Thanks to app stores and mobile games like Cut the Rope and Plants vs. Zombies, mobile gaming has become a huge market and it’s one that’s growing at an extremely fast pace. Even big name developers are taking mobile gaming seriously. In fact, EA says the iPad is its fastest growing platform.
Speaking during an interview with IndustryGamers, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitello said that consoles currently only account for 40 percent of the games industry and that the iPad is the fastest growing platform. While discussing the regularity of console refreshes (in particular, whether or not Nintendo is ‘off-cycle’ with the rest of the industry because of the Wii U), Riccitello said the length and timing of these refresh cycles is no longer as relevant because consoles are not the dominant force in gaming.
“Consoles used to be 80 percent of the industry as recently as 2000,” he told IndustryGamers. “Consoles today are 40 percent of the game industry, so what do we really have? We have a new hardware platform and we’re putting out software every 90 days. Our fastest growing platform is the iPad right now and that didn’t exist 18 months ago,” he continued. “So the idea that we’re categorizing the industry as being [cyclical]… Nintendo is off cycle with what? I mean, the point of reference is gone.”
The advent of the iPad has led to an explosion for mobile gaming, for sure. The fact that Angry Birds’ publisher Rovio is collaborating with 20th Century Fox and has the capacity to push out updates for every major holiday and season is a testament to how lucrative and strong the market really is. To ignore mobile gaming completely would be a bad call, but is EA right to be putting so much stock in mobile gaming? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Mark Zuckerberg ruffled some feathers when he said the iPad “isn’t mobile” enough to deserve a dedicated Facebook app. But now he’s probably having a second thought after Apple successfully selling millions of iPads all over the world.
TechCrunch just revealed that not only has Facebook created a fully-fledged iPad app, they’ve even released it — albeit in secret. The code lies buried in yesterday’s update to the iPhone app and it’s entirely executable on jailbroken tablets.
What’s the software like? Well, TechCrunch reckons the left-sided navigation system and use of overlay menus is “great,” as is the ability to chat with buddies while simultaneously doing other Facebook tasks in landscape mode. There’s also a ton of screen grabs at the source link which tell much of the story.
Want to share your iPad with your family members, but is concern over some privacy things that even your family members shouldn’t know? Don’t worry, as a new tweak is on its way to that other app store that should make your life a little easier: user profiles for iOS. The mod, dubbed iUsers, adds a user login button to the iPad’s lock screen. The tweak segregates application data and preferences between users, meaning that user A’s Angry Birds score won’t muddle and mix with User B’s perfect three-star rating. App installations, music, and video content are currently shared between users, but the tweak’s creators hope to remedy that in a future update. It’s a jailbreak only mod, of course, but still a neat feature we’d love to see implemented in future versions of iOS, as always. The iUsers tweak should be hitting Cydia soon, but folks who want an early peek can snag it now by following the instructions in the source link.
If you think Apple is hoping to send your iPhone back to the jail with iOS 4.3.4, then you’re probably wrong. Less than 12 hours after being available, and iOS 4.3.4 is already available for jailbreak using PwnageTool 4.3.3. The iPhone Dev-Team has updated its redsn0w tool, also based on existing exploits, for all your tethered jailbreaking needs. Of course, they still recommend you stick with iOS 4.3.3 for untethered convenience, so stay far away from the update button or modify your version number if nefarious PDFs are a friend and not an enemy to you.
We’ve heard that the next iteration of the iPad will be thinner, have a HD Retina Display, and will bring peace to the Middle East with its magical powder. Here’s a rumor that’s a little more mundane, and much more likely to be accurate though — Apple may be adding another manufacturer, alongside Foxconn, to produce its tablet. According to a DigiTimes source the explosion at the company’s Chengdu plant in May has created some serious supply issues. Additionally, tablet sales are expected to grow even higher this year, according to the IDC, and the Cupertino Crew already has trouble keeping up with demand. It seems there’s little choice but to bring on board the likes of Quanta Computers or Pegatron Technology, the two front runners for the orders.
Looking to get a more realistic feel from your Djay iOS app after having a blast at the club last Saturday night? Yeah, we had that moment too, and now Numark’s giving you the ability to boost your street cred while spinnin’ tracks in the club… or, you know, your mum’s living room. The company’s new iDJ Live accessory does its darndest to transform your iOS device (iPhone and iPod compatible, despite being obviously tailored for iPad) into a more legit deejay set-up. With George Strait / MC Hammer mash-ups just waiting to happen, the device guides you into the musical unknown with two “turntables,” a mixer (with crossfader), an iPad stand and connection capabilities for use with an external sound system. Already sold? She’s yours for a cool Benjamin, and if you’d rather use your existing stash of CoreMIDI-enabled DJ apps, be our guest. Shure SRH-750DJ not included thought.
Good news for jailbreakers who happen to have a legit (or not) developer account and want to jailbreak the latest iOS 5 beta 3 firmware released earlier today. According to a tweet from MuscleNerd, you can use RedSn0w to jailbreak iOS 5 beta 3. The Dev Team updated RedSn0w to version 0.9.8 beta 2. It is now safe to use RedSn0w to jailbreak iOS 5 beta 3.
In order to jailbreak your iDevice running iOS 5 beta 3, you will need to download the latest version of RedSn0w which was released about a month ago. All you need to do is point RedSnow to iOS 5 beta 1, instead of pointing it to beta 3…
If you aren’t sure about how to do that, please refer to the detailed RedSn0w guide provided by ‘iPhone Downloading Blog’. Make sure you are already running iOS 5 Beta 3 on your device, and during step 6 of the guide, point RedSn0w to iOS 5 beta 1.
Remember this is a tethered jailbreak, which means you will have to plug your iPhone or iPad in every time you reboot it in order to kickboot it. It’s not very convenient but it is the only way so far. Also, those of you who rely on an unlock should stay away from iOS 5 beta 3 for the time being as it will update your baseband and make it impossible to unlock your iPhone.
Apple’s made a pretty big deal about its Retina Display for the iPhone 4 when it launched a year ago, but its 300+ dpi (326 dpi on the iPhone 4, to be exact) technology has yet to hit anything else other than the corresponding iPod touch.
It was a little disappointing when the iPad 2 featured the same 1024×768 resolution as the original iPad, but now word is that Apple is prepping an iPad “HD” that will feature four times the resolution at 2048 x 1536.
This is My Next‘s source says that the iPad HD may launch this fall alongside a professional app such as Final Cut or Aperture. This iPad HD is not supposed to be the iPad 3, but rather a separate class, such as the MacBook Pro to the original MacBook.
Remember that PDF exploit from last year that JailbreakMe 2.0 was using to unlock your iPhone with just a few taps? Well, Apple patched it. And now it’s apparently back. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple acknowledged the exploit, and is working on an update at this very moment.
In addition to the JailbreakMe 3.0 hack that came to light last week, the hole can also be used for some not-so-noble efforts, like grabbing your contacts database, accessing saved passwords, or activating your iPad or iPhone’s built-in camera. And nobody wants that. For one reason or another, German authorities have taken the lead on encouraging Apple to investigate, and have also warned all users to avoid opening PDF docs from untrusted sources.
Ironically, JailbreakMe includes a patch for the very hole that allows it to function in the first place, so if you’re terrified that rogue PDFs will take over your devices, that’s an option to consider in the meantime.
It seemed that JailbreakMe may bring more features than just “easiest way to jailbreak”. If you haven’t use JailbreakMe, Andrew Liu’s new Swype iOS port may pique your interest. Although the app is still in the earliest of stages — version 0.1.0, to be exact — we can confirm it works, but it did take us two downloads via a repo with Cydia and functionality proved limited.
We were able to swipe words in pre-loaded apps like Messaging, Mail and Search, but had no luck with Safari or others we’ve downloaded. Furthermore, Swype’s all-important blue trace-line is absent, and our words didn’t always come out as expected.
Liu stated on Twitter that the current release is still a beta and that he’ll be sprucing it up soon.
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