Press Release Source: Tapjoy, Inc. On Wednesday February 9, 2011, 9:00 am EST

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Tapjoy, Inc. (http://www.tapjoy.com), today announced the mobile industry’s first Pay-Per-Action™ app distribution service to significantly improve advertising effectiveness, engagement and reach for brand advertisers, mobile game developers and others looking to grow their mobile social app footprint.

The new service allows iOS and Android app developers to reward users for not only installing and downloading their app but also for completing some type of action within it, such as watching the tutorial, getting past a certain level or any other specific activity. Unlike other advertising methods, Tapjoy’s new Pay-Per-Action service delivers a higher return on investment by tracking actions further along the conversion funnel and guaranteeing a much higher level of engagement and value.

Tapjoy also announced that it has partnered with Apsalar (http://apsalar.com), the most comprehensive mobile behavioral analytics platform on the web. The Apsalar analytics platform defines and interprets conversion funnels in one app or across multiple apps and offers cohort-based segmentation to run life-cycle analysis of app users. Apsalar is the clear analytics choice for developers who want to optimize user monetization and retention. Tapjoy will make Apsalar’s analytics available natively within the Tapjoy dashboard.

“The Pay-Per-Install model has proven extremely successful in driving cost-effective user acquisition for mobile developers. The release of our Pay-Per-Action SDK, however, takes that model to the next level,” said Linda Tong, senior product manager at Tapjoy. “Now, instead of simply awarding virtual currency when a user installs your app, we allow you to incentivize users to get past Level 1, for instance, or do whatever it is you feel will truly engage them in your app and get them to keep using it.”

“Tapjoy is a highly trusted partner for our mobile advertising efforts,” said Steve Hartman, VP of Marketing at GameFly. “They have been very effective in driving installs of our GameCenter app, and with the launch of their new PPA model, we expect our ROI to get even better.  We expect to significantly increase conversions that will lead to acquiring GameFly users who are more loyal and engaged than ever.”

The new Pay-Per-Action SDK ties into Apsalar’s user-level analytics platform, which allows developers to track and analyze their conversion funnels and to manage user retention and monetization by grouping users into cohorts or groups of users who downloaded their apps within a specific week. By identifying the point at which most users tend to stick around and incentivizing users to reach that stage, advertisers and developers can optimize retention and conversions in order to deliver a better user experience, conduct more cost-effective user acquisition campaigns, and increase their app’s revenues and profitability.

“We already use Tapjoy for distribution, and have implemented Apsalar for advanced engagement and conversion analytics,” says Rizwan Virk, CEO of Gameview Studios, makers of popular iPhone games Tap Fish, Tap Ranch and Tap Town. “We think that having both of these companies working together will be great for developers like us.”

Developers or advertisers interested in utilizing the Pay-Per-Action SDK should email info@tapjoy.com.

About Apsalar

Apsalar is the most comprehensive mobile analytics platform for iOS and Android developers. The company’s user-level analytics enable mobile developers and publishers to increase conversion rates, optimize retention & monetization, as well as enhance user experience within their apps. Apsalar’s innovative cohort-based engagement analyses and conversion funnels are helping major mobile applications maximize their revenues. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was founded by a team of veterans in user-level analytics and conversion optimization. Investors include 500 Startups and Morado Ventures. For more information, visit www.apsalar.com

About Tapjoy, Inc.

Tapjoy is the leader in monetization, distribution and publishing services for social games, mobile applications, virtual worlds, MMOs and other social publishers. The company’s turnkey alternative payment platform enables developers to significantly increase their monetization rates when selling virtual goods or premium digital assets, while its cross-platform distribution services provide massive reach and cost-effective user acquisition on the leading social, mobile and gaming platforms. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Investors include Rho Ventures, Interwest Capital, North Bridge Venture Partners, and D. E. Shaw Ventures. For more information, visit www.tapjoy.com.

Android’s platform fragmentation is complicated enough for users, but now more confusion looms as Google segregates the smartphone and tablet OS. While Android Honeycomb 3.0 for tablets is in the pipeline, a report from Pocket-lint suggests Google will release a mid-way version of Android for smartphones that can run some Honeycomb apps on phones.

With Honeycomb, arriving first on Motorola’s 10-inch Xoom tablet, Google is splitting Android into two distinct versions: one for phones and one for tablets. However, there won’t be an Android 3.0 for phones this spring when Honeycomb tablets start arriving. Instead, reports suggest Google will launch Android 2.4, about a month after Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), to try to bridge the gap between phones and tablets.

Sophos is working on a management console that will allow enterprises to apply security policies to mobile devices, the company announced Feb. 7.

Enterprises can use the Sophos Mobile Control console to handle password management or to restrict certain functions, such as cameras, and to control which applications can access the corporate network, Sophos said. The platform would secure all mobile devices, including Apple’s iOS devices such as the iPad and iPhone, Android phones and tablets, Windows Mobile products and Symbian devices, according to the Sophos.

Android 3.0 HoneyComb is Google’s attempt to make Android tablets finally competitive with the hot-selling iPad. That primarily means goodies for consumers and developers. But there were some notable features that your IT admin or CIO will love.

1) Full disk encryption.

2) Stronger passwords.

3) App compatibility between smartphone and tablet.

4) Better user interface.

5) Web-based Android Market.

Google’s improvements to the Android Market application store, including the addition of a browser-based store and in-app payments, are being hailed as a big step in the right direction by analysts and developers.

So far, Market has been the most criticized part of the Android ecosystem, according to Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight.

“Developers felt they haven’t been able to monetize it in the way they have on Apple’s App Store,” said Wood.

For the first time, users of Android-based phones can buy their apps online through the Android Market, and not just through the market app on their phones.

The change, announced Wednesday by Google, which helped create Android, will give users another way to get apps onto their devices. Once an app purchase is made online, it can be sent to the phone.

New MasterCard Application Helps Android Smart Phone Users Quickly Find the Nearest ATM

Android 2.2 has finally become the majority version of the OS just as 2.3 has hit the streets, Google’s latest official data showed. Basing its information on results as of early this month, about 51.8 percent were using the previous version about eight months after it was first made public at Google I/O in May. Owing in part to the limited launch of the Nexus S, only 0.4 percent were using the true latest release.