The Apple Beat: 6 years on, the App Store remains the standard in curated ecosystems

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

It's hard to believe that the original iPhone didn't ship with any 'real' apps and that it took over a year for Apple to consider opening its device to developers and third-party applications. Six years on, the App Store has evolved into the best example of a tightly curated app ecosystem.

Apple's success with the iOS App Store owes a lot to Apple's experience with iTunes although apps and music and movies are fundamentally different, the way these were presented was familiar enough to users who were buying apps to enhance their mobile devices. The App Store was a quick success, it inspired the Mac App store and made it possible to buy applications directly from a Mac and, even better, application updates are now handled automatically in the background.

More importantly, the App Store has become a storefront for thousands of developers and their mobile apps. It is by far the most profitable platform for mobile developers. 75 billion app downloads have been made in the past six years. 

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iTunes Extras launches on Apple TV, adds bonus content to hundreds of titles

Just as we reported that Apple TV was falling behind Roku in the US, Apple's unleashed a whole gamut of content available to their puck-like streaming player. Some important information reveals how vital Apple TV really is and after generating $1billion last year, the device brings access to over 85,000 movies worldwide. More importantly, the iTunes Extras announced today will offer the latest blockbusters even before they appear on Blu-Ray or DVD, plus there are other bonues in the form of iTunes special Extras Scenes feature as well as enjoy deleted and alternate movie clips, short films, HD photo galleries; cast, crew, and character information; and other bonus material provided by the filmmakers.

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TELUS Health opens its doors to Innovation Centre in Toronto to reveal services and products

TELUS Health opened its doors to its Innovation Centre in Toronto for a look inside a few specific health services and products. The event kick-started with remarks from Paul Lepage in a speech to tell us why TELUS is in health and how we can demonstrate the power of health through technology. Taking a holistic view to the health industry, TELUS Health has made almost a billion dollar investment to date and is on a path to help improve patient care by removing current barriers and creating a seamless flow of information between all members of the healthcare continuum – from hospitals to family doctors, from pharmacists to patients. 

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MCE Ships Portable USB 3.0 2 TB + Blu-ray Recorder + USB Hub + SD Reader

MCE Technologies  announced that it has begun shipping the MCE Complement: the world's first portable, all-in-one, USB 3.0 device consisting of a 2 TB Hard Drive, a Blu-ray, DVD, CD Reader/Recorder, a USB 3.0 Hub, and SD Card Reader. The MCE Complement's 2 TB hard drive is designed for use as a standard storage device and it is compatible with Time Machine. The unit includes Mac Blu-ray Player software for the playback of commercial Blu-ray titles directly on the Mac and it can record data and high definition video to 25GB, 50GB, 100GB, and 128GB Blu-ray recordable discs.

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