Monday, October 1, 2012

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How A New Apple Developer Guideline Could Be Curtains For Apps That Promote Other Apps Top
App-Store-IconApple has changed its iOS developer guidelines, having added a clause (on September 12, a source tells me) that reads: "Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion in a manner similar to or confusing with the App Store will be rejected." That's a change that could have wide-reaching effects, especially on promotion models that offer developers a paid top slot on app recommendation offerings like FreeAppADay, Daily App Dream and more.
 
Dennis Crowley To Advertisers: Foursquare Is 'Pretty Much Open For Business' Top
foursquare logoFoursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley just finished speaking at the IAB MIXX digital advertising conference in New York. Marketers may have had a hard time getting ahold of the company in the past, he said, but now it's "pretty much open for business."
 
AT&T Confirms It Will Carry Sony's Xperia TL, Keeps Mum On Pricing And Release Date Top
xperia-tlSony only outed its newest trio of Xperia smartphones just over a month ago in Berlin, and AT&T has just announced that it's already grooming the device for a U.S. launch. Oh, and in case you care, the phone will also appear on-screen as James Bond's phone of choice in Skyfall. Then again, what else is new -- Daniel Craig's version of the iconic secret agent has been using Sony phones for his two previous forays on-screen.
 
The Bike Singularity Is Nigh: The Velo Bike Has An Open Source Brain Top
664b5b69-7f4d-4350-8c75-242a9cee4a75The Velo is still a bit of a pie-in-the-sky project but I'd totally be down with it if they made a few in real life. Designed to reduce the "problems" associated with biking - namely collisions and mapping - the bike/microprocessor system is fully electric and connects with your smartphone to perform some very interesting tricks. First, there's collision avoidance that offers haptic feedback when you're about to slam into something. The bike also works with your smartphone for built-in mapping and "drive by wire" control of your brakes and transmission. The creators hope to offer ubiquitous computing built-in for "data sensing, real-time intelligent tracking systems, dynamic routing, and social integration."
 
Windows Phone Is Taking Share From RIM, But It's Still Nowhere Near Breaking Through The Android/iOS Stronghold: Research Top
windows-phone-7Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the WPP-owned market research group, today released its latest 12-week smartphone sales figures across the key markets in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere, and the figures show that Microsoft's Windows Phone platform is definitely making some progress, and in at least one case, in Italy, overtaking RIM as the fourth-largest smartphone OS in terms of actual sales. But it has a long way to go before getting enough critical mass to challenge the combined dominance of Google's Android and Apple's iOS in the smartphone race. Combined, the latter two are currently accounting for 93% of sales in markets like the U.S. Kantar Worldpanel analyst Dominic Sunnebo tells TechCrunch that smartphone penetration in the UK is now at 57.6%, while the U.S. penetration is 42% (that includes both prepaid and postpaid).
 
London Cab Comparison Startup Kabbee Raises $3.25M, Ahead Of Series A Next Year Top
KBEE_GoldBlack-TypoBeeTag_Yellow-BG_HorizLondon-based cab price comparison and booking startup Kabbee has raised $3.25 million in an intermediate funding round, led by Samos Investments, with "significant contributions" from Pentland Group and Redbus Group. Founder Ed Wray also invested, along with two angel investors who work at Smedvig Capital. Wray will now play an active role in advising Kabbee, along with Tim Levene from Augmentum Capital.
 
State Of Mobile Ads: Rich Media Rules, Mobile Web Still In Play & Even RIM Makes A Showing Top
MOJ-MAP_US-parts-04New data from mobile ad network Mojiva out this morning paints a picture of the state of mobile advertising, highlighting trends across its network from February to June of this year. Some high-level conclusions: rich media ads dominate, the mobile web shouldn't be discounted, the majority of mobile ad requests came from Wi-Fi connections, and RIM is still a major player. (Well, in Europe, that is).
 
Verizon: Fix For iPhone 5 Wi-Fi Bug Being Delivered By Apple Now, Problem Won't Incur Charges Top
verizon-wirelessApple rolled out a carrier update for Verizon customers suffering a bug that caused the iPhone 5 to use cellular data while connected to Wi-Fi, and now Verizon is officially alerting customers that it's available and that they won't be charged for the error. This fix should help some of those affected by Wi-Fi issues on the iPhone 5, although there is some indication that other problems still exist for others who've updated to iOS 6 on iPhones and iPads.
 
Netflix Brings "Just For Kids" UI To The iPad Top
Netflix_JustForKids_USNetflix has just launched its "Just For Kids" user interface on the iPad, combining two of kids' favorite things: the iPad and cartoons. The Just For Kids UI debuted back in August of 2011, and has since made its way to the Xbox and various Blu-ray players and smart TVs. Children tend to really enjoy the iPad's touch interface, but without any parental controls within the app, you never know when your ten-year-old could go from Phineas & Ferb cartoons to Family Guy.
 
Kickstarter Darling MetaWatch Shows Off New Features Top
watchesEvery time I see a smart watch I scoff and chortle like an bitter old man watching a gymnast fall on TV. I'm just not into them. But the MetaWatch may have just melted my sclerotic heart. Here we see the Kickstarter project actually do something cool, namely allow users to change widgets on the fly using an iPhone app. Imagine this during a long trip - you just swap out time zones - or maybe you're waiting for an important message. It seems unutterably valuable and, more important, it seems to work.
 
HR Software Maker Workday Sets Price Range For IPO At $21 To $24 Per Share , Valued At Nearly $4B Top
wd-logoWorkday, a company offering online tools for enterprises to manage human resources, payroll, and finances, has set the terms for its IPO. The company is pricing its shares between $21 and $24 each, according to an SEC filing this morning. The company could raise as much as $628 million in the offering. At the high-end of the range, Workday is valued at nearly $4 billion ($3.8 billion). Workday will list its stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "WDAY." According to Reuters, the IPO is scheduled to be priced on October 11.
 
Apple's Reported Indian Retail Store Plans Run Up Against Local Sourcing Roadblock Top
Apple storeApple is reportedly considering the opening of physical Apple Retail locations in India, but the WSJ reports that that could be a problem because of an Indian regulation that says foreign retailers have to source 30% of the value of the goods they sell from Indian firms. That would be very hard for Apple to manage, since its components come primarily from Chinese suppliers. But if it can get on the ground somehow, it stands to gain a lot in a market where it's currently trailing Samsung and others.
 
Samsung Ventures-Backed Maluuba Launches Its 'Siri For Android' In The U.K., Australia, And Ireland Top
maluuba_headerLots of third-party alternatives to Apple's Siri exist, and the promise of an AI-assisted 'personal assistant' has been the talk of futurists for what seems like an eternity (the tardy time keeping is in the job description). But one such offering -- Maluuba -- caught our eye when it launched at TechCrunch Disrupt last month. And today the Android app, which was initially only available in the U.S. and Canadian Google Play Store, sees its debut in the U.K, Ireland, and Australia.
 
Apple Could Face Scrutiny Over Standard Warranty Duration On Products In The EU Top
applecareApple has faced heat in Italy over its standard consumer product warranty, which offers consumers protection against manufacturer-caused defects and failures for one year, and now it looks like that might lead to even more trouble across the European Union, according to a new letter from EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding. In the letter, Reding asks member countries to find out whether Apple might be failing to notify customers of their "automatic and free-of-cost entitlement to a minimum two-year guarantee under EU law."
 
Online Gaming Group bwin.party Sells Poker Network Ongame To Amaya For Up To $32.2M Top
ongame-network-logoCanada's Amaya Gaming is to buy bwin.party's B2B poker network Ongame in a deal worth up to €25 million ($32.2 million). An initial payment of €15 million ($19.3 million) is payable in cash on completion -- expected during the fourth quarter of 2012 but subject to standard conditions including regulatory approval. Additional payments of up to €10 million ($12.9 million) become payable if regulated online gaming arrives in the U.S. in the next five years.
 
Square Competitor mPowa Inks Multi-Million-Dollar White Label Deal With First National Bank, South Africa Top
mpowa new photoSquare is gearing up to launch its first international services by the end of this year, but in the meantime, one of its many dongle-based mobile payment competitors is building up outside of the U.S. Today mPowa -- who you may recall from "hand-gate" -- announced that it has signed a white-label deal with First National Bank in South Africa to offer its payment device in the country. The exact financial terms of the deal were not revealed but mPowa says its value is in the "multimillion pound" range. This is the first announced deal for UK-based mPowa, which is building its multiplatform (Android, iOS iPhone and iPad devices, Windows Phone and BlackBerry) mobile payments service both as a retail and wholesale/white-label offering. Under the terms of the deal, FNB will integrate mPowa's hardware and software into its existing merchant services, with FNB's own branding and look. mPowa's founder and CEO Dan Wagner tells TechCrunch that it is also working with several other financial institutions for similar products in Europe, the U.S., and Asia, as well as other markets in Africa.
 
Japan's Third Largest Carrier, Softbank, To Acquire Fourth Placed eAccess In Share Swap Worth $2.6BN Top
softbank-logoJapan's third largest carrier, Softbank, is to acquire fourth-placed carrier eAccess in a share swap deal valued at just under ¥200 billion ($2.6 billion), Reuters is reporting (original story at the Nikkei business daily).
 
Yandex Gives Google A One-Two Punch In Russia: A New Browser And App Store For The Local Search Giant Top
yandexYandex today is doubling down in its ongoing battle to make sure that Google doesn't eat away its market share in Russia, with the launch of two products that aim directly at some of Google's strongest touchpoints with consumers (and the wider ecosystem of developers). Yandex today is launching its own internet browser, and it is also launching its first app store -- with the former targeting desktop users and the latter a move to extend its position in the mobile market. The company says that both are being rolled out first in Russia, with the intention to then take them to other markets where Yandex operates, such as Turkey and other CIS republics -- and then take them worldwide. "We see Google pushing into the Russian market and we have to answer symmetrically," a Yandex insider told me. "We launched our own browser that is available in Russia now, but it will also be a product for the rest of CIS, Turkey and the World soon."
 
Online Games Giant Nexon Acquires Japanese Mobile Games Developer gloops For $468.4M Cash Top
nexon logoKorean free-to-play online games giant Nexon, which has been quietly outperforming Zynga since its IPO last December, has announced it's acquired all outstanding common shares of gloops, a developer of mobile games for Japanese games developer DeNA's social gaming platform Mobage. Nexon paid ¥36.5 billion ($468.4 million) in cash to acquire gloops. The transaction closed today.
 
Transphorm, An Energy Efficiency Groundbreaker Backed By Google, Raises $35M From Japan Powerhouses Top
transphormTransphorm, a company that has developed a power conversion technology to drive energy efficiency, emerging from stealth early last year, has today announced a Series E raise of $35 million led by a particularly strategic pair of investors. The round is led by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) -- a government/manufacturing partnership with a procurement budget of up to $25 billion annually -- and Nihon Inter Electronics Company (NIEC), which will help Transphorm manufacture its power devices. Existing venture investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Foundation Capital, Google Ventures, Quantum Strategic Partners, Lux Capital and Bright Capital also participating. Today's funding announcement in particular points to big manufacturing companies' interest in Transphorm's technology and a strategic turn towards Japan. The INJC is a public-private partnership between the Japanese government and 27 major corporations, including Sharp, Sumitomo Electric, Toshiba and General Electric Company, Japan. INCJ has the capacity to invest up to ￥2 trillion (approximately US$25 billion).
 

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