Emerging Top Free Apps on iOS: Hanging With Friends, Rip Off, Pandora's IPO Bump

The top 10 iPhone apps again showed a great deal of fluctuation this week. Not all of the apps were particularly new, as many rose by going on sale and becoming free or receiving new content updates. We have to give praise to the new Hanging With Friends iPhone title which not only hit the #2 spots on this week's top grossing and top paid iPhone apps lists, but also found its way to the top of the free list. New Titles Within Top iPhone Free Apps List Hanging With Friends Free --The folks over at Zynga are making a clean sweep of the top lists this week with the company's newly released (June 9th) iPhone game, Hanging With Friends, developed by its studio, Zynga With Friends which came out of the Newtoy acquisition. Hanging With Friends Free is an ad-supported version, but it still comes with all the same game play. It's a hangman-style word game in which users pick a word and attempt to stump opponents in turn-based synchronous play. This free version from the Texas-based developer is proving popular as not only was it #2 on the top paid and top grossing iPhone charts, but is now the #1 top free title as well. Rip Off --In at #2 is a game called Rip Off from the moderately sized Vietnamese mobile and web games developer and publisher, Colorbox. In the game, players control a bird that must protect his brothers and sisters -- still eggs -- from ever increasing numbers of enemies trying to steal them, by slashing across the screen. Released June 1st, the game's dramatic rise is due to a temporary sale through OpenFeint's Free Game of the Day. Shape Shift --Backflip Studios recently passed the 100 million download mark across its games, but the Colorado-based mobile developer continues to produce popular games. #3 on the top free iPhone apps list (#2 for iPad) is the June 7th-released game of Shape Shift. The new title is a matching puzzle game. But unlike the typical match-three style of app, users can swap tiles from anywhere on the screen. Using two game modes, players can opt to try and remove bombs in the "Classic Mode," or merely play endlessly in "Zen Mode." iFighter 1945 -- Just updated today, June 15th, is the #4 application on the free charts: iFighter 1945. The game is a top-down, arcade-style aerial combat shooter in which players battle through World War II as ace pilots in order to find and destroy a secret Nazi weapon. Though the game is free-to-play, it monetizes itself by offering users extra plane types for users to control. While there are five variations of fighters, two must be purchased in-app for $0.99. The game is credited to EpicForce Games, a small mobile developer focused on the iOS platform. iForwardFree -- Holding the #6 spot this week is an app called iForwardFree. In the app, players are able to view hundreds of soccer goals that the app dubs "perfect goals." In addition to viewing, players can play a simplistic mini-game where they go one on one with a goalkeeper, choosing kick strength and shot location in a penalty kick-like scenario. In order to monetize, the game hosts several $0.99 in-app purchases for more goal videos. The developer behind the title is noted as Ninel Gryuner. That said, developer links connect to a group by the name of Smartbit. Unfortunately, its website provides no further information on the company. New Titles Within Top iPad Free Apps List Blind World 2 HD -- Blind World 2 HD is a curious title for iPad. An artistic game, players tilt and turn their iPad in order to move a cell-like ball around and touch invisible barriers to create highly colorful images. The idea is to make enough of the hidden picture appear in order to progress to the next level. What is even more interesting, is that the game is not terribly new, and has risen within the top 50 free iPad apps list only in recent time (currently #4). It was last updated May 23rd. The strange game is credited to an enigmatic group called iDevUA Treelight, but more specifically a single developer by the name of Dmitriy Kuzmenko. The app monetizes through the in-app purchases of new levels and iAd removal; all for $0.99. Panda Revenge HD --Moving down to #12 is a free game that has actually been milling about the top 50 free iPad apps for a while. Panda Revenge HD is a simple game where players must fire a sling shot form a set position on the level and ricochet its projectile off the environment to kill all other animals on the stage. Don't worry. They're all mean and apparently picked on the player's panda character first. The game is monetized through both advertisements and the in-app purchase of virtual currency as well as the removal of ads for $0.99. As for its developer, it is credited to a Chinese mobile developer by the name of 爱手机100. However, the game is also apparently made in association with an American outfit, Fulin Studio. Panda Revenge HD was last updated May 19th. Dark Break HD --#16 is Dark Break HD, a shooter/fighting game for the iPad in which players control three heroines seeking to stop an evil billions of years old. In order to perform such a feat, players are granted the powers of the Goddess of Gaia, which includes the ability to fly. Developed by Winking Entertainment, a larger Chinese game developer over 10 years old, the app was not always free and used to cost $3.99. Its last noted update is January 10th, but it is unclear as to how long the game has actually been free. Legendary Wars HD --Legendary Wars HD is a role-playing and strategy game hybrid in which players attempt to halt the hordes of undead by building and controlling things such as massive armies and individual, and upgradable, hero characters. From ambushes to castle sieges, the game offers a variety of different game play modes, but has risen due to a significant content update (June 7th) adding new items, army commands, game modes, and monsters. To help spur growth, the game was also made free temporarily, but still monetizes through in-app purchases. The game is made by Liv Games, a small indy iOS developer of only eight people out of Irvine, California. Pandora Radio -- Rounding out the list is the older, but well-known Pandora Radio app. In short, the application is a personalized radio for one's iOS device. It has climbed the top free iPad app charts up to #20. The rise is likely due to publicity from the company's initial public offering today, which gave it a market capitalization of $2.8 billion with a closing price of $17.42, up from $16.

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Emerging Top Free Apps on iOS: Hanging With Friends, Rip Off, Pandora's IPO Bump

New Titles Within Top iPhone Free Apps List

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack