According to metrics firm Fiksu, there were 5.65 million free apps downloaded during November alone. That is up from 4.91 million free apps in October. I can only imagine how much the bandwidth that all those downloads consumed cost Apple.

Comparing November 2010 to November 2011, the uploads were up 83%. Before October the number of free downloads was declining. That decline is blamed in part on the wait for the iPhone 4S by consumers.

[via SlashGear]

Joerg Sprave has created a new slingshot that flings iPhones. The slingshot works well and it makes for a geeky creation.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has issued a report on the App Store. The report claims that Apple users are downloading 61% more apps this year and pay 16% more for the apps this year compared to last year.

Apple took Amazon to court for trademark infringement when Amazon launched its Appstore. The judge in the case has now said she will probably rule against Apple’s request to force Amazon to ditch the name because there has been no proof of confusion with customers.

A cool accessory for the iPhone turned up called the appBlaster. It is a gun that works with an AR game letting players shoot aliens in their home.

The App Store has a new section for the ardent gamers out there. The new section is the Hardcore Games section where you can find games that will appeal to the gamers that are all hardcore and stuff.

A new patent app has been spotted from Apple that is for a combination microphone/headphone jack patent. The patent is for a combo port that picks up audio well and might save space.

UK iPhone carrier Tesco has announced its pricing for the iPhone 4 and the prices are probably the best around. A 12-month contract plan with 1GB of DATA will cost £20 monthly with the iPhone 4 16GB handset costing £349. Pay £45 monthly and agree to a 2-year contract and that 16GB iPhone is only £19.

iFixit has torn down the new iPhone 4 and found that the device uses Gorilla Glass and has 512MB of RAM. The tear down also found a FM radio inside and noted that the LCD and digitizer are glued to the glass making a replacement costly.

Opera is claiming that its Mini browser for the iPhone is six times faster than Safari. I remain confused to why Opera developed the app when Apple won’t allow apps that perform things its own software will.

The Meebo app for iPhone has hit the App Store. The app lets a user bring IM contacts form multiple services to the iPhone, it sounds like Trillian for the iPhone to me.

To enjoy this app, you need to subscribe to Rhapsody To Go –currently priced at $14.99 per month– while non-subscribers will have the opportunity to try the app for a limited time free-trial period.

Rhapsody on iPhone from Jamie on Vimeo.

[via SlashGear]

Why use appsto.re URL’s? According to them:

• They contain the name of your app, making people more likely to click.
• They take people straight to iTunes, increasing the chance people will buy your app.
• They are short! So they are easy to share on twitter or where ever.

However, a TechCrunch reader tells us that iPhone apps already have short URLs, e.g. http://itunes.com/apps/scavenge.

[via TechCrunch]

[via SlashGear]

Apple’s App Store Downloads Top 1.5 Billion in First Year

More Than 65,000 Apps; Over 100,000 Developers

CUPERTINO, California—July 14, 2009—Apple today announced that customers have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications in just one year from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. The App Store is also growing at an incredible pace with more than 65,000 apps and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program.

“The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up.”

The revolutionary App Store has more than 65,000 apps available to consumers in 77 countries, allowing developers to reach tens of millions of iPhone and iPod touch users around the world. The App Store works with both iPod touch and iPhone including the new iPhone 3GS, the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet. Apple has shipped over 40 million of these devices that run apps from the App Store.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

[via SlashGear]

Why is mobile ad share important? Because in the smartphone segment, the tail wags the dog — apps drive customer loyalty more than hardware features… Yes, Apple offers many more apps, and yes, it’s more geared to consumers than Nokia.

Nokia already realized about the power of mobile applications and contents. As we know, Ovi Store is Nokia’s answer to the iPhone’s App Store.

It’s also possible to edit existing schedules, whether they have been initiated from the iPhone app or on the DVR itself.  Should you not have enough free space, existing stored content can be remotely deleted.

AT&T recently boosted the connection speed for their U-verse subscribers, together with adding more flexibility in controlling recordings and downloading movie content.  The company has been discussing an iPhone app for U-verse since September last year.

Press Release: 

 

New iPhone and iPod touch Application From AT&T Lets Customers Schedule U-verse TV DVR Recordings On The Go
 
DALLAS, June 25, 2009 — AT&T U-verseSM TV customers can now use a free application from the Apple App Store to make scheduling and managing recordings on their DVR even easier when they’re away from home. The U-verse TV Mobile Remote Access App for iPhone and iPod touch lets customers record their content from virtually anywhere and is another example of U-verse TV applications and DVR enhancements that have been rolled out to customers at no extra charge.
 
“This is the perfect example of how AT&T is bringing services together to deliver a better experience for customers,” said Jeff Weber, vice president of video services for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “With AT&T U-verse, you get DVR capabilities you can’t find from any other provider, and this app gives users the freedom to schedule their DVR from their iPhone or iPod touch.”
 
The app allows users to easily search U-verse TV program listings from the full program guide, view descriptions of selected programs, schedule program or series recordings, manage or edit scheduled recordings, and delete stored DVR content.
 
The Mobile Remote Access App is available for free from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.
 
The launch of the new U-verse TV Mobile Remote Access App follows several DVR enhancements that are currently being rolled out to U-verse TV customers, including an exclusive new Total Home DVR feature that allows customers to schedule and delete recordings from any U-verse receiver in the home — all from a single DVR.
 
AT&T U-verse was one of the first providers to introduce Web Remote Access to the DVR in November 2006, and it brought three-screen DVR access to all U-verse TV customers with Mobile Remote Access to the DVR in April 2007. In 2008, AT&T launched AT&T U-verse Total Home DVR, allowing all U-verse DVR customers to watch standard and High Definition recorded shows from a single DVR on any connected TV in the home.
 
U-verse TV customers can also enjoy several other integrated applications, including personalized, on-screen weather, sports, traffic and stock information via AT&T U-bar; local and national weather forecasts with Weather On Demand; the ability to view personal photos on your TV that you have uploaded to flickr.com; and more.
 
AT&T U-verse customers enjoy quadruple-play integration, enhanced features and greater value, all made possible by IP technology. AT&T U-verse TV ranked “Highest in Residential Television Service Satisfaction in the North Central, South, and West Regions,” according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudySM.DALLAS, June 25, 2009 — AT&T U-verseSM TV customers can now use a free application from the Apple App Store to make scheduling and managing recordings on their DVR even easier when they’re away from home. The U-verse TV Mobile Remote Access App for iPhone and iPod touch lets customers record their content from virtually anywhere and is another example of U-verse TV applications and DVR enhancements that have been rolled out to customers at no extra charge.

“This is the perfect example of how AT&T is bringing services together to deliver a better experience for customers,” said Jeff Weber, vice president of video services for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “With AT&T U-verse, you get DVR capabilities you can’t find from any other provider, and this app gives users the freedom to schedule their DVR from their iPhone or iPod touch.”

The app allows users to easily search U-verse TV program listings from the full program guide, view descriptions of selected programs, schedule program or series recordings, manage or edit scheduled recordings, and delete stored DVR content.

The Mobile Remote Access App is available for free from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

The launch of the new U-verse TV Mobile Remote Access App follows several DVR enhancements that are currently being rolled out to U-verse TV customers, including an exclusive new Total Home DVR feature that allows customers to schedule and delete recordings from any U-verse receiver in the home — all from a single DVR.

AT&T U-verse was one of the first providers to introduce Web Remote Access to the DVR in November 2006, and it brought three-screen DVR access to all U-verse TV customers with Mobile Remote Access to the DVR in April 2007. In 2008, AT&T launched AT&T U-verse Total Home DVR, allowing all U-verse DVR customers to watch standard and High Definition recorded shows from a single DVR on any connected TV in the home.

U-verse TV customers can also enjoy several other integrated applications, including personalized, on-screen weather, sports, traffic and stock information via AT&T U-bar; local and national weather forecasts with Weather On Demand; the ability to view personal photos on your TV that you have uploaded to flickr.com; and more.

AT&T U-verse customers enjoy quadruple-play integration, enhanced features and greater value, all made possible by IP technology. AT&T U-verse TV ranked “Highest in Residential Television Service Satisfaction in the North Central, South, and West Regions,” according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudySM.

The App Store reviewer, finding that The Kama Sutra was accessible, then rejected the software under Apple’s “inappropriate sexual content” clause of the iPhone SDK agreement.  However the same text is viewable online, through the iPhone’s Safari browser, as a downloadable ebook through Amazon’s Kindle app for iPhone, and bought as an audio book through iTunes.

“Thank you for submitting Eucalyptus — classic books, to go. to the App Store. We’ve reviewed Eucalyptus — classic books, to go. and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it contains inappropriate sexual content and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states:

“Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.”" Apple rejection letter

Eucalyptus’ author has now resubmitted the app, with a block on viewing The Kama Sutra.  Apple’s parental controls make make the app submission and approval process more straightforward, but the seemingly mixed messages their software reviewers are delivering will be harder to navigate.

[via Boing Boing]

Bump is a new iPhone application that has just been released. The idea of this application is to attempt to solve the problem of having to manually input a new contact to your phone.

All you have to do is open the application and create a contact card to share then you just choose what information that you want to trade then simply bump hands together. At the moment, this application only allows transfer of contact information.

[PC World, Product Reviews]

Apple awards Mulcahey a MacBook laptop, an iPod Touch, an Apple Time Capsule backup system and a $10,000 iTunes gift card.

Connor said he learned he won through an e-mail sent to his iPhone on Thursday as he was on the way home from baseball practice. The vice president of iTunes had written him personally to congratulate him.

Apple had apparently tried to call his home first, Connor said, “But my mom pretty much said, ‘I don’t believe you,’ and hung up.

“I was pretty surprised, but I felt sorry for all those other people who tried hard to win.”

Congratulations, Connor!

[via Courant]