Google held a session today at I/O 2013 about how to make money on Android, and in the initial few minutes it shared some updated stats around Google Play revenues and how those are progressing. Not surprisingly, the big growth is coming with in-app purchases, though Google’s recently launched subscription model is also making headway.
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Tag Archives: Inapp
Google Play In-App Purchase Revenue Growth Jumps 7X In One Year, Subscription Revenue Growing 2X Each Quarter
Posted by Gsurface
on May 17, 2013
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Google Drive desktop app adds in-app file sharing, catches up to 2010′s Dropbox
Posted by Gsurface
on May 7, 2013
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Sure, you could see and manage your Google Drive files from within the comfort of your PC / Mac file management system, but you couldn’t publicly share them with friends — until now. Google Drive files are now sharable via right click directly on your desktop, meaning the Drive desktop app now has one more feature that Dropbox already had several years ago. We hope you’ll forgive our lack of enthusiasm for Google’s catchup effort, but it’s hard to get all jazzed up about functionality that should’ve probably been there at launch. Anyway, if you’re not seeing the new feature pop up on your dashboard yet, Google says it’s “rolling out over the next few days.” Hold tight!
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google
Apple marks a Decade of iTunes through an in-app timeline
Posted by Gsurface
on April 24, 2013
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The tenth anniversary of the iTunes Store is looming on April 28th, and Apple wants to do more for the occasion than treat itself to a nice dinner. It just launched an interactive Decade of iTunes timeline (within iTunes itself, naturally) to remind us how far its music service has come since 2003. While the retrospective includes the expected sales milestones, media links and plugs for iPods, it’s surprisingly detailed: you, too, can learn that Morcheeba rocked the album charts when iTunes reached Scandinavia. Apple has fiercer competition these days that not surprisingly goes unacknowledged, but it’s good to have at least some context for Cupertino’s more recent achievements. Catch a taste of that early iTunes Store vibe after the break.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Internet, Software, Apple
Via: The Loop
Source: iTunes Store
Kids’ iPad Magazine Timbuktu Rethinks Its Tricky In-App Purchasing Model, Releases A More Parent-Friendly App
Posted by Gsurface
on April 22, 2013
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Timbuktu, an adorably designed educational and entertainment-focused iPad app for kids, has finally revamped its business model – a model which had previously been a terrible example of how children’s apps too often try to grow their revenue by tricking kids into purchasing in-app content. The company now admits that its virtual allowance mechanism was too misleading, and has moved forward with a much simpler subscription option. The new app is worth the download.
Android Users Get Scammed With In-App Antivirus Ads
Posted by Gsurface
on April 20, 2013
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An anonymous reader writes “A new malware scheme has been discovered that pushes fake antivirus software to Android users via in-app advertising. Once installed, the trojan informs the victims they need to pay up to remove threats on their device. The malware in question, detected as “Android.Fakealert.4.origin” by Russian security firm Doctor Web, has been around since at least October 2012 according to the company. While Android malware that masks itself as an antivirus for Google’s platform is nothing new, and neither are ads in Android apps pushing malware, but putting the two together can certainly be effective. This is naturally a practice that Windows users are all too familiar with.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Former Googlers Launch Synergyse, An Interactive In-App Training Service For Google Apps
Posted by Gsurface
on April 19, 2013
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Today, over five million businesses are now using Google Apps to help their employees collaborate and connect via the cloud. In just a few years, the adoption of Google’s productivity suite has skyrocketed and, while small businesses have long been its core customer, adoption up the chain is increasing as well. At the same time, as the Google Apps ecosystem continues to expand and evolve, with new services emerging around Chromebooks, Vault, Drive and Android, it can be tough for businesses to keep up with all the new tools, tweaks and iterations.
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Iron Man 3 game trailer shows off in-app purchases
Posted by Gsurface
on April 18, 2013
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Nook devices to get in-app purchasing soon
Posted by Gsurface
on March 27, 2013
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Barnes & Noble subsidiary Nook Media LLC, which is a leading retailer of digital media and educational products, has announced a new feature is coming soon to the Nook line of tablets and digital readers. The devices will soon be getting in-app purchasing options thanks to a partnership with a mobile payment provider called Fortumo.
5 year old accidentally spends $2570 on iPad in-app purchases
Posted by Gsurface
on March 3, 2013
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It was only a few days ago when Apple settled a lawsuit involving in-app purchases made by children. The lawsuit offered affected users a $ 5+ iTunes gift card, and those who’s children purchased more than $ 30 worth of in-app purchases will receive a full cash refund. The lawsuit is said to cost Apple around $ 100
Amazon Kindle app for Windows 8, RT adds in-app book purchases for touchscreens
Posted by Gsurface
on December 21, 2012
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Amazon’s Kindle app for Windows 8 and RT was one of the first to reach the Windows Store, but it hasn’t been very seamless for those purchasing more e-books from a touchscreen. An update today puts them on an equal plane: there’s now an in-app Kindle Store for tablets and other devices where a mouse isn’t a given. About the only other requirement is English. If that’s no obstacle (and it likely isn’t if you’re reading this), shopping from a Surface should be much easier.
Filed under: Tablets, Software, Amazon
Via: Microsoft-News
Source: Windows Store
Amazon offers Unity plug-ins to Kindle Fire devs, makes in-app payments possible
Posted by Gsurface
on November 21, 2012
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Game devs looking to enhance “engagement” (read: monetization) for their mobile titles now have an ally in Amazon. The Bezos-backed company has just made plug-ins available free to Kindle Fire developers using the popular Unity game engine. Now those devs will have access to APIs for In-Game purchasing and GameCircle which, in the latter case, allows for the addition of Achievements, as well as the ability to Whispersync across devices. So, what does this mean for you, the end user? Well, aside from the ability to continue playing from where you last left off on any of the company’s tabs, it also brings mobile gaming that much closer to the console experience. But mostly that you can look forward to a future bill filled with micropayments.
Continue reading Amazon offers Unity plug-ins to Kindle Fire devs, makes in-app payments possible
Filed under: Gaming, Tablets, Amazon
Via: The Next Web
Lodysy claims progress in fight over in-app purchase patents
Posted by Gsurface
on October 9, 2012
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The non-practicing entity says it has won patent office favor, as well as licensing deals with third-party developers. [Read more]
CNET News
Paper By FiftyThree Now On Apple Retail iPads, Tops 3.3M Downloads And 190 Years Spent In-App
Posted by Gsurface
on October 4, 2012
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Here’s a neat, well-deserved win for a startup company: Paper, the critically acclaimed drawing application for iPad is now being featured by Apple on iPad demo units in its retail stores, and now has over 3.3 million downloads, with 25 million pages of drawings created by users. The time spent in-app creating Color journals adds up to almost 200 years in total.
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Apple axes in-app ads for non-iTunes stores
Posted by Gsurface
on October 1, 2012
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There’s a clause in the iOS developer guidelines listing that has reportedly been added on the 12th of September that may well have far-reaching effects on the way game and app creators find cash outside the iTunes app store. This note says that “Apps that display Apps other than your own for purchase or promotion
Predictors of In-App Purchases? Not Having Paid Apps And Playing Lots of Games, Apsalar Finds
Posted by Gsurface
on August 21, 2012
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In-app purchases have become the predominant way that mobile developers monetize their work, with the bulk of iOS’s top 25 grossing apps being free-to-play. One company, the U.K.’s NaturalMotion, even made $ 12 million through in-app purchases on iOS in a single month for CSR Racing, so these microtransactions are starting to add up in a big way for venture-backed mobile startups.
Analytics company Apsalar took a deeper look into factors that predict spending inside mobile apps and more specifically, how the quantity of apps a user has affects their spending habits. Somewhat counter-intuitively, users with a greater percentage of paid apps tend to spend less inside free ones. Apsalar speculates this is because consumers have a limited budget and paid apps serve as an economic substitute for in-app purchases.
Apple offers temporary fix for in-app purchase hack
Posted by Gsurface
on July 21, 2012
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Late last week, we caught wind of a hack that allows iPhone users to receive content from in-app purchases without actually paying for it. Obviously, this is no good, and Apple announced today that it plans to fix the hack in iOS 6, which should be arriving sometime later this year. Of course, saying that
First iOS, Now Mac OS X In-App Purchases Hacked
Posted by Gsurface
on July 21, 2012
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An anonymous reader writes “Last week Russian developer Alexey Borodin hacked Apple’s In-App Purchase program for all devices running iOS 3.0 or later, allowing iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users to circumvent the payment process and essentially steal in-app content. Apple [Friday] announced a temporary fix and that it would patch the holes with the release of iOS 6. While Cupertino was distracted, Borodin came in and pulled off the same scheme on the Mac.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
In-app purchase hacker sets sights on Mac App Store
Posted by Gsurface
on July 21, 2012
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The exploit that let users get paid digital goods inside of apps without actually paying has jumped over to Apple’s Mac platform.
[Read more]
CNET News
Apple to close in-app purchase hack in iOS 6, offers interim fix
Posted by Gsurface
on July 20, 2012
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Apple has laid out a new support document that tells developers how to protect their apps from a hack that made in-app purchases free. The company also said it will be patched in iOS 6.
[Read more]
CNET News
Russian Hacker Sidesteps Apple iOS In-App Purchases
Posted by Gsurface
on July 13, 2012
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An anonymous reader tips news that a Russian developer has posted a video showing how in-app purchases for some iOS software can be acquired without payment. The hack does’t require the device to be jailbroken, and can be accomplished even by users who aren’t technically proficient. The method involves three steps: “The installation of CA certificate, the installation of in-appstore.com certificate, and the changing of DNS record in Wi-Fi settings. After the quick process, users are presented with the message pictured above when installing in-app purchases, opposed to Apple’s usual purchase confirmation dialog.” 9to5mac notes that this doesn’t affect all apps, since some of them make use of Apple’s method for validating receipts.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple given the OK to intervene in in-app purchase lawsuit
Posted by Gsurface
on April 12, 2012
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After nearly a year’s wait, Apple’s been given the go-ahead to intervene in a lawsuit targeting developers for infringing on another company’s patent by using in-app purchase tools.
[Read more]
CNET News
Amazon’s Takes In-App Purchases Out Of Beta: Here’s How They’re Getting Around That Pricing Issue
Posted by Gsurface
on April 10, 2012
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Amazon is taking the wraps off a new in-app purchasing service today in an effort to make its app store competitive with what Apple and Google offer developers. That should let developers for Amazon’s appstore tap into what has emerged as the most lucrative revenue way of monetizing apps over the past year: staying free but offering virtual currency or other items for purchase inside the app.
After undergoing testing for several months, the new in-app purchasing service is now available for everyone. It’s based off Amazon’s one-click buying experience and applies to digital content like in-game currency, expansion packs, upgrades and subscriptions from inside apps and games.
But as I pointed out last week, the interesting part of this story is not whether Amazon is doing in-app purchases. It’s obvious that the company would do this.
The question is how is it setting up the pricing?
TechCrunch
The Interesting Part About Amazon’s In-App Payments Beta Is That Developers Have Pricing Control
Posted by Gsurface
on April 4, 2012
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The most interesting part of Amazon’s move to provide an in-app payments flow is that they’re ceding pricing control to mobile developers.
Amazon has been testing a new in-app payments system with several top-tier mobile developers for several months. It’s a big deal because there has been a huge shift over the last 18 months toward giving away apps for free instead of selling them for a dollar or more. This move would bring Amazon’s Android appstore closer to parity with Google and Apple’s stores for developers.
But the part worth noting isn’t that Amazon will offer an in-app purchases flow. It’s obvious that they would do that, given their experience in online payments and commerce and need to compete with Google’s app store. The part worth pointing out is that Amazon is letting developers set their own prices for virtual currency and digital content. That’s a departure from the strategy the e-commerce giant tried to pursue last year with mobile developers.
TechCrunch
Report: Amazon Moves One Step Closer To Its Own In-App Payment System For Appstore
Posted by Gsurface
on April 3, 2012
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When we interviewed Ray Anderson, the CEO of mobile payments company Bango last month and asked him when we would see one of its key customers, Amazon, roll out its own mobile payment service, his cool answer was “in due course.” A report out today from Bloomberg points to the company getting warmer on the idea.
Bloomberg says that app publishers have been trialling Amazon’s payment service for around the last month. The service would cover both one-off purchases as well as subscriptions through apps. And, like Google and Apple, Amazon plans to take a 30 percent commission on payments made using the platform.
TechCrunch
Google Drive leaks suggest 5GB free storage, in-app document editing
Posted by Gsurface
on March 30, 2012
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Mountain View has been leaking Google Drive details like a glacial trickle, but we still have no firm notion of how much free cloud storage it’ll bring or just how deeply it’ll be integrated with other services. There have been rumors of a Dropbox-like 2GB limit, but now a screenshot purporting to show the beta version’s main welcome page points to a healthy 5GB instead. Moreover, Google’s Support portal mentions that the Drive app for Android will have document-editing capabilities, which brings us back to the question of whether this is a whole new service, or an add-on to Google Docs or indeed a complete re-branding of Google’s documents platform. Regardless, calling it ‘Drive’ still makes it sound like sat nav.
Google Drive leaks suggest 5GB free storage, in-app document editing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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EXCLUSIVE: New ‘MLB At Bat’ baseball app to launch Wed. with in-app subscription plan
Posted by Gsurface
on February 28, 2012
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Apple in-app purchase system hack is in says game dev
Posted by Gsurface
on November 21, 2011
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The in-app purchase feature that Apple added to the App Store long ago made it easier for the app makers to make money off the apps they sell. The in-app purchases let you buy things to add to your games and such. Pirates can steal apps and put them up on the web for people [...]
SlashGear
In-app purchasing fail on iTunes is starting to bug developers
Posted by Gsurface
on September 24, 2011
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In-app purchases via iTunes have apparently been failing in a big way for the last ten hours and app creators who depend on this heavily taxed income are getting antsy. We’re hearing unconfirmed speculation that the problem may be connected to fake purchase receipts getting into the system. Whatever the cause, one developer told us the failure is “losing lots of sales” for apps that use receipt verification and is “threatening to more-or-less take down the entire IAP ecosystem.” Seeing as Apple insists on this being the only route for in-app purchasing, they’d better fix it pretty darned quick.
[Thanks, Tipster]
In-app purchasing fail on iTunes is starting to bug developers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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In-app purchasing fail on iTunes is starting to bug developers
Posted by Gsurface
on September 23, 2011
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In-app purchases via iTunes have apparently been failing in a big way for the last ten hours and app creators who depend on this heavily taxed income are getting antsy. We’re hearing unconfirmed speculation that the problem may be connected to fake purchase receipts getting into the system. Whatever the cause, one developer told us the failure is “losing lots of sales” and “threatening to more-or-less take down the entire IAP ecosystem.” Seeing as Apple insists on this being the only route for in-app purchasing, they’d better fix it pretty darned quick.
[Thanks, Tipster]
In-app purchasing fail on iTunes is starting to bug developers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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