Friday Mobile Roundup: Spending, Acquisitions, Milestones & More

In-Game Spending Comprises 40% of Revenues for Free iPhone Games: This Distimo and Newzoo study found that not only are 5 million games downloaded a day, 88 percent of the top 300 games are free. Qualcomm Releases Augmented Reality SDK Support on iOS: Although the chipset maker doesn't contribute hardware to the iPhone, it's making iOS support available for its recently released Augmented Reality SDK to attract more developers. Angry Birds Surpasses 200 Million Downloads -- Rovio Mobile's top title, Angry Birds, has reached a new milestone. At the Next 11 conference, Peter Vesterbacka announced that the game has topped the 200 million download mark. Final Fantasy Tactics iOS Release Announced-- Square Enix has been releasing several Final Fantasy titles for the iOS lately, and has finally announced the release date of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions on iPhone. The date is noted to be between late June and mid-July. The title is also stated to be released for iPad shortly after. Friskies Releases Tablet Games for Cats -- There's an app for everything nowadays, and cat food maker Friskies is adding to that variety with a new trio of iPad and Android tablet games made specifically for cats. The games consist of Tasty Treasures, Party Mix-Up, and Cat Fishing that have colorful objects, food, or fish, for the cat to try and catch (like a laser pointer). BilltoMobile Expands to International Market -- Mobile payments firm, BilltoMobile is going global this week as it has announced that its service is to be expanded to over 200 carriers in 60 different countries. This global launch is scheduled for next month. Xperia Play Comes to Verizon -- Sony Ericsson stated, earlier this week, that its "PlayStation smartphone," the Xperia Play, would be coming to Verizon Wireless, says VentureBeat. The device costs $199 with a two year service agreement and is available in stores May 26th. Skiller Releases Social & Multiplayer SDK for Developers -- Israel-based social-mobile gaming platform Skiller has announced the release of its Android SDK this week. With the platform, developers are able to incorporate social features as well as competitive multiplyaer, such as tournaments. Google Acquires Modu Patents for $4.9 Million -- Modu was an Israli cell phone maker that went under a few years ago because it couldn't find a market for its extrodinarily tiny, modular, mobile phones. Nevertheless, according to BGR, Google has purchased the patent portfolio of the company for $4.9 million. [image via TechCrunch] Ngmoco Acquires Rough Cookie -- According to TechCrunch, social-mobile games developer ngmoco has acquired its long running game development partner, Rough Cookie. The purchase is intended to help ngmoco's European presence, and though it was an all-cash deal, the specific terms of the purchase were not disclosed. Vuclip Raises $8 Million -- In funding news, mobile video search engine Vuclip has raised $8 million in Series C funding. The round was led by NEA and Jafco Ventures. Similar in respect to YouTube, the mobile video service is most popular in markets such as India or Malaysia. iOS Game Publisher Fuse Powered Gets $2 Million From Blackberry Partners Funds, NFQ -- iOS game publisher Fuse Powered has recently announced the raising of $2 million in a seed round led by BlackBerry Partners Fund and NFQ Ventures. The company also provides real-time application analytics, which is their primary focus at this time. PlayBook Outsells Motorola Xoom -- RIM's new BlackBerry PlayBook is apparently doing well. According to BGR, it has sold 250,000 units in its first month. This is ahead of Motorola's Xoom tablet, which took twice as long to sell that amount. MasterCard Survey Highlights Younger Users as Primary Users of Mobile Payments -- In a survey conducted by MasterCard, 63% mobile phone users between the ages of 18-34 are more at easy with mobile payments versus 37% of those 35 or older. In fact, 65% of the younger age group would prefer to have their phone over their wallets.

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Friday Mobile Roundup: Spending, Acquisitions, Milestones & More

Christopher Mack

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