Opinion: Apple should reset all App Store reviews

Now that Apple has done the right thing by requiring people to purchase an iPhone app before posting a review at the App Store, Peter Cohen thinks the company needs to take the next step: zap all the old reviews from the Store.

App Store Trends: Prices race to the bottom

Last spring, TUAW asked how much you would pay for iPhone software. Well, it looks like $0.99 and $1.99 are the new $39.99 and $49.99 as far as mobile distribution goes. The App Store bucked the trend of high-priced phone software and now is ratcheting those prices down even further. Developers are responding to high application supply and dwindling demand by lowering their prices across the board. As the App Store novelty wears off and consumers forget about once-"hot" items, the typical price tag continues dropping. Games that cost $9.99 at launch are almost universally $4.99 and less. Apps like Koi Pond proved that $0.99 can generate a lot of sales. Short term sales are quickly being eclipsed by long term price drops. We typically get our tips about upcoming price changes directly from developers; 148Apps has introduced a automated price drop detector. As the App Store continues to evolve from "get rich quick" to make money slowly, devs are working to find that sweet spot -- charging enough to earn a living but not so much that they aren't out-competed. Based on these downward pricing trends, I expect ad-supported apps to really start taking off soon, the way they are doing in the jailbreak world. If developers can't build their revenue stream from charging higher prices, they may turn to alternative monetizing models instead.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

T-Mobile USA seen cloning iPhone's App Store

Hoping to ride the coattails of the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch, T-Mobile's US branch is allegedly developing a unified software store that would mimic Apple's but apply to every single device in the carrier's stable. Rather than offer the...

Cube debuts on the App Store for free

Section: iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone + Communications, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps Today is a great day for iPhone gamers with the release of Cube on the App Store. Cube is a first person shooter for desktops, and now it’s been ported to the iPhone. The best news of all is that it drops at a very attractive price…free. But, as you might suspect, it’s not perfect. This version of the game has frame rate, texture and memory issues. But, it’s still free. Cube is actually a rather ambitious project. Porting an entire 3D desktop game is no trivial matter. Here are the details from the developer: Cube is an open source multiplayer and singleplayer first person shooter game built on an entirely new and very unconventional engine. Cube is a landscape-style engine that pretends to be an indoor FPS engine, which combines very high precision dynamic occlusion culling with a form of geometric mipmapping on the whole world for dynamic LOD for configurable fps & graphic detail on most machines. Uses OpenGL & SDL. What’s crazy about the game is that all the features of the desktop version are present in the iPhone version. Right now, it’s really more of a demo than anything else, but it’s worth a download. Jumping is a little awkward, but overall, the controls are surprisingly good. Sadly, the frame rate issues are enough to make the current version hard to play with for more than a few minutes. Also, multiplayer doesn’t yet work, but it’s definitely possible in future updates. Speaking of updates, the developer is putting the final touches on version 1.2, which fixes a bunch of issues present in the current game. There’s even talk of Sauerbraten (Cube 2) being ported to the iPhone. Who’s excited? Product [Cube (iTunes App Store)] Via [TouchArcade] Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Apple week in review: the App Store hammer, new MacBook rumors, Apple in IT

This week's top Apple news ranged from how the iPhone will be affected by the T-Mobile G1 to performance improvements in Adobe CS4 to Apple's continued enforcement of its mysterious App Store policies. Also included was how Apple's patch release policy affects enterprise IT, and more. Read More...

iPhone App Store Thriving Despite Developer Tricks (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Apple's new iPhone App Store already has customers talking and picking their favorites -- and bad-mouthing others. Earlier this week, Apple reported that App Store downloads exceeded 10 million in the first weekend. It said the store had more than 800 native applications, of which 200 were free and more than 90 percent were less than $10.