application

Microsoft's mobile-app marketplace might now feature more than 25,000 applications, one report claims.

According to Windows Phone App List, a Windows Phone 7 Marketplace app tracker, Microsoft's store currently has 25,076 applications available to users. However, another Windows Phone 7 Marketplace tracker, WP7applist, claims the store has 24,878 applications. What's more, WP7applist claims 4,044 of those programs are currently "inactive."

Either way, it's worth nothing that neither Windows Phone App List nor WP7applist offer the official stats on available applications in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace--that is reserved for Microsoft.… Read more

Last week's Structure conference in San Francisco was fascinating to me on several levels. The conference centered much more on the business and market dynamics of cloud than pure technology and services, so there was significantly more coherence to the talks as a whole than in previous years.

Vendors had products and services, and customers had private and public cloud deployments; as opposed to previous years where the "vaporware" almost formed storm clouds.

Another key observation from the show was the change in emphasis this year from virtual machines (2009) and "workloads" (2010) to an … Read more

Apple has reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to Amahi over its use of the term "App Store."

Amahi offers home server software for those who want to store and share content across their personal network. The company also has an application marketplace where users can download apps to extend the use of its software.

A member of the Amahi team published a letter that he claimed was sent to the software developer by Apple lawyers, saying that Amahi's use of "App Store" was in violation of the iPhone maker's trademark.

"It has recently … Read more

When experimenting with different applications from the Android Market, you might come across a pop-up that asks if you want to set an application as your default choice. For instance, let's say you're trying out Google Voice on your phone and accidentally set it as the default texting app, but you want to be able to choose between Google Voice, Handcent and the default SMS app each time you send a text. Follow these steps to help correct the default app and get your choices back.

Step 1: From the Home screen, press the Menu button and then … Read more

Facebook is working on a photo-sharing application for the iPhone, TechCrunch is reporting.

The technology news site claims it has acquired a 50MB file containing images and documents that describe in detail a Facebook application that will allow users to share photos with others. TechCrunch did not reveal too many details on the service, saying only that the app "appears to be Path meets Instagram meets Color meets With."

Path is a social network for a person and his or her closest 50 friends, while Instagram offers photo sharing on the iPhone. Color allows users to take photos, … Read more

As more mobile applications hit stores, one researcher believes the number of downloads will skyrocket.

In 2015, the total number of mobile-application downloads is expected to reach nearly 48 billion, research firm In-Stat reported today. The company said that the growth in downloads will be due mainly to the growing popularity of touchscreen-equipped smartphones. According to In-Stat, touchscreens will be available on approximately 90 percent of all smartphones shipped this year, and that number could hit nearly 100 percent in the next several years.

It also helps that the smartphone business is booming. In 2010, smartphones accounted for 23 percent … Read more

LinkedIn went public last month and watched its shares soar as high as $122.70 before settling down to $94.25 before the end of the trading day. In another possible cause for celebration, the company will be launching a new button that lets job seekers angle for new jobs straight from their LinkedIn profiles, according to GigaOM.

A Web site button may not sound like the most exciting product launch in the world, but a button can take a lot of hassle out of certain tasks. The "Apply with LinkedIn" button, as GigaOM is calling it, apparently removes quite a few steps from the usual job application process and justifies all that time you've spent fiddling with your profile.

According to an unnamed GigaOM source familiar with the upcoming feature, the button will appear next to a job description on an employer's page. The applicant will get an opportunity to tweak his or her profile before sending it along. Employers will get a chance to throw in some extra questions tailored for the position. This could lead to a surplus of ivory watermarked, 32-pound resume paper.

The job application tool will also pop up with a list of LinkedIn contacts that are associated with the potential employer. That gives you a chance to send that old colleague you worked with for a summer at Disneyland a heads-up that you're interested in his company. In a tight job market, every little bit helps.… Read more

New Relic is one of those unusual companies where an entrepreneur who helped create an entire product category--application performance management (APM), a billion-dollar industry--comes back for a do-over that aims to put his first company, Wily, out of business.

New Relic CEO and founder Lew Cirne (the company name "New Relic" is an anagram of his name), spawned the first SaaS-based APM start-up in 2008 as an entrepreneur in residence at Benchmark Capital. Today, New Relic is announcing what it says is the first Real User Monitoring solution from a SaaS vendor.

Cirne compares real user monitoring with … Read more

The apps people buy on their mobile phones continue to bring in big business, and there are few signs of it slowing down according to IHS iSuppli.

In a report released today, the research firm says revenue from app stores owned by Apple, Google, Nokia, and Research In Motion is set to grow 77.7 percent, reaching $3.8 billion by the end of the year and eventually rising to $8.3 billion in 2014. By comparison, 2010's mobile app store combined revenues stood at $2.1 billion, up from $830.6 million in 2009.

"With consumers continuing … Read more