MobileCrunch |  |
- Joypad Turns Your iPhone Into A Remote Control; Launches New SDK To Bring iOS Gaming To Apple TV
- Fitocracy’s Web App Wants You To Get Up And Go Mobile
- Did Sprint Go All-In For The iPhone 5?
- PayPal To Open A Pop-Up Store In New York To Showcase New Payments Technologies
- Chartboost Launches New Direct-Deal Marketplace For Mobile Game Publishers
- BBM For Android App Screen Shots Leaked
- The iPhone 5/4S: The Complete Rumor Rundown
- Walmart And T-Mobile Team Up For No-Contract 4G Phone Plan
| Joypad Turns Your iPhone Into A Remote Control; Launches New SDK To Bring iOS Gaming To Apple TV Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:07 PM PDT  Touch devices have revolutionized mobile gaming, just like they’ve revolutionized the mobile space as a whole. For mobile games, they’ve introduced some amazing interfaces and controllers that make those that have had the fortune of playing Atari on console take a step back and pinch themselves. Of course, technology is now taking us toward a confluence of consoles and touch devices. Today, companies like Joypad Inc. are turning our iPhones into game controllers. Joypad’s eponymous free app syncs directly with iPad, Mac, and PC games over bluetooth or WiFi to let gamers use their smartphone as a controller to play their favorite games on various NES-style control pads. Game developers can also use Joypad’s free SDKs, which take about 30 minutes to integrate, to add Joypad support to their games. With these SDKs, gamers can interact with their favorite games in ways that were before impossible. For example, as a gamer reaches a new level, or unlocks new features, developers can push a new button out to the player in realtime. This kind of functionality gives developers a new way to create custom layouts for controllers and forge a deeper integration with the playing experience. Joypad started as a way to control a Mac NES emulator from your iPhone. Since launching in March, the product evolved per customer feedback — with support for additional emulators, multiplayer, and Windows. Despite positive feedback from early customers, setup was too confusing for a mainstream product, Joypad Co-founder Lou Zell tells me, and so the team released its first developer SDK in July as a way to eliminate all end-user setup. Now it “just works”, he says. Another reason to love Joypad is that the team consists solely of its two founders: Todd Hamilton and Lou Zell. Joypad is the co-founders’ third startup, all of which have been self-funded between stints of contract work to pay off credit card debt. And the release of their SDK, along with the elimination of all end-user setup has worked. The founders have seen early traction with Joypad that far outpaces their previous startups, with 50,000 downloads of their iOS app, and 15 companies using their SDK to date. It seems that the third time just may be the charm. As a result of this early success, the team is raising a small seed round while they continue to build out their products. Today, the Joypad team is also bringing their Unity SDK out of alpha, which means more high quality Mac and iOS games can now offer Joypad support — in addition to the 12 games already live. Another cool part of this is that, now that Joypad has SDKs available for Mac, iOS, and Unity iOS, their new capabilities will allow gamers to play iOS games on their Apple TV via their iPhones and iPads. If you’re an Apple device freak, this will put you in heaven, especially ahead of the expected launch of iOS 5 tomorrow. Thanks to Airplay, Joypad will allow you to wirelessly move the games you’re playing on your iPad to Apple TV, enabling you to take over the world from your bean bag chair. Joypad’s SDKs can be integrated into any iOS games available on the App Store, and with a little bit of tinkering, developers can make their games Joypad and Apple TV compatible. While Joypad offers a great array of controller options and makes it easy for developers to give their games wireless iPhone controls, the startup isn’t the only one in the space. In June, we wrote about Brass Monkey’s acquisition of Emotely, which brought together Brass Monkey’s fully developed controller-building SDK, with support for Flash, Unity3D, and desktop games and apps, with Emotely's ability to build controllers using HTML5 for both the interface and communication layer (with HTTP and WebSockets) — a match made in heaven. Together Brass Monkey and Joypad offer some great options for gamers looking to add that extra level to their home gaming experience. As developers clue into these solutions and adoption grows, Joypad’s catalog of games for the iPad will expand, and we may just have a game changer on our hands. For more on Joypad, check it out on the App Store here or find the startup’s SDKs here. Below you’ll find an example of the types of games Joypad is now targeting with the Unity SDK: And for the Apple TV hack, check ‘er out on the YouTubes here.
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| Fitocracy’s Web App Wants You To Get Up And Go Mobile Posted: 03 Oct 2011 04:30 PM PDT  The guys at Fitocracy, the social fitness tracker, have been very busy since we’ve seen them last. Though I’m a fan of the service, sometimes using it can be hit or miss. Don’t get me wrong — it’s absolutely great on a computer, but the site never really scaled well for mobile devices. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case, as the company has announced that the first version of their mobile web app has just gone online. For the uninitiated, Fitocracy combines fitness tracking with social elements and an RPG-esque levelling system that appeals to the inner EXP grinder in me. It’s an eclectic mix, sure, but it’s helped Fitocracy to develop quite the loyal fanbase. Fitocracy’s mobile web app works by cutting nearly all of the social cruft that the service is known for. Goodbye forums, groups, and status updates — you only have access to your activity tracker. From there, you can look up individual exercises, or select frequently performed activities or routines to add to your list for the day. Each of your exercises nets you a certain number of points, enough of which allow you to level up. Levelling up on Fitocracy doesn’t actually do anything, other than imbue you with a nice sense of physical accomplishment. The mobile web app also supports Fitocracy’s achievements, so you’ll get a shiny little (digital) badge when you do things like run your first 5K in one outing. All things considered, it’s functional, if a little spartan. Fitocracy has made it clear on their blog that the mobile web app is still being fine-tuned, so the occasional bug may pop up, but it’s still a welcome addition for the service’s workout junkies who don’t mind holding off on the chit-chat.
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| Did Sprint Go All-In For The iPhone 5? Posted: 03 Oct 2011 12:40 PM PDT  Sprint is taking a huge risk by carrying the iPhone, if reports from the Wall Street Journal are to be believed. Details about Sprint and Apple’s quiet dealings have begun to emerge, and if true, the country’s third largest wireless carrier is stuck in a precarious position. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has reportedly told the company’s board of directors that in order to nab the iPhone, they would have to commit to purchasing at least 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years. It’s a huge investment by any stretch — WSJ pegs it at around $20 billion at current rates — but it’s made worse by the fact that Sprint will be locked into the purchasing agreement regardless of whether or not the iPhones actually sell. The board was said to have accepted Apple’s terms. It’s a lot of units to move, certainly, but it’s not entirely impossible. A particular subset of Sprint customers have been clamoring for a taste of the Cupertino limelight for years, not to mention that Sprint’s commitment to their unlimited data offerings make it an attractive alternative for current iPhone users looking get more bang for their buck. Here’s the kicker though: even if iPhone sales are strong, it’ll still be years before Sprint turns a profit. At $20 billion for 30.5 million units, the cost per device comes out to roughly $656. Sprint has long positioned themselves as more of a value carrier than their big rivals Verizon and AT&T, which will only make it harder to recoup the losses from subsidizing iPhone prices. Unfortunately, no mention was made of what iPhone Sprint would potentially be carrying. Rumors that Sprint would carry a version of the iPhone 5 have been making the rounds, and could help explain Sprint’s willingness to jump on the device even at such a high price. BGR claims that Sprint will be the exclusive carrier of the iPhone 5 (at least for a while), which is pretty out-there, but could be a huge coup for Sprint if true. Though customers may rejoice at Sprint landing the iPhone, it may not be all sunshine and roses. In order to move that many iPhones, it’s completely possible that Sprint will begin to focus less on their Android lineup. It’s a shame, considering how strongly they’ve backed the Google OS, but them’s the theoretical breaks. The possibility of the iPhone 5 being a Sprint exclusive is also a bit odd to say the least, but that may not be all. Sprint’s exclusivity on the Palm Pre is often cited as one of many reasons for that device’s underwhelming life — but the iPhone is obviously an entirely different monster. According to an unnamed source close to the situation, Sprint’s iPhone deal was a “bet-the-company kind of thing.” No kidding — a successful launch could be a new wind in Sprint’s sails, and could give the company some much needed momentum in comparison to the Big Two carriers. Likewise, an underwhelming launch that never picks up steam means that Sprint committed to a huge liability for almost nothing. Sprint is said to be waiting until later this week to make their official iPhone announcement, but with less than 24 hours until Apple’s big event, we may hear more sooner rather than later.
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| PayPal To Open A Pop-Up Store In New York To Showcase New Payments Technologies Posted: 03 Oct 2011 12:17 PM PDT  Exclusive-PayPal is going to be setting up a pop-up store in downtown Manhattan, New York to showcase some of the new tools and technologies the payments giant will debut in the next few months. The space will be located at 174 Hudson, which is located in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. Over the next 3 and a half months, PayPal will be inviting merchants to come visit the space where they will have the opportunity to get real-time demos of the technologies in realistic point of sale scenarios. The store, which will launch on November 1, will also feature a QR code for people passing by to scan and see more details on the PayPal’s new technologies. So what new technologies will PayPal be showing off? As the company revealed in September, PayPal is investing in a comprehensive solution for in-store merchants to integrate PayPal into the checkout and mobile payments experience. Later this year, PayPal will be rolling out a one-stop shop for merchants, both online and local businesses, to manage payments from customers. Features of this new offering will include location-based offers, making payments accessible from any device and offering more payments flexibility to customers after they've checked out. Users will have the ability to access realtime store inventory, receive in-store offers, and real-time location-based advertising from stores. PayPal tells us that it will be debuting its technology that integrated with physical payments gateways in stores (the company is expected to announce a number of partnerships with major retailers soon). A pop-up store and physical presence for merchants and consumers is actually a wise move for PayPal. The technology hasn’t really had a physical presence in a retail environment, and this can be a contributor towards adoption. For example, mobile payments company Square has in-store retail deals with both Apple and Best Buy. At the moment, PayPal doesn’t have a device to sell (like Square) so a pop-up store can be a centralized place for merchants to see the new technology, and for consumers for experiment with the payments platform. Google just opened a Chrome pop-up store in London. PayPal is an online payments and money transfer service that allows you to send money via email, phone, text message or Skype. They offer products to both individuals and businesses alike, including online vendors, auction sites and corporate users. PayPal connects effortlessly to bank accounts and credit cards. PayPal Mobile is one of PayPal’s newest products. It allows you to send payments by text message or by using PayPal’s mobile browser. PayPal created the Gausebeck-Levchin test, which is that blurry...
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| Chartboost Launches New Direct-Deal Marketplace For Mobile Game Publishers Posted: 03 Oct 2011 08:15 AM PDT  New direct-deal advertising marketplace Chartboost launches today, allowing mobile game developers to use cross-promotion techniques to increase the size of their game’s user base, and therefore, its revenues. The company was created by former Tapulous employees, Maria Alegre, now Chartboost CEO, and Sean Fannan, CTO. After Disney’s acquisition of Tapulous, the Chartboost founders decided to help start a platform to give other game publishers the same ability to maximize their distribution power, something that they felt was Tapulous’ most valuable asset. Previously Alegre worked a business and revenue associate at Tapulous. She later became head of Tapulous Labs Studio under Disney, where she was responsible for monetization and launch strategies, project management and game design. Fannan was a senior software engineer at Tapulous, where he built and managed the original server architecture, helped with scaling and coordinated the engineering of marketing deals with brands like Microsoft, Groupon, Disney and Fox. Chartboost is not an ad network, the company explains, it’s a technology platform. It provides free ad-serving technology for direct deals and cross-promotions via the Chartboost SDK. Instead of mediating direct-deals through an ad network, Chartboost publishers get a 100% revenue share on these deals. Included in the platform are white-labeled fullscreen interstitials, which publishers can use to promote their other titles. When they’re not being used internally, those spaces can be sold directly to other publishers and used to generate revenue. Also, says Chartboost, because the interstitials are promoting recommended games, they’re not perceived by end users as if they were ads. Chartboost also offers in-depth metrics that allow publishers to track the direct deals and cross-promotions and manage their inventory accordingly. The analytics show impressions, clicks, installs, CPC, CPI and eCPM for each app. An API to track UDIDs is available, too. The company currently operates under a freemium model: the ad-server technology is free when used for direct deals or internal cross-promotion. Meanwhile, the opt-in ad network offers revenue sharing with publishers, allowing them to maximize the unsold inventory that’s not used internally for cross-promotion or in direct deals. Those campaigns use metrics like Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per Install (CPI) to determine pricing. At launch, notable Chartboost publishers include TinyCo, Storm8, Pocket Gems, Gameview Studios, The Playforge, Funzio, OMGPOP, Com2us, Fluik Entertainment, Sunstorm Interactive, Ace Viral, Camigo Media, Neon Play, Lakoo, and Devsisters. Several of these are leading publishers in their own markets, and many are top 100 app makers. As of August 31st, self-funded Chartboost says it’s a profitable company. The platform is live on iOS and will launch on Android soon.
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| BBM For Android App Screen Shots Leaked Posted: 03 Oct 2011 07:36 AM PDT  Well, what do we have here? BBM for… Android? New leaked photos appear to show a beta version of BBM running on an unspecified (and clearly uncared for) Android device. The validity of these shots is questionable, as they were sent to T3 from an anonymous source and a leak of this kind would take about five minutes for a Photoshop noob to complete. However, they do add a little weight to ongoing rumors that suggest RIM has plans to roll out its BlackBerry Messenger service on outside platforms, including Android and iOS. Pictures aside, let’s just think about this purported plan for a hot second. RIM won’t have trouble holding on to its enterprise customers, at least right now. The cost of switching platforms is just too high, and RIM security still can’t be beat. However, what made RIM an overnight (six-year) success was the fact that not only the enterprise, but teenagers and young people, were digging the BlackBerry. That, in a nutshell, comes down to messaging. If there’s ever been one thing that BlackBerrys do best for the general public, it would be messaging. Even with an iPhone, BBM has always been that one little exclusively BlackBerry feature that I’ve envied. But if BBM is available on iPhone and Android — as a free download, mind you — than RIM stands to gain nothing from it. Android leads in market share, followed by iOS. According to the numbers, we’re not looking at a mass exodus of Android loyalists or Apple fanboys anytime soon. BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry phones sales, on the other hand, are bleeding. People are already abandoning ship for greener, Android-flavored pastures. So what does RIM think will happen when one of its customers’ favorite apps pops up on a better platform, with hundreds of hardware options? In any case, the anonymous source of the photos says that the BBM for Android app is “in the final stages of testing” and “should be out by 2012.” Research In Motion (RIM) is a Canadian designer, manufacturer and marketer of wireless devices and solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. The company is best known as the developer of the BlackBerry smart phone. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity to data. RIM was founded in 1984. Based in Waterloo, Ontario, the company has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
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| The iPhone 5/4S: The Complete Rumor Rundown Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:49 AM PDT  Apple is less than 24 hours away from announcing the next iPhone. Unlike previous announcements, this show will be intimate and small, held at Apple’s HQ rather than a large venue like the Moscone Center. Most important, Steve Jobs isn’t headlining the show; although, if rumors are to be believed, he might make a cameo. Apple’s latest commander and chief, Tim Cook, is expected to lead the charge at what will likely amount to one of the biggest Internet traffic days of the year. Apple is rather tardy releasing this latest iPhone, missing its traditional summer launch date by a good two months. However, if the rumor mills are to be believed, there, the new iPhone will be very similar to the old iPhone – except where it isn’t. We compiled all of the rumors here along with stating the viability for each. Some are wide-eyed, others are realistic, while some are pure fanboy fantasy. The iPhone 4S Will Be A Less Expensive iPhone Argument
Objections:
Judgment: The stars just seem aligned for this one. The iPhone 4 is still a hot phone despite being over 15 months old. Apple just needs to repackage the current hardware into a less expensive body to completely demolish the competition. Redesigned, thinner iPhone 5 Argument:
Objection:
Judgment: Apple has never released a product thicker than the previous model and won’t start with the next iPhone. Larger screen Argument:
Objections:
Judgment: Apple cannot ignore the current popular trend of larger screen sizes. As long as the phone is thinner, a larger screen will not make the phone feel any bigger. Edge-to-edge glass Argument:
Objections:
Judgment: Not likely just yet. Apple pushes the limit but only as far as its financially viable. NFC Chip Argument:
Objection:
Judgment: Apple tends to incorporate non-proprietary tech only after its viability is proven. So that’s a “No.” Dual-core A5 CPU Argument:
Objection:
Judgment: It’s very likely the next major iPhone will have the A5 CPU. However, Apple might stick with the A4 for a mid-model refresh like the rumored iPhone 4S New home button Argument:
Objections:
Judgment: Don’t start designing your next Kickstarter iPhone case project around this rumor. Apple will likely stick with its traditional home button. 8MP camera Argument:
Objections:
Judgment: Camera sensors are constantly shrinking in size while increasing in MP count. Expect a higher count sensor but not necessarily an 8MP version. CDMA/GSM dual-mode radio Argument:
Objection:
Judgment: It’s hard to say. The upsides are huge for both Apple and consumers, but dual-mode radios are not widely used. Apple tends to use highly-available and therefore, high margin components. Extensive voice controls Argument:
Objections
Judgment: It’s hard to predict future iOS features, but more beefy voice controls are probably on the road map. Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple’s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod (offered with... Apple’s iPhone was introduced at MacWorld in January 2007 and officially went on sale June 29, 2007, selling 146,000 units within the first weekend of launch. The phone has been hailed as revolutionary with its bundle of advanced mobile web browsing, music and video playback, and touch screen controls. The iPhone is exclusively carried on the networks of both AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. An iPhone can function as a video camera (video recording was not a standard feature...
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| Walmart And T-Mobile Team Up For No-Contract 4G Phone Plan Posted: 03 Oct 2011 06:49 AM PDT  If you’re the kind of person who would much rather text or email someone rather than actually talk to them, Walmart and T-Mobile would like to have a word with you. The two companies have announced Monday morning that T-Mobile will introduce a new no-contract 4G rate plan exclusively at Walmart. Expected to go live on October 16, T-Mobile’s new Monthly4G plan only nets you 100 minutes, but customers will also have unlimited messaging and data at their disposal. Now of course, this is T-Mobile, so that unlimited data comes with a caveat: you’ll only be able to enjoy that 4G connection until you hit the 5GB cap, at which point you’ll be throttled down to EDGE speeds. All things considered, it’s still not too a shabby deal at $30 a month. If anything, it’s Walmart’s phone selection that may leave you wanting more. At present, their prepaid T-Mobile lineup is almost entirely made up of feature phones, and one underwhelming Android device to round out the pack. To help make their new plan more appealing though, T-Mobile has also said that Walmart will be getting their first prepaid 4G-capable phone shortly. And hey, if you’re truly bummed out about having to use a solid plan on a middling handset, you can always swap the SIM card into a nicer T-Mobile phone and reap the savings month after month. Ka-ching!
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