Confusingly jamming Stories in between private messages has sparked backlash amongst the first users of Snapchat’s sweeping redesign. In the few countries including the U.K., Australia, and Canada where the redesign is widely available, 83 percent of App Store reviews (1,941) for the update are negative with one or two …
Read More »Dell’s new app brings mobile notifications to the desktop
I’ll be honest, Dell wasn’t at the top of our list of must-visit companies at this year’s CES, but the PC stalwart is actually showcasing a couple of interesting new products at the show. On the software front, mobile connect is a free offering that will be bundled with all …
Read More »What is Snapchat, now Story sharing has stopped growing?
In a betrayal of loyalty signaling poor morale, a massive dump of Snapchat’s usage stats has leaked. The most worrisome is that the number of users posting Stories has shown zero growth, an even worse performance than Snapchat’s total user growth that was sluggish this year. It appears Instagram’s Stories …
Read More »Google brings its different payment platforms together under the Google Pay brand
Google is simplifying the way it presents its different payments tools to consumers, uniting them under a new brand called Google Pay. In a Google blog post, Vice President of Product Management for Payments Pali Bhat described this as more of a rebranding than a change to the underlying products …
Read More »App revenue climbed 35 percent to $60 billion in 2017
Global app revenue climbed 35 percent in 2017 to reach nearly $60 billion, according to a new report today from app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which measured paid apps, subscriptions, and in-app purchases across both Apple’s App Store and Google Play. However, Apple is the one pulling in the most …
Read More »The light and dark of AI-powered smartphones
Analyst Gartner put out a 10-strong listicle this week identifying what it dubbed “high-impact” uses for AI-powered features on smartphones that it suggests will enable device vendors to provide “more value” to customers via the medium of “more advanced” user experiences. It’s also predicting that, by 2022, a full 80 …
Read More »Member of group that used Grindr to find and assault gay men gets 15 years
The first sentencing has been handed down in a Texas case centered on the use of Grindr as a platform from which to perpetrate hate crimes. Nigel Garrett was given 15 years yesterday after pleading guilty to a list of crimes including assault, carjacking, and use of firearms, the Tyler …
Read More »Apple in good cheer over a billion-dollar Christmas and New Year on the App Store
The week after Christmas is a lazy one, but the App Store was working overtime. Apple triumphantly announced today that the late holiday season brought in more than a billion dollars in purchases on its mobile marketplace. Indeed, $300 million came in on New Year’s Day alone, presumably as everyone …
Read More »Instagram tests letting users post Stories directly to WhatsApp
Last October, Facebook extended the usage (and flexibility) of Instagram Stories — the Snapchat-like feature that lets you patch together photos and videos into a slide show — by making it easy to directly post a Story to Facebook. Now Facebook is looking at how to bring WhatsApp into the …
Read More »Apple buys app development service Buddybuild
Apple continues to ramp up its efforts to court developers by making it easier to create and iterate their apps for its platforms. The iPhone giant has now acquired Buddybuild, a Vancouver-based app tools startup that describes itself as “mobile iteration platform” focused on continuous integration and debugging tools — essentially …
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