It’s time to clean up the Android Market before the poor experience and questionable apps get out of hand. There are already 65,000 apps to be found there, so the time is right for Google to follow these simple steps and neaten the store. Read more »
It’s been a while since Apple has implemented a new policy which resulted in the wholesale removal of a whole slew of applications from the App Store. But don’t worry, they remain vigilant. The newest target of Apple’s wrath are so-called “widget” or “dashboard” apps. Read more »
Sales in the smartphone market far outpaced that of feature phones in the first quarter of 2010, with each of the top five handset makers registering sales growth. As to the handset makers that gained market share — they all used one of two platforms. Read more »
Whether you think Apple’s efforts to control the iPhone OS environment are helping or hurting, the question is when its ability to control things will break down. I think it already has. Read more »
Apple has gone to great lengths to allow anybody who wants to, the ability to develop and sell their very own app. I appreciate this but I’ve never programmed in Objective-C before and I’m not sure if I want to learn. So I started looking around for alternative ways to create an iPhone app. Read more »
I don’t use any browser on my iPhone other than Mobile Safari. And, unless you have a jailbroken iPhone, neither do you. That’s because Apple’s webkit-powered Mobile Safari provides the browser engine for all the iPhone’s various windows onto the Interweb. So, whether you’re viewing a […] Read more »
What do you get that hard-to-buy-for person on your list who already has everything? Well if they already have an iPhone, which is likely since we’ve already established they’ve got everything worth having, then you can now buy them iPhone apps, directly from the iTunes Store. […] Read more »
When iTunes web preview pages first appeared for songs and albums the industry was abuzz with the possibility that iTunes could be migrating to the cloud. iTunes preview has so far had little impact on how we use purchased media content, but it has had a […] Read more »
Augmented Reality (AR) is a hot topic in the app stores these days. So, what’s AR? It’s multiple technologies being used simultaneously to provide you with data relevant to your location. This includes your phone’s compass to determine the direction you are facing, GPS to determine […] Read more »
Watching the iPad’s first television spot on the Oscars Sunday night, I got giddy all over again in anticipation of getting my hands on this hot new product. Though it’s still a few weeks away, I’m even more excited for the applications that will be coming […] Read more »
Penguin doesn’t want to just continue releasing your standard, garden-variety e-books on a new platform with the iPad. CEO John Makinson showed off what his company had in mind for the platform at a presentation earlier this week, as reported by paidContent. Penguin is apparently looking to […] Read more »
I like it when companies port their old games to the iPhone platform, even when the results are somewhat less than amazing. Aside from being the best way to convince your somewhat technophobe friends that the iPhone and iPod touch are totally worth buying, they also […] Read more »
Due to repeated and numerous customer complaints, and despite the fact that they seem to pretty regularly make their way into the top 25 and 50 lists of both free and paid apps, Apple decided this week to begin removing software from the App Store it […] Read more »
Apple a couple of weeks back Apple released a “tip” for developers on how to enhance its apps using its “Core Location” framework. But while some said it signaled the death of the location-based ad industry on the iPhone, that seems very premature. Read more »
Nimbuzz, a mobile VoIP service and social networking services integrator, says that its Symbian app has been downloaded more than a million time from the Ovi Store by Nokia. In other words, Nimbuzz is benefiting handsomely from increased usage of the Ovi Store. Read more »
Apple’s .itms links are either the scourge of the universe, or a very handy little shortcut to getting at iTunes content, depending on who you ask and what mood they happen to be in. My personal policy is always to give people fair warning (warning: this […] Read more »
The debate is raging. Man, that’s a wide bezel! How could they possibly leave out support for Flash? Where’s the front-facing video camera? AT&T? Are you serious? Now that the dust has begun to settle on Apple’s announcement of the iPad, though, there’s another nagging question that […] Read more »
While the iPad will run all current iPhone and iPod touch applications (either in 1x or 2x sizes), the newest SDK (available today) supports iPad specific development. Below are a handful of apps from developers who were given a head start of about two weeks to […] Read more »
Apple released a dedicated MobileMe iDisk app not too long ago for those of us who stubbornly continue to pay good money for a subscription, but iDisk, as the app is called, is really just a file manager and nothing more. Today, Apple unveiled another MobileMe-specific iPhone […] Read more »
An interesting article at the financial blog 24/7 Wall St. today estimates the total cost of pirated apps to the App Store, for both Apple and developers, to be somewhere near the $450 million-mark. That number depends on a revenue estimate of between $60 million and $110 […] Read more »
Even as the excitement over the tablet reaches seizure-inducing levels among personal technology enthusiasts, Apple flipped on another publicity strobe light with the announcement of 3 billion downloads from its App Store. Apple CEO Steve Jobs was astonished yet ebullient in a press release: “Three billion […] Read more »
Mobile app stores are popping up like mushrooms after the rains, making life difficult for app developers. We wanted to know the average cost of a paid application on different platforms. Folks from Mobclix crunched some numbers and came back with some surprising findings. Read more »
Christmas was kind to Apple this year. The iPod touch seems to have been a popular gift this holiday season, at least according to some interesting statistics regarding App Store downloads over the period leading up to and including Christmas day. App download activity information tracked […] Read more »
Bolstered by arrival of the 3GS, launch of in-app purchasing and push notifications, the iPhone apps of 2009 have become richer and more robust experiences. Across 11 categories, here were this year’s standouts. Read more »
I’m not unfamiliar with video game emulators. I’m not endorsing them, mind you, but I’m not unfamiliar. So my curiosity was piqued when I heard tell of a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone, one that had managed to gain official sanction and was […] Read more »
Do you somehow still doubt that the App Store is a huge money-making enterprise, at least for a lucky few? Then consider the news that Tapulous, the development studio behind the wildly popular Tap Tap Revenge rhythm game franchise, rakes in a cool million every month. […] Read more »
Apple just approved a new app that allows iPhones other than the 3GS to record video. That’s right, both your iPhone 3G and even the older 2G model can now shoot video, without jailbreak. Read more »
Frequent visitors to the App Store in iTunes will notice a new look for individual apps. Bringing more of the app “above the fold,” the new look gives more real estate to screenshots, allowing all of them to be seen at a glance or just a […] Read more »
Apple has published the “best” and most popular choices for 2009 at the iTunes Store, and the results are interesting, if not necessarily representative of the world outside the store. In music, the top-selling album, “Only By the Night” by Kings of Leon, was also chosen […] Read more »
A story that began 10 days ago with a blog posting at iPhoneography and a letter to Apple VP Phil Schiller has ended with Apple banning prolific developer Molinker from the App Store. The developer has been charged with review fraud (not to mention poor grammar). […] Read more »
In a 3,000-word analysis of a paradigm shift in personal technology fit for a press release, the New York Times has declared the App Store worthy of buzzword status. Including comments from Apple executives Phil Schiller and Eddy Cue, “Apple’s Game Changer, Downloading Now” is also […] Read more »
The end of the year is approaching, and market research firm IDC today came out with its annual list of Top 10 Predictions for the technology market. The forecasts, working on the theme of “recovery and transformation,” include some surprises. Read more »
IDC is making some bold predictions for 2010, one of the boldest being a tripling of the number of applications at Apple’s App Store. In reality, that might actually be a conservative guess. According to IDC, the App Store will have 300,000 applications by the end […] Read more »
Pie Guy is an excellent little game that’s causing a small stir among developers. The game has completely bypassed the App Store and is available to download, right now, as a Web App. It’s a cute 8-bit-era game with deliciously retro graphics that clones Pacman with […] Read more »
Recently, here at TheAppleBlog, we made some backstage changes. Over time we realized that Socialcast was great for sharing and discussing ideas, but not ideal for handling business related tasks. As a result, we made the jump over to Basecamp. It doesn’t have the microblog feel […] Read more »
In what BusinessWeek is describing as “his first extensive interview on the subject,” Phil Schiller, everyone’s favorite Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing for Apple, has defended Apple’s application approval process. I’ve read through it a few times, and I’d hardly call it “extensive.” I […] Read more »
“I’m just wondering why your marketing group can’t do something to try to rein in this next generation, because you’ve got a real bad image out there.” So said a Microsoft shareholder to CEO Steve Ballmer at the company’s shareholder meeting yesterday. TechFlash reporter Todd Bishop […] Read more »
I’ve had a rant building up for a few weeks. A rant about developer’s treatment at the hands of the App Store submission procedure. However unlike many rants on the topic, mine is not directed towards Apple. It is directed towards the iPhone developers who complain […] Read more »
App Store developers now have more to contend with than just the fickle tastes of the humans Apple has reviewing submissions. Now, submissions also go through an automated filter that determines whether or not the app is obeying the rules and not using any of Apple’s […] Read more »
If you’re a baseball fan like I am, then you know that it in order to win, teams need more than just marquee stars. The role players, pinch hitters and relievers — all have to contribute in order for a team to win. A weak link […] Read more »
