Apple has some 140,000 apps for its iPhone users. People who use phones with Google’s Android operating system have much less choice.
But here’s a consolation prize: Android users do get to use the coolest app in New York City. At least, according to the NYC Big App competition, which awarded its Grand Prize last night to WayFinder NYC, an Android-only app.
It’s a pretty standard chain of events: New platform opens up, investors try to attach themselves to developers who want to exploit it. Thus, the AppFund, which says it will invest up to $500,000 in iPad-specific apps.
It is all Apple, all the time in techland this week. Except at Reddit, where the social news site’s users spent most of yesterday obsessing about something else: A rogue ad.
As predicted, Steve Jobs showed off a new multimedia device today. One thing he didn’t show off, though: Much in the way of new media.
Bill Gates dropped by “The Daily Show” last night to chat up Jon Stewart. He did pretty well! And certainly much, much better than on his last trip, when he was peddling Windows Vista. Compare for yourself.
I got a great glimpse of the future of magazines last week. It’s the March issue of Wired, transformed into a digital edition that takes full advantage of the Apple tablet we’re going to see on Wednesday. But you’re not going to be able to buy a tabletized Wired for some time: Condé Nast, like most would-be Apple media partners, simply doesn’t know that much about the device yet.
Don’t know if this qualifies as a parable. But at the very least, it’s interesting: An iPhone app developer has figured out how to combat the burgeoning problem of iPhone app piracy–by embracing the pirates.
Eric Schmidt’s tender feelings for Apple won’t stop Google from competing directly with Apple’s iPhone: The company spent much of the time on its Q4 earnings call discussing its large mobile ambitions–without talking about specifics, of course. Meanwhile, the search giant posted a big jump in quarterly revenue. But not enough for twitchy investors, who are pushing shares down in after-hours trading.
A few thousand copies of GQ magazine in iPhone form won’t turn Condé Nast around. But it’s a start, and it’s a good bet that the company’s first Apple tablet apps will look awfully similar.
Apple is set to show off a shiny new device, which means the company needs shiny new media products to show off, too. Like what? Some educated guesses: Expect stuff from Disney and the New York Times, but not from the music labels.
Has the New York Times finally started charging people to read its news online? Not yet. But people who aren’t the New York Times are using the paper’s name and charging iPhone users to read the paper’s stuff–with Apple’s blessing. What gives?
Here’s another e-reader clamoring for attention in a Consumer Electronics Show full of e-readers: The Skiff Reader, produced by a company funded by publisher Hearst Corp. and supported by Sprint. But in many ways, the Skiff Reader’s specs are beside the point, because the real point of its parent company isn’t to produce e-reader devices at all–it wants to create a publishing and distribution platform. Does this sound familiar? And does it sound like something another publisher might want to buy?
Here’s the Flixster/MySpace deal Kara Swisher sussed out on Christmas Eve: News Corp. is handing over its Rotten Tomatoes movie review site, previously owned by its IGN unit, to the movie-centric social network and will get an equity stake in the combined company.
EBay says it saw a huge jump in purchases made via smartphones this year. The company won’t put that in real numbers, of course–who does that?–but it makes sense. Another reasonable assumption: Amazon saw similar numbers. But the e-commerce giant didn’t mention mobile in its annual holiday horn-tooting memo.
Live in New York City? Want to buy an iPhone? Don’t try ordering one from AT&T’s Web site: The wireless carrier, at least for now, won’t sell New Yorkers a new phone online, citing “increased fraudulent activity.” Huh?
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
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