Siri, will Apple’s App Store lock out blind people on iOS 6?
A website has broken the wall of silence surrounding version 6 of Apple's mobile operating system iOS - and alleged blind people will struggle to use the App Store software in the new build.
iOS 6 rolls out tomorrow for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches - but it has been in the hands of selected developers since July, allowing them to adapt their apps ready for the big launch.
Now a writer for AppleVis.com, which covers software for visually impaired users, has reported problems with the upcoming iOS 6 release. Read more...
Twitter tool’s tweet tweaks leaked to twits
Apple's App Store has accidentally whipped the covers off the new Twitter app for iPhone and revealed its features.
From the list of the updates, it promises to cram more videos and pictures into streams of tweets; curate related messages around special events; and bring in a more hyperactive notification system that warns when your favourite twits tweet too.
The good news is that performance and crash-fixing tweaks should improve what can be an unstable app. Read more...
ERP vendors Syspro, Unit4 launch app stores
The app store model popularized by Apple is gaining further adoption in the world of ERP (enterprise-resource-planning) software, with new stores announced this week by Syspro and Unit4.
Syspro's app store, which was announced on Friday, will be available "shortly" and will eventually feature thousands of applications, the company said in a statement. Publishers can provide their offerings on the store for no charge, receive a one-time payment, "or protect intellectual property through Syspro's licensing model," it added.
About 90 percent of Syspro's sales come through channel partners, and the bulk of those thousands of applications will likely be generated through them, according to ERP analyst Cindy Jutras of the consulting firm Mint Jutras. The company's software features an architecture that allows the creation of added functionality "from the outside in as a component, without touching the source code," she said. Read more...
Chrome for iOS snatches top spot on App Store
Google Chrome, released yesterday for the iPhone and iPad, has already snatched the top spot in Apple's App Store.As of 11 a.m. ET Friday, Chrome held the No. 1 position on both the iPhone and iPad free app download lists.
Google launched Chrome for iOS on Thursday, first announcing the browser at its Google I/O developers conference early in the day, with the app showing up several hours later on Apple's App Store.
Reviews for Chrome have been overwhelmingly positive, with 80% of the more than 3,700 posted so far giving the browser a five-star rating, the highest possible. The average rating is four-and-a-half stars. Read more...
Apple no longer censoring the word ‘jailbreak’ in U.S. iTunes Store
Yesterday a bit of a hullabaloo was started when it was discovered that Apple was censoring the word ‘jailbreak’ in the U.S. App Store. Now, that censoring has been corrected, and the word is visible across all categories, including podcasts, songs, iTunes U, iBooks and more.
This censoring was likely the result of an error in the ratings for the U.S. App Store, as the word appeared just fine worldwide. As I conjectured yesterday, we have seen Apple fix the problem quietly, and the error has been rectified. Read more...
Facebook launches App Store Center
Facebook is launching an App Center to recommend mobile applications based on demographic preferences as well as user ratings, just as long as they're tied into users' Facebook credentials – with a view to monetising the process eventually, of course.
The App Center won't just recommend mobile apps, it will also showcase web-based applications embedded in Facebook and even other websites, as long as they are based around the Facebook logon. Listing will be free, and users will receive recommendations based on their demographic and history rather than blanket star ratings, so the Center will look different to every customer who enters. Read more...
Man seeks more than $5m in class suit against Apple for alleged ‘double-billing’ in iTunes
A man named Robert Herskowitz has filed a federal class action suit against Apple, alleging that the company ‘double-bills’ for purchases made on iTunes with “troubling regularity” and that the company’s “illegal” policies also apply to other digital stores like the App Store, the iBookstore and the Mac App Store.
Herskowitz seeks an injunction and punitive damages of more than $5 million for a national class, alleging breach of contract, breach of faith, unjust enrichment, unfair competition and business law violations. Read more...
Apple tells Siri rival Evi: Get a facelift and you can stay
A British voice-recognition app that works like Siri may be allowed to stay in Apple's App Store, if it makes some changes, says a report in The Verge.
Information app Evi was approved and launched in the iTunes store on 23 January 2012. But on Friday it seemed that Apple's App Store arbitrators had changed their minds and were going to pull the app, complaining it was too similar to Siri. Replicating the functions of native iOS apps contravenes the rules of the App Store.
But looks like the axe has been stayed: several reports today suggested that Apple might make an exception to its rules and work with Evi's developers to differentiate Evi from Siri while allowing the application to remain on sale. The app was still available on iTunes at time of writing. It would be a surprising volte-face for Apple, which isn't known for making compromises, especially not with small British start-ups like the Cambridge-based Evi-makers True Knowledge. Read more...
Apple approves fake iPhone app for App Store
Apple let a fake app slip through its approval process for the iOS App Store, the makers of the popular Camera+ program said over the weekend.
Security researchers who noted the slip-up did not know whether the bogus app contained malware because they had been unable to grab a copy before Apple yanked it from the App Store.
On Saturday, the iPhoneography blog announced that a new App Store entry was fake.
The App Store listing touted Camera+ version 4.0, and listed the price at $0.99.
Although the real Camera+ -- created by Tap Tap Tap -- is sold for the same price, it's only at version 2.4. Read more...
Android hackers mull rooted mobe app marketplace
Android hackers are discussing the creation of a specialist app store, listing software for rooted handsets and other things that even Google won't allow.
Google is the limp-wristed liberal of certification authorities, allowing just about anything into its Android Marketplace. But it's that "just about" that has annoyed some folks in the CyanogenMod ROM team, who have started a discussion about hosting their own application store to fund the development of their alternative Android build.
Android applications aren't nearly as restricted as their iOS contemporaries, but there are still some things they can't do. Notably they can't grab a screenshot, something that prompts tech journalists (among others) to immediately unlock (or "root") their handsets. Applications running on a "rooted" Android handset can be granted access to resources otherwise unavailable.
Some Android users also want to strip out interface shells or spyware dropped in by the manufacturers and/or network operators. That means wiping out the entire installation and replacing it with an unmodified version of Android, with CyanogenMod being the most popular of such versions. Read more...
Chinese developers take a bite of the Apple
If you've ever gone to Apple's mobile app store and purchased games like High Noon, Gamebox1 or Doodletruck, then you've downloaded an app from the burgeoning Chinese software development community.
Software developers in China had historically been faced with a number of hurdles when it came to selling products in the U.S., included distribution, marketing, payment, and a host of cultural issues.
But the emergence of Apple's app store cleared away most of this hurdles, sparking a new wave of software development, mostly focused on games.
Take "High Noon," a fighting game developed by Happylatte, a division of Beijing-based game design company Exoweb. It was recently ranked as the 14th most-purchased app at in the U.S. app store, according to Beijing-based research firm App Annie, which tracks sales and market statistics for App Store publishers. Read more...
Apple App Store in danger? HTC, Nokia in court
LUXEMBOURG: Microsoft Corp and Nokia Oyj are among four technology companies to challenge Apple Inc's European Union-wide trademarks for "Appstore" and "App Store."
Microsoft, Nokia, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB and HTC Corp all filed separate applications with the Alicante, Spain-based EU trademark agency seeking to invalidate Apple's trademark rights. A decision by the agency could be appealed several times, all the way up to the EU's top court in Luxembourg. Read more...
Apple’s App Store hits 10 billion downloads
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Apple's App Store reached landmark 10 billion downloads on Saturday, further underlining the lead of the iPhone-maker in mobile online software battle, a counter on front page of the store showed.
Apple launched the iPhone store in mid-2008 and it proved to be an instant hit, driving sales of the smartphone and helping reshape the way mobile content is delivered.
The iPhone app store offers more than 300,000 programs, and there are also more than 40,000 apps available for the iPad.
Its closest rival is privately-held GetJar, which sells software for all platforms, and reached 1 billion downloads in June 2010.
Google's Android Market and Nokia's Ovi Store are among other larger mobile online stores.