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Sun, 28 Jul 2013 02:18:08 +0100

EyePhone (^-^)

Apps firm fined £250k for 'misleading' subscriptions in children's apps

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

UK regulator PhonepayPlus says one parent charged more than £100 after child signed up through battery-life upgrade app

Children’s apps are in plentiful supply, but ads and in-app purchases within them are coming under increased scrutiny

Premium-rate telephone watchdog PhonepayPlus has fined an Australian company £250k for a ‘misleading’ app promising to boost smartphone battery life, which was advertised within other developers’ children’s apps.

CommandM PTY Limited’s app signed people up to a £4.50-a-week premium-rate subscription, but the fact that it was advertised within children’s apps including ABC Match and Raspberry Torte’s Fresh Fashions Boutique led to complaints from parents.

PhonepayPlus says that one parent received a charge of more than £100 on their mobile bill after their child signed up to the subscription service.

CommandM is a private firm registered in Australia and based in New South Wales, according to its company filings. It has been active since March 2007.

The regulator’s ruling entitles parents to a refund if their children were misled into signing up for the subscription. PhonepayPlus is also contacting developers of the apps within which the ad was carried, to inform them of its decision.

“As children and young people increasingly engage with apps we will continue to work with parents and games developers to make sure that children can get the best of this exciting technology in a safe environment,” said chief executive Paul Whiteing.

The ruling comes amid growing unease over the way advertising and in-app purchases are being used within some children’s apps, and a spate of reports of children spending hundreds or even thousands of pounds on virtual items without their parents’ knowledge.

CommandM’s battery-life app was different, though, because it used premium-rate billing to charge for its subscription – thus bringing it within PhonepayPlus’s area of regulation, unlike in-app purchases made through Apple and Google’s App Stores for iOS and Android.

The UK’s Office of Fair Trading is carrying out an investigation into the wider area of “potentially misleading or commercially aggressive practices” in children’s apps and online games, and expects to publish its next steps by October 2013.

This is not the first time premium-rate subscriptions have been found within children’s apps. In February 2013, an advert for a contest to win a 64GB iPad was found within Talking Friends Cartoons, by Outfit7, one of the most popular children’s app developers.

The contest, run by a company called Yamoja, required users to sign up to a £4-a-week subscription service for ringtones, wallpapers and games. Outfit7 swiftly pulled the advertisement after it was reported.

Children’s app developers whose apps include advertising rarely know what ads will be served before they run: they leave that to their mobile advertising network partners.

This is why inappropriate ads can appear without the developer’s prior knowledge: a previous Outfit7 app, Talking Ginger, infamously included an ad for £400 cash loans from payday lender Wonga, before those too were pulled.

The company has since said it is working hard to prevent this from happening again. “We believe we should be an example. We have a huge user base among kids, and we can’t afford to take that lightly,” chief executive Samo Login told The Guardian in June.

Other efforts are also underway. British startup SuperAwesome is launching a Kids Mobile Network mobile advertising network, which it says will ensure only trusted children’s brands’ ads will appear within apps on its network.

Meanwhile, PhonepayPlus is running an initiative called PhoneBrain, which aims to educate children, teachers and youth-club leaders about premium-rate services, and the costs involved.

Apple warns of fake chargers following electrocution death in China

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Apple has warned Chinese consumers against using non-Apple chargers after a woman was reportedly electrocuted answering a call on her iPhone as it was charging.

On its Chinese website, the Cupertino, Calif., firm urged customers to only use its official chargers with any of its products, CNET reported Thursday.

Last week, Chinese sources suggested the woman, Ma Ailun, might have been using a third-party charger designed to look like a genuine Apple unit.

Cheap counterfeit devices often try to look as much like Apple parts as possible; earlier this year, consumer safety organization Underwriters Laboratories issued a warning that counterfeit Apple USB chargers were appearing on the market.

On its Chinese website, Apple offered help for consumers on how to identify a real charger from the company as opposed to a fake alternative.

Woman electrocuted by iPhone 5 while it was charging, family says

Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Do we all need to be terrified of our smartphones now? People in China are approaching their phones with fear after relatives of 23-year-old flight attendant Ma Ailun said she died after being electrocuted when she tried to answer her iPhone 5 while it was charging. “(I) hope that Apple can give us an explanation,” Ma’s older sister posted on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, in a message that’s now gone viral. “I also hope that all of you will refrain from using your mobile devices while charging.” Apple said it was “deeply sorry for the unfortunate accident” and pledged to investigate.

Apple’s App Store Marks Historic 50 Billionth Download

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 +0100

CUPERTINO, California―May 16, 2013―Apple today announced that customers have downloaded over 50 billion apps* from the revolutionary App Store. Customers are downloading more than 800 apps per second at a rate of over two billion apps per month on the App Store. The 50 billionth app was Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, LLC, which was downloaded by Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio who received a $10,000 App Store Gift Card to commemorate this historic milestone.

“Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.”

The App Store opened in July 2008 with 500 apps. Since its introduction, Apple’s incredible developer community has created an app for doing almost everything imaginable on an iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

“We were blown away with our success on the App Store back in 2008,” said Rich Riley, CEO of Shazam. “And almost five years later we continue to be amazed with how much people love using Shazam on their iPhone or iPad. With the App Store, we can effortlessly provide users with updates that give them great new features while making it easy for new users to discover and download Shazam for themselves.”

“We started our company in 2008 as three friends focused on creating great educational apps for our children,” said Caroline Hu Flexer, co-founder of Duck Duck Moose. “The App Store brought ‘Wheels on the Bus’ to the world in a big way. Sixteen apps later, a fan base of millions of parents, children and educators and a growing company with 20 full-time employees, we couldn’t be happier with our success.”

“The App Store has been integral in getting us into the hands of millions of iOS users and has transformed our business,” said Elizabeth Francis, Chief Marketing Officer of Gilt.com. “Our apps allow our members to access their favourite sales on Gilt every day, anytime, anywhere. App Store customers have proven to be a loyal shopper base and have been influential in making Gilt the globally recognised brand it is today.”

The revolutionary App Store offers more than 850,000 apps to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users in 155 countries around the world, with more than 350,000 native iPad apps available. App Store customers can choose from an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines offered in Newsstand, games, business, news, sports, health & fitness and travel.

*50 billion unique downloads excluding re-downloads and updates.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

Verizon Reports iPhone Activations Of 4 Million Units During First Quarter -- AppAdvice

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:45:35 +0100

Verizon Reports iPhone Activations Of 4 Million Units During First Quarter -- AppAdvice

Android sales flatline which iphone sales soar (US)

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:32:04 +0100

AT&T and Verizon’s recent sales figures show some interesting trends. Namely, a comparison between Android-powered smartphones and the iPhone demonstrates that while the former appears to have flatlined in terms of growth, iPhone sales are continuing to spike and increase each time a new model is released.

As such, it seems apparent that Apple’s iPhone, rather than the countless different Android-powered smartphones available, is helping both AT&T and Verizon grow as operators. Full article:-

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2013/04/android-sales-flatline-while-iphone-sales-soar