Internet viruses are mostly a worry of the past. In the mobile world, its scam applications that we need to be on the lookout for.

These apps impersonate real apps in the app store, to either steal your money and/or crash your device. A scam application of the “Activator” app appeared in the Apple App Store this week for $0.99.

As covered by Joe White of Mashable:

“…the app, which imitates Ryan Petrich’s free Activator jailbreak package, does not grant that which it outlines in its release notes:

• How to use multitouch gestures in iPhone/iPod touch
• How to change the way of accessing IPhone/iPod touch
• How to assume custom buttons or custom gestures for original buttons

In short, avoid this app! Because it’s an App Store scam.”

Activator isn’t the first scam app. In fact, it is one of many. For example, this past spring a fake Instragram App was released that downloaded malware to Android devices sending background SMS texts to users.

As more scam apps are created, users will become more hesitant to download “just any application” for security reasons. This should remind developers how important security testing is. Security failures can occur for a number of reasons – and with the right tools developers can identify risks before their users are affected. With scam apps on the loose, be sure your app is one that users can trust.

In February I wrote about Mozilla’s plans to launch a cross-platform app store. Two weeks ago I wrote about Facebook’s new app center. And here we are again, with another new app store announcement. I’m beginning to feel like a broken record.

This time Gamefly, the video game subscription company, is throwing its hat in the ring. Not only is the company planning on producing Android and iOS apps, it will also create its own gaming app hub for Android. From the Gamefly press release (via engadget):

GameFly, Inc., the leading video game service, announced today its plans to begin publishing mobile games for the iOS and Android platforms, as well as launching the independent GameFly GameStore for Android later this fall. …

GameFly will also expand its mission to be the top resource for all gaming needs, offering expertly curated Android games in the GameFly GameStore with thousands of the best games and daily deals. With its large social network for gamers, game discovery will also be made easier via friend recommendations, and ratings and reviews from fellow gamers.

“GameFly is dedicated to giving consumers the best user experience possible, and to be their single destination for console, PC and mobile gaming needs,” said Sean Spector, GameFly co-founder and SVP of Business Development and Content. “We plan to be a leading player in mobile games by launching our retail GameStore for Android.”

Read the full press release at engadget>>>

Apps aren’t new to the world of Facebook, but now instead of relying solely on users’ news feeds to spread the word about Facebook integrated apps the social media giant is creating a place for users too actively seek out new apps. From All Things D:

In yet another huge stride toward bolstering its app platform, the company announced plans for its own central app hub inside Facebook itself, making it easier for users to discover Facebook-integrated apps, as well as easier for developers to submit and feature their apps on Facebook itself. …

It’s not exactly a proper “App Store” competitor to take on the likes of Apple or Google’s respective hubs. It’s more of a centralized location so that everyone — users and developers alike — knows where to go to find Facebook apps.

But instead of just presenting visitors with a random selection of apps, Facebook’s hub will take a look at what your friends are using and put those at the top of list. Apps that are getting high ratings within the Facebook ecosystem overall will also be recommended. Facebook hopes this system will promote quality apps.

Read more…

According to a new study by Piper Jaffray, developing apps for Apple’s iOS results in a much larger payday than focusing on Android apps. Business Insider breaks down the numbers:

Here’s one reason developers won’t be flocking to Android any time soon, even with its massive platform share: There’s more money playing in Apple’s sandbox.

According to Piper Jaffray, Android has generated just 7% of the revenue the iOS App Store has generated for developers. Android has generated $330 million for developers compared to $4.9 billion from Apple’s App Store.

Measured by dollars spent on mobile applications, Apple has 85%-90% of the market share. Just 1% of total Android app downloads have been paid, while 14% of total iOS apps have been paid.

Let’s recap: Apps that people paid to download only account for 1% of total downloaded Android apps (compared to 14% at Apple). Read the whole Business Insider story >>>

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The following post was written by mobile app tester Dom Wolf as part of uTest’s “Crash Courses” series. You can read similar posts in the uTest Forums (membership required).

Background: The release of the iPhone in 2007 introduced not only a new product, but also a new dichotomy to the world of software testing. The iPhone was the first mainstream phone to feature a touchscreen coupled with a 3G/Wi-Fi enabled web browser; two things that caused web developers to consider not only how their sites would appear, but also how they would be interacted with in such a different way.

Approximately one year after the launch of the iPhone, the iPhone SDK and App Store were introduced. The popularity of the iPhone at this point spurred many developers to submit applications at an unprecedented rate. Some apps were simple utilities, easily to develop and easy to test. Some, on the other hand, made use of many frameworks built within the newly introduced iOS and were incredibly complex. As the store’s popularity grew, Apple found itself on the receiving end of criticism over the content, and reliability of applications being submitted. The latter point is where we come in.

So there are two deliverables that are typically evaluated through uTest – native applications and mobile sites (this includes so-called web-apps, which are basically extensions to a mobile or web site). For the most part, the same test procedures can be applied to both types of deliverable, and this is what will be covered in this Crash Course. There may be some forms of testing which are deemed out of scope for a particular project you’re working on.

It’s paramount that you check the scope before you start testing and raising bugs. Not doing so could lead to having bugs rejected, which may affect your eligibility to take part in future releases. So, assuming that nothing is considered ‘out of scope’, we could include testing of the following:

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A new report by Juniper Research predicts that mobile game revenue will reach $11 billion annually by 2015, almost doubling 2009’s revenue of $6 billion. The report also predicts that “In-Game Purchases” will overtake those of Pay-per-Download as the primary model for monetizing gaming apps by 2013.

The change toward a “freemium” type model is being driven predominantly by discover-ability. Apple’s App-store currently has more than 300,000 apps, Android has more than 100,000 and Nokia’s Ovi has 28,000 applications. The majority of these are mobile games. With the prediction that by 2020 there will be ten million apps available, it’s safe to assume discoverability will become an ever increasing challenge for consumers and developers alike.

With so many apps out there, the vast majority of which are unknown to consumers, developers have little choice but to offer games free at the point of purchase, with the hope that the user will make in-game purchases at some later stage. These are purchases that are built inside the game such as extra gaming levels or gameplay items like special weapons or skills.

The report also indicates that while real challenges remain, the mobile games industry is in a much healthier state than it was when the last report was published two years ago. Apple has led the way, offering a less fragmented market, reduced development time and cost through increased use in Objective C, and a higher share of revenue for developers. It is now common for developers to retain as much as 70% of game revenue, up from 50% two years ago and Apple says that it has already passed on more than $1 billion in revenues to developers.

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