The Similarities And Differences between iPad And iPhone Apps

People who design an iPhone app know the similarities and differences between the iPhone and the iPad and their impact on the apps used in these two very popular and smart devices. When the iPad was first introduced to the market, Apple let people know that their iPhone apps can perfectly be used in iPads and it was true. However, as time passed and new apps were created and used, more and more of those applications became exclusive to one or the other of the devices.

First let us look at the similarities and differences between the iPhone and the iPad and how they affect the design of iPhone apps.

The iPhone is used to make phone calls or video calls on some models, send text and email messages, read books on it, play music and videos, surf the Internet and take photos. The iPad is used mainly for browsing online, reading books, and playing multimedia files.

So basically, the iPad can do all the things that the iPhone does except make calls and send text messages. However, some iPad apps do allow us to send texts. So what are their differences?

The iPad is a much larger device and has a bigger touchscreen than the iPhone. Because of its smaller size, the iPhone is primarily used to make phone calls. On the other hand the iPad serves as a PC or notebook. The docking device of one of the models has a physical keyboard which when attached to the tablet, converts it into a laptop or notebook. Very cool!

If you want to create an app for the two devices the difference in size is a key factor.

Today, you don't want to use an app you're using in your iPhone in your iPad or vice versa. It may work, but not as perfectly as in the device it was originally created for. The people who create iPad apps have taken advantage of the larger touchscreen of the tablet. iPad apps when downloaded on the iPhone do not look as great. The 'shrinking' of the app renders it unreadable. The reverse is true of the iPhone app. However, the pictures and text of the magazine and newspaper apps won't fit on the smaller touchscreen of the iPhone. And the iPhone apps downloaded on the iPad device, suffer a loss of quality. The graphics are enlarged and they become pixellated and blurry.

To fix these issues, some people who design iPhone apps have created two versions for the devices. All the user has to do is to download the correct one on his device and enjoy its graphics and functionality.

Some Pitfalls To Avoid While Designing A Popular iPhone App

In today's mobile world nothing comes close to capturing the popularity of Apple's iPhone. One of the most popular features of this unique device is the third-party applications for it. They prove that anyone with the technical know-how can design an iPhone app. One is only limited by the imagination when it comes to designing one of these programs, but that does not mean that it will be marketable.

The only way to profit from these applications is to make them worth while to a targeted group of people, or satisfy an unmet need. Such a thing is not easy to accomplish as it requires some market research to know what people are looking for and what they need. Some of the most popular iPhone applications either meet a need such as directions to a destination, up to date financial news, or provide some other valuable service. These are the apps that people purchase. Or they are incredibly fun to use and are of the gaming variety.

Designing an iPhone app that delivers a gaming experience is a bit risky because of copyright issues. A designer really needs to be careful. If one does not create a game that is unique then they could be infringing on someone else's idea. If it is a big budget project then the patenting of the idea and involvement of intellectual property attorneys will probably be necessary. There is nothing more frustrating than investing a lot of time and money into a project only to find out that it is not marketable.

So when someone wants to design an iPhone app it is a good idea to look at what people need in their day-to-day lives. Of course there is a need to look at each group of people differently. Never try to cater to the needs of too many groups of people. Loyal consumers are far more desirable.

Creating a whole series of applications should be the goal of any business that is looking to cash in on the app craze. It takes a lot more than a basic idea or vision to design an iPhone app that is truly worth while. The technical know-how of talented programmers and designers can be costly. However, certain aspects of the programming of an app project can be outsourced to freelancers, but this can be risky. There are a lot of freelancers who take advantage of upfront payments and busy bosses.

The road to designing and marketing a product that sells well is a long one indeed, but the potential benefits are absolutely huge. You stand to make tons of money. It just depends on your vision and the willingness to follow through on it.

Avast! Anti-virus available for Android smartphones

Avast! Anti-virus, with over 165 million users worldwide, announced that their hugely-popular anti-virus and anti-malware programs are now available to users of Android smartphones.

A screenshot of Avast! Free Antivirus (image: Wikipedia)

“You asked for it and here it is … avast!
Free Mobile Security, the new app for your Android phone. Before we launched avast! Free Mobile Security, a poll of avast! users showed that 19% had Android phones. Of these, 56% said they would be interested in a free avast! security app for their phone,” the company said on their South African website.
Avast also stated that their new app has been downloaded by many users. “In just a few days after its placement in the Android Market, our app has been downloaded by well over 100,000 users.”
In December 2010, Avast! Free Antivirus was awarded the VB100 award, conducted by Virus Bulletin, and also made the top 10 most-downloaded list on CNET Downloads.

Top BlackBerry Torch 9800 apps

Since the release of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 in late 2010, the smartphone has managed to rank as one of the best BlackBerry devices ever. Although it looks similar to other phones, the combination of a sliding keyboard and bigger 3.2 inch 480×360 touch screen has made it hugely popular.

Research in Motion's Blackberry Torch 9800

The device hosts 512MB RAM and 4GB storage with the capacity for another SD card, which makes it perfect for downloading and installing apps from the BlackBerry App World. So with that in mind, we have compiled a list of some of the top apps built for, or compatible with, the BlackBerry Torch 9800.

• Capture It

Capture It allows the user to quickly and effortlessly capture any image, including browser screen shots, from the smartphone.  It comes in handy when users want to email or message photo from a website, but don’t want to download the photo itself.

• Google Maps

Any smartphone isn’t complete without a version of Google Maps. The application allows users to navigate their way around virtually any city, and with the latest addition of Google Street View, the app will become an invaluable tool.

• Plug It In

Running many applications at the same time can take its strain on any battery, but that is luckily where Plug It In comes in. The application lets users customise the battery use, and can also set up alerts for when the battery gets to a specific level.

• Amazon Kindle for BlackBerry

When going on a long road trip or flight, there is nothing worse than having nothing to do. But the Amazon Kindle for BlackBerry app allows smartphone users to access their Kindle library, and also allows them to purchase more.

• Pandora for BlackBerry

While undertaking that long flight and tired of reading a book, Pandora for BlackBerry will give users access to Internet radio stations. The app also features a Quick Mix mode where users simply select their favourite radio stations, and the app will create a custom mix from them.

• WorldMate for BlackBerry

Sticking to travel, WorldMate for BlackBerry is probably one of the most essential apps for world travellers. The app is a travel assistant and allows users to store their entire travel itinerary, book hotels or car hire and monitor airline schedules in real-time.

• BeBuzz Free – LED Light Colors

BeBuzz is a colourful app that displays who is calling the user with bright, flashing colours. The app can be customised to display certain colours for specific callers, so users will know at a glance who is trying to reach them.

• WhatsApp Messenger

No smartphone is complete without WhatsApp Messenger. The app is a cross-platform smartphone messenger, and uses data to contact anybody in the users contact list who also uses the app. The data cost to send a message is much less than a traditional text message.

• Photo Editor Ultimate FREE

With almost all smartphones having cameras, it has become very popular to edit photos and add effects to them before sharing the photographic master pieces with the world. Photo Editor Ultimate is one of the top free photo editing apps, and allows users to resize, rotate,  add colour filters and various effects.

• iSpeech Translator

Another favourite on the free app market, iSpeech Translator allows users to speak into the microphone and then translate it into multiple languages, including email or text. Currently it translates by speaking text in 7 languages and reads out translations in 18 languages.

Nigeria Ranked 2nd Highest Country in Software Piracy

82 percent of personal computer users in Nigeria acquire software illegally most or all of the time according to the most extensive study ever under taken on users’ behaviours and attitudes toward software piracy and intellectual property rights.The 32-country study, conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for Business Software Alliance (BSA – www.bsa.org), ranks Nigeria’s software pirate population second only to China’s, which stands at 86 percent – looming far above the worldwide percentage of47 percent.

The study entailed surveying approximately15,000 PC users included 400to 500 in-person or online interviews per country. Its findings reveal that large majorities of computer users in the developing world regularly acquire software through illegal means — such as buying a single license for a program and then installing it on multiple machines,or downloading programs from peer-to-peer networks — even though they express support for intellectual property principles Anti-Piracy Manager for Microsoft Nigeria, Seye Oloruntoba notes that, “Pirating software is often seen as a ‘cheap’ alternative to purchasing it legally. 

However,in the long-term it can be far more costly, and for businesses, disastrous. It brings in many dangers in the form of malware, spyware, and viruses that can lead to identity theft, loss of data and more.”He added that “By providing an overview of global and country specific attitudes towards piracy, this study validates the work we are doing in the region to educate consumers about what software piracy is and the risks associated with non-genuine software.”

GTBank Rolls Out FX Fund Transfer, Opens e-Branches

As part of efforts to provide value adding services, GTBank has announced that its customers can now transfer funds in USD, Great Britain Pounds and Euro from their GTBank domiciliary account to beneficiaries abroad for several purposes such as payment of school fees, medical bills, mortgages, upkeep of wards.

The maximum foreign exchange outward transfer limit for cash lodgement are a daily transferable limit of $10,000 (about N1.55 million) or its equivalent in other currencies and a weekly transferable limit of $35,000 (about N5.45 million) or its equivalent in other currencies. All transfers will be treated within 24hours of receipt subject to GTBank’s terms and conditions. Beneficiaries will receive funds between 48-72 hours depending on their location.

In another development, the bank has announced the opening of 5 additional ebranches. This it said is to provide convenient, prompt and reliable services to its customers.

The e-branches will carry out operations such as Cash withdrawals via ATMs; Cash deposit s via ATMs and Internet Banking. Customers of the bank are advised to take advantage of the e-branches when performing any of these operations.

www.gtbank.com

Glo Ranked Among Africa’s 10 Most Valuable Brands

Globacom has been voted among the 10 most valuable brands in Africa and the only privately owned company to make the Top 10 at the inaugural Brand Africa 100 awards ceremony, which was held recently by Brand South Africa, and Brand Leadership Academy in South Africa.

According to the organisers, Brand Africa 100 (www.brandafrica.net) is based on a multi-tier methodology that incorporates qualitative, quantitative and secondary research.

Developed by the Brand Leadership Academy in partnership with TNS and Brand Finance plc, this seminal research has set the standard for brand evaluation on the continent. The valuation was conducted across Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Being named among the continent’s top indigenous brands is an honour on the Chairman of Globacom, Dr Mike Adenuga whose vision has propelled the company to this level in just eight years of its establishment. Adenuga’s dogged commitment to growing an African telecommunications behemoth has propelled the extension of Globacom to Benin Republic, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia and Cote d’Ivoire, as well as the laying of a submarine cable from Europe to Africa with a dedicated extension to the United States.

Chairman and Founder of Brand Africa, Thebe Ikalafeng said the inaugural Brand Africa 100 “will signal which brands are getting it right on the continent.” Other brands that made the top 10 include MTN, Absa, NNPC, Eskom, Shoprite,Dangote, Woolsworths, Pick n Pay and Vodacom while GTB, UBA and First Bank made the top 20.

www.gloworld.com

Airtel Nigeria launches new BlackBerry packages

Airtel Nigeria, a telecommunications services provider, has launched two new Blackberry packages with enhanced features to delight Nigerians.

Research In Motion’s new BlackBerry Torch 9810 smartphone (image: RIM)

The new Blackberry packages from Airtel come loaded with unique features and the packages have been specially designed to help people stay connected to business partners, family and friends.

 

The two new packages, Blackberry Complete and Blackberry Social from Airtel, are available on the daily, weekly and monthly subscription options.

With the new packages, Nigerians can now enjoy Blackberry services from Airtel for as low as N100 (one hundred naira) per day, and N400 per week.

The monthly fee for the BlackBerry Social suite is now N1,2oo (one thousand, two hundred naira only) while the Blackberry Complete from Airtel package is available at N1, 400 (one thousand, four hundred naira only).

The BlackBerry Complete service from Airtel allows for internet browsing,100 free SMSs every month for on net (Airtel to Airtel), free 50 SMSs per week and free weekly information on the BlackBerry devices and the services it provides, while the Blackberry Social plan allows for all the benefits associated with the Complete plan except internet browsing.

Customers can activate the latest Blackberry plans from Airtel through SMS and by short code and have access to an exciting total Blackberry experience that offers email service, instant messaging, internet access, Blackberry App World and social networking, amongst others.

Customers can opt for the Airtel Blackberry Social Plan via SMS by simply sending the word “bsm” to 440 while those who choose the Complete Plan need to send the word, “bcm” to 440.

Customers can also use short codes to indicate and activate their preferred plan.  To activate the daily plan, customers are required to dial the short code *440*6#; and *440*5# for the weekly plan while the monthly plan can be activated with *440*5#.

Shedding more light on the service upgrade, Deepak Srivastava, the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director, emphasized that the latest additions to the Airtel Blackberry bouquet was “hinged not only on the yeaning of customers for Blackberry internet service, but also on Airtel’s desire to give customers complete communication package that seamlessly connects them with loved ones and associates, keeps them socially relevant and serves as their mobile office while on the go.

“We have with these additions, further removed the entry barrier for both our old and new customers to have unhindered access to the Blackberry service irrespective of class or social standing. Through this intervention, we have made the service more affordable to Nigerians and at the same time, added more features that will clearly complement the lifestyles of our customers”.

The Airtel BlackBerry tiered service is designed to give customers across its various segments remote access to information. In addition to the latest services, Airtel BlackBerry suites of products boast of unique features such as Enterprise Solutions, Internet Solutions and BlackBerry Lite for both social and messaging plans.

YouTube in Nigeria –YouTube.com.ng

Nigerian content creators can now leverage the power of a localised version of YouTube to showcase Nigeria’s rich cultural, social, educational, Journalism, Entertainment and other relevant content as Google recently announced the launch of YouTube in Nigeria, showcasing the best and brightest local talent.

YouTube Nigeria will now offer some of the most informative and entertaining video content from around the world through a local interface, www.youtube.com.ng  ,that promotes content that is most relevant to Nigerians.

There is something on YouTube for everyone, as shown by individuals such as Jason Njoku, the entrepreneurial spirit behind Nollywood Love , or companies such as 37th State , which set up an urban, African culture and lifestyle channel.

From amateur to professional content, from the unexpected to the emotionally affecting, the educational to the entertaining, Nigerians now have greater flexibility to tell their stories, and find videos most useful to them.

At the YouTube launch event in Lagos today, Google Country Manager Juliet Ehimuan welcomed Patrick Walker, YouTube’s Senior Director, content Partnerships, for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “With over 3 billion views a day, YouTube is the world’s largest audience, and a mode of communication that allows everyone’s voice to be heard”, said Walker. “Nigerians are passionate about music, entertainment and many other genres that YouTube offers. By launching YouTube locally, we help people to find the most popular videos in Nigeria, along with those that are rising in
popularity”.

YouTube Nigeria makes it easier for Nigerian users to find and view the videos most relevant to them. Content uploaded by Nigerian users will show up as “browse pages” on the YouTube Nigeria site, creating a new virtual space for the national community and giving Nigerians the opportunity to increase their exposure online. Also at the YouTube launch event in Lagos today, Nollywood Love announced the launch of iRok TV, whilst Storm 360 announced the launch of 6 new YouTube channels. 37th State announced the premiere of its first short film and documentary, Nkiru, which is to take place on December 18, 2011.

“The power of the internet presents great opportunities. YouTube gives people the power to broadcast themselves,” said Obi Asika from Storm360, a leading entertainment company in West Africa. “Our channel has helped connect us with local and international fans and artists all over the world, and is helping us to achieve our full potential. For users with slow connections, they can use YouTube Feather for better performance”.

One of YouTube’s key priorities, in addition to the making the platform a
comprehensive destination is to ensure that videos load and play quickly, even in places where bandwidth is at a premium.

Improving Internet access remains a key challenge across Africa which in my opinion Google should support Africa fully in increasing internet access especially in rural areas before unleashing her products on us!
In addition to the standard YouTube experience, users have the option to watch videos with YouTube Feather. This “light” version only includes the site’s most basic features, to help ensure that those with low-speed Internet connections are able to play videos play faster. YouTube Feather can be found in TestTube, the area on the site where new products are tested.
It is our  believe that Nigerians will explore the opportunities with YouTube to positively change our image online.

Google Scholarships for 2012

As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to encourage women and minorities to excel in computing and technology through her Google University Programes, Google has announced the following scholarships for 2012. 

-Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2012: Europe, the Middle East and Africa. You can find more details at

http://www.google.com/anitaborg/emea/

-Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities. You can

find more details at http://www.google.com/studentswithdisabilities-europe/

The deadline for both scholarships is 1st February 2012. Scholarship

recipients will each receive a 7,000 EUR scholarship and in June 2012 all scholarship recipients and finalists will be invited to visit a Google

office in Europe for a networking retreat. It will include workshops with a series of speakers, panels, breakout sessions and social activities, and will provide an opportunity for all finalists to meet and share their experiences. You can find out more about the scholarships and retreat through the videos

HiTV Offers Dove and TVC Free

HiTV subscribers will enjoy free viewing of two of its top channels Dove TV and Television Continental , TVC from October through December.

This disclosure came in a statement signed by the Nigeria Pay TV Company marketing/Brand Manager, Mrs. Kemi Fashina.

Nigeria woo of the Redeemed Christian church of God(RCCG) at the November edition of the Holy Ghost Congress. Also, all exciting programmes on tvc would be served on a free platter.

We value our subscribers and that is why we ensure that we do everything for them to get more value for staying with the HiTV platform.

Dove TV and TVC will remain free from now till December pending when you renew your subscription.

TVC, a terrestrial TV station shows Nollywood Movies, talk shows as well as hair raising political programmes.

This is what subscribers would be seeing free of charge before that coukd go and renew their subscription at any of our dealer outlets.

Etisalat Unveil ‘9ja Free Credit’ SIM promotion

Etisalat Nigeria has launched its ‘9ja Free Credit’ promo after giving out over N3billion airtime to over 6million subscribers between June and October 2011. This promo which is designed to enable new customers experience the benefits of the Etisalat network and enjoy up to N100, 000 bonus airtime will run from 1st till 30th of November 2011.

Wael Ammar, chief commercial officer, Etisalat Nigeria, disclosed that the promotion is one of the company’s numerous ways of ensuring that new subscribers joining the most innovative network in the country are encouraged to improve their bonding and friendship with loved ones and business associates.

According to Ammar, “Our customers are always at the centre of our business. This is why we have designed this promotion in such a way that all new subscribers to our network begin to enjoy the benefits of the brand. All the customer has to do is to buy an Etisalat SIM card, register it in the month of November, recharge as much as he or she can within the next 30 days and we will reward them with 30% of their total recharges after a 30-day cycle”.

The bonus credit is valid for 30 days and can be used to make calls or send SMS to any network in Nigeria. Postpaid customers are also not left out as customers who buy an Etisalat postpaid SIM card and register in November will get 30% discount on their November bill, while an extra 10% instant bonus will be received by customers who recharge using Etisalat E-TOP UP.