News tagged ‘App Store’

If you are a developer, make sure you do not make fake reviews for your applications. Apple in fact, has taken serious steps, blocking the accounts of a developer and removing 1011 applications because of fake reviews.

The developer "Molinker" had many apps. Each of them had about 50 reviews. The developer was using his promocodes (every developer gets 50 of them for every app) to write reviews for his own apps. One of the users, who bought several apps, investigated this issue and wrote to Phil Schiller. The apps and all the reviews were removed very very quickly from AppStore.

What’s incredible is that the developer had 1011 apps, which is almost 1% of the entire App Store. Well that’s 1% of the App Store that no longer exists.

The developers shouldn’t be surprised, but they are:

We got email from Apple yesterday [Sunday 6th] which told us our contract is changed to pending status.
Actually, we do not know what’s wrong so far. We had contacted Apple for such sudden changes, hope we can get quick response and actions from Apple.

Nice, isn't it?

Fring has added video calling support to the iPhone and iPod touch via Skype. This is a huge step further. iPhone became a videophone!

It works on Fring to Fring, and Skype to Fring. Unfortunately, it's not bi-directional. You would be able to see whoever is calling you from a desktop, but you won't be able to transmit your image. The reason is because the iPhone doesn't have a front camera, so you can't do face to face. The application will support two-way video calling if the iPhone and iPod touch gain front-facing cameras in the future. The company already supports two-way video calling on several Nokia phones with such cameras.

A promotional video highlighting the new video functionality has also been released:

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TomTom navigation application updated to version 1.2. Added features include updates to maps and IQ Routes, advanced lane guidance, text-to-speech, integrated iPod player support and support for the iPod Touch and first-generation iPhone 2G.

To use the app on iPod Touch and iPhone 2G, TomTom's car kit is required. This is due to the fact that both devices lack an integrated GPS receiver. TomTom's car kit is a cradle which contains a GPS module, integrated speaker, charger, and line out. It is not required when the TomTom app is paired with the iPhone 3G and 3GS. The cost for the kit without the app is $119.95.

Full list of what's new in 1.2:

• Improved search and route summary screens
• Updated map from v8.30 to v8.35
• Updated points of interest database
• Updated IQ Routes database with millions of new measurements
• Added Advanced Lane Guidance in both portrait and landscape mode
• Added Text-to-speech in English US, English UK, English Australia, French Canada, Spanish Latin America
• Added Help Me! emergency menu
• Added iPod player support
• Added support for original iPhone and iPod touch (all models)

The TomTom app is available in App Store for $49.99-$139.99 (link). Price depends on the map coverage. The highest price is for TomTom Western Europe. US & Canada costs $99.99. The cheapest version is for Hong-Kong - just $49.99.

Yesterday Tristan Nitot, the European president of the Mozilla Foundation, has responded to some questions about the future opportunity to see Firefox on the iPhone and iPod Touch:

"The issue is more with Apple than with us because they control the App Store and because they refuse applications which compete with something that is already on the phone. It’s unlikely that we’ll see a version of Firefox running on the iPhone"

As for Firefox Mobile, it will be launching on Symbian, Android, Windows Mobile, and Nokia Maemo tablets in December.

Apple today posted two new iPhone commercials to its ad gallery and also began airing them on prime-time television. Here is a list of applications, that are used in these videos:

Song
- Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals [App Store, $7.99]
- Credit Card Terminal [App Store, $0.99]
- Facebook [App Store, Free]
- The Sims 3 [App Store, $6.99]
- Redfin Real Estate [App Store, Free]
- Shazam [App Store, Free]

Gift
- Target [App Store, Free]
- ColorChange [App Store, $2.99]
- The Snow Report [App Store, Free]
- Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition [App Store, $4.99]
- HotelPal [App Store, Free]
- Zipcar [App Store, Free]

Watch the videos:

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Dropbox is a service similar to Apple's iDisk. It lets you store your files on a server and immediately share your pictures, documents or programs on different computers. It is quite popular on desktops. Now there is a version for the iPhone. The official free application is already avaliable in App Store.

So with iPhone you can download files, view them immediately, upload your own photos and videos to the Dropbox server, share links and sync it all with your computer.

It is a great service, especially because there is a "Basic" plan completely free of charge. With this plan you get 2GB of web space and it is absolutely free.

You can register and download the application for your desktop computer here (Windows, Mac, and Linux). Here is a link to application in AppStore.

Update: DropBox requires firmware 3.1

Apple today announced that its App Store has surpassed two billion downloads. The company also noted that there are now over 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers, 85,000 applications on the App Store, and 125,000 registered iPhone developers. App Store is available in 77 countries. There are over 20 categories of applications to choose from.

via macrumors

Here are new iPhone ads: 'Dine', ' Nature', and 'Pass'. Each one feature six applications per ad. All three commercials also mention that there are now 75,000 applications available in the App Store.

The first one is named "Dine". Here is the list of apps used in the video and the video itself:
- TripCase [App Store, Free]
- New York Subway 09 [App Store, $4.99]
- Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List [App Store, Free]
- Zagat To Go '09 [App Store, $9.99]
- Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite [App Store, $9.99]
- Gap StyleMixer [App Store, Free]

The second is "Nature":

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Apple released new iPhone 3.1 and iPod Touch 3.1.1 firmwares. Here is a quick changelog:

- Improved syncing for music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and photos
- iTunes U content organization
- Redeem iTunes Gift Cards, codes, and certificates in the App Store
- Display available iTunes account credits in the App Store and iTunes Store
- Save video from Mail and MMS into Camera Roll
- Option to "Save as new clip" when trimming a video on iPhone 3GS
- Better iPhone 3G Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on
- Remotely lock iPhone with a passcode via MobileMe
- Use Voice Control on iPhone 3GS with Bluetooth headsets
- Paste phone numbers into the keypad
- Option to use Home button to turn on accessibility features on iPhone 3GS
- Warn when visiting fraudulent websites in Safari (anti-phishing)
- Improved Exchange calendar syncing and invitation handling
- Fixes issue that cause some app icons to display incorrectly

iPhone OS 3.1 is available and is a free download for iPhone customers. iPod Touch users already running iPhone OS 3.0 can update to 3.1.1 for free. iPod Touch users running earlier firmware versions can upgrade to OS 3.1.1 for $4.95.

Users of jailbreaked and unlocked devices - do not update, wait for utilities updates!!

During the It’s only rock and roll Apple spent some time discussing numbers. And as usual the numbers were huge. So here's what we've heard:

• 30 million iPhones sold
• 20 million iPod touches sold

That makes 50 million iPhone OS X platform device on the market, up from 45 million on July 21.

• 75,000 apps in the iTunes App Store
• 1.8 billion downloads (not counting updates)

In terms of games, compared with other mobile platforms, here’s the library count:

• 21,178 for Apple iPhone/iPod touch
• 3,680 for Nintendo DS
• 607 for Sony PSP

Here's more:

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Here are a few interesting sales over the past couple of days:

• Silent Hill: The Escape ($7.99 -> $0.99, AppStore link) – Konami's first person shooting game set in a creepy environment has seen a massive price drop from $7.99 to $0.99. So, if you've been curious about this title, now's a good time to try it.
• Resident Evil 4 ($7.99 -> $2.99, AppStore link) – The mobile edition of Resident Evil 4. There was some very split opinions between those who loved the game and those who felt it paled in comparison to the original console version. Regardless of your position, a $5 price drop certainly makes it easier to pick up.
• Dirt Moto Racing ($4.99 -> $0.99, AppStore link) – A solid off-road racer that's easily worth $0.99.
• Crash Bandicoot ($5.99 -> $2.99, AppStore link) – One of the original kart racers for the iPhone, it seems they are starting to feel the pressure with Konami's Krazy Kart Racing and the upcoming Shrek Kart.

And, we've heard of one major game that will be holding a sale soon. Firemint's Real Racing (App Store link) will see its first sale this weekend dropping from $9.99 to $6.99 temporarily. The sale should be live by Saturday morning, so keep that in mind if you've been holding out.

via toucharcade

Enigmo [App Store link] was originally created in 2003, and since has become Pangea Software's most successful game. It was voted the "Best iPhone Game" of WWDC '08.

The goal of Enigmo is simple, water falls from droppers and a certain number of drops need to make it in to the tank at the end of the level. Utilizing a limited number of objects from the variety of different ones that make up the puzzle pieces in the game such as bumpers to bounce drops off of and sponges to collect drops, etc., the gameplay of Enigmo started simple but quickly made way to levels that would leave you stumped for days.

Enigmo 2 [App Store link] took the award winning gameplay of the original, made everything 3D, and even added lasers and plasma particles that must also be directed to their respective containers. Enigmo 2 takes place in space, and gravity plays an even bigger part than the original with objects that can be dropped in game to manipulate gravity to steer the plasma particles around.

User can rotate the world using two finger swiping gestures, and some puzzles will require the placing and manipulating of objects in 3D space to complete the level.

Pangea Software released demo video that details nearly every corner of Enigmo 2, and is really worth:

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Vontge company is known to it's Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. Recently Vonage has submitted an iPhone application to Apple. The application's approval has been delayed by minor technical issues with the application.

"They submitted an application for review," said Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris told Tech Trader Daily. "There are some technical issues [with the code they submitted] that hopefully can be resolved." Kerris did not elaborate on the nature of the issues with Vonage's application.
In an update to the article, Vonage reported that it has fixed the issue and resubmitted the application to Apple for approval.

"We can confirm that one of our prospective applications is for the iPhone. They identified one issue stating that it is 'simple to fix.' The issue is cosmetic and relates to the labeling of an icon. We've made the requested change and resubmitted the application for approval earlier today."

Anyway this app will be restricted to Wi-Fi only for voip phone calls once it appears in the App Store.

via macrumors

After starting with New Zealand a few hours ago, the iTunes App Store is now populated with region specific TomTom apps. Here’re the US ones:

• TomTom US & Canada [$99.99 - iTunes link],
• TomTom Australia [$79.99 - iTunes link],
• TomTom New Zealand [$94.99 - iTunes link],
• TomTom Western Europe [$139.99 - iTunes link]

Each European App Store is also carrying a fifth TomTom application offering a more narrowly localized version for the respective countries at a lower (~$30-40) price than the complete Western Europe version.

• Benelux (iTunes link): offered in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and covers those three countries
• D-A-CH (iTunes link): Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• France (iTunes link): France and covers France, Monaco and Corsica
• Iberia (iTunes link): Spain and Portugal and covers Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar, the major islands of the Balearic and Canary Island groups.
• Italy (iTunes link): Italy, San Marino and Vatican City
• Nordic (iTunes link): Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden and covers those four countries
• U.K. & Ireland (iTunes link) - the U.K. and Ireland

Take a look at video demo.

via engadget, macrumors

iPhoneclub reports that four regional versions of TomTom iPhone navigation application have appeared in Apple's New Zealand App Store: U.S. & Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.We are expecting TomTom to appear in other AppStores.

Pricing is as follows (Users should set their iTunes Store to "New Zealand" prior to clicking the App Store links.):

• - U.S. & Canada (App Store link): NZ $124.99 (US $84.41)
• - Western Europe (App Store link): NZ $179.99 (US $121.55)
• - Australia (App Store link): NZ $104.99 (US $70.90)
• - New Zealand (App Store link): NZ $119.99 (US $81.03)

The App Store application prices include only the iPhone application and not the companion car kit.

via iPhoneclub