Gaming Apple

Apple has released an emergency patch for the iPhone. The backstory: iOS 12.4 had an update that reintroduced a bug they had previously fixed, and the world’s hackers clued into an iPhone jailbreak for the first time in years. If you want to keep a tight iPhone ship, download 12.4.1 which re-fixes the bug.

Also on the Apple front, what’s happened since the App Store’s big makeover in 2017? TechCrunch reports that was Apple’s attempt to “shift consumer’s attention away from the Top Charts and more toward editorial content.”

But app devs want to make it to the No. 1 position, and according to new research from Sensor Tower, it has become easier for non-game apps to do so.

Probably, they speculate, because the U.S. market has been saturated top apps like Facebook and Messenger and leaving more room at the top.

For games, in 2016 it only took 118K median downloads to top the charts. This year, it’s required more like 174,000 downloads for a game to reach the top on any given day, 85% more than the 94K installs required for non-game apps.

So maybe build a non-saturated Facebook/Instagram-ish like app that lets you play Asteroids or Defender…?

iPhone 5 Highway Robbery

So I followed some of the liveblogging for the Apple announcements earlier today, with the Apple iPhone 5 being the headline announcement.

I hope to later go back and watch the video webcast, as much interested in the theater of it as the details.

Overall, I walked away with the impression that it was a relatively impressive update from the iPhone 4, but I wasn’t convinced it was enough to compel people to upgrade.

I mentioned in a post a while back I’ve gone native, now using a “dumb phone” (an LG), because I had left AT&T, toyed with an Android on Virgin Mobile, before deciding on the LG dumb phone primarily for phone usage.

I still have my iPhone 4, which I use sometime for checking email and calendar, and reading or watching a movie on plane rides, but because I’m not as mobile as I used to be (not traveling as much), I didn’t feel compelled to need a smartphone.

Back to the 5. I didn’t see a compelling reason to upgrade with the new features — the bigger 4″ screen, the thinner form factor, LTE support, the new camera (including the admittedly cool panorama mode).

But just for grins, I clicked on the Apple application that let me checked what it would cost to go ahead and upgrade ahead of my current pre-rebate date (the date for which I could upgrade with the device actually being subsidized by Verizon).

Here’s what I found in the graphic you see here…hold on for the sticker shock:

I couldn’t get into a 5 for less than $649 until December 9, 2013…by that time, I suspect there will be an iPhone 6.

Even jumping back to the 4 would cost me $375!!!

And therein lies my distaste with the current mobile phone economics in these United States.

Hey, if I was traveling all the time and depending on those services the iPhone could offer remotely, I would consider it.

But recognizing I have other devices (the iPhone 4 using wi-fi, an Android tablet AND an iPad), no way, no how.

I suspect many Apple fan boys and girls will pay the pre-rebate price, and more power to them.

But my money would be better invested in a new mini iPad (apparently coming in October) or even the new iPod Touches also announced today.

But if you get an iPhone 5, be sure to give me a demo the next time you see me.

The App Economy: Creating Nearly 500,000 New Jobs

This just in from TechNet, a bipartisan policy and political network of technology CEOs that promotes the growth of the innovation economy.

TechNet's new report, "Where The Jobs Are: The App Economy," reveals how smartphones, tablets, and other devices are creating a wealth of new jobs in the U.S.

They released a study yesterday showing there are now roughly 466,000 jobs in the “App Economy,” as they refer to it, in the United States.

That’s up from “zero” in 2007.

Remembering, of course, that the iPhone wasn’t introduced until June 2007 (and I guess the BlackBerry before that didn’t count!).

Here’s what Rey Ramsey, the President and CEO of TechNet, had to say about the report: “America’s App Economy — which had zero jobs just 5 years ago before the iPhone was introduced, demonstrates that we can quickly create economic value and jobs through cutting-edge innovation. Today, the App Economy is creating jobs in every part of America, employing hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers today and even more in the years to come.”

In terms of U.S. urban centers, the top metropolitan area for App Economy jobs turns out to be New York City (9.2 percent) and its surrounding area, although San Francisco and Silicon Valley combined make up for 14.8 percent.

In terms of states, of course, California runs away with it at 23.8 percent, followed by New York at 6.9%.

The research also revealed that when it comes to employment impacts, each app represents jobs across a wide spectrum of roles: programmers, user interface designers, marketers, managers, and support staff.

They include jobs at “pure” app firms like Zynga (which makes games for Facebook) as well as app-related jobs at large companies like EA, Amazon, AT&T, as well as app “infrastructure” jobs at firms like Google, Apple, IBM, Facebook, and others.