iOS

Apple to take on Photoshop, Illustrator with own iOS, Mac drawing apps, patent hints

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 16, 2012

Apple could be working on a sophisticated vector drawing app for Macs and iOS devices plus a bitmap image editing app akin to Adobe's Illustrator and Photoshop software, respectively, a new patent filing published by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) reveals.

The invention calls for extensive use of gestures to interact with the user interface, the tools and on-screen objects, including the ability to change any input tool property in response to any particular input gesture and a new way to handle the layers madness...

Samsung designer: we didn’t copy Apple’s icons

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 14, 2012

Attorneys for Apple embarrassed Samsung last week by showing the jurors half a dozen images meant to prove that the Galaxy maker shamelessly ripped off the look of the iPhone's icons. Though Apple believes that Samsung’s TouchWiz interface makes it a copycat, that's ultimately up for the jury to decide.

Today, a Samsung designer took the stand to testify that she didn’t copy Apple when creating the icons for the Galaxy line of products. Call me stupid, but how the heck then she'd managed to come up with icon design that strikingly resembles Apple's?

Fragmentation? Here’s your iOS platform matrix

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 14, 2012

A developer took it upon himself to create a handy chart with all of Apple's iOS devices, their key hardware characteristics and iOS software builds running. Even a brief glance reveals very little fragmentation as approximately 70 percent of all iOS devices in the wild are shown running iOS 5, the latest public version of Apple's mobile operating system.

The upcoming iOS 6 is already on five percent of devices in the wild and iOS 4 is still found on approximately ten percent of devices. On the hardware front, both the third-generation iPod touch/iPhone and newer plus all iPad models run on the ARMv7 application processor.

This makes software optimization much easier than on the Android platform, where a variety of form factors, hardware configurations and device models contribute to high fragmentation....

Apple shipped nearly 7 out of every 10 tablets in Q2

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 13, 2016

Joining Strategy Analytics and IDC, research firm IHS iSuppli today published findings of its second-quarter tablet research. No surprises here, Apple's iPad remain the tablet to beat as Apple grew its tablet market share from 58.0 percent in the year-ago quarter to 69.9 percent in the second quarter of this year.

It's the highest number since the first quarter of last year, when Apple had a 70 percent share. Making Apple's surge even more noteworthy is the fact that a year ago Apple had fewer competitors in the marketplace...

Gameloft teases Wild Blood, its first Unreal Engine title

Cody Lee ∙ August 10, 2012

Gameloft is arguably one of the most well-known mobile game development studios in the business. Its titles are known for their in-depth gameplay and console-quality graphics.

Well it looks like the studio is getting ready to take those graphics to the next level with the popular Unreal gaming engine. And we've got footage of the first title they're using it in...

iOS is one of the top gaming platforms of all time

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

When Apple added the App Store to iOS, the iPhone and iPod touch became about as disruptive to the handheld video game market as the iPhone was to the smartphone industry. All of a sudden, users had easy access to thousands of low-cost video games.

But not only has Apple since sold more iOS devices than handheld systems from Nintendo and Sony put together, it's actually sold more than all major console systems. This, among other factors, makes iOS one of the most popular gaming platforms of all time...

iOS 6 Passbook shopping gets simulated in real-world

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

iOS 6 brings a new app called Passbook that Apple argues isn't a direct payment product (yet). Instead, the program lets you collect and organize discount coupons, gift cards and some such. Patents, however, reveal that Apple is actively thinking about leveraging NFC technology to turn Passbook into a comprehensive mobile shopping solution, referred to as the iWallet.

You could create fake coupons to play around with in the Passbook app, but I'd bet my shirt that you'd still be scratching your head as to how exactly Passbook is supposed to work in real-life. A nice two-minute clip embedded below will help clear up the confusion by showing some interesting possibilities for Passbook through real-life examples...

Official: Google to pay $22.5M fine in Safari privacy breach scandal

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 9, 2012

As hinted last month, Google has reached a deal with The United States Government and has agreed to pay a $22.5 million fine for overriding iOS Safari users’ privacy settings in order to better track their web browsing activity.

The unusually high fine is meant to set an example for other companies who may be thinking about violating users' privacy in sneaky ways...

Learn to create apps with ‘Try iOS’ coding course

Cody Lee ∙ August 8, 2012

Mobile app development is quickly becoming one of the hottest industries to be in these days. Everywhere you look it seems like there are more and more developers becoming overnight millionaires.

There are a number of options available, outside of college, for folks looking to learn how to develop applications. But they can be difficult to follow, and some are expensive. Enter Try iOS...

iOS and Android claimed 85% of smartphones in Q2

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2017

Research firm IDC today posted the findings of its smartphone market survey for the second quarter of 2012. Apple and Google continue to dominate the smartphone space, with iOS and Android devices accounting for an astounding 85 percent of all smartphones shipped during the quarter. In other words, more than eight out of ten smartphones in Q2 2012 were either iPhones or Android devices.

The Android freight train just keeps chugging along, posting a remarkable 106.5 percent year-over-year growth versus a 27.5 percent unit growth for the iPhone. Though Android is still winning in terms of sheer number of units, Apple leads the space in profitability.

According to Raymond James, Apple captured about 43 percent of the industry’s revenue in Q2 2012 and 77 percent of operating profits...

Poll: how often do you use the stock iOS YouTube app?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Yesterday's release of iOS 6 Beta 4 has brought another proof of the de-Googlification of iOS, with Apple unexpectedyl removing the native YouTube app because "our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended". Google, of course, was quick to point out that it will be releasing its own YouTube client on the App Store shortly.

It's much ado about nothing, really: the vast majority of videos embedded in web pages play in-line in the mobile Safari browser and users can always browse a much larger selection of clips via the mobile YouTube site.

That didn't stop Twitter and Techmeme from lighting up yesterday with hysteric reports over Apple's move. Heck, it apparently rattled one guy so much that he announced switching to Android...

Steve Jobs warned Samsung not to steal inertial scrolling patent

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

As part of iOS chief Scott Forstall's deposition in the Apple v. Samsung mega-suit, it was revealed that Steve Jobs explicitly advised Samsung against copying or stealing the rubber band scrolling, a feature Jobs specifically underscored during his January 2007 iPhone keynote.

Another tidbit describes how Jobs felt about Samsung lifting the iPhone's rectangular appearance and its icons...