App Store Hits 100K in 481 Days

post from TheAppleBlog on 04 November 2009 10:53:00 AM. © TheAppleBlog

481 days. That’s how long it took the App Store to go from opening its virtual doors with 500 applications on July 11, 2008 to a catalog of more than 100,000 applications downloaded more than two billion times.

riseoftheappstore

Not surprisingly, the folks at Apple are pleased.

?The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world,? said Philip Schiller, Apple?s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. ?The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating.?

The amazing thing is that it’s likely not even Apple knew just how successful the App Store and SDK would be or how it would spawn so many competitors (subscription required).

In June 2007, it was Apple CEO Steve Jobs talking up a different method application development for the iPhone.

?Our innovative approach, using Web 2.0-based standards, lets developers create amazing new applications while keeping the iPhone secure and reliable.?

Imagine for a moment if Apple had stuck to that ideal of a web-based platform. I believe it would be called the Palm Pre.

Of course, it’s possible that Apple knew all along that there would be a real SDK for the iPhone OS, almost assuredly so for major partners like game developers. Apple again pushed that gaming concept for iPhone OS with today’s announcement, too. EA Mobile VP Travis Boatman chimed in on the press release, saying that the App Store has “forever changed the mobile gaming industry and continues to improve.” You can bet Nintendo and Sony believe at least the first part of that statement, much to their chagrin.

What you didn’t find in the press release was what, exactly, is being done to improve the flawed approval process. While Apple talks about addressing issues, there is no evidence of real, systemic change. As the App Store moves inevitably towards 500,000, and then its millionth application, you have to wonder if the App Store can withstand the stress of its own incredible success.

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iTunes Store gains Music Movies section

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 04 November 2009 10:45:00 AM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

Apple has introduced a new Music Movies section to the iTunes Store, further segregating its video. ...

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35 million netbooks to ship in 2009

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 04 November 2009 10:45:00 AM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

Netbooks are still set to top nearly 35 million units by the end of the year, ABI said today. The p...

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The iPhone’s Other Killer App

post from TheAppleBlog on 04 November 2009 10:41:00 AM. © TheAppleBlog

Looking at the latest data on smartphone market share from research firm Canalys, it would appear that while Apple is doing well, RIM is doing better.

smartphone_market_share

According to Canalys, over 41 million smartphones shipped last quarter, and of those Apple sold 7.3 million, up from 6.9 million a year ago, a 6.7 percent increase. That?s the good news. The bad news is for HTC, the only major smartphone maker to lose market share, down 5.6 percent, but the best news is for RIM. RIM sold 8.5 million phones, up from 6 million last year, a super-sized 40 percent increase. Based upon these numbers, it would seem logical to conclude RIM is the big winner among smartphone makers, but these numbers only touch the surface of the situation, or rather they don?t.

While conventional wisdom says the killer application for the iPhone has been the App Store, a new survey from comScore suggests that touch is quickly becoming the must have feature for smartphones. For the U.S., sales of touchscreen phones were up 159 percent from a year ago, an even larger increase than touchscreen smartphone sales, which were up 63 percent. Of the latter, the iPhone is the undisputed leader.

The iPhone accounts for a third of the touchscreen smartphone market in the U.S., with no other competitor in double digits. The Blackberry Storm is at 7 percent, the T-Mobile G1 and HTC Touch are at 3.6 and 3.1 percent, respectively. Mark Donovan of comScore believes the iPhone ?set the trend in the industry for touchscreen devices, so it?s no surprise that it has the largest share of the market.? However, he also believes ?competitors have entered the touchscreen market with compelling devices, competition is clearly heating up.?

That latter comment sounds eerily familiar, not at all unlike predictions about iPod competitors in 2004. Back then, the iPod?s success was attributed to everything from the iTunes ecosystem to Apple marketing, but what really set the iPod apart was the interface, especially the patented click wheel. What we are seeing now is that in every review from the Palm Pre to the Motorola Droid there is a comparison to the multi-touch interface of the iPhone. Without exception, the iPhone wins every time.

Even better, from Apple?s point of view, the smartphone with the worst touch interface — besides beleaguered Windows Mobile on HTC phones — has been RIM?s BlackBerry Storm and Storm2. Further, what is arguably the closest competitor, the Motorola Droid will lack multi-touch, at least in the U.S. Motorola obfuscated something about ?differentiated consumer experiences on our mobile devices? based on ?region, carrier preferences and consumer needs,? but another theory is wariness concerning Apple?s patents on multi-touch.

Let’s hope so. A vigorous defense of that mutli-touch experience is one half of what could be a plan for world domination by Apple in the phone market. The other half is the end of carrier exclusivity and the launch of a carrier-subsidized “free” iPhone nano, a media player and phone with the best interface on the planet, Apple’s golden touch.

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http://theappleblog.com/2009/11/04/the-iphones-other-killer-app/

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Boinx Software releases iStopMotion 2.1 - Stop
Motion Animation

post from prMac on 04 November 2009 10:23:00 AM. © prMac

Boinx Software today releases iStopMotion 2.1, an update to its wildly popular stop motion animation and time lapse software. iStopMotion 2.1 features markers-a convenient new way to structure the timeline-and improves compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. It is the first Boinx Software product to provide a full Japanese localization. The update is free and strongly recommended for all iStopMotion 2.x users.

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http://prmac.com/release-id-8413.htm

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iTunes App Store reaches 100,000 titles

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 04 November 2009 10:05:00 AM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

Following some anticipation, Apple has announced that there are now over 100,000 titles available...

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Kaspersky intros Anti-Virus for Mac

post from Macnn | The Macintosh News Network on 04 November 2009 09:15:00 AM. © Macnn | The Macintosh News Network

Kaspersky has introduced Anti-Virus for Mac, a port of its long-running Windows and Linux software d...

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The Beatles offer catalog on USB drive without
DRM

The Beatles on Wednesday surprised the music industry by offering their collection outside of a disc...

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Unlock iPhone 3.1.2 Blacksn0w Offline Without
WiFi Cydia

Here @ iHackintosh we care about each and everyone, Many of our followers on twitter reported us to have broken WiFi (not even fixed by resetting), Many reports they don?t have the working WiFI connection etc. etc. So they are not able to install[...]

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Macware Releases MacTuneUp 3.6 for Snow Leopard

Macware today announced MacTuneUp 3.6, a free update to the leading Mac disk utility software. MacTuneUp quickly discovers and fixes problems, restores hard disk space, creates bootable disk backups, and maximizes Internet and network connections to squeeze the best performance from your Mac. Easily prevent system instability and speed up your Mac with a few simple steps. Snow Leopard users can update by downloading the updater from the Macware support center.

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