Adobe confirmed today that it is no longer adapting its Flash Player to newer mobile devices, instead guiding developers to package native apps with Adobe Air or build cross-platform applications in HTML5.

The move indicates just how badly Apple’s ban of Flash hurt Adobe in terms of getting traction with mobile developers. Apple frequently called out the inefficiency of the Flash platform on mobile devices, most recently in an April 2011 blog post from the late Steve Jobs. A ZDNet report came out last night, breaking news of Adobe’s decision.

There were a handful of apps (e.g. iSwifter) that could more or less convert or run Flash apps on iOS devices, but this doesn’t seem to have been a long-term solution for most game developers looking to take their Flash-based games cross-platform. This leaves Flash-loyal game developers with two options: write native apps for each mobile device, or explore alternatives that can produce a single product that runs on various devices.

With a big push from industry giants like Google and Facebook, HTML5 has emerged as an alternative to writing native applications, despite frame-rate issues that present challenges for game developers. Facebook recently launched its own mobile platform with support for HTML5 games from a test pool of established mobile and social game developers.

A handful of indie developers are currently launching HTML5-based arcade and board game titles on Facebook, iOS and Android. Though some of these titles are experiencing growing pains in their early days, they are functional on both web and mobile. Most developers have told us, however, that it’ll be at least another year before HTML5 comes into its own for game development.

Adobe says that it will now take a larger role in contributing to HTLM5 development both through investment and by working with Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM. Hopefully this will yield better HTML5 tools more quickly than a year out from now, as Adobe’s strength has always been tools.

The rest of its mobile work will focus on native app packaging with Adobe Air and the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. The developer will also supply bug fixes and security updates for existing Flash mobile apps. Adobe Flash Player 11 and Air 3 launched in October with a keen emphasis on high-end gaming graphics and HD video for PCs; Adobe says it’s already at work on Flash Player 12.

Zynga said it reached an average 9.9 million daily active users of its games on iOS and Android through the third quarter, according to an amended filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission today.

It means that Zynga is gradually weaning itself off the Facebook platform. Nearly one-fifth of the company’s 54 million daily actives are now on iOS and Android —  which are platforms not operated by Facebook. Keep in mind though, that Zynga’s daily active metric double-counts users who play more than one of the company’s games.

That figure may also make Zynga the company with the most daily actives relative to any other developer on iOS and Android. Storm8 said it had 4 million daily actives on iOS and Android in June. Glu Mobile said yesterday that it had 2.1 million daily actives across its network of games in its quarterly earnings call.

>> Continue reading on our sister site Inside Mobile Apps.

Showtime Pumping DEXTER Facebook Game With Sweepstakes
Showtime is promoting its new DEXTER Facebook game, Dexter Slice of Life, with a pre-launch sweepstakes that includes weekly prizes of $500 and a grand prize of an all expenses paid trip to Miami.  As we reported earlier, Dexter Slice of Life is being developed by Ecko Code with gameplay directly tied to the plot of the show’s sixth season, and fans of the show can play out the events of each episode the day after it airs. The season premiere of DEXTER is October 2nd, and Dexter Slice of Life launches on Monday, October 3rd.

Adobe Hoping Flash 11 Will Fend off HTML 5
Adobe revealed Flash 11 and the Flash-based AIR 3 to the world this week, placing a lot of emphasis on how the new software can be used by game developers, calling Flash 11 and AIR 3 the “game console for the web.” The new tools have been designed to be easier to install, more powerful and compatible with more systems, working with 64-bit on Windows, Mac and Linux. The move comes at a time when Adobe is looking up to shore up Flash as a development platform in the face of growing competition from HTML 5, the still-evolving development platform championed first by Apple, and now Microsoft, who are building their Windows 8 operating system to use HTML 5, blocking Flash entirely.

Has Facebook Added $15 Billion to the Economy?
A study conducted by the University of Maryland claims that Facebook apps have created an entire new segment of the high-tech industry, adding at least 182,000 jobs in the US alone. According to the findings, the so called “app economy” created by Facebook has lead to  53,000 new jobs specifically in companies that develop applications for the social network, and that has lead to job creation in connected sectors, which has pumped an additional $12.19 billion in wages and benefits into the U.S. economy.  While the claim seems to be good news, tech blog Gigaom is raising doubts and criticizing the report for using too many estimates and not enough hard data. For those interested in the numbers, and the methods used to obtain them, the full report can be found here.

American Express Gets into the Virtual Goods Market
American Express is following in the footsteps of rival Visa with the purchase of virtual currency company Sometrics. The deal, worth $30 million, will expand Amex’s Serve digital payments platform, giving it access to Sometrics’ existing customer base. Before the acquisition, Sometrics’ served 250 million customers. In February, Visa bought game monetization service Playspan for $190 million. According our Inside Virtual Goods Report, the virtual goods market will be worth approximately $1.2 billion in 2011.

Zynga Goes on Defensive Domain Buying Spree
While Zynga was announcing Mafia Wars 2, they were going to great lengths to protect that new IP.  Zynga purchased over 75 web addresses on September 20th, according to information uncovered by Fusible. The addresses cover almost every possible iteration of the Mafia Wars name, from insulting – mafiawars2sucks.com, to fawning – ilovemafiawars2.com, to purposely mistyped – wwwmafiawars2.com. While none of the domains seem to go anywhere yet, the complete list can be found here.

Tagged Acquires Startup WeGame to Strengthen Gaming Ties
Social networking service Tagged, which bills itself as the social network for meeting new people, has acquired social gaming service WeGame. While the announcement was short on specifics, the two services essentially serve the same purpose. Tagged allows users to make friends by browsing user profiles, playing games and sharing gifts, and adding WeGame to the mix allows Tagged to offer its user base more gaming focused social discovery tools and more monetization options. In the last year, Tagged has launched a new mobile website and beefed up its in-house game development.

Facebook to Make Big Bank off Credits in 2011
According to a report by eMarketer, Facebook’s revenue from Facebook Credits will top $470 million dollars in 2011, more than three times what it made from credits in 2010. In 2009 credits contributed to 5% of the social network’s revenue; thanks to the growth of social gaming and virtual goods, the currency now makes up 11% of Facebook’s income. According to an eMarketer interview with VentureBeat, one reason for the jump was the July 1st change that made Facebook Credits the mandatory currency for social games, standardizing the Facebook social gaming platform and giving Facebook a 30% cut of every transaction.

Grasshopper Manufacture Partners with DeNA for Social Games
Japanese studio Grasshopper Manufacture, most well known for the surreal titles its CEO Suda51 dreams up, is adding social games to its portfolio. Grasshopper is partnering with DeNA, the Japanese mobile and social gaming juggernaut to bring its games into the smartphone market. In an interview at the Tokyo Game Show, Akira Yamaoka, Grasshopper’s chief creative officer said that Japan’s game industry “absolutely cannot ignore mobile games.” The partnership seems to be a natural move for DeNA, who recently purchased ngmoco:) and Punch Entertainment’s Vietnam studio bolster its Mobage platform.

Sony Unveils a New, Much More Social Home
Sony has unveiled the new look for its integrated social network PlayStation Home. Originally created as a virtual world for hardcore gamers, the new Home, which is currently in closed beta, will have distinct districts that showcase different genres of games, making it easier for Home users to quickly navigate to the kinds of games they want to play. The games will be lighter, more casual and free to play, but supported through virtual goods transactions. Currently 30 developers are creating games for the new version of Home.

EA Aiming to Be the Social Kings in Three Years
According to a speech by CEO John Riccitiello, EA has set a $3 billion goal for online revenue in the next two to three years, with the ultimate goal of surpassing reigning champion Zynga as the biggest social gaming company in the world. Currently the majority of the 100 million people playing EA’s social games are from The Sims Social, which now boasts more than 51 million users. In related news, EA announced that it is creating a spin-off of its NHL franchise for Facebook called NHL Superstars that will launch in October. Meanwhile the gaming giant has signed a distribution agreement with Aeria Games to bring games from its Play4Free division (such as Battlefield Heroes and Need for Speed World) to the 23 million strong gaming network.

MapleStory Adventures Already at Three Million Players
The Facebook version may not be out of beta, but that hasn’t put off fans of the MapleStory franchise. According to Nexon, their first Facebook app MapleStory Adventures has already attracted more than three million users.

Angry Birds + Starbucks = BBFs?
According to report uncovered by Edge, Rovio is in talks to bring Angry Birds to the one of the most ubiquitous franchises in the world, Starbucks. While few details are known, Rovio may be bringing Angry Birds leaderboards into Starbucks as way to encourage people to play the game while they’re getting their daily caffeine fix.

Social Games Can be Hardcore Too
It turns out hardcore social gamers are a lot like regular gamers, according to a study funded by Kabam. In a national research survey, statistics showed that a growing number of young men are “hardcore social gamers” – i.e., they are playing social games from “hardcore” genres like FPS, strategy, RPG or MMO. 82% of hardcore social gamers are also console gamers, and according the study, the lure of the social game experience is siphoning time from consoles. 27% of those surveyed reported a decline in their gameplay on other platforms. The study also showed that the social gaming demographic is growing quickly – 41% of U.S. Internet users reported having played a social game. A full breakdown of the statistics can be found here.

Social Gaming Network Face Up Gaming Goes into Beta
Developer Game Face Gaming is hoping there’s room in the crowded social games landscape for its new online gaming platform, Face Up Gaming. The platform is a non-wagering poker site that combines social networking elements with competitive online gaming. According to CEO Felix Elinson, the goal is to create a global gaming platform that supports cross language play that’s accessible from any internet device. Players will be able to log on, play a game and maintain connections they make with fellow players after the game is over. Face Up Gaming just went into limited beta, with plans to move forward into an expanded beta by October.

GetGlue Adding Social and Game Elements
GetGlue, the check-in based social network for media, has updated its iPhone app and website to incorporate more social elements. Users now have a conversation stream that shows them check ins from their friends and the general user community. GetGlue has also added leaderboards, which show users which of their friends are checking into the service’s most popular content. GetGlue currently has 1.5 million users.

Hanging With Friends Comes to Android
Zynga has brought the latest offering in its With Friends franchise to Android. Hanging With Friends made its Android debut on September 20th as a free download. As a result of the launch, the game is now cross-platform, allowing users on both iOS and Android to challenge one another in the word guessing game.

Capital One Comes to CityVille
On September 20th Capital One launched a major three-game promotion, adding Capital One branded content to CityVille, FarmVille andPioneer Trail.  This is not the first time Zynga has teamed with Capital One, but it is the first time a company has launched a promotion across multiple Zynga games simultaneously.

[Launch] Big Bang Theory Comes to Facebook with Mystic Warlords of Ka’a
The hit CBS show The Big Bang Theory celebrated the debut of its fifth season with the launch of a new Facebook game called The Big Bang Theory: The Mystic Warlords of Ka’a. Based on the character’s favorite game in the show, The Mystic Warlords of Ka’a is a digital collectible card game, where fans can collect and trade cards with one another, play with characters from the series and challenge their friends to matches. The game was developed for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment by Dire Wolf Digital.

MindJolt, the casual-social gaming company run by former MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe, announces a new string of games today along with the news that the company has successfully transitioned its business model from advertising to virtual goods.

The announcement comes roughly five months after MindJolt acquired social mobile game company Social Gaming Network (SGN) and free online game network Hallpass Media. At that time, MindJolt was very clearly activating on DeWolfe’s strategy to expand off of Facebook onto mobile and open web platforms. The acquisitions also helped MindJolt bring much of its game development in-house, effectively educating the company on how monetize games through virtual goods sales as opposed to advertising.

The result, DeWolfe tells us today, is a successful pivot into a new business model with virtual goods now making up one-third of MindJolt’s revenues. Though he declines to give specific numbers, he confirms that annual revenues are in the tens-of-millions and expected to exceed the $20 million figure reported in November 2010. Since April of this year, the company has released or re-launched a handful of games on iOS, including Warp Dash, Master Shot, Dress-up – Fashion, and Mini Cafe.

In the next few months, we can expect to see seven new games out of MindJolt, the first of which DeWolfe says is coming to iOS in as few as a couple of weeks. The upcoming titles include Fluff Friends – Races, Bird’s the Word, and another game inspired by DressUp, which was a web game bought by MindJolt as part of the Hallpass Media acquisition.

The big challenge now will be tackling cross-platform releases, a task many social and mobile game developers struggle with. Currently, MindJolt is building native apps for each platform — web, Facebook, iOS and, eventually, Android — with only very light integration between games of the same franchise via Facebook Connect. The games essentially look and play the same on each platform, however, and DeWolfe says that this is helpful when it comes to promoting games cross-platform.

Another component of the cross-platform challenge is creating a critical mass of users that support the MindJolt brand. As of right now, the company says it has a pool of over 30 million mobile installs, over 70 million social platform installs on social platforms, and over 25 million unique monthly active users on the web. Moving eyeballs between these platforms is crucial in supporting new game launches — as other cross-platform developers like OMGPOP have experienced when shifting audiences between Facebook and iOS.

“We’re getting a trememndous amount of traffic and downloads from web,” DeWolfe says. “It doesn’t usually work to advertise something on the web and then have people go through the friction of the iTunes store, downloading, and then picking up their device and actually using it.” The near-identical appearance of the apps, he says, reduces the friction.

Going forward, MindJolt is also releasing its first in-house developed Facebook game today, titled Bubble Atlantis. Though still integrating the teams at SGN and Hallpass Media, DeWolfe tells us that the company is still “opportunistically” looking for game developer talent acquisitions or second-party partnerships. After successfully beefing up its mobile business, the bar is now higher for what MindJolt can do on social network game platforms and on open web.

China is fast-becoming the second-largest market in terms of downloads for many developers including companies like Rovio, but it lags behind in terms of monetization. The country came in just behind the U.S. in page views on Google’s AdMob advertising network in July, according to statistics the network shared at an iOS developer conference in China this past weekend.

The promise is there, but how do mobile developers take advantage of it?

Over the past two weeks in Beijing and Shanghai, I’ve had the chance to talk with several mobile developers like High Noon-maker Happylatte, PapayaMobile, PopCap Games and other companies being incubated in former Google China head Kai-Fu Lee’s incubator Innovation Works.

It’s an incredibly complex and different market from the U.S., but here are a few insights into developing and marketing iOS and Android apps there:

1) Android may be the long-term bet, but iOS is showing surprising resilience in spite of lower incomes here: 

iOS has leapt up the ranks of mobile search referrals to Baidu in recent months and sends more queries to the Chinese search engine than Android does, according to a source at the search company familiar with the data. Google’s AdMob also said that close to three-fourths of the pageviews on its network in China are from iOS as compared to Android during the same presentation that the picture at the top is from. Nokia is still the biggest platform in China though.

There aren’t good public estimates available on the actual number of consumers carrying Android and iOS devices considering that there are many “Shanzhai” or knock-off phones that are based on Android but are incompatible with the platform. Plus, many people bring phones into the country through relatives and friends abroad. The country’s largest carrier China Mobile — which doesn’t even sell the iPhone — said it had 7.44 million iPhones on its network in its last quarterly earnings call.

Dianxin, one of the makers of a local variant of Android known as Tapas, estimates there are 12 to 15 million Android devices currently circulating in the country. Many other local mobile-focused companies like PapayaMobile say they’re building products assuming there are at least 10 million iOS and 10 million Android phones circulating in the country.

An unlocked iPhone 4 costs 4,999 renminbi here, or roughly $780, well above its American price and even farther above the discounted price with a two-year plan that most U.S. consumers choose. That is about twice what the average new Android phone from Samsung, Motorola or HTC retails for at 2300 to 2600 renminbi or $360 to $410, according to China-focused research firm ZDC. Most people buy their phones unlocked — and often at full retail price — then pick a carrier afterward.

Apple is an incredibly revered brand in China. Based on observation, it’s hard to say there is a more potent and accessible status symbol for Chinese consumers with newfound discretionary income than the iPhone. There is a reason there are fake Apple stores here. There is a reason why Apple’s newly appointed chief executive Tim Cook said in the company’s last earnings call that China brought in $3.8 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter and $8.8 billion in revenue in the fiscal year to date.

Apple has also gotten away with a lot more than many other Western consumer technology companies which have come here only to fall flat on their faces. Unlike Google, Apple maintains a favorable relationship with the Chinese government. It likely censors sensitive content from the local version of the app store to comply with the Chinese government’s restrictions. Google doesn’t support paid apps in Android Market in China and unless it censors its store (which would require substantial changes to the store’s current review process), it would be hard for it to gain mass adoption here. In that case, alternative Android app stores may thrive.

2) There are many local variants of Android, but none of them are really that big — yet.

Unlike many other Western markets, there are several custom versions of Android here that are tailored to the needs of Chinese consumers (or in less promising cases, the needs of Chinese carriers and OEMs). Because the Android market here is still so new, most Android users still have the standard version of Google’s OS.

“None of them are really big right now,” said Si Shen, the chief executive of Android mobile-social gaming network PapayaMobile.

Don’t worry about them for now. But if you are interested, the handful that come up most often in conversation are:

> Continue reading on Inside Mobile Apps.

Rovio’s Angry Birds is still one of the top-rated apps on iOS and Android 20 months after its initial release, but it’s not clear how the game will fare on social platforms like Google+.

Right now, the game is available as one of the launch titles on the Google+ Games platform. Like many other titles in the lineup, Angry Birds is not currently monetized through the sale of virtual goods (in contrast to Edgeworld, which features full monetization identical to its Facebook version). However, the game prominently features ads for real-world Angry Birds merchandise, such as stuffed animals and shoulder bags. In its original mobile incarnation, Angry Birds made its money on a combination of one-time download sales for the full version, the sale of an “eagle” that let users pass difficult levels, and from advertising that appears in the free limited version.

As a social game, Angry Birds doesn’t do anything terribly different from the limited free version available on iOS and Android. The game is controlled via mouse where a click-and-drag motion launches birds toward the physics puzzle and scrolling with the mouse zooms in or out of the puzzle. The only “native” social game feature we observe is a friend gate after level 2 — where players cannot progress past a certain level without inviting new users to come and play.

For those unfamiliar with friend gates as a viral growth tool, a social game will sometimes present a user with a challenge that cannot be completed without the “help” of a certain number of friends. For example, in the recently-launched The Sims Social on Facebook, players need at least three friends to complete an addition to their virtual home. Players can choose from a list of all of their Facebook friends or from a limited list of friends that are already playing The Sims Social. The room becomes “complete” once three people have Accepted the invite. Facebook’s guidelines for developers limit the number of invites players can from a game per day.

As for potential monetization methods, it would make sense for Rovio to offer players a way to buy individual levels or premium levels. Rovio has already made use of platform-exclusive premium levels to incentivize players on new platforms, like the PlayStation Portable or the Web GL version of Angry Birds for Google Chrome, but not here. Additionally, there is precedent set by other arcade games that became “social” through the sale of special power-ups to increase scoring potential.

Google+ announced its Games platform last week.

Segan Files Patent Lawsuit Against Zynga — Another patent lawsuit appears this week as Segan LLC, files a suit against Zynga over a “System for Viewing Content Over A Network and Method Thenrfor.” As noted by TechCrunch, the complaint centers around the association of a user to a character icon as well as how to manage character updates.

It Girl to Expand to Russia — CrowdStar is expanding its popular social title It Girl to Russia. Partnering with Russian distributor 101XP, It Girl will go live on Odnoklassniki.ru, Vkontakte.ru, and Mail.ru in the next two months. The game is also currently available on Odnoklassniki.

Exit Games to Power King’s Bounty: Legions — Earlier this week, we previewed the upcoming title, of King’s Bounty: Legions for Facebook. Only a few days later, Exit Games announced that its network engine, Photon, has been selected to power the network features of the coming game.

RockYou Makes Aktiv APAC Sales Partner – Asia Media Journal reports that social game developer and publisher RockYou has made online media sales house Aktiv an APAC sales partner. The move gives RockYou’s new ad platform distribution in the Asian market.

AT&T & ngmoco Bring Mobage to Android — Last week, ngmoco and DeNA brought the Mobage social gaming platform to Android Market. This week, AT&T and ngmoco announced a new agreement stating that Mobage will act as a hub for AT&T Android users to discover and play games as well as connect with other global users.

Blizzard to Use Real Currency for Virtual Goods Transactions — Blizzard Entertainment announced earlier this week that its upcoming Diablo III online game will allow the sale of virtual items via both in-game and real world currencies. For real money trades, Blizzard will take a small transaction fee.

[Announcement] MyTown Expands to Japan — Earlier this week, social and mobile apps developer Booyah and YUMEMI announced a partnership that will bring the location-based iOS title of MyTown to Japan as a new product for iOS, Android, and other feature phone platforms this Fall.

[Announcement] RockYou Updates Gourmet Ranch with New Content — RockYou Playdemic released a new content update for its title, Gourmet Ranch. Over the course of the next few weeks, players will gain access to the “Fun Fair,” and with it, new limited edition ingredients, quests, and rewards.

[Announcement] iWin & Sony Pictures to Bring The $100,000 Pyramid to Facebook — Family Feud developer iWin announced a new licensing deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment that will bring TV game show The $100,000 Pyramid to Facebook later this summer.

Electronic Arts at $56 ARPPU in Sports Social Games — Earlier this week, Electronic Arts released its first-quarter earnings report which notes a profit of $221 million, compared to $96 million last year. According to EA Sports president Peter Moore, these games have reached an average revenue among paying users of $56; a number greater than that of players on consoles.

Three Melons Hit by Layoffs — According to Gamasutra, Disney-owned social games studio, Three Melons has been suffering layoffs as of late. The Argentina-based studio has seen 30 layoffs thus far “and counting,” says a source from inside the company. Disney has not confirmed the number.

Google+ Prepares Social Games Launch — According to AllThingsD, Google may be announcing its social gaming plans as early as next month. Moreover, while the company is evidently approaching developers regarding their games coming to Google+, say anonymous sources, multiple other sources are stating that Google will take less than a 30 percent cut of social gaming revenue.

Mobage Comes to U.S. – Tokyo-based DeNA has launched its social games platform, Mobage, in the United States. Run by ngmoco, the platform is now available on Android Market with roughly 20 free games available. Read more on our sister site, Inside Mobile Apps.

[Update] Zombie Farm Goes Social — The Playforge’s Zombie Farm has received a significant social update this week. The mobile farming simulation title, with zombies, has added in several social mechanics such as visiting friends, connecting to a social community, playing games of “Zombie Tag,” and sending gifts.

PlayMob Looks to Hook Players on Virtual Goods With Charity — PlayMob is looking to user charities to get social games players into buying virtual goods, reports TechCrunch. Essentially, players will purchase the virtual goods by donating to charity. Through the service, developers can choose which goods they wish to donate with, with a minimum of 50 percent of revenue going to charity, while the charities themselves receive a reduced costs of fundraising and PlayMob earns a flat fee of 10 percent.

Zynga Game Cards Come to Middle East & North Africa — Zynga game players in both the Middle East and North Africa will now have access to Zynga Game Cards, reports VentureBeat. Through a new partnership with Zynga, Gate2Play will distribute the game cards throughout stores in the regions as well as make them available through virtual “e-PINs.”

Kontagent Partners With Quepasa — Analytics company Kontangent has announced a new partnership with Latin social network Quepasa. Through the new partnership, Kontangent will acquire exclusive rights to power Quepasa’s casual games portal, Quepasa Games, with its analytics platform kSuite.

THQ Betting More Heavily On Social Games Following Q1 FY2012 Loss — THQ was disappointed by its $38.4 million net loss posted in Q1 FY2012, but it plans to put more effort into bringing its brands to social networks in order to reach a “critical mass” of users. The studio’s next social game, MargaritavilleOnline, is due out in fall.

Amazon Moves Into Social Games — IndustryGamers reports that RPG game designer Jonathan Tweet has been hired by Amazon for what could be the social games job they wanted to fill back in May. Details aren’t immediately clear, nor has there been any announcement of a Google-developed social game.

Azure Toolkit for Social Games — A preview of the Windows Azure Toolkit for Social Games has been made available this week. Through the new toolkit, developers will be able to more easily build social games on the Windows Azure platform, and includes accelerators, libraries, developer tools, and samples tailored to .NET and HTML5 games. It also supports leaderboards, user profiles, and in-app purchases.

Unilever Enters Social Gaming Through FarmVille — Unilever has entered the social gaming space with its LUX brand via the Chinese version of FarmVille this week. Through the social game, they have launched a limited-edition event dubbed “LUX Fantastical Manor,” which was created by advertising agency JWT and Zynga for Unilever. The one-month event will allow users to decorate their farms with various LUX-branded beauty items.

PlayPhone Signs Top Chinese Mobile Developers — Mobile entertainment content distributor PlayPhone announced at the Casual Connect conference this week that it has signed a deal with two of the largest Chinese mobile game developers, China Wireless Arts and Magic Universe. Through the partnership, the former will bring their title “Journey to Egypt” to Android for the PlayPhone Social patform. The latter is to incorporate the MMOG “Latent Dragon” for Android as well.

Social Gamers Plant 25,000 Trees — Talkie CEO Chris Swain issued the “Plant a Real Forest Challenge,” in association with Conservation International and Trees for the Future to Ecotopia players last month. The challenge had players planing 25,000 trees, in-game, in 25 days. For each in-game tree, Talkie committed to planting a real life within the Guaranta, Promissão Reunidas, Promissão Dandara and Arco Iris communities in São Paulo, Brazil.

[Launch] Pet Society Vacations Hits iOS — Playfish has expanded its Pet Society title into iOS with the launch of Pet Society Vacations. The new title is free-to-play and allows users to take their virtual pets off to island paradises, customizing their very own houseboat.

Playdom’s Next Title: Galaxy of Wonder — It looks like Playdom is expanding into the stars with its City of Wonder IP. Earlier this week, the company posted a teaser trailer on YouTube entitled Galaxy of Wonder. The developer’s newest game, City of Might, is expected to launch in the coming weeks.

Diversion Raises Series B Funding, Signs $1M deal with Sony Pictures — In a press release sent out today, L.A.-based social gaming startup Diversion has raised a second round of funding from TomorrowVentures, Hearst Corporation, and The Tornante Company. The amount of the funding has not been disclosed, but the Fame Town developer also signed a $1 million advertising deal with Sony Pictures. Its newest game, The A-List, just launched last week.

Quepasa & myYearbook Merge — Social games developer and social network owner Quepasa Corporation announced a merger with social mobile platform myYearbook. The $100 million deal ($82 million in Quepasa common stock and $18 million cash) will effectively double the pair’s user base with over 70 million registered users for the web, 2.2 million mobile instalss, 11.5 million mobile game installs, 2.1 million social game installs, and a consolidated TTM revenue and EBITDA of $33.6 million and $5.9 million respectively.

[Announcement] Double Down Adds Social Slot Tournaments to Facebook Game — Social and casual games developer Double Down Interactive has announced the introduction of “Social Slot Tournaments” within its Facebook title DoubleDown Casino. The new feature is available on all 10 of the slot machines in the social game, allowing 100 players to compete against each other with the top 10 earning virtual currency prizes.

[Announcement] Arkadium Opens Mobile Gaming Headquarters in Toronto — Casual games developer Arkadium has announced that it is expanding once again, this time opening a new mobile gaming studio in Toronto, Canada. Focusing on HTML5 and iOS titles, the new studio is slated to bring ten new games to market over the next year.

[Editor's note: Charles Hudson is a co-author on our Inside Virtual Goods series of industry reports, a co-founder of Android game developer Bionic Panda Games and a partner at SoftTech VC. Bionic Panda recently began using Google in-app billing, which finally came out to consumers at the end of March after several months of anticipation from the Android developer community.]

We recently decided to launch Google In-App Billing in our first game, Aqua Pets. As a matter of background, we had been using PayPal to monetize our original game and were beginning to get user requests for support for credit cards. About one week ago, we released Google In-App Billing for Aqua Pets and decided to see how it would perform.

Our one major reservation with moving forward with Google in-app billing was the relationship between the 30 percent commission and what we anticipated the payment-enabled customer audience to be. While we don’t develop for the iOS platform, there are two compelling reasons why we think the 30 percent that Apple takes makes sense:

> Continue reading on Inside Mobile Apps.