BGR.com reports citing one of its Apple sources that the Cupertino major is going to address the location tracking issue soon. Apple will soon release iOS 4.3.3 to fix the issue.

BGR.com claims that it has received the updated iOS version and has been told that the update will no longer back up the location information to iTunes. Moreover, the iOS 4.3.3 version will also reduce the size of location database and the database will be completely deleted whenever an iPhone user turns off the location services.

In addition to addressing the location tracking issue, the update will also improve battery life of devices and fix any bugs on iPod devices.

Source- BGR

Adobe has announced significant tooling advancements in app development as part of the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 release that will provide an iPhone developer for the first time a single app development platform for building high quality apps. These advancements consist of all latest tooling and framework support in Flash Builder™ 4.5 for developing, testing and deploying apps on iOS platforms. The released software also supports Android and BlackBerry platforms.

Adobe Flex 4.5 that provides support for building applications for iPhone developers is expected in June 2011. This new approach in app development enables an iPhone developer to take advantage of a single tool chain, programming language and code base to effortlessly develop high quality mobile apps. Flex 4.5 will significantly improve performance of an iPhone developer in addition to reducing development time and costs.

Flash Builder 4.5 will speed-up Flex and ActionScript project development including round-trip workflows with Adobe Flash Catalyst CS 5.5 software. It will also allow iPhone developers and designers to correspondingly work throughout app development. The software also includes new capabilities to facilitate faster and more productive coding.

Ed Rowe, vice president of development tooling, Adobe says “With these releases, developers for the first time have a single development platform for building highly expressive Web, mobile, and desktop applications, marking a leap forward for mobile app development”.

“With the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, enterprises now need to ensure that their applications work seamlessly across many different types of devices. Flash Builder 4.5 and Flex 4.5 will now allow companies to standardize on a common platform capable of delivering rich and consistent application experiences that perform great across Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS devices,” he added.

Adobe is planning to release updates to the Flex framework in June that will allow iPhone developers to reprocess most or all of their code across apps that target many platforms. Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 is planned to ship within 30 day. The software will be available through Adobe Authorized Resellers, Adobe Direct Sales and at www.adobe.com/store. The price is expected to be US$249 for Flash Builder 4.5 Standard, US$699 for Flash Builder 4.5 Premium, US$399 for Flash Catalyst and US$699 for Flash Professional.

Source- Adobe

In his article, Jared Newman of PCWorld has come up with a feature wish list for iPhone. He writes, “Nearly two years ago, I bought an iPhone 3GS, back when Android was an insignificant speck on the mobile scene. A lot’s changed since then, and the iPhone’s missing features have left me with a case of Android envy.”

Here’s a list of features which Jared thinks iOS must have to lure Android lovers-

• More Voice Commands- iPhone has limited voice commands whereas Android offers more including access to third party apps through a voice command. A wide range of voice commands will make the iPhone more attractive to users.
• Voice-guided GPS- The author feels that the iPhone without built-in, voice-guided GPS for too long.
• Wireless OS updates and multimedia sync-A local wireless network for OS updates and iTunes sync is highly desirable.
• Better Notifications- Apple’s notifications system is too intrusive and hence it can come up with a better notification bar that allows users to view notifications as per their preferences.
• Better Multitasking- Multitasking needs to be better than the present way of double tapping.

Apple’s iOS is getting serious competition from Google’s Android and stakeholders in Apple are heavily banking on its next line of hardware to maintain its dominance in the market. We have to wait till WWDC for iPhone developers where Apple is expected to talk about the future of iOS.

Source- PCWorld

Research Company International Data Corporation predicts that the worldwide smartphone market is expected to grow by 49.2 percent in 2011. The prediction is based on International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. According to the Tracker, 2011 will see over 450 million smartphone units shipped by vendors in comparison to 303.4 million units shipped last year. The study also reveals that the smartphone market will grow four times faster in comparison to overall mobile phone market.

“Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

“Last year’s high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from what we saw in 2010,“he added.

The study also sees the smartphone OS battle further heating up.  ”Android is poised to take over as the leading smartphone operating system in 2011 after racing into the number 2 position in 2010,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.

“For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party. This year will see a coronation party as these same vendors broaden and deepen their portfolios to reach more customers, particularly first-time smartphone users,” he added.

IDC study also finds that leading manufacturer Nokia’s latest deal with Windows will significantly impact the smartphone market.

“Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences,” added Llamas. “The new alliance brings together Nokia’s hardware capabilities and Windows Phone’s differentiated platform. We expect the first devices to launch in 2012. By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android.”

The study results will concern iPhone developers as it predicts that the market share for iOS would remain the same in next five years.

TechCrunch reports that Apple may unveil iOS 5 at its Worldwide Developers Conference but the operating system version will be released in the fall. Techcrunch claims that it has got the latest news on iOS 5 from two strong sources.

The new iOS will be built around Cloud technology and may see new services such as cloud based hosting and location based offerings. Rumors are also circulating that the iOS 5 release in the Fall would be accompanied by the release of iPad 3 or third generation of Tablet from Apple.

If the reports are true then it seems Apple is moving from its usual strategy of introducing iOS software with iPhone launches.

Rumors are rife in the web world that Cupertino based Apple Inc., may launch iPad 2 on March 2 at an event in San Francisco. Apple has already sent invitation to some media men which says “Come see what 2011 will be the year of.” Apple, world’s biggest company in market value, has not yet spoke on the issue.

In other news, RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Mike Abramsky is claimed to have written a note to investors on Wednesday where he reiterated that RBC expects Apple to sell 30 million iPad 2 units between April 2011 and March 2012.

He also discussed hardware specifications in the note where he expects the next-generation iPad to include a rear and a front-facing camera, 1.2GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, and a slimmer, lighter case. However, in his note, he also predicts Apple to suffer shortage in supply of the device due to constraints in the availability of components.

If the RBC prediction comes true then it will mean bigger market for iOS developers who are feeling the heat due to growing popularity of other platforms.

A study by mobile analytics firm Zokem says that iPhone owners have highest loyalty to the brand in the smartphone market. As per the survey, iPhone scored 84 percent higher than Android and also emerged as the top preference among non-iPhone users. The results are based on a Global Smartphone Study 2010 survey conducted by the company where over 1,500 US smartphone users were surveyed and asked about their handset preferences and perceptions. The news of iPhone emerging top in customer loyalty outsmarting its nearest rival, Android is sure to bring cheer to iPhone developers who were concerned with Android’s growing popularity and likely shrinking of their customer base.

Android emerged as the best selling mobile platform in the US. However, iPhone continues to get attention as the foremost smartphone operating system. “The figures suggest clearly that iPhone is the top performing platform in terms of user loyalty, and therefore, it is an increasingly likely pick for a repurchase” says Dr. Hannu Verkasalo, CEO of Zokem. “Android is a good number two in the US market, even though the loyalty score is not nearly as high as it is for iPhones, but it seems that people who are using Android are also very likely to buy an Android-based device as their next smartphone too”, Verkasalo adds.

Other important findings from the study include:

• In user loyalty, iPhone scores 73% followed by Android at 40% and Samsung Bada at 33%. A score of 60 percent is measured as good and iphone is the only platform to exceed it.



• Low loyalty may mean likelihood of users shifting to rival platforms. However, platforms like Samsung Bada, Nokia Symbian and Palm suffered due to other factors like low mass adoption, limited apps compatibility and weaker business tie-ups with carriers.
• iPhone, Blackberry and Android owners are most likely to stick to the same platform in the future. This is in contrast to Nokia and Palm mobile users who are more likely to switch to rival platforms signaling tough times for them in the future.

With various studies showing iPhone’s sway in the market, iPhone app developers are sure to have good business in the future.

App development for smartphones and other devices have gone multiplatform with apps designed now is compatible to more than one operating system, at a time. iPhone and Android have emerged as app developer’s choice and they are enthusiastically targeting it, according to a report by leading research company Forrester. The recently released report advises iPhone app developers to adopt multi-device strategy for app development and testing to prevent them from multiplatform convolution.

In the report’s executive summary, analyst Jeffrey Hammond says “The year 2010 was when mobile application development began crossing the chasm from early adopters to mainstream application development shops,”. “But what started as ‘we need an iPhone app!’ has now progressed to a multiple device and operating system reality. Our data shows that mobile developers are already supporting native applications on multiple platforms and that it’s likely to get more complicated as tablets join mobile phones as new development targets.”

The report further says that mobile web technologies are fading faster and are no longer alluring to developers. In its study, Forester found that iPhone has retained its position as the first choice among developers followed by Android. The research report also finds that RIM is lagging back in attracting the attention of developers and therefore has to do more to appeal to them

Now you can get run flash on your iPhones. Users already had this option on iPad with Frash, (shortform of Adobe Flash for Android Runtime), when it was ported to iOS by the iPhone developer Comex. Now the guys at Grand Panell have made it compatible for the iPhone also.

Comex has earlier developed the Spirit iPhone jail break application and also the web based Jailbreakme tool. However it is said that the app is in the initial phase of development and only an Alpha version is available.

The iPhone app developers say that Frash has been programmed to run on the Apple devices; e.g. the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch 3G, and of course the iPad.

You can install Frash with few easy steps:

· First jailbreak the iPhone with JailbreakMe

· Launch Cydia from the home screen of your jailbroken iPhone

· go to Manage tab >>> go to Sources then >>> and tap Edit on the top >>> again Tap on add

· Now add this source: http://repo.benm.at/

· Once it is successfully installed, please tap on the Search tab and look for Frash.

· Tap on Frash to install it in your iPhone.

· Now Reboot the iPhone.

You’re all set! Now you can just navigate to a page in Safari browser with non-video Flash content and can tap on Flash to play it. Please note that you should take back up of all your data before starting the installation.

A few days back Apple released the new version of SDK for iOS 4.0.1. The SDK is now available for the iPhone developers to be downloaded freely. The new SDK 4.0.1 has been upgraded with some features to support new firmware version and other enhancements and tweaks as well.

A full change log for the new SDK has been published by Softpedia which shows the details of the improvements:

• Support for iOS SDK 4.0.1 to target iPhone / iPod touch devices updated to iOS 4.0.1
• Auto-provisioning of new devices – click “Use for Development” to add device to portal
• Xcode will automatically send your device ID to the Provisioning Portal
• A global provisioning profile including this device will be downloaded to Xcode
• All team members can develop with the new device once Xcode refreshes
• Use “Export Developer Profile” to backup developer certificates and profiles
• Menu item: “Upgrade Current Target for iPad…” to convert to Universal app
• Base SDK is set to iPhone SDK 4.0
• iPhone OS Deployment Target is set to iPhone OS 3.2 or earlier
• Targeted Device Family is set to iPhone/iPad
• For iPhone-only, use iPhone SDK 4.0 and target iPhone OS 4.0 or earlier
• For iPad-only development, use iPhone SDK 3.2 and target iPhone OS 3.2
• The LLVM compiler and LLVM GCC now support building with iOS SDK 4.0

One of Apple’s spokesperson addressed a tightly packed press conference in Cupertino, California to explain several issues with iPhone and iOS 4.0.1. Apple claimed that iPhone 4 does not have as many issues as believed, but it’s not “perfect” either. However, experts are hopeful that iPhone developers will get it easier to fix the issues with iOS 4.0.1 SDK.