At today’s “Back to the Mac” event, Steve Jobs and company showed off Mac OS X 7 a.k.a. Lion. Unlike the Snow Leopard release, which was primarily under the hood improvements, Lion is mostly UI improvements, specifically features they’re bringing in from the iPad and iOS.
First, Verizon backed away from supporting Google’s Nexus One. Then, they proved their search deal with Microsoft’s Bing does apply to Android phones. Now, Verizon is expanding their V CAST app and media store to DROID, competing against the Android Market. Looks Google has been uninvited from the party.
Apps, Apps, Apps. The numbers (for what they are worth) keep going up in the Apple App Store and in the Android Marketplace. Some are saying that’s a great thing, some say the App-Centric focus is leading to (gasp!) the death of the Internet. One thing for sure, the pace at the moment is dizzying [...]
The thing I hate most about digital goods is paying for the same content twice. For example, I pay for access many of the same movies on demand via Comcast and Netflix. Until now, People magazine subscribers had to pay once for a hard copy of the magazine and a second time for an iPad [...]
Apple’s yanked Camera+ from its App store shortly after TapTapTap, a popular app developer, revealed a hidden feature called VolumeSnap. Visiting ”camplus://enablevolumesnap” into Safari on any iPhone loaded with Camera+ turns the volume buttons into shutter buttons. This is a heck of a lot better than having to tap at the screen to take a photo. By [...]
It’s the 4th of July weekend here in the states, which means tomorrow is a holiday for many as the end of an extended weekend. Perfect timing to perpetrate a scam on something like the iTunes store. Many news sites and bloggers are taking time off, as I’m sure many support and engineering staffs, including [...]
I noticed an item this morning or yesterday that said that Microsoft’s Live Messenger app had been downloaded over a million times. That got me to thinking a bit. As someone who is happily platform agnostic I find that good news. Folks who like Messenger and who use an iPhone aren’t limited by some sort [...]
Earlier today we, and everyone else, reported that the RSS reader for the iPad, Pulse, had been pulled from the App Store. This came after the New York Times said Pulse violated copyright, and that came after Apple CEO Steve Jobs mentioned Pulse in his WWDC Keynote as an app to watch. Well, this afternoon, [...]
It seems that Australian iPhone and iPad app developer Shift Jelly now understands why so many in the tech world have serious reservations about Apple’s App Store. Back in April, Shift Jelly posted an article defending the companies app store behaviour, “Sorry Media, But Apple Isn’t Evil.” Commenting on Apple’s approval process, Shift Jelly said [...]
Stories about Apple’s App Store approval/rejection process have been nothing but puzzling. What gets rejected and what gets included sometimes baffles anyone who has any hope of looking for consistency. Once again, Apple has created a puzzler, this time rejecting an App from Mark Fiore, a Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist. The rejection happened in [...]
Only a handful of reviewers have their hands on iPads, but Apple apparently has flipped the switch on the App Store for iPad apps, making them available for purchase. (the link takes you to iTunes.) Yes, prices are indeed higher, although you’ll see a few free apps and a few for $.99. I notice that [...]
When the story is written about Apple’s App Store several things will stand out. One is the flip-flopping that seems to happen with some of the Apps that are rejected. What often appears as high handed and high minded reasons get questioned by the blogosphere and developers and then a reversal takes place. This doesn’t [...]
Apple is slipping down a slippery slope as the keeper of the App Store with its latest move. There has been all sorts of anguish over some of the seemingly arbitrary nature of Apple’s approval process of apps, but this latest controversy brings the word arbitrary to a new level. Or does it? Here’s the [...]
Still sifting through the iPad announcement fallout this morning. Couple of opinions that caught my attention regard apps. They’ve got me thinking about how the larger-screened iPad will affect the environment of Apple’s App Store, as well as whether it hurts or helps the future of programming and development.
Tonight at the Intel keynote, one of the major announcements was an app store for netbooks, called AppUp, covered by Amy at Notebooks.com. This is the second app store system announced at CES, following Samsung. Puts new major players in the growing arena of app stores. More interestingly, they’re not major players in the software [...]
Samsung started their press conference today talking about 3D TV, much like Toshiba did. But where Toshiba put all their bets on one ultimate TV, Samsung showcased their entire line, including a new app market to serve everything from handheld mobiles to massive TVs, a music player with a transparent display for backside control, and [...]
From the “I’m not sure how I feel about that” department comes news that more than 1,000 apps were pulled from Apple’s App Store following the discovery of a ratings scam. Basically a developer named Molinker was caught using his promo codes to buy his own apps to boost his ratings, thanks to the investigative [...]
Interesting news from Apple (by way of Ars Technica). Seems they are lifting the restriction on in-app purchasing that limited it to paid apps, paving the way for, among other things, paid upgrades for free apps. This addresses one of the long-standing concerns of both developers and consumers by eliminating any need for both a [...]
Keep in mind I was on the record very early saying that Apple’s App Store was going to be a big game changer. That bit of history refreshed, I wish I had the temerity to play with numbers in my business the way Apple does with its App Store. Today Apple is trumpeting that it [...]
On again, off again. The short and chaotic history of Apple’s App Store has certainly had its share of on and offs. The latest has to deal with the Commodore 64 emulator. This was first rejected by Apple awhile ago, then surprisingly reinstated just last week. The app let you play a few games, and [...]
Seems to be a day for app store news: The online version of BlackBerry App World is now live, allowing BlackBerry owners to surf the store from any decent web browser and email links to apps to themselves. Yes, you read that last part correctly. If you want to buy an app from the web [...]
Announced on the Palm Developer Network Blog, submissions are now being accepted for the Palm App Catalog, allowing entrepreneurs to show us what they can do on WebOS. They are accepting both free and paid apps with the minimum allowed pricing set at 99 ¢. Criteria for acceptance are: Acceptance Criteria Palm will accept apps [...]
Apple’s App Store celebrates one year of being in business today. It has certainly been quite a year. Over 56,000 apps and over a billion downloads is nothing to sneeze at. As I said when the App Store and the SDK were announced this “game over” post, Apple spurred changes in the mobile market that [...]
With all the new OS-based mobile device application stores popping up lately, it’s easy to forget that carrier-based app stores are still around. I admit they slipped my mind until I flipped through today’s paper and stumbled upon the Verizon Wireless flyer advertising their phone apps (my wife and I enjoy the quaint tradition of [...]
The wife and I are back home after a brief nature walk, which we made a bit briefer than planned after being beseiged by mosquitoes. In retrospect, we should have gone heavier on the repellent, but we were thick in the woods and swarmed by blood-sucking insects by the time we figured that out. Nothing [...]
This goes beyond simply head scratching and into the realm of just what were they thinking. Apple seems to enjoy toilet humor and worse when it comes to approving novelty apps for its very successful App Store that is about to crest the 1 Billion App Downloaded mark. After things seemed to settle down from [...]
No surprise here, but Nokia is announcing at the Mobile World Congress that it will be opening an App Store for its devices. It will be called Ovi. Microsoft had earlier rolled out its plans for its Windows MarkePlace for Mobile. Google already has its Android store up and running and basically it looks like [...]
Christmas sales may be down in the traditional and on-line outlets, but from watching the Apple App Store, it looks like developers are going crazy trying to fill up the store with applications for the pre-Christmas and post-Christmas rush. I monitor a couple of feeds of new and updated apps and my feedreader is constantly [...]
It seems everyone is jumping onto the iPhone platform these days and Microsoft certainly isn’t one to be left behind. Microsoft has released SeaDragon Mobile its first app into the iPhone store and there is quite a bit of attention on that app. Essentially it is a photo viewer, but what a photo viewer it [...]
PhatWare, a company that has long brought some interesting mobile apps to mobile devices including Tablet PCs is going iPhone in a big way and they are promising more down the road. They’ve created three applications that utilize handwriting recognition on the iPhone. The applications currently in the App Store include:
Granted, you’ll need to have a notebook and a projector to make this work the way I believe it is designed, but I really would like to see this app make it into the App Store for the iPhone. Intriguingly enough I can see us using this in our theatre productions.
Enter your email address to subscribe to GottaBeMobile updates
Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE Review: A Worthy Successor to the Original (Video)
When Sprint had debuted the original WiMax-capable HTC EVO 4G nearly two years ago, it was an instant hit on the Now network. Not only was the HTC EVO 4G the first 4G smartphone in the world taking advantage of Sprint’s then speedy WiMax network, but it brought some new features and pizzazz to the [...]
Last year Toshiba waded into the Android tablet market with the Thrive, a 10.1-inch slate that served as the company’s response to what they deemed missing in the then current crop. Thus, it had several full-size ports, a rugged-ish exterior, and a thick chassis to accommodate both. Though a decent tablet, the Thrive didn’t generate [...]
Samsung Shows That It Is a Software Company
As exciting as it has been to talk, postulate, and speculate about the Galaxy S III’s hardware and specs before the third-generation Galaxy flagship smartphone was announced on May 3rd in London, once the device was announced one thing became apparent: Samsung is now a software company. That doesn’t mean that Samsung is shying away [...]
Autumn Dynasty Review: A Great RTS for the iPad
With its large touchscreen, the iPad seems like the perfect platform for Real Time Strategy games, and Autumn Dynasty proves it, mostly. Autumn Dynasty is an RTS iPad game with art that looks like tradition Chinese painting. The story involves quelling a rebellion while solving a mystery of shady noblemen. The story though, just serves [...]
Griffin GuitarConnect Pro Review: Record Your Jams with Ease
The Griffin GuitarConnect Pro interfaces with your Guitar and your iPad or iPhone so you can record your music easily using apps like Apple’s GarageBand. My son Daniel, who’s learning to play guitar, helped me test it out and he loved it. When he gets as good as Jimi Hendrix, I’m sure he’ll steal my [...]
Google Search App iPhone and iPad Update Looks Beautiful (Video)
Google just delivered a beautiful update to the company’s Google Search app for the iPhone and iPad The Google Search app for iPhone and iPad replaced Safari as my browser of choice, earning a spot in the iPhone and iPad dock. It’s faster and offers a beautiful new full screen image search which looks awesome on the [...]
