TNT Releases Official iPad App, Lets You Watch TV Episodes and Movies

TNT has just released an app optimized specifically for the iPad’s larger screen, bringing with it full-length episodes and movies for TNT satellite and TV subscribers.

The app provides features you’ve probably come to expect from similar apps, including episode guides, clips, behind-the-scenes footage, show schedules with reminders, and Facebook, Twitter, and GetGlue social network integration.

You will of course be prompted to authenticate your TNT subscription with your cable provider in order to get access to the app’s collection of full-length content. Current supported providers include DirectTV, Optimum, Dish, Comcast, Cox, Verizon, Suddenlink, and AT&T U-verse TV.

AppAdvice notes that the app’s iPhone counterpart unfortunately doesn’t have access to full-length episodes as of yet, although we’re sure support will come in a future update.

You can grab TNT for iPad in the App Store now. Early customer reviews don’t see to be too positive. That seems to be mostly due to lack of Time Warner support, however.

Have you gave the TNT for iPad app a go yet? We want to hear your experience in the comments.

Did Apple Try to Buy Dropbox For $800m to Help iCloud?

In the build-up to Apple announcing its MobileMe replacement, iCloud, the Cupertino firm apparently considered a move for the acquisition of syncing-in-the-cloud king Dropbox, according to reports.

Apple was so impressed with Dropbox, and its expected $100 million/year income, that they decided to offer $800 million in order to buy the company. The claim comes from Business Insider, and the report is quick to point out that the rumor is unconfirmed, but it is interesting to consider, nonetheless…
Dropbox has since raised a massive $4 billion valuation, and Apple has announced its own cloud and syncing service, iCloud. Was Apple planning on taking the Dropbox technology and talent under its wing in order to help iCloud bring document and file syncing to its iDevices?

We’ll probably never know what was really going on in the minds of the Apple hierarchy, but many pundits, including more than a couple of us here at iDB, thought that Apple should have just bitten the bullet and bought Dropbox.

What do you think? Should Apple have bought Dropbox? Or will iCloud end up becoming the king of cloud sync?

Android Apps Make Less Money than App Store Apps, Piracy to Blame

It’s a story that’s been told before, but it seems that Android developers aren’t getting much love, with a new report suggesting that they are making only a fraction of what their iOS competitors are raking in.

The reason that Android apps are less profitable than App Store apps? Oddly enough, piracy…
A report from Yankee Group and Skyhook found that sales of apps in the United States are booming, with 40 apps being bought per user, per year. The results aren’t equally as good reading for Android and iOS developers however, with users of Google’s mobile OS buying less apps.

A survey of Android developers points the finger squarely at app piracy – 75% of which believe illegal downloading of paid apps is costing the industry some serious cash.

Other findings are equally as discouraging:

■Piracy is a problem for Android. Among the Android developers surveyed, 27 percent see piracy as a huge problem and another 26 percent see it as somewhat of a problem.
■Google isn’t helping. Fifty-three percent of developer respondents say Google is too lax in its Android Market policies.
■Piracy hurts developers’ top and bottom lines. About a third of developers say piracy has cost them in excess of $10,000 in revenue. Additionally, 32 percent say it increases their support costs, while another quarter say they see increased server costs due to heavy loads imposed by pirated copies.
This isn’t the first time that piracy has been blamed for a lack of developer interest in the Android Marketplace, with many developers deciding against the hassle that can comes with piracy. Apple’s iOS has proven less susceptible to the age-old problem, with jailbreaking required to do the deed.

Do you agree with this research? Are you a developer who has decided against Android because of the piracy problem? Let us know in the comments.

Sprint All But Confirms the iPhone 5

All of the evidence is beginning to point toward an October release for the iPhone 5, and Sprint has all but confirmed that fact, with the nation’s third largest carrier telling its staff that they cannot take any vacation time between September 30th and October 15th.

The news comes via Sprintfeed, who has managed to get its hands on an internal memo informing employees of the blackout…
As far as memos go, this is a brief and to the point affair, simply saying that, “Due to the possibility of a major phone launch in October we are blacking out September 30th through October 15th.”

Given the dates, and persistent rumors that Sprint will be a launch partner for the next iPhone, it doesn’t take deduction of Pink Panther proportions to connect the dots. Are we going to get a new iPhone during those two weeks? It’s a fairly safe bet.

Sprint is also rumored to offer an unlimited data plan alongside its new handset, a move that instantly makes the carrier a top choice amongst the likes of Verizon and AT&T.

If an early-October release is indeed on the cards, we’d expect Apple to be sending out invites to an event fairly soon, even if they intend to release the handset almost immediately after.

It doesn’t look like we have much longer to wait, folks!