iOS popular among mobile developers for games followed by Android, says research

Well, one shouldn’t be really surprised with the news that iOS continues to be the most preferred platform by the game developers. Game Developer, Gamasutra’s sister publication conducted a survey with social and mobile developer technology, according to which, 94.7% developers have been building games on the iOS platform. Windows Phone 7, Blackberry and there are other few players who have been struggling to survive in the market. Devices running iOS 4.1 and above are being targeted by a majority of 39.4% of the iOS developers while there are 30.7% of these developers are found to be interested for iOS 5.0 and above. The number of developers who still wish to work on lower versions of iOS is very few.

The research says Unity, out of the mobile game engines available in the market, has been listed as the top one with 53.1% of developers reported using it rather than a custom engine. Game developers have rated faster development time as the most important factor while flexibility, engine performance, support and documentation and prior successful usage by another team remain the other factors, when it comes to determining a mobile gaming engine.

Source: http://mobiledevelopmenttalk.com/2012/05/24/ios-popular-among-mobile-developers-for-games-followed-by-android-says-research/

Apple starts cracking down on developers selling access to Apple developers betas

While this really has never been a secret, it seems as if the report by Wired last month on the booming industry of selling access to iOS developer betas has woken Apple. Apple offers these developer betas to registered iOS developers, with a price tag of $99/year. Over the past few years however more and more developers have started selling their 100 possible device slots to users looking to install the iOS betas prior to their official launch.

Now however MacStories have reported that multiple unofficial UDID activation sites have been taken down by Apple. They spoke with one owner of one of these sites who replied that Apple had recently filed a DMCA request with the associated host provider.

In the email, the site owner said that their website made $75,000 since last June, when Apple released the first beta of iOS 6 to developers. “We do not believe our service was infringing and our services did not violate their guidelines for iOS 6″, the site owner commented, adding that they will soon launch another similar site, “with better and more secure data lines to handle Apple”.

Some readers might remember that Apple reacted in a similar fashion after sites started selling iOS 5 betas last summer, however it seems as if this time around Apple is taking a much more direct approach.

For those wondering if selling access to Apple OS betas is really wrong, once you read Apple’s warning in the iOS Provisioning Portal, there really can’t be any doubt:

Your iOS Developer Program membership can be terminated if you provide pre-release Apple Software to anyone other than employees, contractors, and members of your organization who are registered as Apple Developers and have a demonstrable need to know or use Apple Software in order to develop and test applications on your behalf. Unauthorized distribution of Apple Confidential Information (including pre-release Apple Software) is prohibited and may subject you to both civil and criminal liability.

Source: http://mobileorchard.com/apple-cracks-down-on-developers/ 

Chatty Solutions Announces Key Upgrade for Mobile Application Development Platform

Chatty Apps v3.2 is a giant step forward for iPhone application development and Android application development of enterprise business apps with a mobile form.

Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) July 11, 2012

Chatty Solutions today announced a key product upgrade for the fastest mobile application development platform for the development and deployment of mobile apps for the Apple iOS, Google Android and Windows Phone. Only six months after introducing the innovative Chatty Apps v3.1 rapid app development platform, the new v3.2 release adds 10 significant product enhancements that leverage the powerful underlying architecture and further accelerate mobile application development by leveraging technologies such as HTML5.

CEO and Founder Rashid Khan, a software entrepreneur with two successful start-ups under his belt, explains the company vision. “Chatty Solutions strategic vision is to become the premier code-free platform for developing and deploying front ends for existing forms and data-centric business applications working without friction across all major mobile platforms.” Khan highlights the key advances of the new release, “The new version 3.2 is loaded with customer-driven features and capabilities that make it faster and easier for power users and developers. It exemplifies our determination to pursue our goals as aggressively as possible without compromising the security, stability, usability and performance of the Chatty Apps cloud platform.”

Chatty Apps provides significant value by making traditional applications “mobile-enabled” at a time when people are increasingly demanding access and use of applications through their mobile devices. The July 2 comScore report indicates that 234 million Americans are now using mobile devices with the smart phone market share divided up with Google Android at 51%, Apple iPhone at 32% and Microsoft at 4%. As mobile usage increases more users are accessing business and productivity applications that include a mobile form along with steps that are part of a workflow or business process. As a result, software manufacturers are faced with the challenge of how to best mobile-enable their software applications. That is exactly the problem that Chatty Apps is focused on solving.

JDH Corrosion Consultants, Inc. provides an excellent example of how the new Chatty Apps v3.2 helped them speed up mobile app development. According to Mr. Mohammad Ali, Vice President and Principal, “Chatty Solutions developed an app that provides mobile user interface for 10 commonly used engineering calculations performed in Google spreadsheet. We are impressed with the speed with which the app was developed without any programming/scripting, the ease with which it can be changed, and the fact that we could use Google spreadsheet sitting in the cloud to do the calculations without having to share the spreadsheet with anyone else.”

In this typical implementation Chatty Apps asks the user for inputs for a complex calculation, uploads the inputs into the Google spreadsheet via Web Services, the spreadsheet does a recalculation, and Chatty Apps downloads the results and presents them in the mobile device. If user has to change a calculation, they can simply change the formulas in the spreadsheet. This is the future of mobile apps which will leverage thousands of existing and proven back office applications residing behind the firewall and part of the existing IT ecosystem that has evolved over the past few decades. Chatty Apps simply extends the user interface of the apps over a secure network to all types of mobile devices.

The Top Ten enhancements in Chatty Apps v3.2 are:

1) Flexible Grid Table Layouts – a new grid-table layout can be used to quickly create rich user interfaces, making it fast and easy to create a mobile form and add controls and adjust rows, columns, borders and colors.

2) Powerful HTML5 Edit Box Controls – the power and flexibility of HTML5 means many different types of input such as Email, Date, Time, and Telephone can be accepted without the need for using JavaScript

3) Reusable HTML Keywords, JavaScript and JavaScript Library – v3.2 increases the ability to reuse existing code or scripts by saving them in a library as reuseable components and then using them throughout one or more applications.

Source: http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/07/11/chatty-solutions-announces-key-upgrade-mobile-application-development-platform

The iPhone at 5: Keeping it secure

June marked the five-year anniversary of the iPhone. Without a doubt, the world has changed substantially since the iPhone was first introduced. But how secure are consumers as they trust more and more of their sensitive data to modern smartphones?

Last month, I described a few things that an IT security manager who is responsible for a fleet of iOS devices can do. After that column, though, several people asked me if there are things that security-minded consumers can do to secure their iPhones and iPads. There are several. Let's take a look.

[ Security expert Roger A. Grimes offers a guided tour of the latest threats and explains what you can do to stop them in "Fight Today's Malware," InfoWorld's Shop Talk video. | Keep up with key security issues with InfoWorld's Security Adviser blog and Security Central newsletter. ]



Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/the-iphone-5-keeping-it-secure-197265

Devs Claim App Store Updates Are Coated in Crash Sauce

More than 70 iOS apps that were updated on or after July 3 are apparently crashing once they're launched, according to a few angry developers.

Customers swamped Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper, on July 4 with complaints that update 4.2.3 of his app had crashed immediately on launch, minutes after it had been approved by Apple. The crashes occurred even with a clean install.

Arment listed other apps that had similar problems with updates released between July 3 and 5. These include "Angry Birds Space" and "Angry Birds Space HD," DocuNotes+, Checkout Helper, CLM iPlanner and Flight International.

Several users of the GoodReader app also complained that the latest update couldn't be launched on their iPads.

Apple has reportedly told developers it is aware of the problem and working on a solution. 

Crash Test Dummies

Certain app updates crash immediately on launch every time, even after being deleted and reinstalled, Instapaper's Arment said. The updates don't even show the Default.png before crashing. All the user sees is a brief partial fade to black and the screen then goes back to Springboard.

Default.png is a file that creates the animated starting transition of a loading screen or boilerplate users see when they touch an icon. If devs don't specify a Default.png file, the user will often see a black screen momentarily before the application selected launches.

Springboard is the application is the main application that manages the iOS home screen. It displays all the apps on a user's iPhone and lets the user touch an icon to launch an app.

Some customers updating affected apps from iTunes might get a dialog citing error 8324 or 8326, Arment said. Mac app updates might trigger a statement that the app is damaged and can't be opened, followed by instructions to delete the app and download it again from the App Store.

The console might show the following message: "AppleFairPlayTexCrypterSession::fairplayOpen() failed, error -42110," Arment said.

Power Corrupts

Research indicated the problem is a seemingly corrupt update being distributed by the App Store in many, or possibly all, regions, Instapaper's Arment said.

However, the problem could be a corrupted binary, GoodReader speculated. Apple's distribution servers send a damaged binary instead of the good one devs send to the App Store, GoodReader suggested. iOS doesn't recognize these corrupt binaries as valid and refuses to launch them.

Users of both iOS 5 and the beta version of iOS 6, due for a full launch in the fall, have reportedly been affected.

"This suggests a bigger process problem that will need to be addressed inside Apple and points to the firm's historic weakness with back-end applications," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told MacNewsWorld. "They never really understood servers and have clearly struggled with Web services, and this points to both weaknesses as likely contributing to this problem."

Arment did not respond to our request for further details.

Fallout, Boy!

Arment suggests devs wait a few days to make sure the issue has been resolved before releasing updates, or they'll catch flak from customers.

Not all users may have been equally affected. GoodReader said only customers who tried to update apps directly on their iPads via the App Store were hit, while those who updated in iTunes on their desktops remained untouched.

"I've checked around with various folks internally, and no one has heard anything from developers about this," Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at Flurry Analytics, told MacNewsWorld. "It's possible that it's restricted to just a few apps, as reported." On the other hand, "it's possible that developers are trying to work directly with Apple and have not come back to us." Flurry monitors 400 billion datapoints on 200,000 apps every month.

Apple did not respond to our request for comment.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/75562.html

Samsung and Google working together on software fix to circumvent sales ban on Galaxy Nexus after ban lift denied

Anyone else around here sick and tired of hearing about these patent wars? Apple has really taken their reports of patent infringement to the next level, and Samsung has been the brunt of a lot of the attacks.


Recently, there has been a sales ban of the Galaxy Nexus here in the states. Apple won their injunction and posted the needed bail, and now Samsung and Google are working together to fix up the software on the GNex so they can get sales rolling again.

The ban was made official in US courts, and only hours later, Samsung tried to get the ban lifted.


Unfortunately, much like in the case of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban, the courts denied it. Apple has posted the needed $96 million bond, and sales in the Play Store of the Galaxy Nexus are official.

The software patch being worked on by Samsung and Google are said to be only a temporary patch, but that would allow sales (hopefully) to continue in the US. Samsung also intends to continue on an actual appeal route through appeals court, but that process takes time.

Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments.

Source: http://www.androidguys.com/2012/07/05/samsung-and-google-working-together-on-software-fix-to-circumvent-sales-ban-on-galaxy-nexus-after-ban-lift-denied/

CUA launches mobile app

CUA has launched a mobile banking platform with a mobile app for iPhones and Androids.

The mobile app is part of the financial institution's broader strategy to extend and enhance services for customers.

“CUA Online Banking for Mobile is the first deliverable in a series of service enhancements that we will be rolling out to customers over the coming two years, as part of our core banking transformation program. This program will ultimately deliver a far superior and streamlined online banking experience,” Darrin Northey, CUA’s group general manager, distribution, said in a statement.

Users of the app will be able to view account details and balances, make BPay payments, change login details and transfer funds to registered payees.

Tata Consultancy Service is implementing CUA’s core banking system overhaul, which includes the new app.

CUA is a latecomer to the mobile banking platform, with the Commonwealth Bank releasing a mobile banking service in March 2009.

Mobile banking is now shifting to technology which allows users to send make payments on their smarthpone, with St George recently announcing a pay-to-mobile app which allows users to send payments on their smartphones using a recipient's mobile phone number.

The Commonwealth Bank also announced today that its Kaching mobile payment application is now available on Android phones, which was released seven months ago for iPhones.

Source: http://www.techworld.com.au/article/429606/cua_launches_mobile_app/

Nokia Politely Tells Google, Asus: Time to Pay Up for Patents

The Google Nexus 7, Nokia hinted in a statement, infringes on Nokia patents. While more than 40 companies have licensed patents from the phone maker, neither Google nor Asus are among them.

Nokia, losing sales to Android-running smartphones and the Apple iPhone, has said it plans to be smarter about taking advantage of its considerable patent portfolio. Most recently, it noted that Google and Asus, with Google's new Nexus 7 tablet, appear to be taking a free ride on its patent coattails.

Hardly making a move to sue, Nokia released a statement saying the pair should get in touch.

"Nokia has more than 40 licensees, mainly for its standard essential portfolio, including most of the mobile device manufacturers," says the statement. "Neither Google nor Asus is licensed under our patent portfolio. Companies who are not yet licensed under our standard essential patents should simply approach us and sign up for a license."

The Inquirer first reported the statement, but it's unclear what prompted it—to whom or where Nokia released it. A Nokia spokesperson was unable to offer more details. Asus spokespeople have also declined to comment.

Google introduced the Nexus 7 at its I/O developer event June 27, with the CEO of Asus in the front row. The 7-inch tablet is the first to run "Jelly Bean," version 4.1 of Google's Android OS. It will run a Tegra 3 Nvidia chipset, deliver 16-core processing capabilities and feature a battery that will last for up to nine hours of even video playing.

Arguably best of all, pricing will start at $199, and for a limited time, Google will throw in a $25 credit toward its Google Play store. Google is accepting preorders from the Play store, and says it will ship the tablet in two to three weeks.

Tom's Guide reports that patents in question involved the IEEE 802.11 WiFi standard, and that Microsoft is another company that may soon call a foul.

"There's speculation that a direct licensing deal isn't established between Google and Microsoft, but there may be one in place with Pegatron, whose shareholders include Asus, Google's partner for the Nexus 7," states the report. "If it covers Google's tablet, then all is well—if not, Google may need to negotiate sooner with Microsoft rather than later."

Tom's Guide adds that Nokia's current lawsuit against Viewsonic pertains to its IEEE 802.11 patents.

In May, Nokia filed claims in the United States and Germany against HTC, Research In Motion and Viewsonic, saying the companies infringe on a number of Nokia patents.

"Nokia is a leader in many technologies needed for great mobile products," said Louise Pentland, chief legal officer at Nokia. "We have already licensed our standard essential patents to more than 40 companies. Though we'd prefer to avoid litigation, Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed."

Neil Mawston, executive director of Strategy Analytics' Global Wireless Practice, told eWEEK at the time that the move was part of Nokia's becoming less European and more Americanized—a necessary thing, as the U.S. has long been a problem market for the company.

"Taking a more aggressive stance on asserting its major and minor patent portfolios is one element of that cultural transition,” said Mawston.


Source: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Nokia-Politely-Tells-Google-Asus-Time-to-Pay-Up-for-Patents-229793/

Wait for the iPhone 5 or go Google Android?

It's going to be pretty hard for Apple to top the Samsung Galaxy S III and the latest release of Android 4.1 that will be running on the Galaxy Nexus later this summer.

In this edition of Ask Maggie I offer some advice on whether it's worth it to wait for the new iPhone expected in the fall. I also explain why Samsung is releasing the new Galaxy S III on different carrier networks on different dates.

iPhone 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S III vs. Samsung Nexus

Dear Maggie,

I have an iPhone 3G (yes it's old) and I want (need) to buy a new phone. My question is should I buy the Samsung Galaxy S III or wait for the iPhone 5? I'm also thinking of buying a Galaxy Nexus because I hate when i don't have the newest OS on my phone (one of the reasons why I am buying a new phone).

Thanks,
Bog

Dear Bog,

The first thing you need to consider is whether you're willing to switch from Apple to Android. If you've been using an iPhone 3G for the past few years then there's a good chance that you've accumulated a lot of apps and maybe even some music in iTunes.

I've written about what a pain in the neck it can be to make this switch in previous Ask Maggie columns. Any apps you've purchased or downloaded from iTunes will not automatically transfer to your Google Android device. You'll have to redownload apps and in some cases repurchase them.

Also, any music that was ripped or purchased from iTunes that is encrypted won't be able to be moved over to your Android phone. But there are plenty of ways to get your unencrypted iTunes music onto an Android device. You just have to be willing to put in a little effort to get things set up.

If this sounds like a great big hassle to you, then I'd suggest waiting for the iPhone 5. It's likely coming out September or October, and unless your iPhone 3G is dead, chances are you don't really need a new phone right now.

But if you are tired of being a slave to Apple, then I'd say it's not necessary to wait for the next iPhone. Samsung has built two really fantastic Google Android devices that you mentioned: the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Nexus.

First, these two phones are very similar when it comes to hardware. The only major difference I'd note is the fact that the Galaxy S III has a much better camera. Not only does the Galaxy Nexus have fewer megapixels, but some reviewers have complained about the poor low-light performance and mediocre focusing.

But the real difference between these devices is in the software. The Nexus is a pure Google phone. This means that Samsung has not included any of its own TouchWiz software flavor to the device. It also means that you will get the latest and greatest software on your phone when it's available from Google. The latest version of Android 4.1 called Jelly Bean is coming to the Nexus in July.

Jelly Bean isn't a massive upgrade, like the one from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich, but there are a few notable updates. The most important new feature is Google Now, a real time updating and search service that actually anticipates the kind of information you are likely to request.

Samsung TouchWiz on the Galaxy S III offers Samsung's own Siri-like voice recognition search. But Google Now is different. Google Now learns what you search for, which apps you use, and even where you go. Then it offers information to you, sometimes even before you have asked for it.

CNET blogger Scott Webster wrote in his critique of Google Now that the software was actually able to advise him that it would take 17 minutes to get his son to karate. Scott said he hadn't even told the device that he had to take his son to karate. The class wasn't scheduled in his Google Calendar either. But Google knew based on his location history and past check-ins that his son was likely taking karate lessons at that particular location on that particular day.

There are a few other enhancements to Jelly Bean as well. For instance, the notification bar has been updated. And the user interface of the entire Android software is just smoother on Jelly Bean than on Ice Cream Sandwich.

While there's a good chance that the Samsung Galaxy S III will get Jelly Bean at some point, Samsung hasn't said when that might be. So chances are, you'll have to wait awhile before your carrier makes it available to you.

The Galaxy S III also has some software bells and whistles that the Nexus doesn't have, thanks to Samsung's special sauce TouchWiz. For instance, Samsung offers Smart features like Smart Stay, which keeps the phone "awake" while you're using it. And then there is S Voice, Samsung's answer to Apple's Siri voice activated search.

But on the whole, I can't say that the new TouchWiz features impressed me all that much. But if you like the look and feel of the software, then you'll like this iteration on the Samsung Galaxy S III. I sort of like the water ripple effect on the home screen of the Galaxy S III, but functionally it doesn't really offer anything. And it's completely unnecessary. And as I mentioned I really like the camera. So with those factors in mind, I'd probably choose the Galaxy S III.

That said, Google Now via Jelly Bean is really cool. And if getting the latest and greatest software updates from Google is what's the most important thing to you, get the Nexus. You won't be disappointed with the true-Google experience.

You could wait to see what Apple comes out with this fall. But I don't think you really need to. I don't think that Apple will be able to race ahead of Google when it comes to advanced software functionality or even hardware specs or performance.

Good luck with your decision.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57465442-94/wait-for-the-iphone-5-or-go-google-android/

 

Google sharpening Analytics' tracking of mobile applications

IDG News Service - Google is readying a new set of Analytics usage reports designed specifically for mobile applications, the company announced at its I/O developer conference on Friday.

So far, Google Analytics has approached mobile-application tracking from a perspective that's more tailored to conventional websites, said JiaJing Wang, a Google product manager.

With the new reports, Google Analytics will provide results for iOS and Android applications that include deeper, broader and more specific metrics, he said.

"Application developers and marketers need to have a profound understanding of their mobile applications' usage," Wang said.

One set of reports will focus on measuring new and active users of an application, the different versions in use and the devices it's being installed on, as well as how people are finding it at the Google Play store.

Another set of reports will zero in on engagement data, such as the frequency with which people use the application, the length of sessions and the in-application usage patterns, as well as trends in crashes and bugs.

"You have to know what users are doing before you can make meaningful improvements to your mobile applications," he said.

A third type of report will focus on tracking the attainment of specific outcomes, such as ad clicks, in-app purchases or pre-determined session duration goals.

Since Google is providing the capabilities free, it's likely that the price of more sophisticated mobile analytics products from competitors will drop, which will benefit developers, said Michael Facemire, a Forrester Research analyst.

In addition, the native SDK (software development kit) for both iOS and Android makes it technically easy for developers to link their applications with the Google Analytics engine. "This low barrier of entry for developers from a cost perspective and a technology-effort perspective will make this an appealing offering," he said.

Al Hilwa, an IDC analyst, said Google is seeking a stronger position as an information provider for mobile developers.

"This is a strong play which can win Google a lot of mindshare," he said via email. "It could ultimately pay dividends in Android developer adoption and loyalty even though those tools are also provided for iOS."

Google is responding appropriately to the rising importance of mobile applications, Hilwa said. "The bar is higher now for the kind of intelligence developers should expect from their apps. Real-time information about what parts of the apps are being used [is] increasingly critical for application design and we can thank the mobile app economy for that," he said.

As it continues to extend its mobile application analytics capabilities, Google should focus on deepening the integration between Google Analytics and Google Play, to give increasingly more detailed and granular data to developers who use the company's store to sell their apps, Facemire said.

Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9228667/Google_sharpening_Analytics_tracking_of_mobile_applications?taxonomyId=9