Well, the keynote is over and no significant iPhone news. No significant news at all, really. Quick roundup: new 17″ MacBook Pro, new iWork, new iLife, DRM free iTunes music.
The only iPhone related news had to do with other products mainly. First, there are some new slideshow formats you can sync to the iPhone from the updated iPhoto. Whoop-tee-do! Second, all songs in the iTunes Music Store will be DRM free by the end of this quarter (that’s March 31st to you and me). And there will be variable pricing (you know — all the songs you want will cost more while the ones you don’t want will cost less). And finally there will be a Keynote Remote app available for the iPhone. While these are great and wonderful things to some, to me it’s just meh…
Where’s the iPhone Nano? Were the case manufacturers just playing with us?
Where’s the notification service? You know, the one that we were told would launch in September 2008? The one that was in the iPhone SDK, then pulled? Where’s iChat for the iPhone?
But most importantly, where is MMS? Every $9 phone has that now. Why doesn’t the most advanced phone in the world have it? I bet that new Palm to be announced tomorrow will have it.
I guess we’ll have to just keep waiting for these things. Apple always does things on their own time schedule. But, come on! Please, Steve? Or Phil? Or anyone? Pretty please? Or maybe, I will look at that new palm? I wonder how many apps you can load on that device?
If you are coming to Macworld, you will be in the heart of San Francisco. Whether you have been here before or not, there are some essential apps you should load on your iPhone for worry-free navigation of the Expo and the city.
Without question, the #1 app you should have is iMacworld. The latest update adds Session info and detailed maps of the Halls, plus an easy to search directory of vendors and products. My only wish is that this app had been around for previous Expos.
For you elbow-rubbing and social networking types, download a copy of Handshake. Handshake will allow you to easily exchange your contact info with other iPhone users without worrying about loosing those pesky business cards that fall to the bottom of your goodie bags.
There are a TON of Starbucks in San Francisco. To log on to get your free iPhone wifi connection from AT&T, download Easy Wi-Fi for AT&T. It costs $0.99, but it is totally worth it for speeding up your connection to hotspots to check your voluminous email, or to download one of the apps you just read about in this article.
If you are combining your Expo trip with your vacation plans, or hope to explore the city a bit, Routesy can provide you with all the local MUNI transit information and schedules. If you don’t want to spend the $2.99 for Routesy, there are also two Web 2.0 apps available that you can use with Safari for free.
NextBus (www.nextmuni.com)
MUNI Time (sf.munitime.com)
If you are flying into the San Francisco or Oakland airports, and don’t plan on renting a car, you will need to take BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). To get BART schedules and maps of stops, download iBART. There is a BART train that goes directly from SFO to downtown, just blocks from Moscone. Trips from the Oakland airport require a short $3 shuttlebus trip to the BART station before continuing to San Francisco.
The mobile version of Yelp is great at helping to find eateries and night spots in the city during your Macworld stay. The only problem might be that there are too many great spots to visit making it hard to choose. Yelp is especially handy since there aren’t a lot of places right around Moscone, and the ones that are will probably be packed with Expo-goers. Wear some comfortable shoes and hike to some of the more out of the way spots.
Finally, if you are looking for something to do outside of the Expo venue, try twiddlerSF which is a great app that can randomly choose a place to go in the city or an event, based on your “mood” and how far you want to travel. It also had a cool spinner interface.
Secret Exit, developers of Spin have sent us some new screenshots for their upcoming release Zen Bound. Zen Bound is scheduled to be released this winter but may be delayed as they are trying to make sure it is absolutely perfect. So far, the game looks fantastic. Zen Bound is a calm and meditative game of wrapping rope around wooden sculptures. Sounds different, but promises to be at the very least interesting.
Hit the jump for the screen shots and a video of the gameplay.
Continue reading New Screenshots from Upcoming Release Zen Bound »
The 2009 Macworld Expo is just a week away and Tom and I will both be canvasing the place for interesting iPhone news. If any app developers or hardware folks would like to meet up with us while we are there and give us a preview of what you’re working on, give us a shout.
This will be my first Macworld Expo — I’ve been stuck at CES for the past 5 years. Tom is a veteran and will be showing me around.
We’ll also be very proud to announce the winners of the 2009 Best App Ever Awards on Wednesday at the MacWorld Expo. We’ll be announcing the nominees tomorrow with voting open until 1/6/2009 for the winners.
Will we see the iPhone Nano, a new Apple consumer product of some sort, or, as usual, walk away all disappointed with nothing but meager product updates? We’ll find out next week as the keynote kicks off the Expo on Tuesday morning.
A group of independent iPhone app developers have gotten together to try another method for increasing their app sales. They are, as a group, putting their apps on sale and promoting them together. It’s the latest in a series of inventive ways that small application developers have tried in the increasingly packed iTunes App Store to get some attention for their apps.
Starting 12/31, some apps and games from some great indie developers will all go on sale for 48 hours. The promotion, titled New Year’s App Blowout will see apps discounted from 50% - 80%.
Some of the apps that will be on sale include:
* Pinch n’ Pop ($0.99 price drop from $3.99 - iTunes Link)
* BurnBall ($0.99 price drop from $1.99 - iTunes Link)
* ScribBall ($0.99 price drop from $3.99 - iTunes Link)
* Mouse House ($0.99 price drop from $4.99 - iTunes Link)
* DuckDuckDuck (FREE price drop from $0.99 - iTunes Link)
* Blackbeard’s Assault ($0.99 price drop from $1.99 - iTunes Link)
Currently there are 16 apps listed on the page, but more are expected to be added before the new year. I suggest you bookmark the site and return on 12/31 to see the updated list.
It’s great to see independent developers teaming up to try to solve one of the greatest downsides to the app store — getting some attention in a sea of 13,000 apps.
[Source: New Year's App Blowout]
Correction: the app Chopper was on sale during the holidays, and continues to be on sale. The app is regularly priced at $4.99 but is on sale for $0.99. Sales figures updated below.
Many developers are seeing their iTunes sales reports for the first time after iTunes Connect opened back up after Apple closed it for the Christmas rush, and those sales numbers are amazing. With many apps showing 2-4x normal sales of their paid apps on Christmas day and increased sales continuing in the days following. Free app download number showing up to 5x normal rate as well. Could this be all the new iPhone and iPod Touch owners looking for apps to fill up their devices or most likely people with newly gifted iTunes gift cards to burn.
David Frampton of Majic Software, the developer of Chopper (iTunes Link), the number 2 paid game and number 3 paid app overall, reported sales 3x normal on 12/25 with sales in the days following still much higher than normal, but dropping off by about 30% on the 26th and another 10%/day on the 27th. The Chopper developer pulled in sales of over 50,000 copies of his $4.99 app (on sale for $0.99 during the holidays) for the 4 day period of 12/24 - 12/27 with around half of those sales coming on Christmas day. That’s nearly $25,000 in sales in one day, 12/25, alone.
Another developer we talked with, Mark Johnson, reported sales of over four times normal on Christmas day. Hit Tennis (iTunes Link) the $1.99 tennis game, currently number 55 in the top 100 paid iPhone Sports games, had sales of nearly 200 on 12/25 with normal daily sales in the 40s.
Gabriel Pasqualini from Portengo, developers of Cartoonize Me (iTunes Link), the top 15 app on the Entertainment paid app list showed sales 3x normal on the 25th with sales on the 26th being about 90% of what they were on the 25th.
Other stories are similar in nature with most developers of apps on iTunes top 100 lists showing sales 2-4 times normal. Other developers of apps not in any of the top 100 lists also reported much higher than normal sales, though not 4x.
Tim Haines, developer of Burn Ball (iTunes Link) which is not currently in the top 100 paid games reported a similar 3x normal sales on 12/25. He also reported that the free version of his game, Burn Ball Lite (iTunes Link), had download numbers 5x normal on 12/25.
No one knows how long the increased sales will continue, but this is a much deserved present for these independent developers.
Lots of app developers have gotten into the holiday spirit and lowered the prices of their apps — many all the way down to free. So if you’re looking for something to fill up that new iPhone you found under the tree — or maybe something new for the one you already have, here’s our guide for you.
Read on for our Christmas list.
Continue reading Cheap and Free Apps: App Developers Gift To Us All »
With nominations being open for just under a week, we have now received over 5,000 nominations in the 2008 Best App Ever Awards. Haven’t nominated your favorite apps yet? Head on over to http://bestappever.com and get moving, nominations are open until 12/30.
This inaugural competition is the first iPhone OS Application achievement awards to recognize the best iPhone apps and games released in the iTunes App Store in 2008. The goal is to help publicize the very best apps available, not just the best-selling apps.
Nominations are still tight with it being a pretty open race in all of the categories as it stands right now. Especially so with the Best App Ever race — less than 75 nominations separate the #1 from the #10 nominee.
Here’s how some of the nominations break down as of 12/22 12:00pm Pacific:
Total nominations: 5,079
Total apps nominated: 725
Category with most nominations: Most Useful App
Category with least nominations: Free Or Ad Supported Game
Category with most apps nominated: Most Innovative App
Category with the least apps nominated: Best Racing Game
Tightest category (least # of nominations separate #1-#10): Best 99 Cent Game
Widest category (most # of nominations separate #1-#10): Best Casual Game
We’ll post here again to let you know the final nominees and when voting is open on 12/31.
I had decided a while ago that I wasn’t going to post any reviews of Christmas (or any other) holiday apps. They are all just to trite, simple, and down right annoying. Especially so to a grinch like me. But then, I saw Earthscape Santa Tracker and my heart grew three sizes that day.
Ok, maybe it only expanded 1.5 sizes. But this is still a great app. Earthscape Santa Tracker is a holiday photo viewer and 3D Santa tracker based on Earthscape’s great 3D earth platform. If you have kids, it will be extra special on Christmas eve. Here’s the description from the developer:
Ho Ho Ho! Follow Santa as he makes his way around the world this Christmas Season! See where Santa is, or will be, on Christmas Eve and explore thousands of beautiful photos of the holidays being celebrated around the world. Learn how to share your own holiday pictures with the rest of the planet for a very special Christmas!
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Yes, I bought the new headphones. I was ready to buy them when Steve Jobs announced them in…what…November? I had bought some 3rd party in-ear, iPhone headphones that served me well and were very affordable. After only a few months, however, the control button stopped working and I found out the company’s headphone division had been sold off, but nobody was offering support. Weak. Other in-ear headphones that promised better quality and service were out of my price range, so I have been using the standard “bud” headphones that came with my 2G iPhone and hurt my ears. When Apple said they would offer a pair for $79, I was eager to get my hands on a set. While I wish Apple made a set in black, their button controls seem superior to the others I have looked at, so I’m willing to live with the “he’s got an iPod/iPhone!” recognition factor.
Continue reading Apple’s 2008 in-ear headphones »
We once again sent Santa Steve a note asking for the latest and greatest, and all we got was a lump of coal. Oh, and DRM free music.
