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Recalling 2010 and Looking Ahead at 2011
Dec 15th
As the holiday season rolls around, we’re starting to see feedback from the media and industry analysts discussing what was hot in 2010. Additionally, there is a lot of noise around 2011 forecasting projections and discussions about new companies, technologies and people that will be the next big thing.
2010 was, another successful year for Plimus. We saw tremendous customer uptake, launched our Buy Anyware API in June, partnered with PayPal on their new digital goods platform and participated in some leading tradeshows across the globe. In all of our industry conversations, we have continued to see some common technology trends and developments.
Here are some of the things we think were hot in 2010:
- Social gaming: Let’s all play together. Everything about social gaming was hot, hot, hot this year. According to the 2010 Digital Goods Report, roughly 64 percent of users make at least one social gaming purchase a month and nine percent buy virtual goods daily on social games.
- Location-based applications: I’m checked in at Plimus, Inc., where are you? According to Pew Research, four percent of online Americans use location-based services. While it doesn’t sound like much, consider that leading app provider, Foursquare, grew to five million users this month, only a year since its inception.
- Apps, apps and more apps: Are you on app overload? If you are, there’s an app for that. Need I say more?! Apple’s app store has over 300,000 apps available and continues to grow daily with Android closing in from behind.
- Tablets: Welcome to the world of the iPad. Apple’s new iPad was launched in April of this year and sold three million devices in just 90 days – making it the fastest growing consumer device to date.
The above contenders are only just getting started and will continue to infiltrate our lives in 2011. However, we have some new front-runners that will be blasting onto the scene shortly.
Here are some of the things we think will be hot in 2011:
- Affiliate marketing: The way in which consumers, sellers and affiliates work together will change in the New Year. We’ll chat more about this very soon and you’ll see just how cool it will be.
- Social networking in the workplace: The Millennial generation that has entered the workplace within the last five years is the perfect example of social networking users. In order to mesh older generations with the younger, connected workforce, we’ll have to bridge this division with a common ground, such as social networking.
- Subscription-based billing models: Virtual and digital goods providers will begin to adjust their business models to accommodate a subscription-based billing model. Companies will begin to offer a no to low-cost on boarding fee to engage customers and then any add-ons or premium services are a pay-as-you play model. We covered this a bit in our Nov. 8 post, but stay tuned for future blog posts on this topic.
- Cloud services for SMBs: In the wake of the economic recession, more than 25 percent of SMBs have already turned to cloud computing in order to save time and money. In 2011, SMBs will continue to cash in on the benefits and rewards enabled by the cloud and will also expand the types of cloud-based services they are currently using.
Now, this list is by no means all inclusive. So, what do you think was hot in 2010 or will be in 2011?
Charles Born,
VP and Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heemaz/5222325470/
Blog Post: Are Consumers Dreaming of a Digital Holiday?
Nov 24th
With the holiday season rapidly approaching, reports forecasting a strong bump in online sales continue to roll in. Just last week, Geoffrey Fowler posted a piece for the Wall Street Journal which included several analyst reports predicting as much as a 16 percent increase in online shopping during the holidays. But where are consumers spending their cash and how much of their shopping do they plan to do online? We here at Plimus wanted to find out and conducted an informal survey to find out more. We pushed our survey out over various social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) and uncovered some very interesting results. I’ve included some of the highlights below.
- Nine in 10 consumers plan to shop online this holiday season.
- More than half of survey participants indicated that they will purchase consumer electronics, such as mobile phones, e-readers, games consoles, etc. online.
- Nearly 50 percent of respondents plan to spend their cyber shopping dollars on digital entertainment, such as online games, videos, subscriptions, etc.
- Roughly 70 percent of respondents would consider giving digital entertainment or virtual items as gifts this year, such as a gift card or coupon to Amazon, Netflix, iTunes or Facebook or other online games and credits to a friend or family member.
The results of our survey not only support predictions that consumers will be flocking to their computer screens to purchase gifts, they also indicate that the popularity of digital entertainment is beginning to impact consumers’ spending habits. The fact that consumers are open to purchasing virtual goods exemplifies the mainstream appeal that digital entertainment is gaining.
Want to see more? Click here to check out a snazzy infographic, additional stats and background on the survey.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54490954@N08/5177882348/
Social Gaming for Social Good
Sep 15th
We all know that online games are a fun way to pass the time, but what else are they good for? In a piece for Inside Social Games, Kim-Mai Cutler explains that in some cases playing a social game can actually help people in times of crises, such as natural disasters and other hardships. Following the previous texting donations model implemented during the Haitian and Chilean relief efforts, dozens of social gaming companies have started to support the growing trend of social gaming for social good. By aiding relief efforts through online gaming, companies are able to raise money and awareness for some very worthy causes.
The 2010 Pakistan floods is one such event eliciting support from social gaming companies. In order to aid relief efforts, companies such as Peanut Labs, RockYou and Playdom are offering the Points for Pakistan program. This program challenges gamers with quizzes, testing their knowledge of the crisis in exchange for virtual currency, which they earn and spend through e-commerce APIs, such as could be done with the Plimus Buy Anyware™ API. By exposing them to the suffering of Pakistani victims, gamers are psychologically influenced to donate more virtual cash at the end of the quiz. Additionally, the information collected from the game goes towards figuring out how to best inform the public about the crisis.
The Points for Pakistan program is a great example of the growing potential influence the social Web can have on consumers. With similar programs, users are able to effortlessly help those in need, while simply enjoying an online game. When aiding a relief effort is the result of everyday activity, such as enjoying a game or two, what could possibly stop us from helping out? Are there sustainable benefits for vendors wanting to do their part other than the positive association that comes with supporting a good cause, or possible gamer retention, for example? Will this model continue to increase? We want to hear your thoughts…
Charles Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindfulone/268022096/
Customer Profile: Yummy Interactive Talks Frictionless Gaming
Aug 27th
For today’s blog, I’d like to highlight one of our partners, Yummy Interactive. This week, Christopher Hennebery, VP of software distribution at Yummy Interactive, spoke with Rebecca Lieb from Econsultancy about making digital rights management as painless as possible. During the discussion, Christopher described how Yummy is now able to offer its customers a “frictionless” e-Commerce experience – with the help of Plimus.
Plimus announced its relationship with Yummy Interactive back in the middle of June at E3 and since then we’ve been working with them to offer a seamless online buying experience for gamers. Yummy Interactive’s GameShield In-Game Activation, developed with Plimus, provides game developers a way to turn the trial-to-purchase process into a hassle-free, immersive experience. This e-Commerce platform provides a one-click purchase experience, which helps maintain immersive gameplay throughout the transaction. This, in turn, gives these developers a new tool to use to increase revenue and convert trials into sales.
Rebecca’s post includes a great conversation with Christopher and provides some interesting statistics on how Plimus and Yummy Interactive are helping game developers increase their revenue streams, “We’ve seen one of our clients base a 19% increase in conversions from trial to purchase.” Click here to read the entire blog on the Econsultancy website.
Charles Born,
Head of Marketing
Social Gaming: Who’s Spending What, Where?
Aug 4th
As the popularity of social gaming continues to grow, the marketplace for virtual products is now offering consumers more options than ever before. Today gamers can purchase nearly any type of virtual object – from elephants to guns – nothing seems to be off limits. According to a recent report conducted by market researcher VGMarket, roughly 75 percent of online gamers are using their cold, hard-earned cash to purchase virtual goods. But how and where are these consumers spending their money?
Dean Takahashi took a look at the habits of these online spenders and broke it down in an interesting article for VentureBeat. In his piece, Takahashi highlights that not only are gamers buying, they are buying often! According to the 2010 Digital Goods Report, roughly 64 percent of users make at least one purchase a month and 9 percent buy virtual goods daily. And there seems to be no buyer’s remorse here, with half of these online shoppers reporting that they plan on spending the same amount on digital goods over the next 12 months.
And there’s no shortage of sites offering virtual goods. Currently, social networks dominate the online marketplace with users reporting that they spend an average of $50 per year on digital goods through these platforms. Trailing shortly behind social networks, consumers in the multiplayer and causal gaming markets, shell out nearly $40 per year for digital goods ranging from weapons to puppets.
Surprisingly, while men play more online games and are the primary purchasers of virtual goods, women over the age of 24 report spending disproportionately large sums of money on certain products. Women surveyed in the study, reported spending an average of $55 dollars on social networks per year compared to males who only spent about $30 dollars per year. Similarly, women reported spending twice as much as their male counterparts when buying in-game currency.
It seems there is no end in sight. It will be interesting to see where this market will expand and what digital goods will emerge as a result. For now, we here at Plimus will continue to focus on making this buying experience as immersive, seamless, and enjoyable as possible for all.
Charles Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bohman/219249582/
Boost Your Career with Video Games
Jul 28th
I read an interesting article last week on Forbes.com, “How Playing Videogames Can Boost Your Career.” Here at Plimus HQ, with so many gaming companies as our customers, we look at game playing as industry research. But, for most companies, playing games while on the job is taboo. In fact, it’s increasingly common for companies to track their employees’ computer usage, sometimes even blocking access to social gaming sites on the work computers.
According to Forbes, companies are beginning to notice that employees who have played online games during their youth are actually excelling at a higher rate than their non-gamer counterparts. “We’re finding that the younger people coming into the teams who have had experience playing online games are the highest-level performers because they are constantly motivated to seek out the next challenge and grab on to performance metrics,” John Hagel III, co-chairman of a tech-oriented strategy center for Deloitte, told the publication.
Organizations like Deloitte are noticing a similarity in gaming and behaviors at work. Sources in the article indicate that by playing online games, users can develop dispositions that are extremely valuable in the corporate setting. Many online games have trial-and-error processes that require players to become accustomed to and subject to loss, failure and frustration and how to learn from the experience.
Perhaps surprisingly, these games can also spur entrepreneurship. In 2004, 22-year-old David Storey bought what was reportedly the most valuable virtual object – a virtual island in the online game “Project Entropia” – for what some called a foolhardy $26,500. But David may have the last laugh: Today he makes more than $100,000 a year from fees he charges those who hunt on his island during the game. Being a virtual property owner, David told Forbes, taught him more about business than he ever expected to learn from a game.
So the next time you’re thinking that your company’s young employee who spends his evenings stuck in front of into his home computer playing an immersive and engaging fame isn’t going to amount to much – think again. Soon enough, he could be leading the pack. Check out the Forbes article, it’s a fascinating read.
Charlie Born,
Head of Marketing
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/2063651675/
