iPhone App Store doing well in China despite several hurdles
Sales of iPhones through the official Chinese carrier—China Unicom—might not be breaking any records, but app sales seem to be doing quite well. Developers so far estimate that nearly $1 million worth of apps have been sold in just a few weeks, even though there are numerous hurdles that impede the pushing of apps through the Chinese App Store.
One of the roadblocks is that most apps available so far have English descriptions and are priced in US dollars. The App Store also requires a credit card issued from a Chinese bank, which are still relatively rare in China. Furthermore, many of the estimated 2 million iPhones already in country are jailbroken to run apps available outside the App Store, which includes pirated software.
Respected developers begin fleeing from App Store platform
Apple’s control over the App Store—which seems arbitrary at times—still frustrates developers. That much isn’t a surprise, but some developers have become frustrated to the point that they have decided to simply halt iPhone development altogether. Facebook’s Joe Hewitt, Second Gear’s Justin Williams, and long-time Mac shareware developer Rogue Amoeba have all recently decided that enough is enough, and the loss of these developers and others could spell a troubling future for the App Store. True, it has over 100,000 applications, but how many of them are created with the kind of care and passion we take for granted in the Mac software world?
Hewitt, a respected Web developer who previously worked on Firefox and its highly regarded developer plug-in Firebug, recently handed off responsibility for Facebook’s successful iPhone app to another engineer at the company. Hewitt cited his frustration with Apple’s approval process for the move:
App Store officially passes the 100,000 app milestone
Apple has announced that it has finally accumulated over 100,000 apps available to download for iPhone OS devices. This feat was accomplished just 16 months after Apple opened the App Store alongside the launch of iPhone OS 2.0 and the iPhone 3G in Summer 2008.
“The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,” said Apple SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller, in a statement. “The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating.”
Developers stealing from developers: an App Store tale
If you are Paul Haddad of TapBots, LLC, it isn’t unusual to get requests for contract work. When your applications are as eye-catching and functional as his, you garner attention. So when he received an e-mail earlier this month with a subject line of “I’m interested in Tapbots,” it didn’t really come as much of a surprise. What was surprising was the message content.
This prospective client wasn’t looking to hire TapBots for any development work, they were looking for confirmation that a development firm out of India did the coding on ConvertBot, a popular TapBots application. The client had found Trucid, the supposed coders of ConvertBot, on the Rentacoder.com website, a virtual cork board where companies can hang their business cards. Trucid quoted a sum of $2,400 for an application similar to ConvertBot. The only problem? TapBots designs and writes all of its applications entirely in house.
Week in Apple: VoIP on iPhone, Mighty Mouse makeover, jailbreaks
Users can now jailbreak (most) iPhone OS 3.1 devices and 3.1.2 is already out. VMware Fusion is getting a major update, too, and you will soon be able to develop iPhone apps using… Flash? Read on for the eclectic mix of top Apple news from this week:
5 cool things to sync with Dropbox on your Mac: Dropbox is great for syncing essential files over the Internet, but it’s good for more than just your daily images and Word files. Ars highlights five ways you can use Dropbox to sync essential info in your life, from passwords to your to-do list.
AT&T has change of heart about VoIP over 3G for the iPhone: Reversing a long-standing policy that prohibited VoIP applications on the iPhone from using the cellular data network, AT&T has announced today that such apps are no longer restricted to connecting over WiFi networks. The change of heart is a win for both net neutrality and for those hoping to save on expensive international calls or save precious mobile voice minutes.
Week in Apple: VoIP on iPhone, Mighty Mouse makeover, jailbreaks
Users can now jailbreak (most) iPhone OS 3.1 devices and 3.1.2 is already out. VMware Fusion is getting a major update, too, and you will soon be able to develop iPhone apps using… Flash? Read on for the eclectic mix of top Apple news from this week:
5 cool things to sync with Dropbox on your Mac: Dropbox is great for syncing essential files over the Internet, but it’s good for more than just your daily images and Word files. Ars highlights five ways you can use Dropbox to sync essential info in your life, from passwords to your to-do list.
AT&T has change of heart about VoIP over 3G for the iPhone: Reversing a long-standing policy that prohibited VoIP applications on the iPhone from using the cellular data network, AT&T has announced today that such apps are no longer restricted to connecting over WiFi networks. The change of heart is a win for both net neutrality and for those hoping to save on expensive international calls or save precious mobile voice minutes.
5 cool things to sync with Dropbox on your Mac
If you’re not already familiar with file syncing service Dropbox, you should be. The easiest way to describe Dropbox is that it acts as a type of online storage that gives you access to your files wherever you go, no matter which computer you’re on, what OS you’re using, and where you are in the world. No need to use a DVD, USB drive, or e-mail to transfer important files. However, Dropbox is really much more than that: you can access and work on files even when you’re offline, share folders with friends and coworkers, and most importantly (for this writeup, anyway), sync settings for numerous applications without having to fork over any cash.
Why is this good? If there are multiple computers in your life—like a work machine and a home machine, or a desktop and a laptop, or all of the above—you probably use many of the same programs. Some of those programs might have their own built-in syncing services to keep things like your bookmarks or passwords up-to-date, but many do not. That’s where Dropbox comes in—the free account offers 2GB of space (up to 100GB for paying customers) for you to do whatever you please. And since we like telling you how we use things, here are a few of our favorite Dropbox uses.
5 cool things to sync with Dropbox on your Mac
If you’re not already familiar with file syncing service Dropbox, you should be. The easiest way to describe Dropbox is that it acts as a type of online storage that gives you access to your files wherever you go, no matter which computer you’re on, what OS you’re using, and where you are in the world. No need to use a DVD, USB drive, or e-mail to transfer important files. However, Dropbox is really much more than that: you can access and work on files even when you’re offline, share folders with friends and coworkers, and most importantly (for this writeup, anyway), sync settings for numerous applications without having to fork over any cash.
Why is this good? If there are multiple computers in your life—like a work machine and a home machine, or a desktop and a laptop, or all of the above—you probably use many of the same programs. Some of those programs might have their own built-in syncing services to keep things like your bookmarks or passwords up-to-date, but many do not. That’s where Dropbox comes in—the free account offers 2GB of space (up to 100GB for paying customers) for you to do whatever you please. And since we like telling you how we use things, here are a few of our favorite Dropbox uses.
Week in Apple: Light Peak, MMS, and dropped calls
Autumn is here and we’re getting ready to snuggle into our caves with our favorite new iPhone apps, iTunes LP, and MMS on the iPhone. But not all news is good: Apple has been irking some Windows users again, and AT&T’s dropped call rate for New York city iPhone owners is borderline criminal. Read on for more:
Apple pushes unwanted enterprise tool to Windows users: Apple is telling iTunes and QuickTime users on Windows that they need to download the iPhone Configuration Utility, an enterprise tool that is useless for most consumers, via its Apple Software Update program for Windows.
A peek inside an iTunes LP file: Is iTunes LP another proprietary format or something different? We peer inside the beast that is Apple’s latest foray into the hocking of digital music.
Week in Apple: Light Peak, MMS, and dropped calls
Autumn is here and we’re getting ready to snuggle into our caves with our favorite new iPhone apps, iTunes LP, and MMS on the iPhone. But not all news is good: Apple has been irking some Windows users again, and AT&T’s dropped call rate for New York city iPhone owners is borderline criminal. Read on for more:
Apple pushes unwanted enterprise tool to Windows users: Apple is telling iTunes and QuickTime users on Windows that they need to download the iPhone Configuration Utility, an enterprise tool that is useless for most consumers, via its Apple Software Update program for Windows.
A peek inside an iTunes LP file: Is iTunes LP another proprietary format or something different? We peer inside the beast that is Apple’s latest foray into the hocking of digital music.
