Apple's App Store just crossed a major milestone this afternoon. Just a few moments ago, the digital storefront passed the 50 billion download mark, bringing the company's "50 Billion App Countdown" to an end.
The winner of the countdown promotion, who has yet to be revealed, will be given a $10,000 iTunes gift card, good for apps, videos, books and music. And fifty additional lucky winners will receive $500 gift cards...
Just as we had hoped, developers seem to be really taking their ideas for Velox add-ons and running with them. We've already seen a number of extensions for the popular Spring board jailbreak tweak, including Addial and Compass.
And today, we've got another one to show you called App Store for Velox. As the name implies, the add-on utilizes Velox's enhanced folder feature to allow you to search the App Store for iOS applications from your Home screen...
SEGA has been known to put its iOS apps on sale every once in a while, and this weekend is one such occasion, with three of the Japanese company's games having a couple of dollars slashed from their App Store price.
The three available games have been around for a while, but if you've not picked them up yet, or have perhaps been on the fence about picking them up at their normal price, then now's the time to bite the bullet and get the credit card out.
So which games are included in the sale? Well, if you're into some of SEGA's classics, then you're going to love the games Sega has included in its promotion...
Apple's app approval team has seemingly been on a warpath lately, pulling popular titles like AppGratis from the App Store without much warning or explanation. It's clear that the company is in the process of revamping some of its policies.
Case in point, LINE, a popular free messaging app, was forced by Apple to remove one of its key features today. Per company orders, the developers had to eliminate the ability for its users to purchase and send sticker sets as gifts to friends...
Apple on Thursday started a countdown to fifty billion app downloads. The promotions is available via a dedicated iTunes page. Like the previous countdowns, Apple will award the lucky person who downloads the fifty billionth app with a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. iTunes Gift Cards can be used against any content purchase, including mobile and desktop applications, music, television shows, movies, etc.
In an interesting tweak to this year's countdown, the company will also give away a $500 App Store gift card to each of the next 50 people who download an app...
In-app purchasing via mobile applications is receiving some unwanted attention, with disgruntled parents increasingly accusing the iPhone maker of doing too little to protect kids from falling prey of greedy developers who pressure them into buying items and in turn wracking up bills for unsuspecting parents.
The UK government, for example, is conducting a probe into iOS in-app game purchases and Apple previously settled a class action lawsuit over the controversial feature. Of course, iOS 6 has decent parental controls which let users disable in-app purchasing altogether.
While adding a warning for in-app purchases in freemium apps and moving age ratings atop App Store pages helped clear up any confusion as to the nature of in-app purchasing, Apple though it could do better and on Thursday launched a new App Store feature titled 'Learn More About In-App Purchases'...
From time to time, Apple updates its iTunes marketing requirements. The goal is to provide the most accurate and reliable descriptions for the mobile applications, movies, television shows, songs and other media content types customers download from iTunes.
In the most recent example, the iPhone maker has reportedly taken issue with app blurbs. Long story short, Apple is no longer willing to turn a blind eye on luring would-be buyers with "enhanced" app descriptions that contain exclamation marks, stars, smileys and other special characters.
The change was communicated via the iTunes Connect web portal, a venue registered iOS developers use exclusively to upload their submissions and iTunes marketing materials...
When is it okay for an app to recommend other apps? Only when your friends recommend them via any third-party software designed to curate crowdsourced app recommendations, according to Apple. In other words, get social. That's the word from AppShopper Social (formerly AppShopper), an app recommendation service which returns from banishment by Apple after allowing users to view lists of apps recommended by friends. Developers have discovered that by adding the slight wrinkle of social interactivity, they can avoid at least one Apple ban: being "similar to or confusing with the App Store"...
QuickStore is a jailbreak tweak that allows users to quickly open App Store links within apps. The tweak contains a simple kill switch located in the Settings app, but outside of that, it's ready to go as soon as it's installed.
When App Store links are tapped while within another app, i.e. from Safari, then a pop up window will load the App Store inside of the currently running app.
In light of Apple's recent ban on discovery apps, a new portal hopes to do an end-run around the whole controversy. Appolicious launched Monday appoLearning, a web site where educational experts recommend iOS apps for K-12. Although it touts use of educational experts to make recommendations on dozens of educational app categories, appoLearning offers a spot for paid endorsements. Still, the founder of Appolicious claims his app recommendation service will be a boon for Apple...
Are iOS games pressuring children into buying items, sometimes wracking up bills for unsuspecting parents? That's the focus of a probe underway by the UK government, concerned that in-app purchases may unfairly target children. According to a BBC report, Office of Fair Trading (OFT) wants to hear from parents with the hope games developers will follow laws already on the books to protect children...
Apple appears to want its apps to lose the 'outsider' label. In an email communication to its registered developers sent earlier this week, the App Store owner encouraged programmers to localize their applications because it's "never been more important." Also, in the latest round of moves aimed at Chinese consumers, the iPhone maker updated its online support forums to handle the native language...