Get your tinfoil hats on, folks. In the documentation released earlier this week by Microsoft on its upcoming Windows 8 Store, the software giant said that apps purchased from the App Store will come with a “kill switch.” Redmond can use this to disable or remove the app from Windows 8 machines. Even if its intentions are good, users are likely to be suspicious of Microsoft on this one.
Apparently the Gmail team has been hard at work on more than just the redesign. According to MG Siegler, Google has submitted a Gmail iPhone app to Apple for review. The lack of true Gmail support on the iOS platform has been a sore spot for users of the platform since it was released in 2007. Apparently, the wait is almost over.
Microsoft is unlike other pretenders to the tablet throne, all of whom are simply following Apple’s lead, in that it wants Windows 8-based tablets to deliver both the versatility and power of traditional PCs and the pickup-and-play ease of media tablets. But that’s where the differences end as Redmond also seems to have a fair amount of faith in the old adage “when in Rome . . .” Like Apple, the pioneer of the modern app store, MS also plans to keep 30 percent of all app sales. But that’s not the only part of Apple’s app distribution model to have caught Microsoft's fancy.
The rumor mill's been all abuzz about the possibility of an App Store in the upcoming Windows 8 operating system, and for once, the hub-bub was based off of some fairly logical deductions. One: Microsoft said a long time ago that Windows 8 was being developed for use on mobile platforms as well as PCs. Two: when Apple tried to trademark "App Store," Microsoft argued the term was too generic. It looks like that deductive reasoning was well-founded; if you use a bit more deductive reasoning, you'll infer that the Windows Prez recently confirmed a Windows 8 app store.
It looks like Amazon won’t have to change up all their branding at this time. A federal judge in Oakland, California has ruled that Apple cannot force Amazon to stop using “Appstore” as the name of its ‒ well, app store. According to the decision, Apple failed to show a “likelihood of confusion” would result from Amazon’s use of the term. This case isn’t over, but things are looking more grim for Apple.
Now that app stores have almost become de rigueur, it isn’t hugely surprising that even the next iteration of Windows is widely anticipated to have one. It also makes perfect sense considering the fact that Windows 8 is also being optimized to run on media tablets (even including those powered by ARM chips). While the alleged screenshots of Windows 8’s app store UI that were released a few weeks back eventually turned out to be fakes, some Russian enthusiasts now claim to have uncovered a couple of references to the store in a leaked Windows 8 build. Find out more after the jump.
Apple pioneered the first-party mobile app store as we know it in July, 2008. Since then, the Apple App Store has played an increasingly important role in the success of the iOS ecosystem and continues to boast the largest app population (over 350,000) of any app store out there. But, according to market research outfit Distimo, its leading rival, the Android Market, is catching up with the App Store at such a fast rate that the former could become the most populous app store within the next five months.
Amazon last week rolled out its Appstore for Android, and there a couple reasons why you should check it out. One reason is that Amazon offers a different paid app for free each day as its featured 'free app of the day.' But the much more compelling reason to give Amazon's Appstore for Android a spin is an awesome feature called "Test Drive." Just as it sounds, this allows you to test drive certain Android apps, free or paid, on your PC before committing to purchase and/or download.
Apple is taking a mulligan on approving what some are calling a 'Gay Cure' app from iTunes after more than 100,000 people signed an online petition to have it removed, The Baltimore Sun reports. The app was created by Exodus International, which has ministries that "provide support for individuals who want to recover from homosexuality," according to the organization's website. So how did it get approved in the first place?
We all knew Android was an open platform, but few announcements remind us of this fact more clearly than the emergence of a competing Appstore which seeks to take on Google at its own game. The long anticipated Amazon Appstore officially launches today with more than 3,800 new apps to choose from, all of which have been carefully vetted and verified by Amazon prior to posting.Connect with MaximumPC
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