A new USB survey suggests Apple currently holds the top spot in smartphone retention rates by a long shot, holding a strong 89% rating over the nearest hardware competitor HTC at just 39%. Apple also had no trouble beating out the Android platform in general, although being a platform gave Google an added “stickiness” of around 60% retention among consumers.

Despite Android holding a higher rate than most other hardware manufacturers in this space, roughly 31 percent of current Android device owners are planning on jumping ship to the iPhone as their next purchase.

UBS also noted that the app catalog for platforms has had limited importance in the determining factors involved when consumers choose their next smartphone. That really says something about the iPhone 4 specifically, of which the hardware is over a year old yet still continues to beat out the newest, cutting edge smarthphone offerings.

[AppleInsider]

Last night on iPhone Live we were talking about how many photos we had in our iPhone Camera Roll and I admitted to being a bit of snapshot addict. I have over 1800 pics in my Camera Roll, everything from friends and family to clouds and sunsets to clothes and fashions to nails and hair I like and want to remember.

I know some people prefer Instagram or Camera+ or another App Store app, and while the filters are really cool and interesting, and I think I’m going to give them a try soon, right now I just like the simplicity of capturing a quick pic into my Camera Roll. I take pictures anywhere and everywhere with my iPhone… and I sometimes remember to sync them over to my Mac. I’ve actually run out of space on my 16GB iPhone 4 several times!

I hope iCloud and Photo Stream will help with that, but I’m not sure 5GB will be enough!

How many photos do you have in your iPhone Camera Roll? Do you use the built-in Camera app or something else? Do you sync them? Help me figure out a better way to do photos on the iPhone TiPb Nation, you’re my only hope!

TiPb checks out the best, most must-have podcasting apps to load up on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

If Apple’s built-in iPod/Music app just isn’t enough for your podcast listening needs, you’re in luck — TiPb has put together our top 5 favorite podcast apps from the App Store. From finding to streaming to downloading to managing, these are the best podcatcher apps we’ve found to date. Read on to see our recommendations!

Instacast

Instacast is a great app for managing and listening to podcasts. Instacast allows you to manage all your podcast subscriptions including subscribing to new ones all on the device. There is no need to use iTunes or sync your iPhone in any way.

Instacast has its own optimized podcast player app which includes features like 2x playback mode, bi-directional skipping and AirPlay. Instacast has even been written to make full use of the iPhone 4's Retina display

The app has a beautiful and simple interface and even includes pull down to refresh; which will check for new podcasts and download them automatically.

[$1.99 App Store Link]

Podfisher

Podfisher is an app that I consider to be a half way house between the native podcast app and a third party app. The reason I say this is because Podfisher uses the iTunes database to retrieve the podcast episodes. This brings one positive and one negative.

The positive is that it syncs the podcasts you download over the air back to iTunes when you sync. This means if you use more than one iOS device you can keep all you podcasts in sync. The negative is how you actually download them. You have to click on one podcast at a time which takes you to the iTunes page for the podcast where you can manually download the latest episode. It is a bit of a pain to do that each time compared with the other podcast apps.

Podfisher uses the standard iPod music player so there are no new controls or interfaces to learn. It also gives you the ability to stream podcasts as well as locally cache them.

[$0.99 App Store Link]

Podcaster

Podcaster was one of the first third party podcast apps available and remains one of the favorites. It has a very polished user interface although does seem prone to the odd crash every now and then. It has all the features you could wish for in a podcast listening app; such as subscribing to new podcasts without the need for iTunes. Batch over the air updating including over 3G without any download limits, resume of downloads on interruption, Retina display graphics and audible alerts when new content is available and ready to listen to.

Podcaster has its own podcast player which features variable-speed playback, chapters, gestures, commercial skip buttons, and AirPlay.

[$1.99 App Store Link]

iCatcher

iCatcher is the first podcast app that is a universal binary; so works on both iPhone and iPad at native resolutions, a nice feature. It also covers most of the other bases too including background downloading over WiFi or 3G, schedule times to check updates, background playback of audio and playlists to name a few.

Again it has its own podcast player with all the usual features like AirPlay, track skipping, variable speed of playback and rewind. It also offers a gesture based control system with various swipe actions to toggle well used commands. Podcasts can be added via RSS feeds, a searchable database or via an OPML file.

[$1.99 App Store Link]

RSSRadio Mobile

RSSRadio mobile is another universal binary offering podcast playback on your iPhone or iPad. It is probably not the most feature rich offering but does cover most of the important ones.

Again it has the ability to download episodes of any size over WiFi and 3G, background audio playback, 2x speed playback, background downloading and password protected podcast support.

It definitely lacks a lot of the other apps bells and whistles and is the same price!

[$1.99 App Store Link]

Your favorite podcatcher?

While these may be some of our favorite apps to load up on our iOS devices to listen to podcasts, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other great ones out there. If you use something different let us know what your picks are as well.

And if you want even more suggestions on podcast and audio apps, check out our TiPb apps & games forum for more opinions from forum members. You can also give us your opinions on your favorite podcast apps in our TiPb apps & games review forum. We’d love to hear from you!

For today only, the TiPb Store has the Mobi Products Bumper Case for AT&T iPhone 4 in opalescent pink or purple on sale for only $0.95 — Get it before it's gone!

Shop Mobi Products Bumper Case for AT&T iPhone 4 in pink or purple now!

The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones & Company have released WSJ Live, an iPad app to watch live news and on-demand video from reporters worldwide.

Introducing WSJ Live: Original Programming, On Demand. WSJ Live brings you live news and on-demand video directly from 2,000 reporters across the globe. With WSJ Live you can:

• Tune into LIVE news programming for the latest from Markets, Tech, Opinion and more
• Access the entire video archive of The Wall Street Journal
• Discover the full suite of original programs from The Wall Street Journal in our Guide

WSJ Live is available on the iPad for free.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• Zombie Highway: The goal is to survive… but you wont. How long will you last? It’s you, your heavily armed passenger, against a boatload of super-strong, leaping zombies. [Free for iPhone and iPad - App Store link]

• Contacts Journal: A Contacts Relationship Management (CRM) software that helps you keep track of your past conversations and future follow-ups. Now with location data and calendar view! [$4.99 for iPhone - App Store link] [$5.99 for iPad - App Store link]

• Coin Dash!: A fast paced arcade game aiming to fill little breaks. By tilting your iPhone you control 1 out of 3 available characters. This takes some capacity of reaction and reflexes. [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

• RateThis!: Upload 2 pictures of anything and allow a community of your peers to vote and tell you which one is better. [Free for iPhone - App Store link]

• Flew the Coop: You are a very angry chicken and you are running away from the farm! Navigate the terrain and other animals to avoid the farmers. [$0.99 for iPhone and iPad - App Store link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Electronic vending machines aren’t anything new when it comes to airports or other travel stops but how about iPad vending machines at a Macy’s Department store? Consumerist writer, Ben Popken, spotted one in the men’s department of his local Macy’s.

What I find interesting is that they’d have these machines in a mall that also contains an Apple Store. I’ve always understood why they’d have them in airports. If someone has to sit on a 14 hour plane ride they’ll probably pay more than retail for an iPad. Jack up the prices and you’ll get people to pay them when they’re on a time limit to find something to escape boredom for the next several hours. But inside a Macy’s is just weird to me.

What do you guys think? Would you buy an iPad or high end electronic device from a vending machine in a department store?

[The Consumerist]

Apple is to start piloting an iPad loan device program in its flagship San Francisco Apple Store which will allow employees to borrow devices for up to 7 days. The initiative is designed to allow employees to familiarize themselves with Apple products in their own environment.

The store will have a stock of loaner iPad devices which employees take home and use for a one week; they then return them to the store for others to borrow. The idea is a really simple one but is a great way to give your employees product knowledge. Actually using a product in your own environment will provide a much better understanding of it. Knowledge is power as they say and the more knowledge your employees have of the products they sell, the better that can be passed onto customers.

Apple is meticulous about its standards of customer service and this is just another way for them to improve in this area. It is unclear if this will be rolled out to other Apple Stores at this stage. It is just a pilot but if it proves successful, it probably will.

[cnet]

The Apple Store app for iPhone received an update today with the following release notes:

Requires iOS 4.0 or later

Holy cryptic release notes Batman! My guess is that the update is actually in preparation for the pending release of the iPhone 5. What do you think?

[App Store link, thanks Jonathan!]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.