Macgasm

When Steve Jobs announced iAds back in April, we were suitably impressed by the interactive Nissan Leaf ad, and by the slick minigame-like Toy Story 3 ad. So it comes as no surprise that there are high expectations from advertisers and from Apple when it comes to ads on the iOS platform.

Data for July from Millennial Media Mobile Mix Report indicates that 55 percent of ads that are displayed on a mobile device are shown on an iPhone. Android made huge gains from rising from 11 percent to 19 percent, and Blackberry sits at 16 percent.

Millennial Media is an independent ad network, like AdMob or Quattro Wireless, but is one of the few remaining networks that publicly releases data on its mobile advertising. Nielsen estimates that Millennial reaches nearly 80 percent of the U.S. mobile market.

More important than market share, ad requests are experiencing growth, and that’s good for advertisers. “The fact that more devices are being launched by different handset manufacturers and the fact that developers are choosing to develop on multiple platforms, continues to show that where there is money to be made, developers will go there,” said Steve McCord, product development chief at Millennial Media. Apple’s recent shuttering of Quattro Wireless allows them to focus exclusively on new iAd format. As those iAds hit the market, hopefully those numbers will rise further.

Quote from ITProPortal.

Find a page, but have no time to read it now?  There’s an App for that, and it even lets you read the sites while you’re offline.  A pretty handy tool right?   Well, Apple’s denied them an update. Version 2.2 of the application won’t be permitted into the App Store for some bizarre reasons which are very suspect.

To start, we should probably list off changes for version 2.2 before we get into too much detail about the rejection. Read It Later 2.2 is going to increase the speed of downloading full websites, revamp the process for sharing (Delicious, Facebook, etc), provide Retina Display support, and fix numerous bugs. If it sounds like your typical point release update, you’re probably right. There’s nothing ground breaking here, just a developer trying to make the current version of his application the best it can be. So why then has Apple rejected the update to the application?

According to the Read It Later team, Apple’s dismissal is for the following reason: “Applications cannot require user registration prior to allowing access to app features and content; such user registration must be optional and tied to account-based functionality.”

Now that’s a new one. While the reasoning is a little vague, it seems to us that Apple’s saying that the only time an application can have user registration is if the application requires account-based functionality, and even then it must be optional. Here’s an example of how we understand it: think of it kind of like a forum. A user should be able to use the web forum in all ways possible, without having to login to the service. If a registration should be required, it should only be to change profile settings.

It kind of makes sense, but it’s a little bit late. Twitter, Facebook, and a whole slew of other applications like Evernote do provide an application that works without user registration. So then, why should Read It Later be the one web application that does? Could Read It Later do away with the registration? Probably. Should they have to in order to get on the App Store? No way.

This rejection letter could set a dangerous precedent, and we can’t wait to hear how it plays out between the developer and Apple’s review team. It could get dirty.

If you want to support the developer you can get the Pro version for 4.99 on the App Store.

Article Via Read It Later Blog

Without having to rehash Kevin’s success rate with Apple devices, it’s pretty obvious that when he talks, people listen. He’s been right, he’s been wrong, so take this rumour as you will: Apple’s going to be releasing iTV at September’s “iPod” event. He notes that the new Apple TV will not only be relabelled, but that it will also run iOS.

This speculation has been in the rumour mill for well over a month, and evidence keeps mounting that Apple’s working on a new iOS device, so it’s not a leap to suggest that Apple’s going to integrate the AppStore into their “hobby” device. It could be powerful, and redefine television as we know it, if it’s true. With Hulu, ABC, and other networks bringing applications to the iPad that lets you stream television, the Apple TV could be a way for them to increase their revenues again, and cut out resellers around the world. Say good-bye to your monthly cable bill, indeed.

One little snippet of information mentioned stands out for me — Apple’s working on turning the iPad into a giant remote. It’s obvious on the surface, and the fact that we haven’t seen the iPhone remote ported to the iPad yet is interesting.

This is one of those rumours that I can’t help but hope is true. Getting iOS on my HD TV and being able to connect to it via an iPad could very well do away with at least one computer in my home.

Sometimes I worry that Apple might be spreading themselves a little bit too thin, innovating on multiple fronts, and trying to redefine consumer electronics in a way that very few have thought about. Hopefully they don’t start leaving behind devices, and abandoning some things that people have come to rely on — see the current iPod Touch as a case in point.

Article Via Kevin Rose’s Blog

Image Credit: Fast Company

Angry Birds is one of the best selling iPhone/iPad games to date, with almost seven million downloads.

With Rovio‘s success, they’re apparently looking into more commercial avenues for Angry Birds, such as a movie and/or television show. Most people already know about the great job that the company did with the game’s animation, as well as a trailer that was released. The question is, do they have enough good content for a feature length film?

According to Rovio, they have been approached by several movie studios wanting to make a movie with Angry Birds, and Rovio is seriously considering doing so.

I don’t really think they could make a full length film based on the game. It just seems like a bit much. I could, however, see them making a half-hour television “special” or something similar to that. What do you think? Would you like an Angry Birds movie? Leave a comment!

Article via TUAW.

Image via Rovio.

September’s around the corner, and students are finishing up summer jobs, and starting to turn their attention to picking up their book selections for the upcoming semesters. I’m sure more than a couple of them are wishing that they could just buy all their books on the App Store so they could load them up on their iPads and be done with it. Waiting in line at student bookstores in September is the worst.

Textbook publishers seem to be taking their sweet time getting content on the AppStore, but they aren’t completely absent. Inkling has brought four “best-selling” textbooks from McGraw-Hill to the device, on the topics of Biology, Economics, Marketing, and Psychology. The interesting thing is that the text books are being sold starting at a whopping $70 per book or $3 per chapter, as an in app purchase. It’s highway robbery. To be fair, the price of the digital books are somewhat discounted over the traditional print versions.

The text books do include a lot of multimedia content, including video lectures and 3D models. This, in addition to the ability to share  notes with other students, are impressive additions to textbooks,  but by far the most important thing they could have done is offering the $3 per chapter purchase option. There’s been way too many times where I’ve wasted $80 on a textbook only to have a professor use it for one chapter. The pay per chapter model could be huge with students and professors if this takes off.

We’re going to take a textbook for a test drive, and give you a guys a full review in the upcoming week, so stay tuned for that.

Article Via MacNN

Here’s what we say to LG, “Are you kidding me?” Someone please tell the fine LG executives that their tablet is going to be the same as every other Android device: Fragmented and lacking polish from beginning to end. Could they make hardware that blows the iPad right out of the water? They sure could, but they’re still going to be running Android, and they have very little control over Androids strengths and weaknesses. The device makes up fifty percent of the experience, the software makes up the other 50 percent.

Android has a lot of strengths, and LG has made a lot of excellent consumer electronic devices in the past, but they lack something Apple has— the ability to control everything from start to finish. That’s where their strength lies, and that’s what no one else has been able to match to date. Until someone with vision can polish a device entirely, I’m pretty skeptical that they’ll be as successful as the iPad.

I’m going to say this, hoping that Android fans actually take a moment to read this far in the article before commenting, I really hope a competitor emerges in the “Pad” market. Stagnation occurs when one company calls all the shots, and right now, Apple’s alone at the top. I want innovation in the market because I want to see just how far these mobile devices can go in taking over our lives. I’m a firm believer in the form factor, but unless someone really starts pushing Apple, things aren’t going to evolve as quickly as I’d like. That said, I’m skeptical that it’s going to be LG. Frankly, I think Google should be releasing their own phones and pads, and stop relying on third party companies, but that’s just me.

It’s hard to take anyone seriously when they toss out lofty claims like the one that Chang Ma did, and frankly, he just screwed himself. He’s going to have to eat a lot of crow if he’s wrong. LG could be right, but until they ship something, they might want to keep a muzzle on their executives. Reveal, hype, ship, that’s how it’s been done in Cupertino for years, with much success. Hype, reveal, panic is what happens when executives start talking a big game before anyone else sees what they’re talking about. They hype a product that no one’s seen yet, they reveal a product that doesn’t live up to expectations because they’ve hyped it so much before an announcement, and then they panic when they don’t meet their goals because everyone’s disappointed in the announcement.

Products speak for themselves, so how about we let them do the talking, and then take a body count once LG ships something.

Article Via CNet

Image Credit: striatic

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I’m not one of those people who feel that a company should support a device into the infinite beyond. There comes a point where consumers need to update, and frankly, we’re on that cusp with the iPhone 3G. I own one, and I have to say, my phone’s super slow when it runs iOS 4.  Maybe Apple should have stopped iOS 4 support for the 3G and only let it run on the 3GS.

I half expected it when I updated, but when the phone booted again after the update, I immediately regretted it, it was slower than it had ever been before. My complaint isn’t with the update itself, it’s with the difficulty of restoring my phone to a previous edition of iOS. Shouldn’t it be a little bit easier to go back a major upgrade edition? You should probably know that I’m a major advocate of keeping my applications and operating systems completely patched, but I think iOS is a little bit different, especially on the iPhone. It starts to become annoying when I can’t answer calls on my phone anymore, and my only alternative to rectify the problem is a laborious journey to downgrade.

Should users be able to downgrade to say, 3.1.3 simply, if their devices are lagging? I use the word simply in context of traditional consumers, not the geeky variety. I can figure out how to downgrade my phone, but a lot of people will struggle with it.  If your phone isn’t fully supported by an operating system, shouldn’t you have the ability to roll it back?

The good news is Apple’s aware of the 3G problems, and they’ve decided to make good on their claims that iOS will run on the 3G iPhone, albeit in a reduced capacity. Apple’s official response? “Software Update coming soon.” Straight from Jobs’ iPhone. We might not have to wait much longer, but I can tell you this much, if I’m still super laggy in three to four weeks I might just upgrade to the iPhone 4.

Article Via MacLife