Late last week we announced that Rovio Mobile, the developer behind the blockbuster game Angry Birds had recently released a version of the game for Android devices.
The company is still offering a full version of the game for free in the Android Market, following its massive success in the iOS App Store.
Within 24 hours, Rovio confirmed that there were over 1 million downloads of the game, marking the fastest an Android app had ever hit the milestone.
Today, both Google and Rovio have confirmed that the game has hit over 3 million downloads in just five days.
The app is available for free as it is being supported by Google’s AdMob advertising platform. Google is using the game as a way to show advertisers that using AdMob can be very beneficial to them.
Across all platforms, Rovio has sold 7 million copies of the game for $.99.
Result for: advertisers
Multiple outlets are reporting this week that Apple is set to announce a newspaper subscription plan for the iPad tablet, one where revenue will be shared by the publishers and Apple.
As part of the deal, Apple will implement an opt-in feature that will let users share their personal info with publications. The publishers need that info to share demographics with advertisers.
Both parties have been in negotiations for such a plan since before the iPad launched in April. Publishers would not agree to the plan without the opt-in feature, calling demographic data “the most valuable asset.”
Although the exact figures are unclear, it is believed the deal will give Apple a 30 percent cut of all subscriptions sold, similar to the share they take for music.
Additionally, Apple might take as much as 40 percent of advertising revenue.
Result for: advertisers
In a surprise about-face, Apple has loosened up on the restrictions in their App Store Review Guidelines, allowing for games and apps based on Adobe Flash technology to be submitted to the iPhone/iTouch/iPad App Store.
While the decision is certainly a move in the right direction, users of “i” devices will still not be able to view Flash videos while browsing the Web, however.
Reads the statement from Apple: “We are continually trying to make the App Store even better. We have listened to our developers and taken much of their feedback to heart. Based on their input, today we are making some important changes to our iOS Developer Program license in sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2 and 3.3.9 to relax some restrictions we put in place earlier this year.”
“In particular, we are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code. This should give developers the flexibility they want, while preserving the security we need.”
Apple’s newly launched “GameCenter” will likely now be flooded with Flash-based games, and Apple’s mobile advertisers are likely very excited at the prospect of being able to use Flash, as well.
