Security trade-offs and Xs vulnerabilities
Friday, March 21, 2025 by Richard Harris
The latest cyberattack on X raises an important question: Was this an external attack or a result of internal instability? While hacktivist group Dark Storm has claimed responsibility for the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, it is just as crucial to examine X’s own security posture, particularly in light of the drastic staffing cuts that followed Elon ...
Low-latency ingestion and optimization for Apache Iceberg
Monday, January 27, 2025 by Brittany Hainzinger
Qlik announced the acquisition of Upsolver, a pioneer in real-time data streaming and Apache Iceberg optimization. This move deepens Qlik’s ability to provide enterprises with end-to-end, open and scalable solutions that unify data integration, analytics, and AI under a single platform. The acquisition combines Upsolver’s real-time ingestion to Iceberg and a...
SmartBear announces CEO transition
Friday, January 24, 2025 by Austin Harris
SmartBear has appointed Dan Faulkner, the company’s Chief Product Officer, as Chief Executive Officer. Frank Roe, who has led SmartBear to significant growth over the last five years, will transition from CEO to a strategic advisor role. Dan’s wealth of experience across product leadership, operational management, and global strategy, make him uniquely quali...
Past years mobile trends lookback released by AppsFlyer
Thursday, January 23, 2025 by Brittany Hainzinger
AppsFlyer has released its annual lookback at the past year's mobile app trends. The year saw notable growth in user acquisition ad spend and revenue fueled by increasingly advanced monetization strategies and the expanded use of AI in marketing. The findings reflect the industry’s increasing understanding of how to adapt to the ongoing changes in the market.
...
2025 gaming evolution and a shift toward retention
Wednesday, January 8, 2025 by Austin Harris
As AI and analytics continue to drive innovation across industries, SciPlay’s Group Vice President, US Games, Cameron Stewart, shares key trends he believes will shape the industry’s approach to LiveOps and Personalization in 2025. Cameron's insights offer a unique look into the future of real-time personalization and the emerging tools.
2025 gaming e...
App marketing for older apps
Wednesday, January 8, 2025 by Richard Harris
App Store Optimization (ASO) is a critical component of app marketing, particularly for older apps that need to regain or maintain market visibility. ASO is more than just keyword optimization; its a holistic approach. It involves multiple levers, including keyword, creative, and engagement optimizations. A comprehensive ASO strategy can significantly enhance an app'...
2025 workforce trends and insights from SciPlay
Tuesday, January 7, 2025 by Russ Scritchfield
Talent Acquisition continues to be a challenge for many companies. As we move closer to the new year, SciPlay’s SVP of People, Kimber Dall, shares key trends shaping the workforce in 2025:
2025 workforce trends from SciPlay: Evolution of in-office work
"I believe we’ll continue to see more companies requiring in-office work to maximize collaborati...
Record breaking year for fintech 2024
Tuesday, December 31, 2024 by Brittany Hainzinger
A new analysis of finance, fintech and crypto apps on the Google Play Store by app growth solutions company SplitMetrics, has found that UK neobanks have surpassed UK legacy banks in terms of app downloads for the very first time ahead of the festive season.
As it stands, UK neobanks have an estimated 71.78m Android users, 200k ahead of UK legacy banks with 71....
How to measure ux and design impact with insights from Vitaly Friedman
Wednesday, October 30, 2024 by Freeman Lightner
In the evolving landscape of digital design, the ability to measure the effectiveness and impact of user experience (UX) and design decisions is becoming increasingly crucial. Vitaly Friedman, a renowned expert in the field, emphasizes the importance of moving beyond subjective design choices to a more data-driven approach. His insights form the foundation of a new vide...
Free trials have high customer conversion rate
Thursday, September 12, 2024 by Richard Harris
New data shows 30-day free trials had the highest customer acquisition (32%) and conversion rate (56%) and are shown to be 28 times more effective than free products. However, despite its effectiveness, nearly 3 in 4 ecommerce sellers didn't use the approach in 2023.
Free trials have high customer conversion rate
These findings come from the ‘Optima...
Microsoft surpasses revenue expectations for fourth quarter
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 by Brittany Hainzinger
Microsoft has reported outstanding financial results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2024, surpassing market expectations with revenues of $64.73 billion, a 15% increase compared to the previous year. Net income reached $22 billion, representing $2.95 per share, slightly higher than earlier estimates. Despite this solid overall performance, the intelligent clo...
Blizzard developers form union with WoW Game Makers Guild
Wednesday, July 31, 2024 by Austin Harris
Over 500 workers at the World of Warcraft development team have joined the Communications Workers of America and Microsoft subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment has recognized their union. The World of Warcraft Game Makers Guild - CWA Union (WoWGG-CWA), which includes designers, engineers, producers, artists, quality assurance testers, and other game developers, is the firs...
OpenAI acquires Rockset to enhance data capabilities
Monday, July 15, 2024 by Brittany Hainzinger
OpenAI has acquired Rockset, a company that specializes in real-time analytics databases, for almost $200 million. The acquisition has drawn attention and various reactions from influencers on the social media platform "X", revealing the Social Media Analytics Platform of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
OpenAI acquires Rockset, the real-ti...
Ad free game catalog from Subscrible
Friday, May 17, 2024 by Richard Harris
Subscrible announced the launch of its game catalog app that offers an ad-free, uninterrupted gaming experience. It is free for gamers to use and addresses the problem that developers frequently lose revenues from poor-quality ads, as they degrade the user experience, and disabling ads does not solve this problem for gamers. Founded by Evgeny Unegovsky and ex-Playrix...
Mobile Games Index 2024 is out now
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 by Brittany Hainzinger
The anticipated fourth edition of the annual Mobile Games Index, powered by adjoe and Statista, is now available.
The latest report offers a clear look into the current state of the mobile gaming sector, analyzing the past 12 months of the first-party data from 95 million app interactions across 27 million users. The MGI 2024 reveals what people choose to play on the...
Mobile game store launching from Microsoft in 2024
Monday, May 13, 2024 by Richard Harris
Months on from its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has revealed plans to launch its own mobile game store, with content including Minecraft and Candy Crush set to be available on the platform. Per Xbox president Sarah Bond, the store will be an alternative to the Apple App Store and Google Play, with its launch allowing Microsoft to break away from the res...
No code test automation powered by GenAI from SmartBear
Monday, May 6, 2024 by Richard Harris
SmartBear has added no-code test automation powered by GenAI to its Zephyr Scale, the solution that delivers scalable, performant test management inside Jira. By using GenAI, any tester, including those without technical skills, can quickly convert manual tests into automated tests without coding, directly in Zephyr Scale, one of the fastest-growing apps on the Atlassia...
Veracode acquires Longbow Security
Thursday, April 18, 2024 by Freeman Lightner
Veracode announced the acquisition of Longbow Security, a security risk management platform for cloud-native environments. The acquisition marks the next exciting phase of Veracode, underscoring the company’s commitment to help organizations effectively manage and reduce application risk across the growing attack surface.
The integration of Longbow in...
Apple shifts position on AI and aquires Darwin AI
Wednesday, April 10, 2024 by Brittany Hainzinger
Apple Inc. is strategically advancing its position in the artificial intelligence (AI) domain, signifying a pivotal shift in the company's approach to integrating AI into its core operations and product ecosystem. The recent innovations and acquisitions underscore the Cupertino-based tech giant’s focus on bringing AI to its offerings while prioritizing user pr...
PGC London 2024 celebrates 10 year anniversary
Thursday, November 30, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
Pocket Gamer Connects will celebrate its 10th anniversary this upcoming January at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2024. Hosted at the city's familiar Brewery venue, this conference will be the ultimate knowledge-sharing and networking event for the games industry.
Starting in the UK in 2014, the Pocket Gamer Connect event series has transformed from its modest...
AI app store optimization services from SplitMetrics and App Radar
Thursday, November 16, 2023 by Richard Harris
SplitMetrics, an American startup specializing in app growth solutions, has acquired App Radar, an Austrian app marketing and analytics platform in a seven-figure all-cash deal.
The agreement creates the industry’s largest platform providing AI-powered services including paid user acquisition (UA), app store optimization (ASO), conversion rate optimization...
Automated incident management solution updates from PagerDuty
Thursday, November 9, 2023 by Freeman Lightner
PagerDuty, Inc. recently announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Jeli, Inc. to transform operations with an enterprise-grade, all-in-one incident management solution. Adding Jeli’s capabilities to the PagerDuty Operations Cloud will further strengthen its value as a system of action, going beyond response to drive long-la...
Gamesforum North America October 2023
Thursday, October 19, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
The highly anticipated Gamesforum North America 2023 is set to take center stage at the Bell Harbour International Conference Center in the vibrant city of Seattle, where industry leaders, and innovators in the realms of UA, Ad Monetisation, ASO, and Product will come together for one of the most important events on the games industry calendar. With a mission to foster ...
Game Development World Championship 2023 Winter Season
Thursday, October 12, 2023 by Freeman Lightner
The Game Development World Championship (GDWC) has opened the 2023 Winter Season for submissions. Games can be submitted until the end of the year. Winners will be announced in February 2024.
Winter Season breaks records with the biggest prize pool in GDWC history, totaling over $660,000 in value. Prizes are spread across 12 award categories and range from swag &...
Influencer platform Infuse unlocks opportunities for advertisers
Wednesday, August 30, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
Fluent, Inc. announced the launch of Infuse, a proprietary influencer platform designed to help brands reach incremental audiences through the trusted voices of creators.
Led by a team of influencer marketing veterans, Infuse connects brands with a growing community of creators, influencers, and affiliates eager to promote exclusive brand offers. Streamlining the par...
What Threads from Meta can teach developers about app marketing
Thursday, July 6, 2023 by Freeman Lightner
In the landscape of mobile applications, every new launch presents an opportunity to learn valuable lessons about app marketing and user engagement. Mark Zuckerberg, has achieved overnight success with the launch of the Threads app. The highly popular app is intertwined with Instagram and offers users a new way to message and network with friends and family.&n...
AI app testing automation from Applitools and Preflight
Monday, July 3, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
Applitools announced the acquisition of Preflight, a cutting-edge test automation platform specializing in low-code test automation. With this strategic acquisition, Applitools expands its platform and strengthens its position as the testing platform of the future, infusing AI into key parts of the testing lifecycle.
With Preflight’s low-code testing solution, ...
NFT marketplace and gallery to launch from Trend Innovations
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
Trend Innovations Holding Inc. has recently announced that they will combine two recent acquisitions to upgrade and launch a more robust version of the company's newly acquired InstantFAME platform. InstantFAME is a mobile and web application, which operates in the multi-billion-dollar digital artwork marketplace for artists to securely publish and sell their d...
Internet advertising continues to grow believe it or not
Thursday, February 23, 2023 by Richard Harris
Astute Analytica has found that internet advertising remains the largest and most rapidly growing sector in the digital marketing industry, reporting nearly $476.46 billion in revenue in 2022. According to their research, mobile advertising accounts for the largest portion of digital advertising spend, making up nearly half of the total revenue. Moreover, the study high...
Identity will hold the keys to the kingdom for cybercriminals
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 by Brittany Hainzinger
In 2023, identity will continue to hold the keys to the kingdom for cybercriminals. This is a continuation from 2022, with the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) attributing 80% of basic web application attacks to the use of stolen credentials like passwords. Security incidents usually involve a variety of techniques, from social engineering to supply chai...
Data driven enterprises and operations will move forward in 2023
Thursday, January 26, 2023 by Freeman Lightner
This is a telling data point: in a recent survey, organizations that were more concerned about the effects of a possible recession were more likely to be planning bigger IT spending than those who were less concerned.
What opportunities are emerging that will move data-driven enterprises and operations forward in the year 2023?
Just 30% of companies with 'no p...
VCs will fly to quality in 2023
Tuesday, January 24, 2023 by Richard Harris
Andrew Lau, CEO, and co-founder of Jellyfish discusses his predictions for VCs in 2023, including why the days of easy money and endless budgets will come to an end, how the doors are opening for startups to recruit talent that has long been out of reach, and that firms will be deploying heavily once more by the second half of 2023.
VCs will fly to qua...
Switching to a 4 day work week
Wednesday, October 12, 2022 by Richard Harris
Employees have increasingly voiced the value of their work-life balance throughout the past few years, and with Americans quitting their jobs at staggering rates, it’s becoming increasingly clear that employers will need to listen if they want to retain top talent. According to Gartner, a shortened workweek is the most-wanted recruitment and retention strategy by ...
How to integrate payments into SaaS products
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 by David Sharp
The disruptive nature of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in many ways, from changing consumer expectations. to a migration to a remote workforce, to immense supply chain issues. To combat this disruption, many businesses either sped up their digital transformation investments or started down that path out of necessity.
A r...
Idle Miner Tycoon game passes 150M downloads
Monday, September 12, 2022 by Richard Harris
Idle Miner Tycoon has reached a new milestone in its storied history. The title, which revolutionized the idle genre upon its release in 2016, has officially surpassed the 150 million download threshold. The downloads represent the accumulated totals from both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store and demonstrate the title’s impressive longevity in an inc...
