Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Has it really been a year since we started reviewing true turn by turn GPS solutions? It's a one year anniversary for Navigon in the App Store, and the company is celebrating the event with a half off sale on almost every nav app and upgrade offered."

Here is the breakdown of the sale going on now until August 15th:

• MobileNavigator North America (includes maps for Canada & US): US $39.99 instead of $79.99 [affiliate link]
• MobileNavigator USA: $24.99 instead of $49.99 [affiliate link]
• MobileNavigator Canada: $29.99 instead of $59.99 [affiliate link]
• MobileNavigator US MyRegion East [link], Central [link] or West [link]: $14.99 instead of $29.99, additional regions $11.99 instead of $14.99.
• In-App PurchasesTraffic Live lifetime subscription: $12.99 instead of $24.99
• Panorama View 3D: $4.99 instead of $9.99

That is quite a price drop, and I think about where apps like this should be priced at, what are your thoughts? Have you used this particular one, and if so, how do you like it? Or are you like me and don't have a GPS app, relying instead on the mapping app for the iPhone? Is this enough of a price drop to entice you to enter the GPS or navigation app marketplace?

"To celebrate the 3rd anniversary we are giving away 3 iPads and introducing an ultimate 48 hours sale for all of our applications."

And what a sale it is, putting all of their applications out there for $0.99 USD each. So if you have been hesitant to give ReaddleDocs (our review) or Scanner Pro (our review) a try, now is the time to snag it, but you only have until tomorrow. You can find all of their apps on iTunes [affiliate link], and if you want to enter their contest for an iPad, head on over to the promotion website [link] and see all of the details for entering.

"Telltale, like Capcom did earlier in the week, is celebrating Comic-Con with a sale on both of their interactive adventure games for iPad, which feature two of the company's most popular duos: Wallace & Gromit and Sam & Max."

It's a pretty good deal if you want to play either game, Wallace & Gromit for $1.99 USD [affiliate link] or Sam & Max for $1.99 USD [affiliate link]. Wallace & Gromit is $3.00 USD off, and Sam & Max is $5.00 USD off the normal price. This discount ends when Comic-Con ends, which is tomorrow, July 26th.

"The popular iPhone mileage log application, MileBug, is now available for half off the regular price. Only $1.99 through January 15th as a special New Year Sale to start off the new year right for tracking miles and expenses."

Only $1.99 USD in the iTunes App Store, it has some nice options, such as customizing mileage rates you want to use if you have to use a different one for work, but still need to use the IRS figure for certain things, for example. You can also email yourself a report so you have a hard copy, which is very nice come tax time. You can also get the free "lite" version that limits you to 10 trips so you can give it a try before you buy. What do you use to keep track of your mileage, have you found any gems?

"It's easy to complain about the soul-eroding tyranny of badly-created, ungodly-overused fonts. In restaurants in some parts of San Francisco, "There's Comic Sans on my menu!" has taken the place of "There's a cockroach in my salad!" as plausible explanations to the cops about why you freaked out and did a dine-and-dash. The management should definitely comp you a dessert, at minimum."

If you can't write like him, at least you can have your words look like his! This is a great deal if you are into the comic fonts like Ihnatko, and I must admit I do like them so I'm thinking I may have to take advantage of this deal this year! For a mere $20.01, and only available on New Years Day, or for some of us, tomorrow. It begins midnight tonight and ends midnight tomorrow, not sure which GMT they are using though, I think they base it on where you are at the time of ordering.

"As we recently found out during this year's Appvent Calendar ‘09 promotion, indie developers can and do work well together in order to drum up a little extra attention for their unique apps. Developer Howling Moon Software has put together a nice long list for their Second Annual New Year's App Blowout sale, which features games and some regular apps at ridiculously low prices and even for free, and all can be viewed below."

If you are looking for some good deals on apps, this is the place to go. A few have been discounted from $0.99 USD to free, others have as much as a three or four dollar discount. This only lasts a short time, 48 hours to be specific, so hurry up and shop before they close it up!

"If for some reason you missed out on Beejive's crazy deal on BeejiveIM during Black Friday, you will be happy to know that it has once again been placed on sale for the holidays."

The sale lasts through the holidays, which is up to your interpretation I guess as to when it ends. But if you want a deal on this IM program, that works multiple IM services, such as AIM/iChat, MSN, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, Facebook IM, ICQ, Jabber, and MySpace IM, now may be the time to buy. It is on sale for $6.99 USD, down from normal pricing of $9.99 USD.

"If you're thinking of a flash drive for a nice stocking stuffer, you might want to pre-load it with some cool Apple-oriented ebooks. Take Control, which publishes many technology titles, is having a 50 percent off sale on its ebooks through Dec. 31, 2009."

They have several Apple related books, such as iPhone ‘09 Visual Quick Start Guide ($15) and Macworld iPhone & iPod touch Superguide, Third Ed. ($12.95). All ebooks are DRM-free and if you want to load up that flash drive, here is the link to the sale with the coupon.

"Apple on Monday launched a sale on select Mac, iPhone, and iPod accessories on its online store. According to Apple, the sale is good only on Monday and includes free shipping on everything in the store. The special sale includes many accessories for its most popular products."

Not much to say here other than shop away!

"Blue Lightning Labs today announced a sale on their popular iPhone application Mathemagics, an application for learning to mentally calculate math problems at phenomenal speeds. For a limited time Mathemagics is on sale at more than 60% off."

I bought this for the kids, to help them with their math memorization, but I find myself playing with it ocassionally just to test myself. And at $0.99 USD, the price is right.

"When Thanksgiving Day draws to a close and all that remains is a few pieces of cold turkey, Proporta are pretty sure that your thoughts will turn to grabbing the best bargains on Black Friday. In England we don't have Black Friday, but the idea of national discount day sounds pretty good to us. Whether you're interested in kitting out your iPod or protecting your PDA, Proporta are offering an exclusive 20% discount to all customers who place orders on Black Friday. Simply enter the promotion code BLACKFRIDAY at the cart page to receive your discount (US and Canada only, 11/28 only, Proporta branded products only). Happy bargain hunting."

The folks over at Proporta sure are in the holiday spirit lately, aren't they?

If you're into what they're offering, you'll definitely want to to hit up their site today and grab some goodies.

Update: Proporta has fixed the issue some of you were having. Enter the code VINCENT15 to receive that 15% discount. I tested it myself and it is indeed working. The code is valid until 12/5.

"In the U.S., the day after Thanksgiving ("Black Friday") has been the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season and is typically marked by large sales at retail stores. iPhone developers are in on the action with a number of iPhone game sales. Act quickly, as some of these are for very short periods of time"

Figure 1: Not necessarily games that are on sale, just a screenshot of the store for illustration purposes.

Lots of games on sale today, and Touch Arcade has an exhaustive list. Some of them might end up on my iPhone before the day is over. In fact, I know for a fact some of them will. Virtual Pool and Scrabble, for example, are going to be on my iPhone before I even leave for work today. Were any of you holding off on buying and now considering one of the listed games? I for one am quite annoyed that I paid $9.99 for Enigmo on day one and now it's $0.99 but that's the way it works sometimes. :-)

So Apple has lifted the curtain and unveiled their Black Friday sale prices. Some of the deals are pretty good ($101 off a MacBook, for example) and may warrant a look if you're in that market. Of course, the best part of the sale is that not everything for sale is made by Apple. They have a Canon Digital Rebel XSI (I wonder if that changed from the XSi to the XS?) for $498 with the EF-S 18-55 F.3.5-5.6 IS lens and the V-Moda Vibe Duos for $78 (they're regularly $109 in the store, which is what I just paid for my new pair). Don't wait, though, because this is a one-day only sale.

Overall it won't shake the earth to its core, but it will save you a few coins. Share your sale successes with us in the forums so we can all revel in a few sheckles saved!

How many of you saw this in your e-mail yesterday?

I don't know what exactly they're planning (I mean, they'll never call it a "sale." Apple doesn't do "sales."), but it might be worth checking out your local (or online) Apple Store on Friday just to see what they're offering. I think I've hit my Apple quota as far as purchases this year (new iPhone, new MacBook Pro, 2 TB Drobo) but I'll still check it out. You never know what elese might catch the old eyeball. Anyone else planning on doing some big time shopping Friday?

"We just got a tip that Best Buy was selling MacBooks and MacBook Pros for $100 each off the list price, and in at least one case $150 off (as Lizard King points out). This is an unusual phenomenon in the MSRP-only world of Apple products. We don't know how the deal came through, but the sale prices are for real-at least for now."

To be honest, if they hadn't included the screenshot below and promised they had verified it, I wouldn't believe it myself, but Gizmodo swears it's real so if you're into buying a new MacBook, this might be the time to pull the trigger.

Why are you still here? Come back after you buy your new MacBook! We'll still be around :-)

UPDATE: Link updated.

"Joining the ranks of their 99¢ movie rentals and mirroring their "Albums of the Week" for bargain hunters, Apple has introduced "Movies of the Week" on iTunes. Each movie will be available for the duration of the week at a lowered price of $4.99 to own. To kick it off they're highlighting Terminator 2: Judgment Day as the "movie of the week" and offering an additional nine titles: Total Recall, Last Action Hero, Red Heart, Air America, Basic Instinct, St. Elmo's Fire, The Karate Kid, Air Force One, A Guy Thing"

Not a bad deal, honestly. $4.99 - $9.99 is probably a lot closer to what digital download movies should cost anyway. I have a feeling this is a test balloon for Apple, and if this takes off, they're going to push studios to accept lower per-purchase prices on iTunes. Do any of you see this as an opportunity to try out the iTunes store or are you just not interested?