All Articles in Apps

To celebrate Apple restoring Promo Codes to all App Store apps, Airsource Ltd and Glasshouse Apps are teaming with TiPb to give away 5 free copies of Cellar [$2.99 - iTunes link], their portable, swipeable showcase of what’s currently in your cellar or wine rack, and which also includes the Garage feature that lets you store wine that you’ve decided you might buy again.

Want it for free? Just head on over to the TiPb iPhone Forums and tell us your favorite wine!

The Financial Times is reporting that Apple may be in cahoots with the Big Music record labels, Sony, Warner, Universal, and EMI to create bonus-material laden Apps in an attempt to reignite interest in full album purchases among consumers. This project is said to be code named “cocktail” and would include:

a new interactive booklet, sleeve notes and other interactive features with music downloads

Since the advent of iTunes, sales of digital singles has risen but full albums has fallen. In previous decades, from vinyl through cassette and compact disc (CD), with the exception of 45s (original, not the new digital kind) and compilations, albums were often the only way to get popular tunes.

While some, including our own editor-in-chief, still prefer buying whole albums so as to get the whole “story” an artist is trying to tell, others have maintained since the days of vinyl that some artists were just as content to put effort into a couple hit songs then quickly produce filler for the rest of the album.

So “Cocktail” could well enhance even those mega-albums filled with great music, much as they did in the heydays of physical media, but will they be compelling enough to get consumers to fork over $9+ instead of $1.29 to get filler from that one hit wonder as well?

[Via MacRumors]

According to developers, Apple has reversed it’s previous decision and will now allow Promo Codes to be generated for iTunes App Store apps rated 17+ — which includes any application that embeds a browser or otherwise allows unfettered access to the internet.

TUAW adds that:

While Apple has not made any official comment on the issue, it appears that they have quietly conceded this battle to the developers, once again enabling them to distribute promo codes as needed for all of their apps.

Promo Codes are the mechanism Apple uses to allow developers of paid apps to generate 50 tickets for free downloads, typically used for give aways or send out review copies. During the brief era of prohibition, everything from Twitter clients to internet data front ends had to either go without, or cut into their beta-testing pool by using some of their 100 ad-hoc build licenses, which still suffer from restrictions all their own.

So, good on Apple, let’s keep the problem-solving momentum going.

UniWar [$4.99 - iTunes link] is a turn-based strategy game for the iPhone and iPod touch that provides a great challenge and three races to choose from.

UniWar is quite the little gem of a strategy game. You have four modes of play: Online, Campaign, Solo and Vs. and three species to choose from: Sapiens, Titans and Khraleans. The variety of  units is very diverse. You have units that can bury them selves underground and move a space at a time to units that can teleport across the screen. One of the great things I enjoy about this game is the plethora of maps you have to play; 50+!!! That is plenty to keep me busy. As of this writing, I have only played about 10 maps, so I have a long way to go!

This game is very polished and I have lost many hours playing it. If you like StarCraft, this is an excellent diversion to keep you busy. The developers are quite active in delivering updates (they are up to 1.0.4 already). They have also added the little extra touches that can make a difference such as the ability to play in portrait or landscape in real-time; just rotate your iPhone. Nice.

When you play online you register on the UniWar website and it keeps track of your stats and even has a ladder to see your ranking. You also have the ability to save multiple active games and resume them at your leisure.

If I were to mention some areas of improvement it would be the AI’s time to play; it can be lengthy at times (I once waited 20 seconds). Though trivial, I think with the modern hardware of the iPhone, that the AI can be sped up a bit for mobile gaming. Also, though the graphics are good, the animation appeared to be a bit jerky. Perhaps this could be improved with more animations per unit. If i had to guess, there are only a few frames of animation each. The fluidity of movements would make the play that much more immersive.

Overall, if you like Sci-Fi turn-based stragatey games, this is a steal at $4.99! Check it out now! Sreenshots after the break! Read the rest of this entry »

Google Latitude — the service that either allows you to keep track of your friends or be stalked by stalking stalker types, depending on your point of view — is finally available for the iPhone and iPod touch. No, it’s not built into Google Maps as part of iPhone 3.1 with push update capability. No, it’s not built into Google Mobile app. No, it’s not even set up as an iPhone app in and of itself.

Google Latitude is a WebApp and it runs in Mobile Safari using the iPhone 3.0 geoLocation feature.

Apparently Apple, in their infinitely-looped wisdom, hasn’t yet deigned (or Google wouldn’t yet offer them the chance?) to build it into Maps, and Apple decided it would be too confusing to users to have another app on the iPhone thats shows the same Google maps. (And it’s not when simply framed by mobile browser chrome? Sigh.)

While Google inarguably makes among the best iPhone WebApps in the business, this doesn’t strike us an ideal solution. Still it is a solution for iPhone users desperate to get their Latitude on. Until Apple gets their act together on this, here’s official word from the blog:

Our Latitude web app provides all the core functionality you might expect: you can see the location of your friends on a map and modify your privacy settings so that you control how your location is shared and with whom. In fact, if my friends and colleagues back in London haven’t yet noticed my absence, they’ll see in Latitude that I’m currently vacationing on the beach in Australia. Hi guys, remember me!?

[...] To try Google Latitude, type google.com/latitude into your iPhone’s browser. And if you miss the experience of launching the app directly from your home screen, you can add a bookmark to the home screen by opening Latitude in Safari and tapping the + icon > Add to Home Screen > Add.

Wonder if Steve Jobs is already using it to follow Eric Schmidt….?

Comics [$0.99 - iTunes link] serves as both an iPhone formatted comic book store and reader. (Think iTunes but for comics). comiXology was kind enough to give us a preview of the app, which will be officially announced tomorrow at the San Diego Comic Con, home of all things good and geeky in the ‘verse.

First, Comics costs $0.99 because it uses in-app purchases to allow you to buy paid content (more comics). Apple says “free apps stay free”, so anything using in-app purchase has to be a paid app. Hence, the minimal price. On to the app.

There are multiple ways to find comics, featured, free, top 25, and browse/search. Lots of information and a few preview images are provided for each, along with a link to buy print versions, which opens a WebView to Amazon.com with an option to move it into Safari.

A good amount of free comics available — I went immediately for Robert Kirkman’s excellent Invincible. You need to set up an account before you can download comics, but it’s fairly quick (it does ask your birthdate, presumably for age-based ratings reasons). Once you’ve set up your account, you can download away. It took me 25 seconds over Rogers 3G to get a comic. Not bad.

A tutorial walks you through the “guided” mode of comics reading, and then away you go. It took me a second to get used to the animated way in which Comics takes you through panels, but it works well. You can turn to landscape when wanted, or disable rotation if it bothers you.

Of course, there’s no Marvel (think Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man) or DC (Batman, Superman) titles to be found, and for that I blame the same kind of slow thinking that long plagued music and still plagues other media to some extent.

It does give the independents a little room to shine, however.

Note: The developers are currently reporting problems with in-app purchases and the iTunes servers behind them, but say they’re working with Apple to resolve them. In the mean time, the free comics are all working just fine.

If you’re a comics fan, and you give Comics a try, let us know how you like it!

Tons of screen caps after the break!

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Done as only the Daily Show with Jon Stewart can do, it’s iFart Mobile vs. PullMyFinger in a battle of the iPhone Fart Apps.

You’ve been warned.

(Note: YouTube Daily Show clips have a way of disappearing, feel free to post updated links in the comments when/if you come across them)

[via WhenWillApple]

Just prior to iPhone 3.0 there were rumors that Apple would introduce a Premium App Store which would let high quality apps in the $10 or $20+ range enjoy some breathing room away from the “race to the bottom” pressure of the current cheapy novelty app crowd. Why is this still a good idea? Well, AppCubby has run the numbers and it looks like $5 (down from $10) is the new ceiling for App Store apps:

With the average price in the App Store now at $1.39 for games and $2.58 for all apps, the App Store is killing the value perception of mobile software shoppers. Some would argue that this is just market economics at work, but I think there is a very strong case to be made for Apple being directly responsible for this trend. Whether they did so deliberately or inadvertently is still up for debate, but either way, the future of iPhone platform and of the entire mobile software industry hinges on the direction Apple takes with App Store 2.0. The downward spiral in app prices caused by the Top 100 list and Apple’s relatively hands off approach during the first year of the App Store has created completely unrealistic pricing expectations that may haunt the entire mobile software industry for years to come.

The logic is this: if developers can’t earn a fair living making great iPhone apps, they aren’t going to make great iPhone apps. (Think about it, would you work day and night if you couldn’t feed your family at the end of the week?)

Gizmodo adds in the gaming angle:

There’s no easy solution to this, which means that iPhone users shouldn’t expect much more complicated games than what’s already on there now. All the talk of the iPhone competing with the DS or the PSP in terms of quality may be moot if there’s nobody there to spend the effort developing that level of games.

We here at TiPb have long held that we don’t mind paying higher prices for higher quality apps. Why? Because we want them, we love them, and are happy to support them so we get more and better for years to come. The iPhone itself isn’t cheap and the idea that we can’t afford $10 (or more) for an amazing new game or innovative new app is just ludicrous.

Apple mentioned on their Q3 2009 conference call yesterday that they had room to improve on the App Store. A Premium App Store (or App Store Plus, or whatever name it goes by), perhaps combined with Craig Hockenberry’s idea of a premium developer membership, could be a great place to start.

Navigon just sent word that their turn-by-turn GSP navigation solution, MobileNavigator for iPhone [$69.99 on sale - iTunes link], North American edition is now live in the iTunes App Store.

Previously available in European flavor, the North American edition features the same NAVTEQ maps, Reality View Pro, Lane Assistant Pro, Speed Assistant and Day & Night Mode component, points of interest (POI) along the route, and a host of other features.

Pricing is set at $99 — on sale for $69 through August 15. So, if you prefer to pay up front rather than entering into a subscription service, and you give MobileNavigator North America a try, let us know how it works for you.

TiPb just got word from Azuki Systems, the folks behind Sports Illustrated’s SI Swimsuit 2009 [$2.99 - iTunes link] that it’s hit the App Store a tad before schedule.

it’s the first mobile application in the lifestyle category to deliver video of SI’s Swimsuit models, hundreds of SI Swimsuit photos as well as scores, schedules and team information.

The app is rated 17+ since swimsuits and body paint may not be appropriate for every age in every geography, so proceed with all due advanced notice. Additional screenshots, after the break…

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