We have all seen these applications on iOS or Android that are free to play, but in order to get that free thing, or next level, one has to pay a little. And then a little more.
The UK office of Fair Trading (OFT) has announced that they are going to open an investigation into free games targeted towards children. The announcement comes at a time when free applications dominate the market and are at 25% of the iOS store as of September 2012. Furthermore, it’s estimated 40.6 Billion free downloads happened on the Apple app store alone: that’s an astounding number.
So how does that translate? It’s not known how much of that revenue is a direct result of the free downloads aimed at children’s games, but I can guess it’s a whole lot of money. So, is this the future of m-commerce? Probably not, as more parents are getting frustrated and are calling for action. An estimate out of the IB Times estimates that in-app purchases cost UK families 30 Pounds per month – yet another astounding figure.
So do these companies who make free applications specifically target children so that they can make more money?
The answer is simply yes. A young child is a gullible consumer, with no understanding of the concept of how much things should cost. Why wouldn’t businesses go after the child? To prevent this, Apple has put in the ever powerful password to protect against app purchases, but by default, iOS devices ask for a password when downloading free or paid-for content from the iTunes, iBooks and the App Store, but for the next 15 minutes purchases can be made without re-entering the password, making it easy for unattended children spend their parents' money.
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However, in-app purchases can be turned off in the settings of your iOS device, but remember if you ever need it for yourself, that causes a problem like most parental controls, especially if you share a device with your child.
What are in app purchases?
There are three types:- Permanent enhancements,
- removing advertising, or
- expanding a feature set.
Any one of these can be easily pushed in the game while a child is playing and dad is in the shower or mom is cooking dinner. In fact, one child even racked up 3700 pounds for in-app purchases. His father, a policeman, wanted a refund, and Apple wouldn’t do so unless it was reported as fraud, so guess what? The policeman turned his 13 year old son into the police for fraud. Tough love, I guess.
The OFT is looking into whether these games include a strong encouragement or make it seemingly mandatory to make these purchases in order to play the game to its fullest potential. In the UK, it is illegal to do something that will pressure a child to make a purchase, and it seems that this policy of free games may fall under that guideline.
While the OFT is not looking to ban in game purchases, it is certainly looking to make clear what costs will be involved when downloading the game. The OFT is looking to publish its findings in October of this year.
Regardless of how you feel about in app purchases, across all cultures, we all look to protect our children, and thus protect our families. In places like the UK, they are more stringent than the US, where capitalism seems much more rampant. This of course, allows for more fraud and swindling, but allows for more freedom for the parents to make the decision on whether or not to do that in-app purchase.
This article is written by Jason Phillips, who is a freelance writer and regular blogger at many sites. His articles are always highly appreciated by the audience. Also works as a senior editor at site Motorbike Games 365.
It offers to backup messages, contacts, applications, and other important data that can be easily restored when required to other smartphones. It requires you to make an account to access and gives 1GB space, which they increase if you invite friends to the service.
So, what if you don’t have Internet access? We need to save the files and applications but that does not always have to be on the Internet especially since we don’t know when we may not be able to access our server backups. Carbon backup app helps in saving the files and other important stuff on the SD card or PC to be able to restore at any time.
This is one super app in all its modesty yet quite good when it comes to creating backups of our files. It offers to backup at intervals and let’s us schedule as to when we want our date to be backed up. It can save to the SD card or we can send it to our Gmail accounts.
This may not be free like the others but it does provide with premium features that may not be available in the free ones. It is even more secure than the other ones as it requires you to sign up with a PIN number besides the usual password. You can backup, restore and manage the data like photos, music, videos, contacts, and apps.
Unlike its ancestor, rooted Titanium Backup, this one offers customizable options for backup and especially when it comes to folders. You can backup the folders, apps, and other data and it does not affect carrier plans too much and the battery isn’t consumed a lot. But then, it is always best to backup with access to Wi-Fi, right?
Whether you use an 
Although Nintendo’s portable 3D device had a rough start, it recovered fast, and it even managed to exceed its popular predecessor, the widespread DS, which was the best-selling console in the world. Also, apart from the display, the 3DS does not feature many visible changes. Surely, the graphics are much better, but it has preserved its original styles, and all the other unique features that made it famous. Plus, users will be glad to know that it is much more facile to interact with the new 3DS due to its ultra-sensitive touch screen, which is a very important feature for most gamers.
Furthermore, it seems that the 3DS games tend to move towards a younger demographic, and all the first-party titles are designed for players of all ages. For instance, the first M-rated 3DS game is Resident Evil Revelation, and it is a fabulous start, and hopefully it is the first of a longer list of titles for an adult audience. Still, the Nintendo faithful, should know that there are several titles from the company’s personal vault, along with various independent selections that can be found in the 3DS eShop. Plus, Netflix is also available on the platform.
At the beginning of 2012, was officially released the much-expected Sony PlayStation Vita, which is the PSP follow-up. This new device features a giant 5-inch OLED touch screen, along with a rear touch panel, two thumb sticks, and an outstanding list of launch titles. It is priced at $250 for the Wi-Fi only system, but it also features several hidden costs. For example, players need to acquire a special Vita Memory Card, which will give them access to most of the applications, and games, available for the system.
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