App Store

Google matches Apple with 700,000 mobile apps

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

Because Google's free Android software is available in many shapes, price points and across a variety of carriers and manufacturers, the search giant has relatively easy and early on taken the lead in terms of device activations. But even with its clear lead in terms of unit sales, Android has always lagged behind iOS in terms of quantity of the apps found on its store, dubbed the Google Play Store. Today, Google has announced that its store now carries 700,000 third-party apps, which means that the Play Store has officially matched the App Store in sheer number of apps available...

Apple increases app prices in some European App Stores

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Bad news for iTunes users in Europe this afternoon. Several reports are coming in that Apple has upped the pricing on App Store apps, with base prices increasing from €0.79 to €0.89 in several markets on the continent. The change has been confirmed in Italy, Germany, France and several other European countries...

Apps Apple personally tested now appear in App Store’s Categories menu

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 21, 2012

In its never-ending quest to improve app discovery, Apple with iOS 6 added to its App Store on the iPad, iPhone and Mac something called App Collections, a curated section which lists apps that the company personally tested. As of recently, App Collections are now prominently featured on iOS devices and Macs via a dedicated section nested within the Categories menu of the App Store and iTunes. All of the apps featured in App Collections are basically recommendations by Apple's editorial team...

Apple pulls Google-powered ClassicMap from the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ October 12, 2012

While the jury is still out on whether or not Apple will approve Google's rumored standalone Maps app, it seems clear now that the company doesn't want any copycats in the App Store.

Reports started surfacing this morning that Apple has pulled ClassicMap, a Google-powered mapping application that looks a lot like the Google Maps app Apple replaced in iOS 6...

Sega’s Crazy Taxi now available in the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

A few days ago, Sega announced that it would be bringing its popular Crazy Taxi title to the iOS platform. It posted a short video of gameplay footage, and said that its release date would be sometime in October.

Well it looks like "sometime in October" meant "later this week," because Crazy Taxi showed up in the App Store this morning. Now you can play the classic open-world driver on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch...

iOS 6 no longer lets you gift apps on iOS devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 8, 2012

It's been widely reported that Apple dropped stock YouTube and Google Maps app in iOS 6. I'm not really sure how nobody noticed this before, but it's been reported that Apple did kill another handy feature: the ability to gift apps.

The removal of the gifting capability affects mobile App Store storefronts running on iPhones, iPads and iPod touches as users can still gift apps using desktop iTunes on a Mac or PC. Apple itself confirmed the change and it's unknown when (or if, for that matter) the feature will return to iOS 6...

Apple highlights Maps alternatives via a new App Store section

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 19, 2018

Apple's really determined to right the mapping wrongs. In addition to posting a public apology on its web site and offering instructions on accessing mapping web apps from Google and Nokia, the Cupertino, California-headquartered designer of gadgets just posted a curated recommendations section in the App Store, listing third-party Maps alternatives for the iPhone and iPad...

Amazon asks judge to drop the ‘App Store’ claim

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 27, 2012

Online retailer Amazon has asked a federal judge to throw out Apple's legal maneuvering seeking to challenging Amazon's use of the "Appstore" term due to similarities with Apple's App Store trademark. The contention erupted in March of last year, when Apple sued Amazon over the App Store moniker. The online retailer was using the ‘app store’ term in their developer portal and other marketing materials, with Apple arguing the similarity with its own App Store name may have led to customer confusion...

Google Play Store: 675,000 apps, 25 billion downloads

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 26, 2012

Google is creeping up on Apple, announcing yesterday on its Android blog that its Play Store now has 675,000 apps which have been downloaded 25 billion times. It was just recently that Google bragged about half a billion cumulative Android activations and on September 5 the search Goliath announced it was activating 70,000 tablets and 1.3 million Android devices each day.

At this rate, Google should have no trouble surpassing Apple's platform by year's end. By comparison, Apple's App Store carried over 750,000 apps and the company sold a total of 425 million iOS devices, as of September 12. The iPhone maker said earlier at WWDC that customers downloaded over 30 billion apps as of June...

The HackStore is a viable alternative to the Mac App Store [sponsored]

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 16, 2017

Back in April, a handful of developers launched the HackStore, an alternative to the Mac App Store. Similar to Cydia for iOS, the HackStore hosts third-party Mac applications that for one reason or another didn't make it past Apple's approval process.

In our first take, we noted that while the Store looked good, it needed some work. It was a bit buggy, and only contained around 50 apps. But after nearly 6 months and a number of updates, we figured it was time to give the HackStore another run-through...

Google submits iOS Maps app, hopes to have it approved before Christmas

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 20, 2012

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the past 24 hours, you are aware that crappy Apple Maps in iOS 6 provoked a very public backlash. We told you earlier today that a Google executive hinted in a brief interview with Bloomberg TV that iPhone 5 users can go download Google Maps, an unusual wording given that a rumored native Google Maps app couldn't be found on the App Store yet.

Adding fuel to fire, The Guardian newspaper reports that Google submitted the program and that it is now in Apple's sole discretion to approve it. Whether or not club Cupertino greenlights the nsoftware or throws it down the toilet over duplicate functionality remains to be seen.

At any rate, a native Google Maps experience akin to the recently released YouTube app would be more than welcome given the controversial downgrade that is Apple's in-house mapping solution in iOS 6...

Apple Maps and Passbook could push 2012 App Store revenue to $4.9 billion

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 20, 2012

An interesting unintended consequence of a downgrade that is Apple Maps in iOS 6: people will grow to rely on transit apps and other third-party software to help get back some of the Google Maps functionality (until Google releases a widely rumored standalone iOS Google Maps app).

And with Passbook debuting in iOS 6, we should increasingly download and use shopping programs (like the Target app) that produce Passbook-compatible coupons, invoices, loyalty points, tickets and other digital items.

As a result of the new Passbook functionality and lacking Maps experience in iOS 6, cumulative App Store revenue for the calendar year 2012 could top nearly five billion dollars, a research firm has forecast...