. The third prediction was: iPhone Gaming Will Progress Beyond Novelty
At the time of that article, the biggest application was iFart which, while not a traditional game, represented what one of three game types to successfully hit the iPhone:
1. Accelerometer based games (SGN is the king here) 2. Role playing games / storyline games (such as iMob and SGN's Agency Wars) 3. Novelty games (iFart, Beer Pong)
I find games like iMob and Agency Wars fascinating because they are perfect for the iPhone: always connected, progressing storylines and ideal for several short play sessions.
I also think that what SGN has built for with their accelerometer-based sports games is terrific - bringing together the Wii's form-factor with the connectivity of mobile (and now Facebook Connect).
But I want more. I find the current gaming offers interesting.... but mostly ephemeral. Nothing, for instance, I would shell out $9.99 or $29.99 for... after all, Playstation 3 games now run $59.99 - and I spend a lot more time with my iPhone.
The next generation of iPhone gaming needs to look back to the original Nintendo. Place the original track pad and A/B buttons on the iPod's touch screen... and use traditional gameplay navigations that have been a staple of controllers for ages:
Even though it is less sexy than developing against the iPhone's accelerometer, gameplay would be richer and longer-lasting. Super Monkey Ball is fun... but the novelty wears off soon there after - particularly when the controls aren't terrific.
Imagine connected, online equivalents of Super Mario 3 or Zelda that play on the iPhone and tap into Facebook Connect... it might not be sexy (and I might be dating myself) but it would be powerful. And with the creativity and horsepower developing against the iPhone - why can't the next Mario, Zelda and Metroid emerge?
Update: To be clear, I am not suggesting that the iPhone bring back Nintendo games (see comments); rather, the point was that Nintendo-inspired controls would introduce more compelling games on the iPhone.
InGameNow Adds Real Time Box Scores
On the heals of the new live scoreboard integration within our iPhone Apps, InGameNow has added real-time boxs cores. The box scores appear on game pages - they update for live games and are chronicled for past games. The box scores are available on www.ingamenow.com (which renders nicely for the iPhone) and will come to the iPhone Apps shortly. Stay tuned:
NCAA + iPhone Apps = Great Productivity
The future is here. And it's on the iPhone.
NCAA Basketball iPhone App for March Madness
InGameNow has released updates to all of its iPhone Apps - just in time for March Madness and the NCAA Tournament: - Live scoreboard - New format for in game results / chatter - Live scores in the header of each game page - Scoring alerts (live across the iPhone, Gtalk, AIM, etc)
If there is ever a time to download an InGameNow iPhone App... it's now! Below is a screenshot of the new NCAA Basketball App - click it to download in iTunes:
Get all the iPhone Sports Apps by InGameNow:
- InGameNow iPhone App
- NFL iPhone App
- NBA iPhone App
- UFC / MMA iPhone App
- NCAA Football App
- NCAA Basketball App
- Soccer iPhone App