Now available in the Market for Android users, but I'll be much more interested in seeing it on an XPERIA X3 bit.ly
Part two of my 10 picks for best free ipod touch/iphone games from the app store. I will be picking a new top 10 every month or two. So be sure and check back often. Titles include: (not in any specific order) * Sway lite * Light Bike lite * ishoot lite * deluxe tower 3D free * zombieville USA lite * tapdefense * heavy mach lite * bounce on lite * edge lite * brickbreaker revolution 3D free
Here are my favorite, top 10 ipod touch free apps…in order 1) Fastlane lite 2) Cube runner 3) Archers 4) Falling balls 5)Gun Apps 6) Pappertoss 7) Tap Tap revenge 2 
Itrace 9) Zippo Lighter 10) Papi Jump
Sorting through the 6000+ games one in the itunes App store one by one is a tedious and frustrating process. With literally every single genre of game represented, lite or full versions offered and thousands of copycat titles, who has the time to play them all? Well, not me. I actually have a life. I have played a lot of the games in the App store, though and lucky for you I’ve made a list. These games are the cream of the crop, according to yours truly. Here is my “Top 7 iphone Games You Need To Play.” Why 7? Because I said so. Check out my other reviews at Kokugamer.com. 7. Wolfenstein 3D 6. 1112 5. Rise of Lost Empires 4. Hero of Sparta 3. Zenonia 2. Let’s Golf 1. Rolando
Want to watch live NBA games on your Android phone for free? The NBA season is half over and mobiTV has lowered the price of NBA League Pass Mobile from $39.99 to $19.99.
Up until January 24th, NBA fans can watch live games and replays with the NBA League Pass Mobile Lite. After the trial period, users will be prompted to upgrade to the full-version of NBA League Pass Mobile or continue to use the Lite version, minus the live TV and replays.
NBA League Pass Mobile Lite will allow fans to:
I’ve had the chance to download the demo and the video quality over WiFi looks great on my Nexus One. It is easy to jump from game to game and browse all the player stats right from my phone. League Pass Mobile also offers replays of all NBA games for up to 48 hours.
Check out the free demo and let us know how it performs. I think the $19 price tag is pretty reasonable if you are a hardcore NBA fan that is away from the TV. We hope DirectTV is taking notes and will offer similar mobile purchase options for their NFL Sunday Ticket app.
Note: NBA League Pass is only available on phones with Android 1.6 or greater.
View full post on Android and Me
Just recently, Samsung officially announced the release of a cheaper version of its I7500 Galaxy smartphone which hit UK markets only last month with the carrier O2 getting exclusive distribution.
The new Samsung I5700 Galaxy Lite may look slimmer and sleeker, but a closer look at its features reveal a heavyweight that is sure to increase its feature-price ratio. This is Samsung’s second Android phone in just a couple of months. It’s understandable that Samsung is set to delay the target holiday release to early next year to give the Galaxy some time to gain market presence.
Coming just a month after the Galaxy release may not look like a good timing strategy for Samsung to cover both ends of the markets. The excellent feature-price ratio of the new Lite version just might offer some competition to the Galaxy even in markets not intended for it. A good value is always a welcome commodity in today’s world in all market demographics.
Excellent Features
So what makes the Galaxy Lite a great value? For starters, it runs on the same 800 MHz CPU found on the Samsung Omnia II, not far for a more advanced CPU in the galaxy clocked at 528 MHz. It retains many of the Galaxy features without leaving out any, as lighter versions wont to do.
The AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display is retained but with a mere 0.2” diminution in screen size. It has the same WiFi 802.11 b/G which often gets knocked out in a Lite version. Then there’s GPS navigation and the usual coterie of features we’ve come to expectin a full-featured smartphone like 3G and HSDPA/HSUPA data connectivity for high speed internet surfing and downloading, accelerometer sensor, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, microSD expansion for up to 32 GB and 3.5mm headphone jack.
So what makes it “lite?” Apart from a slightly smaller screen, the Galaxy Lite only has a 1 GB internal memory – still generous by any standard, but the galaxy has 8 GB, making the microSD slot a bit unneeded for many casual users. Then there’s a 3.2 megapixel fixed focus camera while the Galaxy has 5-megapixel with autofocus. It’s up to you to decide if these lesser features really upset the equation.
Affordability
Samsung remains mum on its price. But if it’s any indication, the O2 pricing of the mainstream I7500 galaxy of £245 on an 18-24 month contract should give a hint that the new Lite version will be coming in under that price range.
If the Samsung i5700 Galaxy Lite takes your fancy, then you should check out Best Mobile Contracts who are the UK’s leading mobile phone price comparison website. They also compare mobile broadband so that you are always connected.
At long last Apple has come to their senses. Today they announced that for the first time they are allowing purchases to take place within iPhone applications. This is a BIG game changer for developers trying to get an edge in the app store. Until now developers had to resort to releasing free ‘lite’ versions of their applications to entice people to buy a usually expanded version of their app. Here is the announcement:
So the marketing of iPhone applications is about to see a huge shift. I’ve advocated for and written about building ‘lite’ versions of applications as a great way to gain visibility and push sales. Well that seems like it’s all over now.
The Good
App developers no longer need to create an entirely different app for purchase that must be separately downloaded. Any time you ask people to do something “else” you invariably lose some. This has been eliminated. Users can just purchase increased functionality from within the app, no more extra installs. Another advantageous form this could take will be to allow developers to sell “upgrade” packs. The example that Techcrunch uses is Tapulous. Now users can just purchase additional songs to add instead of having to download an entirely new version of the software.
The Bad
Now nearly every app will be released as “free”, with some sort of enticement to upgrade to a paid version. This will undoubtedly clutter the situation in the App Store even more. Lite designation did serve a purposes. It effectively “categorized” apps for people, alerting them to the fact that they were “trying” a limited version of some software. This set them apart from the other truly free apps. Now all apps, both lite and free, will appear the same.
All Said…
In the end I believe the benefits of in-app purchasing will far outweigh the few potential drawbacks. If you are a developer, Apple has removed a major roadblock to upselling your products. Time will tell how this all plays out, but there is no doubt that the game has officially changed.
The creator of the iPhone application iCombat has reported getting conversion rates far greater than the norm. In his post titled Just How Much Does a Lite Version Boost App Sales he reports global conversion rates of almost 9%, or 7% after being adjusted to account for downloads not driven by the lite version. Here is a chart of his findings:
This is much higher than what many application developers find upon releasing a lite version. More typical is something in the range of .5% to about 5% as is detailed here and here. Unfortunately there is no clearly presented reason for these higher success numbers. We’re left to wonder. However, he does have some nice takeaways for other app developers:
1. Should have released lite version from the beginning – There was no point to waiting and sacrificing the initial new release buzz. Since it is harder to get featured once your app is launched, say for app updates, it is important to strike early and hard with your app release.
2. Lite does NOT cannibalize sales – If your app is a gimmick then it might not make sense but in all other cases it only helps to increase sales (see our previous post on this topic)
3. Get the bugs out for your lite release – users churn lite apps and are fine giving you 1 star if they don’t like the experience. This is especially bad because the App store prompts users to rate an app when they try to delete it
4. Lite sales trail off too but paid sales remain higher – if you don’t have the x-factor that is needed to spread the word your lite downloads will fall as they have for iCombat, but in our case paid sales have continued to sell at a minimum rate several times higher than the pre-lite period
5. Frequent releases do juice downloads – Pocket God and other frequently updated apps have benefited from a weekly sales bump as they show up in the new releases section of the app store (users also like this episode style model)
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