Well, that’s exciting! Apple and Amazon have apparently settled their differences over who can use the “App Store” name, making it possible for one or both companies to use it in their business.
US District Judge, Phyllis Hamilton, ordered today that the case be dismissed, as requested by both Cupertino-based Apple and Seattle-based Amazon. The trial, originally scheduled for August 19, will no longer occur.
PopCap’s highly anticipated sequel to mega-hit Plants vs Zombies has hit some rough patches lately as the launch date has been pushed back to later this summer. But if you can’t wait a second longer we have good news – you can download the new game right now.
Rather than unleashing Plants vs Zombies 2 on the world all at once, PopCap has decided to do a soft-launch in Australia and New Zealand today to test things out. Which is a bummer for iOS users in the U.S. except it’s really easy to get the new game anyway.
To download the app you’ll have to create an Apple ID for the New Zealand or Australian App Store. Normally, iTunes requires new users to provide a credit card from that country to verify you actually live there, but there’s a workaround.
Apple and Amazon have agreed to end their lawsuit regarding the rights to use the “app store” name, leaving room for both companies to use the phrase.
The case was dismissed on Tuesday afternoon by U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California. The dismal comes after Apple promised Amazon it won’t sue, thus eliminating the need for a counterclaim from Amazon.
The Pandora app for iOS has today been updated with a number of new features that promise to make your listening experience all the more pleasurable. In addition to improved playback buffering, there’s a new automatic pause feature, Pandora URL support, and more.
As the App Store’s 5th birthday approaches this Wednesday Apple has decided to run a special promotion to celebrate all the incredible apps that have made the iPhone and iPad so successful.
“From the 500 apps available at launch in 2008 to more than 900,000 at your fingertips today, it’s been a remarkably prolific five years for the App Store. To celebrate, we’re giving everyone five landmark games and five groundbreaking apps for a limited time. Plus, look back at the key moments that have made the App Store the world’s most innovative destination for apps.”
iOS users looking for the freebies can go to the App Store to find the promotional page that offers the five landmark games and five groundbreaking apps that we mentioned earlier this morning. Apple also published a timeline on the page to commemerate the milestones the App Store has enjoyed over the past five years.
As the App Store’s fifth anniversary approaches, a whole host of developers have begun makes some of their most popular apps and games for iOS completely free. Some of the titles included in the sale are Infinity Blade II, Disney’s Where’s My Water?, and Traktor DJ, which is usually priced at $20.
Apple likes to celebrate product anniversaries and other big milestones. The upcoming 5th anniversary of the App Store’s existence is no exception, and the company has sent out celebratory posters for the occasion to publications.
Tim Bradshaw of the Financial Times tweeted the above picture earlier today. The App Store doesn’t actually turn five years old until July 10th, so Apple must be trying to raise awareness beforehand.
Limbo is one of the best games on Mac. A haunting, monochrome adventure in which you guide the glowing-eyed silhouette of a nameless boy on the “edge of hell” looking for his sister, it’s a classic of game design… and now it’s available on iOS. You can grab it now on the App Store.
Spotify for iOS has been updated today to finally bring the Discover feature to the iPhone, which was first made available to everyone back in May. The version 0.7.1 update also adds the ability to edit your playlists, introduces a new home screen icon, and a new Now Playing view.
Reeder for iPhone, one of the best Google Reader clients on iOS, just got a new update that introduces support for Feedly and Feed Wrangler. The release comes just a day after Google Reader reached its end, and you can expect the same for Reeder for iPad, and Reeder for Mac in the coming weeks.
Incredimail, the new mail client for iPad that’s been attracting a lot of attention since its launch, just got another new update adding some nice new features. In addition to the ability to share links and photos on Facebook, the update adds pinch to zoom, enhanced archiving, and improved personal signatures.
Apple has today kicked off its annual Back to School promotion through the Apple online store. As it did in 2012, the Cupertino company is offering a $100 App Store gift card with every new Mac, or a $50 card with a new iPad.
This year’s promotion also includes the iPhone, which now comes with a $50 gift card, too.
Since taking over as CEO of Yahoo last year, Marissa Mayer has pushed the company to make some huge improvements to its apps for iOS. So far we’ve been treated to stellar updates to Yahoo Weather, News and Flickr and the improvements keep coming as the company just published a nice update for its news app.
Yahoo News for iOS received an impressive redesign in April but today’s update cleans up some of the article navigation and adds better Yahoo! Mail integration, quicker sharing, and sponsored stories.
Here are all the new features:
Have a great idea for an iPhone or iPad game, but don’t have the time or technical experience to code it? Maybe you’ve considered outsourcing, but don’t want to fork over thousands of dollars to a developer? If so, then this Cult of Mac Deals offer is just what you’ve been looking for.
We’re offering a complete e-learning course that’ll show you how to create iOS games from the ground up with absolutely no programming required. In this course you’ll learn how to make simple games using Stencyl (a free iOS game development platform) that you can make money from. And we’ve got this course available to Cult of Mac readers for only $79 – a savings of $420!
With over 50billion apps downloaded though App Store, we’ve always known competition is tough to set yourself apart and make it to the Top 10 charts, but how much money do you actually bring in per day to break the Top 10 grossing apps?
According to a study by Distimo, the magic number is $47,000 per day. If you just want to crack the Top 10 paid apps on the App Store then you’ll need to get 4,000 downloads per day.
Instagram’s new video feature has taken off like wild fire as more than 5 million clips were uploaded in the first 24 hours alone. Many of those new 15-second Instagram videos are all over Twitter, but depending on the Twitter client you’re using, you might not be able to view them.
Tapbots announced today that it has added Instagram video support to its popular Twitter app, Tweetbot. The update is available on both the iPad and iPhone apps which run $2.99 a piece in the App Store.
Source: iTunes
The official Skype apps for iOS have been updated today to add free and unlimited video messaging, which previously required a $4.99 per month Skype Premium subscription. The updates also bring a number of other improvements to things like photo sharing and call stability.
The developer behind Reeder, one of the best Google Reader clients for iOS, has confirmed that the app’s development will continue after Google Reader is closed on July 1. The app will soon receive an update which will bring support for a number of Google Reader alternatives, and if that wasn’t enough, it’ll be free on the iPhone starting today.
The new Google Hangouts app for iOS has received its first update since making its App Store debut back in May. The release adds a number of new features, including the ability to invite friends via SMS and click and share links, plus bug fixes and improvements.
Mailbox, the popular third-party Gmail client for iOS, has received yet more new features in its latest update. iPhone users can now take advantage of the new landscape mode for a wider look at their mail, and there’s now support for Gmail’s “send as” aliases.
We have high hopes for PopCap’s long anticipated sequel to Plants vs Zombies, but it looks like gamers will have to wait a little while longer before the game hits the App Store.
PopCap announced today that Plants vs Zombies 2 has been delayed and will miss its targeted launch date of July 18th. The launch date will be pushed back to some date “later this summer” according to the game’s Twitter feed.
Plants vs. Zombies 2, originally slated for a July 18th release, will now be released later in the summer. Stay tuned for more details.
— Plnts vs. Zmbies (@PlantsvsZombies) June 26, 2013
Apple has added a new promotional page to its website for iOS 7, targeting business users who will be using iPhones and iPads in a professional capacity. “iOS 7 offers more advanced ways to deploy devices and deliver a great user experience for your employees,” the Cupertino company says, before highlighting the many ways in which iOS 7 can benefit business users.
Digg Reader, the service hoping to secure as many Google Reader users as it can when the service closes on July 1, has just begun rolling out in beta to early testers. The news comes just as the official Digg Reader app for iOS is expected to hit the App Store.
iTunes U hasn’t been redesigned to mesh well with iOS 7 just yet, but Apple is still putting out a few feature updates for its educational app.
Apple released a new version of iTunes U in the App Store today that adds pull to refresh, improved language support, bug fixes and more. The new update is available in the App Store for free.
Here are the release notes:
Sony Music Unlimited for iPhone has been updated to offer offline playback and high quality 320 Kbps music streaming. These features were first introduced to the Android version of the app back in January, so it’s nice to finally see them on iOS with the version 1.3 update.