app store

Apple could bring in a cool $4.9 billion in App Store sales this year, estimates iHS iSuppli.

Boosted by the new Maps and Passbook apps, this year's sales could jump 70 percent over last year's $2.9 billion. The forecast means 2012 would generate almost half of all App Store sales over the past five years. It would also give Apple a 65 percent share of the worldwide app store market.

Maps and Passbook are game changers, according to the research firm.

"Until now, Apple's iOS ecosystem has focused on virtual services, such as apps, … Read more

Apple's Software Update is a convenient and easy way to keep your Mac up-to-date with the latest security fixes and feature enhancements. To make the service user-friendly, it's been available as a simple graphic-based tool in the Apple menu, but in recent versions of OS X Apple has integrated this service with its Mac App Store. Though it's convenient for most people, if you do not wish to open the Mac App Store for managing updates, there's a way you can avoid it.

Unfortunately there is no known way to revert the Software Update service from … Read more

Following yesterday's release of iTunes 10.7 and updates to iMovie, a number of people have been unable to install the updates. Upon selecting Software Update from the Apple menu, the Mac App Store will launch and begin the update process, but will give a warning that an error has occurred. Sometimes the warning says, "A server with the specified hostname cannot be found," and at other times it's "The operation couldn't be completed (NSURLErrorDomain error -1100).

This error is likely from a misconfiguration on Apple's part in how it has hosted its … Read more

Microsoft's Windows Store -- the built-in app store for Windows 8 and Windows RT -- is open to all developers in 120 markets, as of today

Of these 120 markets, 82 are newly supported, according to a new post on the "Windows Store for Developers" blog. (Here's a list of the  markets now supported.)

To reward developers "for their interest and commitment to Windows," Microsoft officials have said they are providing all eligible Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers with a free, one-year Windows Store developer account as part of their MSDN benefits. ("… Read more

Mobile users are increasingly downloading free apps, a new study from research firm Gartner has found.

The company announced today that 45.6 billion apps will be downloaded worldwide in 2012. Out of that, a whopping 89 percent, or 40.6 billion, will be free apps. The remaining 5 billion will be downloaded after users purchase them.

Last year, free apps accounted for 88.4 percent of all downloads. Last year's total download tally hit only 25 billion.

When users actually download paid apps, they're largely unwilling to pay a significant sum. In fact, Gartner research director Sandy … Read more

Editors' note, October 16, 2012: Updated after the release of Apple's October 23 invite.

There have been rumors of a smaller, 7-inch iPad since...well, since there was an iPad. The iPad Mini, as it's being called lately, initially seemed to some like a silly idea: why would you need a smaller iPad? It's actually a logical idea: make an iPad even more portable and more affordable than before. The only question is, when would such a product finally exist?

Now that Apple's sent invites for its next event, the iPad Mini seems to have become a very real product, yet we still know very little about it. Here are our best guesses.… Read more

Amazon has updated its OS X app with some new features readers should find useful.

First up, Amazon's new 1.10.3 version of Kindle comes with support for more OS X gestures, including panning and swiping. The app now supports Amazon's Kindle Format 8 books, which deliver some improved formatting options. Heavy readers will be happy to discover that the app also supports larger libraries and will work much better with books that have bunches of notes and highlights.

Amazon's Kindle app is the company's Trojan horse into the world of iOS and OS X. … Read more

Every parent fears losing his or her child. Whether you're shopping at a department store, or visiting a theme park -- a lost child is a very real possibility.

A new iOS app, Lost Kidz, wants to help reunite parents with a lost child as soon as possible. iOS users can install the app and set up an account, free of charge, to receive alerts of missing kids nearby, based off of their iPhone's current location. The alert will contain a photo and information about the child to help you quickly identify, and reunite the lost child with … Read more

New images have hit the Internet and purport to show what could be the design for Mozilla's upcoming Firefox OS Marketplace.

Engadget published photos yesterday of what it claims is the app store for Firefox's mobile operating system. The images show a small listing of apps, including Solitaire and Word Wars. Several app categories are listed, including business, games, and books and reference.

According to Engadget, once users click on an application to get details, they'll find a rating and the option to submit a review to the community.

Mozilla gave Firefox OS its name back in July. … Read more