Angry Birds

Rovio announces Angry Birds book app: Live from Frankfurt Book Fair

Rovio, whose “Angry Birds” app has been downloaded over 1 billion times, announced its first book app, a $0.99 iPad cookbook called “Bad Piggies’ Best Egg Recipes,” at the Frankfurt Book Fair Thursday. “We’re looking for millions of downloads,” CMO Peter Vesterbacka said.

Fall of Angry Birds & some other posts you should read

I was going to include these posts in next week’s Om Says newsletter, but who wants to wait till then? I would say read these posts before you call it a Sunday. They aren’t exactly news, but that is why they are worth reading!

Rovio raked in $106M last year in preparation for IPO

Angry Birds maker Rovio generated $106.3 million in revenue last year based on the success of three games and a booming merchandising business. The tenfold improvement over the previous is a strong showing for the company as it looks ahead to an IPO next.

How to make reading more like Angry Birds

Book publishers have to make reading books as addictive and habit-forming as playing Angry Birds, Charles Duhigg, author of “The Power of Habit” (also known as “that book about how Target knew a teenager was pregnant before her dad did”) argues.

Rovio’s Angry Birds soars past 500 million downloads

Angry Birds has soared into some rarified air with the news that it’s eclipsed 500 million downloads after launching less than two years ago. Mikael Hed, aka Mighty Eagle made the announcement on stage at the Slush Conference in Helsinki.

Wow. No wonder the birds are angry

The No. 2 free app on Apple’s app store is Cut the Birds, a mashup of two really popular iOS games: Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja. The comments on the app’s review section say it all. I am just surprised it slipped past the Apple censors.

Rovio wants to predict Angry Birds players’ moves

Angry Birds creator Rovio is using predictive analytics software from Seattle-based startup Medio in an attempt to improve the gaming experience and keep users playing. Mobile and social games might appear to be cute diversions, but they’re generating lots of money.

Roku adds more casual games to its streaming box

Right on the heels of $8 million in new funding, Roku has added seven new casual games to its boxes. The games, which were developed by Accedo, follow on the release of Angry Birds on its new devices and will add some additional revenues.

3 great new iPhone and iPad games available now

The iPhone and iPad are swimming in awesome game releases lately. Three titles worthy of special attention arrived on Apple’s mobile devices Thursday, including a little something for everyone, from casual gamers right up to those looking for a fairly rich RPG experience.

Pigs beware: Roku gets Angry Birds with new devices

The next generation of Roku media streaming boxes will roll out soon, with a new, smaller form factor and more powerful graphics. With the release, the company is betting big on casual games becoming available on new Roku 2 devices, including Rovio’s Angry Birds.

Roku 2 revealed. Thanks, FCC!

Pictures and details of the next generation of Roku set-top boxes have been revealed, thanks to a filing with the FCC. So should you get ready to buy one? It probably depends on if you already own a Roku — and how much you like Angry Birds.

Angry Birds to conjure some location Magic [Video]

Rovio wants to take Angry Birds local by enhancing game play for users when they visit real-world locations. The feature builds off an NFC feature for certain Nokia phones, and unlocks new levels when users tap their phones together or tap in at a location.

Why Rovio must think about life after Angry Birds

Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, has a huge hit on its hands — 200 million downloads and ambitious plans for toys, animated series and even a movie. But is the company really thinking about the future . . . or just trying to cash in while it can?

Chrome Now Has 160 Million Users — and Angry Birds

Chrome now has 160 million users in 41 countries worldwide. That’s more than double the 70 million users reported at last year’s conference. In addition to new features in the Chrome API, Google also announced a special web version of Angry Birds for Chrome.

Angry Birds Helps NFC Take Flight

NFC can be used for a lot of things, now including unlocking levels in Angry Birds. Rovio is partnering with Nokia to offer a Symbian version of its popular title, called Angry Birds Magic, in which most of the levels will be unlocked through NFC.

Skype Founder, Others Invest $42 Million in Angry Birds

Rovio, the Finnish company behind the hit Angry Birds game has raised $42 million in venture funding to grow the business into different directions. Investors in the company include Accel Partners, Atomico and Felicis Ventures. Angry Birds maker hopes to become a many-media brand.

Angry Birds Take the Cake

I went to an Austin cake show today, and amid several superhero cakes, wedding confections and some impressive feats of fondant I stumbled upon an ode to Angry Birds. I wonder if it tastes as good as it looks. Click through to see the whole thing.

Fed Up With Android Market, Angry Birds Flies to Carrier Billing

Rovio is taking its success with Angry Birds — 50 million downloads and counting — and using it to launch a new carrier-billing payment system. The mobile developer said it is launching Bad Piggy Bank early next year, allowing one-touch in-app billing to a user’s wireless bill.

Video: Angry Birds Get Seasonal on the Galaxy Tab

Those Angry Birds cannot be stopped, not even by the holiday season. Rovio Mobile has released a special Android version for the holidays, with a twist. The Christmas-themed game was introduced on Dec. 1, and will only unlock one level per day until Christmas.

Video: Angry Birds on Galaxy Tab

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is the first Android tablet to make a serious run at the iPad, and with Angry Birds now on Android the question is how well does the game run on the Tab? Check out this video showing bird flinging in glorious hi-res.

Angry Birds Coming to Low-End Android Phones

The Angry Birds phenomenon just keeps rocking the mobile world, and soon a second Android version will be rocking low-end handsets with older versions of the OS. Performance issues are forcing Rovio to develop this version to address the diversity of devices running Android today.

GetJar Rides a Rocket Thanks to Angry Birds

Until recently, GetJar was probably one of the biggest app stores that few people had ever used. That ended on Friday, however, when it offered an exclusive on Angry Birds for Android, touching off a frenzy of downloads that overwhelmed GetJar’s servers.

Is Cut the Rope the Next Angry Birds?

ZeptoLabs’ Cut the Rope, a clever physics-based puzzle game, has replaced Angry Birds on the top of the App Store charts and got to 1 million downloads within 10 days, a record for a paid iOS app. We talk to the developers to find out their secret.

EA Lands Angry Birds Publisher Chillingo

Electronic Arts bought UK mobile game publisher Chillingo, which distributes the break-out hit Angry Birds. The deal, rumored to be worth $20 million, comes almost a year after EA bought Playfish for $400 million and extends EA’s move into more social and mobile games.

5 Lessons Learned from Angry Birds Launch on Android

Angry Birds just passed 2 million downloads on Android, making it the fastest downloaded app on Android Market ever. The successful launch on Friday says a lot about the game and about the state of Android Market. Here are five things we learned:

Android This Week: Angry Birds, Opera Mobile Coming

The Android world saw two new apps released this week that show promise. Angry Birds is one of the hottest games in the iTunes App Store, and the free Android version should be well received. Opera Mobile is coming to the platform and looks very nice.

GetJar Nabs Exclusive: Angry Birds on Android

Google has the Android Market for app distribution, but GetJar has Angry Birds with an exclusive deal that shuts Google out of the hot game phenomenon. GetJar is an app store with over a billion downloads, and Angry Birds will likely score a few more.

Conan O’Brien to Answer Facebook Questions on YouTube

Until recently, the activity on the Team Coco YouTube account was relatively minimal. Looks like that’s changing in a big way, though, as today Conan O’Brien announced that he’d be taking questions on Facebook and answering them in video form on his YouTube channel.