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      App Store Hits 1.5 Billion Downloads

      July 14, 2009 /

      Apple's runaway app store.It’s really becoming a year among years for Apple. The super-trendy company was once a sleeping puppy in a den of wolves, quietly wooing customers to the questionable promise of a more stable lifestyle. Since then they’ve released the Kleenex of the MP3 player market and turned tens of millions to the iPhone. Just three months ago their app store hit 1 billion downloads and just this month the store had its first birthday.

      Today marks another milestone for your favorite fruity company. According to an Apple press release, the app store has reached 1.5 billion downloads to date. We already know Apple’s iPhone as host to the fastest growing development community in the world, sending coders on a rite of passage with dreams of hitting it rich. Those quasicultish seekers have made more than 65,000 apps available in 77 countries around the world.

      Our congrats to Apple. May your useful apps continue to improve and your frivolous apps continue to make us scratch our heads as we look at the download counts.

      You can read the full press release here.

      Apple, Apps, Computers, Gaming, Mobile

      Fuji Set to Bring 3D Stills to the Masses

      July 13, 2009 /

      Fuji Finepix Real 3D SystemIn years gone by, Fujifilm was the name in digital photography. They pioneered the first digital still camera in 1988 and held almost 30% market share. That was then, and unfortunately for Fuji, now is a time in which they hold less than 7% of the market and face stiff competition from companies like Nikon and Olympus.

      Fuji is releasing a new camera with hopes of getting their mojo back. Called the FinePix Real 3D System, their new camera is (omg!) a 3D still camera, the first of its kind for a consumer market. The camera works by employing two lenses that sit approximately the width of a pair of human eyes apart. The result is binocular vision that recreates depth perception in the same way your brain does. The only problem is that the left and right images have to be directed to your left and right eye for the effect to work.

      That’s part of Fuji’s strategy for the Real 3D. As the first 3D consumer camera, they’re the first with a real need for 3D media that doesn’t involve a pair of red and blue glasses. For starters, they’re looking at a 3D picture frame, which would direct each image at the viewer’s appropriate eye, and 3D film, which functions as a lens overlay for a photo print, achieving the desired effect.

      I went to an art exhibit last year where a physical media photographer was showcasing photos he had take by sort of hacking this method. He shot the images and then put them into one of those viewfinders you see at Niagra Falls and other popular tourist destinations. The pictures were incredible, especially the dead bird splayed out on the pavement.

      Success of this kind of product really depends on the success of the media, though. If the frame and the film are overpriced, it doesn’t matter how cool the pictures are. No one will be able to appreciate them. Fuji seems to be aware of this and plans to price at least the film under the $5 mark. The camera will run you a cool $600.

      Cameras, News

      Rumor Central: Apple to debut $800 tablet this October

      July 13, 2009 /

      Apple NetbookAccording to MacRumors, Apple plans to debut a netbook this October. The rumor has the netbook display measuring 9.7 inches and touchscreen enabled. Here’s MacRumors take on things:

      Taiwanese news site InfoTimes reports [translation] that Apple is slated to debut its long-rumored netbook this October. Taiwanese companies Foxconn, Wintek, and Dynapack have reportedly received orders from Apple related to the manufacturing of the new device.

      The report notes that Apple is looking to adopt a 9.7-inch touchscreen for the new netbook, slightly smaller than the 10.1- or 10.2-inch screens typically used at the large end of the netbook range.

      According to reliable information, Apple will not follow the current market trend (by producing netbooks with screens about 10.2 or 10.1 inches in diagonal length.) Instead, Apple will produce screens with about 9.7 inches in diagonal length. Touch screen will be installed. Wintek will be the main manufacturer of the touch screen.

      Exact pricing remains unknown at this time, but the inclusion of a touchscreen and Apple’s history of refusing to compete at the lowest price points suggest that the netbook may be priced at around $800.

      Because Apple will adopt touch screen technology on its netbooks, Apple will not target low-end consumers, avoiding direct competition with Acer, Asus, as well as their less-than-500-dollars netbooks. Apple’s netbook (or a “tablet” as many call it,) will probably be sold at around $800 USD each.

      Apple has repeatedly stated that although it has been looking at the growing netbook market, it is not interested in releasing a low-end netbook product that produces an inferior user experience as current products do. Other sources have recently “confirmed” that an Apple netbook is in the works, but claim that it will not arrive until 2010.

      My take? I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a netbook or tablet coming from Apple soon. The netbook market seems mature enough now that Apple can step into the ring. Apple is never first into any market; they always seem to wait and see how things progress then take whatever has been done and do it better. They aren’t always better, but there’s no question that they usually push innovation.

      My concern with it is that at $800, are they really going to compete in the netbook market? It just sounds too pricey. Acer, Dell, and Asus are all producing faster, lighter, more reliable, and cheaper netbooks. And at $250 – $400 a piece, who would want to pay double that?

      Apple, Computers

      iPod Nano Survives a Trip through the Washer

      July 13, 2009 /

      Can rice save your device?Last week, Wired:Gadget Labs contributor Charlie Sorrel posted some sad news on that site. He neglected to check his pockets before running the wash and, as fate would have it, accidentally ran a (his?) bright pink iPod Nano through the washer, only to find it when the spin cycle was done. By all rights the little music player should have been dead. Instead, we have the story of the little iPod that could.

      After drying the device for nearly a week, leaving it on a breezy windowsill, sitting in the sun, resting atop a Macbook’s MagSafe power block, Charlie plugged his Nano into said computer and waited. A few seconds later the Apple logo appeared, followed shortly by iTunes recognition, officially proclaiming the player alive and well.

      My question to you, gentle readers, is what do you do to save your wet devices? Charlie was a bit lucky in that the Nano was likely off when it got soaked. My uncle, on the other hand, wasn’t so fortunate this weekend. His sister tossed him into a pool, Blackberry and all. For now that phone is sitting in a bag of rice, hopefully drying out. I’ve had some success of my own with air drying followed by the freezer method with various electronic devices.

      So what’s your best method and when does it work best? Have you had any success with devices that are on when they hit the water?

      Apple, Mobile, Music

      iPhone Gamers Love New Games, Want Them Less Than $2

      July 12, 2009 /

      iPhone app store spread.The folks at PocketGamer.biz recently took a look at the iPhone gaming situation to come away with some cold, hard data about what people are buying and why. I’ll spare you the full report (really I just don’t want to leech all the credit here) and focus instead on some of the more interesting details.

      For standards, PG took a snapshot of the top 100 applications and then broke down the results by price, price by rank, games by publisher, and source (new IP, console port, music, movie, etc.).

      Pricing was actually different than you might think. While most of the top 100 came in the $.99 category (36 titles), second place went to the $4.99 bracket with 20 titles. But that’s just number of games for each price bracket. Obviously since they are top 100 these are games that are getting downloaded a lot, but how much do the games get played after downloading?

      If you look at price by rank, the top 10 games average just $1.89/download. At 11-20, the price drops to $1.19. Of course there are a load of factors that could contribute to the rankings. Are people really playing these cheap games more or are they just deleting them more often and so being prompted to rate more of these games?

      Perhaps the most useful statistic, at least to industry developers, is the rate of new downloads and the desire for new IP. Of the top 100 games, 40 were released in June or July (this likely includes a few updates). Another 22 were April or May releases. As for IP, 52 of the top 100 are fresh content, designed just for the iPhone.

      If you’re downloading games, where does your allegiance lie? Are you a bargain shopper, only buying apps that are cheap or on sale? Or do you look for the best IPs from hot developers, regardless of price?

      Apps, Gaming, iPhone

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