Superphone is RIM’s (Research in Motion) next effort of a Smartphone. The Superphone will have a fully touch-sensitive screen as well as a thin sleek design and not to mention “rich in both power and efficiency”. It will be released later on this year. But will this specific device rebrand RIM and bring the company back to the top? And could the release of the iPhone 5 be an obstacle to the device’s success on the market?
Can BlackBerry 10 Smartphone keep RIM afloat?
Apple shipped 488 million iPhones in 2011. Consider that market when determining which platform to consider. Apple reclaims No.1 smartphone spot in Q4.
The Amazon Kindle has sold over 4 million units in December 2011, giving Amazon nearly a third of all Android tablet market share. Of course, there are by fare more iPads in use, but the Kindle Fire is another platform to consider when designing and developing apps for tablets.
Kindle Fire dwarfs other Android tablets in market share after just three months.
Thanks to Gustavo Ambroso for releasing his library on Github. This blog posts explains his idea and implementation of code for new iOS alert and action sheet UI.
The CodeCropper » Replicating TweetBot’s Alerts and Action Sheets.
An excellent example for developers who need to make minor changes to much larger apps. This is very similar to what Pop Cap (Bejeweled) and Zenga (Words with Friends) have used to make their changes.
Here’s a quick summary of what you’ll want to know if you want to do some iBooks 2.0 publishing:
– The iBooks creator itself is free, but you’ll need to install Mac OS X Lion to use it (so yes, no Windows support !).
– You don’t need a developer account and there is no up front cost to publish on iBooks.
– Apple takes the same 30% cut as with apps.
– You will need ISBN numbers for the books you want to distribute.
– This is not a replacement for a word processor, but you can import easily from both Pages and Word. You do get many text formatting options so once you’ve written your content you can format it in iBooks Author.
– You can implant shapes, text, tables, and charts just like you can in the iWork line of apps.
– You can program custom widgets using HTML/Javascript using Dashcode, and import them Dashcode files into iBooks creator so your programming skills still have a place . (time to dig up those old widgets!)
– There is a widget for touch controlled 3D models and the preferred format is OpenCollada.
– Apple provides some custom other widgets allowing you to easily embed a slick touch enabled image gallery, movies or audio, quiz style questions, Keynote presentations, and interactive images.
– You’ll need an iPad to preview the books you’ve created.
– iBooks creator can export beautiful PDF’s, but the PDFs are watermarked with an Apple iBooks stamp.
– Published books are quite large and can be up to 2.0 GB so you probably should have bought the iPad with the bigger storage!
This open source library has been available for some time, and should be considered as an easy “drop-in” set of sharing features.
MasterCard has created an app that allows users to look at a menu, order, and pay without moving from your seat. This new app is still in testing but if this app passes this would revolutionize the way movie theaters concession. This technology will not only let users order from their seat, app developers can create apps for restaurants and fast food chains.
MasterCard’s QkR mobile payment system enters trial in Australia – Engadget.
Google has changed its privacy policy allowing Google to take information from almost all of a persons Google services (Gmail, Picasa, YouTube, and Google Search. This policy applies to anyone who has a Google account, so basically anyone who has an android device. This means that mobile developers will either embrace this new policy and take advantage of the information that Google is using, or developers will limit the types and amount of information to protect its users privacy.
With the craze of smart-phones, businesses are beginning to realize what great marketing tools mobile applications can be. But at the same time business that are breaking into the app world are expecting an instant return on an investment in mobile applications. However this is not always the case, this article delves into the reasonable expectations of a business’s investment in a mobile application for business branding.
Check out the article here.
WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Mobile app development can be used for branding of your business. As Smartphones are gaining popularity, the demand for various mobile apps is also increasing.
The Smartphones have open up new areas to be visited by firms and even with the fast growth of the business branding market, it can be said that the true prospective of Smartphones on the market is not comprehended as yet. The surge of gaming market has elite the promotion professionals to use social gaming to set up company popularity. Marketing information are often sent along with the programs and games in a simple way so that clients get the concept, but not irritated by it. When enterprise manufacturers recognized that long-term company technique can be established with mobile applications, the mobile app development obtained size.
How To Lower The Mobile App Development Price To Increase ROI?
The websites are significantly enjoying mobile phone devices as app shops are relatively easy to set-up by devoted designers and mobile phone clients are used to buying from mobile apps shops immediately. Rather than basically avoiding at mobile enhanced websites, now firms want to take one big step ahead and create mobile apps. Just because it is possible, you should not just hurry into a mobile app development company and ask that you need a business app.
The practical knowledge provided by mobile programs is completely different from a mobile website. Apps are highly entertaining and mobile app development features most advanced technology to create programs that really interact with the clients. There is no refusal that your clients will be provided a greater buyer with an amazing new app. However, the price of such an app should be considered before selecting designers to activate on it.
Mobile app development is not affordable. Most entrepreneurs basically think about producing an iPhone app. Even though iPhone is a great mobile phone, there are other mobile phones out there that are still used by an incredible number of clients. If you are just going to focus on iPhone clients with your app, you will just lose an incredible number of clients. At the same time, cross-platform programs are not a solution for all firms. Developing programs that work properly in all systems is very difficult and it certainly happens upon more cost. Experts recommend that you do your research and discover out which phone your prospective visitors like to use. You can then create mobile apps for that foundation and then later discover designers to slot the applying to other systems.
If you want to use http://www.shahdeepinternational.com/mobile/index.php mobile app development for business branding, you should understand that the app may not produce immediate earnings. Again, this will depend upon the objective of your app and if it is another app store to sell products, then, it will earn extra earnings. The revenue can’t be confirmed because you can’t control how popular your enterprise app becomes. If the app developed is revolutionary and useful, gradually, mobile phone clients will begin to use it. So, before low into producing an app for your enterprise, you should consider long-term benefits and then decide only if you are ready to wait around to get the comeback
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An online tool that allows the everyday technology user to have the capabilities to create their own applications for mobile devices. There must be some flaws right? Well as of now the recently launched tool “Everyone Apps” seems to be the solution to reduce expensive application development fees for the professionals. This tool allows for the development of professional level applications for multiple platforms.
Check out the Article here.
PRESS RELEASE
Jan. 26, 2012, 9:15 a.m. EST
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, Jan 26, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Bitzio, Inc. (“Bitzio” or “the Company”)BTZO +18.75% has launched Everyone Apps(TM), a new online tool that makes it easy for anyone – from app developers to consumers with no programming experience – to quickly and easily create professional quality mobile applications on multiple platforms.
Everyone Apps is completely new and unique in the area of mobile application builders as it provides a simple and user-friendly mechanism to build apps that have sophisticated back end coding and graphics. With Bitzio’s new online tool, virtually anyone can create a professional, top quality app. Everyone Apps provides the opportunity for ‘everyone’ to build multiple mobile applications on various platforms.
“This is a major product development milestone for Bitzio,” said Amish Shah, the Company’s Chief Product Officer. “We created Everyone Apps in response to overwhelming requests from our online community for something everyone could use to actually build an app before harnessing the power of Bitzio’s unique marketing algorithms.”
Everyone Apps was launched as a limited release on January 21, 2012 to subscribers of Bitzio’s Appcode, an educational series and step-by-step program for app developers on how to develop a sustainable mobile application business. Within 30 minutes of the online launch of Everyone Apps, several new apps were created. In its first 48 hours alone, Everyone Apps was used to build 80 new, high quality apps for the iPhone and Android platforms.
Everyone Apps is one of the first major tools in the rollout of the Bitzio platform; a suite of tools, processes and methodologies that enables app developers to create, market and monetize their apps.
“Our international development team worked extremely hard and effectively together to refine this tool for app developers, creating over 600 new apps for Bitzio in the process,” said Shah. “We continue to improve Everyone Apps as we receive valuable feedback from our limited release community and are excited about the product’s incredible potential. We look forward to the next stage as we get ready to release this new and unique online tool on a global scale.”
About Bitzio, Inc.
Bitzio’s mission is to help mobile app developers get the full potential of their mobile apps by increasing consumer reach, conversion rates and bottom line profitability. Bitzio’s strategic arsenal of methodologies and technologies allows mobile app developers to quickly develop, market and monetize their apps. Our goal is to be responsible for the download of 1 billion apps by 2014. For more information on the company, visit us at www.bitzio.com . To learn more about Bitzio, watch our new video.
Bitzio and Everyone Apps are trademarks of Bitzio, Inc. All other companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities laws, including statements relating to earnings expectations for the 4th quarter and the full fiscal year; The terms and phrases “goal”, “commitment”, “guidance”, “expects”, “would”, “will”, “continuing”, “drive”, “believes”, “indicate”, “look forward”, “grow”, “outlook”, “forecasts”, and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by Bitzio in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that Bitzio believes are appropriate in the circumstances, including but not limited to general economic conditions, Bitzio’s expectations regarding its business, strategy and prospects, and Bitzio’s confidence in the cash flow generation of its business. Many factors could cause Bitzio’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to competition; Bitzio’s reliance on key personnel; Bitzio’s ability to maintain and enhance its brand; and difficulties in forecasting Bitzio’s financial results, particularly over longer periods given the rapid technological changes, competition and short product life cycles that characterize the mobile application industry. These risk factors and others relating to Bitzio that may cause actual results to differ are set forth Bitzio’s periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (copies of which filings may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov ). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on Bitzio’s forward-looking statements. Bitzio has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Contacts:
For Investor Inquiries:
Mark Bernhard
Capital Group Communications, Inc.
415.332.7200
mark@cgcone.com
For Media Inquiries:
Phoebe Yong
Magnolia Communications
604.760.3085
phoebe@magnoliamc.com
SOURCE: Bitzio, Inc.
mailto:mark@cgcone.com
mailto:phoebe@magnoliamc.com
Copyright 2012 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.
Looks like we’re pretty lucky as FSU is a little ahead of the curve! Lenovo, as part of their social responsibility initiative to encourage student interest in subjects relating to science, technology, engineering and math, provided a package of technology products to each school, including Android-based ThinkPad Tablets and large format ThinkCentre HD All-in-One desktops, among other items. Mobile technology is the future; so then, so are we.
Android has some creative ideas to increase usability and make their products more of a passion to it’s users by making each experience a personal pleasure navigated with ease.
Hewlett-Packard yesterday announced the open source roadmap for its beleaguered mobile platform webOS. This is HP’s last-ditch attempt to actually turn webOS into a viable product after it acquired Palm in April 2010. Palm’s problem was that the mobile Web was not ready for devices. We are just now starting to see the problems facing mobile Web apps being addressed through the HTML5 spec such as CSS and rendering along with caching and device access to elements like the camera and accelerometer. What it may boil down to is this: Palm may have been ahead of its time with webOS, but it fell behind the times when the native app environment exploded. With the coming wave of HTML5 mobile Web apps, the time for webOS to shine may come again. http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2012/01/a-time-to-shine-for-webos.php
HTML5 Please is a new site that allows you to look up HTML5, CSS3, etc features, know if they are ready for use, and if so find out how you should use them – with polyfills, fallbacks or as they are.
Google is telling Android developers to stop using its Menu button and begin using the Action Bar that was introduced with the Android 3.0 Honeycomb release. Scott Main, lead tech writer for devloper.android.com said, “In order to provide the most intuitive and consistent user experience in your apps, you should migrate your designs away from using the Menu button and toward using the action bar. This isn’t a new concept—
A new security app, created by McAfee is now on the Android Market. The App Protection interprets how apps handle your personal and private data, and tells you whether those app permissions are risky, but fails to tell you what to do about those risks. It also features a new call and text-messaging filter that blocks calls and texts from numbers that the user inputs. Many of it’s features that have carried over from the previous version. The app also includes anti-theft guards, unauthorized SIM replacement notification, phone locate and tracking, uninstall prevention, and an online management Web site that allows for full interaction with the McAfee interaction. The full app is available for a free seven day trial, and after that you are hit with a $29.99 one-year license fee.
Mobile security app from McAfee hits 2.0 | The Download Blog – Download.com.
A dead batter is every smart phone owners worst nightmare, but as of today they wont have a reason to be afraid anymore, at least if they are an android user. All thanks to the release of the Droid Razr Maxx, the phone is basically the same as previous with additions to a thicker surface to contaminate more battery life. Verizon and Motorola are saying that it can get users through almost a full day even if they’ve been talking on the phone that entire time! It’s unreal to see 21 hours of talk time in a phone. Some of us are happy to get less than half, these days so it’s remarkable that they’re been able to do this without compromising the thinness of the device. It’ll be $300 out the store home with it but the original is a fantastic dual-core 4.3 inch phone that has pretty OK software.
This is great for society because it can play a role in energy cuts which may create a better environment, this would be great for the people whole are not able to access chargers as much due to responsibilities and other personal issues. Now Android developers dont have to fear their users running out of power from their apps. They can now build apps without the fear of killing the users battery life. With these capabilities possibilities are endless coming soon…
HTC Sense 4.0 hands-on report reveals new features for HTC’s custom UI
This IS NOT a disruptive technology.
This adds to the field of mobile tech development because HTC designs their own custom UI’s for all of their android handsets (known as “HTC Sense UI”). This UI is often customized further by the community and tweaked for speed. Some of the new and most important features HTC has announced for “HTC Sense 4.0” are…
-Landscape support for the home screen
-Lockscreen will directly be able to display task or to-do lists, favorite contacts and direct access to the notification bar
-Full DropBox integration with 50GB free storage
Though there are more features, these are three worth mentioning. Landscape mode is HUGE for sense as that has always been missing and sought after greatly. The lockscreen changes will change the amount of swipes/gestures and time that it takes to access a few main aspects of the device. Finally, the perk of having 50gb of free storage on DropBox is sure to bring smiles to the faces of all Sense users.
I do feel that this could have an economic impact on the mobile market. I think HTC devices will become more popular and gain market share with the announcement of “Sense 4.0”, in part because of the features, but also because HTC seems to be one of the most community friendly manufacturers for Android handsets, even offering an incentive of 50GB free storage to the users. Bravo HTC.
The Lytro point-and shoot box camera, seemed to draw the intest of the former CEO Steve Jobs. Sources say that Jobs was “interested” in the technology, this alone could be enough to speculate that the technology may make its way into future generations of iDevies. Sources from a new book by Fortune Magazine’s Adam Lashinsky titled, Inside Apple. Confirm that Jobs met with Lytro inventor and CEO Ren Ng to discuss about the possibilities of using Lytro technology in an iPhone. Lytro “whole light field” camera, that contains an f/2 aperture and an 8x optical zoom lens, captures all the light rays flowing in its direction instead of fixed focus pixels. This will allow you to take photos whenever you want and you can focus on anything from the scene at a later point in time. Though this may sound impressive the first generation only allowed to to shoot in 1mpx with future there are many possibilites in the future.
This will allow more more detailed photos of mobile users,. this could be a good thing at times when a sharp images capture is needed. This will enable developers to build more powerful apps to capture video and camera footage. Because of this less powerful digital camera sales may decline due to the intense capabilities of mobile technology. Although this combination is not expected soon the future brings the two closer together.
Google: The Menu button is dead and that’s a good thing.
This is not a disruptive technology
This DOES add to the field of mobile tech development because this changes everything in terms of how apps are designed on Android devices. Not havnig a physical menu button on the phone itself ,means that app developers will all now be building apps that will need some sort of on-screen navigation. My best guess would be that the Android SDK would be updated to include some sort of uniform and consistent UI style for the in app buttons.
This DOES change the economic state of mobile technology…who knows how some apps may do once switching or how some carriers may respond to this news. Will they continue to put the MENU button on the phone regardless? Any of these ideas could have an economic impact.
Veracode Inc., a leader in cloud-based application security testing, detailed recent updates to the Veracode platform. Primary updates include a redesigned platform administration interface and data export capabilities to provide customers with better access to information and intelligence about their application security program.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120126005647/en/Veracode-Expands-Android-Mobile-App-Testing-Support
Android developer plans alternative app store for banned apps
Kousik Dutta, a developer for Android, has decided to create an app store exclusively for banned app from the Android Market. This banned app store will be available to users of Cyanogenmod which is a version of Android accessible to users that have rooted their device. There are a lot of copyright laws and patents that deal with banned apps so this will be a big issue for the app store to overcome and be successful.
This article states the obvious fact that information today is becoming more and more easily accessible to hackers and people wanting your private information. It’s so much easier now to take someone’s personal information because most everyone carries around their smartphone (or regular cell phone) wherever they go, which is like a mini computer filled with personal info.
Some ways to prevent hackers are to yank your battery out, not reply to suspicious texts or emails, and only buy apps from known vendors.
A team of hacker groups have recently figured out how to jailbreak the new iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. The reason people jailbreak their devices in the first place is to run non-Apple-approved software on their devices. It is also not illegal. There are also risks when you jailbreak your device. Jailbreaking voids the Apple warranty and allows software that may make the device unusable.
On Thursday, Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc announced a sales setback in the 4th quarter, mirroring preliminary numbers that the company released three weeks ago. This announcement will affect Google shareholders more than those of Motorola because of a deal the two companies reached last summer. Google has agreed to pay $40 per share for Motorola’s vast patent portfolio, as well as its devices. Motorola Mobility may become a financial millstone that could drag down Google’s earnings growth. If that happens, Google’s stock price may suffer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/motorola-mobility-sinks-to-4q-loss-on-flat-revenue-posing-possible-headaches-for-google/2012/01/26/gIQALGmuTQ_story.html
Valve released a beta version of Steam Mobile for iOS and Android devices, which can be obtained on their respective markets. To gain access to the beta, users must log in with their Steam account on the mobile app and then enter an activation code on their Steam client on their PC or Mac. This app allows Steam users to chat with friends and purchase games for their PC or Macs on the go. This app is an example of the expansion of mobile e-commerce, and Valve wants to take advantage of always being able to sell something to their users.
IHS analyst Francis Sideco believes that by 2015, Windows Phone will surpass the iPhone and become second, only to Android, in OS market share. This would come as a result of Nokia, the world’s largest phone manufacturer, turning the tides for Microsoft in the mobile operating system war with their adoption of Windows Phone 7. At the moment, WP7’s marketplace is in a distant third with the amount of apps available, but is slowly growing. If the ownership rates of WP7 increases dramatically over the next couple of years, growth of the marketplace would follow.
Just two years ago the US Copyright Office declared jailbreaking (hacking a device to run software or programs that the original device was never intended to run) legal but now an exemption is set to expire which would make jailbreaking illegal again.
The EEF believes that “[Jailbreaking] is important to programmers, enthusiasts, and users. But jailbreaking creates legal uncertainty. Some device manufacturers claim that jailbreaking violates Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), which carries stiff penalties.”
If the petition to extend the coverage of jailbroken smartphones and tablets fails it could mean bad news to app developers who do business on alternative appstores like Cydia.
The most recent release of Ruby on Rails, a framework for developing web applications that is often used for building web apps that dynamically change layout based on the device and browser they run on, is faster than previous versions. The biggest appeal of the new version is the improvement made to developer mode that allows a program to reload only the most recent changes made to an application rather than reloading the entire application every time it is tested. This makes testing and development in Ruby on Rails significantly quicker.
A source from Apple supplier Foxconn says that the new iPhone will most likely have a 4 inch screen at the very least and could be released as early as this summer. Considering Apple addicts’ disappointment that the barely enhanced iPhone 4S came out last year instead of the iPhone 5, the release of an iPhone with a larger screen could potentially be Apple’s most successful yet and further increase the size of the ever-growing horde of AppStore users.
According to early reports, Apple sold more iPhone 4S devices than *all* Android sales *combined* in Q4 of 2011. That’s just absolutely staggering. Software engineers and project managers should closely consider which platforms when debating app development, especially when targeting a specific audience. Q4 iPhone sales reportedly topped all Android phones combined.
The newest Android OS has been released but what makes it different from the current? This new Android OS titled ICECREAM is a combination of the gingerbread version used on current android phones and the honeycomb series used on tablets. This new update once available to all android phones will make touch phones more interactive. The battle that android faces with Apple OS is the cool interface features versus the standard Apple OS look. I think the addition of the Android ICECREAM will had more competition between the two. As far as economically, honestly if your phone is not programmed with Apple OS or Android, then you might as well burn it, because they’ll really be no competition…..HPWeb iOS <==:(
http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/android-4-0-ice-cream-sandwich-review/
Within the next year, the Android OS will become the preferred platform among mobile developers according to data gathered by the research firm Ovum. Even though Android will become the new favorite, almost all developers will continue do develop for both platforms. They also went on to say that there has been increased interest in the less popular operating system Windows Phone which means Microsoft has been able to convince developers to take another look at its OS. Another interesting fact the article mentioned was that developers now prefer the HTML5 standard over Java and Flash when making a cross-platform applications.
Amazon Fire Takes Android While Leaving Google Apps Behind
Many consumers probably don’t know that the Kindle Fire which is valued to be the best-selling Android tablet is even an Android tablet. Amazon.com Inc. is using Android as a stepping stone for their devices, by passing preloaded applications such as Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube that produce ad revenue for Google, including its app store. Amazon uses its own app store versus Google’s Android Marketplace.
The iPhone Economy – Interactive Feature – NYTimes.com.
An interesting view from the NYT regarding the state of the economy as it relates to highly-skilled workers.
According to IHS (Information Handling Services), apps that are downloadable for free in the AppStore or Marketplace that sell downloadable content such as in-game cash, upgrades, and new levels may end up making more money than other apps in the long run.
The IMT Advanced Spectrum was just announced by the International Telecommunications Union. The ITU promises that it will make smartphones around 500 times faster. Although the term 4G is still not clearly defined, ITU describes IMT Advanced Spectrum as the newest 4G technology.
With 700,000 DAILY activations for Android, business has been crazy since November. Their Q4 was awesome, leading them to 11 B. One full billion more than even they expected. Oh, and when you add androids new found success to Gmail and Google+, Google has over 90 million users.
Strapped with Android, parents find it’s just as easy to keep a virtual leash on their kids as it is with the funny animal leashes you see them with in amusement parks and airports.
3 Most Effective Cell Phone Surveillance Apps to Monitor Your Kids [Android].
Apple majorly updated their eBook reading app for iOS. The updated app includes a new category for textbooks. With the release of iBooks 2.0, iTunes 10.5.3, iBooks author, and new partners controlling 90% of the textbook publishing market on board, textbooks will be revolutionized. iBooks titles can include animations, diagrams, videos, photos, and top notch navigation. Apple has reinvented the textbook by adding interactivity, making them engaging to the reader. To top it all off, most educational titles on the iBookstore are available for $14.99 (or less).
Samsung has filed seven patent claims in Germany against Apple. One of the patents, covering turbo encoding and decoding device and a method for process frame data according to quality-of-service, was recently taken up in Regional Court. The judge ruled in favor of apple in the infringement complaint. The full detailed ruling is not yet available but an abstract is available in the link below. Samsung still has the option to appear in higher court. An impact on either company will most likely not be apparent until the written ruling comes available, according to Arora. The claims don’t go just one way, for apple has also filed claims against Samsung for infringing six patents.
Twitter has bought a Canadian start up company called Summify. They develop an app that automatically goes through articles that gets shared among social networks and gathers them together.
They plan to connect people with the most relevant news for them in the most efficient manner. As part of the deal, Summify will have to discontinue some of its services. Not all of their users are happy about the sale. Although thats to be expected.
Twitter gobbles news-foraging mobile app startup • The Register.
As you may expect, you can’t watch live TV just anywhere – the iOS device has to be connected to the home’s Wi-Fi network in order to function. It also offers a number of features typical for TV provider mobile apps, including a remote control functionality, the ability to program your DVR (this feature also works remotely), and the ability to configure parental controls, among other things.
The app is fairly backward-compatible, however, as it works on iPhone 3GS and up, iPod Touch (3rd or 4th gen) and any iPad, all of which have to run at least iOS 4.3. Customers will also have to have the Navigator set-top box or a DVR in their home, as other models may not function properly.
Gaming startup Heyzap first launched its social discovery service for mobile games nearly a year ago. Now it’s unveiling the first list of partners who are using the service.
Some of these partnerships weren’t exactly a secret before — you could just open up the Heyzap app and see which games were available. But now the startup is really trumpeting those partnerships, in part to show off some of the big names who are buying into its vision.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/20/heyzap-partners-pocket-gems/
Tablet owners spend 50% more per purchase online than smartphone owners
A new study published by Adobe Digital Marketing Insights shows that tablet owners spend 50% more per purchase than smartphone owners at online retailers. Additionally, they spend 20% more than PC users. This research can be used to expand e-commerce to tablet owners who seemingly enjoy the ability to shop on the go on a more convenient platform than the smartphone, but smaller than the laptop.
Samsung says not interested in buying RIM
Samsung claims it is not interested in purchasing Research in Motion, the manufacturer of the ailing Blackberry platform. James Chung, spokesman for the company said, “We haven’t considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM).” This isn’t the first time Samsung has been rumored to purchase a dying mobile platform; last year they were rumored to purchase webOS from HP.