Facebook has become the most lucrative platform for advertisers as well as marketers in a short span of time. It has been regarded as one of the best social networking sites for promoting brands and products. Even, 94% of advertisers have said that they would prefer Facebook instead of other social networking sites for campaigning their products and brands. A recently released infographic provides brief insight of Facebook marketing.
Facebook has surpassed Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL to become the largest publisher of the U.S. display Ad impression. It displays 28% of the overall ad display in U.S.
Interestingly, Facebook ad impressions ratio in U.S. is much higher than combined display Ad impressions of Yahoo, Microsoft, Google and AOL.
It has also been noted that out of 900 business owners – on whom survey was conducted – 39% are planning to spend money for advertisement on Facebook in 2012.
It’s really a news of joy for Asians as they has got their first Social Media Research Laboratory in Hong Kong. It has been established by the – Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering – Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Today University has officially announced the opening of Social Media Research Laboratory at Tin Ka Ping Hall, Lo Ka Chung University Center at the HKUST.
The Social Media Research Laboratory will provide academic and commercial significance towards the development and application of social media all across Asia.
“At HKUST, we believe that innovation should play a strong role in the globalized world. We are proud to establish the first social media laboratory in Asia. With this laboratory, our faculty and researchers are taking an active part in nurturing research and development talents in the blooming new arena of social media, and building Hong Kong as a leading hub of creative media and IT technologies in the region”, as said by Prof. Tony F Chan, President of Hong Kong University Of Science and Technology.
Interestingly, university has also agreed to build a ‘video social network’ which will help its Faculty as well as student to be in touch with the business community in Hong Kong or Outside Hong Kong.
University will build the video social network in collaboration with a Tech Firm known as “Cyberport”. Even, the company will also organize series of events – training courses, workshops, and seminars – at regular interval of time, so that students should be in touch with the latest updates in technology world and issues related to businesses.
In last few years Asian countries have become the backbone of social networking sites as their user base has been rising exponentially. Also, they play a major role in generating revenue as well as profit for various social networking giants like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Establishment of Social Media Research Laboratory in Asia will definitely benefit Asians as they can easily do research on the products and can developed various new innovative Applications. Also, it will help them to know about the functionality of social networking sites and might be possible that in coming year we may come across bundle of applications as well as software developed by Asians.
It will also help research scholars in completing their research on social networking sites in an ease manner. Apparently, Social media research Laboratory might bring revolution in social media field in Asian Countries.
Microsoft is developing the latest installment of the Windows series OS and is striving hard to ensure that the upcoming feature packed Windows OS will deliver what the millions of consumers are expecting from it. The latest version of Windows OS is named as Windows 8 and is under the development stage though the Developer Preview edition is available as a free download. Microsoft must be ensuring an extra-punch in Windows 8 so as to compete with the Apple’s latest Mountain Lion OS which will also be coming in near future. Features like Ribbon interface for explorer, Metro UI, enhanced Multi-tasking, Internet Explorer 10, Virtual Machine set-up, Disk images mounting, revamped Log on,Sensor Fusion etc will surely be some of the features that Windows admirers will be excited about. Though Windows 8 is the revamped version of Windows 7 inspired by Windows Mobile 7 and there are a lot of features that make the latest OS much better than its predecessor. So here is the detailed list of some of the important features of Windows 8 OS that I am talking about.
Windows 8 has in-built Antivirus technology which includes the Smart-Screen Filter prior used in Internet Explorer 9. People will now,does not have to worry about the infected downloads as Windows will be checking downloads for any harmful malware no matter which internet browser you will be using.
One of the major improvement in Windows 8 is its Metro UI which is intensively optimized for touchscreens though sometimes it seems that one is using the same old Windows 7. In Microsoft Windows 8, the whole thing is revamped right from the Boot screen. The Log on screen,Lock screen and even the Control Panel is retouched and refined with Metro Style thumbnails making Windows user interface much more fluid. The complete Metro styled Control Panel allows users to configure their PC more easily. There is a bad news for those who love the traditional Windows OS UI as the Start Menu orb will be no more in the Screen. There are variety of features that Metro UI features like Standard view of copy progress is changed to expanded one as one can pause and start the process also, more detailed control over the management, conflicts while copying file are more refined, one can refresh and reset Windows from Control Panel etc.
The Boot process is also revamped by Metro UI as there is the support for mouse or touchscreen for making an option.
One of the core improvement in Windows 8 is its shut-down and start-up process. Now when PC is shut-down, Windows OS hibernates its core processes so as to ensure faster launch for the next time. This feature will definitely give a boost in Windows performance.
Explorer has a new Ribbon-based UI which shows some extra options like pinning, running as administrator, disk mounting and burning options for ISO images,extraction for compressed files etc.
Windows 8 has much more refined Multi-tasking options than its predecessor like pressing the Windows key restrains the running applications in the background and the home screen is presented in front without allowing the background application to consume CPU resources though RAM is used. Processes running in background can be terminated by drag and throw style interface for touchscreens and in normal machines can use mouse for dragging out the unwanted processes.
Microsoft Windows 8 comes with Internal Explorer 10 featuring both desktop and touchscreen version. The touch based UI of IE10 has controls on the bottom which are normally not visible. A touch or a click is needed for bottom options and tab bar to appear. Tough WebM and Flash is not supported at this stage but we may get it functional at the final stages.
Windows 8 OS unlike its predecessors feature an in built iso image management system which is really an interesting element on its part as most of the Windows users use programs like Daemon etc to do so. Now Windows OS itself features a virtual drive on which image files can be mounted and unmounted.
Microsoft Windows 8 features a virtual machine system called HyperV through which one can create and enable virtual machines. By default HyperV is not enabled so one has to enable it through the Control Panel.
Now Windows Log on management system gives users the option for logging in via 4 digit pin or using a picture password. Thanks to the Metro UI of Windows 8 OS.
The ‘Sensor Fusion’ technology incorporated by Microsoft ensures better functionality of Sensors like Gyroscope, Acclerometer, Compass etc. for better sensitivity of sensors while playing games and other applications.
In order to increase users’ security Facebook is going to launch a new features know as Verified accounts and Pseudonyms. First users need to verify their account on Facebook and later they can use pseudonyms to change their names instead of their real birth name or name on their Facebook page.
Interestingly, those users – whose accounts are verified – will get higher up position in Facebook “People to Subscribe To” suggestion.
However, this doesn’t mean that user’s nickname will not be shown. In fact, user’s birth name will be shown on the about page. Instead this process is a way to make sure that people should not subscribe to the public updates of charlatans.
Eventually, from tomorrow onwards users who are having many numbers of subscribers will be notified with the new options.
Going further users need to submit an image of government issued photo ID which will be deleted after the process of verification. Also, Facebook will provide an alternate name – which will be displayed next to their real name on their page- option to users which can be used to find them through search.
Users can use some famous names like Justin Bieber so that they can be frequently being searched on Facebook.
Indeed this is a good move by Facebook, but it will create the bundle of problems for users as they will get confused amongst name. Apparently, this option of Facebook will also lead to increase in vulgarism on the pages as users may start misusing the name of the actors and may start posting vulgar comments and unwanted pics.
I feel Facebook should re-look over the advantages/disadvantages before implementing such features for all users as it may lead to increase in violence as well as vulgarity. Besides, those users who don’t have any government attested pics/identity will be unable to use this feature.
Facebook must look into the fact that maximum users are youth under the age group of 18; for whom having government approval photos and photo identity is quite difficult.
Undoubtedly, Facebook’s initiative to launch this option is quite debatable and surprising.
It was astounding hearsay that Apple’s iOS devices sold in 2011 alone was greater than the accumulated number of Mac devices sold in 28 years. The company unprecedentedly sold 22 million units of iPod just in consecutive five years since its launch, and also, 37 million iPhone sold in Q4 last year. Despite of folks’ prolixity towards Mac devices, the company sold a record of 5.2 million Macs in Q4 (calendar) last year, up by 26% than same quarter a year ago. Macs accounted 5.4% of global PC shipment alone in Q4 last year, up from the 4.5% a year ago. In this time Apple seems very bullish towards its Macs business, and has unveiled “Mountain Lion”—a new version of its Mac OS X.
Apple’s CEO—Tim Cook—said, “We see that people are in love with a lot of the apps and functionality here. So, anywhere where it makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac. Mac remains an incredibly important part of the company and that it is already benefiting from the success of the iPhone, particularly in China, where Mac sales doubled last year. They love the iPhone and so they then search out and look for the Mac. I don’t really think anything Microsoft does puts pressure on Apple. Apple is focused on building the best product and the pressure on the company is “self-induced.”
Apple might launch its Mac software in late summer this year to accustom its tradition—the company launched its Mac OS X Lion a year ago in July. However, early version of the software will available for the developer from Thursday. Mac OS X “Lion” version has advanced gesture control features similar as iOS devices and also the apps screen display just like iPhone-grid. The New OS “Mountain Lion” would have the updates such as Apple’s Messaging services, notification app, gaming center, sharing features and integrated online services iCloud—lead the way for the iPad and iphone having iOS software.
The notification screen on the Mac’s new OS “Mountain Lion” devices will be the same as the scroll down screen on iPhones and iPads. The new Mac software will also support a feature Called Airplay mirroring—using this feature users could view what is on the screen of their iPhone and iPad and a television screen, just by connecting the devices with a $99 Apple TV device. Apple cloud services has reportedly now around 100 million accounts, which is going to let Mac OS X Mountain Lion’s users to create and edit the same documents on the Mac—similar to iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch. Beside this, Apple is going to provide a technology to Mac developers so that various Mac apps could seamlessly work with the documents in the cloud.
In latest Mac OS, iMessage will be the substitute of Apple’s iChat instant messenger and chat services. Users could send pictures, HD videos and other attachment with 100 MB of size (to or from) to anyone having an iOS device. “Mountain Lion” would have a FaceTime button within the message app—will let the users to have a video calls. In addition to these, Apple social-gaming venue (more than 20,000 game enable center-enabled games in the app store in iOS) will also be integrated with “Mountain Lion” OS. The company has also taken a precautious step to protect the system. However, it seems that the company has always been precautious about the malware—which has paralyzed Windows PC.
Apple is moving out to create a fierce competition among the hardware manufacturers. The company is now trying to put its all effort to make its Mac line Products more competitive than others. At the same time, the company is also endeavoring to experience the users the same like iOS devices.
Nearly 2.1 billion people are connected to the internet globally, 80 percent of whom refer Google for their searches. But what if Google were to be banned one day? What would happen then? Could these 80 percent users claim they wouldn’t be affected by it?
Google is more than just a search engine to nearly 1.68 billion internet users who look up absolutely anything – from synonyms, phrases, blurbs, to product information, news, insights, entertainment and more.
Since its inception Google has introduced various services like Google+, Chrome OS, Chrome Browser, YouTube, Google AdWords, Android OS and Google Docs etc. The company has taken the browsing experience beyond the browser to smartphones with its Android OS. This has changed the way the world accesses the internet.
Services introduced by Google have proven fruitful for the company as well as the users. Google’s services have spearheaded it into becoming one of the most successful internet companies worldwide. And given its track record, it could soon be making its way into the list of elite group of companies worth $200 billion market valuation. Recently, Google announced its financial report for FY-2011 which highlighted its revenue having touched $37.9 billion and is expected to reach $48 billion by the end of this year.
Google is associated with nearly 1 million sites, making it one of the biggest search engines on the planet. Google gets an average of 8.4 percent (1 billion) unique visits per month and daily page views of around 4.3 billion.
A ban on Google could directly affect 95 percent of the companies listed on it as it plays a major role in providing information and relevant content on services and products of the companies to the vast majority of internet users.
Companies find Google an effective medium of reaching out to their customer base. The ban over Google will significantly affect the online advertisement market (powered via Google Adwords) as a majority of advertisers and marketers prefer Google for their day-to-day marketing needs.
A ban on Google could cause turmoil amongst the host of companies who are invariably dependent on its services. Even as more and more children in the age group of 6 years refer Google for their searches; the level of user dependency is shooting through the roof.
Google’s ban could send us trailing back to the 90’s when users were dependent entirely on newspapers and radio for their daily dose of news and information.
Google’s social media arm Google+ is growing at a rapid pace and is providing intense competition to Facebook. Currently, its user base has touched the milestone of 90 million and is expected to reach 400 million users base by end of this year. Taking the view of the growth of Google+ an Infographic was released which reveals Google’s facts and figures.
Interestingly, U.S. and India maintain their legacy on Google+ also, as they both has been ranked as the two top most countries populating Google+, while Brazil stands third. One will be surprised to know that U.S. and India are also the 2 top most populated countries on Facebook and LinkedIn.
The Infographic enlightens that Bangalore tops the list of 10 cities on Google+, followed by New York, London and Hyderabad, with about 67 percent users being male, 32 percent being female and 1 percent is others 🙂
There’s a lineup of Apple’s products in the market, and undoubtedly, none of these products are vulnerable than each others. Apple has been selling its Mac line of products since last 28 years—one of the transcendent products of Apple. The company now manufactures number of products’ lineup including iPod, iPhone, iPad, and more. Apple’s iPhone had broken all the records in the last holiday season—iPhone 4S was the most preferred handset. The demand of iOS devices has enormously been surged since last couples of years, and iOS-based devices have been proliferated worldwide. Yesterday, a research analysis firm reported that the company sold more iOS devices in last year compare to all Mac devices sold in 28 years. The firm has provided a chart (below) which demonstrates how iOS devices are dominating over Mac devices in number of sales.
CEO of Apple—Tim Cook—said, “This 55 is something no one would have guessed. Including us. To put it in context, it took us 22 years to sell 55 million Macs. It took us about 5 years to sell 22 million iPods, and it took us about 3 years to sell that many iPhones. And so, this thing is, as you said, it’s on a trajectory that’s off the charts.”
Apple has sold 140 million Macs running some form of OX-based devices in the market worldwide in 28 years. The company sold 22 million of iPods in consecutive five years since it was induced in the market, and also, 55 million iPads were collectively sold by the company to the date. The company has sold around 175 million iPhones to date–and 37 million iPhones were sold by the company in Q4 last year alone. Collectively numbers of iOS devices sold till at the end of last year, reached to 316 million units—while Mac collectively sold only 122 million devices to the date.
A clear discrepancy can easily be seen between Mac line of devices and iOS-based hardware available worldwide. The company has always been lashed out by folks for its Mac devices lineups due to its “overprice” or “too expensiveness”. However, the demands of the Mac lines devices are very high among specific users compare to other laptops and desktops hardware produce by different manufacturers.
On the other side, iOS devices are ultraportable, extra-ordinary in the features, and beside these, it’s cheaper. However, the demands of traditional PC and laptops are gradually decreasing, and users more prefer to own Smartphones and Tablets. Lineups of Ultrabooks are available in the market to give the intense competition to Mac line devices.
The Christmas day has always been a special day for manufacturers, actually, the day is also considered as the “day-of-gift”. Smartphones and Tablets were most preferred gift for folks on the last Christmas day, which had apparently benefited to specific device manufacturers. Thanks to Analysis firm “Flurry”, which had tried to analyze numbers of iOS and Android app downloads between Dec 1-20 and the Christmas day. The analysis firm reported that more iOS and Android apps were downloaded on Christmas day compare to other days of holidays session between Dec 1 -20.Both Apple and Google incredibly marked successes in the market and surpassed 10 billion apps downloads at the end of last year. Numbers of apps download from both the companies especially on the Christmas day last year, had stunningly increased than a year before.
Flurry detected numbers of new iOS and Android devices worldwide and established a baseline using the average from the first 20 days of December last year. The average activation was 1.5 million during baseline period, while activation soared more than 6.8 million on the Christmas day–a 353% increment compare to baseline period activation.
The average downloads between Dec1-20 baseline was 108 million per day whereas the apps download on Christmas day was 242 million. Astoundingly, it’s 125% more on Christmas day compare to its baseline and also quarter of billion apps were downloaded on the Christmas day.
The chart above compares downloads per hours occurred in Dec 1-20 baseline and Christmas day. The apps download was at the zenith level at the 8 Pm on the Christmas day and at 9 Pm for the baseline days. The apps download reached to over 8 million at 9Pm in baseline days, whereas, it was approximately near to 16 million at 8 Pm on the Christmas day. The gray time in the above graph represents the “Prime time” slot between 7Pm-10 Pm. The gray time was considered as prime time because most of the apps downloaded at this time period. Total apps downloaded between11 Am to 11 Pm on the Christmas day were over 175 million.
It was quite obvious that the last Christmas day was definitely very special for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Definitely, the demands of Smartphones and Tablets were quite high in December last year. Mobile device activation and apps downloads outperformed and made a new record in the holiday season last year.
The mobile handsets are increasing worldwide with dizzying pace, and ironically, mobile handset market is still dominated by feature phones. Among total mobile handsets, feature phones contribute 88% –China dominates in number of mobile handset owner, followed by India. A recent survey said that the numbers of internet users are tremendously increasing worldwide, and also predicted that the number of Smartphone will surpass the number of PC by the end of this year. Presently, 3G accounts for 45% of the global mobile network, while 4G has 0.2% penetration worldwide. The report said that the emerging market like BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) where users prefer to own cheaper mobile handset than PC and broadband connections.
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) states that the availability of fast broadband internet worldwide is very patchy—less than a quarter of Brazilian households having fixed broadband and India (world’s second largest populated country) has also shabby broadband condition. In contrast to India and Brazil, Japan has sophisticated mobile markets—users feel comfort to stay with fast internet browsing mobile devices. The survey also stated that the mobile broadband subscription is increasing with 45% annually since 2007—which also continues in upcoming years. The users in developing countries often use feature mobile handset with pre-pay contracts—the site access by users take either longer time to be loaded or minimum size of size of the downloadable contents.
A report reveals that the demographic use of mobile devices vary accordance with the countries—in Russia, 45% of age group range 18-24 are mobile internet users, while only 1% of age group over 55 years use mobile internet. The behavior of on-to-go and normal users are different, they use mobile device for searching hotels and restaurants, and searching of products and its prices respectively.
Now-a-days, mobile has become one of the best platforms for producers as well as consumers. However, a Google survey said that 79% of the largest advertisers didn’t have mobile friendly sites last year. Due to lack of mobile friendly sites, they had to lose millions of customers last year. A recent report has stated that the mobile data traffic has been tremendously increased by 2.3 folds in 2011 than a year ago. Users now prefer their mobile devices for searching and purchasing the products rather than to present physically in the retail shops. The mobile online business is going to be soared by the end of this year. Hence, the mobile advertisers will have to make their site more mobile friendly in order to lure the consumers.
Apple has always been enclosed with number of legal maneuvers such as lawsuit against Samsung—for copycatting of its iPhone model—and also, the company previously legitimated to Cisco for the trademark of “iPhone”. However, Apple succeeded to win over Cisco for iPhone trademark, and also somehow in the case of Samsung. Recently, RIM was allegedly legitimated by BASIS for BBX trademark–and finally RIM had to change the name of its OS. In contrary, Proview Technology has litigated Apple this time for the infringement of the trademark name “iPad”—Proview Technology is currently using “iPad” trademark name on its several products lineup.
The situation depicts that Proview Technology could win somewhere from $38 million to $1.6 billion and also apology from Apple—which is using the trademark name in its Tablet lineups. Proview International—one of its subsidiaries “Proview Technology” in Shenzhen and other “Proview Electronics” in Taiwan—registered the trademark name “iPad” in china and Taiwan in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Apple succeeded to buy “iPad” trademark for $55,000 in 2009 by the support of the company “IP Application Development”—but the deal was validated only for Taiwan, and later chairman of Proview “Yan Rongshan” refused to say any connection of IP Application Development with Apple.
Proview’s chairman—Yan Rongshan—said, “It is arrogant of Apple to just ignore our rights and go ahead selling the iPad in this market, and we will oppose that. Besides that, we are in big financial trouble and the trademarks are a valuable asset that could help us sort out part of that trouble.”
The use trademark name by Apple has damaged to Proview’s market share especially in China and in the US. However, in October 2010, Proview threatened to Apple to not use its trademark, otherwise, it would take legal action against the company. The report said that Proview registered the trademark “iPad” in several countries such as china, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, and EU. After long pursuance, Proview finally sued Apple in 2011, in retaliation, Apple also counter-suited its own contention. Apple said that Cupertino, Calif. -based company was genuine owner of iPad trademark and the use of the trademark is quite ethic for the company, however, Apple failed to won the case retaliation against Proview.
Proview has filed separate lawsuits in local courts in two Chinese cities—Shenzhen and Huizhou– to withhold the selling and marketing of Apple’s iPad in the country. It’s the belief of the folks that Apple will lose its appeal there.
Apple didn’t set up any retail store until 2008 in China due to the back-and-forth of number of legal disputes. However, in 2011, Apple opened its six Apple Stores in Shanghai and Beijing—which has reportedly produced highest average revenue than its other 361 global stores. For the legal use of trademark in China, Apple needs Proview’s authorization—and it’s difficult for the company to sale its iPad in the second largest personal computer market without the settlement of the trademark.
Apple is currently busy with the assembling and marketing with its new iPad 3– which is going to be launched by the first week of March this year. Apple announced its Q1 report on January 24, the total profit of the company in this quarter was $13.1 billion–which is the equivalent to the total revenue of the company in Q4 of 2010. Apple sold 47.5 million iPads in 2011–sold 15.4 million iPads in just Q4 (calender) last year. The litigation might jeopardize the company’s upcoming Tablets sale—company is likely to soar its business in China. It’s well known that China is second largest market of the company after US and the company has clearly promulgated its strategy toward China. If company fails to win the sue, then, the company would get a huge loss in both shipment of iPad as well as revenue from the country.
BioWare and Electronic Arts are bringing the final installment of their epic action-RPG game series,Mass Effect. The latest version will be the third in the series and will reveal the destiny of Commander Shepard. Mass Effect 3 was officially announced on December 11,2010 and is scheduled to be released on March 06,2012 for Microsoft Windows,Sony PS3 and XBox 360. Mass Effect game series feature action role-playing game genre developed to deliver the astounding and involving game experience. Bioware developed the Mass Effect 3 game title with the help of Unreal Engine 3 which is capable of producing stunning visual effects just like its predecessor. The Mass Effect 3 has amazing graphics featuring highly detailed environment, life-like characters and cinematic animations.
“Experience the beginning,middle,and end of an emotional story unlike any other,where the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome”
“Mass Effect 3 plunges you into an all-out galactic war to take Earth back from a nearly unstoppable foe and how you fight that war is entirely up to you. Choose a fast-paced cinematic experience or delve into a deeper, more choice-driven narrative. Either way, intense combat propels the action as you fight to unite a war-torn galaxy against a common enemy”
Mass Effect 3 features intense action based story-line in which gamers will be playing the protagonist ,Commander Shepard, against the highly aggressive alien race called Reapers which have invaded Earth, leaving nothing but chaos and destruction all over the place. Commander Shepard must carry out a pay-back campaign against Reapers to save and take back the Earth from the cunning claws of alien species. The story evolves not only around the Earth but the whole universe which is under the threat. Players as Commander Shepard must lead the alliance against the deadliest race to save the world from the verge of destruction.
“Mass Effect 3 will have three pre-set campaign modes: Action Mode, Story Mode, and RPG Mode.In Action Mode, conversations will have automatic replies and a normal combat difficulty. In Story Mode, conversations will have manual replies and a minimal combat difficulty. In RPG Mode, conversations will have manual replies and a normal combat difficulty. This last mode is reflective of the typical Mass Effect series experience. Overall, the RPG elements in the game have been improved over those in Mass Effect 2, with a more detailed leveling up system and increased weapon customization.”
Yesterday, Zynga—a social game developer—announced first time its quarterly earnings report as a pubic company. The company claimed that it had grown 15 million daily active users in December 2011. Among total daily active users, 2 million active mobile users were increased in December last year alone, while 5 million users had joined during the entire year of 2011. The company stated that they had 9.9 million daily active users for its mobile game in Q3 last year.
The last year was definitely outstanding for Zynga. The company’s three Games—Dream Zoo, Words with Friends, and Zynga Pocker—were among the best 10 grossing games on the iOS platform during Q4 last year. The company had launched five mobile games in Q4 last year, which includes Mafia Wars and ForestVille. In this way, Zynga launched eight mobiles games throughout the last year—Zynga mobile apps were averagely rated by 4.5 points out of 5 points in Apple apps store.
Zynga has beaten all the estimations in the Q4 last year, and has reportedly marked revenue of $311.2 million in Q4 of 2011, up by 59% compared to Q4 of 2010. However, Non-GAAP EPS of the company decreased to $0.05 in Q4 from $0.09 in Q4 of 2010. The company got net loss of $435 million in Q4 last year in terms of income, which included the expense of the stock-based compensation of $510 million. In contrary, the company’s Non-GAAP measures have broken a record—reached to $306.5 million—in Q4 2011, an increase of 26% compare to the same quarter a year ago. The online game revenue of the company reached to $283.9 million in Q4 last year which had increased by 51% than same quarter a year ago, whereas, ads revenue marked $27.3 million in Q4 2011—which had unprecedentedly grown by 230% than Q4 of 2010. However, non-GAAP’s net income decreased by 24% year-over-year from 2010 to $182.5 million in 2011 due to huge investment in new game development.
CEO and Founder of Zynga—Mark Pincus—said, “2011 was another milestone year for Zynga’s mission of connecting the world through games. We are seeing social games and more broadly play become one of the most popular pastimes on web and mobile. Zynga set new records in the year in terms of audience size, revenues and bookings. We saw great momentum in mobile and advertising and ended the year with a strong pipeline of new games. We are excited about the opportunities in front of us to continue delighting our current players and to bring play to millions of new people.”
Daily active users of Zynga were increased by 13% to 54 million in Q4 of 2011from the same quarter a year ago according to traffic and users statistics. The monthly users of the company also increased to 240 million in Q4 of 2011, up by 23% from 195 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company also said that it made total revenue of $1.14 billion in 2011, an increase of 91% year-over-year—online game revenue was $1.07 billion (85% increase year-over-year) and ads revenue was $74.5 million (226% increase year-over-year).
Anyway, Zynga has proven itself in the game segment last year—company’s three games were in top 10 grossing categories on iOS platform. The company’s Q4 report is highly satisfactorily, however, its Non-GAAP net income has decreased by 24% year-over-year—the company has invested more to develop better game lineups.
The demand of mobile devices are tremendously increasing year-over-year. Users are more relying on their mobile devices for online shopping rather than to present physically in the retail stores. Huge number of commercial ads, increasing demand of mobile apps, and mobile online shopping have created stringent mobile data traffic worldwide. Recently, a data firm “Cisco” has reportedly stated in its “Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Data Traffic Forecast Update” that the mobile data traffic had been increased by 2.3 times last year—more than double in fourth year in a row. The firm has also revealed that the mobile data traffic grew by more than 8 times in 2011 (597 petabytes) compare to the total global internet traffic in 2000 (75 petabytes).
Cisco has explained that the number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of population worldwide by the end of 2012. The firm has estimated that 25% of the world population will have two or more than two mobile devices in their hands by the end of 2016.
The mobile video has accounted more than 50% traffic first time this year and it’s being expected that the mobile videos viewing will exceed 70% of mobile on line traffic by the end of 2016. Only 0.2% of the global mobile connections have been connected with the 4G network, despite of this, it accounts 6% of mobile data traffic. It’s expected that 6% of all mobile connections will have 4G connection by 2016—which would create 36% of the total mobile data traffic.
The firm has noticed that cloud applications and services—Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify—are going to make more mobile data traffic in upcoming years. The report states that the mobile devices with Netflix, Pandora, and Facebook are going to boost more than the twice the mobile data traffic than the devices having email and web applications alone. Astoundingly, the cloud applications will account 71% (7.6 exabytes per month) of the total mobile data traffic in 2016, compared to 45% (269 petabytes per month) at the end of 2011.
The number of Smartphone users were outstandingly increased in 2011, and resulted average 150 MB per month of traffic per Smartphone—up from 55 MB per month in 2010. The firm has depicted that the average mobile data traffic per Smartphone will reach 2.6 GB per month—a 17-folds from the average mobile data traffic in 2011.
Despite a storm of Smartphone, the mobile market is still dominated by the feature phones in number. Feature phone accounted a major (88%) of the mobile landscape in 2011, however, data consumption were increased by 2.3 folds to 4.3MB from 1.9 MB in 2010.
The number of mobile connected Tablets increased by three-folds to 34 million last year compare to 2010. The Tablets accounted 3.4 times more data traffic last year—the average data consumption per Tablet was 517 MB per month in 2011, more than 150 MB per month a year ago.
In terms of mobile data traffic, Android is dominating over other mobile operating system. Due to the stranglehold of Android mobile operating system in the mobile markets—currently, every second Smartphone is Android-based—than other mobile OS, Google’s mobile OS is going to lead in the mobile data traffic. The firm has elaborated that the mobile device data consumption of Android-based Smartphones are 29% higher than Apple iPhones in terms of MB data used per month last year.
Overall, the data report has demonstrated that how the mobile data traffic is increasing year-by-year. The increasing penetration of Smartphones and Tablets worldwide will soar the data consumption number of times compare to the present. The report has clearly stated that 6% of mobile connections will have 4G connections by the end of 2016; undoubtedly, it will increase the average data consumption per mobile devices.
Sony’s latest mobile game console PlayStation Portable Vita still have to make its grounds in the gaming industry as not much games are available yet for its platform. Sony is striving hard to make its innovative and portable game console to be worth buying by bringing addictive game titles which are available exclusively for Sony’s consoles. But now the PSP Vita is gaining its roots as lot of exciting game titles like Gravity Rush,Uncharted Golden Abyss,Resistance are breaking into the Sony PSP Vita platform. So here is the list of top 4 solid and exciting game titles coming early this year.
1. Uncharted : Golden Abyss
Uncharted Golden Abyss,the multi-million selling game franchise on PS3,is now landing on the PSP Vita platform also. The game has now become one of the most awaited game title for Sony PSP Vita and will also affect the popularity and sales of Vita for sure. The upcoming Uncharted Golden Abyss features the action-adventure genre where gamers have to explore the behemoth landscapes, ancient temples etc. to unfold the mysterious truth behind a cunning plot. The game developed By Sony Bend Studio,just like its previous versions released for Sony Playstation 3 platform, is designed to deliver mind-boggling cinematic graphics, high detailed and textured environment,amazing visual effects with highly involving storyline. The game will be available in Europe on February 22,2012 and is already released in Japan and North America.
“Uncover the dark secret behind the massacre of a Spanish expedition to Central America some 400 years ago. Caught between the rivalry of old friend, Jason Dante, and Marisa Chase, the granddaughter of an archaeologist who mysteriously vanished, you’re going to have to traverse ancient ruins and treacherous jungle terrain in a bid to find out the truth. Do you think you have what it takes to venture deep into the Golden Abyss on PS Vita? Then here is your chance to prove it”.
ModNation Racers : Road Trip is one-of-its-kind kart racing game that utilizes the gamer’s own imagination in creating their unique world of karts by personalizing the entire game. ModNation Racers allows gamers to create and play their own character, their unique karts and the racing maps too in just a blink of an eye. Acclaimed as one of the potential competitor to Mario kart Racing, ModNation Racers delivers a revamped kart racing experience to the players while utilizing the enhanced sensors like accelerometer,gyroscope etc and the gamer’s own imagination too. The game also allows players to share their creativity to the PlayStation community through Playstation Network Service (PSN). The PSP Vita version of the game will be released on February 22,2012.
“Kart racing action built for the next generation! The power of the PS3™ system provides a kart racing game like no other. Feel the blistering speed with every boost and how karts handle differently in various track environments and surfaces”
“The only racing game to offer full Character, Kart and Track customization to create your own racing experience. Design your own mods, karts, and tracks using the same Creative Tools that developers used to make the game! “
Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 features an arcade fighting game genre featuring comic art like graphics powered by Capcom’s MT Framework. The game allows players to take hold of well acclaimed comic characters like Ryu, Wolverine,Iron Man etc. to jump into the exciting battle. Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 delivers the revamped arcade fighting experience showcased be its predecessor Marvel Vs Capcom 3. The game features brand new characters from the comic universe of Marvel and Capcom, and the enhanced characters catalogue of 48 characters in the game. The game delivers highly detailed graphics,amazing sound and stunning visual effects. The game features addictive gameplay via revamped fighting system accompanied by new game modes and power moves. Developers, Capcom will be releasing the PSP Vita version of the game on February 22,2012.
“The ULTIMATE heroes from Marvel and Capcom collide again in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Every epic character from the original blockbuster returns to the fray alongside 12 new fighters,
8 over-the-top new stages and enhanced gameplay. Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 for PlayStation®Vita system is the full console experience packed with 50 legendary characters*, local and Wi-Fi multiplayer, touch panel controls, and exclusive new features. Unleash you ultimate anytime,anywhere “
Gravity Rush is an action-adventure RPG game title from Japan Studio developers produced exclusively for Sony PSP Vita and will be available on March 31,2012. The game is directed by well-acclaimed Keiichiro Toyama,capable enough for utilizing players ability to control the characters movements and actions while maneuvering the gravitational effects. The story of the game unfolds in the fictitious world of Hekseville. Players will start the game as a girl named Kat, who doesn’t know about her whereabouts and gets some mysterious power to control the gravity from a black cat. Players will be controlling the protagonist and her powers to unfold the mysterious plot of Gravity Rush.
“Gain a new perspective as you take on the role of Kat, a strong-willed girl seeking the means to protect her future in a world that’s crumbling to pieces. Tilt and move the PlayStation Vita, taking gravity into your own hands to deliver devastating attacks, uncover the secrets to your past and explore a mysterious world”
