Apple Computer, Inc. has updated the iPhone developer SDK to allow VoIP over cellular networks. iCall is the first and only VoIP application that functions on the iPhone and iPod Touch over cellular 3G networks.

iCall is a market leader in desktop and mobile-based desktop calling platforms, including its highly popular version for the Apple iPhone.  Until today, restrictions imposed on developers prohibited VoIP functionality on any 3G network.

VoIP on the iPhone has been the source of many debates with companies such as Google being denied access to the platform and the FCC inquiring as to the restrictions in the Apple App Store; iCall is one of the few VoIP applications that has been permitted by Apple to operate on the iPhone platform.

With the latest revisions Apple has made to the iPhone developer agreement and Software Development Kit, iCall for the iPhone and iPod Touch now enabled unrestricted free local and long distance calling over 3G data networks.  iCall with support for VoIP over 3G networks is now available in the App Store for download.  iCall is the first and only VoIP application available for the iPhone platform that allows use over 3G networks.  iCall for the iPhone and iPod Touch may now be downloaded from the App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/icall-free-voip/id293837001?mt=8&uo=6

iCall CEO Arlo Gilbert is quoted as saying, “I applaud Apple’s decision to allow iCall to extend its functionality beyond Wi-Fi and onto the 3G networks. This heralds a new era for VoIP applications on mobile platforms, especially for iCall and our free calling model. I hope that now more developers will begin using our VoIP as a platform to integrate VoIP into their applications.”

Your iPhone is perfect—you just wish you could hear that Southwest trademarked DING!, right?  Well now you can. Southwest Airlinesannounces its first app for iPhone and iPod touch now available from the App Store.  Customers can book reservations, checkin for flights, check flight status, view flight schedules, and download DING! to get exclusive, deeply discounted fares on Southwest flights.  And, in true Southwest style, the app is free!  To check it out, click here: www.southwest.com/iphone or visit www.itunes.com/appstore/.

“Southwest is known for convenience and simplicity, and our new app is a great example of that,” said Kevin Krone, Southwest Airlines Vice President of Marketing, Sales, and Distribution.  ”Whether you are managing Rapid Rewards credits or need to checkin for your flight, the Southwest Airlines App now offers Customers the flexibility to do that and more—with plenty of Southwest flair!”

To celebrate the new app, Southwest Airlines is offering special DING! fares for Customers today.   These fares are only available through the DING! feature so Customers have to download the app and register for DING! to access them.  Click here for details: www.southwest.com/iphone

Apple today introduced iPad, a revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more. iPad’s responsive high-resolution Multi-Touch  display lets users physically interact with applications and content.

iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds— thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook. iPad includes 12 new innovative apps designed especially for the iPad, and will run almost all of the over 140,000 apps in the App Store. iPad will be available in late March starting at the breakthrough price of just $499.

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“iPad is our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad creates and defines an entirely new category of devices that will connect users with their apps and content in a much more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

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iPad features 12 next-generation Multi-Touch applications. Every app works in both portrait and landscape, automatically animating between views as the user rotates iPad in any direction. The precise Multi-Touch interface makes surfing the web on iPad an entirely new experience, dramatically more interactive and intimate than on a computer. Reading and sending email is fun and easy on iPad’s large screen and almost full-size “soft” keyboard. Import photos from a Mac®, PC or digital camera, see them organized as albums, and enjoy and share them using iPad’s elegant slideshows. Watch movies, TV shows and YouTube, all in HD or flip through pages of an e-book you downloaded from Apple’s new iBookstore while listening to your music collection.

iPad runs almost all of the over 140,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®. The iTunes® Store gives you access to the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 11 million songs, over 50,000 TV episodes and over 8,000 films including over 2,000 in stunning high definition video. Apple also announced the new iBooks app for iPad, which includes Apple’s new iBookstore, the best way to browse, buy and read books on a mobile device. The iBookstore will feature books from major and independent publishers.

Apple also introduced a new version of iWork® for iPad, the first desktop-class productivity suite designed specifically for Multi-Touch. With Pages®, Keynote® and Numbers® you can create beautifully formatted documents, stunning presentations with animations and transitions, and spreadsheets with charts, functions and formulas. The three apps will be available separately through the App Store for $9.99 each.

iPad syncs with iTunes just like the iPhone and iPod touch, using the standard Apple 30-pin to USB cable, so you can sync all of your contacts, photos, music, movies, TV shows, applications and more from your Mac or PC. All the apps and content you download on iPad from the App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore will be automatically synced to your iTunes library the next time you connect with your computer.

iPad’s brilliant 9.7-inch, LED-backlit display features IPS technology to deliver crisp, clear images and consistent color with an ultra-wide 178 degree viewing angle. The highly precise, capacitive Multi-Touch display is amazingly accurate and responsive whether scrolling web pages or playing games. The intelligent soft keyboard pioneered on iPhone takes advantage of iPad’s larger display to offer an almost full-size soft keyboard. iPad also connects to the new iPad Keyboard Dock with a full-size traditional keyboard.

iPad is powered by A4, Apple’s next-generation system-on-a-chip. Designed by Apple, the new A4 chip provides exceptional processor and graphics performance along with long battery life of up to 10 hours.* Apple’s advanced chemistry and Adaptive Charging technology deliver up to 1,000 charge cycles without a significant decrease in battery capacity over a typical five year lifespan.**

iPad comes in two versions—one with Wi-Fi and the other with both Wi-Fi and 3G. iPad includes the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the 3G versions support speeds up to 7.2 Mbps on HSDPA networks. Apple and AT&T announced breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.

Continuing Apple’s dedication to designing and creating environmentally responsible products, each iPad enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy-efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iPad contains no brominated flame retardants and is completely PVC-free.

Apple today released a new Software Development Kit (SDK) for iPad, so developers can create amazing new applications designed to take advantage of iPad’s capabilities. The SDK includes a simulator that lets developers test and debug their iPad apps on a Mac, and also lets developers create Universal Applications that run on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

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Guerrilla Bob supersedes the ordinary survival shooter experience by providing elements of depth and complexity never before met with any iPhone games of its genre.
It goes beyond circling endless waves of enemies, and adds structured level designs and various challenges.

Level by level, follow Bob to taste the thrill for the kill! You must help Bob make his way through the dangerous canyons, steep deserts and dreadful towns. To do this, he must not only survive the countless attacks, but also explore the land in search of new arsenal and secret items. To make things even more challenging, Bob gets some epic boss encounters.

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Level 3 Communications, Inc.  today announced that it is working with software publishing company Zolmo Limited to deliver caching, on-demand video content and geo-targeting services for the Jamie Oliver “20 Minute Meals” iPhone application.

The “20 Minute Meals” application is a mobile digital cookbook full of step-by-step instructions, full-screen photography, a shopping list feature, and high-quality videos that users can follow to create 55 healthy meals from the popular chef.

Level 3 is working with Zolmo to deliver caching and download services for the application over the Level 3 Content Delivery Network (CDN). Level 3 is also delivering token-based authentication and geo-targeting to give Zolmo the ability to customize delivery options to users. In addition, Level 3 worked with Zolmo to de-couple the video content from the application’s other content (recipes, photos, shopping lists) to enable users to more quickly download and install the application.

“As more people turn to mobile devices for content, there is a greater expectation that the quality of the mobile experience will mirror that of the traditional online experience,” said Peter Neill, senior vice president of Content Markets for Level 3. “By leveraging the Level 3 IP backbone, we’re able to provide the scalability and reliability needed to ensure a first-class user experience.”

The “20 Minute Meals” iPhone application was developed by Jamie Oliver and London-based Zolmo Limited, a software publishing and development company that creates lifestyle and entertainment applications for the next generation of digital devices.

“It was important to us that the application provided a clean, fast, hassle-free customer experience, and using the Level 3 CDN to deliver content directly to the mobile device is helping us to ensure that,” said Tristan Celder, CEO of Zolmo. “Users now have faster access to the videos, targeted content and a great application that’s designed to work with their mobile lifestyle.”

The application gives users access to over an hour of video clips from the chef, demonstrating kitchen skills ranging from cutting and chopping to cooking techniques. The video on-demand feature allows users to choose the videos they want to store on the mobile device and delete the ones that they have already watched. To download the application, please visit the iTunes store.

Appcelerator^®, the leading platform for rapidly developing native mobile, desktop – and now Apple Tablet applications – using web technologies, announced findings of a new poll taken of application developers about their plans to build applications for the Apple Tablet. Taken last week from a pool of 18,000 of Appcelerator’s application developers, 554 developers weighed in with responses about their plans, interests and preferences around Apple’s forthcoming Tablet.

The Tablet App Wave

Most notably, one key finding reveals that developers are already gearing up to build novel applications en masse for this new device. Other survey highlights include:

• 90% of respondents say they plan to build a Tablet application over the coming year.
• Apple Tablet has vaulted into 3^rd place right behind iPhone and Android as a preferred development platform…well ahead of Blackberry, Palm Pre, Windows Mobile, and Symbian.
• Developers see bigger opportunities than gaming apps and are gearing up to develop new apps in the areas of entertainment, productivity/business, social networking, and education.
• Developers plan to make the most of the Tablet’s rumored features to build apps in the above categories. They plan to incorporate the following anticipated features: multi-touch gestures, the tablet’s unique user interface, multi-tasking (running multiple applications at once), and networking (e.g.: wireless/wi-fi).
• Developers anticipate being able to offer discounts or special promotions for applications developed for both the iPhone and Apple Tablet platforms.

Co-founder and CEO of Appcelerator, Jeff Haynie noted, “We believe these findings are particularly relevant and insightful because Appcelerator developers uniquely represent a broad spectrum of backgrounds. There are iPhone and Android developers on the mobile side and PC, Mac, and Linux developers on the desktop side. We have a global audience that splits 40 percent in the U.S. and 60 percent outside the U.S. as well as near-equal representation of business and individual developers.”

With its planned support for the Apple Tablet, Appcelerator will enable its rapidly growing web developer base to build exciting new applications out-of-the-gate that take advantage of the Tablet’s brand new unique form factors, features, and functionality on the same code base as other mobile and desktop platforms supported by Appcelerator. Significantly, Appcelerator will be the first cross-platform solution to enable iPhone, Macintosh OS X, and now Apple Tablet application development using web technologies.

Zombies have overrun App Store as Activision Publishing, Inc.  and developer Treyarch have launched a free version of Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES. The Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES Lite App allows iPhone and iPod touch players to experience three rounds of the “Nacht der Untoten” (Night of the Undead) map in single player, explore the map and access a multitude of weapons from the Mystery Box.

Multiplayer fans will be able to play for two rounds via Wi-Fi, locally or across the Internet with four players or two players over Bluetooth.

Named as one of iTunes Rewind’s Best Apps of 2009, Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES faithfully delivers upon the experience of one of the most popular and played online games of 2009 and offers limitless rounds both single player and the game’s highly-addictive co-op gameplay experience in full 3-D, allowing up to four players to join a game via Wi-Fi, locally or across the Internet, and up to two players via Bluetooth. The Call of Duty: World at War: ZOMBIES App, developed by Ideaworks Game Studio for the iPhone and iPod Touch based on Treyarch’s console version, is available for$9.99 from the App Store at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

Namco Networks, a leading publisher and developer of mobile, iPhone and PC games for mass-market casual gamers, today announced that its App Store releases have been downloaded more than 23 million times to date and that number continues to grow rapidly. In fact, since the App Store’s inception (June 2008), the company is averaging 36,450 downloads a day.

“With over 100,000 applications available and three billion downloaded apps, the App Store is booming,” said Jonathan Kromrey, general manager of Apple Games for Namco Networks. “Not only are we excited that our worldwide audience is checking out Namco’s premium iPhone content, but that consumers are coming back for more.”

Among Namco’s recent releases are the iPhone/iPod touch versions of PAC-MAN Championship Edition and ACE COMBAT Xi Skies of Incursion. While Namco is notable for its best-selling game franchises like PAC-MAN, Ace Combat, Galaga and Dig Dug, Namco’s current catalogue of 24 titles boasts brand new properties as well.

These games include Garters & Ghouls, Isaac Newton’s Gravity and Solitaire: Deck of Cods. Namco’s Apple Games Group has been dedicated to capturing players by providing high-quality, fun games for the unique gaming platform. The highly anticipated Pool Pro Online 3 is among the 20 titles the company plans to launch in 2010.

X2 Games, the wholly owned publishing subsidiary of award-winning UK developer Exient Ltd, has today announced details of its strategic marketing partnership with Papa John’s Pizza.

The partnership will see the UK’s Pizza Delivery Chain of the Year promote X2 Games’ latest iPhone title, ‘Papa’s Pizzeria’ through a wide variety of activities including on-menu branding, direct mail sponsorship and giving the title prominence within the Papa John’s Pizza UK new web portal ‘Papa’s Lounge’.  X2 Games will be  promoting the Papa John’s brand in-game, through the use of the Papa John’s logo, pizza boxes, menus, pizza titles and ingredients that exactly match the Papa John’s experience.  Gamers will be able to order pizza’s directly via an in-game link to Papa John’s iPhone centric ordering system.
“This is a perfect partnership that allows us to take the X2 brand, and the Papa’s Pizzeria iPhone title, out to a huge discerning audience” commented David Hawkins, Exient Managing Director, “Papa John’s Pizza is one of the most highly rated pizza franchises in the world with regards to quality of product, and we associate ourselves with that because X2 Games operates under the very same set of values – high quality games that players can appreciate and love. To be able to work with a company that appreciates quality and understand their market totally is refreshing and exciting.”

Andrew Gallagher, Papa John’s National Marketing Manager, said: “Papa John’s is established at the forefront of the pizza industry in terms of innovation, technological advancement, and using the web as a communication channel to reach customers. This strategic tie-in with X2 Games shows our commitment to technology and follows our recent launch of mobile web ordering and development of the www.papajohns.co.uk website.”

He continued “This partnership means we can take our core messages, such as 100% fresh dough and ‘Better Ingredients. Better Pizza’ out to a tech-savvy audience via very specific in-game branding. The iPhone platform is established, and is growing, so we feel that being able to work with X2 Games, a proven expert in this field, will benefit our business”

Having already notched up over 1.6 million downloads of their groundbreaking football title, X2 Football 2009, X2 Games next release, Papa’s Pizzeria, will be competitively priced at £0.59p and will be available for download from the iTunes App Store from later January 2010.

Blue Planet Software, Inc., the company that manages the exclusive licensing rights to the Tetris® game, and EA Mobile™, a division of Electronic Arts Inc., today announced at a press conference at the EA Montreal studio that Tetris has reached over 100 million paid downloads on mobile phones since 2005, making it the pre-eminent game for the platform. Since becoming the exclusive mobile publisher for Tetris in 2006, EA Mobile has brought a number of Tetris games to almost all mobile platforms including the App Store^SM.

“Tetris on mobile will never go away,” said Henk Rogers, CEO of Blue Planet Software. “As mobile devices get into the hands of more people, so does Tetris. People are always looking for ways to fill their time — be it in waiting rooms or on the bus — and with the advent of touch screens and improved platforms, our eyes are opened to a whole new way to develop games. After Tetris’ success with the Game Boy in 1989, we always hoped that potential would carry over into today’s mobile devices. It’s a testament to the game’s staying power that it remains popular on today’s most modern technology.”

Over its 25-year history, the Tetris game has been sold on almost every gaming platform. Currently, the game’s greatest growth is occurring on mobile platforms.

“Tetris is the biggest franchise in mobile gaming, which speaks to the evergreen nature of the brand and the fact that it translates to any platform,” said Adam Sussman, VP Worldwide Publishing for EA Mobile. “Our strong relationship with Blue Planet Software has enabled us to optimally adapt Tetris to the ever evolving handset market while keeping the true spirit of the game alive. 100 million paid downloads are testament to this.”

Created in 1984 by Russian-born mathematician Alexey Pajitnov, the Tetris game has become a worldwide success model for the gaming industry. Tetris was first available on mobile in 2001, the product of collaboration between Rogers and Takeshi Miyaji of Japan’s G-mode.

“Tetris provided the crucial building blocks for our company when we started 10 years ago,” said Miyaji, president of G-mode, the exclusive distributor of Tetris in Japan. “Just this past year alone our ‘Tetris League’ game in Japan has been played nearly 100 million times. As G-Mode and Blue Planet Software grow alongside each other, we hope to continue our contributions to Tetris’ recognition and popularity.”

In addition to reaching this mobile milestone, the Tetris brand has created numerous headlines in the past year. It is currently celebrating its 25^th Anniversary, which officially kicked-off in June 2009 at an event attended by thousands of videogame enthusiasts and journalists from E3 in Los Angeles. And in September 2009, a scientific study published by BMC Research Notes showed that participants who played the Tetris game over time had increased efficiency and a thicker cortex in areas of the brain linked to critical thinking and coordinated movement.