Posts Tagged ‘iTunes’

The Top 40 iPhone Apps of 2010

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

The iTunes App Store is huge. More than 300,000 apps huge. I’ve watched this monster start from nothing and turn into a billion-dollar industry in only a few short years. We’ve been approaching this point for some time now, but it’s more apparent than ever that app exposure is of critical importance. A healthy majority of iOS app users discover new applications directly from their device as opposed to using iTunes. If you look specifically at the iPhone, the amount of real estate for discovery is only available to a very small percentage of the total apps.

There are currently 20 overall categories, with Games offering an additional 20 subcategories. Each subcategory is broken into three lists and displays a max of 100 apps on the iPhone. Throw in a small number from the Top 25 and Featured lists and you wind up with roughly 12,000 apps being shown at one time. This works out to only about 4% of all apps that receive visibility. One can browse beyond this number on iTunes, but that quickly becomes an overwhelming, laborious task.

The expectation is that the market will dictate an app’s worth, but it doesn’t always work out that way. If you look at the top lists, they are littered with clones, cheap knockoffs and impulse grabs. Ninety-nine cent buys are just too tempting. Without proper exposure (and potentially more appropriate pricing schemes), many truly great apps never see the light of day.

With that said, I’ve compiled what I believe to be the best apps that have come out this year. Some got well-deserved exposure, while others were lost in the shuffle. The difficult part of assembling a “best of” list is striking a balance between apps with mainstream appeal and those with real innovation. There are a number of factors that took place in the selection (such as the merits of an app itself, not just the usefulness of an established service it utilizes) and not every good app could make the cut. (more…)

Will Apple Debut Cheaper iPhone at WWDC?

Friday, June 5th, 2009

A $99 iPhone may finally become a reality — with the key word there being “may.” A report published in the Financial Times on Friday reignited the long-standing rumor of a cheaper iPhone, suggesting Apple will announce a lower-priced, scaled-back device at its Worldwide Developers Conference next week.

Of course, the rumor may or may not prove to be accurate. Talk of a cheaper entry-level iPhone dates back to 2007, when word of an “iPhone Nano” first started floating around the tech blogosphere. Back then, analysts said the inexpensive iPhone would certainly hit store shelves by that year’s holiday season. (more…)

Apple Releases iTunes 8.2 With iPhone 3.0 Support

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Apple is expected to release iPhone 3.0 out of beta at its upcoming World Wide Developers Conference.

By Antone Gonsalves From InformationWeek

Apple on Monday released iTunes 8.2 with support for iPhone 3.0, an indication that the latest smartphone operating system will be generally available soon.
While Apple has not made any official announcements, there’s been lots of speculation on the Web that Apple could release iPhone 3.0 out of beta at the World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco next week. The iTunes support makes that scenario more likely.

Apple has been gradually preparing the industry of iPhone 3.0. Last month, the company told developers it would only accept for the App Store programs compatible for the upcoming OS.
Apple introduced iPhone 3.0 in March. Currently in beta, the software introduces a number of consumer-oriented features, including cut and paste, multimedia text capabilities and a universal search function. In addition, it opens the door for more innovative and lucrative apps by enabling in-app purchasing, peer-to-peer multiplayer capabilities and apps with third-party hardware.

Along with the iPhone 3.0 support, iTunes 8.2 also includes bug fixes and better security. The latter involves improved bounds checking to prevent a stack buffer overflow that could result in application termination or arbitrary code execution, Apple said.

Along with iPhone 3.0, Apple is also expected to use the WWDC to focus on the new version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is not expected to participate in the opening keynote. Kicking off the San Francisco event will be a team of execs led by Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide product marketing.