If you were one of the 7 million people who activated a new smartphone over the holidays, there’s a high likelihood that you downloaded Angry Birds, as Rovio said it had 6.5 million downloads on Christmas day.
This included multiple Angry Birds games like Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds Seasons and the original Angry Birds, according to AllThingsD and it just shows you how popular the franchise is. It is quickly becoming the must-have app when you get a smartphone and it’s joining an elite group which includes Facebook, Google search and more.
The downloads were a mix of paid and free downloads but what I appreciate about Rovio is that it has been smart enough to adjust its business model. It gained popularity on the iPhone as a 99-cent download but Rovio went to an advertising-based model for the Android version. It has also found multiple alternative ways to create revenues like in-app purchases, licensing and even cookbooks. It’s not a bad way to gear up for an IPO.
[Via AllThingsD]