Clever girl. They're expanding their iPhone-friendly 3G HSPA+ network (or 4G, as they like to call it) to cover Moscone Center West, just precisely the location of Apple's 2012 World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) next week. A 9to5Mac reader noticed his iPhone light up with T-Mobile 3G when outside the venue, and T-Mobile PR later confirmed the story:

While upgrading coverage inside the West side of the Moscone Center, T-Mobile has also deployed 4G HSPA+ service in the 1900 MHz band to test the live network on a small scale. As part of the company's previously announced $4 billion network modernization effort, T-Mobile plans to launch 4G HSPA+ service in the 1900 MHz band in a large number of markets by the end of the year, which will make our 4G network compatible with a broader range of devices, including the iPhone.

NOTE: The time and location of this test is just coincidental.

Coincidental my apps. T-Mobile typically runs their 3G HSPA+ network on the AWS bands, which Apple has not yet deigned to support on the iPhone. That means the million plus unlocked iPhone owners on T-Mobile typically enjoy EDGE 2G speeds and nothing more.

Since their merger with AT&T failed to go through, however, T-Mobile will be getting a nice chunk of frequency, and they'll be using it in part to get on the iPhone's 3G good side.

International iPhone owners attending WWDC, like yours truly, will also benefit. We roam on both AT&T and T-Mobile, though we're typically stuck on 2G when on T-Mobile like everyone else. Being able to jump to 3G will be much, much more convenient.

It's also worth noting, T-Mobile has some cheap pre-paid plans, so if you're in an area that suddenly jumped to 3G, it might be worth considering.

Source: 9to5Mac

Catapult King by Wicked Witch Software launched onto iPhone and iPad today, offering Angry Birds-style destruction with 3D models and a medieval twist. Your goal is to knock down castles that stand between you and a princess that has been captured by a dragon. You change lateral angle, elevation, and force of the catapult, and can get a bit of extra guidance thanks to magic potions that you earn over the course of gameplay or through in-app purchases.

To beat each level, you need to take out all of the guards on a castle, but earn bonus points based on how much destruction you cause, how few boulders you fire from the catapult, and whether your attacks touch the three special gems peppered throughout the map. You can easily survey the whole 3D area simply by tapping and panning about, which is usually necessary for far-away targets and to find hidden objectives.  There are a ton of secondary bonuses you can earn from direct hits on soldiers, knocking them out with ricochets, and eliminating targets speedily. Much like Angry Birds, there are also a variety of shots available, such as bombs, splitters, and even lunar storms. Though there are 64 levels to chew through and the unending obsession to three-star all of them, the level scenery doesn't change too much; by and large, you're always doing your catapulting on rolling hills of green at different times of the day, even though the targets change.

The graphics are very sharp - to the point where I actually found the framerate choppy on the iPhone 4 at times. Still, the models and textures blew Seigecraft, a similar title, right out of the water. The bobble-head art style aims to be cute, but there's just something about those extra-bulgy eyes that's just creepy. The UI was surprisingly efficient, though; upon launching the game, you're just launched right into your most recent level after getting through loading and a short splash screen. You actually have to back out in order to get to stage selection, which is a nice change of pace from having to deal with the usual title screen. Additionally, the restart level button is in the exact same spot as the pause button, making resets kick in with a quick double-tap.  I was really impressed with the audio, right from the sound of the crank when change your catapult's angle to the squeaky jeers of the guards.

Catapult King is universal, so no worries about transferring purchases. Unfortunately, cloud syncing doesn't seem to work either through iCloud or Chillingo's Crystal social network, so you might have a rough time keeping progress . Game Center is there at least to keep tabs on achievements and leaderboards.

The good

• Great physics gameplay
• Sharp, high-quality graphics
• Varied and interesting challenges

The bad

• Graphics a bit too demanding for older devices
• Bulgy eyes are creepy
• Lack of setting variety

The conclusion

I would go so far as to say that I have a lot more fun playing Catapult King than Angry Birds. The same kind of appeal is there, except the 3D element adds a ton more strategic depth and visual appeal. The reward system has more layers, plus you're not continuously nagged to buy the other games in the series or cough up more dough for in-app purchases. Catapult King offers a really great variety of challenges to complete in each level, which translates to a goodly amount of replay value. The guards might get on your nerves after awhile, but I'm pretty sure that's the general idea.

$0.99 - Download Now

The makers of the popular DJ iPad app, djay, has released a new iPad app called vjay that is all about layering videos and mixing them with music to create unique music videos.

vjay transforms your iPad into a cutting-edge mashup machine, directly integrated with the media libraries on your iPad. Mix and scratch your favorite music videos from iTunes or combine songs from your music library with personal video footage into an interactive audio visual experience. You can even use your iPad's built-in camera to add your very own clips to the mix.

vjay lets you use all the media stored on your iPad, including videos, music, and footage from your Camera Roll. It also comes pre-loaded with a few few music videos and high-quality footage. vjay also features stunning audio and visual effects including looping tools, visual transitions, and real-time video scratch.

In addition to using media stored on your iPad, vjay also lets you use the built-in camera of the iPad and iPad 2 to record video and add them to your mixes on the fly.

With the touch of a button, vjay lets you save your mashups to the iPad in real-time and share with friends. You can also plug your iPad into a TV or stream your videos wirelessly to an Apple TV. You can also browse for music videos on the iTunes store from directly within the app.

Sorry original iPad owners, but vjay is available for the iPad 2 and new iPad, only. vjay will normally retail for $19.99, but is celebrating its launch by being available for just $9.99.

If you pick this one up, please share your awesome videos with us in the iMore videography forum!

$9.99 - Download Now

Maps are core technology on a smartphone these days. We depend on our phones to make calls and otherwise keep us in contact, and we depend on them to tell us where we are and help us find where were are going. We depend on them. Messing with a successful mapping solution on mobile, in any way, is non-trivial.

As Android Central's Phil Nickinson has often remarked -- maps could well be Google's flagship product. (AdSense/AdWords may be their most important, but nothing else comes close to the sheer user-facing coolness of Maps.) As 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman mentioned after Google's own map event yesterday, Google has devoted years and a substantial amount of money to building out and developing their Maps service.

How will Apple replace all that in iOS 6?

The maps

Until relatively recently there were two places to get maps, NavTeq, which is now owned by Nokia, and TeleAtlas, which is now owned by TomTom. If you wanted maps, you had to license the tiles from one of those two companies. OpenStreetMap is an attempt to crowd source an alternative, but it's not there yet, and arguably it will be better for casual rather than mission-critical use for a while to come.

Microsoft used Navteq. Apple used Google. Google originally licensed maps from TeleAtlas, but eventually replaced it with their own data. (This is broadly similar to both Apple and Google originally using Skyhook for Wi-Fi router location mapping, and both replacing Skyhook with their own location databases.)

Google didn't just re-map the world, however. They sent out trucks and photographers, and made Street View. They redrew bitmap tiles as vectors. They added social tracking in Latitude. And they gave away free turn-by-turn Navigation.

Apple reportedly wouldn't integrate Latitude into iOS Maps, and Google reportedly wouldn't give them Navigation. Street View came to iOS but the vector tiles didn't. Driving, walking, and public transit routes, and alternate routes, appeared. And Google collected and monetized the data that was returned from each and every query.

That's a problem for Apple. As much as Google was Apple's partner at the original iPhone launch, they are now Apple's biggest, most heated competitor.

And Apple reportedly wants Google off their phone (seriously).

That's also a problem. For Apple to reproduced all the work done by Google from Maps launch to today would be non-trivial. Even for a company with $100 billion in the bank, it would necessitate a herculean effort.

But Apple's been planning it for a while.

Placebase

In July of 2009, Apple bought Placebase and integrated the founder into their Geo Team. As far as I can tell, Placebase didn't have their own maps, but instead focused on innovative ways to integrate a variety of public and private datasets, and layer them over the maps.

Poly9

In July of 2010, Apple bought Poly9. It's not clear to me what Poly9's core business was, but they did surface a product called Poly9 Globe. It was a browser-based 3D geolocator -- essentially a Flash-based web app that looked like a spinning globe and could tell you where things were and exposed APIs to big corporate clients. That sounds like Google Earth style map data visualization technology, however. And since they licensed their maps from others, including Google, there still aren't any maps.

C3 Technologies

In August of 2011, Apple bought C3 Technologies. What C3 Technologies did, and now presumably does for Apple, is fairly clear. They make photo-realistic 3D map renderings. Think Google Earth, but with real little city models you can move through. Yet once again, this is visualization, and not core map data.

Putting it all together (or taking it all apart)

Placebase and Poly9 and C3 Technologies all add up to a killer way to render maps in 3D and layer interesting information over them.

But Apple still needs the maps.

While Apple turned to OpenStreetMaps for their recent iPhoto for iOS app, I'm not sure OSM could provide the consistent quality of maps Apple would need for a more critical service like iOS Maps. That leaves redrawing maps, the way Google did. Or licensing directly from Nokia or TomTom.

Street View is also not easily duplicated. There haven't been widespread reports of Apple cars or jetpacks photographing alleyways and strip malls, the way there was when Google was in the middle of creating Street View. It's possible Apple hired or licensed out that work, but it's hard to imagine any large scale photo mapping service going unnoticed anymore.

Traffic data is another factor to consider. Apple says they collect traffic data but has never been clear if that's network traffic, actual roadway traffic, or both. In many ways, however, Apple has the ultimate crowd source at their disposal -- hundreds of millions of iOS users with GPS reporting their locations in cities around the world.

Directions, including driving, walking, and public transport would have to be replicated or likewise licensed. And the list continues to grow.

More than features, reliability and accuracy will be far more important concerns at the outset. That's true both for users, who rely on it for mapping, and developers who rely on the APIs that call it to give users mapping in other apps.

The Google-fed Maps app isn't perfect but it's really good. There's a high bar for Apple to clear, and again, Maps are core technology now. Having bad maps is like making bad calls or dropping communications. Apple has to clear that bar, quickly and convincingly.

Apple did launch iCloud last year, so they're perfectly capable of deploying data intensive new services. But how many, and how fast?

Arguably iCloud didn't launch feature complete. iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match rolled out over time. Documents in the Cloud is still waiting on Mountain Lion before it'll work in Apple's own iWork for OS X. And new services like photo and video sharing, and new Reminders and Notes web apps are rumored to be coming just as iCloud hits its first birthday.

No company, not even Apple, can do everything. And certainly not all at once. Time and effort spent in one area can't also be spent in another. When Apple was rushing to get the original iPhone out, they pulled engineers from OX S and Leopard was delayed.

It doesn't seem likely Apple would pull engineers from Mountain Lion, iCloud, or Siri to catch up to years of Google Maps development.

iOS 6 Maps

What seems likely with iOS 6 Maps is that Apple will do what they've historically done -- relaunch with a subset of next-generation features that don't do everything the previous generation does, but do a few things in an entirely new and better way.

The original iPhone was like that. It didn't do everything the Palm Treo or BlackBerry did, but the capacitive multitouch interface was so good people bought into it anyway, even if they grumbled a bit while doing so. The new versions of iMovie and Final Cut Pro X have both been like that. Amazing, visionary new products missing key features of the older versions, made slowly better over time.

That strategy worked magnificently with the iPhone, passably with iMovie, and the jury is probably still out on Final Cut X.

But given the limits of time and space, it seems the most likely scenario of Apple Maps -- mapping with amazing visualizations and perhaps cool additional data layers.

Some features could be U.S. only, or major markets only, at least at first. Certainly, some will have to make for visually exciting demos on the WWDC stage, and later in iPhone 5 commercials.

"Siri, give me turn-by-turn directions to 1 Infinite Loop", rendered like something straight out of Pixar, would certainly fit that bill.

And that's pretty much all I'm expecting from iOS 6 Maps. Not a feature-for-feature replacement of the current Google-fed Maps app with pure Apple tech and polish, but something solid, with a lot of eye-candy, that over time adds back the most important features and introduces new ones. And eventually, maybe by iOS 7 or iOS 8, a damn good mapping solution.

Addenda: Google Maps redux

What will be interesting to see is if Google, free of the shackles of Apple's built-in Maps, submits their own Google Maps app proper to the App Store. Given the brouhaha over Google Voice, Apple would almost certainly have to approve it. (It might even be in their best interests to approve it, to take the pressure off Apple Maps in its early days.)

If that happens, iOS users would actually be better off than every before -- pure Google and pure Apple maps apps to choose from, or to alternate between. The best of both worlds (or both companies mapping the world).

Additional resources

• iOS 6: The multi-billion dollar balancing act
• iOS 6: Higher hanging fruit
• iOS 6: A fresh coat of paint
• iOS 6: Is it time for Apple to revamp the multitasking fast app switcher?
• The 16:9 iPhone
• The 4 inch iPhone
• How Apple could provide direct document access in iOS 6
• iOS 6 and the opposite of widgets
• Is it time for Apple to revamp the Home screen?
• The challenge of bringing Siri to the iPad
• iOS 6 and privacy: How Apple should draw inspiration from Android for better app

Some of the above spun off from a chat with @markgurman of *9to5Mac, so credit where it's due -- though he may or may not agree with the rest of it*

Baidu, China's most popular search engine, may be wriggling its way onto the iPhone soon, which corroborates with whispers we had heard late last month.

At first glance, it might seem like this is yet another move on Apple's part to squeeze Google off of iOS, Baidu has such a lead on Google in China that it makes good sense to include it as an option, if not as the default search provider. Baidu's involvement in mobile isn't limited to being a search option in iOS, however; these guys have launched their own smartphone running a forked version of Android. Historically, Google has had a rough go in China due to various censorship laws, and nearly resulted in Google going dark in the area.

It's too bad for Google that Chinese users will likely flood to switch their iOS devices to Baidu as soon as it becomes available, but in the end, Apple is putting the customer first, and the vast majority of them are going to appreciate the inclusion of the search engine they're used to and happy with.

Baidu's current iOS app includes search options for music, movies, places, web, help, and lots of other categories, but odds are if there will be any iOS integration, we'll hear about it at WWDC next week.

Source: Bloomberg

FacebookThis is a jailbreak tweak for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch that will allow you to share images directly from your Photos app to Facebook. iOS lets you send pictures to Twitter but not Facebook. Maybe we will see Facebook integration in iOS 6 but if you're already jailbroken you can have this functionality now.

Once you've installed FacebookThis to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch there's nothing to configure. Just choose a photo you'd like to upload to Facebook and click the Share button. You'll now see a new option for Facebook. Once you tap it you'll be asked to add a description to the photo and tap Ok to upload it. That's pretty much all there is to it.

The first time you upload a picture you'll be asked to authorize the Sara app which is what FacebookThis uses to post your images. You'll only need to do this the first time you attempt to upload an image natively to Facebook. After that you'll be able to upload as many pictures as often as you want without having to deal with authorization again.

While FacebookThis is a great way to easily share pictures to Facebook, it'd be nice to be able to share multiple images at once to speed up the process but considering the native Twitter integration doesn't even support this, I'm not surprised FacebookThis doesn't provide the functionality either. Since Twitter is limited to 140 characters it makes sense that iOS only lets you attach one image at a time but Facebook is a different story. Perhaps an image uploader for Facebook will crop up in iOS 6 this fall.

Regardless of being limited to one image at a time, it's a much quicker way to share your photos without having to use an additional app. I've had more than my fair share of issues with the Facebook app and any time I can spend avoiding it is time well spent.

Free - Cydia Search Link

Additional Resources:

• Best jailbreak apps for iPhone
• Best jailbreak apps for iPad
• Jailbreak apps, hacks, and themes forum

It's time to announce this week's photo contest -- and the winner of last week's portrait photography contest. Before I do, I want to congratulate everyone on their awesome entries. We've got some talented iPhoneographer readers here at iMore and it wasn't an easy decision!

And the winning entry is...

...this gorgeous and unique portrait by tnahumck! Everything about this photo is simply amazing -- especially the being underwater part! And bubbles! I was also very impressed with a few technical elements of this photos as well. First, despite being underwater, the lighting is phenomenal. The photo is also in great focus. It must have been difficult not to capture any motion blur while underwater! Lastly, tnahumck took care with composition and used the rule of thirds, which gives a great sense of location with the blue-green water to the left of the boy. Great work tnahumck!

tnahumck used a LifeProof Case to protect his iPhone from the water, took the photo with Camera+, and edited it with Snapseed.

• Camera+, $0.99 - Download Now
• Snapseed, Free (on sale, normally $4.99) - Download Now

This week's contest: Pets!

With the end of one photo contest, comes the beginning of new one, and this week's focus in on pets! Many of you submitted gorgeous photos of your pets in last week's portrait contest, so please submit them to this contest as well! Please also include the name of your pet in your submission.

The prize: Glif tripod mount and stand

In addition to a thumbs up from the iMore crew and all of us yelling about how great of a photo star you are, the winner of this week's photography contest will receive a Glif tripod mount and stand!

The rules

The rules of entry are very simple. The photo must have been taken with an iPhone or iPad (we'll check the EXIF data of the original file to verify) and any edits must have been done with an iPhone or iPad app. No Photoshop CS6! If you have external lens accessories you are more than welcome to use them. You can submit as many photos as you'd like, but remember, this is a contest, so make sure you submit your best work!

Resources

Now, before you run off to take your photos, remember that it's not technical skill alone that will claim this prize. Even if you're not the best photographer (yet!), a great eye and a great subject can still get you the win. However, a little help can never hurt, so make sure you check out these articles from our iPhone photography series for some tips.

• How to take irresistible photos of your pets with your iPhone
• How to make your iPhone photographs more powerful with negative space
• How to make your iPhone photography more striking with the "rule of thirds"

How to submit

Submitting your photos is easy. Just head over to the iMore Photography Forum and post your photos to the official contest thread. Don't forget to state which apps, if any, you used to edit your photo!

That's it! Now go out and shoot!

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A new York Arist by the name of Henry Hargreaves has recently unveiled a new installation appropriately dubbed Deep Fried Gadgets, featuring an iPhone and iPad coated in greasy goodness. Unlike some people, artists don't have much of a budget for destroying gadgets, so the ones in this exhibit are just scale models, but it could have easily fooled me. Other subjects include a Macbook, iPod, Game Boy, and an external hard drive. Even if they aren't real gadgets, what could possibly compel someone to toss gadgets to the deep fryer? Hargreaves explains:

I'm really interested in cultural mash-ups; what results when two things that usually wouldn't talk do, and what the outcome is... I liked the unlikely connection between electronics and fast foods: how they are fetishised, consumed and then discarded.

This is reflected in some of his other work, including celebrity portraits made of toast and fancy typography made from bacon. While Deep Fried Gadgets isn't as controversial in the art world as, say, a taxidermied cat turned into a helicopter, it's good to see artists getting creative with their iPhones and and iPads, and not just by using apps on the devices to do their work. Just a few days ago, a promising new project aimed to create composite images by having a bunch of iPad owners coordinate with one another and pose under a camera.

So, who's hungry?

Source: Sydney Morning Herald via MacWorld, Henry Hargreaves

Georgia, Seth, Rene, and App Cubby's David Barnard discuss the state of the App Store, whether the iPhone and iPad's tremendous success hides serious problems, and what Apple can do to help customers, developers, and themselves in iOS 6. This is iPhone & iPad Live!

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
• Subscribe via RSS: Audio | Video
• Download directly: Audio | Video

WWDC 2012

• Pre-show coverage

iOS 6 and the App Store

• Stretching Reality
• Free and Low-Cost Apps
• iOS 6: The multi-billion dollar balancing act

Hosts

• Georgia (GeorgiaTiPb
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)
• David Barnard (@drbarnard)
• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live.

We're live every Wednesday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT at www.imore.com/live

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZEN and TECH, Iterate, and more, see MobileNations.com/shows

If you haven't already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us!

Thanks to the iMore Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

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LinkedIn has had a rough week, not only were they caught transmitting sensitive calendar data in plain text to their servers from their iOS app, but a recent security breach has also left more than a few passwords exposed.

The optional calendar feature in the iOS app aims to match up attendees with their LinkedIn profiles. The problem is that to do so, the app transmits sensitive contact, time, place, and dial-in meeting details without any kind of hashing (although it is sent over SSL encryption). The worst part is that the guys who found the privacy breach say LinkedIn doesn't even need to do things this way in order to retain calendar sync functionality. LinkedIn has been fairly unapologetic about their implementation of the feature, claiming that unlike Path they don't store any of the meeting information on their servers. Still, they released an update yesterday that removed the transmission of meeting notes of calendar events.

As for the passwords, LinkedIn hasn't offered much information as to how or where the breach occurred, but they've automatically reset the password of affected users. LinkedIn has also pledged to add some extra security measures, such as hashing and salting their current password databases.

Considering their membership is predominantly business professionals, this security hooplah is definitely embarrassing and could cost LinkedIn some hard-to-regain credibility. It's unfortunate that Apple didn't catch LinkedIn's calendar gap through the App Store approval process, but the SSL tunnel might have hidden the lack of salting in SHA-1.

That said, how comfortable are you with the idea that other apps on your iPhone or iPad might be sending your data off somewhere in plain text after you've given them permission to access your calendar? What about contacts? Does iOS need a more granular permissions system? How would you feel if your friends were unwittingly sending off personal information about you to a server from their iPhone without your permission?

(Rene and the folks from TWiT.tv discussed this on the Tech News Today podcast yesterday, check it out for more.)

Source: LinkedIn, Skycure, TNW

Instapaper recently released an update to their popular read later app for iPhone and iPad app that gives users that ability to specify locations that gives Instapaper permission to refresh content in the background when you're at those locations.

iOS doesn't yet permit apps like Instapaper to automatically download new content in the background on a regular schedule, but Background Update Locations can get most of the way there for a lot of people. Simply add up to 10 locations that you enter and leave often, and Instapaper will frequently update without manually launching it.

A Wi-Fi connection is not required at the locations you indicate, so in addition to places like home and work, you can add other places, like a bus or train station, that you frequently visit. With the ability to add up to 10 locations, hopefully you never have to manually refresh content on Instapaper ever again!

I'll admit that before this update, I was using Pocket to meet my read later needs, but now I'm back to using Instapaper. I love how Instapaper, Pocket, and Readability keep pushing boundaries and raising the bar with their updates. Today, Instapaper wins my vote, but what will the next app bring, tomorrow?

What about you? Are you using a different read later service? Does this new feature of Instapaper tempt you to jump ship? Why or why not?

For today only, the iMore iPhone Accessory Store has the Belkin Grip Candy for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on sale for only $12.95! That's a huge 48% off! Get yours before they're gone!

The Belkin Grip Candy is a thin, durable, and stylish case that keeps your iPhone 4S, AT&T iPhone 4, or Verizon iPhone 4 surface from scratches and scuffs, without adding extra bulk.

This two-tone case features cut-outs for all of your device's features including the screen for full functionality. The case is extremely easy to grip thanks to the flexible TPU material that the Belkin Grip Candy is made from.

Features:

• Two-tone case
• Easy to grip
• Flexible TPU material
• Slim, form fitting design
• Access to all ports and controls
• Screen exposed

Shop Belkin Grip Candy for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 now!

As we originally heard last week, Virgin Mobile USA has officially announced that it will offer the iPhone starting on June 29th. The iPhone will be offered as a pre-paid handset on its network and will be avilable on pre-paid tarriffs as low as $30 a month.

Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk unlimited data and messaging plans for iPhone start at $35 per month for access to Sprint's Nationwide Network, and customers can receive a $5 per-month plan discount when they register for automatic monthly payments with a credit card, debit card or PayPal account, making iPhone available for as low as $30 per month. Customers can also use their iPhone as a mobile hotspot through Virgin Mobile for an additional $15 per month. "This month marks Virgin Mobile USA's tenth birthday," said Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group.  "And what better way to thank our fans for ten years of loyalty than by giving them exactly what they want: the perfect plan for the perfect phone.  That is the essence of 'A Higher Calling.'"

Virgin Mobile USA will offer the iPhone 4 8GB version for an upfront cost of $549. the iPhone 4S is the entry level 16GB version with a price point of $649. You then have a choice of three plans with varying talk minutes from $30 - $50. All plans include unlimited SMS messaging and a 2.5 GB data allowance.

Cricket has already announced that it will also be selling the iPhone on a pre-paid deal starting on June 22nd. Its handset prices are slightly cheaper than the Virgin Mobile USA offering at $399.99 and $499.99 respectively. Cricket only offers one pre-paid plan at $55 which includes unlimited voice minutes, unlimited SMS messages and 2.3GB of data a month.

Meanwhile T-Mobile USA still has nothing to say about any iPhone. The question is, will T-Mobile ever get an iPhone on its network? It's starting to look highly unlikely.

Complete press release:

Virgin Mobile USA announced today it will offer iPhone to its prepaid customers beginning Friday, June 29. Virgin Mobile will offer iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S with its Beyond Talk unlimited data and messaging plans as low as $30 Requires registration for automatic monthly payments per-month on the Sprint^® Nationwide Network. iPhone will be available without a contract and with no fees for activation or roaming. New and existing customers can purchase iPhone at www.virginmobileusa.com, RadioShack, Best Buy and select local retailers.

iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible features including Apple's dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all-new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. iPhone 4S comes with iOS 5.1, the world's most advanced mobile operating system, and iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.

Virgin Mobile's Beyond Talk unlimited data and messaging plans for iPhone start at $35 per month for access to Sprint's Nationwide Network, and customers can receive a $5 per-month plan discount when they register for automatic monthly payments with a credit card, debit card or PayPal account, making iPhone available for as low as $30 per month. Customers can also use their iPhone as a mobile hotspot through Virgin Mobile for an additional $15 per month.With purchase of Mobile Hotspot, plans include 3.5GB per month of full speed data

"This month marks Virgin Mobile USA's tenth birthday," said Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group.  "And what better way to thank our fans for ten years of loyalty than by giving them exactly what they want: the perfect plan for the perfect phone.  That is the essence of 'A Higher Calling.'"

 

For more information about iPhone on Virgin Mobile, including special alerts for when iPhone goes on sale on June 29, please visit www.virginmobileusa/iphone. 

 

For more information on iPhone 4S, please visit: www.apple.com/iphone.

About Virgin Mobile USA Virgin Mobile USA, one of Sprint's prepaid brands, offers millions of customers control, flexibility and connectivity through Virgin Mobile Beyond Talk no-contract plans with unlimited data for mobile phone service, including Android-powered smartphones and prepaid Broadband2Go high-speed Web access on the Nationwide Sprint Network. Virgin Mobile USA customers have access to service on the  Nationwide Sprint 3G Network for data reaching more than 276 million people and reaching more than 280 million people for voice services. Virgin Mobile-branded devices are available at more than 40,000 retail stores, including Target, Walmart, Best Buy and RadioShack. Top-Up cards are available at approximately 150,000 locations nationwide and can be used for Broadband2Go services. Virgin Mobile USA was recently ranked "Highest Ranked Customer Service Performance among Non-Contract Wireless Providers" by J.D. Power and Associates. Experience Virgin Mobile on the Web at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and purchase Virgin Mobile USA products at www.virginmobileusa.com.

Requires registration for automatic monthly payments

² All plans include 2.5GB/month of full speed data. 

³ With purchase of Mobile Hotspot, plans include 3.5GB per month of full speed data

⁴Fair usage policy of 2.5GB per month

• Download audio

Tom Merrit, Sarah Lane, and Jason Howell were kind enough to invite me to (virtually) sit in on the TWiT Network's Tech News Today show yesterday. We discussed LinkedIn's password breach, IPv6, whether Facebook will go the way of Friendster, Google's map event, and, of course, a little Apple and iOS.

It was tremendously enjoyable; check out the video and audio above or hit the link below for more options.

Source: TWiT.tv

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

A dark strategy game called Plague Inc. recently infected the top spot in the iTunes App Store. It puts you in charge of the evolution and spread of a globe-spanning virus, and as the epidemic spreads, your disease has to develop new traits, symptoms, and levels of deadliness to avoid immunization and eventual obliteration. Plague Inc. follows in the wake of Pandemic, a popular web-based Flash game from a few years ago which has recently made the jump to iOS.

The goal, of course, is to wipe out humanity with your very own disease. Every area of the planet has particular qualities that will affect the spread and strength of a virus; for example, it's hard to infect developed nations with tight border control and advanced medicine. As you play, the world reacts according to your progress, so the more severe your strain is, the more aggressively governments will fund research and shut down airports. You learn about these reactions through a fictional news ticker with some cute tongue-in-cheek headlines such as "France considers banning employment" and "Large Social network IPO doesn't meet expectations". After beating the game a few times, you unlock new kinds of diseases with various attributes, like fungus, which can travel long distances without much effort, all the way up to bio-weapons.

Over the course of gameplay, DNA points pop up across the map which you tap to gather and use for evolution. Before a region is ripe for DNA gathering, you'll have to make sure to tap the biohazard symbol first to lock in the initial infection. Similar bubbles will pop up over countries that are developing research against your virus - be sure to pop them quickly to slow down their progress. Once in awhile, new symptoms will develop on their own without you having to spend any DNA points. Equally, sometimes humans will randomly make a scientific breakthrough against particular symptoms, forcing you to be on your toes and readapting.

As you progress in new evolutions through various infectivity, severity, and lethality trees, they'll often meet at high-tier abilities; for example, maxing out water and air infectivity will eventually unlock "Extreme Bioaerosol", which can bypass all sorts of man-made filters. The symptoms tree has a whole bunch of similar deadly combinations. That customization is really what makes the game interesting; even if you're infecting the same world over and over again, there's a ton of depth in exploring which mutations are the most effective, and how to best adapt to panic and human research.

Most of your time, you'll be looking at a world map broken up by region and watching boats and planes traverse the world. Despite the fact that there aren't particularly high expectations in the graphics department, the dotted red lines trailing infected travel are pretty blurry, even when zoomed all the way out, and the world map is especially pixelly when you're playing on the iPad. Even the style of the airport and port icons are barely different from Pandemic 2.5, which clearly signals where the developer got their "inspiration". Pandemic 2.5 has Plague Inc. beat in terms of style and graphics, though not necessarily gameplay. There isn't much to say about the audio in Plague Inc., since you're mainly just tapping the occasional pop-up.  Though there's some pretty flavorful text portions of the game, some of the writing is downright lazy, including miscapitalization and missing punctuation.

OpenFeint and Game Center are both employed to handle achievements and high scores. I would be curious to see what a multiplayer version of this game would be like; I suspect it would be similar to Defcon, in that either players were trying their best to wipe out as much of the planet as possible, but there could definitely be some interesting hybrid viruses that could evolve from the two working in close proximity to one another.  There is cloud saving support, which allows you to pick up your mass genocide where you left off on either iOS device, but keep in mind that games have to be saved manually before you quit.

The good

• Extensive customization
• Fun (if sadistic) gameplay
• Good bits of humor amid all the horror

The bad

• Choppy world map graphics
• Poor writing at times
• Slightly unoriginal

The conclusion

Although the subject matter might be a little on the grim side for some, Plague Inc. has a deep level of customization that will have you coming back regularly to try new strategies. It would be nice to see an added layer of polish to the game, such as tidying up the writing and offering smoother graphics similar to what we've seen on the spiritual predecessor, Pandemic 2.5. Still, the core gameplay of spreading slowly across the globe and gently guiding it through challenges with the right changes is a really interesting experience. Normally, a player claims very specific control over something, but in Plague Inc., you're just as much of an observer. If you're into leaning back and watching chaos blossom like a terrible, terrible flower, Plague Inc. is worth the $0.99.

$0.99 (on sale) - Download Now

A video has surfaced today that claims to show off the iPhone 5 metal back and casing. The casing shown off in the video does appear to exactly match last weeks leaked photographs which showed a raft of changes from the iPhone 4S design.

The video shows off the new slimmer casing design which also incorporates the rumored smaller dock connector. It also shows the revised speaker and microphone grilles. Apple also appears to be heading down the uni-body approach with the antenna and back parts of the device being made in one piece; this improves the strength of the device as well as using less parts, creating more space inside for components.

The headphone jack is again shown on the bottom of the device which is common on iPod touch devices where as previous iPhone models have always had the jack on the top of the device. The bottom position may make more sense and would avoid having a cable draped down the front of your device while your holding it. The final and probably most important change is the height of the device, again we see that it is definitely larger than the iPhone 4S so a bigger screen looks like a certainty if these leaks are correct.

As with all of these leaks, until Apple actually shows off the new iPhone, we are never exactly sure what it will look like. Having said that, these leaks do appear to be very consistent and could well be parts from the next iPhone.

Source: YouTube via CydiaBlog, 9to5 Mac

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Where the App Store is, where competitors are, and what Apple could do to better the platform for developers, users, and themselves in iOS 6

As much as what Apple may or may not do with iOS 6 will dictate the iPhone and iPad user experience for the next year, what Apple does or does not do with the App Store will help determine the continued and future viability of the platform itself.

That's because iOS is only one part of Apple's incredibly successful mobile equation. The App Store -- the development kit, commerce engine, and digital goods that enable apps to be made, sold, and bought -- is another.

And arguably, despite it's unprecedented success, it's in ever greater need of Apple's attention.

That might sound hyperbolic. After all, iOS is the biggest, most profitable app ecosystem on the planet right now. But today's blockbuster ecosystem can be tomorrow's burial of ET cartridges in the desert.

Apple runs the App Store at just above break-even to fuel the high-margin sales of their hardware. They want and need a platform valuable enough to attract both developers and customers to their hardware. For that they need to balance affordability and availability for users with profitability and sustainability for developers. There are billions of dollars at stake, and that's not always an easy balancing act.

Developers will go where the money is and apps will follow successful trends. Apple, as owners of the platform, has a big rudder with which to influence, if not outright steer that movement.

Over the last year, many previously exclusive iOS apps like Instagram, Instapaper, and Flipboard have been ported over to Android. Freemium business models have addicted, annoyed, and alarmed consumers. Continued downward price pressure and a hit-driven market have made the software equivalent of full course meals riskier than snack food apps.

If the iPhone and iPad are no longer the only places to get the best titles first, let alone period, will that be a problem for Apple?

Looking back at the history of the App Store, and of competing app stores, might give us an indication. It might also give us some insight into which way Apple steers next.

Pre-iPhone

Apple didn't invent mobile software, of course. What they did is what they so often do -- take existing, niche technologies, bring together carefully curated aspects of them, and create a successful, mainstream implementation.

Before the iPhone and the App Store, getting mobile apps for smartphones was generally more involved and more expensive. There were many different web-based app fiefdoms that collected a hodgepodge of different freeware, shareware, and commercial apps, attached to a variety of check-out systems, with inconsistent and often annoying licensing schemes, and requiring manual installation.

And they were relatively expensive by today's standards.

• Bejeweled 2 for PalmOS was $19.95. (Bejeweled for iOS is $0.99.)
• BugMe! notes for PalmOS was $39.95. (BugMe for iOS is $1.99.)
• IM+ for PalmOS was $39.95. (IM+ is free on iOS; IM+ Pro for iOS is $9.99.)

In short, mobile apps were an industry ripe for revolution.

iPhone OS 1.0

When the iPhone was introduced at Macworld 2007, it ran just over a dozen built-in apps. It didn't have or need multiple Home screens. The built-in apps barely filled the one Home screen it had.

That there was a visible gap in the grid -- an empty space where another app, and another row of apps, could fit -- seemed to suggest something more was coming.

Indeed, a YouTube app was added before launch, and an iTunes app would be added in the fall, and between the two there were the...

Web apps

At WWDC 2007 Steve Jobs announced a development platform -- Web 2.0 + AJAX, later known as HTML 5. He bullet-pointed that no SDK was required, and that web apps could look and function just like the built-in apps. They could even use URL strings to call phone numbers or launch emails.

Apple introduced multiple, editable Home screens, and asked developers to fill them with "sweet" web apps.

Reaction among those expecting native apps was mainly negative. John Gruber summed it up nicely:

If all you have to offer is a shit sandwich, just say it. Don't tell us how lucky we are and that it's going to taste delicious.

A lot of creativity ensued, including games, Twitter clients, todo lists, and more. But the lack of a real business model and other problems inherent in HTML 5 apps greatly limited their adoption and potential.

Apple only actively promoted web apps for a short period of time, but continues to trot them out occasionally as their "open" alternative platform.

Google has promoted the web app version of YouTube.com, for example, and many users prefer it over the Apple-built native iOS app. However, it's a free service.

As far are monetized web apps go, some magazine publishers, among others, have returned to web apps for iOS as their development and distribution model of choice. Subscription seems more solid a model than purchase for web apps.

We'll see if a Facebook or Amazon web app store can change that.

Jailbreak apps

The original iPhone was jailbroken less than a month after release, and a web based jailbreak became available in the fall of 2007. Jailbreak let unsigned code run on the iPhone, and that meant apps could be run outside of the ones Apple provided.

Real third party software was now possible.

Several games, including Nate True's Tap Tap Revolution, apps including the Iconfactory's Twitterrific, and even app stores like Nullriver's Installer.app soon became available via jailbreak.

iPhone OS 2.0

On October 17, 2007 Steve Jobs wrote an open letter on Apple.com's Hot News page, announcing an iPhone SDK and native apps would be coming in the spring of 2008.

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

At the iPhone OS 2.0 preview event in March of 2008, Apple introduced the first, official, Objective-C based iPhone SDK. They would allow 3rd-party apps, but would be carefully curating them.

Apps would have to be approved for the App Store, and aside from a very narrow ad-hoc distribution channel, no side-loading would be permitted.

Likewise, no code interpreters were permitted, so no Java, Flash, or similar runtimes could be used on iOS.

HTML 5 apps weren't removed, and Apple continues to offer just about the best HTML 5 app support in the mobile space, but their time in the spotlight was clearly over.

The App Store

Because Apple already had the vast iTunes checkout system, they had an incredible advantage when it came to rolling out a store -- they could handle billing in a wide range of places. The iTunes Store also meant they already had infrastructure to handle large-scale digital distribution. They supplied both, along with the marketing muscle of their storefront, free for free apps and for a 30% cut of paid app revenue.

While there was some controversy over the size of Apple's cut, developers like the Iconfactory's Craig Hockenberry saw the upside as well:

My first impression was that [the 30% cut] seemed a little high, but acceptable. You're getting someone else to deal with the hassles of downloading, payment processing and, to some degree, promotion. There's a lot of value in that. Look at what it costs to be on other plaforms, such as Xbox Live, and it seems fair.

But thinking through the situation a bit more, I realized that those things pale in comparison to the value of being associated with the Apple brand. Having their explicit stamp of approval and being included in the App Store will make any product more appealing to a customer. Buying directly from Apple means that your software won't screw up their phone and that can be returned if it doesn't live up to expectations. That, combined with the ease of a single click purchase, is going to drive a lot of sales. You'll make up that 30% without even trying.

When the iPhone 3G launched in July of 2008, the App Store launched along with it -- and it was the only new icon on the iPhone OS 2.0 Home screen.

While the App Store launched with 500 apps, those apps were also quite limited. They couldn't run in the background or save state, so they has to relaunch from scratch any time they quit or crashed. Pricing was fixed, so paid upgrades, promotional freebies, and other traditional benefits of software marketing weren't available. Nor were time-based demos of any kind.

Apple also rejected many apps. Beyond the clearly identified restrictions against porn, malware, etc., duplicating functionality (such as making a 3rd party mail client or podcatcher), tethering apps, and all manner of nebulous rejections created uncertainty in the development community.

Developer Frasier Speirs, among others, expressed grave concern at the time:

Apple's current practice of rejecting certain applications at the final hurdle - submission to the App Store - is disastrous for investor confidence. Developers are investing time and resources in the App Store marketplace and, if developers aren't confident, they won't invest in it. If developers - and serious developers at that - don't invest, what's the point?

Despite the misgivings, however, there were 15,000 apps and half a million downloads by Macworld 2009 in January, and 50,000 apps and over a million downloads by WWDC 2009 in June.

Sure, there were "fart apps" and similar, now clichéd, novelties in there, but also some terrific apps as well.

The most fundamental change, however, was that Apple mainstreamed software the way they mainstreamed computers and smartphones. Guy English of Kicking Bear pantsed that particular quarterback:

The thing is these people don't buy Applications, they download Apps. "Software" is dead, don't bother putting that word on a sell sheet. Have you written "a program" recently? That's nice, find a place in line behind all the other nerds but try not to step on the Coke-bottle glasses they tend to drop. "Oh … you've developed an application … is it something my doctor would know about"? People, lots and lots of people, people who have no idea what software even is, will download Apps like they're snacking on potatoe chips. What's my proof? Well, two million downloads of an App in a week supports that and I'd argue that a total of three billion Apps downloaded backs up my argument too.

Promo codes

In December of 2008, Apple created Promo Codes. Originally U.S. only, and not available for apps rated 17+, they allowed developers to gift up to 50 (and only 50) copies of their apps to reviewers, for contests, or for other forms of marketing.

Promo code ratings restrictions were dropped in July, 2009, and Promo codes gained international availability in December, 2010.

iPhone OS 3

At the second Apple iPhone OS preview event, held in March of 2009, the iPhone and all its apps, first and third party, got copy and paste, Spotlight search as an ersatz secondary app launcher, and access to the dock port.

Among 1000 other new and improved API, the previously announced push notification service was also re-introduced, which wasn't multitasking but would enable whole classes of apps to be more useful than previously possible.

Arguably, however, the most transformative new feature in iPhone OS 3.0 was in-app purchase (IAP).

In-app purchase

Downward price pressure hit the App Store almost immediately. $5 and $10 were common prices in 2008, but a race to the bottom quickly brought them down. Apple benefitted from cheap, commoditized software helping them sell premium iOS hardware.

App Cubby's David Barnard watched the trend:

In July 2009 the average price for games was $1.39 and all apps combined averaged $2.58. Today it's $1.01 for games and $2.12 for all apps. Prices do tend to drop in a free market as competition, increased efficiency, economies of scale, and other factors come into play, but I still contend that Apple's policies and the design of the App Store itself initiated and even accelerated the race to the bottom. It's clear to me in hindsight that this was either Apple's intent, or at least something they didn't actively discourage. To Apple, apps are merely complements to their highly profitable hardware sales. And as Joel Spolsky posited, "All else being equal, demand for a product increases when the prices of its complements decrease."

However, Apple needs to earn enough revenue from their 30% cut to run the App Store at break-even levels or above, and developers need to find enough value in iOS as a platform to support it.

So, instead of going the traditional route and starting to offer upgrades, trials, etc. Apple introduced in-app purchases. Initially Apple enforced a policy of "free apps stay free", ostensibly to prevent customer confusion and bait-it-switch sales tactics. Eventually, however, in-app purchases were extended to all apps, paid and free alike. Likely, again, because Apple and developers need enough revenue to grow the platform, and too many free and cheap apps, with no ability to generate revenue, threaten that growth.

The idea was that developers could offer smaller amounts of initial content and then up-sell additional content, and users could enjoy lower upfront prices and buy only the features they wanted.

In-app purchases followed the same 30% agency model as the rest of Apple's App Store agreement. Thst made it financially impossible for apps like ebook readers to use it (30% to Apple and 70% to publishers left nothing for existing middlemen).

Rather than simply scale-ware, however, in-app purchases led to the creation of the freemium model. It turns out users had been conditioned not to want to pay even $1 for a game, but would gladly pay $99 to have a better looking Smurf-condo than their friends and social peers.

It changed the nature of the app store from one where developers created software they hoped would entice you into buying it as a one-time transaction, to one where freemium specialists purpose-built services intended to separate you from your money, and lots of it, over a longer period.

Not every app and not every developer, but enough to become noticeable, and noticeably annoying.

Graham Spencer, writing for MacStories, explored the phenomena:

If we could go back to day one of the App Store and compare the iOS landscape to what it is today we would find quite a striking difference. The market has matured and expanded substantially, to the point where it is close to a perfectly competitive market. This reality has meant that prices have fallen significantly to where most apps are now free or on the lowest pricing tier of $0.99. To make these kind of prices sustainable, a number of different pricing strategies have emerged – IAPs are playing a big part in the strategy for many developers, allowing them to discount the initial entry cost of the app and then make up for it in later IAPs. This is somewhat of a classic form of price discrimination, specifically a two-part tariff, allowing developers to charge different prices to different consumers and hopefully extract the maximum amount of surplus from the consumer and transfer it to the developer at a later stage through IAPs. To maximise the willingness of consumers to pay for these IAPs, another strategy sometimes comes into play — the idea of designing games to increase their addictiveness and thus make demand inelastic. Inelastic demand will mean consumers will be more willing to consume those IAPs.

In response to concerns and controversies, especially those involving children making large in-app purchases without their parents' knowledge, Apple has since added a Settings switch to disable them, and switched to requiring a password for any in-app transaction, at any time.

Accessory API

With iPhone OS 3.0, Apple also crossed the chasm between their app and accessory ecosystems for the first time. With the SDK, developers could make apps that talked with peripherals over the 30-pin Dock connector, allowing the iPhone to become a powerful screen and interface for a new generation of gear.

While various medical, mechanical, and other marvels were shown off, very little shipped immediately. Over the years, however, healthcare products, scientific instruments, and other accessories have slowly trickled out.

Push notifications

Push notifications -- a service where Apple would collect and relay popup, badge, and sound alerts between a developer's server and the iPhone -- was originally announced for iPhone OS 2.1 but was subsequently delayed and announced again as part of iPhone OS 3.0.

While not providing traditional multitasking, they did allow a new class of apps to function for the first time on the iPhone. Everything from instant messaging and twitter clients to breaking news and even games took advantage of them.

Gifting apps

In March of 2010, Apple created a highly specialized form of iTunes Gift Card -- Gift this App. App gifting is national only (i.e. U.S. App Store users can only gift to other U.S. App Store users) but it did provide greater purchasing options.

the iPad App Store

March 2010 saw Apple introduce a whole new class of iPhone OS device -- the iPad. It shipped with iPhone OS 3.2, a version the iPhone never received, and it caused Apple to bifurcate the App Store.

While the iPad could run iPhone apps in 1x or 2x "Classic" mode, the iPad could also run purpose-built tablet apps.

Developers could either make apps uniquely for the iPad, make separate apps for iPhone and iPad, or make universal apps that contain both iPhone and iPad interfaces and run on both.

Apple set the price of their own iWork for iPad apps at $10, and kept them that way. So far, iPad apps have typically retained higher price points than their iPhone equivalent.

Many developers, especially game developers, have chosen not to go with universal apps either. They see separate iPad versions as an important additional revenue source.

iOS 4

Originally introduced as iPhone OS 4.0 at the preview event in April 2010, Apple later renamed their mobile operating system to iOS 4 at WWDC 2010. It recognized the importance of the iPad to the platform, and the growing role of iOS beyond the iPhone in general.

Folders increased the raw number of apps that could be loaded onto any device at one time, Calendar access let developers hook into the event system, and iAd gave them an additional, Apple-owned option for monetizing free apps.

The biggest new feature, however, for users and developers alike, was multitasking... of a sort.

Background API

Rather then simply enabling full on background multitasking, the way desktop operating systems do, Apple looked at what functionality users wanted, and created specific APIs to enable it. Or at least some of it.

• Background audio allowed music to keep streaming for apps like Pandora.
• Voice over IP allowed incoming calls, and persistent calls for apps like Skype.
• Background location allowed turn-by-turn for apps like TomTom.
• Push notifications allowed server-side alerts as introduced previously.
• Local notifications allowed 3rd party alarms, times, and reminded for apps like Todo.
• Task completion allowed things like photos to keep uploading in apps like Facebook.
• Fast app switching worked like cmd + tab (alt + tab) to more quickly jump between recent apps.

It was far from complete, however. For example, task completion meant internet connections would time out and get shut down after a certain period. That prevented apps like persistent SSH clients or RSS that updates in the background. Also, even though notifications could still come in for Twitter or IM apps, they couldn't actually download content until the app launched, making them functionally inferior to true background apps like Mail and SMS/Messages.

Marco Arment of Instapaper highlighted the root of the problem:

I've already received multiple emails from people who are excited for iOS 4's multitasking because they can't wait for this to finally stop being an issue, because they think Instapaper will be able to download articles periodically in the background.

It's painful to respond, crushing their hopes, to tell them that the iOS multitasking system doesn't allow me to do that.

By naming these features "multitasking", Apple has set customers' expectations to include what apps can do in a traditional computer multitasking environment.

It's going to mislead people into expecting such behavior from apps, but we can't actually deliver most of it.

Arment and others have since found a workaround, using the change-of-location API to wake up their apps and trigger a content refresh. But hacks are almost always less than ideal.

Still, background API were important for iOS, as Slacker radio told us at the time:

Right now 4 out of 5 of our mobile apps are on platforms that support multitasking and our listeners have let us know they enjoy being able to utilize their smartphone's functions while listening to their favorite music. We are elated that soon Slacker listeners using their iPhone will have this same capability.

Background support required developers to update their apps, and while it took some longer than others, it did result in many more, and more functional apps to hit the app store.

iAD

After letting Google scoop up AdMob out from under them, Apple purchased Quattro Wireless and turned it into iAd. Mobile advertising was another way for Apple to make money, and help developers make money, from free apps.

Produced in HTML 5, Apple took control of initial campaigns but later released an authoring tool, iAd Producer, as well.

There was some initial concern that Apple might prohibit other, third party networks following the launch of iAd, or restrict their ability to collect data to such an extent that they may as well be prohibited.

Ultimately, and much to everyone's relief, Apple chose to compete with iAd as a better experience for users, and a premium brand for advertisers. (Even going so far as to release an iAd Gallery app in the U.S. App Store.)

Initial ad buys started at $100,000,000 but dropped it to $500,000 in February of 2011, and dropped it again to $100,000 in February of 2012. At the same time, Apple also increased revenue sharing for developers from the initial 60% to 70%, bringing it in line with the agency model.

Despite concerns over fill rates and revenue over the years, not all iAd experiences have been negative. Recently developer David Smith noted an upswing.

After a very bumpy start it has stabilized into a very solid platform that serves its intended goal of providing a native mechanism for making money in free apps. In fact, the performance of iAd has grown so solid over the past 6 months or so that I recently dropped all other advertising platforms from Audiobooks (previously I've integrated with MobClix, Admob, and Adsense).

Game Center

Introduced alongside the rest of iOS 4 at WWDC 2010, Game Center didn't ship until later in the fall. More Xbox Lite than Xbox Live, it did offer features such as invitations, matchmaking, achievements, and leader boards.

As with in-app purchases, ego gratification is a powerful motivator, and Game Center hoped to use socialization and gamification in combination with public recognition to do just that.

With iOS 5 it was expanded to include friend recommendations and sorting, game recommendation, and the ability to buy games right inside Game Center.

iOS 5

iOS 5 marked Apple's biggest gab between full operating systems previews to date. Rather than a spring even like in previous years, Apple didn't reveal any details of iOS 5 until WWDC 2011 in June. And rather than a summer release, general availability was held off until October of that year.

The biggest change was iCloud, Apple's next generation, cord-cutting digital hub that obsoleted MobileMe and made iOS PC-free.

Other large changes impacted developers to a far lesser extent than usual. As much as Notification Center made existing push notification apps less obtrusive, none of the 1500 new APIs provided for developers allowed access its new widget system, nor were any APIs provided for the iPhone 4S' flagship new feature, the still-in-beta Siri.

Officially added to the iOS 5 App Store and SDK, however, was the new version of subscriptions and the Newsstand folder to house them.

iCloud

Using iCloud, developers can store key values and documents on Apple's servers and have those key values and documents pushed back down to all of an iCloud users' devices, including iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macs.

It allows for simple, syncing-like functionality between identical apps (i.e. Screens can sync your settings between iPhone, iPod, and iPad) on identical Apple IDs. It hasn't yet proven successful in syncing game states between devices, however (we still can't stop Angry Birds on iPhone and continue on iPad or Mac where we left off.)

Also, Mac support for Documents in the Cloud is waiting on the next version of OS X, Mountain Lion, due later this summer.

There's no cross-user support yet, so date can't be shared between family members or employees in the same company. There's also currently no file system, so services like Dropbox are often still used as well in many apps.

Subscriptions and Newsstand

Apple originally announced App Store subscriptions in 2008 as part of the iPhone OS 3 event, but they never took off. At The Daily event in 2011 Apple introduced a new, updated version which was officially included in iOS 5 in June of the same year, along with Newsstand.

Newsstand was a special kind of folder that housed a special kind of app -- subscription periodicals like magazines and newspapers. Again, developers had to update to support Newsstand and its subscription features, but once they did:

• The subscription app would download to Newsstand, not the general Home screen
• The subscription app would "wake up" once a day to refresh content, if anything new was available.
• The subscription app would show the latest cover or front page artwork, instead of the app artwork, to visually cue users to potentially new content.

Existing customers with existing subscriptions can typically log in to get their content. New customers without existing subscriptions can typically buy subscriptions via in-app purchase.

That's problematic for content brokers. Apple's 30% cut means that those already working on the 30/70 agency model can't afford to participate in subscriptions any more than they could the original in-app purchasing system -- 70% publisher + 30% Apple leaves 0% for companies like Amazon.

More controversially, Apple demands most-favorered pricing, so developers and publishers can't simply tack on an additional 30% and charge iOS users more, and won't allow any out-of-App Store linking.

Matt Drance of Apple Outsider summed up the hubbub:

The requirement that IAP content be offered "at the same price or less than it is offered outside the app," combined with the 70/30 split, means developers must make less money off of iOS by definition. They can't price their IAP content higher to offset the commission, nor can they price their own retail content lower.

If I am interpreting this correctly, I can't bring myself to see it as reasonable. Not only do businesses have every right to price their products on the open market as they see fit, but I would actually be willing to pay a premium for all the aforementioned advantages provided by IAP. Why not let them experiment?

I also don't see how it's even remotely enforceable. Are Apple staffers seriously going to check every vendor website for sale prices on a regular basis?

I think a great deal of this drama could go away if Apple dropped section 11.13 while keeping section 11.14: Your prices on your store are your business; just don't be a jerk and advertise the difference all over ours.

Apple likely knows if companies could charge more on iOS and link out to their cheaper web stores, many users would in fact buy through the cheaper web stores. (Look no further than real-world retailers and former Apple VP Ron Johnson's failed no-sales policy at JCPenney for an abject lesson in the psychology behind it.)

What's more, if taken to the extreme, companies could offer apps for free on the App Store, and then charge subscription fees for them on the web, and thereby do a complete end-run around Apple.

While getting Apple to pay for hosting and delivery while simultaneously denying Apple a cut of revenue is highly appealing to some, it's not appealing at all to Apple. It would make Apple's just-above-break-even App Store model turn into a money loser. And Apple doesn't lose money.

Worse still, from the point of view of traditional publishers, Apple requires users to opt-in before Apple would share their demographic information. While print magazines were nominally supported by their cover price and advertising, their main business was collected addresses and credit card information so they could market to their customers. (Ever wonder why your junk mail would spike after subscribing to a magazine?).

Overall subscriptions have been successful enough for some publishers to stick with them under the current terms, yet onerous enough for other publishers to switch strategies and go for HTML 5 distribution instead.

Google Play (née Android Market)

Google launched the Android Market several short months after Apple launched the App Store, and has recently renamed it the Google Play Store. There are several interesting aspects to it. However, since Android is a platform for platforms, and not a singular phenomenon, we'll keep this broad and not up front not all Android devices allow for all options at all times.

Substantially less curation

Google doesn't moderate for content on the Google Play Store. As long as an app works and isn't particularly and obviously illegal, it'll pretty much make it to the store.

Of course, this leads to far greater degree of stolen IP, porn (and tragically, bad porn), malware, and other assorted crap.

System-level apps and root access

Since Android allows deeper system-level access than iOS, Android users can potentially buy classes of apps unavailable to iOS users, like replacement keyboards, themes, etc.

Again, this has also led to a glut of junky keyboard and skins and themes.

Google also has no problem with apps that require root access (think jailbreak apps).

Trials

If you buy an app on Android and hate it, you can delete it within 15 minutes and not be charged for your troubles.

You're only allowed one trial per app.

Alternate stores

Amazon has their own Appstore on Android, and users can shop there instead of Google play. Purchased apps are tied to Google accounts, so you don't lose them if you switch devices and the new one has a different store.

You do risk running into a company like Amazon, however, who exercises so much control they make Apple look easygoing. Everything you upload, including price, description, and app itself belongs to them.

BlackBerry App World

BlackBerry App World debuted in March of 2009. Prior to App World, BlackBerry apps could only be acquired and side-loaded from a variety of web stores, similar to how Treo and Windows Mobile apps were sold.

BlackBerry Playbook OS has moved closer to an App Store model, where side loading requires more advanced, geeky skills. Presumably BlackBerry 10 phones will be the same. Traditional BlackBerry phones can use either the old, multiple web-store model or the new one.

Multiple development environments and platform support

BlackBerry Playbook and presumably BlackBerry 10 phones give developers a plethora of choices when it comes to development. They can use HTML 5 WebWorks, Adobe AIR, and code natively.

In addition, the Playbook, and again presumably BlackBerry 10, can also run Android apps through an emulator. However, they do have to be submitted separately to BlackBerry App World.

Price Tiers

At launch, BlackBerry App World allowed for free apps, then began pricing tears at $2.99, incrementing at $1 up to $19.99, at $10 up to $99.99, at $50 up to $599.99, and at $100 up to $999.99.

The attempt to prevent cheap apps didn't last, however, and App World eventually added $0.99 as an option.

Carrier billing

RIM suffered greatly from the lack of a successful international checkout system like iTunes or Amazon (or even Google Checkout). However, RIM is increasingly offering carrier billing as an option. (As is Google.)

While far more fragmented than a platform-owned checkout system, it is at the same time more accessible to people in emerging markets who may not have easy access to credit cards, and for whom gift cards are far less convenient an option.

Windows Phone Marketplace

Microsoft's Marketplace initially launched in October of 2009 for Windows Mobile. It rebooted alongside Microsoft's next generation operating system, Windows Phone.

There's little unique about what the Marketplace does compared to other platforms, but it does do some of those things in different and arguably better ways.

Trial modes

Although Marketplace has experimented with return periods, they currently offer flexible, almost shareware-like options for developers. Apps can be feature limited or time limited for a trial period, or can offer things like ad removal in the full versions. (Though Microsoft does discourage timers and prefers feature limitations or ad additions in trial mode.)

Beta tests

Rather than UDIDs, like Apple's App Store Ad Hoc distribution method, Windows Phone Marketplace allows for a list of up to 100 Windows Live IDs to be registered. Beta testers can then download beta versions of the apps they're registered for from the Marketplace (which doesn't list them but does fulfill them).

Live IDs can be added, deleted, or changed at any time. New beta builds do have to be uploaded to Marketplace and pulled each time, however. They can't be pushed directly to devices.

webOS App Catalog

The webOS App Catalog launched in June of 2009. Like webOS itself, webOS apps are based on HTML 5, CSS, and JavaScript. Older apps could use the Mojo framework and newer apps, the Enyo framework. A native PDK (Plugin Developers Kit) was also made available primarily to enable high performance gaming.

Non-ejecting downloads, password free updates

In the iOS, when you download a new app, you're shoved out of the App Store, onto the Home screen, and shown spatially where the new app is downloading to. That's great a few times, especially to help new users get oriented and prevent them wondering where their apps are. After a few times, for experienced users, it's annoying. webOS doesn't do that.

Similarly, the App Store asks for your password a lot. Even when downloading updates to existing apps. Since there are no paid updates on iOS (see below), this also becomes annoying for users who value time and convenience over security.

Web distribution

The webOS App Catalog isn't the only way to get webOS apps. There are feeds for both official webOS apps, and for homebrew (jailbreak) apps.

Embedded videos

In addition to screen shots, the webOS App Catalog allows you to embed a YouTube videos so potential customers can see an app in action before they choose to download or buy.

iOS 6

The iOS App Store will soon be celebrating its fifth birthday. By any definition it's been an unprecedented success. 25 billion downloads. Over $4 billion paid to developers. Over $1.5 billion kept for Apple.

But that doesn't mean it's perfect.

Apple's a secretive company that's usually difficult to predict in advance yet somehow obvious in hindsight. That's because they usually do sensible, successful things.

By looking at everything that's occurred before, the competitive environment, and what Apple's, users', and developers' continued pain points are -- in that order -- we can guess what might be on the iOS 6 App Store agenda.

Apple might no do all these things. Indeed, Apple shouldn't do all of these things. But they should be considering them, and the problems they solve.

Better discoverability

Over half a million apps in the App Store makes finding the best app for any particular user at any particular time almost impossible. Apple has top lists, which can be gamed, and Genius recommendations, which break down on family accounts and don't address new needs.

Apple has reportedly bought Chomp for its recommendation engine, but it's unclear how and when that will be implemented into the App Store, and whether it will truly fix the problem.

Digital recommendation engines in general have had a really hard time properly anticipating the analog desires of humans.

"Siri: Find me the best mileage tracker app" is a significant engineering challenge. but should be the future everyone is aiming for.

Better usability

Booting a new user out of the App Store the first couple times they buy apps is helpful. It shows them, spatially, where they can find the new apps they bought. After a few times, especially for users who buy a lot of apps at once, it's annoying. Imagine being escorted out of a regular store every time you bought something, and having to come back just to buy another single, solitary item.

Bury a Setting in the App Store section that lets advanced users turn this off. Too many Settings are bad thing, but the App Store is important and the section isn't exactly over flowing to begin with.

(If a user is navigating around wildly, the system could intercept them and offer them help find what they're looking for, or take them to recent downloads or Spotlight. That's going to be the future of gesture-driven navigation and hint detection anyway.)

Likewise, asking for a password when no financial transaction is taking place -- for example, when you're updating an app under the current system -- is onerous. Have a Setting to turn that off.

App trials

As App Cubby's David Barnard has discussed several times, there's another problem that can typically occur for a user searching for a specific app.

• User downloads a free app, isn't happy
• User downloads cheap app, isn't happy
• User downloads moderately priced app, is happy for a while, but ultimately needs more features.
• User downloads premium app.

By that point, a user has spent significant time and money, perhaps even more than twice the price of the premium app. The free app has racked up downloads from an unsatisfied user. The cheaper apps have racked up downloads and made some money from an unsatisfied user. And the premium app has made only half the money the customer was willing to spend to get to a proper solution.

Trials can help solve this. Google's version seems clearer and more consistent than Microsoft's. Some might find it tough to really get into a feature-filled app, but it should be good enough to give anyone an idea about an apps functionality.

More importantly, it would help eliminate scam apps.

Some scam apps are copy-cats that duplicate as closely as possible the name and icon of popular games in order to confuse consumers and get them to buy a scam app instead of the real thing. This costs the consumer money for the scam app and developers money for the lost sale.

Others scam apps appear to be byte-for-byte copies, stolen whole-cloth and offered for sale side-by-side with the original. This still costs the developer money for the lost sale, and while consumers get a functioning app, it's likely not one with any support going forward.

Still other scam apps rip off the copyright of a popular brand (like Pokemon) for bogus apps that do nothing but cheat customers out of their money.

They all combine to damage confidence in the App Store, and harm the experience of the iOS platform.

Apple seems to be doing a better job finding and removing scam apps these days, but a simple, direct way to report abuse right in the App Store would be good.

Trials would be great.

Premium App Store

Yet downward price pressure and the race to the bottom have resulted in a bevy of free and cheap apps, and they've also taught users that apps should be free and ever cheaper.

Frequent sales on more expensive apps have trained users to wait for sales instead of buying at regular price.

It's gotten to the point, at least based on App Store reviews and online comments, that people who happily pay $5 for fussy caffeinated beverages that are gone in a few minutes balk at paying even $0.99 for a quality app that can solve a valuable problem for them, or simply provide them with hours of distraction (which would easily cost $2 to $15 for rental or theatrical Hollywood fare).

Some developers can make up for this on volume for some apps. Angry Birds is the classic example. Instead of upgrades, they spawn new versions. But not a lot of apps can pull this off, and not a lot of the time.

If developers can't make money off high quality, in-depth apps, they'll ultimately stop making high quality, in-depth apps. We'll get smaller, less ambitious apps that are also less risk.

A Premium App Store, where higher production, higher value apps could breathe absent the deluge of free, freemium, and cheap apps, has been suggested for years. Whether simply new, added categories or a more clever new interface option, it could give Apple a more prestigious showcase for their platform, developers a chance to compete at a higher price point, and users the option for better apps.

Upgrade pricing

Upgrade pricing is almost always on every list of App Store improvements, real or imagined. Yet currently no mobile platform provides for this functionality. Not iOS. Not Android. Not BlackBerry. Not Windows Phone. Not webOS.

No one.

Apple knows which app's you've bought -- they can let you re-download them for free and update them when new versions come out. Hints that Apple has considered upgrade pricing have been seen for years.

Yet Apple hasn't pulled the trigger, and so apps like Tweetie, Twitterrific, The Early Edition, Coda, and more have re-launched new versions as new apps, making absolutely no one happy.

Now just because I paid to see Star Wars doesn't mean I should get to see Empire Strikes back for free or half-price, yet software upgrades have been standard in the industry long enough to have created an expectation.

If developers don't mind them, and users appreciate them, upgrade pricing is a better solution than the status quo.

Marc Edwards of Bjango highlights why:

Not allowing upgrade pricing is something we can probably deal with, but not allowing support for older versions is a disaster. It creates a system where the likely outcome is for users to hate us at every major milestone of an app's life, except the initial release. Milestones that should be joyous occasions. Milestones that occur after we've just spent months slaving over every single detail.

That's not good for us, it's not good for users and it's not good for Apple.

App approvals and alternate distribution channels

Although unanticipated App Store rejections have become fewer, they still happen. While developers who skirt the edges of Apple's policies -- who work beneath the shadow of the giant's foot -- aren't sympathetic, the ones who build apps in good faith only to be denied entry into the store on questionable or impenetrable grounds certainly are.

This might make some developers, potentially some with brilliant ideas for transformative technologies, avoid the iOS platform. If they go to Android instead, the next great wave of apps could land on devices not made by Apple.

Apple could avoid this by simply approving more apps -- any that aren't malicious or illegal, or by providing an alternative method for distributing apps outside the App Store.

We've seen hints that Apple has considered, for example, an explicit category in the App Store. Steve Jobs famously considered Android a porn store (to which our friends from Android Central would add, not a very high quality one.)

Apple will, however, be releasing Gate Keeper for OS X with Mountain Lion. As I mentioned in the post on iOS 6: Higher hanging fruit, this doesn't seem a likely carryover to iOS:

With Gatekeeper in OS X Mountain Lion, users have a choice -- run only App Store apps, run App Store apps and non-App Store apps signed by identified developers, and run any app, no matter where it comes from. The App Store provides a lot of security -- it minimizes the chance for malware or other malicious software. It creates user trust. Non-App Store apps signed by identified developers is a good middle-ground, however. They don't need Apple approval but if any of them are found to be malicious, their certificate can be revoked.

Unfortunately, I don't think Apple would do this. It wouldn't really change the type of apps that are available -- for example, the system-level hacks of jailbreak -- and it would almost certainly lead to developers cutting Apple out of the 30% share of app sales Apple takes to maintain the App Store. Apple has shown they're not fond of end runs around the App Store for subscriptions, and they'd likely be even less so for paid apps.

Patent protection

It's been over a year now since iOS developers began being sued directly by patent trolls. Apple has reportedly come to their defense, but as the profile of the App Store continues to rise, so will the parasites rise with it.

That makes app development only more expensive and more of a potential risk.

Oracle is reportedly now suing to invalidate the patents of one of the biggest trolls. Godspeed.

This is also a tough problem to fix, however. One solution is for Apple (and other platform owners) to offer blanket protection against any technology that's made available to developers part of the SDK.

It wouldn't cover anything beyond the SDK, which would still leave lots of openings for trolls, but it would cut off some of their potential attack vectors.

Conclusion

For the App Store to be even more successful in the future, Apple needs users to think the best apps are on iOS and developers to think the best platform for making the best apps is iOS.

Making iOS 6 fantastic is important. But as good as the iPhone and iPad are, the moment after they're bought users are going to turn towards apps. And Apple knows that.

Apple is also atypically good at understanding their own weaknesses and addressing them. The App Store is so phenomenally successful, it hides a lot of potential vulnerabilities.

Hopefully Apple is aware of them and will be addressing them as in iOS 6, and into the future.

Additional resources

• iOS 6: Higher hanging fruit
• iOS 6: A fresh coat of paint
• iOS 6: Is it time for Apple to revamp the multitasking fast app switcher?
• The 16:9 iPhone
• The 4 inch iPhone
• How Apple could provide direct document access in iOS 6
• iOS 6 and the opposite of widgets
• Is it time for Apple to revamp the Home screen?
• The challenge of bringing Siri to the iPad
• iOS 6 and privacy: How Apple should draw inspiration from Android for better app