iPhone Share of Smartphone Sales Continues to Increase

Research firm Gartner today released a report detailing mobile phone sales for the second quarter of 2009. While Apple does not rank among the top five worldwide vendors for all phones, the report also highlights the smaller smartphone segment, wher...

Apple’s Schiller responds to developer about App Store issues

Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, has responded for the second time to concerns about the App Store, this time to Mac developer Steven Frank.

Wolfenstein RPG out now on iPhone and iPod touch

Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Electronic Arts has released the Wolfenstein RPG for the iPhone and iPod touch -- the game is available on the App Store for $4.99 right now. It's based in the world of Wolfenstein, but it's not your normal first-person shooter. Instead, it's actually a mobile turn-based RPG, adapted from an older cellphone platform for Apple's handheld. Considering its origins, the game looks pretty good, and it's got a silly sense of humor as well -- you can read books to gain abilities and power-ups, or play a chicken-kicking minigame. Reviews are pretty excellent on iTunes, so if you're looking for something a little different to play as a role-playing game, it might be worth a look.

Even more anticipated than this game is the Doom RPG, with the same type of gameplay, but set in id software's Doom universe (notable, among other things, for its BFG weapon). Odds are that if this game does well, the Doom RPG (and maybe even Orcs and Elves, originally seen on the DS) probably won't be far behind.

Wolfenstein RPG out now on iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wolfenstein RPG out now on iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple impresses as smartphone sales grow

The iPhone continued to shine as the sales of smartphones to end users grew by 27 percent during the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

Review: Grunts for iPhone

With 40 levels, different types of missions, and cool graphics and sounds, Freeverse's Grunts is a fun, challenging game for your iPhone or iPod touch.

TomTom GPS for iPhone pricing leaked

TomTom’s  iPhone navigation application and car kit pricing has leaked, thanks to online retailer Handtec. The price includes both the car mount, Tele Atlas maps and TomTom’s IQ Routes technology. According to one online retailer which has broken ranks and gone public with pre-order pricing, if you want an iPhone-powered TomTom ...

O2 UK iPhone exclusive to end in October

Despite some reports say Apple will end its two year iPhone exclusive deal with O2 this September (and allows other networks like Orange and T-Mobile to distribute iPhone 3G), a new report confirms it will end officially on October 9th. Although there has been plentiful speculation about O2 losing its iPhone ...

Steering wheel for iPhone racing apps debuts

I really like to play games on my iPhone. I have several racing games that are fun to play and each time my son runs off with my iPhone he usually fires one of them up. I will say many of the racing games are hard to control by tilting the ...

Phil Schiller responds to Ninjawords censorship

Apple found itself in a bit of a row with users over allegedly censoring a dictionary app called Ninjawords. The crux of the problem was that Apple supposedly made the dictionary sensor certain words from its listings and then hit the app with a 17+ rating as well. Apple VP Phil ...

Apple approves Shake That Booty app

Well if this app doesn't prove that the entire Apple app approval process is arbitrary and stupid, I'm not sure what does. This week Apple caught criticism for censoring a dictionary over certain words that were in the dictionary, and all other dictionaries for that matter. Today we find out that ...

iPhone and Wii Remote hacked to work together

I have seen Wii Remotes used to do some cool things. One geek hacked the remote to control a giant claw for picking up old cars, which was sweet. Then there is this guy who has hacked a Wii remote to connect to his iPhone via Bluetooth. There is no point ...

Logitech dishes two new iPod / iPhone speaker docks, one of them rechargeable

Not quite sure if you've noticed, but Logitech has been on a tear for the ages here recently. As the torrent of new gear continues, we're now faced with another pair of iPod sound systems desperately attempting to knock the "me-too" status and contribute something positive to the world. The Rechargeable Speaker S315i is the larger of the two, boasting a rechargeable battery that's supposedly good for up to 20 hours of listening. The unit is fully compatible with dock-connecting iPods and iPhones, and there's even an auxiliary input for those who aren't down with Cupertino's wares. The smaller Portable Speaker S125i plays and charges any iPod model and can be powered by an AC adapter, four AA cells or 8.43 tablespoons of Jobs' favorite fairy dust. Check 'em out this month and next for $129.99 and $69.99, respectively.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video

Logitech dishes two new iPod / iPhone speaker docks, one of them rechargeable originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dear Google: Please Fix Gmail IMAP Problems

The iPhone’s Mail app connects to Google Gmail — and it’s paid version, Google Accounts — via the IMAP protocol [Wikipedia link]. Until Apple and/or Google get off their duffs and provide built-in push Gmail (or absent that, Google Sync Gmail for those not otherwise using their single Exchange ActiveSync slot), IMAP is all we have. (And IMAP IDLE may be what we have for push Gmail as well…) So what’s the problem?

Gmail was born of and for the Web, and admittedly Gmail for the iPhone’s Mobile Safari web browser is among the very best WebApps on any platform. However, many people still use, and even prefer to use, local clients like the iPhone’s Mail app, and for that or any local client, Google’s IMAP implementation has always been a second-class citizen.

Forgetting for now for the mapping of labels to folders results in multiple copies of the same email being stored on the local side, one of the major issues with Google’s IMAP implementation is their ludicrous 10 simultaneous connection limit. This might not seem particularly strict, but given that every client can and does typically open multiple connections and having your iPhone, desktop, and laptop all open at the same time can cause Gmail to error out.

On a daily basis, users have to carry the mental overhead of carefully and conscientiously closing email clients on one machine before turning on another, or enabling or disabling a VPN connection (which then treats the mail client as a new set of connections).

By contrast, MobileMe and Exchange/ActiveSync have no problem with this usage pattern. Add to this random “invalid certificate”, “unable to find mailbox: inbox”, “over capacity”, and other errors, and the state of Google’s IMAP implementation is really called into question.

For iPhone Gmail users, the lack of quality error messages (likely something that needs improving on Apple’s side) makes it particularly frustrating, as many of the different problems listed above simply result in an “incorrect password” pop-up box. (See image at the top of this post).

Personally — and I’m not alone in this — I’ve pretty much abandoned front-facing Gmail. I still use the unmatched excellence of Gmail’s server-side filters, but then forward the mail itself to MobileMe. (The irony of the once-plagued MobileMe service now proving more robust over IMAP than Gmail isn’t lost on me and should be lost on Google).

For those who maintain Gmail is free and we shouldn’t complain, Google Accounts — which is paid for — exhibits the exact same problems on a regular basis.

Gmail is arguably the best webmail on the internet. It could easily be the best email period. Google’s finally taken the humorously long-standing “beta” tag off the service. It’s gone prime time. It’s time to make the IMAP implementation live up to that level of standard.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Dear Google: Please Fix Gmail IMAP Problems

The Competition: Zune HD to be Priced $100 Less than iPod touch?

WMExperts (via Crunchgear and Gizmodo) rounds up the latest on Zune HD, linking up the above hands-on video, and news that it might just drop at $100 lower than the iPod touch. In other words, Microsoft to Apple: “it’s broughtn’ed”.

Now, there’s no getting around the Zune HD being an OLED iPod touch two years too late, much as the original Zune was a Wi-Fi squirting iPod classic two years too late. At even $100 discount, can Microsoft compete with a 3rd generation iPod touch, rumored to include a camera, perhaps video recording and sharing, and a 65,000+ strong App Store?

Meh. They’ll get some iPod rebels and budget conscious adaption, no doubt, and that’s probably all they intend. A strong #2 in the music player market, much like they’re going for against Google in the search/advertising space, is likely enough for them now. Understandable, to be sure, but we’d still rather see a mind-blowing Windows Mobile Phone with Zune-like interface and hardware specs, Mobile Xbox gaming, and awesome Windows integration.

But we’ve been wanting that for years…

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

The Competition: Zune HD to be Priced $100 Less than iPod touch?

Phil Schiller Addresses More App Store Concerns

Panic co-founder Steven Frank recently detailed his outrage at Apple's rejection of the Google Voice application and other controversial App Store policies. Given that there's been no signs of improvement after a year, Frank decided to personally bo...

The Competition: BlackBerry to Get iPhone-Class Web Browser… Next Summer

Our fearless friend, CrackBerry Kevin has been watching videos again and this time the take away has him happy: analysts who might be “in the know” say RIM may be fixing their infamously buggered browser by “next summer”.

While the iPhone uses the mobile version of the Apple-supported WebKit rendering engine, as does Palm’s Pre, Google’s Android, and some Nokia devices, RIM has thus far been content to roll their own rendered — with JavaScript turned off by default. No word on whether RIM will turn to WebKit or stick with the custom code, but it does look like the analysts are at least saying they’ll address some of the major gripes.

Our take? If RIM is serious about becoming a world-class web experience, Apple better get just as serious about matching them on messaging.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

The Competition: BlackBerry to Get iPhone-Class Web Browser… Next Summer

Hands on with USAA’s iPhone check deposits

USAA has updated its free iPhone app, adding the ability to deposit checks with just an iPhone camera. PC World's Zack Stern takes the new feature out for a test spin.

App Store Lessons: App Emergencies

Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone, App Store, SDK, App Review

Bad things happen. Despite all your user testing, sometimes an iPhone app release hits the wild with unexpected results. I recently heard about one application upgrade that passed Apple review, but that crashed when run on handsets that had a previously installed version of the app. Another app experienced data corruption when incoming phone calls interrupted file write operations.

So you're a developer, and this happens to you. What do you do?

Developer Emanuele Vulcano issued some recommendations in a recent iPhoneSDK e-mail group post:

• First, brace yourself for user rage. Customers aren't going to be happy even though you're going to treat this situation as proactively as possible.
• Update your application description immediately. Explain what is wrong with the update and why users shouldn't upgrade. Put the word IMPORTANT in capitals.
• Submit your bug fix and then contact the escalation/approval team email from the developer help pages. Explain what happened. If your situation is critical, they can speed up the review process. Just take into account any time they'll spend before looking at your e-mail.

This situation recently cropped up for TUAW reader and iPhone developer Mahmoud and his app BargainBin. "The 3.0 update made BargainBin the only app to monitor App Store price changes and provide push notifications to each user when the apps they care about went on sale. We were so preoccupied with making sure the push notifications and user watch list worked properly, that we overlooked a critical bug. How critical? Well, every time BargainBin was launched to any screen other than the 'Watch List,' the user was presented a screen that said 'no items' rather than the relevant price changes."

Absolutely devastated by this error, Mahmoud and his colleagues immediately worked on a bug fix. "We updated the code in about 15 minutes to fix this critical bug. But now it was back to the submission process." This was an update that affected critical application performance. So after submitting his BargainBin bug fix on August 6th in the afternoon, he sent an e-mail to the escalation team.

And he got results. Apple's iPhone Developer Program expedited the review, making a one-time exception to their normal process. By the evening of August 7th, the update went live in the App Store -- less than 30 hours later, rather than the 7-14 days for a normal upgrade review.

As Mahmoud writes, "Kudos to Apple. This [should make] a nice change from the 'how broken [is] the App Store approval process' articles." TUAW agrees. Way to go, Apple.

Want to read more about the story? Pop over to this write-up over at Mahmoud's company blog.

App Store Lessons: App Emergencies originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

App Store Lessons: App Emergencies originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: Twitter apps featuring push notifications

The latest trend in Twitter apps for the iPhone? Programs that take advantage of the push notifications offered in the iPhone 3.0 software update. We look at a trio of push-centric Twitter apps.