Windows Phone users must have thrown a big enough fit yesterday for Rovio come out and clarify that it won't be blowing off the new Angry Birds Space game on the Microsoft mobile operating system.
“We are working towards getting Angry Birds Space to WP7,” Rovio CEO Mikael Hed told Reuters.
He did not announce when the game will arrive on the platform, but noted that translating the application into WP7 format will take some time.
Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.
For the launch of Angry Birds: Space yesterday, Rovio hung an enormous Angry Bird and slingshot from the Space Needle in Seattle.
Here are the best pictures we've been able to find of the stunt, courtesy of Swaddle Designs (which is making an Angry Birds Space baby gear) and Flickr.
For reference, the Space Needle is 605 feet high -- about half as tall as the Empire State Building (1,280 feet).
See also: Angry Birds Space Is Out And It's Awesome
Here's a view from below:
And one more:
Angry Birds Space, the newest gravity-bending installment in the Angry Birds franchise, has been downloaded 10 million times in three days.
It kicked Draw Something out of the top spot on the Apple App Store just hours after it came out, immediately dethroning a ~$200 million acquisition that happened just last week.
Draw Something took about five weeks to hit 20 million downloads. It looks like it still isn't a match for the Angry Birds phenomenon.
If you haven't played it yet, you should — because it's awesome. You can pick it up for $0.99 for the iPhone.
Angry Birds publisher Rovio has acquired Finnish game developer Futuremark Games Studio.
"They are an incredibly talented and experienced team, and we are thrilled to have them on board," said Rovio Entertainment CEO Mikael Hed in a statement. "Rovio’s success is founded on the excellence of our team, and Futuremark Games Studio is going to be a superb addition."
This is Rovio's second acquisition in a year after it acquired Kombo Animation Studio last summer.
Is this the acquisition Rovio needs to become bigger than Disney?
The Microsoft Investor is a daily report from SAI. Sign up here to receive it by email.
MSFT Flat As Tech Rises
The market is off marginally on various economic data releases: declining home prices, manufacturing stumbles and consumer confidence falls. Shares of MSFT are down to flat versus a positive tech tape. Upcoming catalysts include Windows 8, Windows Server 8, Office 15 and Windows Phone 8; expansion in the smartphone market with primary hardware partner Nokia; strides in cloud computing; profitability in the online business, including integration of Skype; and continued evolution of Kinect and next generation Xbox. The stock currently trades at 8.8x Enterprise Value / TTM Free Cash Flow.
Microsoft To Launch Xbox Lite To Take On Apple TV? (Joystiq)
Rumors of a new Xbox have been swirling for quite some time now, though they are now taking a slightly different shape. The next Xbox hardware won't actually be a generational leap, according to anonymous blogger MS Nerd. Instead, the console will actually be a stripped down version of the current Xbox, which will concentrate on "Arcade-style games" and Kinect apps. The device will be "price-competitive" with Apple TV and is apparently slated for a late 2013 launch. Xbox is getting a huge update today.
Lumia 900 Just $100, Making It One Of The Cheapest High-End Device (Electronista)
AT&T confirmed launch details for the Nokia Lumia 900 on Monday that show Microsoft and Nokia determined to carve out share for Windows Phone in the U.S. The first 4G Windows Phone will go on sale on April 8 for just $99.99 on a contract. The deal makes the Lumia 900 one of the cheapest new LTE phones ever and one of the cheapest high-end devices. It's pretty obvious at that price the Lumia 900 is being more heavily subsidized than usual in a bid to grab market share. It's unclear who's taking that hit. Steve Kovach at Business Insider thinks it's AT&T. I'm not so sure.
Microsoft And Nokia Creating AppCampus To Fund App Development For WP (TechCrunch)
Microsoft and Nokia announced that they are each putting in up to around $12 million into a new mobile apps development program at Finland’s Aalto University called AppCampus. The program is aimed specifically at funding new apps for the Windows Phone platform. Not a surprising move for Nokia and Microsoft given the worry over whether the platform will ever have the content muscle to grow into a significant competitor against Apple and Google. The incident with Rovio last week was just a flash point in that ongoing story.
Nokia Paying AT&T To Include Lumia In The "Company Use" Program (WP Central)
Nokia has reportedly paid AT&T as much as $25 million to make the Nokia Lumia 900 the exclusive free phone for AT&T employees. Smart move considering one of the big problems with Windows Phone is that staffers at the carriers' retail stores don't know anything about it. Part of the deal is making the Lumia the exclusive phone available through the "company use" program and Nokia expects 80% of AT&T employees to be using Lumias as a result. Business Insider points out that it should be noted that much of the Lumia's marketing budget is coming from Microsoft.
Windows 8 Rumored To Be Finished This Summer (ars technica)
Windows 8 will enter the Release Candidate stage in late May or early June. This would mesh with an earlier reports that the software will be finished in the summer, with retail availability in October. All these dates are unsubstantiated rumor at this point, but they're not at all surprising. Microsoft has been clear that the development of Windows 8 is following the same track as Windows 7 which had its initial preview about a year before release, public beta in the first quarter, release candidate mid-year, and a release in fall.
By 2016, 60% Of Tablet Market Will Be Sub-$400 Tablets (PadGadget)
ABI Research is predicting that by 2016, 60% of the tablet market will be controlled by tablets that are under $400, like the Kindle Fire. According to ABI Research, there are currently 220 tablet models available worldwide. "The majority of new entrant media tablet models have been in the sub-$400 segment that focuses on growth markets like India and China," said Jeff Orr, group director of consumer research at ABI. "The strong wave of growth in this segment over the next few years is expected to be driven by the adoption in emerging markets." Get in there Microsoft!
Hyper-connected blogger and tech luminary Robert Scoble, just wrote a great post called “Why I’m treating startups more critically lately.“ Of late, Robert finds himself meeting with lots of crappy, over-funded, digital startups that desperately need more time in the oven, an intervention by Dr. Drew, or more likely, Dr. Kevorkian. (My choice of words, not Robert’s!) Not only am I seeing the same things, but I’d take it a step further.
I believe this current crop of entrepreneurs might actually be hurting America - and perverting the very idea of innovation in the same way Beyonce’s Run The World is like kicking Aretha Franklin in the ribs…repeatedly. All is not lost. Keep reading…there are ways to take advantage of this situation, though it’s too late to save this song:
Yesterday, Justin Kan, the bright young founder of video streaming site Justin.tv, posted Generation Make on TechCrunch, He writes:
“We’re making our own way and making our own jobs…We don’t need your jobs, your advice, your instruction. Pretty soon we won’t need your music labels or publishing houses; we’ll be doing it ourselves on iTunes and Amazon.”
While I admire Justin’s can-do spirit and terrific achievements, he’s spent far too much time around other ambitious, hungry entrepreneurs. He is the exception, the elite. 99% of his peers are not peers at all; they don’t build streaming websites, they snack on Cheetos while streaming planking videos. They have the same sense of entitlement, selfishness, and ‘screw The Man’ attitude Justin alludes to, minus two important things – talent and the drive to work at it.
The latest US generation has led a life of leisure. Arab protesters carry swords and machetes, ours carry iPhone 4S’s in pink, personalized cases. The resulting innovations and their inventors reflect that hardship-free aesthetic. In many ways, this latest wave of digital entrepreneurs takes the easy path. It’s easy to start a web site. It’s easy to make an app. It’s easy to do anything that doesn’t require big capital investment, physical infrastructure, or a fleet of trucks driven by beefy, middle-aged men named Al or Tony. Things like Angry Birds, coupon sites, and social networks look like the pets of America’s great inventions from the past – flight, electricity, assembly lines, cars, the internet, Ike and Tina Turner.
Hurting America?
From computers to desks to chairs used by cute digital startups like Oink or Bizzle or FoSchnizzle, – it’s all made possible by better, more substantive innovators. This superior breed of entrepreneurs and inventors toils away in relative obscurity, often in Asia, solving real, complex problems. They squeeze 32GB onto something the size of mint strip. Or, they make un-killable batteries that let us Tweet deep into the night. They make solar cells worthwhile or water out of thin air.
Back in the US, a stunning surplus of VC cash and leisure time feeds this feeble form of innovation – where getting something to scroll from the left instead of right can be considered a breakthrough. It’s not that the entrepreneurs aren’t smart or capable or impressive, its that the market doesn’t demand they try that hard. Why build a plant when someone will give you $300 million to collect email addresses for a daily deals site?
The real risk of all this is the same thing that happened in the banking industry – disproportionately high incomes driven by distortions that siphon talent away from productive industries to unproductive ones. There is real demand for top engineers and inventors to commercialize new ways to harness ocean water. Instead, that talent can be found gambling onfictitious investments or perfecting the trajectory of a freshly killed digital pig. Multiply that situation by thousands and you have:
By the way, I am not saying there is no room in the world for entertainment or leisure-oriented innovation, but I am saying if we want to continue getting those Lenovo’s from China, they’re not going to accept our Tweets or Oinks as payment.
As the market purges these lackluster companies, disposable incomes continue shrinking, and resource costs rise as emerging markets consume more, American innovation will need to step up. We will need to build the kinds of things Indians and Chinese will buy. You and I know they won’t be buying Oink or Bizzy. China can and will make their own inane, ridiculous apps. My new book,Econovation is all about what’s in store for the US in the next decade and what innovations will be in demand. Other than buying dozens of copies for you and all your friends (immediately!), there are some other things you should consider right now:
This post originally appeared at Idea Faktory.
America's new favorite online pastime is getting it's own animated show.
At the MIPTV conference in Cannes, Rovio's head of animation Nick Dorra explained the details of the new "Birds" venture.
The show will have an initial run of 52 episodes that are each two-and-a-half to three minutes long. Dorra wants every possible device to be able to carry the episodes.
"We want to be on all screens," Dorra said.
So expect birds flying at pigs all around you from iPhones to plasma screens.
Dorra also stated that the new show would explore "deeper feelings of the characters, such as why are they always angry?"
Does that mean we'll see some shots of the birds going to anger management and group therapy sessions? This is more serious than we thought.
Oh and don't forget about the ultimate "big" screen. A movie is also in development according to Dorra, but he says that won't be released until 2013 or 2014 at least.
For the last two weeks, Angry Birds Space has held the #1 paid app position in the US App Store. Today, Draw Something bounced back on top.
Draw Something is the pictionary-like OMGPOP game that was acquired by Zynga for $210 million.
Draw Something is still the #1 free app but it's become the #2 grossing app behind Galaxy Empire (and above Angry Birds Space).
Appdata charts suggest Draw Something downloads have slowed since Zynga's acquisition of OMGPOP 14 days ago, but a source tells us active users are still at an all time high for the app.
A $1 billion acquisition is rare, but there are a few startups that could share the same fate as Instagram.
Many of them have raised so much venture capital, their valuations are already in the billion-dollar range.
We've compiled a list of the next likely acquisition targets and which big companies are most likely to buy them.
Jack Dorsey's mobile payment solution, Square, would help a big payment provider like Visa or American Express stay relevant. Neither has a good mobile solution and Square was made with credit cards in mind. (Visa is an investor in Square, but we're talking outright buy.)
Kleiner Perkins led a $100 million round of financing in Square at the end of June. Now the company has a $1 billion valuation; some wonder if it could be worth as much as $2 billion.
Location-based check in startup Foursquare closed a $50 million round last June. That's in addition to the $20 million it previously raised.
Foursquare's rumored valuation has been as high as $1 billion.
It has more than 20 million users, so it's not quite as big as Instagram, but Groupon could find the location data it has valuable when targeting deals to users.
The music company raised $100 million in June from Kleiner Perkins, Accel and DST, giving it a $1 billion valuation.
It has more than 10 million users and a few million of them are paying subscribers. It's in 13 countries and has a popular mobile app.
The pay-per-song model is losing marketshare to free streaming options like Spotify offers, so Apple may need to bite the bullet and take out Spotify. But it might cost more than $1 billion to do it.
Rovio, the game company behind the popular Angry Birds franchise, just sent out a warning on its website that there's a fake version of Angry Birds Space in the Android Market containing some nasty malware.
All Things D points to a report by research firm Sophos that says the fake version of Angry Birds Space gives hackers almost complete control over your phone. It can even direct your phone to any website without your permission.
The malware is actually a fully functional version of Angry Birds Space, but installs malicious code in the background.
To protect yourself, only download Angry Birds Space from the official Google Play market on your phone. Don't trust versions of the game from third-party app stores.
Don't Miss: 11 Apps You Should Use Every Single Day
Please follow SAI: Tools on Twitter and Facebook.
Angry Birds has become a worldwide phenomenon with more than 700 million downloads. So it’s no small event when two of the leaders who created the mobile game leave the nest at Rovio to form their own game studio.
Antti Stén (pictured left), the lead server architect for the original Angry Birds, and Tuomas Erikoinen (pictured right), lead artist, have left Rovio to create a new game studio called Boomlagoon. Successful creators striking out on their own and trying to do some original work doesn’t seem surprising, especially when their former employer seems content to continue to exploit an existing franchise.
“We know a thing or two about successful games and high volumes, and we’ll use this knowledge to spawn something very cool and new,” Stén said.
Stén is chief executive while Erikoinen is chief creative officer. Both men played important parts in the creation of Angry Birds. Stén was responsible for building the server infrastructure to support millions of mobile users. Erikoinen was the lead artist for Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio, and he supervised the production of Angry Birds Space. During the time they worked on the projects together, Rovio grew from 12 people to more than 300.
They’ve dreamed about running their own company for a long time. The idea started during a poker game, and they discussed it once again over a drink. So far, the team consists of just the pair of founders, but they plan to hire more people. Stén refers to himself as Mr. Plan and to Erikoinen as Mr. Action. They want to create “convivial and intriguing” games.
“Through our experience of seeing multiple startups, we’ve gained the necessary skill set for founding and running a company with high values on all departments of the company,” Stén said. “Our core skills are in game development, but we’ve also had the opportunity to study fields such as PR, branding, recruitment, business negotiations, leading teams, HR, and networking.”
Their goal will be to create games for just about any device, both for the web and for mobile platforms. They will start with HTML5, the new lingua franca (working language) for the web. Their studio will be in Helsinki, and they have not raised any money yet. They are looking for potential investors.
“If we play our cards right, we just might end up with the next Angry Birds,” Stén said.
No app had ever reached 50 million downloads as quickly as Draw Something -- until today.
Draw Something, OMGPOP's popular pictionary-like mobile game, hit 50 million downloads in 50 days.
But Angry Birds Space is only 35 days old and it has already reached the milestone. It announced the news on Twitter this morning:
50 Million downloads in 35 days! Proud to have #angrybirdsspace as one of the fastest growing games ever! rov.io/50MILL
— Rovio Entertainment (@RovioHQ) April 30, 2012
Angry Birds is officially a $100 million a year business.
Rovio announced Monday that it generated $106 million in revenue from sales of the Angry Birds games and merchandise in 2011. By comparison, the company got just $7 million in revenue during the second half of 2010.
Earnings before taxes was $67.6 million.
Rovio's increase in revenue is due both to the growing popularity of the games as well as the company's push into merchandising and licensing agreements.
The Angry Birds apps had been downloaded 648 million times as of the end of 2011, and there are currently more than 200 million active monthly users. Meanwhile, Rovio reports having more than 200 licensing partners helping it to expand the Angry Birds franchise.
According to Rovio's statement, about 30% of last year's revenue came from merchandise sales and licensing agreements, showing the potential apps have to make money outside the app store.
The company has used some of that extra revenue to expand their operations. Rovio increased the number of employees tenfold last year, going from 28 employees in the beginning of th year to 224 employees by the end of 2011.
Via TechCrunch
Games falling under the Angry Birds franchise have been downloaded more than 1 billion times as of today, developer Rovio announced.
This is a stunning number.
For some context, Apple hit 25 billion apps downloaded in March this year. Angry Birds downloads are across platforms, not just in the App Store. But, we think there's a good chance that Angry Birds captured 1% of the App Store downloads.
Angry Birds is a worldwide sensation that already generates more than $100 million in revenue, and its apps regularly dominate the leaderboards in the app store.
Angry Birds Space, the newest game, became the fastest game ever to reach 50 million downloads.
Also worth noting: Rovio included a "sneak peek" at the end of its video celebrating 1 billion downloads. It could be a reference to its next non-Angry Birds game. You can check out the video below:
Angry Birds maker Rovio just told TechCrunch that it bought the rights to Casey's Contraptions, a game for the iPhone and iPad that prompts you to make a Rube Goldberg-like contraption to pop a balloon.
Here's why this is important: Rovio wants to be a major company like Disney. If it's ever going to grow into a big company it needs multiple successful franchises.
Angry Birds is a worldwide sensation that already generates more than $100 million in revenue, and its apps regularly dominate the leaderboards in the app store.
Angry Birds Space, the newest game, became the fastest game ever to reach 50 million downloads. It'll be hard-pressed to repeat that magic.
You can see a screenshot of the original game in action below — the goal is to build some weird contraption with a ton of moving parts (like wind-up boxing gloves and magnets).
100,000 lucky Russians will have the opportunity to get the first printing of an Angry Birds-themed credit card, brought to you by Promsvyazbank (a bank) and Internet Retail Solutions.
While Angry Birds merchandising invaded America long ago—they're on T-shirts, underwear, and will have their own TV show in fall—the Moscow News reports that this credit card is Angry Birds' first official branded product to be produced in Russia.
This news follows Zynga's announcement last week that there will be a FarmVille American Express card.
Please follow Advertising on Twitter and Facebook.
The Philadelphia Eagles are about to be rebranded as a bunch of Angry Birds.
There will be a Philadelphia Eagles-themed Angry Birds game this fall, and that's just the tip of the iceberg, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Eagles are partnering with video game developer Rovio, and fans in Philadelphia should expect a ton of Angry Birds tie-ins on game day.
The current animations on the Lincoln Financial Field scoreboard will be replaced with Angry Bird-style equivalents — so in a few months we'll all see what it looks like when one Angry Bird intercepts another.
The best part of the partnership? Rovio's flattering recreation of head coach Andy Reid in this announcement video:
Please follow Sports Page on Twitter and Facebook.
If you really can't get enough of Angry Birds, you may want to plan a trip to China soon.
Rovio, the company behind the popular gaming franchise, revealed plans to build its first Angry Birds "activity park" in China's Haining City in an interview with People's Daily, via TheNextWeb.
The company's co-founder Peter Vesterbacka said the company is shying away from the idea of building "one massive amusement park" and is instead "planning to build hundreds, maybe even thousands of activity parks" in China. The goal, he said, is to incorporate these smaller parks into local neighborhoods throughout the country.
The first official Angry Birds theme park opened in Finland earlier this year, and there is already at least one unlicensed Angry Birds theme park in China.
For Rovio, the parks could serve as yet another way to extend its presence offline. It's also a great opportunity to expand their merchandising and licensing operation, which accounted for about 30% of the company's $106 million in revenues last year.
Tim Reis, head of mobile display at Google, explained how the company pitches the importance of mobile advertising to clients, while speaking at Business Insider's Mobile Advertising Conference today:
"Today, 500 years of Angry Birds will be played."
It's a shocking statistic and part of the reason why Reis thinks mobile advertising is "clearly a huge deal for us."
See More:
Please follow Advertising on Twitter and Facebook.
Last week, CBS announced a Ryan Seacrest-produced game show based on the hit app "Draw Something" is in the works, which, surprisingly, might not be the worst idea in the world.
Zynga's guessing game asks users to draw images of a selection of their choice (think Pictionary) and send it to their friends to solve.
The show will be similar to NBC's late '80s quiz game "Win, Lose or Draw" which saw celebrities essentially play charades with pictures in the comfort of Burt Reynold's living room.
With a slew of board-games-turned-films in the works, we decided to take a look at other apps that should be turned into game shows.
The popular game by Rovio Mobile lets users soar birds through the air to destroy egg-stealing pigs and their castles.
A cartoon is already in the works, but what about a "Wipeout"-style game show? There can even be teams (birds and pigs, obviously) competing against one another.
During the '80s, Chuck Woolery hosted game show, "Scrabble."
This could be re-envisioned on the small screen.
Maybe Woolery would even be interested in a modern-day version of the game.
Hidden Variable Studios' Bag It! asks players to literally bag groceries in Tetris-like fashion.
How would this work on television? Simple.
Think "Supermarket Sweep," with rounds specifically devoted to bagging.
