The PocketGamer.biz week that was: 3DS nears 1 million in UK, Nokia going nowhere, and the battle for China heats up
The past 7 days in bite-sized portions
At the start of this week, Microsoft's COO for China, Michel van der Bel, told the world that Windows Phone had edged ahead of Apple in the Chinese smartphone market - despite having only entered the region two months ago.
"We've only just begun," van der Bel said.
Two days later, figures from Woori Investment and Securities Co. torpedoed his boast, suggesting that Apple's share of the market was almost three times the size of Windows Phone's.
Market share is difficult to determine, particularly in China, and research firms and ad networks throw up contrasting assessments every week. But while individually such assessments can be misleading, taken together they can provide insight into overall industry trends, or of a gathering consensus.
To the end, we present you with our condensed overview of the industry happenings of the last seven days.
Funding and acquisitions- Rovio's missing money – what is going on with Rovio's financials?
- Activision unveils a new UK mobile studio, which will reportedly be based in Leeds.
- Google has finally completed its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, replacing CEO Sanjay Iha with Dennis Woodside.
- UK mobile billing and analytics specialist Bango is looking to raise £3.25 million for US growth.
- US game rental outfit GameFly has moved into mobile publishing, announcing a game development fund for iOS and Android developers.
- The Nordic Game Program has handed 11 developers a share of DKK 5 million (roughly £540,000 or $845,000).
- A DigiTimes report suggests that the first smartphones running open-source OS Tizen will arrive in the second half of 2012.
- 3DS is close to one million sales in UK and six million in Japan, thanks to 'The Nintendo Way'.
- Amazon may be preparing a cheaper, ad-supported Kindle Fire for a 2012 launch.
- A Spaceport report "casts doubt on the notion of today's smartphones supporting more complex HTML5 games."
- Apple's share of the Chinese smartphone market has climbed to around 19 percent, pouring cold water over Microsoft's earlier claim that its Windows Phone is ahead in the region.
- Opinion: Despite its difficulties, Nokia isn't going anywhere - Microsoft simply can't afford to let that happen.
- Android's share of the US smartphone market has risen to 49 percent; 15 of the top 20 mobile devices in the US run Android...
- ...but Adfonic's figures suggest Apple is top-dog globally, with its 45 percent share beating Android's 38 percent.
- Facebook's forthcoming App Centre will drive mobile app installs, whether users browse from their smartphone or their computer.
- Microsoft's new rewards scheme aims to tempt UK developers into working with Windows Phone.
- Apple improves App Store discoverability with Editor's Choice and App of the Week.
- Samsung claimed that a cross-licensing deal could resolve patent dispute with Apple prior to court-ordered settlement talks...
- but that didn't happen, and the two companies were unable to reach any agreement during two days of CEO-level talks. The dispute will now be settled in court.
- The developer of a scam Angry Birds app which charged users with premium rate SMS messages has been fined £50,000 by regulator PhonePayPlus.
- The 10 lessons Acceleroto's Bryan Duke learned by making a game in 30 hours.
- iQU's Fraser MacInnes on targeting users and the importance of calibrating your aim with every miss.
- Newly appointed CEO Oli Christie argues that TIGA membership pays for itself 'within months'.
- Toy Studio's Evan Gilbert reveals the benefits, as well as the disadvantages, of writing your game in HTML5.
- 2D Boy's Ron Carmel talks to us about Because We May - the promotion that celebrates flexible game pricing.
- Floor plan shows that GREE is setting up for a big showing at E3.
- GREE has unveiled a partnership with UK dev Mind Candy to bring Moshi Monsters to mobile.
- GREE has launched the open beta of its global games platform, and invited devs to download its latest SDK.