Active usage data for the top mobile apps is generally under lock and key by the developers. Here at Inside Mobile Apps we post weekly articles that take a look at the top grossing (as well as paid and free) apps charts for iOS and Android. Mobile app developers want to not only see who’s on the list, but know how to get to the top of the list.

Onavo, a company that develops consumer apps that track data usage for users, took a look of their own at the highest-grossing games. The company wanted to see if there was a correlation with the top games successfully generating revenue such as Clash of Clans, Castle Age, and Modern War, and how those titles stack up against each other when user base is factored in.

To accomplish this, the Tel Aviv-based company looked at the usage for the top 25 grossing iPhone games in the U.S. of November 2012. They looked at the market share, in which Onavo said is the percentage of their U.S. iPhone users that use the any of the top 25 games. Onavo also calculated average engagement and the relative value of its users, which is represented by a scoring system based on average revenue per user (ARPU). The chart below takes the percentage of users actively playing a particular game and the rank for each game on the top grossing apps charts, and then Onavo took those numbers to estimate the strength of the ARPU for each title.

Games with the largest market share were Angry Birds Star Wars with 3.9 percent, Subway Surfers with 3.5 percent and Bike Race Free with 3.4 percent, even though none of the titles ranked higher than seven. Onavo found that Applibot’s RPG card battler Legends of Cryptids and Cygames developed Rage of Bahamut have the highest ARPUs despite both having small market shares. Rage of Bahamut has done so well, Japanese mobile-social gaming juggernaut DeNA paid $92 million for a 20 percent share in Cygames and the game has been consistently at the No. 1 spot on the U.S. top grossing Android apps chart for months

Onavo is known for its two free apps, Onavo Extend and Onavo Count, for iOS and Android. Extend allows a user to compress their wireless data, saving the user money while also providing insights into data usage. Count grants the user the ability to see data usage on an individual app basis.

Onavo have single-digit millions of users using their suite of apps, so this allows the company to look into daily mobile traffic for a slew of apps. Also, Onavo’s apps are made for consumers and the company doesn’t work directly with developers. This means Onavo can make active usage for particular apps public without the repercussions of having a developer no longer working with them, which would be the case for mobile analytics companies such as Flurry.

Minimalist task manager app Clear (which we reviewed here) has proven to be quite popular despite its premium price point, so it’s unsurprising to see some app developers attempting to piggyback off that success with their own products that superficially resemble Realmac’s title. Thing, a recent release in the Productivity category (available in both free and paid incarnations, with the only difference being the paid version’s customizable color schemes), is one such example — but is it a simple clone or something more?

First impressions are that Thing is simply a ripoff of Clear. It has the same gradient-color interface, the same gestures and even an almost identical (albeit recolored) icon. However, delving a little deeper reveals the fact that Thing Free is actually a more fully-featured — if less polished — task manager than Realmac’s offering.

Like Clear, Thing allows users to create lists of tasks and then populate these lists with individual items. Tasks can be marked as completed by swiping to the right, or deleted by swiping to the left. Entire lists can also be manipulated in this manner. Once tasks or lists have been marked as completed they may be “cleared” — deleted permanently — by shaking the device. (Clear also allows users to pull up from the bottom of the screen to perform this function, but Thing does not.)

The difference between Clear and Thing is that the above functionality is where Realmac’s title stops — it deliberately chooses to forgo more complex functionality in favor of providing a simple, minimalist experience. Thing, meanwhile, allows users to tap on an individual item or list in order to manipulate it. It’s possible to add notes to a task, set a reminder, move it to a new list or share it via Facebook, Twitter, email or SMS. Twitter and Facebook connectivity use iOS 5 and 6′s built-in functionality respectively rather than external apps or web-based interfaces. If sending a task via email, the task name is set as the subject and any notes put into the body of the email.

This additional functionality may please those who tried Clear and found it somewhat limited, though there are still common to-do list features that are missing from Thing — recurring tasks being one that springs immediately to mind. Where the app is obviously inferior to Realmac’s title is in its presentation, however. Clear makes use of the full iOS display space and relies exclusively on gestural controls to navigate, giving a pleasingly minimalist aesthetic. Thing, meanwhile, features a default iOS title bar and back button at the top of every screen. This provides straightforward, recognizable functionality for those used to it, but it looks ugly and clashes somewhat with the rest of the interface. Along similar lines, the frame rate of animations when creating or manipulating items is not as smooth and slick as Clear, making the app look somewhat unpolished. The sounds used are low-quality, too, with audible noise evident — Clear’s sound effects, meanwhile, are crystal clear, no pun intended.

Thing is a decent to-do list app, but its obvious and shameless copying of Clear cannot be ignored. No acknowledgement is given to Realmac Software on the App Store pages for either the paid or the free version, and given the fact the app even uses the same default color scheme as Clear it’s difficult to believe that the resemblance is coincidental. Its additional functionality may make it a more fully-featured app than Clear, but it could be argued that a big part of Clear’s appeal is that it doesn’t clutter its interface with any more than the bare minimum required to make lists. Thing, meanwhile, occupies a curious middle ground between the minimalism of Clear and the functionality of more complex to-do list apps, and it’s difficult to know exactly who it’s aimed at. Consequently, it’s tough to recommend it in good conscience.

Thing and its free counterpart are not yet listed on the App Store leaderboards. Check back soon to follow their progress with AppData, our tracking service for mobile and social apps and developers.

Monetization and insights provider W3i is stepping up its game with Pocket Gems and other mobile game developers on Android going into 2013. This could be the year that Google’s platform finally catches up in revenues to Apple’s iOS.

Through its expanded partnership with Pocket Games, W3i now provides monetization solutions to Tap Paradise Cove and Campus Life. Far from being mere banner ads, the monetization service focuses instead on providing a native experience in these Android apps — tailoring ads, offers and video campaigns to the user experience.

Erik Lundberg, General Manager at W3i’s San Francisco office (pictured), explains that the shift toward native experiences comes from mobile advertising finally moving away from online advertising models. With 15 years in online ads before joining W3i just eight months ago, he’s had time to study the changing trends.

“In the early days of ads and mobile apps, people took online models and slapped them on a smartphone like small banner ads that are only 100 pixels wide,” says Lundberg. “Users have tuned those out. More native ads like a full screen interstitial or offer-based ads, we see a much higher CPM, like 10 times higher. We think that trend will continue toward native ads that are a part of the application instead of just throwing up a banner.”

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App tracking company Distimo released a year-end report today which detailed Google Play’s significant growth in daily revenue, the ability of an app to quickly reach one million downloads and listed the top cross-platform publishers.

The report shows that Google Play showed significant growth in the past fourth months, growing 43 percent in aggregated daily revenue across 20 of the biggest countries. Comparatively, the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad grew 21 percent in the same time frame. Back in January 2012, the Apple App Store grew 51 percent in estimated daily revenues, with the iPad daily revenue increasing by 71 percent and the iPhone by 40 percent.

Despite Google Play’s impressive growth in the last four months, on a typical day in November 2012 in 20 of the largest countries, revenues in the Apple App Store exceeded $15 million, while Google Play revenues were just below $3.5 million.

Distimo used developer Omgpop’s Pictionary-like game Draw Something as an example of an app that reached one million downloads in a short amount of time — nine days in Draw Something’s case. Distimo found an app that reached one million users even faster in South Korean publisher Naver’s puzzle title Line Pop, which was estimated to reach one million downloads in one day and 1.75 million in 72 hours. Line Pop also generated $1 million in estimated revenue within the first 12 days since launch. In comparison, it took AOL nine years and Facebook nine months to reach the one million user milestone.

Distimo added that a significant uptick in downloads is most common with game apps, which are the most downloaded and highest revenue generating types of apps. However, other genres like entertainment and social apps can generate a lot of downloads as well.

Distimo also found that the amount of revenue coming from in-app purchases increased from 53 percent to 69 percent in 2012, demonstrating the popularity of in-app purchases as a monetization strategy among publishers. There were still successful apps and publishers making money with a one-off fee, premium strategy. On iOS, 35 percent of revenue from the top 10 publishers derived from one-off fees. For example, developer Mojang’s Minecraft – Pocket Edition was a successful app, as well as other top publishers including Electronic Arts, Apple and Gameloft.

Distimo put together a top 10 chart of the highest grossing cross-platform publishers (developer Supercell as the single app store exception), nine of which were gaming companies, with Apple as the lone non-gaming publisher.

Pocket Card Lab is an iOS app from Urbn Pockets. It’s normally a paid app, but in celebration of the festive season, the developers have temporarily made it free so children and the young at heart can make their own electronic holiday cards without having to pay a cent. It’s available now from the App Store.

Pocket Card Lab takes its users through several steps to create their card. Firstly, users have the option of taking a photograph to use as the backdrop. This may use either the front or rear camera, and makes use of a custom camera interface rather than the standard iOS setup. There are a few issues with this functionality, however — sometimes the “shutter” graphic appears on screen and does not open up to reveal the actual image underneath, necessitating use of the “switch camera” function to make it appear correctly. There also does not appear to be a means of using the flash.

Once the user has taken a photograph or imported a backdrop from their camera roll, they may then begin to customize their card. This is a strictly linear step-by-step process in which users first choose one of three cartoonish characters or none at all, then move on to a component where various stickers can be dragged onto the screen, rotated and resized. Following this, one of several preset pieces of text may be optionally added and moved on the page, then a frame/overlay added, and finally a custom message composed and positioned. After the card is complete, users may either save it as an image to their camera roll or send it via email. There is no other social functionality in the app.

Pocket Card Lab does a good basic job of allowing users to assemble a holiday-themed card. Its interface is relatively simple to understand — though some of its icons are a little obtuse in meaning — and straightforward enough for a child to use. Several of the components have flawed or overly-limited functionality, however. Besides the already-mentioned camera issue, the sticker component is the worst offender, with the app not making the various gestures required to rotate, resize and delete the various objects at all clear, and a seeming complete inability to “layer” objects, making certain compositions all but impossible to accomplish.

The app is also a little limited in content. The preset characters cover three broad stereotypes — white blonde-haired girl, white brown-haired boy and curly-haired black boy — and these may not be customized. The stickers fare a little better, with a much wider selection on offer, but the inability to layer them properly makes them difficult to use effectively. The preset text messages also suffer from a limited selection, though the ability to also add a custom message negates this somewhat — when the app doesn’t capture an image of the text cursor and “delete” button in the process of assembling the card, that is.

Pocket Card Lab is a good idea, then, just one that is a little limited and flawed in its execution. It is reasonable quality for a free (and ad-free) app, but it’s difficult to imagine paying money for this in its current state.

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

FlightBoard is an iOS app from Mobiata. It’s normally a paid app, but at the time of writing it is enjoying a feature spot as the App Store App of the Week, which also means it is temporarily free to download.

FlightBoard is a very simple idea — it allows users to turn their iOS device into a live arrivals or departures board for any airport in the world. Featuring a visual aesthetic based on the electronic signage at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, the app allows users to quickly and easily search for airports or specific flights, retrieve details on them and share information via social media.

Upon starting the app for the first time, the user is invited to select an airport’s information to view. This may be accomplished in several ways — searching directly, using location services to choose from a list of (relatively) nearby airports, or shaking the device to view information from a random airport. Once an airport has been selected, the main board appears, and users may start delving deeper into the available information.

The basic screen shows departures information by default, including flight numbers, destination (as three-letter short code), gate number if available and estimated time of departure. Times are color-coded according to their status — green flights are on schedule or early, blue flights have arrived and red flights have been delayed. The display may be switched to show arrivals information at any time by flipping a virtual switch in the top-right corner of the screen — in this case, the board shows flight number, point of origin (again, as three-letter short code) and estimated time of arrival with color codes.

Tapping an individual flight in the list causes it to open up some additional information. Specifically, it brings up the origin and destination points for the flight, gate and terminal numbers where appropriate, and also information on whether or not it  is expected to depart/arrive on time. A “share” button allows access to additional functionality — flight information may be shared via email, iMessage, Twitter and Facebook, or alternatively the user may use this button to switch their display to the other airport involved in the flight. If the user has Mobiata’s FlightTrack app installed on their device, they may also use this feature to switch to the other app and view the flight data in real time. If FlightTrack is not installed on the user’s device, a splash screen pops up inviting the user to “learn more” — tapping this button takes the user to the App Store and the paid version of FlightTrack, which costs $4.99. What the button doesn’t mention is that there is also a free and a $9.99 “Pro” version of FlightTrack also available, each offering a different amount of functionality.

FlightBoard is a good idea that, assuming the information is up-to-date, will prove useful for frequent travellers along with their families and colleagues. Some App Store reviewers have complained that the information displayed in the app does not always match up with what is shown at the airport, but the majority of comments are very positive, and the app appears to refresh its information regularly.

FlightBoard will likely get a lot of use over the holiday period as far-flung relatives travel long distances to be together for the end of the year. The app’s functionality is certainly good and easy to understand, though any recommendation comes with the caveat that it is only as good as the information which is provided to it.

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

We are in New York for the Inside Social Apps conference at the New Yorker Hotel. Managing Editor of Inside Network AJ Glasser sat down with a panel on the topic of platform opportunities for 2013. The panel consisted of Jamie Conroy, Director of Special Product at TripAdvisor, Josh Hubbal, Head of Business Development at App.net, David Miyoshi, VP of Social Games at GSN Digital, John Spinale, SVP of Social Games at Disney Interactive Media Group and Jeremy Toeman, CEO of Dijit Media.

The panel offered perspective on what major platform operators ought to be doing to improve the developer ecosystem. The Following is a paraphrased account of what was said on the panel.

Glasser: Platforms are a constantly evolving space, where are your users coming from?

Conroy: More and more people are coming through mobile or Facebook. Facebook is interesting as a touch point for users. It is important to optimize experience on Facebook. It is important to fit into the flow of the platform that you choose.

Miyoshi: Mobile is more for paid content.

Spinale: There is a casual gaming audience there as well. Dependent on User interfance and platform. More and more people are accessing mobile platforms.

Toeman: The No. 1 driver is app store SEO. It’s a highly specific, highly known universe. You get natural uplift from television viewers and associated app SEO.

Hubball: We’re starting to see other social services using app.net, word of mouth and cross posting on Facebook and Twitter.

Glasser: What is the biggest challenge in becoming a cross platform developer?

Miyoshi: Hiring top talent. Everybody wants to work on mobile right now so you need people that are willing to work on separate platforms.

Spinale: Creating the right experience at the right point in time.

Conroy: Now that mobile has proliferated it is especially complex. Developers need to ensure they are available to their users across all the platforms and provide a good experience there.

Toeman: We need a more purposeful experience. People access our products through different devices so we had to reinvent what the experience is. It is important for you to create the right experience for the item they are using. You need to figure what to be rather than being cross platform.

Hubball: We focused on building the API. It is the most expressive use of information available. Instagram focused on iOS when It started which allowed it to focus on a good job. Focusing on being cross platform makes you spread out resources.

Glasser: What is the best technology to use for apps that aren’t games?

Toeman: HTML is the only way to go, it is versatile. The Android tablet experience isn’t at the level of what could be offered at the moment.

Hubball: Our initial strategy was a hybrid of different technologies.

Glasser: The cost of user acquisition is rising. What do you expect to see in the competition between the platforms in the next year?

Toeman: Next year it is going to be much more expensive for iOS user acquisition so it is important to focus on that until the new year.

Glasser: Do you see potential other emerging platforms in the future?

Miyoshi: Windows is worth a look with how heavy they are pushing this platform as a competitor.

Toeman: No way. consumers are smart. It is one of the best products they have put out, the ship has sailed for windows.

Miyoshi: We look at iOS users as the most valuable, the Android user is dead. We may see windows. They may not dominate, but there could be a shift in user base.

Toeman: The iOS is so much far ahead than others and that is why we may see better experiences.

Glasser: Which phone do you have with you today?

All the panelists say they have an iPhone with them.

Conroy: It is important to look across the world as many users are outside of the english speaking territories This is why iPhone and Android are see large growth ant the market can still change.

Glasser: If you could go back a year, what changes would you make based on what you know now?

Toeman: Simplify. Cut things down. Get everything you can get in your app in the simplest way possible. Reduce the clutter.

Hubball: The business model of the platform for which you are developing for is important. if your plan does not fit into what they are doing, you need to adjust.

Spinale: We would have jumped on the Android bandwagon earlier.

Miyoshi: Focusing and doubling down. Once you see success, you should focus.

VJay for iPhone is a new release from Algoriddim. It’s available now at an introductory price of $0.99 from the App Store, and is only compatible with iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 and 5th-generation iPod touch. It’s also currently highlighted as an Editor’s Choice app on the App Store front page.

VJay is an app that allows users to mix two videos and soundtracks from their device’s music library together to create a “mashup.” On-screen controls allow for real-time mixing between the two videos and their soundtracks, and special effects may be applied for a true “video DJ” experience. Those with the appropriate equipment may even cue up upcoming tracks using a headphone splitter, allowing for the creation of non-stop mixes with video.

The simplest use for VJay is simply to crossfade back and forth between two videos. Sample content is included with the app for users to get started with, or alternatively users may shoot their own video and/or use content from their device’s content library. Once two videos have been loaded, they start to play at the same time, and through use of an on-screen crossfader, the user can switch between them. Tapping a button in the top-left corner of the screen allows the user to choose between various transition effects rather than a simple visual crossfade, and a settings icon in the top-right corner of the screen allows for options to be customized — including the ability to crossfade the sound and visuals independently of one another.

When viewed in portrait mode, users can watch their “mix” on a virtual top screen while applying effects to one of the two videos on a lower display. Effects can include strobe lighting, bitcrushing, psychedelic “twisting” effects and numerous others. Most are applied through simply tapping and holding on the virtual lower screen to determine the strength of the effect. The lower screen may also be used to adjust the EQ values of the videos in real-time, to loop small parts of one of the videos or manage the way in which the two tracks sync up with each other.

At any time, the user may record their performance, with all their crossfading and application of effects applied in real-time, and then export the resulting video to their camera roll, Facebook or YouTube.

VJay is clearly a very powerful application, and its ability to broadcast its output via AirPlay or HDMI output means it will be a useful tool for those interested in the art of the video DJ. Its low introductory price suggests that it is an attempt to get more people interested in the techniques, though, and it’s here where the app falls down somewhat, in that it doesn’t provide any help whatsoever. Its interface is largely icon-based and for the most part the icons are relatively intuitive, but it takes some experimentation to determine exactly what all the elements do, or indeed what the app is even for at first glance.

The app’s “help” menu includes a link to Algoriddim’s website and their online help center, but the information available in here is extremely limited. A “tips and tricks” section is a little more helpful, but not organized in a particularly logical order. What the app really needs is a full, searchable manual and the option of an interactive tutorial — or at least some additional information online to help users get started. As it stands, VJay is a powerful tool for those who know what they are doing, but runs the strong risk of being completely indecipherable to those not already with the conventions of video DJing.

Clear is an iOS-based To-Do list app from Realmac Software. The app has been available for a little while now, but the recently-released Mac OS X version has been positively received and has brought an influx of new users thanks to its iCloud integration. The iOS version is available now for $1.99.

Clear is designed to be a simple, gesture-driven list-making app that provides a simple, no-frills interface for organizing and prioritizing tasks. Users are able to create multiple lists to categorize items, create as many entries within that list as they desire, organize them into order of priority and then mark them off as completed when appropriate.

The gestures used in the app take a little learning initially, but soon become second nature. Pulling a list down creates a new item at the top. Pinching two existing list items apart creates an item between them. Tapping and holding allows an item to be reordered. Swiping to the right marks something as completed, while swiping to the left deletes it. Shaking the device allows undo/redo functionality as well as the ability to paste in a list of tasks from elsewhere, while pulling the list up from the bottom allows for the user to “Clear” any items marked as completed.

Pinching a list together “zooms out” to the next layer. If looking at the contents of a list, the app moves to the list of lists. If looking at the list of lists, the app moves to its main menu, from which it’s possible to choose a color scheme for the app, read some tips and tricks, follow the individual members of the Clear team on Twitter, and customize various settings including iCloud support, app badges, whether or not the iOS status bar is visible and whether sound effects and vibration are used as additional feedback during use. In a nice touch, there is some unobtrusive cross-promotion between apps — having the popular game LetterPress installed on one’s device unlocks a LetterPress-inspired color scheme in Clear.

Clear is a simple but effective app for making lists. Its gestural controls work well for the most part — though the “pinch together” move is sometimes difficult to perform correctly — and it is presented well, with a simple, clean visual style and satisfying (optional) sound effects. It lacks some features that some may desire from a more conventional To-Do list app, however — there is no means of setting a due date on a task, nor any means of setting a reminder. It is simply a means of creating, organizing and prioritizing lists, and while this will be enough for some users, it may frustrate those looking for a little more functionality.

All this said, Clear is up-front about what it does and doesn’t do, and the things it does do it does extremely well. iCloud integration between multiple iOS devices and the Mac OS X version is seamless and easy to set up thanks to how deeply iCloud is baked into the various operating systems, and the app is quick and easy enough to use on all platforms to make it an eminently practical solution for those who need to make lists. There may be free apps out there that have similar functionality — Any.DO is a good example — but few quite so polished as Clear.

Photo Collage is an iOS app from Privacy & Picture Browser Lab. It’s available in free and paid “Pro” versions now. The developer does not appear to have a Web presence, with the “Support” link in iTunes simply linking to a rather generic-looking Twitter account that has not been used since February.

Photo Collage allows its users to select from one of a variety of different photo frame templates, most of which allow for several photos to be presented together. While most other photo apps tend to limit the user to a square aspect ratio for easy posting on sites such as Instagram, Photo Collage allows its users to use 1:1, 4:3, 3:4 or 3:2 aspect ratios as they see fit.

Once a template has been chosen, the user may fill the various gaps with photos from their device’s photo library. There does not appear to be the means to take a photograph from within the app, which is a rather surprising oversight.

Once the spaces have been filled with photographs, the user may then use various tools to manipulate them. A variety of automatic Instagram-style filters are available, and slider bars allow for the adjusting of “balance” between the various individual photos — a photo that the user wishes to make particularly prominent may be made larger at the expense of the other pictures’ available space. It’s also possible to rotate and flip an individual photo.

Closing the interface that pops up when a photo is added reveals four more options: the ability to select a new frame or aspect ratio, the ability to “round off” the corners of the individual photos within the frame, the ability to adjust the color or background pattern of the frame, and the ability to adjust the size of the photos within the frame.

Once the user is happy with their creation, a “Share” button in the top right corner of the screen can be tapped to perform a variety of actions with the photo in “normal” or “high” quality. It may be saved to the device’s photo album, copied to the clipboard, emailed or printed. It may also be shared with Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Instagram. Twitter compatibility uses iOS 5+’s built-in functionality, Facebook support uses the external app, Tumblr allows the user to log in within the app itself and the supposed “Instagram” compatibility actually pops up the iOS “Open With…” dialog, allowing the user to send the picture to any other apps compatible with this functionality as well as Instagram.

Photo Collage has a solid idea at its core, but it is not very polished. Its interface features a variety of buttons and elements that provide no clear indication of what they do, and there does not appear to be a help or tutorial facility in the app. The free version is riddled with advertising, too, with popup advertisements appearing when the user switches back to the app using iOS multitasking, and occasionally simply at random when tapping on interface elements. The Pro version, which the free version regularly nags users to upgrade to, removes this particular issue, but the other interface concerns remain.

There are better photo manipulation apps on the App Store, in short — ones that do everything Photo Collage does with a more intuitive, well-designed interface, and often for free. This particular app, then, is one to skip for now.

Photo Collage Free is currently ranked at No. 4 in Top Free Business Apps and No. 9 in Top Free iPad Business Apps. Its paid counterpart, meanwhile, is ranked at No. 21 in Top Paid Business Apps, No. 55 in Top Grossing Business Apps, No 39 in Top Paid iPad Business Apps and No 151 in Top Grossing iPad Business Apps. Follow both versions’ progress with AppData, our tracking service for mobile and social apps and developers.