Editor’s Note: Doug Scott is vice president of marketing and revenue at Japanese mobile-social gaming company DeNA. For a taste of what will be discussed at the “Platform Opportunities for Social Apps” session at Inside Network’s Inside Social Apps conference June 6 to 7, Doug answered a couple questions regarding the prospects of current mobile app platforms.

Inside Mobile Apps: Now that Google I/O just concluded, where do you see the Android platform for mobile development in the future?

Doug Scott: We have found Android to be a great development platform for several years now but the announcements at Google I/O take it to another level. By focusing on features to enhance gameplay and support game developers further, I look at this as a watershed moment for mobile gaming. This will certainly encourage more game developers to embrace Android and will allow developers of platforms such as Mobage to focus on even deeper, richer tools and communities for developers on top of these features. It is a testament to the power of gaming as the most engaging activity on these platforms.

IMA: Is there a difference between the iOS and Android platform in terms of monetization for DeNA?

Scott: There can be differences between the platforms depending on the product but we have found that it’s possible to monetize extremely well on both Android and iOS. Without question, great businesses can be built on both platforms.

After nabbing high spots on the top free iOS apps charts earlier this week, Kabam’s movie tie-in game Fast & Furious 6: The Game drove into the highly competitive top 25 of the top grossing iPhone apps chart at the No. 15 spot. Internet radio service Pandora made a return to the top 25 of the top grossing iPad apps chart, moving into the No. 18 position as of today.

Video game company GungHo Online, which recently saw its market cap goes as high as $15.1 billon, is starting to see more and more success with its title Puzzle & Dragons in the states. The puzzle and RPG hybrid made it into the top 25 on the top grossing Android apps chart this week, landing at the No. 21 spot. The remainder of the Android chart was same as last week, with the healthy showing from casino games and DeNA games.

This week’s top grossing iPhone apps

This week’s top grossing iPad apps

This week’s top grossing Android apps

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service AppData.

Ever since Apple instituted clause 2.25 in October 2012 to its App Review Guidelines, the Cupertino, Calif.-based corporation has been cracking down on app discovery services violating the clause like AppGratis, which was removed from the Apple App Store in an effort to stop third-party tools that directly compete with the store. Clause 2.25 states that “Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected.” Another relevant clause is 5.6, which states that “Apps cannot use Push Notifications to send advertising, promotions, or direct marketing of any kind.”

Inside Mobile Apps first heard of AppGratis when we spoke with CEO Simon Dawlat back in January about the company’s raising of $13.5 million in Series A funding and that its service was delivering up to 700,000 installs for app developers. Essentially, AppGratis offered developers burst campaigns by getting their app featured by AppGratis for a certain amount of money. Now that the app is removed from the Apple App Store, for those who still have the app installed on their devices, the app just prompts users that daily deals will be delivered to their email instead of through the app via push notifications. App discovery remains one of the largest hurdles for app developers, so when engines like AppGratis get taken down, developers need to start looking at other avenues for discovery. In a guest post from Side-Kick Games marketing director Noya Polliack, she adds that it’s clear Apple wants to remain “hands on” with picking the “right” apps for its users.

This wasn’t the first time Apple cracked down on limiting outside influencers from its app ecosystem. Apple shook down incentivized install practices back in April 2011, where developers offer their apps in other games and pay for downloads when users install their titles for virtual current.

PocketGamer.biz reported earlier this month that Apple apparently expanded the language in clause 2.25. PocketGamer.biz was sent an email conversation between Apple and an anonymous developer who’s developing an app “primarily focused on sharing recommendations to your friends.” In the email from Apple to the developer, Apple pointed to apps that “include filtering, bookmarking, searching, or sharing recommendations are not considered as significantly different from the App Store.” The additional language to clause 2.25 is not present in Apple’s guidelines. This expansion to the regulation 2.25 has left iOS developers confused about what is and what isn’t acceptable in terms of app promotion. (more…)

The Inside Network Job Board is dedicated to providing you with the best social media job opportunities across social and mobile application platforms. Here are this week’s highlights from the Inside Network Job Board, including positions at: Tango, Tradeshift, DeNa and more.

Acquinity Interactive

• Partner Sales Manager
• Director of Partner Sales
• Advertiser Injections Developer
• Sr. Email Marketing Manager

App Minis LLC

• Senior Unity Game Programmer

BrightRoll

• Manager, Publisher Development
• Marketing Manager
• Account Manager (CHI)
• Associate Manager, Publisher Development

DeNa

• Performance Marketing Manager

Disney Interactive | Playdom

• Mobile Game Designer
• Sr. Game Designer

Fandango

• Social Media Marketing Manager

King

• Senior Game Developer

POPSUGAR

• Sr. Web Engineer
• Java Search Engineer

Tango

• Senior Software Engineer Client

Tradeshift

• Enterprise Sales Engineer: East Coast

Wooga GmbH

• Game Designer – New Mobile Game

Turn Taker is a new iOS app from independent developer Malcolm Christie. It’s available now as a free download from the App Store, and carries no additional in-app purchases.

Turn Taker is a productivity app that allows teams to collaborate on various repetitive tasks and easily determine whose turn it is to do something. The examples given by the developer include mundane activities such as buying milk and taking out the garbage, but there’s no reason why it can’t be applied to more complex scenarios which involve repeated tasks.

To use Turn Taker, users must sign up for an account, which may be done using Facebook, if desired. Once signed up, the user then has a number of different options. They may create a new team, join an existing team or manage the tasks and teams they are currently involved with.

Creating a new team is a simple matter of giving it a name, tagging it with a location via GPS and determining whether or not it is “public.” The latter option determines whether or not any other Turn Taker users in the nearby area will be able to find the team and join it — this is good for situations where the team manager would like people to volunteer for the team rather than inviting people directly. The app does allow for direct invites too, of course — this may be accomplished either through the iOS contacts list or Facebook if the user has connected their account. If the team is set to private, inviting users is the only means of adding them — all team members must accept and join the team before they can participate in the activities. (more…)

Editor’s note: Ilya Gelfenbeyn is the co-founder and CEO of Speaktoit, which develops talking virtual assistants for Android, iOS and other platforms.

As mobile apps have grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry, large corporations have adopted an increasingly hefty presence within that industry. This fact may worry some independent developers and startups, especially those that find themselves in direct competition with much bigger, better-capitalized, better-established enterprises.

But startup developers shouldn’t necessarily fear competition from their bigger brethren. Being small comes with its own set of advantages, and the presence of big enterprise in a space can often be a help, rather than a hindrance. Here’s some advice for small developers on how to hang with the big boys.

1. Embrace being small. Who says bigger is always better? Large, well-capitalized companies may have more resources, staff members and time, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll come up with a better app.

• Take advantage of the lower bar to entry. And thanks to the relatively low bar to entry for creating a mobile app, which tend to be much less sophisticated and much more easily brought to market than, say, computer software, the field is wide open for small startups or single developers. In 2009, Ethan Nicholas developed the game iShoot in his spare time, and the app eventually rocketed to the No. 1 spot on the Apple App Store. Try telling Nichollas (and plenty more examples like him) that a bunch of staffers at a large gaming company could have done better.
• Take risks. If you’re just starting out as an indie developer, you don’t have shareholders to please, payroll obligations to meet, or a brand to uphold. You may have bills to pay or a family to support, but hopefully you’ll be in a position to experiment. This puts you at an advantage to many corporations, who are often too concerned with making a safe play than to seize the next big opportunity.
• Leverage your flexibility. Bureaucracy can stifle innovation, and it can also make it tougher for companies to respond to the market. At a large corporation, a new idea might have to go through several layers of approval before developers are even allowed to start working on it. In the time it takes them to get off the ground, you may be able to pre-empt them with a similar offering.
• Develop partnerships. It tends to take much longer for large companies to agree on partnership terms with other players, whereas you can start working right away with partners who can help advance your progress. Being an indie app developer means that you are a part of a very large community of highly motivated, talented people. Rely on them! (more…)

In light of the deadly tornadoes hitting Oklahoma, many weather apps rapidly moved up the top paid iPhone apps chart including NOAA Hi-Def Radar at the No. 13 spot, iMap Weather Radio at No. 18, and Storm Shield at No. 22. On the top paid iPad apps chart, Plants vs. Zombies HD moved up the charts, landing at the No. 4 positon, thanks to an update which gave all users 200,000 free coins (the game’s virtual currency).

After making an appearance at last week’s Google I/O keynote, 2D Boy’s World of Goo shot up the top paid Android apps chart by more than 40 spots after being put on sale for $0.99 recently, moving the game to the No. 19 spot as of today. The rest of the chart remained very much the same since last week.

This week’s top paid iPhone apps

This week’s top paid iPad apps

This week’s top paid Android apps

All data in this post comes from our traffic tracking service AppData.

At today’s Microsoft unveiling event for the new Xbox One game console, corporate vice president of Xbox Live Marc Whitten revealed that its second-screen companion app Xbox SmartGlass reached the 10 million downloads mark and that it integrates with the Xbox One, calling it a “native” part of the Xbox One.

Microsoft first revealed Xbox SmartGlass at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo and its currently available on smartphones, tablets, Windows 8 PCs, for use with the Redmond, Wash.-headquartered corporation’s Xbox 360 game console, displaying companion content for entertainment content like films and games.

With the Xbox One, users can now watch live TV via an HDMI pass-through, meaning a cable or satellite box or similar device can connect directly the Xbox One. An HDMI-out port acts as a middleman for the signal between the cable device and TV. Since users can now watch live TV, the SmartGlass can be turned into a remote control of sorts that will allow any other input device a user desires to use SmartGlass for. Fore example, a user can change channels with a no-look flicking motion. The Xbox One will also let multiple users connect to the console with SmartGlass for multiplayer and shared experiences.  Aside from that, not much else was mentioned about Xbox One and SmartGlass integration.

Story is an iPhone app from Disney. It is now available for free in the App Store and carries no additional in-app purchases.

Disney’s Story looks to capture people’s moments and lives and allow them to show off the various stories that make life worth living. Story is a very basic app, but the services it provides and its ability to share with social networks make it an appealing photo and video management app for iPhone users.

Story will prompt users to sign in with a Disney account. If a user doesn’t have a Disney account, they can easily sign up through the app or with their Facebook credentials. Signing into an account isn’t required, but users who wish to share content or send emails through Story need to use a valid Disney login. Once the user logs in, they’re treated to the main screen, which contains two lists: “My Moments” and “My Stories.” Moments are created automatically when Story accesses the iPhone’s camera roll and attempts to sort the images by date and location. The goal is to sort every day and new location into its own moment and the process works well, though not always perfect.

The “My Stories” tab focuses on user-created albums put together as to tell a story. When a story is created, users are given three options for content: photo, video, and text. Photos and videos can be taken on the spot or uploaded from the device or the moments section. Users are also encouraged to add text, creating a bit of a photo album feel to the story. There’s not much room for text, as each entry has a 150 character limit, but Story’s idea is to tell a tale with video and images and not rely heavily on words. This is made easier with the organization in the “My Moments” section. The goal of moments is to arrange a story before the user makes it, and its accurate organization accomplishes this goal with high precision.

When the pictures, videos, and text, are set up and the story is finished, users are able to set a theme. Similar to a slide show presentation, certain themes fit with certain subjects. In Story’s case, there are only five themes, but their variety gives users a fair bit of choice. Once the theme is set, users may preview the story by simply watching it scroll from left to right. If they’re happy with the final product, they can either email the story’s link to someone, or share it on Facebook. Both methods generate a link to the story on the app’s official website. Published stories can be viewed by anyone, provided they have the URL, so users are encouraged to not upload personal information. Users who wish to remove a story from the website can delete the story in the app and it will soon be deleted online. Users who want to share their story through channels other than Facebook or email will need to wait, as Pinterest and Twitter support are still in the works.

Story is a very basic photo sharing app, but it’s simple charm and it’s ease of use make it an appealing option for users who want to share certain moments with friends and family. It’s limited sharing options hurts some of it’s appeal, but future updates look to fill that void. Story isn’t the best presentation maker, nor is it the best photo and video manager, but it does a fine job on both ends and allows users to tell a story in the process.

You can follow Story’s progress with AppData, our tracking service for mobile and social apps and developers.

App monetization platform Burstly today announced that it has restructured the company into an end-to-end mobile app development solution for developers. Now Burstly, which was founded in 2009, will be offering its app testing platform TestFlight, app analytics tool FlightPath and app monetization service SkyRocket (formally the Burstly monetization platform) to all developers, not just for some of the largest apps in the world.

“For the first time, we are our opening up our monetization platform to all mobile developers and publishers through the launch of SkyRocket,” said Evan Rifkin, CEO of Burstly, in a statement. “With Burstly, developers now have the option of using a full suite of integrated services which are incredibly powerful when mixed together, or the flexibility to use each service on its own.”

With the opening of its products to all developers, the Santa Monica, Calif.-headquartered company, which is used by some of the top mobile publishers including Electronic Arts, Rovio, Zynga, and more, will be allowing developers to now create custom segments of users in FlightPath and then using those segments to create different monetization experiences in SkyRocket. For example, developers can choose to not display ads to valuable users, or apologize to users which have experience an app crash by giving away virtual currency in a game. Burstly is now becoming a service that can possibly compete on a level with the likes of Tapjoy, PlayHaven, Millennial Media and more.

Before today’s announcement, Burstly was last making news when it opened its TestFlight for Android private beta to all users, and in just 45 days of closed beta, 5,000 developers uploaded 4,500 apps which have seen more than 50,000 downloads. Burstly also recently announced the private beta launch of FlightPath, its mobile analytics service for mobile app developers, featuring real-time data that can be customized and segmented to the developer’s liking.