One of the biggest carriers in the world, with nearly 300 million clients in several countries, Vodafone decided to “lend” their billing system with third-party developers, that is, users can purchase apps on the online store and pay along with the monthly plan.
Even though the news is quite exciting for us devs who will now have another place to show and sell our apps, here’s a thought: since Vodafone clients have tons of devices, each with a different OS, will we have to develop the same app for all (or many) platforms?
Since the company is part of a consortium called Joint Innovation Lab, along with China Mobile and Verizon, among others, is this a future trend for carriers? China Mobile is already considering the possibility, and this “tiny” consortium is responsible for a billion users.
If you have Eco in your name, it’s appropriate that you live up to it. That’s what AKQA did when creating a cool app for Fiat Eco Drive, helping you save gas and lower the CO2 emission in the atmosphere.
This is how it works: you connect a pen drive to your car’s USB and it gathers information on the way you drive – acceleration, deceleration, gear shifting and speed. Based on this data, it suggests some changes in your driving behavior and shows you tutorials on how to proceed.
The app was developed in Adobe AIR and already got a prize in the One Show Interactive.
Mercedes-Bens has launched a cool iPhone app for those who like cars and the brand. Besides info about the cars and the company, their history is also told through that old and good card game which we boys that already shave have played in our childhood.
The success of .NET platform from MS on multiple systems came when the Mono project became real. This open-source framework (cross-platform) brought the speed of C# development to Linux and OSX platforms. And now it will take us further.
As we all know, Apple has a highly strict inclusion policy for third-party runtime environments, which makes impossible to distribute apps that use this technology, like .NET and Java. So how can I be talking about .NET on the iPhone? Read more...
Some things have no obvious explanation, and that’s one of them. Avoiding all existing ghosts, including those from the past, guess who’s the #1 app for Android? The still cool and fun Pac-Man.
To remind us that not always an app has to do incredible things and be complex to earn our respect and smile. Check the other apps that make Android’s Top10 list:
Brazilian guys still working hard to develop iPhone apps, which is good for all of us that work in this area. A fresh one is iTimao, first app for soccer teams in the country, that brings a whole bunch info on the club and can be downloaded here. Check some screens:
Another evidence that companies over here are really digging this market’s potential is the (strong) rumor that TIM shall have Apple’s device available for its clients, possibly in time for Xmas.
And to avoid some complaints that we’re only posting about iPhone, even though it’s becoming the highlight of the smartphone market, there’s also a ton of cool stuff being developed for other devices too. Check out this great app for Symbian S60, that runs on several Nokia models. How about controlling your toy car via Bluetooth?
It hurts our hearts and heads, from bumping in on the wall, complaining ‘why the hell didn’t I think think of this before?’
Simple, and fantastic. To those of you who feel annoyed whenever you have to use the number keys above the keyboard of your notebook, why not transform your iPhone on a side keypad, like the ones on PCs? That’s what Numberkey does, through WiFi, for the ridiculous amount of two dollars. And it also comes with 4 skin options, to customize it according to your Mac. Ingenious.
Killing time with something useless, got ideas for a cool app and wanna make some easy cash? Then enter the 1st Nokia National App Contest and win 5 thousand bucks, not to mention the fame, the ‘I’m da ma’ feeling and even a job at the company. How about it?
You can program in S40 or S60 and the contest goes till December 15th. Besides the 5k for the winner, there’s also 3 grand for the second place and 2 for the third. Interested? Click here.
It was out earlier this week on App Store another Brazilian app. Seguro Auto, developed for Bradesco Seguros by FingerTips, brings some features that are quite nice: a gas station, parking lot and shop locator, video tips for a cheaper and safer traffic, and, of course, the customer care phone numbers for the insurance clients.
The best of it all? It’s free and can be downloaded here.
If you still had any doubts about iPhone being a phone with a lot of style, know that Ralph Lauren just launched its own app for Apple’s gadget. Gay? Not so much, once you see all the cool and interesting stuff the app offers to those that dig fashion.
By downloading the app, you may check the stores’ latest additions, watch fashion week clips, see collections photos, have access to the backstage galleries and, of course, find the nearest RL store. Yet the coolest thing is to watch Portraits of a Collection video, where Ralph himself presents a bit of his work and art.
Alright, it’s gay, but tasteful. What matters here is that the fashion world has already awoken to iPhone’s potential. More news should arrive with the next collection…
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