Until Apple gives the App Store a much-needed redesign, its lists of the top 25 most downloaded paid and free apps are going to remain the most popular ways users use to discover new titles.
Developers know that making these lists can substantially boost their app's popularity. But just how many downloads does it take for an app to get there? TechCrunch has the answer...
With one in two in the United States now owning a smartphone (was 40 percent of mobile subscribers in 2011), app downloads are on the rise, too.
Compared to last year, the average smartphone consumer in the U.S. now has 41 apps on their home screen, a 28 percent increase from 32 apps in last year, according to a Nielsen study released this morning.
Here are the top five downloaded apps across the iOS and Android platforms...
For those of you who aren't familiar with Pocket, it's essentially the reincarnation of Read It Later. The service allows you to bookmark and organize your favorite articles, videos and other web content for later viewing.
About a month ago, the Read It Later team released Pocket 4.0 for the iPhone and iPad — the first app released under the new brand. And while the client was great before, it just got a whole lot better...
Late yesterday afternoon, Facebook announced that it was going to be launching a cross-platform app store, coded entirely in HTML5, called App Center. Cross-platform meaning it will be available on both Android and iOS, as well as the web.
No, this doesn't mean that the social network is looking to take on Apple or Google. The App Center will contain both iOS and Android apps, along with Facebook's own titles, and will link directly to each platform's respective app stores...
Earlier this year, we pointed out an interesting discovery regarding the App Store's list of top 25 free apps. Apparently, some developers were employing seedy marketing services to move their apps up the ranks, using tens of thousands of download bots.
Well it looks like Apple is cracking down on such services, as downloads for the top 200 free apps in the U.S. have dropped more than 30% over the past two months. And Fiksu, a legitimate app marketing firm, attributes part of the decline to Apple's actions...
As we told you, Apple in February acquired Chomp for an undisclosed sum. Chomp is a popular recommendation engine that makes iOS and Android app discovery a more efficient and pleasing experience.
Coincidentally or not, the California-based powerhouse has now pulled Chomp for Android from the rival Google Play marketplace, also removing the Android app search option from the Chomp website.
The iPhone maker also submitted a Form S-8 regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), detailing stock options to Chomp's twenty employees...
Do you hate your alarm clock? I certainly did. I have broken many snooze buttons over the years. That's why I'm so excited to have finally found an iPhone app that wakes me up.
MotionX is known for their wonderful navigation apps including MotionX GPS and GPS Drive. MotionX Sleep is their latest addition to their iPhone offerings and unsurprisingly it's a wonderful experience...
If iPhone apps like Instagram and Camera+ aren't producing photos up to your standards, there's a new title that might be worth checking out. 645 PRO, by Michael Hardaker, describes itself as "the photography professional's iPhone camera."
Loaded with tons of high-end features like a real-time ISO and shutter speed reader, and a live histogram, the app promises unparalleled image quality. It even claims to produce "developed RAW" TIFF files and "lossless" JPEG images...
TheNextWeb points to an interesting new application called Space-time. The software allows you to see the location of almost anyone, regardless of their device, as long as they have a smartphone with a GPS locator.
Of course, the iPhone already has a friend-tracking solution in Find My Friends. But it only works if you are trying to locate a person using an iOS device with the app installed. Space-time is much more universal...
Shazam Player, a cool music player software that landed on the iPhone and iPod touch last month, has been updated today with new features and native support for the iPad.
The program now takes advantage of the iPad's 9.7-inch canvas so the user interface feels less cluttered and it supports the new iPad's Retina display.
The biggest addition that'll do wonders for your home karaoke sessions is support for AirPlay via the Apple TV, allowing you to beam those lyrics to your big screen telly...
Mobile software development is like a modern-day gold rush of sorts. With apps like Instagram and Draw Something being snatched up for millions (or in Instagram's case, billions) of dollars, it's certainly a great time to be a developer.
The problem, however, is that not everyone who wants to get into app-making has the ability — it currently requires a fairly extensive knowledge of complex programming languages. But this app is looking to change all of that...
The App Store has seen its fair share of drama since its creation, and while Apple never publicly acknowledged any of it, there have been ample amounts of evidence showing that iTunes accounts have previously been hacked to steal money from store credit, or to buy applications without the account's owner's consent. Last year, some hackers went as far as selling iTunes accounts login information on ToaBoa.com, a Chinese site similar to eBay.
Today we received tips from two independent sources claiming they had received a suspicious email from Apple, urging them to download an application from the App Store. The email happens to be a fake, but the application is real...