purchases

The Federal Trade Commission will review how Apple markets games with in-app purchases, but not for the reason you may think.

Apple introduced a controversial policy for developers last week when it said that it would take a 30 percent cut of revenue generated from subscription publishing apps that included in-app purchases. Apple also said it would only accept apps whose subscription offers through its iOS app are consistent with the lowest price offered by the publisher elsewhere. The U.S. Department of Justice said last week it would take a look at Apple's policy, but stopped short of … Read more

Apple this week launched what it calls the App Store Volume Purchase Program, which lets educational institutions buy 20 or more apps in bulk for faculty or students.

The program requires schools to designate at least one "program facilitator" to join. Upon doing so, the institution needs to buy volume vouchers worth between $100 and $10,000. Only those vouchers can be used to buy applications from the company's App Store. Applications that schools want to purchase with a credit card can only be purchased through an individual account.

Although volume purchasing might hint at discounted pricing … Read more

Popular iPhone gaming developer Ngmoco released Eliminate Pro yesterday, its much-anticipated, online, first-person shooter. This well-polished "free" game features smooth looking graphics, onscreen controls that are fairly effective (no match for a controller or keyboard/mouse setup, but that's to be expected), a number of power ups to improve your weapons and armor, and five playable maps. In-game kills and winning matches earn you credits you can use to buy new weapons and armor. There are eight armor types, five weapon types, and items to buy like armor designs (skins) to give you a new look. The … Read more

Developers of iPhone and iPod Touch applications can now enable purchases from within their freely available App Store applications.

Until now, Apple has permitted in-app sales of content, subscriptions, and digital services only for apps costing at least 99 cents.

Apple on Thursday sent the following e-mail to developers:

Considering all the drama surrounding the App Store approval process, this latest move by Apple appears to be a positive one for iPhone SDK developers, as it gives them a bit more flexibility in how they design and potentially profit from the applications they build.

We'd like to hear from … Read more

A new update to eBay's free iPhone application (App Store link) enables users to better keep an eye on items they're interested in buying.

Users can now opt to receive push notifications for when they've been outbid, or when an auction they're watching is close to ending. As soon as a watched item enters that threshold, the user gets a message that both alerts them and gives them a quick option to jump back to the item to make an increased bid.

The app isn't just about viewing, though; users can now use it to … Read more

Ezy Invoice 7 is a multifeatured program that allows users to create invoices and many other useful business documents. Although it takes some getting used to, the program's features make it worth the effort.

Ezy Invoice's creators seem to have made an extra effort to create a simple and uncluttered interface, but it seems they may have even gone too far; it is at times difficult to determine where in the interface you are. Similar-looking screens open on top of one another and it's not hard to get confused and lose your starting place. However, once the … Read more

CardStar is a free app that's designed to help you thin out your wallet or key chain, by replacing all of your discount, reward, and membership cards with bar codes. CardStar requires some work up front, as you have to enter your identification numbers by hand for each card. The app currently supports more than 130 companies, from popular grocery and drug stores to gyms, airlines, and libraries. You can also use the app's "advanced" mode to enter cards for companies that aren't listed.

The developers behind CardStar say that the app works better with … Read more

Turning your passion into a small business is a very difficult task. But staying on top of the paperwork might just kill you. Fortunately, inFlow Inventory Software offers users an opportunity to organize every aspect of their business.

This freeware program has a clean interface that may be intuitive for people familiar with other inventory software programs. However, if you are not, there is an excellent training video and sample setup waiting to guide you through the program. inFlow is dominated by four major tabs for organizing a business. Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, and Reports each offer an interconnected way to … Read more

On Thursday, YouTube launched a new system for partners in the U.S. to make their videos available for download and purchase. While the download feature showed up as early as mid-January for some videos, little explanation was given by Google on how video creators could offer it on their own content.

With the new system partners who are admitted into the program can choose from one of five different Creative Commons licenses, and can set the pricing of a video to anything they want. Users who want to buy the video go through a special Google Checkout page that … Read more