IPhone news and information

Archive for October, 2011

iLounge

2012 iPhone + iPod Buyers' Guide iLounge If you're thinking of buying an iPhone or iPod over the next year, start with our recommendations. A complete comparison between the rear cameras of every iPhone model, the iPod touch 4G, and popular standalone digital cameras. ... iLounge Debuts Massive 2012 iPhone + iPod Buyers' GuideMarketWatch (press release) Bigasoft iPod Transfer Updated to Support iTunes 10.5 and iOS 5SBWire (press release) all 17 news articles »

The latest Flurry report has an interesting insight for app developers. Over the last few years, as apps have gained more and more attention and users, discovery has been one of the biggest issues developers face: Most devs spend a lot of their time post-release just trying to tell as many people as possible about their app, so they can actually find it in the store and buy it. But Flurry now says that because of the growing amount of tools out there for app discovery, the biggest problem faced by apps isn't getting found anymore. It's trying to get customers to stick around.

As you can see above, app user retention drops off sharply after the first month of usage, and only gets worse from there. Based on my own experience, I can agree with this assessment -- while I probably use more apps than the average consumer, even my favorite apps really only hold my attention for a few weeks at the most before I find something else I really like and move on. That's not a judgment on app quality -- there are just so many apps out there and apps always coming out and dropping in price and going free that there's always something shinier to move on to, no matter how great the app is.

Especially with models like freemium, app retention becomes more and more important for developers. Presumably, then, the next tools developers need should not only work towards discovery (things like Game Center and OpenFeint have helped immensely with this kind of thing), but also should be aimed towards keeping users interested in the apps they have. The new Notification Center may help with something like that, or maybe a "Recently Used" folder on your iOS device, that pushes you back to apps you've used lately. It's fascinating to see that as the app ecosystem grows and ages, developers are facing new and different problems reaching users.

Report: iOS and Android apps fighting for retention, not discovery originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AnandTech

Apple iPhone 4S: Thoroughly Reviewed AnandTech Leading to each year's iPhone refresh, excitement, rumors, and hype build to a fever pitch, features and designs are added into an increasingly unrealistic combination, and finally everyone is silenced at the device's eventual unveiling. ... iPhone 5 Release Date: Unlocked iPhone 4S Now AvailableChristian Post Unlocked iPhone 4S goes on sale worldwideIntoMobile all 3 news articles »

China Mobile Skirts Apple to Add 5 Million IPhone Users: Tech BusinessWeek The world's biggest carrier by subscribers touts the iPhone 4 in advertisements on the Beijing subway and in its shops, and offers gift cards worth as much as 2800 yuan ($441) to customers prepaying for Wi-Fi service to surf the Web. ... and more »

Bloomberg

China Mobile Skirts Apple to Add 5M IPhone Users Bloomberg By Bloomberg News - Mon Oct 31 22:59:42 GMT 2011 A subway passenger speaks on a mobile phone near a sign advertising China Mobile Ltd.'s promotion for Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4. A subway passenger speaks on a mobile phone near a sign advertising China ... Apple's 2012 iPhone 4S China Debut To Help Lift The Stock To $510Forbes Analyst: CDMA iPhone Coming to China Telecom in 2012The Mac Observer China moves past 100M 3G users, seen as "enormous opportunity" for AppleApple Insider all 6 news articles »

iPhone/Android: We're rather fond of RunKeeper, a free app for keeping track of distance traveled while running and cycling, but one problem it had was that it continued logging your time even if you'd stop at a light or to tie your shoe. A new update fixes that and adds some new features. More »

Boo! No, that's not your doorbell ringing again, that's HTC popping out of nowhere in order to toss a Nah-nah-nah-boo-boo in the direction of Samsung and Apple. Just days after Strategy Analytics published a global smartphone shipment report for Q3 2011, Canalys -- another formidable name in the sector -- has pushed out a report of its own. Not surprisingly, the global figures line up almost precisely with what we'd already heard, with Samsung's Q3 numbers rising above those from Apple, Nokia and the rest of the industry. The difference here, however, is the focal point on the US of A. Here in the States, Taiwan's own HTC is pulling rank; the aforesaid handset maker edged out Apple and Samsung by shipping 5.7 million smartphones.

All told, it owned "around a quarter of the market," with Samsung (4.9 million) claiming the second spot and Apple (4.6 million) pulling in for the bronze. Conspicuously absent from the leader board? RIM, which saw its volume decline 58 percent from a year ago and its US market share sink from 24 percent in Q3 2010 to just 9 percent this quarter. Our take? HTC (and Samsung, from a global perspective) best enjoy it while the quarter lasts -- as soon as the iPhone 4S and Nokia's spate of Windows Phone devices start figuring in, we're guessing that the top spots will be completely up for grabs all over again.

Continue reading Canalys: HTC nips Apple, Samsung to become top smartphone vendor in US for Q3 2011

Canalys: HTC nips Apple, Samsung to become top smartphone vendor in US for Q3 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhones. iPads. Android. Windows Phone 7. We've updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps. Check them out! More »

Touch Arcade has some good and bad news for fans of classic PC RPGs out there. The bad news is that the expected Elite Collection (which was set to come out last week and round up some of old developer Elite Systems' best games on iOS, has been delayed due to some rights issues. One of the companies involved that had previously agreed to share its games decided instead to claim a trademark at the last minute, which will hold up the process for a while, perhaps only a week or two.

The good news, however, is that that extra time will allow the folks behind the apps to add in some extra titles, which TA presumes are some really amazing Interplay games, including The Bard's Tale and the great RPG Wasteland. That would be awesome -- almost all of Interplay's old titles are classics, and it'd be great to get those up and running on iOS devices.

We'll see -- Elite is still working on getting everything together, but as I said, news should be out in the next couple of weeks. Here's hoping iOS gamers get their hands on this great collection soon.

Classic Elite, Interplay titles coming to iOS originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com.

Anyone who caught the series premiere of Grimm, NBC's new fairy-tale-and-crime-procedural would have seen another sort of unearthly fusion: a Palm Pre device ringing like an iPhone. The phone then switches to the typical webOS interface we've long admired, picking up reception on AT&T along the way. We're torn over whether they're using a Pre 2 or another Palm family member, though the screen looks too dinky for it to be the mythical Pre 3. But in a world of monster hunters and big bad wolves, we guess anything's possible.

[Thanks, Ben]

Screen Grabs: Palm Pre-iPhone hybrid appears on Grimm, doesn't look half bad originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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