It looks like EA Mobile has been hard at work because they made another upcoming release announcement today. Not one, but THREE titles are currently in the works: NBA Live, Need for Speed SHIFT, and Surviving High School are all headed to the iPhone App Store. All three titles are expected to be released Fall 2009, so keep your eyes on the App Store for these big releases!
If you’d like to know more info as to what these games will offer on the iPhone, make sure to check back after the break where you’ll be able to find the info
The iPhone will officially come to China Unicom’s network on October 30th. We already knew the higher-ups at Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) locked down China Unicom as their iPhone partner in mainland China, and we were even given some initial pricing details, but this is the first time we’ve gotten specific launch information from the No. 2 Chinese wireless carrier. The iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS will both go on sale at the end of this month, and will be offered with a choice of a 2-year contract or contract-free.
The 2-year contract model might be business as usual for most of the developed world, but it’s a new way of doing things at China Unicom. The carrier is said to have specifically created their 24-month contract for iPhone users. It’s not clear how much these on-contract iPhones will run, but the no-contract prices are no joke. An iPhone 3G 8GB, sans contract will cost 4,999 CNY ($732). The iPhone 3GS 16GB will command slightly steeper 5,880 CNY ($861), while the range-topping iPhone 3GS 32GB will go for a hard-to-swallow 6,999 ($1,025).
Still, the arrival of the iPhone on China Unicom is a big step. Unfortunately, Apple had to cripple their China-bound iPhones to meet Chinese regulations. That means no WiFi for China Unicom iPhones. We’re sure some crafty Chinese iPhone user will manage to get WiFi functionality restored at some point, but it’s ridiculous that an asinine State censorship regulation is keeping WiFi off the iPhone in China.
Your MobileMe data isn’t as private as you probably thought it was. Following on T-Mobile (NYSE: DT)’s own cloud-service fiasco, a MobileMe service registration/renewal bug has been discovered that could possibly open up your contacts and calendar data to complete strangers, according to TUAW. At least one user was served up several different MobileMe accounts during their subscription renewal process. The user logged off and back onto his MobileMe account while renewing his MobileMe service, and found some strange contacts data on his screen. He logged off and back on again, only be served with yet another MobileMe account.
The mis-delivered MobileMe data is reportedly real and presumably linked to other MobileMe users. The bug seems to go away on its own once the user is done renewing their subscription. But, the problem is that even a fleeting glimpse of another person’s MobileMe account could give nefarious types all they need to wreak some havoc. Data like this is and should be kept as private as possible, but Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has yet to issue an official response on the matter.
I’m going to let my MobileMe account expire. With Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Sync allowing me to keep my contacts and calendar data synced to the cloud, why would I pay $100 a year for Apple’s service. Oh, because MobileMe offers push email, you say? Check this out.
Famed iPhone hacker George Hotz is at it again, and this time he’s making it (black)ra1n! Following on his “purplera1n” iPhone jailbreak utility, Geohot has released his “blackra1n” to jailbreak Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s latest iPhone OS 3.1.2 for iPhones everywhere. The utility is fairly self-explanatory (it takes just 30 seconds to use), but we’d still recommend you know what you’re doing before diving in.
Also, we should not that the iPhone Dev Team advises against using blackra1n for now. Especially if you want to preserve your iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS carrier unlock. Even if you don’t need to keep your iPhone unlocked for any GSM network, Geohot’s blackra1n utility might make future PwnageTool jailbreaks more difficult.
Find blackra1n here. You can just ignore Geohot’s not-so-subtle blackra1n banner.
iPhone users have it good when it comes to mobile apps and games. The AppStore is filled with hoards of iPhone apps and games that cost $1.99, $0.99 or nothing at all. Compared to prices on traditional apps and games, the AppStore is largely a bargain for software hunters out here (nevermind that there’s a lot of free, or 99¢, crap in the AppStore). So, it’s inevitable that a $2.99 iPhone game is going to draw complaints from cheapskates. That’s what Schiau Studios has been dealing with. In response to customer complaints that the game is too pricey, Schiau Studios raised the price of their Alchemize game to $39.99, making it the most expensive game in the AppStore.
The increased price is meant to prove a point. The $39.99 price point is totally in line with other software out there, which should show that the $3 app is more than worth it. While the lesson may not go over too well with penny-pinchers, Schiau Studios says that the price increase in temporary and that all proceeds from the boosted price will go to charity.
If anything, this novel move from Schiau Studios might very well give AppStore AppStore “>cheapskates some perspective on AppStore prices. Developers aren’t just coding their wares for AppStore glory in and of itself, they’re there to make money. If a couple bucks stands between you and an app purchase, maybe that shiny new iPhone wasn’t for you after all.
If you feel like donating to charity, go download Alchemize (iTunes link). Of course, you can wait until it’s back to $2.99.
If you thought the iPhone was the best smartphone you’ve ever used, you’re not alone. According to JD Power & Associates’ latest survey of 1,148 respondents, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone is the most satisfying smartphone in both the consumer and enterprise segments (yetagain). And, when it comes to featurephones (which don’t run mobile operating systems that can install and run third-party applications), LG takes top billing. The JD Power survey found that LG’s not-so-smartphones were the only handsets to earn satisfaction ratings above the industry average.
How did it all break down? While the iPhone scored perfectly in 5 out of 6 smartphone satisfaction categories, its ongoing lack of battery longevity earned it an abysmal score of 2/5 stars in the “Battery Function” category. Still, it was enough to trump both LG and RIM (BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)) in the consumer smartphone segment, as well as RIM in the enterprise space.
Apple’s iPhone has long been known to satisfy. But, with Android phone offering compelling designs and eye-catching UI’s from the likes of HTC and Motorola (NYSE: MOT), we’re expecting to see the Apple’s lead in consumer satisfaction starting to close. We have to wonder what JD Power’s next survey will show.
If you’re an avid video game nerd, such as myself, you might take a gander at the gameplay footage of Touch Foo’s ‘Soosiz’ and think it looks very familiar. The gameplay elements from Soosiz remind me of Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii. Granted, Super Mario Galaxy was all in 3D, but the gameplay elements are far too similar for me not to make a comment about it. As you can see, Soosiz has you jumping from platform to platform, having your character flip around and land feet-first onto the new platform as every platform has it’s own gravitational pull.
Soosiz visually looks good as well with its cartoon graphics and smooth animation, especially when moving from platform to platform. With seven worlds to explore and 65 challenges to complete, Soosiz could keep players entertained for quite some time. Touch Foo has also dropped the price of Soosiz for an introductory price of $1.99, but the sale will only be valid for 72 hours from the game’s release date (which by my calculations, ends TODAY!)
Yesterday we reported on a big name EA title making it’s way to the iPhone later this month, Rock Band iPhone. It seems that wasn’t all of the news EA Mobile had to share with us. It seems another high profile title is going to be receiving the iPhone treatment.
Command & Conquer Red Alert for the iPhone will allow players to play across 12 combat levels as both Soviet and Ally factions, manage and command multiple units on the battlefield, and feature the ability to build your base and manage supplies with an “easy-to-use combat system”. Depending on how easy the system is to use on the iPhone platform is yet to be seen, but since RTS games use heavy point & clicking, I don’t see as how the game could fail. The real test will be how “easy” it will be for players to take control of all of the action while still knowing what exactly is going on in the rest of the map.
No price has been revealed, but you can expect Command and Conquer for the iPhone / iPod Touch to be released on October 23.
Adobe has just released Photoshop for the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone. I can’t review it since I don’t have an iPhone, but I know lots of you who will probably now spend hours at a time tweaking your images to make that pimple disappear and that second chin a little less obvious. Enjoy playing with this over the weekend, this is my last blog post until Monday morning.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this in the wake of the iPhone OS 3.1.2 update. Turns out the iPhone SDK 3.1.2 is available as well at the iPhone Dev Center (of course). If you’ve updated your iPhone to 3.1.2, you’ll need this updated version of the SDK to carry on with your development. An alternate updated version of the SDK is available for OS X Snow Leopard users as well. All of the bases are covered here.
iPhone developers, get your updated SDK on at the iPhone Dev Center, would ya?
The iPhone will officially come to China Unicom’s network on October 30th. We already knew the higher-ups at Apple (
