This year again, the number of sessions about social, online, casual MMO etc. type of games increased – I should be attending most of the Social & Online Games Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday, and will roam around the following days.
The plan is to cover the most interesting stuff here in the blog – we’ll see how this goes.
If you are in SF and care for a coffee or beer (or have invitations to a hot exclusive party…), let me know.
I have not blogged in a while – mostly because the last couple of weeks have been pretty stressful.
Oh, and apologies for the automated “bookmarks” posts, that contained more and more “Error 500″ links – I removed the post, and disabled the plugin. If I have any interesting links to share, I will twitter them.
I stumbled across this interesting Greystripe study, focusing on the “iPhone moms” in the US as a new demographic made up of female iPhone users with children.
“Children and family focused iPhone applications are gaining in popularity and have become big business” said Jason Petralia, CEO of People Operating Technology, a New York-based iPhone application publisher. “We’re happy that Greystripe is pioneering research into this market.”
Highlights include:
Over 59% of iPhone moms let their children use their iPhone with 41% downloading entertainment applications 20% downloading educational apps specifically for their kids.
89.25% use their phone for entertainment, whether this is listening to music, browsing the Internet or using various entertainment apps.
96% are involved in their household purchasing decisions, with 40% being the sole decision maker.
As a more positive and proactive followup on my previous post about the Top 10 of retail mentality, I cannot overemphasize the importance of the “Lean Startup” philosophy and concepts, started by Eric Ries and Steve Blank.
If you have not already done so, please have a quick look at the slides:
Over time, one can observe and recognize some patterns.
10. You are using MS Project to schedule the project,
9. and the GANTT chart looks like a waterfall
8. and has a milestone labeled “Shipping date”.
7. You have a marketing agency.
6. Their marketing plan spends the majority of the budget on TV spots and print ads.
5. But hey, they also want to set up a twitter account for you, to “enhance virality”,
4. and a facebook “account”,
3. only to post just their press statements there.
2. You delay the launch date a couple of times, because the “product” is “not finished yet”.
1. Finally, after launch, you realize that you have no money left for further development or support.
