This week’s headlines from across Inside Network
A roundup of all the news Inside Network brought you between June 18 and 22.
Inside Mobile Apps
Tracking the convergence of mobile apps, social platforms and virtual goods.
Monday, June 18
- Mutually-assured destruction in WarGames: WOPR for iOS and Android
- Clones, rabid expectations and overhauls — NimbleBit on the development of Pocket Planes
- Flurry reports Windows Phone grew by 521% year-over-year as Microsoft gains steam on mobile
- Microsoft blends PCs and tablets with new Surface devices
- Emerging free iOS apps: Disney, Pocket Planes and Top Gear
Tuesday, June 19
- Playing dress-up with Style Me Girl
- Vungle takes its in-app video trailer service out of beta with a $1M developer fund
- Apsalar introduces Campaign Source Insights to measure the real financial performance of mobile app marketing
- Exclusive: Jordan Weisman on free-to-play games, working with Bungie, and his new game Strikefleet Omega
- Emerging top paid iOS apps: Temple Run: Brave, realMyst and Adventure Time
Wednesday, June 20
- Amazon simplifies revenue split from paid apps, drops two-tiered system
- Atari returns to its roots with Centipede Origins
- Microsoft looks to unite desktop, tablet and mobile with Windows Phone 8
- New this week on the Inside Network Job Board: High 5, King.com, Machine Zone and more
- iOS has China and Google Play has Brazil, but the U.S., the U.K. and Japan are where the money is
- Game Insight gets into mobile publishing, $3M to spend this summer
- Emerging top grossing iOS apps: Pocket Planes, Bento 4 for iPad and Magic 2013
Thursday, June 21
- Aeria Mobile brings its Japanese card-battle hit Monster Paradise stateside
- NaturalMotion raises $11M Series B to become a world leader in mobile gaming
- Chartboost brings on Google’s Kellogg to expand its network
- Android Developers can now respond directly to user reviews on Google Play
- New hires in mobile: AdColony, GREE and TinyCo
- Down on the farm again with Hay Day
- Emerging popular Android apps: GSN Casino, Temple Run: Brave and Jamie’s 20 minute meals
Friday, June 22
- Magic 2013 gets card-battling right
- Remedy: A paid iOS app can earn $1M without ever hitting the top 10
- Mobile app news roundup: Unity 4, Wooga drops HTML5 and 32 new iTunes stores
Saturday, June 23
Inside Social Games
Covering all the latest developments at the intersection of games and social platforms.
Monday, June 18
Tuesday, June 19
- Zynga gets in on the match-3 game with Ruby Blast
- Moonlight Online review
- Facebook reveals game subscriptions with monthly billing
Wednesday, June 20
- Bubble Safari once more on top of this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by DAU
- New this week on the Inside Network Job Board: High 5, King.com, Machine Zone and more
- Ruby Blast review
- Arkadium study shows ‘social butterflies’ and core gamers spend more on social games
- Game Insight gets into mobile publishing, $3M to spend this summer
- Facebook updates payments terms to reflect addition of subscriptions, Credits phase out and more
Thursday, June 21
- Aeria Mobile brings its Japanese card-battle hit Monster Paradise stateside
- Roadhouse Interactive acquires The Embassy Interactive
- Bubble Raider review
- New hires in social gaming: Double Down Interactive, Kabam and Kixeye
- Cie Games’s Justin Choi says good data is key to Facebook game development success
Friday, June 22
- SimCity Social combines city-building, more customization, deeper player relationships
- Facebook Sponsored Stories now appear on Zynga.com
- Foreign language titles top this week’s list of emerging Facebook games
- Puzzle Chasers review
- Parallel Zombies focuses on cooperative, story-based location gameplay
- Social games news roundup: Turkey’s worth lots of money, Tencent buys into Epic Games and Wooga moves away from HTML5
Saturday, June 23
Inside Facebook
Tracking Facebook and the Facebook platform for developers and marketers.
Monday, June 18
- Facebook looking to introduce real-time location-based ads to monetize mobile market
- Facebook acquires facial recognition company Face.com
- Facebook launches portal page to help users follow Olympic Games and athletes
- Bubble Safari, Socialcam, Terra, TripAdvisor, more on this week’s top 20 growing Facebook apps by MAU
- Facebook lets users know how many interest lists they’re featured on, but still no info for pages
Tuesday, June 19
- A Look at George Takei’s Tactics in Engaging a Social Media Following
- Facebook to launch subscription billing for apps, transition from Credits to local currency
- Early tests show mobile Sponsored Stories have higher CTR, lower CPCs than desktop
- New Facebook platform industry hires: HYFN, Identified, Shoutlet, Syncapse, Wildfire
Wednesday, June 20
- Facebook hides page content from logged-out users
- New this week on the Inside Network Job Board: High 5, King.com, Machine Zone and more
- Facebook gives Like button functionality to third-party mobile and web app buttons
- Facebook and Yahoo in talks to resolve patent dispute, court filing confirms
- Facebook updates payments terms to reflect addition of subscriptions, Credits phase out and more
Thursday, June 21
- ‘Facebook for Every Phone’ becomes first page to surpass 100M Likes
- Facebook must let users opt out of Sponsored Stories following lawsuit settlement
- Facebook brings cover photo design to ‘hover cards’ that appear when users mouse over page links
- 21 Questions, Daily Horoscope, Song Pop, Embassy Suites, more on this week’s top 20 growing Facebook apps by DAU
- Facebook hires Apple UI design manager, among two dozen other positions this week
- Facebook career postings: commercial counsel, recruiting, engineering, more
Friday, June 22
- Unilever’s charitable app uses Timeline and subscription billing; Facebook agrees to take only 5 percent of transactions
- First hints of a Facebook ad network: Sponsored Stories appear on Zynga.com
- The best features of the Nike+ Timeline integration and how developers should apply them to their own apps
