Streaming Flash games run iSwifter said proceeds will Pass $ 10 m this year

Leena Rao is currently working as a writer for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school of the Medill School of journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007 she helped lead efforts for advocacy and community relationships Congressman Carloyn Maloney in New York. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003 where it was ... ? Read More

iSwifter, the iPad app that allows Flash developers to stream games for the tablet device, announces revenue for 2011 will be for $ 10 million. It's impressive considering the company is only a year ago.

As we wrote in the past, the iSwifter enables users to view, play, and the speed of Flash games from gaming portals (like Facebook) online, with each game, optimized for the iPad. Actually run from the incubator YouWeb spun last year. With Flash iSwifter not run on the device, but it is for tablet as Netflix movie or YouTube videos.

The company makes money from the subscription model for monthly games in which users pay $ 4.99 for unlimited access to Flash social games on Facebook and MMOs. And the company has recently revealed that 500 000 people games almost 2000 Facebook using iSwifter.

In fact, iSwifter came to the conclusion that many users (20 per cent) are willing to pay for a free games if they can play the iPad. Hundreds of thousands of users iSwifter spent millions of minutes on Facebook with nearly half make purchases in the App.

iSwifter staff up engineering talents. Ajit Maya, former Senior Director of engineering at VMware; Lucian Masalar, architect of eBay and Pankaj Kumar, previously at Microsoft; combine all of the development team of the firm.

iSWiFTER is the industry's first cloud-based Flash game streaming service, specially built for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, covering mobile platforms such as Apple iOS and Android.

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From mobile games to the connected car: Sneak peak at Gazelle laboratory first 6 startups

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Earlier today, new TechStars Network member, the Tampa Bay-based Gazelle Lab, announced its first full round of program participants. This 3-month, mentor-driven program based on the TechStars model is one of the first of its kind to emerge in the Tampa Bay region –  a region that’s been pushing to become a new home to technological and entrepreneurial innovation.

This first group includes some unique companies, like a location-based mobile platform for sharing digital media, an app that connects to your car to diagnose those baffling “check engine” messages and an online ordering system for restaurants that puts big company technology into the hands of SMBs, just to name a few. We got a sneak peak at all 6 of the new companies today, and are now eagerly awaiting their launches later this fall.

While a group of 6 is small compared with other accelerator programs’ outputs, for Tampa Bay, it’s a notable number. This under-the-radar geographic region, which was previously home to Wikipedia before its 2007 relocation to California as well as the recently acquired website builder Wufoo, isn’t really on the map of notable “tech hotspots.” But Gazelle Lab is hoping to change that with its new program for early stage startups.

Below are today’s Gazelle Labs’ first participants, all of which are in various stages of development. The startups will launch this fall, when they present to potential investors at Gazelle Labs’ Demo Day event.

AutoIQ

AutoIQ is a combination gadget and HTML5-based mobile application that listens to your car in order to save you money. The company sells an off-the-shelf diagnostic gadget that connects to the onboard diagnostic (OBD) port of your vehicle. There are several different payment options for the service’s users. For $50, you receive the gadget and a year of service. You can also choose to buy your own gadget from a third-party and pay just $3/month for the service, or you can choose to pay $5/month for both the gadget and the service on a subscription basis. The OBD port is a standard port, accessible on all modern vehicles without having to get your hands dirty poking around under the hood. The gadget, which the company calls the “translator,” listens to the car’s computer and then “translates” those mysterious error messages into understandable language. Messages can come to you through push notifications, text messages, emails or via the AutoIQ online service. How bad is that “check engine” message, for example? Do you really need an air filter, as your mechanic says?

In addition, AutoIQ not only makes it easier to understand what your car is trying to tell you, it will also help you find the best prices for servicing your vehicle in town. Repair shops will eventually be able to tap into the data AutoIQ generates and target offers to groups of customers. Pricing for that aspect of the service is still being worked out, however. The service will launch first in Tampa Bay and will then roll out to Southern California, followed by the rest of the U.S.

CityQuest

CityQuest is a new (in-development) mobile application that transforms normal metropolitan landscapes into adventure-filled mini-games that “promote local commerce and vanquish boredom.” While operating in the same general space as Foursquare and Gowalla, the app doesn’t see itself as competing directly with those “check in” based networks. Its goal is slightly different – promote local discovery, encourage users to “get out of the house” and explore their city, visit popular landmarks, discover new businesses and patronize those which are their favorites.

Instead of checkins, the game will utilize “quests” – simple and fun tasks that enable users to earn badges and points and acquire gold. But unlike other apps that employ gamification techniques, CityQuest doesn’t want the rewards users earn to be meaningless. That’s why players can choose to donate gold they earn to local charities, community groups or schools in the form of actual cash. And regular users who acquire “experience points” will actually be able to help shape the game’s future development, suggesting businesses that should be included in future quests, for example. Of course, there may be a “deals” angle, too, where gold could lead to discounts at local stores, but that’s further down the road. The app will initially launch on one mobile platform this fall, and will then be ported to more platforms in the future. CityQuest also tied for first place at Tampa Bay’s Startup Weekend last month.

Dropost.it

Dropost.it, another mobile app that emerged from Tampa Bay’s first Startup Weekend, allows you to “drop” text messages and media in a geographical area for others to receive when they get there. That media can be music, video, photos, games, or any other digital file. The best way to understand Dropost.it is to think of it as sort of “location-based graffiti.” It’s not designed to be a niche experience, but rather a location-based platform for sharing media. There are several possible uses for this sort of technology, ranging from geo-fenced location-based reminders to in-store promotions where the app’s users receive discounts at local businesses. But the most intriguing thing about this app is how it attaches a real-world location to the online, virtual world.

Using Dropost.it, you could see a video of an interesting event that happened at particular spot. Or maybe you discover a simple game to play while waiting in the long line at the bank. Or you arrive at the grocery store, and get a message from your roommate to pick up some milk. Messages posted to Dropost.it can be set to public or private, as desired. It will also integrate with social networks, like Twitter, Facebook and Google+, to enable friend discovery. Dropost.it will be available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone when it launches later this fall.

Leads Direct, Inc.

Leads Direct, LLC is an online lead aggregator and cost-per-lead provider for multiple service-based verticals. That description is being kept fairly high-level because the company’s founders are still at their day jobs. This company is taking a different approach from the other startups in Gazelle Lab in that it isn’t disruptive in terms of the core service being offered, but in the way that the service works. Lead generation is a business that’s been around for some time, and has a sound business model, the founders explain, but the company plans on making some changes to address specific needs in each vertical they target. The company will initially target property management and real estate, where it will provide advertisers with more control over budgets, a better understaning of where ad dollars are being spent and itemized billing – all things its competitors currently lack. In short, Leads Directo will offer a Google AdWords-like toolset for acquiring leads.

Red Hawk Interactive, Inc.

Red Hawk Interactive plans to integrate restaurant listings and menu ordering systems into streaming video services. While it can’t discuss specifics, the company says it’s in talks with a well-known streaming video brand. And it’s currently reaching out to others in the same market. To give you an idea of the clients RedHawk has in mind, streaming video services like Netflix, Hulu, or Boxee are the types of targets the company is interested in talking with. RedHawk would provide a way for these service to display links to restaurants via the screen that loads before you start the movie. For example, under the movie’s description, would be a simple option that read something like “Order Food.” Clicking the link would take you to a list of participating restaurants with online ordering systems. The way this interface would look and operate is up to the streaming video provider, as this would be a white label product only.

However, RedHawk’s goal is not to function as an ad platform. That means local restaurants are not buying the links, or paying for a higher position. Instead RedHawk pulls from menu providers’ lists, and filters those by zip code in order to suggest the available restaurants to end users, along with delivery times and delivery areas. The customer would then be walked through a simplified online ordering system. RedHawk isn’t the final product name for the service, which has been in development since April.

Teburu

Teburu (Japanese for “table”) provides a web-based and mobile platform for restaurants to easily manage their online and mobile ordering services. For small to medium-sized restaurants, it’s still a challenge to get the information from the ordering system to the kitchen, says Teburu. Typical third-party systems often forgo expensive point-of-sale (POS) integration and instead phone the restaurant, fax in orders or send orders via email. Teburu makes POS integration a more affordable option, or restaurants can opt for the company’s specially designed HTML5 tablet application which runs on locked-down mobile hardware and software, like a customized version of Android, for example. The app will alert order takers to incoming orders via flashes or beeps. Then staff simply inputs the order in their own system.

The overall goal is to provide SMBs with the same level of control over their menus and online ordering presence as larger companies have. The product will be white-labeled so restaurants can control own branding. A mobile app framework is also in development which would allow restaurants to take orders via a branded mobile application. Teburu already has a large chain testing the service right now, but will open up to others later this year.

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Digital Chocolate scoops Publisher of Sandlot Games Games

Alexia Tsotsis currently works at TechCrunch as a writer. She is also a blogger who attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. She majored in writing and art, moved to New York shortly after the end of the work in the entertainment industry and media. After four years of his life in New York and to attend courses in New York. ? Read More

Social gaming contender digital chocolate has just announced the acquisition of playground game. Washington-game publisher responsible for such as Cake Mania and Super Granny and claims more than 300 million downloads of his game, since it was founded in 2002.

Perhaps best know for his action against Zynga, Digital Chocolate is a publisher of social games for mobile devices, Internet, Facebook and Xbox LIVE. He claims that over 100 million game installs all platforms more than 100 games. Its flagship brands, attack army, zombie Lane and the city of millionaire, apparently better known than the playground.

According to a press release the acquisition by Digital Chocolate desire to increase its developers.  "We can now further expansion in Seattle and Eastern Europe," says Digital Chocolate trip Hawkins CEO "We hope to be the leading game companies in at least 5 out of 7 cities, where we now have a Development Studio".

POST Acquisition, digital chocolate has now in homebases Bothel, Washington and St. Petersburg, Russia in addition to San Mateo, Helsinki, Barcelona, Bangalore and Mexico.

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Facebook and Duke It Out Google more games (same day announcements, Zynga?)

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Alexia Tsotsis currently works for TechCrunch as a writer. She is also a blogger who attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA. She majored in Writing and Art, moving to New York City shortly after graduation to work in the Entertainment/Media industry. After four years of living in New York City and attending courses at New York... ? Learn More

Sometimes the platform wars can get so dramatic. A couple of minutes before we were tipped off on Google+ Games, we were also tipped off on a Facebook Gaming announcement and developer-only event happening later this evening. While this really is amazing timing, it highlights how realtime the competition between the two ‘Gang of Four’ social networks is. Rival announcements even!

Google+ Games debuts with Angry Birds, Sudoku, Bejeweled and most importantly Zynga Poker which means that Facebook is no longer the only Zynga-powered social network in town.

Reports that Google will attempt to undercut Facebook’s stronghold on games by offering developers competitive perks like lower fees instill an optimism that Google+ games might have a fighting chance at attracting a critical mass of game titles. But the fact that Farmville and Cityville are very noticeably missing, because of an exclusivity agreement with Zynga, means the battle has just begun.

Here’s Facebook’s pre-announcement brief, highlighting some smaller game developers on the platform, eh hem. It’s war.

I wanted to give you a heads up that tonight we’re hosting a game developers event and will be announcing a series of updates. The event is exclusively for developers, but keep an eye on our developer blog this evening for details (http://developers.facebook.com/blog/). We’ll also share materials with you later this evening.

In the meantime, we wanted to share with you some recent highlights from what’s happening with games on Facebook Platform from developers of all sizes, around the world. Small developers focused on a variety of areas – from sports to strategy to mainstream –  are getting big fast.

—–

Stats

More than 200 million people play games on Facebook each month.

Social discovery is driving growth.The top 80 games on Facebook have at least 1 million active users.

Examples

U.S.

Meteor Games:

The developer, who builds exclusively on Facebook, has grown its company from 35 to 100 employees in the past year, and doubling its staff every six months. Their hit game, Island Paradise, has been installed more than 20 million times in the past two years without any marketing. They have also been successfully monetizing: when they switched Ranch Town to in-game Facebook Credits, they saw a 3x increase in the number of paying players over night.

Funzio:

Launched Crime City on Facebook last year and it quickly became one of the top five Facebook games of the year. Raised $20M in funding earlier this year, and plan to grow their business from 55 employees to 100 by the end of the year.

iWin:

The developer of Family Feud, Deal or No Deal and 1 vs. 100 saw their monthly active userbase increase by 40% ober the last month. Launched just last month, Deal or No Deal has grown to 900k MAUs and 1 vs. 100 has grown by 700k MAUs. iWin has added 30 new employees this year and has offices in San Francisco and Kiev, Ukraine.

Broken Bulb Studios: Ninja

Warz, the company’s first game, has stayed above 125,000 DAU for two years with zero marketing. They launched Miscrits: World of Adventure in January and have 4.5 M MAU. In just over a year they’ve moved into a new office building and doubled their team from 11 employees to 23.

Kabam:

The company grew from 20 people last year to more than 500 people this year, in 4 offices on 3 continents. 9 out of 10 Kabam players play daily, and play for 3 hours per day on average.

GSN: 

MAUs for the company grew from 4.8 million at the end of July 2010 to 7.5 million at the end of July 2011 (60% growth). DAU to MAU ratio has increased from 15% at the end of July 2010 to 23% at the end of July 2011. Additionally, the GSN Social Games team has tripled in size over the last year.

International

Nordeus (Bosnia):

The small team of developers built a football app, Top Eleven, that grew to 3.5 million monthly active users in just three months. Without raising any venture funding, the developer now rivals major brands.

Playtika (Israel):

The developer of Slotomoania and Farkle Pro draws in 4.8 million active users each month. Last year, Cesars Entertainment Corporation purchased 51% of the company at a value of $80-$90M, the largest acquisition of an Israeli gaming company.

Peak Games (Turkey):

Founded less than a year ago in October 2010, the company already has 50 employees, 10 games, and 10 million monthly active users playing traditional Turkish and Arabic card and board games on Facebook. On a daily basis, 2 million people play the games across five time zones, four continents, and five languages. The company has raised $7.5M, and says expects to grow to 250 million users by 2015.

Supercell (Finland):

Founded in June 2010, the hardcore social gaming company has raised $12 million from Accel partners, and has 20 employees. Gunshine, a crime-fighting game on Facebook where players shoot criminals and other enemies, currently has more than 300,000 monthly active users.

Pretty Simple Games (France):

In December 2010, the company launched MyShops, a game with more than 1.5 million active users that allows players to create their own shops and interact with customers. The company has raised $3.6M in funding to date.

Kobojo (France):

With games like Pyramidville, Goobox and RobotZ, the French developer has more than 4 million monthly active users and raised $7.75M to date.

IsCool Entertainment (France):

The French developer has more than 2 million monthly active users on Facebook. They are the only social gaming company listed on a public market (Euronext), and grew from 30 to 85 employees in the last 12 months.

Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 500 million users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It...

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Google provides search and advertising services, which together aim to organize and monetize the world’s information. In addition to its dominant search engine, it offers a plethora of...

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Zynga was founded in July 2007 by Mark Pincus and is named for his late American Bulldog, Zinga. Loyal and spirited, Zinga’s name is a nod to a legendary...

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The GameBox for Facebook» the Facebook games for iPad tunnels

Jordan Crook studied English literature at the University of New York before entering the tech space. Prior to joining TechCrunch Crook dabbled in mobile marketing and mobile apps, as well as doing reviews for MobileBurn and MobileMarketer. Kruk, fascinated with the production of alternative sources of energy and greentech. It is currently a writer for CrunchGear. ? Read More

Love or hate them, one thing holds true Facebook games: they're crazy addictive. So addictive, in fact, that age adults are pulling myself away from the social network, all due to multiple virtual strawberry. Fortunately, the new iPad this will let you play some of your favorite Facebook away where the sun shines, instead of your musty, dark, virtual fruit filled. This is called GameBox.

At the moment, only two games made their way into the app GameBox: Digital Chocolate attack army and Zynga in CityVille. More games are on track, promises an application developer. And don't worry, things will look different on the iPad is all about the user interface remains completely the same as it looks on Facebook.

So, how this all works? Voodoo and magic. More precisely, it seems like all of the actual rendering of Flash in the cloud, GameBox relay stuff back and forth — sort of like a much less intense OnLive. With this in mind, we would hope that the developer has received a permission from Zynga and co. before installing this stuff for free — with places shifting technologies like this is something of a legal grey area, it seems like a quick way to get a fancy new cease and desist letters dropped in your mailbox.

GameBox Facebook application currently listed for $ 2.99 in the Apple app Store.

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