Extreme Fragmentation — There Are Nearly 12,000 Distinct Android Devices In the Wild

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There Are Nearly 12,000 Distinct Android Devices (OpenSignal)
OpenSignal surveyed a sample of 682,000 devices that downloaded their app over the past few months. When looking specifically at Android, their analysis showed 11,868 distinct Android devices that had downloaded the OpenSignal app. Notably, Samsung had a 47.5% share of these devices. The report also discussed Android operating system fragmentation, screen size fragmentation, and compared these statistics to those associated with Apple's iOS. Read >

Facebook Announces New Mobile Game Publishing Effort (TechCrunch)
Facebook officially announced their plans to become a mobile game publisher. They will market their game development program to small and medium-sized developers who have struggled to gain visibility in the competitive app store ecosystem. Read >

Facebook Wants To Sell TV-Style Ads For $1-$2.5 Million Per Spot (All Things Digital)
Facebook is planning to expand the video ad capability on its site to include TV-style ads by early Fall 2013. The ads would be short clips, and will fill most of the page and audio will turn on if a user clicks on the ad. It will reportedly seek $1-$2.5 million per spot. Read >

Instagram Blocks Windows Phone Third-Party App Photo Uploads (The Verge)
The absence of an Instagram app on Windows Phone has opened the doors for third-party photo app developers, which seek to emulate the Instagram experience on the Microsoft platform. However, Facebook, parent company of Instagram, is tracking and deleting photos uploaded with these third-party apps, according to The Verge. An Instagram spokesperson commented, "We recently made an update to the systems that we use to fight spam to help prevent future attacks and increase security." Read >

Smartphone Boom Has Been A Boon For A Pioneer In Semiconductors (The Economist)
The Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world's leading semiconductor foundry (it makes computing chips designed by other firms, such as ARM) and has benefited greatly from the mobile computing boom. Gartner believes TSMC holds 90% of the market for a specific chip essential to smartphones and tablets. Read >

Expect Delays: Why Today's Top Apps Are Putting You On A Wait List (The Verge)
When popular e-mail app Mailbox launched in February, it was forced to put potential new users on a waitlist to download the app. The Verge looks at the scaling issues app developers may run into and explains the extensive reasons behind why app waitlists exist. Read >

Amazon Offers Free Sample Options On Updated Kindle For iOS App (The Next Web)
The update to Amazon's Kindle for iOS app introduced a new feature — free sample downloads. It also includes the ability to search Amazon's entire catalog of e-books directly in the app. It's a clever way to circumvent Apple's App Store rules, which gives Apple a 30% share of all in-app purchases while increasing in-app user engagement. Read >

eBay CEO Credits AirBnB For Influencing Mobile App Redesign (Business Insider)
AirBnB had a major influence on eBay's mobile app redesign, says eBay CEO John Donahoe. This influence is flowing over to its web site as well. Read >