IOS posts

Sega's classic ChuChu Rocket! puzzle title is on the App Store for both iPhone and iPad right now. I've been waiting for this one for a while. I loved the old Dreamcast version, and the remake for the iPhone not only recreates the mouse-redirecting gameplay (you place arrows on a board to guide mice around cats and into their mouseholes), but it adds a few iOS-specific features as well. There are 145 puzzles to play through, and as a special treat, Sega has added a one to four player multiplayer capability via Apple's Game Center; there are achievements to score as well.

The iPhone version is US$4.99, which is less than you'd pay if you found the used Dreamcast version in a store somewhere. The iPad version is $6.99, but it includes a multiplayer mode where up to four players can play on one screen -- it sounds pretty crazy. This one is a classic puzzler that you should definitely check out even if you never played the old game. We're lucky to have it up and running on iOS.

Apple is apparently going to give the App Store approval staff some time off over the holidays. But don't worry, you'll still be able to shop. It's just that developers who are rushing to get holiday-themed apps into the App Store will need to make sure that they get their content approved before the holidays arrive.

According to Macgasm, the content lockdown has occurred at Christmas in the past. This will be the first year that Apple is throwing the Thanksgiving holiday in late November into the mix as well, ensuring that the App Store folks can get their fill of the U.S. Thanksgiving feast and watch lots of college and pro football. Developers won't be able to make changes or submit new apps during the lockdown periods through iTunes Connect, the portal that devs use to coordinate app entries in the store.

There will also be a freeze in the Top App listings during each of the holidays, so developers might want to make sure that they're at the top of the heap before taking a short vacation -- they'll get a few more days of App Store listing love that way. Developers are also reminded to pre-schedule any price changes during the freeze, as they won't be able to adjust pricing for special sales during the lockdown.

This seems like the kind of thing that Apple wouldn't want on the App Store (and indeed, it may soon disappear when they figure it out), but then again, after the relaxing of the rules, maybe they're OK with this one. Touch Arcade has discovered iDOS on the App Store -- it's a DOSbox-based disk operating system emulator that runs on iOS. And it apparently does everything that DOS does, including, as you can see in the picture, running Windows 3.0 complete with the Solitaire game.

The app is a 99 cent universal app for iPhone and iPad, and unfortunately, it's not user friendly at all -- if you don't remember your old DOS commands, the app's not set up to make things easy for you. The app also includes what the description calls "freeware/abandonware" like Ms. Pac Man PC, and DigDug, but you can upload other games and files through iTunes.

Honestly, this is awesome, but it seems a little too open for Apple's tastes. I can't see how it would ever hurt the iOS device (you're running everything from within the app, and Apple could simply assume that you own any copies of software that you install on there), but this is one app that may have snuck through the gates. At any rate, iDOS is now available on the App Store -- if it disappears later on, we'll let you know.

After announcing last week that he would be stepping down as Microsoft's chief software architect, Ray Ozzie has posted an essay where he warns that the end is near for the Redmond company's way of doing business. Despite all of the businesses that Microsoft has gotten into over the past two decades, only two account for the bulk of the company's enormous profits: Windows and Office.

According to Ozzie, these platforms are getting too complex to build and use. This is likely to spur both to move toward simpler, more appliance-like systems, such as mobile phones and tablets. While Ozzie praises the progress that Microsoft has made with online services like Live, Office 365, SharePoint and others, he warns that many opportunities have been squandered, especially in mobile.

Ozzie highlights the success of other companies in agile innovation in a rapidly changing marketplace. While Apple, Facebook, and Google are never mentioned by name, those are clearly the examples that Ozzie thinks Microsoft should be following.

[via Electronista]

MacStories has heard an interesting rumor: that Apple's recent work in location-based networking and "check-in" software will be used inside of Apple's retail stores, specifically to provide better service from employees there. Not a lot is known yet (and MacStories doesn't reveal the source of the info, though presumably it comes from someone who works in or with Apple retail), but the rumor says that Apple would provide an app that's specifically designed to help coordinate the experience of visiting an Apple Store. A customer could check in and set up appointments directly from the app, get push notifications, and even see photos of employees assigned to help them. Employees could also use the app to track customers in the store and receive information about what they were there for.

It all sounds very interesting -- we know for a fact that Apple employees went through some training just recently for the upcoming holiday season, so this app could have been one of the topics discussed. Something like this would definitely streamline things at the Apple Store, and move from the very ad hoc way of splitting up customers and employees to a more directed kind of connection. We'll have to see what Apple reveals as we move closer to this year's holiday sales season.

Just like Doodle Jump, another big-name App Store game is getting in the Halloween spirit. Angry Birds Halloween is now available on the App Store. It's a US$0.99 "special edition" of Angry Birds with 45 Halloween-themed levels, which are complete with "scary" backgrounds and pumpkins for you to smash.

Unlike the Doodle Jump "Doodlestein" update, Angry Birds Halloween is a totally separate app from Angry Birds, so even if you own the original Angry Birds, you'll still have to pay $0.99 for Angry Birds Halloween. But considering how much fun Angry Birds is, another buck for 45 new levels isn't a whole lot to ask.

In the wake of such huge news from Apple today, it's hard to concentrate on anything else. Here's one story you won't want to miss, though: Chillingo, the publisher behind the wildly popular game Angry Birds, was acquired by EA Games for a cool $20 million in cash.

Not to worry, though, because Angry Birds isn't going anywhere. The rights to the game are actually owned by the developer, Rovio, who updated his Twitter profile earlier today to clarify that Angry Birds was not part of the sale and will not be controlled development-wise by EA. Even so, it's no secret that the App Store's most popular game of all time certainly helped to sway EA towards this acquisition. With many successful apps available, Chillingo probably looked pretty delicious to all of the big fish in the game industry who were hoping to cash in on the mobile market.

Now, it's time to fire up Angry Birds and do some additional research on the story. What? Why are you giving me that look? Yes, I'm working!

Pwnapple heads rejoice. The iPhone dev team has just released PwnageTool 4.1 for Mac OS X. Updated to use the recent geohot limera1n exploit, the new tool provides 4.1 jailbreaks for the Apple TV 2G, iPad (3.2.2), iPod touch (3G, 4G), and iPhone (4, 3GS, and 3G).

For download details, please hop over to the team's announcement post to grab a copy of the official torrent or to find an unofficial mirror.

Thanks to Brad for the heads-up.

A tweet from developer p0sixninja would seem to show a neatly jailbroken Apple TV, which is good news for those looking forward to hacking and tweaking Apple's $99 hobby. No word yet on when the jailbreak will be publicly available.

Among our speculations looking forward to Wednesday's Apple event, despite its 'Back to the Mac' focus, is the announcement or pre-announcement of an App Store and SDK for the iOS-based Apple TV.

[via 9to5 Mac and Engadget]

Millenial Media has released its latest report on cross-platform mobile advertising, and the iPhone has lost another step on the Android platform. According to Millenial's reporting, revenue for advertising from the Android platform has exceeded iPhone-only revenue. That's not quite as bad as it sounds -- the Android platform, as we already know, has outstripped the iPhone in terms of user numbers, just because there are so many more available handsets and carriers for those devices. Android ad requests, according to the company, are up a crazy 1283% since January of this year, and have gone up 26% month over month.

That's not to say that iOS is slouching -- its revenue growth increased 316% in the last quarter, and impression growth increased by 156%. Apple is still the leading device manufacturer on the network, with a 30% market share, and the company makes two of the top four "connected devices" in the iPad and the iPod touch, with the Sony PSP and PS3 rounding out that list.

It's also interesting to note that smartphone impressions overall are still growing -- this isn't a down and dirty fight between the manufacturers yet, as there are still new customers to grab out there. Smartphone impression share went up 7% month-over-month, so this is still a growing market.