App Store downloads and sales have risen vastly in China, following the deal between Apple and China Mobile to launch the iPhone on the world's-largest carrier during the first quarter of 2014.
Research website App Annie found in a report released Tuesday morning that China was the key market for iOS App Store growth during the first quarter of 2014, boosting revenue on the China App Store up around 70 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013.
After last summer's WWDC, Apple started charting iOS adoption numbers on Dev Center, its portal for registered Mac and iOS developers.
According to data from March 24, 2014, a whopping 85 percent of the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild ran iOS 7 at the time. The figure has now grown to 87 percent device, as per latest App Store numbers.
Although iOS adoption rates are now plateauing following the software's public release more than six months ago, the two percentage-point difference in two weeks time is nonetheless a notable accomplishment.
I bet Apple's executives will highlight iOS vs. Android adoption to paint Google's platform as highly fragmented, but there's more to data than meets the eye. Read on for more context...
In the next 24 hours, Apple will be making a few changes to price tiers available to iOS developers as a result of fluctuating foreign exchange rates.
The adjustments will affect seven countries, including Australia, New Zealand and Israel, with most of the affected markets set to experience price hikes due to the weak local currency.
The firm has adjusted App Store prices a few times in the past and these changes are no different.
The company has informed registered iOS developers of the retail price changes via an email communiqué today...
Following today's long expected release of the Office for iPad applications, Apple's boss Tim Cook issued a nice tweet welcoming Word, Excel and PowerPoint into the App Store. Returning the favor, Microsoft's newly installed chief executive Satya Nadella took to Twitter to thank Cook, saying he was "excited to bring the magic of Office to iPad customers".
Redmond couldn't have wished for a better endorsement than this!
So, why are these powerful Silicon Valley executives droning politely on to each other, do you think? And how come Cook is promoting Office for iPad even though the software competes squarely with Apple's own iWork suite, free with iDevice purchases?
Could it be because folks at Cupertino are getting their standard 30 percent cut on Office 365 subscriptions sold within the app...
Following numerous probes by government agencies and looming class action lawsuits the company is now facing around the world, Apple is finally reaching out to customers to inform them they may be entitled to refunds concerning unwanted in-app purchases made by minors due to weak iOS Restrictions at the time.
Last year, the iPhone maker reluctantly settled with the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding in-app purchases, agreeing to compensate consumers and modify its in-app billing system by March 31 to make things a little clearer for its customers...
With over a million apps now available in the App Store, discovering software related to your needs outside the charts and featured sections increasingly feels like finding a needle in the haystack. Apple two years ago bought a company called Chomp, presumably to make app discovery easier, but thus far the acquisition - apart from a few functional tweaks here and there - hasn't yielded visible improvements to how folks discover iPhone and iPad applications.
Then on Tuesday, one developer noticed a sweet new feature in the App Store storefront on his iPhone which offers a way to filter search results based on Apple-provided suggestions. I was able to test this on my iPhone 5s and though the feature appears a bit rough around the edges, it pretty much works as you'd expect.
Read on for the full reveal...
Apple has created a new section in the App Store to feature iPhone and iPad games by independent devs.
Titled 'Indie Game Showcase' and available on iTunes here, the section highlights such highly acclaimed titles as Year Walk ($3.99) by Simogo, an eerie adventure game based on the ancient Swedish phenomena of year walking, Space Invaders Infinity Gene ($4.99) by Taito, Bumpy Road ($2.99) by developer Simogo Handelsbolag and more...
The 'Near Me' tab—which appears at the bottom of the App Store app in iOS 7—allows you to see what apps are most popular around your location. I've found the feature to be quite worthless and generally filled with local news apps that I'd never consider using.
With that in mind, wouldn't it be cool if you could get rid of the Near Me tab altogether? That's the premise behind a new jailbreak tweak entitled NoNearMe; it allows you to hide the Near Me tab using a simple Cydia install. Have a look inside as we show you how the tweak works on video.
Apple has pushed a pair of tiny updates to its two Apple Store clients (iPhone and iPad versions are separate downloads) this afternoon. The updates bring the two apps to version 2.9.2 and 1.1.1 respectively, and include various improvements.
On the iPhone side, Apple has improved notifications for folks using the app in retail stores—users can now view notifications from within the app and on the Lock screen. And as for the iPad, Apple has added the ability to gift card purchases...
Oxford Dictionary named 'selfie' its Word of the Year for 2013, and it's not hard to see why. The act of taking a selfie—a photo taken of you, by you—has moved on from bathroom mirrors and is now at the Oscars and the red carpet of the Prince's Trust Awards—you name it.
Perhaps looking to capitalize on the hype, Apple has launched a new section in its App Store specifically for apps that specialize in taking self portraits. Aptly named 'Sharing Selfies,' the section highlights various apps like Snapchat, Frontback, FaceTune and Selfie Cam...
It's been nearly three weeks since developer Dong Nguyen pulled Flappy Bird from the App Store, but its presence is still very much felt in the Top Charts. It seems every other day another clone of Nguyen's hit game pops up in the list of the most popular apps.
That's not too surprising though, considering that according to The Guardian, a big chunk of new iOS games are Flappy Bird clones. How big of a chunk? Well, looking at a group of 300 new games over 24 hours, the outlet says that one-third were FB knockoffs...
Apple has named Square Enix's 'Mini Ninjas' game its App of the Week for this week. This means that through next Thursday, you'll be able to pick up the application for both your iPhone and iPad, for free—a nice little savings of $1.
For those unfamiliar with the game, it's an endless runner based on the console game of the same name. In it you'll play as Hiro, as you run jump and slash your way through various levels to retrieve a stolen artifact from the drag...