Apple announces over 900,000 apps in the App Store

There are now over 900,000 apps in the Apple App Store! This means more apps to download for your iPhone or iPad.

The announcement was made when the Cupertino firm introduced iOS 7. In a press release, Apple announced, “With over 900,000 apps, the App Store is the world’s largest app marketplace. iOS 7 now features Popular Apps Near Me, a new way to find apps based on your current location, and iOS 7 will automatically keep your apps up to date. The App Store also comes with a new Kids category, allowing teachers and parents to easily discover apps for children by age.”

With this many apps in the App Store, other app offering such as Blackberry World have a lot of catching up to do.

How many apps have you downloaded from the Apple App Store? Let us know through a comment on our Facebook page.

Tags: App Store, apple, Apple App Store, Apple iOS, Apple iOS 7, Apps, iOS, iOS 7
Category App News |

Mobile malware increases by 163% in 2012 – mostly affects Android

Mobile malware has increased by 163% in 2012 and most of it affects Android (mobile OS running on handsets such as the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4), according to a report.

NQ Mobile reports, “According to a new security report released today by NQ Mobile Inc. (NYSE: NQ), a leading global provider of mobile Internet services, mobile malware threats increased 163% to more than 65,000 in 2012. The company warns, however, that the problem is becoming more complex as smarter mobile malware can better target connected devices.”

It adds, “Malware Grows and Becomes Smarter
Nearly 95 percent of all mobile malware discovered in 2012 targeted the Android OS. The top three methods for delivering malware in 2012 were app repackaging, malicious URLs, and smishing.  NQ Mobile estimates that these forms of malware helped infect an estimated 32.8 million Android devices in 2012 — an increase of over 200 percent from 2011.

“In the first quarter of 2013 mobile malware threats continued to grow and have become smarter. In February of this year, a new type of mobile malware was discovered that could jump from an Android device to infect a PC when they were connected via the USB port. Although only a few Android devices were infected, this attack illustrates the growing need to keep private data secure in an increasingly interconnected device ecosystem.

“Mobile Hackers Sell Private Information to Cybercriminals
NQ Mobile Security Labs, a team of over 250 mobile security professionals around the world who proactively monitor the mobile landscape for new malware threats and mobile hacking methods, have been also been observing increased collaboration between mobile hackers and cybercriminals. These unlawful collaborations can have disastrous effects on consumers.  Mobile hackers are using malware to capture consumers’ private information and then selling this information to cybercriminals who are in turn using social engineering tactics to gain access to the consumers’ finances.”

Omar Khan, NQ Mobile Co-CEO, said, “The security industry’s ‘discover-first-and-inoculate-second’ strategy is no longer enough. We need smarter systems that can discover threats before they infect consumers as well as more education so consumers can better spot and avoid these new mobile scams.”

Has your handset been infected by mobile malware? Let us know through a comment on our Facebook page.

Tags: Android, Apps, malware, mobile malware, NQ Mobile, Omar Khan
Category App News |

BBC Sports app now available for Android

The BBC Sport app is now available for Android-powered devices. This means that you can get all the sports news and videos on your Google Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S3, or Samsung Galaxy Note 2. It can also be used on Android tablets measuring 7 inches at the most, which means it can be used on the Google Nexus 7.

Of course, the BBC Sport app was released for the iPhone a month earlier. This isn’t new to us, since developers often find it difficult to optimise their apps for the wide range of sizes and specs of Android devices. iOS, on the other hand, only has the iPhone and the iPad, making it easier for developers to optimise apps for Apple. The result is Android getting apps later than iOS.

Although we understand why it takes developers longer to optimise apps for Android compared to iOS, this doesn’t mean that we’re not annoyed. One good example of Android users complaining about the lack of Android support for an app is Sky. Sky Sports customers using Android devices were enraged when the app for Android did not include the same features on the iOS app.

If you’re looking to download BBC Sports for Android, you can download the app on Google Play. It requires your device to run at least Android 2.2.

Have you downloaded the BBC Sports app on your Android device? Let us know through a comment on our Facebook page.

Tags: Android, Apps, BBC, BBC Sports, BBC Sports app, BBC Sports app for Android
Category App News |