Emerging Top-Grossing iOS Apps: Music, Magazines & Reference Apps Line the Charts

Like yesterday's top paid iOS apps list, very few brand-new applications have appeared within the top grossing lists this week. Old and popular titles, such as Angry Birds, Tap Zoo, Tiny Wings, and others, continue to hold their top positions. In fact, Smurfs' Village has risen again (to #8 on iPhone and #10 on iPad), partially due to a May 9th update adding new levels and items. New or Re-Emerging Titles Within Top Grossing iPhone Apps List Kingdom Conquest -- SEGA holds the #37 spot this week with its title Kingdom Conquest. A combination of fantasy role-playing with 3D dungeon crawling and Evony-like strategy, this synchronous multiplayer title is actually free and monetizes through in-app purchases of virtual currency. The game was just updated today on May 10th with game improvements pertaining to usability balancing. As for the veteran SEGA, this Tokyo-based international games developer and publisher primarily develops on core consoles, but hosts a respectable number of mobile titles as well; namely remakes such as Sonic the Hedgehog. Tiny Nightclub -- Rounding out the list at #48 is Tiny Nightclub, the newest game from TinyCo. Tiny Nightclub is a virtual space game in which players create and manage their own nightclubs, decorating it as they see fit. In line with the type of game that it is, the app is free-to-play, monetizing through the purchasing of virtual currency or earnable in-game currency. TinyCo is a San Francisco-based mobile developer who has recently raised $18 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz. Their other title, Tiny Zoo, is currently #18 on the charts this week, and was featured last week at #13. Magic Piano -- Smule's Magic Piano makes a reappearance here. A bit of an older application -- and one of the first on iPad-- this virtual piano app had been made free to play, monetizing through in-app purchases ranging from $1.99 to $19.99. The game allows users to play music ranging from modern pop to classical scores and share them withusers around the world. Palo Alto, California-based Smule is an iOS developer with investor backing from groups such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Granite Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and Floodgate. They are a moderately sized company whose repertoire of titles have all been apps of a musical nature. The application was last updated May 9th and is currently #15 on the top Doodle God -- Moving down to #21 comes an older game: Doodle God. #5 on yesterday's top paid iPhone apps list, the game runs $0.99 and was last updated March 24th. Essentially, players take on the job of a god and attempt to create their own world by mixing and matching different elements; with often unpredictable and amusing results. Further monetizing through in-app purchases, the game is created by Russian developer JoyBits, a company founded in 2002 with a portfolio of several mobile games and J2ME products. Shazam -- A recent update adding social features seems to be benefiting this very old music-recognition app. Launched two years ago, it's been creeping back up the charts and currently sits #31. Free to download, the app hosts a pair of in-app purchases that upgrade the app to it's primary premium version dubbed " Shazam Encore" that runs $5.99 for a lifetime subscription or $3.99 for one year. The difference, is that the free version only allows five tags per month, which can then be bought and downloaded through iTunes, while Encore's tagging is unlimited. Part of the reason for the slow rise is also likely due to a March 22nd update that added in a friends feature that allows users to view what their friends are tagging and granting previews for each track. The company behind the app is Shazam Entertainment, a London-based company founded back in 2002 whose mobile applications span iOS, Android, BlackBerry, BREW, J2ME, Symbian, and Windows Phone. Shazam also holds international offices in New York and Seoul, Korea. New Titles Within Top Grossing iPad Apps List The New Yorker Magazine -- The New Yorker Magazine marks the only genuinely new application to the top grossing lists. In fact, it's #1. The digital version magazine has been around for some time, monetizing through the purchase of individual magazines, but in its last update yesterday, Conde Nast incorporated automatically renewal of monthly subscriptions at $5.99 or annual subscriptions at $59.99. From Condé Nast Digital, the magazine app is part of a family including other storied media brands like Vogue, Glamour, and Self. ForeFlight Mobile HD -- In at #13 is a rather old application called ForeFlight Mobile HD. The dated application is a flight planning app intended for pilots that provides in-depth information on weather, Terminal Area Charts, taxi diagrams, and so on. Information is also provided from sources such as AOPA, Universal Weather and Aviation, and Seattle Avionics Software. Its May 3rd update is a large contributor to its recent growth, as it has incorporated a large volume of new inf0rmation on airspaces and usability improvements. The app is free and monetizes rather expensive in-app purchases at costs ranging from $24.99 to $149.99. Its developer is ForeFlight, a 2007-founded creator of various aviation applications for pilots for both iOS and Android. Words With Friends HD -- Zynga-aquired Newtoy ("Zynga WithFriends") makes its second appearance this week with Words With Friends HD. The #1 paid iPhone and iPad app yesterday, the Scrabble-style, multiplayer social game is currently #22 on the top grossing iPad apps charts. The reason it's climbed back up the charts is a Mother's Day Sale that dropped its price down to $0.99 from $2.99. Newtoy is based out of McKinney, Texas, while social developer Zynga is out of San Francisco. On the way to Woodstock -- Learning comes into play at #23 with the application On the way to Woodstock. Developed by 955 Dreams, the $6.99 interactive timeline app is centered around the evolution of music from "sock hobs" to Woodstock itself using narrative, photos, video, and music from the 1950s and '60s. Regarding 955 Dreams, they are a small development group out of Mountain View, California whose only other application is another music-centric timeline-style app called The History of Jazz. Pulse: Volume One -- Rounding out the list this week is one of the more newly released titles on the charts (released May 5th), Pulse: Volume One. The game is a more artistic type of rhythm game in which players tap notes as they cross a multi-hued pulse to conduct original music. Running $4.99, the game is created by Cipher Prime Studios, a Philadelphia-based digital media company that does everything form illustration to music composition. Pulse is their first iOS game, but they have produced another game in the past dubbed Auditorium.

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Emerging Top-Grossing iOS Apps: Music, Magazines & Reference Apps Line the Charts

Christopher Mack

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