Apple Announces 50 Billion App Downloads, $10,000 Gift Card Winner

With a press release published this morning, Apple formally announced the 50 billion app download milestone they hit yesterday, alongside the name of the $10,000 App Store gift card winner and 50 billionth app download. The 50 billionth app was Say the Same Thing by Space Inch, downloaded by Brandon Ashmore from Mentor, Ohio.

Apple would like to thank our incredible customers and developers for topping 50 billion apps downloaded,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “The App Store completely transformed how people use their mobile devices and created a thriving app ecosystem that has paid out over nine billion dollars to developers. We’re absolutely floored to cross this milestone in less than five years.

In the press release, Apple quotes various developers, such as Shazam’s CEO, on the importance of the App Store and its evolution in the past five years.

The iOS App Store opened on July 10, 2008. After 1770 days, 50 billion app downloads make an average of over 28 million apps downloaded each day (28.2 million). Today, the App Store offers more than 850,000 apps (350,000 made for the iPad) in 155 countries, organized in 23 categories that span Productivity, Games, Newspapers, and more.

For the 50 billion app download contest, Apple has also offered a $500 gift card to each of the 50 people who downloaded an app after the 50 billion milestone.

New Google Maps for the Web Previewed, iPad App Expected This Summer

Google demonstrated a new version of Google Maps during the Google I/O 2013 keynote today, showcasing a full screen maps application for the web that reacts to every click. Redesigned in an effort to put an emphasis on directions and places, Maps’ new interface is focused on discovery. As you click, Maps will surface contextual information about what you can find at a desired location through a carousel and contextual cards, highlighting popular tourist attractions, directions to that place, and street views so you know exactly what to expect when you get there. Based on photos taken in the area, Google will even create tours so you can easily plan your next trip.

It’s contextually aware too: taking into account location information from your Google account, such as where you live and where you work, Google Maps will make recommendations on places to visit, utilizing reviews from Zagat and recent places your friends on Google+ have visited to highlight what’s popular in the area. It’ll also highlight new places you might be interested in based on your previous search history.

Maps will be much faster than before, as vector maps are replacing tile-based maps on the web, bringing it up to date with Android and iOS. For WebGL-enabled browsers, Google Earth is now a part of the web app and can be activated through a simple toggle for viewing 3D imagery. Just the like the desktop app, you can zoom out and fly around the entire planet or just around your favorite locale.

You can request an invite to preview the update for Google Maps before it hits the web at http://maps.google.com/preview.

Google also talked about updates to their mobile applications, announcing than an iPad app will be arriving in the summer. Building upon the interface introduced with Google Maps on iOS, Google will be bringing in global traffic data and alerts for live reports on incidents and accidents, no matter where you’ll be going. Google Offers will also be integrated, giving you a heads up on nearby deals from restaurants and department stores so that you can take advantage of discounts and special offers.

Be sure to additionally check out The Verge for their great rundown on the new Google Maps for the web and what to expect for mobile devices for more information.

[via Google Maps]

Google Play Game Services→

A few days ago, I remembered a story by TouchArcade from last year that explained how adding iCloud support to games was no easy task for most independent developers:

It’s also obvious to us that iCloud and the implementation of it needs to be easier, and the service itself needs to be more reliable. Almost every studio we talked to had some trepidations or a horror story to share. Browse our message board, and you’ll find even more from users receiving the bad end of an iCloud problem.

Today, Google announced Google Play Game Services, a set of APIs to enable cross-platform gaming features like saved game states, leaderboards with Google+ support, achievements, and automatic player matches with real-time multiplayer. There is a native SDK for iOS and Android, REST APIs and various libraries for the web.

WWDC ‘13 is less than a month away, and it’s safe to assume Apple will show new developer tools for iCloud and Game Center. It’ll be interesting to see if “Sign In with Google+” buttons will start showing up in iOS games in the next few months.

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Apple Hits 50 Billion App Downloads

As expected, Apple has hit the 50 billion app downloads milestone today. The countdown that the company launched two weeks ago was updated with a new “Thanks” image on Apple’s servers earlier today, which is now publicly available across Apple.com and the iTunes Store. On Apple’s website, there’s a new photo of an iPad running Paper by FiftyThree and displaying “Thanks” as a handwritten note; on the promotion’s webpage, Apple writes “50 billion app downloads. One really big thank you”.

Apple will award an App Store gift card of $10,000 to the lucky customer who downloaded the 50 billionth app, plus a $500 App Store gift card to each of the next 50 people to download an app.

In the past five years, Apple shared various App Store download milestones: three billion apps had been downloaded by January 2010; 10 billion by January 2011; 15 billion in July 2011; for the 25 billionth app download in March 2012, Apple awarded  Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China — who downloaded  Where’s My Water? Free — with a $10,000 gift card. Apple announced 40 billion App Store downloads in January 2013, with 20 billion of them in 2012 alone.

The iOS App Store opened on July 10, 2008. After 1770 days (4 years, 10 months, 5 days), 50 billion app downloads make an average of over 28 million apps downloaded each day (28.2 million). In January 2013, Apple announced 500 million iOS devices had been sold; assuming the number jumped to 560 million after Apple’s Q2 2013 results, that would make an average of 89.3 apps downloaded for each iOS device sold.

According to Apple, “the grand prize winner will be announced soon”.

Inside Hangouts→

Ellis Hamburger and Dieter Bohn have published an in-depth feature story on the newly launched Hangouts over at The Verge. Make sure to watch the video.

A detail that struck as a great feature was, surprisingly, related to Google+ and photos:

The service’s Google+ integration is one of the best features in the entire product: every photo that you or a friend posts is automatically saved in a private, shared album on Google+. For example, after a year of using Hangouts, it will be easy not just to trace the text conversations your budding relationship has produced, but to track the photos you’ve shared over time.

I have been using iMessage with the MacStories team since the service first launched; it used to be the only communication tool we relied upon to stay in touch. We have shared thousands of screenshots and photos in a group thread, but Messages makes it nearly impossible to browse old attachments. You can retrieve attachments through the OS X Finder, but the process is cumbersome at best. Having Google automatically archive Hangouts photos and organize them in a private album shared with my coworkers sounds obvious and, for someone who relies on a group chat on a daily basis, incredibly useful. This would be a great addition to iCloud and Photo Stream with iOS 7.

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Google Launches “Hangouts” Messaging Service for iOS, Android, and Web

Rumored for the past few months, Google has today announced its new unified messaging system for iOS, Android, and web called “Hangouts”. A free service that includes text, photo, and video messaging, Hangouts is a rebrand of Google’s former video-chat service for Google+. The new Hangouts will unify Google Talk and Google+ messages under a single service, storing conversations in the cloud.

With Hangouts, users will be able to access their full history of conversations on any device, an option that can be turned off. While other messaging services such as WhatsApp, Apple’s iMessage, or Facebook Messenger focus on either text or static media, Google promises to leverage its experience with Talk and Google+ to provide a solution that encompasses all kinds of messages, including live video. Another key aspect of Hangouts, demoed at Google’s I/O conference earlier today, is the possibility of syncing notifications across devices: instead of buzzing multiple devices for a message that’s already been read somewhere else, Google will try to sync every Hangouts notification on mobile devices and the web (Hangouts is also available through Google+ and Gmail). Read more

Square Announces the Square Stand, Now Available for Pre-Order→

Earlier this morning, Square announced a new component of their business model tailored for small business owners, the Square Stand. Square Stand is curiously released on the heels of Business in a Box, a complete point-of-sale system featuring a cash register, optional printer, and iPad stand by Heckler Design. Combining an integrated card reader, swivel, and an accessories hub for plugging in supported hardware such as select barcode scanners, the Square Stand turns the iPad into a central sales terminal.

 Ready to use in minutes, Square Stand works with Square Register, the free point of sale application, and gives merchants access to real-time analytics, robust reporting, and a delightful experience for their customers. Square Stand features an integrated card reader that keeps information secure from swipe to payment, and easily connects to the hardware accessories businesses need, including a receipt printer, kitchen printer, cash drawer, and barcode scanner. Merchants can lock their iPad in place and secure the stand to their countertop, making it easy to tilt and rotate the stand and complete orders quickly. Square Stand works with an iPad 2 or 3, with a version for iPads with Lightning connectors available later this year.

Emphasis mine: the Square Stand currently supports recent models with the 30-pin connector. The benefit of having a Square Stand is for the professional appearance, sturdier reader, added security, and integration with a wider variety of accessories, but the total cost for the new stand and Square’s recommend accessories is $796. Business owners on a budget still might be better served by Business in a Box, which offers the basics and a couple of traditional Square Readers for only $499 with a printer. Square Stand itself is expected to be available online and at retail outlets like Best Buy later this year for $299.

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