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Posts tagged with "app store"

The iPad: 50,000 Apps In 8 Months

The iPad was released on April 3rd in the United States. That was 257 days ago. The iPad App Store, launched on the same day, now has over 50,000 apps. It’s got 51,295 apps to be exact, at the moment of writing this. It only took 8 months for Apple to reach this milestone, but it’s been kind of an unstoppable growth.

In the past months, in fact, we have seen how the iPad App Store was growing to accommodate more apps every month. 10,000 apps in June. 20,000 apps in August. Then, more than 40,000 apps only 24 days ago, when iOS 4.2 was released to the public. We can argue that the App Store (for iPad and iPhone) is increasingly becoming a place for games, rather than standard “apps”, but still – these are the numbers. And even if using and getting a device to fit in our daily lives has really nothing to do with numbers, this is an achievement Apple is going to rely on for months to come.

50,000 apps available for the iPad isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Thinking about the Mac apps ready to go on sale in another App Store.

Developers, Submit Your Mac Apps By December 31

With the Mac App Store now officially launching on January 6, it’s no surprise Apple has put a deadline for developers to submit their Mac apps. If you’re a developer and you’d like to have your app ready for the grand opening of the new Store, you’ll have to submit it by December 31.

Submissions for Mac apps opened on November 4th. The first public rejections are already in, and it will be interesting to see what kind of apps will be featured by the official opening of the Mac App Store.

The Mac App Store Will Open On January 6

Apple just announced that the Mac App Store will officially open on January 6. It will be available in 90 countries at launch, and will be based on the simple purchase / download model introduced with the App Store in 2008. The Mac App Store will be available as a free download in Software Update for Snow Leopard users, which suggests that Mac OS X 10.6.6 might be available the same day.

Previous reports confirmed that developers will be able to use the same app names across the iOS and Mac App Store, won’t be able to submit demos and trials and won’t have the possibility to generate promo codes for Mac apps.

Press release below.

Read more

Lots Of Great iOS Games Coming Out Tonight

Today’s a great day for iOS games, just like last week when Infinity Blade and a bunch of other big names came out in the App Store. And it’s no surprise that right ahead of Christmas iOS users get to download the best gems of the year – who doesn’t want to spend the holiday season relaxing and playing games on a possibly new, shiny iPad?

Most of all, tomorrow will be the last Thursday before the iTunes Connect holiday shut down, when developers (from Dec. 23 to Dec. 28) won’t be able to submit apps and updates or change the price of their existing apps in the Store. Basically, everyone is rushing to get games approved and available before the 23rd.

Already available in the New Zealand store (time zone differences, you know) and coming out in about 14 hours in the U.S. App Store, the following games will be ready to be installed on your devices tomorrow morning. The links you’ll find in this post point to the New Zealand, but you’ll be able to find these games in the U.S. store later today. Read more

Google Latitude App Back In The App Store, You Can Download It This Time

Well, that didn’t take long for Google. After last week’s mysterious appearance in some international App Store and a rapid removal minutes after that, the official Google Latitude app is here and it’s available in the US, too.

The Google Latitude app allows you to automatically share your location in the background using iOS 4, or tweak the privacy settings in-app and decide to manually your location, and share it only with some people. The app features Retina Display-ready graphics and it even comes with pull-to-refresh in the main screen to update your friends’ location. Guess Loren Brichter’s gesture gained a few fans over time. Google Latitude also enables you to add friends via email address, from your iPhone or Google Address Book and browse “suggested friends”.

Google Latitude is free and available here. If the app doesn’t show up in iTunes yet, download it via the App Store on your device.

Almost 2,000 Game Center Games Available In The App Store

Game Center, the social gaming network Apple introduced with iOS 4.1 in September and iOS 4.2 for iPad a few weeks ago, is not doing bad. After a quick search in the App Store, I noticed that Apple has almost 2,000 games ready for Game Center – 1917 to be exact.

In fact, the App Store contains two specific sections to showcase Game Center games for iPad and iPhone: 517 apps are available for iPad, 1400 for iPhone. That’s not too bad, considering that Game Center has been around for a few months. Read more

Apple Bans Charity Donations in iPhone Apps

Apple has banned charity donations on its iPhone apps, and nonprofit organizations that rely on monetary gifts to help them with their causes claim this could hurt their business, according to a recent New York Times report.


According to the article, people who use the iPhone apps created by charities or organizations cannot donate money directly through the application, they are re-directed to the organization’s website.

“When you’re popped out of an app, you then have to go through a whole bunch of clicks to make a donation,” Beth Kanter, CEO of consulting firm for nonprofits Zoetica, told the Times. “It’s cumbersome and it doesn’t have to be.”

She plans on replacing her iPhone with an Android device, which allows app users to donate directly through apps. Kanter has started an online petition to get the attention of Apple to convince them a policies change.

An Apple spokesperson declined to explain Apple’s reasoning for this ban but told the NY Times, “We are proud to have many applications on our App Store which accept charitable donations via their Web sites.”

Earlier this year, after the earthquake in Haiti, Apple asked for donations for the American Red Cross through iTunes, establishing what some considered as a model for iPhone-assisted donations. That increased speculation that the real issue was money.

Apple takes 30 percent of purchases made from the App Store, and that would be frowned upon if it were to be taken out of a charitable donation.

I can understand why Apple won’t let charity donations work through iPhone apps  - they set a precedent in their rules and if you bend it for one group, how many others will also try something similar. A few extra taps aren’t going to ruin your experience or busy day.

[via The New York Times]

No In-App Purchases and Game Center In The Mac App Store

Looks like the Mac App Store is going to be quite different from the iOS model we’ve gotten used to in these past two years. Yesterday we broke the news that developers won’t be able to generate promo codes for Mac apps sold though the new Store (even if they’ve gone international for all users), today 9to5mac reports that in-app purchases and Game Center won’t find their way to Jobs’ latest reinvention of the Mac software environment, either.

Mark Gurman notes:

Apple has informed App Store developers that two major iOS app store features will not make their way ‘back to the mac.’

Note: In app purchases are not available for Mac OS X apps.

Note: Game Center is not available for Mac OS X apps.

As we wrote yesterday, Apple is clearly aiming at a simple purchase experience similar to the iOS App Store, but with less features than the mobile counterpart. Perhaps they don’t want Mac users to feel overwhelmed with new functionalities such as in-app purchases? Maybe they didn’t have time to implement them by the 2011 opening?

Still, we think Game Center on the desktop would be great. And terrible for our productivity.

Here’s A Way To Keep The App Store App From Closing When Downloading Apps

On the iPhone and iPad, every time you search for an app inside the on-device App Store and click the buy button to download it, the App Store app closes and you’re brought back to the homescreen. For most iOS users, that’s simply wrong: many would like a way to keep pressing the Buy button and “queue” downloads without having to re-open the App Store app every single time.

StayOpened is a new tweak available for free in Cydia that, when activated, modifies the App Store’s default behavior to stay opened even after pressing the Buy button. Simple as that, the download goes in the background and the app will be saved on your homescreen.

Next up, a proper App Store download manager?