Apple Debuts A New “Shopping” Category On The App Store.
Confirming earlier reports, Apple today is debuting a new category to its App Store that will help consumers better locate mobile shopping applications.His company, Possible Mobile, is well versed in the App Store submission rules and has built apps for JetBlue, Better Homes & Gardens and the Major League Soccer.
Security researchers have discovered “backdoored” versions of an ad library embedded in thousands of iOS apps originally published in the Apple App Store. The “Shopping” category will be available worldwide, and will feature apps that span across omni-channel, auctions, price comparison, product reviews and more.
The affected versions of this library embedded backdoors in iOS apps that used the library to display ads, opening the door for hackers to access sensitive user data and device functionality. The fake version, dubbed XcodeGhost and probably developed in China, had been downloaded by many developers from third-party sources, apparently because getting the 4GB code from Apple took too long.
Pay what you want for iOS 9, Swift 2 & Xcode 7 – Apple Mobile App Development, 100 iOS 9 & OS X Templates, The Complete watchOS 2 Developer Course, Pro Shot – iOS Universal Photo Editor App Template, iOS 9 & Swift 2: From Beginner to Paid Professional, Apple TV App Development for tvOS, and if you beat the average price, you’ll receive the fully upgraded bundle, including Piky . iOS iPhone App Swift Template and Learn iOS 9 App Development with Xcode 7 & Swift 2. Now those that enable commerce will get their own section – which could have the potential to boost discoverability, downloads, and sales for App Store developers as well as larger businesses like Amazon, Walmart and Groupon, who develop mobile shopping apps.
Security researchers found that apps with XcodeGhost posed a privacy risk, as the apps could easily be configured to record data from people’s devices and send it to a remote server. Apple before tossed mobile commerce apps into the Lifestyle category, mixed in with apps that help you find apartments, track your pregnancy and chronicle your life events in a mobile journal. Best of all, 10% of the profits from your purchase will go toward Project HOPE, who delivers essential medicines and supplies, health expertise and medical training to respond to disaster, prevent disease, promote wellness and save lives around the globe.
Plus, because it removes a huge chunk of apps from the Lifetstyle category, its launch will also impact the Top Charts and rankings of those apps remaining in that section. Mobile sales in the U.S. currently account for about one-third of total e-commerce, according to Forrester Research Inc. and U.S. consumers spend more than half their time with digital media in mobile apps, comScore Inc. finds. FireEye supplied Apple with the complete list of affected apps and technical details on 21 October, prior to going public with its discovery this week.
The new Shopping category will also help spotlight those apps that have adopted Apple Pay, Apple’s mobile payments technology that allows iPhone owners to store their credit and debit cards on file within a mobile wallet. Additionally, 59% of U.S. digital shopping (not buying, necessarily, but shopping around via the web) in Q1 2015 occurred on mobile devices, comScore also finds. What’s more, holiday shoppers will rely on mobile apps for gift buying and seeking, with 55% of mobile shoppers planning to use retail apps to track deals and prices, according to a new report from mobile commerce platform provider and mobile app builder GPShopper and comScore. A developer of the game told Touch Arcade users that he thinks the game should be back in “just few days.” Here are this week’s noteworthy App Store releases for the iPad through 11/01/15 to 11/06/15.
Don’t forget to check out our App Store recap every Saturday for all the weekly releases, jailbreak tweaks, App Store news and important app updates. “Nuts!: The Battle of the Bulge is a Decision Games card game that recreates the famous World War Two battle (16-31 Dec 1944) in which the German Army mounted a surprise attack on the thin U.S. forces deployed in the Ardennes region hoping to breakthrough to the English Channel and split the allied forces.” “You play using cards that represent the brigades, regiments and battalions which fought in the battle. While we have not observed the ad server deliver any malicious commands intended to trigger the most sensitive capabilities such as recording audio or stealing sensitive data, affected apps periodically contact the server to check for new JavaScript code. While consumers before may have enjoyed browsing on mobile, checkout was often too frustrating to manage on the small screen, where retailers required users to enter names, addresses, and type in credit card information. Making a mobile app is a bit like making sausage: A lot of code frameworks and libraries developed by other companies are used for functions like ad serving and video delivery.
At any time, malicious JavaScript code that triggers the backdoors could be posted, and it eventually would be downloaded and executed by affected apps. Those frameworks often come as binaries, and developers have no visibility into what is actually in the source code, said Jay Graves, Possible Mobile’s CTO, in a phone interview.
Now you must escape from his mysterious manor before you become a permanent work of art.” You thought it would be fun to have your portrait painted by handsome young artist Stephan Black. The latest threat is separate from a fresh outbreak of the XcodeGhost malware, another iOS threat, that was also subject to a warning from FireEye this week.
A number of top apps already support Apple Pay, including, of course, the Apple Store, but also Best Buy, the Disney Store, Etsy, Everlane, Gilt, Groupon, Hautelook, JackThreads, Kohl’s, Instacart, Nordstrom, Pinterest, Priceline, Sephora, Staples, Starbucks, Target, Uber, Walgreens, Zappo’s, Zulily and others. This move will allow retail brands to flourish and unique consumer trends to emerge that show us in greater detail how mobile users want to interact with their favorite retail brands’ apps.” Bell says retail apps will also be easier for consumers to find when they search in an app store, since they no longer will be competing with non-retail lifestyle apps. Retailers have to pay attention to the details that move them up in app store results, such as incorporating in app metatags the keywords consumers would commonly use when searching, Bell says. Tod Beardsley, security research manager at Rapid7, the firm behind the Metasploit pen testing tool, said that the latest wave of XcodeGhost (like the one before) relies on developers following insecure practices. “While it’s troubling to see Trojaned applications continue to pop up on Apple’s App Store, it’s important to remember that XCodeGhost (and its variants) still rely on software developers to break at least two rules when it comes to installing developer tools. “First, developers must seek out a an unofficial source for XCode, the development platform for iOS, and second, they must affirmatively bypass Gatekeeper, the anti-malware system that is designed to prevent installation of unsigned application binaries,” he added. ® Gummicube rated the mobile retailers in the 2016 Internet Retailer Mobile 500 on their visibility in app stores, assigning each retailer with an app in the Mobile 500 a score based on what keywords each particular app ranks for, whether the app metadata is structured to maximize ranking and visibility and if the application is available to iOS and Android users.
Kevin Lyons, senior vice president and general manager at appliance and electronics retailer hhgregg isn’t sure how the change will impact retailers. “It’s hard to tell how it will be perceived yet in the marketplace to the consumer,” he says. “I equate it to when Google launched the promotional email folder for Gmail and how businesses were concerned about what it would do to their email strategy. What I would bet on is that it will force businesses with apps to keep their content relevant so they don’t fall in the rankings and also prompt them to fix any issues quickly as they see their ratings fall due to technical issues. “ Sign up for a free subscription to Mobile Strategies 360, a newsletter reporting on how businesses in all industries use mobile technologies to communicate with and market and sell to their consumers.
The frank cook, the righteous knight, the solitary wizard and the forgotten vagrant…People of all trades, gathering together due to this crisis, are by coincidence given heroic missions and set out on the expedition of saving the world.” “Episode 1: Origins – Meet the Buddyman, the most durable rag-doll in the world! The timing of the new category’s rollout is desirable for both Apple, which takes a small cut of Apple Pay transactions, and developers, as the U.S. is heading into the holiday shopping season. Apple’s guidance can be vague when apps are rejected, probably to prevent attackers getting tipped off about Apple’s security processes. “This story is definitely not over,” Graves said. “It’s taken a while, but with the proliferation of mobile and iOS being a high-value target, they’re seeing a lot more attention from the black-hat society.”
The other, “Shop for Everything,” will include apps from across a variety of themes, like “Chic,” “Dapper,” “Gifts,” “Rugged,” “Play Dates,” “Groceries,” and more – a grouping that will allow a diverse range of apps to receive a top position. Each day there will be a special promotion ($ off, % off, free shipping) on these office products using the new prize logic — the more you watch, the bigger the prize!