It's difficult to remember what the iPhone was like before the App Store even existed. Back in 2007 when the original iPhone was launched, the App Store didn't exist, and the only way to extend the functionality of the device was performing a jailbreak to install and run unapproved third-party applications and games. Apple quickly cottoned on to the extraordinary potential of an app marketplace and launched their official App Store in 2008, with it now being made known that one million different apps have been approved for download through the store in the last four years.
JoinedDecember 18, 2011
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A technology enthusiast, former software developer, and current Head of Quality and Testing at a leading SaaS company. A developer of multiple apps. A lover of pleasing people and a believer in being your authentic self.
With over seven hundred thousand apps in the iOS App Store that have managed to amass over thirty billion downloads, it's no wonder that the iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad are extremely popular with consumers who want to extend the functionality of their mobile devices. The power and versatility of the apps on the store do a great job of promoting Apple devices to prospective customers which could be one of the reasons that Apple are in the first stages of rolling out a new "App Discovery" reward to retail store employees.
We've known for quite some time that Ryan Petrich is probably one of the hardest working and most productive developers in the jailbreak community, but if we need further proof regarding that notion; a wave of tweaks were released in Cydia bearing his name. Although a lot of the developer’s packages often land on his own private repository for testing purposes, a number of them were pushed out to the main repo for everyone to take advantage of. One of the simplest releases, but one that a lot of users may find useful is the UpsideDown package that pretty does exactly what the name suggests.
Although iOS is one of the faster and more fluid mobile operating systems out there when it comes to viewing UI animations, it seems that jailbreak fans do seem to love a good Cydia package that gives the impression that the system is performing faster that it actually is. In the past we have had tweaks such as ClockWind that existed to boost animation speed, so users perceive it to be faster than it actually is, and now we have a tweak called Accelerate that is claiming to be the revival of iOS, although we aren't to sure that it was in such a state that it needed revival.
Although, Apple essentially created the tablet market as we know it today with the release of the original iPad, they won't be sitting as easy as they have been in previous years as they watch other companies like Microsoft and Samsung release highly capable tablet devices that could potentially compete with the iPad for the first time since launch. Any tablet owner will be concerned with the display quality of the product that they have purchased, and for the first time, the Surface has been scientifically scrutinized alongside the other leading tablets on the market.
The coming days and weeks represent an extremely exciting and important time for Google and their manufacturing partners, with the official release of a wave of new Android based devices set to go live imminently. The recently announced LG Nexus 4 smartphone, the Samsung Nexus 10, and the new variants of the already heralded Nexus 7 will be available in the marketplace extremely soon and will no doubt cause a spending spree amongst the Android loving community. To make things a little more exciting, testers are starting to see Android 4.2 Jelly Bean pushed through to their test units of the aforementioned devices.
If you are a smartphone fan who prefers to step away from the likes of iOS and Android then this last week will have been an extremely exciting time with Windows Phone 8 hitting the market on some pretty powerful devices, and immediately starting to gain some traction in the smartphone industry. While it's going to take Microsoft a long time in current mobile market to compete on numbers with iOS and Android, the initial reaction to WP8 are generally positive. The Redmond company themselves are now trying to add to the Windows Phone 8 experience with the official preview release of their Skype app for the platform.
The iPhone 5 has now been with us for approximately seven weeks but if you thought you were going to be sitting at the cutting edge of smartphone technology for a substantial period of time, then a report coming out of China could pour some cold water on that thought. A story coming from the Commercial Times is suggesting that Apple have no intention of resting on their laurels when it comes to updating and upgrading their iPhone hardware and could be planning on initiating a trial production run of iPhone 5S handsets as early as next month.
It should be common knowledge by now that Apple has recently added iPad mini to their iPad lineup, and the unexpected addition of the fourth-generation iPad, coming only seven months after the introduction of the iPad 3. All of the signs point to the new miniature iPad being an extremely successful addition to the company's tablet range, and with LTE variants of the iPad mini beginning to ship this week, Apple has ramped up their promotional campaign with the launch of two new iPad mini commercials.
Any person who appreciates beautiful and understated design will understand the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into producing a unique, one of a kind timepiece and will understand the price tag associated with classic watches. If new reports are to be believed then it looks like Tim Cook and Apple know all too well just how much it can cost to get their hands on the rights to use probably one of the most famous clock-faces in the world. As part of their development of iOS 6, Apple paid approximately $21 million to license the use of the Swiss clock-face design.
