Would you pay again for iOS 7 versions of apps you already own?

In a few months, Apple will release the largest update to its mobile operating system since the original iPhone debuted in 2007: iOS 7. The software has been virtually rebuilt from the ground-up, with new features and an all-new user interface.

Because this new version of iOS is so different than its predecessor, developers will have to spend a serious amount of time bringing their app code and UI elements up to speed. The question is, should they charge users for these major updates?

The question was first posed by Gedeon Maheux of Iconfactory, who is behind Twitterrificand other apps:

“I’m sure many users are expecting developers of popular applications to simply update interface elements, compile some code and easily drop a brand spanking new version of their app onto the App Store for free. There’s little doubt that the majority of iOS 7 updates to existing apps will be free (which will please Apple), but I suspect there will be a surprising number of developers who will use the launch of the new operating system to completely re-boot their app, and why not? The visual and interactive paradigms iOS 7 mark a natural breaking off point and a perfect opportunity to re-coup costs. Some existing paid apps might even adopt an iOS 7 only strategy which means they’ll have no choice but to charge again.”

Before we tackle the question at hand, it’s important to look at some of the economics of the App Store. Developers like Rovio and Imanji are very much the minority—even those with very popular apps rarely see anything close to $1 million in sales.

The reality is that they have to deal with issues like piracy and copycatting, and the never-ending ‘race to the bottom‘ that has forced many devs to price their apps well below what they’d like. According to Flurry, the average iPhone app goes for $0.19.

So with all of this in mind, would I pay for iOS 7 updates for apps I already own? Yes. Admittedly, I will make the choice on a case-by-case basis. But if a paid app I use frequently gets completely rebuilt for iOS 7, I will happily pay again to update it.

What about you, would you pay for iOS 7 updates for apps you already own? Why or why not?

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Apple Store app to be redesigned with free iTunes content in iPhone sales push

Apple will release a new version of its Apple Store application for the iPhone and iPod touch next week, according to a new report. The update will include a redesigned interface and a handful of new features, including free downloadable iTunes content.

The move is said to be part of Tim Cook’s goal to sell more iPhones direct from Apple’s direct sales channels. Apparently, the plan is to get the app installed on as many device’s as possible so that more people are exposed to the company’s choice products…

9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman has the scoop:

“Sources say that the new app update is also designed to go hand-in-hand with a new initiative in Apple Stores. When a new iOS Device is sold, Apple employees will be encouraged to install the new Apple Store app on the newly purchased device. According to comments from Tim Cook at last month’s secretive summit for Retail Leadership, only 20% of Apple customers are aware of the Apple Store app’s existence. This new plan will certainly increase that percentage.”

Gurman goes on to say that it was no coincidence that the Apple Store application was updated earlier this year with a push notification feature that will alert users when they become eligible for an iPhone upgrade. Apple is working to engage more customers.

The app update is scheduled to land on Tuesday, July 23rd—the same day that Apple isposting its financials for the June quarter. It’s only expected to announce 26-29 million iPhone sales, but Verizon’s strong quarter suggests it could have sold more than 30.

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Messages app gets timestamps, contact photos, and other UI enhancements in iOS 7 beta 2

Earlier today, Apple released the second beta of its next-generation mobile operating system, iOS 7, to developers. The update comes exactly two weeks after the original beta of iOS 7 was released, and brings with it a number of new features and improvements.

Thus far we’ve covered the revamped Voice Memos app and new Siri voices, and now we’re going to talk about the different changes in the stock Messages app. Apple has added contact photos to group conversation threads and a few other UI enhancements…

Easily the most noticeable change to the Messages app in beta 2 are the presence of contact photos in group conversations. Similar to how jailbreak tweaks like Copic add contact photos to messaging threads, the Messages app now shows images from your contact cards in conversation.

Here’s Jeff with a hands-on look at the beta 2 changes in Messages:

Unfortunately, it appears that this is only the case when in group conversations. So you have to be talking with multiple people to see the contact photos. I’d like to see the photos everywhere in Messages, including the main window that shows all of your convos.

Other changes in the app include what looks like thicker text on the Send button — in beta one, the font was very thin — as well as enhanced ‘send’ animations. And also, there are now timestamps for each message. Simply swipe to the right on a Message to reveal.

Of course, these are just a few of the changes in the Messages app for iOS 7. If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out our complete rundown of the revamped application. Otherwise, stay tuned to iDB today for more coverage on the new features/changes in beta 2.

How do you think the Messages app is coming along?

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Safari Upload Enabler finally updated with support for iOS 6

Folks who have been around the jailbreak community for a while will likely remember a popular tweak called Safari Upload Enabler. Before Apple added the ability in Safari to upload photos and videos in iOS 6, it was one of the only ways you could natively upload files from within the mobile browser.

Well we have some good news today for all of you jailbreakers, Safari Upload Enabler has finally been updated with support for iOS 6. Developed by H. Samara and N. Bassen, the new version of the tweak is out in Cydia now with a number of improvements, including a new Dropbox API and more…

Here’s the full change log for version 1.2.1:

• Support for iOS 6.x extending the iOS 6 upload capabilities
• New Dropbox API
• Photo picker: new option to show preview before selection
• Photo picker improvements/bug fixes
• New localizations: Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal & Brazil), Romanian, Slovak, and Swedish

As before, the tweak installs itself into mobile Safari and removes the block that Apple put in place to keep the browser from uploading certain things. Once installed, a file browser will pop up upon you tapping ‘upload’ web links. And also as before, you can configure all of the options from your Settings app.

Obviously, there are tons of third party applications that allow you to upload pictures and videos (like Facebook and Twitter) to the web, and with iOS 6 you can even do it within Safari. But using Safari Upload Enabler, you can upload all kinds of different files—like a resume to CareerBuilder or a recipe to Barista.

To be honest, I don’t ever really need to upload anything in mobile Safari—I rarely use it. But I can see how using this tweak, and maybe Safari Download Manager and iFile, could really expand the abilities of your iOS device. If you’re interested, you can find Safari Upload Enabler in the BigBoss repo for $2.99.

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iOS 6.1.3 kills the jailbreak

It was fun while it lasted, but it appears that Apple has finally put an end to evasi0n. Earlier today, the company released iOS 6.1.3 to the masses, and as expected, it contains patches for multiple exploits used in the popular iOS 6.x jailbreak.

MuscleNerd confirmed our fears on Twitter just a few moments ago, pointing out that Apple has credited the evad3rs with the discovery of 4 of the 6 security flaws that were patched in today’s update. So jailbreakers should stay far away…

Here’s one of the exploits mentioned in the security briefing:

Kernel Available for: iPhone 3GS and later, iPod touch (4th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later Impact: A local user may be able to determine the address of structures in the kernel Description: An information disclosure issue existed in the ARM prefetch abort handler. This issue was addressed by panicking if the prefetch abort handler is not being called from an abort context. CVE-ID CVE-2013-0978 : evad3rs

Remember, as planetbeing explained in an interview last month, the evasi0n jailbreak relies on a number of exploits. So it’s not clear what this means exactly for the jailbreak community in the near future. But we’re guessing it’s not good news.

As for the distant future, though, the evad3rs have said that they still have several ‘major’ exploits in reserve, outside of what evasi0n used, so rest assured that we will see another jailbreak come around again. We’re just not sure when.

The evasi0n jailbreak tool was created by the evad3rs team—made up of MuscleNerd,pod2g, planetbeing, and pimskeks. It landed on February 4 of this year, and withstood two iOS software updates.

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