Apple recently dropped a pretty significant update to its official Apple Store app, and one of the key implementations made was its ability to distribute free content to users for promotional purposes. Far from being an empty feature, the freebie mill has already been kicked into action, with the usually 99 cent app Color Zen now available for free via the Apple Store app.
The way Apple's iOS updates its third-party apps is seen as a marvel to some, and an annoyance to others. While the whole process is, as with most of the software's features, nicely streamlined, that oh-so frequent feeling of constrained functionality does tend to creep in from time to time. For example, if you're updating an app, and decide, midway through, that you wish to retain the current version for the time being, there's no native way of doing so. Luckily, as is so often the case, there's a tweak for that, and it's called, quite naturally, CancelUpdate.
We've heard so many horror stories of children managing to spend small fortunes on in-app purchases when left to their own devices with an iPhone or an iPad, and we'd hoped that such things would come to an end as Apple adds more and more security with an aim of blocking such mishaps. Unfortunately, they missed one unfortunate loophole.
A new study by Internet auction house eBay has drawn perhaps the least surprising conclusion on our mobile usage habits, discovering that we are, collectively, addicted to apps. Having challenged 200 iPhone users to go four whole days without their favorite mobile apps, eBay found that a whopping third of participants could not go the distance, while more than half were less happy without streamlined access to their content.
The App Store feels like it has been around forever, or at least it does to this long-time iPhone user. To mark the occasion, several big-name developers have made their games and apps free, and although you may not recognize all of the titles involved in the promotion, there are certainly some gems here.
We've covered our thoughts on in-app purchases in the past, specifically parents who go after Apple because their kids ran up huge bills after they were able to buy all manner of things in-game - often racking up huge bills, we’ll even go as far as saying ‘ridiculous bills’. Whilst many people have little sympathy for such parents, that didn't stop approximately 23 million people taking to the courts over the matter.
Apple is closing in on the monumental milestone of 50 billion app downloads through its celebrated iTunes App Store, and to mark the occasion, the Cupertino giant has compiled a list of the all time most-downloaded free apps, as well as the bestselling paid offerings. On top of that, the lucky downloader of the 50 billionth app will receive a whopping $10,000 in App Store credit, and even though most the guys here at Redmond Pie get through several app purchases on an almost daily basis, even we would struggle to use up all that glorious credit.
Facebook's Poke app has taken the App Store by storm, and in less than a day, already sits aloft the iTunes Free app chart. The app, which, in essence, is a chat app with a few twists, only just released for iPhone, but already, has become the most popular free on the App Store.
The App Store as grown at incredible rate since its inception, yet while the exponential growth is well-documented within the mobile industry, even the activity of the past twelve months is of incredible interest. There are few more entertaining ways of viewing statistics than the colorful illustration of the infographic, and Appsfire has duly provided with an easy-to-digest round-up of the year's App Store activity. Here, we assess their findings.
It's difficult to remember what the iPhone was like before the App Store even existed. Back in 2007 when the original iPhone was launched, the App Store didn't exist, and the only way to extend the functionality of the device was performing a jailbreak to install and run unapproved third-party applications and games. Apple quickly cottoned on to the extraordinary potential of an app marketplace and launched their official App Store in 2008, with it now being made known that one million different apps have been approved for download through the store in the last four years.
