Zynga Inc (ZNGA)

[Trevor11]

ZNGA: APPLE UNVEILS AR, VR, HAS WORKED WITH GAMES DEVELOPERS







APPLE HAS WORKED WITH GAMES DEVELOPERS TO CREATE MULTI-PLAYER AUGMENTED REALITY GAMES FOR THE NEW IPHONE


THE IPHONE X HAS BEEN USED TO SHOWCASE SOME OF THE AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCES THAT APPLE DEBUTED WITH ITS ARKIT SOFTWARE, RELEASED AT THIS YEAR'S WWDC.

AUGMENTED REALITY ALLOWS IPHONE USERS TO SUPERIMPOSE VIRTUAL IMAGES, GAMES AND VIDEOS ONTO REAL WORLD OBJECTS AND IS A FIELD WHERE APPLE HAS TRULY TAKEN THE INITIATIVE FROM RIVALS SUCH AS GOOGLE.

THE X CAN ALSO USE TRACKING CAPABILITIES TO IMPOSE MASKS USING AR FOR APPS SUCH AS SNAPCHAT.


FRANK GIBEAU, ZYNGA INC. - CEO AND DIRECTOR
(Q2 CONFERENCE CALL 2017)

ANNOUNCEMENTS POTENTIALLY COMING FROM HARDWARE MANUFACTURERS THAT COULD BE PRETTY EXCITING. WE ARE ABSOLUTELY WATCHING THOSE DEVELOPMENTS AND THINKING OF WAYS TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY CAN INTEGRATE IN OUR GAMES


AR IN ADVERTISING AND IN OTHER TYPES OF APPLICATIONS CREATES MONETIZATION OPPORTUNITIES
IN TERMS OF AR, VR, BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION, GEOGRAPHIC EXPANSION. So WE'RE VERY BULLISH ON HOW THAT PLATFORM IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO EVOLVE.
OBVIOUSLY, AR IN ADVERTISING AND IN OTHER TYPES OF APPLICATIONS CREATES MONETIZATION OPPORTUNITIES


LIVE
APPLE UNVEILS IPHONE 8 AND $1,000 IPHONE X WITH ALL-SCREEN DISPLAY AND WIRELESS CHARGING: LIVE UPDATES


THE IPHONE 8 AND IPHONE 8 PLUS
• CARA MCGOOGAN

12 SEPTEMBER 2017 • 7:56PM


…Here's a first look at the new iPhone 8
First official look at the new iPhone 8
00:28

7:11PM
iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus best features

Cook in front of an image of the new iPhone 8 Plus Credit: Bloomberg
Here are some key features of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus
All-glass design, compared with aluminium iPhone 7
12MP rear-facing camera on iPhone 8 and two 12MP dual-lens camera on iPhone 8 Plus
NEW AUGMENTED REALITY TECHNOLOGY THAT SUPERIMPOSES INFORMATION ONTO WHAT IS SEEN THROUGH THE CAMERA, INCLUDING PLAYER INFORMATION AT SPORTS GAMES AND WHAT'S IN THE SKY
APPLE HAS WORKED WITH GAMES DEVELOPERS TO CREATE MULTI-PLAYER AUGMENTED REALITY GAMES FOR THE NEW IPHONE
4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens
Comes in silver, space grey and a new shade of gold
7:05PM
iPhone 8 comes with 12MP camera

Tim Cook announces iPhone 8 Credit: Bloomberg …

Source:

www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/09/12/apple-iphone-8-iphone-x-launch-event-live-updates/




Apple iPhone X
Tim Cook with the IPHONE X ONSTAGE CREDIT: AP
MATTHEW FIELD
12 SEPTEMBER 2017 • 7:35PM


What does the iPhone X look like?
The iPhone X has a 5.8-inch screen squeezed into a body smaller than the current iPhone 7 Plus. Apple said it had been their goal to create "an iPhone that is all display".
Apple has dropped the iPhone's famous home button, which has been present on every device since the first iPhone released in 2007. It has also removed the front facing fingerprint scanner, which has been adopted by plenty of other leading brands.
Instead the iPhone X has a nearly bezel free design with the screen covering almost the entire front of the phone. To make room for the front facing selfie camera and facial recognition, the screen has a slight "notch" that indents the top of the screen. It has a dual-lens rear facing camera.

The iPhone X Credit: Apple
iPhone X best features
No home button (or Touch ID)
More of a controversial than a best feature, Apple has dropped the home button, which has been present since the original iPhone and was used to control many aspects of the iPhone, including unlocking it with the embedded fingerprint scanner.
Instead, the iPhone X uses gesture controls and several functions of the home button, such as activating Siri, will be relocated to the lock switch. Users can control the phone through swiping up from the bottom or just by tapping the screen.
Face ID
Apple's TrueDepth camera system will allow users to unlock their phone with simply a look at their phone. It will replace Touch ID to identify users using facial identification and an infrared camera.
Face ID will only unlock if a users eyes are open. Apple said the Face ID would have "one in a million" chance that someone else could unlock the iPhone. Face ID will also work with Apple Pay, and other apps that work with Touch ID will work with Face ID.

Wireless charging
The iPhone X is the first iPhone to come with wireless charging, which is already available on the Apple Watch and rival Samsung Galaxy S8.
Apple will also release a wireless charging pad, called the AirPower, that will be able to charge multiple devices at once. It will be released next year

Apple's AirPower charge pad Credit: Apple
Edge-to-edge, super retina display
Apple's chief designer Sir Jony Ive long made it his goal to create an iPhone that looked like a single sheet of glass. The iPhone X has realised this design, with a 5.8-inch edge-to-edge display that covers the entire front of the phone, save for a tiny "notch" at the top.
It will have a 2438x1125 resolution display with 458 pixels per inch and an OLED display.

Augmented reality
THE IPHONE X HAS BEEN USED TO SHOWCASE SOME OF THE AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCES THAT APPLE DEBUTED WITH ITS ARKIT SOFTWARE, RELEASED AT THIS YEAR'S WWDC. AUGMENTED REALITY ALLOWS IPHONE USERS TO SUPERIMPOSE VIRTUAL IMAGES, GAMES AND VIDEOS ONTO REAL WORLD OBJECTS AND IS A FIELD WHERE APPLE HAS TRULY TAKEN THE INITIATIVE FROM RIVALS SUCH AS GOOGLE.
THE X CAN ALSO USE TRACKING CAPABILITIES TO IMPOSE MASKS USING AR FOR APPS SUCH AS SNAPCHAT.

Animoji
Animoji are a new form of moving emoji that can be customised using facial recognition software. Users can scan their face and the animoji will match their expression in a short animation.
The feature will only be available on the premium iPhone X, as it requires the 3D camera. Apple has created a limited selection of animoji from its hundreds of emoji, including the monkey, unicorn, robot, dog, pig, cat,...

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/09/12/apple-iphone-x-uk-release-date-price-latest-news-features/





Edited Transcript of ZNGA earnings conference call or presentation 2-Aug-17 9:30pm GMT
Thomson Reuters StreetEvents•August 12, 2017
Q2 2017 Zynga Inc Earnings Call
San Francisco Aug 12, 2017 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Zynga Inc earnings conference call or presentation Wednesday, August 2, 2017 at 9:30:00pm GMT
TEXT version of Transcript
================================================================================
Corporate Participants
================================================================================
* Frank Gibeau
Zynga Inc. - CEO and Director
* James Gerard Griffin
Zynga Inc. - CFO
* Rebecca Lau
================================================================================
Conference Call Participants
================================================================================
* Benjamin Ari Schachter
Macquarie Research - Head of TMET Research
* Brandon A Ross
BTIG, LLC, Research Division - Associate Analyst
* Brian Thomas Nowak
Morgan Stanley, Research Division - Research Analyst
* Douglas Till Anmuth
JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division - MD
* Eric James Sheridan
UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - MD and Equity Research Internet Analyst
* Justin Post
BofA Merrill Lynch, Research Division - MD
* Michael Joseph Hickey
The Benchmark Company, LLC, Research Division - Research Analyst
* Michael Joseph Olson
Piper Jaffray Companies, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst
* San Q. Phan
Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Research Division - Director of Americas Equity Research
* Stephen D. Ju
Crédit Suisse AG, Research Division - Director
* Timothy Larkin O'Shea
Jefferies LLC, Research Division - Equity Analyst
================================================================================
Presentation…
San Q. Phan, Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Research Division - Director of Americas Equity Research [32]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, great. And then, can you tell us a bit more about how you view the road map for an in-chat gaming, how would that looks like over the next 2 years, and how much support of platform owners are giving you, if any?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[color=green]FRANK GIBEAU, ZYNGA INC. - CEO AND DIRECTOR [33][/color]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I think -- look, I think the most social part of the phone is on chat. And the folks that make those applications are adding more and more capabilities to those applications that are allowing us to entertain folks. You were in a very early days of that process.

And so THE ROAD MAP FROM FACEBOOK, FROM APPLE, FROM GOOGLE, THEY'VE, IN THEIR EARNINGS CALLS, STARTED TO TALK a little bit about that, and I'll leave that to them to communicate. BUT AS A COMPANY, ZYNGA IS VERY MUCH FOCUSED ON HOW THOSE DEVELOP. WE BELIEVE THAT, THAT CAN BE A VERY EXCITING PART OF THE MOBILE GAMING ECOSYSTEM.

Mobile is the largest gaming platform in the world and still got a lot of innovation available to it. Not only just on chat but IN TERMS OF AR, VR, BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION, GEOGRAPHIC EXPANSION. So WE'RE VERY BULLISH ON HOW THAT PLATFORM IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO EVOLVE. Chat being an area, in particular, that we like because it ties so much to our vision as a social-gaming company where being able to play with your friends and family in a way that is highly retentive and keeps you engaged, that's where we want to be, and we have some brands we believe that will work there very effectively.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
San Q. Phan, Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Research Division - Director of Americas Equity Research [34]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With Words With Friends, specifically, do you see any differences in playing style with folks playing within chat versus in app?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frank Gibeau, Zynga Inc. - CEO and Director [35]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I do. I think there are some differences in how people interact in chat versus the time that they spend inside the application, and we're experimenting with session lanes, play modes, quicker ways to play, ways to play it with more people. But all of those are experiments right now. And as we learn more about the player behavior on chat, we'll optimize and make the right quality decisions for the games, but we have multiple brands we think that can work there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operator [36]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And our next question comes from Ben Schachter of Macquarie.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Benjamin Ari Schachter, Macquarie Research - Head of TMET Research [37]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOU MENTIONED IT ON THE LAST ANSWER, YOU MENTIONED AR. I'M JUST WONDERING WITH THE UPCOMING LAUNCH OF THE IPHONE AND APPLE'S BULLISH COMMENTARY ON AR, ANY THOUGHTS ON HOW ZYNGA IS THINKING ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITIES THERE? Are there any monetization changes that you could see happening there? And then separately, if other large competitors bring new types of mobile advertising units that are built specifically for mobile games, how do you think that might impact your business over time?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[color=green]Frank Gibeau, Zynga Inc. - CEO and Director [38]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YES, ON THE AR FRONT, IT'S STILL VERY EARLY DAYS FOR THAT TECHNOLOGY AND THERE'S SOME ANNOUNCEMENTS POTENTIALLY COMING FROM HARDWARE MANUFACTURERS THAT COULD BE PRETTY EXCITING. WE ARE ABSOLUTELY WATCHING THOSE DEVELOPMENTS AND THINKING OF WAYS TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY CAN INTEGRATE IN OUR GAMES.[/color] The trick is to make sure that they're not gimmicks, that they actually have creative integrity and they lead to engagement. And so I think we need to really understand how that's going to work before you can understand how the monetization might happen. OBVIOUSLY, AR IN ADVERTISING AND IN OTHER TYPES OF APPLICATIONS CREATES MONETIZATION OPPORTUNITIES that would being NEW AND INTERESTING TO GAMING. And so we're excited about that. In terms of new ad units coming into mobile advertising, we're constantly looking for ways to innovate and if a new ad unit does come into the ecosystem, it's something we would absolutely grab onto. Watch to earn was something that we were early adopters of and innovated on. And as that ecosystem evolves and new types of advertising appear, if it works, it can help us grow, we'll be all over it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operator [39]…


Source:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-znga-earnings-conference-060721219.html