Installer.app, the app store before that other app store, is coming back for firmware 2.0 and being re-fashioned as Installer 4. Currently, jailbroken 2.0 iPhones are using Cydia as their main app pipeline but when Installer 4 is released, well, they’ll likely play nice with one another and especially nice with that other app store.
The RiP Dev Blog has a lot of complicated, programmer’s type language describing the updates for Installer 4.0 so I’ll try to translate to more understandable, layman’s terms: It’s going to be faster, safer, and more integrated. Bang.
The release of Installer 4.0 seems to be imminent but well, really, there’s no rush, many of the apps that were available for 1.1.x aren’t quite ready for the big time yet. So take your time with Installer 4.0. We here at TiPb would almost always prefer a little delayed polished product over a rushed, rough, not as advertised..yeah, we’re looking at you MobileMe.
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During Apple’s Q3 Conference Call on Monday, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook reported that, like the iTunes Store, App Store is not meant to generate revenue but to drive iPhone and iPod Touch sales. They’ve added 400 Apps to the 500 available at launch, bringing the total (at call time) to 900, though the percentage of FREE (as in beer, not speech) Apps has fallen from 25% (~125 at launch) to 20% (~180 now). Under $10 Apps remained constant at 90%. Seems like that’s the current magic ceiling for many developers. And with over 25 million downloads and counting, they may be right.
What else is going on in App Land? Read on to find out!
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If you own an iPhone and haven’t browsed the App Store, you don’t know what you’re missing! Then again, if you are reading this 2nd App Avalanche, you can get a taste of what’s waiting for you in the App Store and maybe, just maybe, you’ll not waste another second and start downloading some great apps for your iPhone!
With your iPhone in hand, let’s get buried in some apps right now with App Avalanche 2! Read the rest of this entry »
Sure, we’re hard on the BlackBerry here at TiPb, what with its aging operating system (it still has legs, sure, but one suspects they’re coming up on the limits of the OS’s capabilities), its tic-tac keyboard (although, honestly, I still prefer physical keyboard myself), and its sad little browser. One thing we haven’t touched on yet, though, is how RIM (like every other Smartphone company out there) has utterly missed the boat when it comes to 3rd party application developers. You probably know where this is going, but Apple’s App Store may just be the biggest deal of all the big deals that have come out in the past two weeks. Lest you think we’re totally biased, let us point you to this excellent essay by a (former?) BlackBerry developer: “Galileo and Apples.”
What Apple has done is for the first time ever successfully given a finger to carriers and torn down walls. And the net result? Users are loving it. And so are developers. Who would’ve thought…Oh yeah, that’s right we all did! It was patently obvious to every single mobile developer that if everybody just got out of our way and let us do our thing we’d be able to drive activations (device handset sales), device stickiness, and all around there would be rejoicing and everyone would profit. But nobody would listen.
They’re listening now though.
The App Store isn’t doing to grab developers just because the iPhone is going to become the #1 smartphone on the face of the planet and destroy all others in enterprise and the consumer space alike — because let’s face it, it won’t. No, what the App Store does it offer developers gobs of money simply because it’s the first way to purchase and download smartphone apps that doesn’t stink. As Neil Sainsbury writes, most folks with even a passing familiarity with the smartphone world have long thought that the faustian pact between carriers and smartphone makers has stifled innovation, progress, and profit. Apple’s App Store has proven us right.
Friend Book envelopes and extends the iPhone’s built-in Contacts app. Divided into three parts, a photo contact viewer and manager, a wireless contact exchanger, and photo dialer, it gives contacts some fabulous new abilities, though sometimes at the expense of quirky new constraints.
Note: I grabbed Friend Book pretty much the instant it was released on the App Store. Since then, it’s been taken down to address an issue with contact permissions but should return shortly. If any functionality changes in the re-release, I’ll update here.
Read on for the walkthrough, after the break!
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Proving once again that nothing enables crooks more than the internet, Gizmodo is warning iPhone app-seekers to steer clear of scams:
If you Google “iPhone apps,” the first thing that comes up is iPhoneApps.org, a site selling a bundle of “top 10″ iPhone applications for $25 using “safe PayPal.” Friends, there’s nothing safe about this site. It’s a scam. The iTunes App Store is the exclusive distributor of official iPhone apps, period. Don’t get your apps anywhere else. Tell your friends and family. If you’re savvy enough to use Installer.app, this PSA is not for you, obviously. [Thanks Blake!]
Remember, if something looks fishy, it probably is; seems too good to be true, is too good to be true; doesn’t come from Apple’s built-in-to-iPhone-and-iTunes App Store, is a big honking SCAM!
Beginning last Friday, it’s been an exciting time for the iPhone community and for all of us here at TiPB as we’ve witnessed and participated in the launch of the much-anticipated iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0, the App Store, and MobileMe. Although things didn’t go 100% according to plan for Apple, and even though there are numerous bugs to fix and ghosts in the machine to exorcize, there is quite a bit of “new” to be excited about!
With the release of iPhone 2.0 and the App Store, there are now tons of apps to choose from, with more being added each day. Our readers are getting in on the app action and excitement with the opportunity to earn TiPB Store discounts by reviewing apps via our iPhone App Lightning Reviews promotion.
I am now proud to announce the beginning of the iPhone App Avalanche, a brief overview of iPhone apps from the iTunes App Store that will be brought to you here at TiPB. Stop by often for frequent App Avalanche app overviews over the next couple of weeks, then settle in for a weekly overview. With the introductions out of the way, let’s jump into iPhone App Avalanche 1!
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Interested in knowing what apps are being bought at the App Store? Well, lucky you, Medialets has estimates for your viewing pleasure. To determine demand, Medialets uses the number of ratings each app has and also takes into account the average rating of an app as well. So though it may not be the most accurate measurement, it’s still a fairly good barometer in determining app popularity.
So what rules the App Store? FREE. According to Medialets, 9 out of the top 10 most rated apps are FREE with the one exception being Super Monkey Ball. The usual suspects populate the top 10 list with the Remote, AIM, Facebook, etc. having the most ratings and more importantly, all entirely free.
Also, it looks like the best-selling apps are games which further proves that there is a market for iPhone gaming. Simple math concludes that Sega has already hit $5 million in sales for the first weekend. Though iPhone users tend to want free apps, it looks like they have no problem laying down the cash for good games.
Feel free to click over to Medialets to see the list for yourself. Do you think it’s accurate? Are apps on the top 10 all on your iPhone? Let us know!
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A super… a monkey… a ball. A Super… a Monkey… a Ball. These are not three different games!
Does the above phrasing sound familiar? Steve Jobs used this same kind of phrasing when first introducing the iPhone waaaaaaaay back in January 2007. Much has happened since then! We finally have the iPhone 3G and, even more importantly (in my opinion), we have iPhone 2.0 and the Apps Store!
You may have heard of a little game called Super Monkey Ball from SEGA? It’s only just the top app at the iTunes App Store. It’s only $9.99. We got a taste of it several months ago at the last WWDC during the keynote and there has been salivation, hand-wringing and garment-rending ever since. Finally, with the release of iPhone 2.0 and the App Store last week, the venerable Super Monkey Ball is available for download from the iTunes App Store via your desktop or right to your iPhone.
Does it measure up to the hype? The answer is — (suspense killing ya?) Full review is a click away!
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A few posts back we got into a few App Store early growing pains/gripes, including that some less-scrupulous — or more marketing-savvy, depending on your point of view — developers were prepending spaces and symbols to their App names in order to get them to sort higher in the alphabetical listings. Well according to MacUser (via Ars), seems like Apple called shenanigans on that one and has put an end to the practice.
Visiting the App Store now, I see that Jirbo’s titles, as well as quite a few others, still have a space in front of them, but are simply alphabetized by the following letter.
Nicely done. Would that all App Store problems were so easily solved…
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