When Chomp launched eight weeks ago in the iTunes store, it launched as an app for reviewing other iPhone apps. The app shows you a stream of realtime reviews, which you can filter by everyone or just your Facebook freinds. The app is showing some traction and should hit 300,000 active monthly users sometime tomorrow, according to co-founder Ben Keighran.
While it started out as an app, today… → Read More
Late last month, Apple made the abrupt decision to remove any applications it deemed to be ‘sexy’ from the App Store, citing complaints from parents. But the process of removing applications was clearly imperfect, as Apple pulled down some applications only to restore them a few days later. And apparently they missed a few: we’ve gotten word from one app publisher that had a ‘boob’ application… → Read More
In the months following the iPhone App Store’s launch in July 2008, it became clear that the platform was turning into a gold rush. Success stories of one-man companies earning $250,000 in a few months became common. And even though the odds of striking it rich were clearly much lower than the media portrayed, a huge surge of developers started building iPhone applications. Android Market, where… → Read More
ImageShack, one of the largest media hosting sites on the Web, updated its iPhone app ImageShack Uploader (iTunes link) this morning, unlocking features that enable users to easily share both videos and photos using either ImageShack services and third-party sites like YouTube and Twitter.
ImageShack Uploader 2.0, which is free of charge, lets you record videos and shoot pictures using the… → Read More
This guest post was written by Erik Fikkert, Lead Reviewer, AppVee. Also check out Appvee’s previous picks of the best apps in the App store
The iPhone and iPod touch have become immediately recognizable names around the world. Apple recently announced that the iPhone is the most popular mobile phone in the US. In addition, the iPod touch is generally regarded as the media player of choice… → Read More
Two features make the iPhone great for social games: its GPS chip and its camera. An app called iSpy which was released on the iPhone last week (iTunes link) uses both geolocation and mobile snapshots to re-imagine the children’s game of the same name.
Players create iSpy games by taking pictures of objects in public view, which get geo-tagged and placed within a radius of their actual location… → Read More
We’ve covered a couple of Distimo reports in the past because they provide us with some valuable insights on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market based on the startup’s in-depth analysis of publicly available data. Now the company has added RIM’s Blackberry App World store to the fray, which gives us even more data points to compare the rivals’ app pricing and whatnot.
Apple has announced that the App Store for the iPhone / iPod Touch has now seen more than 2 billion downloads of applications, with a half billion programs in the last quarter alone.
In addition, the company revealed that the total number of apps in the store currently exceeds 85,000, and that they are now available to more than 50 million customers in 77 countries. → Read More
Another day, another story of Apple’s ridiculous App Store approval policies gone awry. Joe Stump, the former lead architect for Digg who is well known in the developer community, has posted an entirely NSFW rant to his blog that condemns Apple for preventing a key update to his application from going live for over six weeks. Stump’s language is quite colorful so I’m not going to quote it… → Read More
This morning, subscription music service Rhapsody is putting public pressure on Apple to approve its new music streaming app by making its case directly to the press. Unlike other streaming music apps already on the iPhone from Pandora, Slacker, AOL Radio, imeem, and Sirius XM, Rhapsody’s would allow users to individually select and listen to any one of the 8 million songs in its catalog… → Read More
I know, I know. I’m growing a bit tired of having to sift through e-mails from iPhone app developers who have seen their fruits of labor (big or small) rejected by Apple’s team of mobile software scrutinizers myself too. But I keep being amazed by the reasons Cupertino puts forward for not allowing apps into the App Store, and this is another classic example: TweetPhoto, a TwitPic competitor that… → Read More
Facebook for iPhone version 3.0 will hopefully soon be made available through the iTunes App Store, but lead engineer Joe Hewitt has apparently already graced the team over at Appadvice with an early look.
Check out their review for more details, but here’s the gist:
- A new home screen (see first screenshot above) which will offer the ability to customize i.e. add boxes to the default start… → Read More
This guest post was written by Alex Ahlund, founder of AppVee.
AppVee has been doing in-depth reviews of applications since the launch of the App Store and will soon celebrate our one-year anniversary with nearly 1,000 video reviews of the top applications. We’re often asked if we are overwhelmed with the number of applications currently released and the number we are capable of covering. The… → Read More
Do the prices people are willing to pay for a phone app depend on the device or the type of app? A comparison of July prices in the iPhone App Store and the Android Market by app analytics firm Distimo found that across broad categories such as entertainment, navigation, and tools the average price for the Top 100 paid apps was very similar for both mobile computing platforms.
There were a few… → Read More
Two weeks ago, restaurant chain Pizza Hut launched an iPhone application (iTunes link) with a bunch of bells and whistles, and apparently users were hungry for it. Downloads of the app for iPhone and iPod Touch have exceeded 100,000 downloads just before the weekend, the company informs us.
Good for them, because Pizza Hut really made an effort with the software program, which they amusingly… → Read More
Our beefs with Apple’s inconsistent behavior when it comes to approving or rejecting applications for the iPhone / iPod Touch platform has been well documented. iPhoneWorld.ca draws our attention to yet another example that makes us wonder if there’s a clear policy at Infinite Loop at all, or if the team is simply trained well in the ‘hit or miss’ phenomenon. Or as ComputerWorld eloquently puts… → Read More
International business newspaper and website Financial Times, founded in 1888, is now part of the iPhone app club with the release of a free application on the iTunes App Store (iTunes link). The move comes after most of its competitors released applications for the platform back in 1891 (ok not really, but long ago anyway).
Remarkably, FT announced the release of the application using its … → Read More
Back in 2007, Amy Tenderich wrote about the need for Apple to share its renowned industrial design and user-friendliness with the medical device community. Her plea wasn’t necessarily for Apple to get involved in the field, but rather for it to help device manufacturers innovate and produce devices that people might actually want to use. As it turns out, Apple may be be joining the fray anyway… → Read More
Start Mobile has managed to get 18 separate iPhone applications approved by Apple. So you’ll imagine their surprise when one of them was recently rejected. But you may be even more surprised to find out why.
Apparently, Apple doesn’t like the way one piece of art in the app depicts President Obama. Is it out of line or tasteless? Well, you can determine for yourself, because you’ve undoubtedly… → Read More
Ever since OS. 3.0, the latest operating system for the iPhone, launched on June 17, prices among the top 100 apps in the iTunes App Store have been fluctuating wildly as developers push out apps taking advantage of all the new features in the OS. Some of the new features we are starting to see in apps include push notifications, turn-by-turn navigation, cut-and-paste, embeddable maps, access to… → Read More
When Nokia launched its Ovi Store for mobile applications a month ago, it was clear that – despite its less than stellar launch – it would be a mistake to simply dismiss the Finnish mobile juggernaut’s efforts as meaningless. The company may be struggling to stay relevant on the software and services side, but with a reach like Nokia’s on the handset distribution level I think it goes without… → Read More
I’m a big fan of coming up with ridiculous “App For That” headlines. You know, the kind that mock Apple’s iPhone App Store commercials that basically proclaim there’s an app for everything you could ever possibly want to do. So it brings me great pleasure today to report that the next time I need one of those headlines: There’s an app for that.
App For That, is a website that gives you a series… → Read More
Yesterday developer Rick Strom wrote a blog posted titled “The Incredible App Store Hype“, in which he detailed some of the revenue stats he was seeing from the iPhone applications that he had released (some of which rank on the App Store’s top apps lists), and what other developers could expect to make accordingly. His conclusion? That most of the 36,000 applications on the App Store aren’t… → Read More
The iPhone is quickly becoming the platform of choice for nostalgia-inspiring classic games, with releases like Myst and Wolfenstein now landing on a regular basis. The latest addition, and the one that may strike closest to home for those console gamers of the early 90′s, is Sonic The Hedgehog. The game is now available for a reasonable $5.99, and you can download it here.
Now, I’d consider… → Read More
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Apple’s App Store has been more successful than even Apple ever imagined. It entered a market that had been completely controlled by carriers and handed the keys over to third-party developers to make their own apps. Just over nine months later, over 35,000 of those apps had been made which have been downloaded over a billion times. So it’s surprising when… → Read More
Though you may not ever see them, there are apps in the App Store that sell for over $9.99. Mostly they’re for doctors or stupid gimmicks, but they exist. Now the first one relevant on a larger scale to consumers is about to become available with the SlingPlayer Mobile app launching tonight for $29.99 in the App Store.
How this app sells will be really interesting. While other consumer electronic… → Read More
Apple has a lot of silly reasons for rejecting iPhone apps, but Twitter seems to bring out some of the best of them. A few months ago, Apple rejected the popular iPhone app Tweetie because it featured curse words in the trending topics area — something which obviously the app has no control over. Today, it appears another app has been rejected because of Twitter — only this time it looks like it… → Read More
Trent Reznor, the leader of the band Nine Inch Nails is pretty upset that Apple has rejected the latest version of his iPhone app. And rightfully so, the reason for the rejection once again points to Apple’s inconsistencies when it comes to the App Store approval process. While we pointed that out yesterday, Reznor pulls no punches in pointing it out today, in the NIN’s forums.
Here’s what Reznor… → Read More
Back in 1994, there was no album I wanted more than Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral. The problem was that I was 12 at the time, and the album carried the dreaded “Parental Advisory” sticker, which meant I couldn’t buy it at the store without my parents — and that wasn’t an option. You see, they (like most other parents) weren’t too fond of songs like “Closer,” on the album. You know the one. → Read More
We’ve reported in the past on how Apple has not only been late on payments to iPhone app developers, but has also neglected to pay some developers for their app sales at the store entirely. We thought that perhaps our post might call Apple’s attention to the problem. Apparently, developers complaints have gone unheard at Apple and now they are so upset that some of them are threatening to sue… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
