Apple today informed developers that, within 24 hours, prices in the Japan App Store will increase due to foreign exchange rate changes. Apple further tells developers that customers currently using subscription-based apps will be notified as needed of the shifts. This is not the first time Apple has increased prices in its App Store. Late last year, Russia prices increased, while pricing in Canada and some European regions changed in January of this year.
Data from IDC and App Annie suggested that both Apple and Google are likely to see their app store revenues doubling within the next four years, reports Re/code. Based on Apple’s 2014 total revenue of $10B, this would suggest that Apple is likely to hit total revenue of $20B in 2018, with developers seeing $14B of it.
“I would consider this projection conservative,” App Annie CEO Bertrand Schmitt said in an interview, noting that the company has consistently been revising its forecasts up over the past two years as revenue has exceeded expectations.
The study also suggested that the trend toward freemium apps, which derive their income from in-app purchases, will continue–though this model is more common on Android than iOS … Expand Expanding Close
Apple looks to be having a few lot of problems with its servers this morning. At the time of writing, iTunes Connect is refusing logins, the iBooks store is not responding and there are intermittent outages when viewing some individual items in both iOS and Mac App Stores … Expand Expanding Close
Apple has announced that it will be spending €1.7B ($1.92B) on two new European data centers, each of which will be among the largest in the world at 166,000 square metres (1.8M square feet)–three times larger than the company’s North Carolina facility.
One will be in Ireland, the other in Denmark, with each set to begin operations in 2017. Apple says that the facilities will provide online services across Europe, including the iTunes Store, App Store, iMessage, Apple Maps and Siri.
We are grateful for Apple’s continued success in Europe and proud that our investment supports communities across the continent,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date.”
As with all of Apple’s data centers around the world, the new centres will be powered entirely by clean, renewable energy … Expand Expanding Close
Inbox by Gmail, which Google appears to view as a replacement for the popular email client Sparrow, has been very quietly updated, notes TechCrunch, to include a native build for iPad. The app is currently only available in some countries (including the U.S.), and neither the App Store description nor What’s New entry mention the iPad build.
The app, which our hands-on last October described as “a marriage between Gmail and Google Now,” has tended to polarise views, some loving it, others hating it–with very few falling between the two … Expand Expanding Close
The VLC for iOS app–a favorite media player for many–has returned to the App Store in some countries and is expected to be available for all shortly. Some existing US users (us included!) are also reporting on Reddit being able to update to the latest version (2.4.1) if they have the previous version from before it was removed.
The app has something of a checkered history in the App Store, first removed from the store way back in 2011 after a licensing dispute; the original open-source developers claiming that the App Store terms were incompatible with the GNU Public License for the code. The app finally returned in 2013 before disappearing once more last September … Expand Expanding Close
iOS and Android are completely different worlds when it comes to apps. Android is pretty much the wild west, with little control over quality or even safety (malware is commonplace). iOS, on a non-jailbroken device, is a walled garden, where Apple decides what apps can and can’t do, and which ones get approved for sale.
Yet despite that carefully-controlled approach, the App Store can still feel like a bit of a jungle. Which is why I wonder whether the Pinterest tie-in announced yesterday may offer hope for the future.
But let’s start with the problem I think needs to be solved, and that problem begins with search. Results may vary by country, and you can try the searches for yourself to compare your results with mine, but here’s what I get for a few obvious app searches … Expand Expanding Close
While few would expect the record-breaking surge in iPhone sales generated by the larger-screened models to continue into subsequent quarters, Tim Cook argued in a WSJ interview that the potential is there.
In an interview, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, not surprisingly, argued that the demand is more than temporary. He said fewer than 15% of older iPhone owners upgraded to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and that the majority of switchers to iPhone came from smartphones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system.
“We certainly believe there are legs to it,” said Mr. Cook of the iPhone sales surge.
Cook noted during the Q1 earnings call that the current iPhone lineup had experienced “the highest Android switcher rate in any of the last three launches.” With CIRP data suggesting that the US rate of switching from Android to iOS has remained broadly constant, that suggests the bulk of switchers have been outside the US–China in particular … Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s press release yesterday noted “all-time record revenue from iPhone and Mac sales as well as record performance of the App Store,” while remaining silent on iPad sales. The reason? The slide continued last quarter, with year-on-year sales down 18%, and a reduction in average selling price meaning revenue was down 22%.
Tim Cook acknowledges that the switch to larger-screened iPhones mean the iPad is being squeezed from both sides.
There’s probably some level of cannibalization that’s going on, with the Mac on one side and the phone on the other.
It’s also undeniable that people upgrade their iPads less frequently than their iPhones–Cook putting the number at “somewhere between” the 2-year cycle of the iPhone and 5-year cycle of Mac–meaning that Apple needs to find a continual stream of customers buying an iPad for the first time … Expand Expanding Close
The Pandora iPhone and iPod touch app today received a thorough redesign that is slightly more starker and in line with the iOS 7/iOS 8 design style. The update formats the app for iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus’s higher-resolution display and adds various new mini-player and notifications features:
• With the new Personalization Icon, the Thumb History for your favorite stations is at your fingertips.
• Accidentally thumbed a song up or down – now you can un-thumb simply by re-tapping the Thumb Icon.
• We’ve included a new Mini-Player so you can control your music while you browse your track history.
• Stay in the loop when new music is added to your favorite stations and much more with our redesigned Notification & Activity Feed.
Apple has made yet another key hire from the fashion industry: Chester Chipperfield, the Vice President of Digital and Interactive Design at Burberry. Chipperfield was “responsible for User Experience and Digital Design for all channels” and was “highly involved in digital retail initiatives” at Burberry, according to his LinkedIn profile. He confirmed the move to Apple on his profile as well as on Twitter…
Although Apple has said that the Apple Watch will need to be charged nightly, the company has not disclosed any details on how long the wearable’s battery will last. For the first time, people with knowledge of the Apple Watch’s development have provided us with the specific performance targets Apple wants to achieve for the Apple Watch battery, but the actual numbers may fall short of those targets.
According to our sources, Apple opted to use a relatively powerful processor and high-quality screen for the Apple Watch, both of which contribute to significant power drain. Running a stripped-down version of iOS codenamed SkiHill, the Apple S1 chip inside the Apple Watch is surprisingly close in performance to the version of Apple’s A5 processor found inside the current-generation iPod touch, while the Retina-class color display is capable of updating at a fluid 60 frames per second.
Apple initially wanted the Apple Watch battery to provide roughly one full day of usage, mixing a comparatively small amount of active use with a larger amount of passive use. As of 2014, Apple wanted the Watch to provide roughly 2.5 to 4 hours of active application use versus 19 hours of combined active/passive use, 3 days of pure standby time, or 4 days if left in a sleeping mode. Sources, however, say that Apple will only likely achieve approximately 2-3 days in either the standby or low-power modes…
If you write iOSapps and wonder how your earnings compare against those of other developers – or you have an idea for an app, and are wondering whether it’s worth pursuing – it can be tough to find any hard information. We hear occasional stories about hugely successful apps like Flappy Bird making hundreds of thousands of dollars per day, and we know there are some apps with literally zero downloads to their name, but what about the middle ground?
Jared Sinclair, developer of the RSS reader Unread, decided last year to share both his earnings from the app, and the lessons he’d learned along the way. It’s taken six months, but several other developers started the new year by following his example, with numbers and lessons shared for podcast player Overcast, graphical game Monument Valley and developer aid Dash … Expand Expanding Close
Analysis firm IDC today put out its projected numbers for PC growth in Q4 of 2014, and these results are better than projected. IDC initially predicted that unit sales for PCs would fall 4.8% year-over-year in Q4, but, instead, the market only fell 2.4%. While the decrease in growth is not as weak as expected, IDC still notes that 2014 is the third consecutive year of slow-down in the PC market. Many analysts have attributed the lack of recent growth to the uptake in purchases and usage of both tablets and large-screen smartphones…
As iOS developers will know, it can take a while to get a new iPhone app approved, with one online tracker showing that the average time is currently around ten days. The developers of a free app enabling people to express support for the Je Suis Charlie campaign following the terrorist attack in France didn’t want to wait. French news agency Nice-Matin emailed Tim Cook to request an expedited review, an assistant replied ten minutes later promising a review within the hour, and the app is now online.
Literally translated as “I am Charlie,” the phrase voices support for freedom of speech and a refusal to be silenced by terrorists …
Update: It appears subscriptions through iTunes (like magazines) that saw price increases have seen the auto-renew function disabled, a 9to5Mac reader reports, likely to avoid a higher subscription rate being charged, although users have not yet been notified of the change.
Apple has increased the prices of apps in all countries in the European Union in line with the email sent to developers a couple of days ago. Apple has made the move in response to shifts in currency exchange rates and varying tax rules.
Prices are also being increased in Norway and Russia, though Icelandic residents will see a price cut … Expand Expanding Close
Google has updated its text, video and voice messaging app Hangouts, adding all the new features added to the Android version last month – including intelligent, one-tap location sharing.
Google promised that it would be building more intelligence into the app, and the new location-sharing feature is the first step along that path. The app automatically detects when a contact in a text chat asks where you are, and allows you to share your location with a single tap … Expand Expanding Close
Microsoft’s search engine Bing has updated its iPad app to offer instant translation of webpages, and the ability to display trending stories and the image of the day in the Notification Center. The app could previously translate via a Safari extension, but can now do so within the app.
The iPhone app also got a visual refresh, with a swipe-up ‘popular now’ tab at the bottom and the ability to swipe through a choice of background images for the app’s homescreen.
Bing and Yahoo are both reportedly making a bid to become the default search engine for iOS when Google’s contract expires next year.
Both iPhone and iPad apps are a free download from iTunes.
In a blog post today, Mac/iOS developer Panic explained why a recent version of its venerable Transmit FTP/File transfer app no longer uploads to iCloud, and it turns out, other services:
Transmit iOS 1.1.1 is out, fixing a few bugs in our surprisingly powerful file management app for your iPhone or iPad.
Also, at Apple’s request, we had to remove the ability to “Send” files to other services, including iCloud Drive.
In short, we’re told that while Transmit iOS can download content from iCloud Drive, we cannot upload content to iCloud Drive unless the content was created in the app itself. Apple says this use would violate 2.23 — “Apps must follow the iOS Data Storage Guidelines or they will be rejected” — but oddly that page says nothing about iCloud Drive or appropriate uses for iCloud Drive.
If the issue is just iCloud Drive, why did we remove the other destinations? We had no choice. iCloud Drive exists in this sheet.
The developers are taking their case public a few days after the app update was released in an effort to persuade Apple to change their minds in this case. Seems like a no-brainer. What say you Apple?
Apple released a new iPad Air 2 campaign during Sunday football today showcasing various unique physical and software applications for the iPad Air 2.
Featuring the song “Who Needs You” by The Orwells [iTunes Store, YouTube], the ad is a departure from last year’s iPad Air which were focused on a single user.
iPad Air 2 isn’t just the thinnest and lightest iPad we’ve ever created. It’s the most powerful. From the studio to the classroom, the field to the garage, it’s helping people discover new and better ways to do the things they love. Imagine what you’ll do with it.
Spotify Premium gives you no ads, offline listening, on-demand listening even on mobile and better sound quality, and normally costs $9.99. So to get three months for just $0.99 sounds like a deal that’s too good to be true.
Unfortunately, it pretty much is. While the deal is there for new users, anyone who has ever subscribed to Premium or Unlimited isn’t eligible, and nor is anyone who has ever taken a one-month free trial of Premium. So, er, just about anyone who likes Spotify, then.
Still, if you do have friends who’ve never taken up the trial, this would be the perfect time for them to try it out. They will have to provide card details and remember to cancel before the three months is up, otherwise they will start paying the usual $9.99 a month.
Spotify also recently announced a family deal of $4.99 a month for each additional Premium user. Spotify Music for iPhone and iPad is a free download from the App Store.
If you ever get a hankering for a wander down gaming memory lane, the classic 90s game Tomb Raider II is back – as an iPhone game. The original Tomb Raider was also released as an iPhone game last year.
Square Enix says that the game is optimized for iPhone 5, 6 and 6 Plus.
The multi award winning classic action adventure game from the glorious days of the 90s is back again in Tomb Raider II for iOS users this year!
The unstoppable Lara Croft is back in Tomb Raider II. Join Lara in her quest for the Dagger of Xian, reputed to possess the power of the dragon. But beware, Lara is not the only one in search of the dagger! Warrior Monks and crazed cult members plot against you as you travel from the remote mountain peaks of Tibet, the canals of Venice and to the bottom of the sea.
Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted a couple of photos of a visit yesterday to the Apple Store in Georgetown, Washington DC, to help promote World AIDS Day. He was accompanied by (RED) CEO Deborah Dugan, who tweeted a couple of additional photos from the visit (show below) … Expand Expanding Close
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