Apple has launched its annual ‘Back to School’ promotion which offers educational discount to qualifying customers. This years promotion offers up to $100 store gift card when purchasing a Mac and $50 on iPhone / iPad purchase.
The App Store gift card can be used to download music, books, apps and games from Apple’s App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes Store, and iBookstore. This is the first time the company is offering the back to school promo on iPhone, previously the offer was made available only on Mac purchase.
Apple has moved away from giving a free iPod touch in 2010 during the back to school promotion and since the last few years has been giving store gift cards instead. The company now offers all of its software from the digital store on the Mac and these gift cards will introduce new Mac owners to the Mac App Store and encourage them to explore the huge collection of software.
The Back to School promo coincides perfectly with the recent launch of the new MacBook Air lineup with faster processor and all-day 12 hour battery life. Students who had been waiting to purchase the new MacBook Air can now get the latest MacBook with student discount and even get a free copy of OS X Mavericks when it launches later this fall.
What do you think about Apple’s back to school promotion? Will you be buying a new Mac this summer? Let us know in the comments below.
]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-back-to-school-promotion-launch-itunes-gift-cards-100/feed/ 12Apple recently announced a major milestone for its iTunes Music Store, hitting 25 Billion downloads. Last March, Apple’s App Store hit 25 billion downloads, with the company giving out a $10,000 gift card to the person who downloaded the 25 billionth app. Apple did not launch a promotion for the milestone as it has done in the past with apps and previous music downloads however, did give €10,000 iTunes Gift Card to the winner.
The 25 billionth song, “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch, was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany. As the downloader of the 25 billionth song, Phillip will receive a €10,000 iTunes® Gift Card.
“We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible.
Apple’s iTunes Store currently offers over 26 million songs, which are available in over 119 countries. Apple launched its iTunes Music Store in 2003 and will celebrate its tenth anniversary this April.
As Apple grew exponentially after the introduction of the iPhone and iPad, the company’s online services such as the App Store and Music Store continue to flourish. The services are key parts of the Apple ecosystem which binds together the hardware with the software.
{Via MacRumors}
]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-itunes-music-store-surpasses-25-billion-downloads/feed/ 1Starting today with Facebook Gifts, you can instantly gift your friends iTunes digital gifts and recommend albums, movies, games, apps, and more available on the iTunes Store.
Search for a specific song or album to recommend, or let your friend decide. iTunes digital gifts are available for $10, $15, $25, or $50.
According to AllThingsD, the partnership between Apple and Facebook includes Facebook into a $260 million dollar business for third-party businesses which equates to about 13% of total sales.
So that adds up to around, say, a $260 million-dollar market size for physical iTunes cards split among participating retailers, of which Facebook will now be an active participant. That pie is small compared to Facebook’s overall revenue ($3.71 billion in 2011), but another digital product with less overhead and high demand is definitely a win for Facebook’s Gifts department
This partnership will help both Facebook and Apple, which have had issues working together in the past, particularly during negotiations over Facebook being integrated into Apple’s iTunes based social network, Ping. Ping was Apple’s failed social media experiment and frayed the relationship between the two companies.
However, the two companies worked together to integrate Facebook into iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. Now, Facebook can benefit from selling the iTunes gift cards through its service and Apple can benefit from increased sales of the gift cards, as well as more iTunes users.
{Via MacRumors}
]]> https://touchreviews.net/itunes-digital-gift-cards-facebook/feed/ 0The holiday season sends iOS Developers scrambling each year in order to finish up their apps for submission before Apple stops accepting new submissions for the year. However, over the last three years, its become obvious that during this time, app developers experience much higher sales. This could be due to one of two things, either people are downloading more of the old apps because there is less to choose from during this time or because of Apple’s App Gifting service, accessible directly through the App Store.
During this time, popular game devlopers such as Gameloft and EA push out as many apps as they can to flood the market, in order to increase the number of downloads. EA and Gameloft apps often show up under the featured list, claiming #1 and #2 spots, and even App of the Week on many occasions.
Camera+[App Store] developer’s TapTapTap revealed their download numbers with MacRumors early Thursday, describing a significant increase in sales. Camera+ moved up and down the list between 4-8 and settled at position #8 in the Top 200 list during the holiday freeze. Camera+ typically experiences about 18,000 downloads on any given day, but jumped to over 73,808 sales on Christmas day.
Camera+ sells for $0.99 in the App Store, which means that after Apple’s 30% cut, TapTapTap received $51,665 in revenue only for the day of Christmas. That’s a significant increase, but not surprising considering the number of iPod Touches, iPhones, and iTunes gift cards being activated and given as presents on Christmas. The App Store is the basis for numerous success stories, about small developers making a hit with their apps and becoming millionaires overnight, some making anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 dollars in one day.
]]> https://touchreviews.net/ios-developers-experience-boost-sales-christmas/feed/ 0Bloody Hell is a fast-paced, bloodthirsty game that puts the player into the shoes of a man hell-bent on taking the ultimate retribution from his adversaries—their deaths. Using a wide variety of weaponry including guns, bombs and nuclear explosions, players can wreak destruction on any and all figures that dare to cross their path.
Killing off all enemies is not an easy task, however. As the levels progress, players will find it increasingly difficult to ensure that the enemies meet their makers. Since Bloody Hell also tracks high scores and kill combos using OpenFeint and Cocos Live, players can share their latest revenge-seeking achievements with all their friends (and any enemies who are still alive).
In a gesture of appreciation, Softmines plans to give away $10 iTunes Gift Certificates to day one purchasers of Bloody Hell in a social media promotion running today. For players to qualify for their gift card, they must fulfill the following conditions:
Follow Softmines on Twitter and tweet the following message: “Follow & RT @softmines to receive a $10 iTunes Gift card by buying Bloody Hell for #iphone for $0.99. Full details http://bit.ly/aCc9I9.”
In addition, Softmines will give away one iPod touch to the player with the highest score in the game at 15 days after launch, and a second device to the most helpful review visible on the App Store. These contests will begin on August 10, 2010 and end on August 31, 2010.
Both the contest and promotional offer are for U.S. residents only. Full terms and conditions for each offer can be found here: http://bit.ly/aXDqmN
“We’re confident players will enjoy Bloody Hell for its pick up and play simplicity and mindless destruction,” said Vikas Gupta, CEO of Softmines. “We’ve given you the arsenal, it’s up to you to do the damage. This is not a game about surviving… it’s a game about making the survival of others impossible.”
Bloody Hell features:
– Seven main characters plus a few surprise guests
– Two types of guns and multiple explosions including grenades and nuclear bombs
– Three different environments to visit as players cause chaos and ravage adversaries
– Open Feint connectivity and Cocos Live integration to share high scores and kill combos
To check out the carnage, view the official game trailer here:
To get the bloodbath started, download Bloody Hell here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/bloody-hell/id381089781?mt=8
For more information on Bloody Hell, please visit: www.softmines.com
Formed in 2010, Softmines is a new mobile application publisher committed to creating high-end games and entertainment apps for the Apple iOS platform. Based in New Delhi, Softmines focuses on providing top-tier 2D & 3D games, as well as offering consultation and publishing opportunities to developers. For more information visit:
www.softmines.com