News

Carmack: AppStore is Doomed!

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Mar 8, 2008 a 11:55 am

We've mentioned John Carmack at least a couple of times before. The ID founder and famed developer of Doom and Quake seems to have a special place in his heart for Apple and Apple gaming (even if Sir Steve doesn't return that love).

SDK iFund: 100 Million Dollars!

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Mar 7, 2008 a 11:55 am

In a move sure to boost Michael Arrington's post count, the "one more thing" at today's Apple's iPhone SDK Roadmap event turned out to be doozie -- 100,000,000 doozies to be exact.

About that 70/30 Revenue Split...

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Mar 7, 2008 a 10:57 am

Make your app free, and Apple will distribute it via AppStore and iTunes for free (and eat the costs, see below). Charge for it, however, and Apple will give you the same deal it gives Big Music: 70% for you and 30% for Apple.

How does it stack up across the commercial space? What do other publishers/distributors take?

Retail? Maybe 50%. Amazon Advantage? 55%. Typical book publisher? 90%. Record industry? (Is there a number higher than 100%?)

China Mobile Smash Puny iPhone Rumors!

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Mar 4, 2008 a 2:55 pm

As Casey posted earlier today, the he said/he said, on again/off again, non-talk talks between Apple and China's largest GSM provider, China Mobile indicate something may happen eventually, somewhere.

With a mobile market rapidly approaching half a billion, it would be crazy if Apple and China Mobile weren't in talks, right? Right?!

"We have not yet officially begun talks with Apple over the iPhone problem"

That's what China Mobile exec Wang Jianzhou said, speaking to reporters this week. Vowing to keep his options open, however, as long as his customers stayed interested.

The iPhone started life as a "Safari Pad"?

By Chad Garrett, Tuesday, Mar 4, 2008 a 9:04 am

The New York Times is reporting that the iPhone started its life out as a "Safari Pad". An Internet tablet if you will. Once Steve Jobs saw it, he used his panache and morphed it into an iPhone. The author also goes on to say that when he spoke to Steve Jobs at the recent MacWorld in January, he asked if there would be a larger form-factor iPod touch device. Steve Jobs replied,

O2 Ireland CEO "Defends" Lack of Data, Features

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Mar 3, 2008 a 1:25 pm

As highlighted earlier, when O2 launches the iPhone on March 14, it will be with only a wee 1GB of data (vs. unlimited in other territories) and nay visual voicemail (standard elsewhere -- indeed cited as a rationale for carrier cooperation read: lock-in).

Now MacNN brings us "justification" from O2 Ireland CEO, Danuta Gray:

Apple Patent Bingo: iPhone Game Rentals?

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Mar 3, 2008 a 8:55 am

In the grand tradition of surveilling Apple's every patent filing for the tiniest hint about just which earth-denting device Steve Jobs will whip out next, Apple Insider (via Trademork) brings word on: methods to auto-detect game compatibility (to make sure you don't accidentally buy a Nano game for your iPhone?), an automatic online backup, data storage, and update service for already-purchased games (Software Update meets .Mac?), as well as a game rental and/or subscription service (expanding the iTunes Movie Rentals model?).

Texas University: An iPhone for Every Freshman

By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Feb 29, 2008 a 10:17 am

Apple and education, an historically great market that goes great with Macs. Well now, if Abilene Christian University (ACU) is any precursor, Mobile OS X is about to follow in it's big desktop brother's shoes.

According to Phil Schubert, ACU executive vice president, "an Apple iPhone or iPod touch will become a central part of Abilene Christian University's innovative learning experience this fall when all freshmen are provided one of these converged media devices."

Two Great iPhone Apps: AppFlow and Touchpad

By Dieter Bohn, Friday, Feb 22, 2008 a 9:39 am

A couple of great iPhone apps (for Jailbroken iPhones) came out in the past couple of days. The first is AppFlow, which lets you browse your applications (but not your Web Links, they're a little different) via the sweet coverflow interface. - ericasadun.com » Introducing AppFlow

Apple Making Games for the iPhone?

By Dieter Bohn, Tuesday, Feb 12, 2008 a 9:27 am

What does the iPhone lack? Besides the obvious -- 3G, Office Doc editing, the ability to actually make julienne fries -- what the iPhone lacks is games. Real, on-board games. Some of this pain is mitigated by the fact that you can get web-based games (including some great iPhone games by our very own forum member cmaier). Still, though, do you know what the most popular video game on the planet is?

Solitaire. Because it's built into Windows.