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Apple leads the App Store race with 170,000 apps

Filed under: iPhone

Silicon Alley Insider has posted an interesting chart that shows the total number of apps available across various mobile platforms. As you can see from the chart, Apple’s iPhone leads the pack by a longshot with 170,000 apps according to AppShopper.com. AppShopper typically lists more apps than Apple publicly states it has because AppShopper updates its numbers on a daily basis. As of today’s count, AppShopper says Apple has approved 198,924 apps with 171,722 available to download. The discrepancy between the numbers accounts for apps that either the developers or Apple have removed from the App Store. Apple officially states that it currently has 150,000 apps.

A distant second after Apple’s App Store is Google’s Android Marketplace with 30,000 apps. RIM’s Blackberry trails with only 5,000 apps, while Palm has a paltry 2,000. Windows Phone 7 Series Applications were announce a few days ago with a limited number of developers signed on. Of course, these numbers don’t take app quality into account at all (100,000 fart apps is still just a bunch of junk), but clearly in terms of available downloads, Apple has a huge lead.

TUAWApple leads the App Store race with 170,000 apps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint features iPhone in 4G ad

Filed under: iPhone

Sprint has released an ad that features the iPhone with its Overdrive 3G/4G Hotspot mobile router. The Overdrive allows you to use Sprint’s 4G network with any WiFi capable device.

The ad features “Matt” and the appropriately-named iPhone-owner “Steve.”

“My friend Steve’s iPhone is cool, but it’s limited to AT&T’s 3G speeds,” Matt says. “So I’m going to use the Overdrive 4G mobile hotspot to make it up to ten times faster. And while that’s happening, I’m going to enjoy this tasty snack,” at which point Matt pulls out an apple and takes a bite. Steve connects to the Sprint 4G WiFi network on his iPhone and quickly begins streaming a music video which leads him to exclaim, “Whoa. Done.” The ad ends with Matt asking, “What can you do with 4G?” before the narrator chimes in, “Whatever you do, do it up to ten times faster than 3G with 4G from Sprint.”

Sprint was one of the first to attack the iPhone but now, like most wireless providers, wants to be an official iPhone carrier. Last September Charlie Rose asked Sprint CEO Dan Hesse how the Pre was stacking up against the iPhone, to which he replied, “It’s… it’s doing well, but you can almost put the iPhone, to be fair, in a separate category. The Apple brand and that device have done so well, it’s almost not… it’s like comparing someone to Michael Jordan.”

Well, if you can’t beat the star, why not make some sweet accessories to go along with those Air Jordans?

TUAWSprint features iPhone in 4G ad originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Educational institutions: Get your discounted iPad 10-pack

Filed under: iPad

MacRumors reports that Apple has begun offering iPad 10-packs to educational institutions at discounted rates. The discounts are relatively minor: $20 off of each iPad in a set of 10, or $40 off per iPad if they are ordered with AppleCare. The iPad 10-packs are shipped in a single box, which eliminates individual packaging. In addition to the ten iPads, the packs contain ten power adapters, ten USB-to-Dock cables, and one set of documentation. Currently, only the WiFi models are available in the educational 10-packs. Like the iPhone, there are no iPad educational discounts currently available to students or teachers.

Many believe that the iPad can revolutionize the tools for education. This educational 10-pack could be an early sign that Apple will aggressively pursue the iPad as an educational tool.

The iPad 10-packs begin shipping in April.

TUAWEducational institutions: Get your discounted iPad 10-pack originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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20 zero-day security holes in Mac OS X to be revealed

Filed under: OS

Charles Miller, a computer security researcher who’s worked with the NSA, is planning to reveal 20 zero-day security holes in Mac OS X at CanSecWest, a digital security conference, in Vancouver BC next week. A zero-day security hole is a weakness in software that neither the makers of the software nor other individuals have any knowledge of. Hackers then take advantage of the exploit on the day it becomes general knowledge. Miller revealing that Mac OS X has twenty of them makes Apple look like they didn’t do the job right the first time and also suggests Apple needs glasses to see what they’ve missed – and he’s not wrong.

“Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town,” Miller said, suggesting that while both OSes have their security flaws, the Mac OS is safer because of the lack of people threatening to exploit it.

But software is software, and no matter how much more secure Mac OS X is than Windows, it’s still bound to have some security issues. I’m all for Charles Miller digging around the OS to find flaws, but come on, if you find them, why announce them to the world and open up a potential new round of attacks? Wouldn’t it be better to report them to Apple instead of to the host of hackers that pay attention to CanSecWest? There’s no question about it, Apple should have caught these holes in the first place and Miller is right in calling them out on it. But while I understand that public outings go a long way to ensuring that people or companies don’t make the same mistakes again, you can call Apple out without showing people – especially the wrong people – the specific cracks in the system.

TUAW20 zero-day security holes in Mac OS X to be revealed originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Six Ngmoco iPad titles revealed

Filed under: iPad

In his panel at GDC last week, Ngmoco’s Neil Young dropped the news that his company was going all out with their freemium business model — not only are they releasing twenty iPhone titles by the end of this year, but they’re planning on having six iPad titles ready to go right away at launch. Touch Arcade has done a little digging, and they’ve come up with what they think the six iPad titles will be. Here we go:

• GodFinger
• We Rule (both of these were previewed last week)
• Flick Fishing (probably re-created as a freemium app)
• NBA Hotshot (also likely remade into Ngmoco’s model)
• CastleCraft (an MMO strategy/wargame)
• Warp Gate

As you may have noticed, two of those are Ngmoco originals, and four of those are Freeverse titles that were either planned for the iPad or are being remade for the new platform; again, presumably free-to-play, along with microtransactions and freemium resources in the Ngmoco mold. That’s definitely a sizeable library going into the new platform, and if Ngmoco really does have these ready to go on April 3rd (and I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t — even if they haven’t gotten one of those test iPads from Apple, their model is designed to release early and make updates quickly if needed), then they’ll be positioned to grab iPad app space very early on.

TUAWSix Ngmoco iPad titles revealed originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cool weird stuff: TUAW reader accidentally downloads 10.6.3 pre-release

Filed under: OS

Here’s one for the freak occurrence archives. A TUAW reader e-mailed us after running Software Update on his new 2.8GHz i7 iMac last night. Something odd popped up.

“I got a new 27-inch iMac earlier this week,” he wrote. “Last night I checked for updates and it starts ‘Downloading **PRERELEASE** Mac OS X Update…’ I figured what the heck and let it go. Now my iMac is on 10.6.3 which as far as I know isn’t available yet?! I am not a developer or anything so I am not sure why this happened.”

Just in case you’re thinking that Apple employee access was to blame, here are some basic facts: The reader bought the iMac online from the Apple Store and was never in a retail store with it. The reader who sent us these screen shots is not an Apple employee nor does he have access to Apple’s RSA Secure ID or VPN. He performed his update at home and not at an Apple retail store.

This kind of update does not normally appear in the wild on Software Update. Prerelease, and specifically “**PRERELEASE**”, updates refer to Apple-internal builds distributed to any Apple employee who has access to Apple’s VPN. A **PRERELEASE** build is typically seeded to employees 24 to 48 hours before the build goes public via Software Update.

The pre-release weighs in at a whopping 1.19GB. The “About This Mac” screen shots he sent us (see below) note the build as 10D527 – a build that was reportedly released to developers today, only two days after the last build. Builds that come close together typically indicate a public release is imminent. It is not clear why this pre-release showed up on the TUAW reader’s iMac.

TUAWCool weird stuff: TUAW reader accidentally downloads 10.6.3 pre-release originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MacUpdate bundle offers Parallels 5, we offer chance to win

If you want an economical way to buy into the reigning speed champion of virtualization apps, the MacUpdate Promo Spring Bundle may be just the ticket. At $49.99, the 11-app bargain basket is headlined by Parallels Desktop 5 (normally $79 alone). The rest of the lineup is solid as well:

• Bee Docs Timeline 3D ($65)
• Spell Catcher ($39.95)
• Hydra ($79.95)
• Back-In-Time ($29)
• ForeverSave ($14.95)
• Hyperspaces ($12.95)
• Web Snapper ($15)
• Mac DVDRipper Pro ($9.95)
• MacScan ($29.99)

If you’re buying the bundle early enough (within the first 20,000 purchases — as of right now they are edging towards 14K), you get Metakine’s DVD Remaster Pro as a bonus app. The bundle sale runs for 12 more days, but you’ve only got 2 days to get in on our 2-bundle giveaway; MacUpdate has reserved one bundle each for two lucky TUAW readers. See details by clicking “Read more” below!

To enter, just submit a comment below telling us which apps you think would be best for the next MUPromo bundle.

Summary of giveaway rules:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment below describing the app you think MacUpdate should include in the next bundle offering..
• The comment must be left before Sunday March 21, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Two winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One MacUpdate Promo Spring Bundle. ARV $49.99.
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

TUAWMacUpdate bundle offers Parallels 5, we offer chance to win originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is now accepting iPad app submissions

Filed under: iPad

Do you believe in miracles? If you clap your hands, will Tinkerbell appear? Are you willing to submit an application developed solely in a simulator and hope that it will work on real hardware? With real customers? In a real App Store? Well, now is your chance to find out.

According to an email just sent out to devs, Apple is now accepting iPad application submissions through iTunes Connect. You can submit your application today and “receive feedback” on its “readiness for the grand opening”.

Simulator-only apps developed with the iPhone SDK 3.2 Beta 5 can be submitted as of today for initial review. Upload your apps by 5pm, Saturday, March 27th, and the App review team will e-mail you with submission feedback about the readiness of your application for App Store distribution. You will also receive information about submitting your apps for final review, before the iPad ships and (for most of us) before we even own hardware.

Whee!

TUAWApple is now accepting iPad app submissions originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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