Ashley’s out this week, so you’re stuck with me for your apps coverage. Did you know that I use a Windows Phone? There’s a newish Domino’s app for Windows Phone that is pretty good but also it tricked me into ordering a Domino’s pizza when it came out, so I’m sort of holding a grudge. Here are some Android apps I haven’t ordered a pizza from (yet).
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It’s been five years since Apple first launched the App Store, the company this week celebrating the origins of the iOS-tending software vending environment with a bit of a silent wave. You may have seen the “Apple Celebrates 5 Years of the App Store” that’ve been appearing in tubes to the doors of Apple-friendlies: it’s there that you’ll be getting the same information we’ll be running down here. It begins with the launch of the store back on July 10th of 2008, not long after the iPhone was first launched (in June of 2007) and the first 10 million downloads were reached not long after.
From there the App Store downloads grew right alongside the widespread adoption of the iPhone itself, developers deciding they’d get onboard with what would become a rather lucrative enterprise. Just before 2009 rolled around, 100 million downloads were reached – the 500 million downloads mark appeared just 16 days into the year. Things sped up quite quickly from there.
It was April 24th, 2009 when Apple announced its first 1 Billion downloads. It was 9 months after the initial launch of the store, and Apple was so proud of the milestone that they decided to send out a prize: $10,000 in iTunes cash to the 1 billionth downloader. This became a tradition with Apple and has been ever since.
Fast forward to 2013 and we’ve seen a 40 billion download mark as well as a 50 billion download mark the company was so happy about, they announced it at WWDC 2013. The first few minutes of any major keynote address has held such numbers and high water marks with Apple – and they’ve begun counting side-stores as well.
You’ll find Apple’s iTunes U to have reached 1 billion downloads for schools and learning institutions, that system having been in play for approximately a year at the time (February of 2013.)
Inside 2013, the App Store is watched by the ravenous fans of the ecosystem with extreme scrutiny. Items like Vanity URLs and Age Recommendations have become newsworthy in and of themselves.
The download marks were joined by such milestones as the first 1 million approved apps – this having been met on November 19th of 2012. While Apple has generally focused on the number of live apps – not just an app total – in the app store, the dichotomy of actual living apps and the downloads they’ve spurred brings some instant perspective on a single apps’ reach.
Next we’ll see the next big milestone in devices – it was back in 2010 when the first iPad-optimized apps were introduced. Stick around as Apple reaches the next 50 billion downloads as well – any guesses on how long it’ll take for them to hit it?
Apple celebrates App Stores’ 5th Anniversary is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
It’s been made official – Jay-Z’s move with the album Magna Carta Holy Grail and a total of 1 million “free” downloads has pushed the RIAA to update their rules on Gold and Platinum records. Mentioning specifically the Magna Carta album and the Samsung deal made with the artist, the RIAA has made it clear: “a common sense update” is in order. The 2004 “Digital Single Award” will be updated to reflect the “wild wild west” of modern times.
What we’ve got going on here is a re-examination of the RIAA’s Gold & Platinum (G&P) Program award rules, going back specifically to the 30-day specification for certification of an album. The organization has suggested that the original 30-day rule was put in place specifically for physical albums and the way they were sold to record stores:
“One of our program’s requirements is that an album can become eligible for certification 30 days after release date. (There are other rules, of course – such as requiring that the price of the album meet certain requirements.) The 30-day rule exists to take into account potential returns of physical product – CDs, cassettes, vinyl, etc. that could be shipped to brick and mortar retailers and returned, in which case our auditors do not count the sales. ” – RIAA
Obviously this same sort of situation does not match up with the sale of digital copies of albums or digital singles. The RIAA suggests that when they created the Digital Single Award in 2004, they did not impose a 30-day rule because of the major lack of digital returns as such.
Here in 2013 the RIAA notes that they’re still without an award with mention of full digital album sales. Because such a thing makes sense to exist – and because the album Magna Carta offers up such a unique – and important – example of massive sales in the industry, digital albums are now added to the RIAA’s G&P Program rules:
“Going forward, sales of albums in digital format will become eligible on the release date, while sales of albums in physical format will still become eligible for certification 30 days after the release date.” – RIAA
Meanwhile Billboard has suggested that they’re not about the change the way they certify, not for Jay-Z, not for anyone. Their Letter from the Editor still stands:
“True, nothing was actually for sale — Samsung users will download a Jay-branded app for free and get the album for free a few days later after engaging with some Jay-Z content. The passionate and articulate argument by Jay’s team that something was for sale and Samsung bought it also doesn’t mesh with precedent.” – Bill Werde for Billboard
Werde suggested that they’ll need more time between learning of a new method for inclusion in Billboard listings, and: “Should we decide changes are in order, we’ll give the business advance warning so the game stays fair, and certainly run test charts with our data partner Nielsen SoundScan to ensure the charts are up to our historic standards of integrity and accuracy.”
It’s suggested by Werde that, “Learning about Jay-Z’s enormous and admirable ambition two weeks ago simply didn’t leave time for this,” and that they’ll continue to examine their methods through the future, but at the moment they’re sticking with what they’ve got.
Magna Carta: Jay-Z Samsung downloads change RIAA rules for Platinum Certification is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Fourth of July weekend is all about barbecues, swimming, and fun in the sun. (Oh yeah, and America.) But being in the sun isn’t so great for your skin—especially if you’re running a little short on the melanin. Stand tall, …
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We’re sure developers get tons of emails every day from their users who might either wish to leave feedback, provide some ideas, or complain about a bug, and with the barrage of emails some developers get, it is understandable that […]
Like It , +1 , Tweet It , Pin It Original content from Ubergizmo. 
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There’s finally a Mega app for Anroid available which is… well, quite a lot like Dropbox’s, really. There are, apparently, iOS and Windows versions on the way, too.
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Mega – the file-hosting website of Kim Dotcom fame – has announced the arrival of its first mobile app, which is for Android and available now on the Google Play Store. Although neither the iOS nor Windows Phone apps are available, the announcement states they are in “the final stages” and will be launched in the near future.
The app is tied to one’s Mega account, and allows for both uploading and downloading files, promising that it does so quickly in both regards. One particularly nice feature is that it can be synced with the device’s camera for auto cloud storage of videos and photographs that are taken, a nice alternative or secondary backup to shuttling the content off to one’s Google account.
There are image thumbnails, the ability to export and send both folder and file links, as well as editing functions for moving, renaming, and deleting both files and folders. There’s an on-board search function for finding files located within one’s own Mega account, as well. The announcement suggests that more features will be added over time, but what those future features will be is up for speculation.
Those with a Mega account have access to 50GB for free, and as was Dotcom’s professed goal, all content that is uploaded is fully encrypted, with the user retaining the keys to decrypt the files. Such a method aims to thwart law enforcement by making the service raid-proof. This follows the raid on Dotcom’s house, and the ensuing legal fallout that has been ongoing since.
The service was announced back in November, and is a replacement for the now defunct Megaupload, which was pulled last year and replaced with a nifty FBI splash page. The hosting website has servers located in New Zealand and Europe, and Dotcom has been quoted as saying that “every file that is being uploaded to Mega is not just on one server, meaning if one hosting company goes bankrupt then those files will be on least two servers in the world and in two different jurisdictions.”
SOURCE: Mega
Mega launches Android app with support for other platforms in the works is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Slowly, but steadily, BlackBerry’s building its BB10 app catalog with some major gets. Today, that burgeoning list grows by a very important one with the addition of Sony’s Crackle. The free, ad-based streaming video service, which culls together content from Sony’s various TV and film studios, is available to download now from BlackBerry World. It’s also compatible with the Q10’s teeny, 3.1-inch screen, so if you hate your good eyesight, you can devote an hour or two to reliving the opus that is Bad Boys II. Sure, popular apps like Instagram, Hulu Plus and Netflix have yet to make their way over to BB10, but you can’t fault the Waterloo-based outfit for getting users what it can. Even if that means bringing them Bad Boys II.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Sony, Blackberry
Already available to the Swiss for over two years, this potentially lifesaving app is finally catching up to US iPhone and Android users.
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The folks at Yahoo have made another purchase this week with the group known as Xobni, here aiming for Smarter Contacts in a rather basic way. With this service, Yahoo will expand its current app user base with email and social services, taking expertise from the development team at Xobni for what must be assumed to be their own already-developed apps. This sort of acquisition is one of those made more for the talent, rather than the app the developers have in play.
With Xobni, Yahoo racks up a total of two (that we know of) businesses that they’ve acquired in so many days. This trend isn’t new – they’ve been collecting startups and small groups of developers and services for several months now – and we bet you can guess who’s behind it all. Earlier this week they purchased a group known for their short-movie sharing and power to take on Vine.
That same app – Qwiki, it’s called, was seen by former Google higher-up Marissa Mayer. As Mayer is now the CEO of Yahoo, she’s seen this and a variety of apps like it as powerhouses worthy of being picked up by this original search giant. With her aim to pick and choose some of the most powerful up and coming names in the app universe, Yahoo is positioned well for growing from without.
At the moment, according to Xobni itself, most of its services are about to be done for – or at least sucked up into Yahoo in full.
“Xobni is no longer accepting new purchases of premium products. This includes Xobni Pro, Xobni Enterprise, Xobni for Teams, the Xobni Salesforce Gadget, and the Xobni JIRA Gadget.”
The full collection of licenses for services with Xobni will continue through July 2nd, 2014 – one year from now – while “Premium Support” for the full set of apps and services will continue “throughout the duration of your premium subscription.” Nice of them, yes?
Yahoo acquires Xobni for address book boost is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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