iPhone Developer’s Prize Announced

As part of the 2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile event, the organizers have announced a $10K (U.S.) prize for iPhone game development. The IGF Mobile Event will be held in San Francisco from March 23 -27, 2009.

iPhone developers who are interested in taking part in the 2009 IGB Mobile event can submit entries in all categories, which include art, technical, audio, game design, a Best Game award, and other major prizes. There is no entry fee. The winners will get to showcase their games on the expo floor at the Games Developer Conference and will also have stage time during the IGF Mobile event. The deadline for iPhone developers to enter the IGF Mobile competition is fast approaching: November 17, 2008.

Apple iPhone To Hit 10m? Market Share Grows to 55% Since 3G Launch

Gregg Keizer of Computerworld.com writes that Apple has now officially taken the lead in the consumer smart phone market in the U.S., a market which was in a Blackberry stranglehold before this summer. This is a trend which is echoed, of course, around the globe, with sales of the 3G continuing to climb everywhere.

Jason O’Grady of ZDnet wrote Monday that, through a joint project of AFB and Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board, iPhone IMEI numbers have been collected on a Google spreadsheet. This is the same method that was used about a month ago by the London-based investor who calls himself “Tommo_UK”, who then reported that Apple had sold about 8 million iPhones. Using this method, it has now been determined that Apple has apparently surpassed all analysts estimates — no big surprise there — and has now built over 10 million iPhones.

O’Grady writes, “Don’t expect a press release from Apple yet though, these are iPhone manufacturing numbers, not sales numbers.”

Also writing about this for Bullish Cross on Monday, Andy Zaky and Turley Muller have made exciting predictions about what Apple might be telling investors and market watchers when its quarterly earnings are reported at the end of this month. They believe that Apple has sold a considerably higher number of iPhones last quarter than any of even the most bullish analysts anticipated.

They write, “even if a whopping 1.5 million iPhones of the total IMEI registered devices are unsold as of today, an unlikely assumption, it would still put 3G iPhone sales at 7.6 million units.”

So? Here’s why it matters. Coming into this fourth quarter, 2.42 million first generation iPhones had already sold. If last months IMEI data is factored in, and added to Zaky and Muller’s analysis, then Apple has reached the goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008, with a comfortable three months to spare.

iPhones To Sell in Jersey

Up until now, iPhones have been tied in the UK to the O2 network, which does not work in Jersey. But now, two companies — Jersey Telecom (JT) and Cable & Wireless (C&W) announced that they would sell the 3G iPhone. They will have a limited number of handsets which JT says will require registration prior to purchase. C&W will instead sell on a “first come, first served” basis.

Cram: A Great App That Lets You Study On Your iPhone

Is there anything the iPhone can do? Maybe not. In that long, and growing list of things that can be done on the iPhone, you can now add that it is an effective study guide. Jessica Dolcourt writes for CNET, that an application available at the Apple App Store, called Cram, “is a solid application that lets you create and import tests on any topic. You’ll be able to take scored multiple choice quizzes or go into study mode, in which Cram provides you with a series of digital flash cards. Cram will flash the question and you decide with a click when the answer appears.”

It is, she tells us, simple to use, but requires online registration before you get started. That doesn’t sound like much of a problem, since most students are online constantly anyway. Dolcourt offers an interesting suggestion, too. “If you’re planning to create your own test material in preparation of an exam, you should consider crafting that online as well. While you can technically–and fairly easily–compose questions and answers within Cram, typing a series of multiple choice entries is faster work with a standard keyboard. If you intend to reuse multiple choice answers to trip up yourself or others, your computer’s magical cutting and pasting abilities are indispensable.”

Any study aides are welcome, and since an increasing number of students count the iPhone among their most valuable aides, “Cram” might well be an invaluable asset.

To import a test, you log into Cram from the iPhone, then select the tests you want. It takes only seconds for them to transfer; you can even import public tests that others create. Of course, you want to be sure of their accuracy.

Dolcourt says, “Cram makes a good quizzing tool for students who respond well to flash cards, as well as teachers and study groups. You’ll also get ecological bonus points for ditching your paper flash cards and going digital.” It’s also had a price reduction recently, which always makes a product more attractive.

Windows Is Industrial, Mac Is Something More

Dan Lyons of Newsweek asks, “ Remember how AOL used to be cool, but then became the service used only by people who didn’t know any better? Microsoft is heading down that path.”

He quotes a Microsoft exec who says, “You fly business class today, and it’s nothing but Macs.” Astonishingly, one of those Mac users is the Microsoft exec himself.

If it is true that Microsoft has lost its “cool” factor, and that it is used because of IT department preference, then lots of users are with Windows because they must be, not because they want to be.

CNET’s Matt Asay joins the discussion. He states that Apple’s Mac computers have been gaining share. He continues, saying “there’s something very different about using a Mac. It’s a beautiful piece of hardware, complemented nicely by an inviting, rock-solid operating system with seamless integration into the services - iPod, iPhone, iLife (Apple’s creative productivity suite) - that people desire.”

His conclusion? That “Windows is IT. It’s Industrial and it’s useful. The Mac is something more, and that is why more and more people choose to buy it.”

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