Just 16 months after being acquired by Zynga for a reported $200 million, the OMGPOP team, creators of the once-popular “Draw Something” app, has been laid off along with many other Zynga employees. To top it off, it looks like employees weren’t properly notified of their new employment status.
I learned via Facebook I was laid off today and @OMGPOP office is closed. Thanks @zynga for again reminding me how not to operate a business
Zynga has been struggling to turn a profit, so the mass lay-offs may come as no surprise. However, it doesn’t look like they were provided with great post-Zynga assistance.
Discover Mobile version 4.10:The Discover for iPhone app officially gains Passbook support for saving redeemed Cashback Bonuses.
-Your Discover app now includes Apple Passbook integration for partner eCertificates! Redeem your Cashback Bonus for a partner eCertificate and save it to Passbook! (Available for users on iOS 6 or greater)
Draw Something Pro: OMGPOP is out with a new, paid, ad-free version of its popular Draw Something app. While you could get a universal, ad-free $2.99 version of the app previously, this new pro version includes a UI designed specifically for iPad (no iPhone/iPod support), and a few new features including:
✐ INFINITE BOMBS
• Never run out of BOMBS. Ever.
• Gain access to ALL SPECIAL WORDS at no extra cost
• Unlimited GUESS help – keep your streaks alive
✐ FREE COLOR PACK
• 10 brilliant new colors available only in PRO
✐ STUNNING NEW DESIGN
• A larger drawing screen optimized just for iPad
Vintagio version 4.1: MacPhun’s retro video editor app is currently 60% off for the holidays in our deal section below and today received new features including full iPhone 5/iOS 6 support, Cinegram exports, a faster algorithm, and other improvements.
– iPhone 5 compatibility
– iOS 6 compatibility
– Now provides support for closed captioning on free full episodes
– Bug fixes and improvements
BBC iPlayer:This free app now supports iPhone 5. The change log for version 2.0.2. also includes:
Watching programmes on the iPad has had a facelift. Check out what’s behind the “More” and “Live Channels” buttons.
It’s already available on the iPad, and now you can plug your phone into your telly.
Feedback on the BBC iPlayer downloads feature has been great. We’ve fixed a number of bugs to hopefully make it even better!
The Oregon Trail: American Settler: The classic PC titled was recently revived for iOS devices by developer Gameloft, and today gets a few new features including a snow-covered landscape, and an appearance by 7-time Grammy award winning country group Lady Antebellum:
★ Interact with the members of the popular country pop band, Lady Antebellum, as they visit Oregon for the winter – starting at Level 15. Watch their performance in the new Concert Hall!
★ All-new town photo sharing – share postcards of your frontier town with all your friends!
★ New snow-covered landscape!
★ Festive quests, decorations and buildings.
★ Dress Ma & Pa in holiday-themed outfits!
A few newsworthy apps and updates already landed in the App Store today including the Diet Coda development platform that we told you about a few days ago, and some Retina graphics updates for popular apps such as Draw Something and Opera Mini. Another notable app in the news today is Blizzard’s recently released Diablo III. The company announced on its site that it sold more than 4.7 million copies on launch day and more than 6.5 million in a week.
We will update the list throughout the day as more notable apps and updates are released:
Draw Something:OMGPOP’s massively popular Pictionary-style drawing game was updated today with “Bright, high resolution graphics” for users of the new third-generation iPad’s Retina display. Other improvements included in the update are a new password recovery system, a new loading screen, and the usual bug fixes. The free version of the app received the same update.
Some of the app’s features include remote editing of documents, FTP and SFTP File Management, Syntax Highlighting, and a “Revolutionary Super-Loupe” that allows for easy positioning of the cursor in iOS. It also has an “AirPreview” feature that allows you to use “your iPad as a dedicated preview window for Coda 2 on the Mac.”
Opera Mini Web Browser: Opera’s Mini web browser app for iPhone and iPad has always been a great third-party browser option on iOS, and it gets even better with a new UI today for the third-generation iPad’s Retina display, as well as a Data Usage option in the main menu, and various bug fixes and stability improvements.
Mint Personal Finance app: Intuit has updated its universal Mint.com Personal Finance iOS app today adding “two of your most requested features.” On both iPhone and iPad, you can now create and edit budgets as well as spilt transactions into multiple categories.
Pictionary-like drawing game “Draw Something,” developed by OMGPOP, has quickly become one of the hottest mobile apps for both of the industry’s leading platforms. A few days ago, the developer told TechCrunchit reached 25 million registered users, 10 million active daily users, and close to 1 billion paid ad impressions every day. That is just over 5 weeks after launching. With even more press following reports that Zynga is in talks to acquire developer OMGPOP, the app is continuing to climb app charts in both the App Store and on Google Play.
Currently the app sits at No. 1 in both stores as the No. 1 Top Paid and Top Free iPhone app in the App Store, and the No. 1 Top Free app on Google Play. The app is also currently the No. 1 Top Free iPad app in the game category and in the Top 5 of many other charts in over 80 countries. It looks like the company might get picked up by Zynga, which is not surprising, because a gain of 3.5 million daily users over the last week saw Draw Something take over Zynga’s “Words With Friends” as the most popular Facebook Connect game, according to AppData.
