News
Paul O'Connor from Gamasutra.com, February, 2012
“Appy Entertainment committed to developing SpellCraft in late 2010. Trucks & Skulls launched as a premium hit that November, enjoying Apple's top banner support on iTunes, but even during that period of record earnings we knew the iOS market had shifted. And we were right. After a strong run through the holidays, Trucks would drop out of the App Store Top 100. The market was speaking with its wallet -- it was freemium or bust. As of this writing, 70 percent of the U.S. App Store "Top Grossing" games are freemium titles, and there's little reason to believe that trend will reverse any time soon.”
Read more: Postmortem: Appy Entertainment's SpellCraft School of Magic
Sarah Perez from TechCrunch.com, November 2011
“W3i, a monetization and distribution network for mobile app developers, is announcing the launch of a new $10 million 'AppX Game Developer Marketing Fund'… The fund will provide developers with a suite of free services that offer production support, analytics and user acquisition channel analysis, all of which are designed to help indie developers compete with today's "AAA" gaming giants.”
Read more: W3i Announces $10 Million Marketing Fund For Indie Game Developers
Jon Jordan from Poceketgamer.biz, November, 2011
“US outfit W3i has gone large, however, with its $10 million AppX fund, which is designed to fund user acquisition for freemium games on iOS and Android.” Interview with Ryan Weber, Senior VP of Product Development and Co-founder, W3i.
Read more: W3i's Ryan Weber on spending its AppX 'real cash' $10 million user acquisition warchest across 50 games
Eric Caoili from Gamasutra.com, November, 2011
Read more: W3i Announces $10 Million Marketing Fund For Indie Game Developers
Jeff Pesek from TECHdotMN.com, November, 2011
Read more: W3i launches $10m game developer marketing fund 'AppX'
Sarah Perez from TechCrunch.com, October 2011
“According to W3i, developers can and should begin tracking the iPhone's® MAC address as a UDID alternative, as it has successfully seen Apple approve its own application where this is the case.”
Read more: W3i Suggests iOS Developers Use MAC Address As UDID Replacement
Gamasutra, October 2011
“SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced that they are offering two of their best-selling iPhone® and iPod® touch titles for free during AppAllStar's Champion Week in a pair of one-day-only special events.”
Read more: SEGA Goes Completely Bananas with Free Versions of Super Monkey Ball 2 and Streets of Rage 2 for iOS
Jon Jordan from Pocketgamer.biz, September 2011
“As can clearly be seen, the biggest traffic source boiled down to provide 6.22 percent of active users, while the second biggest source was the worst performing, being three times less effective. The third largest traffic source was the best however, being 13 times more effective than the second biggest source.”
Read more: Gamers sourced by incentivized downloads can be six times more valuable than organic traffic says W3i
Sarah Perez from TechCrunch.com, August 2011
Regarding W3i's new service: “The new service, now in beta, is simply being called “Games Platform,” the company says. And its goal will be to solve the challenges facing game developers such as server set-up, maintenance, security, storefronts and analytics.”
Read more: W3i Launches New Services for iOS Game Developers
Sarah Perez from ReadWrite Mobile, July 2011
“With W3i’s new product called the ‘Mobile App Ad Platform (MAAP),’ developers can offer their iOS apps for free for 24 hours and market them via banner ads that display within other applications.” “Ads and notifications can be directly tied to actions within another game, explains the company. That means the ad can be set to only display at certain intervals within gameplay, or when certain achievements are reached, for instance.”
Read more: W3i Launches Replacement Program for Now-Banned Incentivized Installs on iOS
Read more: Phil Hornshaw, Appolicious: Apple’s rules force app distributors to evolve new methods
Read more: Ryan Kim, Gigaom: Mobile app distribution evolves in the wake of Apple's incentivized install ban
Keith Andrew from Pocketgamer.biz, July 2011
“Specifically, what does MAAP have to offer developers?
MAAP provides developers with an easy-to-implement alternative monetization solution that will most likely fall between ads and incentivized installs in terms of performance. Additionally, for advertisers, we anticipate the combination of time-based offers to increase conversions, giving them a bigger bang for their ad buck.”
Read more: W3i’s Melissa Johnson on how its Mobile App Ad Network offers incentivisation without the controversy
Ryan Kim from Gigaom, February 2011
“Developer Recharge Studios, the maker of Dolphin Play, released a statement today calling upon Apple to make a number of changes to its in-app purchase system including a requirement for password input for each purchase. “Our primary concern at Recharge Studios is maintaining a high level of consumer transparency. Ensuring the consumer understands the in-app purchase process and refund process is absolutely necessary to help avert confusion,” said CEO Andrew Johnson.”
Read more: Apple Contemplating Reduction in 15-Minute App Purchase Window
Read more: Jim Squires, GameZebo: Making in-app purchases safer: An interview with W3i/Recharge Studios’ Hayden Creque
Read more: Joel Mathis, Macworld.com: Developers respond to FTC inquiry on in-app purchases
Dusan Belic from Into Mobil, January 2011
“The solution provides customizable offer interfaces for publishers, reporting for developers, and robust reporting and targeting for advertisers. End-users (iOS gamers) benefit from an offer experience geared for them – the platform easily advances gameplay for users while providing access to their download history and customer support with only a few taps.”
Read more: W3i’s new Ad-Funded Payment Platform is another take on app discovery
Sarah Perez from Read Write Web/Mobile, January 2011
“App recommendation service W3i has just launched a new platform which targets mobile, to complement its existing PC and Web application recommendation services.”
Read more: W3i’s New Mobile Platform Rewards Users for Installing Apps
Ryan Kim from GigaOm, January 2011
“Andy Johnson, CEO of W3i, said its W3i Ad-Funded Payment Platform is trying to create a win-win-win for developers, advertisers and users. He said developers are able to better monetize their apps, a struggle in increasingly crowded app stores. Advertisers can get better distribution of their apps and insight into their marketing efforts while users are able to get something for free, which is overwhelmingly how they like to obtain things.”
Read more: Alternative Payment Services Ride the Freemium App Boom
Keith Andrew from Pocketgamer.biz, December 2010
“A lot of people made a lot of money on Facebook and once word got out that there was money to be made there, the marketplace got crowded fast and getting those new users became a challenge. For the little guy trying to compete with the big guy it becomes problematic. W3i fixes that problem.”
Read more: W3i on how its $1 Million Recharge Studios Publishing Fund Will Fire up iOS Social Gaming
Brad Hilderbrand from 148Apps.biz, December 2010
“Add one more company to the list of freemium supporters, as W3i has announced the formation of Recharge Studios and is officially throwing down the gauntlet to all available developers. The publisher is challenging the development community to come up with great new freemium game ideas . . .”
Read more: Recharge Studios Handing Out a Million Dollars for Freemium Games
Chris Morrison from Inside Social Games, November 2010
“Recharge is planning to invest a minimum of $1 million for outside studios to make social games for the iOS. To sweeten the pot, Recharge only wants a share of iOS profits in return — in other words, it won’t ask for an ownership stake in the company or launches on other platforms, like Android.”
Read more: W3i Starts a Fund to Lure Facebook Developers to iOS Gaming
Britt Johnsen from ROI Central Minnesota, October 2010
“The Weber brothers are the cofounders of Sartell-based desktop and browser marketing business W3i, which in June launched a service that pays people for downloading new applications for devices such as the iPhone or iPad through iTunes.”
Read more: Research, Risk Pay Off for Sartell Brothers (page 17)
Anthony Carranza from examiner.com Minneapolis, 2010
“Initially we started on desktop with Windows applications and now we're branching out into mobile solutions, and eventually to Android and other platforms based on developer demand. We are seeing a lot of growth right now in the Android space, so it definitely makes sense, and it's something we're considering as we plan out our roadmap for next year.” States Derrick Fountain, W3i Mobile Product Manager.
Read more: W3i's Apperang mobile service an innovative revenue generator and approach
Keith Andrew from Pocketgamer, July 27, 2010
“In a blog post, the co-founder of paid-discovery platform W3i, Rob Weber points out that developers pushing out universal apps are potentially sacrificing a favourable iPad rank because of the way Apple counts downloads for such releases.”
Read more: Why universal apps are good for gamers but bad for developers
Jon Jordan from Pocketgamer, June 30, 2010
“There's method to the madness…with Apperang being the consumer outlet of an app promotion system that's already been proved in the PC and web space.”
Read more: W3i on how its pay for install Apperang website makes money for developers too
Graeme Thickens from Minnov8, June 29, 2010
”The model and integration W3i has developed for desktop distribution has been a huge success in the past, so I wouldn’t bet against them on making their mobile version a success.”
Read More: W3i Lights Up the ‘Net with Its Latest App News
Keith Andrew from Pocketgamer, June 29, 2010
“It's arguably a more manageable experience than some of its rivals.”
Read more: W3i launches Apperang, its pay per install service
Gagan Biyani from MobileCrunch, June 28, 2010
“Apperang is a steal for developers who are used to paying upwards of a few dollars per download via pay-per-click advertising services like AdMob. On top of that, the user benefits because they get paid for downloading an application.”
Read More: Apperang Pays You Cash to Download iPhone Apps… Ka-Ching!
Devindra Harawar from MobileBeat, June 28, 2010
“By launching Apperang, W3i is aiming to offer a single place for consumers to get paid for apps. Offerpal and other competitors currently don’t yet offer anything similar.”
Read More: Get paid to install apps with W3i Mobile Solutions and Apperang
Mike Schramm from Tuaw, June 28, 2010
“Rather than pocketing all the profit, Apperang is just passing it on.”
Read More: Apperang pays users for app installs
Wendy Lee from Star Tribune, June 28, 2010
“Prepare to join more than 200,000 applications battling it out to land on top download lists.”
Read More: Apps that pay
Killer Startups, June 28, 2010
“Is there a better way to encourage people to try something new, after all?”
Read More: Apperang.com - Be Paid For Trying New Apps
Blake Stimac from IntoMobile, June 28, 2010
“The dev gets more traction for their app and hopefully makes it onto an AppStore top list, and the user makes money. Win, win.”
Read More: Want to get paid for downloading iPhone apps? Say hello to Apperang
Britt Johnsen from ROI Central Minnesota, July 2010
“Changes also have come at W3i, ad desktop and browser marketing business in Startell. In March it announced it was moving its data center out of St. Cloud to Chicago. The new facility saves it money and space, which makes sense as the company has grown, said Jeff Bollinger, vice president of information systems. He said this does not signal a future move out of Sartell.”
Read More: (page 6)
