Apple has 2x or more credit cards on file than Amazon

Following Apple’s most recent earnings report, Tim Cook revealed in a conference call with analyst that there are now more than 800 million iTunes accounts in use and said that “the majority of those have credit cards behind them.”

How does this compare to Amazon, the king of online commerce? Turns out that Apple actually has twice as many credit cards on file than Amazon, at least. This poses a tremendous opportunity should Apple decide to introduce a mobile payment service of its own, as expected…

Leo’s Fortune is the best platformer we’ve played in a while

Ah, the platformer, a genre that has stood the test of time for generations. Once Mario and his brother graced our living room screens, we were hooked on the run-and-jump adventure that platformers offer. After so many decades, it is starting to get hard to tell titles apart. It seems like anyone can make a platform game, but not everyone can make it good.

Leo’s Fortune is a platform game that is visually attractive, mechanically exciting, and filled with complex puzzles that keep you coming back for more…

Angela Ahrendts to join Apple as retail chief next week

During this afternoon’s quarterly earnings call, Tim Cook announced that Angela Ahrendts will be officially joining Apple next week. The announcement was made last October, but Ahrendts has been under contract with her previous job—CEO of luxury clothing company Burberry—until now.

Ahrendts will join Apple as the Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores, a position that has seen significant turnover in recent years. In 2011, Ron Johnson left for a CEO position at JC Penney, and his replacement, John Browett, was ousted in less than a year due to a conflict in strategy…

Aaron Sorkin talks Jobs movie at Tribeca Film Festival

Aaron Sorkin took a moment yesterday to speak about his upcoming Steve Jobs movie. The Academy Award-winning screenwriter was answering questions at New York City’s School of Visual Arts for the Tribeca Film Festival last night when the subject of the Sony-backed Jobs film came up.

Sorkin of course avoided talking about the drama that surfaced yesterday surrounding the picture’s director and cast, but he did offer up a few details about his script. Some of it we’ve heard before—such as his goal to do something other than a ‘Jobs biography’—but there were a few new tidbits…

Snapchat vulnerability opens up iPhone users to DoS attacks

According to a new report from cyber security researcher Jamie Sanchez, the Snapchatapp contains a vulnerability that makes it possible for hackers to launch a denial-of-service (DoS) attack that can temporarily freezes a user’s iPhone.

Sanchez and a fellow research discovered a flaw in the app’s system that allows a hacker to send thousands of messages to a Snapchat user in seconds, which can cause crashes. And often times, these crashes can only be fixed with a reset…

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iOS 7 presents new challenges for theme makers

While the release of a Winterboard update with support for 64-bit devices is very exciting, the entire process of creating a theme has been fundamentally changed because of how iOS 7 is built. The move away from so-called “skeuomorphism” in favor of translucency and vector-based design creates additional barriers that theme makers didn’t face on iOS 6 and earlier… 

OtterBox shows off new Symmetry Series case for iPhone 5, 5s and 5c

Yesterday afternoon, OtterBox showed off a brand new series of iPhone cases it’s calling ‘Symmetry.’ The new cases are surprisingly minimal, compared to the accessory-maker’s other offerings, and consists of just one solid piece.

OtterBox says that the new case is the culmination of over a year of design, testing and innovation. It’s one of the slimmest, most protective cases in its class, and will be available in a number of different colors and graphic designs…

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Fantastical for Mac and iPhone on sale for a limited time

Ok, this is getting a bit out of hand. After the EA sale, and the Disney and Warner Bros. sale, and the App Santa sale, I’m just not sure how many more purchases my wallet can handle. Luckily, I already own two of the three apps we’re going to be talking about this morning.

Flexibits announced via their Twitter account last night that they have placed all of their apps on sale for the holidays. That means that for a limited time, you can snag the popular Fantastical app for Mac and iPhone, as well as the Chatology messaging app, at a nice discount…

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iPhone 5s is best-selling smartphone at US carriers, 5c is third best

According to research by Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley, the iPhone 5s has been the top-selling smartphone at the four major US carriers for the past 3 months. That’s not too surprising, considering new iPhones usually fair well right after launch.

But what did surprise me was the fact that the iPhone 5c has also been in the top 3 selling smartphones at AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile since September. You know, the same handset that Apple has reportedly been cutting production for due to poor sales…

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Instapaper goes free as Apple’s App of the Week

Apple has named the popular read-it-later app Instapaper its App of the Week for this week. This means that through next Thursday, you’ll be able to pick up the application for both your iPhone and iPad, for free—a savings of $4.

For those unfamiliar with the app, Instapaper bills itself as the simplest way to save and store articles for reading. You can save content on virtually any device, like a bookmark, and return to it later for reading at your convenience…

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Everything is a Remix: the iPhone edition

The Everything is a Remix video series by New York-based filmmaker Kirby Ferguson plays on the remix culture and its key mantra that everything around us is a remix of previously made stuff and that all original material builds off of and remixes previously existing material.

The four-part video series and the companion website covers songs that remain the same, explores the remix techniques involved in producing films, details how innovations truly happen and criticizes the laws that fail to recognize the derivative nature of creativity.

The fifth one (not part of the series, it’s a standalone video) is about the iPhone. Go ahead and hit the More link to watch it now, you know you want to…

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Apple seeds iOS 7.1 beta 2 to developers: here is what’s new

Apple has released the second beta of iOS 7.1 to registered developers this afternoon. The update, which carries the build number 11D5115D, can be downloaded via Apple’s developer center.

Today’s release comes nearly a month after the first beta, which brought about only a handful of changes including a new ‘ dark keyboard’ feature, and other small tweaks and improvements…

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China Mobile aggressively promoting iPhones and iPads for big launch

Earlier this month, reports surfaced that China Mobile and Apple finally inked a deal for the carrier to begin offering iPhones to its some 700 million+ subscribers. Yesterday, China Mobile confirmed the news, taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5s and 5c.

And it looks like the world’s largest carrier is enthusiastic about its new partnership with Apple, as it has gone all out on marketing materials for the launch. Many China Mobile retail stores have dedicated much of their ad and display space to iOS devices…

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Amazon’s Cloud Drive Photos app updated with iPad support, video playback and more

Folks who use Amazon’s Cloud Drive service will be happy to hear that it has posted a significant update for its iOS Photos client this afternoon. The update, which brings the app to version 2.0, adds native iPad support, video playback and other improvements.

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New slide-on case gives your iPhone a BlackBerry-style keyboard

Apple gave physical keyboards the finger (literally) when it introduced the all-touchscreen iPhone back in 2007. Skeptics were quick to dismiss the device, saying a touchscreen could never replace a physical keyboard, but it has since become the norm.

But for the folks who still long for a physical keyboard, there are several options to choose from that allow you to keep your iPhone. And today we’re adding a new one to the stack for all of you BlackBerry fans: the Typo Keyboard case for the iPhone 5/5s…

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Watch LeAnn Rimes’s latest music vid, shot entirely on iPhone

Here’s something awesome. The Grammy award-winning artist LeAnn Rimes has tasked her crew with filming the entire video for Gasoline and Matches, a single from her latest album, Spitfire, on Apple’siPhone, the artist has confirmed.

They opted for the Apple smartphone for footage and stop-motion animation because that particular pocket camera is “easy, affordable and portable” versus your average filmmaker’s heavy gear. The result is nothing short of astonishing, as Rimes’ music video included after the break attests for itself…

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iPhone 5s/5c hitting Straight Talk and NET10 Wireless this Friday

Contract-free United States Mobile Virtual Network (MVNO) wireless brands Straight Talk and NET10 Wireless this morning announced they will start selling Apple’s latest iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c this coming Friday, December 15.

According to a media release, customers will be able to pick up their handset full-price or subsidized. The no-contract plans for individuals and families start at $45 per month for unlimited voice calls, text messages and 2.5GB of high-speed data.

The full breakdown is after the break…

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iPhone 5s hits 100% availability in U.S. Apple Stores

Following its September debut and severely constrained supply, Apple’s iPhone 5s has finally achieved full availability across the company’s retail outlets in the United States. According to a survey by one analyst, the flagship Apple smartphone is now in stock for all colors and capacities and across all major U.S. carriers in company-owned U.S. retail Apple Stores.

Although the U.S. Online Apple Store still shows ship times of five to seven business days, you should now have no issues waltzing inside your nearest Apple Store and picking up an iPhone 5s. At any rate, this is a good sign which indicates Apple and its suppliers have finally caught up with demand ahead of the all-important Christmas shopping frenzy…

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WSJ: China Mobile to start taking iPhone pre-orders this Thursday

The long-enduring game of cat and mouse between Apple, the maker of the world’s most popular smartphone, and China Mobile, the world’s top wireless carriers with more than 700 million subscribers (the equivalent of over twice the US population), looks to be ending as the carrier is expected to start taking pre-orders for the iconic device later this week, reports The Wall Street Journal.

As the carrier is gearing up to launch its long-expected high-speed fourth-generation network services on December 18, China Mobile Shanghai’s website on Monday invited potential customers to pre-order the iPhone 5s and other smartphones from Samsung and Sony that support China Mobile’s new 4G TD-LTE mobile network…

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Tank Domination rumbles through the App Store

When I was a little kid, I “played tanks.” That is, I drew a picture of a tank on one side of a blank piece of paper, and then drew another tank on the other side. Then, I’d “pew, pew, pew” as I drew dotted lies across the page, finishing with a nice, scribbly “ka-ploosh” as my Crayola-based ammunitions struck the armored vehicles.

Tank Domination is sort of like playing tanks. Except the paper is an iPad, the Crayola drawings are high-definition graphics, and the “pew, pew, pew” is awesome explosions that look so real it will melt your face off…

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