Tag Archives: aapl

‘Flappy Bird’ refuses to die, still popular teen game

The top mobile video game among U.S. teens may surprise you. It’s “Flappy Bird,” that notoriously difficult-to-play smartphone game that its creator pulled off the market in February. Piper Jaffray surveyed 7,500 teens from Feb. 24 to April 1 on a host of topics, including video games. Asked to name their favorite mobile game, 16% said “Flappy Bird,” which was published by .GEARS (dotGears) Studios, a small, independent game developer in Vietnam. The creator of “Flappy Bird,” Dong Nguyen, removed the game from the Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) app stores on Feb. 9 after facing criticism about its level of difficulty and alleged plagiarism in graphics and game mechanics. Many have called the game addicting. Players tap the screen to keep a small bird aloft and flying through obstacles. The game, released last May, appeared to borrow from the look of old Nintendo (NTDOY) games like “Super Mario Bros.”…

Beats, Apple rising as teen headphone brands

A survey of U.S. teens by Piper Jaffray shows a potential missed opportunity for Apple in the headphone business. It also provides good news for Beats Electronics and bad news for Skullcandy in the lucrative market. The survey found that 56% of teens plan to purchase headphones in the next six months. The top headphone brand among likely buyers is Beats By Dr. Dre, which was the choice of 46.1% of respondents. Apple (AAPL) is second, attracting 25.3% of likely buyers. Skullcandy (SKUL) is a distant third, with 9.8%. Beats By Dr. Dre, owned by Beats Electronics, has been trending up over the past four semiannual teen surveys by Piper. In fall 2012, Beats was the choice of 44.8% of likely teen headphone buyers. Based in Santa Monica, Calif., the company is seen as a possible IPO candidate. Apple also has been steadily rising as a headphone brand. In fall…

U.S. teen survey shows high interest in Apple iWatch

A growing number of U.S. teens say they’d be interested in buying Apple’s rumored iWatch smartwatch should the consumer electronics-maker decide to come out with one. A survey of about 7,500 teens by Piper Jaffray indicated that 17% of them would purchase an iWatch if Apple (AAPL) were to launch the wearable device for about $350. That’s higher than 12% in an October survey by Piper Jaffray. “The metric points to a growing interest in an iWatch as we get closer to a potential launch in (the second half of) 2014,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote in a report Tuesday. “We continue to expect 5-10 million iWatches in the first full year of sales.” In its spring survey of U.S. teens, about 6% of respondents said they already own a smartwatch. “We view this number as slightly higher than expected given the relative lack of smartwatches on the market.”…