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Apple increases the minimum price of apps in Canada and Europe

iOS
News

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January 9, 2015

Apple has increased the minimum price of apps in the App Store in Europe, Norway and Canada. The move comes after Apple is making the adjustments to account for localized value-added tax (VAT) changes and foreign exchange rates. The move will also see apps going cheaper in Iceland and a change in Russia (not specified).

The changes are already live with the lowest price of the cheapest premium apps in the UK up 10 pence from £0.69 to £0.79. In EU, the base price for apps is now €0.99, while in Canada they start at $1.19 instead of $0.99. The prices haven’t been updated in Russia, but seeing that Apple increased the price of its hardware in the country after the steep decline in Rubble, we might see a similar rise in the prices of apps in the App Store.

The move can also be seen as Apple’s attempt to buffer against a weakening Euro. The move comes after Microsoft made a similar move in the Windows Phone Store for European consumers, using individual country VAT rates instead of a standard 15% over the entire EU region.

[Source]

Apple App Store developers raked in $10 billion last year

iOS
News

Sharang Sharma

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January 9, 2015

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How much is the app industry on mobiles and tablets worth? We know for certain that it’s a multi billion dollar industry. According to a recent report, developers raked in as much as $10 billion in app sales and in-app purchases last year, almost up by 50% over the 2013 numbers.

And things look even better in 2015. The year stared with the highest sales in the App Store history on the new year’s day. The good run didn’t end there, as the first week of January was again the best in Apple’s history with close to half billion in sales coming from app sales and in-app purchases.

So far, developers have clocked in $25 billion till date through the App Store that started in 2008. Apple also noted the success of some apps that have been integrated with Apple Pay including, HotelTonight, OpenTable, Target, and Ticketmaster.

“This year is off to a tremendous start after a record-breaking year for the App Store and our developer community. We’re so proud of the creativity and innovation developers bring to the apps they create for iOS users and that the developer community has now earned over $25 billion,” said Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.

Apple is said to have sold somewhere close to 60-70 million iPhone units in the last quarter, so we have no doubt that the downloads would have gone up due to those increased sales as well.

[Source]

Google app on Android gets updated with card settings and more

Android
News

Sharang Sharma

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January 8, 2015

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Besides updating the Hangouts app on iOS, Google has also updated the Google app for Android to version 4.1.21.1657903. The update includes a couple of new features including new settings for the Now cards.

Users will now be able to make changes to their Now cards in a single location. The page can be found at Settings> Now Card. You can manage your card history, delete card preferences, manage notifications for card updates and even show or hide them completely.

The lock screen “Ok Google” settings have also been changed and there’s a new “Personal results,” which allows your personal information to be accessible via the lock screen. Then there’s support for nine additional Indian languages, namely Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi, Oriya and Malayalam.

Lastly, the stocks and weather Now cards also look a little different.

Grab the update from the store link below.

Google – Play Store

[via]

Hangouts gets a new update on iOS

Sharang Sharma

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January 8, 2015

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Google has pushed a new update for Hangouts on iOS, bringing the same features that were introduced in the Android version of the app last month. Head to the store and you’ll find version 2.5.0 of Hangouts sitting there.

• New sticker packs!
• When friends ask where you are, share your location in one click with smart sharing suggestions.
• Leave status messages so that people know what you’re up to or how you’re feeling.
• Find your friends and family on Hangouts more easily by phone number.
• See SMS and Voicemail from your Google Voice account.
• Improved video call experience and miscellaneous bug fixes.

With the update, Hangouts gets new sticker packs that can be used within the app. It also allows you to share your location with friends automatically when someone asks for your location. There’s also new status message, similar to other services like WhatsApp. Also, similar to other messengers, you can now search for users using their phone numbers. You can access SMS and voicemail messages from your Google Voice account and the video call experience has been improved too.

Grab the update from the link below.

Google Hangouts – iOS

VLC hits out at WP community for what it considers an offensive review

Sharang Sharma

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January 8, 2015

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Things between VideoLAN (the maker of VLC) and the Windows Phone community got turned for the ugly when VideoLAN took it to Twitter to share their displeasure over one of the reviews for VLC on the Windows Phone Store.

Dear WP community, If you want applications, maybe you should stop acting like this: “@ThomasNigro I am very slow. pic.twitter.com/JY0OYXJTKy”

— VideoLAN (@videolan) January 5, 2015

As it turns out, the review in question here had targeted the app developer specifically, calling him slow. This came after VLC app was made public last week and the beta version of the app it seems, wasn’t ready to be launched in the store even as a beta. The app was crashing frequently and wasn’t up to the mark. Naturally, users vented their anger through the review section.

While VideoLAN isn’t wrong in being aghast against the reaction, they should remember that this isn’t the sentiment of the entire community, but only of a select few individuals. Also, unlike other apps, the team behind VLC had raised funds to develop a Widows Phone app back in two years, so “slow” maybe not, but “late”, definitely.

The good news is that the app has been updated since then and you can expect at least some improvements.

VLC – Windows Phone Store

WhatsApp now has 700 million active users with the last 100 million coming in just 4 months

Sachin Sharma

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January 7, 2015

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Day by day, Facebook’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp seems to be becoming less ridiculous. We say that because WhatsApp has just announced that its app has more than 700 million active users now, up from 600 million that was reported close to four months ago. These 700 million users are sending close to 30 billion messages per day according to CEO Jan Koum.

Since its acquisition by Facebook, the service has added close to 200 million users. It took the app two weeks longer to go from the 500 million to the 600 million mark. Unlike other competing services, WhatsApp reports its active user base, so the total install could be much higher. A chunk of WhatsApp users come from emerging markets like India, Russia and countries in South America. Now, the most awaited feature from the service is voice calling which is expected to be added this year.

It seems like Facebook’s recent acquisitions have only grown since takeover, with its other acquisition Instagram crossing 300 million users back in December.

[Source]

Office for Android tablet preview lands in the Play Store

Sharang Sharma

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January 7, 2015

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Microsoft launched Office for Android tablet preview back in November, however the release was limited to select users who had signed up for the program. Microsoft has now expanded the services to a much wider audience, bring Office apps for tablet preview to the Play Store.

The newly released apps include Microsoft Word Preview, Microsoft Excel Preview and Microsoft PowerPoint Preview. These apps can be downloaded by anybody with a tablet between 7 inch and 10.1 inch screen size (no larger) running on Android 4.4 or Android 5.0. That’s a tight set of clauses and to add to it, the apps will only run on ARM based tablets for now (sorry Intel fans). The Android 5.0 compatibility is new, since it was missing from the previous release.

At over a 110MB each, the apps seem to be feature rich and optimized well for tablets. The apps are free to download but come with in app purchases. You can be pick them from the store links below.

Microsoft Word Preview – Play Store

Microsoft Excel Preview – Play Store

Microsoft PowerPoint Preview – Play Store

[Source]

Yahoo Mail updated on iOS with the ability to track packages and more

iOS
News

Sharang Sharma

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January 7, 2015

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Yahoo Mail for iOS has picked a new update after the big overhaul back last October. The new update adds the ability to track packages without having to leave the app. It works for online purchases through a long list of supported retailers.

Tracking online shopping purchases can be tricky. To make your life a little bit easier, we’re adding package notifications to the latest release of the Yahoo Mail app for iOS in the U.S. Now, you can view and track shipped packages in the “Yahoo Today” section of the app from sites including Amazon, eBay, Zappos, Target, Best Buy, Macys.com and more. We’ll notify you when your package has shipped, when it’s scheduled to arrive, and what’s in your shipment.

Besides this, the app also adds the ability to customize the Today section. There’s also newly added flight notification support from Orbitz and CheapTickets.

We even added the much-requested ability to sort and select the type of content in your “Today” section to make it even more personalized. By clicking on the gear icon on the top left corner, you will see a new “Edit Yahoo Today” option for you to pick and choose what you’d like to see, including News Digest, Sports, Weather, Horoscope, Finance, Screen and Flickr.

Grab the app from the link below.

Yahoo Mail – App Store

[via]

OneNote for Windows 8.1 updated with passwords for individual sections

Promil Bhardwaj

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January 7, 2015

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Microsoft has updated the OneNote app on Windows 8.1. The new update finally adds the ability to access sections with individual passwords through the app. Till now, you could only add passwords to individual sections through the app and to unlock them, required the use of OneNote on desktop.

Using this feature is easy. First, make sure you’re running the latest version of OneNote for Windows Store app released today. Once you’ve updated the app, simply navigate to a password protected section and type your password to unlock it. After unlocking a password protected section, you can view and edit its contents just like any other section—but to protect your privacy, page thumbnails are not shown. Plus, the section automatically locks if you don’t use OneNote for a few minutes.

Get the free app from Windows Store below.

OneNote – Windows Store

N.O.V.A. 3 Freedom Edition is the ad supported free version of N.O.V.A 3 on Android

Android
News

Sharang Sharma

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January 7, 2015

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While many people prefer to pay upfront for a game and enjoy it without any advertisements, there are others who’re the exact opposite. To serve the latter group Gameloft has released N.O.V.A. 3 Freedom Edition, a free version of N.O.V.A. 3 supported with ads in the Play Store. Oh, and the Crysis inspired title doesn’t even have any in-app purchases. The free version has been available on iOS for over two months now.

• An epic storyline: Humanity finally returns to Earth after years of exile! Fight in 10 immersive levels across the galaxy, from a war-torn Earth to a frozen Volterite city.
• Multiple weapons and powers: Run, shoot, drive vehicles, and pilot a mech to defeat hordes of enemies.
• Join 12-player battles in 7 multiplayer modes (Capture the Point, Free-for-All, Capture the Flag, etc.) on 7 different maps.
• For the first time, multiple allies can jump inside the same vehicle and spread destruction on the battlefield.

The regular version of N.O.V.A. 3 costs $6.99 in the Play Store and comes with IAPs that go as high as $99. It’s a little surprising to see such an expensive title go completely free without even IAPs. But it seems like it’s an effort by Gameloft to milk an old title that’s largely been forgotten. It could be a pilot program that if successful, could be implemented in other Gameloft titles as well.

N.O.V.A. 3 Freedom Edition – Play Store

N.O.V.A. 3 Freedom Edition – App Store