Maybe you sneer at posts such at this one about a five-year-old who bought $2,500 worth of digital cars in mere minutes, or this one about a child who spent $1,400 on Smurfberries on her parents’ iPad. You’d never be so stupid as to hand a child a device with the password already entered and ready to go. Jamie might have said the same thing…until she did. [More]
app store
Judge Tells Apple It Isn’t False Advertising If Amazon Also Calls Its Online Shop An “App Store”
By 1.2.13
So like, you know when you need to buy something? Where do you usually go? A store. And those electronic thingies, those applications, what are those commonly called? Yup, apps! Combine the two and you get — you guessed it! — an app store. Apple thought it had the corner on that name, but a judge just ruled that Amazon is allowed to use the term as well without it constituting false advertising. And likely anyone else selling apps. [More]
(Updated) EA's Rock Band Game For iPhone Will NOT Self-Destruct In 29 Days
By 5.2.12
UPDATE: We heard back from EA this evening. They tell us that the message to players was an error, and Rock band is NOT being turned off after May 31. [More]
Apple App Store Charges Over And Over Again For New Operating System
By 7.28.11
Apple’s new version of Mac OS has some new and exciting features, and for Mac fans is a bargain at only $30. It is not, however, worth three times that. Or even $4,000. That’s what some customers have paid, without exactly meaning to. More than one person has come forward complaining that their PayPal accounts, linked to their iTunes accounts, are getting charged for their purchase of OS 10.7 Lion over. And over. And over. [More]
Judge Allows Amazon To Keep Using Appstore Name For Now
By 7.7.11
The legal war between Apple and Amazon over the term “App Store” continues, but a judge has handed the most recent battle to the e-tailer, denying Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction against Amazon’s online Appstore. [More]
Judge: Apple's "App Store" Suit Against Amazon Will Probably Fail
By 6.24.11
It looks like Steve Jobs may have found his Waterloo in his war to defend Apple’s application to trademark the phrase “App Store.” A federal judge has advised the company that it will likely lose its lawsuit against Amazon.com over the e-tailer’s Appstore. [More]
Apple Slaps Open Source Start-Up With Cease & Desist Over "App Store"
By 6.22.11
Apple’s untiring defense of its application to trademark the phrase “App Store” continues. But this time, the Cupertino Crew isn’t squabbling with Microsoft or suing Amazon. No, Apple is going after a small start-up software company you may have never heard about. [More]
Turn Off In-App Purchasing On Your iPhone To Keep Your Kids From Smurfing You Into The Poor House
By 5.3.11
In the wake of that 8-year-old who racked up $1,400 in Smurfs Village purchases on her parents’ iPad, Apple recently instituted a policy that requires a user’s App Store password for making in-app purchases. But we’ve gotten some e-mails from parents who want to be able to share that password with their kids — for the purposes of downloading free content — while still preventing their children from amassing millions of useless Smurf berries. [More]
Amazon's Defense in Apple Lawsuit: Steve Jobs' Own Words
By 4.27.11
Should “apps store” really be “Apps Store®,” a trademarked phrase tied exclusive to Apple and its application store for its devices? Amazon didn’t seem to think so. But when it opened the Amazon Appstore for Android, the online retailer still got slapped with a lawsuit from Apple. [More]
Apple Sues Amazon For Using The Phrase "App Store"
By 3.22.11
Earlier this year we wrote about Microsoft’s bid to block Apple from trademarking the phrase “app store,” and now comes news that Apple has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com for using those words. [More]
Apple Calls Woman To Tell Her She's Won $10,000; Woman Hangs Up On Apple
By 1.24.11
While it’s a good rule of thumb to hang up the phone on anyone who calls you to tell you that you won a contest, a woman in the UK almost found herself without a $10,000 prize when she didn’t believe it was Apple on the other end of the line. [More]
Microsoft To Apple: You Can't Trademark "App Store"
By 1.12.11
It’s been over two years since Apple first submitted an application to trademark the phrase “App Store,” but that hasn’t stopped Microsoft from attempting to stymie the iPhone maker’s request. [More]
"Useless" One Of Most The Prevalent Words In 1-Star App Store Reviews. Why?
By 9.15.10
Marco wrote a script to tease out the most commonly appearing words in 1 and 5 star App store user reviews and found some interesting trends. Among them, the word “useless” is surprisingly popular for 1-star reviews, and it’s often for pretty narrowly defined reasons. [More]
App Store: No Porn Allowed, But Tethering Tool Slips In
By 7.21.10
If you were trolling around the App Store last night, you might have come across a new 99-cent flashlight app called Handy Light. And if you were willing to pay for it, you would have found a bonus: the program contained a hidden tethering app that would allow your computer to connect to the Internet over your phone, a privilege that normally requires a $20 monthly payment to AT&T. While the app somehow made it through the inspectors at Apple, once word got out, it was gone. [More]
Don't Worry About What The iPad Costs, You Can't Afford The Apps
By 3.30.10
One of the cool things about the iPhone ecosystem is there are nearly 17 quintillion apps available for it, and although many of these are crap, the good ones frequently cost only a dollar or two. Even the premium-priced “productivity” apps–things like note pads and to-do lists–rarely cross the $10 threshhold, which means you can load up your iPhone or Touch with a lot of cool stuff on a modest software budget. But if a leaked video of the iPad app store is accurate, you can expect to pay 200-500% more for simple things like 99-cent games, and PC-level prices for more robust apps, on your fancy new iPad. [More]
Apple Now Lets You Give iPhone Apps As Gifts
By 3.23.10
Because nothing says “Happy Anniversary” or “Congrats on the new baby” like an iPhone app, Apple has recently added the Give a Gift feature to their App Store. [More]
Will The iPad's "Magic" Be Enough To Beat Netbooks?
By 2.24.10
When Apple launched their much-hyped iPad device a few weeks ago, the first thing naysayers asked — after they finished giggling over the silly name — was “What makes the iPad anything more than an expensive netbook without a proper keyboard?” Well, party-poopers, Apple COO Tim Cook has your answer: “Magic.” [More]
Apple Angles To Make Its Apps Less Sexy
By 2.22.10
Apple is bent on preventing its App Store from becoming a cesspool of pornography, according to a TechCrunch post, which says Apple’s rules are a bit constrictive, banning tight clothing and bathing suits as well as nudity. [More]
