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Twelve Mobile Companies to Form Global App Market, Should Apple Be Afraid?

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This could perhaps be one of the biggest, if not the biggest announcement that comes out of the Mobile World Congress. It’s big because twelve mobile operators have teamed up to form the world’s biggest, unified mobile apps market.  Dubbed “Wholesale Applications Community“, this global alliance aims to establish a simple route to market for developers and give them access to customer base of over 3 billion users, forming an ecosystem based on openness and transparency for the benefit of everyone.

The Wholesale Applications Community already has the support of twelve mobile industry players who just signed a memorandum of understanding at the ongoing Mobile Web Congress. These companies include – América Móvil, AT&T, Bharti Airtel, China Mobile, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, KT, Mobilkom Austria Group, MTN Group, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Orascom Telecom, Softbank Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telenor Group, Telia Sonera, SingTel, SK Telecom, Spint, Verizon Wireless, VimpelCom, Vodafone and Wind, as well as Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson.

The alliance aims to benefit mobile phone users by providing broader choice of innovative mobile apps and services on a wider choice of mobile devices. For application developers, the alliance will provide an environment where they can flourish and create straight-forward apps. It will also provide developers with a gateway to market their apps. Additionally, the alliance will use existing technical standards such as APIs to make it easier for participants to develop useful mobile apps. This also means that developers will just need to create one version of their apps which can be used on multiple device including Android, Symbian and Others.

Interestingly, the iPhone was not mentioned. So, many are quick to react that the Wholesale Applications Community is being geared to challenge Apple’s Apps Store. Should Apple be afraid? What do you think?

Apple Starts Counting Down iTunes’ 1 Billionth Song Download

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One billion downloaded songs, wow! This is definitely one big event that Apple needs to mark down.  True enough they are marking this, just like what they’ve been doing with the milestones achieved by the Apps Store.

Apple iTunes is holding a contest where you can win a whooping $10,000 iTunes Gift Card.  Of course you can only  use that card to purchase more songs from iTunes.  To qualify for the draw, all you need to do is to purchase a song from iTunes between now and hopefully before the 1 billionth song is downloaded and you will be automatically entered into contest.  The winner will be drawn right after the milestone is achieved.

And take note, the official rules and regulations say that:

“NO PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD NECESSARY. A PURCHASE OR DOWNLOAD OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.”

But then again, to be entered in the final draw, you need to download a song from iTunes. Like as if you don’t have to pay for it, eh?

Anyway, another way by which you can join the contest is by filling up an online entry form. Well, there goes the part that you says you don’t need to download anything. Good enough then.

So, ready to take a crack at this $10,000 gig? Fill up this form or download a song from iTunes. Good luck and hurry up as the iTunes Music download counter is winding up to 1 billion.

Apple is Now a $50+ Billion Company, New Product to Boost Income

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Apple has just released its first quarter earnings for Fiscal Year 2010 ending on Dec 26, 2009. And guess what? Apple obviously posted significant growth in revenues.  Apple’s total revenue is at $15.68 billion while net quarterly profit is at $3.38 billion or $3.67 per share.

Part of this revenue was due to the sale of the Macintosh computers, accounting for 3.36 million units sold, a 33% unit increase as compared to the same quarter last year.  The iPhone too, managed to contribute to Apple’s overall growth with a 100% increase in unit growth compared to last year.  Apple sold 8.7 million iPhone in the Q1 Fiscal 2010.  The only product line that didn’t earn Apple quite well is the iPod family, representing an 8% decline from last year. Apple probably needs to come up with something new for its iPod products to renew consumer interest.

Of course, the biggest announcement from the earnings report was contained in Apple’s Steve Jobs statement:

“If you annualize our quarterly revenue, it’s surprising that Apple is now a $50+ billion company. The new products we are planning to release this year are very strong, starting this week with a major new product that we’re really excited about.”

Any idea what that product may be? Of course, well all know what that is – it’s the Apple iSlate or Apple Tablet or the Apple iPad. Whatever it is going to be called, I’ve very certain that Apple is coming out with another killer product. Something that everyone would probably want to have.

And we will soon find out about that on the 27th.

Apple Reminisces with iTunes Rewind 2009

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Screen shot 2009-12-09 at 4.59.52 AM‘Twas a successful year for one of Apple’s bread and butter – the iTunes store. And to reminisce on what has happened this year, here comes an early treat from Apple – iTunes Rewind 2009.

iTunes Rewind 2009 lists down the bestselling iTunes content – be it apps, music, movies, podcasts and other mobile content available at the iTunes store. Music and movies are ranked according to sales and downloads, while apps are categorized into games and apps.

So, if you’ve been an avid iTunes user the whole year, iTunes Rewind 2009 is definitely a list worth checking out for you.

On with the list – best games of 2009 at the iTunes Store include the likes of Spider, Real Racing, Zenonia and Ravensworld, while top selling games of 2009 include SIMS 3, Oregon Trail, Need for Speed Undercover, and Madden NFL 10. The last two games are definitely a must have for every iPhone gamer.

For Best Apps of 2009, Reel Director, Magellan Roadmate and I Am T-Pain are some of who made it into the list, while top selling apps include the likes of Mobile Navigator America, MLB.com and Textfree Unlimited.

Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas is the top selling single for 2009 at the iTunes Music Store while Michael Jackson of course was the Artist of the Year. Album of the Year goes out to Kings of Leon’s “Only by the Night.”

Top selling movies at the iTunes Store for 2009 include the likes of “Twilight”, “Star Trek” and “Up”.

Check out iTunes Rewind 2009 here.