iPhone UK

Mobile ad company AdMob has announced that it intends to deliver video ads that users can interact with via their iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices. The ads are intended to run as users surf the web or check out other videos. This innovation is expected to be met with great enthusiasm by advertisers and developers who are looking for a way to pull in new customers as the traditional pay per click ad strategies sink in effectiveness due to the ever changing nature of the web, particularly with the addition of widespread mobile device use.

The theory is simple, consumers have proven time and again that they are more willing to watch videos than they are to read text. YouTube’s rapid and tremendous impact on the web is cited as proof of this trend, so advertisers are looking to videos as the next generation of commercials formerly used on TV. The addition of the ads being interactive is expected to raise conversion rates much higher than traditional video ad units alone which usually perform quite well.

The ads will be served over a highly regimented network that will choose the file size that best suits a user’s technology and bandwidth in order to offer the smoothest viewing experience and users will be able to control the pop up ads by using an interactive player to pause, rewind or play the ads.

Zen studios, creators of the popular iPhone game ZEN pinball: Rollercoaster have released their new pinball game for the iPhone, Pinball: Inferno that features a 3D environment and physics as well as five modes of gameplay. It also features multiball stages where more than one ball can be in play at a time. One of the features in pinball: Inferno is that you can obtain a new extra ball for every 100 bumper hits. The game also features a hot seat multiplayer mode. ZEN Pinball: Inferno is currently available at the app store and costs $4.99.

Target has recently released a gift recommendation app for the iPhone called gift globe. To get a gift idea from gift globe, you have to input some information such as the gender and age of the intended recipient of the gift, and then shake the iPhone. Gift globe will then recommend a suitable gift for that person. You may then tap the recommended item onscreen to purchase it online or add it to a favourites list. You can also get a different gift recommendation by shaking the iPhone again. The app also helps you locate the nearest store with the chosen gift in stock. Gift globe is a free app and is currently available at the app store.

People is an iPhone app from Caffeinated Cocoa that can be used to look up the full name, address or phone number of any person by performing a search. A search can be performed using the information known about the person such as name, partial address or phone number. People utilizes whitepages.com and geonames.org to perform this search and any persons found through a people search may then be added to the contacts list or be called via the iPhone with a single tap. People also has a “Nearby” button that is useful to find contact details of people who live near the iPhone user’s current location. People is a free app and is currently available at the app store.

Despite the bad shape of the US economy, Apple put out a good fiscal 4th quarter report on the back of a strong sales performance by the iPhone 3G, which drove Apple share prices up. However Apple was cautious in its future outlook, which it attributed to widespread economic uncertainty. In the 4th quarter, which ended on September 27th, Apple’s profit increased by 26% and sales were up by 27%. The actual profit exceeded Wall Street predictions, while the sales figures failed to match up. iPhone 3G also managed to outsell its competitor Blackberry in the 4th quarter. While 6.9 million iPhone 3G’s were sold in the 3 months till September 27, only 6.1 million Blackberries were sold in the same period.

Bayhoff Software has introduced three apps that are currently available at Apple’s app Store, namely ListCalc, iStartup and TouchFonts. Another app, a magic 8-ball variant 5-ball is currently pending approval. Of these three apps, ListCalc, which is priced at 1.99$ is a calculator that displays a list of all the numbers that a user has previously entered and allows the user to add, remove or modify various numbers as need be to find the average and total. The second app, iStartup is an application priced at $1.99 that informs you of the key combinations to use on a Mac to perform various actions such as starting in safe mode or to eject a DVD at startup among others. The 3rd app named TouchFonts costing 0.99$ is a utility for iPhone users and font developers that lists all the fonts, which come loaded on an iPhone. Inside TouchFonts, the fonts are grouped by font family and each font can be viewed utilizing many separate character sets.

Homemanageables, a creator and distributor of remote home control and automation solutions recently introduced an iPhone application that helps an iPhone user to remotely control and monitor their home from any place in the world. The iPhone application is a remote management tool that works together with Homemanageables do-it-yourself wireless home control and monitoring system. According to Homemanageables, this iPhone app has been specifically designed so as to take full advantage of the iPhone’s features and navigation. The app is free of charge and is now available for download at Apple’s app store.

Although the iPhone 3G is available in Russia, it can only be purchased on the black market where it has been very popular despite a cost of up to $1000 for the handset and $100 for unlocking it. However buyers will have to pay much less than black market rates when the iPhone 3G will be officially available later this year through Russian carrier’s MegaFon and Vimpelcom, who have reached an agreement with Apple to sell the iPhone 3G. Further details’ including information on prices have yet to be released, but analysts are also expecting Mobile Telesystems, Russia’s largest mobile operator to be allowed to sell the iPhone 3G.

Bill4Time, who provide web based time billing and project management services have released Bill4time mobile for the iPhone and iPod touch. Bill4Time is a business application useful for tracking a company’s time, scheduling, billing and projects and is free with every Bill4Time subscription. Bill4Time Mobile permits a user to make time, schedule, note and expense entries for clients from an iPhone while being on the move without any need for syncing whilst also allowing overviews of various client related information. Entries made from iPhone will have a mobile icon on the Bill4Time website and can be fully edited. A free thirty day trial is available at the Bill4Time website in addition to an online demo and free 30 day trial.

iSign is an app for the iPhone and iPod touch from iDev2, who have also developed an app called ABC Sign in the past. iSign helps people learn the ASL alphabet and has been described as an animated phrasebook of American sign language gestures. iSign has 134 gestures, which are modeled with fully animated 3d characters and are indexed for ease of use. The developer plans future updates, which will be free for all iSign buyers, such as more signs and a “quiz mode” to let people test their knowledge of sign language. iSign costs $3.99 at the app store.