Omio News Blog

GPush: Push Notification Comes To iPhone Gmail Users

The one-stop push mail solution finally arrives for Gmail users, as GPush arrives on the App Store, bringing instant mail updates to iPhone owners, direct to their home screen.

Simply enter a username and password to GPush, and it uses a combination of SSL credentials and arcane magicks to connect directly to Google’s mail client and inform you the instant each message is received, as opposed to when your iPhone feels like it.

Get a mail and a notification pops up immediately, showing the sender and the subject. A great battery saver, life saver and arguably yet another iPhone gap filler that should have been in the initial design document, GPush costs £0.59, and is out now.

GetJar Celebrates Half A Billion Mobile App Downloads, Gets Branding Facelift

Only a day after the Apple App Store announced that they had sailed through the 1.5 billion app download milestone in its first year, mobile outlet GetJar has their own reason to pop the bubbly as they have just passed the 500 million download mark.

The mobile marketplace site has been around for five years, supplying smartphones and simpler handsets alike with a range of games, applications and software.

Interestingly, the vast majority of their users are into instant messaging and browsing alternatives, with Opera Mini and social solution Nimbuzz seeing 17 million and 14 million downloads respectively.

Apps on the site are predominatly free, and work on a vast range of Symbian, Windows Mobile and Java devices. The new logo reflects this, and the site’s revamp is sure to attract a new generation of handset owners switched on to the existence of apps by the iPhone.

However, their target market is a far cry from the super-slick devices gracing our stores, with a great deal of downloads coming from what is considered the emerging market – India, Egypt and the like.

“GetJar’s success to date is the product of the innovation, hard work and loyalty of our developer community,” says CEO and founder Ilja Laurs.

Source: Mobile Entertainment

Happy 1st Birthday, Apple App Store!

Apple is set to celebrate one year of kicking the world of mobile applications into high gear, with a very public commemoration of the App Store.

With the App Store seeing unrivalled success including ten million downloads in the first weekend of launch and over one billion programs downloaded in April of this year, Apple certainly have something to party about!

The App Store now has a new page highlighting some of the most popular and high-profile applications in the last twelve months including music finder Shazam, Fieldrunners and cult classic Rolando.

Apple’s own message on iTunes describes exactly how chuffed they are:

“Light a candle and cue the music. Okay, forgive us for sounding like doting parents, but we’re just so proud – having watched the App Store go from promising newcomer to full-fledged revolutionary. To celebrate its first birthday, we’ve gathered some of our favourite games and apps. Part fun. Part function. Entirely amazing”.

It sure is.

Rolando 2 For iPhone Goes 3D, Looks Amazing

Finally shaking off that Loco Roco clone moniker (and arguably becoming more successful), Rolando with its amazing graphics, licensed soundtrack and innovative gameplay was the first title to legitimize the iPhone as a fully fledged gaming platform.

The sequel looks to take the rolling gameplay into the 3rd dimension (ish), whilst retaining the gorgeous looks that swayed us the first time!

With the subtitle ‘Quest For The Golden Orchid’, Rolando looks to take the gameplay into more adventurous waters…so exciting! With nothing more concrete than a ‘Summer ’09′ release date, we look forward to playing this on our shiny iPhone 3.0 (hopefully!).

Source: Kotaku

BlackBerry Storm 2 Is On The Way: So Says RIM CEO

BlackBerry’s first handset may not have gone down well critically, but its success in the marketplace has led to the CEO of Research in Motion confirming a sequel is in the works.

RIM’s CEO Jim Balsillie told Reuters that there was still an ‘untapped consumer market’ for touchscreen phones, and that despite the BlackBerry Storm‘s software problems and lack of Wi-Fi, “that product was a huge success in terms of sales and adoption.”

An improved device could help BlackBerry gain stronger traction in the competitive touchscreen market, one which Apple will soon be shaking up again with their third iteration of the iPhone.

The sequel to the Storm does not yet have a release schedule, but the obvious improvements would be to the ‘clickable’ screen which divided opinions amogst BlackBerry devotees, as well as better integration with their new App World and “a new manner to input text”.

Another thing that might help Storm 2.0 become more successful? Better PR.

When your own co-CEO responds to the handset’s teething troubles with “no-one gets it perfect out the door,” it certainly sends the wrong message to potential consumers…

Source: Electric Pig

Earth Secrets iPhone App: Share Your Most Intimate Thoughts With The Planet!

If you are a nosey person or if you have a secret weighing heavy on your heart that needs to be told, Earth Secrets is possibly the best iPhone app ever!

The app allows you to fly all over the world and read other peoples’ most personal secrets. You can:

* Fly over the planet and discover other people secrets
* Touch the globe to reveal the secrets
* Post your secrets ‘anonymously’
* Hug people to express your compassion and sympathy
* See how many people have read your secret and how many times you have been hugged
* Keep track of the most beautiful and touching secrets in the ‘my hugs’ section
* Discover wonderful earth animations
* Browse the top 10 secrets

If you want to virtually hug secret-blabbing strangers, this is the app to do it, for free!

Download Earth Secrets here.

Windows Mobile Marketplace Screenshots Revealed!

Plenty of the products and innovations hinted at during this year’s Mobile World Congress are much closer to become a reality, and the players at this year’s CTIA Wireless Expo in Vegas are already offering up loads of new information!

These are the first images showing what the Windows Marketplace will look like, giving Windows Mobile owners a quick and easy download portal on their phones.

There is a screen reminiscent of the App Store’s ‘Best Of’, showing links to a showcase of apps, as well as new releases and a chance to see them broken down by category.

Following on from that is a shop front which seems to be an amalgam of the Android Market five-star rating system, and the chance to see the number of people who have rated an app. The prices are clear to see, a mixture of paid and free apps are available but we are yet to see how transactions will actually take place.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to see Microsoft fighting back with an impressive interface in WinMo 6.5, and attempting to make their phones more accessible to everyone.

Source: PocketNow

Nokia’s N-Gage Gaming Network Reaches 1 Million Users

The N-Gage gaming service has been a big success since moving to a software-based platform, available across a wide range of Nokia handsets over the last year.

Considering only 400,000 users were signed up in October 2008, the move to pre-install N-Gage on Nokia phones like the N96 has paid off as people are actually using it now. Currently there are over one million registered accounts and N-Gage is far closer to becoming a legit gaming network.

People who were once indifferent to the service might have changed, but Nokia still did not disclose how many people are actively using N-Gage on a daily basis.

With news that motion control gaming is coming to Nokia’s line-up on compatible phones, titles comparable to the runaway success of the App Store could be coming to an N95 near you soon.

Source: Reuters

O2 Launches Litmus, App Testing Ground For Devs And Fans Alike

Interested in developing phone applications, or just eager to get your hands on the latest and greatest programs for your mobile?

Have a look at O2 Litmus, a community driven ecosystem where pre-release versions of apps can be put up for peer review, and their makers can get constructive criticism, help and feedback from real fans before creating a polished final product! Loads of APIs, resources and tools are made available by O2 themselves through the site, and devs already have an captive audience to see which of their ideas are worth pursuing! Paid apps can also be placed here, so early adopters can get their fix before a full blown network-wide release.

Obviously, the cream of Litmus will then be marketed and sold by O2/Telefonica internationally on their (as yet unconfirmed, yet inevitable) app store. The fact that O2 will have a clear indication of which apps are the best, as opposed to either guesswork or just throwing everything up and seeing which sells, which means a better standard of programs for consumers at large, and more money for the most enterprising programmers.

The 70/30 revenue share in favour of the developer is still in place, but what’s in it for these app lovers? Well, rumours are abound that in addition to getting free copies of finished software they test, may even be paid for testing and finding bugs!

All the major operating systems are catered for, Windows Mobile, Symbian and BlackBerry OS as well as Java and Flash, so smartphone and regular phone owners alike are welcome to try it out. It is a breath of fresh air, and a genuinely interesting alternative being able to focus on, test and influence development of your favourite applications, as opposed to wading through a flood of apps of wildly varying quality foisted onto Apple’s Store.

So just sign up on O2′s Litmus page, download some apps and let the world (and their creators) know what you think of them!

Apple App Store Reaches 25,000 Apps, Now Has More Programs Than Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile. Been around nine years, has had 20,000 third party applications developed for the platform.

Apple App Store, 8 months and 25,000 applications as of March 5th 2009.

It has taken less than a year, according to stat-tracking site 148Apps, for the Apple iPhone to have more applications than the original smartphone platform of Windows Mobile. With around 6,000 of these being games (and what feels like a billion iFart apps), it shows consumers like to play just as much as work… This just goes to show just how dramatic a shift in development the existence of the iPhone and App Store has been to the market at large, with even bedroom coders getting a chance at fame and fortune due to the hallowed iTunes Top 10 charts.

However, this phenomenon is showing little sign of trailing off. If anything, iPhone application numbers are increasing more steeply than ever.

With 500 million apps downloaded and an approximate calculation of 23 million units sold, it is safe to say that both the App Store and the iPhone/3G have been quite successful.

At least the other manufacturers are recognising that it isn’t just competitive to have an App Store of their own, but a necessity to even be considered a worthy alternative in the eyes of consumers to the all-encompassing device. With 2009 seeing the rest of the industry coming round to touch phones in a huge way, it remains to be seen what Apple will do this time to keep five paces ahead of the rest of the pack.

Source: CNN Money