Top Emerging Android Apps: Tower Defense, Pygmies, Ringtones & More

There are several new applications to the top paid and top free Android lists this week. While not all are new releases, content updates have either aided in the growth of these apps or simply helped to solidify their usual top positions. As for the top grossing apps list, the upper levels did not show much change, but new highlights did make their way in late in the list, be they old or new releases. New Titles Within Top Paid Android Apps List Robo Defense -- Robo Defense is a long-running tower defense game that has always been ranked relatively high on the top paid Android apps list. Consisting of five maps with unlimited upgrades and difficulty settings, the app is currently ranked at #10. Part of its ranking is due to a September 13th update that added in a new level dubbed "Sky Tower," new achievements, and the new "Flare" tower. Curiously, and despite its rank, the $2.99 game's number of installs have been in general decline over the past month. It is developed by Lupis Labs Software, a small mobile developer whose only intellectual property on Android is Robo Defense. Pocket God -- Ngmoco, the mobile game developer acquired by Japan's social game publisher DeNA, is the publisher of Pocket God (it was developed by Bolt Creative). The game is all about playing the god of an island full of pygmies, torturing them in unique and creative ways. Though the game's install rate has been in decline for most of the last month, it has begun growing slightly in the past few days due to a new content update on September 10th. The update includes new godly powers, three new mini-games, and a special new pygmy who "wreaks havoc and babbles about tiger blood." Currently, Pocket God costs $0.99 and is ranked at #13. Also, Ngmoco has reportedly acquired social developer Lionside. Shazam Encore -- Music comes in at #18 with the $4.74 application, Shazam Encore. Last updated September 8th, with the ability to tag television shows and commercials, the title is used primarily to quickly identify music simply by holding one's Android device up to speakers playing a song. Along with this tagging capability, players can listen to previews and can quickly make purchases via Amazon. Additionally, the free version of Shazam is ranked at #29 and was also updated on September 8th. Both are credited to Shazam Entertainment Limited, a London-based mobile apps developer with titles spanning several devices including Android, iOS, and Blackberry. Shazam's offices also span New York and Seoul, Korea. Tapatalk Forum App -- Quoord Systems Limited is Chinese mobile developer out of Hong Kong and the creator of today's #27 top paid Android app, Tapatalk Forum App. Tapatalkis a popular social application that allows users to access various web forums via their Android device. Along with this core function, it supports photo uploads, downloads, the saving of account information, and private messaging and alerts. Costing $2.95, the app's install rate has been relatively steady over the past few weeks. Its last update was September 9th which added in the ability to reply without quotes in private messages and support for "very large font." Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus -- Moving back into the realm of games comes Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus at #31. The title is a modern military first-person shooter in which players dive into combat across several battlefields around the world (e.g. the Middle East, Europe, and South America) within a single player campaign. Alternatively, they can compete in both local and online multiplayer matches that support up to 10 players. Black Pegasus is developed by the roughly twelve-year-old, international studio Gameloft. Currently, the game costs $6.99 and was last updated September 12th to support a greater variety of Android-enabled devices. New Titles Within Top Free Android Apps List MP3 Music Download Pro -- MP3 Music Download Pro is sitting at #15 today on the top free Android apps list. Experiencing a dramatic rise in installs over the last week or so, the application is a music app that allows its users to search for and download free music, lyrics, and album cover art to their Android handset. Additionally, the app allows for up to three downloads at a time as well as the ability to play and delete music from one's library, or set it as a ringtone. Last updated September 14th, MP3 Music Download Pro's development is credited to Yu Liu. Unfortunately, no further details on the developer are noted. Myxer -- Moving down to #22 is the app of Myxer from Myxer. In terms of the Myxer app, it allows users to peruse an enormous collection of free ringtones or MP3s for their Android phone. In addition to this, ringtones can be customized as users are able to cut out specific sections of a track to be used as one. Custom recorded ringtones can also be made. As for the company itself, Myxer is a mobile technology firm founded in 2005 that grants it users (stated as being over 48 million) access to a catalog of both free and premium pieces of media content; the former of which is boasted at over 11 million. Growing slightly in recent days, Myxer was last updated September 8th. One of the key features added in this last update was the ability to browse, preview, and customize ringtones from songs. Yahoo! Fantasy Football '11 -- As with last week, more Fantasy Football rises up the top free Android app charts. In at #28, growing dramatically with the start of the NFL football season, is Yahoo! Fantasy Football '11. The application is a mobile companion for the online Fantasy Football sports game, allowing users to check updates on the go. Updates include live scoring, match-ups, player stats, and so on. Along with this, players can manage their fantasy team at any time. As the title would suggest, the app is developed by California-based, global corporation Yahoo! Inc., who already hosts several mobile versions of Yahoo! web programs such as Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Mail, and Yahoo! Weather. Yahoo! Fantasy Football '11 was last updated September 8th. Lookout Security & Antivirus -- Lookout Mobile Security is a San Francisco-based firm, funded by investors such as Khosla Ventures, Trilogy Equity Partners, and Accel partners, whose products center around protecting smartphones from things such as viruses, malware, and spyware. Today, its Android product, Lookout Security & Antivirus, ranks in at #36 on the top free Android apps list. Growing relatively steadily in the past month, the application provides over 10 million users with the ability to not only protect their devices, but allows them to create backups on myLookout.com for later restoration, if needed. In addition to this, the app allows users to locate a lost or stolen phone through Google Maps whether or not GPS is disabled on the device, and can also activate an alarm even should the phone be on silent. Lookout was last updated on September 9th, adding in-app billing for an annual subscription to Lookout Premium. Prize Claw -- The final highlight for the top free charts is also one that climbed the top free iOS list during the summer, Prize Claw. Ranked at #45, Prize Claw (last updated September 2nd) is a digital version of arcade and carnival prize machines in which players attempt to snag various items with a mechanical claw. Here, they do so in order to complete different collections. Other features of the game include the ability to collect coins, to upgrade the machine's claw, or power-ups to make grabbing those elusive prizes slightly easier. The creator of the game is Dallas' Game Circus, a free-to-play game maker for mobile whose titles are intended to be accessible to all audiences. Game Circus is also the studio behind top grossing Android app, Coin Dozer. Prize Claw has been growing rapidly since its last noted updated. New Titles Within Top Grossing Android Apps List My Country & Paradise Island -- There are new updates this week for the #1 and #5 top grossing titles, My Country and Paradise Island from Russia's highly successful mobile game's studio, Game Insight. Both games are social business management sims in which players must develop their own country and resort island respectively with tasks ranging from economy and transportation to entertainment and tourism. Both were updated on September 9th and 8th with new features. My Country has added in a new slew of items to construct called the "World Tour" pack which consists of monuments from around the world as well as German language support. Paradise Island, on the other hand, has added a new notification system, as well as Facebook and Twitter integrations. Both titles are free-to-play and monetize through in-app purchases. Madden NFL 12 -- Madden NFL 12 was featured on the top paid Android apps chart a few weeks ago, but since its release, the football game has risen all the way up to #2 on the top grossing list. Developed by Electronic Arts, the $6.99 game features the National Football League's most current player rosters as well as a new feature that lets users pause game action for a moment in order to position their players so that they can best stop plays or avoid defenses. Moreover, players can also draw up their own plays, dubbed "Hot Routes," for passing, running, and defense. Despite Madden's #2 ranking, the total installs for the game have begun to decline rapidly in recent days. It was released August 30th. Third Blade -- Moving all the way down to #30 comes the newest game from Com2Us, Third Blade. The free-to-play title was last updated September 9th, and is an action, hack-and-slash style of game in which players battle their way through hordes of monsters using one of three different combat styles (dual wield, one-handed blades, and two handed blades). As players play, they can build combos and upgrade weapons to become more powerful, and through in-app purchases, can buy even more upgrades or skills. As for Com2Us itself, the company is a long running Korean mobile and online games studio, whose other games include Homerun Battle 3D and Inotia3: Children of Carnia. Pretty Pet Salon -- In at #35 is an older game, Pretty Pet Salon. In the game, players manage an overly cute business in which owners bring in their pets to be cleaned, groomed, and pampered. Players must manage all of these guests with a limited number of cleaning stations before they get impatient and leave in a Dinner Dash style. The application is free-to-play, but monetizes through in-app purchases. It is credited to cross-platform smartphone publisher, Animoca, but is developed by Hong Kong-based Outblaze. In fact, Pretty Pet Salon is one of Outblaze's most successful titles, even though the company produces new games on a weekly basis. This strategy has resulted in roughly 30 million installs across all of its games (which are most successful on Android). 7 Little Words -- The final new face to highlight is the August 10th-updated word game of 7 Little Words. Developed by Blue Ox Technologies, a young mobile games developer from Maine, who has also been featured on the top free iOS charts, 7 Little Words is a puzzle app in which players are given seven words to to discern from seven clues and 20 letter groups. Monetizing through in-app purchases, the game has seen steady growth for the past month, with only a small bit of decline in the last week or so. Currently, it is ranked as the #37 top grossing Android app.

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Top Emerging Android Apps: Tower Defense, Pygmies, Ringtones & More

New Titles Within Top Paid Android Apps List

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