Tag: iOS

Google Play Store Beats iOS App Store in Number of Downloads, Lags In Revenue

An app analyst at App Annie have compiled their data for Q2 2014 and have come out with the results. For the months of April, May and June, the Android Play Store has again surpassed the iOS App Store in terms of app downloads. In raw numbers, the Android Play Store registered about 150 million app downloads as opposed to 100 million app downloads against its iOS counterpart. This means a 60% increase from the previous quarter for Android, and a 45% increase for iOS.

App revenue, however, is a completely different story. iOS has a huge lead in this department with $100 million in app revenue as compared to $60 million for Android. Again, that is an increase of 45% for iOS from the previous quarter as against a 30% increase for Android. Now there can be a number of reasons for this, but the primary reasons being ‘free-medium’ apps on Android, which actually cost a few dollars on Apple’s iOS platform.

However, it is predicted by analysts that the Android Play Store will actually surpass the iOS App Store even in revenue by 2018. Android already dominates about 80% of the smartphone market, and app revenues are expected to reflect that soon.

In terms of app downloads by categories, both platforms are dominated by Games, Tools, Communication, Entertainment and Social applications. This is not news as these categories were dominant in the previous quarter as well.

The role of low-priced Android phones in emerging markets also makes a mark on these rankings. India jumped up two spots to claim the third overall spot in total app downloads on Android, behind the United States and Brazil. On the iOS platform, Japan, United States, South Korea, Germany and Taiwan continue to dominate the top five nations in terms of downloads.

Apple is presently preparing for the launch iPhone 6 which is said to be more expensive than the iPhone 5s, while on the other hand Google has recently announced the Android One, a cheap mobile platform for budget phone in India . It will be interesting to see how both companies with different marketing strategy compete with each other in this volatile technology market.

By Pranav Arora

July 21, 2014
All You Need to Know About The New iOS 8

WWDC 2014 unveiled some of the most important upgrades since the introduction of the App Store. One of the most highlighted upgrade was the iOS 8. The company added tons of developer tools for home mechanization, heavy gaming performance and extensions in abundance. There’s a lot of polished new apps and add-ons that will earn rave reviews from fans, once it drops later this fall.

Let us introduce you to the Apple iOS 8. We tested out the Beta version on iPhone 5, and like they’ve said – it’s quicker, more productive and more integrated than ever before. Here’s what’s new on board:

Photo Library and Photography

Apple added the powerful iCloud Photo Library which ensures all your edits are automatically synced between devices. The new iOS 8 also includes new photo editing tools which give users manual control over the exposure, shadows and color of the photograph. If a user is focusing on clicking an overly bright object, the brightness can be directly reduced by swiping the screen and reducing the exposure. Along with the new editing functions, Apple has made the Photo Library more user-friendly by adding the ability to search based on location, time or albums.

Bye-Bye Snapchat

Apple has taken a great leap with the iMessage by including features such as ability to not only send quick video and voice messages, but also the option to make them expire. The Tap to Talk feature lets you share video and photos with a simple gesture, option to leave a conversation, label threads and add/remove contacts mid-convo. The option to add DND to specific threads will put all the leading chatting apps to shame.

QuickType and Third-party Keyboards

Apple is including third-party keyboards to the new update as well, so you can Swype with the best of them, or you can find a keyboard where you actually understand when the Shift key is on. They have also introduced the new predictive typing feature called QuickType which gives personalized suggestions while taking content in the context. It not only helps while you’re tying out a message, but when you receive a message, it understands it and offers possible responses. As the name suggests QuickType is quicker and easier than ever.

Health Connect

Apple introduced a new integrated programming system called HealthKit. Through this, users will be able to connect applications and develop a central database of all their health data. It has an extensive list of functions. The fitness tab has integrated Nike Fuel and can monitor and record your fitness numbers which includes your Body Fat Index, distance that you run, calorie intake, the steps climbed and the hours you’ve slept.

The new Health feature will also include the information from other apps you have purchased in the app store, as well as connect with your personal doctor through a dedicated application. If you get your blood pressure or your sugar blood checked from your hospital, your iPhone will receive a notification and store the results. You will be able to store it privately or share this information easily with other doctors. So essentially, a combination of your entire medical and fitness history will be in your hands, all the time.

Sharing is Caring

Apple’s innovative Family Sharing lets you share your apps with up to 6 different people so they can enjoy all your apps without buying them on their own. The new feature will be connected through your credit card to their account. But don’t fret about the privacy settings, iOS 8 will require a consent from you before anyone cause use the privy information.

App Store Makeover

One of the most exciting new feature in iOS 8 is the updated App Store. It has new searching features and they’ve also added categories for easy excess. They’ve added the facility to create video previews of their apps, so you get a better idea what you’re buying, and if you’d like to test new apps, the new TestFlight feature gives developers the ability to propel you access. And yes, there’s finally providing “App Bundling”, so you can get big deals on a number of apps at once.

Siri Becomes Cooler

Siri can now be activated by saying “hey Siri,” rather than pressing the home button. She can now understand more languages and accents. The best part? Apple has gone ahead to integrate a music-recognition feature, so you can know which tune is being played instantly, without wasting time to open an app. You have the option to download the song instantly from the iTunes, and if you’ve installed Shazam, you can save the song in your tabs.

Last Bits of Improvements

Some of the last bits of new features include: iOS 8 allows you to directly reply to your messages from the NC panel, Touch ID can now be used with third-party apps so you not at all have to enter your password again, phone calls can be answered from your Mac, and AirDrop is now attuned with iPhones and Macs.

Like it always happens, the features of iOS 8 Beta 1 are subject to change, but based on the specification of WWDC’s offerings and the added APIs for developers, iOS 8 will be an exciting update once it’s accessible for users later this fall.

June 5, 2014
Google Voice Search Will Now Speak French, German and Japanese on Android and iOS

Google voice search has improved with time for its voice recognition capabilities. Google voice is successful to recognize the universal language ‘English’ very well, specially with different accents of people all around the globe.

In the journey to improve the voice search, Google has expanded the voice recognition capabilities of its voice search by adding new languages to it. Which means, Google voice search will not be limited to English and will now speak languages like French, German and Japanese.

This new add on will recognize any of these languages and reply back accordingly. It is not clear when Google will add other languages but it seems Google has already started the journey. Lastly, this new update is available both on Android and iOS devices. If your device did not update yet, check the links below.

[Android, iOS]

December 6, 2013
Apple: 74% of App Store Users Are Using iOS 7

Three months back, Apple launched its latest OS – iOS 7 in the market. Ever since then, users have treated the iOS 7 with mix reactions, as for some it is improved and for some it lags and freezes.

Despite of the mixed reactions from users, the iOS 7 is now on 74% of Apple devices registered in the App Store. Apple has mentioned this on its developer page. This is a 10% increase in iOS 7 users from the month of October. Coincidentally, Google also announced that in just a month of release, 1.1% of Android users are on KitKat OS.

However, alongside the iOS 7 other iOS versions are still in use. As per the report from Apple, 22% of users in the App Store are still on iOS 6 and 4% users are still on older versions of iOS. The rest 26% might want to know what is iOS 7 all about from the video below:

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5-KmW1QhcE”]

[Apple]

December 6, 2013
LG’s AllJoyn Support Will Enable Smart TV Control From Any Device

LG seems to have a solution for controlling a smart television with ease. LG Electronics will be the first company to incorporate the AllJoyn open source software framework into its Smart TV platform.

The AllJoyn is developed by Qualcomm, and aims to create a common language that connects the Internet of Things irrespective of the Operating System or the brand.

LG is at the forefront of the device connectivity revolution,” said Richard Choi, Senior Vice President of the Smart Business Center at LG Electronics. “LG will now enable consumers to more effortlessly connect their networked devices in the home and continues to show a strong commitment to the next generation of convergence technology.”

LG will use AllJoyn to allow multiple devices to communicate with LG Smart TVs simultaneously. Several smartphones or tablets, each running a completely different OS or of different brands, can participate in the same multiplayer game on an LG Smart TV.

However, LG has not cleared when this technology will be officially available.

December 4, 2013
WhatsApp Messenger Gets The iOS 7 Friendly Update

WhatsApp is the most used messaging app throughout all platforms. Whether it is iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian or Windows Phone, this app runs on all platforms.

Following other applications to update according to the iOS 7, WhatsApp messenger also gets the much needed update. This new update is late, but it comes with some required changes.

The new interface is simpler, and the new version introduces a broadcast lists. The latest update also improves location sharing with a 3D map, and the photo clickers can crop images and see larger pictures(thumbnails). The new update also allows you to manage your blocked contacts easily.

[App Store]

December 3, 2013
Google+ Update On iOS Now Gets Full Resolution Photos and Dedicated Search Box

The Google+ app for iOS has been updated, and finally brings some long missing features. The new update for Google+ adds features like full size backup of your photos and more.

The version 4.6 update for Google+ on iOS now alos lets users to upload images and videos at its original resolution, as long as there is enough cloud storage. Other features that add up with this update are location sharing (already available for Android users), inline translation of posts and comments and a single search box for posts, people, photos and communities. Update your app from the link below.

[App Store]

November 23, 2013
Search For Stories, Videos or Pictures With The New Twitter App Update on Android & iOS

Twitter has added new search features to its Apps on Android and iOS, which will help users discover the content they are looking for.

With the updated apps Twitter offers options to search for pictures, videos, or news stories. Previously, users were only able to search through usernames, tweets and hashtags. If you want to see photos, use the photo search filter to see Tweets with photos in a grid or list layout. To see what your friends are saying, you can filter the results to show only Tweets from the people you follow. Users can now also filter for videos in the same way.

This update is now available to download on Android and iOS.

[Android, iOS]

November 20, 2013
New Update For Viber Brings Push To Talk and More For Android and iOS

Viber recently announced some new updates for Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices as well, the company also announced a new update for the application on Android and iOS platforms.

With the Viber 4.0 update for iOS and Android, it adds push-to-talk voice feature services to both platforms. Along with the addition to push to talk service, Viber also bundled in a new sticker market, in addition to some extra customization options on iPhone and improved notifications on Android. The new update brings some good change, so update your Viber application on your iOS and Android device.

[Android,iOS]

November 13, 2013
Google Maps With Indoor Mapping For iOS and Android Now Available in India

Google’s indoor maps was launched some time back, but was not available in India. However, what we noticed now is that Google indoor maps is now available in both the platforms Android and iOS.

Google added this feature to Maps in the month of July 2013, but as said before it never made its way to India. iGyaan discovered that the Google Indoor maps is now available in India, for instance users can search for any store in the mall you are in and the application will guide you the floor and the way towards it. Check out the images above which demonstrates the availability of indoor maps on iOS and the image below shows the Google indoor maps on Android.

November 2, 2013
Microsoft Remote Desktop Application for Various Platforms Nets 1 Million Downloads

Not so long ago it was announced that Microsoft’s Remote Desktop application is available for Android , iOS and Mac OS X devices, the company now claims that the application within few days of launch has reached 1 million downloads.

The Remote Desktop application, allows users to access their computers through other gadgets, is also the fastest growing among the company’s Android apps that include SkyDrive and Office Mobile. The company claims that these 1 million downloads are across all platforms, and this application has been the fastest growing Android application from Microsoft ever.

October 30, 2013
Apple Releases iOS 7.0.3 Adding iCloud Keychain support, Improvements and Bug Fixes

After all the major launches yesterday, Apple has also rolled out an update for its latest iOS. The iOS 7.0.3 update adds the iCloud Keychain feature, which allows users to create and easily fill passwords for websites they visit through the default browser.

The latest iOS 7.0.3 update is said to fix several iMessage bugs, like resolving one issue where messages failed to send, and also fixes another bug that sometimes did not allows activation for the iMessage. Apple has also added back the ability to search the web and Wikipedia from Spotlight search and the update have focused on fixing an accelerometer calibration issue.

Apple is also responding to ongoing reports of motion sickness caused by the many animations throughout iOS 7, adressing to this issue the new update allows users to cut back on motion even further. So if you do not like the animation, you can get rid of it. The update is now available wirelessly and through iTunes, you can check the source to know more.

[Apple]

October 23, 2013
Microsoft Releases Official Remote Desktop Apps For iOS and Android

Coinciding with the release of Windows 8.1, Microsoft has unveiled Remote Desktop apps for iOS and Android.

RDM has long been a way for users to remotely access Windows desktops, whether from another computer or a mobile device. While this is Microsoft’s first foray into official iOS and Android apps for the service, other solutions from large companies like Citrix and Splashtop have adequately filled the gap for years.

What Microsoft’s remote desktop version has going for it is its price — free — and its official support of Windows 8.1, which is rolling out now. The app also supports Network Layer Authentication (NLA) which, according to Microsoft, “completes user authentication before you establish a remote desktop connection and the logon screen appears. This is a more secure authentication method that can help protect the remote computer from malicious users and malicious software.”

The app is a bit rough around the edges, according to initial reviews, lacking pinch-to-zoom and multiple desktop size support. In other words, you’ll be doing a lot of scrolling if your computer’s native resolution is much higher than your phone’s or tablet’s. Of course, you’ll have to install the host software on that PC in the first place, so the solution isn’t quite plug-and-play.

October 19, 2013
Angry Birds Go! Will Be Available For Free On All Platforms Starting December 11

Love Angry Birds ? Good news for this game lover as Angry Birds Go! is the next big entry in the Angry Birds franchise. The game takes the “universe” of Angry Birds and applies it to cart racing.

As the teaser shows, players need power-ups to take their birds, pigs, and other Angry Birds characters past opponents on a variety of downhill stages. This game seems different than what we are used to see when it comes to Angry Birds, the teaser makes it further exciting. The graphics are said to be improved, but that can only be judged once this game will hit the market on december 11 on iOS, Android, Blackberry 10 and even Windows Phone 8 for free. Check out the teaser video:

[youtube id=”5xP12tpJrl8″ width=”100%” height=”300px”]

October 15, 2013
Microsoft to Launch Remote Desktop For Android and iOS Devices

Microsoft will launch the Windows Server 2012 R2, and will release its Remote Desktop app on Windows, Windows RT and OS X, but also on iOS and Android, probably by end of this month.

The press release further shows, with Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft is introducing the Microsoft Remote Desktop app, available for download in application stores later this month, to provide easy access to PCs and virtual desktops on a variety of devices and platforms, including Windows, Windows RT, iOS, OS X and Android. However, this is the first time Microsoft’s remote desktop is available for rival platforms, but having said that this could be a problem for current apps which perform the same function.

The remote desktop for the iOS version will support iOS 6 and 7, while the Android variant will support everything from Gingerbread upward. No information is available on the date of the release yet.

[toggle title=”Press Release “]Microsoft unleashes fall wave of enterprise cloud solutions
Oct. 07, 2013
New Windows Server, System Center, Visual Studio, Windows Azure, Windows Intune, SQL Server, and Dynamics solutions will accelerate cloud benefits for customers.

REDMOND, Wash. – Oct. 7, 2013 – Microsoft Corp. on Monday announced a wave of new enterprise products and services to help companies seize the opportunities of cloud computing and overcome today’s top IT challenges. Complementing Office 365 and other services, these new offerings deliver on Microsoft’s enterprise cloud strategy.

Satya Nadella, Cloud and Enterprise executive vice president, said, “As enterprises move to the cloud they are going to bet on vendors that have best-in-class software as a service applications, operate a global public cloud that supports a broad ecosystem of third party services, and deliver multi-cloud mobility through true hybrid solutions. If you look across the vendor landscape, you can see that only Microsoft is truly delivering in all of those areas.” More comments from Nadella can be found on The Official Microsoft Blog.

Hybrid infrastructure and modern applications

To help customers build IT infrastructure that delivers continuous services and applications across clouds, on Oct. 18 Microsoft will release Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2. Together, these new products empower companies to create datacenters without boundaries using Hyper-V for high-scale virtualization; high-performance storage at dramatically lower costs; built-in, software-defined networking; and hybrid business continuity. The new Windows Azure Pack runs on top of Windows Server and System Center, enabling enterprises and service providers to deliver self-service infrastructure and platforms from their datacenters.

Building on these hybrid cloud platforms, customers can use Visual Studio 2013 and the new .NET 4.5.1, also available Oct. 18, to create modern applications for devices and services. As software development becomes pervasive within every company, the new Visual Studio 2013 Modern Lifecycle Management solution helps enable development teams, businesspeople and IT managers to build and deliver better applications, faster.

Enabling enterprise cloud adoption

Recognizing that most enterprises will take a hybrid approach to cloud, Microsoft wants to help customers utilize their investments in on-premises software solutions toward the adoption of cloud computing. On Nov. 1, Microsoft will offer Enterprise Agreement (EA) customers access to discounted Windows Azure prices, regardless of upfront commitment, without overuse penalties and with the flexibility of annual payments.

As another part of this effort to reduce cloud adoption barriers, Microsoft on Monday announced a strategic partnership with Equinix Inc. Building on recently announced partnerships with AT&T and others, this alliance will provide customers with even more options for private and fast connections to the cloud. Customers will be able to connect their networks with Windows Azure at Equinix exchange locations for greater throughput, availability and security features.

Governments are among the most demanding enterprise customers. To help U.S. federal, state and local government agencies realize the benefits of public cloud computing, Microsoft is introducing its Windows Azure US Government Cloud. This will offer U.S. government customers a dedicated community cloud for data, applications and infrastructure, hosted in the continental U.S. and managed by U.S. personnel. Windows Azure has been granted FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board Provisional Authority to Operate, making it the first public cloud of its kind to achieve this level of government authorization.

Data platform and insights

As part of its vision to help more people unlock actionable insights from big data, Microsoft next week will release a second preview of SQL Server 2014. The new version offers industry-leading in-memory technologies at no additional cost, giving customers 10 times to 30 times performance improvements without application rewrites or new hardware. SQL Server 2014 also works with Windows Azure to give customers built-in cloud backup and disaster recovery.

For big data analytics, later this month Microsoft will release Windows Azure HDInsight Service, an Apache Hadoop-based service that works with SQL Server and widely used business intelligence tools, such as Microsoft Excel and Power BI for Office 365. With Power BI, people can combine private and public data in the cloud for rich visualizations and fast insights.

People and devices in the cloud

The proliferation of cloud applications, data and consumer devices is moving many enterprises to a bring-your-own-device model. The new release of Windows Intune, also available Oct. 18, combines with System Center Configuration Manager to help IT departments give mobile employees security-enhanced access to the applications and data they need on the Windows, iOS and Android devices of their choice. This unified management environment for PCs and mobile devices complements the new access and information protection capabilities in Windows Server 2012 R2.

Further, with Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft is introducing the Microsoft Remote Desktop app, available for download in application stores later this month, to provide easy access to PCs and virtual desktops on a variety of devices and platforms, including Windows, Windows RT, iOS, OS X and Android.

Software as a service business solutions

The next major version of the company’s CRM solution, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall ’13 will be available later this month, helping make customer interactions more personal via contextual information for deeper insights than the previous version, delivered on a variety of devices.* The on-premises version is expected to be available later in the fall for deployment either in-house or hosted by a partner. More information is available here. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 is now available, offering small and midsize businesses interoperability with Office 365, full multitenant support, and a range of tools designed to support large-scale hosting of the application on Windows Azure.

More information on Monday’s announcements can be found at the Microsoft News Center.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

* Devices include Windows 8 tablets and iPad tablets with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013; Windows Phone 8, iPhone and Android phone shortly following the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013.[/toggle]

October 9, 2013