Imangi Studios on Tuesday announced that its hit iOS game, Temple Run, will be coming to the Android Market on March 27th. Temple Run is an Indiana Jones-like ”runner” game that has users sprint through obstacles and escape the dangers of the jungle using gestures that make the character jump, duck and move from side to side. “We are excited to finally share the Android release date with our fans who have been so enthusiastic and supportive of Temple Run,” said Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios. “By expanding to more mobile devices, we hope to provide the same addictive and fast-paced gameplay to an entirely new group of players.” Temple Run is currently the top free app and top grossing app in the iOS App Store, with over 40 million downloads and 7 million daily active users. The game is free to play and features in-app purchases that allow users to buy different characters and power-ups for higher scores. The company previously announced the game would be available in February, however it was delayed for unknown reasons. Read on for the Imangi’s press release.

Imangi Studios Brings Temple Run to the Android Marketplace March 27

WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 6, 2012 – Imangi Studios today announced that Temple Run, the Top Grossing App and Top Free App in the App Store in January 2012, will be released for Android devices on March 27. Free to download, Temple Run challenges players to test their reflexes as they race down ancient temple walls and along sheer cliffs. With endless gameplay, players collect coins as they jump, slide and run to escape the evil monkeys guarding the temple while avoiding obstacles.

“We are excited to finally share the Android release date with our fans who have been so enthusiastic and supportive of Temple Run,” said Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios. “By expanding to more mobile devices, we hope to provide the same addictive and fast-paced gameplay to an entirely new group of players.”

The iOS version of Temple Run for iPhone and iPad boasts over 40 million downloads in the App Store since its debut in August 2011.

Google on Tuesday announced “Google Play,” a cloud-based multimedia service for distributing and syncing apps and data across Android devices. The announcement comes on the heels of reports that numerous Google services haven’t performed up to expectations. With Google Play, users can store up to 20,000 songs for free, download more than 450,000 Android apps, browse Google’s selection of eBooks and rent thousands of movies. The service combines the Android Market, Google eBook store and Google Music into a single brand of cloud-based services. To celebrate the announcement, the search giant is offering a different album, book, video rental and Android app at a special price each day over the next week in the company’s “7 Days to Play” sale. Read on for a video introducing Google Play.

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The OnLive Desktop App is now available for free in the Android Market. OnLive is known for its cloud-based gaming service, which delivers console-quality games that are synchronized, rendered, and stored on remote servers and then streamed over the Internet to compatible devices. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the company announced the “OnLive Desktop App” for the iPad, and now an Android version is available as well. The app uses virtualization technology to create a remotely hosted, fully functional version of Windows 7 desktop on your tablet. The basic OnLive Desktop service is free with a “Plus” version available for $4.99 per month, which features gigabit-speed accelerated web browsing and access to other cloud storage services such as Dropbox. The OnLive Desktop app requires at least Android 2.3 and is compatible with the Acer Iconia Tab A500, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, Motorola XOOM, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, and HTC Jetstream. Read on for OnLive’s press release.

At OnLive, we don’t like to rest on our laurels. So we didn’t stop at bringing instant-action cloud gaming to your Android tablet. Now we’re delivering OnLive Desktop as well—an instant-response Windows desktop loaded with full Microsoft Office apps, Adobe Reader and, with the OnLive Desktop Plus service, gigabit-speed* accelerated browsing.

The OnLive Desktop App is now available free in the Android Market, empowering you to get your work done anywhere with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Enjoy a no-compromise, media-rich, multi-touch Windows desktop on your tablet, with fully functional applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe Reader, along with 2GB of cloud storage. The OnLive Desktop Plus service, available for $4.99/month at desktop.onlive.com, provides all OnLive Desktop Standard features plus our gigabit-speed accelerated browsing—the world’s fastest browsing experience, whether you’re connecting over Wi-Fi- or 4G LTE. Together, we think they’ll change the way you look at your tablet forever.

Let me give you an example. Say you’re in transit to a meeting and you need to put some finishing touches on your PowerPoint presentation. You can just upload it from your PC or Mac into your free OnLive storage at files.onlive.com (or, if you have OnLive Desktop Plus, save it into third-party cloud storage like Dropbox) and open it instantly on your tablet on the go. Create new graphics, add in videos … with full app functionality and instant-response multi-touch gestures, you’ll feel like you’re working locally. And, with a Bluetooth keyboard and/or mouse you may forget you are not using a local PC.

With OnLive Desktop Plus, you can even email your presentation to co-workers for input or approval and make changes on the fly. Webmail attachments, even 50 MB ones, transfer in less than a second. By the time you arrive at your meeting, your presentation is polished, up-to-the-minute accurate and ready to present, either directly from your tablet or by simply signing in to OnLive Desktop from a different device. (OnLive Desktop is also available on iPad. Smartphones, PCs, Macs and monitors/TVs are coming soon.)

Simple, right? You look professional and your work does, too. No time lost. No compromises. Even better, OnLive Desktop Plus can actually reduce Web browsing data usage by a factor of 10 or more, since only the top layer of the current view of a website is sent over your local Internet connection**.

The OnLive Desktop app requires at least Android 2.3 and is compatible with the following tablets: Acer Iconia Tab A500, ASUS Eee TF101, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1, and HTC Jetstream. For more details—and to sign up for your free OnLive account—check out desktop.onlive.com.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that due to a permission loophole, third party app developers could access an iPhone’s photo gallery app. The paper is now reporting that Google’s Android operating system suffers from a similar security hole. Unlike the iPhone however, which requires an app to have permission to access location data, an Android device that has permission to access the Internet can copy photos to a remote server without notice. “We can confirm that there is no special permission required for an app to read pictures,” said Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer of Lookout Security. Read on for more.

A Google spokesman told The Times that the lack of restrictions on photo access was a design choice from the way early Android phones stored data. The first Android smartphones had the ability to store photos on a removable memory card, which complicated the issue of photo access.

“We originally designed the Android photos file system similar to those of other computing platforms like Windows and Mac OS,” the spokesman said. “At the time, images were stored on a SD card, making it easy for someone to remove the SD card from a phone and put it in a computer to view or transfer those images. As phones and tablets have evolved to rely more on built-in, non-removable memory, we’re taking another look at this and considering adding a permission for apps to access images.”

Ralph Gootee, an Android developer and CTO of Loupe, created a test application in the form of a simple timer. After installing the app, a pop-up notification requested access to the Internet. When a user sets the timer, however, the app is able to access the photo library and retrieve the most recent images without the user granting the app permission to do so. “Photos if anything are the most personal things,” Mr. Gootee said. “I’m really kind of shocked about this.”

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Google on Tuesday announced on the company’s developer blog that it has updated its Android Application Statistics tool in an effort to provide more detailed information to developers. The tool originally provided apps’ performance throughout various countries, system versions and device models, among other data. The update brings a new way to analyze data as well as a redesigned user interface and new installation metrics that can measure unique user and device stats. Developers can view active installs, total installs and daily installs of their applications along with unique user and device data, and they have access to uninstall data as well. Additionally, developers will be able to monitor which carrier customers are on and which version of each app customers are using.

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Andy Rubin on Monday announced that the Google’s Android partners are currently activating an average of 850,000 each each. The activation rate continues to increase rapidly, and it is now up a whopping 250% year-over-year. In December it was reported that 700,000 devices were activated each day. Google also announced that the Android Market is now home to 450,000 apps, a mere 50,000 shy of Apple’s iOS App Store, and more than 1 billion downloads are being served each month to over 300 million Android devices worldwide.

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iPhone users may be more inclined to pay for apps than their Android-toting counterparts because apps in the Android Market are usually priced much higher, according to market research firm Canalys.The company on Thursday released the results of a survey that found Android apps to cost two and a half times more than iPhone apps on average. The top paid-for Android apps were priced “dramatically higher” than those on iOS for the iPhone. “In the US, to purchase the top 100 paid-for apps in the Android Market would cost $374.37 – an average of $3.74 per app – more than 2.5 times the cost of the top 100 paid-for iPhone apps. The top 100 iPhone apps would cost $147.00, or $1.47 on average per app,” read the company’s press release. The survey found that 82 of the top 100 paid apps in Apple’s App Store were priced at $0.99, against just 22 in the Android Market. More aggressive pricing in the Android Market, however, could encourage more consumers to make their first app purchases, the firm claims. Read on for Canalys’s press release.

Android apps are too expensive

Apple’s more mature, controlled retail environment drives app price competitiveness

Palo Alto, Shanghai, Singapore and Reading – Thursday, 23 February 2012

Canalys today released the results of a recent App Interrogator survey of the top paid-for and free apps from the leading consumer app stores to clients of its App Store Analysis service. The survey reveals that the top paid-for Android apps are priced dramatically higher than those on iOS for the iPhone. In the US, to purchase the top 100 paid-for apps in the Android Market would cost $374.37 – an average of $3.74 per app – more than 2.5 times the cost of the top 100 paid-for iPhone apps. The top 100 iPhone apps would cost $147.00, or $1.47 on average per app.

A narrower focus on just the top 10 or 20 downloaded paid-for app listings reveals the same striking disparity in pricing. The top 10 or 20 Android paid-for apps cost, on average, $3.47 or $4.09 each respectively, compared with $0.99 or $1.04 respectively for the top 10 or 20 iOS paid-for apps. A similar picture was also seen in all five countries surveyed (Germany, India, Singapore, the UK and the US), though the Indian and Singaporean Android Market listings are not truly localized.

‘That developers can apparently charge more for their apps on Android and make it into the top paid list is clearly a positive,’ said Canalys Managing Director, Mobile and APAC, Rachel Lashford. ‘But the reality is that with fewer people willing to purchase apps on Android than on iOS today, there is more of a necessity to do so. Developers and publishers need to balance the iOS volume opportunity with a potentially greater value per download opportunity on Android, where more apps command higher price points. Selling more apps at higher prices is the Holy Grail for developers, but achieving big volumes of paid apps on Android is no small challenge. More aggressive price competition around Android apps would help to encourage more consumers to make their first app purchases, drive greater download volumes, and ultimately be good for the vibrancy of the app ecosystem.’

It was noteworthy that the top downloaded paid-for apps on Android and iOS had little commonality in any country. In the United States, just 19 apps appeared in the top 100 paid lists for both stores. Individual apps tend to be priced very similarly where they do appear in both stores, with the exception of apps that are subject to promotional pricing on iOS.

‘It is clear that apps or games that prove to be runaway successes on the iPhone do not automatically prove to be so popular with Android smart phone users,’ said Canalys Senior Analyst, Tim Shepherd. ‘Apple’s App Store and the Android Market are very different retail environments. The former is now a mature but still very closely controlled retail environment, while the latter remains more open but also less secure and consumer friendly. As such, developers and publishers use the stores in different ways. Electronic Arts, for example, regularly offers discounts across its portfolio of games in the App Store to ensure they remain visible to customers by featuring in the top app lists. Price competitiveness is crucial in Apple’s store, where the vast majority of top paid apps cost just $0.99, in a way that is not the case in the Android Market. This leads to disparities whereby an app such as Monopoly is priced at $4.99 in the Android Market, but is discounted to just $0.99 in the Apple App Store.’

The survey shows that 82 of the top 100 paid apps in Apple’s US store are priced at $0.99, against just 22 in the Android Market in the US. But with iPhone users increasingly familiar with in-app purchases, there are further options available for monetizing iOS apps beyond the initial payment. Having downloaded, installed and used low-cost apps, consumers will be more willing to pay additional sums for extra content, levels or add-ons for apps they like, than to pay a greater up-front sum for an app of unknown quality. ‘That in-app purchasing is a better established feature within the Apple ecosystem than on Android, gives iOS developers an advantage in this regard,’ said Tim Shepherd. ‘It also underscores the importance of app store providers innovating and being quick to implement new features, which can enable developers to build robust and credible app business models and to make real money.’

The Canalys App Interrogator, comprising snapshot surveys and analysis of the leading app stores, is an analytical tool within the company’s App Store Analysis service, which is new for 2012. It provides valuable data and insight on the top downloaded and purchased apps across different countries and stores, including pricing trends, top developers/publishers and user preferences for different app categories. If you would like more information about the App Interrogator, please contact us.

Google announced on Thursday that the company has begun to take a more active approach to keeping malware out of the Android Market. The search giant is using a new service called “Bouncer” to search through the Market for potential malware. Bouncer will scan new applications, ones already in the Market, and developer accounts for known malware, spyware, trojans and misbehaving apps. The service has been running for some time and between the first and second halves of 2011, the company reports a 40% decrease in the number of potentially-malicious downloads from the Android Market. The drop comes as security companies have been reporting that instances of malicious applications are on the rise. Google also said Android is designed to prevent malware from doing any critical damage. “In addition to using new services to help prevent malware, we designed Android from the beginning to make mobile malware less disruptive,” the company wrote on its blog. “In the PC model, malware has more potential to misuse your information. We learned from this approach, designing Android for Internet-connected devices.”

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Since the launch of the iPhone 4S, we have seen numerous Siri clones come and go. While Siri does have its flaws, the feature is unique, smart, user-friendly and at times, hilarious. Most alternatives promise these same features, unfortunately they never seem to deliver. Enter Evi, a Siri alternative that promises to bring users even more functionality than Apple’s digital personal assistant. The program is created by True Knowledge and uses the company’s Answer Engine to provide users with what it claims to be a limitless amount of information. The app is available for free in the Android Market and for $0.99 in the App Store, and that price covers the cost of using Nuance voice recognition (the same voice recognition technology as Siri), which the Android version does not feature require. Read on for more.

The company said the app contains “almost a billion facts” along with the ability to infer trillions if necessary. Evi also uses various sources, such as Yelp, third-party websites, traditional web searches and APIs to answer a wide range of questions.

The app is capable of delivering local data to users within the United Kingdom, which is something Siri cannot do. It also provides quicker information to users. For example, when asking “How do I make apple pie?” Siri is unable to provide a direct answer and will ask whether you want to search the web. Evi on the other hand is able to provide a list of recipes with web links. If you ask “Who was President when Queen Elizabeth II was born?” Evi determines who Queen Elizabeth II is, when she was born and then compares this against which U.S. presidents were in office over that time, delivering the results of both serving U.S. presidents during those years. Siri cannot do this.

In its current form, Evi is not capable of integrating with the iPhone’s Calendar and Reminders like Siri can, although support could be added in the future. Unfortunately, after downloading both the Android and iOS versions of this potentially great app, we were unable to connect to Evi’s servers. Although we couldn’t test the app, Evi certainly sounds like a worthy competitor to Siri — on paper, at least.

Read [AppStore] Read [AndroidMarket]

Imangi Studios, the makers of the hit iOS game Temple Run, announced via the company’s Facebook page that the game will be coming to Android. Temple Run is a Indiana Jones-esque ”runner” game that has users sprint through obstacles and escape the dangers of the jungle. To control the character, users perform gestures to make him jump, duck and move from side to side. The title is currently the top free app in the App Store, with over 20 million downloads and 7 million daily active users. The game also features in-app purchases that allow users to buy different characters and power-ups for higher scores, however payment is not required. Imangi Studios said that the game will be available some time in February.

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Google’s Android Market reportedly reached a new milestone over New Year’s weekend, surpassing 400,000 available applications for the first time. Mobile app watcher Distimo on Tuesday reported the feat, which it says was accomplished in about the same amount of time that it took Apple’s App Store — both on-device software catalogs reportedly took approximately 40 months to pass the 400,000-app mark. Distimo notes that the pace at which the Android Market is growing has accelerated recently; the Market took 31 months to reach 200,000 apps, but it needed only four more months to reach 300,000 apps and another five months to pass 400,000 available apps. The report also states that developers are embracing the Android platform more quickly than ever before as well, and Google now has more than 100,000 publishers with an average of 4.1 apps each in the Market. Comparatively, Apple’s App Store is currently home to more than 530,000 apps according to third-party monitor AppShopper. Two graphs highlighting the Distimo’s data follow below.

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Research In Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet became the first BlackBerry device to be rooted this past November, granting users access to the device’s file system and allowing a level of customization that BlackBerry users have not had in the past. As RIM enters into the cat and mouse game Apple knows all too well, PlayBook owners willing to root their devices now have access to the Android Market as well as the apps contained within. CrackBerry has published a complete how-to guide that details all of the software and steps required in order to install Google’s Android Market on a PlayBook tablet. While an upcoming PlayBook software update will soon bring official Android app support to the tablet, apps will need to be repackaged and made available in BlackBerry App World in order to function in RIM’s app player. Using the guide linked below, no such tweaks are necessary from developers, and users can have Android apps running on the PlayBook immediately.

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When it comes to mobile gaming, no one does it better than Gameloft. The French company is known for its visually stunning and in-depth game-play, having repeatedly raised the bar for mobile gaming throughout the years. Gameloft’s paid games range from $0.99 to $6.99, however, from December 29th through January 5th all of the company’s paid games can be had for $0.99. There is no catch and no gimmick; all games means all games, including the newly released first-person shooter Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, originally priced at $6.99. Other titles you may want to check out, should you have a compatible device, include Order & Chaos Online, N.O.V.A. 2 HD, 9mm HD, Adventures of TinTin, and BackStab HD. The sale begins tomorrow, December 29th, at 1:00 p.m.

[Via DroidGamers]

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Logitech on Wednesday announced that it’s rolling out the latest Google TV software to its Revue Google TV product. “Some of the key developments include more entertainment choices such as access to Android Market; faster and more comprehensive search and browse capabilities; a simplified user interface, and improvements to the Logitech Media Player,” Logitech’s vice president and general manager of the digital home group, Ashish Arora explained. The Revue has largely been considered a failure for Logitech. The company’s CEO Guerrino De Luca recently remarked that the product was a “mistake” that “cost [Logitech] dearly” and that his company will not introduce a follow-up device until it is clear that Google has worked out all of the kinks in its product.

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Google officially announced on Tuesday that there have now been more than 10 billion apps downloaded from the Android Market. As of July there had been 6 billion total application downloads, which means the Android Market is seeing incredibly fast growth. Google confirmed that its app store now has a growth rate of one billion app downloads per month and it wants to celebrate the success with Android smartphone owners. For the next 10 days, Google will offer several applications each day for just $0.10 a piece. Beginning Tuesday, Asphalt 6 HD, Color & Draw for Kids, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fieldrunners HD, Great Little War Game, Minecraft, Paper Camera, Sketchbook Mobile, Soundhound Infinity and Swiftkey X are each available for just $0.10.

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