tech:

taffy

BRIC countries account for 41% of all game installs, according to Unity

According to the game development platform company Unity Technologies Q2 2016 Global “Games by the Numbers” report, emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) accounted for four of the top five countries for global game installs. This includes 41% of total installs, and 42% of Android.

Here are some insights from the report:

  • Samsung led the Android market for game installs with 35.1% as Huawei overtook Xiaomi as the second largest Android manufacturer globally.
  • The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 5s remain the most popular with a combined 28% of game installs, showing no change from Q1 despite the launch of new devices.
  • Android achieved near total dominance in Indonesia, with 96% of total game installs; compare to the Republic of Korea and Brazil who were at 92% during Q1 2016.
  • Android Marshmallow gained significant traction, jumping over 4.5X since last quarter to 7.5% of installs globally.
  • iOS showed more consolidation with 78% (vs 72% in Q1) of installs occurring on devices running iOS 9.0 (released September 2015) or later.

According to the game development company, 238,248 games made with Unity have been installed 4.4 billion times, across 1.7 billion unique devices globally in Q2 2016.

[Image courtesy: Unity]

Just in

Apple sued in a landmark iPhone monopoly lawsuit — CNN

The US Justice Department and more than a dozen states filed a blockbuster antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, accusing the giant company of illegally monopolizing the smartphone market, writes Brian Fung, Hannah Rabinowitz and Evan Perez.

Google is bringing satellite messaging to Android 15 — The Verge

Google’s second developer preview for Android 15 has arrived, bringing long-awaited support for satellite connectivity alongside several improvements to contactless payments, multi-language recognition, volume consistency, and interaction with PDFs via apps, writes Jess Weatherbed. 

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is paid more than the heads of Meta, Pinterest, and Snap — combined — QZ

Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman has been blasted by Redditors and in media reports over his recently-revealed, super-sized pay package of $193 million in 2023, writes Laura Bratton. 

British AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman joins Microsoft — BBC

Microsoft has announced British Artificial Intelligence pioneer Mustafa Suleyman will lead its newly-formed division, Microsoft AI, according to the BBC report. 

UnitedHealth Group has paid more than $2 billion to providers following cyberattack — CNBC

UnitedHealth Group said Monday that it’s paid out more than $2 billion to help health-care providers who have been affected by the cyberattack on subsidiary Change Healthcare, writes Ashley Capoot.