The Digital Home

Amp Up Before You Score iPhone app.

(Credit: Pepsi)

PepsiCo has tweeted an apology on its Amp Energy Twitter account, as well as its Pepsi account, to those who may be offended by its new iPhone application, Amp Up Before You Score, which some have complained is insensitive to women.

"Our app tried 2 (sic) show the humorous lengths guys go 2 pick up women," a tweet read on Amp Energy's Twitter page. "We apologize if it's in bad taste & appreciate your feedback." The message was retweeted on Pepsi's official Twitter page.

The soft-drink maker stopped short of removing the free application from Apple's App Store.

Amp Up Before You Score is described by Pepsi as a "road map to success for your favorite kinds of women--24 in all." According to the company, the app first helps men "identify her type." To do so, the app shows a listing of "types of women" and features a "cheat sheet on the stuff she's into, with lists, links, and some surefire opening lines."

Perhaps the most suspect part of the app is the "Keep a List" function. The company describes that feature as such: "Get lucky? Add her to your brag list. You can include a name, date, and whatever details you remember."

After Pepsi released the app, people immediately took offense. Not only did Pepsi and its Amp Energy division hear it from Twitter users, the company also took shots from blogs that found the app particularly offensive. An overwhelming number of reviewers gave the app one star on its App Store page.

So far, Amp Up Before You Score is still available as a free download in Apple's App Store. If you want to see the app in action without downloading it, you can view a video from Pepsi here.

Vonage Mobile for the iPhone, iPod Touch.

(Credit: Vonage)

Voice over Internet Protocol service provider Vonage on Monday announced that it has launched its first mobile apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and BlackBerry devices.

Dubbed Vonage Mobile, the company's free VoIP app enables users to place international calls from their mobile devices. iPod Touch owners can do so by placing calls through Wi-Fi. BlackBerry owners will transmit calls over the cellular network only. iPhone owners will be able to place calls from Wi-Fi or through AT&T's network.

According to Vonage, its app will help users save up to 50 percent on international calling charges levied by carriers. After downloading the app, users need to enter an international number. They can also select a call recipient from their existing iPhone or BlackBerry contacts list. Those who receive calls will see the user's cell phone number on their caller IDs. Charges will be taken against the user's credit card, which they need to input when they first start using the app.

For now, Vonage is offering per-minute rates. The company said in a statement that by the end of the year, it will offer the Vonage World plan to users. Vonage World for home users currently allows them to make calls to more than 60 countries for $24.99 per month.

Vonage's app launch comes on the heels of controversy over whether Google's similar Voice app should have been denied access to Apple's App Store. The debate still rages on.

Vonage's new mobile app is available now in Apple's App Store and Research In Motion's BlackBerry App World. Both versions are free.

Apple announced Monday that over 2 billion apps have been downloaded from its App Store since the e-commerce shop's launch in July 2008. The company also said that there are now more than 85,000 apps available.

More numbers: There are currently 50 million iPhone and iPod Touch customers, as well as over 125,000 developers in Apple's iPhone Developer Program. All that has combined to make the company's App Store the world's largest applications store, Apple claims.

"The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year, including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement. "The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it."

At a rock-n-roll-themed event earlier this month, Apple reported that the store had over 75,000 applications and accommodated 1.8 billion downloads. In other words, in about three weeks' time, it has added over 10,000 apps and users have downloaded an additional 200 million applications.

Among those thousands of new apps recently added, one stands out for apparently pushing the borders of what Apple allows in its store: the first app featuring images and videos of bikini-clad adult film stars.

The iStat app's killer feature has been killed.

(Credit: Bjango)

The version 1.1 release of developer Bjango's iStat application for the iPhone last week was marked with disappointment.

To maintain the application's availability on the App Store, Bjango had been told by Apple that it had to remove what was arguably the most compelling feature of version 1.0: Free Memory, which enabled people to clear wired and inactive memory to increase the iPhone's battery life. It also improved the device's performance.

Bjango, which focuses on developing apps for the iPhone, felt that it had no other choice but to create a new version sans the Free Memory feature. iStat 1.1, $1.99, offers only iPhone monitoring. Among other things, users can see battery life calculations and how much memory and disk space remains.

"Apple would not say why we needed to remove the 'Free Memory' feature," Tori Gale, support manager at Bjango, wrote in an e-mail. "(Apple) simply demanded that it was removed, or (it) would delete (version 1.0 of) the app from the store...Nothing iStat did violated the terms of the developer contract, as far as we know, and Apple didn't say that it did."

When pressed for more insight over Apple's ultimatum, Gale had, much to her chagrin, little to say. "Apple really hasn't given us any information," she said. "We simply don't have much we can say."

Apple might have let one slip by. An app that looks awfully similar to the Nintendo DS is now available in its App Store.

Does that look like a Nintendo DS to you?

(Credit: ZM2 Dev)

Dubbed DS Double Sys, the iPhone app from ZM2 Dev "can turn your device into a 'Handheld Game Console.'" When users boot up the app, the DS's familiar design is featured on the screen, including its dual displays. App owners can change the color of the DS to match their real-life version, zoom in on individual screens, and even play games. ZM2 Dev said that gamers receiving higher scores on its Pixel Mania title will be able to unlock more DS colors and a "secret game."

According to the app's App Store listing, more games, case colors, and microphone functionality will be made available at some point in the future.

After fielding several complaints over its app-approval policy, it seems rather ironic that Apple would allow an app that looks (and works) exactly like a Nintendo DS into its App Store. That said, it could have something to do with the way the app works.

Early last month, Apple rejected a Commodore 64 emulator called C64 that was trying to gain entry into its App Store. The app, which allowed owners to use Commodore BASIC, also allowed users to play authentic Commodore 64 titles. In a rejection notice sent to the app's developers, Apple cited section 3.2.2 of its iPhone Developer's Agreement, which states that "an application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means."

DS Double Sys is not, theoretically, an emulator. The game is a simulation of a Nintendo DS. That might have helped the app gain admission into the App Store.

Regardless, it should be interesting to see how long it stays in the store. Nintendo can't be happy about an app that costs $4.99 depicting its hardware. And if more games are made available, it might cause even more trouble for the app's developers.

Look for more news on this once Nintendo catches wind of it.

Via Gizmodo (Link)

A quick glance at Apple's list of the top App Store downloads of 2008 reveals a staggering trend: video games dominate.

According to Apple's internal figures, Texas Hold 'Em takes the second spot in the list of the most popular paid apps in the store and other titles like Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart 3D and Super Monkey Ball are also present in the top 10 list.

On top of that, Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch have proven extremely successful and given that success, it's not unreasonable to believe that both devices' sales will easily outstrip the current handheld gaming leader, the Nintendo DS.

Taking all that into account, it's incumbent upon us to consider the possibility of Apple (yes, Apple), controlling the handheld gaming market and stealing it away from the company that has dominated it since its inception: Nintendo.

And although it may be difficult for some Nintendo apologists to believe that the DS could fall victim to the iPhone, it is within the realm of possibility.

Well, that is, if you believe the iPhone and iPod Touch are "real" handheld gaming devices.

Now that Apple has officially launched the App Store, everyone seems excited about the possibility of expanding the functionality of their favorite cell phone and doing more with the same old hardware. I can't fault them for feeling that way, but I don't see any reason to spend money on it.

Undoubtedly, Steve Jobs will come out in January at Macworld and discuss how well the App Store is performing, thanks to strong iPhone app sales and even a few iPod touch sales thrown in for good measure. He'll discuss the benefits of using the App store and why we should all buy up "some of the best applications in the world."

It makes sense -- Apple has a vested interest in the success of the App store and certainly wants to see you buy more software than download for free because it gets a piece of the pie on all profits.

But as for me, I don't see any reason to spend money in the App store and I definitely won't. It's not that I'm protesting anything or trying to stand my ground, it's just that I think there will be so many great free apps in the store that I won't even need to worry about paying for software.

It may sound a bit radical, but trust me, I don't think you'll be spending too much money in there either.

Feast your eyes on the winner

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Has Brian Caulfield of Forbes totally lost it? In a piece entitled, "Why Apple could kill the Nintendo DS", Caulfield contends that Apple's new App store for the iPhone and iPod touch could be the first step in replacing Nintendo in the handheld gaming space.

"Monday...Nintendo will likely face a new and far more dangerous foe: Apple," Caulfield wrote. "Steve Jobs' computer and gizmo maker will likely launch a long-promised feature, dubbed the App Store, which will let outside developers pour software into the iPhone and iPod Touch. And while it's unlikely that, say, a mobile version of Oracle's wonky database will make anyone stand up and cheer, we already know putting games on the iPhone is a pretty powerful combination."

We do? Ostensibly Caulfield is alluding to games that we saw at the iPhone SDK event earlier this year where Sega unveiled Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone and EA showed off Spore, but I don't know where else he sees this "powerful combination."

And if he knew anything about the handheld gaming market, he would probably know that Nintendo's past is littered with the remains of companies that have tried to supplant it as the leader in the market and failed -- miserably.

But to suggest that Apple could conceivably command the market and wrest control from the one company that has controlled it for over 20 years, is both foolhardy and downright ludicrous.

Here's why: