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Google Glass app store will debut in 2014
Back in July, a Google Glass software update inadvertently spilled the beans on a forthcoming app store optimized for the device, and now it looks like it's official. According to The New York Times, a Glass-optimized app marketplace is set to debut sometime in 2014, and a Google rep confirmed as much with Marketing Land earlier today. The store was labeled as "Boutique" in the aforementioned update, but whether or not that name will stick remains to be seen. Google's looking to introduce its headgear to the public next year, and the company will certainly need a secure marketplace for applications when it does. Details are sparse at the moment, but we'll keep you posted as we learn more.
Wait times for App Store approvals reportedly rising
A developer training firm named Shiny Development has been tracking waiting times for the App Store review process as closely as it can, and it has bad news for would-be app developers: The waiting times for the Mac App Store are growing longer. In the last six months or so, the waiting time for getting a Mac App published has gone from under seven days to almost as high as a month, according to Shiny's data. Apple's process is largely closed off -- there is a little bit of information for developers on the main dev website, but otherwise Shiny has mostly gathered this information from the various developers it tracks and corresponds with online. If indeed the times for the Mac App Store have gotten this bad, it could mean that big apps are getting delayed longer and longer, and that could be trouble for the platform in general. The good news is that the iOS App Stores' waiting times appear to be going down over nearly the same time period, from 10 days a few months ago, down to right around a week now. Apple has hired lots of app reviewers in the past year or so, and that's likely the reason for dropping times: As it has more people to check incoming apps, it can get approvals through the system quicker. Hopefully there's a bigger horde of Mac App reviewers on the way, so these apps can get out to the public in a relatively timely fashion. [via MacRumors]
BlackBerry App World to sell music and movies, open to BB 10 app submissions on October 10th
In addition to sharing new details about its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 OS, RIM used today's BlackBerry Jam keynote to make an announcement about App World. The company just revealed that in addition to applications and games, the store will sell music, movies and TV shows -- a move that brings it more in line with rival stores like Google Play and Apple's App Store. That should please App World's 80 million subscribers (a nice little figure RIM dropped in its keynote just now). Another stat: there are currently 105,000 apps in the store, with 3 billion downloads logged since the store's opening. And, RIM says, BB 10 applications will join the herd soon: the company will begin accepting submissions on October 10th. Get it? BB 10 on 10/10? Clever, Thorsten.%Gallery-166503%
Windows Phone Marketplace surpasses 100,000 app submissions
Hitting the big six digits is no small feat for an app store, so it's definitely worth celebrating. Taking just over five months to double its numbers, the Windows Phone Marketplace has now seen 100,000 applications submitted since its humble beginnings, and now enjoys an average daily submission count of 313 apps. As a disclaimer, this doesn't mean we currently have access to all hundred-thousand apps -- just over 10,000 of them are no longer available, which translates into 88,371 apps being live somewhere in the world. Still, the milestone is an important one because few other app stores have made it this far -- and it did so relatively quickly. For instance, the Marketplace reached this mark five months faster than the Android Market, but three months slower than the iOS App Store. Given the popularity of both competitors, we'd say that developer growth has been strong and steady for Windows Phone -- and with an exciting 'sneak peek' of the OS's future (Apollo) coming up in a couple weeks, the trend is likely to continue increasing at an exponential pace. [Thanks, Tom]
New privacy policy standards agreed to by world's major app store owners
The California Attorney General has struck a deal with the world's major app store operators that will see new privacy policy standards put in place. Apple, Google, Microsoft, HP, RIM and Amazon have all agreed to require any software that uses personal information to provide a privacy policy that can be viewed in the store before an app is downloaded. The agreement will bring the various markets in line with the California Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires developers provide such a policy. In addition to providing links to the relevant documents in an obvious and consistent location, the companies will have to offer a simple way for users to report devs that violate the rules. For more details about the deal check out the PR after the break.
Android and iOS share a merry little Christmas: seven million total device activations
Google's SVP of Mobile just provided us with another glimpse inside the horse's mouth, claiming that Android scored 3.7 million new device activations over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. To put that in context, Flurry reported that total Android and iOS activations on Christmas Day alone totaled 6.8 million. If we can accept a very high margin of error, and if we assume that the vast majority of Rubin's activations were on the 25th, then we might extrapolate a roughly even split between the two rival platforms. Considering where Android was just a couple of Christmas's ago, it's no wonder that Mr Rubin is in the tweeting mood.
iPhone app downloads stuttering in the US, but still gold compared to Android
At some point, we'll all have to stop binging on discounted apps and start being reflective -- and that's when Distimo's 2011 'App Year in Review' report can serve as a nice digestive. Alongside some predictable trends, such as an impressive 400 percent surge in available Windows Phone apps, it also reveals a few interesting stats about the market leader. iPhone app downloads in the US "have been declining for nearly the entire year," it says, although there was big spike following the launch of the 4S. Regardless of volume, however, top-grossing iPhone apps still made four times as much money as the Android Market's premium performers. By the same measure, even iPad apps on their own generated twice as many dollars. Is this a tale of quality over quantity, or are Android apps simply better value? We'll decide when we're less queasy, and in the meantime there's a fuller summary of the report at the source link -- though you'll have to register to view it.
Apple maintains lead in mobile app store revenues, but its share is shrinking fast
Growth. You don't have to be Gordon Gekko to recognize that exponential growth in revenues is the mark of both a buoyant industry and, on an individual level, a healthy participant within it. Kudos must, therefore, be handed out to all the top four app stores globally, as each one expended its total revenues by over 130 percent between 2009 and 2010. Interestingly, Apple's growth looks to be slowing down as the App Store begins to reach a saturation point on smartphones, while Nokia's Ovi Store and Google's Android Market blossomed during 2010 by multiples of 7.2 and 8.6 times their 2009 size. Apple's share at the top has shrunken as a consequence, a trend that looks likely to continue when Windows Phone 7's Marketplace and the Ovi Store are melded into one through this year and beyond.
Electronic Arts ready to embrace Android, but wishes it had an App Store
Thought EA had no love for Android or Windows Phone 7? Not quite -- it's just the existing market opportunities that the company doesn't seem to enjoy. CFO Eric Brown told the Deutsche Bank 2010 Technology Conference that the game publisher is actually quite bullish on Google's rapidly popularizing mobile OS and plans to 'position its mobile business' accordingly, but first he said this: "I think the next big positive way to push better growth in mobile will be the deployment of an App Store equivalent for the Android operating system." Since we're fairly certain Brown would be aware of a little thing called the Android Market, we figure he's talking about the same mysterious reason that caused Gameloft (which produces a number of Android titles already) to circumvent the Market in favor of their own online store. One thing's for certain on the EA Mobile front: the company really needs to update their smartphone games page to support a wee bit more than the "Google Android-Powered T-Mobile G1."
Script that crawls app store reviews reveals that people like things that are good, dislike things that aren't
Developer Marco Arment recently wrote a quick script which crawls various app store reviews and analyzes the words that they contain. Unsurprisingly, there are some common words to be found among the best -- and worst -- reviews. For apps that get great (or five star) reviews, common words found include 'awesome,' 'perfect' and 'simple,' while the apps that got terrible reviews turn up things like 'waste,' 'money,' and 'crashes.' So, what can we gather from this? The obvious, of course: most people only know between six and 12 words.
Editorial: Waiter, there's a Nazi theme in my Android Market (updated)
Earlier tonight our friend Michael Gartenberg tweeted that when he went to the Android Market to search for the word "Jewish," a number of Nazi and Hitler themes turned up. Of course, we had to take a look for ourselves, and sure enough, the search for a fairly innocuous word related to a religion and culture turns up skins which are disgustingly, hatefully pro-Nazism and pro-Hitler. That's a problem, no matter how you look at this. In the past, we've railed against Apple for its confusing, unfair, and often absurd App Store policies, particularly when it comes to the policing of applications based on content, not code. Steve Jobs has made a point during press conferences to say that the Android Market allows porn apps -- which of course set off a furious debate. Sadly, what Jobs should have pointed out was that the Market allows something far more insidious and damaging than even the hardest-core pornography -- apps that spread hate and propagate the views of a movement that is pretty much universally reviled.
VW Passat takes the red pill, jacks into Nokia's Terminal Mode (video)
We've seen flashy concepts of what Nokia's seamless cellular infotainment initiative might look like, but it took a pair of Germans from Volkswagen to give us our first glimpse of Terminal Mode in action. At MobileBeat 2010, engineers showed off the video after the break, which shows how a prototype VW Passat might be rigged -- in this case duplicating the phone's display in its entirety (plus additional controls) on the auto's larger touchscreen. Sadly, VW said the tech's still a couple years away from commercial integration into vehicles, though they expect to see third parties selling Terminal Mode add-on kits and the like a bit sooner. Until then, Nokia and partner companies have to figure out how to encourage developers while simultaneously restricting apps that might distract drivers; VW reps told us that while you'll download car-compatible apps from existing app stores rather than a separate Terminal Mode marketplace, compatible programs will be categorized and restricted from in-motion use based on a set of still-to-be-determined rules. Nerd-to-English translation: don't expect to watch Netflix for iPhone on the go. Sans a hack, of course.
Entelligence: App stores are not enough
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide. A little over two years ago, Apple changed the face of mobile computing when it launched the App Store and broke down the barriers between app developers and end users. There was no longer a need for users to go to a third-party web site, hand over a credit card, download an app to their computer, and sync it to their device. The App Store's integration with iTunes made it easy for the consumer to purchase apps, and purchase apps they did. But while Apple now commands a major lead in the sheer number of apps for the iOS platform, it's far from game over in the mobile market, and other competitors can catch up. But it's going to take more than just an app store for other platforms to level the playing field -- that's just the table stakes now. Here's what mobile platform providers need to compete effectively. First, the devices must stand on their own. Before Apple introduced the iPhone OS SDK, the developer program and the App Store, the company sold more than a million iPhones and iPod touches. That is, it had captured a large enough market for developers to notice before third-party apps were brought into the equation. Handset vendors and platform providers must have devices that are compelling to consumers out of the box, with features and form factors that attract buyers independently. Seeding a market with quality devices is one way to capture the attention of developers who will all want to be part of a platform with room to grow.
Nearly every app in Palm's webOS catalog is 50 percent off
That's right, deal seekers and Palm fanatics: you can now get (almost) every single app in the webOS catalog for half off until July 9th. There are a few listed exceptions, but hit up the catalog and get downloading. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Verizon to its smartphones: thou shalt have no other app store before mine
Verizon's getting very keen on entering the app store industry, but not without some rough decrees to its smartphone partners. According to GigaOm, VP Partner Management Ryan Hughes said in an interview Friday that its shop will house content from all the major platforms under one roof, with purchases being billed through the customer's Verizon account and not requiring a separate signup / credit card entry. Convenient for consumers, and devs are also being promised a more streamlined approval process and a "competitive" revenue-sharing program, but here's where things take a turn for the worse: according to Hughes, non-VZW app stores like BlackBerry App World or Windows Mobile Marketplace won't be bundled with the smartphones out of the box, meaning consumers will have to take the initiative to download those portals for themselves. An incredibly jerk move, and an extra burden on developers who'll be having to submit two approval applications if they want inclusion on Verizon's own store. Of course, that large subscriber base is the reason it can get away with it, but let's hope we hear some better justifications other than "because we can" when the full details are rolled out at the Verizon Developer Community Conference on July 28th.
