Cut-throat competition in app store has led to iPhone developers embracing pay to inflate services to push their apps in the top rankings. Many of the marketing firms offering such services employ automated scripts or bots to falsely boost app rankings in the app store. However, according to a report in theguardian, Apple has warned app developers against using such fraudulent services with the penalty of being stripped from releasing any app in the store in future. The iPhone maker has earlier barred iPad and iPhone app developers from using Tapjoy, which involved offering virtual currencies in one game in lieu of downloading another game.

In a note addressed to iPhone developers, the company said-

Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts. Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership.

Yesterday, a thread posted on TouchArcade warned about pay to inflate app promotion services that promise Top 25 rankings for a fee. According to the thread, these services make use of automated scripts or bots to boost app rankings into the top charts.

Experts believe the current move will help Apple in making app store ranking more reliable and accurate. Many customers view these free rankings as a representation of the popularity of apps and make buying decisions. Such app users will greatly benefit from the recent guideline to iphone developers.

A latest survey by leading enterprise mobility provider iPass involving over 2,300 enterprise workers reveals that Apple’s iPhone has dethroned RIM as the king of the enterprises. The report further shows that Google’s Android based smartphones are quickly catching up to BlackBerry. The survey report will bring cheer for iPhone app developers as iPhone’s growing acceptability and popularity in enterprises will create new markets for their applications.

According to the report, iPhone now makes up 45 percent of mobile phones used by workers in enterprises, a jump by 14 percent from 2010. Last year, iPhone occupied 31 percent share among mobile workers. Blackberry, the reigning king till now, has fallen from 34.5 percent in 2010 to 32.2 percent. Google’s Android OS is also seeing significant growth as it occupied 21.3 percent in comparison to 11.3 percent in 2010. Nokia was placed fourth with 7.4 percent share in the enterprise market.

The survey also reports dominance of smartphones in enterprises with 95 percent of the mobile workforce carrying smartphones, a jump of 10 percent from 85 percent in 2010. According to iPass report, the recent surge in popularity of Apple and Android doesn’t necessarily indicate that RIM is losing its position in the market but surely proves how swiftly their rivals are moving up.

BlackBerry has been losing its popularity in the market over the years. iPhone and iPad, buoyed by a collection of over 400000 apps built by a robust group of iPad and iPhone developers has continued to grow in the market. The latest survey is simply a reflection of the trend.

For iPhone app developers, Apple’s growing surge implies newer opportunities for them in the enterprise sector. With smartphone applications emerging as a great tool for internal and external usage in enterprises, iOS app developers can expect bigger opportunities in times to come.

Tags: iPhone BlackBerry enterprises, iphone developers

Apple has notified out to iPad and iPhone app developers that iTunes Match music libraries in iCloud will be wiped on October 27th. The communiqué advises iPhone developers to turn off iTunes Match on their devices during that period. iOS app developers are also advised to maintain a backup of all their iTunes content although chances of their content being lost is very slim.

Apple has done a similar deletion exercise in iTunes Match library on September 26, 2011. It is widely believed that the current wipe out process is in preparation for public release of iTunes Match. Earlier scheduled to launch alongside iOS 5, the iTunes Match service is expected to be released in a few days.

In an email sent to iOS app developers, Apple has notified that their iCloud libraries storing iTunes Match data will be deleted at 9AM PDT on Monday, September 26, 2011. The email sent to app developers reads “To continue to improve the overall quality and reliability of iTunes Match, it has become necessary to delete all current iCloud libraries.” The Cupertino based technology giant has earlier carried out a similar exercise on Thursday, September 22^nd when it deleted all iCloud backup data.

iCloud and iTunes services have been available for iPad and iPhone developers in beta versions for some time. Industry analysts and experts believe that the recent exercise from Apple may be the final preparations before making public its latest operation system, iOS 5. There are strong speculations that the iPhone maker may release iOS 5 next month in its scheduled October 4^th event.

There are also rumors that Apple is denying vacations for 2^nd week of October to its employee suggesting that it is planning to release its next generation iPhone 5 in that period. Interestingly, Twitter has also announced a developer session on October 10^th that is said to be focused on Twitter integration on iOS 5.

Source- Macrumors

Tags: Apple, iCloud, iphone developers

Appcelerator has announced the launch of “Appcelerator Open Mobile Marketplace,” for its app developer community. The Open Mobile Marketplace will offer 50 mobile solutions including SalesForce, PayPal and Millennial Media etc. In addition to that, any third party would also be able to sell native and HTML5 modules, design elements, app templates to the company’s developer community.

“With over 1.5 million developers, Appcelerator has built the world’s largest cross-platform developer community,” said Scott Ellison, IDC VP Mobile & Consumer Connected Platforms.

“The Open Mobile Marketplace presents an enormous opportunity for anyone looking to scale their business by leveraging the power of their ecosystem,” he added.

According to the company, the marketplace will address mobile platform fragmentation problem currently faced by cloud and software companies. Appcelerator’s umbrella offerings will now enable software vendors to build solutions for one platforms that can be ued by developers to reach multiple operating systems.

“Mobile commerce is a trillion dollar opportunity … and platform ubiquity is essential to reach our customers anytime, anywhere, and in anyway,” noted Laura Chambers, Senior Director of Mobile, PayPal.

“We see Appcelerator’s reach and ease of implementation across multiple platforms as a significant advantage for our customers and the mobile industry as a whole.”

Appceleartor Open Marketplace is available for any app developer who wants to publish a native or HTML5 mobile module, app template, or any such services.  Offerings in the marketplace can be free or paid, with a 70:30 revenue share agreement.

If as an iPad or iPhone developer, you were worried about the potential impact of Steve Jobs resignation on the Apple and thereby your business then you can relax. A study by ChangeWave in the period of September 6-12 shows that only 4% of 2,297 consumers surveyed say they are ‘Less Likely’ to purchase Apple products following Steve Jobs’ resignation, whereas a whopping 89% are of the opinion that the change in Apple will have no influence on their buying decisions for Apple products.

The recent results are substantially different from a similar survey conducted by the research firm when Jobs was on his first leave of absence. Then 18% of respondents said they are less likely to buy Apple products in the likelihood of Job’s stepping down.

The survey undoubtedly brings good news for iPad and iPhone developers who were concerned about Apple’s business going down following Job’s resignation. Product sales play a major role in iPhone app development as more sales boosts app downloads and hence earnings of iOS developers.

A second survey by ChangeWave revealed that Apple’s iPad continues to be the first choice of enterprises. According to the study, 80% of companies planning to buy tablets choose iPad.

Apple has announced the expansion of iTunes Match beta to additional iOS app developers in the United States. The iTunes Match beta was released last month. iTunes Match Beta is expected to be released this fall with iOS 5 and Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5.

iTunes Match stores your music library in iCloud and allows you to enjoy your collection from anywhere, any time, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or computer. Any of your songs, including music you’ve imported from CDs, that matches with the 18 million songs in the iTunes Store will become available in iCloud and will play back at iTunes Plus quality (256 Kbps DRM-free AAC) — even if your original was of a lower quality.

iOS developers must upgrade to the iTunes 10.5 beta 8 in order to use iTunes Match. iPad and iPhone app developers must also note that all iCloud libraries will be deleted once the beta testing period is over.

The iTunes Match service is priced at $24.99 per year. iOS developers who sign up for the iTunes Match service will get additional time on their subscription.

MapText, Inc. has announced the release of a new Software Development Kit (SDK) for iPad and iPhone app developers. The SDK will enable iPhone developers to build rich and completely customizable mapping apps.

The new SDK will allow app developers to render any kind of GIS data into customized maps, including street maps, emergency maps and the sophisticated aeronautical or nautical charts.

The SDK will address the needs of iPad and iPhone developers interested in building GIS application using their own data and offer aesthetic vector maps with fluid zoom/pan capabilities on iOS devices. The SDK will also include high performance dynamic labeling functionality.

The SDK will provide following capabilities to iOS developers:

• map image rendered on the fly from vector data
• ability to load map data from any standard GIS source
• lightning fast dynamic (on the fly) label placement
• advanced label placement options (leadering, stacking, font reduction, shield placement)
• map presentation entirely configurable  including feature symbolization and text styles
• offline map usage (no network connectivity required)

To know in details about the SDK, interested iOS developers can visit www.maptext.com.

Leading mobile social gaming network, OpenFeint has announced a new feature to its existing Android and iOS SDK. GameFeed, the latest free-to-play gaming feature is a social gaming newsfeed which help android and iOS app developers to boost user engagement in their applications by enriching social activity from the network in games. GameFeed improves user engagement by engaging gamers with social information like updated player profiles and providing app developers with stronger communication tools to interact with the players.

According to OpenFeint, the inclusion of the new plugin in the SDK has increased sessions-per-user average by 25 percent with some Android and iOS app developers experiencing a jump of 60 percent.  The GamFeed plugin by engaging players with social information like updated player profiles and giving developers stronger player communication tools.

“OpenFeint is committed to delivering a next generation social network with features that will help free-to-play games improve lifetime value,” said Jason Citron, founder and CEO of OpenFeint.

“Sessions per user is a key engagement component of lifetime value and GameFeed significantly increases engagement at no additional cost to developers,” he added.

Popular Android and iOS game developers like Big Blue Bubble, Get Set Games, PikPok and Sibblingz etc., will integrate GameFeed in their games.

Apple has releases iTunes Match Beta for iOS app developers in United States. A communiqué from the Cupertino based tech giant says that subscribes of iTunes Beta will receive iTunes Match services during the beta period. In addition, the subscribers will also get an additional 3 months service free of cost with their annual subscription.

Subscribers are also advised by Apple to maintain a local backup of their iTunes library and any music they add to iCloud. The email sent by Apple to iPad and iPhone developers reads “Apple will periodically reset your iCloud library during the beta and it is critical that you backup your music regularly. Some features and optimizations of iTunes Match will not be available during the beta.”

iTunes Match will be available for an annual subscription of $24.99.

Insanely Great Mac says that that the Beta provides both streaming and downloading service.