Top 10 Movie/TV Games For iPhone By Revenue?

Here's my stab at the Top 10 movie or TV based mobile games for iPhone and iPod touch, ranked by my latest guesstimate of the revenue that they've generated from inception to date... based on my notion that 1% of game downloaders post a review. In the spreadsheet above EAP = Estimated Average Price over the lifetime of the game on the iTunes platform, which I inferred from price movements listed on Appshopper.com. PubRev? = Publisher Revenue (caveated) which is calculated by multiplying EAP x Rvws/1% x 70% (publisher share of retail). Let me know if you think this is accurate and how well you think this model explains the performance of other iTunes App titles.

Assuming the data above is correct, it points to the value of publishers maintaining a higher price point for Apps. As you can see, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is basically tied for the most revenue with The Price Is Right despite having 43% fewer downloads than the game show title... because it's retail price has been 75% higher on average. Actually, I must say, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much price testing publishers are doing on the platform. With a couple of exceptions, the price of each title on this list has changed (up & down) more than 3 times since launch.

By the way, it looks like Montreal based Ludia, which currently is only publishing 2 Paid Apps on the platform, made a solid bet with Fremantle's The Price Is Right.

MOBshop Speculation Is Red Hot

Not since the frenzy over Cold Fusion, or perhaps, the pre-reveal hype surrounding the invention that came to be known as the Segway, has there been excitement in the tech community to match that around Cyriac Roeding's stealth venture MOBshop (f/k/a Cross Platform Corp). OK, perhaps I exaggerate a bit, however, the former CBS Mobile Head and recent Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers Entrepreneur in Residence must have had a major epiphany during his well documented post-CBS worldwide walkabout...because money ($2.5mil so far) & talented people (including his CBS successor Jeff Sellinger) are aggressively chasing this new venture. Kleiner Perkins is taking a particularly keen interest as lead investor and by taking 2 board seats. Former LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman, who's also investing and allegedly not prone to hyperbole, told TechCrunch's Michael Arrington yesterday that the venture was "extraordinarily interesting" (Segway...right?). Based on the name, speculation is that it's a mobile shopping play and not just for mobile goods (no one is going to get excited about another app store or Jamster). My guess is that it's an on device application that uses mobile payment tools like Boku (which I reported on last month) & context (location, time, etc.) specific information to facilitate transactions...but who knows, maybe it's a personal hovercraft that runs on water.

KA-POW! TV.com Launches iPhone App in Hulu's Face

Last Thursday CBS's TV.com launched a free streaming video application in the iTunes App Store. By virtue of launching first, TV.com has won the first mobile battle in its intensifying new media TV war with rival Hulu, owned by NBCU & Fox. The service features some full length episodes of Star Trek, CSI, The Young & the Restless, MacGyver as well as news and clips from CBS, Showtime, CW and CNET TV. The service works over wifi as well as AT&T via 3G or EDGE. Currently there is no advertising on the App...but I suspect that will change quickly. Gizmodo's post raises an interesting issue...at what point do these network Apps begin to cannibalize iTunes's TV show revenues (especially on shows that live in both places) and at what point do they begin to over burden AT&T's data pipeline? Also, considering that the TV.com App is being rolled out across iTunes stores worldwide (though currently full episodes are not available outside the US), you have to wonder at what point this service begins damaging CBS's relationships with international broadcast licensees.

The App was built using the vTap video search, browsing and playback solution from Andover, MA based Veveo (had never heard of them before). This is only the 2nd broadcast App for iPhone, following France24 Live! launched by MobiClip (formerly Actimagine) a month ago, as reported here.