mobile apps - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• 8 Android apps for IT

  The Gearhead column has been keeping tabs on the best Android apps for IT workers. Here's the cream of the crop.

• Microsoft to fill SharePoint gaps with Office 365 app store

  As Microsoft looks to bring SharePoint customers to the cloud, one challenge will be providing a robust set of tools through the newly announced Office 365 Marketplace.

• US Army readies apps for Android combat devices

  The U.S. Army is finalizing a software framework for Android-based devices that will let third-party software developers create interoperable mobile apps for combat soldiers. It's already being tested by the 82nd Airborne Division on a prototype device, dubbed the Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P Handheld.

• Top 15 innovative mobile apps to watch in 2011

  Mobile apps are becoming increasingly influential, as they have the potential to spread to millions of tablets and smartphones. Here are 15 that we think will make a difference in 2011.

• Perth cafe launches smartphone ordering app

  Perth cafe, Mooba, has launched a smartphone app allowing customers to pre-order customised coffees.
  

• Motopia acquires AFL app developer

  Mobile marketing and content company, Motopia (ASX:MOT), has arranged to acquire a sports mobile apps developer in an all-stock deal worth $1 million.

• Apple iOS, Google Android apps tweaked for on-demand, video-like content

  Brainshark has unveiled features for its video presentation service to create a more interactive experience for smartphone users.

• Visa trials contactless mobile payment app

  Visa has kicked off a four week trial of a contactless mobile phone payment application, enabling iPhones to become a “virtual wallet”.

• Most Android, iPhone apps violate open source rules

  Seven out of 10 Android and iOS apps that contain open source "failed to comply with basic open source license requirements," according to a new analysis.

• Android roars past BlackBerry globally

  Google's Android mobile OS surpassed RIM's BlackBerry OS globally and in the United States for the first time last month, with the Google smartphone and tablet software nearly tripling its worldwide market share to 15.2 per cent over the past 12 months, according to Web watcher StatCounter. 

• How Google and Android users can make a secure mobile market

  Android has a lot going for it, but as the last week has shown its approach to selling and distributing applications is going to need some improvement. Ever since launching Android in 2007, Google has gone out of its way to making the mobile operating system the most accessible and app-friendly in the industry. 

• Five new ways to build apps for iPhone, Android and Web browsers

  Five start-ups unveiled services for building mobile applications and Web services this week at DEMO Spring 2011, bringing application development capabilities to the masses - or, at least, to people who lack traditional programming and mobile development skills.

• Google Android's infected apps spotlight mobile danger

  The Google Android Market for apps is supposed to be an apps showplace, but the fact that Google this week yanked down about 50 Android apps it found out were malicious came as something of a jolt to many in the security industry.

• Twitter whacks UberTwitter company so hard it's changing name to UberSocial

  UberMedia, after getting its popular UberTwitter and other mobile social media apps shut down Friday by Twitter for alleged terms of service breaches, is reportedly changing its name to UberSocial as part of its effort to meet Twitter's terms.

• Microsoft to WP7 app developers: Use our open source licenses

  Microsoft has prohibited developers from using GPLv3-licensed open source software in any application distributed on the Windows Phone Marketplace. But Redmond is pushing mobile application developers to use packages based on an open source license created by Microsoft.