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The Mobile Gadgeteer

Matthew Miller & Joel Evans

Angry Birds are everywhere

By | September 8, 2010, 7:19am PDT

Summary: Angry Birds are coming to Hollywood, consoles, toys, and more

A while back a friend and I were looking at games on each other’s iPhones. At that point I stumbled on Angry Birds, to which he replied, “that’s a must buy!” I purchased it for 99 cents and then forgot about it. Fast forward to April when I randomly launched it and the rest is history.

If you’re not familiar with Angry Birds, the goal is to use

“the unique destructive powers of the Angry Birds to lay waste to the pigs’ fortified castles.”

You do this by using a sling shot and flying the Angry Birds into the pigs’ castles, in hopes of eliminating the pigs.

As just about everyone who plays the game once will attest to, this game is addictive. So addictive in fact, that it’s now sold more than 6.5 million copies, and has been downloaded more than 11 million times for free, according to variety.com, and that’s just on the App Store.

What is it about Angry Birds that makes it such a success? No one knows for sure but it probably has to do with its great art, sound effects, and easy to figure out gameplay. That and the fact that it’s priced right, and the developers are constantly releasing new levels.

As for pricing, according to AppShopper, the app itself has been available since December 10, 2009, and enjoyed a mere 10 days at $1.99, after which it promptly resumed its spot in the top 10 at 99 cents. Overseas it’s a bit over $1, and there’s also an iPad version that sells for $4.99. That version has sold more than 200,000 copies, according to variety.com.

So, where do you go after you’ve conquered the App Store? How about Hollywood, toys, other mobile platforms, and even consoles? According to CEO of Rovio Mobile, that’s exactly where the company is taking Angry Birds.

Angry Birds has already landed on Palm, the OVI Store, and now Android, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

The most amazing thing to me is how faithfully recreated the game is on each mobile platform. For example, I played the Android version on the Droid X yesterday, and you would have thought I was playing it on the iPhone.

If this article has you wondering how Angry Birds could ever be a movie, check out the company’s movie trailer below. It’s already been watched almost as many times as the company has sold copies of the game.

As for toys, some fans couldn’t wait for the toys to start shipping and created their own. I can only imagine how excited my kids would be to have these figures available to play with.

Do you play Angry Birds? If so, on which platform?

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Topics

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space.

Disclosure

Joel Evans

Joel is a serial entrepreneur with his most recent business, CronkSoftware (cronksoftware.com), focusing on consulting and building games and applications for mobile devices. Joel has consulted for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile division and advises other companies on how to incorporate mobile into their existing brands and products. Joel purchases many of his devices and others are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the supplier. If any devices are provided as “keeper” Joel will clearly disclose this in his reviews.

Biography

Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands, technologies and services into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently serving as the Managing Director of Cronk Software, Inc., a company he founded to offer full-service, end-to-end mobile strategy, design and development services.

Joel is the former founder and "Chief Geek" of Geek.com, a website praised by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and others as one of world's best sources of information for technology professionals and enthusiasts.

Joel also serves as a technology expert for a number of well-known publications and regularly advises corporations, analysts, journalists and bloggers on what the future of technology will bring. He brings decades of relationships with leading game publishers, online communities and publishers, along with both hardware and software product management and delivery expertise. Joel can be found online as "JoelGeek" and you can follow him on Twitter @JoelGeek.

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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
mikemullen 6th Nov
Right now I have games of Final Fantasy Tactics and Advance Wars 2 going. I love having those games with me at all times and I am not bored.
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Never underestimate simplicity!
wizard57m@... 8th Sep 2010
That's the reason so many old simple games have remained the most popular. Sure, the new generation of immersive 3D multi-player games can be fun, but sometimes you just want to while away some time without having to strategize every move!
BTW---you left off part of your post in regards to the number of units sold according to Variety..."So addictive in fact, that it?s now sold more than 6.5 copies, according to variety.com, and that?s just on the App Store."
How did they sell that half copy????
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I have it on my iPad!
yuss1 9th Oct
I play this game on my iPad. I did hesitated to purchase and download the game for quite some time, and to my regret, I wish I had purchased it sooner since it is really a good and simple game to spend time with your kids or perhaps do something more fun than staring blankly inside the bus while stuck in a traffic jam or a way to reduce certain degree of risk to poor circulation. Thankfully, I did realize the popularity of the game as soon as a lot of merchandize are being sold in stores like angry bird stuffed toys, mugs, shirts, and more, that made me think of purchasing the application.
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
miroslav janu 3rd Nov
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i heard this game from long time ago, but i haven't play this game..look interesting, maybe this is the time for me to try this game.
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6.5 million copies sold at $0.99 per copy is 6.5 million dollars, give or take. Who is keeping all that dough? Oh, right.
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
non-biased 15th Sep 2010
@aureolin Got an issue with Apple keeping a cut for creating the market and hosting it? The developer made over $4.5 million let alone opened doors to other markets. Do you really think they were hurt by Apple keeping 30%? Get a clue.
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
peterrogers 2nd Nov
@non-biased I agree there is big money in selling game application through Itunes. Even though they take there 30% cut they still provide all the resources.
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
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@aureolin I just want to emphasize the good work on this , has excellent views and a clear vision of what you are looking for
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@aureolin Thanks for sharing. i really appreciate it that you shared with us such a informative post..
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Just a New Platform
MichP 8th Sep 2010
The idea looks a much simpler version of BOOM BLOX for the Wii (http://www.ea.com/games/boom-blox).
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
jmwells21 8th Sep 2010
Simple games are often the most addicting (Peggle, anyone)? I hope there's a version coming to Droid phones, otherwise I'll have to check it out on my wife's iPhone!
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
mejohnsn 8th Sep 2010
Just watch. Angry Birds will go the way of Crazy Frog.
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
WordpressGuy 13th Sep
@mejohnsn Geez let's hope they don't become as annoying as the crazy frog....... Wordpress Training/h1
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Angry Bird Developers strategized carefully
MobileWebMarketing Updated - 8th Sep 2010
Rovio, the firm the developed Angry Birds, screened many proposals before zeroing in on this one. They have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars. They paid as much attention to marketing as to game development.

You can read MobileWebGo's transcript of the interview at
http://www.mobilewebgo.com/how-did-angry-birds-become-blockbuster-rovio-video-interview-and-transcript
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I love Angry Birds!
condelirios 8th Sep 2010
I play on my iPod Touch... It totally rocks. Now that it is on Android, I think my next Sprint Phone will be an Android!
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
krtinberg 30th Aug
@condelirios This app is everywhere.. Everyone I know is addicted to this game. Its crazy!
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Golly Gee!
FiOS-Dave 8th Sep 2010
I'm going right out and buy a $500 Smartphone, just so I can play this wonderful game -- NOT!
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
jmiller1978 10th Sep 2010
@FiOS-Dave

$500 smartphone? Where are you spending $500 these days for a phone? I spent $199 and it's not just to play this game (which I have bought, it's awesome).
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RE: Angry Birds are everywhere
hmnshu 17th Dec 2010
Which $199 phone offers smooth gameplay without any lag or missing frames? The new LG Optimus One with a 600MHz processor cannot render Angry Birds smoothly (and it costs more than $199), so I'd really like to know about this $199 phone.
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321myuser 29th Aug
I love angry birds, I play it on my Android, and I must say the game is very addictive.
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I was completely addicted to Angry Birds, and completed all the levels. However I wasted a lot of time doing it, and when Rio came out along with yet more level *and* the mighty eagle in-app purchase, I felt quite fatigued with the whole thing. It never ends!

Great game though, just think I'm played out happy

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