Iron Ink Media: Inked Up

A report in the Wall St. Journal says that an iPhone user spends on average 9.6 minutes on a free app.

The Greystripe report also says that people tend to use a free app about 20 times before getting bored and going on to something else.

Also, it said that “tailgate ads,” which are short flash videos or games that people interact with before the app launches are holding people’s attention for about 22 seconds.

Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Just fyi.

It seems that Verizon is dying to get into the iPhone business. Computerworld.com says that Verizon is making a strong push to work with Apple on a phone that would compete with the AT+T version. Must be nice to be Apple these days, huh?

At least three stories in recent days, all citing unnamed sources, gave three different scenarios of what Verizon may be up to. One from USA Today said that Verizon is discussing with Apple Inc. the possibility of creating an iPhone that would work over Verizon’s CDMA wireless network, as opposed to AT&T’s GSM network. Analysts have said Verizon might want to build a dual-mode iPhone to work with a future variant of CDMA called WCDMA and Verizon’s coming, faster, LTE network.

We think it’s inevitable. The iPhone can’t stay with just AT+T forever…can it?

Less than two weeks ago we posted about the Apple iTunes store approaching the one billionth app download mark. Well, today looks like the day they will reach that goal. With the download counter working like mad, there is only a little time left to enter to win the top prize.

How fast are people downloading apps around the world? Let me put it this way. During the time it took me to put up this post, more than 30,000 apps were downloaded. Insane.

The New York Times, which just won five Pulitzer Prizes for journalism, broke another important story today. Some dude who made an iPhone app is going to be running the Boston Marathon in an iPhone suit.

Mr. [Jason] Jacobs, who has plantar fasciitis, has been training for only three weeks and managed to snag an official entry slot just a couple of weeks ago after a desperate Twitter post.

Still, he is confident about the race, and about his costume, a breathable stretch-Lycra getup that shows an iPhone screen with the RunKeeper application on it.

The app tracks runners’ distances and speeds, and it has been downloaded more than 300,000 times from iTunes — there is a free ad-supported version, and an ad-free one, with extra features like audio updates, that costs $9.99. Still, Mr. Jacobs, the sole employee of the app’s parent company, FitnessKeeper, says he isn’t rolling in money.

Could his lack of cash be due to the fact that he had an expensive Lycra iPhone suit created? Hmmm…

Want to watch Michael Scott make people feel uncomfortable no matter where you are? Well, you will soon be able to. Hulu is working on an app to allow people to watch videos from the website on the iPhone and iPod Touch. According to Silicon Alley Insider, this “badass” app will…

work over both wi-fi and 3G, we’re told. It won’t be the first Web video app for the iPhone — CBS’s TV.com app is on the market, as are Joost, i.TV and several others — but it could be the best. Hulu’s tech and design teams have demonstrated themselves as the best in the Web video industry, as everyone is now trying to emulate them. One hurdle, we assume: Because of Hulu’s streaming architecture, it might not be possible to download videos to watch later, such as on the subway or an airplane.

Apple has announced the top 20 downloads for both paid and free apps. As part of the countdown to the one billionth download (seriously, a billion?! it’s crazy), Apple is holding a contest and is highlighting the “most popular offerings, as determined by you.” Here is the list of apps making plenty of developers very happy… and very rich:

Top Paid:
Crash Bandicoot, Koi Pond, Enigmo, Bejeweled 2, iBeer, Moto Chaser, PocketGuitar, Flick Fishing, TETRIS, Texas Hold’em, Super Monkey Ball, Pocket Ball, Cro-Mag Rally, Ocarina, Fieldrunners, iFart Mobile, Touchgrind, iHunt, iShoot, Monopoly

Top Free:
Facebook, Google Earth, Pandora, Tap Tap Revenge, Shazam, PAC-MAN Lite, Backgrounds, Touch Hockey: FS5, Labyrinth Lite Edition, Flashlight, Urbanspoon, Movies, iBowl, Lightsaber Unleashed, Sol Free Solitaire, MySpace Mobile, Virtual Zippo Lighter, The Weather Channel, BubbleWrap, Remote

Want to try these popular apps out for yourself? Click the logo of your choice below to hit the app store.

Movie ticket site Fandango has just launched an iPhone app and PC World has reviewed it.

A movie ticket app really only needs to do two things seamlessly and well: It must let you search for movies near your location; more important, the app must let you buy the tickets with minimum effort. Most movie apps do a good job with the former by taking advantage of the handheld’s GPS locator function, but trip over the latter. Fandango does both very well.

Other pluses: Info about the movie’s stars, film running time, and where you can see the movie in your area are all available. Movie trailers are (usually) available if you need to refresh your memory. App remembers your credit card info for future purchases.

Down side: You can only buy tickets from Regal Entertainment Group theaters. Unlike the Fandango website, the app doesn’t include movie reviews or fan ratings.

Ok so this Sandwich Dynamics company released their first app and it’s called Birdhouse. It’s essentially a Twitter app that lets you jot down your tweet thoughts so you can post them later. It works with multiple accounts, let’s you save drafts and even rank your tweets so you know which ones are most important when it’s time to post them.

Sounds sorta neat, right? Maybe? So why I have categorized this as a worthless iPhone accessory? Because it is.

You can’t read other people’s tweets, so this is not an app that will replace your Twitterific or whatever the hell it is you use. Also? It’s four-frigging dollars. $4?? Really? Why would I pay that much money for a Twitter notepad?

I don’t get it.

We’d like to welcome the newest addition to the Iron Ink Media team: Maya. Maya was born early Friday morning at 2:22 AM to Marc and Daniela. Marc is our chief programmer, but it doesn’t seem thus far that Maya has inherited any of his programming skills. We put an iPhone in front of her this morning and all she did was cry the whole time. No ideas, no code suggestions, nothing. Just cried.

So far she hasn’t been terribly productive for IIM and some of us are concerned. She hasn’t shown a willingness to complete tasks, she doesn’t work well with others and isn’t terribly independent in the workplace. She does, however, repeatedly make mention of vacation days and is constantly requesting time off.

This may not work out, but we’re willing to give it a shot for a little bit longer. So for now….Welcome, Maya!

Photo Caption: Marc has issues with micro managing. Maya was given a task four minutes before this photo was taken and he is already looking over her shoulder.

Currently at 928 million, the App store is rapidly closing in on a billion downloads. Meanwhile, Apple is looking to do a giveaway when the big day hits. It’s free to enter and you can enter up to 25 times a day.

You could win a $10,000 iTunes gift card (thanks a lot, Apple. Couldn’t you just give us the cash?), an iPod Touch, a Time Capsule and a MacBook Pro.