App Store

Story of the Week: Facebook introduces own app store

May 12, 2012 12:29 am by Maryam Nabi

Shopping on Facebook for apps will soon be easier with the App Center, a new application storefront for users to buy and discover content. The social networking company announced the App Center this week following an amendment to its S-1 filing that claimed it does not “currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven”. The timing of the App Center news did not go unnoticed by commentators who noted Facebook’s push to conquer mobile. Read more

Tags: App Store, Facebook, Mobile, social media, social networking, story of the week
Posted in Internet, Mobile, Social, Tech | Permalink

Apple threatens to boot developers that game the App Store

February 7, 2012 7:00 pm by Tim Bradshaw

Ever looked at the iPhone App Store’s list of most popular apps and thought, how did that get so popular?

Apple has been asking the same question – and it has found that not all are quite as popular as they seem. This week it posted a stern warning to developers to stop using shady marketing firms that can artificially drive their apps to the top of the charts. Read more

Tags: App Store, apple, iPad, iphone
Posted in Digital media, Mobile, Tech | Permalink

Android webstore one-ups App Store

February 2, 2011 11:00 pm by Chris Nuttall

Google’s opening of its Android Market webstore on Wednesday has seized the advantage from Apple’s App Store in terms of accessibility, if not quite in the number of apps available yet. The new “cloud” webstore and additional features coming, such as in-app purchases, will delight developers who have complained about the inferiority of the Android Market compared to the App Store. It will also be a boon for consumers using Android devices. Read more

Tags: android, App Store
Posted in Personal technology | Permalink

Google Voice app finally reaches the iPhone

November 16, 2010 9:44 pm by Joseph Menn

After more than a year of arguing and pressure from regulators, Apple has finally blessed Google’s official Google Voice application for the iPhone.

Google announced the approval on its blog on Tuesday, touting features including low-cost international calls and free transcription of voicemail messages. Read more

Tags: App Store, apple, FCC, google, Google Voice, iphone
Posted in Hardware, Internet, Mobile, Software, Telecoms | Permalink

App stores continue to proliferate

May 31, 2010 3:40 pm by Robin Kwong

At some point tech executives will come to realise that just because Apple succeeded on the back of its applications store, it does not necessarily mean the same formula will work for everyone else.

That day, however, has certainly yet to come in Taiwan. Not only do all three of the island’s mobile operators have their own, separate app store (two of which opened shop within the past month), but Asus, the netbook pioneer, on Monday also announced it would set up its own app store. Read more

Tags: App Store, asus, Computex
Posted in Asia, Internet, Mobile | Permalink

San Francisco joins App Stores galore

September 25, 2009 5:45 pm by Chris Nuttall

The App Store is becoming as overused a buzzphrase as Web 2.0, with San Francisco now implying the city itself, as much as any device, can become a platform for applications.

Gavin Newsom, the city’s trendy Twittering mayor, guest-posted on the Mashable blog on Friday. He announced the launch of the DataSF App Showcase, “a City App Store to highlight and centralize programs created from City data.” Read more

Tags: App Store, Gavin Newsom, intel
Posted in Digital media, Mobile, Software, Telecoms | Permalink

Pocket God earns iPhone worshippers

September 3, 2009 6:01 am by Chris Nuttall

Pocket God, an iPhone application that achieved brief omnipotence in the best-seller list and lasting adoration from gamers, serves as a pocket guide on how to make an impact on a platform where more than 65,000 apps are now vying for consumers’ attention.

As part of our Media Challenge series, I spoke to Pocket God‘s creator Dave Castelnuovo of Bolt Creative about the techniques his two-man team – himself and artist Allan Dye – used to make Pocket God a million seller in the App Store. Read more

Tags: App Store
Posted in Games, Mobile, Software | Permalink

Nokia fumbles app store launch

May 26, 2009 7:00 pm by Tim Bradshaw

Nokia’s response to Apple’s mobile applications marketplace has finally launched in a blaze of publicity – but hardly the kind the Finnish device maker can have hoped for.

Nokia announced the Ovi store in Barcelona in February, although its Ovi internet services brand has been around since August 2007. Clearly it has built up more anticipation than it could handle, as the “extraordinarily high spikes of traffic” caused the site to crash soon after opening. Even after downloading the Ovi software, some users reported seeing a limited selection of applications available in the store. Read more

Tags: App Store, Mobile, nokia, Ovi
Posted in Consumer Electronics, Digital media, Mobile | Permalink

More app stores in store as Nokia preps Ovi

April 2, 2009 5:56 am by Chris Nuttall

As if there weren’t enough iPhone apps, now we have too many App Stores from which to choose.

Research in Motion on Wednesday became the latest company to launch one, with its unveiling of App World for its BlackBerry phones at the CTIA wireless telecoms conference in Las Vegas. Read more

Tags: App Store, apple, BlackBerry, iphone, nokia, Palm
Posted in Digital media, Internet, Mobile, Software | Permalink

techfile 12.3.09

March 12, 2009 6:00 am by morning call

Apple has introduced a new version of its smallest MP3 player, the shuffle. It’s almost half the size of the old one and has twice the capacity at 4Gb – enough for 1,000 songs. New to the iPod line is its “VoiceOver” ability – press a button and it speaks the name of the artist and song.
Microsoft revealed more details of its Windows Marketplace for Mobile – its version for Windows Mobile phones of Apple‘s App Store for the iPhone. Like Apple, Microsoft will take a 30 per cent cut from developers of applications, but it emphasises “transparency throughout the certification process,” something Apple has been criticised as lacking.
Google said it would begin using behavioural targetting for its ads – showing ads related to a user’s interests. It promises more relevant and effective ads for users and advertisers respectively, but the practice is controversial.