Everybody Awaits the Launch of iPhone OS 3.0 with Much Expectations

After much discussion on the new iPhone OS 3.0 from the developers’ point of view, Apple Inc. had finally revealed some of the new features that have been integrated in this version. These features have been developed in favor of the consumers. Developers have specifically emphasized on providing features that would help consumers and users to do a lot of thing on their iPhones that they were unable to do until now. It would include features like copy-paste and of course stereo Bluetooth.

What’s on the new iPhone OS 3.0

Well, to start off with let us focus on the copy-cut-paste option that will be included in this new iPhone OS 3.0. This feature will primarily work within and between SMS, email and Safari. Any 3rd party application will also be able to utilize this feature if and when required. The process will be somewhat like this; once you double-tap a text block in an email, a text selection tool will pop-up. Then you need to drag the text selection tool over the text that you intend to copy. After that, tap on any of the three buttons indicating cut, copy or paste according to your requirement. The buttons will appear automatically on top of the selected text.

With OS 3.0, iPhone users will be able to enjoy few other facilities as well. MMS, landscape-format keyboard support for editing as well as writing text messages, message forwarding and the option for sending multiple photos through emails are some of the amazing features that users will be able to enjoy with this new version of iPhone OS. For a quick look, here is a list of some of the other features:

Syncing of notes

Creating iTunes account from the iPhone itself
Creating YouTube account and subscription in the YouTube application
Advanced Search option
Stereo A2DP Bluetooth (only for the iPhone 3G)

However, Apple has decided to make it free for original iPhone owners and also for iPhone 3G. iPod touch owners in the US would have to buy the software with $9.95. And for UK, the price of OS 3.0 will be declared at the time of its release.

People from all over the world are eagerly waiting for the release of this new iPhone OS 3.0 with really high expectations. According to experts and market analysts the release will open up a new horizon for every iPhone developer across the world.

iPhone Applications: More than Fun and Entertainment

Ever since the release of Apple’s iPhone on 29th June 2007, the market of smart phones has reached the zenith. iPhone, the unique combination of iPod and cell phone has become so popular mostly because of its huge database of different kind of downloadable applications. Initially these applications were designed as simple playful distractions, similar to the games found on other cell phones. But, over the time developers have diverted their focus from creating entertaining and playful applications to more serious and useful applications in order to fully utilize the diverse functionality of the device.

Independent iPhone developer as well as iPhone application development companies from all over the world have ripped their brains to create unique and innovative applications that would help users in their day-to-day life. They created apps to help users locate nearby restaurants, translate foreign speeches, get latest news updates or even identify the songs playing on radios.

Even though iPhone applications started off as simple distractions, today the usefulness and variation of these applications cannot be denied by the users or by the developers and programmers. Today, there are more than 25,000 paid as well as free applications stored in the App Store. Each app has been correctly placed under the appropriate categories, which include Utility, Productivity, Health & Fitness, Games, Entertainment, Music, Medical, Education, Business, Sports, Social Networking and many more.

iWith the popularity of the iPhone and its varied applications increasing day by day, the question that still remains unclear is whether iPhone users consider these applications to be useful tools that come in handy in their daily life or they still take these apps to be sources of simple playful distractions.

However, iPhone application developers and programmers are constantly coming up with new and innovative ideas in order to create applications that would not only entertain users but help them in every sphere of life.

Free iPhone Apps: Is it a Thing of the Past?

In recent study it has been revealed that almost 30% of iPhone users around the world delete the non-pay or free apps after the first install. This revelation has indeed left every iPhone developer, who creates free software for the iPhone platform into a dilemma. There are more than thousands of iPhone applications that can be downloaded from the Apple Inc’s App Store on to an iPhone for absolutely free. This was in fact a very tempting offer for all iPhone users. But, now it has become a trend among smart phone users to get new apps and then vacate them after the first installation.

Different media, app developers, corporate personnel and iPhone users from all over the world have made diverse comments on this matter. A spokesperson from the Pinch Media said that “Paid applications generally retain their users longer than free applications, although the drop-off is still pretty steep”.

The long term controversy regarding the popularity of the Apple iPhone and the RIM BlackBerry however went in favor of the device that provided more number of free applications. The recent revelation from the study is quite astonishing for everybody and experts think that it is probably a prelude of what the condition of free apps would be in future.

Pinch Media further said that “Users stop using the average applications pretty quickly. Long-term audiences are generally one percent of total downloads”. Despite of this weird trend, developers are still continuing to design free apps for the Apple’s iPhone, RIM BlackBerry Storm as well as for Google Android.

But the question that spoke into every reader’s mind is that, what is the point in doing so if anyway users delete the apps after a while? However, developers can really take advantage of the situation and determine a price for their apps. It has also been proved that dropping the price of an app increases its demand by almost 130%. While on the other hand raising it decreases the demand by 25%.

Even when researchers are doing their best to get to the root of this unnatural trend, 60% of iPhone users are continuing to enjoy the luxury of downloading free apps from the App Store and installing it onto their iPhones

iPickOne: A Entertainment App with Useful Functionality

Category: Entertainment
Release Date: 20th March 2009
Seller: Maurizio Ferraris © M. Ferraris 2009
Price: $0.99


Even though the iPickOne application is featured under the entertainment category, as one of the users, I personally believe that it is much more than a simple entertaining application. Since I bought my new iPhone, I have been downloading various kinds of applications from the iTunes App Store from each and every category. But of course, the entertainment and games categories have always been my favorite. iPickOne, to me is one of the most useful entertainment app I have ever used on my iPhone. It allows me to search the music or movie that I have chosen, directly on Google or Wikipedia with a simple tap on my iPhone screen.

Basically, the application picks random items from its database and helps the users to make new discoveries even when they are on the move. The item list of iPickOne is classified into 9 unique categories. Albums, Movies, Books, Songs, Architecture, Celebrity and Video Games are the general categories featured in the app. However, there are two special categories, which includes; WAYS TO SAVE THE WORLD and CONTACTS. Each of these categories comprises hundreds of amazing entries, which gets updated every month making the collection bigger day by day. In the 1.0 version of the iPickOne app, there are more than 2,000 entries to choose from.

Using this app is so easy that even a 10 year old can do it. iPhone developer have utilized the touch-screen technology of the device to design the app controls in order to make it user friendly. So, basically if you are in search for the latest movies, albums, books, songs or videogames etc, then the iPickOne app is surely the best choice for you.

Pros: Huge database, useful information and one tap user interface; these are the key features of the iPickOne apps.

Cons: As far as features and functionality is concerned, there is practically no drawback in the iPickOne application. But, the only thing is that the app is not yet available in some of the countries.

The Crazy Sushi iPhone App: Play Like a Pro Sushi Chef and Win the Game

Category: Games
Release Date: 17th March 2009
Seller: Cyberhull LLC © Cyberhull LLC
Price: $0.99
Rating: 4+


Crazy Sushi, as the name perfectly suggest is one of the craziest puzzle games that I have ever played on my iPhone. As a puzzle freak, I always tend to look for varied kind of puzzle games in the iTunes Store and over the years have found some really cool apps that had satisfied all my desires of solving typical puzzles. I came across the Crazy Sushi game on 17th March, the day on which it was released. There was something unique about the game that struck me the most. The Crazy Sushi game is full of fun and excitement and keeps me engaged for hours.


The Gameplay
However, to like the game you need to know how it works. Now, in Crazy Sushi you get to play the game a sushi chef. Your bar is full of hungry customers waiting for you to deliver their sushi fixes. You have to act like a pro and deliver them what they ordered for as fast as you can. The customers will give you money as soon as they are served. You can mix and match all the different tasty colorful treats to prepare combos, chains and multichain dishes. You can further unlock varied hidden sushi secrets if you have the skill. As you carry on playing the game, your skill improves and you become the master of this ancient culinary art of sushi making.

The iPhone developer have used very simple and easy user interface in developing the game control of the Crazy Sushi app. To make the game control fast, intuitive as well as full of fun, developers have fully utilized the touch-screen technology of the device. You can simply tap and swipe the screen of your iPhone to create and a dish with the ordered ingredients and serve the hungry customers.

No matter whether you are a puzzle game lover or not, I can assure you that the Crazy Sushi app will surely keep you glued to your iPhone from the moment you start playing the game.

To find more about this crazy game click on the iTunes App Store link bellow:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=299500727&mt=8

Tap & Track: Track Your Calorie, Weight and Exercise; All from One App

Category: Health & Fitness
Release Date: 19th March 2009
Seller: Nanobit d.o.o © Nanobit d.o.o
Price: $4.99



Whenever I think of downloading an app on my iPhone, the first category I look for is Health & Fitness, to find the newest addition that would help me reduce those extra calories and fat and keep me fit. Over the years I have, indeed, come across some really good fitness apps. But, the problem was that I had to shift from one app to the other to keep a track on my exercises and diet plans. I believe, that Tap & Track is the best health & fitness app any iPhone developer has developed till date.

Thanks to the developers of the Tap & Track application, I can now keep a track on my calorie intake, weight loss and exercise all from a single app and that too with few simple taps. On 19th March 2009, Nanobit Software released their first application for the iPhone platform. Tap & Track became an instant hit as soon as it released in the world market.



What Does the Tap & Track App Do?

The Tap & Track app will allow you to keep a track on your calorie by calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and finding the daily calorie needs of your body based on your gender, age, weight and height. The app also considers the type of the job you are into and applies the very well-known Harris Benedict Equation while doing the calculations. The application features can be divided into 4 parts; Food, Exercise, Graphs and Report. You will find the app very easy and pleasant to use. You can find the food list, the exercises, the graphs and of course the final report by simply tapping the iPhone screen with your fingers.

The well-organized food groups featured in the application will help you in selecting the food items as quickly as possible. If you want to make some changes in your list or edit some of the food values, you can choose the edit option and customize according to your choice. The built-in USDA database contains more than 7000 food items, which you can access from your iPhone through the application itself. You can further save and add any of the listed food items to your own list.

Food calorie tracker, daily weight tracker, burned calorie tracker, diet plan organizer, daily BMI calculator, setting goal weight, viewing and editing of calorie and exercise logs, SI and US unit support and viewing of nutrition data (protein, calorie, fat, carbohydrate and Glycemic index) are the amazingly useful features that you can enjoy on the Tap & Track application.


Problems Mended

However, there were, in fact some drawbacks in the previous version of the app, developers while designing the .1 version of Tap & Track have tried to solve all the problems such as; bug fixes in graphs and during the editing of items in the “Quick Add Workout” and “Quick Add Meal”, OS 2.2 support and so on.

To check out the Tap & Track app, click on the iTunes App Store link bellow:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=307749752&mt=8

Skype Coming Soon on iPhone!

It is probably the hottest and the most exciting news for every iPhone user. Yes, you have heard it right. Apple Inc. and Skype are teaming up together to bring Skype onto the iPhone platform very soon. Developers are introducing an application that would allow all Skype users to make and receive phone calls from their iPhones. A lot of users have long being waiting for Skype to be launched on the iPhone platform. However, to their much satisfaction, Skype and Apple are finally ready to introduce their new application.

What Will the App Offer?

Although, a similar Skype app is available for Windows Mobile devices, it will be available on iPhones for the first time. There is a buzz in the market, that the application might be available in the Apple’s App Store within a few days. So, all Skype users can download this app from the Store as soon at it releases. Developers have decided to make Skype a free app for iPhones, but the users would have to have a paid Skype account in order to use the app on their iPhones.

Skype, as we all are aware of is software that allows users to make telephone calls over the Internet without any call charges. You can make calls to other Skype user residing at any part of the world without even spending a single penny. Moreover, the software supports instant messaging, transferring of files and also video conference provided you have a webcam. Since 2005, there has been a significant growth of Skype users from 74.7 millions to 405 million across the world.

However, every iPhone developer, iPhone development companies, application analysts, the medias and of course the users are keeping very high hopes for the launch of the Skype iPhone application.