FU Apple Results In Huge Sales, Then Quickly Banished – Camera+ Pulled From App Store

Now here’s an interesting sales technique … submit application update for approval – Apple rejects update – release the update anyways by hiding it from Apple. The result? $$ HUGE $$ SALES $$ AND $$ PROFIT $$ !

If you haven’t heard … TapTapTap, developers of the wildly popular camera application Camera+, submitted to Apple a cool feature that would let users take pictures by pressing the iPhone’s volume button. The feature was called VolumeSnap and it was immediately rejected by Apple. For complete details, check out TapTapTap’s blog

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Ok, so whatever … VolumeSnap rejected, life goes on … NOT!

TapTapTap decided to take matters in their own hands. They sent out an encrypted message on Twitter (later deleting the tweet after 30 minutes) which translated into a cheat code. In Mobile Safari, type the URL – camplus://enablevolumesnap – and the rejected VolumeSnap feature is enabled (to switch it off, enter – camplus://disablevolumesnap).

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Well obviously on the Internet nothing stays a secret, hidden or undetected. Every website and their mother published the news about the VolumeSnap enabling code … stating, “get Camera+ while you still can – it probably won’t last long.” Hmmm … clear call to action, strong sense of urgency … a perfect sales pitch. And that it was!

Prior to the VolumeSnap issue, Camera+ sales were on a decline. After previously reaching the #6 overall paid app, Camera+ slipped to #23. But at the time of this writing, Camera+ is currently at their all-time high of #3 overall.

Camera+ is also at their current all-time high for top grossing apps, #2 overall … up from their #30 pre-VolumeSnap position.

ranking-top  ranking-gross

Which is exactly the point of our article. Camera+ is an extremely successful application, with reported net sales well over a half a million dollars. So why the f**k would TapTapTap risk having their extremely profitable application pulled and thus halting an important source of revenue? Sure they received a HUGE boost in sales, but at what price? Perhaps TapTapTap decided they would no longer support Camera+ and this was their final “sales promotion”? Hopefully there’s a method to TapTapTap’s madness because guess what …

UPDATE – As we were writing this article and verifying the latest rankings for Camera+ … Apple pulled the app. But it’s not like we (or the developer) knew this wasn’t coming. So the question still remains … WTF was TapTapTap thinking?!?

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Werewolf Me – Steve Jobs & Oprah Never Looked So Good

Today we salute werewolves … the Rodney Dangerfield’s of the monster world … werewolves get no respect. Recently, werewolves have totally fallen out of vogue …replaced my the latest flavors of the month, zombies and vampires.

“MEH”, we say … “screw those trendy zombies and vampires – we’re sticking with the lady who brought us to the dame … werewolves rock!”

And what better way to celebrate werewolves than with Werewolf Me [iTunes $1.99] … the only iPhone app that will transform a face photo into a Wolf Man.

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Simply upload a picture with the in-app camera or from the photo library … and in seconds your friends, family or whoever will be transformed into a super cool werewolf. The transformation can be immediate or for a more realistic approach, according to the moon phase.

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HA … Steve Jobs and Oprah never looked so good (or the same)!

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Apple Considers ‘Guido’ Offensive, Forces Guidofy App To Change Name

jobs-sucks-for-you Let’s do some role playing. Ok, so you are an iPhone app developer who launched an app a few months ago. Everything is cool … your app is getting strong reviews … gaining in popularity … sales are climbing. Then one day you receive a call from Apple saying if you don’t change your app’s name, it will be banned from the App Store. Huh? Apple states that the name of your app is derogatory and must be changed immediately. Never mind the fact that you have successfully marketed and established your brand (the app’s name) …  change the derogatory name or be removed from the App Store! Oh and if that’s not enough … your competitors who have similar derogatory app names … well they can stay with no change. SUCKS FOR YOU! 

Sounds pretty farfetched, eh? LOL … yeah right. Come on, this is Apple we’re talking about … and as we stated yesterday, they apply Apple Logic.

Back in March, we reviewed a very cool app called Guidofy. Inspired by the MTV reality series, Jersey Shore, Guidofy is a photo app which unleashes the Guido in you … Fedora hats, gold chains, Fohawk hair and of course, synthetic tans. Just check out how sexy the pasty white Irish Conan O’Brien looks as an Ed Hardy wearing, Grey Goose drinking Guido.

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Coco-G  Coco-Guido

Although Apple approved Guidofy in February, they changed their minds and applied that sound Apple Logic … Guidofy bares similarity to the name "Guido" which Apple considers derogatory. If the disgusting name is not changed, the app will be banned. And no, Apple doesn’t give a shit that the Guidofy name has been established and marketed (think $$$) for over two months … change it or die an unpleasant App Store death! Ok … FFFFUUUU … new non-offensive name … Jersify.

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But here’s the kicker … call it rubbing salt in the developer’s wound. There are two other Guido-themed applications which carry derogatory names … Guido and Guidofy Me … they offensively remain for sale intact.

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At this point you might be thinking … why is Guidofy offensive, but Guido and Guidofy Me are perfectly acceptable? A fair question. No worries, we have the answer … Apple Logic … SUCKS FOR YOU!

Pocket Labeler – Retro Label Maker And Safe Sexting App Alternative

Remember our friend Mike from More Blu Sky? The dude who has issues? Mike spent months hand cutting over 500 letters, numbers and punctuation out of magazines for his Ransom Letters app …the application which lets you caption photos in ransom note-style. The end result of Mike’s crazy attention to detail is an awesome app and although he calls himself a perfectionist … we think he’s a talented freak who develops fantastic products.

Mike recently published a new offering called Pocket Labeler [iTunes $0.99] and true to his nut job … errr … perfectionist ways, it does not disappoint.

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dynamo-label-maker Pocket Labeler was inspired by those old–school label makers … squeeze the handle to form the letters and it spits out plastic sticky label thingies. Since Mike is a lunatic perfectionist, he labels everything in his life … CD collection, storage boxes, cooking spices, his cars, children, etc. Having this affinity to sticky labels, publishing Pocket Labeler was a natural for Mike.

Although Pocket Labeler is a simple concept, the app is executed to perfection (coming from Mike, no surprise) and totally easy to use … choose a picture to label – type in your text – apply label, choose from 8 color options – pinch and twist label to obtain desired size and position … then from within the app, you can either save the labeled image to your camera roll, upload to Facebook, Flickr or send via email.

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Besides the obvious entertainment value of Pocket Labeler, the app has numerous practical uses as well …. timestamp pictures – scrapbooking – add date, location and other notes – accident reporting … hell, it can even replace the Safe Sexting app we featured.

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So look … obviously Mike has some problems, but his “freak” is our “gain”. At 99 cents, Pocket Labeler [iTunes] is a steal. It provides entertainment, boatloads fun and has many practical uses. Make Mike happy – buy his app … and hopefully Mike will use the proceeds towards his therapy bill … because seriously, labeling your kids is just plain weird.

Exclusive: Steve Jobs And Bill Gates Turn Guido!

Sure they may be among the most powerful and influential men in the business world, but  Steve Jobs and Bill Gates cannot survive on work alone. Just like the rest of us, these guys need to blow off some serious steam. And while you might assume that Jobs and Gates partake in some stuffy relaxation ritual of sipping fine Chateau Latour from Riedel stemware while smoking Cohiba Esplendidos … we’re here to tell you that’s bullcrap.

Trusted sources have informed us that Jobs and Gates have transformed into Steve “Sleazy T” Jobs and Bill “Baby Oil” Gates … hanging with the Guidos and Guidettes of Jersey Shore. They are fist pumping, glow sticking and Jagermeistering with The Situation, Snooki  and the rest of the Jersey Shore douchebags, club-style. And of course we have the exclusive bronzed  pictures to prove it (including their matching soul patches).

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LMAO … yo, gotta love photography apps for the iPhone … especially when they “unleash the Guido in you”. For a mere 99 cents, the Guidofy app will provide you with an authentic  Italian-American Muscle Milk look. Choose from Fedora hats, Yankees caps, Vercase and Prada shades, Fohawk hair, gold chains, etc … over 50 options for Guidofying yourself. But best of all … bronzer functionality for that gorgeous fake and bake synthetic tan appeal.

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And take a wild guess what Robert Pattinson does when he’s not busy drinking people’s blood? Or Conan O’Brien, when he’s on break from interviewing squirrels in his backyard? SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!

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Coco-G  Coco-Guido

New iPhone App Can Be Programmed To Display Porn

It’s a well known fact that Apple does not tolerate porn in the App Store … “Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography,” said Apple spokesman Tom Neumayer in an official company statement last June. If porn somehow does manage to find a way into an app (we’ve detailed 5 cases of in-app pornography), Apple lowers its mighty ban hammer and the offending application is quickly removed.

But gosh darnit … this is porn. And when there’s a will, there’s a way … just ask Charles Rodriguez, president of iPhone app publishing company, iHustleApps. For months Charles racked his brain, trying to figure out the way to his will … nude female images within an Apple-approved native app, while avoiding the ban hammer. And what Charles came up with is an App Store first … the forChan app.

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On the surface, forChan seems unique, interesting and innovative … a web browser wrapped into a photo viewing application. Connect to any imageboard site and forChan presents the content in convenient thumbnail and full-size views. You can emails photos, view as a slideshow, save to your iPhone, shake to refresh images and more. The app’s default URL is set to an imageboard displaying dozens of cuddly canines.

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But don’t judge an app by its cover. In a few simple steps …

Step 1: Download forChan
Step 2: Via your iPhone, visit iHustleApps.com/iPhone and press the “forChan” button
Step 3: Select one of the 15 “adults only” categories
Step 4: Copy the displayed URL to your clipboard
Step 5: Paste the URL in the Store URL section of forChan

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… those adorable doggies become a bevy of uncensored XXX bliss, with all its flick and pinch glory. YOWZA!

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“It’s important to note that forChan does not contain an Easter egg. There is no code within the actual app which enables the adults only feature. We simply programmed it with dual functionality,” said Charles. “All content is delivered by our company’s servers.” Charles continued, “Using forChan in this capacity is no different than visiting an adults only site with a web browser app purchased from iTunes.”

Hmmm … ok, fair enough – a web browser. Like we said … when there’s a will, there’s a way. And since ultimately it’s the user enabling the adult content in forChan, perhaps iHustleApps will indeed avoid Apple’s ban hammer.

Official LEGO App Released – Geeks Excited, Have Brickgasms

Most geeks have iPhones … and since KRAPPS is eternally linked to the device, we come in contact with a lot of geeks. These folks are amazing … it’s like they have their own culture … Geek Culture. They wear witty T-Shirts (“rock is dead and paper killed it”), use Moleskine notebooks, read comic books, drink high-end beer, love Pixar movies and are totally into robots, bacon, dinosaurs and zombies. Stick a robot on anything, like toilet paper, geeks will buy it. Bacon bandages … plenty found in a geek’s medicine cabinet. Ever hear of legoTimPeckham Victory Storm King … ask a geek.

One of the biggest geek love affairs are LEGOs. Those colorful interlocking bricks are just about as sexy as Megan Fox to geeks. Invite a geek to your kid’s birthday party, chances are your rug rat ends up with LEGOs. “I’m going to Disneyland!” … won’t hear that from a geek Super Bowl MVP … “I’m going to LEGOLAND!”. Hell, just look at this actual headline from Gizmodo, it reads like geek porn … Gigantic Lego Star Wars Rebel Frigate Is 4 Feet 6 Inches Of Brickgasm (correct, geeks have brickgasms).

So warning – if you’re a geek, sit down now … we have excellent news! LEGO has just released their official iPhone app, LEGO Photo … its free and its awesome [iTunes].

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LEGO Photo is simple genius … the KISS design principle (keep it simple, stupid) works perfectly in this app. Load a picture into LEGO Photo, touch a button and the image  magically changes into LEGO form … miniaturized bricks of brilliance. No one can argue that Steve Jobs or President Obama look much sweeter LEGOized.

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And let’s not even talk about Megan Fox, geeks everywhere will be having massive brickgasms.

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Come to think of it, why pay 99 cents for that Safe Sexting app when really, LEGO Photo is the ultimate in safe sexting. Just look how sex(t)y Vanessa Hudgens looks as a LEGO (another brickgasm, oh no!).

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[Special thanks to our bacon-eating, snow-shoveling, wise-ass of the Great White North Tim Peckham for providing today’s “You Complete Me” cartoon. Be sure to visit Tim’s website for more cartoons and information about his three apps … or check out his work as a cartoonist in the Toronto Sun.]

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