Apple developers have earned over $70 Billion since 2008

Apple today announced that its global developer community has earned over $70 billion USD since the App Store launched in 2008. The App Store is home to the most innovative apps in the world and in the past 12 months alone, downloads have grown over 70 per cent.

"People everywhere love apps and our customers are downloading them in record numbers," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Seventy billion dollars earned by developers is simply mind-blowing. We are amazed at all of the great new apps our developers create and can’t wait to see them again next week at our Worldwide Developers Conference.”

Games make up the most popular types of apps on the App Store with 25% of the total, followed by business, education, lifestyle and entertainment.

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New Macs and iPads registered in Eurasia leading up to WWDC 2017

Monday's WWDC 2017 is going to be the first large Apple event since September last year and, while it is definitely a developer, OS and ecosystem-focused show; we are expecting some hardware announcements specially in product lines with some pent-up demand.

As availability of current MacBook Pros has dropped, in some places for multiple weeks, there's news of five new Macs and iPads registered in Eurasia, identified only with the model numbers A1289, A1347, A1418, A1419, and A1481, are likely to be new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pros alongside a new 12-inch Retina MacBook. Also included four numbers classified under iOS 10 (A1671, A1709, A1670, and A1701), which could be attributed to iPad Pro SKUs. This, plus news of a smart Siri-powered speaker offer the biggest hardware expectations heading into WWDC 2017, which begins with a keynote on Monday June 5 at 10 am Pacific. 

I will be covering the WWDC 2017 keynote live, so stay tuned for all the news from Apple's biggest developer event.

Source: MacRumors.com

BlackBerry KEYone coming to Canada starting tomorrow, available contract-free in June

BlackBerry is back with the new KEYone. Featuring a QWERTY keyboard, a 4.5-inch display, the latest Android 7.0 OS and BlackBerry security and encryption plus a bevy of productivity-focused features and an outstanding 12-inch camera. Read our full review of the BlackBerry KEYone here.

TCL Communication, a leading global smartphone manufacturer and global smartphone licensing partner of BlackBerry Limited, is announcing that the award-winning BlackBerry KEYone will officially be on-sale in Canada beginning tomorrow, May 31. Starting at $199 CAD on a two year term, the BlackBerry KEYone will be available either in-store or online from Bell, Bell MTS, Rogers, SaskTel and TELUS. It will also be available unlocked for $729 CAD outright in June.

Review: BlackBerry Mobile KEYone

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It’s mid-2017 and there’s a BlackBerry smartphone that’s turning heads and making waves. The Android powered KEYone brings BlackBerrys bag of tricks to a new form factor, and possibly, a new generation of users.

With sterling build and materials, legendary security and encryption, as well as a surprisingly capable 12-megapixel camera, this is a messaging tool that merits notice.

Like many, I approached the news of the KEYOne with great skepticism. BlackBerry, after all, no longer makes smartphones. They’ve licensed the brand and intellectual property to other companies and TCL's track record with the uninspiring DTEK smartphones cast doubt they could offer anything compelling. Earlier models from this licensee, after all, were rebadged Alcatel smartphones. BlackBerry handsets seemed to be all but lost.

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