It seems that smartphones were top of everyone’s Christmas lists this festive season with an estimate of over 20 million iOS and Android devices being activated between December 25th and 31^st according to a new report by Flurry. The report also found that a record breaking 1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the same week, known as “power week”. (more…)

This week saw the announcement from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) that a huge S$15 million (USD $12.22 million) is to be set aside for encouraging businesses to develop mobile apps for the service sector.

If that wasn’t a large enough incentive for businesses to get mobile, Singapore is now one of the most mobile-connected countries in the world, currently there are 2.4 million more mobile subscriptions than there are people. It is the predicted future global app hotspot.

According to market research firm, Nielsen this explosion of connectivity in Singapore is said to be down to the popularity of the iPhone and iPad and the increasing availability of cheaper mobile internet tariffs. An indication of the integration of mobile app devices into Singaporean culture is the new initiative from its Defense Ministry to distribute 8,000 iPad 2s to its soldiers to allow them to chat with colleagues and record outfield exercises. Singapore really is a the region for mobile investment in Asia. (more…)

Learn how to turn your code into cash

Join Intel at Apps World in London on Wednesday 1st December for a free developer workshop to learn how to make money by selling your apps on the Intel AppUp Center.

Enrollment in the Intel AppUp Developer program is free for a limited time. Intel will be discussing revenue opportunities for Adobe AIR* and Windows* C/C++ developers, as well as how you can optimise existing iOS, Windows and runtime applications for netbooks.

Hear why you should develop for the Intel AppUp Center, learn about SDKs with live coding walkthroughs, listen to other developers already involved in the program, and talk to Intel experts in thier staffed open lab. Bring your code and questions! Want to see what to expect? View videos from past Application Labs. (more…)

Bored with iPhone OS?  Frustrated by Apple’s death-grip platform control?

Well David “planetbeing” Wong may have an answer for you. He’s successfully dual-booted Android on an iPhone. Yes, really! In IT Blogwatch, bloggers look on, in slack-jawed amazement.

It would appear that a way to run the Android OS on an iPhone has been discovered.  This is massive news for iPhone users waiting for the new iPhone OS 4.0 and all the features that are available with that platform.

Googles platform has been hard on the heels of Apple for quite sometime, and despite some good features has so far been shunned in favour of the iPhone OS.  Android however has seen a growing interest over the past few months with many predictng 2010 to be the year of Android.  The Android App sotre now has in the region of 30,000 apps with 9000 apps added in March alone.

News of a way to run Android on an iPhone will only fuel speculation that Android is becoming the must have OS for your smart phone.

For more information on this story visit http://blogs.computerworld.com/15980/android_on_your_iphone_theres_an_app_for_that?source=rss_blogs.

Apple announced Tuesday that more than three billion apps have been downloaded from its revolutionary App Store by iPhone and iPod touch users worldwide.

“Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months–this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The revolutionary App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users an experience unlike anything else available on other mobile devices, and we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”

The news comes nine months after it hit 1 billion downloads, with the second billion taking a further six months.

When the 2 billion mark was reached, Apple also announced that 85 000 apps were available in the App Store at the time. This time, the company chose to stick to download numbers only.

However, in November 2009, Apple did say that 100 000 apps were published to the store.

Application stores will exceed 4.5 billion downloads in 2010

App Store

Consumers will spend $6.2 billion in 2010 in mobile application stores while advertising revenue is expected to generate $0.6 billion worldwide, according to Gartner. Analysts said mobile application stores will exceed 4.5 billion downloads in 2010, eight out of ten of which will be free to end users.

Gartner forecasts worldwide downloads in mobile application stores to surpass 21.6 billion by 2013. Free downloads will account for 82 per cent of all downloads in 2010, and will account for 87 per cent of downloads in 2013.

(more…)

There’s been some useful discussion recently about using the app store model for distributing enterprise software and services within organizations. Up until now, most IT needs in the majority of businesses have been met through one-size-fits-all delivery of solutions that are either hand-crafted or purchased and then imposed on all. It’s been this way for at least three decades, but now this aging and inadequate process is beginning to improve. (more…)

Social news aggregator Digg.com has released its free iPhone app in the App Store. Packed with a slick, feature-rich interface, the app is a strong start for the popular website, though there’s plenty of room for it to grow. (more…)

Whats next for Social TV? Below Mark Groves from NDS talks about whats next for social tv and how this will be intergrated into our exisiting platforms
NDS will be exhibiting at the Social TV and Social Media World Forum on the 15th & 16th March, London 2010. http://www.social-tv.net meet them at stand number 15.