Rejection of Google iPhone App Sets Dumb Precedent

Restrictions lifted, guidelines published

(NEWSER) - Apple has done a U-turn and scrapped restrictions introduced earlier this year on what tools developers can use to build applications for the iPhone and iPad. Developers will now be allowed to use tools based on Adobe's Flash, and restrictions on other programming languages have been lifted, the Wall Street Journal reports. Shares in Adobe jumped after the news, though iPhone and iPad users still won't be able to access Flash-based content on the Internet. More»

(NEWSER) - Apple and AT&T rejected the Google Voice app for the iPhone, driving TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington to drop the mobile device entirely. Why are Apple and its carrier blocking an innovative program that has amazing call-forwarding features and transcribes voicemail into text? “Because they absolutely don’t want people doing exactly what I’m doing,” Arrington writes. “Moving their phone number to Google and using the carrier as a dumb pipe.” More»

(NEWSER) - The iPhone itself isn’t in a class by itself as far as smartphones are concerned, Farhad Manjoo writes for Slate—but the App Store makes it unbeatable. Apple boasts more than 50,000 applications, and the rate is increasing; Google’s Android operating system only supports 5,000. “The iPhone has attracted something that none of its rivals can match,” Manjoo writes: “a devoted following of developers who are building amazing programs for the device.” More»

Finding App Store bug costs Charlie Miller his license

(NEWSER) - Security guru Charlie Miller found himself kicked out of Apple's developer program just hours after he announced that he had found a major security flaw. Miller discovered a hole that allows iPhone and iPad applications to grab potentially malicious code from third-party servers even after they have been approved and gone live on the App Store, Forbes reports. More»

Kids are unknowingly racking up big bills

(NEWSER) - Geez, Papa Smurf. The "Smurfs' Village" Apple app is a free download, but it's making big bucks for creator Capcom Entertainment. How so? It's those "in-app purchases" that allow players to buy smurfberries or whatever for real money. Which is all well and good, except that AP reports lots of parents are complaining that their young kids are blissfully, and unknowingly, racking up big bills on mom's credit card with the click of a button. More»