Tag: "mytown"
MyTown updates to version 3.1, adds collectibles and social features
Filed under: iPhone MyTown is one of the hottest things going on the App Store right now in terms of social apps. As we mentioned in the interview with CEO Keith Lee a while back, they’ve actually got more users than Foursquare. The company has just released version 3.1 of the app , which introduces more collectible rewards earned by checking-in to certain local, real life locations (which you can then use to customize the properties you “own”), as well as more social features. You can now browse through the top trending properties, see your most frequent check-ins, and browse through where your friends are going out to and checking-in from. Additionally, Booyah tells us that the app is growing by over 100,000 players each week. They’re suggesting that the average player of the game spends “more than an hour a day within the app.” That’s kind of incredible, but if it’s true, that’s one heck of an attachment rate
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TUAW’s Daily App: John Enock’s Quaso
Filed under: iPhone We’ve been spotlighting a lot of quick and easy action games in our Daily App feature lately, so here’s something a little more cerebral. Quaso is a new kind of Crossword-style puzzle game , except that instead of guessing words, you’re trying to figure out numbers in math equations. The game was created by an English mathematics teacher named John Enock, and has been brought to the iPhone by a developer as John Enock’s Quaso, now available on the App Store for free . Here’s how it works. For every crossword line on the board, you’re given a set of math equations with the numbers missing. There’s one total number for every puzzle (say, 6), and then for each equation, you need to figure out how another set of numbers fits in to complete the clue and make the equation equal to the total number
View PostBooyah releases MyTown 3.0, adds friends lists and social features
Filed under: Gaming Booyah has released version 3.0 of their MyTown location-based social networking app on the iPhone. As Keith Lee told me at GDC a few weeks ago, this app makes up the largest number of location-based social users on the platform, eclipsing even Foursquare and Gowalla in terms of users. And version 3.0 overhauls the social side of the game, allowing you to now visit friends’ towns, view their check-in history inside the app, and track them across leaderboards. You can also send items and gifts to your friends, which will likely make up a huge part of their in-game microtransaction system. The upgrade is available on the App Store right now, and the app is a free download
Loopt teams with Mobile Spinach for check-in discounts, Booyah talks about MyTown
Filed under: Software , iPhone , App Store If the iPhone has a leading app genre, aside from gaming, I’d say the current surge of “check-in” apps is probably it. Sure, back when the App Store first opened up, Twitter apps were everywhere (and they’re still being made daily, it seems), but in terms of a genre that can only exist on a location-aware device like the iPhone, “check-in” apps like Foursquare, Gowalla, and so on, are making their mark right now. Here’s news on two such apps continuing to grow on the App Store skyline. First up, Loopt [ iTunes link ] has announced a partnership with a company called Mobile Spinach to start trying to monetize this kind of app usage. Mobile Spinach delivers local ads, and Loopt says that it’ll be using their location-based social networking service to bring specials and deals to users from wherever they check-in from
Apple puts limits on location-based advertising in the App Store
Filed under: Software , Apple , iPhone Apple’s excited about mobile advertising (and it certainly seems like they’re setting up a plan for local ads), but to devs, they say, “not so much.” Apparently they’ve sent out a message that says location services should only be used to provide “beneficial information,” not targeted advertising. Any apps that include ads targeted to where you and your iPhone are will be rejected posthaste, says Apple. There’s a few things going on here — Mobile Entertainment wonders just what “beneficial information” means. Certainly apps like Foursquare and MyTown provide business information based on your iPhone’s location, and Foursquare especially is working on local deals with places that you’ve checked-in to — is that considered advertising? And a few developers, including our friend Craig Hockenberry (MacNN messed up Chock’s name in their post ) say that Apple wants location-based ads for themselves. Kind of a jerk move by Apple, but if that’s where the money is, I guess you can’t blame them.
Company that owns iPad trademark in EU wants Apple’s business
Filed under: Hardware , Apple While Apple appears to be the rightful owner the iPad trademark for the U.S., there’s a bit of a problem in the E.U. A French-Italian company, STMicroelectronics , currently owns the rights to “iPad” in two different classifications — “electronics and components” and “using the name in print.” ST has held the trademark since September 14, 2001, but it is set to expire on September 1, 2010. So what does ST intend to do? Possibly try to get Apple as a customer in return for trademark rights .
Gowalla announces shared trips
Filed under: Software , Freeware , iPhone , App Store There’s a growing battle lately on the App Store over “check-in” apps — Foursquare , Gowalla , and MyTown have all seen big gains in users lately (and a few other contenders have been roaming the periphery ), and it looks like we’re starting to see some innovation in the mix. Gowalla recently updated their free app [ iTunes link ], and introduced a new feature called Shared Trips. These are more or less tours (or a line of check-ins at different places around a given city), but they can feature all kinds of things: a set of bars, interesting buildings to see, the old bookstore/coffeeshop run, or any other ideas Gowalla users have.
MyTown’s uncanny success
Filed under: Software , Odds and ends , iPhone , App Store I posted a few things last year about Booyah , an app that promised a lot , but turned out to be not much more than your standard social networking/check-in app. And despite a little hype around its introduction, Booyah had some trouble finding an audience. But the developers (former Blizzard folks still supported by some execs there) came right back with MyTown [ iTunes link ], and this time, they appear to have hit gold — despite the app’s low profile, it already boasts more users than the well-known Foursquare and Gowalla apps . That’s probably because it’s more of an actual game; rather than just checking-in, the app has a currency to it, where you can “buy” places you check-in from, and then charge money to the next person that stops by.
Publishing different: What the tablet brings to the table
Like newspapers before them, traditional book publishers are facing the reality of the new digital world. With Apple’s much anticipated tablet expected to debut within the next few months, they’re under more pressure than ever before to “Think Different”. Moving from print to digital isn’t a smooth or easy path, despite the fact that most authors are working digitally in the first place. As early experiences with the Amazon Kindle have shown, digital tablets are not geometric or mental equivalents of the printed page.
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