purchases

Developers now have a new way to monetize their applications in Amazon's Appstore.

The e-retail giant announced today that the Amazon Appstore now allows developers to integrate in-app purchasing. Amazon plans to take 30 percent of the revenue generated from each transaction, matching Apple's App Store revenue share.

Amazon's in-app purchasing platform takes advantage of the accounts Amazon customers have already set up both online and on their Kindle Fire. In addition, Amazon says that the in-app payments will support the one-click purchasing that its online customers are already familiar with.

"In-App Purchasing is simple to … Read more

A new report, released by the analytics firm Distimo (via Business Insider), finds that iPad users are spending upwards of $70,000 each day on magazines and newspapers for their iPads.

The report looked at the top-100 Newsstand apps in terms of gross sales, finding that iPad users seem willing to pay for newsy content. At the top of the list, as expected, are apps from The New York Times, The Daily, and the New Yorker. Also interesting to note, news apps account for 7 percent of the top-200 grossing apps.

The revenue from those apps comes largely at the … Read more

Mint Market is a mobile marketplace for preowned goods in mint or near-mint condition. Much like Craigslist, it covers everything from clothing to furniture to auto parts to event tickets, but what makes it uniquely useful, is that it focuses only on new or like-new products.

The first thing that struck me about Mint Market was its interface. While it may not be the most user-friendly thing in the world, it's certainly visually attractive. The Home screen features a long, vertical stream of listings, with each item displaying a large photo, name, and price. This layout makes it easy … Read more

Sometimes it's difficult to decide if you should spend money on the pro or full version of an app. The free version may be "good enough," but sometimes you can get rid of annoying ads or gain extra features for just a few bucks. In many cases, the way to decide on buying an app will differ for each app and each person. Here are the points I consider, along with some from an article on Lifehacker, before I buy an app:

Read the list of benefits What sort of new features will you … Read more

Shopping online has many benefits. You almost never have to worry about how many of an item a specific store has in stock, how bad traffic is at certain times, or having to deal with other shoppers who are angry for whatever reason. It also has its downsides. If you purchase a lot of items online, it can be easy to lose track of what you've purchased, when they're supposed to arrive, or how much they cost. Does this sound like a problem you've encountered before, or are currently encountering? Try out Slice for Android if it … Read more

Amazon's Appstore for Android include apps that allow in-app purchases. In-app purchases may include items like premium content, subscriptions and game unlock codes.

To prevent a scenario in which your 3-year-old daughter accidentally makes an in-app purchase of an unlock code while playing Cut The Rope (true story), here's how to set the Amazon Appstore's parental controls :

Step 1: From within the Amazon Appstore, touch the menu key and select Settings.

Step 2: Select Parental Controls.

Step 3: Check the first box to enable parental controls and enter your Amazon.com password. This will … Read more

The mobile world is getting crazier, and that suits Gameloft just fine.

The upcoming year should see an even greater diversity of mobile devices, including multiple designs, processors, and operating systems. Gameloft, with an army of developers devoted to mobile games, believes it is best suited to handle the different products, whether that means the iPhone or an Android tablet.

"We're structured to handle fragmentation," Baudouin Corman, vice president of publishing for the Americas region for Gameloft, says in an interview. "It's a dynamic market where different companies are bringing differentiation. We'll benefit." … Read more

The app business is increasingly banking on the notion that virtual currency in a game could be worth real money--and a lot of it.

In-app purchases, which include virtual cash, weapons, levels, or extra features, are poised to dominate app revenue in the coming years, according to research firm IHS. In-app purchases already accounted for $970 million in sales last year, or 39 percent of the market. By 2015, that figure will grow to $5.6 billion, or 64 percent of the market.

"In 2012, it will become increasingly difficult for app stores and developers to justify charging an … Read more

The Google Catalogs app for Android Honeycomb tablets aggregates shopping catalogs from over 100 popular retailers. It lets you search and mark items as favorites, gives you links to make purchases directly from retailers' sites, and even lets you create and share visually stunning collages made up of your favorite products. However, as great as the app sounds on paper, it unfortunately suffers from some annoying performance issues that just can't be ignored.

The interface of the Google Catalogs app is beautiful. It's easy to navigate, features high-resolution graphics, and flips through pages quite smoothly. Items on catalog … Read more