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Apple Continues Opening New Stores This Weekend

Apple has been very active the last few months in opening numerous new Apple Stores across the world and this weekend is no exception, with a total of six new stores opening. It starts with the Nanjing East store in China opening tomorrow (Friday, September 23) and then the IFC (Hong Kong), Hornsby (Australia), Centro Sicilia (Italy), New Haven (Connecticut) and Metrotownn (Canada) Apple Stores will open on Saturday.

The Nanjing East store (shown above) is the third Apple has opened in Shanghai, but this one is a little more interesting because in addition to spanning two floors, ifoAppleStore notes that three additional levels will be used as training rooms, meeting rooms and administrative offices. Jump the break for some picture of the store.

Over in Hong Kong, Apple will this Saturday open a store in the IFC Mall (shown below), the first to be located in Hong Kong. ifoApple Store notes that the store will occupy two levels and feature a unique design:

The rear wall of both levels are glass windows looking out towards the city. On the inside, the lower level has two wide stainless steel walls, with a visitor entrance in the middle. The walls include back-lit display cases promoting Apple’s products. The upper level has an all-glass front window visible from the mall hallway.

[Via ifoApple Store [1] [2], Shanghaiist]

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Labeling iOS’ Back Button→

Labeling iOS’ Back Button

Neven Mrgan shares a solid piece of advice for iOS app designers and developers: A Back button labeled “Back” is never a good option.

As he notes, Apple never labels the “Back” button – the left-pointing arrow at the top of most iOS apps – “Back”. They provide context as to how a parent view (the previous screen) should be shown in the button’s label.

This is a widespread issue, present in many extremely popular apps.

This is redundant and it provides no context. Note that Apple never does this, not in any app. Instead, they provide either the full title of the previous view, or an abbreviated/truncated version of it.

He offers some do/don’t examples in his blog post. Here’s a series of screenshots from my iPhone, showing apps that correctly use the “Back” button:

One of my favorite examples, the Rdio app for iPhone:

And here’s Apple in the Apple Store app:

The button itself means “back”, so the additional “Back” label is not an option. These are the minor details that make great apps, well, great.

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Gmail Mobile Web App Gets Multiple Sign-In

In the past months, Google has released a series of updates to improve the overall experience of the Gmail mobile web app, which works on iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad, as well as other smartphones and tablets. Google made the mobile web app more accessible and usable with notifications, undo bar, Retina graphics and “pull to refresh”, and today they’ve announced another update that brings Preferences and multiple sign-in to the service when viewed from mobile devices.

Multiple sign-in has been around in the Gmail desktop website for quite some time, and it’s a useful shortcut to quickly switch between multiple Google accounts (and thus Gmail inboxes or Google+ profiles). Starting today, a new sign-in button will appear at the bottom of the iOS web app, allowing you to jump to another account, which will automatically load its Gmail inbox. The feature is already live in Mobile Safari (tested on an iPhone 4 running the latest iOS 5 beta).

Furthermore, Google is now allowing users to set Preferences directly from the mobile web app. The company is highlighting the possibility to create a mobile-only signature, so your friends will associate typos to a smartphone’s keyboard. Also, the Preferences come with vacation auto-responder settings, and a few more options.

We know that autocorrect and other mobile spell-checks can be frustrating as you are typing on the go. Let your friends know that you are responding via your mobile phone so that they understand why you might have sent a message that you are meeting for “monitors” and not “mojitos”. It’s an easy way to make them understand why your message might be short or have a few typos. To create a mobile signature, from the menu view, press the new settings icon, choose your signature, and then check the box that tells us you want to activate it. If you ever want to disable the mobile signature, you can uncheck the box and we will use your desktop signature instead.

Google notes that each Gmail account can have a separate bookmark. On iOS devices, you can save a Gmail shortcut to the Home screen by tapping on the Action icon in Mobile Safari, and then Add to Home Screen (Gmail’s webclip icon has been optimized for the Retina Display as well).

Bill Gates Still Richest American, Steve Jobs Ranks at No. 39→

Bill Gates Still Richest American, Steve Jobs Ranks at No. 39

From the press release about Forbes’ annual list of 400 Richest Americans: [via]

Bill Gates (No. 1) retains his top spot on Forbes’ 2011 ranking of the richest people in America (“The Richest People In America,” p. 39 and p. 210) with $59 billion, followed by Warren Buffett (No. 2) with $39 billion and Larry Ellison (No. 3) with $33 billion. George Soros (No. 7) joins the Top 10 for the first time, with $22 billion, and is one of several of the 27 hedge fund managers – 7% of the Forbes 400 – featured in “Hedged Fortunes,” p. 82.

Former Apple CEO and now Chairman of the Board Steve Jobs ranked at #39 with $7 billion. Jobs ranked at No. 42 last year with $0.9 billion less; globally, Forbes ranked Steve Jobs at #110 earlier this year. Also seen in this year’s list: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos (#13), Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (#14). Zuckerberg is this year’s “biggest dollar gainer” by adding $10.6 billion in the past 12 months. Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page ranked both at No. 15 with $16.7 billion each.

Forbes has a complete analysis of their list here. Combined, the nation’s wealthiest are worth $1.53 trillion.

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FaceMan, Unofficial Photo Booth for iPhone, Gets 3.0 Update

Here’s a fun app that, for some reason, Apple still hasn’t delivered to iPhone and iPod touch users. FaceMan, created by fellow Italian developer Libero Spagnolini, is an unofficial alternative to Apple’s Photo Booth, which allows users to apply funny effects and distortions to their faces in real-time using the iPhone’s rear or front-facing camera. I first reviewed the app in January, but since then lots of work has been put into FaceMan – and a major 3.0 update released today adds a completely redesigned UI, a faster engine, and many optimizations to the code.

The new FaceMan lets you scroll between effects at the bottom (with live previews both on the effect’s thumbnail, and the bigger camera view at the top), and swipe vertically to change between effects, camera controls, and intensity slider. A new effect has been added, camera controls now rotate properly in landscape mode, and recording performance (FaceMan does both photos and videos) has been improved by 200%, the developer says. I haven’t been able to verify such percentage, but it’s clear FaceTime 3.0 is faster than the previous version on the same hardware (my iPhone 4). The app runs on the iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4th generation, too, and requires iOS 4.1 or later. I have tested the app on iOS 5 beta 7, and it worked with no issues, although the developer told me more iOS 5-related fixes are on their way.

It’s not completely clear to me why wouldn’t Apple create a simpler port of Photo Booth for the iPhone and iPod touch. The software was previewed at the March 2 event as an addition to iOS for the iPad 2, and has proven to be a fun and delightful way to snap and share silly pictures with friends and family. The iPad 2 runs on Apple’s faster A5 processor, however, so that might be the reason why Apple’s official Photo Booth app hasn’t made it to existing A4-based hardware yet.

Still, FaceMan works nicely on the iPhone 4, and the new interface is fast and fluid at applying and switching between effects. If you’re looking for a Photo Booth alternative now, you should give FaceMan a try. It’s only $0.99 on the App Store.

Apple’s Next Keynote Scheduled for October 4?

According to AllThingsD, Apple’s next media event – where the company is set to officially unveil the next-generation iPhone – will be held on Tuesday, October 4th.

That’s the day Apple is currently expected to hold its next big media event, according to sources close to the situation, where the tech giant will unveil the next iteration of its popular iPhone.

AllThingsD previously claimed the new iPhone would be announced in mid-October, and whilst Apple hasn’t publicly disclosed plans of any new iPhone or device in any time frame, the timeline seems likely at this point. Apple usually sends invites to the press a week ahead of the event, and multiple rumors are suggesting iOS 5 – which the iPhone 5 will likely run out of the box, like new Macs come with Lion pre-installed – is approaching the GM status by the end of this week.

AllThingsD also claims newly-appointed CEO Tim Cook will preside over the event, and that the plan is to release the iPhone 5 a few weeks after the announcement. Previous rumors pointed at the next iPhone being available on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint in the United States in mid-October.

Update: The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple, who has a solid track record when it comes to Apple news and rumors, has commented on AllThingsD’s article with a single “Yep”, suggesting that the original report is indeed accurate.

In-App Purchase Revenue Growing as Developers Adopt “Freemium” Model

Many developers build iOS software hoping that their app will be the next Angry Birds, but they struggle at what price to sell it. A free app can bring downloads but your pockets are still empty. Maybe you should consider adding in-app purchases to your app, no matter the base price. Distimo has released a new report that suggests that in-app purchases are the way to go if you want to make money in the App Store. In-app purchases account for 72% of revenue, improving from 28% at this time last year. Here’s another stunning number, only 4% of apps in the App Store even offer in-app purchases.

Freemium apps (free to download, but require an in-app purchase to expand the app) are growing particularly faster in the in-app purchasing paradise. Free app downloads have increased by 34% since 2010 while paid downloads only grew 7% in the same time frame. Distimo’s research only covered the Top 200 in each category, but that’s a strong selection of the App Store’s money makers.

Freemium apps made up 48% of total App Store revenue while paid apps with in-app purchases accounted for 24%; the remaining 28% came from paid apps. If you look at the top grossing apps for the iPhone (iPod Touch) and iPad App Stores, freemium games take up several spots. Freemium apps also account for 65% of the Top 100 grossing games in the US App Store.

Besides games offering in-app purchases, comic apps are also making waves, especially in the iPad App Store. Magazines are one more category that is taking advantage of the freemium pricing model.

GigaOM didn’t envision this exactly back in February when Apple let in-app subscriptions into the stores. “Essentially, it looks like more and more developers are embracing the idea that making recurring payments an attractive option for App Store shoppers is the key to coming up with a sustainable business model. Apple’s isn’t the only store where developers are figuring that out, either. In-app purchases are already in use by 68 percent of the 25 top grossing Android apps, despite only being introduced in March of this year.”

Could we possibly see the day when there aren’t “regular” paid apps in the Top 300 grossing list? What do you prefer as a user – a one-time fee to buy the entire app, or having to keep putting quarters into your Apple arcade machine? [via GigaOM]

Apple Releases Updated ProApps QuickTime Codecs

Following the release of Final Cut Pro 10.0.1, Motion 5.0.1 and Compressor 4.0.1 earlier today on the Mac App Store, Apple has pushed a separate update for ProApps QuickTime Codecs. This download is recommended for all users of Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, or Compressor 4, and it adds the following codecs to QuickTime-based apps:

  • Apple Intermediate Codec
  • Apple ProRes
  • AVC-Intra
  • DVCPRO HD
  • HDV
  • XDCAM HD / EX / HD422
  • MPEG IMX
  • Uncompressed 4:2:2

The update is available now through Apple’s Downloads website. Updates to FCP X, Motion and Compressor are available now on the Mac App Store.

- ProApps QuickTime Codecs (1.1 MB)