iPhone Apps

AT&T has confirmed that multimedia messaging capabilities will come to the iPhone a few days late, on Sept. 25 — just after the end of summer — bringing to an end months of waiting and speculation.

The service will be available with a software update on the launch date. The update will arrive for customers as a download from iTunes. The feature will only be available for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS users.

“It was important to give our customers a positive experience from day one,” AT&T said. “We support more iPhone customers than any other carrier in the world so we took the time necessary to make sure our network is ready to handle what we expect will be a record volume of MMS traffic. We truly appreciate our customers’ patience and hope they’ll understand our desire to get it right from the start.”

AT&T officials said they have been working for months to prepare their systems and network for MMS capabilities on the iPhone, which is expected to bring a great deal of additional bandwidth the the wireless provider’s network. Officials have admitted that the additional bandwidth consumed by iPhone users has been taxing on their data infrastructure, thus the delay in MMS support.

Source : AT&T to begin enabling MMS on iPhones Sept. 25th? It could happen

If this happens, Good news right?

A funny iPhone commercial from YouTube. I think this is from Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien. Enjoy watching.

Agile Messenger is one of the pioneers in the mobile IM market and I have been using it on my Symbian and Windows Mobile devices long before the invasion of the iPhone legions. So when I heard that it was available for the iPhone, I jumped onto the band wagon and what I saw didn't disappoint.


Its features include:

* Always-on connectivity
* IM to email forwarding to notify you of incoming IM messages
* Voice Messaging
* Picture Messaging
* Portrait and landscape mode keyboard
* Side swipe navigation through chats


The Feel Good factor

A Messenger is a Messenger - Connect and Communicate, right? Wrong! There is always a feel good factor involved with Apps that last as long as Agile Messenger in the Mobile IM market. For Agile Messenger it is their award winning interface that has won over many fans since its launch back in the pre-Google / iPhone days.


Agile Messenger has Tabs for virtual socialites like myself so that I may switch between conversations easily. Just tap on the conversation tab or just swipe sideways to move forward and back through them, easy!


The Voice and Picture Messaging Features also brings Messaging to the next level allowing me to share pictures and voice messages with colleagues and friends everywhere with a click and tap.

Agile messenger is available in AppStore at $9.99.

SOURCE : Instant Messaging in iPhone

Great news for Coldplay iPhone Users.

Babelgum has announced that it's developed an iPhone application for the band Coldplay. The app includes video content, as well as a Coldplay news feed and a mini game.

The big inclusion is the video for the track Strawberry Swing, which was directed by a group of visual artists called Shynola, who have also worked with Beck, Blur, Junior Senior and Radiohead. The Strawberry Swing video is joined by all the band's previous videos too.

In the mini game included, Chris Martin "battles giant squirrels and sea monsters to rescue a princess". We're as confused as you are about that one, though it apparently replicates the Strawberry Swing video, so that might be what's going on.

Lastly, a news feed will give Coldplay fans the latest info, alongside competitions to win tickets and travel to see Coldplay's current world tour. The application is available now and costs nothing.

Babelgum launches Coldplay iPhone app

Here's an iPhone Apps review from appadvice.com. This iPhone apps is used for twitter users which is called Twitterrific.

Overview

Twitter apps are perhaps the most competitive of any category in the App Store and the Iconfactory has proven in its 2.0 release of Twitterrific that it means to dominate this space.

The original Twitterrific on iPhone looked great but, over time, it was overshadowed by more feature-rich offerings like Twittelator Pro and Tweetie. Not anymore - multiple accounts, search, trends - it’s all here. It’s far easier to navigate than the competition and it looks great. In addition, the free ad-supported version is fully featured, so you’re really missing out not to at least try it.

Features

A couple weeks ago we were ready to publish our review of Twitterrific when we found out 2.0 was on its way. If we had published then, this section would’ve been pretty tiny - you could send out a standard 140 character message, share your location or upload a photo. A clever javascript trick (also utilized by Twittelator Pro) let you use a bookmark to take any web page you’re looking at in Mobile Safari and copy that link into a tweet in the app. You could also tap on links and look at the resulting web page without having to leave the app.

That was Twitterrific before 2.0. Now you can do all that plus manage multiple accounts, search and see trends, shorten URLs, email tweets, link to individual tweets, retweet, follow and unfollow, favorite and mark individual tweets and filter the timeline on the fly so you can see only replies, direct messages or favorites.

You can also tap on a tweet and easily view a conversation thread between users, which to me is a killer feature as it easily lets you figure out what people have been talking about. For people like me who subscribe to all @replies, this option means I can figure out what the heck everyone is talking about. I had some mixed results using it though because it didn’t seem to work on all conversations. Gedeon Maheux, one of the Iconfactory’s designers, said some Twitter clients don’t handle “in reply to” data correctly and that’s necessary for the feature to work on all conversations.

You can even compress text to try and save a few spaces by shortening words (like contractions) or deleting extra spaces. Pretty cool.

There’s also a lengthy list of advanced settings so you can bend Twitterrific to your every whim. For example, you can set a double tap and/or a triple tap to show the author, show the conversation, toggle favorite or mark the tweet.

The Comparison

There are way too many Twitter apps out there for me to fully compare Twitterrific in the space of this review. We’ll do a full-blown comparison in the coming days, but for now I’ll give you the abbreviated version.

Twittelator Pro is the reigning feature powerhouse in the App Store and Twitterrific 2 gives it a run for its money. At least two features Twitterrific does not have and Twittelator Pro does is the ability to queue tweets to send later and a landscape keyboard.

As far as price, Twitterrific Premium costs $3.99, less than half the cost of the original. The new price falls right in between Twittelator Pro ($4.99) and Tweetie ($2.99). There’s no way this was an accident and I interpret the move as Iconfactory throwing down the Twitter gauntlet. And that’s not considering the ad-supported version is fully featured, unlike Twittelator.

Breakdown

The Good

Much like with the iPhone itself, feature lists alone don’t quite capture the true value of the product. It’s all about the user experience and, simply put, Twitterrific is an absolute pleasure to use.

The design geniuses at the Iconfactory have packed all this power into an incredibly intuitive and fun interface. A little birdie sings when your new tweets arrive and a colorful little window comes up to tell you how many tweets there are. You can even choose whether you want the sound to be a Bluebird, Cardinal or a Robin.

While writing a tweet, you can click the eye icon and see all the tweets underneath. Click the keyboard and you’re back writing your tweet. It’s simple and it helps.

Little design touches like that are all over the place - like the send button. I wouldn’t have noticed it if someone hadn’t pointed it out on Twitter, but the send button is up at the top of the screen and away from the keyboard so users don’t accidentally send a tweet before it’s ready.

Even the credits screen is fun to look at because a little birdie shows up and streaks across the screen.

The Bad

There isn’t much bad to say about Twitterrific except that I feel sorry for people who paid $9.99 for the original when the new version is so much cheaper. Reminds me of people who paid full price for the original iPhone only to see it drop to $200.

Conclusion

The reasons people will choose whether to stay with their existing Twitter app or move to Twitterrific 2 will likely be a matter of personal preference. Users just might prefer the way their current app gets things done to the way Twitterrific does. However, I found the design of Twitterrific 2 more intuitive than any other. The free version is a must have and, if you love it, the only reason to upgrade is if you despise advertising or you want to support the developers.

source : iPhone Apps Advice : Twitterrific

Google announces from its Official Google Blog that they will be releasing an Adsense for Mobile Applications so that developers may earn revenue by displaying text and image ads in their iPhone and Android applications.

Here's the article from GoogleBlog.

You don't have to be a mobile expert to see how smartphones are revolutionizing our daily lives. Lower prices, faster network speeds and unlimited data plans mean that people often reach for their cell phone rather than their computer when they are seeking information. As a result, mobile applications have become more and more popular, helping people find music, make restaurant reservations or check bank balances — all on their phone.

We want to contribute to the growth of these mobile applications, which is why we're happy to announce our beta launch of AdSense for Mobile Applications. After all, advertisers are looking for ways to reach potential customers when they are engaged with mobile content, and application developers are looking for ways to show the best ads to their users. We have already had a successful trial of this service with a small number of partners, and are excited that we can now offer this solution to a broader group.

AdSense for Mobile Applications allows developers to earn revenue by displaying text and image ads in their iPhone and Android applications. For our beta launch, we've created a site where developers can learn more about the AdSense for Mobile Applications program, see answers to frequently asked questions and sign up to participate in our beta. Advertisers can also learn about the benefits of advertising in mobile applications.

We're excited to open up this beta to more developers, and look forward to offering new features for our mobile advertisers and publishers in upcoming releases. We also want to say a big thank you to the partners who worked with us on the trial stages of this project including Backgrounds, Sega, Shazam, Urbanspoon and more.

Check out this short video of Howard Steinberg, Director of Business Development at Urbanspoon, discussing his experience with AdSense for Mobile Applications.

Advertising lets Google and others supply lots of free services to users. Will it be as successful embedded in apps as it is in the browser? Developers, are you interested in Google AdSense monetizing your apps? Users, would you put up with Google advertising if it meant cheap or free apps?

Feel free to post a comment.

source

A mobile iPhone and iPod touch version of of popular banking software iBank has been released by Developer IGG.

iBank is a stand alone application which allows users to keep track of their daily spending and account balances anywhere. The application's feature allows the users to transact, track spending, check account balances, and sync iBank for Mac.

For Mac users, iBank are able to sync in multiple devices over Wi-Fi, MobileMe, or any WebDAV server. However, iBank Version 3.5 is required to be sync with Mac.

The Mac OS version of iBank costs $59.99 on the developer's website. The download (demo version) includes 75 transaction trial period.

iBank on iPhone contains some key features of the software. This includes the memorized payee list, split transaction support, and multi-currency support. Expect even more great features in the future because currently Version 1.0 is available for iPhone. If you currently own iBank 3.5 for Mac, the iPhone version is a must buy.

iBank is available in the App Store for $4.99.

Source

Apple today announced that iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded over 1.5 billion applications in the App Store's first year of operation. There are currently over 65,000 applications available in the store.

Apple today announced that customers have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications in just one year from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. The App Store is also growing at an incredible pace with more than 65,000 apps and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program.

"The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up."
Apple also notes that it has sold over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches capable of running App Store applications.

The App Store surpassed one billion downloads less than three months ago. Today's announcement suggests that the 500 million downloads since that time occurred two weeks faster than the previous 500 million, demonstrating continued acceleration in the download rate.

source

It’s finally Friday afternoon and it’s safe to assume that everyone is very, very tired of working. To spice up your weekend a little bit, and to get you out of that work week funk, why not purchase yourself a brand new game for only $.99? There certainly are a bunch of them.

Now, this may not be the most comprehensive list of sales since tons of apps receive price drops nearly every second, but it at least highlights some of the more interesting ones:

- Deal or No Deal: Game based on the hit television series.

- Hell’s Kitchen: Another game based on a television series.

- 7 Cities: Classic tower defense game with a little twist.

- Galcon: A high-paced multiplayer galactic strategy game.

- Return to Mysterious Island: Allows you to explore a mysterious island, in search for food and tools while solving puzzles.

- Up There: A simple casual game where you control a balloon to avoid barriers.

The original prices and duration of each sale varies from game to game, but all of them are now available in the App Store for only $.99.

source

Do you have any iPhone Application News or review? Tweet it.

iPhone Apps roundup from Steve Sande of the unofficial Apple Weblog.



Damn. iPhone developers have been clamming up over the last few weeks, so we haven't had much to post in the App News Roundup. Now that it's getting closer to i-Day Friday, the tips are starting to pour in.

* Deepak Mantena of Tapeshow told us about Chores, his GTD app for iPhone (see screenshots above). It will be in the App Store, with a Mac companion app coming in August. He'll also have Wordy (for helping you improve your vocabulary), Gratuity (easy tip calculator), and Fright (a good way to scare your friends) in the App Store Friday.
* Another ebook reader app for iPhone has been announced; Lexcycle Stanza will be in the App Store on Friday for free. Stanza uses Project Gutenberg eTexts so you can have a library of classics at your fingertips.
* Developer Pascal Bourque let us know that he's submitted DutchTab to the App Store. You can use this app to split restaurant bills fairly between a group of co-workers or friends. His site isn't up yet, but will be soon at this link.
* 3Monk3ys has three iPhone apps that available on Friday. DoubleDrop (a puzzle game) will be available for $2.99. Attitude is an simulation of an airplane's Attitude Indicator (ADI), and is priced at $2.99 as well. Finally, iSoroban is a Japanese abacus simulator priced at $1.99
* Noah WItherspoon mentioned that his game Tris will be available soon after the App Store launch. Details are on his dev blog at this site.
* Are you a pilot? Felix Khazin is releasing AirWX, an iPhone app for grabbing METARs, maps, and more. AirWX uses CoreLocation and pulls up nav charts from skyvector.com.
* Kayakers are going to need a waterproof case for their iPhones! Wayne David Daley has RiverGuide coming out soon. Can you say real-time river flow info?
* Thomas Aylesworth of Bayou Games let us know about Morocco, his Othello game for iPhone.
* Edovia will be selling Steps, pedometer software for iPhone, starting Friday for $1.99. Their Linguo translator software will retail for $2.99 and features 17 languages.
* If you need to lose a few pounds, All of Zero has iScale coming out soon. You can keep track of what you eat, find the nutrional value of various foods, and more.