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Gavin O'Malley, Thursday, July 30, 2009, 2:50 PM
'Twitter Makes Noise, Second Life Makes Money'
The Guardian
While virtual worlds have virtually fallen off the media radar, the online habitats appear to be thriving. The consultancy kzero.co.uk reports that membership of virtual worlds grew by 39% in the second quarter of 2009 to an estimated 579 million. (Regular activity in the worlds, however, remains questionable.) The Guardian takes this opportunity to chide Facebook and Twitter for their inability to effectively monetize their steep usage, while virtual worlds such as World of Warcraft, Entropia Universe, Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin and Second Life are all profitable.
Why? Apparently, "Because their business models are based on the digital elixir of subscriptions and micropayments, a formula that other websites, including newspapers, would die for."
Best summation we've read in a while: "Twitter makes the noise, Second Life makes the money."
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Motorola Hanging Up On Microsoft Mobile, Rolling Out Inexpensive Android Phones
PC Mag
In a call with analysts Thursday Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha confirmed that many of next year's Motorola phones will run the Google Android OS. The move is a switch from Window's mobile, which Motorola has run for years. Incidentally, Microsoft let slip at a conference earlier today that it is changing the name of "Windows Mobile" to "Windows Phone." Which, perhaps clears the way for the company to roll a new Android competitor.
Jah said two new Android-powered phones would be in stores for the holidays. "The majority of our new devices will be smartphones, as we expand Android across a broader set of price points," Jha said. Motorola plans to extend the Android platform to a lower-end tier of it's line, providing some of the cheapest smartphones yet.
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Virtual Currency Defies Real Logic
GigaOm
In other virtual news, nearly 12% of Americans report having bought a virtual item at some point over the last 12 months, according to a new study by analyst firm Frank N. Magid Associates and commissioned by virtual currency provider PlaySpan. Defying all earthly logic, the virtual goods and currency market will reach an estimated $1.8 billion this year. So, who's got money to spare on imaginary goods. Demographically, 15% of males aged 12-24 reported purchasing virtual goods, while 15% of women between ages 35-44 did so, too.
According to Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors, the boys are getting virtual swords for their MMORPGs, while the women are buying virtual flowers on Facebook. Categorization by ethnicity was also diverse, with Asian-Americans on the high end - 16% -- and the rest some 1-to-5% behind.
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Microsoft Slowing Down Acquisitions Pace
TechFlash
Microsoft appears to have significantly slowed its pace on acquisitions in its recently completed fiscal year, according to new data released by the company as part of its annual Form 10-K fiing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company spent $925 million in cash to buy nine companies during the year, according to the filing. Only one of those, the purchase of video-game company BigPark Inc., was significant enough to warrant a notation on the company's official list of corporate acquisitions. By comparison, Microsoft spent more than $8 billion on more than 20 acquisitions in its 2008 fiscal year, primarily to buy Seattle-based online ad company aQuantive.
Chris Liddell, Microsoft's chief financial officer, said earlier this year that Microsoft planned to sit on the sidelines while valuations of companies adjusted to the new economic realities. But recent debt offerings have given the company additional funds that it could use in acquisitions, if it were to find the right opportunities. The company is also believed to have acquired Israeli startup 3DV Systems, but that deal was never formally announced.
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Arrington: 'Times' Writers Should Quit
DigitalBeat
Arguing that their employer's legacy infrastructure is flawed to the core, TechCrunch founder and editor Michael Arrington suggests that its "top" 50 reporters quit to form their own startup. "If the top 50 journalists out of The New York Times walked out the door, raised $100 million from a hedge fund and started a site, it would be profitable," Arrington said, speaking at the AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford this week. One problem? New media, with all its fat-trimmed lower overhead costs, doesn't appear to supporting writers -- even at Arrington's own site. Indeed, Arrington admits that only 10-to-20% of TechCrunch's revenue comes from normal online ad on the website, while 50% comes from conferences (the remaining percentage is apparently unspecified).
"We don't think of our business in terms of creating page views and figuring out RPM [revenue per 1,000 impressions]," he added. "We've always had a brand and we've always monetized the brand. We've always focused on keeping costs under control and we've grabbed the biggest money we could, while still being ethical."
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Balmer Says 'Nobody Gets' Microhoo
Paid Content
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XBox Adding Twitter, Facebook Functionality
Business Insider
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