Even though TUAW might not have been the first to mention this, I appreciate that they did.

Please keep posting interesting apps like this.

I don't read those other blogs...!

Didn't TUAW just post an article saying that they only sold 5 iPhones in China?? :lol:

5 units?

Maybe you can quote your source...

Something tells me that a "unit" is something other than a single iPhone - either that, or someone doesn't have their facts straight.

I'd love an invite. Thanks!

They aren't patenting the idea, which has been around for decades, they are patenting the ability of the underlying OS to "lock-up" when OS ads are displayed.

I don't think you can patent an idea... you need implementation details to get a patent.

I have a theory for this! ;)

Apple knows that eventually Microsoft (or unix-based vendors) will stoop to this level, and has decided to patent it so that they get a cut of every copy of Microsoft Windows ever sold!

Either that, or it is a stop-gap measure to prevent anyone from implementing it because it would be a crime to humanity!

Yes, actually in almost all cases (where I cared), I contacted the app developers.

In the cases where they ignored my feedback, I tended to leave a bad review or none at all.

In one or two cases, updates came down the pike that resolved the issues.

In several cases, I was neither contacted, nor were there updates that fixed the issues.

In the rare cases of them contacting me, several developers said they were aware of the issues and were working on the problems (in priority sequence). Unfortunately, some of these were never updated again.

The biggest issue might be that the developers are taking on more than they can chew, hoping to get rich, and realizing that at 99c to $4.99 they need to sell a lot of apps to make a living.

I don't really cry too loudly because I realize it must be difficult to make a living for an app that is not a big seller or for a niche market.

I have personally purchased at least 5 different "remote control" apps for my Mac, and none of them works more than 80% of the time. I realize these are difficult things to code and make work over wireless connections... but I would be more than willing to pay $20 for one that worked 99% of the time!

The point I was trying to make, is that these experiences make people nervous about investing in an app (at any price) because they are tired of wasting their time and money in general.

If only the apps in the app store worked as advertised, and were reliable, I think more people wouldn't mind paying the price...

I've bought dozens of apps, only to find out several of them just didn't work properly, and end up just deleting them off of my phone. This gives me pause whenever I want to buy an app.

At least many games offer Lite version demos, so a person can try them out. Many utilities don't offer this, so I've been stung many times buying things that simply don't work as advertised.

And, given that Apple doesn't offer refunds... we're SOL.

How about Rogers now??? They need to do something to stick out from the crowd (Telus and Bell) now that there's actually some competition in Canada.

My son had several dropped calls over 2 weeks, and took it into the Apple Store, and they replaced the phone after seeing it had 2% of calls dropped.

Since then, he hasn't had a single dropped call.