Apple’s App Store said to have 99.4 percent of all mobile app sales, more like 97.5

The latest research from Gartner indicates that, for the year 2009, only 16 million app sales were executed on mobile devices not bearing the infamous bitten apple logo. In reporting this data, Ars Technica inadvertently conflates Apple's latest announcement of three billion apps downloaded with the notion of three billion apps sold and pegs the App Store's market share at a whopping 99.4 percent -- but more realistic calculations still show it to be somewhere in the vicinity of 97.5 percent. Going off estimates (obtained by GigaOM) that a quarter of App Store downloads are paid-for apps, and taking a rough figure of 2.5 billion downloads in 2009, leaves us with around 625 million app sales performed by Apple, which comfortably dwarfs all its competition. Considering the fact 18 months ago there wasn't even an App Store to speak of -- whereas today Cupertino is gobbling up the best part of $4.2 billion in annual mobile apps revenue -- maybe you can now understand why we're covering every tiny drip of info about that mythical tablet.

Apple's App Store said to have 99.4 percent of all mobile app sales, more like 97.5 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone Review from CrackBerry Kevin — Smartphone Round Robin

Apple’s third iPhone meets CrackBerry Kevin’s third iPhone review, exclusively in the 2009 Smartphone Round Robin. Year one he called it the iSmudge. Then they got the Storm. Year two he called it the Ah *** phone. Then they got the Storm. (Joking. Not.) What’s he calling the iPhone and iPhone users this year?

Yeah, it ain’t pretty. But he’s also calling the iPhone the yin to his yang, the night to his day, the left pocket to his right pocketed BlackBerry, the… you get the idea. (We got it too.)

All credit for what little progress he’s made goes to our outstanding TiPb forum members, who learned him as much as any CrackBerry addict-in-chief can really be learned.

If you want to win an iPhone 3GS of your very own, you can still enter once a day on his thread, or any of the previous Round Robin threads in our forum. And for all the other videos, reviews, and contest threads (there are 6 smartphones up for grabs after all!) keep your browsers locked on smartphoneroundrobin.com!everywhere!).

Now go read Kev’s review, then come back here and tell us whether you agree or disagree, and why!

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

iPhone Review from CrackBerry Kevin — Smartphone Round Robin

WSJ: Apple Talking to Book Publishers for iTablet (and iPhone?)

The Wall Street Journal “leaks” that Apple is negotiating with publisher Harper Collins over the rights to market e-books on Apple’s “latest creation“, presumably the iTablet/iSlate.

We say “leaks” because, well, it’s the WSJ and the story credits contributions from someone who’s been getting an awful lot of awfully good Apple information recently. Also, we’ve heard for a while now that Apple has been in talks with traditional print media book, magazine, and newspaper publishers in order to line up content for the iTablet — and presumably the iPhone, iPod touch, and other iTunes connected devices, since that’s Apple’s ecosystem and their forte.

So, on one hand this story serves to firm up expectations that a tablet style device will be announced, and set them as to what one of its new features will be — doing from print media what the iPod did for music (and what has tried to do for movies and TV, despite Hollywood’s myopia). Here’s the crux of it:

Brian Murray, the chief executive of HarperCollins, said in December that e-books enhanced with video, author interviews and social-networking applications could command higher retail prices for publishers than current e-books. Many of the country’s largest publishing houses are worried about the sale of new bestsellers for only $9.99 in the e-book format. New releases of enhanced e-books could sell for $14.99 to $19.99, a person familiar with the situation said. HarperCollins is a unit of News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.

Sounds like iTunes LP (for music) and iTunes Extras (for movies) would get an e-book-centric companion, perhaps magazines and newspapers as well. (Though magazines and newspapers traditionally involve subscription services, something Apple, despite the many years of rumors, has yet to offer for music or TV).

What remains to be seen is, if these negotiations pan out, whether Apple will focus on print-media-gone-digital as the killer feature of the new device/service or just one of several (like the iPhone’s wide-screen ipod, internet communicator, phone combo pitch).

[Thanks to @jordanak1 for the head's up!]

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

WSJ: Apple Talking to Book Publishers for iTablet (and iPhone?)

Using your iPhone in the city? Be careful!

Filed under: Hardware, Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod classic

I've lived in big cities for almost ten years now, first in Chicago and now in Los Angeles, and I could have told you exactly what this New York Times piece does: that you've got to be careful while using your iPhone while walking the city streets. We've heard about this before with the iPod, but an iPhone offers up even more distraction while walking around -- in between checking email, jumping on Twitter, and/or playing any number of games, it's practically impossible to spend enough attention on where you're walking and what you're doing even on a relatively clear street.

Think it's a joke? Over 1000 people found themselves in emergency rooms in 2008 because they were distracted while walking, says the article, which is twice the number from 2007 and almost double the number from 2006 (and it's probably gotten higher last year). That's not to say that we need actual legislation to deal with this (although legislation has been discussed in New York, and there is already legislation on the books in many places against using your phone while driving), but it's something to keep in mind: I put my iPhone away whenever I cross a street, and just plain stop whenever I need to do anything more attention-deserving than switch a song or up the volume.

And it only took me one close call with a moving truck to figure that one out. If you're walking around with your iPhone or iPod in a busy urban environment, be careful out there.

Using your iPhone in the city? Be careful! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Using your iPhone in the city? Be careful! originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HarperCollins Negotiating With Apple Over e-Books on New Tablet Device?

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is in talks with book publisher HarperCollins to bring electronic books to the company's new tablet device, expected to be introduced at next week's media event. The report notes that pricing for the e-book...

Amateur astronomers: Log your sessions with Observation 1.1 for iPhone

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, App Review

Being proper geeks, a lot of us here at TUAW are amateur astronomers (we won't count Mel Martin, who is so incredibly good at astrophotography that he should be considered a professional). Although we've talked about numerous "planetarium" apps such as Pocket Universe, Star Walk, Distant Suns, and SkyVoyager, these apps simply show you what's going to be visible in the night sky at some specific point in time or show information about deep sky objects.

A new iPhone app from Water-Powered Ideas, Observation [US$4.99, iTunes Link] is designed to do something completely different. It lets you determine whether or not it's going to be worth taking the scope out tonight through forecasts from Atilla Danko's great Clear Sky Chart website, and then provides a way to log your observing sessions with your iPhone.

When you launch Observation, the app will ask if it can use your current location. When you tap the OK button, the app creates a list of "Nearby Charts." These are observing locations that have been entered into the Clear Sky Chart site. Once a chart has been chosen, the forecasted observing conditions at the site are displayed at the present time and for the next 18 hours. To flip through the hourly conditions, you simply swipe left or right.

The conditions show the general sky conditions with a weather icon, the current or forecasted temperature, the wind velocity, the humidity, and information on transparency of the sky and seeing. Transparency refers to how clear the atmosphere is (i.e., no smoke, smog, clouds, or dust would mean the sky is very transparent), while seeing describes how still the air is (very still air means excellent seeing).

Continue reading Amateur astronomers: Log your sessions with Observation 1.1 for iPhone

Amateur astronomers: Log your sessions with Observation 1.1 for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Amateur astronomers: Log your sessions with Observation 1.1 for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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App news & reviews: Trapster, Observation, Foto Brisko and more

Filed under: iPhone, App Review

	Speed trap checker Trapster for iPhone updated to 4.0 We've mentioned Trapster once here on the site before, but we haven't really covered it in any depth yet, I believe. It's the official iPhone app [iTunes link] for an online database of speed...		Amateur astronomers: Log your sessions with Observation 1.1 for iPhone Being proper geeks, a lot of us here at TUAW are amateur astronomers (we won't count Mel Martin, who is so incredibly good at astrophotography that he should be considered a professional)....
	Foto Brisko: leading you to the places where great photos are made iPhone developer Bill Dudney is well-known for his classes and books on iPhone development. When he's not teaching others how to write iPhone apps, he's writing his own code for Gala Factory...	Also of interest: Skype for iPhone adds landscape mode, but lacks push & 3G Acrobat.com Mobile now available on the iPhone; free, but expensive Check out the App Hub for more reviews!

App news & reviews: Trapster, Observation, Foto Brisko and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

App news & reviews: Trapster, Observation, Foto Brisko and more originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Speed trap checker Trapster for iPhone updated to 4.0

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, iPhone, App Store, App Review

We've mentioned Trapster once here on the site before, but we haven't really covered it in any depth yet, I believe. It's the official iPhone app [iTunes link] for an online database of speed traps, so that you can get fair warning when the police are checking speeds in a certain part of town. It's a very popular app with over 3 million users already (and if you're constantly looking to dodge speed traps, you've probably already heard of it), but as with all community databases, one of the questions is always confidence: is the information you're getting true, or is it a perception that could be wrong?

The company has just released version 4.0 out onto the App Store, and most of the upgrades are designed to help you out with confidence in their listings. There's a new feature called Patrol, which will show you just how recently another Trapster user has driven down the same road you're on, which means the information there is much more recent.

Another mode called Caravan will actually let you watch the locations of friends or other users in real-time, so if you're road-tripping with friends, you can track your trip together. There's new Facebook and iPhone connections, and lots of new "trap types," so you can even track accidents, construction zones, or just mark off dangerous intersections.

Sounds good, and even better, the app is completely free. The only issue we've heard from users so far is that the app can use battery power like crazy (given that it's tracking GPS and sending information back and forth constantly), but if you've got a car charger going while you're driving around, that shouldn't be an issue. If you do a lot of traveling with your iPhone, it's definitely worth a look.

Speed trap checker Trapster for iPhone updated to 4.0 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Speed trap checker Trapster for iPhone updated to 4.0 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next week’s Apple event to be iLife / iPhone OS 4.0 / tablet trifecta?

We're realistically no closer to knowing the outcome of next week's Apple event than we were a week, a year, or a decade ago, but rumors are obviously congealing around the mythical tablet that users, fans, and media have all but willed into existence recently -- and our buddy Clayton Morris says that's indeed a part of the story. Morris reports having spoken with a source at Apple this morning -- prior to the company's invites going out, interestingly -- who said that the event would focus on a new version of iLife, iPhone OS 4.0, and naturally, the tablet. Loosely speaking, you can see how these would all tie together pretty nicely: the seemingly "creative" theme of Apple's invite rolls into a new version of iLife, and the announcement of a tablet could have implications for how a suite of artsy tools gets used. Rumblings that the tablet is underpinned by a new version of iPhone OS have gone back months, so that would give Apple impetus to tease it at the same time the tablet's shown off -- sans new iPhone hardware, possibly, which the company has done before. It's also possible that Apple will open source its entire catalog of software and shut down, buy an island nation, or do nothing at all -- but in fairness, there's an awful lot of logic to what Clayton's saying here. We'll know soon enough.

Next week's Apple event to be iLife / iPhone OS 4.0 / tablet trifecta? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype for iPhone adds landscape mode, but lacks push & 3G

Filed under: iPhone, App Review

Skype for the iPhone [iTunes link] has been updated to version 1.3. The software gains a landscape mode for instant messaging, the ability to give hints and tips to new users and a call quality monitor.

However, the app still lacks many major features that users want -- including push notification, Bluetooth support and the ability to call out over the AT&T 3G network.

Despite the claim of improved performance and the fix of a call drop issue when returning to a held call, reviewers on the App Store are also noting frequent crashes with this version of the software.

Skype for iPhone adds landscape mode, but lacks push & 3G originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Skype for iPhone adds landscape mode, but lacks push & 3G originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: LivingSocial for iPhone

This frustrating and buggy app will turn you into an anti-social misanthrope.

Fox News: iTablet, iPhone 4.0, iLife 2010 Focus of Apple Jan 27 “Come see our latest creation” Event

Fox News, which originally predicted a media-focused Jan. 26 event, is back to say Apple’s now-Jan. 27 “Come see our latest creation” will focus on the iTablet, iPhone 4.0 operating system (no hardware), and iLife 2010.

iTablet/iSlate/iWhatever makes the kind of sense that does. The hype is so loud you can hear it in space. What it is remains a mystery, but if Apple wasn’t going to show it off, we’d expect a leak or PR blurb hinting they weren’t to shape expectations.

iPhone 4.0 we would have expected to see in March like iPhone 2.0 and iPhone 3.0, but showing it off in January like iPhone 1.0 could give developers more time to make their apps iTablet — and/or iPhone HD — compatible. Likewise, if there are any other major changes/enhancements under the covers.

iLife 2010 is a bit of a mystery. We’ve heard iWork 2010 might be going multitouch for the iTablet (and hoped for the iPhone as well), but all we’ve heard about iLife is that iDVD might become an iTunes LP/iTunes Extras development interface (DVDs being passe in the Apple-verse, of course). Could they also go multitouch?

So, nothing we didn’t expect, but a lot more to get us excited. What do you want most?

[Thanks everyone who sent this in!]

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

Fox News: iTablet, iPhone 4.0, iLife 2010 Focus of Apple Jan 27 “Come see our latest creation” Event

January 27th Media Event: Tablet, iPhone OS 4.0, iLife 2010?

FOXNews.com reports that Apple's January 27th media event is expected to include the introduction of Apple's much-anticipated tablet device and iPhone OS 4.0, as well as iLife 2010. According to the report, no iPhone hardware is expected to be shown...

After cutting unlimited plan pricing, AT&T axes Nation 1350 plan for iPhone

As promised last week, AT&T cut its unlimited voice and data plan for the iPhone by $30 per month. In rolling out the new pricing, the wireless carried dropped its Nation 1350 plan, which at $110 per month, would have cost more than the new unlimited plan.

Slacker Personal Radio for iPhone Now Available in Canada

Slacker Personal Radio [Free - iTunes link] is now available in the Canadian App Store. While our friend’s at CrackBerry.com got to enjoy the news a little sooner, thanks to Apple’s currently speedier App approval process and iLounge’s spot, TiPb didn’t have to wait as long as we feared either.

As far as we know, this is the first streaming internet radio service available to Canadian iPhone users (blame our nightmarish licensing) and it includes some nice local content:

• Canadian Rock
• Canadian Country
• Canadian Today’s Hits

Slacker also tells TiPb that the 2.0 version is coming soon, and will provide station caching for iPhone and iPod touch. Can’t. Wait.

Note: While the app is free for the first 30 days, a $5/month Slacker Plus subscription turns off the ads, turns on unlimited skips, and otherwise makes the service much more enjoyable and functional thereafter. More Plus features, after the break…

Slacker Radio Plus:

• Cache stations to Blac kBerry and Android smartphones; soon on iPhone/iPod touch
• Enjoy Slacker music even without a wireless network on select mobile applications
• Unlimited song skipping
• Ad-free listening
• Complete song lyrics*
• Create custom stations based on artists or songs
• Unlimited song requests for creating perfect custom stations
• High-quality stereo playback
• Over 60 professionally programmed genre stations
• Fine tune stations on-the-fly to play more of the music you like
• View artist biographies and photos
• View album art and reviews
• “Peek Ahead” artist and album preview
• Pause and skip songs
• Rate songs as favorites
• Ban the songs and artists you don’t like
• Downloadable “mini” player for your PC

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

Slacker Personal Radio for iPhone Now Available in Canada

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars now available on iPhone and iPod touch

Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store

Rockstar Games told us a while back that they'd be releasing their DS hit Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on the iPhone, and sure enough, last night it appeared on the App Store [iTunes link]. Touch Arcade got a head start on the game -- they've got some quick impressions and some gameplay video up on their site right now. The game appears to be a pretty faithful port of the highest-rated Nintendo DS game over on Metacritic, offering up GTA gameplay in a more isometric view that hearkens back to the original games in the series, before GTA III took things fully 3D. The main difference, of course, is that there are no buttons to play with, so you've got to deal with the usual touchscreen controls, and you can now listen to your iTunes playlists along with the in-game radio, but other than that, this is Grand Theft Auto officially on the iPhone. Cool.

We've confirmed with Rockstar that this is an official release (they didn't drop it accidentally, though like Touch Arcade, we expected a little more warning), so you can head on over to the App Store and pick it up for $9.99 right now (half the price of the DS version, in case you thought that was high). We're playing with a copy of the game right now, so you can look for a more in-depth review later this week.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars now available on iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars now available on iPhone and iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm Pre, Palm Pixi webOS Hands-on Video — Smartphone Round Robin

When last I left Palm they had but the Centro and some HTC Windows Mobile device to offer, now webOS and the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi’s inform Week 6 of the 2009 Smartphone Round Robin. Talk about night and day. Lucky I have the daywalker himself, our illustrious editor-in-chief and PreCentral.net’s own Dieter Bohn to show me how the brand new generation of Palm devices work. And works well.

Remember, every day you post on my PreCentral.net Forums thread, you’re entered for a chance to win a webOS device of your very own. (And there’s a total of 6 smartphones up for grabs — one per SPE site — so check them all out!)

This week also brings mobile powerhouse Matt Miller of Nokia Experts to TiPb’s own iPhone. I’ll update with his TiPb Forum thread asap so you can help him out as well (and get a chance to win an iPhone 3GS for your troubles!)

Video hands-on with Palm Pre and Palm Pixi, after the break!

(And if you’re confused by the intro to this year’s video, you really need to go watch last year’s Treo Pro video NOW!)

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

Palm Pre, Palm Pixi webOS Hands-on Video — Smartphone Round Robin

Violent strike racks Apple’s touchscreen supplier

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Hardware, iPhone

Workers at a Wintek Corp factory in China have gone on strike this week, some of them destroying equipment, according to China Daily. Workers are reportedly protesting poor work conditions and alleged deaths from overexposure to toxic chemicals. The chemical in question, hexane, is used for cleaning touch panels. Wintek is the world's largest supplier of touch screens for mobile phones, including Apple's iPhone.

This isn't the first time labor disputes have arisen within Wintek. Last year, protesters gathered at Apple's offices in Taiwan to force Apple into pressuring Wintek to clean up alleged workplace labor and safety violations. Back then, protesters appeared to be using the popularity of Apple's brand name to get attention to their cause.This time things have unfortunately escalated to violence.

There's no immediate word on how the strike will affect Apple's supply of iPhone screens. We're hoping it ends in a manner that's beneficial to everyone.

[Via AppleInsider]

Violent strike racks Apple's touchscreen supplier originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Violent strike racks Apple's touchscreen supplier originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One is ‘Good’ for business

The Nexus One and the Droid prove that the Android invasion is fully underway, and the next battlefront will be the enterprise, PC World's Tony Bradley says. And now there is a Good for Enterprise client for Android smartphones, making the devices even more appealing to business users.

Konami website now iPhone-accessible

Filed under: iPhone

The Konami code refers to a cheat code sequence for Nintendo devices invented by Kazuhisa Hashimoto in the mid 1980s. The code was intended to help during testing, allowing debugging of advanced game play without having to spend the time or effort actually getting to those levels. Normally, a player has to earn abilities over time. The cheat code Easter egg lets you jump from n00b-skillz directly into mad hax0r3d power. Over time, the Konami code gained traction and has been used and re-used in many games and websites since.

If you're a fan of Konami-code accessible websites and an iPhone user, you'll be pleased to learn that the Konami Code Sites homepage, which provides a list of enabled sites, is now iPhone compatible. Konami is "standard" for accessing built-in Easter Eggs in video games and web sites. You can now enter your コナミコマンド cheat code via gestures.

Make this happen by mirroring the standard Konami sequence (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right) using swipes instead of touching command keys. When you get to the BA sequence, a controller will appear on-screen to let you tap the B-button and then the A-button.

As for the Konami-compatible websites listed, they are not as forgiving, I'm afraid. The iPhone compatibility does not extend to any of the listed pages that I tested. Given that we have fully entered the age of iPhone OS (and soon, the tablet), I think you can expect touchKonami to start expanding to ever new sites and applications. For example, Polish Demon's Emojinabler app (currently in App Store review) uses the sequence to unlock Emoji text access on non-Japanese iPhones.

Know of a touchKonami-enabled website or App Store app? Let us know in the comments.

Konami website now iPhone-accessible originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Konami website now iPhone-accessible originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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