Similarly, The Sims Social rocketed to over 65 million monthly players just after its launch in 2011, only to drop to just over five million monthly players today, according to AppData. SimCity Social seems to have peaked at 10 million monthly players and has managed to hold on to just over one million of them less than a year after its launch.
via As player numbers crater, EA will shut SimCity Social, other Facebook games | Ars Technica.
Projections from the Yankee Group, a Boston-based analytics firm, highlight the potential: the number of smartphones in use is projected to double from 1.5 billion in 2013 to nearly 3 billion in 2017. Most of those 1.5 billion new adoptions will be in the developing world, and the vast majority will be lower-end Android phones. Facebook also wants to capture the attention of those who haven’t yet gotten access to the Internet—and will likely first do so on a mobile device.
via Facebook “Home” Is Next Step in Facebook’s Developing World Strategy | MIT Technology Review.
Disappearing messages could prove popular beyond social sharing, and could also be profitable, if businesses can be persuaded to pay for the services. Another company, Gryphn, which released a free Android app in February (an iPhone version is coming out shortly), is seeing a lot of interest from paying enterprise users—including hospitals, a police department, and a financial institution.
via After Snapchat, Disappearing Messages are Everywhere | MIT Technology Review.
How long before we have an app that stores these “disappearing” messages at the receiving end?
Big Switch Networks has released an open-source software platform for Ethernet switches, a move that hints at OpenFlow’s potential to subvert the infrastructure market by enabling the replacement of proprietary systems with generic, off-the-shelf SDN-friendly hardware.
According to a market report from research firm IHS iSuppli, HDD revenue is set to drop to about $32.7 billion this year, down 11.8% from $37.1 billion last year.
via SSD onslaught: Hard drives poised for double-digit revenue drop – Computerworld.
Much of this has to do with newer devices sold being those that do not use standard hard drives like smartphones and tablets. Perhaps we’re seeing the start of another computing technology headed for the museum.
Line gives you free voice calls (like Skype or Facebook’s new overhauled app). Then there’s basic messaging, but Line is a bit goofier with sillier emojis and stickers. There are teddy bears juggling eggplants, bunnies with flames of anger in their eyes, and a shy balding man surrounded by little sparkles and flowers. (Yes.)
Japanese trends do sometime take off here in the US. 100M is quite a large set of users. Facebook has about 1000M users.
According to data provided by app traffic company AppStats, Instagram has lost more than half of all its active users in the month since proposing to change its original Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. In mid-December, Instagram boasted about 16.3 million daily active users; as of Jan. 14, Instagram only has about 7.6 million daily users.
via Instagram Loses Half Its Daily Users In A Month, And Here’s Why [REPORT].
Like Android, Tizen is an open-source software platform that is already in use in tablets, vehicle infotainment systems, and smart TVs, though it hasn’t nearly reached the market share of Android or iOS. Tizen competes with other small-scale open-source platforms, including Sailfish and the recently announced Ubuntu for smartphones.
via Samsung drifts away from Android; will Motorola rise to replace it? | Ars Technica.
The NTCA wants the FCC to include intercarrier compensation — that’s the sharing of revenues for completing voice calls — in the IP transition so that VoIP calls are treated differently.
via Light Reading – Winds of Change Blow Rural Broadband in 2013.
One big reason is price. Google charges $50 a year for each person using its product, a price that has not changed since it made its commercial debut, even though Google has added features. In 2012, for example, Google added the ability to work on a computer not connected to the Internet, as well as security and data management that comply with more stringent European standards. That made it much easier to sell the product to multinationals and companies in Europe.
via Google Apps Moving Onto Microsoft’s Business Turf – NYTimes.com.