Apple News

Ngmoco picks up $25 million in funding, buys Freeverse

February 23rd, 2010 at 01:38am Under Hot Apple News+ Iphone

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Apple, iPhone, App Store

TechCrunch is reporting that iPhone game company Ngmoco has just picked up $25 million in another round of fundraising, which they used to buy out Freeverse, one of the most storied Mac game developers (and recently, iPhone game developers) on the block. The two companies were already close — Freeverse went with Ngmoco’s Plus+ network for social connections in its games, including Flick Fishing and Moto Thunder — but this buyout would put Ngmoco in charge of their whole catalog. Ngmoco CEO Neil Young says that he plans to take all of Freeverse’s currently paid games and convert them all into the free-to-play model that Ngmoco has grown so comfortable with.

It’s a pretty bold move — Ngmoco is seriously investing in this model (even to the extent where they’ll cancel planned games unless they can squeeze them into the model), and now Freeverse will have to follow suit. There’s no word on what will happen to Freeverse’s significant Mac game library as well — will that part of the company be split off? Will Ngmoco shut it all down and choose to focus on iPhone apps?

Unfortunately, the only available information is the post on TechCrunch. We’ve put out calls to both developers and will get back to you when we know more.

Update: Touch Arcade has interviewed Young. He doesn’t mention Freeverse’s Mac titles, but he does confirm that “freemium” is the way they’re going to steer all of Freeverse’s titles in the future.

TUAWNgmoco picks up $25 million in funding, buys Freeverse originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone – Ngmoco – Neil Young – Apple – Flick Fishing

By Mike Schramm Continue Reading Ngmoco picks up $25 million in funding, buys FreeverseAdd comment

Rumor: Apple developing second tablet device, made from unicorn tears

February 2nd, 2010 at 02:30pm Under Hot Apple News

Filed under: Rumors, Apple

Just when you thought Apple tablet rumors were dead — because, you know, they kind of announced one already — another has emerged like a zombie rising from its grave to feast upon the brains of gullible fanboys. You may want to grab your salt shakers and wash its grains down with a stiff shot of whiskey for this one though. TechCrunch (a company familiar with tablet devices *wink*) is reporting that Apple may be hard at work developing a second tablet device – this one more computer than consumer device, said to be bigger and badder than its recently announced sibling. TC’s MG Seigler claims to have “heard” from second-hand sources (I didn’t realize Goodwill sold rumors) that iPad Maxi will feature a more robust software stack with more in common to the desktop flavor of OSX rather than iPhone OS, and powered by Intel’s Atom processor.

Before the iPad was revealed last week, rumors circulated for a long time that Apple might be working on two different sizes for the screen of the device. Some had the device as small as 7″, others were saying it would go up to 10.6″. (The actual size of the iPad is 9.7″.) But the information we’re hearing is that Apple is thinking much larger for another version of the product, maybe all the way up to the 15.4″ size that it currently uses for one version of the MacBook Pro.

Aside from the fact that Apple is now rolling its own chips, and hence no longer requires Intel’s power-sipping Atom processor, why on earth fragment and possibly cannibalize your product line with TWO competing products that essentially attack the same markets from two different points? It isn’t in Apple’s nature to throw pasta at walls in hopes something adheres. Did we learn nothing from Steve’s mobile device chart last week? He clearly outlined where the company has positioned iPad: as a tweener, straddling the iPod and Mac segments — serving a role that Netbooks have failed to fill. So where does this fella fit in? And pray tell, how would strapping OSX to Netbook hardware (ala Atom) make it comparable in terms of features and performance to a MacBook? This rumor does not compute.

Believe it? Neither do I. I call shenanigans.

TUAWRumor: Apple developing second tablet device, made from unicorn tears originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple – IPhone – iPod – Unofficial Apple Weblog – Mac OS X

By Kent Pribbernow Continue Reading Rumor: Apple developing second tablet device, made from unicorn tearsAdd comment

The Apple tablet that wasn’t

October 29th, 2009 at 10:00am Under Hot Apple News

Filed under: Hardware, Portables, Odds and ends

TechCrunch has posted pictures of what they’re calling an “unlaunched Apple tablet.” In 1990, as the story goes, Apple was supposedly working on a pen-based touchscreen tablet called the Pen Mac that was actually extremely small for the time — just about an inch thick, with a screen the same size as a Mac Portable. They were bringing a few different companies in on the deal, and apparently it worked well — ran a full Mac OS, used a pen to control or let you plug in a mouse and keyboard, and there was even a smaller version called the PenLite (bulky by today’s standards, but remember that this is 20 years ago now).

So why weren’t we all using tablet computers 20 years ago? TechCrunch blames John Sculley, who apparently thought the tablet idea was out, and the PDA idea was in, and we ended up with the Newton instead. I won’t second guess him — while it’s easy to think that anything could have beaten the Newton, would the current Apple touchscreen tablet craze even be here if it weren’t for the iPhone? And isn’t Apple’s smartphone just a hop, skip and a jump from their original PDA?

TUAWThe Apple tablet that wasn’t originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sponsored Topics:
Apple – iPhone – Mac OS – Newton – John Sculley

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Doubletwist introduces in-app music store powered by Amazon

October 8th, 2009 at 05:30pm Under Hot Apple News

Filed under: iTS, Software, Freeware, iTunes, Deals, Music

We posted about Doubletwist earlier this year — it’s a pretty innovative music app (developed in part by Jon Lech Johansen, otherwise known as DVD Jon) that not only plays you play whatever you like, obviously, but even lets you share and send music off to anyone, even other people who don’t have the app itself. Now Doubletwist is stepping up even more closely to becoming an iTunes competitor: they’ve announced a partnership with the Amazon music store to sell music directly from within the app. No TVs or movies — just music, purchased directly within the app, and then able to be sent out to any devices or social networks as usual.

TechCrunch says the store’s simplicity is actually a selling point — iTunes has ballooned up to do way more than just sell music, and in Doubletwist it’s much more straightforward. Here’s the other bonus for Mac users: while we originally had to wait for an app release, the music store is currently only available on the Mac version of the software. A PC version is coming soon.

It’s doubtful Doubletwist will replace iTunes for many people, given all of the various things iTunes does for a Mac user. But then again, if you are using the Amazon MP3 store with any frequency, Doubletwist is probably worth a look: it’s a free download on the website.

TUAWDoubletwist introduces in-app music store powered by Amazon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sponsored Topics:
AmazonMp3 – Apple – Jon Lech Johansen – iTunes – Mac

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