By now, you’ve heard the horror stories. Developers put their heart and soul into building an application for the iPhone App Store only to have it rejected by Apple. And sometimes apps are at first accepted and then later pulled for odd reasons. And sometimes app updates are rejected, even though there isn’t much difference with the version accepted. We get a half dozen or so stories sent to us now every single day. It’s no wonder that a lot of mobile developers are growing wary of the App Store. But Steven Frank is not one of those developers.
Dutch startup Nimbuzz , which bills itself as the “mobile Skype” today releases an IM application for Android phones which ties together multiple messaging tools (Skype, MSM, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, etc.) via a single interface. The Nimbuzz trump card is Skype VOIP. Unfortunately the Android app doesn’t yet include this but it is available in the iPhone app. The Android application also supports many local social networks like Hyves (dominant in the Netherlands) and a nifty time-sensitive user interface which does things like detecting how long a user presses on a contact; a quick click opens the contact’s profile while a long click opens a chat window. Nimbuzz has also released to us the results of a survey of 21,000 users which reveals some interesting differences in how people in different parts of the world communicate. Read the rest of this entry »
Sunnyvale,
Calif. - Following months of
conjecture and negotiations, Internet giants Microsoft (NASD:MSFT) and Yahoo (NASD:YHOO) on Wednesday
announced a landmark 10-year search deal that the companies hope will help them
take aim at market-leader Google. Under the agreement, expected to close early next
year, Microsoft’s newly launched Bing search platform will power Internet
search on Yahoo’s sites, while Yahoo will sell premium search ads for both
companies. Read the rest of this entry »