Shopping Trip to App Store for Your iPhone

The best feature in Apple's second-generation iPhone 3G is the "App Store," a distribution mechanism for third-party programs. In general, the process of choosing and downloading apps is easy and quick, and most of the programs are useful or entertaining. Here's a guide to choosing the apps for your iPhone.

Apple has some work to do with iTunes 7.7, iPhone 2.0, and the App Store

Section: iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iTunes, iPhone + Communications, iPhone, iPhone SDK & AppsApple’s recent launch of a few very popular services and products has brought many complaints and problems to the company. Despite this, the iPhone 3G has sold out practically everywhere, and the App Store is a huge hit, but Apple really needs to get on top of these issues. These products, namely iTunes 7.7, the App Store, and the iPhone 2.0 software, are near perfect, but each have its own flaws. After the break I will outline some of these issues. iTunes 7.7 Although this product’s initial failure could be blamed on the huge toll the servers were taking due to everyone trying to activate, it still needs some work. For one, syncing with the new iPhone 2.0 software isn’t quite there yet. For example, when you delete an app off of iTunes, but not your iPhone, that app will just be put back onto iTunes during the next sync, even though you don’t want it. Also, backing up iPhones with the new software takes an unbelievably long time, and some people have said those backups usually turn out to be corrupt. Let’s hope this gets fixed. App Store This part of the new iPhone was a huge success, with 10 million downloads in its opening weekend.  It has brought amazing third party apps to the device that make it much better than competing phones. That said, the App Store isn’t perfect, either. For example, it still has some difficulty when it comes to determining which applications need updating and how many updates there are. In addition to this, many developers are not at all happy with the review system and how hard it is to debug their apps and talk to their customers. iPhone 2.0 Software This is probably the part that needs the most work. Many iPhone users are experiencing all sorts of lag when typing, opening applications, and doing everyday stuff. Along with that, many applications are crashing upon launch, even Apple made apps. Some may argue that the growing list of lacking features (copy and paste, turn by turn nav, etc.) could even be an iPhone 2.0 software issue. Items such as this are making the iPhone seem like a bad device even though it isn’t. Did I miss anything? Do you agree? Let us know in the comments. Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

App Store downloads led by free apps; one quarter are games

Revealing the bias towards younger users, mobile ad group Medialets has tracked iTunes' App Store and finds that free apps rule the download charts, but that game developers are thriving in the paid world and that some developers should already be su...

Apple rectifies App Store sorting

A while back we noted that there some shady practices going on at the App Store. Basically certain developers were putting spaces or other characters in the front of their application names so that they would come up on the first page in the alphabetical sort at the iTunes App Store. According to Infinite Loop Apple has quietly rectified the problem.It now seems that if you go to the App Store the default listing is by release date. However, if you change it to Name you'll find that the first page basically has what it's supposed to have. Right now displaying all iPhone apps (iTunes link) starts with the ebook 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Abacus second. It's nice to see that Apple has been proactive in taking care of this.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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.

App Store - Mobile software distribution solution

The macosxhints Rating:[Score: 9 out of 10] Developer: Apple / Product page Price: VariesThis week's Pick of the Week is somewhat unusual, but I think highly deserving. Instead of picking any one product, I've chosen to give the selection to Apple's new iPhone/iPod touch App Store. After using the App Store quite a bit over the last few days, I believe it truly is a paradigm-changer for the mobile applications business -- much as the original iTunes Music Store was when it opened years ago.Prior to my iPhone, I owned and used a Palm Treo. One of my frustrations with the Treo was finding and installing software for it. Although there's a huge universe of programs for the Treo,...