Here’s a bit of App Store drama for you: Antares Audio Tech, the company that built the underlying technology licensed for the popular “I am T-Pain” iPhone App, has unleashed their lawyers on Steamboat Mountain Designs, an indie developer and maker of the now-removed iPhone app, “AutoTuner.”

Why? Well, it turns out that the term “Auto-Tune” — which due to the recent spike in usage in pop music has come to be misused almost as often as the term “photoshop” — is trademarked by Antares. In a cease and desist letter, Antares claims that “Steamboat’s use of ‘AutoTuner’ is virtually identical to Antares’ AUTO-TUNE(R) mark, simply adding an ‘r’ at the end of the mark and removing a hyphen, and is used in connection with a software program that is directly competitive and functionally identical to Antares’ AUTO-TUNE(R) product.”

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In case you didn’t notice, social gaming is taking off. And despite mounting criticism, the market is continuing to grow and doesn’t look like it’s going to stop. But so far, most of the major players are either on the major social networks (i.e., Facebook, MySpace) or on the major smartphone platforms (i.e., iPhone, Android). But here’s an interesting thought: millions of people are still on regular mobile phones, and they want to play social games, too, right? That’s exactly the thought that came to Cellufun’s founding team, which has quietly built a business aiming to provide social games to the hundreds of millions of people who aren’t on Smartphones (but have access to the mobile web). How? They partner with carriers such as Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, MetroPCS, and Rogers Communications and provide Cellufun through their mobile website (m.cellufun.com).

I talked to Cellufun CEO Neil Edwards, former CEO of dotMobi, who gave me the breakdown on what they’ve been doing. He thinks that they’re about ready to “hockey stick” with their social gaming platform on mobile devices. Essentially, Cellufun’s 19 employees have worked to build a platform for social gaming – every user who wants to play a Cellufun game first creates an account with Cellufun and builds a full-body avatar. 2.7 million users have registered with Cellufun (resulting in 220 million page views), and the number is growing fast. That’s small compared to the other gaming companies such as Zynga and Playfish, which have tens of millions playing each of their games (Zynga claims to have 130 million social gamers). However, Cellufun’s relationship with wireless carriers and their ability to push content to a large number of phones provides them with strong growth potential (their revenues are up 400% from last year) and a defensible product. Thus far, Cellufun has raised $7 Million from Longworth Venture Partners and is currently raising an equally sized Series B.

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Tapjoy, the small development shop that brought us the incredible TapDefense for the iPhone [iTunes link], has quietly built out an extremely strong toolset to provide monetization options for app developers. Through two strong offerings, they claim to increase ad revenue for free apps by more than 250%. I first met them at the TechCrunch50 DemoPit, and was thoroughly impressed by the Tapjoy platform.

First, they aggregate ads from all the major mobile ad networks and serve the highest-paying ad for an app. This method leaves the developer with nigh an unfilled ad; Tapjoy boasts a 99.9% fill rate. Second, they enable developers to sell virtual goods within their apps (such as extra points in Mobster or extra towers in TapDefense) for real money. They do this by providing the user with the option to download an app in exchange for the virtual good. Be sure to read about this later on in the article, because it is truly the most innovative 3rd party platform I’ve seen on the iPhone all year.

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One tiny detail that went largely unnoticed about the “nook”, the slick new e-book reader that Barnes and Noble just released: the nook’s operating system is based on Google’s Android OS. Hmmm… Why would B&N develop the nook based on Android? Well, Android is a sick platform for developers, and they absolutely love building on it. So why not open it up and let others develop for the nook? According a person close to the situation, that is in the plans for the nook, and it will soon be able to run apps.

Now, we don’t know if this will become a full-fledged Android device, where the nook would enable a user to download anything from the Android Marketplace. Chances are it’ll be more like a mini-Android marketplace, for apps built specifically for the nook. Either way, it would be a sweet addition to an already-impressive device. Imagine having crossword puzzles, interactive books, games and the like on your e-Reader. Unlike the Kindle’s closed platform, this would theoretically be more open and would provide developers and book publishers with a clever way to improve the interactivity of their books. Of course, the nook has to take off before this becomes likely so developers have a real incentive to build on the platform. Time will only tell, but for now, the e-book race just got even more interesting.

Amazon may have sold over a million Kindles and millions of e-books, but there’s another e-book reader that seems to be gaining some traction: the iPhone. And of the many e-book readers on the iPhone, ScrollMotion seems to be having real success with over 2,500 titles and counting. When we last wrote about ScrollMotion’s launch in December 2008, the App Store was a young lad and ScrollMotion had already signed up publishers Random House, Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin, Penguin Group USA and Hachette. Now, with the App Store all grown up, ScrollMotion has expanded that repertoire and created a solid offering on the iPhone. Though they won’t disclose the actual sales numbers, CEO John Lema tells me they’ve sold more than a whopping 200,000 books on the store. Wowza – who ever said that screen was too small for reading?

Today, ScrollMotion releases Iceberg Reader [iTunes link], an update to their existing e-book reader that takes advantage of Apple’s in-app purchase feature. Previously, each of ScrollMotion’s e-books came as a separate app, which means that ScrollMotion has over 2,500 apps on the store [iTunes link]. Now, instead of having to get a separate app for each book, users can simply obtain Iceberg Reader 3.0 for free and then use the in-app bookstore to purchase additional titles. Iceberg Reader comes with a free copy of James Patterson’s Maximum Ride.
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Holy Mother of Football Heaven. Talk about a head-to-head matchup. Gaming heavyweight Electronic Arts against mobile superstar Gameloft. We’ve seen this before, folks, on various mobile devices. But never on a stage like this. And never with the stakes so high. The iPhone is the ultimate arena for this blockbuster duel, and we’re going to judge this match play-by-play for you. We’ll go through each of the major aspects of a quality simulation football game and tell you how each game scored. But first, a little background on the contestants:

EA is the owner and developer for the best (and only) football franchise in the world, Madden NFL Football. They’ve also kicked ass on the iPhone platform with titles such as The Sims 3, Need for Speed, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and more. Gameloft, despite having far less success with their football franchise, has managed to dominate the iPhone platform. Gameloft has racked up more than 6 million sales with titles such as Gangstar, Rise of Lost Empires, Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles, and others. This will be a truly epic battle, but nobody can deny that EA, what with more than a decade of experience with the Madden franchise, is favored in the bout of a lifetime: EA’s Madden NFL 2010 head-to-head with Gameloft’s NFL 2010.

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As if it wasn’t enough to introduce the sickest mini MP3 player/Video camera/Radio ever and a gorgeous new version of iTunes, Steve Jobs had to throw in an iPhone OS update for good measure. For those of you who missed our live feed, here’s an overview of what the iPhone OS 3.1 update contained:

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phat [fat] adj. slang.
1. <abrev.> Pretty Hot and Tempting.
2. 1990’s slang largely used today by gangster wannabes and 13-year-olds.
3. The best word to describe Gameloft’s Gangstar: West Coast Hustle.

If you liked the Grand Theft Auto series, and you have an iPhone, you absolutely have to buy Gangstar: West Coast Hustle (iTunes link). Even if you’ve never heard of the GTA series (ergo, you’ve been in hibernation since 1995), you’ll still want to buy this game. With sweet graphics, engaging gameplay and a surprisingly interesting storyline, Gangstar will keep you entertained for hours and keep you wanting more when you’re done. It isn’t without its faults: the rendering of far-away objects takes too long and there aren’t a lot of side missions (unlike the GTA series), but they pale in comparison to the pluses. This may be the best game in its genre of the summer, and a steal at $6.99.

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Are you addicted to FriendFeed? Can’t get enough of Robert Scoble’s incessant posts? Want to keep up with them even when you’re on the go? Are you praying to the heavens that Facebook doesn’t screw up FriendFeed post-acquisition? Then Stir (iTunes link) might just be for you. Created by StructLab Stir is an iPhone app that allows you to get your fill of FriendFeed anytime, anywhere. You can use it in the bathroom at work (guilty), while watching a lame chick flick with your girlfriend (guilty) or if you’re on the couch and don’t want to walk the 10 feet to your desk (umm, yes, guilty).

Of course, it is hardly the first FriendFeed app for the iPhone, but it’s the first one I’ve looked at and it’s pretty damn good. Mind you, I only started using FriendFeed last week. Twitter [follow me] is still my micro-blogging platform of choice, but I quickly noticed that FriendFeed has some obvious benefits. And Stir takes advantage of all of them.
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It’s no secret: there’s some Benjamins to be made on the App Store. In fact, the App Store is now a $2.4 billion dollar per year business, according to AdMob’s monthly mobile metrics report. Here’s another fun fact you probably already know: most app developers fade into the App Store abyss long before they ever find fame and fortune. Even if you ignore the junk apps and the million e-books each published as a separate app, you’ve still got a solid 5-10,000 apps clamoring to grab a piece of the App Store pie. Many developers feel like the App Store is akin to high school: an anarchic and ruthless popularity contest to see who’s got the biggest, well, um, you know what I mean.

That brings us to the $2.4 billion question: how do you succeed on the App Store? We’ve spent the last few weeks trying to answer that question and have come up with a list of tips and tricks that’ll help you edge your way into App Store glory. Now, none of these will replace making a good product or compensate for a million-dollar advertising and PR budget, but they’ll likely help you get noticed or keep your current momentum.

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When it comes to winning in the App Store, one PR firm has discovered a dynamite strategy: throw ethics out the window. Reverb Communications, a PR firm that represents dozens of game publishers and developers, has managed to find astounding success on Apple’s App Store for its clients. Among its various tactics? It hires a team of interns to trawl iTunes and other community forums posing as real users, and has them write positive reviews for their client’s applications. Yeah, that 5-star iTunes app review you saw for the once top-5 paid app Enigmo? It might not be written by a real user, but rather by Pangea Software’s PR firm. Reverb isn’t the first to try and game the user review process, but they are definitely one of the most blatant cases.

Reverb Communications is an extremely successful PR firm that claims to have “first party” and “personal” relationships with Apple. Aside from representing Pangea Software, one of the more successful App developers for the iPhone (they made Enigmo, which was featured during the Apple WWDC Keynote 2008), they also represent Harmonix (the Guitar Hero and Rock Band guys), MTV Games, and a host of iPhone game developers. Additionally, they’ve managed to do an impressive job at courting the press: clients have had iPhone apps featured in just about every major media outlet known to man, including Forbes, MTV, G4TV, NBC (in fact, all the examples were for one developer: Publisher X, which Reverb happens to own). Reverb claims that their clients have sold over $2 Billion of product under their watch.

Update: Reverb Communications has just sent over a statement, which we have included at the base of this article.

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As if we didn’t wait long enough. Two months after TomTom (iTunes link) for the iPhone was first announced at WWDC 2009, they finally decided to release the app into the wild. We haven’t tried it yet, but we’ll probably spend some time with this sucker to make sure it’s worth its salt. At a whopping $99, it better be. Not only is this one of the most expensive GPS apps on the iPhone, it is also one of the largest: the US & Canada (iTunes link) version alone comes in at 1.21 GB. That’s fine by me, as I’ve been waiting for a solid full-featured GPS app for the iPhone for awhile. So far, I’ve not been satisfied.

Dropping a benjamin on the TomTom app doesn’t sound too bad, considering many of the GPS apps currently on the store charge a per-month subscription fee of $10. You’ll make back your money on the TomTom app in just 10 months. Furthermore, it’s TomTom, not your run-of-the-mill GPS company, and it comes complete with the IQ Routes feature, which uses historical travel data to determine the fastest route to your destination. Hopefully that will mean something, though my bet is that it still won’t be ready to replace your in-car navigation system or a standalone GPS device quite yet. Why? Because the iPhone’s native GPS just isn’t good enough; especially if you’re still stuck with an iPhone 3G (i.e. you don’t have a compass). This won’t be an issue for long: TomTom plans on releasing a hardware component later this summer, and it will enhance the GPS signal of your iPhone. I’d hold out for the accessory before taking any GPS app on the iPhone seriously. Specs after the jump.
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So, apparently, Apple’s Phil Schiller is starting to talk about Apple’s missteps. After months of silence, one of Apple’s top executives (and possibly the most public-facing one next to Jobs) has started to reach out to the tech community to help explain Apple’s numerous, absurdly embarrassing blunders. Some may be satisfied with Schiller slowly sending private e-mails out to various developers and bloggers.

Not me. I want answers. I think many of us do. And not just about specific issues like the banning of one small iPhone app (Ninjawords). Not just one private e-mail to one developer which the rest of us can’t even read. That’s helpful, granted. And I’m stoked that Schiller was willing to take out the time. But while he’s at it, I think the general public of Apple products users would love to know a lot more. At the very least, I know I would.

So here are 6 questions for Apple’s Phil Schiller that I would really love to know the answer to. Feel free to add to the list in the comments.

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The first few times I picked up Resident Evil 4: Mobile Edition (iTunes link), I wanted to throw my iPhone out the window and watch it slowly sail 8 stories below into the Potomac river. Now, after five days of playing through the game’s 12 levels, I am ready to take my iPhone into bed with me and make sweet love to it. The controls take a lifetime to get used to, but once you’ve got them down, the game is extremely addictive. It took me a full three levels to get used to the game mechanic, but it was well worth it. The much-anticipated iPhone port of the console classic, Resident Evil 4, is only for those who are willing to put in the time I did. So be warned, short attention-span iPhone gamers: RE4 is not for you. For those who have come to appreciate the iPhone as a full-fledged portable gaming device, proceed, but please be patient.

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Developed by Mountain Sheep, Minigore was probably the most-hyped $1 iPhone game I’ve seen all summer. Unfortunately, when you hype a game as much as Chillingo did, it comes with a set of expectations. Though Minigore is a mildly entertaining survival shooter, it didn’t entirely hold up to said expectations. The game is simple: you are John Gore and your job is to survive as you are attacked by an endless blitzkrieg of furry enemies. These furry enemies are large square-shaped beasts of varying sizes that charge at you, trying to turn you into lunch meat. You, John Gore, have a machine gun and you rack up points by killing these nasty little critters.

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Over the past few weeks, Apple has been much-maligned for keeping apps such as Google Voice off the App Store. These weren’t some random garbage apps; there was no farting, or baby shaking. Google Voice apps are utilities which many have come to rely on, and thus many (including TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington) are none too happy with Apple’s blockade. But what if Apple deleted a completely useless app from the store? What about 900 useless apps – all from one developer? Apple has decided to test those waters: it has revoked the developer’s license of one of the App Store’s most prolific developers, Khalid Shaikh, founder of Perfect Acumen.

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There I was. On a train from Paris to Barcelona, passing the time by playing Roulette on my iPhone. Someone sits down next to me; I think nothing of it. Probably another bumbling tourist excited to go see Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. “Perdon, Senor, que hora es?” I look up to identify the voice. There she was: a beautiful Spanish girl in a short skirt; the warm sun shining on her perfectly tanned body. Takes me a second to realize I’m staring. Get it in gear, Gagan. Bumbling like a fool, I frantically thumb through the iPhone home screens to find it. Got it. Thank god I bought this app before I came. I ask her to repeat, “K or S?” She replies, “No, que hora es?” Ohhhh, Que not K. What does that mean again? I type away on my keyboard and search for “que”. It doesn’t recognize it. She asks again, “Que hora es?” This time I just type “qu” – no, not quail, not quit. Arggghh! These are just English words. Oh shit: all I’ve got is a one-way translator. The app doesn’t convert Spanish to English. I look up again, and say the only thing I know: “Sorry, no hablo espanol.” She, frustrated, gets up and walks away. There goes my chance. Red with embarrassment, I return to my iPhone. No Spanish ladies for me.

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As we’ve reported, Apple sold 5.2 million iPhones last quarter. Yeah, Cupertino sure doesn’t seem to think much of the recession. Oh, and to top it off, they sold 10.2 million iPods. Assuming at least some of those were iPod touches, there are at least 6 million new iDevices in consumer’s hands. In fact, CNNMoney.com estimates that there are now 45 million App Store-capable devices on the market. No wonder, day after day, we see new developers creating iPhone apps, and old ones decide to dedicate more resources to the charge. This week, in our weekly App Roundup we continue to explore the depths of the App Store and try to help you separate the good apps from the bad.

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How many different ways can the iPhone pie be split? Namco just joined the leagues of gaming developers with iPhone-exclusive gaming shops. Touch Arcade reports that Namco is creating an “Apple Games” division, and will kick off the venture with a new version of the classic arcade franchise, Pac-Man, with Pac-Man Remix. The new division’s General Manager will be former I-Play Mobile Gaming producer and designer Jonathan Kromrey. Pac-Man Remix will play similarly to the original Pac-Man, but with some added power-ups that will allow your Pac-Man to jump over walls or move faster, for example. Of course, it’s not like Namco hasn’t already made games for the iPhone, but this is their way of saying: we just made a new game and want to promote it so we’ll create a new division and you will write about it. And write about it we did.

Team17 completely blew it with Worms for the iPhone (iTunes link). I was running around the house screaming my head off like my team had just won the Super Bowl when I found out Worms was coming to this handset. When I finally got to playing it, it was as though the clock was reset to 0:10 left and the opposing team just hit a last-minute field goal, crushing my hopes and dreams. That’s not to say the game didn’t have its pluses – it’s still Worms after all. But I will say that the game was riddled with various performance issues, drawbacks and inconsistencies that will undoubtedly infuriate any Worms fan. Those who never enjoyed the classic turn-by-turn strategy series known as Worms: stay away from the iPhone version. Stay far, far away. For people like me, who long to relive on the iPhone their childhood love affair with the eccentric, class-less, and addictive Worms franchise: approach with caution. You may still find yourself enjoying Worms, but will constantly find yourself frustrated by its shortcomings.

I tried Worms on the iPhone 3G, which is no doubt still the predominant platform for iDevice owners. As soon as I opened up Worms, I immediately noticed a severe lag. I reset my phone, and though there was a marked improvement, the lag never really subsided enough for a seamless gaming experience. The Team17 Facebook forum is abuzz about these issues as well, so I’m not the only one with the problem. The issue really affects specific parts of the game, which require speed and are adversely affected by the lag.

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Although they only ship 3% of cell phones worldwide, Apple and Research-In-Motion are cleaning up in the profits department. According to a recent report by Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff (via WSJ), Apple and RIM account for 35% of the global cell phone industry’s profits. This comes on the heels of tremendous year-over-year growth for the smart phone market, which doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon. Modoff agrees, and contends that the pair of smart phone heavyweights will take 5% of the market (in terms of cell phones shipped), but account for a whopping 58% of market share.

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You read that right, folks. We’ve stepped up our game on this week’s App Roundup and are going to go ahead and review an app that’s not even out yet. Pre-released apps are becoming increasingly common in our inbox, as the Apple Review process seems to take forever (no surprise, given that it’s run by 8-year-olds).

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8lb. Gorilla? More like 5lb. Chimpanzee. The 800lb. Gorilla in the gaming development world, Electronic Arts, recently announced on Touch Arcade that it has opened a new “micro-studio” to create iPhone games. It’s name? 8lb. Gorilla. Whereas EA usually focuses on higher price point games such as The Sims 3 or Tiger Woods PGA Tour 3, this new gaming studio will develop cheaper games with less depth to increase their dominance in the iPhone gaming market.
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I’ve never knew hell would be so much fun. Well, it is, and you can enjoy a visit to hell yourself with Doom: Resurrection (iTunes Link) for the iPhone. As soon as I picked up my iPhone, I was brought back to the days of my youth. As just a child, I remember the sadistic pleasure of sneaking onto my father’s computer at night, loading up Doom on his computer, and jamming the keyboard as I obliterated aliens and henchmen on the 12-inch CRT before me. Doom was a classic; it blew the first-person shooter genre wide open, and anyone who was around upon its conception cannot possibly forget the sinister thrills of blasting the heads off of the monstrous, pixelated beasts in the game. Today, that 12-inch CRT is but a distant memory, yet the legacy of Doom lives on. Surprisingly, in this iteration, it presents itself on a smaller screen: the iPhone’s 3.5-inch widescreen display. No matter, this Doom will bring back memories of the original, and you won’t regret its $10 price tag.

The iPhone is ideal for many things, but I was hard-pressed to envision how a first-person shooter (FPS) would play out on a button-less device. It’s difficult enough to imagine an FPS without a mouse or a joystick, but with no buttons at all? Impossible! Yet, somehow, Id Software pulled it off with shocking precision: the controls were amazing. To be fair, the experience wasn’t the same as on the Xbox or a PC. You don’t control the character’s movements, just the crosshair. But, that was sufficient and Doom: Resurrection still provided a heart-pounding experience that you don’t want to miss.

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