iOS

A new Apple policy change aims to keep users who have not purchased an application from rating or reviewing it on the App Store. Now when users who have installed an app from a promo code try to review it, they'll get a pop-up message that says "you must own this item to write a customer review," as if they had never downloaded it.

An official response from iTunes support, received by a forum-goer over at iOS games site TouchArcade, notes the change, saying that the company now requires ratings and reviews of applications to be done by paid users, keeping those who may have installed the application from a developer's promo code from contributing to its aggregate rating or written review log.

Apple offers iOS developers a limited number of these promo codes as a means to provide free versions of paid applications to users. Users enter these codes into the redeem section of the App Store, just like they would a song code in iTunes, and the application begins downloading. Apple allows developers to request and dole out 50 copies of the application per update, giving those who update frequently a chance at expanding how many codes can be had.

Along with this method, Apple also offers a way for developers to configure up to 100 iOS devices to run that specific build of an application by building copies that match up with each user's device UDID (unique identifier). The two downsides to this method are that the provisioning profile that accompanies these builds can expire, and the application is not eligible for updates. Nonetheless,… Read more

Not content with Apple's App Store as a software distribution mechanism, a group of iOS developers is taking matters into its own hands by working on a tool to let iPhone users browse and install applications and system tweaks through Safari.

Spotted by the iPhone Download Blog, the new project dubbed "Lima" is the creation of the Infini Dev Team and aims to complement, and perhaps one day replace, third-party application installers already available to those with jailbroken iOS devices. The hack lets users install applications from third-party software repositories, hosted on the Web and accessed through … Read more

Apple is said to be nearing completion on iOS 4.3.3, the software update that will address what Apple has called "bugs" that keep extended logs of locations stored on the iPhone and iPad.

Boy Genius Report, which has been accurate about details of upcoming iOS versions ahead of release and claims to have a copy of the new software, says the new build fixes two of the issues Apple brought up in its location tracking missive from last week.

Adjustments within the new update reportedly include: no longer backing up the subset of Apple's location … Read more

Microsoft's browser continues to lose share of worldwide usage, but its new IE9 version managed to gain enough usage that new statistics show it surpassing one smaller rival, Opera.

Internet Explorer 9 accounted for 2.41 percent of browser usage in April, its first full month on the market, according to Net Applications. Opera accounted for 2.14 percent. And IE overall dropped from 55.9 percent in March to 55.1 percent in April.

Two browsers, Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari, outpaced the overall growth in Web usage. Chrome rose from 11.6 percent to 11.… Read more

Staying in the rarified Top 25 ranking on Apple's App Store is a bit of mad science for companies like Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds.

Apple has its own, closely guarded algorithm for determining where an application lands. There are, or course, other forces at work that push apps into popularity--such as news stories about the apps, or the good fortune of an app being featured by Apple. But with a combination of luck, timing, marketing, and savvy development, small companies like Rovio have created their own tool kits for staying on top.

Of course, it helps if you have an addictive game such as Angry Birds, with a nice movie tie-in like the recently released animated film "Rio." But fun, bird-based projectile games aside, there are tricks and strategies for making it onto Apple's list and staying there, such as formulating a constant stream of updates, adjusting the price tag, and giving users a way to spread the word about the app.

"You have to think about these things from the inception of the game," said Phil Larsen, marketing director for Halfbrick Studios. "You need to say 'we're going to make this game, and it's got to have these particular features and longevity.'"

Halfbrick's hit game, Fruit Ninja, which was released a little more than a year ago, vaulted the company into fame, with the game holding its place at, or very near, the top of Apple's charts in multiple countries since its release. So far its 99 cent iPhone versions have brought in more than 6 million downloads from Apple, and big volumes from other platforms like Android and Windows Phone. Halfbrick is currently cooking up a quick-play version for Facebook that's likely to further augment sales on those other platforms, as it has done for developers such as Zynga and PopCap Games.

Fruit Ninja has users swiping their finger across the screen to cut incoming fruit, all the while avoiding bombs that get thrown into the mix. Along with the version for the iPhone, the company also makes an HD version for iPad users, which also sits near the top of Apple's charts.

Larsen, who joined the company to direct its marketing efforts when it started publishing its own titles, says that a big part of the game's success is that it was designed to be easy to pick up and play, and would keep people coming back to it because of that. "Its almost reminiscent of old card games," Larsen said. "It's addictive and people like playing, yet the core gameplay is satisfying." … Read more

Some interesting Apple news this week from AppleInsider revolves around Apple's acquisition of the iCloud domain name. Apparently, according to sources, Apple paid Sweden-based company Xcerion an estimated $4.5 million for the domain. It is rumored that the cloud service will be announced this summer at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference here in San Francisco.

There have already been plenty of rumors that Apple's cloud service would enable users to stream music to iOS devices, but according to the article, it may also offer a personalized "locker" where you can keep photos and videos as well. It will be exciting to see how this all pans out at WWDC, and whether people will be more inclined to sign up with iCloud than with MobileMe, which received a somewhat lukewarm response from users.

What kind of things would you like to see offered in an Apple-based cloud service? What would be a reasonable price for such a service? Let us know in the comments.

This week's apps are an instant voice mail messenger and a full-featured MMORPG that closely resembles one of the most popular games of all time.… Read more

Microsoft is trying to make it easier for iOS developers to bring their creations to its Windows Phone 7 platform.

A newly announced service called the iOS to Windows Phone 7 API mapping tool, acts as an interchange for developers to take applications they've already written for Apple's platform, and figure out ways to get the code work with Microsoft's standards.

"With this tool, iPhone developers can grab their apps, pick out the iOS API calls, and quickly look up the equivalent classes, methods and notification events in WP7," said Jean-Christophe Cimetiere, Microsoft's senior … Read more

Adding to its lawsuits against Apple in three other countries, Samsung has filed another against the iPhone and Mac maker, this time in the U.S.

The suit, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California San Jose division, and picked up by Bloomberg, accuses Apple of infringing on 10 of its patents. One of those patents includes the capability to use the Web while on a phone call, a feature Apple's touted in its advertisements for the GSM version of the iPhone.

The suit targets iPhones going all the way back to … Read more

According to one developer's findings, Apple is rumored to be already testing iOS 5. A crash report received by developer FutureTap showed that the mobile operating system of note was iOS 5 when the crash took place.

FutureTap posted a short tweet to let its followers know of the development.

Taking into account recent location tracking drama, FutureTap also noted an "interesting" file called MKUserLocationBreadCrumb in the report. It is unknown whether this file is related to the consolidated.db file currently under investigation by several European countries and South Korea, as well as by Congress. Steve … Read more