Useful materials for mobile developer # 58 (June 16-22)

The two main news stories of this week are the first Amazon smartphone and the breakthrough of the Yo application to the top of the App Store (with fair investment of $ 1 million). In addition, there is an interesting description of Metal API, a study of bank applications from UsabilityLab, an entertaining visual analysis of the top 500 highest-grossing Android apps, several new tools.

The simplest application that sends the word “Yo” to contacts earned $ 1 million and hit the top 10 App Store apps in the US

It seems that users need not so much. The fact is that the other day the “Yo” application, sending out a corresponding exclamation / message to its contacts, entered the top 10 most popular applications in the App Store (USA). Plus, there was an investor who invested $ 1 million in this application.
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Amazon introduced its smartphone Fire Phone

In the first hours after the release, the smartphone became a bestseller. The number of devices on pre-order is limited, all may not be enough ( video presentation on YouTube ).

Everyone is equal, but some are more equal or is it possible to spam on Google Play

If they say that it is possible to do this, then maybe someday I will use this way of publishing myself. But I really would not want such a development option. If they say that it is impossible to do so, then I will continue the correspondence in the spirit of "Why the comrades from IGG.com are more equal than the rest."

Apple Metal API: what's the trick?

This announcement provoked a new wave of discussion and controversy about the need for the emergence of new graphics APIs that should (or should not - who knows) replace OpenGL. The post offered to your attention does not intend to participate in this discussion - its purpose is to clarify what Metal does differ from OpenGL ES, whose replacement it is.