According to NPD, 2012 digital game sales were:

• U.S. -$5.9 billion (40 percent of total U.S. dollars spent on games, up from 28 percent in 2010)
• U.K. – $1.7 billion
• Germany – $1.4 billion
• France – $1 billion.

For 2012, the U.S. breaks down as:

• New retail games – $7.1 billion
• Used games – $1.59 billion
• Digital games and DLC -$2.22 billion
• Game subscriptions – $1.05 billion
• Social network games – $544 million
• Game rentals -$198 million
• Mobile games -$2.11 billion
• Digital full games and DLC combined grew 33.9 percent for the year
• Subscriptions grew 12.9 percent
• Mobile games grew 10.4 percent

• The UK has the highest percentage of console players
• France prefers portable consoles
• Germany prefers computers
• US is most partial to gaming on mobile and tablet platforms
• In the US, 27 percent of mobile gamers pay
• In Europe, 40 percent of mobile gamers pay
• U.K. average spending on mobile games is $16
• U.S. average spending on mobile games is $9
• In China, Mobile game spending is projected to reach$1 billion this year, and $2.8 billion in 2016.

Here’s a great presentation from Xyo app search on App discovery and App Store optimization. It has a lot of information such as the importance of the App name, icon, keywords and the optimal copy to get an App higher up in the rankings. Anyone launching a iOS, Android, or Windows Mobile app should check this out.

According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech: iOS was the top selling smartphone platform in the U.S, for the 12 week period ending November 25th, 2012. iPhone 5 helped push the number past 50 percent, the first time iOS has hit that level.

U.S. smartphone sales break down as:

• iOS – 53.3%
• Android -41.9%
• Windows Mobile – 2.7%
• Other – 2.1%

In an article on GamesBeat, information was given as to how GREE values mobile installs when determining what to spend on user acquisition.

*In Japan, GREE’s mobile install Lifetime Value (LTV) is around $15
*In the U.S.A., a mobile install is valued between $2-$5
*GREE says they have a 50 percent organic install rate and they tune the amount they are willing to spend on an install accordingly.
*The average install they are paying is in the $2 range according to the article.

Flurry released new data that gives insight into the demographics of smartphones and tablets, as well as how people spend their time on the devices.

• Smartphone users tend to be younger than tablet users, 30 years of age versus 34 years of age
• Almost 75 percent of smartphone users are 34 years of age or younger
• More than 66 percent of tablet users are over the age of 25
• Smartphones break down 56 percent male and 44 percent female
• Tablets split by gender are 51 percent male and 49 percent female
• 67 percent of time spent on tablets is attributed to playing games
• 39 percent of time spent on smartphones is attributed to playing games

• Digital revenues grew 45 percent over the same quarter in 2011 to $314 million
• Mobile increased 61% to $89 million
• PC Downloads for fiscal Q2 were $144 million – an increase of 45 percent

According to Strategy Analytics, and a VentureBeat article, we have a pretty good view of what is happening in the mobile market with respect to smartphones and tablets. Growth continues in the market and Android continues to gain market share from Apple.

• Global tablet shipments reached 24.7 million units in the third quarter of 2012
• Apple iOS slipped to 57 percent global market share
• Android captured a 41 percent global market share
• Apple shipped 14.0 million iPads worldwide in Q3
• Global Android tablet shipments doubled annually to 10.2 million units
• Global tablet shipments grew just 43 percent annually in Q3 2012, compared with 289 percent annually in Q2 2011.
• 162 million smartphones sold globally in the third quarter of 2012
• While Samsung shipped 56.9 million smartphone units
• Apple shipped 26.9 million iPhones

iSuppli released a projection that Apple will ship 149 Million smartphones in 2012. This is up from the 2011 total of 93 Million units, an increase of 60 percent.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Android phones are now outpacing iOS by a ratio of four to one.

Top Smartphone Operating Systems, Shipments, and Market Share, Q2 2012 (Units in Millions) 

Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, August 8, 2012

According to NPD, the highest price parents are willing to pay for an App for their children tends to be about $4.10, with $2.40 being the average price of the last App they purchased.

NPD released more info here. Kids tend to play on devices that have 12 Apps installed, but 88 percent of those are free Apps.

• Children spend approximately five days a week using mobile devices such as a smartphone, tablet or iPod Touch, with an average session generally lasting just under one hour
• An average of 6.5 gaming applications are on the device
• Gaming is the most popular type of app used by children, followed by listening to or downloading music, and taking pictures
• 87% of boys play games
• 80% of girls play games
• Gaming applications are the apps most frequently paid for at 35%, followed closely by educational games and movie apps
• “Those who already own a device but don’t let their child use it would allow their child to do so if more educational apps were available or if the devices were durable enough to withstand the child’s use.”