Apple announced last week that it would begin offering volume purchasing for iOS apps, and a week later the program is open for enrollment (but still U.S.-only, unfortunately). Enrolling in the program requires that you be authorized to make purchases for your company, and you'll also need a valid D-U-N-S number.

Volume purchasing allows businesses an alternative to the App Store for bulk purchases of iOS apps. All paid apps in the App Store are available through the program, at the same price as that listed in the App Store. Note that Apple's guide to the program doesn't mention anything about discounts for bulk app purchases, so purchasing Keynote for all 50 of your employees is going to run you close to US$500.

Custom B2B apps are also offered, allowing a level of customization and privacy not offered through the traditional App Store purchasing route. The program also simplifies bulk distribution of iOS apps, allowing distribution of purchased apps' redemption codes via email, an internal website, or third-party Mobile Device Management.

There doesn't appear to be any cost to enroll in the program, and it seems to be pretty close to addressing most of the features businesses interested in volume purchasing have been asking for since not long after the App Store's debut.

Apple launches B2B store for volume App Store purchases originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A former head programmer for mobile and iOS developer Gameloft has made some pretty damning accusations against the company in a complaint. Glenn Watson says that he was made to work over 100 hours a week sometimes, and that "it was after I worked four consecutive weeks of fourteen-hour days - including weekends - that I realised I needed to resign." The issues didn't stop there, either -- after Watson resigned, he claims, he was asked to apologize for leaving others behind to do the work that he passed up. He says the best apology would be to make sure his fellow employees "never get put through the same rubbish conditions again."

Other employees have backed up Watson's claims, apparently, and even the company itself says there are some long hours being worked, though they're all in line with regulations and employee contracts.

It's also true, however, that Gameloft's been releasing mobile and iOS titles at a quick rate, and the company's CFO has admitted that it's "an ugly scene" in mobile game development right now. And this definitely isn't the first accusation of employee abuse in the gaming industry -- a posting by an anonymous "EA Spouse" a few years ago laid bare the hours and problems game companies often have when they are pushing to get a game out by a certain time. We'll have to see what comes of this complaint, both in terms of actions against Gameloft, and any changes the company makes in the future.

Gameloft accused of overworking employees originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just a couple of weeks ago we saw the final Space Shuttle launch and all episodes of Star Trek the original series, Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise become available via streaming on Netflix. Earlier today our daily Mac app was Time, a clock which simulates the LCARS interface on your Mac. Oh, and last week we saw CBS Interactive introduce a PADD Trek database app.

Continuing this Star Trek theme, here are Rod Roddenberry's top 3 iOS apps. Rod is the son of Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry. We ran into Rod at Macworld Expo and discovered he's new to the Apple side of the force, so it's cool to hear what apps he uses. The last one, Heytell reminds me of the communicator from Star Trek if you had to account for the delay from messages sent long distances via subspace. And we all know how bad AT&T's coverage is near Rigel IV.

Rod's top 3 apps are:

iTeleport (iPad)

GV Connect

Heytell

My top 3 apps: Rod Roddenberry originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sung to the tune of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"

Cupertino,
oh Cupertino,
Will Lion ship this week?
Oh Steve Jobso,
Let OS Lion go,
And make us happy geek(s)!

Refrain:
Windowsaway, windowsaway, windowsaway, windowsaway
Windowsaway, windowsaway, windowsaway, windowsaway

Infinite Loop,
Oh, Infinite Loop,
New MacBook Airs are niii-ice,
Or Steve Jobso,
Minis and Mac Pros,
Would make us happy twiii-ice!
(Refrain)

Yeah, we're probably going to talk about that [ROARDACTED] operating system again tonight, unless there are some Iconfactory employees who'd like to talk about Kootol and other patent trolls. Perhaps we can have a singalong! Or not!

The call starts at 10 PM EDT / 7 PM PDT / 4 PM HST. Your calls and questions help make the show the best it can be, otherwise I'm just talking to myself! To participate, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (Viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8.

If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free Blink or X-Lite SIP clients, basic instructions are here. (If you like Blink, the pro version is available in the Mac App Store.) Talk to you tonight!

TUAW Talkcast: The Lion schleps tonight at 10 PM EDT originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When Apple first announced it was launching a Mac App Store, I thought it was a dumb idea. I already knew where to get my apps and didn't need a centralized location to find what I wanted. However, after using the store for more than six months, I've become a Mac App Store aficionado. Now, I rarely buy an app that isn't on the Mac App Store, and I get kind of annoyed when there's an app I want that's not on the Store.

The reason for my change of heart is simple: the Mac App Store has lived up to everything Apple intended. It's easy to find apps, and it's even easier to install and update them. The thing I love most is that I no longer have to keep a backup of all the DMG files of downloaded apps I've bought. If I ever need to re-download an app, I can do it with a click of a button in the Mac App Store. I also used to keep a separate text file on my Mac containing all the registration information I needed to enter once I installed an app. Sometimes this was just a serial number, but other times it was a serial and a user ID, which might have been an old email I hadn't used in years. All that hassle is gone with the Mac App Store. No serials. No IDs. No DMG files to find or re-download.

As much as I've fallen in love with the Mac App Store, it does have room for improvement. Here are five suggestions I hope Apple implements.

1. Grandfather existing owners of Apple-made apps into the Mac App Store.

I've got several Apple-made apps that I bought on disc before Apple unveiled the Mac App Store. These include iLife '11, iWork '09, and Aperture. It would be nice if Apple found a way to automatically add these apps to my Mac App Store account so I could ditch the optical media and have easy access to them on any Mac I own. Allowing grandfathered Apple apps would also eliminate the confusion of updating Apple's apps. Last week some people had to update their iLife '11 apps through Software Update, while others had to update them through the Mac App Store. (In its early months, the Mac App Store actually was smart enough to find disc-installed Apple apps on your Mac and mark them as "Installed," but it appears this feature is no longer working. -Ed)

2. More options for sorting your purchased apps.

The fourth button on the Mac App Store's menu is the "Purchases" button, which lets you see a complete list of all apps you've purchased. It's a great feature that enables you to quickly re-download any app you bought and later deleted from your Mac. However, right now there is no good way to sort through your purchases. You're limited to viewing them in the order you bought them, most recent to oldest. It would be great if Apple could add additional sorting options including alphabetical, price, category, last updated, and more.

3. Screensavers and Widgets

Right now the Mac App Store is limited to full-fledged applications. This means System Preferences add-ons and screensavers are out. I can understand excluding custom System Preferences add-ons, as some third-party prefpanes require low-level access to your Mac -- a potential security risk. However, screensavers don't present similar risks (at least no more than apps do), and the Mac App Store would be an incredible way to discover cool screensavers. A dedicated screensaver category in the Mac App Store would increase screensaver development and let users easily find and separate the good from the bad via reviews. Same goes for Dashboard widgets; I still use them, and it would be nice to browse them all in one place.

4. Tabbed browsing

The Mac App Store could use improved ways of viewing and comparing potential app purchases. Right now, clicking on an app listing takes you to its info page. That's nice, but if you're looking for a specific type of app -- and not a specific app -- it would be nice to be able to open several app info screens in multiple tabs so you can quickly switch between them while comparing features, ratings, and so forth.

5. Video previews

Currently, an app's info page shows up to five images of the app. Many times those images are enough to provide a good look and feel for the app; however, it would be great if Apple allowed developers to upload one small video that could be played right in the info screen. This video, limited to sixty seconds if necessary, could essentially be a trailer for the game you're thinking of buying or a quick walk-thru of an app, narrated by the developer. The videos would add more to the discoverability of what an app is capable of, something that isn't always obvious from still images or text descriptions.

Those are five of my ideas for the Mac App Store. I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!

Five ways Apple can improve the Mac App Store originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The next time you're waiting for that bus that is really, really late, there's no need to worry about your iPhone or iPad battery dying. Thanks to a creative ad company and the Vitaminwater brand, bus shelters in several American cities are being equipped with a USB port for charging.

The shelters are currently in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. Ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which is sadly the same firm that brought us the Microsoft "I'm a PC" campaign, is using the tag line "Alternative Energy Source" to describe both the Vitaminwater product and the function of the bus shelter plug.

Samsung has had charging kiosks in many airports for several years, so the concept isn't exactly new. But this is the first time that charging has hit the streets, usually the one place that you really need to plug in and charge up. It would be wonderful to see more advertisers providing this type of public service, giving their products and potential customers a plug.

iPhones and other gadgets get a charge from bus shelter ads originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Various sites have been abuzz with rumors surrounding the launch of the next-gen MacBook Air, which many speculators expected to hit the market this week. AllThingsD has now weighed in on these rumors, citing "several sources" who claim the MacBook Air will not launch until late next week at the earliest.

AllThingsD's sources also confirmed the widespread rumors that the MacBook Air will feature a return to backlit keyboards, a Thunderbolt port, and more powerful "Sandy Bridge" processors from Intel. The new MacBook Air is also rumored to have its base RAM and SSD capacity bumped up, with 128 GB now the baseline capacity and 4 GB the new minimum RAM. This will be welcome news to potential buyers; the 11" MacBook Air's base specs of 64 GB SSD and 2 GB RAM seemed a little anemic. While you could pay more to upgrade both pieces of hardware, it seems you may not have to with the next-gen product.

The MacBook Air's hardware has reportedly been ready to launch for quite some time, but sources indicated that Apple held off on launching the hardware until Lion's public launch. Alongside rumors that Lion will not launch until next week, AllThingsD's sources on the "late next week" launch of the MacBook Air seem to be on the right track.

MacBook Air rumor roundup: More RAM, bigger SSD, launch next week originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft is going on a retail binge in hopes of replicating the success of Apple Stores. In the next two to three years the Redmond company plans to open an additional 75 retail stores across America and in other countries as well.

As noted by Neowin.net, Microsoft announced the expansion plans today at WPC 2011 and said that after the success of the first eleven stores, which opened over the last two years, the company hopes the rapid growth will help expand the "Microsoft story."

Meanwhile, Apple has almost 350 retail locations worldwide since opening the first store ten years ago. While an expansion of Microsoft stores isn't so much of a threat to Apple, it could make other big box electronic retailers -- like Best Buy -- nervous, as customers may prefer to go to an official Microsoft store to purchase their PC.

Microsoft to open another 75 retail stores originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Neil Ticktin of MacTech magazine sends word that the upcoming annual MacTech Boot Camp in Los Angeles on July 27 is coming together quickly. Both this camp (which we visited last year to meet and greet some of the biggest names in the Mac community) and the one in Chicago on August 31 have nearly sold through on early bird pricing already, but if you still want in, you can follow this link to get $200 off the registration thanks to sponsor TidBITS and TUAW.

Speakers for the LA event include Ric Wilson, Chris Keller, and Peter Linde, so anyone interested in IT and/or consulting for the Mac platform would definitely do well to come by this event and check out the goings-on. Last year was very informational for attendees, and a lot of fun as well.

Again, registration is still open for Los Angeles and Chicago, so if you're thinking about coming out, now's the time to sign up. Hopefully we'll see you there!

MacTech Boot Camp coming up on July 27, tickets still available originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today's earlier iLife updates are a sign that Apple is set to drop any day now. Not only do the updates add full-screen support to the iLife apps under the latest Lion Developer Preview release, they also tweak some UI elements of iPhoto to match the upcoming UI Finder elements found in OS X 10.7.

The image shows a side-by-side comparison of the source list of iPhoto '11 (version 9.1.4) and iPhoto '11 (version 9.1.5). Both are running under Mac OS X 10.6.8. Gone are the colorful icons designating Events, Photos, Faces, and Places. They've all been replaced with grayed-out counterparts that mimic the look of the Finder's source list in Lion.

The source list in iWeb has retained its color icons, though that's no surprise as iWeb (and most likely iDVD) has no future as part of the iLife suite and their minor updates today were solely focused on 10.7 compatibility.

iLife updates add full-screen Lion support, change iPhoto UI elements to match Lion originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.