Hasta La Gadget!

Mobiroo, a Canadian startup, has unveiled its new Android app subscription service, which allows Android users to get unlimited access to “hundreds of top paid apps.” Instead of paying for individual apps, users can have unlimited downloads from a rather vast library for what is an initial limited price of $2.49 per month.

The price of the service jumps a tad to $4.98 per month after the cheaper initial pricing ends. For those who aren’t sure how they’ll like a monthly app service, Mobiroo is offering a free 7-day trial with no obligation to continue using the service if you don’t like it. Also being offered as a limited time promotion is a free paid EA app priced at up to $4.99 when you sign up.

Mobiroo promises that the number of apps available through the service will soon grow from hundreds to thousands, with the company pointing out that the monthly rate is similar to the price of buying one or two apps. Developers that have partnered with the service include GameHouse, Binary Mill, and Vector Unit, with Mobiroo stating that apps are available in across all categories, including productivity, music, games, books, and more.

Mobiroo’s founder and CEO Vinay Chopra had this to say: “We’re experiencing a major shift in the way we consume our content. Consumers are demanding services which give them unlimited access to their content. Netflix has done it for video. Spotify has done it for music. Now, Mobiroo is doing it for apps … we have created an app experience that makes paid apps more appealing, affordable, and low-risk for any Android user. Membership to our service gives users unlimited access to thousands of dollars’ worth of top paid apps on-demand; all for less than a Starbucks’ coffee.”

[via PR Newswire]

Mobiroo unveils monthly subscription service for unlimited access to Android apps is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Should you duck and cover or just go about your business? The Red Cross’s new tornado app will tell you the difference. More »

If there’s one thing to know about smartphone and tablet users, it’s that they download a lot of apps. I have 93 apps and games currently on my smartphone, and I don’t consider that a large amount by any means, so when you take into account that every mobile user has a handful of apps on their devices, it can really add up. This year, though, research firm ABI Research predicts that mobile app downloads will hit 70 billion combined by the end of the year.

Breaking that number down, it’s predicted that smartphone users will account for 56 billion of those app downloads, while tablet users will take the remaining 14 billion. As for the split between Android and iOS, ABI predicts that Android will take the majority of app downloads, with 58% of the pie, while iOS will claim 75% as far as tablet apps are concerned.

Besides Android’s 58%, iOS will garner 33% of all app downloads in 2013, while Windows Phone and BlackBerry will each get 4% and 3%, respectively. As for tablet apps, Android will represent 17% of all tablet apps downloaded, while Amazon’s tablets will take 4%, and Windows tablets will take 2% — mere crumbs from an app pie.

70 billion app downloads is a lot, and it goes to show that mobile devices are slowly taking over. It’s also interesting that Android is predicted to get most of the pie this year, considering that Google Play has had to play catch-up with the iTunes App Store for the past couple of years, but it looks like the Android app portal is finally gaining ground.

Mobile users predicted to download 70 billion apps this year is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Remember the other day when it was reported that a 5-year old boy in the UK managed to rack up over $2,500 worth of in-app purchases? His case is definitely not the first nor will it be the last, but it looks like Apple is beginning to take it seriously and could be looking at refunding over 23 million iTunes users for amounts over $30. According to a report from CNET, Apple will be sending out notices to over 23 million iTunes users who could have been affected by the in-app purchasing system that basically made it possible to accidentally rack up hundreds or thousands of dollars’ worth of purchases. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple iWatch May Be Unveiled By The End Of 2013, Sleep Art App Turns Your Sleep Patterns Into Works Of Art,

Microsoft’s ever-popular panoramic app Photosynth has arrived on the company’s own Windows Phone 8 platform. The app had previously only been available for iOS devices (as well as WP7), but after being absent from Microsoft’s new mobile platform for several months after its release, Windows Phone 8 users can now capture Street View-esque panoramic images with their new Windows Phone devices.

Unlike the Photosynth app for iOS, the Windows Phone 8 version comes with a few exclusive features, including the ability to launch the app from the default camera app. There are also new sharing capabilities that allow Windows Phone 8 users to share and view panoramas with one another, as well as posting to Facebook and Twitter.

There’s also more camera controls. Users can adjust for various lighting conditions by using the new exposure and white balance locking options within the app, which should make panoramic images turn out a lot better. Microsoft boasts that Photosynth is the “only Windows Phone app that can stitch a full sphere (that’s 360 degrees horizontally and vertically).”

The app is really easy to use. All you have to do is tap the screen to start, and then move your phone around in all directions to capture your surroundings with the camera. Whenever you move the camera to a different location, the app will automatically recognize that and will take a photo of that section. You can take full 360-degree images or just a quick panoramic from left to right.

Photosynth panoramic app arrives on Windows Phone 8 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.