Luxury Watchmakers Create Free iPhone Apps to Promote Their Products
During the initial rise of Apple’s stunningly popular iPhone and iPod Touch, makers of the world’s most expensive watches definitely felt a tremble of fear at the competition a highly accurate digital time keeping device could offer to their product lines. It seemed that the necessity of a wristwatch just might disappear, but now these big companies are striking back with innovative software to promote their products and keep them at the forefront of mobile device users’ minds. Using free apps, the watch making companies are aiming to keep consumers intrigued by their unique designs and in a buying frame of mind when it comes to luxury watches.
Huge names such as Bell & Ross, Dewitt, Dior, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels, and even global giant Breitling, have all created apps by which they intend to woo a potentially new base of customers. Rather than aiming their efforts towards the traditional customer base of watch collectors, the companies are hoping to draw in a more tech savvy and younger fan base from among the growing mobile device demographic. As profits for watch makers continue to dive, the cheap advertising available via iPhone apps is intended to be a cost effective measure for the companies to raise their sales levels in the coming year.
Zombie Themed Game Released for iPhone and iPod Touch
The UK based game developer Westbright has released a simple turn based board game app for the iPhone called Zombies 1.0 that will be playable on the iPhone as well as the iPod Touch. The game is based on the classic game called Daleks, a familiar favorite for UK gamers. Due to its friendly, comedic approach, Zombies 1.0 is expected to be a hit with family audiences that can feel comfortable with its content when it comes to younger gaming fans.
The husband and wife team behind the game, Matt and Maggie West, set up Westbright Ltd in 2003 to develop these kinds of titles that offer non complex gaming fun for all ages. In Zombies 1.0, players will maneuver through levels attempting to avoid hordes of zombies that are constantly coming their way. Players will be able to out navigate the zombies so that they collide with one another and burst into flame, even making use of a Fleeing spell in order to do so. With the aid of Banish spells, players will be able to get rid of an entire group of zombies that are getting dangerously close to them.
Since most horror themed games for the iPhone rely too heavily on gore or horrific scenes to be suitable for children, the team at Westbright worked to provide a more comic gaming style that would remind players of Scooby Doo and other family friendly titles.
Zombies 1.0 will work on any device running OS 2.0 or later and retails for $2.99 through Apple’s App Store.
Four Seasons Offers New App
In an effort to build on the momentum for its campaign to enter the digital era and establish an online presence, the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts App for the iPhone has been released by the hospitality industry giant. The app has been designed in response to demand from guests who expressed a strong desire for both a convenient booking portal and gateway to side destinations while on vacations.
The app comes at a time when the Four Seasons has been building its brand by establishing a YouTube channel, an online magazine, and both corporate and individual Twitter feeds to keep the company’s image strong in the minds of consumers. All of these upgrades were created to meet the wishes of guests who had requested more online interactivity via comments on the company website and participation in surveys. Prior to this, Four Seasons’ website had enjoyed a fairly substantial amount of visitors who enjoyed videos of the hotels as well as an extensive photo library. The “virtual vacations” users sampled through that website are now greatly expanded by the app.
Using the app, customers will be able to find a room from one of the Four Seasons 80 resorts or hotels around the world, select a spa treatment and make reservations, or take a digital tour of the company’s travel offerings. The app is available for free download.
My Phax
Mitek Systems, Inc. has announced a new app that will allow iPhone users to send a fax using the camera on their phone. The Mobile Phax app gains its name from a combination of the words ‘fax’ and ‘phone’ and is part of the Mitek System’s family of apps called Office on My Phone, referred to as ‘OOMPH’. The intent behind the software is to allow customers to make further use of the cameras already built into their mobile phone devices which the company views as particularly useful to mobile professionals who would otherwise need to locate a nearby copy center in order to send a fax.
Using the optical camera on the iPhone, Mobile Phax takes a picture of any document and converts that to the Adobe PDF format, converting the image into a high quality printer friendly image so that the phone becomes something akin to a traditional fax machine. These printer friendly images are then sent via e-mail to the intended user for printing purposes. The patent pending IMagePROVE technology automatically rotates, crops and scales the picture of the document’s hard copy to render it suitable for printing.
The My Phax is available for download via Apple’s App Store for $4.99.
My O2 App Gives iPhone Users More Account Information
Mobile network provider O2 recently announced their latest app, My O2, has been released to allow iPhone customers easier access to their account data so that they can better track the amount they are spending via their phones. While this information has been previously accessible either online or through SMS, the My O2 app allows the data to be accessed via the iPhone’s unique interface. The developers hope that this will give customers greater freedom and encourage greater interaction with O2 services as the easier monitoring method leads to a greater sense of security for end users.
Both Pay Monthly and O2 Pay & Go customers will be able to view their tariff details, their remaining balances on their inclusive allowance, along with a summary, and their most recent bill in addition to Bolt Ons which may be part of their account.
Developer Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) assisted in the creation of the app and designed it with the idea of it making it easier to present on other smart phone platforms. The design process was also intended to ease the integration of even more features in the future.
The My O2 app is currently available for free download in the Apple App Store to all O2 users.
Final Cut Studio Upgrade Available
Apple announced that it’s releasing a major upgrade to its professional film and video editing tools suite known as Final Cut Studio. The suite will contain Soundtrack Pro 3, Color 1.5, Compressor 3.5, Motion 4 and of course, Final Cut Pro 7. Not only does the suite experience a $300 price reduction, it also comes with over 100 new features and an update to Final Cut Server, which is relied upon to manage assets and work flow in large scale production environments.
A wealth of features await those who get this latest upgrade of Final Cut Studio, including a new time code window and iChat Theater support to enable remote collaborate even with those who do not have Final Cut. A range of new codecs will enable users to expand available features using Apple ProRes and this version will be capable of creating Blu-ray ready media files. Video and audio editors will find it much easier to collaborate with this version of Final Cut thanks to wider levels of interactivity the software promotes.
While many still await the arrival of Snow Leopard, you can pick up Final Cut Studio and Final Cut Server 1.6 for $999 each, a significant price drop from past versions, or you can upgrade for $299 each.
SM Heart Link
SM Heart Link is a wireless bridge that enables the connection and integration of various health and fitness sensors such as cycling speed sensors and heart rate monitors with an iPhone. This integration is made possible through 4 iPhone applications that complement the device. These apps are iBPM+, iNewLeaf, iRPM+ and iSpinning. The wireless bridge collects fitness data from health and fitness sensors connected to the user and sends them to the appropriate iPhone apps. This allows a user to view and track various fitness metrics on his iPhone. The SM Heart Link device costs $154.95, while the applications are available for free at the app store.