Money Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Freemium items may make money for devs, but aren't kept by consumers

by Mike Schramm (Aug 17th, 2011)

The developers behind the iOS game Hungry Shark recently released some statistics showing just how powerful the freemium model (in which customers download an app or game for free, and then support it with in-app purchases) can be. While the game floundered as a paid app, it's gotten much more ...

Study: Average customer spends $14 in freemium games on iOS and Android

by Mike Schramm (Jul 25th, 2011)

This is pretty crazy news from mobile analytics firm Flurry: The average customer in a freemium game on iOS and Android spends $14 in any given transaction, according to their latest data. The same study already revealed that in-app purchases have overtaken standard purchases when it comes to ...

LookTel helps the blind count their money using an iPhone

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jul 14th, 2011)

Smartphone cameras are quite versatile. Some people used them to take pretty pictures, while others use them for the recognition of a face, product or an object. LookTel has taken this idea of object recognition and used it as the cornerstone of a new app called Money Reader. Money Reader ...

Free-to-play overtakes premium games revenue in the App Store

by Mike Schramm (Jul 7th, 2011)

The latest blog post from Flurry reports that free-to-play revenue has overtaken premium revenue in Apple's App Store. I think this was pretty much a guarantee at some point in the future, though it's happening probably a little sooner than most expected. Free-to-play gaming, where a game ...

Rovio picks up $42 million in first funding round

by Mike Schramm (Mar 10th, 2011)

Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds, has nabbed a total of $42 million in a first round of venture capitalist funding. This isn't necessarily quite that big a payday for the company -- while that's obviously a lot of money, the company has reportedly already pulled in about $70 million from app ...

iPhone app helps the blind ID currency

by Chris Ward (Mar 10th, 2011)

Identifying different denominations of dollar bills has long been a problem for the sight-impaired in the US. A US$1 bill is the same size and shape as a $100 bill, making them hard to differentiate. Many use techniques like folding different bills into different shapes, but this doesn't help ...

Girl Scouts using iPhones to sell cookies now

by Mike Schramm (Feb 24th, 2011)

Bad news: the Girl Scouts have discovered an easier way to sell you those dangerously delicious cookies, and it's through an iPhone. Starting this year, the Girl Scouts of America will be taking payments for their annual cookie sales through Intuit's GoPayment app, available on iOS. That ...

Kickstarter-sponsored WALdok is a speaker dock that plugs into your wall

by Mike Schramm (Feb 19th, 2011)

It takes quite a bit for me to be impressed with yet another speaker dock. I run my music through some pretty good PC speakers, so I don't really have a need for a separate speaker to play music directly from my iPhone. But something about the WALdok appeals to me. It's a tiny dock that plugs into ...

Evernote hits 5 million users

by Mike Schramm (Nov 11th, 2010)

Cloud memory service Evernote has reached 5 million users and continues to grow, according to an official statement on the company's blog. The service is gaining tens of thousands of new users per day and has recently seen its highest daily revenue from premium users, plus big jumps off of Apple ...

No Comment: A diamond-encrusted iPhone 4

by Mike Schramm (Oct 14th, 2010)

So, Apple's free bumper case wasn't enough for you? Do you want to encase your iPhone in something a little more ... erm, maybe "classy" isn't necessarily the word for this one. At any rate, as you can see above, customizer Stuart Hughes has enwrapped this iPhone 4 in over 500 diamonds (totaling ...

Deal documents show Ngmoco's 50 million downloads, $10m losses in 2009

by Mike Schramm (Oct 13th, 2010)

Stuart Dredge of MobileEntertainment did some digging into the paperwork behind the Ngmoco sale, and came back with some interesting figures about the company's financials. Turns out that rumored $403 million purchase price is true -- kind of. The deal includes a $100 million bonus, if Ngmoco keeps ...

Found Footage: The $100 iPhone / iPod touch stand

by Steven Sande (Sep 30th, 2010)

Hey, you! With the $100 bill burning a hole in your pocket! Why don't you do something useful with that Benjamin? In this YouTube footage, photographer Enrique Pardo turns an ordinary $100 bill into a fashionable and expensive stand for an iPhone or iPod touch. If you're cheap, you can always ...

TUAW's Daily App: NFL 2011

by Mike Schramm (Aug 19th, 2010)

Madden is usually the word in football video games around this time of year, but just in case you don't want to spend that $8, Gameloft has a deal for you. Even before the season starts, it's dropped the price on NFL 2011 to just 99 cents. The Gameloft version doesn't quite have as much polish or ...

Has the iPhone App Market already crashed?

by Mike Schramm (Aug 18th, 2010)

At GDC Europe earlier this week, Bigpoint CEO Heiko Hubertz claimed that the iPhone app market "has already crashed. You cannot sell your game for 99 cents and expect a return." Apple has said that developers are collectively making more than a billion dollars on the App Store, but Hubertz knocks ...

Jumsoft offering 50% off Money for Cha-Ching customers

by Mike Schramm (Aug 12th, 2010)

Yesterday, we posted that Intuit was basically discontinuing Cha-Ching after hiring the developers and purchasing the app, and it was a little disappointing that they weren't offering any upgrade plan. While Mint.com is free (and some of the Cha-Ching know-how was going to go into the Mint.com ...