Giant Mess of News 12/9/2011

Yeah, yeah I know news was moving away from roundups to more detailed posts and analyses, but damn, today had a lot of news.

Games:
Games were the largest share of Android's first 10 billion downloads. Yes, this is from the department of 'duh', but it's a reminder of the power and size of that market share.

B.S.:
Zynga tells investors it can double it's paying customers. I do not believe this possible in the short or medium term – but they didn't promise WHEN it could happen.

Legal Messes:
Apparently there are hacking charges against Groupon. This is more changing contracts/contacts, but also . . . well read the article.  Groupon's having bad times lately.

On Windows 8? Microsoft can change/remove apps apparently, at least that's the current plans. That's gonna go over well (anyone remember the infamous Kindle glitch?).  Watch this if you're a developer (or a lawyer)

There's some foofaraw in German where Motorola won seriously against Apple over a patent issue, but the resolution is anything but clear. This may come back later – or accelerate into further nastiness. Also remember who Motorola is part of now . . .

Also Apple lost in Australia over It's attempt to ban the Samsung Galaxy tablet, over – you got it – patents. This gets into ugliness involving countersuits and general stupidity.

Yes, patent suits are out of hand.  Yes they are killing innovation.  No, it's not being called out enough.

Steven Savage