Apple today posted a comprehensive list of the top iTunes sellers in 2012, ranging from e-books and podcasts to television shows and movies to apps and songs. The charts representing the best iTunes content in 2012 list the top sellers for every iTunes category. Paid and free apps are listed separately, and then again for the iPhone and iPad. Go past the fold to see if your favorite apps made it on the list...
Google released its native Maps iOS app last night and, perhaps predictably, already the much-expected software has surged to become the top free iPhone app on the App Store. This just goes to illustrate that competition is a good thing and how eager people have been to have that native mapping experience from Google on their iPhones.
The program features a sleek interface and features missing from Apple's in-house offering, namely the excellent Street View and public transit directions, in addition to a number of the usual features ranging from Zagat restaurant reviews and turn-by-turn navigation, local Google search and more...
The US Federal Trade Commission released a report yesterday regarding mobile apps that are aimed at children. It has been investigating kids titles from both the App Store and the Google Play marketplace, and has found that there has been little done over the past few years to address privacy concerns. These apps are still collecting kids' data, and sharing it, without their parents' knowledge or consent...
Transloader is a new Mac app available on the Mac App Store, which allows you to remotely download files to your Mac via an iOS app. The two apps speak to each other via iCloud, with the iOS app acting as a means to forward a download URL for the listening client running on the Mac.
If you're like me and always on the go, Transloader is a great way to save time by downloading files while away from the home or office. Take a look at our video walkthrough inside for a glance into how it works.
Owners of iPhones and iPads have historically pointed to the App Store's plethora of quality produce as the reason for the platform's dominance. It's always been the reason many have chosen iOS devices over those powered by Android, but things may be beginning to shift in a whole new direction.
While app developers have always suggested that getting Android users to buy apps is an exercise in futility, a new report claims that things are changing, with Android developers now finding a much improved landscape, as revenue from Android devices grows quicker than that of the App Store.
And not just by a little bit, either...
Recently, a pattern has begun taking shape that I fear signals something worryingly awful is afoot as excellence takes a back seat at Apple in favor of mediocre web services. It's always been that way, critics might add. Indeed, here we are, at the end of 2012, and yet weekly outages of key iCloud services such as iMessage and FaceTime are still a norm rather than a rare exception.
While iCloud storm is raining on users, Apple seemingly struggles in figuring out how to sprinkle its magic dust on Internet software. With over half a billion iOS and Mac devices straining its data centers, something clearly had to give. The iPhone maker isn't an isolated example: competitors experience outages, too. But Apple's different in that its online woes are symptomatic of a much larger set of problems the company faces.
Cupertino's infrastructure is lacking. For all the computational power its array of super data centers provide, Apple's software underpinnings are outdated and increasingly incapable of handling high load. Software shortcomings are putting Apple at risk at a time when competitors like Google tap their massive scale and expertise to successfully marry hardware to Internet software in ways Apple cannot...
During Apple's iPhone 5 keynote in September, Tim Cook announced that the App Store contained more than 700 thousand apps. And out of that staggering number, more than 30% of them were iPad-specific apps.
Well apparently, Apple hit another major milestone today regarding its application ecosystem. According to a new report, the Cupertino company has now approved more than 1 million apps in the last four years...
The App Store launched in the summer of 2008 with 500 apps. Though late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs initially resisted opening the iPhone to developers, the store went on to change the device from a simple cell phone into a powerful mobile computer. Thirty-five billion downloads later, Apple has progressed to pay a total of $6.5 billion to developers in app revenue after taking a customary 30 percent cut of the action.
But of the more than 700,000 apps now available on the App Store - or a 'candy store' as tech columnist David Pogue nicknamed it - including more than 275,000 apps designed specifically for iPad, only a small selection turned their makers into instant millionaires.
The vast majority of developers barely break even. And of those who turn notable profits, not many quit their day jobs. Yet, the dream of becoming a millionaire overnight with a hit app lives on. So what's wrong with this picture?
Since Apple replaced Google Maps in iOS 6 with its own mapping solution, there's been a lot of talk regarding Google making its own Maps app for the platform. Rumors have persisted that such an app is in development.
But according to a new report this afternoon, it's not only in development, it's almost finished. The Wall Street Journal says that it has learned that Google is currently putting the finishing touches on a native iOS Maps app...
The awkwardly named SLightEnhancerSearch, is a recently released jailbreak tweak that adds a ton of new search options to the stock Spotlight search on iOS. When it was first released, I ran into many issues with the tweak, namely, the search options not showing up on the Spotlight page when enabled.
The tweak was updated today, and the developer seems to have stamped out all of the bugs that plagued the initial release. SLightEnhancerSearch, as silly as its name may be, is a quality jailbreak tweak that many will no doubt find useful...
Back in September, a Chinese court sided with China Publishing House in an infringement lawsuit against Apple, and ordered the iPad-maker to pay about $83,000 in damages. The publisher claimed Apple allowed an application into its App Store that contained large chunks if its Encyclopedia of China works without the proper licensing.
Naturally, Apple is now appealing the decision. And what the court decides from here could have some major consequences for the Cupertino company...
As most of you are aware of by now, the Northeastern part of the United States was hit by a superstorm this week. Hurricane Sandy tore through New York, New Jersey and other areas on Monday night, causing an estimated $60 billion in damages.
For those that are looking to help, Apple has teamed up with the American Red Cross to make it easy for folks to donate money to the relief efforts...