Google’s New Maps App for iPhone Won’t Come for Months

If you’re anxious to get your hands on Google’s new Maps app for the iPhone and iPad, it looks like there is a wait of at least a few months.
According to a new report from the The New York Times, Google is working hard to finish the app by the end of the year.
The news comes a little more than a week after Apple pushed out its new iOS 6 software update for mobile devices, which replaces the previous Google Maps app with one designed in-house.
Apple’s new Maps app has been widely criticized for omitting transit directions, incorrectly identifying locations and incomplete 3D views that display some national monuments very oddly, such as the Eiffel Tower. There are also some broken roads and satellite views that display nothing but clouds.



The poorly reviewed Maps app has many wondering when Google might release a new app for iOS. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday in Japan that the company hasn’t yet submitted a Google Maps app for the iPhone to Apple for approval. Once it’s submitted, it could take Apple some time to approve and release the app — standard practice for the company.
That is, if Apple even accepts Google’s app.

Facebook Testing Automatic ‘Photo Syncing’ Feature For Android Phones

Facebook is testing a new feature that automatically syncs the photos you take with your Android phone to your Facebook account.
Appropriately called “Photo Syncing,” the feature syncs your photos and stores them privately, allowing you to later go into Facebook and decide which pictures you would like to share.
Similar to a feature already available in Google+, on a Help page for the service Facebook says that the feature is currently only a test, and is available for some people who are using the newest Facebook for Android app.
Facebook syncs the pictures you take “as soon as you take them,” however, the app also takes into account the battery level on your phone and your sync settings before it starts uploading.


For instance, you can set the application to only sync photos while you’re connected to Wi-Fi network, rather than potentially running up a huge data bill by synching all your shots over your cellular network. Photos that are synced via cellular network are synced at a smaller size (around 100k), to cut down on the damage it does to your data plan.
Your can check to see if you have the feature available by tapping ‘Photos’ on your Timeline within the Facebook for Android app and seeing if there is a ‘Photo Synching’ option available.
If you don’t want to sync photos when you take them you can also turn the feature off within Facebook for Android.
What do you think about automatically syncing the photos you take to Facebook? Is it something you would want to do? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Google+ Has 400 Million Members

Google‘s social network Google+ has more than 400 million members, Google’s Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra has announced.

Gundotra posted the news on his Google+ profile today, adding that Google+ also has 100 million monthly active users — if you count in the mobile app.

“This week we also hit an important milestone–over 400,000,000 people have upgraded to Google+. It was only a year ago that we opened public sign-up, and we couldn’t have imagined that so many people would join in just 12 months,” wrote Gundotra.

For comparison, Google+’s biggest competitor, Facebook, had 955 million active users in July.

Of course, the methodology of counting active users (as opposed to the total number of users who’ve signed up for the service) between the two companies may differ, but judging by these numbers, Facebook is approximately 10 times bigger than Google+.

That may sound like a big advantage for Facebook, but one also has to take into account that it took Facebook several years to reach 100 million active users, while Google+ managed to do that within 12 months.

Apple iPhone 5 unveiled with taller screen and 4G

Apple has unveiled a taller, 4G-enabled iPhone at an event in San Francisco.

The device's new size allows it to display an extra row of app icons on its home screen.

The firm said it was 18% thinner and 20% lighter than the iPhone 4S. However, it does not feature an NFC (near field communication) chip to allow it to make touchless payments.

Apple said the handset would work on Everything Everywhere's (EE) 4G LTE network in the UK.

The news is likely to give EE - which runs the local Orange and T-Mobile services - an advantage against its rivals which will not launch the higher-speed data service until 2013.

"I think it's obviously what the other networks feared would happen," said Matthew Howett, a telecoms analyst at Ovum.

"The question will be how many non-EE customers make the switch."

Apple said the handset would ship on 21 September.

Faster speeds

The new screen offers a 16:9 ratio, matching that of widescreen televisions.

But its 4in (10.2cm) size remains smaller than rival displays used by Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, LG, HTC and Sony's flagship models.

Phil Schiller - Apple's vice president of worldwide marketing, who unveiled the device - said existing apps would be shown with black borders until developers updated their products.

The handset also features a new Apple-designed chip, called the A6. Mr Schiller suggested this made it twice as powerful as the earlier model.

The camera is an eight megapixel model - the same as in the iPhone 4S, and a lower specification than LG and Sony's most recent devices.

However, Mr Schiller said the equipment and associated software meant the iPhone would create better photographs in low light than before.

The handset also uses a new, smaller, socket for its charger. This means owners will need to use an adapter to plug the device into existing speakers and other equipment. The adapter is listed as being £25 on Apple's site.

The handset does not offer wireless charging like Nokia's Lumia 920.

It will be sold with either 16 gigabytes, 32GB or 64GB of storage. The basic model will be sold for £529 in the UK, but the figure will be lower if bought with a network contract.

In addition to launching the new model, Apple will continue to ship versions of the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4, but is phasing out 2009's iPhone 3GS.

Reworked iTunes

Despite the fact that the iPhone 5 lacks several features found on its rivals, one analyst at the presentation thought it would prove popular.

"There are unprecedented levels of pent-up consumer demand that will ensure it eclipses all previous iPhone launches," said Ben Wood from CCS Insight.

"Newly rebranded UK network EE will be delighted by the fact the iPhone 5 supports the right flavour of 4G LTE technology."

However, another industry watcher thought that the firm might have made a mistake by rejecting new tech in order to make the model thinner.

"The decision to omit NFC in the iPhone 5 could cost Apple," said Fred Huet, managing director at Greenwich Consulting.

"It is just a matter of time before the smartphone replaces the plastic card, and by skipping this technology, Apple may have missed a valuable opportunity to take the lead in this market.

"With over 400 million active credit card accounts on file, Apple had a prime opportunity to convert its customers using a sleek mobile payment system tied to the iPhone."

Apple-designed maps become available on iOS 6 from 19 September

Apple also announced iTunes, its media player and store for Macs and PCs, was being redesigned and would be released in October, and it also unveiled new iPods.

Big earner

The latest iPhone's performance will prove critical to Apple's fortunes.

According to the firm's most recent earnings report the iPhone and related services and accessories accounted for 52% of $120bn (£74bn) total net sales over the nine months running up to July - 98 million handsets were sold in that time.

That has helped boost its share price to new heights. At the end of last week the firm was worth $637.85bn based on its share price. That was the highest such valuation to date if you do not adjust Microsoft's 1998 figure for inflation.

However, competition is intensifying. While Apple's margins may be wider, Samsung's handset sales are growing at a faster pace.

According to data from IDC the South Korean firm accounted for 43.6% of the Western European smartphone market between April and June compared to Apple's 19%.

The figures will have been skewed by the fact that Samsung offers more models and the Galaxy S3 was a newer device than the equivalent iPhone, but one industry watcher said the rivalry could intensify over coming months.

"Samsung has been very efficient pushing and promoting their devices offering the biggest commissions to sales people," Francisco Jeronimo, research manager at IDC, told the BBC.

"The momentum they are gaining with consumers is very high and people see it as a very innovative brand - and customers are clearly looking for innovation rather than just refinements. Samsung will also be likely to make further gains by making price cuts before Christmas."

Apple's stock closed 1.4% higher.

Finally! YouTube Just Launched Its Own iPhone App

YouTube announced Tuesday that its long-awaited iPhone app is now available as a free download in the App Store.

In case that sounds like a news story from 2007, let’s clarify: yes, there was a native YouTube app on the very first iPhone, and on every model since. But that app was made by Apple, not by YouTube. It featured an infamously poor selection of YouTube videos.

Until now, any iPhone owner that wanted a full YouTube experience had to go to m.youtube.com in their Safari browser. Apple announced it was dumping its hobbled YouTube app earlier this year, clearing the way for the Google-owned video giant to produce its own version.

Less than a month later, that in-house version is ready for prime time — just one day before the expected launch of the iPhone 5 and iOS 6.

The timing is very interesting, and the fact that an exact App store launch time was given — 3:01am ET — suggests that Apple and Google collaborated behind the scenes to have the new YouTube app squared away in time for the launch.

It’s also likely to be a cash bonanza for Google, which is finally able to show ads before YouTube videos on an iPhone app.

“The new iPhone app is available worldwide and unlocks tens of thousands of official music videos, as well as bringing lots of new features to improve finding and sharing awesome videos and channels,” writes Andrey Doronichev, head of YouTube mobile, in a blog post. “It’s a new app built by YouTube engineers, to give our iPhone users the best mobile experience.”

The app also features autocomplete search, much like Google Instant, with an emphasis on popular videos. To get to “Gangnam Style,” for example, you’re not going to have to type much more than “gan.”

YouTube has been putting the emphasis on channels for a while now, and the app is no different. Swipe from the left, and you get a list of channels you’re subscribed to.

Naturally, the app also lets you post videos to Twitter and Facebook with a tap — although Google+ gets pride of place, with the first sharing button.

One thing we’d like to see in the iPhone app: the same “watch it mostly offline” functionality that the Android YouTube app gained this summer.

The app will also work on the iPad, although Doronichev says his team is hard at work on a special iOS tablet version with more functionality.

What else would you like to see in YouTube’s iPhone app? Let us know in the comments.

Twitter to Earn More Mobile Ad Revenue Than Facebook This Year

Twitter may have a ways to go until it matches Facebook’s valuation, but at least in one crucial segment — mobile advertising — it appears to be besting its larger rival.

A report from eMarketer estimates that Twitter will hit $129.7 million in U.S. mobile ad revenues this year compared to $72 million for Facebook.

However, Twitter’s advantage in the mobile ad space won’t last for long. According to eMarketer’s predictions, Facebook’s ad revenue will grow five-fold to $387 million in 2013, beating Twitter’s take by more than $100 million. This would make Facebook the second highest mobile ad earner behind Google.

eMarketer’s predictions offer some hope for investors who are concerned about whether Facebook will figure out its mobile advertising strategy. As the research firm points out in the report, Facebook only launched its first mobile ad units in June and still has plenty of room to grow.

“Mobile is a long-term play for Facebook, and by next year, eMarketer expects the social networking giant to beat out Twitter by a significant margin, taking in $387 million on mobile in the US.,” the firm wrote in its report. Concerns about Facebook’s ability to monetize its platform as users shift to mobile has bedeviled the company’s IPO. The company’s stock has fallen about 50% since it went public in May. However Facebook’s current $41 billion market cap is still more than four times that of Twitter’s.

Despite investor skepticism, both Facebook and Twitter have already seen some promise in their early mobile advertising efforts. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo noted earlier this year that the company has generated more revenue from mobile ads than desktop ads on certain days. Meanwhile, a report in June found that Facebook’s mobile ads earn two and a half times more than desktop ads.

Overall, eMarketer predicts the mobile advertising market will hit $2.61 billion this year in the U.S. and grow to a $12 billion industry in 2016 due largely to companies like Facebook and Twitter.