iPhone Apps

Be a Game Developer on Apple iPhone and Apple iTouch

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Sat, 7 Nov 2009 06:59:00 -0800

How To Distance Yourself From The Shovel-Ware!

On November 4th 2009, Apple Computer announced that the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch App Store, which it calls “the largest applications store in the world” has exceeded a library of more than 100,000 pieces of applications including games content. While this is a significant milestone to Apple and an endorsement to the interest and support of the platforms, it is also a huge challenge to independent game developers trying to be successful in terms of actual sales in a highly competitive market. A quick visit to the App Store through the iTunes application reveals that among the impressive numbers you will find a combined list of more than 6,000 games!

As a game developer, it’s important to consider the following factors:
“I have a great product, but how do I stand out from crowd”?
“How do I get exposure and how do I promote my product”?
“What will it take to create awareness and drive consumers to my website and to the App Store to generate increased sales”?

Undeniable the above questions overlap. At Indie Developer Consulting we are approached (daily) by numerous frustrated game developers trying to succeed in an oversaturated market flooded with shovel-ware. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that it all begins with a quality game or product. Like any other market, if what you have created is not unique, innovative, interesting and fun, the chances of success decreases dramatically. Assuming the product or game you have developed meets those standards, the most important factor is public relations, good product description and viral marketing!

To some consumers a visit to the Apple App Store is an appalling and disappointing experience; the product descriptions for a huge number of games are inaccurate, the links to the developer website is either dead or broken, and the layout, style and design of the App page is unbearable to read because of mixed fonts, styles, color inconsistencies and uninspiring or outright boring screenshots (some game descriptions don’t have any screenshots!)

To Apple game developers – this is your wakeup call! Take responsibility for your product! Don’t expect your last holiday pictures turned into a jigsaw puzzle will make you rich! Contrary to popular belief, creating something on the Apple platform, self-publishing, and waiting for the bank account to finance your next multimillion game company is not going to happen! Use your talent to create innovate and fun games, and let the self-proclaimed suits at Indie Developer Consulting assist you with the product page, the public relations, the marketing and ultimately, help increase your sales.

The Apple iPhone and Apple iPod Touch is an excellent opportunity for independent developers to make money – and good money too – but having a good, solid, and fun game is only the start. Too many games are available on the App Store with terrible sales purely because of the inexperience in knowing “what to do” once a submission to Apple has been approved.

Contact Indie Developer Consulting to help you out! Our terms and pricing are fair, and if you truly wish to be among the top 20 or even top 100 in the App Store, asking for help and advice is the least of your concerns. After all, as Apple confirms – you are competing against more than 6,000 other games!

SOURCE

An App for just about anything

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Tue, 3 Nov 2009 05:27:00 -0800

Here's an article written by Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus. He is leading authority on Mac OS X, the author of more than 50 books including iPhone For Dummies 3d Edition, and a Mac consultant, troubleshooter, and trainer. Visit his Web site at www.boblevitus.com; e-mail comments to doc@boblevitus.com. Read his article below.

With more than 85,000 applications available for the iPhone and iPod touch, there is almost certainly an app for whatever it is you love. I've been working on a new book that will feature descriptions of the best apps in more than a dozen categories and have been spending a lot of quality time testing various ones. Here are a few that really impressed me:

I love to read, so a couple of my very favorite apps are Comics and Stanza, which are both free. Comics gives you access to a huge comic book library-store, plus a great interface for reading them. It comes with over 50 free comics, with thousands more available for a buck or two.
Stanza is an award-winning app for eBooks. The Stanza store lets you choose from more than 50,000 contemporary books at prices well below the printed versions, plus access to another 50,000 free classics and recent original works.

You'll never run out of reading material with one or both of these on your iPhone or iPod touch.
I also like to shoot digital photos and movies with my iPhone 3GS, so I am enthralled with ReelDirector ($7.99) and Photogene ($2.99). ReelDirector is a way-cool video-editing app for your iPhone 3GS. You can rearrange clips on a timeline, choose from 27 beautiful transitions, add fade-in and fade-out effects, and create great-looking titles and credits. Photogene ($2.99) helps you improve digital photos with a terrific array of useful tools such as cropping, sharpening, color and gamma correction, exposure and contrast controls, straightening, rotating, cartoon text bubbles, special effects like pencil, sepia-tone, and heat-map, plus a sweet selection of frames in a variety of shapes and sizes. And both apps feature thoughtfully designed user interfaces that make using them easy and fun.

I love music and played The Beatles: Rock Band on my son's Xbox until my fingers bled. So it's no surprise that I'm totally hooked on the RockBand iPhone app ($9.99). If you've ever played the Beatles or any of the other Rock Band games for Xbox, PS3, or Wii, the iPhone rendition is just like them but on a smaller screen.

There are lots of knock-offs of Rock Band in the App store but none of them is as polished and fun as the real thing.

Finally, though the 2009 baseball season is drawing to a close, the MLB.com At Bat app ($9.99) rocks. With streaming video over WiFi or 3G, multiple camera angles, live audio feeds, condensed games, and more, it's a must-have for baseball fans.

Orange to sell iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Mon, 2 Nov 2009 06:57:00 -0800

The move will signal the end of O2's exclusive deal with Apple to carry the iPhone in the UK. Orange says that more than 250,000 people have pre-registered their interest in the device so far.

But consumers hoping that the end of the exclusivity agreement will spark a price war between network operators will be left disappointed, with tariff pricing, contract periods and handset costs similar between the two operators.

For example, a 32GB iPhone 3GS handset will cost £96.50 on Orange's £44.04 per month, two-year contract; on O2, the same handset costs £96.89 on a £44.05 per month, two-year contract. That means Orange customers will pay just 39p less for the device than O2 customers, and will save a penny per month on the cost of their contracts.

However, Orange said it offered a "cheaper point of entry", with the 8GB iPhone 3G, the predecessor to the iPhone 3GS, available for free on a two-year, £29.36 per month contract; on O2, the cheapest tariff for this device on a two-year contract is £34.26 per month. It means that users signing up with Orange will save £117.60 over the life of the contract.
Vodafone is also due to start selling the iPhone from next year, and some customers say they will wait until then to see if Vodafone offers more competitive pricing.

"Uninspired with Orange's iPhone tariffs," wrote one person on Twitter. "I'll be wrapping the 3G in cotton wool and waiting for the best deal on the new iPhone in June."
"It's not the price war we were expecting so we hope Vodafone shakes things up," said Andrew Lim, an analyst with mobile phone comparison site Recombu.

All Orange contracts come with "unlimited" data use, which is designed to allow people to take advantage of the high-speed internet connections and full web browser available on the iPhone. However, there is a fair usage cap of 750MB of data use per month, although most users are unlikely to reach that figure.

Orange says that existing customers who want an iPhone will be prioritised, although the company says it is "confident" in its stock levels and that "there won't be a supply issue".
“Since we announced the iPhone on Orange we have already seen more than a quarter of a million customers register their interest on our website," said Tom Alexander, chief executive of Orange. "We will be matching their enthusiasm with a 3G mobile broadband network that covers more people in the UK than any other operator, a commitment to deliver the best 3G experience on the iPhone and best-in-class applications and plans.”
O2 has been criticised in recent months for outages in its data networks that have left iPhone users unable to make or receive calls. Some iPhone users have been so disgruntled with the quality of their network connection that they say they will switch to Orange in the hope of more consistent data connectivity.

Orange will be selling the iPhone in a number of stores, including Carphone Warehouse, Orange shops, and Phones4U. Carphone Warehouse said that by the end of the year, they expect to have sold more than one million iPhones since the device first went on sale in the UK in November 2007.

The iPhone 3GS is the latest device in the range, and has a touch-screen, three-megapixel camera with video-recording functions, a digital compass and voice control. Users can choose from more than 85,000 applications available through the iTunes App Store and download them on to their device.

SOURCE

Disney.com iPhone Apps Focuses on Photos

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:02:00 -0700

Fans can now interact with Disney.com via a new iPhone app launched this week, with a focus on photos. A "Click2Life" feature allows users to "follow clues to take cell-phone pictures of characters from movies such as Up, G-Force, Ratatouille, and Wall-E on the Web site," the Associated Press reported. Other content in the app includes music, videos, and games. "Future photo keys could also include movie posters to drive interest in the company's upcoming releases."

"While this app provides seamless access to all things Disney, delivering unmatched entertainment and information directly to mobile devices, we're not simply recreating Disney.com on your iPhone or iPod touch," said Jason Davis, VP of Disney.com, in a statement. "Features like 'Click2Life' utilize iPhone's revolutionary functionality to create exciting new ways to interact with Disney characters and content."

Disney.com declined to comment to PRWeek about the campaign around the new application.

SOURCE

iPhone Apps Can Drive A Car

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:23:00 -0700

Can an iPhone App drive a car? Possibly yes possibly no. Here's a post from Mike Brookbank's blog of free press digital host.

Even if you are like me and don't have an iPhone, chances are you have heard this popular saying: "There's an app for that."

Well, now we can add controlling a car to the list of things Apple's hugely popular phone can do.

Yes, you heard me right, some very tech-savvy Germans have come up with a way to remotely drive a minivan using their phone, according to Engadget.

The iDriver app allows you to accelerate and brake with just the push of a button. The phone's motion sensors allow you to steer by swaying it back and forth from side to side as you would a steering wheel.

The app basically converts the iPhone into a video game controller.

Now this concept isn't new. Apparently, a real video game controller from a PSP has been used in the past to control a Honda Civic.

However, according to techies out there, this is a major improvement from anything seen in the past.

The question you have to ask yourself though is why would we need something like this?

We already know the problems cell phones pose when we are behind the wheel. What happens when we're using them to control it?

Thankfully, this is not yet available commercially. But will this soon be one of the $.99 apps you can download? I'm no expert, but I am going to say no.

Bottom line, it shows anything is possible thanks to technology. It also is a great conversation piece and makes for some great video.

We talked about it this morning on "First Forecast Mornings," even showing the amazing video which demonstrates how it works.

In the video, researchers from the artificial intelligence team at the Free University of Berlin test-drive the minivan on a deserted runway at a city airport.

You can see the "Spirit of Berlin" doing tight turns as a researcher, standing several feet away, uses an iPhone to navigate the vehicle.

This conversation piece app was created by the Appirion firm, which specializes in software for mobile phones.

SOURCE

Cook in 20 Minutes : iPhone Apps

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:39:00 -0700

Jamie Oliver is out with his new iPhone application, and is yet another application that is said to harness the capabilities of the iPhone. The application is said to take care of common cooking pitfalls that most face in the kitchen. With an excellent interface, instructions, helpful images and videos all at your fingertips, there is hardly any possibility for you to go wrong. The application now has almost 50 new recipes that promise to be flavorful, which is very Jamie like. Most of these recipes were the reasons why Jamie is so famous, since he aims at targeting the beginners, and those who have absolutely no time to cook. The content of the applications as well as its designs is wonderful and eye-catching.

The first launch itself is impressive where Jamie introduces the features of the app and its usefulness. Well other reasons are that the rest of the videos also carry the usual Jamie charm and his attempts to make use of techniques that are different and interesting. This is a guaranteed winner when it comes to a cooking app, with its step-by-step instructions and pictures that speak well of its spellbinding tools that are image-driven.

All of the recipes featured here come along with the list of ingredients which is linked to an interactive. It also has a sharable shopping list and what items can be found in an aisle. The app also has Jaime giving off important kitchen details and essentials along with recipe notes and tips giving you the experience that you have a friendly coach at close hand.

For just $8, this app can be downloaded from iTunes and is worth every penny and more.

SourceJamie Oliver is out with his new iPhone application, and is yet another application that is said to harness the capabilities of the iPhone. The application is said to take care of common cooking pitfalls that most face in the kitchen. With an excellent interface, instructions, helpful images and videos all at your fingertips, there is hardly any possibility for you to go wrong. The application now has almost 50 new recipes that promise to be flavorful, which is very Jamie like. Most of these recipes were the reasons why Jamie is so famous, since he aims at targeting the beginners, and those who have absolutely no time to cook. The content of the applications as well as its designs is wonderful and eye-catching.

The first launch itself is impressive where Jamie introduces the features of the app and its usefulness. Well other reasons are that the rest of the videos also carry the usual Jamie charm and his attempts to make use of techniques that are different and interesting. This is a guaranteed winner when it comes to a cooking app, with its step-by-step instructions and pictures that speak well of its spellbinding tools that are image-driven.

All of the recipes featured here come along with the list of ingredients which is linked to an interactive. It also has a sharable shopping list and what items can be found in an aisle. The app also has Jaime giving off important kitchen details and essentials along with recipe notes and tips giving you the experience that you have a friendly coach at close hand.

For just $8, this app can be downloaded from iTunes and is worth every penny and more.

Source

Carlover's iPhone Apps

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:35:00 -0700

This selection of iPhone applications will help you get the most out of your iPhone-motoring partnership. From starting your car's engine with a touch of the screen to measuring the speed of your vehicle, these applications will make your iPhone a valued motoring accessory.

The top five car applications on your iPhone:

Dynolicious
If you've ever wanted to see how fast your car can accelerate or to measure if your vehicle has more horse power than your mate's, Dynolicious can provide you with the tools to record and measure your car's performance metrics. Using the iPhone's accelerometer the application can record and track your vehicle's 0-60 acceleration, lateral G's and horsepower. Dynolicious costs $12.99 in the US App store.

Viper SmartStart
This newly released application allows you to remotely start your engine, set and disable your car's alarm, open the boot, and lock and unlock your car with a press of a button on your iPhone from anywhere in the US. The Viper SmartStart application requires you to have a Viper SmartStart system installed in your car (prices range from $300 to $500 including installation) as well as a yearly $29.99 service plan. Viper SmartStart is free in the US App store.

Trapster
Trapster is a location-based radar program that alerts you to the location of police, radars and red light cameras. The application provides you with (almost) real-time updates about hazards on the road and reminds you to slow down so you can avoid having to pay expensive speeding tickets. Live police positions and mobile radar locations are submitted by other users. Trapster is free in the US App store.

iGasUp
iGasUp helps you find the cheapest petrol, gas or diesel available in your area. The application provides users with the names of the 10 cheapest stations (and their current fuel prices) within their area or alternatively can list ten petrol stations located in the nearest vicinity. Once a station has been chosen, the application provides directions to the location using Google Maps. iGasUp is priced at $2.99 in the US app store.

Carticipate
While the community of users is still small, Carticipate could one day become a very helpful, eco-friendly and cost saving application for those wanting to share their car travelling costs and cut down the environmental impact of driving. The application lets both drivers and passengers organise and plan their shared car travel - from short, every day journeys to long road trips across country. Carticipate is free in the US app store.

SOURCE

iPhone Apps News : Purchase iPhone Apps within iPhone Apps

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:33:00 -0700

Apple has introduced an in-app purchase feature for free iPhone apps that allow you to fulfill transactions within the iPhone applications themselves -- no Apple App Store required. The feature was previously available for paid applications.

By enabling in-application transactions, Apple makes life easier for developers who no longer have to make "lite" or teaser versions of applications along with ones that cost iPhone owners money. If you like the free version of Ragdoll Blaster Lite and want to upgrade to the $1.99 full version, now you may have the option to upgrade within the application itself -- no App Store needed.

Apple's decision to allow in-app purchases was unexpected, as the company's stance on this matter was that free apps should remain free, and users shouldn't pay for anything from within a free application. As with paid apps, Apple will still facilitate the backend billing and take a cut out of the sale price of the in-app purchase.

In-app purchases from within free applications, though, could have a widely beneficial effect in the iPhone app store economy. Using the example of a magazine application, a developer wouldn't have to charge for its application, but could charge for the actual content. This could make more customers download their app.

There is a lot of potential from in-app purchases from within free applications for games developers, who could offer for free a limited-functionality version of their game and then charge users for further gameplay levels. The App Store will also be relieved from the thousands of "Lite" apps and could eliminate customer confusion.

But this trend of in-app purchases from free apps might not be picking up very quickly. As developer Marco Arment notes in his blog, for existing apps with a free/paid version split, "there's no practical way to transition the existing paid customers to a new "free+" version without making them pay again like a new customer."

And as an interesting note, Apple also said in its letter to developers that using in-app purchase "can also help combat some of the problems of software piracy by allowing you to verify In App Purchases." -- which would be the first time Apple acknowledged iPhone app piracy as a problem, considering there are now over 4 million jailbroken iPhones in the wild and that Apple is trying to solve this problem by shipping jailbreak-proof 3GS models.

SOURCE

iPhone Apps Limitations from Adobe

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 07:21:00 -0700

LOS ANGELES--Adobe Systems' announcement of tools to create applications for the Apple iPhone comes with some restrictions.

Adobe announced on Monday at Adobe MAX, the company's worldwide developer conference, that its Flash Professional CS5 developer tool will enable developers to create interactive applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A public beta of Flash Professional CS5 is expected to be available later this year.

In an interview at the conference Monday, Anup Murarka, director of technology strategy and partner development in Adobe's platform development unit, spelled out some of the limitations of creating Adobe Flash-style apps for the iPhone. These limitations exist because the Adobe Flash player is not supported on the iPhone.

Murarka clarified that Monday's announcement was not a joint announcement with Apple. "This is an Adobe announcement. This is just something that's related to our tools and what they output, which is a native iPhone app," he said.

"So, we're not running Flash directly on the device. We're actually allowing our tools to output for native iPhone apps," Murarka explained.

He then described some limitations. "Let's take it from the developer's point of view. They have a very rich environment and language. That's in Flash today," he said. "You're not going to get all of the Flash feature set that would normally be there in the run-time."

Murarka continued: "For example, high-quality video, H.264, is not available with this product because Apple does not make available the decoders. They make you use their own UI (user interface) to play back high-quality video." Apple describes the H.264 video codec as delivering "stunning quality at...low data rates."

He also cited synchronization. "Being able to do synchronization between data and video. Those can be built as Flash applications. In sporting events (for example) using flash for data overlay. Those types of things are not going to possible because we don't have access to the APIs (Application Programming Intefaces) that would give us the video decode along with all of the individual frames so we can do synchronization," he said.

And he spoke about graphics effects. "Some of the filter effects. Some of the capabilities that as a programmer you would easily do within Flash are not available as they are not natural APIs that iPhone platform makes available to us."

Murarka concluded by saying that Adobe continues to work with Apple towards getting Flash on the iPhone. "We're not there as quickly as we would like. We're not able to put Flash in the browser. We're not able to put a Flash run-time on the device directly. But this is a good step," he said.

SOURCE : news.CNET.com

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I wonder if this is true? What do you think?

Apple's Big Announcement Tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Wed, 9 Sep 2009 04:05:00 -0700

As many of you will be aware, Apple is hosting a music themed event in San Francisco on September 9th. The tagline on the invitations reads “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it,” which certainly suggests music will play an important role in the keynote. While there are certainly rumors surrounding an update to the iPod line, there are also many other rumors that have been circulating the Internet, so here’s a round-up of all the possibilities we could see from Apple tomorrow.

iTunes 9

The last major update to iTunes included the App Store, along with updates to iTunes DJ. This upcoming event is rumored to see the release of iTunes 9 which could include the option to incorporate your library and listening styles with your favorite social networks, such as Facebook and Last.FM.
A screenshot of what could be iTunes 9 featuring social network integration

A long-awaited feature from many customers has been to have the ability to re-organize your iPhone/iPod touch applications from within iTunes, which would then synchronize across to your device. According to the Boy Genius Report, this could also be making an appearance in iTunes 9, something I personally am certainly looking forward to.

It doesn’t stop there, however. The third major update that could feature in iTunes 9 is support for Blu-ray movies. This was rumored for the previous upgrade to iTunes, but with HD DVD out of the race, it’s more possible that Apple hase decided to jump on the band-wagon with Blu-ray support.

iTunes 9 could also see an iTunes Unlimited service come to life. Similar to what’s available with the Microsoft Zune, customers would have full access to the entire iTunes Store, with the option to buy the tracks to keep, if you’d prefer. A similar service to this has been launched in the UK, called Spotify, and has been incredibly successful.

iPod and Nike+ Refreshes

Previous to the iPod shuffle, the last iPod to receive an update was the iPod nano—a year ago on September 9th 2008. Sources believe that the iPod nano could see a slight update in its design, making it more convenient to hold and use, especially during sporting activities. It is also expected that Apple will add a camera to both the iPod nano and iPod touch, making them more useful and more media-based rather than simply music players. Apple Premium Resellers are reporting they are not replenishing their stock of the iPod nano, iPod touch or iPod classic, which leads to believe that updates will be appearing for all three models.

This could also include a refresh for Nike+ to include support for the iPod range, and also the iPhone 3G and 3GS. With the iPhone’s GPS capabilities, the Nike+ software could provide a lot more information that could synchronize back to your computer for you to review.

Apple iTablet

While rumors have been coming in about this for quite some time, it’s quite unlikely we’ll see such a device on Wednesday. If only because of the music theme for the event. It’s also plausible such a device would warrant its own event, possibly closer to the Christmas holiday season, if not in February 2010 at another event. It would be great for an iTablet, or iPad to be unveiled tomorrow, but, as I said, we’re clutching at straws for that one. It’s unknown at this point whether such a device would use a modified version of the iPhone OS or of Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Findings within the accessibility settings within Snow Leopard that reveal full-size keyboards lead us to believe Snow Leopard could be the basis for a tablet device upon its launch.

Apple TV

We mentioned this last week on Appletell that an Apple TV update could be the “outsider” of the event. Wall Street analyst Gene Munster believes Apple could be phasing out the smaller 40GB model to leave space for an update to the device. If an iTunes Unlimited option also included TV shows and movies, the Apple TV could become quite popular. Even if you were required to pay a monthly subscription to access the iTunes store via the Apple TV, it would still be a hit. It’s certainly an outsider at this point, but there’s always hope for the “One More Thing…” section of the media press conference on September 9th.

Tomorrow, all will be revealed

So there you have it; the most likely (and not so likely) updates that could be emerging from Apple HQ tomorrow. Is there anything in particular you’ve been waiting to see, or something else you wish would get a little love from Apple this September? Personally, I feel we’ll see a refresh for the iPod classic, iPod nano and iPod touch, along with iTunes 9. An update for Nike+ could also be likely, while I feel an Apple Tablet and a new Apple TV are less likely to appear at this particular event. Feeling the same? Let us know below in the comments.

SOURCE : APPLE'S SEPT 9 EVENT

MMS on iPhone from AT&T

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Mon, 7 Sep 2009 06:48:00 -0700

AT&T has confirmed that multimedia messaging capabilities will come to the iPhone a few days late, on Sept. 25 — just after the end of summer — bringing to an end months of waiting and speculation.

The service will be available with a software update on the launch date. The update will arrive for customers as a download from iTunes. The feature will only be available for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS users.

“It was important to give our customers a positive experience from day one,” AT&T said. “We support more iPhone customers than any other carrier in the world so we took the time necessary to make sure our network is ready to handle what we expect will be a record volume of MMS traffic. We truly appreciate our customers’ patience and hope they’ll understand our desire to get it right from the start.”

AT&T officials said they have been working for months to prepare their systems and network for MMS capabilities on the iPhone, which is expected to bring a great deal of additional bandwidth the the wireless provider’s network. Officials have admitted that the additional bandwidth consumed by iPhone users has been taxing on their data infrastructure, thus the delay in MMS support.

Source : AT&T to begin enabling MMS on iPhones Sept. 25th? It could happen

If this happens, Good news right?

Funny iPhone Commercial

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:52:00 -0700

A funny iPhone commercial from YouTube. I think this is from Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien. Enjoy watching.

Instant Messaging in iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Fri, 7 Aug 2009 06:29:00 -0700

Agile Messenger is one of the pioneers in the mobile IM market and I have been using it on my Symbian and Windows Mobile devices long before the invasion of the iPhone legions. So when I heard that it was available for the iPhone, I jumped onto the band wagon and what I saw didn't disappoint.

Its features include:

* Always-on connectivity
* IM to email forwarding to notify you of incoming IM messages
* Voice Messaging
* Picture Messaging
* Portrait and landscape mode keyboard
* Side swipe navigation through chats

The Feel Good factor

A Messenger is a Messenger - Connect and Communicate, right? Wrong! There is always a feel good factor involved with Apps that last as long as Agile Messenger in the Mobile IM market. For Agile Messenger it is their award winning interface that has won over many fans since its launch back in the pre-Google / iPhone days.

Agile Messenger has Tabs for virtual socialites like myself so that I may switch between conversations easily. Just tap on the conversation tab or just swipe sideways to move forward and back through them, easy!

The Voice and Picture Messaging Features also brings Messaging to the next level allowing me to share pictures and voice messages with colleagues and friends everywhere with a click and tap.

Agile messenger is available in AppStore at $9.99.

SOURCE : Instant Messaging in iPhone

Coldplay Now on iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Sat, 1 Aug 2009 05:33:00 -0700

Great news for Coldplay iPhone Users.

Babelgum has announced that it's developed an iPhone application for the band Coldplay. The app includes video content, as well as a Coldplay news feed and a mini game.

The big inclusion is the video for the track Strawberry Swing, which was directed by a group of visual artists called Shynola, who have also worked with Beck, Blur, Junior Senior and Radiohead. The Strawberry Swing video is joined by all the band's previous videos too.

In the mini game included, Chris Martin "battles giant squirrels and sea monsters to rescue a princess". We're as confused as you are about that one, though it apparently replicates the Strawberry Swing video, so that might be what's going on.

Lastly, a news feed will give Coldplay fans the latest info, alongside competitions to win tickets and travel to see Coldplay's current world tour. The application is available now and costs nothing.

Babelgum launches Coldplay iPhone app

iPhone Apps Review : Twitterrific

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:48:00 -0700

Here's an iPhone Apps review from appadvice.com. This iPhone apps is used for twitter users which is called Twitterrific.

Overview

Twitter apps are perhaps the most competitive of any category in the App Store and the Iconfactory has proven in its 2.0 release of Twitterrific that it means to dominate this space.

The original Twitterrific on iPhone looked great but, over time, it was overshadowed by more feature-rich offerings like Twittelator Pro and Tweetie. Not anymore - multiple accounts, search, trends - it’s all here. It’s far easier to navigate than the competition and it looks great. In addition, the free ad-supported version is fully featured, so you’re really missing out not to at least try it.

Features

A couple weeks ago we were ready to publish our review of Twitterrific when we found out 2.0 was on its way. If we had published then, this section would’ve been pretty tiny - you could send out a standard 140 character message, share your location or upload a photo. A clever javascript trick (also utilized by Twittelator Pro) let you use a bookmark to take any web page you’re looking at in Mobile Safari and copy that link into a tweet in the app. You could also tap on links and look at the resulting web page without having to leave the app.

That was Twitterrific before 2.0. Now you can do all that plus manage multiple accounts, search and see trends, shorten URLs, email tweets, link to individual tweets, retweet, follow and unfollow, favorite and mark individual tweets and filter the timeline on the fly so you can see only replies, direct messages or favorites.

You can also tap on a tweet and easily view a conversation thread between users, which to me is a killer feature as it easily lets you figure out what people have been talking about. For people like me who subscribe to all @replies, this option means I can figure out what the heck everyone is talking about. I had some mixed results using it though because it didn’t seem to work on all conversations. Gedeon Maheux, one of the Iconfactory’s designers, said some Twitter clients don’t handle “in reply to” data correctly and that’s necessary for the feature to work on all conversations.

You can even compress text to try and save a few spaces by shortening words (like contractions) or deleting extra spaces. Pretty cool.

There’s also a lengthy list of advanced settings so you can bend Twitterrific to your every whim. For example, you can set a double tap and/or a triple tap to show the author, show the conversation, toggle favorite or mark the tweet.

The Comparison

There are way too many Twitter apps out there for me to fully compare Twitterrific in the space of this review. We’ll do a full-blown comparison in the coming days, but for now I’ll give you the abbreviated version.

Twittelator Pro is the reigning feature powerhouse in the App Store and Twitterrific 2 gives it a run for its money. At least two features Twitterrific does not have and Twittelator Pro does is the ability to queue tweets to send later and a landscape keyboard.

As far as price, Twitterrific Premium costs $3.99, less than half the cost of the original. The new price falls right in between Twittelator Pro ($4.99) and Tweetie ($2.99). There’s no way this was an accident and I interpret the move as Iconfactory throwing down the Twitter gauntlet. And that’s not considering the ad-supported version is fully featured, unlike Twittelator.

Breakdown

The Good

Much like with the iPhone itself, feature lists alone don’t quite capture the true value of the product. It’s all about the user experience and, simply put, Twitterrific is an absolute pleasure to use.

The design geniuses at the Iconfactory have packed all this power into an incredibly intuitive and fun interface. A little birdie sings when your new tweets arrive and a colorful little window comes up to tell you how many tweets there are. You can even choose whether you want the sound to be a Bluebird, Cardinal or a Robin.

While writing a tweet, you can click the eye icon and see all the tweets underneath. Click the keyboard and you’re back writing your tweet. It’s simple and it helps.

Little design touches like that are all over the place - like the send button. I wouldn’t have noticed it if someone hadn’t pointed it out on Twitter, but the send button is up at the top of the screen and away from the keyboard so users don’t accidentally send a tweet before it’s ready.

Even the credits screen is fun to look at because a little birdie shows up and streaks across the screen.

The Bad

There isn’t much bad to say about Twitterrific except that I feel sorry for people who paid $9.99 for the original when the new version is so much cheaper. Reminds me of people who paid full price for the original iPhone only to see it drop to $200.

Conclusion

The reasons people will choose whether to stay with their existing Twitter app or move to Twitterrific 2 will likely be a matter of personal preference. Users just might prefer the way their current app gets things done to the way Twitterrific does. However, I found the design of Twitterrific 2 more intuitive than any other. The free version is a must have and, if you love it, the only reason to upgrade is if you despise advertising or you want to support the developers.

source : iPhone Apps Advice : Twitterrific

Google Announces Adsense Mobile Aplication for iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:21:00 -0700

Google announces from its Official Google Blog that they will be releasing an Adsense for Mobile Applications so that developers may earn revenue by displaying text and image ads in their iPhone and Android applications.

Here's the article from GoogleBlog.

You don't have to be a mobile expert to see how smartphones are revolutionizing our daily lives. Lower prices, faster network speeds and unlimited data plans mean that people often reach for their cell phone rather than their computer when they are seeking information. As a result, mobile applications have become more and more popular, helping people find music, make restaurant reservations or check bank balances — all on their phone.

We want to contribute to the growth of these mobile applications, which is why we're happy to announce our beta launch of AdSense for Mobile Applications. After all, advertisers are looking for ways to reach potential customers when they are engaged with mobile content, and application developers are looking for ways to show the best ads to their users. We have already had a successful trial of this service with a small number of partners, and are excited that we can now offer this solution to a broader group.

AdSense for Mobile Applications allows developers to earn revenue by displaying text and image ads in their iPhone and Android applications. For our beta launch, we've created a site where developers can learn more about the AdSense for Mobile Applications program, see answers to frequently asked questions and sign up to participate in our beta. Advertisers can also learn about the benefits of advertising in mobile applications.

We're excited to open up this beta to more developers, and look forward to offering new features for our mobile advertisers and publishers in upcoming releases. We also want to say a big thank you to the partners who worked with us on the trial stages of this project including Backgrounds, Sega, Shazam, Urbanspoon and more.

Check out this short video of Howard Steinberg, Director of Business Development at Urbanspoon, discussing his experience with AdSense for Mobile Applications.

Advertising lets Google and others supply lots of free services to users. Will it be as successful embedded in apps as it is in the browser? Developers, are you interested in Google AdSense monetizing your apps? Users, would you put up with Google advertising if it meant cheap or free apps?

Feel free to post a comment.

source

Manage Your Money with iBank

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:17:00 -0700

A mobile iPhone and iPod touch version of of popular banking software iBank has been released by Developer IGG.

iBank is a stand alone application which allows users to keep track of their daily spending and account balances anywhere. The application's feature allows the users to transact, track spending, check account balances, and sync iBank for Mac.

For Mac users, iBank are able to sync in multiple devices over Wi-Fi, MobileMe, or any WebDAV server. However, iBank Version 3.5 is required to be sync with Mac.

The Mac OS version of iBank costs $59.99 on the developer's website. The download (demo version) includes 75 transaction trial period.

iBank on iPhone contains some key features of the software. This includes the memorized payee list, split transaction support, and multi-currency support. Expect even more great features in the future because currently Version 1.0 is available for iPhone. If you currently own iBank 3.5 for Mac, the iPhone version is a must buy.

iBank is available in the App Store for $4.99.

Source

Apple Announces First-Year App Store Success: 1.5 Billion Downloads, 65,000 Apps

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:15:00 -0700

Apple today announced that iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded over 1.5 billion applications in the App Store's first year of operation. There are currently over 65,000 applications available in the store.

Apple today announced that customers have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications in just one year from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. The App Store is also growing at an incredible pace with more than 65,000 apps and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program.

"The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up."
Apple also notes that it has sold over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches capable of running App Store applications.

The App Store surpassed one billion downloads less than three months ago. Today's announcement suggests that the 500 million downloads since that time occurred two weeks faster than the previous 500 million, demonstrating continued acceleration in the download rate.

source

Great iPhone Games for $0.99

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:06:00 -0700

It’s finally Friday afternoon and it’s safe to assume that everyone is very, very tired of working. To spice up your weekend a little bit, and to get you out of that work week funk, why not purchase yourself a brand new game for only $.99? There certainly are a bunch of them.

Now, this may not be the most comprehensive list of sales since tons of apps receive price drops nearly every second, but it at least highlights some of the more interesting ones:

- Deal or No Deal: Game based on the hit television series.

- Hell’s Kitchen: Another game based on a television series.

- 7 Cities: Classic tower defense game with a little twist.

- Galcon: A high-paced multiplayer galactic strategy game.

- Return to Mysterious Island: Allows you to explore a mysterious island, in search for food and tools while solving puzzles.

- Up There: A simple casual game where you control a balloon to avoid barriers.

The original prices and duration of each sale varies from game to game, but all of them are now available in the App Store for only $.99.

source

Do you have any iPhone Application News or review? Tweet it.

iPhone News Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Fri, 3 Jul 2009 18:38:00 -0700

iPhone Apps roundup from Steve Sande of the unofficial Apple Weblog.

Damn. iPhone developers have been clamming up over the last few weeks, so we haven't had much to post in the App News Roundup. Now that it's getting closer to i-Day Friday, the tips are starting to pour in.

* Deepak Mantena of Tapeshow told us about Chores, his GTD app for iPhone (see screenshots above). It will be in the App Store, with a Mac companion app coming in August. He'll also have Wordy (for helping you improve your vocabulary), Gratuity (easy tip calculator), and Fright (a good way to scare your friends) in the App Store Friday.
* Another ebook reader app for iPhone has been announced; Lexcycle Stanza will be in the App Store on Friday for free. Stanza uses Project Gutenberg eTexts so you can have a library of classics at your fingertips.
* Developer Pascal Bourque let us know that he's submitted DutchTab to the App Store. You can use this app to split restaurant bills fairly between a group of co-workers or friends. His site isn't up yet, but will be soon at this link.
* 3Monk3ys has three iPhone apps that available on Friday. DoubleDrop (a puzzle game) will be available for $2.99. Attitude is an simulation of an airplane's Attitude Indicator (ADI), and is priced at $2.99 as well. Finally, iSoroban is a Japanese abacus simulator priced at $1.99
* Noah WItherspoon mentioned that his game Tris will be available soon after the App Store launch. Details are on his dev blog at this site.
* Are you a pilot? Felix Khazin is releasing AirWX, an iPhone app for grabbing METARs, maps, and more. AirWX uses CoreLocation and pulls up nav charts from skyvector.com.
* Kayakers are going to need a waterproof case for their iPhones! Wayne David Daley has RiverGuide coming out soon. Can you say real-time river flow info?
* Thomas Aylesworth of Bayou Games let us know about Morocco, his Othello game for iPhone.
* Edovia will be selling Steps, pedometer software for iPhone, starting Friday for $1.99. Their Linguo translator software will retail for $2.99 and features 17 languages.
* If you need to lose a few pounds, All of Zero has iScale coming out soon. You can keep track of what you eat, find the nutrional value of various foods, and more.

iPhone 3GS Prompts a Surge of YouTube Video Uploads

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:04:00 -0700

If there was any doubt that that the video recording and upload capabilities of Apple’s new iPhone 3GS would signal a new chapter in mobile video sharing, the first statistics quantifying its impact are in, and they’re impressive.

Google said Thursday that in the first five days since the new Apple handset hit the market, its YouTube video sharing website saw a 400% increase in the number of video uploads coming from mobile handsets. This compares to 1700% percent growth in YouTube uploads in general over the past six months.

The iPhone 3GS is the first iPhone to support video capture and allows users to easily trim and then upload their recordings to YouTube or Apple’s MobileMe video sharing websites. Uploads are supported over both WiFi and 3G wireless connections.

Although the fourfold increase in mobile uploads to YouTube may stem early adopters familiarizing themselves with their new handsets, the iPhone 3GS remains in its infancy, having sold roughly a million units in its first week.

Source

Unboxing iPhone 3G S

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:30:00 -0700

A video from YouTube. Enjoy!

iPhone 3.0 - All new functionalities

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:42:00 -0700

iPhone OS 3.0 Software Update

This update contains over 100 new features, including the following:

• Cut, Copy & Paste with shake to undo
• Landscape keyboard in key applications
• Enhanced Messages application
- Send and receive photos, contacts, audio files, and location via MMS*
- Forward and delete single or multiple messages
• Added search feature in Mail, Calendar, Notes and iPod
• Spotlight search across iPhone
• Support for CalDAV and subscriptions in Calendar
• Improvements to Safari
- Performance
- HTML 5 support
- HTTP Streaming audio and video
- Auto-fill usernames and passwords
• New Voice Memos application
• Sync Notes with a Mac or PC via iTunes
• Internet Tethering over USB and Bluetooth*
• Browse and download movies, TV shows, and audiobooks from the iTunes Store**
• Stereo Bluetooth***
• Wi-Fi auto login
• Enhanced Stocks application
• More Parental Control options for Apps, Music, Movies and TV Shows
• iTunes account creation and login**
• YouTube account login and access to subscriptions, ratings and favorites**
• Shake to shuffle
• New languages, dictionaries, and keyboards
• Find my iPhone and Remote Wipe via MobileMe (subscription required)**
• Support for more Exchange policies
• Create and send Exchange meeting invitations
• Search mail on server (Exchange Server 2007 and supported IMAP servers)
• Search LDAP company directory
• VPN on demand and VPN proxy support
• Encrypted configuration profiles
• Encrypted iTunes backups
• 1,000 new developer APIs, including:
- In App Purchases
- Apple Push Notification Service
- Accessories support
- Peer to Peer Connectivity
- Embedded Maps
- iPod Library Access
• Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:
• iPhone
• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3G S

* Compatible only with iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S and requires support from your wireless provider.
** Not available in all regions or in all languages.
*** Compatible only with iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S.

iPhone OS 3.0 Will Allow Redownloading of Apps

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:03:00 -0700

The iPhone 3.0 firmware will allow the re-download of purchased applications for free, according to a AppAdvice report. A couple weeks ago it was discovered that users running the iPhone OS 3.0 beta were unable to re-download purchased iPhone applications. The mobile App Store presented a message stating, “You’ve already purchased this. You can re-download it for free on your computer, or tap Buy to buy it again.” AppAdvice discovered that this message only occurred to users who had not updated to the new iTunes 8.2 software. This new version adds some logic that tells a device what iTunes accounts are authorized on the computer. Since those users’ devices never received the authorization information from iTunes 8.2 they were not able to pass it along to the App Store when they tried re-downloading apps. So in order to re-download apps you must have installed iTunes 8.2 and have synced to a computer that has been authorized with your iTunes account.

A nice little way to make sure everyone is on iTunes 8.2 and using a non jailbroken iPhone.

This is an iPhone software news from iphoneuserguide.com.

YouMail's Voicemail App for iPhone

noreply@blogger.com (elvinperia) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:54:00 -0700

YouMail's visual voicemail app for iPhone may look less sexy than the sleek, crafted app interfaces we've grown used to, but in its first effort, functionality will be more important than form.

This last weekend, users of YouMail's freemium Visual Voicemail Plus service were able to start reading and responding to voice messages from their iPhone. Like rival visual voicemail services, YouMail lets you manage voice messages like e-mail in exchange for making the service your default mobile answering machine. In addition to playing back voice messages in any order you choose, you're able to save, delete, and respond from YouMail.com or from your phone.

Transcribing the voice call into text costs extra with a tiered pricing plan. The personalized greeting messages you can tailor to favorite callers is free.

Future versions will likely take advantage of the push notification slated for Apple's iPhone 3.0 software update, due out this very Wednesday.

To celebrate the release, YouMail is announcing a contest on Tuesday. YouMail will enter anyone who downloads Visual Voicemail Plus on the iPhone or BlackBerry in a drawing to win a year of its Read-It Select Unlimited free transcription service, valued at $329.99.

YouMail is available on BlackBerry and iPhone, and can be found as a beta app for Android.

This is an article written by Jessica Dolcourt at download.cnet.com.