Apple

You may have wondered why it's taking so long for the augmented reality application Nearest Tube to hit the App Store. This time the delay isn't really due to an Apple approval issue, it's just the small fact that the developers of augmented reality apps are using unpublished APIs (application programming interfaces).

That's right, Apple hasn't even released these development tools yet. The good news is that intrepid developers are soon to be vindicated by iPhone OS 3.1, which promises to include many new APIs that make augmented reality applications possible.

The Apple App Store is an unparalleled success with 1.5 billion downloads in the last year. There are 100,000 developers currently participating in Apple's iPhone developer program. Only one problem: sifting through over 65,000 applications to find something useful.

Unfortunately, the current layout of the app store means that most users will never see even a fraction of the 65,000 that are available free and for purchase. Sure there's a lot of junk, however there are also many great apps that get lost in the crowd.

We're in a global economic recession, right? You wouldn't know it from looking at the latest iPhone sales statistics. Apple's stock jumped six dollars to $158 per share after the company announced its revenues for the third quarter.

Total revenue was $8.3 billion, leaving Apple with a net quarterly profit of $1.2 billion. According to Tim Cook, the Chief Operating Officer, "Apple can’t keep up with demand in the 18 countries where the 3GS model is now sold, a situation that won’t change in the short term."

Apple is celebrating the one year anniversary of the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch. Along with all of the fanfare and featured apps came a lot of impressive statistics. Apple has left the competition in the dust, with 65,000 mobile applications released to date.

Over 1.5 billion copies of these apps have been downloaded since the inception of the App Store one year ago. Apple CEO Steve Jobs remarked, "The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality."

iPhone OS 3.1 beta versions have already been seeded to developers, meaning an update for the general public is imminent. Apple released iPhone OS version 2.1 only a month after 2.0 was made available last year.

The iPhone 3GS hit store shelves on June 19th running iPhone OS 3.0, and reports have indicated that millions of iPhone 3G and original iPhone owners have already upgraded their operating system. The new version includes 46 security fixes and new features such as copy and paste. So will it be worth upgrading again so soon?