Mobile app news roundup: Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and how many mobile gamers are willing to pay

30 percent of mobile gamers pay -- A new study from the NPD group states that about 30 percent of mobile gamers are willing to pay for an upgrade or make an in-app purchase. The study also found that $3 -- not $0.99 -- was the best price for an upgrade fee or in-app purchase, as it seemed to present the best intersection of value and price. The news is in agreement with earlier claims from the Aaron Rubenson, the director of the Amazon Appstore for Android. Earlier this year Rubenson revealed that the higher the price-point, the more likely Amazon customers were to convert, reporting IAPs priced at $4.99 were more popular than those priced at $2.99. Scalify expands support to iOS and Android -- Scalify’s Badumna network suite is now supported on iOS and Android. The tool allows developers to add real-time multiplayer to single player games and to create multiplayer MMO type titles. The tool can also manage user synchronization, chat and friend lists. Angry Birds has 20 to 30 million DAU, 200 million MAU -- How many people play Rovio’s games? According to EVP of strategic partnerships Andrew Stalbow, the company is currently seeing 200 million monthly active users and anywhere between 20 and 30 million daily active users. Stalbow was speaking at the MIPCOM conference in Cannes. Former Glu Mobile exec sets up Fei Hu Interactive -- Robert Hayes has revealed his latest business venture is Chinese-based mobile developer and publisher Fei Hu Interactive. The new company has offices in both Beijing and Hong Kong and is currently working on its first game. Hayes, who was formerly VP and managing director for Asia Pacific at Glu Mobile leads the company as CEO. Industry veteran Simon Slee is Fei Hu’s VP of publishing. Heyzap launches Play with Friends social feature -- Android-based mobile-social gaming network HeyZap has added a new feature called Play With Friends that makes it easier for its users to connect, reports VentureBeat. The new feature connects players of similar skill level and with similar game interests. Cut the Rope passes 250 million downloads -- ZeptoLab’s Cut the Rope has now been downloaded more than 250 million times, and boasts more than 50 million monthly active users according to CEO Misha Lyalin. ROUTE 66’s mapping app passes 1 million Android downloads -- Swiss company ROUTE 66 reports its navigation app ROUTE 66 Maps + Navigation has been downloaded more than 1 million times. The app is free an monetizes through a one-time lifetime license fee of $64.99. The app can provide turn-by-turn navigation information for 80 countries. NimbleBit brings Pocket Planes, Tiny Tower to life with animated shorts -- Nimblebit is bringing its popular free-to-play mobile games Tiny Tower and Pocket Planes to life in a series of six animated shorts, the first of which is available on YouTube. The shorts were created by Canadian comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun. Disclosure: Inside Mobile Apps writer Kathleen De Vere is a member of LoadingReadyRun. She contributed to the creation of the shorts and provides voices for several characters in them. [Launch] Gamevil brings Duels of Fate to Android -- Gamevil’s take on the increasingly popular card-battle genre, Duels of Fate, is now live on Android. The title has been downloaded more than 10,000 times since it launched on Oct. 10. [Acquisition] Mobilisafe acquired by Rapid7 -- Mobile security startup Mobilisafe has been acquired by another security firm, the Boston-based Rapid7. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. [Funding] Swarm nets $1 million in seed funding -- Shopping startup Swarm has raised $1 million in seed funding for its technology, which promises to help physical retailers connect to shoppers while they’re in-store via their smartphones, reports TechCrunch.

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Mobile app news roundup: Angry Birds, Cut the Rope and how many mobile gamers are willing to pay

Kathleen De Vere

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Kathleen De Vere