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768 'Android' stories August 2010 - August 2013
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Google releases official AdSense iPhone app

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 5 2013 - 10:06 am PT
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Following Google’s release of an official AdSense Android app on Google Play last week, today the company has released an iOS version of the app. Much like the Android version, this is the first official AdSense client Google has released for the platform, and brings competition for some of the free and paid third-party clients already on the App Store. The app also provides much of the same functionality of the Android app, allowing users to access most reporting features available through the Adsense website, as well as payment alerts (which unfortunately can’t be dismissed at this point).

The AdSense app provides an easy way to access key data from your AdSense account. Access reporting features anywhere, directly from your iPhone. The first version of the app gives you access to: the key earnings information, top custom and URL channels, ad units and sites reports, payment alerts.

Apple drops to 32% tablet market share in Q2 amidst strong YoY Android growth

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 5 2013 - 9:12 am PT
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IDC is out today with its latest report tracking worldwide tablet shipments, reporting that total shipments have experienced a sequential decline during Q2 at the expense of Apple and the iPad. Apple already announced that it had sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, a significant drop from the 17 million it sold in the year ago quarter, but today IDC gives us some insight into where that puts Apple in its lead over Samsung as the top tablet vendor.

Apple was able to pick up 32.4% of the market during Q2, continuing its lead as the top tablet manufacturer, but dropping from the 60.3% of the market it had in Q2 last year. While Apple’s tablet shipments are clearly suffering from lack of new product announcements this year, it’s also losing share to Samsung and others. IDC reports 277% year over year growth for Samsung, giving it 18% of the market with 8.1 million units shipped during Q2. All of the top 3 vendors– Apple, Samsung, and ASUS– experienced a drop compared to Q1 2013, but the Android tablet makers have experienced significant growth compared to Apple since last year.
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BlackBerry rolling out BBM for iOS and Android beta invites

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 1 2013 - 7:13 am PT
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A report from BlackBerryOS.com notes that invites to BlackBerry’s upcoming BBM service for iOS and Android have now started rolling out to users on the company’s Beta Zone website. Back in May, BlackBerry announced that its popular messaging platform would finally become cross-platform and arrive on both iOS and Android devices “later this summer,” and that deadline to launch is of course quickly approaching.

Not all Beta Zone members have received the invite email above, but it looks like BlackBerry is getting closer to finally launching the new apps.

We haven’t seen much of the iOS app, but BlackBerryOS also got its hands on the screenshots below of the latest Android beta:

If you have screenshots of the iOS app, you can send them to tips@9to5Mac.com.

Google Play passes App Store in downloads for the first time, but not revenue

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jul 31 2013 - 9:42 am PT
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According to data from App Annie’s latest download and revenue report, Google Play for the first time surpassed the App Store in app downloads during the second quarter of 2013. While Google was able to move past Apple with about 10 percent more downloads during the three month period, the report notes the App Store brought in nearly 2.3x the amount of revenue.

App Annie says that Google Play’s growth was driven by emerging markets including Brazil, India, and Russia, and while the App Store still leads by revenue, Google Play closed the gap slightly compared to last quarter and years past.

Google Play saw Brazil climb two spots to join India and Russia as another emerging market in the top 5 countries by downloads for Q2 2013…The United States, Japan and United Kingdom remained the leaders in the iOS App Store when looking at revenue generation, and Australia climbed to #4 after a strong Q2. iOS App Store revenue was driven primarily by the United States and Japan, which combined to account for about half of the total iOS App Store revenue in Q2.

App Annie’s report also includes its Games Index tracking mobile games on iOS and Android, which now account for around 40 percent of all downloads on both platforms. During Q2, Gameloft’s Despicable Me: Minion Rush grabbed the top spot for most downloaded iOS game, while publisher Tiny Piece took the honour on Google Play.

As for non-gaming apps, Vine increased by three positions to become the most downloaded app during the quarter on iOS, followed closely by YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram.
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Graphic: The $35 Chromecast dongle is no replacement for the $99 Apple TV (not yet, anyway)

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jul 26 2013 - 4:46 am PT
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The Verge snapped together the chart below illustrating the feature set of the Chromecast dongle as compared to the Apple TV’s Airplay functionality.

In reality, we are looking at two different ways of looking at place-shifting content. Apple’s is directly from an iOS device or a recent Mac’s display. The Chromecast is sending instructions to the dongle to start playing content from the cloud (meaning you need a pretty healthy Internet connection).

In its present state, the $35 Amazon/Best Buy (in stock) Chromecast is a convenient way to show Netflix, YouTube and Google Play content on a TV. But a lot of the good programming lies outside of this sphere.  Sure you can ‘Chromecast’ videos from your Chrome browser as you watch Hulu, Amazon Instant Video, or just about anything else that works in a browser including .MKV, MP4, AVI files, etc, but that’s not elegant (and Chrome/Android chief Pachai says websites, like Hulu, could turn off the functionality at any time)! Also, you get no dedicated remote with the Chromecast (though Android devices can be found pretty absurdly cheap) like with the AppleTV.

You can’t help but wonder if the Apple TV could be put in the Dongle format and perhaps given some more content sharing options. Google reached across the aisle and built Chromecast to provide Apple Mac and iOS users the same compatibility as Chrome and Android users. Sure Chromecast needs external power such as that provided by a USB port, but the form factor and, more importantly, the price, seem very compelling. If Apple could squeeze its current format Apple TV into a dongle and cut the price in half, why shouldn’t it?

Update: Search Engine Land simplifies and throws in Roku for good measure

 

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Pebble announces 275k units sold to date, plans to add email notifications for iOS in 2-3 weeks

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jul 11 2013 - 11:10 am PT
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Following the retail launch of its Bluetooth smartwatch at Best Buy earlier this month, Pebble is for the first time disclosing how many units its sold since its extremely popular Kickstarter campaign. Pebble is now at 275K orders to date, 190K of which came from its website after initially selling around 85k to its Kickstarter backers. Pebble also announced it has now hit over 1 million app downloads on the platform and plans to implement new features for iOS including email notifications and Gmail and iMAP support :

A major new feature on iOS will be available within 2-3 weeks. The feature has been lacking since launch: support for email notifications. At first, our testing with iOS 6 indicated that the built-in Bluetooth notification system would be able to send notifications Pebble. Unfortunately, that system only could reliably send SMS and iMessage to Pebble (ironically something we did not promise to support). We’ve finally cracked the email puzzle and the next Pebble iOS app will have full support for Gmail and IMAP email notifications.

Last month we reported that Apple would be offering a new Notification Center service to developers with iOS 7 that will allow Bluetooth devices like Pebble to access all notifications from Notification Center. Pebble hinted today that it has plans for the new Bluetooth profiles:

iOS 7 looks quite cool and useful but we can’t talk about it in detail until Apple releases it publicly. In the meantime, we’ll continue to work with it and test Pebble support under iOS 7..

Pebble’s Eric Migicovsky also clarified when preorders would be receiving their orders and announced he’d be holding a Reddit AMA today at 12pm PDT on reddit.com/r/pebble.

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….and here are your plastic iPhone volume controls in Green, Red, Blue and Yellow

Avatar for 9to5 Staff Jul 11 2013 - 3:35 am PT
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All of these could be knockoffs of course as we’ve said countless times since news of the plastic iPhone is months old and Chinese companies are already confirmed to be building Android knockoffs. BenjaminTech via Gene

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More iPhone plastic shells in Yellow, Green, Gray, Blue and Red

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jul 10 2013 - 4:45 am PT
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Personally, I like these better. In fact, since we released our mockups 4 months ago, it has created a lot of time for knockoff makers to manufacture their own, in no way guaranteeing these or any of the others below are from Apple.   via @sonnydickson

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Google previews upcoming iOS features in Google Maps app

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jul 10 2013 - 2:41 am PT
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As reported on 9to5Google last night, Google is rolling out a huge update to its maps app for Android but they are also promising the updates will hit iOS ‘soon’.

  • Designed for tablets: A dedicated tablet design brings all the features of this new app to Android tablets and iPads, which makes exploring the world from the comfort of your living room much more fluid, smooth and fun.
  • Enhanced navigation: In addition to current traffic conditions, we’ve added two new features to help you navigate around traffic. You can now see reports of problems on the road that you can tap to see incident details [Hello Waze]. While on the road, Google Maps will also alert you if a better route becomes available and reroute you to your destination faster. This feature is available only on Android and is coming soon to iOS.
  • Reviews, Zagat and Offers: There’s a new 5.0 star rating system that gives you a quick read on how your friends and others rate places like restaurants, bars and cafes. For an expert’s opinion, the Zagat badge of excellence and curated lists are integrated into search results so you can quickly spot the very best places. From “Best Restaurants to meet for a drink in NYC” to “Best Restaurants in the Mission” in San Francisco, Zagat’s there to help you uncover the local gems.

There’s also a lot of housecleaning, including retiring Latitude (another one bites the dust!) and some changes to offline and My Maps.

The updated Android app looks a lot like the Maps app Google released for iOS at the end of last year (prominent reviewers called the iOS Maps app much better than Android’s Maps app). Another interesting fun fact: Because carriers and manufacturers are so slow to update Android, only 60% of Android users will be able to use the new maps (Android 4.03+ only), while over 90% of iOS users are on iOS 6+, which will get the new features.
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Microsoft hits Apple’s iPad with another TV ad about multitasking

Avatar for Mark Gurman Jul 9 2013 - 3:07 pm PT
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG0yZLEPN_Y&feature=youtu.be

Microsoft is continuing its Windows 8 vs iPad TV commercial series by airing a new ad squarely focused on the multitasking capabilities in Windows 8 (via Tom Warren). On Windows 8 tablet devices, users can work in two apps side-by-side. Microsoft demonstrates this comparison in terms of work: agents communicating about baseball player prospects to their offices. Interestingly, MLB.com digital head said this earlier this year: “There’s no other [mobile platform]. It’s Apple and it’s Android.”


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iPhone closes gap on Android during May, grabs 31% of T-Mobile smartphone sales

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jul 8 2013 - 6:31 am PT
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Following stats from comScore late last month for smartphone market share by vendor and OS, research firm Kantar Worldpanel is out today with its own numbers for the three month period ending in May. While Kantar puts Android at the same 52% of the market during May as comScore, it has Apple slightly higher at 41.9% of the market (up 3.5% from the same period last year) compared to the 39% comScore reported:

Through the 3 month period ending May 2013, Android continues to lead smartphone sales at 52%. Close behind is iOS with 41.9% of sales.

Kantar notes that Apple’s increase is thanks to T-Mobile picking up the iPhone 5, which is now the best selling smartphone at the carrier despite only being available since mid April. Thanks to iPhone, T-Mobile could soon increase its share of smartphone sales in the US, as Kantar notes all iPhone models counted for 31% of the carrier’s smartphone sales during the quarter. Currently the carrier holds just 10.1% behind Verizon (34.6%), AT&T (29%), and Sprint (12.7%).

The report notes T-Mobile has been attracting a lot of first time smartphone buyers since getting the iPhone with around 53% upgrading from feature phones:
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Apple continues to grow as top smartphone vendor in US during May

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jun 28 2013 - 9:10 am PT
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Research firm comScore is out today with its usual report covering U.S. smartphone subscriber market share for the three month period ending in May. Over the last three months Apple has gained in both categories including ‘top smartphone OEMs’ and ‘OS usage’, continuing its lead as the top smartphone manufacturer and growing its share of the market by platform.

The previous three month period had Apple at 38.9% of the market, making it the number #1 smartphone vendor in the US over second place Samsung. In May, Apple continues that lead by increasing its share 0.3 percentage points to 39.2% of the market. That’s significantly higher than the 23% Samsung grabbed despite growing 1.7 percentage points during the quarter. In a close race for third place is HTC with 8.7%, Motorola with 7.8%, and LG with 6.7%, all of which dropped less than a percentage point since last quarter.

When it comes to the market by OS usage, Android is still on top, growing 0.7 percentage points to 52.4% this quarter. Apple experienced slightly less growth at 0.3 percentage points to capture 39.2% of the market up from its 38.9% share last quarter. That means the majority of the growth, once again, comes at the expense of BlackBerry and Microsoft.
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BlueStacks announces ‘GamePop Mini’, a free subscription-based Android console that runs iOS games

Avatar for Chance Miller Jun 28 2013 - 8:11 am PT
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Earlier this month, we reported on a new technology from BlueStacks called “Looking Glass” that brought iOS games to your big screen via a subscription-based console. On Friday, however, the company announced another new console with that technology, but the big selling point here is that it is free and incredibly small. In fact, the company says it is about the size of a pack of gum. Just like with the company’s other Cube console (which isn’t yet released), the BlueStacks Mini does require a subscription commitment, which will run you $7 a month for a year.

It’s worth noting that the BlueStacks Cube is also free with a subscription, but that offer expires on July 1st. The company says that its goal is to always offer a gaming console for free.
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Digg’s Google Reader replacement now rolling out to all on web & iOS

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jun 26 2013 - 7:04 am PT
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Digg-reader-01

From 9to5Google:

After launching a private beta of its new Google Reader replacement, Digg announced today that it is now rolling out the beta to all users signed up to test the new app. Digg just sent out the first batch of invites to the new web app, but promises it will be “adding users in increasingly larger batches.”

The app is still a work in progress and won’t get you every feature you might have had with Google Reader, but for now you can easily import your Google Reader content, use Google Reader-like shortcuts, and save and share to all the usual third-party services.

iOS versions of Digg Reader land for iPhone and iPad in the App Store sometime today, and Digg says an Android app will be available before the end of July.

Update: The iOS version is now available. 

Digg warns that the app is still very much in beta, but reminds us of a few features it plans to add in the coming months:
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European iPhone marketshare falls 5% in Q1 2013 according to IDC, whilst competitors grew, but Apple remains in second place

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Jun 25 2013 - 7:10 am PT
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Figures from IDC released today show that iOS smartphone marketshare fell 5% year-over-year in Europe, even though iPhone growth in the US was very strong in the same period.

Apple’s share fell from 25% in Q1 2012 to 20% in Q1 2013, representative of approximately 6.2 million unit shipments. IDC notes that European smartphone market grew overall at a rate of just 12 percent, the slowest increase the company has ever recorded. The weakness in demand evidently hit Apple, but competing Android manufacturers have seen substantial share gains in the slump. Close rival Samsung, for instance, saw shipments rise by 1.8 million units to account for almost half of the whole market. Sony was another benefactor, gaining six percentage points over the period when compared to last year.


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9to5Toys Last Call: Up to 40% off Samsung SSD, $450 iPad 4 w/ Retina Display, iTunes Gift Cards, more

Avatar for Jun 24 2013 - 2:02 pm PT
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From 9to5Toys.com:

A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to roundup the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal... Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook

Today’s Featured deals:

Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5″ SATA III Solid State Drive (SSD) $150 Shipped (Reg. $250), 500GB $300 (Reg. $450)

Apple iPad 4th Gen. w/ Retina Display 16GB WiFI (black or white) $450 Shipped (Reg. $500)

iPhone 4/4S/5 Bracelet Charger Cable – Choice of 11 Styles $9 + $2 Shipping

Other great deals we love:

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Just a few days later, Android users already mimicking iOS 7 icons and Parallax

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jun 13 2013 - 9:57 am PT
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From 9to5Google:

Some iOS users might not be too happy about the big design changes in iOS 7, but Android users are already finding ways to get a few of the new features on their non-Apple phones. The image above shows a set of icons created by one Android user to mimic the new home screen icons on iOS 7 (via Cnet).

Android users can grab the icons through a download on Dropbox and use Nova Launcher or other home screen replacement apps to get Apple’s controversial new look on their Android device now.

That new 3D parallax effect Apple showed off for iOS 7? Android users have also found a way to get a similar 3D effect, as pointed out by AndroidCommunity in the video below:

The 3D Image Live Wallpaper seen in the video above has been on Google Play since November, but you’ll have to judge for yourself to see if it compares to the new parallax feature in iOS 7.

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Even the head of Android is excited to try out iOS 7

Avatar for 9to5 Staff Jun 11 2013 - 4:05 am PT
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Sundar Pinchai, the relatively new head of Android since Andy Rubin’s departure, doesn’t mince words when it comes to his interest in iOS7. The more pessimistic among us would say that he wants to copy all of the new features but he’s probably just curious like everyone else. 
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Wishlist: 10 things Apple should, but likely won’t, announce at WWDC 2013

Avatar for Seth Weintraub Jun 9 2013 - 8:18 am PT
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We’ve got a pretty good idea of what Apple intends to give us at WWDC. Even the things we’re not so sure about seem on the radar.

But what does Apple need to do long term to tighten up the ecosystem and bring some excitement back into its hardware, software and services? I’ve got a few things…


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AT&T releases Enterprise Push to Talk (EPTT) app for iPhone

Avatar for Jun 7 2013 - 9:25 am PT
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AT&T released a Push to Talk iPhone client for Enterprise customers today. With Sprint closing its Nextel PTT services soon, this will come in handy for a lot of businesses. The service allows business customers to:

  • Create large contact lists with up to 1,000 contacts
  • Conduct a group call with up to 250 people simultaneously with the push of a button
  • Choose from a broad selection of smartphones, feature phones, rugged phones and specialty devices
  • Talk and use productivity applications simultaneously
  • See who’s available to talk now with AT&T Enhanced PTT’s presence status indicators
  • Allow supervisors to override PTT calls in order to communicate important, time- sensitive messages to their teams
  • Access AT&T’s expansive 3G, 4G and 4G LTE networks
  • Use mobile applications, GPS or cameras on your phones during PTT calls


AT&T Enhanced PTT Product Brief
Corporate Admin Tool Quick Reference Guide

Description
AT&T Enhanced PTT is the premier enterprise-grade carrier push-to-talk solution for large or small organizations, with superior performance, features and reliability. Enhanced PTT uses next-generation Voice over IP technology to deliver one-to-one or group calls over the AT&T 3G or 4G networks or on compatible WiFi networks.

Key features of Enhanced PTT include:
* Fast call setup times and low latency
* Advanced push-to-talk features including real-time presence, Instant Personal Alerts, free/busy status and Supervisory Override
* Scalable to support large contact lists and talk groups
* Organizations can use a Corporate Admin Tool for easy management of users and groups

Enhanced PTT is available for AT&T Wireless customers only and cannot be used with international roaming. For more information on getting started with AT&T Enhanced PTT, visit www.att.com/epttsupport.

Android game console GamePop does the unthinkable, brings iOS games to TV with ‘Looking Glass’

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jun 7 2013 - 6:15 am PT
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In case you hadn’t heard: BlueStacks, the company with around 10M+ using its technology that brings Android games to PC and Mac, has recently been working on a new dedicated Android gaming console that aims to compete with OUYA and others in the space. It’s yet to launch, and up until today its big differentiator has been its $6.99/per month subscription model, but today it becomes the first to bring iOS games to the TV.

We spoke to John Gargiulo from BlueStacks who told us a little more about the announcement and how the company will bring iPhone and iPad games to the GamePop platform using its ‘Looking Glass’ technology. It’s also announcing its first major partner from the iOS developer world, and it happens to be creators of the hugely popular Fieldrunners series, Subatomic Studios.
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Tango launches SDK to become the social layer of apps and games

Avatar for Zach Kahn Jun 6 2013 - 5:53 am PT
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Tango, a mobile messaging and video calling app, has announced that it will open its platform to third-party developers in order to expand the service. The company, which now serves over 120 million members worldwide, plans to partner with third party developers in order to integrate its newly crafted software development kit (SDK) into its apps.

Tango states that by allowing third party apps to take advantage of their unique messaging and calling service, it can better serve as a unifying social layer amongst games and other apps. The company hopes that by doing so it can better reflect users’ real-world connections with friends and family and create gaming experiences akin to participating in the cliched family board game night than blankly staring down at a smartphone.

According to Tango CEO Eric Setton, users have been playing a massive amount of games within the app every month. “But we found that we can’t do everything we want to inside the app, in terms of putting out the most compelling content out there and presenting it to our members,” Setton explains. Much as Tango’s actual service, the SDK allows the third-party apps to connect with its network, retrieve a list of friends, and then allow those users to message each other using text, picture, and video. The SDK also includes support for social leaderboards, which show how users’ scores compare with friends and allow for both competitive and collaborative in-game mechanics.

Game developers have given the SDK a warm reception so far says Setton, because of its potential for increased app discovery. Gameloft will soon be releasing an app in called “Candy Block Breaker for Tango” on iOS, and that will be then followed by “JetPack Jinx for Tango,” developed by Bubble Gum Interactive. Developers like Gameloft and Bubble Gum Interactive who utilize Tango’s SDK will split revenues amongst the participating companies.

While  initial partnerships with Tango were specifically focused on mobile gaming, Tango’s SDK will be open to developers looking to to add the functionality to another app genre.

Building and opening an SDK is a massive step for Tango in its steady transformation from a simple video calling app to a mobile social network. If executed correctly, Tango’s SDK may be able to push the company into a position that could rival existing networks like Skype and Fringe. Time will tell if Tango’s investment into third party apps is the key to its own success.

Developers interested in Tango’s service can apply for access to the Tango SDK from the company’s homepage.

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Gameloft releases first trailer for upcoming Modern Combat 5 title [Video]

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jun 6 2013 - 5:52 am PT
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With each instalment of the popular FPS Modern Combat series on iOS and Android, Gameloft seems to be getting a little closer to matching the quality of gameplay we expect from the top of the line console games in the genre such as Call of Duty.  While it’s no secret the Modern Combat series has borrowed a lot from COD (as have many other FPS games), the latest trailer for the upcoming Modern Combat 5 title looks to be the closet thing to an immersive, action-packed COD-like shooter that we’ll have on mobile devices. Note: On top of the gameplay, the logo towards the end of the video (including the animations) is little too close to the Call of Duty Modern Warfare series for my liking. Gameloft has been accused several times of knocking off games from big developers in the console world, most notably with its Gangstar (aka GTA clone) and NOVA (aka HALO clone) series.

We don’t learn a whole lot from the trailer itself, but it does appear much of the action will be taking place in Venice, Italy this time around. Despite the shameless similarities to other big franchises, those excited for the upcoming Modern Combat 5 will seemingly have to wait until E3 to hear more about when and for how much it will be coming to iPhone, iPad, and Android.