New York – Location-based social mobile service Foursquare
has topped 100 million check-ins by its users, Mashable reported, citing a
tweet from Foursquare business development head Tristan Walker. The company
reported passing 40 million check-ins two months ago, and now sees users
sharing nearly 1 million check-ins daily.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2a69pff
(Mashable)
Los Angeles – The NBA plans to bring its live streaming
games to Apple’s iPad this fall, PaidContent reported. "We anticipate
we’ll have our live streaming games available on iPad in the fall," said NBA
Digital senior vice president and general manager Bryan Perez. "This
(mobile growth) is happening so quickly, we needed to test as many business models
and pricepoints as possible — free app, paid app, team app — every single
team across three platforms (iPhone, Android, Blackberry)."
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/267jsqq
(PaidContent)
Philadelphia – NearVerse has released a version of its
LoKast mobile media sharing application for Android smartphones. The LoKast
service, which debuted at SXSW this year, lets mobile users in close proximity
to one another (300 feet) share licensed songs and other content with one
another.
Related Links:
http://www.nearverse.com/lokast
Port Washington, N.Y. – Sales of PC games via digital
download are approaching parity with physical copies of the games sold in
retail stores, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group.
In
2009, U.S. consumers purchase 21.3 million PC games via download, compared to
23.5 million purchased at retail.
Downloaded PC games accounted for 48% of
retail sales in 2009, and 36% of dollar sales.
The top ranked digital PC game
retailers in 2009 based on unit share — excluding casual games retailers —
were Valve’s Steampowered.com; Direct2drive.com; Blizzard.com; EA.com; and
Worldofwarcraft.com.
Related Links:
http://www.npd.com
http://tinyurl.com/285kgeh
(VentureBeat)
Washington – Internet giant Google (NASD: GOOG) spent $1.34 million on
federal lobbying during the second quarter, up 41% from the same period a year
ago, according to nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Consumer Watchdog.
The company now has spent $2.72 million lobbying during the first half of the
year, according to reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records.
The
organization said that Google spent heavily in an attempt to influence issues
such as online advertising regulation.
"Like most corporations, Google has
a definite Washington agenda and it is willing to spend millions to further
it," said John Simpson, consumer advocate with the group.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2ckpgep
(PDF)
Santa Clara, Calif. – Consumers are spending more on virtual
goods on social networks than in online games, and North American women over 25
are spending more on virtual goods than any other demographic, according to a
report from market research firm VG Market and virtual currency firm PlaySpan.
The survey of survey of 2,221 customers between the ages of 13 and 64 across
the PlaySpan Marketplace, Facebook via Spare Change, and Ultimate Game Card
system found that 75% have purchased virtual goods, and 32% have made such
purchases within social networks.
The median spending on digital goods on
social networks is $50 per year, followed by massively multiplayer online games
($40); free-to-play games ($40); PC games with online play ($37); and console
games with online play ($20).
While males are playing significantly more games
and are the primary drivers of total digital goods sales, North American women
over 25 are spending disproportionately large sums.
On social networks, the
average female spent $55 on virtual goods, compared to $30 for males; females also
spent twice as much ($50 to $25) as males on in-game currency, while the media
overall expenditure was $80 for females, compared with $60 for males, according
to the report.
Related Links:
http://www.vgmarket.com
Los Angeles – Universal Music Group’s (UMG) appeal to the
Ninth Circuit of its loss in a copyright infringement case against video-sharing
site Veoh is likely to be heard before Viacom’s (NYSE: VIA) appeal to the Second Circuit of
its similar loss of a suit brought against Google’s (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, according to The
Hollywood Reporter.
The lower courts in both cases ruled that service providers
like YouTube and Veoh cannot be held liable for copyright infringement
committed by end users, under the "safe harbor" provisions of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Veoh’s legal team recently submitted
arguments to the Ninth Circuit stating that, "UMG’s interpretation of the
law would, if applied, wreak havoc on a variety of new media portals like Yahoo,
Google and Facebook," THR reported.
Both Veoh and YouTube have maintained
that they are complying with the terms of the DMCA which require them to take
down copyrighted videos when notified by copyrighted holders on a case-by-case
basis.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/238lwc4
(THR)
http://tinyurl.com/7p8l6d
(DMW previous coverage)
http://tinyurl.com/29op7xf
(DMW previous coverage)
Cupertino, Calif. – Apple (NASD: AAPL) said its net income was up 78% in
the second quarter, to $3.25 billion, while revenue rose 61% to a record $15.7
billion, spurred by strong sales of its iPad and Mac computers. The company
sold 3.27 million iPads during the quarter, in addition to 8.4 million iPhones,
up 61% from a year ago, and 9.41 million iPods — actually a 8% decline from
the year-ago quarter.
Apple also
sold a record 3.47 million Macs during the second quarter, up 33% from a year
ago.
"It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all
around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with
iPhone 4," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
"iPad is off to a terrific
start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products
still to come this year."
Related Links:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/07/20results.html
Palo Alto, Calif. – Facebook hit 500 million users on
Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on the company’s blog. "As of
this morning, 500 million people all around the world are actively using
Facebook to stay connected with their friends and the people around them. This
is an important milestone for all of you who have helped spread Facebook around
the world," Zuckerberg wrote.
To commemorate the milestone, the company
launched an application called Facebook Stories, which lets users contribute
posts "about the impact Facebook and your friends have had on your
lives."
Related Links:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=409753352130
Midlothian, Va. – SouthPeak Interactive, a developer and
publisher of video games for all major platforms, said that it has raised $5.5
million in a private placement of convertible notes and warrants.
The deal
included a rollover of $500,000 invested by chairman Terry Phillips.
The notes
are scheduled to mature in three years.
"This additional capital
significantly bolsters our financial position and enables us to more aggressively
pursue our strategic growth objectives, including new content acquisitions,
increased distribution and the continued expansion of our already strong
portfolio," said CEO Melanie Mroz.
The news comes a week after SouthPeak
announced a new $10 million line of credit with financial services firm
Rosenthal & Rosenthal.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/28vb6l3
