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For the first time in January 2015, a published report stated that Google Play had definitively overtaken the Apple Store in the sheer number of available downloadable applications; the report certainly pointed to Google having managed a massive turnaround in volume of applications.

The App Store launched in 2008 boasted a moderate 500 apps, it was not the biggest when launched, it was also not the first operating systems specific app store of its kind. In contrast, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile store already stocked over 18,000 apps and Palm claimed upwards of 30,000 active app developers at the time. Apple quickly rectified this, speedily outpacing all rivals to achieve 10 million downloads over its first weekend after launch, not resting on its laurels it hastened on to over a hundred million downloads within the first three months and within the first year achieved 1.5 billion downloads from 65,000 available apps. Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, remarked at the time that it would be very difficult for their competitors to catch up.

In June 2015 Apple achieved 75 billion app downloads from the Apple store, in January 2015 they were hosting 1.4 million apps, available to users in 155 countries.
Google had a relaunch, remake, and renaming of the old Android Market, launched in 2008, into Google Play re-launched in 2012. At the time, the Apple Store generated nearly 4 times the income of Google Play. Google certainly seems to have turned the tables around to some degree since the early days and fought through the hard yards of deficiencies, shortcomings, and general user unfriendliness. During 2014 Google Play very close to doubled its available number of apps and slowly but surely decreased the number of substandard apps that it was accused of fielding, to below 13% in total volume and continually culls additional deadwood on a quarterly basis.

The battle between these two giants of the mobile world is still a long way from settled, by the end of 2014 Apple shipped 700 million iOS devices in total through its doors from the first iPhone until January 2015, several reports state approximately 200 million iOS devices are no longer active, leaving 500 million devices active in the market. Android will see 1 billion devices activated in 2014 alone; this will be in addition to the 1.9 billion devices currently active globally. Google Play as of July 2015 fields 1.6 million available apps, Apple’s App Store fields 1.5 million apps, Amazon App Store fields 400,000, Windows phone store around 340,000, with Blackberry World languishing at 130,000 available apps.

By January 2015 according to Apple their app developers earned in excess of US$25 billion from apps offered in its App Store, compared to $10 billion in 2014 with $500 million spent by iOS users on apps and in app purchases during January 2015 alone. Apple purportedly still earns 60% more than Google from its App Store proceeds, but Google enjoys upwards of 60% more downloads than Apple. Google approaches its clientele and business with a very different focus, while fielding billions more devices every year than Apple, and with Steve Jobs sadly now out of the picture, what does the future hold for both operating systems and its users.

Samsung recently made it known that it launched an innovative new mobile app at the 2015 E3, allowing players to record their gaming sessions on their smartphones. Currently a range of mobile apps claims to offer similar functionality, however Game Recorder+ offers the added advantage that accompanies the trusted Simpson name. The app also boasts with additional features such as being able to capture your commentary and a picture of yourself recorded along with your gameplay.

As with most international athletic sports stars in the current arena that record the practice as well as competitive events to improve performance, this Samsung backed app claims a similar functionality wearing it would improve your performance during your gameplay session with a game boost option that optimizes system memory offering players better hardware performance during gameplay. The app is capable of capturing live footage in full HD and offer players the option of trimming or editing the recorded gameplay at its completion, as all gamers would agree very handy feature to edit out that embarrassing boss fights this at the completion of the stage.

The new app received mixed reviews on the Play store with complaints about game leg, were frame rates, and strangely incompatibility with Samsung’s own Galaxy S6 active. Strangely, the app is restricted by couple of crucial points that could severely hamper its future success, the above-mentioned early client complaints together with the fact that Samsung restricted its functionality to its own smartphones. With only a handful of its own smart phones namely the Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge, S5 & 4, Note 4, 3, & 2 able to power the app.
Sadly, to further add insult to injury the app will currently be unavailable to anyone residing in Samsung’s homeland of South Korea or Europe.

Mobile gaming have come a long way and grown into a resounding success story, still current mobile gaming controls leaves a lot to be desired, there’s something unnatural about the current methods of controlling spaceships, football players, and cars on touchscreens. Apple might just be coming up with their pipe-lined novel solution of utilizing a newly designed home button on its devices that would do double duty as a miniature gaming joystick.

Patently-Apple published their new patent rights showing a home button that would pop up on player demand allowing for a more analogue granular control within games as well as other apps. If the Apple hardware developers could manage that their new patent works in conjunction with and alongside the current Touch ID circuitry, the development team would have pulled off another hugely impressive engineering feat. One of the great advantages of this patent is that thumbs and fingers would no longer be obscuring the limited screen real estate available on mobiles, nor would it suffer from the total lack of tactile device feedback.

The newly patented home button would offer two modes, the first mode would have the button working as a conventional current generation home button and the second mode automatically activates when the joystick pops up to provide control on three axes, the modes would be switchable as required. The new home button would remain flush as in current designs, thereby preventing the ruination of the attractive aesthetics that Apple products have become known for, while still protecting all the sensitive circuitry underneath by keeping it well protected. This patent is with millions of others might never see daylight, it only gives us an idea of the direction Apple is thinking of moving in, it nevertheless represents a unique and possibly breakthrough step forward in mobile gaming.

The gaming sector is a shining example of one of the largest success stories in mobile apps, where clientele can enjoy real value for money and app was responsible for boost in revenues with operators that employed its benefits correctly.

A global leading multi-platform app events, Apps World Europe will return to London’s Olympia lasting from the 29th to 30 November we operators will be able to receive advice on making mobile gaming profitable and where they can learn to benefit by strategizing correctly from an explosive trend seen in gambling apps. The mobile developer Mubaloo which produced gaming apps was introduced at a number of the larger operators within the gaming industry explained the view in maximizing the advantages available within this profitable mobile market.
The U.K.’s globally recognized as a center for gaming operators and on-line gaming entertainment, here developers like Mubaloo represent the forefront in a rapidly increasing mobile gambling market. Its client list boasts with software clients and operators from all corners of the globe, but still enjoys business from UK based clients recognized as market leaders within newly regulated markets like Italy.

With a slower than predicted and initial acceptance then was generally predicted, the mobile market’s early gambling apps delivered very little brand identity and reduced available options, generally the apps were poor representations of the of the desktop equivalents. Mobile gamers were predicted to have enjoyed much greater popularity in the past decade, in reality the platform was hampered by pool are constructed and designed apps. Still most operators find it worthwhile to continue running mobile sites due to significant revenues gained via Java apps on reduce screen size basic phones.Despite the fact that mobile technology was slow on the take-up, mobile sites will continue to prosper because of the nature of gaming and wagering allows much greater freedom to users in their homes, not being desktop bound creating a more comfortable environment to enjoy the free time. The proof lies in the fact that mobile gambling within the UK doubled in size from 2009 to 2010 with revenues at £41 million which proves that the industry have tipped the odds in their favor.

UK betting firm Ladbrokes, completed its launch of the much vaunted and long-awaited sportsbook app, developed with a focus on providing a unifying player experience to desktop and mobile devices alike.

The platform developed and powered by Playtech combines a true cross-platform sports book product into a single work stream that unifies the operator’s front-end technology provided by Mobenga, a Playtech subsidiary, this also marks a milestone for Playtech as it is the first omni-channel solution to come from the manufacturer’s stables.
The newly developed platform has been described as having the capacity to significantly improve the efficiency and speed of any product delivery, to fulfill and operators ambition of consistently tailoring its product to meet with customer and market demands. This represents a major step in providing product flexibility to operators to quickly and efficiently react to changing markets and player requirements.

The new app will be heavily focused on football prior to the start of the new football season in 2015/16, offering a complete innovating suite of product solutions and promotions focused on attracting football supporters. The app would include a support function for the proprietary My Acca function from Ladbrokes, it allows the app to track sport accumulators in real time. The company’s 5+ Acca money back feature will enjoy a new lease on life and be relaunched alongside the app to offer players never seen before value for money.

The Cash Out has now been completely established and makes a highly lucrative proposition for football fans just before the start of the new soccer season.
The development of this new project had started in January 2015, the mobile and web development teams had been integrated into a single cohesive work stream just a month ago. They were previous attempts at developing a similar platform, but these were all scrapped after the announcement of Playtech’s involvement.

Vera and John recently had to players win big with the casino and each player achieved their winning amounts in a different way, one as a series of wins not just a single big spin and the other is a single big spin when from a small wager. The most remarkable feature about these two winners is the strategy by which they achieved the success. The one player had Lady Luck smile on him in a big way the other had nerves of steel, but both deserve to be lauded for their accomplishments and tenacity.

These two remarkable wins just brings to the fore Vera&John’s ability and commitment to provide an equal playing field for all types and levels of players, from newbies to the experience of the ages, from high rollers to budget blokes. All are welcome and all are catered for to ensure an excellent casino player experience at an excellent casino run by an excellent team. First off were introduced to Daisuke a 27-year-old gentleman from Japan, who achieved the dream type win after he won on a single spin a €67,660 jackpot from a €0.75 wager! Daisuke represents the newbie that got lucky, who buys an admittance is not exactly a major gambler in fact just recently signed up for the first time to an on-line gambling establishment. He achieved is win, after about 15 minutes of play on NetEnt’s Cosmic Fortune, one evening after not having played in a few days. He expressed his amazement at his win, since he never expected to win from such a small wager.

Our next contestant and the big winner of €60,000 introduce us to Johannes, who reached his remarkable achievement through dogged determination and sheer will. Johannes could not be more different from our first winner, a regular gambler, 58 years old, and from the Netherlands has been a regular patron at Vera&John for several years. Johannes achieved his most remarkable victories through series of wins over a remarkable three day fun park ride, after he decided to take a well-earned break from his busy work schedule with a few days extra to add to his weekend.

Betsson announced details of the €3million jackpot win that occurred last Thursday evening. The lucky winner’s is from Hesse, one of Germany’s provinces, the 23-year old female player triggered the progressive jackpot for a win of over €3 million on the Mega Fortune Dreams progressive video slot from NetEnt.

Not all details have been released; apparently she’s a recently joined member that triggered the win on a small wager of €0.50 after having made her first deposit via her mobile.
In her comments, she said that she was staring at a mobile and then spoke to a girlfriend to tell what had happened and that this still could not believe it. She added that she was at home lounging on the sofa and decided to try the newly installed Betsson app. After she saw the winnings on a fine she was quite sure what happened and if it was for real. She just continued staring at it for another 10 minutes, going on to further state that there was no particular reason to play that game. The progressive jackpot on NetEnt’s Mega Fortune always holds the greatest surprises for its players. NetEnt‘s Touch platform built itself an enviable reputation for reliability and cross-platform compatibility making it immaterial whether the player prefers iOS or android, tablet or headset the Touch platform performs flawlessly. This progressive slot features excellent base gameplay offering many hours of highly entertaining gaming on five reels and 25 pay lines with the theme illustrating your lifestyle should be successful at triggering that massive progressive jackpot.

Win boosters include free spins, wilds, scatters, and naturally The Wheel of Fortune bonus round that will present players with three individual progressive jackpots each differing in size. Trigger the jackpot by aligning three Wheel of Fortune bonus symbols on an active pay line, a second screen bonus game presents players with three bonus wheels beat all 3 to trigger the Mega jackpot. The will present itself perfectly on mobile screens with the player having to touch the wheel to stop its spin, stop it correctly and you can start travelling!

MGM Resorts recently announced their plans of deploying a mobile wagering system throughout 12 of its Nevada resorts later during 2015, the preferred technology provider will be Gtech Holdings, and no financial terms were disclosed.

The purpose of the technology will be the provision of mobile casino apps and sports wagering, the Gtech system would modernise the casino’s operations to include live betting. Additionally, the new technology will allow MGM Resorts customers to place real money bets from mobile devices anywhere within Nevada. Matteo Monteverdi, Gtech SVP, stated that the system allows MGM to offer additional gaming with no additional space requirements on gaming floors. Thomas Mikulich, Senior VP business development, stated that the product would allow gamblers the enjoyment and convenience with exciting new ways to bet seamlessly across a variety of gaming channels.

Gamers bet $3.9 billion on sporting activities in Nevada in 2014, which is a 7.7% increase with wagering having increased annually in the past five years. In a further press release later this year, Gtech revealed that the successful implementation of the above technology garnered them a multiyear deal to provide similar technologies for MGM. They expect to start with phase deployments of the solutions at MGM’s properties during the third quarter of 2015, dependent on regulatory approvals. The technology will modernise MGM’s sports betting and casino apps and enable their clientele to wager from mobile devices at their leisure in any location within the state of Nevada. Gtech will now be providing real money on site gaming for mobile slots and casino playable anywhere inside an MGM property via the user’s own tablets or smartphones. Both slots gaming and sports betting will combine into one mobile app that links to the player accounts that MGM Resorts.

The Champions of Champions video slot hits home hard at its exclusive launch with Gala Coral casino. The slot’s game play offers a high-octane energetic play, and martial arts featured in an arcade style hand-to-hand combat theme. It is a result of the first co-operative efforts between its creators at AppleJack Gaming, Coral Interactive, and Odobo. Players can engage in slots entertainment on a 5 reel, 20-fixed pay-line gaming mechanic, offering piles of high-energy action with 3 bonus features.

The slot’s anime stylized graphical art provides the slot with a unique individuality, the vibrant symbol characters together with a distinctive styling add to the power of its storyline. The excitements in this slot comes from the same challenge as in any classic arcade styles, the game’s ultimate aim being to defeat a big end of level boss, Yoshinobu. He has an iron grip on his undercover crime syndicate and according to the storyline, derives his own power from spirit energy siphoned off the wills from brave combatants, ultimately seeks total world domination. There may only be four fighters with the strength to face and defeat Yoshinobu, that fighter might be a Champion of Champions.With three Versus bonus symbols appearing on one active pay-line triggering a Champion’s Bonus round. Here players are required to control the warriors over a classic four-stage combat summiting in the Yoshinobu fight. The Golden Dragon bonus triggers randomly to ignite its symbols on a sensory overload explosion to turn these symbols wild, bringing home several major wins during its base game. The slot’s third bonus round a free spins where each spin lands wilds on reel 2,3, and 4, with additional re-triggers possible.

To further add to its high-impact playing style, players are required to collect 29 achievements. Its casual game playing style encourages players to conduct regular returns, saving progress between sessions, immaterial which device the player chooses.

One of iGaming’s oldest casino operators, 32 Red, recently acquired Roxy Palace, a Malta & UK licensed on-line casino, for an amount of £8.4 million. Roxy Palace brings an offering of 230,000 active registered player database to the bargaining table, together with a collection of 500 iGaming titles all powered by Microgaming’s Quickfire platform.

Ed Ware, CEO 32Red, said in his comments on the acquisition that they were delighted to with the purchasing of Roxy Palace and they believed this was highly beneficial for both their existing as well as new shareholders. They’ve known and respected the casino operator for a number of years, while sharing many common values. Like Roxy Palace, 32 Red based itself on Microgaming’s platform as well, which aids in making a smooth re-integration. He further divulged that the acquisition also ticks many boxes for them. Their sector of the investment market certainly seems to agree, with the day and 32Red shares showing an upwards move of 7.81 per cent to end up at .69p per share, after the iGaming operator announced their acquisition of Roxy Palace, in an acquisition deal totaling to £8.4 million.

Ware relayed that this deal will work because Roxy is the correct size for a business of their size and type, but also due to the people they are dealing with are like-minded, clean-cut entrepreneurs without skeletons in their closets. He also highlighted that due to both companies operating from a Microgaming platform, the integration process should be less troublesome than usual, since the risk of drop-pages vastly reduces. He confirmed in future, as the integration process advances, there would inevitably be job losses at the new beefed-up company, but declined to divulge how many, except that no serving members of the Roxy board would continue to serve on the 32Red board.