Apple removing the home button on iPad 2 and iPhone 5 – Replacing with Multi-touch Gestures

The guys at BGR claims that Apple is planning on removing the home buttons on the next version of iPhone and iPad.

Yes, we are told that Apple, at some point in time, will remove the home button from the iPad’s design. Instead of button taps, you will use new multitouch gestures to navigate to the home screen and also to launch the app switcher. Our source said Apple employees are already testing iPads and iPhones with no home buttons on the Apple campus, and it’s possible we will see this new change materialize with the next-generation iPad and iPhone devices set to launch this year. Additionally, we’re told Apple’s popular photo-taking application, Photo Booth, will be appearing on the next iPad. It’s also very possible that we’ll see iLife apps for iOS unveiled around the iPad 2 release as well.

App Store about to hit 10 Billion downloads!

As of today, nearly 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves. Download the 10 billionth app, and you could win a US $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. Just visit the App Store, and download what could be your best app yet.

Shazam and Spotify team up on iOS and Android apps

Shazam, the world’s leading mobile discovery company, today announced that Spotify, the popular music service, will be integrated across the full range of Shazam’s free and premium Apps for iPhone, iPod touch and Android. As a result, Shazamers will be able to access Spotify directly through a new ‘Play in Spotify’ feature, which will take them directly to Spotify where they can immediately begin listening to the full track that they either tagged or discovered within Shazam from recommendations or the Shazam charts.
The new capability will allow users of Shazam and Spotify full playback of tracks via a fully-integrated experience on both the free and premium Shazam Encore Apps on Android and Apple’s iOS – including (SHAZAM) RED. ‘Play in Spotify’ integrates with the Spotify Premium App in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

“Integrating Spotify into Shazam’s applications combines music discovery with one of the world’s most popular music streaming services, providing a seamless experience for music fans at the point of inspiration in any location,” says Andrew Fisher, CEO of Shazam. “Spotify is delivering an innovative, high quality experience to music lovers and we’re excited to bring the Spotify service to Shazam.”

“Shazam is a very innovative company in the mobile space, having achieved a massive following around the world and we’re excited about the potential of this partnership for new music discovery through Spotify,” says Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify. “Now if you hear a great new track you can identify it, listen to it instantly in its entirety and easily add it to your music collection. That’s pretty powerful stuff.”

As of today, users of premium Apps Shazam Encore and (SHAZAM) RED will be able to combine their ability to access unlimited tagging with the new ‘Play in Spotify’ feature for an unparalleled and unrestricted mobile music discovery and streaming service.

The Shazam free App, available with five tags per month, will include the same feature later in Q1. The service combines Shazam’s database of more than 10 million tracks, which powers music identification and song and artist recommendations, with Spotify Premium’s mobile App on the iPhone, iPod touch and Android-powered phones, which offers instant access to millions of tracks and playlists.